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AN ADVANCED HISTORY OF
GEEAT BEITAIN
An Elementary History of England
With 88 1 1 bt sir at km s, Tables, Maps, and Plans.
BY
T. F. TOUT, M.A.,
Professor of Mediaeval and Modern History in the
University of Manchester,
AND
JAMES SULLIVAN, Ph.D.,
Principal of the Boys' High School, Brooklyn,
Now York.
Crown 8vo, §0.78
An Atlas of English History
EDITED BY
SAMUEL RAWSON GARDINER, D.C.L., LL.D.
With 66 Maps and 22 J'laiis of Battles, etc.
Small 4to, $1.50
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.. NEW YORK.
AN ADVANCED HISTORY
OF GREAT BRITAIN
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE
DEATH OF EDWARD VII.
WITH 63 MAPS AND PLANS
By T. F. tout, M.A.
\>
PROFESSOB OF MEDIJBVAL AKD MODERN HISTORY IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
NEW IMPRESSION
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
FOURTH AVENUE AND 30TH STKEET, NEW YORK
LONDON, BOMDAY, AND CALCl'TTA
1912
All rights rttervM
/
S'y^ -' ^^^ ^C
CONTENTS
List of Bibliographies
List of Maps and Plans
List of Genealogical Tables
Table of Kings and Queens .
List of the Chief Ministries since 1689
Index .....
BOOK I
DATK
Up to 1066. BRITAIN BEFORE THE NORMAN
CONQUEST . . . .
Up to 55 B.C.
Chapter I.
Britain
Prehistoric and Celtic
t 330 B.C.
The Palseolithio Age
The Neolithic Ago .
The Iberians
The Celts .
The Bronze and Iron Ages
The Voyage of Pythoas
55 B.C. -449 A.D. Chapter II. Roman Britain
65-54 B.C. Julius Cccsar's Invasions of Britain
43-86 A.D. The lionian Conquest of Britain
85-410. Roman Rule in Britain
78-85. Julius Agricola
The Two Roman Walls
Roman divisions of Britain .
The garrison and the roads
Roman Civilisation .
The Romano-British Church
Decay of the Roman Power
The Barbarian Invasions .
410. End of the Roman Power in Britain
410-449. The Picts, Scots, and Saxons
Permanent reaults of Roman Rule in Britain
PACK
XXXVT
xxTvii
xxxix
xl
740
743
I-81
1-5
I
I
2
2-3
3
4-S
6-15
6-7
7-9
9-14
9
9-10
10
II
II
12
12
M
14
>S
IS'
ivi^78419
Vlll
CONTENTS
449-607. Chapter III. The English Conquest of
Southern Britain .
The Jutos, the Saxons, and the Angles
The beginnings of England
The Jutish Settlements
The Saxon Settlements
The Anglian Settlements
The fate of the Britons
The Welsh .
The beginnings of Scotland
Conversion of the Plots and Scots
Why England became the strongest
597-821.
597.
627.
627-685.
626-655.
664.
668-690.
V16-821.
Chapter IV. The Early Overlordships
and the Conversion of the English to
Christianity .
The first stops toward English Unity
The Heptarchy
The first English Overlords
The Celtic Church .
Popo Gregory the Great
The Landing of Augustine .
The Conversion of Kent and Essex
The Conversion of Edwin .
The Northumbrian Overlordship .
Aidan and the Scottish Mission
Penda of Mcrcia
Conversion of the rest of England .
Dispute between the Roman and the Celtic
Churches ....
Synod of Whitby .
The work of Theodore of Tarsus
The Overlordship of Mercia
802-899. Chapter V. The West Saxon Overlord
ship and the Danish Invasions .
802-839.
839-858.
858-899.
878.
886.
The rise of Wessex .
The Koign of Egbert
Beginnings of the Danish Invasions
The Kcign of Ethelwulf
The Norse Migrations
The Sons of Ethelwulf
Settlements in England and the continent
Wessex saved by Alfred
Alfred and Guthrum's Peace
The Dane law . .
West Saxon Supremacy under Alfred
Alfred's lleforms
CONTENTS
IX
899-978. Chapter VI. The Successors of Alfred
and the Beginnings of the English
Monarchy .....
899-924. Edward the Elder, the first King of the English
The sons of Edward the Elder
924-940. Athelstan
937. The Battle of Brunanburh .
940-946. Edmund the Magnificent ,
946-956. Keign of Edred
955-976. The Reigns of Edwy and Edgar
Archbishop Dtmstan
976-978. The Reign of Edward the Martyr
50-56
978-1042.
978-1016.
lOOS.
1013.
1016.
1017-1C36.
1036-1042.
Chapter VII. The Decline of the English
Kingdom and the Danish Conquest
Reign of Ethelred, the Unready
Renewal of Danish Invasions
The Massacre of St. Brice's Day
The Invasion of Swegen
The Struggle of Cnut and Edmund Ironside
Cnut, King of Denmark, Norway, and England
The Great Earldoms
Reigns of the Sons of Cnut .
1042-1066. Chapter VIII. The Reigns of Edward
the Confessor and Harold
1042. Accession of Edward the Confessor
Normandy and the Normans
The House of Godwin
Harold, Earl of the West Saxons .
1066. The Death of Edward the Confessor
Harold made King . .
Harold defeats Harold Hardrada .
Landing of William of Normandy .
Battle of Hastings .
449-1066. Chapter IX. English Life before the
Norman Conquest .
Agriculture and land tenure
Thegns, Ceorls, and Theows
Towns
Houses
Food and Drink
Arcbitecturo .
Laws .
The ^hjreq ,
CONTENTS
PAGI
Hundreds and Townships . . .
Law Courts .....
77
77
The King's Officers ....
Frithborh and Tithing
The King .....
The Witenagemot ....
The Church .....
7S
7S
7S
7S
7S
Language and Literature .
Books recommended for the further study of the
8c
Period .....
80-81
BOOK II
1066-1215. THE NORMAN AND ANGEVIN KINGS 82-158
1066-1087. Chapter I. William I. the Conqueror
1066-1071.
1071.
1076.
1079.
1086.
1086.
The Norman Conquest
Hereward subdued .
The Establishment of Feudalism
William and the Norman Barons
The Palatine Earldoms
The Forests .
The Baronial Eevolt
Revolt of Robert suppressed
William and the English .
The Domesday Book
The Oath at Salisbury
The Normans and the Church
William as overlord of Britain
Foreign Policy of William .
8292
8^
84
8:
86
87
85
8?
8i
88-8c
8c
9C
90-92
91-92
93
1087-1100. Chapter II. William II. Rufus
1088.
1095.
1093.
1092.
1095.
1100.
The Sons of William the Conqueror
Baronial Revolt
Revolt of Robert Mowbray .
Ranulf Flambard
Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury
William 11. and Anselm
William 11., Scotland and Wales
Conquest of Cumberland
William 11. and Normandy
The First Crusade .
Death of Rufus
94-101
94-9i
9f
9i
9(
9;
97 -9<
9«
9<
lOO-IOl
IOC
roi
1100-1135. Chapter III. Henry I.
Early Measures of Henry i.
Henry i. and the Normans
1101, Robert-'g revolt
I02-U(
102-10;
103-iOi
10:
CONTENTS
XI
PATE
1102.
1106.
1103-1107.
1120.
1136.
Fall of Robert of BeU6me .
Battle of Tinchebray
Quarrel of Henry and Anselm , .
Henry i. Scotland and Wales
Henry and Louis vi. . . .
Roger of Salisbury and the Administrative System
The Loss of the White Ship
Normandy and Anjou
Death of Henry i. .
PAOK
104
104-105
106
107
107
108
108
109
1135-1154. Chapter IV. Stephen of Blois
1135.
1138.
1141.
1153.
1154.
Accession of Stephen
Battle of the Standard
Beginnings of Civil War
The Rivalry of Stephen and Matilda
Desolation of England
Geoffrey of Mandeville
The Battle of Lincoln
The Treaty of Wallingford .
The Death of Stephen
iii-iiS
III
112
"2-1 13
"3
"3
114
114
"5
"5
1154-1189. Chapter V. Henry II. of Anjou .
Character of Henry 11. .
The Restoration of Order .
Thomas Becket ....
1164. The Constitutions of Clarendon and the quarrel of
Henry and Becket
1170. Murder of Becket ....
Period of Amalgamation between Normans and
English .....
1166. Henry's Reforms. The Assize of Clarendon
1176. The Assize of Northampton
The Grand Assize ....
1181. The Assize of Arms ....
1184. The Assize of Woodstock .
Henry ir., Wales and Scotland
The Norman Conquest of Ireland .
The Angevin Empire
Henry 11. and his family
1169. The War of Toulouse
The Wars of 1178 and 1174
Henry's Foreign Alliances
Itf'bollions of his Sons
1189. Henry's Death ....
116-130
116
I16-117
117-118
I19-120
120-121
122
123
>23
123
124
124
124-123
125
126
127
127
127-129
129
129
130
1189-1199. Chapter VI. Richard I. Coeur de Lion 131-136
Character of Richard i.
1189. Richard and the Third Crusade
Richard's Captivity in Germany
>3i
Xll
CONTENTS
DATE
1189-1194. England dxiring Richard's Absence
1194-1199. England from 1194-1199 .
1199. Richard's last Wars and Death
1199-1216. Chapter VII. John Lackland .
Accession and Character of John .
Arthur of Brittany ....
The Loss of Normandy and Anjou
1214. Battles of La Roche au Moine and Bouvines
1206. The Disputed Election at Canterbury
1207. Appointment of Langton
Quarrel of John and Innocent iii. .
1208. The Interdict ....
1209. The Excommunication
1213. John becomes the Pope's Vassal
1213-1215. Quarrel between John and his Barons
1215. The Great Charter .
Renewal of the War of King and Barons .
1216. Death of John ....
1066-1216. Chapter VIII. Feudal Britain .
The Importance of the Norman Conquest
Britain and the Continent .
The King and the Great Council .
Local Government ....
Earls, Barons, and Knights
The Manorial System
Towns and Trade
Fashions of Living
Food and Dress
Norman Castles
Norman Churches
The Beginnings of Gothic Architecture
New Monastic Movements .
Twelfth-Century Renaissance
Latin Literature
English and French Literature
Books recommended for the further study of the
Period
PAGE
134
134-135
135
137-145
137
138
»39
139.140
140
141
141
142
142
143
143-144
144
145
145
146-156
146
147
147
148
148
149
150
151
»5i
152
153
153
154
155
155
156
158
BOOK III
1216-1399. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ENG-
LISH NATION ....
1216-1272. Chapter! Henry III.
1216, Accession of Henry iii. . . . .
1216-1217. Conflict between William Marshall and Louis of
Prance ......
159-253
159-177
. »59
159-160
CONTENTS
Xlil
OATK
1217.
1216-1219.
1219-1232.
1232-1234.
1234-1258.
1248-1252.
1258.
1259.
1259-1263.
1264.
1264.
1264-1266.
1265.
1265.
1265.
1265-1267.
1267.
1267-1272.
The Battle of Lincoln and the Treaty of Lambeth
The Rule of William Marshall
The Rule of Hubert de Burgh
The Rule of Peter des Roches
The Personal Rule of Henry
The Alien Livasion — Provenfals, Savoyards and
Romans .....
Edmund Rich and Robert Grosseteste
Henry's Foreign Failures .
The Poitevins in England .
Rise of the Principality of North Wales .
Simon of Montfort in Gascony
Edmund, King of Sicily; and Richard, King of
the Romans ....
Political Retrogression and National Progress
The Mad Parliament
The Provisions of Oxford .
The Treaty of Paris ....
The Beginning of the Barons' War
The Mise of Amiens
The Battle of Lewes
The Rule of Earl Simon . ...
The Parliament of 1265
The Revolt of the Marchers
The Battle of Evesham
The Royalist Restoration .
The Treaty of Shrewsbury .
The End of the Reign
1272-1307. Chapter II. Edward I.
1272-1274.
1277.
1282-1283.
1284.
1274-1290.
1289-1290.
1286-1290.
1290-1292.
1292.
1259-1293.
1293-1295.
1295.
1296.
1297.
1297.
1297.
1298.
Character and Policy of Edward i. .
The Government during Edward's Absence
The First Welsh War
The Conquest of the Principality .
Settlement of the Principality
Edward's Legislation
Trials of the Judges and Expulsion of the Jews
Scotland under Alexander iii.
The Maid of Norway
The Scottish Claimants
Accession of John Balliol . . . ,
England and France
The French and Scottish Wars
The Model Parliament
Tho Conquest of Scotland .
Clerical Opposition under Wincbelsea
Baronial Opposition under Norfolk and Hereford
Confirmatio Cartarum
Scottish Rising under Wallace
Battle of Falkirk ....
Edward's Reconciliation with France aud the
Church ......
i6o
i6o
i6o-i6i
i6i
162
162-164
164
165
165
166
166
167
167
168
168
169
169
171
172
172
173
174
175
176
176-177
178-197
178
179
»79
181
182
182-185
185
185-186
188
188
189-191
190-191
191
192
192
»93
»93
^93-194
194
194
XIV
CONTENTS
Reconciliation •with the Barons
1303-1305. The Second Conquest of Scotland
1306. Rising of Robert Bruce
1307. Death of Edward i. .
PAGE
195
196
196
196-197
1307-1327. Chapter III. Edwaxd II. of Carnarvon . 198-204
1307-1309. Edward ii. and Gaveston .
1310-1311. The Ordinances and the Lords Ordainers
1312. The Murder of Gaveston
1307-1314. Robert Bruce conquers Scotland
1314. The Battle of Bannockburn
Thomas of Lancaster
1322. The Battle of Boroughbridge and the Parliament
of York .
1322-1326. The Rule of the Despensers
Isabella and Mortimer
1326-1327. The Fall of Edward ii.
198-199
199
199
200
200-201
201-202
202
202
203
203
1327-1377. Chapter IV. Edward III.
1327-1330.
1328.
1328.
1333.
1839-1340.
1340.
1346.
1346.
1346-1347.
1348-1349.
1365-1356.
ISSO.
1367.
1369.
1369-1377.
1351.
1351-1353.
The Rule of Isabella and Mortimer
Treaty of Northampton
Accession of Philip vi. in France ,
Character and Policy of Edward iii.
David Bruce and Edward Balliol .
Battle of Halidon Hill
David finally established in Scotland
Causes of the Hundred Years' War
Chief Features of the Struggle
The Netherlandish Campaigns
The Battle of Sluys .
War of the Breton Succession
The Invasion of Normandy
The Battle of Cr6cy .
Calais, Auberoche, Neville's Cross, and La Roche
Derien ....
The Black Death .
The Black Prince in Aquitaine
The Battle of Poitiers
The Treaties of Br6tigni and Calais
The Civil War in Castile .
The Battle of Ndjera
The Revolt of Aquitaine
Fall of the English Power in France
The Statute of Labourers .
Anti-Papal Legislation
Edward iii. and his Parliaments .
Edward's Family Settlement
The Court and Constitutional Parties
205-227
205-208
205
206
208
208-209
209
209
210-211
212
212
212
213
214
214-215
216
216
217
217-218
218-219
219
221
221
222
223
223
224
225
226
CONTENTS
XV
DATE
1376. The Good Parliament
1376-1877. John of Gaunt and John Wyclifie
1377. Death of Edward m.
PAOB
226
227
227
1377-1399. Chapter V. Richard 11. of Bordeaux . 228-237
1377-1381.
1378.
1881.
1386-1388.
1388.
1396.
1397.
1398.
1399.
The Rule of John of Gaunt
The Papal Schism ....
The Teaching of Wycliffe .
Causes of the Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt and its Suppression
The Baronial Opposition and Thomas of
Gloucester ....
The Attack on and Defeat of the Courtiers
The Merciless Parliament and the Lords Appellant
The Great Truce and the French Marriage
The Royalist Reaction
The Banishment of Norfolk and Hereford
The Lancastrian Revolution
The Deposition of Richard 11.
228
229
229
229 230
231
232
233
234
235
235
236
236-237
237
1216-1399. Chapter VI. Britain in the Thirteenth
and Fourteenth Centuries . . 238-253-
Mediaeval Civilization
The King .....
The Parliament of the Three Estates
Convocation .....
The House of Lords
The House of Commons
The King's Council and the Law Courts .
The Church and the Papacy
St. Francis and the Mendicant Friars
The Franciscans and Dominicans in England
The Universities ....
Gothic Architecture
The Concentric Castle
Anna and Armour ....
Chivalry and the Orders of Knighthood .
Cosmopolitan and National Ideas .
Latin Literature. Matthew Paris
French Literature. John Froissart
English Literature. Geoffrey Chaucer .
William Langland ....
John Wycliffe and the Beginning of Modern
English Prose ....
Books recommended for the further study of. the
Period .....
238r
238
239
239
239
240
241
242
242-243
244
244 245
245-247
247
248
249
249
250
25»
251-252
252
252-253
253
XVI
CONTENTS
BOOK IV
PATE
1399-1485. LANCASTER AND YORK
1399-1413. Chapter I. Henry IV.
1399. The Constitutional Revolution
The Ecclesiastical Reaction
Henry iv.'s Character and Difficulties
Richard ii.'s Death .
Owen Glendower
1403. Revolt of the Percies
Gradual Collapse of the Risiqgs
Henry iv. and France
The Beauforts and the Prince of Wales
PAGE
255-307
255-260
255
256
257
257
257
258
259
259
260
1413-1422. Chapter II. Henry V.
Early Measures of Henry V.
1414. Oldcastle and the Lollard Rising .
Renewal of the Claim to the French Throne
1415. First Expedition — Harfleur, Agincourt
1416. The Council of Constance .
1417-1419. The Conquest of Normandy
1420. The Treaty of Troyes
1421. Battle of Beaug6 ....
1422. Third Expedition. Death of Henry
262-268
262
262-263
263
264-266
266
267
267
268
268
1422-1461. Chapter III. Henry VI.
1422.
1422-1428.
1422-1429.
1428.
1429.
1431.
1436.
1444-1445.
1447.
1449-1451 !
1453.
1450.
1460.
1450-1455.
Regency of Bedford Established
Bedford's Work in France .
Gloucester as Protector of England
The Siege of Orleans
The Mission of Joan of Arc
Battle of Patay. Coronation of Charles vi.
Martyrdom of Joan of Arc .
Coronation of Henry vi. at Paris .
Congress of Arras and Death of Bedford .
The Peace and War Parties in England .
The Truce of Tours and the French Marriage
Deaths of Gloucester and Beaufort
The Loss of Normandy and Gascony
The Battle of Castillon and the End of the
Hundred Years' War
Murder of Suffolk ....
Revolt of Jack Cade
The Position of Richard Duke of York
Beginning of the Wars of the Roses
Characteristics of the Wars of the Roses .
The House of Neville
270-283
270
270-271
272
272-273
273
273
275
275
276
276
277
277
278
278
278
279
279
280
281
281
CONTENTS
XVll
DATE
1466-1459.
1460.
1460-1461.
1460-1461.
1461.
Reconciliation and the Renewal of the Strife
York claims the Throne ....
The Fall of Henry vi. . . . •
Battles of Wakefield, Second St. 'Albans, and
Mortimer's Cross .....
Edward of York chosen King
PAOE
282
282
283
283
283
1461-1483. Chapter IV. Edward IV.
1461.
1469.
Edward nr. and the Yorkist Party
The Battle of Towton
Triumph of Edward iv.
The Nevilles and the Woodville Marriage
Robert Welles and Robin of Redesdsde
Alliance of Warwick and Margaret
The Restoration of Henry vi.
The Battle of Tewkesbury .
Edward iv., Burgundy, and France
Home Policy of Edward iv.
1478 and 1483. Death of Clarence and Edward iv. •
1470-1471.
1471,
285-293
285
285
288
288
288
289
289
291
292
292
293
1483-1485. Chapter V. Edward V. and Richard III. 295-299
1483. Accession of Edward v.
The Deposition of Edward v.
Richard iii. and Buckingham
1483-1486. Richard in.'s Policy
The Beauforts and the Tudors
1486. The Battle of Bosworth and
Richard ni.
the Death of
295
296
297
297
298
298-299
1399-1485. Chapter VI. Britain in the Fifteenth
Century ..... 300-307
The Constitution in the Fifteenth Century
The Church. The Universities and Learning
Prosperity of the Fifteenth Century
The Towns and Trade
Late Perpendicular Architecture .
Armours and Weapons
Literature — Poetry — Prose
The Invention of Printing. William Caxton
Scotland in the Fifteenth Century
The End of the Middle Ages
Books recommended for the further study of the
Period ......
300
300-301
301
302
302-303
303
303-305
305
306
307
307
xvin
CONTENTS
BOOK V
1485-1603. the'tudors
1485-1509. Chapter I. Henry VII. .
Character of Henry vii.
Continuance of the old Party Struggles .
1486. Lord Lovel's Eising
1487. Lambert Sinmel's Imposture
1492. The , Breton Succession, and the Treaty of
Etaples .....
1492. Perkin Warbeck's Imposture
1497-1499. The Cornish Eising, and the Execution of
Warbeck and Warwick
1496 and 1606. The Magnus Intercursus, and the Malus
Intercursus
The European Political System
1601. The Spanish Alliance
1603. The Scottish Marriage
Henry's Domestic Policy. His Ministers
Eeduction of the Power of the Nobles
Welsh and Irish Policy
1494. Poynings' Law ....
PASF,
» 308-419
308-316
308
309
309
309
310
311-312
312
312
313
313
314
314
315
315
316
1509-1529. Chapter II. Henry VIII. and Wolsey
1510.
1512-1513.
1513.
1514.
1520.
1521-1525.
1621.
1617-1529.
Character of Henry vin.
Execution of Empson and Dudley
The King's Ministers. Eise of Wolsey
Foreign Politics ....
Henry joins the Holy League
War all over Europe
Battles of the Spurs and Flodden .
Peace with France and Scotland .
The Young Princes ....
Eivalry of Charles v. and Francis i.
Wolsey' s Foreign Policy. The Balance of Power
The Field of the Cloth of Gold
War with France ....
The Triumph of Charles, and the French Alliance
The Fall of Buckingham .
The King and the Commons
The Eenascence ....
State of the Church ....
The Oxford Eeformers
Erasmus and More ....
Wolsey and the Church
The Beginnings of the Eeformation
Luther, Zwingle, and Calvin
Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn
317-336
317
318
318-319
319-320
320
320
321-322
323
323-325
325
326
J26
327
327
328
328
329
329
330
330
331
332
332-333
335
CONTENTS
XIX
1629.
The Origin of the Divorce Question
The Decretal Commission .
The Fall of Wolsey .
1529-1547. Chapter III. Henry VIII. and the Be-
ginning of the Reformation
Progress of the Divorce Question .
Henry vin. and his Subjects
1629-1636. The Reformation Parliament
Henry Supreme Head of the Church
1632-1634. The Separation from Rome
Cranmer and the Divorce .
Henrj' viii. and Protestantism
The Resistance to the Supremacy .
The Charterhouse Monks and Reginald Pole
1686. More and Fisher Executed .
Cromwell Vicar-General
State of the Monasteries
1686. The Suppression of the Smaller Monasteries
1636. The Pilgrimage of Grace
1536-1639. The Suppression ot the Greater Monasteries
The English Bible and the Growth of Reforming
Opinions ....
The King and his Wives
1638-1547. Conspiracies ....
1639. The Six Articles ....
1540. Anne of Cleves and the Fall of Cromwell .
1640-1547. The Reactionary Period
1642-1645. War with Scotland ....
1544. War with France ....
1646-1647. The New Wave of Reformation
Catharine Howard and Catharine Parr
The Fall of the Howards .
Henry viii. and Ireland .
1636. Union of England and Wales
337-351
337
338
338
338
339
339
340
340
341
341
341
342-343
343
343
344
345
345
346
346
347
348
348
349
349
349
349
350
3SO
1547-1553. Chapter IV. Edward VI. .
1647. Somerset becomes Protector
1647. Invasion of Scotland. Battle of Pinkie .
Postponement of the Scottish Reformation
1648. Loss of Boulogne ....
1649. Progress o! the Reformation. First Prayer-Book
1649. The Devonshire Rebellion .
1649. Ket's Rebellion ....
1649. Fall of Somerset ....
1649-1553. The Ascendancy of Warwick
Influence of the Foreigner Reformers
1662. The Second Prayer-Book of Edward vi. .
1668. The Forty-two Articles
352-360
352
353
354
354
355
356
356
357
357
357
35S
358
XX
CONTENTS
1553.
Failure of the King's Health
Edward's Device for the Succession
Queen Jane and Queen Mary
358
360
360
1553-1558. Chapter V. Mary
1553.
1554.
1554.
1555-1558.
1552-1559.
1557-1559.
1558.
Accession of Mary .
The Work of Edward's Beign Undone
The Spanish Marriage
Restoration of the Papal Supremacy
The Marian Persecution
Martyrdom of Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer
Want of Toleration in the Sixteenth Century
Isolation of Mary ....
War between France and the Empire
England at War with France
Death of Mary ....
361-367
361
361
362
3^3
363
364-365
365
366
366
367
367
1558-1587. Chapter VI. Elizabeth and Mary Queen
of Scots ..... 368-389
1559.
1563.
1659-1575.
1565.
Character and Policy of Elizabeth
The Queen's Ministers
Leicester and the Courtiers
The Elizabethan Settlement of the Church
The Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity
The Thirty-nine Articles
Archbishop Parker .
Elizabeth and the Roman Catholics
Geneva and the Calvinists .
The Puritans and the Elizabethan Settlement
Parker's Advertisements
The Separatists
1576 and 1683. Archbishops Grindal and Whitgift
1593. Hooker's " Ecclesiastical Polity " .
John Knox on the Scottish Reformation
Mary Queen of Scots
The Counter Reformation .
The Treaty of Le Cateau-Cambr^sis
Philip II. and the Counter Reformation
Francis 11. and his Queen .
Rivalry of Mary and Elizabeth
The Loss of Le Havre
Mary Queen of Scots in Scotland .
The Darnley Marriage
Murder of Riccio
Murder of Darnley .
Deposition of the Queen of Scots .
Mary's Flight to England .
Mary's Imprisonment
The Revolt of the Northern Earls .
The Bull of Excommunication .
1569.
1563.
1661.
1565.
1566.
1567.
1567.
1568.
1569.
1670.
368
369-370
370
370
371
371
371
372
372
373
373
374
374
374
375-376
376-377
377
378
378
379
379
379
380
380
381
381
383
384
384
385
CONTENTS
XXI
PATE
1671.
1580.
1686.
1687.
The Ridolfi Plot ....
Philip II. and the Revolt of the Netherlands
The Seminary Priests
The Jesuit Invasion
The Bond of Association
The Babington Conspiracy .
Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
386
386
386
388
388
388-389
389
1587-1603. Chapter VII. The Latter Years of the
Reign of Elizabeth
The Relations between England and Spain
Anglo-French Interference in the Netherlands
The Anjou Marriage Scheme
Leicester in the Netherlands
Spain and the Indies . . . _
The Beginnings of English Maritime Enterprise
Chancellor's Voyage
Protestantism and Maritime Adventure
Hawkins and the Slave Trade
Drake's Voyage round the World .
The Breach l^tween England and Spain .
Philip's Plans for Invading England
The Spanish Armada
The Battle off Gravelines .
Results of the Protestant Victory .
Henry iv., king of France . . .
The War with Spain
The Capture of Cadiz
The First Attempts at English Colonies .
Ireland under Mary Tudor
Shane O'Neill and Elizabeth
Ireland and the Counter-Reformation
The Desmond Rebellion and the Plantation of
Munster . . . . . .
The Irish Revolt under Hugh O'Neill
Essex in Ireland ....
Mount joy suppresses the Rebellion
Steps towards British Unity
The Cecils, Essex, and Raleigh
Continued Persecution of Puritans and Catholics
Elizabeth and her Parliaments
1697 and 1601. The Monopolies Contest
1603. Death of Elizabeth
1581.
1586.
1663.
1662-1667.
1677-1680.
1584.
1588.
1589
1689-1603
1696
1679.
1598.
1699.
1600-1603.
390407
390
391
391
392
392
393
393
394
394
396
396
397
397-399
399
399
399
400
400
401
401
402
402
402
404
404
404
404
405
406
406
406-407
407
1485-1603. Chapter VIII. England under the Tudors 408-418
The Beginnings of Modem Times .
The Tudor Monarchy
Parliament under the Tudors
Harmony between Crown and Parliament
The King and his Ministers
408
408
408-409
409
409
xxn
CONTENTS
The Council
The Star Chamber and its Victims
Local Government .
Military Weakness of the Crown .
Social and Economic Changes
The Poor Laws
Increase of Refinement and Luxury
Education and Travel
Renascence Architecture .
Other Arts ....
Early Tudor Literature
The Beginnings of Elizabethan Literature
Spenser and the Poets
The First Public Theatres .
Marlowe and the Early Dramatists
^ Shakespeare and his School
Elizabethan Prose .
Books recommended for the further study of the
Period ......
PAGR
410
410
411
411
411
412
413
413
414
414
415
415
416
416-417
417
417
418
418
BOOK Vi
1603-1714. THE STEWARTS .
1603-1625. Chapter I. James I.
The Union of the English and Scottish Crowns
Failure of James' Projects for more complete
Union .....
Completion of the Conquest of Ireland
1610. The Plantation of Ulster .
1607 and 1632. Beginnings of English Colonies — Virginia and
Maryland ....
1620-1629. The Plantation of New England .
1600. The Beginnings of the East India Company
1623. The Amboyna Massacre
The Stewarts and Parliament
Character of James i. . . .
Robert Cecil and his Enemies
1604. The Hampton Court Conference
Archbishop=! Bancroft and Abbot .
1605. The Gunpowder Plot
James and his Parliaments .
1610. The New Impositions and the Great Contract
1614. The Addled Parliament
James's Family and Favourites
Robert Ker. George Villiers
James's Foreign Policy
1617-1618. Raleigh's Last Voyage and Execution
1618. The Beginning of the Thirty Years' War .
1622-1623. James's efiorts to restore the Elector Palatine
420-533
420-434
420
421
422
422
423
423
424
424
425
425
426
426
427
427
428
428
429
429
429-430
430
431
431
432
CONTENTS
xxin
DATE
1623.
1621.
1621.
1624-1625.
Failure of the Spanish Marriage .
James's Third Parliament .
The Fail of Bacon .
James's Fourth Parliament and Death
1625-1649. Chapter II. Charles I.
1626.
1626-1627.
1628.
1628.
1629.
1629-1640.
1687.
1837.
1638.
1639.
1640.
1640.
1640.
1641.
1640-1641.
1641.
1641.
1S41.
1641.
1642.
1642.
1643.
1644.
1646.
1646.
1646.
and Charles's First
Character of Charles i.
The War with Spain
Parliament
Home and Foreign Policy
The French War and Charles's Second Parliament
The Forced Loan and Darnell's Case
Charles's Third Parliament and the Petition of
Right .....
Murder of Buckingham
Dissolution of Charles's Third Parliament
Charles's Arbitrary Rule .
Charles's Expedients for raising Money .
Ship Money. Hampden's Case
Charles's Ecclesiastical Policy
Archbishop Laud and the Piuritans
The Victims of Charles's Policy .
Thomas Wentworth
The Scottish Prayer-book .
The National Covenant
The First Bishops' War
The Short Parliament
The Second Bishops' War .
The Great Council at York
Meeting of the Long Parliament .
Attainder of Strafford
Remedial Measures of the Long Parliament
The Root and Branch Bill .
The Incident ....
The Irish Rebellion ....
The Grand Remonstrance .
The Division of Parliament into Two Parties
The Attack on the Five Members .
The Rupture between King and Parliament
The Royalist and Parliamentarian Parties
The Campaign of Edgehill and Brentford .
Royalist Successes ....
First Battle of Newbury
Cromwell and the Eastern Association
The Cessation, and the Solemn League
Covenant .....
Renewed Fighting. Battle of Marston Moor
The Destruction of Essex's Army and the Rising
of Montrose
The New Model and the Self-Denying Ordinance
The Battle of Naseby
The Battle of Philiphaugh .
and
FAGK
43*
433
433
434
435.461
435
436
436
436
437
438
438
439
439
440
440-441
441
441
442
442-443
443
444
444
445
445
445
446
446
446
447
447
447
448
448
448-449
449
449
450-451
450
45'-452
452
45|
453-456
457
457
45S
459
XXIV
CONTENTS
DATE
1646.
1648.
1648-1649.
Charles svirrenders to the Soots
Preshyterians and Independents .
Parliament and the Army ...
Charles intrigues with the Army and the Presby
terians .....
The Second Civil War
The Triumph of the Independents and the Execu-
tion of Charles i. .
PAGE
459
459
460
460-461
461
461
1649-1660. Chapter III. The Commonwealth and
the Protectorate .... 462-472
1649. Establishment of the Commonwealth . . 462
Difficulties of the New Government . , 463
1649-1650. Cromwell's Conquest of Ireland . . . 463
1649-1651. Charles 11., King of Scots .... 464
1650-1651. Battles of Dunbar and Worcester . . . 464
1652-1653. The Dutch War ..... 465
1653. The Expulsion of the Rump ... 465
The Little Parliament .... 466
The Instrument of Government . . . 466
1653-1658. Cromwell as Protector .... 467
1865. The Major-Generals .... 467
Cromwell's Puritan State Church . . . 468
Cromwell's Foreign Policy .... 469
1656. The French Alliance .... 469
1666, 1658. Jamaica, and the Battle of the Dunes . . 469
1657. The Humble Petition and Advice . . . 470
1668-1659. The Protectorate of Richard Cromwell . . 470
The Rump Restored . . . . 471
1659. A Presbyterian Revolt Suppressed . . . 471
1660. Monk declares for a Free Parliament . . 471
1660. The Declaration of Breda and the Restoration of
Charles 11. . . . . • 422
1660-1685. Chapter IV. Charles II.
1660-1661.
Work of the Convention
473
1661.
The Restoration Settlement of the Church
474
1661-1665.
The Clarendon Code
475
The Reaction against Puritanism .
476
The Restoration in Scotland
476
The Restoration in Ireland .
477
The Restoration and Foreign Policy
477
The Rivalry of England and Holland
478
1665-1667.
The Dutch War ....
47S
Growth of the American Colonies .
479
1663.
Carolina .....
479
1667.
New York and New Jersey .
479
1681.
Pennsylvania ....
479
1667.
The Fall of Clarendon
481
1667-1673.
The Cabal .....
481-482
473-488
CONTENTS
XXV
DATE
1668. The Triple Alliance ....
1670. The Treaty of Dover
1672-1673. The Dutch War ....
1678. The Declaration of Indulgence, the Test Act, and
the Fall of the Cabal
1673-1678. The Ministry of Danby
1678. The Treaty of Nijmegen
1678-1679. The Popish Plot ....
1679. The Habeas Corpus Act, and the Exclusion Bill
1679. Whigs and Tories. High Church and Low Church
1679. Battle of Bothwell Bridge .
1680. The Lords reject the Exclusion Bill
1681. The Oxford Parliament
1688. The Rye House Plot ...
1682-1686. The Tory Reaction, and the Death of Charles u,
482
482
483
484
484
485
485
486
486-487
487
487
487
488
488
1685-1688. Chapter V. James II.
1686.
1686.
1686.
1686.
1688.
1688-1689.
1688.
Character of James 11. .
The First Parliament of James n.
Argyll's Rebellion ....
Monmouth's Rebellion
Breach between James and the Tories
The Dispensing and the Suspending Powers
The Court of High Commission
The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Tyrconnell in Ireland
The Declaration of Indulgence
The Invitation to William of Orange
The Fall of James 11. . . .
The Convention and the Declaration of Right
489-495
489
489
490
490
492
492
493
493
493
494
494
495
495
1689-1702. Chapter VI. William III. and Mary . 496-510
1689.
1689.
1689.
1689.
1690.
1691.
1689.
1692.
1689-1697.
1690-1692.
1697.
1694.
The Accession of William and Mary and the Bill
of Rights .....
The Mutiny Act and the Revenue .
The Toleration Act ....
The Low Church Triumph and the Schism of
the Non-Jurors ....
James's Power upheld in Ireland .
Siege of Derry and the Battle of Newtown Butler
Battle of the Boyne
The Protestant Conquest of Ireland
The Revolution in Scotland
Battle of Killiecrankie
The Massacre of Olencoe .
The War acraunst France
Battles of Beachy Head and La Hougue .
Peace of Ryswick ....
Financial Policy ....
Death of Queen Mary . , •
496
497
497
498
498
499
499
500
500
501
501
502
503
503
503
504
XXVI
CONTENTS
DATE
1696.
1696.
1695-1699.
1698-1699.
1700.
1698-1700.
1701.
1702.
The Bond of -Association
The First United Whig Ministry .
Beginnings of Cabinet Government
The Darien Scheme
The Spanish Partition Treaties
The Failure of the Partition Treaties
The Tory Reaction .
The Act of Settlement
The Constitutional Limitations in the Act of
Settlement
The Grand Alliance and the Death of William iii
505
505
505
506
507
508
509
509
509
510
1702-1714. Chapter VII. Queen Anne
1702-1708.
1702-1713.
1702-1703.
1703.
1704.
1704-1706.
1707.
1708-1709.
1710.
1702-1708.
1708-1710.
1709.
1710-1713.
1713.
1714.
1699-1702.
1703-1704.
1704-1707.
1707.
Character of Queen Anne .
The Rule of Marlborough and Godolphin
The War of the Spanish Succession
The Early Campaigns of the War .
The Methuen Treaty
The Battle of Blenheim
Victories of the Allies
The Battle of Almanza
Battles of Oudenarde and Malplaquet
Battle of Brihuega ....
Party Contests ....
Marlborough's Whig Ministry
The Impeachment of Dr. Sacheverell
The Tory Ministry ....
The Treaty of Utrecht
End of the Age of Louis xiv.
The Tory Ministry and the Protestant Succession
The Fall of Oxford and the Death of Queen Anne
Strained Relation between England and Scotland
The Act of Security . , . . .
The Flying Squadron and the Negotiations for
the Union ......
The Parliamentary Union of England and
Scotland ......
1603-1714.
Chapter VIII.
Stewarts
Grreat Britain under the
Colonial and Commercial Development
Results of the Growth of Trade on England
Manufactures
The Poor and the Poor Law
London and the Towns
Amusements
Communications
Dress
Education
Natural Science
511-523
5"
» 512
512
512
513
513
515
515
51S
516
516
517
517
5x8
518
520
520
521
521
522
522
523
524-533-
524
524
525
525
526
526
527
527
528
528
CONTENTS
xxvii
Architecture , . . . .
Painting, Sculpture, and Music
The Drama .....
Milton and the Poets
Dryden and the Poetry of the Restoration
Establishment of Modem Prose Style
Books recommended for the further study of the
Period ......
529
529
530
531
532
533
533
BOOK VII
1714-1820. THE HOUSE OF HANOVER AND
THE RULE OF THE ARISTOC
RACY
1714-1727. Chapter I. George I.
1714.
1714-1761.
1716.
1716,
1716.
1715.
1716.
1714-1717.
1717.
1719.
1717-1720.
1718.
1720.
1721.
1727.
The Accession of George i. .
The Long Whig Rule
The Law and Custom of the Constitution
The Cabinet System
The Supremacy of the Commons .
The Whig Aristocracy
The Jacobites
The Riot Act ...
The Highlands of Scotland .
The Jacobite Rising .
Battle of Sheriffmuir and Collapse of the Rebellion
The Septennial Act .
The Whig Ministry .
The Whig Schism .
The Peerage Bill
Foreign Policy and Alberoni
Battle of Cape Passaro
The South Sea Bubble
The Bursting of the Bubble
Walpole Prime Minister
Death of George i. .
1727-1760. Chapter II. George II.
1721-1742.
1738.
1737.
George 11. and Caroline of Anspach
Character and Policy of Walpole
Parliamentary Management
Walpole the First Prime Minister
The Opposition to Walpole .
The " Patriot Whigs "
The " Boys " and William Pitt
Bolingbroke and the New Tories
The Failure of Walpole's Excise Scheme
The Porteous Riots in Edinburgh
536-641
536-545
536
537
537
537
537
538
539
539
539
540
541
541
542
542
542
543
543
544
545
545
546-569
546
547
547
548
548
549
549
549
550
55»
XXVIU
CONTENTS
■DATK
1725 and 1731. The Two Treaties of Vienna .
1738. The Third Treaty of Vienna
Outbreak of War with Spain
The War of the Austrian Successloa
The Pall of Walpole
The Carteret Ministry
The Pelham Ministry
Battle of Dettingen .
Battle of Fontenoy .
Jacobite Revolt and the Young Pretender
The March to Derby
Battles of Falkirk and GuUoden
The Subjugation of the Highlands
The Treaty of Aachen
Pelham's Domestic Reforms
The Newcastle Ministry and the Whig Schism
William Pitt and the Whig Opposition
The Duke of Devonshire's Ministry
The Pitt-Newcastle Ministry
Origin of the Seven Years' War
Commercial and Colonial Rivalry of France and
England .
European Traders in India under the Mogul
Empire .....
Dupleix's Plans ....
England and France in India
Clive and the Siege of Arcot
1767 and 1760. The Battles of Plassey and Wandewash
France and England in North America .
Fort Duquesne ....
The European Coalition against Prussia and
England .
British Disasters
Pitt as the Inspirer of Victory
The Conquest of Canada
Death of George ii.
1739.
1740-1748.
1742.
1742-1744.
1744-1754.
1743.
1745.
1745.
1745.
1746.
1748.
1748-1754.
1764-1766.
1766-1767.
1767-1761.
1740-1755.
1761.
1756.
1756-1757.
1767-1760.
1768-1760.
1760.
551
552
552
553-554
553
553
553
554
555
555
55f
5S»
558
559
559
♦ 560
560
561
S6i
561
562
562
56J
563
56s
564
564
56s
565
566
566
56»
569
1760-1789.
1761.
1761-1763.
1763-1770.
1763.
1768-1765.
1766.
1766-1766.
1766-1768.
Chapter III. George III. and the War
of American Independence
Character and Policy of George in.
George in. and Pitt
Pitt driven from Office
The Bute Ministrj' and the Peace of Paris
George in. and Foreign Politics
The Resignation of Bute
The Grenville Ministry
Wilkes and the " North Briton " .
The Stamp Act and the Fall of Grenville
The Rockingham Ministry .
The Chatham Ministry
The Renewal of the Wilkes Troubles
570-592
570
571
572
572
573
573
574
574
575
575
576
576
CONTENTS
XXIX
Burke and Junius ....
1768-1770. The Grafton Ministry
1770-1782. The North Ministry
Origin of tho American Eevolution
1768-1770. Townahend's Customs Duties and the American
Resistance ....
1773. Lord North and the Tea Duty
Failure of Conciliation
1776. Beginning of the War. Lexington and Bunker's
Hill . • . . .
1776. The Declaration of Independence .
Characteristics of the American War
1777. The Capitulation of Saratoga
1778-1780. The European Attack on Britain .
Chatham and Anaerican Independence
1778. Death of Chatham ....
1781. Yorktown and tho End of the American War
1782. Rodney restores British Naval Supremacy
Warron Hastings restores British Supremacy in
India .....
1780. The Gordon Riots ....
Ireland imitates America .
1782. The Legislative Independence of Ireland .
1782. The Second Rockingham Ministry .
Burke and Economical Reform
1782-1783. The Shelburne Ministry
1783. The Treaty of Versailles
1788. The Coalition of Fox and North .
1783. The Coalition Ministry
Fox's India Bill ....
1783-1801. William Pitt's Ministry
Character and Policy of the Younger Pitt
1784. Pitt's India Bill and Warren Hastings
Pitt's Foreign Policy
1788. The Regency Question
576
576
577
577-!-
578
580
580
S8i
581
582
582
582
583
583
584
584
5f5
585
585
586
586
587
587
%
58&
58^
590
591
591
592
1789-1802.
1789.
1788-1792.
1798-1795.
1792.
1798-1797.
1798.
1798.
Chapter IV. George III. The French
Revolution and the Irish Union
Franco before the Revolution
Voltaire and Rousseau
The Meeting of the States General
The New Constitution and its Failure
The Reign of Terror
Europe at War with the Revolution
Pjugland and tho French Revolution
The Reaction and Pitt
England joins the War against the Revolutioa
The Suspension of Cash Pa>aueuts .
The Revolutionary War at Sea
Buonaparte in Egypt . .
The Battle of tho Nile
593-606
593
594-
594
595
595
597
597-598
598
599
599
600
XXX
CONTENTS
DATE
1799. The Mysore War .....
1799-1801. The War of the Second Coalition .
1800-1801. The Battle of Marengo, and the Treaty of
Lun6ville ......
The Armed Neutrality and the Battle of
Copenhagen .....
1801-1802. The Addington Ministry and the Treaty of Amiens
The Pilot that weathered the Storm
1782-1800. Ireland under Grattan's Parliament
The United Irishmen and the French Revolution
1793-1794. The Relief Act, and the Government of Lord
Fitzwilliani .....
1798. Irish Rebellion .....
Pitt's Irish Policy .....
1800. The Union .
1801. Failure of Catholic
Resignation of Pitt
Emancipation and the
PAGE
6oo
6oo
6oi
6oi
6oi
6o2
6o2
603
603
604
604-605
605
605-606
1802-1820. Chapter V. George III. and Napoleon . 607-625
1803.
1803-1814.
1803.
1796-1806.
1804-1806.
1804-1805.
^ 1805.
1805-1806.
1806.
1806-1807.
1806.
1807.
1807-1830.
1807.
1808.
1808.
-^808-1809.
1809.
1809
1809.
1810.
1811.
1812-1813.
1814.
.1812-1814.
1815.
1816.
The Rupture of the Treaty of Amiens
The Napoleonic War
Emmet's Rebellion
Wellesley establishes British Supremacy in India
Pitt's Second Ministry
The Volunteer Movement .
The Army of England, and the Supremacy of the
Seas ....
Battle of Trafalgar .
The Third Coalition and its Failure
Death of Pitt
Ministry of All the Talents
Death of Fox
The Resignation of Grenville
The Long Tory Rule
The Conduct of the War .
The Treaty of Tilsit .
The Continental System
The Spanish Rising against Napoleon
Arthtu: WeUesley's Conquest of Portugal
The Failure of Sir John Moore
The War between France and Austria
Walcheren and Wagram
The Battle of Talavera
Torres Vedras and Busaco .
Fuentes de Onoro and Albuera
The Russian, German, and Spanish National
Revolts ....
The Pall of Napoleon
The War with the United States .
The Hundred Days .
Battle of Waterloo .
607
608
609
609
610
610
610
611
612
612
612
613
613
613
614
614
614-615
615
616
617
617
618
618
620
620
620
621
621
622
622-623
CONTENTS
XXXI
DATE
1816. The Congress of Vienna
1315-1820. England after the Peace
1820. Death of George iii.
623
625
625
1714-1820. Chapter VI. Great Britain during the
Eighteenth Century: The Industrial
Revolution ....
Commercial Ascendency of Great Britain .
The Age of Inventions
Roads, Turnpikes, and Tramways .
Navigable Rivers and Canals
The Factory System and the Industrial Revolution
The Agrarian Revolution .
Pauperism and the Com Laws
The " Age of Reason "...
The Methodist Movement .
The Evangelical Movement
Religion in Scotland
Humanitarianism and Philanthropy
Social Life .....
Art .
Poetry and the Drama
Prose . . . .
The Romantic Revival
Books recommended for the further study of the
Period ......
626-639
626
626-627
627-628
628
628-630
630-631
631
632
632-633
633-634
634
634-635
635
636
637
637-638
638-639
639
BOOK VIII
1820-1901. NATIONALITY AND DEMOCRACY . 642-727
1820-1830. Chapter I. George IV.
1820.
1820.
1820.
1822.
1827.
1827.
1827-1828.
1828-1830.
Accession of George iv.
The Trial of Queen Caroline
The Cato Street Conspiracy
The Old and the New Tories
The Canningites admitted to Office
Canning's Foreign Policy .
The Holy Alliance .
The Revolt of the Spanish Colonies and the
Monroe Doctrine ....
Canning and the Greek Insurrection
Battle of Navarino ....
Peel's Reforms as Home Secretary
Huskisson's Commercial and Financial Reforms
Canning's Ministry and Death
The Goderich Ministry
The Wellington Ministry ,
The Catholic Associatiou and the Clare Election .
642-649
642
643
643
643
644
644
644
645
645
646
646
647
647
647
647
648
xxxu
CONTENTS
SATE .
1829. Catholic Emancipation
Wellington's Foreign Policy
1880. Death of George iv. .
1830-1837. Chapter 11. William IV. .
1830.
1830.
1831-1832.
1832.
1832-1835.
1834.
1837.
Democracy and Nationality
Revolutions on the Continent
The Agitation for Parliamentary Beform
William rv. and the Grey Ministry
The Need for Parliamentary Reform
The Reform Movement under George iv.
The Struggle for Reform
The First Reform Act passed
Irish Repeal and the Tithe War
Other Reforms
Palmerston's Foreign Policy
The Melbourne Ministry
Peel and the Conservative Party
Death of William iv.
648-649
649
649
650^56
650
650
651
651
652
652
653
653
654
654
6S5
655
. 656
1837-1865.
Chapter III.
ston .
Victoria — Peel and Palmer-
Separation of England and Hanover
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert .
The Changed Conception of the Work of the
Monarchy and House of Lords .
SociaUsm and Chartism
Melbourne's Ministry
Conservative Reaction
Foreign Pohcy of the Peel Ministry
Young Ireland. Peel's Irish Policy
The Corn Laws and Popiilar Unrest
The Anti-Corn Law League
Peel and Free Trade
The Failure of the Irish Potato Crop
The Repeal of the Corn Laws
Fall of Peel .....
Peelites, Protectionists, Liberals, and Radicals
The Russell Ministry
The Irish Famine and its Consequences .
The Year of Revolutions
Chartism and Young Ireland
Palmerston's Foreign Policy
1851 and 1852. Dismissal of Palmerston and Russell .
1852. The First Derby-Disraeli Ministry .
The Aberdeen Coalition Ministry .
Nicholas i. and the Eastern Question
Origin of the Crimean War
The Crimean War ....
Palmerston's First Ministry
1835-1841.
1841.
1841-1846.
1839.
1845.
1846.
1846.
1846-1852.
1846-1847.
1848.
1848.
1862-1855.
1864-1856.
1855-1858.
657-673
657
657
658
659
659
660
660
661
662
662
663
663
663
664
664
665
665
666
666
666
667
667
668
668
669
669
671
CONTENTS
xxx:n
DATE
1858-1859.
1859-1865.
1861-1865.
1865.
The Second Derby-Disraeli Ministry ,
The Second Palmerston Ministry .
Italian and German Unity
The American Civil War
Palmorston's Foreign Policy
The Death of Palmerston and its Results
671
672
672
672
673
673
1865-1886.
Cliapter IV.
Disraeli
Victoria — Gladstone and
1865.
1865-1866.
1866-1868.
1867.
1868-1874.
1869.
1870.
1870.
1870-1871.
1874.
1874-1880.
1877-1878.
187S.
1879.
1880.
1880-1885.
1885.
1884-1885.
1885-1886.
1886.
1886.
Banning of the Transition to Democracy
The Bussell Ministry and the Beform Bill
The Third Derby-Disraeli Ministry
The Second B«form Act
The Fenians
The First Gladstone Ministry
Disestablishment of the Irish Church
Irish Land System .
The First Irish Land Act .
The Education Act and Other Reforms
The Franco-German War and its Results
Gladstone's Foreign Policy
Fall of Gladstone ...
The Disraeli Ministry
The Home Rule Movement
The Russo-Turkish War
The Treaties of San Stefano and Berlin
The Dual Contest in Egypt
Fall of Beaconsfield
The Second Gladstone Ministry
Its Irish Policy
Egypt and the Sudan
The Death of Gordon
The Third Reform Act
The First Salisbury Ministry
The Third Gladstone Ministry
Home Rule and the Break-up of the Old Parties
674-685
674
674
67s
675
676
676
676
676-677
677
677
678
678
679'
679^^
679 ^
680
68 1
681
682
682
682
683
683
684
684
684
685
1886-1901.
Chapter V. Victoria-
the Empire .
-Home Rule and
1886-1892. The Salisbury Unionist Ministry .
The Plan of Campaign
1888- 1889. The Pamell Commission .
1890-1891. Pamellitee and Anti-Pamellites .
1886-1892. Foreign Policy. The Triple and the Dual
Alliances ....
1887. The Queen's Jubilee
1892-1894. The Fourth Gladstone Ministry .
1893. The Lords Reject the Home Rule Bill
Filling up the Cup •
686-694
686
686
687
687
688
68S
689
689
689
XXXIV
CONTENTS
SATE
1894-1896. The Rosebery Ministry
1895-1901. The Third SaHsbury Ministry
Armenia and Crete. Other Foreign Troubles
1896-1899. The Conquest of the Sudan
1898. Fashoda .....
Troubles in the Far East .
1897 and 1901. The Diamond Jubilee and the Death of Queen
Victoria ......
FACE
690
690
691
692
693
693
694
1820-1901. Chapter VI. The United Kingdom in
the Nineteenth Century . . . 695-708
Increase of the Functions of the State
Central Government
Local Government ....
The Army and the Navy ,
The Church .....
The Tractarian Movement and its Results
The Protestant Nonconformists
The Roman Catholics
The Established Church and the Free Church in
Scotland .....
Material Wealth ....
Steamboats .....
Steam Railways and other Inventions
Social and Industrial Progress
Architecture .....
Painting, Music, and Sculpture
Natural Science ....
Poetry and Prose ....
Education .....
6^5
695
696
697-698
698
698-699
699
700
700
701
701
702-703
703
704
705
705
706-707
707-708
1820-1901. Chapter VII. British India in the Nine-
teenth Century .... 709-718
1820.
1820.
1828-1835.
1839-1842.
1843 and 1845.
1849 and 1852.
1857.
1858.
1878-1880.
The Indian and Colonial Empires .
The Condition of British India
The Condition of the Indian Vassal States
The Governorship of Lord William Bentinck
The Afghdn War ....
The Conquest of Sind and the First Sikh War
Annexations of the Punjab and of Lower
Burma . . . . .
Dalhousie's Doctrine of Lapse
Lord Canning and the Indian Mutiny
End of the East India Company . . .
Second Afgh4n War . . ' . . • ,
India at the End of Victoria's Reign . ,
709
710
710
711
712
712
713
713
714
715.
716
716
CONTENTS
XXXV
DATE PACE
1783-1901. Chapter VIII. The British Colonies in
the Nineteenth Century . .719-727
British Colonies in the Latter Part of the
Eighteenth Century . . . . 719
Colonial Expansion during the Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars .... 720
Decay of the West Indies .... 720-721
The Emigration Movement . . . 721
Phases of Colonial Policy . . . . 721
Growth of Colonial Independence . . . 722
Colonial Federation .... 722
The North American Colonies . . . 723
The Dominion of Canada .... 723
The Commonwealth of Australia . , . 723-724
South Africa ..... 724
The Boer Republics .... 724
The Rand Miiies and the Struggle of Boer and
Outlander . . . . . 725
The Boer War ..... 726-727
The Establishment of British Supremacy . . 727
Books recommended for the further study of the
Period ...... 727-728
BOOK IX
1901-1910. Chapter I. The Reign of Edward VII. 728-739
1840-1856.
1867,
1901.
1889.
1901-1902.
1902-1910.
1910.
1902-1905.
1902.
1903.
1904.
1903.
1904-1905.
1905.
1903.
1905.
1906.
1908.
1906-1907.
1909.
1910.
The House of Saxony and the Coburg-Gotha sue
cession ....
Character of Edward vii.
End of the Boer War
South African Settlement .
The Federation of South Africa
The Balfour Ministry
Balfour's Education Act
Irish Land Act
Licensing Act
The Isolation of England
The Convention with France
Russo-Japanese War
Tbe North Sea incident
Edward the Peace Maker
Tariff Reform
Resignation of Chamberlain
Resignation of Balfour
Liberal victory at Elections and Campbell- Banner
man Ministry
The Asquith Ministry
Liberal Education billa — The Liberal programme
and the Lords
House of Lords throw out the Budget
General Election
Death of Edward yii.
72S
729
729
730
730
730
730
73»
731
732
732
732
733
733
734
734
735
735
736
736-738
738
738
739
LIST OF BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Books recommended
to 1066 .
Books recomm,ended
1066-1215
Books recommended
1215-1399
Books recommended
1399-1485
Books recommended
1485-1603
Books recommended
1603-1714
Books recommended
1714-1820
Books recommended
1820-1901
for the further study of the Period, up
for the further s
for the further
for the further
for the further
for the further
fcudy of the
study of the
study of the
study of the
study of the
for the further study of the
Period,
Period
Period
Period
Period
Period
for the further study of the Period
PAGE
80-81
158
253
307
418
533
639
727-728
LIST OF MAPS AND PLANS
Boman Britain .....
South Britain after the English Conquest (about 607)
Map showing position of Nectansmere
The Welsh and English Lands in Offa's Time
The Voyages and States of the Norsemen up to the Tenth Century 42
England after Alfred and Guthnim's Peace, 886 . . .46
England at the Death of Edward the Confessor . . .67
The Battle of Hastings . . . . . -7^
The New Forest . . . . . .101
England and Wales during the Norman Period . . 109
Plan of Christ Church, Canterbury . . . . .121
Prance in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, showing the
Continental Dominions of the Norman and Angevin Kings . 128
The Crusade of Richard i. . . . . . .132
Plan of Ch&teau Gaillard . . . . -135
The Battle of Lewes . . . . . . 1 72
The Battle of Evesham . . . . . • ' 75
Wskles and the March, showing the growth of the power of
Llewelyn (1246-1267) 176
Wales and the March between the Conquest under Edward i. and
the Union under Henry vni. ..... 181
English King's Dominion in France in the Thirteenth Century . 190
The Battle of Bannockbum ...... 200
Northern England and Southern Scotland in the Fourteenth
Century ........ 210
The Ordcy Campaign, 1346 . . , . - .213
The Battle of Cre'cy . . . . . .214
The Battle of Poitiers . . . . • . .218
The English Dominions in France after the Treaties of Br^tigni
and Calais (1360) . . . . . . .220
Some forms of Mediaeval Architecture .... 246
The Agincourt Campaign ...... 264
The Battle of Agincourt . . . .266
France in 1429 ........ 274
xxxvii
13
23
36
37
XXXVlll
LIST OF MAPS AND PLANS
The Battle of Towton . . . . •
England, 1377-1509, illustrating the Wars of the Roses
The French and Netherlandish Borders in the Sixteenth Century
The Battle of Flodden
Europe at the Time of Charles v.
English Bishoprics under Henry viii.
The Battle of Pinkie ....
Scotland in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
The Netherlands in the Beginning of the Seventeenth Century
Voyages and Settlements of the Sixteenth Century
The Course of the Spanish Armada ,
Ireland tmder the Tudors
Ireland in the Seventeenth Century
England and Wales during the Great Civil War —
1. May, 1643
2. November, 1644 .
The Battle of Marston Moor .
The Battle of Naseby ....
The English Colonies in North America imder Charles n.
The South of England, 1685-1689 .
The Battle of Blenheim
Europe in 1713 ....
Scotland and the North of England, illustrating the Jacobite
Risings of 1689, 1715, and 1745-1746
New England and New France, 1755-1783 .
The Thirteen Colonies in 1765
The Battle of Trafalgar
Europe in 1810 ....
The Battle of Waterloo
Europe after the Congress of Vienna (1815) .
Map to illustrate the Industrial Revolution .
The Neighbourhood of Sebastopol
Egypt and the Sudan ....
India in 1906 .....
South Africa in 1899 ....
The British Empire in the Eady Twentieth Century
LIST OF GENEALOGICAL TABLES
The Chief Northumbrian Kings
The Danish Kings ....
The House of Godwin ....
The House of Leofric ....
The Old English Kings of the House of Cerdic
The Norman and Early Angevin Kings
The Proven<?al8 and Savoyards
The House of Lusignan
The Earls of Gloucester
The Last Welsh Princes
The Scottish Kings, showing the Chief Claimants in 1290
The French Kings of the Direct Capetian Line, showing Edward
III. 'a claim ....
The English Kings from John to Richard ii.
The House of Lancaster, including the Beauforts
The Valois Kings of France, and the Valois Dukes of Burgundy
The House of York, including the Mortimers and Staffords
The Nevilles ....
The Greys and Woodvilles
Charles v. and the Hapsburg Kings of Spain
The Howards and Boleyns
The Dudleys ....
The House of Tudor .
The Cromwell Family
The Spanish Succession, 1700
The Stewart Kings in Scotland and England
The Boinrbon Kings of France
The Buonaparte Family
The Pitts and Grenvilles
The House of Brimswick-HauoTer .
PAOB
35
6i
65
65
72
»S7
163
170
171
180
187
207
254
261
269
284
294
299
325
334
358
419
472
507
534
535
616
639
640
sods
TABLE OF KINGS AND QUEENS
CHIEF KINGS OF NOBTHXTMBBIA
^thelfrith, 593-617
Edwin, 627-6S3 .
Oswald, 635-642 .
Oswiu, 655-671
Ecgfrith, 671-685 .
PAGB
27
30-31
31-32
32-33
35
Penda, 626-655 .
Ethelbald, 716-757
OSa, 757-796
Cenulf, 796-821 .
CHIEF KINGS OF MEBCIA
31-34
36
36-37
38
CHIEF KINGS OF WESSEX
Egbert, 802-839 .....
Ethelwulf, 839-858 ....
Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Ethelred, 858-871 .
Alfred, 871-899
39-40
41
43
44-49
THE OLD ENGLISH KINGS
Edward the Elder, 899-924
Athelstan, 924-940
Edmund, 940-946 .
Edred, 946-955 .
Edwy, 955-959
Edgar the Peaceful, 959-975
Edward the Martyr, 975-978
Ethelred the Unready, 978-1016
Edmund Ironside, 1016 .
Cnut, 1017-1035 .
Harold Harefoot, 1035-1040
Harthacnut, 1040-1042 ,
Edward the Confessor, 1042-1066
Harold, son of Godwin. 1066
50-51
51-52
52
52-53
S3
54-55
55-56
57-59
59
59-61
61
6i
62-66
66-69
TABLE OF KINGS AND QUEENS
THE NOBHAN KDTOS
William i., the Conqueror, 1066-1087
William n., Rufus, 1087-1100 .
Henry i., 1100-1136
Stephen, 1135-1154
xU
PACK
82-93
94-10 1
102-110
111-115
THE HOUSE OF ANJOU
Henry 11., of Anjou, 1154-1189
Richard i., 1189-1199
John, 1199-1216 .
Henry in., 1216-1272
Edward i., 1272-1307
Edward 11., 1307-1327
Edward in., 1327-1377
Richard n., 1377-1399
116-130
i3«-»36
137-135
i59-'77
178197
198-204
205-227
228-237
THE HOUSE OF LANCASTE&
Henr>- iv., 1399-1413
Henry v., 1413-1422
Henry vi., 1422-1461
and 1470-1471
255-260
262-268
270-283
289-291
THE HOUSE OF YOKE
Edward iv., 1461-1470
and 1471-1483
Edward v., 1483 .
Richard ni., 1483-1485 .
285-289
291-293
295-296
296-299
THE HOUSE OF TUDOB
Henrv vn., 1485-1609
Heniy viii., 1609-1647
Edward vi., 1547-1553
Marv, 1553-1558 .
Elizabeth, 1558-1603
308-316
3i7-3S«
352-360
361-367
368-407
THE HOUSE OF STEWABT
James i., 1603-1625
Charles i., 1625-1649
The Commonwealth, 1649-1663 .
and 1669-1660 .
Oliver Cromwell, Protector, 1663-1668
Richard Cromwell, Protector, 1668-1669
Charles 11., 1660-1685
James 11., 1685-1688
William III., and Mary n., 1689-1694 \
William in., 1689-1702 . . /
Aune, 1702-1714 .
420-434
435-461
462-467
470-472
467-470
470
473-488
489-495
496-504
504.510
511-523
xlii TABLE OF KINGS AND QUEENS
THE HOUSE OF HANOVER
George I., 1714-1727
George n., 1727-1760
George m., 1760-1820
George iv., 1820-1830
William IV., 1830-1837 .
536-545
546-569
570-625
642-649
650656
Victoria, 1837-1901 . . .. •
657-694
Edward vn., 1901-1910 .
728-739
BOOK I
BRITAIN BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST
{UP TO 1066)
CHAPTER I
PREHISTORIC AND CELTIC BRITAIN
Chief Dates ;
? 330 B.C. The voyage of Pytheas^
1. There are few surviving written records of the doiaps of man in
the British Islands which are much earlier than the Christian era.
Yet the modem sciences of geology, archaeology, and phUology prove
that these islands had been the dwelling-place of human beings for
many centuries previous to that period. The earliest certain evidence
of the existence of man in Britain is derived from
the discovery of large numbers of rudely slvaped flint iithic Aae*
implements. Some of these have been found in the
gi-avels of river drifts, and others in the caves where early man
made his dwelling. A few skulls, discovered along ^nXix such primi-
tive tools, show that the dwellers in this remote age were of a low
intellectual type. Yet the survival of a rude but sjnrited drawing
of a horse on a flat piece of bone indicates that these savages had
the rudiments of an artistic sense. Tlie age in which they lived is
called the palieolithic, or old stone age. There is little proof that
the men of this age had any connection with the later races which
successively inhabited Britain.
2. Many ages x>assed away, and more abundant evidence is found
of the existence of man in Britain. We pass from the palRH)lithio
to the neolithic, or new stone age, where the roughly
fashioned tools of the primitive race were replaced by m^ic Age.
more carefully constructed implements of smooth
polLshed stope. Such neolithic tools include arrow-heads, sharp
enough to transfix an enemy, axe^heads called cdtg, scrapers, knives,
B
2 PREHISTORIC AND CELTIC BRITAIN
dress-fasteners, and saws. The care of the men of this period for
their dead is indicated by the solidly built harrows of long oval
shape, wherein hiige stones, piled up to form a sepulchral chamber
for a whole clan, were then covered in with great mounds of
earth. Numerous remains of the dead found in these resting-
places suggest that the men of the new stone age were short in
stature, swarthy in complexion, and had long narrow skulls of the
type called dolichocephalic. To these people has been
Iberians sometimes given the name of Iberians, because they have
been thought akin to the Basques, the original inhabi-
tants of Iberia or Spain, and some philologists have believed that a
few words of their tongue still lurk in some of our most ancient ^
Ijlace-names. However these things may be, there is good reason
to believe that the blood of this ancient race still flows in the veins
of many of those now dwelling in our land.
3. The Iberian inhabitants of Britain were ultimately attacked
by a stronger and more ingenious race called the Celis. This
. people belonged to the great Aryan family, whose
language was the origin of nearly all the civilized
tongues of Europe, and of those of a considerable part of western
Asia. Their physical characteristics were very different from those
of their short and swarthy predecessors. They were tall, fair-
skinned, with red or yellow hair, and their skulls were broader,
shorter, and more highly developed, belonging to the type called
brachycephalic. They came to Britain in two great waves of migi*a-
tion. The earlier Celtic wave deposited in our islands the races
called Goidelic, or Gaelic, which are now represented
Cofdels ^y ^^^ Irish, the Scottish Highlanders, and the Manx-
men. The second migration was that of the Brythonic
peoples, who were the ancestors of the Britons, afterwards celled
the Welsh, as well as of the Bretons of Brittany and
Brythons. *^® Cornishmen. In each case the incoming race took
possession of the richer and more fertile southern and
eastern parts of our island, and drove the previous inhabitants into
the mountains of the west and north. The Goidels forced the
Iberians back into these regions, and were then in their tiirn pushed
westwards and northwards by the incoming Britons. By the time
that our real knowledge begins, the Britons had occupied the whole
of the south and east, and the mass of the Goidels had been driven
over sea to Ireland, and to the barren mountains of the north be-
yond the Forth and the Clyde. There was still, however, a strong
Goidelic element along the western coasts of southern Britain,
PREHISTORIC AND CELTIC BRITAIN 3
especially in the south-west peninsula, which now makes Cornwall
and Devonshire, in south Wales, and in the lands round the
Solway.
4. It is to these western and northern lands that we must look
if we would study the older populations of the British islands.
The Goidels, when driven into the west, seem to have become
amalgamated with the Iberians whom they had earlier i)Tished into
those reg-ions. The result of this was the development _. nrnn\.
there of two physical types which have survived to our g:amation of
own days. The incoming Celt is still represented Ibwlans
in Ireland, Wales, and the Scottish Highlands by
occasional tall, fair men ; but the most usual type in those districts
is that of a short, dark-haired, dark-complexioned race, which is
probably largely derived from the blood of the pre-Celtic iuhabi-
tants of our land. But for both types alike, the Celtic language
and the Celtic institutions became universal. There was, and is,
however, a great difference between the Goidelic speech of the
earlier Celtic migration, still spoken by some of the Irish, Manx,
and Scottish Highlanders, and the Brythonic tongue of the later
immigrants, stiU surviving in Welsh and Breton, and, till the nine-
teenth century, in Cornish.
5. Civilization now steadily progressed, though it is almost im-
iwssible to say for certain whether the next great steps forward were
the work of the earlier or of the later race. The people's increasing
care for the dead led them to erect huge circles of great stones, each
resembling the stone chamber of the barrow, stripped of its mound
of earth, and piled up in magnificent order in mighty
inegalithic montunents. Of these, Avebury in northern mo^ments.
Wiltshire, and Stonehenge on Salisbury plain, are the
most famous examples. After the coming of the Celts the fashion
of burial changed. Instead of the long barrow, destined to receive
the remains of many warriors, short round barrows, each the grave
of a particular chieftain or of his kin, became so usual as to be ex-
tremely numerous. In these were deposited the bodies, or some-
times the bumt ashes, of the dead, and along with them were put
implements cif stone and bronze, ornaments of gold, jet. amber,
and glass, and i)ottery. made by hand, and unglazed, but rudely
ornamented, and polished by hard rubbing.
6. When this stage had been attained, the stone The Bronz*
age was over, and the period was reached when the »"<*J'^"
use of metals was known. This marked an enor- '
mous advance of civilization. First came the brome age, which
4 PREHISTORIC AND CELTIC BRITAIN
was ultimately succeeded by the iron age, whicli lias been going on
ever since. The Goidel came to Britain in the age of bronze,
and at the beginning of the iron age the Britons of the newer
Celtic migration had become the masters of the southern part of
our island, to which they had given the name of Britain.
7. The Celts were the first inhabitants of our island to attain
a respectable level of civilization. They wore clothes, used metal
weapons, and delighted in gold and glass ornaments.
civilizatf ^''^ They tilled the ground, opened up tin and lead mines,
and began to trade with their neighbours. They were
brave, liigh-spirited, and enterprising ; had a real love of beautiful
things, and delighted in war and battle. They were split up into
different tribes, each of which had its own king, though occasionally
several tribes would join together under a common king, especially
in times of danger. The Celts were fickle and quai-relsome, and
seldom remained permanently under any other ruler than the
chief of their c"vn tribe or clan. The gentry went to battle in war-
chariots, drawn by horses, which tliey managed with extraordinary
skill. They protected themselves by bronze helmets and body
armour, often beautifully enriched by ornament. Their weapons
were the sword, the buckler, the dart, and the axe. The Celts wor-
shipped many gods, and sought to propitiate them by human sacri-
fices. They held in great honour their priests, who were called
Druids, and who also were the poets, prophets, and judges of the
people. The chief wealth of the nation lay in their flocks and
herds, and the population lived for the most j)art in scattered home-
steads. They erected, however, as refuges in times of war, great
earthworks called duns. Favourite sites for these fortresses were
the summits of high hiUs, from which they could overlook the
countryside. The majority of the Britons lived upon the uplands,
as the river valleys were swampy, \mliealthy, and hard to ctiltivate ;
but some of them were fishermen or watermen, like tlie dwellers
in the lake villages discovered near Glastonbiuy. There was
enough intercourse between tribe and tribe for rough trackways to
be marked out over the downs and hiUs from one settlement to
another.
8. Though the Druids composed verses, wherein they com-
memorated the deeds of great men, and set foi-th the laws and
The voyage wisdom of their ancestors, the Britons had no books,
of Pytheas, so that no account of them from their own point
? 330 B.C. q£ YJg^ j^^g \iQ&a. handed down to us. Tlie earliest
information that we have of the Britons comes from the travellers'
PREHISTORIC AND CELTIC BRITAIN 5
tales of Greek explorers from the Mediterranean. Somewhere
about 3J30 b.c, some merchants of the Greek colony of Massilia
(now called Marseilles), in the south of Gaul, sent a mathematician
named Pytheas to explore the lands on the Atlantic coast of
Europe in the hope of opening- up a trading connection with them.
Among other countries Pytheas visited Britain, sailing through the
Channel and all up the eastern coast, and setting down his observa-
tions of the country and its people in writings of which, unluckily,
only fragments have come down to us. From the voyage of
Pytheas a trading connection between Britain and the commercial
cities of the Mediterranean was opened up, which soon became
important. There were also close dealings between the Britons
and their Celtic kinsmen the Gauls, their nearest continental neigh-
bours. Many Gauls settled in southern Britain, and stUl further
raised its standard of refinement. The tin, lead, amber, and pearls
of the Britons found a ready market in cities like Massilia, and by
this means some vague knowledge of the existence of Britain
became spread among civilized people. So active did commerce
become that the Britons struck coins of gold and tin, which were
rudely fashioned after the models of the Greek monies of the
period. So intercourse increased and civilization grew untU, nearly
three hundred years after the voyage of Pytheas, the advance
of the Boman Empire brought Britain into the fuller light of
history.
CHAPTER II
ROMAN BRITAIN (55 B.C.-449 A.D.)
Chief Dates :
SS-54 B.C. Julius Caesar's expeditions to Britain.
43 A.D. Claudius begins the Roman conquest of Britain.
78-85. Government of Agricola.
122. Hadrian's Wall built.
297. Diocletian reorganizes the British provinces.
410. Withdrawal of the Roman legions.
1. Ix the generations preceding the Christian era the Romans
established their dominion over the whole of the lands surrounding
the Mediterranean, the centre of the civilization of
Cffisar's First ^^® ancient world. The last step of this conquest
Expedition was the subjugation of Graul by Gains Julius Cassar,
to^^'jt*'"' between 58 and 50 B.C. Brought by his triumphant
progress to the shores of the Channel, Caesar learnt
that the Britons had afforded refuge to the fugitives from his arms
in Gaul, and believed that their sympathy with their continental
brethren would make it harder for the Romans to keep Gaul
qmet. Accordingly he resolved to teach the Britons the might
of the Roman power, and in 55 B.C. he led a small expedition
over the straits of Dover, and successfully landed it in Kent,
despite the vigorous resistance which the Britons offered to his
disembarkation. Caesar found, however, that the Britons were
stronger than he thought, and that he had not brought enough
troops to accomplish anything great against them. For the few
weeks that he remained in Britain, he did not venture far from
the coast. Before long he returned to Gaul, convinced that he
must wipe out his failure by conducting a stronger army to England
as soon as he could.
2. Next year, 54 B.C., Caesar landed in Britain for the second
time. He then took with him more than twice as many soldiers as
on the previous occasion. Having established a camp on the coast,
6
55 B.C.] ROMAN BRITAIN 7
lie inarched boldly into the interior. He was opposed by Cassivel-
lauuus, king* of the tribes dwelling" on the north bank of the
Thames. The lig-ht-armed Britons shrunk from a
pitched battle with the Romans, and failed to prevent J"Hus
them from forcing- their passag-e over the Thames, second Ex-
But their swift war-chariots hnng upon the Roman pedltlon to
line of march, threatened to destroy Caesar's camp on ^ ^^'
the coast, and prevented him from winning" any very
sti-iking- trimnphs. However, some of the British ti-ibes were jealous
of Cassivellaunus. Conspicuous among these were the Trinovantes,
his eastern neig"hbours, dwelling in what is now Essex. This tribe
sent envoys to Caesar, and submitted to him. Alanned at this
defection, Cassivellaunus also made his peace with the Roman
general, and agreed not to disturb the Trinovantes. Some of the
tril>es promised to yield up hostages and to i)ay tribute to the
Romans. Thereupon Caesar went back to the continent. He had
not even attempted to conquer Britain, but he had taught the
Britons a lesson, and had prevented them from harming the
Roman power in Gaul. The most enduring result of Csesar's visits
is to be found in the description of Britain and the Britons which
he wrote in his famous Commentaries. This is the first full written
accoiint of our island that has come down to us. With it the
continuous history of our land begins.
3. For ninety years after Caesar's landing no Roman troops were
seen in Britain. Increased commerce followed upon the greater
knowledge which Romans and Britons now had of
each other. The Trinovantes, who remained true to Britain,
tlie Roman connection, profited by it to make them- 64 B.C.—
selves masters of most of south-eastern Britain. Their ' '
power came to a head under their king Cunobelinus, the Cymbelino
of Shakespeare and romance. He struck coins which closely
imitated those of the contemporary Romans, made Camulodunum
(Colchester) his capital, and felt himself strong enough to throw ofE
Roman control. One of his brothers, disgusted at being supplanted,
api)ealed to the Romans for help, but his valiant son Caractacus
continued his policy after his death. Thus strainml relations en-
sued between the Romans and the Trinovantes. The jjromised
tribute was not paid ; Gaulish rebels were encouraged, and Gaulish
fugitives from Roman rule received once more a welcome.
4. The renewed hostility of the Britons to Rome conduced the
Emperor Claudius that the only way of making Gaul secure was
by conquering Britain. Accordingly, in 43 a'.d., Claudius sent
8 ROMAN BRITAIN. [43-
a strong army to the island, under Anlus Plautius. With his
The Roman landing' ^^^ systematic Roman conquest of Britain
conquest of began. Plautius soon made such progress that Claudius
Britain. himself visited the country, and witnessed his soldiers
taking by storm Caractacus' stronghold of Camulodunum. which
Aulus ^o(m. became a Roman colony — the first in Britain.
Plautius, When Plautius returned to Rome in 47, he had made
43-47 A.D. himself master of the south and midlands as far as
the Humber and the Severn. The next governor, Ostorius Scapula
Ostorius (47-52), strove to subdue the SUures and Ordovices,
Scapula, the fierce tribes that dwelt in the hills of southern and
47-52. central Wales, among whom Caractacus found a refuge
after the conqiiest of his own district. The Roman general defeated
Caractacus in a pitched battle, and forced him to flee northwards
to the Brigantes of the modern Yorkshire. Surrendered by these
to the Romans, the British king was led in triumph through Rome.
His brave and frank bearing won the favour of Claudius, who per-
mitted him to end his days in honourable retirement. But the
conquest of the Welsh hills was not lasting, and aU the Romans
could do was to establish a ring of border garrisons at Deva
(Chester), Viroconium (Wroxeter), and Isca Silurum (Caerleon-on-
Usk), whereby the wUd mountaineers were restrained.
5. The Roman conquest of Britain was further advanced by
the governor, Suetonius PaulHnus (59-62), who in 61 completed
Suetonius ^^® subjugation of the hiU-tribes of the west by the
PaulHnus, reduction of Mona or Anglesey, the last refuge of
59-62. ^j^g Druids. A sanguinary insurrection of the Iceni,
the clan inhabiting what is now Norfolk and Suffolk, recalled
Paullinus. The Icenian King, Prasutagos, who had ruled under
Roman over-lordship, made the Emperor his co-heir, jointly with
his two daughters. On his death the Romans took possession of
his lands, brutally iU-treated his daughters, and cruelly scourged his
widow, Boudicca (Boadicea), who strove to maintain their rights.
The indignant tribesmen took advantage of the governor's absence
to rise in revolt. Camiilodunum was stormed, and aU the Romans
within it put to the sword. A like fate befell Verulamium (St.
Albans), the seat of Roman government, andLondinium (London),
the chief commercial centre of Britain. The legion that held the
northern frontier hurried southwards, but was cut to pieces by the
Iceni in the open field. At last Paullinus, fresh from his triumph
at Mona, marched eastward at the head of the strong force which
had held down the disturbed western frontier. Defeated in a
-122.] ROMAN' BRITAIN 9
pitched battle, Boudicca avoided captivity and shame by drinking
off a bowl of poison. The suppression of the rebellion completed
the reduction of aU Britain south of the Humber and east of the
Dee and Usk. But the mountaineers of what is now called Wales
took advantage of Paullinus' withdrawal to renew their freedom,
and for many years the Koman advance northwards and westwards
was staj'ed.
6. The next forward movement was under Julius Ag^ricola, a
famous statesman and general, who was governor of Britain from
78 to 85. Agricola's son-yi-law, the famous historian, juuuj
Tacitus, wrote a Ufe of his father-in-law in such detail Agrrlcola,
that we learn more of his doings in Britain than of
those of any commander since Julius Caesar. Agricola's first
military erploit was to complete the subjugation of the hill-tribes
of the west. Thereupon he turned his arms northwards and sub-
dued the fierce Brigantes, establishing a new camp at Eburacum
(York), which soon became the chief centre of the Koman power.
Within the next few years he seems to have advanced still further
northwards, until he found a natural barrier in the narrow isthmus
wlxich separates the Firth of Forth and Clyde, where he erected a
line of forts. Not contented with this, Agricola advanced beyond
this line into the mountains of northern Scotland, whose wild in-
habitants, called then the Caledonians, opposed him -s-igorously
under their chieftain Galgacus. At last, in 84, Agricola won a
victory over Galgacus at an unknown place called Mons Graupius.
After this he circumnavigated the north coast of Scotland with a
fleet, and even talked of conquering Ireland. Next year, however,
he was recalled, and his successors took up a less enterprising
policy. Even more important than Agricola's victories were the
efforts he made to civilize the Britons and spread Roman fashions
among them. The sons of the chieftains learned to speak Latin,
adopted the Roman dress, and followed their conquerors' habits of
life.
7. South Britain remained hard to hold. A revolt annihilated
the legion stationed at York, and about 122 the ■wise Emperor
Hadrian, abandoning the northern regions, which j^^ ^^^
Agricola had claimed as part of the province, erected Roman
a solid wall of stone, fortified by frequent forts, to walls,
form a scientific frontier for the region solidly held by the
Romans. The line chosen for this purpose ran from the month
of the Solway to the mouth of the Tyne — roughly speaking, from
Carlisle to Newcastle — a distance of more than seventy miles. If
lO ROMAN BRITAIN [143-
tlie still narrower frontier-line from Clyde to Forth were too
remote to be held with safety, the limits thus chosen were the best
that could be found. After nearly seventeen centuries the sub-
stantial remains of this great work, stretching across the high hills
that separate the valleys of the Tyne and the Solway, still con-
stitute by far the most majestic memorial of the Roman power
in Britain. In 143, Lollius Urbicus, the governor of Britain
under the Emperor Antoninus Pius, went back to the limits once
conquered by Agricola, and erected a new boundary wall between
the Forth and the Clyde. Built of sods laid on a basement of stone,
the northern wall of Antoninus was a much less solid structure than
the wall of Hadrian. It soon became unimportant, as the Romans
made few attempts to occupy the barren moorlands that take
nj) most of the region between the two walls. Occasionally the old
aggressive spirit revived, and notably between 208 and 211, when
the able Emperor Septimius Severus spent four years in Britain,
and. like Agricola, waged fresh campaigns against the Caledonians.
On his death, at Eburacum, the Roman energies relapsed, and thus
the wall of Hadrian became the permanent frontier of Roman
Britain.
8. Roman rule, thus established by Agricola and Hadrian,
lasted in Britaiu for more than three hundred years. At first
Roman Roman Britain consisted of a single province, ruled,
divisions of like all the frontier districts, by a legate of the
Britain. Emperor. Severus divided the country into two
provinces, called Upper and Lower Britain {Britannia Superior
and Britannia Inferior), whose boundaries are not at all clear.
At last, the famous emjieror, Diocletian, the second founder of the
Roman Empire, included Britain, about 297, in his general scheme
for the reorganization of the provinces. The number of British
provinces was increased to four, Britannia Prima, Britannia Se-
cunda, Flavia Caesariensis, and Mamma Ciesariensis. To these a
fifth, Valentia, was afterwards added. We are almost entirely in the
dark as to the situation of these provinces. A special novelty of
Diocletian's reforms was the bringing together of neighbouring
provinces into larger administrative divisions, called Dioceses and
Pnetorian Fnefectures. All British provinces were joined together
in the diocese of Britain, ruled by a vicar, while the diocese of
Britain was but a part of the great praetorian prfefecture of the
Gauls which extended over the whole of the west. This system
lasted as long as the Roman power.
9. The Roman occupation of Britain was mainly military. The
-297-] ROMAN BRITAIN 1 1
land was strongly held by a garrison of three legions, each con-
sisting of about 5000 regular troops, all Roman citizens.
Oue legion, the Sixth, had its headquarters at JJrr'Jfo'nf"
Eburacum, while the Second was quartered at Isca
Silurum, and the Twentieth at Deva, in positions which they had
lield from the first century onwards. Besides these regular troops,
a large number of irregular auxiliaries garrisoned the wall of
Hadrian and the detached forts of the north. Both legions and
auxiliaries were largely recruited on the continent, and most
Britons who wished to serve the emperor were drafted to fight
upon the Rhine or the Danube. Well- constructed roads, paved
with stone, ran straight from garrison to gai-rison, and also served
as avenues of commerce. The most famous of the
Roman roads of Britain was the Walling Street, which p^^g"
ran from the coast at Dubrse (Dover) to Londinium.
and thence by Verulamium to Viroconium. from which point a
branch went south to Isca, while thfe main road proceeded to Deva,
where it sent a branch to Segontium (Carnarvon). From Deva,
Watling Street was continued eastwards to York, and thence to
tlie frontier. The Ermine Street, the central part of the road that
connected Eburacum with Lindum (Lincoln), Camulodunum, and
Londinium, was only less famous ; while the Watling Street was
cr<)s.sed diagonally by a third great artery, called the Fosse Way,
which went from Lindum to Isca DuiAnoriorum (Exeter). A
fc)Ui-th road, named Akeman Street, connected Camulodunum and
Verulamium with the watering-place of Aquas Sulis (Bath).
10. Along the chief routes grew up walled towns, which, at
least in the south and east, were not wholly military in character.
Under the strong Roman peace, marshes were di-ained. Ron,an
forests cleare<l. and commerce furthered. Britain be- civilization
came one of the chief granaries of Europe, and its '" Britain,
iron. tin. and lead mines were extensively developed. Salt-works
were opened, and pottery and fine glass were made. Many Roman
officials, soldiers, and traders spread the use of tlie Latin tongue,
and. at least in the southern and eastern parts of the province, the
upper classes among tlie Britons themselves learnt to talk Latin,
and were proud to be considered as Romans. But the Romans
never romanized Britain as they had romanized Gaul. The bent
proof of this is the fact that the Celtic tongue continued to be
spoken by the mass of the people, as is shown by its continuance
in Wales to this day. In Qa,ul, on the other hand, tlie use of Latin
became universal, and quite displaced the ancient Gaulish language
12 ROMAN BRITAIN [287.
11. During the fourth century Christianity became the religion
of the Romans, and Constantine, the first Christian emperor
The Romano- (306-337), first took up the government of the Empire
British at Ehuracum, where his father had died. Even before
Church. ^j^ig there had been Christians in Britain, and during
the last persecution of the Christian Church by the Emperor
Diocletian (284-305), several British martyrs gave up their lives
for the faith. The most famous of these was Alban, slain at
Yerulamium, where in after years a church was erected in his
honour that gave the Roman city its modern name of St. Albans.
During the fourth century we know that there were bishops at
Londinium, Isca, and Eburacum, many churches and monasteries,
and an active and vigorous ecclesiastical life. The British Church
became strong enough to send out missionaries to otlier lands, of
whom the next famous were St. Patrick, who completed the con-
version of the Irish to the faith, and St. Ninian, who first taught
the Caledonians, or Picts, the Christian religion. Britain even had
a heretic of its own in Pelagius, who denied the doctrine of original
sin, and made himseK very famous all over the Roman world as the
foe of St. Augustine, the great African father. From the British
Church is directly descended the Welsh Church, and less directly
the Churches of Ireland and Scotland. By its means civilization was
extended into regions which, though inaccessible to the Roman
arms, were brought by Roman missionaries into the Christian fold.
12. Gradually the Roman Empire decayed, and Britain suffered
much from its growing weakness. Towards the end of the third
jj _ century the legions garrisoning distant provinces grew
the Roman out of hand, and, without regard for the central power
power in in Italy, made and unmade emperors of their own.
Thus in 287, Carausius, a Roman admiral, allied him-
self with bands of pirates, received the support of the soldiers,
seized the government of Britain, and strove to make himseK
_ . master of the whole Roman world. He conquered
287-293, ' P^^ of northern Gaul, but in 293 was slain by his
and own chief minister, Allectus, who ruled over Britain
293-296.' until he was slain in 296. It was to put down such
disorders that Diocletian carried out his reforms in
the administration, and Constantine, succeeding after a time to
Diocletian's power, continued his general policy, though he took up
a different line as regards religion. The reforms of Diocletian and
the recognition of Christianity by Constantine kept the Roman
Empire together for a century longer.
ROMAN BRITAIN
13
W^k
ROMAN BRITAIN
Principal Roads shown by
stouter lines thus:- -^^
Forests "T"..-.. Marshes .-' -
Anderida
L-
• m
BatrfViiktl tc
14 ROMAN BRITAIN [284-
13. Fresh, trouljles soon arose, which, fell "with special force on a
remote province like Britain. Despite the frontier wall, bands of
fierce Caledonians, by this time more often called Picts,
Bartaplan raided at their will the northern parts of the province,
and the * Swarms of Irishmen, then generally called Scots,
efforts tC' similarly plundered the western coasts and effected
them off. large settlements in regions so wide apai-t as Cornwall,
Wales, and Galloway. An even worse danger came
from the east, where swarms of pirates and adventiu-ers from Noi^fc.
Germany, called Saxons by Romans and Britons, devastated the
coasts of the North Sea and Channel. To ward off these invaders
the Romans set up a new military organization. A new military
officer was appointed, called Count of the Saxon Shore {Comes litoris
Saxonici), whose special di^ty it was to protect the region specially
liable to these invasions. A series of forts, stretching from the
Wash to Sussex, formed the centres of the Roman defence against
the pirates; and the majestic ruins of Rutupiae (Richborougli)
in Kent, Anderida (Pevensey) in Sussex, and Gariannonum (Burgh
Castle) in Suffolk, show the solid strength of these last efforts to
uphold the Roman power. At the same time the northern defence
was reorganized, and the troops garrisoning the wall of Hadrian
were put under another high military officer, called the Duke of the
Britains {Dux Britanniarum), while the legionary army in its camps
was commanded by the Count of the Britains {Comes Britanniarum).
All these military changes dat« from the reign of Diocletian, and
were parts of his great scheme for reinvigorating the empii-e.
14. Early in the fifth century the Roman Empire upon the con-
tinent was overrun by fierce German tribes, anxious to find new
homes for themselves. The settlement of the Franks
drawal of ^^ northern Gaul cut off Britain from the heart of the
the Roman empire, and Rome and Italy itself were threatened.
410°"^' With the Germans at the gates of Rome, it became
impossible for the emperors to find the men and money
necessary for keeping up their authority in a distant land like
Britain. After 410, the year which saw the sack of Rome by
Alaric the Goth, the Romans ceased to send officials and troops
to Britain. Henceforth the Britons were left to look after them-
selves, and their entreaties to the emperors to help them in their
distress were necessarily disregarded.
15. Roman rule had, however, lasted so long in Britain that
the upper classes at least considered themselves Romans, and
strove to carry on the government after the Roman fashion. To
-449-!I ROMAN BRITAIN 1$
them it did not seem that Britain had ceased to be B,oman : bnt
rather that they as Romans had to carry on Koman rale them-
selves, without the help of the emperor or the other
districts of the empire. It was soon found, however, ^^^^ to''theip
that the Britons were not romanized enough to be own re-
able to maintain the Roman system. The leaders did 4*Jo^|'
not work together, and gradually the old Celtic tribal
spirit revived in a fashion that made united action and organized
government very difficult.
16. Before long southern Britain began to split up into little
tribal states, and this break up of imity made it possible for the
barbarians, who had been withstood with difficulty all jj^^ pj^^.^
through the previous century, to carry everything Scots, and
before them. The Picts crossed the Roman wall, and Saxons,
plundered and raided as they would. The Scots from Ireland
established themselves along the west coast, and besides other
settlements, effected so large a conquest of the western Highlands
and islands outside the northern limits of the old provinces that
a new Scotland grew up on British soil. Even more dangerous
were the incursions of the Saxon invaders in the east. These were
no longer simply plunderers, but, like the Franks and Goths on
the continent, wished to establish new homes for themselves in
Britain. Before their constant incursions the Britons were
gradually forced to give way. Within forty years of the with-
drawal of the last Roman governors, the process of German
conquest had begun.
17. The barbarian conquest went on gradually for about a
century and a half, and by the end of it nearly every trace of
Roman influence was removed. The ruins of Roman pgpn^anent
towns, villas, churches, and public buildings ; the still results of
abiding lines of the network of Roman roads ; the con- Roman rule
tinuance of the Christian faith among the free Britons ;
a few Roman words still surviving in the language of tlie Celtic-
speaking Britons, and a few place-names (such as »treet iroxa. draia)
among their Teutonic supplanters, were almost all that there was
to prove the abiding traces of the great conquering people whicli
had first brought our island into relation with the main stream of
ancient civilization.
CHAPTER III
THE ENGLISH CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN
BRITAIN (449-607)
Chief Dates :
449. Jutes established in Kent.
516. Battle of Mount Badon.
577. Battle of Deorhara.
607. Battle of Chester.
1. The Teutonic invaders, who began to set up new homes for
themselves in Britain after the middle of the fifth century, came
_ . . from northern Germany. Their original homes were
conquest of along the coasts of the North Sea, the lower courses
Southern of the Elbe and Weser, and the isthmus that connects
PI a n. ^j^^ Danish peninsula with Germany. Though all-
were very similiar in their language and manners, they were divided
into three different tribes — the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles.
Of these the Jutes were the least important, though
they were the first to settle in our island. They are
generally said to have come from Jutland, the Danish peninsula,
which used to be explained as meaning the land of the Jutes.
But there are difficulties in the way of accepting this view, and
some people now believe that the Jutes came from the lower
Weser, to the west of the other colonizers of Britain.
The Saxons came from the lower Elbe, and were so
numerous a group of tribes that before long nearly aU the peoples
of North Germany were called Saxons. The Angles
Angles^ lived to the north of the Saxons, in the region now
called Holstein. So many of them crossed over to
Britain that their name soon disappeared from Germany altogether.
2. Each of the invading tribes included many small states, ruled
by petty kings or by elected magistrates, called aldermen. The new-
comers had no common name and no common interests. Each little
group lived in a village apart from their neighbours, and all of them
were very warlike, fierce, and energetic. They had dwelt farther
16
449 ] ENGLISH CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN BRITAIN 1 7
away from the Romans than the other barbarian invaders of the
emjjire, and were therefore much less influenced by Roman civi-
lization than nations like the Franks and the Goths. .^^ instltu-
For that reason they remained heathens, worshipping tions of the
Woden, Thor, and the other battle-loving gods of the Invaders,
old Germans. They had little of the respect for the Roman
Empire which made the Teutonic conquerors of Gaul and Italy eager
to be recognized by the emperors, and quick to learn many of the
Roman ways. It resulted from this that they made a much cleaner
sweep of Roman institutions than did their brethren on the conti-
nent, and that the more since the Britons fought against them more
vigorously and for a longer time than the Romans of Gaul or Italy
against their invaders. Yet their conquest of Britain is but a part
of that general movement called the Invasion of the Barbarians,
or the Wandering of the Nations, which everywhere broke down the
Roman power in western Europe. In fact, this was done more
completely in Britain than anywhere else.
3. The invaders of Britain had no common name for themselves.
Since the fourth centui-y the Romans and Britons had called them
all Saxons, and to this day the Celtic peoples of the ^j^^ bg^^.
land, the "Welsh, the Irish, and the Highland Scots, nlngs of
still continue the Roman custom in their own tongues. England.
But when the invaders had settled in Britain, and had begun to find
the need of a common word to describe them all, they used the
word Angle as a general name. Angle is only another form of
English, and as this has remained ever since the name of all the
new settlers and their descendants, it is perhaps better for us to
call them English from the first. They are. however, sometimes
styled the Anglo-Saxons — that is, the people formed by the union
of the Angles and Saxons. For convenience' sake we shall use
the word " English " in tliis broader sense, and keep the term
" Angle " for the tribes who shared with the Jutes and Saxons in
tlie conquest of Britain. The parts of Britain in which the new-
comers, whether Angle Jute, or Saxon, settled, were henceforth
England — that is, land of the English — and they were the fore-
fathers of most modem Englishmen. As time went on. however,
many people of British descent began to speak the English tongue
and regard themselves as English ; and nowadays a great many
1 Englishmen are in no wise descended from the old English.
5. We know very little of the fashion in whioli the English
t ril)e8 came to Britain. There are famous legends of some aspects
of the conquest, but it is impossible to say whether they are truo
c
1 8 ENGLISH CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN BRITAIN [449-
or not, as they are first told many hundred years after the event.
There is a well-known story of the first settlement of the new-
comers in Britain. Vortigern, one of the British kings, we are
told, followed the fashion of the Romans of the continent, who
called in German warriors to help them to fight against their
enemies. Attracted by the high pay that he offered, a tribe of
The J te Jutes, headed by their dnkes, the brothers Hengist
in Kent, 449, and Horsa, came to the aid of Vortigern against
and the Isle pi^ts and Scots. But when they had done their work,
instead of going home, they resolved to settle in the
land of the Britons. In 449 they chased away the Britons, and
established themselves in Kent, which thus became the first English
settlement in Britain. Before long Kent became a kingdom, and
Hengist and Horsa were its first kings. Some years later another
Jutish settlement was effected in the Isle of Wight and on the south
coast of what is now called Hampshire. These were the only
Jutish conquests, and the very name of Jute was soon forgotten.
Though Kent long remained a separate kingdom, the Jutes of
Wight became absorbed xa. the larger population of Saxon settlers
who established themselves all around them.
5. The Saxons conquered and settled southern and south-eastern
Britain. The first Saxon settlement was made in 477, when a chief-
tain named ^Ue set up the kingdom of Sussex — that
settlements. ^^' ^^uth Saxony — in the district that is represented
by the later county of the name. A very famous
incident of JElle's conquest was the storming of the old Roman
fortress of Anderida (Pevensey), one of the strongholds set up
in the fourth century to protect the south coast from the
Saxon pirates. At last it was to succumb to the fierce
' * assaults of their descendants. Before long, ^lle and
his men had set up new homes for themselves in the land of their
choice. The great and pathless oak forest of the Weald cut them
off from the Jutes, who settled to the east and west, and from
other Saxon tribes that later sailed up the Thames and established
the little kingdom of Surrey to their north. A more
Suppey
important conquest began in 495, when the Saxon
chiefs, Cerdic and his son Cynric, landed at the head of Southampton
water and began the kingdom of Wessex, or West Saxony. This
was originally confined to part of what is now Hamp-
495^^^^' shire, but it gradually extended its limits, absorbing
the Jutish kingdom of Wight and the Saxon kingdom
of Surrey, and gaining still greater advantages at the expense of
-547- 1 EJSTGLISH CONQ VEST OF SO UTHERN BRITAIN 1 9
the Britons of the upper Thames and lower Severn valleys and of
the regions of downs and hills that stretches from Hampshire west-
wards. Thus, unlike Kent and Sussex, which remained in their
original limits, the history of Wessex is from the beginning a
history of constant expansion.
6. Other Saxon kingdoms were established on the eastern coast
of England. The East Saxons set up the kingdom of Essex, and
the Middle Saxons that of Middlesex, a jtetty state
that owed its sole importance to containing within Middlesex,
its limits the great trading city of London, whose
commercial prosperity was checked rather than desti'oyed by the
wave of barbarian conquest. Ultimately, however, Middlesex
became absorbed in Essex, just as its southern neighbour, Surrey,
was swallowed up in Wessex. Here the Saxon invasion was stayed-
7. The conquest of the east, the midlands, and the north was
the work of the Angles. To the north of Essex, Anglian swarms
peopled the lands between the great fens of the Ouse
vaUey and the coast of the North Sea. This region ^tUenfeSs.
became the kingdom of East Anglia, or East England,
and was divided geographically into a northern and southern
portion, whose names are preserved in the modem counties of
Norfolk— that is, land of the North folk— and Suffolk,
the land of the South folk. Other Anglian bands made j^ngHa.
their way up the Trent valley, and gradually set up a
series of small states in Middle England, extending southwards
from the Humber to the northern boundaries of the Saxon settle-
ments in the Thames valley. The history of these districts is
very obscure, and is not preserved, as in the Saxon lands further
rtth, by the names and limits of the modem shires. Of the many
Vnglian kingdoms of the midlands one only survived, and ulti-
mately absorbed all the others. This was the little jjgpgja ^nd
kingdom of Mercia — that is, the March or boundary the midland
land — set up in the upper Trent valley, and stretching kingdoms,
over the rough hill-land of Cannock chase towards the middle Severn
valley, where the Britons long held their own. North of tlio
Humber two well-defined Anglian kingdoms grew up.
These were Deira, or the southern kingflom, which |jj,jj^ ^^-j^
roughly corresponds to the modem Yorkshire, and the
more northerly state of Bemicia, which stretched along the east coast
from the Tees to the Firth of Forth, wliich wa.s founded, it is said,
by Ida in 547. Both these kingdoms had as their western boun-
dary the wild uplands of the Pennine chain and its northern
20 ENGLISH CONQUEST OP SOUTHERN BRITAIN [516-
continnation, the Ettrick Forest. This tangle of hills and moors was
difficult for the inraders to traTerse, and long- protected the freedom
of the Britons of the west coast between the Clrde and the Dee.
8. It took nearly a hundred and fifty years before the Eng'lish
settlements were completely established- The Britons, who fought
part very stubbornly to protect their liberties, remembered
istics of the so much of the Boman discipline and organization that
English they remained formidable foes to a series of disorderly
tribes, each consisting of a small number of warriors
fighting for their own hands. The English brought over with them
their wives and families, and aimed not simply at conquering their
enemies, but sought to establish new homes for themselves. They
brought with them their Teutonic speech, the parent of our English
tongue. They preserved the manners, institutions, and religion
which they had followed in their origimJ homes in northern Grermany.
9. The best and bravest of the Britons withdrew before the
English and joined their brethren, who still remained masters
in the hills of the west. Such as remained in
the Britons. ^^ ^''^ '^^ south, as slaves and dex>endants of the
conquerors, gradually lost their ancient tongue and
institutions, and became one with the invaders. It shows how
thorough the oomqoest was that the Christian religion, professed
by all the Britons, was entirely rooted out in all the districts where
the English established themselves. Luckily for the English, the
Britons seldom acted together for any long time. The wiser
Britons held fast to the Boman tradition of unity, and set up war-
leaders who might take the place of the sometime Boman governors.
The most famous of these was the great Celtic hero. King Arthur,
Arthur and ^h^s*? mighty victories stayed for a time the advance
Mount of the English, and perhaps saved the Britons of tlie
^»*^°' ^*^- west from the fate of their brethren of the east. The
best known of Arthur*8 battles was fought at a place called JTons
Au2(mtcu« or Mount Badon, in about 516. Its situation is quite
nneeztain, but it is most probably to be found somewhere in
the south-west, possibly at Badbury in Dorsetshire. It seems
that Arthur's triumph was over the West Saxons, whose
advance was stayed for nearly sixty years. But the Britons only
united when compelled to do so to meet the English attacks.
They split up into little tribal states, and. if the English had not
themselves also been disunited, the invaders could have probably
driven their foes into the sea. As it was, many of the more
strenuous Britons scorned to live any longer in the land which
-607.1 ENGLISH CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN BRITAIN 2 1
they shared with their Saxon enemies. There was so large an
emigration of Britons to the Graulish peninsula of Armorica,
that that land obtained the new name of Brittany or xheeml-
Britain, and to this day a large part of the inhabitants firration to
of this little Britain beyond the sea continue to ^''^^^ny*
speak a Celtic tongue, very similar to the Welsh or Cornish, which
their forefathers took with them to Gaul when they fled from the
Saxon conquerors. Their withdrawal made easier the work of the
English, and it speaks well for the toughness of the British
resistance that so much of the island remained in their hands.
10. For about a century fresh swarms of English came to
Britain from beyond sea. After that the migration ceased, but
the stronger of the English kingdoms continued to j},g Br^ons
advance westwards at the expense of the Britons. The become the
English did not call the Britons by that name, but de- Welsh,
scribed them as the Welsh — that is, as tlie foreigners, or the speakers
of a strange tongue. GraduaUy the Britons, who in the sixth
century were still proud to call themselves Romans, took the
name of the Cymry, or the Comrades, by which the Welsh are still
known in their own language. A Welsh monk named Gildas, who
lived in the sixth century, has written a gloomy picture of the state
of Britain during the period of the English conquest. The heathen
English were cruel and bloodthirsty ; but the Welsh were quarrel-
some and divided, and Gildas regarded their defeat as the just
punishment of their sins.
11. The warfare between Welsh and English still went on, and
at last the Welsh received a rude shock from two English victories,
which cut the British territories into three i)arts. and -v .> «
destroyed any hopes of future Celtic unity. The the period
West Saxons gradually made their way westward from °^ Bngllsh
tlieir original settlement in Hampshire, and in 577
Ceawlin, the West Saxon king, won a great battle over the Welsh
it Deorliam (Dyrham). in Gloucestershire, which led to their
nnquest of the lower Severn valley. Thirty years after this (<><>7)
tlie Bemician king, ^thelfrith. won a corresponding victory at
Chester, which pushed forward the northern Anglian settlements
to the Irish Channel, and transferrwl the lauds Iwtween Ribble and
Mersey from British to Englisli hands. Up to these days the
Welsh had ruled over the whole west from the Clyde to the
English Channel. Henceforth they were cut up into three groupa,
• )f these the northernmost was calle<l Cumbria or Cumberland—
that is, land of the Cymry or Welsh. This stretched from the
22 ENGLISH CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN BRITAIN [607.
Clyde, the northern limit of the Britons, to the Ribhle, and was
separated from Bernicia and Deira by the Pennine chain. The
modern county of Cumberland still preserves for a
pai*t of this area its ancient name. Enclosed within
this region was a colony of Goidelic Picts, in the extreme south-
west of the modern Scotland, which derived from its Goidelic
inhabitants its name of Galloivay.
12. The central and chief British group of peoples is repre-
sented by the modern Wales, and by a large stretch of land to the
eastward, including the valley of the middle Severn, which has
. — . since become English by a slow process of conquest
North Wales. , , ,. a i-x i • 1 1 •
and absorption. Ssplit up among several rival kings,
tliis district lost, through its want of unity, some of the im-
portance which it gained by its size and by the inaccessibility of
its mountains. In early days the whole region was described as
North Wales — that is, Wales north of the Bristol
WaleY^^* Channel. This was to distinguish it from West Wales,
the country still held by the Britons in the south-
west peninsula. Separated from North Wales by the West Saxon
victory of Deorham, West Wales still included the whole of Corn-
wall and Devonshii-e, and a good deal of Somerset. Both in
North and West Wales there were occasional colonies of G-.oidelic-
speaking Scots or Irish, who have left memorials of this tongue in
the Irish inscriptions, written in a character called Oyham, found
in many parts of Wales and Cornwall.
13. Thus was the old Roman diocese of Britain unequally divided
between the English and the Welsh. The great part of the district
north of the Forth and Clyde was in the hands of the Picts — a race
doubtless identical with the ancient Caledonians, and apparently
made uj) of Groidelic tribes with a large Iberian inter-
mixture. But in the north-western parts of the
modem Scotland the Picts had been driven out by immigrant
Scots from Ireland, who had set up an independent kingdom of
, the Scots in the wostern Higlilands and islands,
running inland as far as the chain of hills called Drum-
alban, which forms the watershed of the eastern and western
seas. From ths^e the north-west of Britain first got the name
of Scotland, or land of the Scots ; but at first this term was
only given to a very small fragment of the modem
^o^um a, Scotland. Soon, however, the Scots began to influence
the Picts. Up to the sixth century the Picts, alone
of the Celts, still remained heathen ; but Columba, the greatest of
ENGLISH CONQUEST OF SO UTHERN BRITAIN 2 3
24 ENGLISH CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN BRITAIN [597-
the Irish saints, settled down in a monastery in the little island of
lona, among the British Scots, and devoted the rest of his life,
until his death in 597, to the conversion of the Picts. Two and a
half centuries after the Picts had leai*nt their faith from the Scots,
they obtained a Scot for their king. In 844 Kenneth Mac Alpine
(that is, son of Alpine), King of the Scots, succeeded through his
Union of the i^other to the Pictish kingdom beyond Drumalban.
Picts and His successor continued to rule Pictland as well as
Scots. Scotland, and as they were Scots by race, and the
difference between the two peoples was not very great, Picts and
Scots were gradually fused into one people. The result was that
the whole of the population north of Forth and Clyde acquired
the name of Scots, and their country was called Scotland. For
many centuries, however, the Irish continued to be called Scots,
until at last confusion was avoided by the term becoming gradually
restricted to their brethren in northern Britain.
14. By the end of the sixth century the British islands
were settling down into something like their modern divisions.
. There was an England, much smaller than modern
of England, England, though extending further northwards to the
Wales, Scot- Firth of Forth, and gradually making its way west-
Irelan^" ward at the expense of the Welsh. There was a Wales,
much bigger than the modern Wales, but cut into
three portions by the fights at Chester and Deorham, with the result
that the largest of the three, represented by the modern Wales,
became in a special sense the representative of the ancient Britons.
There was a new Scotland, comprising the lands beyond Forth and
Clyde, and Ireland, though still a land of Scots, became quite
separated from it.
15. In all these districts, Anglian and Saxon, British and
Goidelic, the land was split up into many small states, constantly
Why Entr- ^* ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ other, and filling the country with
land be- ceaseless confusion. While the Celtic states, owing to
came the the strength of the tribal system, seldom showed any
strongest. ^ ' j
tendency to be drawn together, the English tribes,
on the contrary, began almost from the beginning to unite with
each other, and so bring about the beginnings of greater unity.
The Celts were Christians, and infinitely more civilized and culti-
vated than their enemies ; but they lacked the political capacity and
persistent energy which made the English stronger in building up
a state. The result was that supremacy fell more and more into
English hands. While the struggles of Celtic chieftains resulted
-844.1 ENGLISH CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN BRITAIN 2 5
in nothing at all save bloodshed and confnsion, the equally cmel
fighting" between the English tribes led to the absorption of the
weaker into the stronger kingdoms, and so prepared the way for
the growth of English unity. This tendency became the more
active when the conversion of the English to Christianity gave
them a common faith and a common Church organization. In the
next chapter we shall .see how the early steps towards English unity
were made, and how the English became Christians.
CHAPTER IV
THE EARLY OVERLORDSHIPS AND THE
CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH TO
CHRISTIANITY (597-821).
Chief Dates :
597. Death of St. Columba and landing of St. Augustine.
627. Conversion of Edwin.
664. Synod of Whitby.
668. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury.
685. Death of Ecgfrith.
757. Death of Ethelbald of Mercia.
796. Death of OfEa.
821. Death of Cenulf.
1. We have seen how numerous were the kingdoms set up by the
English who conquered southern Britain. The settlement was,
however, hardly completed when a strong tendency
steps to- towards amalgamation set in among them. In all
wards Eng- cases the union of kingdoms was due to conquest by a
^ °^ ^* stronger and more vigorous king. It was rarely, how-
ever, that such a monarch was able to effect a complete subjection
of his weaker neighbours. In most instances he was content with
forcing his defeated enemy to acknowledge his superiority, and
perhaps to pay him tribute. Thus more frequent than downright
conquests of one kingdom by another was the establish-
I Ijfjgpj^ ment of such overlordsMjps on the part of a more
ships of one vigorous state over feebler kingdoms. Of brief duration
state over ^^j^^ indefinite meaning, these overlordships were of
another. • . • • .-, . , -
importance m preparing the way to more complete con-
quest. By these processes the original kingdoms of the settlers
were by the early part of the seventh century reduced to seven in
number. These were the states long known as the
The so-called j£eptarcliy, a word intended to mean a land divided
into seven kingdoms. In reality, however, the " Hep-
tarchic " states represent not the first but the second stage of the
36
655-] THE EARLY OVERLORDSHIPS 2/
history of the English in Britain. They were Noirthnmhria, Mercia,
Wessex, East Anglia, Essex. Kent, and Sussex, and among them
the first tliree were very mnch stronger than the last four.
2. Northumbria, or Northumberland — that is, the land north
cf the Hmnber — was formed by ^thelfrith, king of Bernicia
(593-617), conquering his southern neighbours in
Deira, and driving their king into exile. It was the T^ stronger
great power gained by .ffithelfrith after this victory Northumbria
which enabled him to defeat the Welsh at Chester, and '^^®''
add the lands between Ribble and Dee to his kingdom. 693-617. '
But he had so much to do fighting the Welsh and
Scots that lie had little leisure to concern himself with the affairs
of his southern neighbours.
3. In the south, Ceawlin, king of the West Saxons (560-593),
played rather earlier a similar part to that of ^thelfrith in
the north. Wessex had long been extending itself
beyond its original scanty limits. It absorbed the under
Jutish kingdom of Wight and the Saxon kingdom of Ceawlin,
Surrey ; but its main advance was at the expense of
the Welsh. By this time the districts now comprised in Wiltshire,
Berkshire, and Dorsetshire had been added to Cerdic's original
kingdom. Moreover, for a time, Wessex crossed the middle and
upper Tliames, and extended into midland districts that finally
became Mercian. The victory of Deorham made Gloucestershire
and part of Somerset included within Wessex, so that Ceawlin
is as much the creator of the later Wessex as .^thelfrith is of
Northumbria.
4. More than a generation after tliis, a similar process in the
midlands created a third great English state in Mercia. Up to the
days of its king, Penda (626-655), Mercia was only Mercia under
a little Anglian kingdom in the upper Trent valley. Penda,
By a series of successful wars, Penda destroyed the
power of nearly all the other Anglian monarchs in middle England.
Moreover, he wrested from the West Saxons some of their conquests
from the Welsh in the lower Severn valley, and took from the Nor-
thumbrians a good deal of what .^thelfrith had won at Chester.
The result of his work was to create a greater Mercia that included
the whole of middle England. So completely was this conquest
effected that the very names and boundaries of the kingfdoma
conquered by Penda became almost forgotten.
5. Northumbria, Mercia. and Wessex became the three great
English states ; but the little kingdoms of the south-east, East
28 THE EARLY OVERLORDSHIPS [597-
Anglia, Essex, Kent, and Sussex, were so well established and
so clearly marked out by natural boundaries that they lon^'
The king- continued to maintain their individuality. Downright
doms of the conquest was here extremely diificult, but the abler
sou eas . jjingg succeeded in torn in setting up an overlord-
ship over tbptr neighbours. Sussex and Essex were too weak to
accomplishfl^nything, but one vigorous king gave to Kent, and
another procured for East Anglia, a brief period of supremacy.
Profiting by the confusion that feU over Wessex after Ceawlin's
Ethelbept death, Ethelbert, king of the Kentishmen, defeated
and Red- his West Saxon neighbours and ruled as overlord
wald, 616. Q^gj, ^j^g kingdoms of the south-east. His power is
shown by the fact that he was the first English king who had
any dealings with the continent, choosing as his wife, Bertha, the
daughter of one of the Frankish kings ruling over Gaul. On
Ethelbert's death in 616, his power passed to Redwald, the king
of the East Anglians. To Ceawlin, Ethelbert, and Redwald the
name of Bretwalda, or ruler of the Britons, has sometimes been
given by later writers. It has, of course, no appropriateness
except in the case of the conqueror of the Britons at Deorham, but
it shows the impression left by their power.
6. Though planted for a century and a half in a land once
Christian, the English still remained heathens at the end of the
sixth century. They scorned to accept the religion
Church ^ ^^ ^^^® conquered Britons, and the Welsh had no wish
to share with their hated supplanters the benefits
of their faith. Yet the Welsh were ardent Christians, and the
Welsh Church attained the highest of its power and influence by
this period. It was the great age of the Welsh saints, such as
David, the founder of the bishopric of St. David's ; Daniel, first
bishop of Bangor ; Dyvrig, bishop of Llandaff, and Kentigern, first
bishop of Glasgow, then a British town, and afterwards the founder
of the see called from his disciple and successor, St. Asaph. Even
more flourishing was the state of the Church in Ireland, where
Columba, the missionary of the Picts and the founder of the abbey
of lona, was the greatest of a long catalogue of Irish saints.
Celtic Britain was, however, so far cut off from the continent that
it developed during these years a type of Christianity of its own,
differing in some respects from the Church of the western world,
which was attaining increased unity and vigour under the supx-e-
macy of the popes or bishops of Rome. The Celtic Church took
little heed of what the Roman Church was doing. It celebrated
-6 16] THE CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH 29
the Easter feast according- to a difEerent calculation from that which
was accepted on the continent. It was so much influenced by the
monastic movement that the bishops of the Church, especially in
Ireland, became in practice subordinate to the abbots, who, though
simple priests, ruled over the great houses of religion that Celtic
piety liad established. Thus Columba, priest and abbot only,
governed aU the churches of the Scots of the Highlands and also
over his converts the Picts. His death in 597 is doubly memorable
because in that same year the first effort was made to preach
Cliristianity to the English.
7. Bertha, the wife of Ethelbert of Kent, was, like all the
Fi'anks, a Christian, and a Christian bishop went over with her to
Kent as her chai)lain. For his wife's use Ethelbert
set apart a church, deserted since the English con- Ethelber"
quest, which still remained erect in the old Roman
city of Durovemum, from which Ethelbert ruled over the Kentish-
men, and which the English now called Canterbury — that is, the
borough of the Kentishmen. But though tolerant to his wife's
faith, he showed no disposition to embrace it.
8. The power of Home still counted for much, and the Koman
Emi)ire, after it had ceased to rule the West, still went on in the
East, though the emperors had abandoned Italy, and Gregory the
now lived at Constantinople. Their withdrawal made Great and
the pope the greatest man in Home, and by this time A"fif"stlne.
the influence of Ronie in the West meant that of the Roman
bishop even more than that of the emperor. It happened that
one of the greatest of all the popes was ruling tlie Chiirch while
Ethelbert was king of Kent. This was Gregory i., or the Great,
whose high character, strong will, and profound earnestness did
much to extend permanently the influence of the Roman see over
Christendom. Gregory stiU looked upon Britain as j)art of the
Roman Empire, and was pained that a once Christian province had
fallen largely into the hands of heathen barbarians. Accordingly
he set Augustine, abbot of a Roman monastery which Gregory
himself had founded, at the head of a band of monks, and in-
structed them to make their way to Britain and i)reach the gospel
to the English heatliens. In 597 Augustine and his companions
lauded in Kent, at Ebbsfleet in Tlianet. where it was believed that
Hengist and Horsa had lauded a century and a half earlier.
Ethell)ert welcomed the missionaries, and allowed them to preach
freely to all who cliose to listen to them. Meanwhile the monks
lived at Canterbury, hard by the king's court, and before long the
30 THE EARLY OVERLORDSHIPS [597-
ezample of their pious and unselfish lives induced Ethelbert and
-,, most of his suhiects to receive baptism. After the
slon of king's conversion Augustine crossed over to Gaul,
^^H p ^^^* whence he soon came back to England as archbishop
of the English Church. He built his cathedral at
Canterbury, which, as the capital of the first Christian king among
the English, remained ever after the chief bishopric of the English
Church. Before long another bishopric was set up at Rochester,
which, as its name shows, was also an old Roman city, and before
long the new faith spread beyond Kent to the dependent kingdom
of Essex, over which Ethelbert's influence was strong. The East
Saxon bishopric was set up at London, the commercial capital of
the land since Roman times.
9. Before long the East Angles began to turn Christians also,
but their king, Redwald, though professing the Christian faith,
The convep- ^^^ continued to worship idols. Redwald was a strong
slon of ruler, and after Ethelbert's death the overlordship of
^^H^h' ^^^' south-eastern Britain passed over tq him. He gave
supremacy shelter to Edwin, son of the king of Deira, whom
of Nopthum- ^theKrith of Bernicia drove out of his home when
^' he united the northern kingdoms with Northumbria.
.^theKrith went to war against Redwald when he refused to yield
up the fugitive, but at a battle on the Idle, near Retford, ^thel-
frith was slain. Thereupon, with Redwald's help, Edwin made
himself king over all Northumbria. He married the daughter of
Ethelbert of Kent, whose name was Ethelburga. Being a Christian
this lady took with her to her husband's court at York a
Christian monk, called Paulinus, as her chaplain. Before long the
influence of his wife and Paulinus prevailed over Edwin, and in
627 the Northumbrian king received baptism from Paulinus, who
was soon consecrated archbishop of York. In a short time most of
. . Deira was won over to the new faith. This triumjA
of the Nop- """as the more important since the newly converted ruler
thumbpian soon proved a mighty warrior. When Redwald died,
ip. j](j^^^ became the strongest of the kings of the Eng-
lish. Under him a more real overlordship over the lesser kingdoms
was set up than that which liad prevailed under any earlier
monarchs. To liim and his two successors the title of Bretwalda
was also sometimes given.
10. Augustine was ali-eady dead, but Paulinus was one of his
followers, and liis conversion of the Deirans was the greatest result
of the mission which his master had led from Rome to England.
-635-] THE CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH 3 1
To have done so much in so short a time might well seem to be
a great success ; but Pope Gregory had formed even more ambi'
tious scliemes for Augustine than the good monk was
able to carry out. Gregory expected Augustine to success of
convert all the English, to make friends with the the Augrus-
British Christians, and to set up two archbishops and ^"^^jq^
twenty-four bishops, under whom the whole Church of
Britain was to be governed. But Augustine had only taught Chris-
tianity to the little kingdoms of the south-east, and, though he met
some of the Welsh bishops at a conference, he had been unable to
establish friendly relations with them. They rejected his claims
to be their superior, and Augustine, denouncing them as schismatics
who stood outside the true Church, prophesied terrible disasters if
they would not join with him in converting the English. The
victory of the heathen iEthelfrith over the Welsh a few years later
at Chester seemed to the Christians of Kent only a fulfilment of
Augustine's prophecy. Under these circumstances there was no
chance of carrying out Gregory's scheme for bringing all the
Churches of Britain into one fold.
11. Even in Kent and Essex many fell away from the faith
after Augustine's death. The English converts found that the
Christian missionaries wished them to give up many penda and
of their old customs, and held up to their admiration the heathen
humble and weak saints whom they despLsed as '"***' °°"
useless for fighting. A great heathen reaction arose, and the old
king of the Mercians, Penda, whose victories had made him master
of central England, made himself the champion of the grim gods
of pagan Germany. The power of the Christian king, Edwin, had
grown so great that all his neighbours were afraid of him, and
Penda hated Edwin both as a Christian and as the enemy of Mercia.
Edwin had also won victories over the Welsh, and harried the
Welsh king, Cadwallon. so much that he forgot his Christian faith,
and made a league with the heathen Penda against tlie Northum-
brians. It was the first time that Englishmen and Battle of
Welshmen had fought on the same side, after nearly Heathfleld.
two centuries of bitter hostility. The combination
was irresistible. In 633 Penda and Cadwallon defeated and slew
Edwin at tile battle of Heatlifield, in southern Yorkshire.
12. For a year Welsh and Mercians cruelly devas- Oswald of
tated Northumbria. Christianity was almost blotted Northum-
out. and Paulinus fled to Kent, where he died bishop *"*'**
of the little see of Rochester. In 635, however, a saviour arose
32 THE EARLY OVERLORDSHIPS [635-
for the north in Oswald, the son of the mighty ^thelfrith, who,
on Edwin's accession, had been driven into exUe among the
Scots of Britain. In a battle at Heavenfield, near the Roman wall,
Oswald overthrew the British king, and henceforth reigned as king
over the Northumbrians. Cadwallon was the last British king who
was able to seriously check the course of the English conquest. After
his death the Welsh of Cumbria were forced to accept Oswald as
their lord. Thus, though Penda was still unsubdued, the son of
^thelfrith succeeded to most of the power of his rival Edwin.
13. Oswald was as good a Christian as Edwin, and, after his
accession, the new faith was once more preached in Northumbria.
Aidan and -^^^ Oswald had learnt his religion after a different
the Scottish f asliion from that in which his predecessor had been
mission. taught. He had been instructed in the faith at
lona, the great Scottish island mona.stery where the successor of
Columba still ruled over the Chui-ches of the north ; and when he
became king, Scottish monks from lona came at his bidding into
Northumbria, and took up the work laid down by the Roman mis-
sionaries. Their chief, Aidan, became bishop of the Northumbrias,
and set up his cathedral in the little island of Lindisfarne, off the
coast of Bernicia. Before long his zeal and piety had won most
of Bernicia to the Christian faith.
14. The work of Oswald and Aidan was soon cut short. In 642
there was a fresh war with the Mercians, and Penda slew Oswald
at the battle of Maserfield, near Oswestry. Again there
Oswiu ^^ ^^^ * period of terrible confusion in Northumbria,
but again a strong king was found in Oswald's brother
Oswiu, who in 655 defeated and killed Penda at Winwood. On
the Mercian's death the Northumbrian overlordship, wliich had
gone on fitfully despite the victories of the heathen king, was
established on a more solid basis than ever. It lasted for the rest
of Oswiu's reign, and also for that of his son and successor,
Ecgfrith. During this period the conversion of the English was
completed, and the Church established on a firm and solid footing.
15. Even during Penda's lifetime the Christian missionaries
had no need to despair. Though no saint like Oswald, Oswiu was
The final ^ good friend of the Chi-istians, and even in .Mei'cia
convepsion the new religion had made such progress that in his
of Nopthum- old age Penda had been compelled to tolerate it.
Penda's son and successor was a Christian, and wel-
comed the Scottish and Northumbrian missionaries that Oswiu
sent to his people. The most famous of these was Ceadda, or
-664.1 THE CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH 33
Chad, who became famous as the apostle of Mercia and the patron
saint of the Mercian bishopric at Lichfield. Though an English-
man. Chad had been brought up by Scottish monks, and thus was
friendly to the customs of the Celtic Church.
16. By this time the other English kingdoms had become
Christian also. Some of them were converted by Scottish mis-
sionaries : others bv Roman teachers from Kent or the _, ,
' ^ Piecemeal
continent. Thiis East Anglia was won over by Feux, conversion
a Burgundian ; Wessex by Birinus, a Roman ; while °*^ ^*^® ''^st
Cedd, a brother of Chad, had revived the waning ° nsan .
faith of the East Saxons ; and Wilfrid of Ripon, a Northumbrian
monk who was an eager friend of the Roman usages, converted
the South Saxons, the last Englishmen to give up their ancient
gods. But there was no order or method in this piecemeal process
of conversion. Each state had its own bishop, whether it was a
gi*eat state like Mercia, or a little state like Sussex. The
successor of Augustine at Canterbury, though still called arch-
bishop, had small power outside Kent, and was in practice little more
than bishop of tlie Kentishmen. All over the north and midlands
there were eager champions both of the Roman and of the Scottish
Easter, and it seemed as if the war between Christian and heathen
was only to be succeeded by war between the two rival forms of
Christianity.
17. Oswiu was only a rough warrior, but he saw the need of
stopping the conflict of Scot and Roman, and in 664 summoned
a synod, or Church council, of both parties in the
Church to Streoneshalch, on the coast of Deira, better «?iP,?K.? oaa
. wniiDy, 664.
known by its later Danish name of Whitby. His object
in doing this was that he might hear what was to be said in favour of
their teaching, and so make up his mind as to which form of the faith
he should adopt. The chief point of dispute was the right time of
celebrating Easter. Wilfrid of Ripon upheld the Roman usage ;
the Scottish bishop Colman, Aidan's successor at Lindisfarue.
pleaded for the traditions of Columba, and Chad of Lichfield
sought to mediate between the two. At last Oswiu declared in
favour of the Roman Easter, whereupon Colman and the Scots
withdrew to lona. Oswiu was strong enougli to make all England
accept his decision, and this secured that English Chri.stianity
should follow Rome and not lona. Tliis was a good thing, for
though the Scottish monks were the saintliest of men and the best
of missionaries, their Church liad more faith and enthusiasm than
order or method. In declaring for the Roman Easter, Oswiu
D
34 THE CONVERSION OF THE ENGLISH [664.
prevented the English, Chnrch. being cut off from the Church of
the world at large. He secured for England the priceless blessings
of order and civilization, which were in those days represented by
Rome. Before long the Roman Easter was accepted even by the
Scots and Britons. Thus all the Churches of the British Islands
were brought into the same system.
18. Four years after the synod of Whitby, a G-reek, Theodore
of Tarsus, a native of the city where St. Paul had been born,
Th If f ^^* ^^^ from Rome as archbishop of Canterbury.
Theo'dore Theodore was a much wiser and stronger man than
of Tarsus, any of the other early bishops of the English. He
made friends with Oswiu, and after that king's death
in 671, became equally intimate with his son Ecgfrith. Archbishop
for more than twenty years, Theodore was able, before his death in
690, to organize the English Church in a very satisfactory fashion.
He di^dded all England iato bishoprics, and set up several different
bishops in each of the three great kingdoms. He forced every
bishop in England to pay obedience to the archbishop of Canter-
bury, who in those days was the only archbishop in the land. He
set up schools for the training of the clergy, and took care that
each bishop should have a number of priests and monks to work
under him. It has sometimes been said that Theodore divided
England into parishes, each under its priest ; but this was done
very gradually, and not until long after Theodore's day. Theodore
also provided that the clergy of the English Church should meet
from time to time in national councils. This was very important,
since it brought Englishmen, subject to different kings, into close
contact with each other. Thus Theodore united England under a
single Church long before she had become united into a single
kingdom. He coidd not have done his work so effectively but for
the power of the Northumbrian kings, whose overlordship was a
real step towards political unity.
19. From Theodore's time onward, the English Church pros-
pered greatly. It soon became unnecessary for England to get its
The glories ^^i^l^ops from abroad, and Theodore's successors were
of the Old nearly all Englishmen. During the eighth century
rh^^'^h ^^ Church of England became a pattern to all the
West. It sent out missionaries who made Germany a
Christian land, the chief of these being Boniface, the first archbishop
of Mainz, who did for the German Church what Theodore did for the
Chxu'ch of England. Famous monasteries and schools arose in Eng-
land, and especially in Northumbria, which were filled with learned
-685.] THE EARLY OVERLORDSHIPS 35
and pious men. In one monastery at Whitby, ruled by a royal
abbess named Hilda, dwelt Caedmon, a poor lay brother, whose
rare gift for song- made him the greatest of the old English poets.
In another, Jarrow-on-the-Tyne, lived the monk Bede, the first
English historian, wnose Ecclesiastical History of the English People
tells us nearly all that we know of our history up to his own life-
time. Another distinguished Englishman of those days was Egbert,
bishop of York, who won back for his Church the position of an
archbishopric, which it had held under Paulinus, though for many
centuries the archbishops of York were bound to profess obedience
to the archbishops of Canterbury. Under Egbert the schools of
York became very famous, and one of their disciples, Alcuin, was
so well known for his learning that he was called from York
to Gaul to be the head of the school which Charles the Great,
the famous king of the Franks, set up in his palace. Thus
England, which previously had been barbarous and ignorant,
became, after its conversion, a centre of light and learning to all
western Europe.
20. The eighth century was the great age of the Northumbrian
Church, but the Northumbrian political supremacy had utterly
passed away. Oswiu was the last Northumbrian king
to be called Bretwalda, though his son Ecgfrith (671- gyf^gj'
685) was not much less powerful than his father. In and the fall
685, however, Ecgfrith tried to conquer the Picts, but of Northum-
was defeated, and met his death at the battle of supremacy.
Nectansmere. None of his successors were strong
enough even to rule his own kingdom.
GENEALOGY OF CHIEF NORTHUMBRIAN KINGS
^THBLFRITH.
L
1
Oswald. Oswiu.
EcoFRrrH.
21. Mercia soon stepped into the place of supremacy left vacant
by the fall of Northumbrian greatness. Ever since the victories
of Penda she had been a great state, though over- jhe Mercian
shadowed by the superior power of the Nortliumbrians. overlord-
For the greater part of the eighth century Mercia ***'•*•
was by far the strongest of all the English kingdoms. During molt
36
THE EARLY OVERLORDSHIPS
[716-
of this period, she was ruled by two great kings, each of whom
Under reigned for an exceptionally long period. The first of
these, Ethelbald (716-757), became so powerful that
he was not content to be called king of the Mercians,
but styled himseH " king of all the South English." Under his
Ethelbald,
716-757.
NORTHUMBRIA
And Offa,
757-796.
kingdom.
Sketch Map showing position of Nectansmere.
successor, Offa the Mighty (757-796), the Mercian supremacy
attained its culminating point. Offa drove the
Northumbrians out of the lands that now fonn
southern Lancashire, and incorporated them with liis
He conquered from the West Saxons all their territories
north of the Thames, which henceforward remained the boundaiy
of the two states. He made Shrewsbuj-y an English town, driving
the Welsh from the middle Severn valley, and digging, it is said,
a deep ditch and mound, called Offa's Byhe, between the mouth of
the Dee and the mouth of the Wye, to separate Mercia and Wales.
He slew the king of the East Angles, and annexed Kent. He
appointed two sons-in-law as dependent kings over Wessex and
Northiunbria. In every way he exercised more authority over the
rest of England than any king before his days. He was one
of the few Old English kings powerful enough to have much
■796.]
THE EARLY OVERLORDSHIPS
37
influence beyond sea. The great Frankish king, Charles the
Great, was his friend, and often corresponded witli him. Though
a fierce warrior, like all the great Mercians, OfFa was a good friend
of the Church, and built the abbey of St. Alban's in honour of
tlie first British martyr. Offa thought it unworthy of the great-
ness of Mercia that it should be subject to an archbishop who
lived outside Mercia. He therefore persuaded the pope to make
Lichfield, the chief Mercian see, an arclibishopric. If this plan
had succeeded, each of the three chief states of England would haye
38 THE EARLY OVERLORDSHIPS [82T.
had an archbishop of its own, for Northumbria had its primate
■ at York, and Canterbury, cut off from ruling the Midlands, would
soon have become the archbishopric of the West Saxons only.
The result of this would have been to destroy the unity of the
English Church as established by Theodore. Luckily Offa's plan
did not last long, for only one archbishop ever sat at Lichfield.
22. Offa's successor, Cenulf (796-821), was less powerful than
he, and was so much afraid of the persistent hostility of Canterbury
that he gave up the plan of making Lichfield an arch-
796-821, bishopric. When Cenulf died, Mercia fell into anarchy,
and the fall -just as Northumbria had done after the death of
o epc a. Ecgfrith. Supremacy depended mainly on the character
of the king, and no kingdom had the good luck to have an
uninterrupted succession of kings strong enough to rule their
neighbours. But each fresh overlordship was a fresh step towards
the unity of England, and Offa had done much towards it by
breaking down the power of the lesser kingdoms. The smaller
" heptarchic " states had by this time ceased to have any real
independence. Only the three great states counted any longer.
Of these Northumbria and Mercia had exhausted themselves, so
that soon after Cenulf 's death supremacy once more passed south-
wards, when the supremacy of Wessex succeeded upon that of the
midland and the northern kingdoms.
CHAPTER V
THE WEST SAXON OVERLORDSHIP AND
THE DANISH INVASIONS (802-899)
Chief Dates :
802. Accession of Egbert.
825. Battle of Ellandune,
858. Death of Ethelwulf.
871. Alfred's year of battles.
878. Treaty of Chippenham.
886. Alfred and Guthrum's Peace.
899. Death of Alfred.
911. Normandy established.
1. During the Northumbrian overlordship Wessex was steadily
making- its way westwards at the expense of the West Welsh, and
eastwards at the cost of the little Saxon and Jutish
kingdoms of the south-east. Its progress was stayed I?® '''^® °^
for a time when its neighbour, Mercia, replaced
Northumbria as the supreme state among* the Eng-lish. During
this period Wessex was forced to surrender to Mercia the West
Saxon lands north of the Thames and its supremacy over Kent
and the little kingdoms of the south-east. On the west, however,
Wessex did not cea.se its gradual conquests over the West Welsh.
It wag during the eightli century that Wessex added to its posses-
sions all that is now Somersetshire and the south-east parts of
Devonshire, including Exeter and Crediton.
2. The worst blow to West Saxon power was when Offa set
up liis son-in-law as its king, and drove beyond the seas the .^thel-
iug (prince) Egbert, who was forced to live many -jy^e re\gn
years as an exile at the court of Charles the Great, of Ecrbert,
the king of the Franks. When Egbert, was stiU with 802-839.
Cliarles, the great Frankish king was crowned Roman emperor at
Rome on Christmas Day, 8CM), by the pope. Two years later, after
his rival's death. Egbert was called home to be made king of the
West Saxons (802). A skilful statesman and a bold warrior, he
employed the first yean of his reign in waging war against the
39
40 THE WEST SAXONS AND THE DANES [825-
West Welsh, whose power he broke for ever, conquering all
Devonshire up to the Tamar, and forcing the still unsubdued
Cornishmen to pay him tribute. After Cenulf's death in 821,
Mercia fell into such confusion that Egbert was tempted to attack
. . it. In 825 he defeated the Mercians at a great baitle
of the West ^^ Ellandune (Ellingdon near Swindon), in Wiltshire.
Saxon supre- The Mercian supremacy collapsed in that single day,
macy, . ^^^ henceforth Egbert was overlord,, or Bretwalda,
over all the English and most of the Welsh. Kent, Sussex,
Essex were reconquered by Wessex ; East Anglia, in its hatred
of Mercia, willingly yielded to West Saxon supremacy ; the Nor-
thumbrians submitted as soon as a West Saxon army approached
their southern frontier ; and the Welsh of North Wales were
forced to make humble submission. Thus began that West Saxon
overlordsliip out of which ultimately grew the tmited English
monarchy.
3. Despite all his triumphs, Egbert did not die in peace.
Though no foes ventured to stand up against him in Britain, new
g . . enemies came from beyond the sea, whose ravages
of the soon threatened to undermine the West Saxon power.
Danish in- After some centuries of rest, fresh swarms of Teutonic
vSiSions
barbarians began to seek for spoil in the lands which
had once acknowledged Rome as their master. These were the
fierce pirates known in England as Danes, in Germany as East-
men, and Gaul as the Northmen. They came from Scandinavia,
both from Norway and from Denmark. These regions were at
this period much in the same condition as North Germany had
been four centuries before, when it sent the Angles and Saxons to
the shores of Britain. The country was too poor and remote to
satisfy the wants of its inhabitants, who gradually got into the
habit of seeking plunder and adventure at the expense of more fertile
and sunny districts. The road by land southwards to the continent
was blocked by the armies of Charles the Great, so the Norsemen
took to the sea, and sought out the coasts of Britain and Ireland
as places where booty might be won at no great risk to themselves.
Greedy, ferocious, but terribly efficient, they could generally break
down the resistance offered to them. They were still heathens,
and took special delight in plundering Christian churches and
monasteries. Before Offa's death they had begun to devastate
Northumbria. In the latter years of Egbert they ventured to
attack Wessex itself. The Cornish Welsh were so afraid of Egbei-t
that they gladly made common cause with the new-comers.
-872.] THE WEST SAXONS AND THE DANES 4 1
Egbert's last victory was gained at Hengston Down, in East Corn-
wall, over a joint force of Danes and Comishmen.
4. Two years afterwards, in 839, the great king died, leaving to
Ills pions and gentle son, Ethelwulf (839-858), the task of dealing
with these terrible foes. Ethelwulf was a well-mean- jj^g reign of
ing king, but he was not strong enough to uphold Ethelwulf,
West Saxon supremacy against such formidable rivals. ^39-858.
He gained some victories over them, but the pirates soon found that
they had only to persevere in their incursions to obtain what they
sought. At first they had come in summer-time as plunderers, and
were content to sail home in autumn, with their ships laden with
booty, that they might revel in their own homes aU through the dark
and long northern winter. Before long they began to winter in
England, and thereby found that the land was a pleasanter place to
live in than their own country. Thus, like the English before
them, they ceased to be mere plunderers, and began to wish to
make settlements.
5. Great changes in Scandinavia soon increased the desire of the
Danes to win new homes outside their mother-country. Up to this
time Danes and Norsemen had been split up into a ti, m
large number of little states, ruled by petty chieftains, mlRrations
called jarls. But now some of the chieftains proved ^^ ^^^ ninth
themselves stronger than their rivals, fought against
them, and conquered them after the same fashion ir which some
of the EngUsh kingdoms were constantly bringing tneir weaker
neighbours into subjection. Before long there was a single king
governing all Norway, another all Denmark, and another all
Sweden. The most famous of these was Harold Fairhair
(860-872), the first king of all Norway. So sternly did Harold
rule over the conquered tribes that the freedom-loving Norse-
men bitterly resented his supremacy. As they were unable to
overthrow him in liis own land, many of them abandoned their
native valleys, and sought out new abodes for themselves in the
lands which they had already got to know during their plundering
expeditions. Thus the latter part of tlie ninth century saw a
great Norse migration, whicli profoundly affected the whole of
western Europe. The first places chosen for these new settlements
were the islands that were nearest to the coasts of Norway. After
this fashion Iceland, hitherto almost uninhabited, became a Norse
island, and ultimately the special home of the bravest, strongest,
and most typical of the Scandinavian race. Some of the Norsemen
made their way beyond Iceland, settled in Greenland, and sent
42
THE WEST SAXONS AND THE DANES
[858-
out explorers, who discovered, six centuries before Columbus, the
continent of North
America. The dis-
tricts at wliich they
touched, wliich were
afterwards called New
England, they called
Vinland, the land of
the vine.
6. More important
for us than the move-
ment westward was
the migration south-
ward, which now
made the Faroe
Islands, OrTcney and
Shetland the homes
of Norse settlers. Be-
fore long the hardy
seamen made their
way to the coasts of
Britain. They estab-
lished themselves on
the mainland of the
extreme north, driv-
ing out the Celts from
the northern parts of
the modern Scotland,
and establishing the
Norse tongue and the
Norse people in Caith-
ness and Sutherland.
This latter district,
the south land, marked
the southern limit of
their settlements on
the mainland. But
along the western sea-
board of Scotland the
Norsemen penetrated
very much further.
They settled in the
-871.] THE WEST SAXONS AND THE DANES 43
HeJtrides, and pushed their way from isUind to island until they
had conquered the Isle of Man. Ireland, which had learnt nothing-
from the Eiomans save the Christian faith, and had fu m -
stood outside the range of the Eng-lish conquest, was settlements
now at last brought into the general current of great 1" Celtic
European movements by the establishment of Norse
settlements upon its coasts. However, in Ireland, as in the
Hebrides and southern islands, the invaders did not utterly dis-
place the former inhabitants as tlie English had done in south-
eastern Britain, and the Norse in Orkney, Shetland, and Caithness.
Side by side with the new Danish states, the old Celtic tribal
.states stiU lived on ; and perpetual wars were waged for many
centuries between the new-comers and the older inhabitants.
7. At last South Britain itself was exposed to the Norse
migration. The dependent kingdoms of the north-east of England
were not strong enough to resist it. and before long
East Anglia, southern Northumbria. and the northern settlements
parts of Mercia were conquered by the Danes. Nor In England
were the British islands alone exposed to Danish settle- and the
ment. Other swarms of Norsemen sought out new
abodes on the Continent. A Swedish chief, named Rurik, conquered
the Slavs on the east of the Baltic, and laid the foundations of the
modern Russia. In the next generation they set up a Scandi-
navian state upon the north coast of Gaul, which took the name of
Normandy, or land of the Northmen.
8. Wessex was the last English state to feel the impact of the
victorious Scandinavians. Yet even in Ethelwulf 's lifetime Danish
armies had taken up their winter quarters within his
dominions, as, for example, in 855, when the Northmen olj^^essex
settled for the cold sea-son in Sheppey, an island off
the coast of Kent, which had now virtually become a part of the
West Saxon realm. During the sliort reigns of Ethelwulf's sons
the full force of the Norse migration threatened Wessex with the
fate of Ea.st Anglia and Mercia.
9. Ethelwulf died in 808, and was succeeded by his four sons in
succession. After the Frankish ftvshion, he divided his dominions,
making his eldest son, Ethelbald. king of tlie West ^he sons of
Saxons, while Ethelbert, the second, became under- Ethelwulf,
king of Kent. But after a sliort reign of two years 858-899.
Ethelbald died, whereupon Ethellwrt became king of Wessex from
8H() to 8t)(>. He was in turn succeeded by Ethelred. king of Wessex
from sua to 871. On Ethelred's death, Alfred obtained possession
44 THE WEST SAXONS AND THE DANES [871-
of the throne, and ruled until 899. During the first three of these
reigns the Danes perpetually troubled Wessex ; but it was not
until the last year of Ethelred's reign that they began the
systematic conquest of that kingdom. Etheh'ed, a strenuous and
mighty warrior, withstood the invaders with rare spirit and with
partial success, and was ably supported by his younger brother,
Alfred's ^'^ ^theHng Alfred. In one memorable year, 871, the
year of West Saxons fought nine pitched battles against the
battles, 871. Danes. The most famous of these was the battle of
Ashdown on the Berkshire downs, where the invaders were so
rudely repulsed that they withdrew for a time to their camp at
Reading. Within a fortnight, however, they resiuned the attack,
and, after another fierce fight, Ethelred died, worn out with the
strain and exposure involved in the resistance to them. Alfred, his
fellow- worker, then a young man of twenty-three, at once assumed
the monarchy of the West Saxons. He assailed the Danes so
fiercely that they were glad to make peace and withdraw over the
Thames. For the next few years they left Wessex to itself.
During this period they completed the conquest of Mercia by
dividing its lands amongst their leaders. When this process was
once accomplished, Wessex was once more to feel the weight of
their power.
10. In January, 878, the Danes again invaded Wessex. They
were led by a famous chieftain, Guthrum, and fought under a
Alfred saves fcann^r bearing the sign of a raven. It was unusual
Wessex, in those days to fight in winter, and Alfred was un-
* prepared for their sudden onslaught. He was driven
from Chippenham, where he was residing, and forced to withdraw,
while the enemy overran his kingdom. But even in this crisis he
kept up his courage. With a little band he made his way by wood
and swamp to Athelney, an island amidst the marches of Mid
Somerset, at the confluence of the Tone and Parret. There he
buUt a fort, from which he kept fighting against the foe. Before
long he was able to abandon his refuge and gather an army round
him. In May he defeated Guthrum in a pitched battle at Edington
in Wiltshire. The Danes fled in confusion to Chippenham, where
they had entrenched a camp, and were pursued and besieged by
Alfred. After a fortnight's siege, Guthrum was willing to make
peace with his enemy. The Danes " swore mighty oaths that they
would quit Alfred's realm, and that their king should receive
baptism." Alfred stood godfather to Guthrum, and entertained
him at Wedmore, in Somerset, for twelve days. For this reason
-886.] THE WEST SAXONS AND THE DANES 45
the treaty between Alfred and the Danes is often called the treaty
of Wedmore. By it the Danes not only agreed to withdraw from
Wessex ; they left southern and western Mercia in the hands of
Alfred, and contented themselves with the northern and eastern
districts of Mercia, where they had already made an efEective
settlement. But they kept their hold over Essex and London, and
besides this, were rulers over eastern Mercia, East Anglia, and
Northumbria. Thus Alfred saved Wessex from the Danes, and in
saving- his own king-dom, he preserved all England from becoming
a merely Danish land.
11. For a season there was peace between Alfred and the
Danes. Seven years later more fighting broke out, and Alfred once
more proved victorious. In 886 Guthrum was once Alfred and
more forced to make a disadvantageous peace, by Guthrum's
which he yielded up London and its neighbourhood to P®*ce, 886.
the West Saxons. By the second treaty, called Alfred and
fiuihrurns Peace, the boundary between Alfred's kingdom and the
lands of the Danes was fixed as follows : It went up the Thames as
far as the river Lea, then up the Lea to its source, and thence tb
Bedford, from which town it continued up the Ouse to Watling
Street. Beyond that it is not known for certain where the dividing-
line ran, but it is often thought that it followed the old Koman
road as far as Chester, which thus became the northern outpost of
Alfred's kingdom. Thus West Saxon Mercia formed a great
triangle, whose base was the Thames, whose other sides were the
Watling Street and the Welsh frontier, and whose apex was the old
Roman city of Chester. Within these limits Alfred ruled as he
pleased. But the tradition of independence was still strong in
Mercia, and Alfred thought it wise to set up a separate government
for that part of the midland kingdom which now belonged to him.
H^ made Ethelred, a Mercian nobleman, alderman of the Mercians,
and ensured his fidelity by marrying him to his own daughter,
Ethelflaed. Before long the many princes of Wales submitted to
his overlordship, and promised to be as obedient to him as were
Ethelred and his Mercians. Alfred thus ensured West Saxon
supremacy over all southern Britain that was not governed by the
Danes.
12. North of the boundary line tlie Danes still remained
masters. Tliey ruled the country after the Danish fasliion. divided
the lands among themselves, and forced the English xhe Dane-
to work for them. The Danish districts were calle<l law.
the Danelaw, because tliey were governed according to the law of
46
THE WEST SAXONS AND THE DANES
[886-
the Danes. But the Danelaw did not long keep itself distinct from
the rest of England. The Danish conquerors were few in number.
ENGLAND
after Alfred & Guthrum's Peace
886.
Emery Walker sc
and not very different, either in language or in manners, from tte
-892.] THE WEST SAXONS AND THE DANES 47
Englisli among whom they lived. They soon followed Guthrum's
example, and became Christians. When they had renounced their
old heathen gods, the chief thing that separated them from the
English disappeared. Graduallv they abandoned their own tongue
and used the language of the English, which was not very unlike
their own speech. The result was that English and Danes in the
Danelaw were joined together in a single people, differing only
from their West Saxon neighbours in the south because they still
retained something of the fierceness and energy of the Danish
pirates from whom some of them were descended. -For many
generations the mixed Danes and English of the north and mid-
lands remained more warlike and vigorous than the sluggish West
Saxons of purer English descent. Finally, however, it only
became possible to distinguish the Danelaw from the rest of the
country by the occurrence of certain Scandinavian forms in place-
names such as "by," "ness," "force," "thwaite," and the like.
Wherever such forms cluster thickly, as in Yorkshire and the
northern midlands, there we know that the Danes had at one time
settled most numerously.
13. Though the men of the Danelaw were better fighters, the
greater civilization of the West Saxons stUl enabled them to
exercise influence over the ruder north country. More-
over, while Wessex remained under Alfred and liis restoration
successors a single state ruled by a strong king, the of West
Danelaw was broken up into many petty states, each s^^macy.
governed by its own jarl, or alderman. Tliis division
of the Danish power made it easy for Alfred to restore his overlord-
ship over northern and eastern England, so that before he died he
held quite as strong a position as ever Egbert had done. Thus the
West Saxon supremacy, threatened with destruction by the Danish
invasion, was restored on a broader basis after a very few years.
The Danes had destroyed the old local lines of kings, whom Mercians
and East Anglians had so long obeyed. This made it easier for the
West Saxon kings to exercise authority over the noi-th and east
than had been the case in earlier times. Alfred had, in fact, done
more than revive the overlordship of Egbert. He laid the founda-
tions of that single monarchy of all England which was soon to
become a reality under his son and grandson. " He was," says
the Enyliah Chronicle, " king over the whole kin of the English,
except that part which was under the sway of the Danes." But
he still generally called himself " king of the West Saxons," like
his predecessors. His self-restraint was wise, for the old Eng'liflll
48 THE WEST SAXONS AND THE DANES [892-
local feeling' still remained very strong*, and the new blood in the
Danelaw did something to strengthen it.
14. Alfred took care to prevent the renewal of Danish invasions
by devising improved ways of marshalling the "fyrd," or local
Alfred's militia, in which evevy free man was bound in those
military days to serve. Thio force he divided into two parts,
reforms. « g^ \\^2Ai always haK were at home and half were on
service." He also increased the number of fortresses in England.
Moreover, he saw that the best way of keeping the Norsemen out
of his kingdom was by building ships and trying to defeat the
enemy at sea, so as to prevent them landing at all. He caused a new
type of ships to be made, which were bigger and stronger than the
frail craft of the Danes. Yet all his pains could not prevent his
kingdom being assailed once more by a cliieftain named Haesten,
who, being driven from the continent in 892, tried to
with efEect a regular conquest of Wessex. After a good
Haesten, ^eal of bloodshed, Haesten withdrew baffled. After
892
his failure little is heard of fresh Danish invasions for
the best part of a century. There was plenty of fighting between
English and Danes, but the Danes against whom Englishmen had
to contend were the Danes settled in England. The great period
of Danish settlement was at last over, not only in Britain, but also
Beginnings ^"^ ^^ continent. There, in 911, the Norsemen,
of Nor- under the leadership of a sea-king named Rolf, made
mandy, 911. ^j^gjj. j^st and most famous conquest in the lower part
of western France, on both sides of the lower Seine. From them
the land took its name of " Normandy," or " land of the Nortlimen,"
and its people were called Normans, a softened form of Northmen.
But just as the Norsemen in England quickly become English, so
did their kinsfolk in France quickly become French. We shall
see later how important these Normans became in English history.
15. In resisting the Danes, Alfi-ed won great fame as a waiTior
But there were many soldiers in that age of hard fighting who
Alfred's approached Alfred in military reputation. It is his
peaceful peculiar glory that he was as strenuous and successful
reforms. ^ t^^ ^^^ ^£ peace as iu the arts of war. He stands
far above the mere soldier-king by his zeal to promote good laws,
sound administration, and the prosperity and civilization of his
people. He found England in a terrible state of desolation after
the Danish invasions. He laboured with great zeal and no small
measure of success to bring back to the land the blessings of peace
and prosperity. He collected the old laws by which the West
-899-] THE WEST SAXONS AND THE DANES 49
Saxons had long been ruled, and put them together in a convenient
form, long famous as the laws of Alfred. He encouiiiged trade,
repeopled London, which the Danes had left desolate, and was
a special friend to merchants and seafarers. He encouraged sailors
to explore distant seas and tell him the results of their inquiries.
He corresponded with the pope and many foreign kings, and sent
gifts to foreign Churches, including the distant Christian Church
of India. Yet his own country was always foremost in his mind.
In England he restored the churches and monasteries that had
been destroyed by the Danes, and strove to fill them with well-
educated priests and monks. In his early years he had been
appalled at the ignorance of his clergy. " There was not one priest
south of the Thames," said he, " who could understand the Latin
of the mass-book, and very few in the rest of England." To spread
knowledge among those who did not understand Latin, he caused
several books of importance to be translated, among them being
Bede's Ecclesiastical History and a treatise by Pope Gregory the
Great on Pastoral Care. Moreover, he ordered the compilation of
an English Chronicle, in which was set down all that was then
known of the history of the English people, and which, continued
in various monasteries up to the twelfth century, became from that
time onward the chief source of our knowledge of Old English
history, and the most remarkable of the early histories which any
European people possesses written in its own language. He set up
schools in the royal court, after the example of Charles the Great.
As he found few West Saxons able to co-operate with liim in these
learned labotirs, he welcomed to his coast scholars from foreign
lands, from Mercia, from Wales, and from the continent. The
most famous of these was a Welshman named Asser, who became
bishop of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, and afterwards wrote Alfred's
life. Alfred's work was the more remarkable since he was
constantly troubled by a painful illness, and never succeeded in
winning many efficient fellow-workers among his sluggish fellow-
countrymen. Even more wonderful than what he did was the
spirit in which he worked. His character is among the noblest
and purest in all history. He was truth-telling, temperate,
virtuous, high-minded, pious, liberal, and discreet, the
friend of the poor, and so eager to uphold justice that j^upgd 899
he often administered the law himself, and always
kept a watchful eye on the decisions of his judges. He died in
899, amidst the lamentations of his subjects, and has ever since
been known as King Alfred the Great.
I
CHAPTER VI
THE SUCCESSORS OF ALFRED AND THE
BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH MON-
ARCHY (899-978)
Chief Dates :
899-924. Reign of Edward the Elder.
924-940. Reign of Athelstan.
940-946. Reign of Edmund the Magnificent.
946-955. Reign of Edred.
955-959- Reign of Edwy.
9S9-97S- Reign of Edgar.
975-978. Reign of Edward the Martyr.
1. Alfred was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward, called
Edward the Elder, who had already been associated in the govern-
Edward the '"^^^^ during his father's lifetime. Though carefully
Elder, educated, Edward showed no trace of his father's love
899-924. £qj. ^jj^g g^j.^g q£ peace. He was, however, as strenuous
a warrior as ever Alfred had been. He worthily carried on the
great king's work of bringing together England into a single
state. In this he was much helped by his brother-in-law, Ethelred
of Mercia, and, after his death, by his sister Ethelflaed, whom he
continued in the government of Mercia with the title of the Lady
of the Mercians. Edward and his sister waged constant war
against the Danes. They strengthened their frontier both against
the Danes and the Welsh by buUding or restoring " boroughs," or
fortified towns, from which they might attack the enemy in his own
lands. A further step soon followed when the West Saxons and
Mercians overstepped the line drawn by Alfred, and gradually
conquered the Danelaw after much hard fighting. The most
famous of these contests centred round the district dependent on
the Five Danish Boroughs of Derby, Stamford, Nottingham,
Leicester, and Lincoln. At the moment of their final contest
Ethelflaed died. She had shown as much warlike skiU as her
brother, and had loyally worked with him. Edward felt so much
stronger than Alfred that he appointed no successor to his sister,
so
924.] BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH MONARCHY 5 1
but took over the government both of Danish and of English Mercia
into his own hands. He next assailed East Anglia, and easily
subdued it. Then came the turn of Northumbria, in which Deira,
or Yorkshire, was ruled by a Danish jarl, whUe Bemicia, which
had escaped Norse conquest, was governed by an independent
English alderman. Edward prepared for his northern advance by
building a fresh line of fortresses from Chester eastwards along
the line of the Mersey. In 923 he made his first conquest of
Northumbrian territory by taking possession of "Manchester in
Northumbria."
2. By this tima the rulers of Britain perceived that there was no
use in fighting against the great West Saxon king. Immediately on
the conquest of Mercia the kings of the "Welsh and all _ .
their people sought Edward as their lord. At their flpst king
head was Howel the Good, the famous law-giver, and o*" t'he
the most distinguished of the Welsh princes for many ^"^rlish, 924.
generations. " And in 924," says the Chronicle, " then chose him
for father and lord the king of the Scots and the whole nation of
the Scots, and all those who dwell in Northumbria, whether
English or Danes, and also the king of the Strathclyde Welsh and
all the Strathclyde Welsh." This was the culminating act of
Edward's reign. He died before the end of 924, when still a young
man. Conscious of his increasing power, he was not content to
call himself king of the West Saxons as Alfred had done. He
preferred to describe himself as king of the English, or king of
the Anglo-Saxons — that is, of the two races of Angles and Saxons
which we collectively call the English. From his day onward the
monarchy of England, though often threatened, became a perma-
nent thing. Thus the West Saxon overlordship grew into the
kingdom over all the English.
3. Three sons of Edward the Elder now ruled successively over
the English. Of these, Athelstan, the eldest, was as vigorous a
warrior as his father. He put an end to the dynasty of
Danish princes that had hitherto reigned in Deira, and q^^^^'
added that district to the dominions directly governed
by him. He ruled, we are told, over all the kings that were in
Britain. So firmly did his power seem established that foreign
princes sought his alliance, and the greatest rulers of the age were
glad to marry themselves or their kinsfolk to Athelstan's sisters.
The empire of Charles the Great had now broken up, and separate
kingdoms had arisen for the East and the West Franks, out of
which the later kingdoms of Germany and France were soon to
52 BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH MONARCHY [924-
arise. Henry the Towler, king of the East Franks, or Germans,
married his son Otto to Athelstan's sister Edith. This was the
Otto who afterwards became the Emperor Otto the Great, the
revirer of the Roman Empire and the founder of the great German
monarchy, which annexed, so to say, the title of Roman emperors
for itself. Other sisters of Athelstan were married to Charles the
Simple, king of the West Franks, or French, and to Hugh, duke
of the French, whose son, called Hugh Capet, finally put an end to
the rule of the Carolings, or descendants of Charles the Great,
and begun the Capetian dynasty which ruled over France as long
as France retained the government of kings. The result of all
these alliances was that no Old English king was so well known on
the continent as Athelstan.
4. In 937 jealousy of their West Saxon overlord drew the
dependent rulers of Britain into a strong coalition against him.
The battle "^^^^ leaders of this were Constantine, king of Scots,
of Brunan- the Danish kings of Dublin, and some of the Welsh
burh. princes. But Athelstan met the confederate army and
crushed it at Brunanburh, a place probably situated in the north-west
of England, though its exact site is unknown. This fight is com-
memorated in a magnificent war-song given in the English Chronicle.
It ensured peace for the rest of Athelstan's lifetime. Three years
later he died, in 940. Men called him Glorious Athelstan. He
made many good laws, and was a great friend of the Church.
5. Athelstan's younger brother, Edmund, who had shared in
the glory of Brunanburh, then became king. He was soon con-
Edmund the fi'onted by revolts of the Danes of northern Mercia
Magnificent, and Deira. But he easily reconquered both the Five
Danish Boroughs and Danish Yorkshire. He then
took Cumberland from its Welsh princes and gave it to Malcolm,
king of Scots, " on the condition that he should be his fellow-
worker as well by sea as by land." For these exploits he was
called the Magnificent, or the Deed-Doer. His career was cut
short in 946 through his murder by an outlaw.
6. Edmund left two sons, named Edwy and Edgar, but they
were young cMldren, and no one thought of making either of them
king. The nobles turned rather to their uncle Edred,
94e^955. ^^® youngest of Edward the Elder's sons, who was at
once chosen king. Unlike his two brothers, Edred
was weak in health and unable to play the warrior's part. But he
was prudent enough to put the management of his affairs into the
hands of the wisest man in all England. This was Dunstan, abbot
-9S9-] BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH MONARCHY 53
of Glastonbury, who was already famous for having reformed the
lax state of the monks under his charge, and who now showed that
he was a shrewd statesman as well as a zealous ecclesiastic. Under
his guidance the West Saxon monarchy continued in its career
of victory under its sickly king, though, as a rule, in those days
a weak ruler meant an unlucky reign. Once more Northumbria
was conquered from the Danes in 954, and with this event the
unity of England seemed accomplished. Proud of his great power
Edred was no longer content to call himself king of the English.
He sometimes styled himself emperor, king, and Csesar of Britain,
as if to the English monarchy he had added the dominion over all
the island. These titles must not be taken too seriously, yet they
show that the aim now before the West Saxon house was nothing
less than supremacy over all the British isles. Thus under Edred
the work began by Alfred was completed. It was rendered the
easier by the fact that Danes and English of the Danelaw had by
this time become blended into a single people. Dunstan was wise
enough to allow the men of the north country to retain their own
laws and be ruled by their own earls. It was the best way to make
them obedient to their West Saxon king. But the great difference
of temper between north and south still remained, and there soon
arose an opportunity for it to assert itself.
7. Edred died in 955, and his nephew Edwy, though hardly yet
a man, was chosen king as the oldest member of the royal house
available. Under him troubles soon began. The young
king quarrelled with Dunstan, and drove him into 95^959
banishment. The abbot was popular among the
Northumbrians and Mercians, though he had many enemies iamong
the West Saxon nobles who swayed the mind of the young king.
It is very likely that after Dunstan's exile the rule of Edwy over
the Northumbrians and Mercians became more severe than the
mild government of Edred. Anyhow, Mercia and Northumbria
rose in revolt, and declared that they would no longer have Edwy
to reign over them. They then chose as their king the ^theling
Edgar, Edwy's younger brother. England was now so far milted
that even those who wisheil to divide it could only find a king in
the sacred royal house of Wessex.
8. Edgar easily became king of the north and midlands. He
at once recalled Dunstan from exile, and made him Edgar the
bishop, first of Worcester, and afterwanls of London Peaceful,
969-976
as well. For the rest of his life Edwy reigned
over Wessex alone. His fearly death in 959 resulted, however, in
54 BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH MONARCHY [959-
the reunion of England. Thereupon the West Saxons chose Edgar
as their king. From that day till his death Edgar ruled over all
England, and, alone of the great West Saxon kings, ruled without
the need of fighting for his throne. For that reason men called him
Edgar the Peaceful. Again, as under Edred, Dunstan became the
king's chief adviser. He was made archbishop of Canterbury, and
the crown became powerful and the country prosperous under his
strong but conciliatory government. A great proof of Dunstan's
willingness to make sacrifices to keep the peace was to be seen in
the dealings between England and Scotland. In the weak days
of division the Scots had taken possession of the border fortress
of Edinburgh, hitherto the northernmost Northumbrian town.
To avoid war and obtain the goodwill of the Scots, Edgar yielded
up to their king the Northumbrian district called Lothian. Up
to now the Scots had been Highland Celts, but since Edmund's
cession of Cumbria the Scottish kings had had Welsh subjects.
Now they had English subjects also. And before long the English
element grew, until the modern Scottish Lowlands became English-
speaking and very Uke England, and only the Highlands retained
the Celtic tongue and manners of the old Scots.
9. The kings and chieftains of Britain gladly acknowledged the
overlordship of a monarch so just and strong as Edgar. It is said
Edgar as ^^^* ^^ ^^^ occasion he went to Chester, where he met
emperor of six under-kings, who all took oaths to be faithful to
PI am. \\xa_ ; and that the six kings rowed their overlord in a
boat up the Dee to the Church of St. John's, outside the walls. The
six were the king of Scots, his vassal the king of Cumberland, the
Danish king of Man, and three Welsh kings. Even the Danish
kings who ruled over the coast towns of Ireland submitted them-
selves to his dominion. It was no wonder that Edgar, like Edwy,
took upon himself high-sounding titles. He called himself emperor,
Augustus, and Basileus of Britain. Under him the process that
begins with AKred attains its culminating point. Edgar was the
most mighty of English kings before the Norman conquest.
10. At home Edgar ruled sternly, but so justly, that the only
fault tiiat his subjects could find with him was that he loved
Dunstan foreigners too much. The chief event of this time was
and the a religious revival, which Dunstan did much to foster.
Benedictine Despite Alfred's strenuous efforts at reform, the Church
revival. . , . , , . , ^
remained corrupt and sluggish. In particular, the
monasteries were in a very lax state. Dunstan wa^ first famous
as the reformer of his own abbey of Glastonbury. He became
-975-] BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH MONARCHY 55
more eager for reform after his exile. When abroad he had seen
the good results which had happened from a monastic rcTival that
had already been brought about on the continent. Brought back
to power, he strove with aU his might to revive in England the
spirit of the austere Benedictine rule which derived its name from
St. Benedict of Nursia, the father of all later monasticism, who
lived in the sixth century, and whose system St. Augustine had
first introduced into this country. Dunstan was anxious to make
the easy-going monks of England live the same strict life of
poverty, chastity, and obedience which St. Benedict had enjoined,
and which he had seen in operation during his banishment. More-
over, he felt sure that the career of the monk was higher and nobler
than that of the secular clerk, who held property, married, and
generally lived a seH-tndulgent and easy-going life. By this time
many of the monasteries of earlier days had been changed into
what were called churches of secular canons — that is to say, they
were served by clergymen who did not take the monastic vows,
but lived in the world side by side with laymen. Dimstan was
disgusted at the lax ways of the secular canons, and did his best
to drive them out of their churches, and put Benedictine monks in
their place. But the canons were often men of high birth, and
had powerful friends among the nobles, who disliked Dunstan's
policy even in matters of state. Hence the attempt to supersede
canons by monks met with much opposition, and Dunstan, who
was a very prudent man, took care not to go too far in upholding
the monks. Yet he managed to establish monks in his own
cathedral of Christ Church, Canterbury, which henceforth remained
a Benedictine monastery until the Reformation. Some of his
feUow-workers were less cautious than Dunstan, and the struggle
of monk and canon led to almost fts much fighting as the contest
between the West Saxons and the Mercians. As long as Edgar
Uved, however, Dunstan managed to keep the two parties from
open hostilities.
11. Edgar died in 975, and with him ended the greatness of the
West Saxon house. He left two sons by different mothers. Their
names were Edward and Ethelred. North and south, Edward the
friends of monks and friends of canons, quarrelled as to Martyr,
which of the two boys should become king. For the
moment the influence of Dunstan secured the throne for Bdward,
the elder son. For four years the great archbishop went on ruling
the kingdom as in the days of EdfJrar. But his task was mnoh
harder now that he was virtually single-handed. In 978 the young
$6 BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH MONARCHY [97S.
king was stabl^ed in tlie back, it was believed, at the instigation of
his step-mother, who wished her own son, Ethelred, to mount the
throne. This cmel death gave Edward the name of Edward the
Martyr. His half-brother, Ethelred 11., succeeded to the throne
prepared for him by his mother's crime.
12. Dunstan's last important public act was to crown the new
monarch. Soon afterwards the great archbishop withdrew from
political affairs, and devoted what life was still left to
Dunstan ^^ ^'^ ^^ government of the Church and the carrying
on of the monastic revival. He lived long enough to
see the peace, which Edgar and he had upheld, utterly banished
from the land, and to witness the ruin of the religious reforma-
tion amidst the tumults of a dreary period of civil strife and
renewed invasion. He was the first great English statesman
who was not a king and a warrior. In after days monks, who
wrote his life, glorified him as the friend of monks with such exces-
sive zeal that the wise statesman, who did so much to bring about
the unity of England, was hidden underneath the monastic zealot
and the strenuous saint. Yet, both as a prelate and as a politician,
Dunstan did a great work for his country. In him the impulse to
union and civilization, which began with Alfred, attained its highest
point. He closes the great century which begins with the treaty of
Chippenham, and ends with the murder of Edward the Martyr.
CHAPTER VII
THE DECLINE OF THE ENGLISH KINGDOM
AND THE DANISH CONQUEST (978-1042)
Chief Dates:
978-1016. Reign of Ethelred the Unready.
1002. Massacre of St. Brice's Day.
1013. Swegen's conquest of England. ■
1016. Rivaln' of Edmund Ironside and Cnut.
1017-1035. Reign of Cnut.
1035-1037. Regency of Harold Harefoot.
1037-1040. Keign of Harold Harefoot.
IO40-IO42. Reign of Harthacnut.
1. The long reign of Ethelred 11. (978-1016) was a period of
ever-deepening confusion. At first the king was a boy, and the
nobles managed things as they wished. But after Ethelred the
Ethelred became a man things grew steadily worse. Unready,
The son of Edgar had none of the great qualities of '""'" •
his race. Quarrelsome, jealous, and suspicious, he was always
irritating his nobles by trying to win greater power for himself.
Yet he was too weak and foolish to know what to do with the
authority which he inherited. In scorn men called him Ethelre<l
the Unready — that is, the Redeless, the man without rede, or good
counsel. Under his nerveless sway the unity of the kingdom began
to break up. Local jealousies and personal feuds set the great men
by the ears, and the guiding hand of a wise monarch was no longfer
to be expected.
2. To make matters worse the Danish invasions soon begran
again. Now that the Danes in England had become Englishmen,
their kinsfolk beyond sea, learning the helplessness of Renewal of
the land, again began to send plundering expeditions the Danish
to its shores. Ethelred was too cowardly and lazy to '"vaslons.
meet the pirate hordes with an adequate force of armed men. He
2>er8uaded his nobles to impose a tax on land, whereby a large sum
of money was collected to buy them off. The Dunes took the bribe
and departed, but naturally they came again and wanted more.
57
58 THE DANISH CONQUEST [978-
Before long Danegeld, so this tax was called, was regiilarly levied,
_ , . but every year the horrors of Danish invasion became
Danoffcld
worse and worse. As another means of conciliating the
Danes, Ethelred married Emma of Normandy, the daughter of the
duke of the Normans, who was himself a Norseman by descent,
and the ally of the Danish kings.
3. In the same year as his marriage, Ethelred, with equal folly
and treachery, ordered all the Danes that happened to be living in
England to be put to death. The day chosen for this evil deed
Massacre of ^^^ ^^- Price's Day, November 13, 1002. Tidings of
St. Brice's the massacre only served to infuriate the Danes in
Day, 1002. Denmark ; and Swegen, their king, resolved to revenge
his slaughtered countrymen by undertaking a regular conquest of
Ethelred's kingdom. The state of the Scandinavian north was
different from what it had been in the days of Alfred. There was
now a strong king ruling all Denmark, and another ruling all
Norway. In earlier days the Danes came in comparatively small
and detached bands, whose greatest hope was to conquer and colonize
some one district of England. It was now possible for the king
of all Denmark to invade England with an army big enough
to tax all the resources of the country. In 1003 Swegen carried
out his threat. He came to England with a large fleet and
army, and set to work to conquer it. Ethelred made few
attempts to organize resistance to him, and, though
^astons some districts fought bravely and checked the Danish
advance, there was no central force drawn from the
whole country capable of withstanding the foe. For the next ten
years England suffered ujispeakable misery. One famous incident
of the struggle was the ci*uel death of the archbishop of Canter-
bury, ^Ifheah, or Alphege, whom the Danes, after a drunken
revel, pelted to death with bones because he would not con-
sent to impoverish the poor husbandmen who farmed his lands
by raising from them the heavy ransom demanded by the in-
vaders. Alphege was declared a saint, and his memory long held
in honour.
4. At last EngKshmen began to see it was no use resisting
Swegen, or in ui)holding so wretched a king as Ethelred. In 1013
The pule of ^^® Danish king again appeared in England, and easily
Swegen, conquered the greater part of the country. There-
1013-1014. Tipon Ethelred fled to Normandy, the country of his
wife. His withdrawal left Swegen the real ruler of England. Had
he been a Christian, the English might weU have chosen him as
-loiy.J THE DANISH CONQUEST 59
their king. As it was, some districts still resisted when Swegen
died in 1014.
5. The Danish soldiers chose Swegen's son Cnut as their king.
Cnut was as good a soldier as his father. Moreover, he was a
Christian and a wise and prudent man. But the pthelped'
English still regretted their old king, and some of return,
them foolishly asked Ethelred to come back from Nor- 1014, and
mandy and take up his kingship again. Ethelred re-
turned, and war went on between him and Cnut until 1016, when
Ethelred died.
6. Ethelred's successor was a man of very different stamp.
Edmund, his son before his marriage with Emma, was a strenuous
warrior, so valiant and persistent that men called him -. , ,
Edmund Ironside. In him Cnut found a worthy foe, of Edmund
and a mighty struggle ensued between the two rivals. Ironside and
which made the year 1016 as memorable in military
history as the '* year of battles " in the midst of which Alfred
mounted the throne. Six pitched battles were fought, the most
famous of which was one at Assandun (now Ashington), in Essex,
in which Cnut won the day. In the long run neither side obtained
a complete triumph over the other, and before the end of the year
the two kings met at Olney, an island in the Severn, near
Gloucester, where they agreed to divide England between them.
By the treaty of Olney, Cnut took Northumbria and Mercia, and
Edmiind, Wessex. A little later Edmund died, and in 1017 the
nobles of Wessex. weary of fighting, chose Cnut as their ruler.
7. Cnut thus became king, first of part and then of the whole
of England, very much as Edgar had done. Thougli his real
claim to the throne was not the choice of the people,
but his right as a conquerer, he soon proved himself ^oI^-JIiosk
an excellent king. Under him the prosperity of
Edgar's days was renewed. He sent home most of his Danish
troops, chose English advisers, and married Emma, Ethelred's
widow, so as to connect himself as closely as possible with the
West Saxon royal house. He promised Danes and English in
England to rule according to King Edgar's law. But Cnut was
king of Denmark as well as of England, and a few years later
became king of Norway also. Visions of a great northern empire
rivalling the realm of the German emperors, who still called them*
selves emperors of Home, may well have floated before his mind.
But he was wise enough to make England, not Denmark, the ceiltre
of his power. Bough as England then was, Scandinavia was still
6o THE DANISH CONQUEST [1017-
nider. It was still largely heathen ; and the only way in which the
power of Cnut could be kept together there was for him to use
English bishops and monks to help him in civilizing and teaching
the faith to his born subjects in the north. But though English-
men thus found new careers in the service of their conqueror, the
cares of his great empire compelled Cnut to absent himself from
England for long periods. Besides necessary journeys to his
northern kingdoms, he made a pilgrimage to Rome, whence he
wrote a touching letter to his subjects, declaring that he had
" vowed to live a right life in all things, to rule justly and piously,
and to administer just judgment to all." He steadily lived up to
the high ideal thus set out before him, and in every way proved
himself to be one of the best of our kings. He was enabled to
rule his realm strongly, as he kept up a sort of standing army in a
force of two or three thousand House carles, or palace guards, whom
he paid well and kept under discipline. It was dangerous to rebel
against a monarch with such a force always ready at his disposal.
8. Early in his reign Cnut divided England into four parts.
One of these, Wessex, he kept for himseK, but the other
three, Mercia, Northumberland, and East Anglia, he
earldom^. handed over to be governed by great earls, or, as they
had been called in earlier days, aldermen. Before his
death he seems also to have assigned Wessex to an earl. For this
important post he chose a wealthy, eloquent, and shrewd English-
man named Godwin, whom he married to a lady of the Danish
royal stock, and to whom he showed many other signs of favour.
As long as Cnut lived these great earls remained faithful to him,
but their establishment was a dangerous experiment. They were
necessarily entrusted with a great deal of power. When they had be-
come well established in their jurisdictions they made themselves the
centres of the old local traditions that still remained strong, despite
a century and a half of centralization. Things grew worse when
son succeeded father in the earldoms as in the ancient sub-king-
doms that had preceded them. Finally, the great earldoms revived
in fact, if not in name, the separatist feelings of Mercia, Noi-th-
umbria, and Wessex. The next half-century showed the realm of
Edgar gradually splitting up into its ancient threefold division.
9. Cnut died in 1035. He left two sons, Harold, the firstborn,
and Harthacnut, his son by Emma of Normandy. A meeting of
the wise men took place at Oxford to decide how the succession
was to be settled. Party feeling ran high, and Leofric, earl of
Mercia, stood in fierce antagonism to Godwin, earl of Wessex.
-I042.] THE DANISH CONQUEST 6l
Godwin and the West Saxons wished to make Harthacnut king,
but he was away in Denmark, and this fact played into the hands
of Leofric, who was supported by north and midlands „ . . „
in his efiorts to uphold the cause of Harold. Finally, foot and
as a compromise, it Avas agreed to make Harold regent of Harthacnut,
all England, on behalf of himself and his absent brother.
Tliis suggests that a division of the kingdom was contemplated,
but for more than a year England had no king at aU. However,
Harthacnut abode obstinately in Denmark, and neither Godwin
nor Emma could long maintain the rights of an absentee claimant.
In 1037 Harold was definitely chosen king. He drove Emma out
of the country, and reigned until his death in 1040. Harthacnut
was then at Bruges, in Flanders, where his mother lived, and was
waiting with an army in the hope of invading England. He was at
once sent for, and elected king of all England. He showed great
sternness to his enemies, casting his dead brother's body into a
sewer, and levying heavy taxes on those who had resisted his
authority. He was much under Emma his mother's influence, and
to please her called home from Normandy her son by King Ethelred,
whose name was Edward. However, Harthacnut proved a bad
ruler, and, says the Chronicle, *' did nothing like a king during his
whole reign." In 1042 he died suddenly at the wedding-feast of
one of his nobles. With him expired ignominiously the Danish
line of kings which had begun so well with his father. The
influence of Emma and Godwin secured the succession for his
half-brother Edward, and Englishmen rejoiced that the son of
Ethelred had obtained hia true natural right to the throne of his
ancestors.
GENEALOGY OF THE DANISH KINGS
Swegen.
I
Cnut, m. (2) Emma of Normandy.
! (a)
Harold Harepoot. HARTHAcmrT.
CHAPTER VIII
THE REIGNS OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR
AND HAROLD (1042-1066)
Chief Dates :
1042. Accession of Edward the Confessor.
1052. Godwin's return from exile, and death.
1064. Harold's Welsh war.
1066. Jan. 5, Death of Edward the Confessor. Jan, 6,, Accession of
Harold, son of Godwin. Sept. 25, Battle of Stamford Bridge.
Oct. 14, Battle of Hastings. Dec. 25, Coronation of William
the Conqueror.
1. Edwakd, the new king, was nearly forty years old when he was
called to the throne of his ancestors. Driven from England as a
Character ^^^^ child, he had been brought up in his mother's
and rule of land of Normandy, and was Norman rather than
Edward the English in speech, manners, and tastes. A pious,
affectionate, gentle, weU-educated man, his outlook on
life was that of the cultivated Norman cleric rather than that
of the hard-fighting English warrior-king. His austerity and
religious zeal gave him such a reputation for sanctity that he was
canonized after his death, and became famous among royal saints as
Edward the Confessor. But he was of weak health, feeble character,
and somewhat childish disposition. He was too old and sluggish
to learn anything fresh, and too wanting in self-confidence to be
able to live without favourites and dependants. Under such a
weakling the government of the country passed largely into the
hands of the great earls, such as Siward of Northumbria, Leofric
of Mercia, and, above all, Godwin of Wessex. It was Grodwin who
had secured Edward his throne, and for long the king leant upon
his strong and resolute counsel. Godwin's chief helpers were his
vigorous young sons, chief among whom were Harold and Tostig,
who held dependent earldoms under their father. Godwin's
daughter Edith became King Edward's wife, and for a time all
seemed to go well. But Edward had little sympathy with his wife's
strenuous kinsfolk, and gradually gave his chief confidence to
62
1042.] EDWARD THE CONFESSOR AND HAROLD 63
Norman clerks, soldiers, and adventurers, who crossed over to
England, hoping' to win a career in a country whose monarch was
so devoted to Normans and Norman ways. Thus it happened
that England, which had withstood successfully all foreign influence
when ruled by her Danish sovereigns, was threatened with some-
thing like foreign domination as the result of the restoration of the
old line of kings.
2. The Normans had many great qualities that explain Edward's
devotion to the land of his mother's kinsfolk. Though little more
than a hundred years had passed since Rolf and his Normandy
followers had established themselves in their new and the
homes in northern France, the Norman duchy had Normans,
already won a notable place for itseK in western Europe. The same
ready sympathy for the people among whom their lot was cast,
which had rapidly made Englishmen of the Northmen of the
Danelaw, had made Frenchmen of the Northmen on the banks
of the Seine. They had dropped their old tongue and spoke French.
They had adopted French customs and manners. But like the
Anglo-Danes of England, the Normans retained much of the
energy and fierceness of their pirate ancestors. They were more
active, enterprising, and vigorous than most Frenchmen. They
took up with every new movement, were great champions of the
growing authority of the Church, and were learning the newest
fashions of fighting, ruling, and holding land. Their duke, though
a subject of the French king, was quite as powerful as liis master,
and was generally strong enough to restrain his turbulent, unruly
subjects. The duke of the Normans at that time was Edward's
cousin William. WiUiam had come to the throne as a child with
a disputed title. But he had from earliest manhood shown so
much activity and skill that he had put down the revolts of his
fierce nobles, and made himself almost a despot. The gentle
English king always looked up greatly to his stem cousin, and
gladly took his advice.
3. From the beginning of the reign many Normans were raised
by royal favour to eminent positions in Church and State in Eng-
land. They were not always the best of their class, for
Edward had very little discrimination in his friend- Pl.!'fr"H"'
!• /-V-VT..1.-.-. '" England,
snips. One Norman friend of Edward s was a bishop,
"who," said the English chronicler, "did nought l)ishop-like ; "
and a Norman raised by Edward to an English earldom became
infamous in his new home as the " timid earl." Highest in rank
among Edward's Norman favourites was Robert, abbot of Jumieges,
64 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR AND HAROLD [1051-
wlio.tothe disgust of Englislimen, was made archbishop of Canter-
bury. After ten years the Normans had won so many places and
estates that a loud outcry was raised against them. Godwin and
'his sons, who gradually lost all influence over the king, made them-
selves the spokesmen of the national hatred of the foreigners. In
1051 they gathered together an army and prepared to drive the
Normans from court. But the old jealousy of Wessex and
its earl was stiU strong in the north and midlands. Siward of
Northumbria and Leofrio of Mercia took sides with Edward and
his Normans against the house of Godwin. Godwin could not at
A d th *^® moment resist such odds. His army melted away ;
exile of he and his sons were banished, and liis daughter was
Godwin, ggjj^ |jy j^gj. husband into a nunnery. Soon after, as
if to complete the Norman triumph, William, duke
of Normandy, came to England with a great company of French-
men, and was royally received by his cousin. Edward, who had
no children and no near relations, seems to have promised William
to make him his successor to the throne. Thus the permanence of
Norman influence seemed assured.
4. Godwin and Harold did not remain long in exile. In 1052
they gathered together a fleet and an army, sailed up the Thames,
_,. . and beset London. Edward and liis Normans collected
and death another army to withstand them ; but the English
of Godwin, people were so strongly on Godwin's side that even
Edward's soldiers were loath to fight for him. They
said to each other that they ought not to fight against their o-wti
countrymen, and insisted upon negotiating with the invaders.
Edward was powerless in their hands, as there were not enough
Normans to make a good show in a battle. The result was that
Godwin and Harold were restored to their earldoms, " as fidly and
freely as they had possessed them before." " And then," writes the
English chronicler, "they outlawed aU the Frenchmen who had
judged unjust judgments and had given iU counsel, save only such
as they agreed upon whom the king liked to have with him and
were true to his people." Archbishop Robert and two other
Norman bishops escaped with difliculty beyond sea ; and English-
men were appointed as their successors, the new archbishop's name
being Stigand. Edith came back from her cloister to her husband's
court. The threatened tide of Norman invasion was driven back
for the rest of Edward's lifetime.
5. Godwin died soon after his restoration, and Harold then
became earl of the West Saxons. He was a brave warrior and a
-1064.] EDWARD THE CONFESSOR AND HAROLD 65
shrewd and self-seeking statesman, strong enough to dominate the
will of his weak brother-in-law and control his policy. When
Earl Siward died Harold made his brother Tostig Harold, earl
earl of Northumbria in his place, while his younger of the West
brothers, Gurth and Leofwine, were made earls of East Saxons.
Anglia and Kent. Two-thirds of England was now directly ruled
by the house of Godwin. After this Leofric of Mercia was the only
great earl who was independent of Harold. He soon died, but his
son JElf gar secured the succession to Mercia, and tried to strengthen
himself by making an alliance with his Welsh neighbours. The
Welsh were excellent soldiers, but as a rule they were too much
divided under the rule of rival kings, and too jealous of each
other to be able to make headway against the English. It
happened, however, at this time that a very powerful Welsh prince,
Griffith ap Llewelyn — that is, " son of Llewelyn," had defeated
all his rivals, and had made himself king over all Wales. Griffith
married Earl ./Elfgar's daughter, Ealdgyth, and became his close
friend ; but JElf gar soon died, and the Mercian alliance profited
him very little. At last, in 1064, Harold led an army into Wales,
and overran the country. The Welsh suffered so cruelly that
they abandoned their own king, and made their submission to
Harold. Soon Griffith was murdered by some of his own subjects,
and Harold divided his dominions among Bleddyn and Rhiwallon,
two representatives of a rival family. Tor the first time since the
days of Offa, the English boundary was pushed westwards at the
erpense of the Welsh as far as the Clwyd, the Radnor moors, and
the Usk. Harold himself married Griffith's widow, the daughter of
the Mercian earl. Her brother Edwin, now earl of Mercia, was not
strong enough to give Harold any trouble.
THE HOUSE OF GODWIN
Godwin.
King Haroi.d.
m. EnldTvth,
dau. of .illfgar.
Edwin.
ToBtig. Gurth. Leofwbe. Edith,
m. EnwAitn the
Confessor.
THE HOUSE OF LEOFRIC
Leofric.
I
iElfgar.
Morcar.
Enldffylh,
m. (1) Griffith ap
Llewelyn; (2) Hakolo,
•on of Godwin.
66 SDWARB THE CONFESSOR AND HAROLD [io66-
6. The only foes Harold now feared were those of his own house-
hold. His brother Tostig ruled so badly over the Northumbrians
that they rose in revolt against him, and forced Edward
Edward the ^^ banish him. They chose as his successor Morcar,
Confessor, the brother of Edwin of Mercia. It was the greatest
1 066
blow that Harold's power had received, and was the
more formidable since the king's health was now breaking up.
.Since the expulsion of the Normans, Edward had withdrawn him-
seM more and more from politics. His chief interest now was in
building a new monastery dedicated to St. Peter on a marsh hard
by the river Thames, some distance to the west of London, in a
region which took from the king's foundation its later name of
Westminster. He just lived long enough to witness the com-
pletion of the magnificent church wliich Norman craftsmen had
erected for him in honour of his favourite saint. On Innocents'
Day, December 28, the abbey church was dedicated, but Edward
was too iU to be present. He died on January 5, 1066, and the very
next day was buried behind the high altar of St. Peter's Church.
Miracles, it was believed, were worked by his remains as attestation
of his claims to sanctity.
7. The same day that Edward was buried, Harold was chosen
king, and crowned in the new abbey. For many years he had been
The peign king in all but name, and it seemed the easiest course
of Harold, to give him the office which his ambition had doubt-
1066. iggg long coveted. But though the old EngKsh throne
was in a sense elective, the choice of Harold constituted a real
revolution. Save in the case of the Danish kings, the Witenagemot,
or Council of the Nobles, had never gone outside the sacred house
of Cerdic in their choice of the ruler. AU that election had really
meant hitherto was some liberty of deciding which member of the
royal house should mount the throne, and this freedom of choice
was limited in substance to preferring a brother of the late king
who was old enough to govern, to his children who were still under
age. Even the election of Cnut was no real exception, since it
was simply the recognition of the power of a foreign conqueror.
But Harold was in possession of power, and it is hardly likely that
the Witenagemot had much really to say in the matter. The
nearest heir to the dead king was his great-nephew, Edgar the
^theling, a grandson of Edmund Ironside, a mere boy, and very
little known. Practically the same course was pursued as in France,
where in 987 Hugh Capet, the greatest of the French nobles, was
made king in preference to the heir of the house of Charles the
■io66.] EDWARD THE CONFESSOR AND HAROLD
67
Great. French history showed that Hugh, though the strongest of
dukes, was the weakest of kings. It was the same with Harold.
He had not the mysterious dignity which came from membership
of the sacred royal house. His brother earls were jealous of him.
BincrrW<lk«I
and thought themselves as good as he was. Thus the election of
Harold proved a failure ; and with all his energy and streuuousness
he was not able to hold his newly won throne for a year.
8. William of Normandy had not forgotten the promises made
68 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR AND HAROLD [1066-
him by Edward in 1051. Two or three years before Ms accession
Harold had been shipwrecked in France. The lord of the dis-
trict where the wreck had taken place threw him
William of ^^t^ prison. WiUiam procured his release, and enter-
Normanay s ^ , . -, j i . _l tt
ppepara- tained him with great kindness at his court. However,
tions for before he allowed Harold to go home, William had
invasion. fogged him to take an oath that he would help him to
become king of England after Edward's death. The Norman duke
now claimed the crown as King Edward's heir, and denounced
Harold as a perjurer for breaking his oath. He began at once
making preparations for invading England, and many adventurers
from all parts of France joined with his Noi-man subjects in
an expedition which held out great prospects of glory, pay, and
booty. Moreover, the pope gave his support to the expedition.
Stigand, the archbishop of Canterbury, had taken the place of
Robert of Jumieges without asking the pope's permission, and had
offended Rome by other irregularities. All therefore who joined
Wniiam were looked upon as fighting for the cause of the Church.
9. Before William's expedition was ready another trouble came
upon England. Tostig, the sometime earl of Noi^humbria, hear-
Tostlgand ^^8' of ^is brother's elevation to the throne, was
Harold anxious to win his earldom back by force. With this
Hardrada. object he made an alliance with the king- of the Nor-
wegians, Harold Hardrada — that is. Hard rede, or Stern in Counsel.
Hardrada was a true descendant of the Norse pirates, and had had
adventures and expeditions in many lands. He gladly took up
Tostig's cause, hoping, perhaps, that if successful he might, like
Cnut, rule over England as weU as his own land. In September
the fleet of Harold and Tostig sailed up the Humber. Earl Morcar
came to defend his earldom, and his brother Edwin joined him
with the Mercian levies. But they were defeated by the invaders
at Fulford, and on September 20 the victors took possession of
York.
10. When the Norwegians landed, King Harold was ia the south,
-waiting anxiously lest WiUiam should cross the Channel. He at
. „ once proceeded northwards, and joined his forces with
Stamford those of the northern earls. On his arrival Hardrada
Bridge, and Tostig took up a position at Stanifoi-d Bridge on
®^ * ' the Derwent, a few miles east of York. On Sep-
tember 25 Harold fell stoutly upon them. The English won a com-
plete victory. Tostig and the Norwegian king were slain, and the
survivors of the northern host gladly made peace, and returned
-io66.] EDWARD THE CONFESSOR AND HAROLD 6q
home. It was the last of the great Norse invasions, and the defeat
of so famous a hero as Hardrada proved once more the skill of
Harold as a soldier.
11. Three days after the battle of Stamford Bridge, William
of Normandy crossed the Channel. Landing at Pevensey in
Sussex, he made Hastings his headquarters, and set up Landing of
there a wooden castle. On news of his arrival reaching William,
York, Harold at once hurried southwards to meet the ^®P''* 2^*
Norman invasion. But Edwin and Morcar did not follow him,
tliough he had saved the latter his earldom. Yery few of the heroes
of Stamford Bridge accompanied Harold against his new enemy ;
and he paused in London while the levies of the south country
l)oured in to reinforce his scanty ranks. Tidings came that the
Normans were horribly wasting the lands near the coast, and Harold
resolved to march out of London and give battle to them. He
led his troops to within seven miles of Hastings, when he^
lialted, took up a strong position on the hill, on which the town of'
Battle now stands, and passed the night of October 13. The place
was far removed from human habitations, and had not even a name.
For that rea.son the fight which was to be fought next day took it.**
name from Hastings, the nearest town.
12. Early on the morning of October 14 the English saw William
and lus Normans arrayed on another ridge, some distance to the
south of the hill on which they were posted. The Battle of
great battle began soon afterwards. It was a struggle, Hastings,
not only between two nations, but between two different ^^^' * *•
scliools of warfare. After the fashion of both English and Danes,
Harold's army fought on foot. The best soldiers, including
Harold's house-carles and parsonal followers, were arrayed on the
top of the hill, facing southwards towards the enemy. They were
armetl with helmets and long coats of chain-mail, and their chief
weapons were axes, broadswords, and heavy javelins, which they
liurled at the enemy. They stood shoulder to shoulder in close
array, and protected themselves with their long, kite-shaped sliields,
wliicli interlocked with each other so as to form a ghield-wall,
wliicli it was difficult for the enemy to break through. On the two
wings of the main array, where the precipitous nature of the
ground made a frontal attack very difficult, were stationed the
swarms of ill-covered but zealous countryfolk, who had flocked to
the king's standards to defend their country against the foreigner.
Harold ordered his troops to maintain their close order, and on
no account to break their ranks by pursuing the enemy.
^0 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR AND HAROLD [1066-
13. The Normans prepared to fight after the newer fashion
which had recently grown np in France. The infantry, mostly
The early archers, were sent on in advance to wear down the
stages of enemy by volleys of arrows. But their shafts had
e g t. ^gj.y Y\i\\.Q effect, and the shield-wall still remained
unbroken on the crest of the hill. Then came the turn of the
cavalry, in whom William placed his chief confidence. The best
soldiers of the Norman host fought on horseback, wearing helmets
and armour very similar in pattern to that of the English, and pro-
tecting themselves by great shields, also of the same type as those
of their foes. Their chief weapon was a long lance, but they also
used swords at close quarters. In the centre of the Norman line
was Duke William with his brothers, Odo, bishop of Bayeux. a
hard-fighting prelate, and Robert, count of Mortain. Around him
were his Normans, and against them the shield-wall of Harold.
The right and left wings of William's army were held by his French
and Breton mercenaries ; these were opposed to the lightly armed
levies on the wings of the English host.
14. Time after time the Norman army charged on horseback up
the slopes of the hUl. Each time they failed to break through the
impenetrable shield-waU, and retired discomfited to
of William their original position. But William was a shrewder
and the commander than the English king. His troops were
Harold* better equipped, and more easily moved ; they could
shift their position and method of attack at will ;
while aU that the English could do was to stand firm in their ranks
and await each fresh assault. Finding Harold's centre quite im-
penetrable, William threw his main energy into assailing the lightly
armed troops of the wings. His archers discharged repeated flights
of arrows, which spread havoc among the unarmoured English
peasantry ; and in order to lure them to break through their close
formation, the Norman cavalry were ordered by their diike to pre-
tend to run away. The English believed that they had gained the
victory. Rashly breaking their ranks, they rushed down the slopes
of the hill in pursuit. Then the Normans turned, and it was soon
found that in open fighting the bravest of foot soldiers were no
match against the mail-clad horsemen. The Normans thus gained
access to the crest of the hill, and furiously attacked the tried troops
on Harold's centre, who alone still maintained a semblance of
order. The Norman archers now shot their arrows high into the
air, so that they might fall on the English from above. One
shaft struck Harold in the eye, and he fell, bravely fighting to the
-io66.] EDWARD THE CONFESSOR AND HAROLD
71
last, close by his own standard. With him died his brothers Gurth
and Leofwine, and the bravest of his followers. The day was now
won, and at nig-htfall the Normans pitched their t^nts upon the
blood-stained field. In pious memory of his victory William erected
an abbey for monks on the site of the English Unes, and called it
the Abbey of the Battle, a name which also attached itself to the
little toT^Ti that grew up round its walls. The high altar of the
Scale of Feet
S90
*. Site of Abbey Church, the X mark*
the position of High Altar,(Harold's Standard.) .-
BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
abbey church marked the siwt on the crest of the ridge where
Harold's banner had once stood.
15. In the weeks succeeding the battle William busied himself
with securing the strong places in the south-ea«t«m counties.
Edwin and Morcar at la.st appeared in London with
their troops. The Witenagemot met and chose Edgar to London
the iEtheling as king of the English. Thereupon and corona-
the two earls went home with their men. leaving wmi^'L 1
London and the south to depend upon their own
resources. William then advanced almost to the gat«8 of London,
but made no effort to attack it. He next marched up the Thames
72 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR AND HAROLD [1066.
valley as far as WaUingford, crossed the river, and approached
London from the north, so as to cut off all hope of succour in case
the two earls once more changed their minds, and reassembled their
levies. The best soldiers of Wessex and the south lay dead at
Hastings, and there was no hope of opposing the conqueror without
the help of the north and midlands. In these circumstances the
West Saxon nobles thought fui-ther resistance useless. With Edgar
at their liead, they sought out WiUiam and accepted him, like another
Cnut, as their king. On Christmas Day, December 25, William was
crowned king in Westminster Abbey, which thus within a year
of its completion saw two coronations and one royal burial. The
first stage of the Norman conquest of England was completed when
the duie of the Normans became the king of the English.
GENEALOGY OF OLD ENGLISH KINGS OF THE HOUSE
OF CERDIG
Egbert, 802-839,
Ethelwulf, 839-858.
Ethelbald,
858-860.
Ethelbert,
860-866.
Ethelred,
866-871.
Alfred,
871-899.
Edward the Elder,
899-924.
Athelstan, Edmund, Edred, Edith, m.
92-1-940. 940-946. 946-955. Otto the Saxon,
j afterwards the
I I Emperor
Edwt, Edgar, Otto 1.
955-959.
959-975.
dau. m.
Charles the
Simple,
king of the
West
Franks.
dau. m.
Hui^h,
duke
of the
French.
Edward the Martyr,
975-978.
Ethelred the Unready,
978-1016, m. (2) Emma
of Normandy.
(2)
Edmund Ironside,
1016.
I
Edward.
Edward the Confessor,
1042-1066, m. Edith,
dau. of Godwin.
Edgar the
.£theling.
St. Margaret,
m. Malcolm Canmore,
king of Scots.
I
Matilda, m. Henry I., 1100-1135.
(See table on page 157.)
CHAPTER IX
ENGLISH LIFE BEFORE THE NORMAN
CONQUEST
1. Before the Norman conquest England stood quite isolated
from the rest of the world. Not only was there little intercourse
between our island and lands beyond sea ; there
Avere few dealings between different districts in Eng- ^^ land '^
land, and each single group of villagers lived a life of tenure
its own, self-sufficing and self-contained, and cut off before the
from intercourse with any but its nearest neigh- gpn^^est
hours. The English were a nation of farmers and
herd.smen, tilling their fields and watching their cattle after the
fashion of their forefathers, and dwelling either in scattered
homesteads or in little villages, whose houses were placed to-
gether for mutual protection, and surrounded by a quickset
hedge. Land held by individuals was called folkland, when
the title to its possession depended upon witness of the people
and common fame. It was called boohland when the owner's
claim to it was based upon a written document, a book or
charter. Most free Englishmen held land of their own. But
when harvest was over all the villagers had the right to feed their
flock upon their neighbours' fields as well as their own ; and there
were wide commons and wastes which l>elonged to the community
as a whole. The chief products of the soil were corn and grass, and
custom prescribed a regular rotation of crops, whicli no husband-
man dreamt of departing from. The land was ploughed by rude
hea\y ploughs drawn by teams of oxen, and every year a half or a
third of the arable soil lay fallow. The richest and most thickly
inhabited part of the country was the south-east, where the open
downs afforded rich pasture for sheep, and the forests provided
plentiful store of acorns and beechmast to fatten swine. But the
whole land was scantily peopled, and England contained less than
two million inhabitants. The rude system of agriculture with the
wasteful fallows yielded a scanty return to the farmer's labour.
7i
74 ENGLAND BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST [449-
Moreover, communications were so difficult that a bad harvest in
a district meant famine to its inhabitants, even if there were
plenty a few shires off. Each farmer grew enough to support his
own household, and was independent of fairs and markets, except
for a few luxuries.
2. The nobles possessed great injluence, and held great tracts of
land scattered over the coujitry, which were ctdtivated by their serfs
Thegns, ^^d dependants. The most important of the nobles
ceopls, and were called the king's thegns, or servants. The service
theows. q£ ^j^g crown was thought in itself to ennoble ; the king's
thegns received grants of land from their master, and were bound to
fight his battles for him. They attended his councils, helped him in
the government, and often became so powerful that they were a source
of trouble and danger to him. In later Anglo-Saxon times the
nobles became increasingly important. In many cases the smaller
freemen, or ceorls, found it hard to make their living, and had
a difficulty in resisting the greediness of the great landlords, who
wished to make them their dependants. Many surrendered their
estates to a neighbouring noble, and took them back to be held of
him in return for protection. This was particularly the case in
Wessex and the south. In Northumbria and the Danelaw there
was still a large class of small free landholders up to the days of
the Norman conquest. But even there the great nobles had the
preponderating influence. Men who did not possess land were com-
pelled to choose a lord to be answerable for them in the law courts.
The lowest class of the community were bond-slaves, called theows.
These were bought and sold in the markets like cattle. Poor men
somefimes sold themselves in order to avoid starvation, and others
became slaves of those to whom they owed money. There was a
brisk slave trade, especially from Ireland, and slaves were perhaps
the most important article of merchandise.
3. There was little trade and towns were few. The English were
not strenuous enough to make great gains by commerce, and the
seK-sufficing life of each family made it unnecessary
to go often to market. The result of tliis was that
most of the towns were more important as fortresses than as
commercial centres. Surrounded by a ditch and earth-works, and
fenced about with timber stockades, they were more defensible
than the houses of the nobles scattered over the cotmtry, or than
the ordinary village packed thickly together behind its quickset
hedge. Stone walls were almost unknown even for towns, and
stone houses were also very rare. Most of the people dwelling
-io66.] ENGLAND BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST 75
within the towns' earthen ramparts were farmers living- on the
land, who huddled together for protection from Danes, robbers,
and turbulent nobles. Some of the greater towns were on Bioman
sites, like London, Chester, York, or Lincoln. Others became
important as chief residences of kings, such as Tamworth, the royal
city of the Mercians, Canterbury, the home of the kings of Kent,
and Winchester, the favourite abode of the West Saxon royal house.
Others grew up round famous churches and monasteries, such as
Peterborough or Lichfield. But it was characteristic of the old
English dislike of town life that most of the bishops lived not in
the chief towns, but in country places that owed their whole im-
portance to their being the bishop's residence. In France and
Italy every important town had its bishop as a matter of cour.se.
Some toTiTis united these various elements, as, for example, York,
a Roman city, a strong fortress, the sometime residence of Nor-
thumbrian kings, and the seat of the northern archbishopric.
London was by far the most important commercial town. It had
been so in Roman days, and was so again by the time that the
English became Christians. Desolated by the Danes, Alfred agtun
fiUed it with inhabitants. Edward the Confessor preferred it to
Winchester, and the royal palace that grew up hard by the great
abbey of Westminster made it in Norman times the seat of
government as well as a great commercial centre. When London
submitted to William the Norman, the whole country accepted him
as its king.
4. Even the houses of the wealthy were made of wood, and so
roughly put together that hangings of tapestry were necessary to
keep out draughts. Glazed windows were almost
unknown, and when the openings in the walls were
closed with wooden shutters the interiors must have been dark
and depressing. The cliief feature of a nobleman's house was
the great liaU, where the lord and his dependants lived and
feasted, and where the majority of the inmates slept on the ground.
There were no chimneys. A big fire blazed in the middle
of the floor, and the smoke found its way out tlirough a hole
in the roof. Yet there was plenty of good cheer,
hard drinking, and coarse revelry, all of which men j^jj*"
loved even more than fighting. The nobles amused
themselves with hunting and hawking ; and wheu intloors listened
to songs and stories, watched jugglers and tumblers, guessed
riddles, and played chess. The chief luxuries were foreign silk,
linen cloth, quaint jewellery, and jugs and vesaels made of silver
^6 ENGLAND BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST [449-
and glass. These latter were so curiously fashioned that they
would not stand upright, so that the reveller had to empty his
cup before he could set it down. The chief sweetmeat was
lioney, for sugar and spices were rare, and costly foreign luxuries.
The women were engaged in spinning, weaving, and embroidery.
Most clothing was made of woollen cloth, which the women spun
and wove from the fleeces of their own sheep. The people
drank mead, made from fermented honey, and sweet thick beer,
brewed from malt without hops. In the south some wine was
made, and the rich used also wine imported from France. Food
consisted chiefly of barley bread, oat cakes, and the flesh of oxen
and swine. At the approach of winter most of the live-stock was
killed, and the people lived on salt flesh until the spring allowed the
grass to grow, and fattened the half -starved flocks and herds that
had escaped the autumn slaughtering.
5. There were so few large rooms that meetings and councils
commonly took place in the open air. Even the churches were
small rude structures of wood. Stone churches were
tupe ^° ^^® exception, though some of them have come down
to our own days. They were described as being built
"after the Roman fashion." They were small in size, roughly
finished, with round arches and narrow, round, or triangular-
shaped windows. Some of the towers were elaborately ornamented
with patterns marked out in stone. They were often used as
fortresses and meeting-places as well as for worship. It was quite
a revolution in English building when Edward the Confessor's
Norman craftsmen erected Westminster Abbey on a scale almost
as large as the present chui'ch, though much less lofty.
6. The laws of the old English were short and simple. Few
new laws were passed, and kings like Alfred, who were famous as
legislators, did little more than collect in a convenient
form the traditional customs of the race. The greater
part of the Anglo-Saxon codes is taken up with the elaborate
enumeration of the money penalties which could atone for almost
every offence. Even murder coidd be bought ofE by a payment
iu money. The price paid for a man's life was caUed his wergild.
It varied according to the rank of the person slain. At one end of
the scale was the wergild of the king and archbishop, and at the
other that of the common freemen. The sum thus paid went to the
kinsfolk of the mui-dered person. Very often, however, the kins-
men took the law into their own hands, and executed summary
vengeance upon the manslayer.
-io66.] ENGLAND BEFORE THE NORMAN CONQUEST TJ
7. The land was divided into shires, hundreds, and town-
ships. The origin of the shires differed in various parts of the
country. Some of them represent the lesser king-
doms which were gradually absorbed in larger ones as
English unity grew. Kent, Sussex, Essex, Middlesex, and Surrey
have still the boundaries of the little kingdoms from which they
took their names. Yorkshire is a somewhat smaller Deira, with
a new name taken from its chief town. Northumberland is
what is left of Bernicia, after Lothian had been given to the
Scots, and other districts put under the government of the
bishop of Durham. East AngUa is represented by the two
shires of Norfolk and Suffolk, names which indicate the division
of the East Angles into a northern and a southern people.
The West Saxon shires are different in origin. That kingdom
became so large that some sort of subdivision of it was found
necessary. By the ninth century most of the West Saxon shires
had come into existence. They are sometimes said to represent the
lands held by different tribes of the West Saxons. It is more
likely that they owe their existence to divisions of the kingdom
between different members of the royal family, who held sub-
kingdoms under a chief king. Beyond Wessex, Cornwall represents
the old kingdom of the West Welsh, which was absorbed in Wessex
by the tenth century. The midland or Mercian shires are later in
origin, and were artificial in character. Each of them (except
Rutland) takes its name from the county town, and in nearly
every case that town is, or was, the real centre of the life of the
district. They were probably created at the time of the conquest
of Mercia and the Danelaw by Alfred and his successors. Some
of the east midland shires may be Danish in origin.
8. The shire was divided into smaller districts, called hundreds,
except in the Danelaw, where they are generally called Wapentakeg.
They vary very much in size in various parts of the Hundreds
country ; those in the south being, as a mle, smaller and town-
and therefore more numerous than those of the north. s'^'Ps-
Each hundred in its turn consisted of a number of townships, or
villages.
9. Both shires and hundreds each had a wioo^ or court, of their
own. Both shire moot and hundred moot were attended by four
men and the reeve, or chief officer of every town-
sliip within it. Besides these, the thegns, landliolders,
and other persons of importance had the riglit to be present.
Lawsuits were dealt with first by the hundred, and afterwards
78 ENGLISH LIFE BEFORE NORMAN CONQUEST [449-
by the shire. The method of trial was very rigid and formal.
Everything depended on the suitors saying the right word or
doing the right thing at the proper moment. If a man were
accused of a crime he answered it by producing coTnpurgators — ^that
is, j)ersons of good character, who, knowing the person and the
district, took oath that in their opinion he was guiltless of the
offence. Another way of clearing an accused person was by
the ordeal, or appeal to the judgment of God. The suspected
criminal grasped hot iron or was thrown into water. It was
believed that if he were innocent a miracle wordd be wrought;,
the iron would not burn or the water drown. The whole body of
suitors and members formed the judges, so that justice must have
been of a very rough-and-ready sort. Besides these local popular
courts, kings and great lords also had courts of their own, where
they exercised jurisdiction over their dependants and servants.
As time went on many nobles received special grants of jurisdiction
over their lands, which had the effect of removing their tenants
from the sphere of the hundred court altogether. But the shire
coiu"t always remained of great importance. It was not only a
court of justice, it was also the means of governing the country,
and those attending it took advantage of its periodic meetings to
transact all sorts of business with their neighbour's. Its activity
kept vigorous the local life, but also made it more diflBlcult to
induce the men of various shires to work together for the general
profit of the nation.
10. The king was the head of the people, and stirrounded by
every form of respect. His chief officers were the aldermen, called,
from Cnut's time onward, the earls. An earl or
officers ^^ alderman seems to have been set over every shire.
But it became customary to assign several shires to
the same alderman, and this habit received a further extension in
Cnut's great earldoms, which in practice revived the old kingdoms
under a new name. The earls thus became such dignified persons
that they could not spend their time going round to the various
shires and holding shire moots. A new officer, caUed the shire
reeve, or sheriff, seems to have been created as the earls withdrew
from the administi'ation of their shires. By the Norman period the
working head of the shire was the sheriff and not the earl. But
the earl continued the natural commander of the fyrd, or military
levy of the shire. This consisted of all the landowners, who were
bound to provide themselves with arms and serve the king in the
defence of the country.
-io66.] ENGLISH LIFE BEFORE NORMAN CONQUEST 79
11. The administrative machinery was very simple. The local
courts and the great landlords had to see that the law was observed.
If a landholder broke the law, his land could be seized prithborh
as a pledge of his making amends. The lords were and
responsible for landless men and others who had ''^"'"fi^*
become their subjects. Moreover, the whole nation was divided
iaix) ffithborha, or tithinga — ^that is, into groups of ten men, who
were mutually made responsible for each other's doiags, and com-
pelled to pay the fines of their erring associates. Yet the land
was full of disorder ; outlaws and robbers lurked in every moor
and forest, and increasing difficulty was found in making the
nobles obey the king.
12. The central power was vested in the king. He had a small
revenue, and, until Cnut's house-carles, no standing force of soldiers
at his disposal. Yet if he were a strong man he could
generally enforce his will. If he were weak, every
g"reat man took the law into his own hands, an^. the country was
plunged into confusion. There was no popular council of the
nation to correspond with the local moots. But a gathering of
magnates met together at the chief festivals of the Church, and gave
the king their advice. This body was called the Witenagemot —
that is to say, the Council of the Wise Men. It in-
cluded all the earls, archbishops, bishops, the chief owlmot °'
abbots, and sometimes Welsh kings and other subject
princes. Besides these the JEthelings, or near kinsmen of the king,
sat in it, as also a number of king's thegns. These latter, who
were more dependent on the king, were generally numerous
enough to outvote the official leaders of Church and State. The
Witenagemot as.sented to the passing of new laws, ratified royal
g-rants of public lands, elected the kings, and discharged the general
functions of a great council of the^nation. We have no evidence,
however, that it acted as a real check on the monarch. If the ruler
were strong, he could have his own way ; if he were weak, the
different members each took their own course. The Witan were
■useless in moments of trouble to the kingdom.
13. The Church held a great position, but after the days of
Dunstan it was afflicted with the same deadness that had gradually
seized upon the State. The bishops were very great _. p,^
and powerful personages ; but there were so few men
fit for high rank in the Church that the custom grew up of giving^
mi>re than one bishopric to the same individual. The chief ecclesi-
astics of the eleventh century were politicians rather than teaoken
8o ENGLISH LIFE BEFORE NORMAN CONQUEST [449-
of the people. They advised the king in the Witenagemot, sat
with earl and sheriff in the shire moot, and took a leading share
in the government of the country. The monasteries became
increasingly stagnant. Great movements profoundly influenced
the Church on the continent, but the English Church was quite
indifferent to them. Like the English State, it stood apart from
the rest of the world. Though the pope was treated with great
respect, and every archbishop went to Rome to receive fi'om his
hands the pallium, a stole that marked the dignity of the archi-
episcopal office, there was no country in Europe where the Roman
Church had less real power, or took less part in the daily life of the
local churches. Thus the Anglo-Saxon Chui-ch corresponded in its
sluggishness, as in its independence, to the Anglo-Saxon State.
14. Language and literature reflect the same characteristics.
Though Latin was the tongue of the Church and of most learned
Language books, the old English language had a greater place
and litera- in letters than had the vernacular speech of the
*"''®* continent. We have seen how Alfred busied himself
with translating books from Latin into English. The English
Chronicle, which the same great king began, was still kept up in
various monasteries, and stands quite by itself as a contemporary
history written in the speech of the country. The noble songs
it contains, as, for example, that of Brunanburh, show that the
poetic spirit had not yet left the English people. But the great
age of Anglo-Saxon poetry was over. Homilies, translations of
Scripture, lives of saints, collections of medical prescriptions and
lists of leading plants, now formed the bulk of the literary output.
ALfred himself complained that whereas foreigners had of old come
to Britain to get learning from the English, the English had now
to get their knowledge abroad, if knowledge they woidd have at all.
The language was rapidly changing. Not only did many new words
come in with the Danes, but the English tongue was throwing off
its old inflections, and becoming more like modern English. In
letters, as in so many other ways, Anglo-Saxon England had worn
itself out. The new blood brought in by the Danes did not do very
much to restore it. It needed the stern discipline of the Norman
conquest to restore the vitality of the sluggish race, and direct
England into new channels of progress.
Books Recommended for the Fukther Study of Book I
For Prehistoric Britain, W. Boyd Dawkins' Early Man in Britain und
B. C. A. Windle's Remains of the Prehistoric Age in England. For Celtic
-io66.] ENGLISH LIFE BEFORE NORMA.V CONQUEST 8 1
Britain, J. Rhys' Celtic Britain, and J. E. Lloyd's History of Wales, vol. i. ;
for the Celtic Church, H. Zimmer's Cdtic Church in Britain and Ireland,
translated by A. Meyer, E. J. Newell's History of the Welsh Church, and
J. Dowden's Celtic Church in Scotland. For Roman Britain, Haverfield's
Rouianisation <if Roman Britain, and Military Aspects of Bomnu Wales.
Mommspn's Roman History, vol. v. ch. v., translated by Dickson. For
Early English history a brilliant but somewhat imaginative account is
contained in J. R. Oreen's Making of England and Conquest of England.
For institutions, W. Stubbs' Constitutional History of England, vol. i.
chaps. i.-i.v., corrected by C. I'etit-Dutaillis, Studies Supplementary to Stubbs'
Constitutional History, i. i.-v. (translated from the French). For social and
economic history, Social England, by various writers, vol. i., especially
the illustrated edition; and W. Cnnninghaiu's Growth of English History
and Commerce during the Early and Middle Ages, pp. 1-128, For the whole
period, tlie PoUtiq^ History of England, edited by W. Hunt and R. L. Poole,
vol. i. (to 1066) nby T. Hodgkin. For historical geography see map* xv.
(Roman Britain) and xvi. (klngland before the Norman Conquest) in the
Oxford Historical Atlas, and for all periods Gardiner's School Atlas of
English History,
BOOK II
THE NORMAN AND ANGEVIN KINGS
CHAPTER I
WILLIAM I. THE CONQUEF
Chief Dates:
1066.
Accession of William i.
1067-1070.
English revolts.
1071.
Hereward subdued.
1075.
Revolts of Earls Ralph and Roger.
1079.
Battle of Gerberoy.
1086.
Domesday Book.
1087.
Death of William i.
1. The coronation of William was succeeded by a few months of
peace so profound that it looked as if England had been completely
Early subdued, and that the king would have no more trouble
policy of with his new subjects than Cnut had had. William
W lam . gave himself out as the lawful successor of Edward
the Confessor. Those who had fought for the usurper Harold
were traitors, and had forfeited their lands for their treason. It
was natural that William should hand over their estates to his
Norman followers. But Englishmen who had not been in arms
against him were allowed to continue in their jjossessions, and nearly
all the old officers in Church and State were kept on. Edwin and
Morcar still governed the midlands and north. The king brought
in no new laws, upheld the old courts, and promised to rule as
Edgar and Cnut had governed.
2. Despite William's fair words and acts, the English soon
found that he had very different ideas as to how a king shoiQd
The English g'overn his country from those of any of liis pre-
revolt of decessors. In particular, he was not likely to follow
^^^"^^ the example of Edward the Confessor, and be content
with a nominal superiority over earls like Edwin and Morcar.
82
io68.] WILLIAM I. THE CONQUEROR 83
Bitter experience in Normandy had tanght him to distrust the great
nobles, and he had also to satisfy the swarm of Norman adven-
turers who had helped him, and who were by no means content
with the small reward meted out to them after Hasting-s. Before
long" nothini!?' but the fierce will of the king kept the English nobles
from rebelling, or his Norman followers from robbing the conquered
people of their lands and offices. In 1067, however, William was
forced to revisit Normandy. He left the government in the hands
of his brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, and of William Fitzosbem,
a great Norman noble. These men began to oppress the English
terribly, and encourage the greedy Normans to seize their lands
and build castles upon them. Only the south had really felt the
weight of the Norman jwwer. The lands north of the Thames had
submitted, and had not been conquered. They at once rose in
revolt against the misdeeds of William's regents. The king came
back from Normandy and discovered that his conquest of England
had only been begun at Hastings. For the next five years he was
busily engaged in putting down rebellions, and subduing England
piece by piece. It was not till 1071 that the process was completed.
3. All through these years the English were constantly in revolt.
They fought bravely ; but their leaders were incompetent, and
were always quarrelling with each other. Moreover, The com-
different parts of the country did not work together. P'etion of
One district rebelled and was subdued, and then the conquest '
next region rose in rebellion. It was, therefore, 1067-1071.
possible for the Normans to put down piecemeal these piece<
meal rebellions. Had the English shown as much union as their
enemies, they might well have avenged the death of Harold. As
it was, whenever the Normans conquered a district, they erected
in it a castle, whose garrison kept down the English in obedience.
Even if another revolt broke out. the Normans could take refuge
behind the walls of the castle until the king was able to come up
and release them. The English, unaccustomed to fortresses, had
few means of capturing these new strongholds. Before long the
whole land was covered with Norman castles.
4. The extremities of the country, the north and the west, wore
the most difficult to conquer. The men of the south-western shixes
rose in rebellion in 1068, and called in the sons of The conquest
Harold, who had taken refugee in Ireland, to help of the West
them. But before the end of the year the king cap- *"** '*'"''''•
tnred Exeter, and put down the western revolt for good. WilliMU
had luurder work in the north ; but even here the divisions of tlM
84 WILLIAM I. THE CONQUEROR [1068-
enemy greatly helped his progress. Edwin and Morcar more than
once headed a revolt. But they were not strong or resolute enough to
prove successful leaders, and were divided between their anxiety not
to compromise themselves fatally with WiUiam, and their conviction
that William's supremacy meant the loss of the great position so
long enjoyed by the house of Leofric. After a half-hearted attempt
they made their submission to William, who treated them with
remarkable leniency. Nor was the north country more fortunate
when Edgar the ^theling appeared among them, and they chose
him as their king. Edgar had, however, one powerful backer in
his brother-in-law, Malcolm Canmore (or Big Head), the most
powerful king the Scots had yet had; and the Northumbrians
expected much from him in their struggles against WiUiam.
The Danes, however, were also called upon to help them, and
Malcolm was so jealous of the Danes that he gave the rebels little
help. A Danish fleet appeared in the Humber, and lent its
powerful aid to the English. The Danes joined with the best of
the northern rebels, Waltheof, earl of Huntingdon, and son of
Siward, the sometime earl of Northumbria. But after William
came up, the Danes withdrew to their ships, and Waltheof made
his submission. William treated liim with marked favour, and
reinstated him in his earldom. But the king wreaked a terrible
revenge on tlie rebel country. He laid waste the whole land
from the Humber to the Tees. Many years afterwards all York-
shire still lay desolate and untiUed. It was an awful example of
the ruthlessness of William, and effectually stopped future re-
bellion in the north country.
5. In 1070 the last English revolt against WUKam broke out
in the district bordering on the Wash. Driven out of the open
Hereward country, the rebels took refuge in the Isle of Ely, a
subdued, real island in those days, and surrounded on every
^^"^^^ side by a wilderness of fen and morass. At the
head of this gallant band was a Lincolnshire thegn, named
Hereward, whose wonderful deeds of daring made him the hero
of the English. Among others who joined him were Edwin
and Morcar, who had learned too late that their hesitating policy
was of no avail against the power of WiUiam. For long the Ely
fugitives defied the power of WiUiam ; but at last the king made
his way to their camp of refuge by building a hard causeway over
his fens, so that his soldiers could attack Hereward's position. In
1071 Ely was captui-ed. Hereward reconciled himself to William,
and was kindly treated by him. So faithful was he henceforth that
-I07I.1 WILLIAM L THE CONQUEROR 85
William gave him a high command in the army, with which two
years later the king conquered Maine. Edwin was murdered by his
men during the siege of Ely, but Morcar submitted, and was also
pardoned. Gentle to the leaders, "William was inexorable to the
common rebels. But he had taught the English their lesson.
Henceforth neither he nor his sons had anything to fear from them.
6. During the years of conquest nearly all the leading English
lost their lands and offices. Waltheof was the only English earl
now left, and such Englishmen as still held estates fiie estab-
were, as a rule, poor and insignificant. Their sue- llshment of
cessors in property and power were William's Nonnan »'8"o*l'sm.
followers, who soon formed a new foreign aristocracy of land-
holders. They did not, however, hold their estates in the same
fashion as their English predecessors. After the system already
prevalent in Normandy, WUliam granted lands to his followers on
condition of their serving him in his wars. Already before the
conquest the English kings had looked to their thegns, or personal
followers, for help in fighting their battles. But what was pre-
viously the exception now became the general rule. The result was
the general establishment in England of what was called/ei/rfaZiaw,
or the feudal system. Under it William, as king, was lord of the
whole land, and his followers held their estates of him as his vassals,
or subjects. A piece of land was called a fief, and the person
receiving it took an oath to be faithful to his lord, called the oath
of fealty, or fidelity. Those who took this oath also did homage — that
is to say, they promised to become the inen, or vassals, of their lord.
Ultimately the whole country was divided into knight's fees, each
knight's fee being sufficient land to support the knight, or heavily
armed horsemen, on whom, after Hastings, the strength of every
army depended. Thus there grew up the system of military
tenures, or tenure by knight service, whereby the landholders paid
their rent to the king by equipping and paying for knights to fight
for him. The most important of the nobles held their lands
directly of the king, and bound themselves to supply him with a
large number of knights. They were called the king's tenants in
chief, or tenants in capite. and wei-e about fifteen hundred in
number. Often they were called barons, from a word which
originally meant man, but which soon became equivalent to land>
holding nobleman. But each tenant in chief granted out a large
part of his land to vassals of his own, who were called sub-tennnta,
or 7nesne (that is. mediate) tenants. These were, in their turn, bound
to fight for their immediate lord, and it was only with their help
86 WILLIAM I. THE CONQUEROR [1071-
that the tenants in chief could fulfil their feudal obligations to the
king. Sometimes the sub-tenants, in their turn, granted out their
lands to minor sub-tenants, so tliat many links were forged in the
feudal chain. Though some of the lesser landlords continued to be
English, the majority of those to whom by this system military
power was entrusted were Normans. The mass of the English sank
to the bottom of the social scale. They became the dependants of
the Norman barons, and lost their tradition of freedom as they
grew accustomed to serve foreign masters.
7. Soon a great division of interests began to show itself between
William and the Norman barons. William and his nobles were at
William and ^^® ^^ bringing in the feudal system of land tenure,
the Norman But the barons were not contented with this. They
barons. wished to extend into England the system which
prevailed in Normandy, whereby each feudal landlord was like a
little king over his own estate. WiUiam wished to be a strong
monarch, ruling with the help of his barons, but never allowing
them to set uj) their will against his. The nobles, on the other
hand, looked with great alarm on the establishment of a royal
despotism. They were wiUing to acknowledge the king as their
superior lord, provided that in practice he delegated all his power
to the great landlords. They cared notliing for the unity of the
kingdom, or the prosperity of the people. They thought of nothing
but their own estates, and they bitterly resented all attempts to
restrain their liberty of ruling their vassals after their own fashion,
even when the attempt came from the king himself.
8. WiUiam did aU that he could to prevent the Norman barons
from becoming too powerftd. He put an end to the great earldoms
which, since the days of Cnut, had threatened to revive the old
kingdoms. Even the earldoms over one county he looked upon
with suspicion, and took care that only the most faithful of his
followers should be advanced to these dignities. He
earldoms'"^ was anxious to prevent the growth of great local
powers, and, luckily for him, he found that the chief
Anglo-Saxon landlords had held widely scattered estates. He took
care that the estates of the Norman barons should, like those of their
predecessors, be distributed over different parts of England. A
baron who held lands in Cornwall, Norfolk, and Yorkshire was
less dangerous than one whose whole estate was concentrated in one
of those counties. Eew exceptions were made to this general rule ;
and the chief of these were in the border districts, where military
necessities made it desirable that there should be a strong local
-I07S.] WILLIAM L THE CONQUEROR Sy
earl, able to protect the boundary from the invasion of foreigners
with the help of his local levies. On this account there grew up
on the Welsh and Scottish borders powers afterwards known as the
Palatine Earldoms. In these regions the great feudal landlord was
allowed to play the part of a jietty king. The palatine earl raised
the taxes, ruled the local army, made laws, set up law courts, and
gave judgments in them according to his own pleasure. Nothing
bound him to the king save his oath of fealty and act of homage :
for most purposes he was an independent prince. Earldoms of
this sort grew up on the Welsh frontier, at Chester, Shrewsbury,
and Hereford, though -the latter two were of brief duration.
Moreover, on the Scottish border, the bishop of Durham was
similarly invested with such great power over liis extensive estates
that his bishopric practically became a palatine earldom like those
of the west. If such powers had to be established, they were less
dangerous in the hands of a priest, who could not be the founder
of a legal family, than in those of a layman, whose children
succeeded to him by hereditary right. This process of reasoning
accounts also for the establishment of Odo of Bayeux as earl of
Kent with hardly less authority than that of the border earls.
9. In one part of his dominions William's power was particularly
oppressive. Like all his race, he was a mighty huntsman, and he
set apart great forests all .over England, where
husbandry had to stand aside in order that he might
chase deer freely. " He made," says the English chronicler,
" great forests for the deer, and passed laws for them that whoso-
ever killed a hart or a hind should be blinded. As he forbade
killing deer, so also did he forbid slaying boars : and he loved the
tall deer, as if he had been their father."' The most famous of
William's forests was the district still called the New Forest in
Hampshire. Henceforth the forests were treated as exempt from
the ordinary law. In them the king's will was almost unrestrained.
For generations the English had no more real grievance than the
cruel forest laws of the Normans.
10. The Norman barons watched with great discontent the anti>
feudal policy of the Conqueror. Before long they forme<l schemes
to overthrow him, and strove to make common cause jjjg baronial
with the few English nobles that were still left. In revolt of
1075 Roger, earl of Hereford, associated himself with "
Ralph, earl of Norfolk, in a plot against the king, and the two
invited Waltheof to join them. Their plan was to detlirone William,
and divide England into three parts, ruled severally by one of
88 WILLIAM I. THE CONQUEROR [1075-
themselves, the chief of whom was to bear the title of king. It was
practically a proposal to go back to the state of things under
Harold. Waltheof was now earl of Northumberland and married
to the Conqueror's niece Judith. He refused to have anything to
do with the conspiracy, though he thought himseK bound in
honour not to reveal to tlie king what the two earls had suggested
to him. Before long earls Ralph and Roger rose in rebellion, but
were easily subdued. Ralph fled to the continent, and Roger lost
his earldom and was imprisoned for life. No later earls of Here-
ford were allowed to exercise the palatine privileges which Roger
had enjoyed. A sterner fate was meted out to Waltheof, whose
wife told William of his negotiations with the rebels. Waltheof
confessed that he knew of their designs, and thereupon William
beheaded him as a traitor. Thus perished the last of the Eng-
lish earls. Henceforth the Norman traitors could not obtain even
the partial support of men of native birth. Yet for the next
hundred years there was a continued struggle between the Norman
feudal party and the Norman king. Whenever the ruler was
weak or embarrassed, there was sure to be a rising like that of
Ralph and Roger. But though the barons sometimes won a
temporary triumph, the iinal victory was with the king.
11. Very soon the barons had another chance of attacking the
monarchy. William's eldest son, Robert, was an open-handed, good-
Rebellion tempered soldier, eager for personal distinction, but
of Robert, weak, easUy led, and impolitic. In 1077 Robert rose in
revolt against his father, and found support from
many of the barons, both in Normandy and in England. The
Conqueror's strong hand prevented any fighting in England, but
in Normandy Robert waged war against his father, with the help
of the Trench king. In 1079 William besieged his son in Gerberoy,
on the eastern frontier of Normandy. In a scuffle that ensued
Robert wounded his father with his own hand ; but WiUiam loved
Ms cliildren fondly, and soon forgave him and restored him to
favour.
12. The disloyalty of the Normans led William and his suc-
cessors to rely more and more upon the English. The English
soon found that the barons were their worst oppressors,
the Engl^h WiUiam, though terrible when opposed, was anxious
that those who obeyed him should be justly governed
and live in peace. No such thoughts of policy or prudence checked
the rapacity and violence of the Norman barons. Before long the
English began to look up to their foreign king for protection
-1086.1 WILLIAM I. THE CONQUEROR 89
ag-Ainst the nobles. Thus William cleverly played off the two
nations against each other. Without the Normans he could never
have subdued the English. When they were put down, he used
the English to keep his overpowerful countrymen in check. In
the same way he claimed every right of the old English kings, and
added to them every power which the Norman dukes exercised in
their own country. This combination of the national position of the
English king, and the feudal status of the Norman duke, gave
William a position of very great authority ; the more so as the
cliief checks on both powers were no longer operative. William was
the first English king who was strong enough to control the whole
of the land. Though his power destroyed liberty, it made order
possible. And the great want of England in those days was a
strong government, keeping good peace. Such a rule William pro-
\-ided for England, but the coimtry had to pay heavily for it. He
was the first king to raise much money by direct taxation, and his
subjects groaned under his exactions. " The king and his chief
men." wrote the EngUsh chronicler, " loved overmuch to amass
gold and silver. The king made over the lands to him who offered
most and cared not how liis sheriffs extorted money from the
miserable people." Yet the same authority recognized the benefits
of his rule. " He was a stem and wrathful man, and none durst
do anything against his pleasure. The good order which he
established is not to be forgotten. He was a very mse and a
very great man."
13. In 1085 William ordered an inquiry to be made as to the
wealth and resources of England. His object was to find out how
many taxes he could raise from his subjects without jhe Domes-
altogether ruining them. " He sent," said the day Book,
chronicler, "his men into every shire, and caused
them to find out how much land it contained, what lands the
king possessed therein, what cattle there were, and how much
revenue he ought to receive. So narrowly did he cause the
survey to be made that there was not a single rood of land, nor
was there an ox or a cow or a pig passed by that was not set
down in his book." In 1086 information thus collected was put
together in the famous Domesday Book. Its exactness gave much
offence to the tax-hating Englishmen ; but William's inquiries
have this great advantage to us, tliat they enable us to draw a
picture of the England of his day such as we can form of no
other country at so remote a period. Even afttr fifteen years
of i)eace the desolating work of the Conqueror's early years still
90 WILLIAM L THE CONQUEROR [1086-
left its mark. Very commonly the value of land and property
was less than in King Edward's days. In some districts, notably
in Yorkshire, great tracts still remained waste.
14. Soon after the commissioners had done their work, WiUiam
simimoned a great moot, or cotmcU, at Salisbury. " There,"
The oath at ^7^ ^^® chronicler, " there came to biTn aU the land-
Salisbury, holders in England, whose soever vassals they were,
and they all became his men, and swore oaths of
loyalty to him that they would be faithful to him against aU
other men." In this fashion William maintaiaed his hold over the
under-tenants, who held their land of the great barons. There
was a danger lest their immediate lord should usurp such authority
over them that they would be expected to follow him, even when
he waged war against the king. The Salisbury oath bound aU
men of substance to put their duty to the king above their duty
to their immediate lords.
15. The conquest affected the Church as profoundly as the Stat«.
Sent to England with the pope's blessing, William did his best to
Lanfranc carry out the pope's wishes and make the English
and the Church like the Church on the continent. He de-
^^^ ' prived Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, of his office,
and appointed as his successor Lanfranc, abbot of the monastery
of St. Stephen's at Caen, which WiUiam himseK had founded.
Lanfranc was an Italian lawyer from Pavia, who made his way to
Normandy to push his fortune. Seized with a sudden religious
impulse, he forsook the world and became a monk at a new
monastery called Bee. The fame of his learning and piety soon
made Bee a famous place, and before long Lanfranc was made its
prior, the chief officer after the abbot. He became William's
friend, and was called away by him to Caen, and afterwards to
Canterbury. William and Lanfranc henceforth worked har-
moniously together for the reform of the English Church. They
gradually filled up the bishoprics and abbeys with Normans, so
that in Church as in State all the high places in England went
to the foreigners. Up to now many bishops lived in the country,
far away from such towns as England then possessed. The
Norman bishops transferred their residences to the leading towns
of their dioceses, as, for example, the bishops of Lichfield went to
Chester, the bishops of Dorchester in Oxfordshire removed to
Lincoln, and the bishops over Northumbria and East Anglia took
up their abodes in Durham and Norwich. In their new sees they
built magnificent cathedrals after the Norman pattern which
-io87.] WILLIAM L THE CONQUEROR 9I
Edward the Confessor had first introduced into England at West-
minster, More learned, energetic, and vigorous than their
English predecessors, the Norman prelates did much to reform the
English Church. They made the clergy more hard working, better
educated, and more zealous.
16. The Normans brought in the new ideas as to how the Church
should be governed, which had been growing up on the continent,
but were quite unknown in England. These views,
^rst taught by the monks of Cluny in Burgiindy, brandine
were now upheld by the famous Hildebrand, arch- movement
deacon of Rome, who, soon after William's accession, Inj^jand °
became pope as Gregory vii. Horrified at the world-
liness of the clergy, and of the power which lay rulers of evil
life exercised over- the Church, Hildebrand wished to separate
the Church as strictly as he could from the State. He waged war
against simony, or the selling of benefices for money or corrupt
consideration. He taught that the clergy should, like monks,
refrain from marriage, for if they had famUies of their own there
was danger lest they should be too much mixed up in worldly
affairs, and should aim at advancing their children and handing on
their benefices to them rather than devote themselves to advancing
the cause of the Church. He saw everywhere cruel kings and
princes dominating the Church and oppressing the clergy, and
thought that the best remedy for this was to claim for the Church as
complete a freedom as was possible from the secular power. With
that object he prohibited secular rulers from continuing the old
custom of investing or conferring on bishops and abbots a ring
and staff, which were looked upon as the sjTnbols of their ecclesi-
astical office. In carrying out this object he fell into a fierce
conflict with the emi)eror, Henry iv., who refused to surrender his
ancient rights. This struggle, called the Investiture Contest, lasted
nearly fifty years, and ftUed all Germany and Italy with confusion.
It was soon clear that Hildebrand, in trying to reform the Church,
was likely to set up an ecclesiastical despotism which in the long
run was more dangerous than even the despotism of kings and
emperors. But the full results of this were not yet seen, and most
of the more high-minded and enthusiastic reformers were on th«
side of the pope.
17. William and Lanfranc were (juite in agreement with
HUdebrand. To keep tlie Church apart from the world, William
pa.s8wl a new law separating the courts of the Church from the
courts of the nation, and enacting that every bishop should
92 WILLIAM I. THE CONQUEROR [1072-
liencef orth try his clerg-y in his own ecclesiastical court, and not
in the hundred or shire court. Lanfranc held a series of councils,
in which he introduced into England the pope's laws
tion of against simony, and for the first time ordered that
Church and no clergyman should marry. From all this it resulted
^ ®" that the Church and State in England were separated
clearly from each other ; the courts and law of the Church were
strengthened, and the pope's power over England was greatly
increased. All these changes made the Chxirch stronger, though
it also became less national. William, as the ally of the Church,
profited by its strength, and his close friendship with Lanfranc
and the reformers did much to increase the royal power. Gregory
was so well satisfied with William that he took no steps to
prevent him from investing his bishops in the fashion that was
not allowed to the emperor. For the moment the friendship of
William and Lanfranc united the Church with the State.
18. There was danger, however, in the background. The clergy
were constantly claiming more and more authority, and some
Limits Im- ^^ them spoke as if kings and princes only existed in
posed on ec- order to carry out the orders of popes and prelates,
clesiastical WiUiam himself was alive to the danger of clerical
usurpations, and sought to strengthen himself against
them by keeping up the traditions of English independence. He
ordered that no pope should be obeyed in England until the king
had recognized him. He would not allow Church councils to
meet or pass canons, or Church laws, without his sanction. He
prohibited the introduction of papal hulls, or letters, into England
unless he ai:)proved of them. When Gregory vii. requested
Wniiam to do homage to the Roman Church, he refused to obey
him, on the ground that no previous English king had ever per-
formed such an act. Thus in the Church as in the State.
Wniiam strove to limit the action of the forces that he himself had
brought into the country. The pope, like the barons, was useful
to the king in establishing his hold over England ; but both were
dangerous if not kept within strict bounds. The reign of William's
sons showed the wisdom of the Conqueror in watching narrowly
the power of the Church.
19. Master of England, WiUiam strove to revive the English
William as overlordship over the rest of Britain which Edgar
overlord of and Cnut had exercised. Malcolm Canmore's support
Britain. ^^ Edgar the iEtheling gave the EngHsh king a good
excuse for attacking Scotland. In 1072 William crossed the
-1087.] WILLIAM I. THE CONQUEROR 93
border, and advanced to Abflmethy, on the Tay. There Malcolm,
despairing of resistance, went to meet him, and did homage to Viiin
as his lord. The Welsh were also brought under William's power.
Defeated and di\iided since Harold's days, they were kept in check
by the border earldoms, and could offer no effective resistance.
WiUiam accordingly pushed Harold's conquests still further west-
wards. He went on pilgrimage to St. David's, and built a castle at
Cardiff. Like Edgar, he established relations with some of the
Dani.sh princes in eastern Ireland, and thought of crossing over
St. George's Channel and conquering that land. Never had an
English king exercised wider power. Like Cnut, he was lord of
all Britain, and also governed great continental possessions.
20. The union of England and Normandy under one ruler
made foreign poUcy more important than ever it had been before.
William had plenty of feuds with his French neighbours William's
and many designs to extend his Noi-man dominions, forelgrn
He was glad to get the help of the English to carry out Po'^^y-
these enterprises, and within a few years of the completion of the
conquest we find Englishmen loyally fighting William's battles in
France. To the south-west of Noj^nandy was the county of Maine,
whose capital is the city of Le Mans. It had long been an object
of Norman ambition to conquer this district. In 1073 WiUiam
succeeded in effecting this purpose. The army which conquered
Maine was largely composed of Englishmen, among them being the
gallant Hereward. WiUiam was often on unfriendly terms with
his overlord, King Philip i. of France, who was jealous of his over-
mighty vassal's power. Philip gladly intrigued with his barons
against WiUiam, and gave help to Robert in the days of his
rebellion. At last, in 1087, there was open war between the two
kings. The EngUsh king headed a raid from Normandy up the
Seine vaUey, and took possession of the town of Mantes. He set
the town on fire, and rode out on horseback to witness the ruin
that he was working. His horse stumbled and threw him from the
saddle. He was now an old man and very stout, so that the heavy
faU caused him a fatal injury. Bonie by his followers to Bonen,
he died on September 9, and was buried in his own favourite
foundation of St. Stephen's at Caen. Stern and cruel thougli he
lia^l shown liimself . he was, after liis own lights, a just and reUgious
man. Witli all liis faults, he did much good to England. His
reforms changed the whole course of our history.
CHAPTER II
(1087-IIOO)
WILLIAM II., RUFUS (
Chief dates:
1087.
Accession of William 11.
1088.
Revolt of the Norman barons.
1089.
Death of Lanf ranc.
1093-
Anselm made Archbishop of Canterbury.
I09S-
The First Crusade.
1097.
The exile of Anselm.
1 100.
Death of William 11.
1. By his wife, Matilda of Flanders, WiUiam the Conqueror left
three sons, Robei-t, William, and Henry. As the firstborn,
The sons of Robert was Ms father's natural successor. But he had
William the forfeited William's favour by his rebellion, and the old
conqueror. ^^ f^^^ed lest, under Robert's weak and sluggish
rule, the feudal barons should upset all his plans for the continuance
of a strong monarchy. Normandy was a sti-ictly hereditary fief,
and the Conqueror neither could nor woidd prevent Robert from
succeeding to it. But England was the conquest of his own hand,
and just as he had claimed its throne as the nominee of the
Confessor, so he professed to have some right of disposing of
the succession. On his death-bed he had expressed a wish that his
second son, William, should become the next king of England, and
sent him to England with a letter to Lanfranc. The archbishop,
faitliful as ever to his master's policy, used all his great influence
to carry out the dead ruler's wishes. The young prince strove
to purchase the people's good-will by releasing some of his
father's captives, among them being Morcar, the sometime eai'l of
Northumbria, and Odo, bishop of Bayeux, whom he restored to his
earldom of Kent. All turned out as the Conqueror had wished.
No opposition was raised to WiUiam's accession, and on September
26, 1087, Lanfranc crowned him king in Westminster Abbey.
2. In person the new king was stout and strong, with red hair
and a ruddy complexion. On this account men called him Bufus,
or the Red King. In character he was a coarse copy of his father.
94
-1095.] WILLIAM II., RUFUS 95
He had the strong will, the high coui-age, the shrewd percep-
tioa of his own interest, and the fierce resolution to rule England
after his own fasliion that distinguished the Con- character
queror. He was a faithful son, a gallant soldier, of William
and a bountiful master to his servants. But he had ""^"^*
none of his father's higher qualities, such as piety, sense of duty,
and love of justice. His life was foul, his passions unbridled, his
cruelty and avarice unchecked by pity or fear. One of the wickedest
men who have ever filled the throne, he was nevertheless a strong and
capable king. Under Lanfranc's influence he began to reign well.
3. It was at once clear that William would be an active king,
and the barons soon began to regret that they had lost their
chance of being ruled by a weakling like his brother. The' baronial
In 1088 they rose in revolt in favour of Robert, revolt
Though Robert sluggishly stayed in Normandy, and °^'^^^'^'
gave them no help, their rebellion was a foi-midable one. Odo of
Bayeux, regardless of his nephew's recent mercy, put himself at
their head, and all over the country the barons plundered the
king's subjects and laid waste their lands. In his distress William
turned to the English. He promised them better laws than they
had ever had before, and declared that he would not tax them
unjustly or carry out the forest laws oppressively. A great force
of EngUshmen then flocked to the king's banners, and drove
Bishop Odo to take refuge in his strong castle of Rochester.
After a long siege Rochester was subdued, and Odo was deprived
of his earldom and banished from England for good. Thanks to
English help, William put down the rebellion, and some of the
greatest barons in England shared Odo's fate. Those who still
retained their estates soon found that the tyranny of Rufus bore
more hardly upon them than even the strong rule of his father.
But they were powerless to resist him to any good purpose. Once
in 1095 Robert Mowbray, earl of Northumberland, _ ,» „
111 X J , . . , , . Revolt of
plucked up courage to take up arms agamst the king. RobeK
William hurried to the north, and shut up his Mowbray,
rebellious vassal in his castle at Bamburgh. As lie
oould not reduce the stronghold, WUliaui built a castle over against
it, whidi he called Malvoiain, or Evil Neighbour, and went back to
the south. Mowbray soon ventured to leave his castle, whereuiwu
the garrison of Malvoisin fell upon him and took him prisoner.
.\[(twl)niy forfeited his immense estates and was imprisoned for
life. The feudal party, thoroughly cowed, remained quiet for tha
ivst of Rufus's reign.
96 WILLIAM II., RUFUS [1089-
4. As long as Lanfranc lived, Rufus was restrained from his
evil courses by his old friend's wise advice. But Lanfranc died in
1089, and henceforth the king chose counsellors of a very different
stamp. His favourite minister was now Ranulf Flam-
Fhimbapd ^^^'^ — ^^^^ ^^' ^^® Torch — a sharp-witted and un-
scrupulous Norman clerk, who rose from a low station
by his readiness to suggest clever ways of filling the king's
treasury. Finally, Ranulf was appointed to the rich bishopric of
Durham. He was called the king's Justiciar, and in his hands the
office so named became a permanent post. William i. had appointed
regents to govern during his absences abroad, and had called them
justiciars. But henceforth the justiciar acted in the king's
presence as well as when he was beyond sea. From Flambard's
time the justiciar was the prime minister and chief helper of the
Norman sovereigns.
5. Flambard showed great ingenuity in using the king's feudal
rights over his vassals as pretexts for extortion. Thus when a
tenant in chief died the king as his lord had the right
extortions ^^ exacting a relief, or money payment, from the heir
before he handed over to him his father's estate. In
the same way the king had the right of levying aids, also money
payments, from his vassals when he had any special occasion. He
also was in the habit of acting as guardian over tenants who were
not of full age, and of demanding a sum of money from tenants
who wished to marry, and had to obtain their lord's consent before
they ventured to do so. All these feudal dues, as they were called,
had been levied by the Conqueror in a moderate and reasonable
spii'it. Flambard and William crushed the barons by exacting
outrageous sums as reliefs or aids. They wasted the estates of
minors, cut down their woods, and handed over to them lands so
piUaged and tenants so impoverished that their property was a
burden rather than a benefit. The penniless and disreputable
courtiers of the king were enriched by being married to unwilling
heiresses. The heavy hand of Flambard lay upon every baron in
England. Though they chafed under the burden, they dared not
throw it off. Nor were the English much better situated. Tlie
weight of taxation was far more oppressive than under the Con-
queror, and Rufus, though protecting the people from the barons,
was intolerably capricious in all his dealings with them.
6. Rufus was even more shameless in maltreating the ecclesi-
astics than in robbing the lay barons. He scoffed at religion, and
delighted to oppress its ministers. A bishopric or an abbey seemed
-I093.] WILLIAM IL, RUFUS 97
to him to be just like a lay fief, except that the defenceless cha-
racter of the clergyman who held it made it easier to rob him with
impunity. One of the royal rights which William
most abused was called the regale, by which the king- fiji church
had the custody of the lands of aU vacant bishoprics.
The idea was that the king would protect the estate from violence,
and hand it over in good condition to the new bishop when he was
appointed. William resolved to keep rich bishoprics vacant as long
as possible, so that he might keep the rents of the lands of the see
for as long a period as possible. Accordingly, when Lanfranc died,
the king prevented the appointment of a new archbishop for four
years, during which period he plundered and mismanaged the
archbishop's estates .so as to get all he could out of them. So long
as William was healthy and well, he persisted in his evil courses ;
but in 1093 he was prostrated by a violent fever, and feared that he
was going to die. He was then smitten with repentance for all the
evil that he had done, and in particular for his oppressions of the
Church. He resolved, by way of atonement, to fill up at once the
archbishopric of Canterbury, and he cho.se the best possible priest
available to occupy the great office.
7. At that time Lanfranc's old monastery of Bee was ruled over
by the abbot Ansehn of Aosta. The son of a nobleman in the
Alpine valley of Aosta, Anselm's outward history was . .
curiously similar to that of Lanfranc. Like Lanfranc, archbishop
he crossed the Alps and sought a career in Normandy, ^ ^^"/^^qo
where he was impelled by an outburst of religious '
zeal to forsake the world to become a monk at Bee. There he won
by his writings a reputation wliich far exceeded the literary
faipe of Lanfranc, and was venerated for a sanctity to which the
hard and lawyer-like friend of the Conqueror had but few pre-
tensions. In an age of brutal violence and cunning self-seeking,
the gentle, compassionate, and kindly nature of Anselm was the
more beautiful because of its rarity. He was now becoming an old
man, and heard with alarm that the repentant king was wishing to
raise liim to the see of Canterbury. He was. he said, a weak old
slieep, who should not l)e yoked to a fierce young bull like the
English king. But Anselm. who happened to be in England at
the time, was forced to appear at the beside of the sick king, and
literally compelled to accept the perilous preferment.
8. Anselm had not wished to be archbishop ; but having re
ceivecl the office, he was resolved to discharge all its duties to the
utmost of his capacity. Very soon William recovered, and fell
U
98 WILLIAM IL, RUFUS [1093-
back on his old courses of extortion, profanity, and profligacy.
Ansebn -wa? horrified at the wickedness that went on unrestrained
Quarrel of ^^ court, and wished to summon a councU of bishops
Anselm and to devise means for reforming the morals of the
king and his friends. At the same time he strove
to put an end to the scandal caused by the prolonged vacancies of
bishoprics and abbeys. Rufus was moved to extreme anger. He
refused to allow the reforming councU to meet, and bitterly re-
pented that he had weakly raised Anselm to the primacy. " What
are the abbeys to you ^ " he cried. '• Are they not mine ? " " The
abbeys are yours," rei)lied Anselm, " to protect, and not to destroy.
They belong to Grod, and their revenues are intended to maintain
God's ministers, not to support your wars." Meek and gentle
though he was, Anselm was strong enough to withstand WiUiam
to his face, and a complete breach between them soon followed.
9. At this time there were two rival popes in Christendom.
Urban 11. was generally acknowledged by the Church, but the
The Council investiture contest was still raging between Papacy and
of Rocking- Empire, and the emperor had set up as a rival to
' ' Urban a partisan of his own named Clement. Anselm
asked leave of William to go to Rome to receive the pallium ^ from
Urban. WiUiam answered that he did not recognize either Urban
or Clement as pope, and refused Anselm permission to leave the
country. In 1095 a great council met in the royal castle of
Rockingham in Northamptonshire to discuss the rival claims of
pope and king on the allegiance of the archbishop. William
declared that he would deprive Ansebn of his archbishopric if he
persisted in obeying the pope, whom the king had not acknow-
ledged. The majority of the bishops were on the king's side, and
advised Anselm to submit. The lay nobles were friendly to Ansebn,
and the. king dared not carry out his threat. The council broke up
without comiug to any conclusion, but the resolution of the primate
had won a moral victory over the time-serving of the bishops and
the impotent violence of the king.
10. During the next two years the relations of king and arch-
bishop became worse and worse. The original cause of dispute
was ended when Rufus suddenly acknowledged Urban, and, though
not permitting Anselm to go to Rome for his pallium, allowed him
to receive it from a papal legate who brought it from Rome. But
fresh difBiCulties arose : Ansebn would not pay the large sums of
1 For the palliunij see page 80.
-I097.] WILLIAM II., RUFUS 99
money which William required him to contribute to the expenses
of his campaigns. He irritated "William by sending to a Welsh war
a contingent of soldiers which the king thought too Anselm
small in numbers, and too ill-equipped for the work, driven into
When the king appealed to his own court to settle ®^"®' 1097.
this dispute, Anselm declared that the matter must be referred to
the pope. In 1097, upon this appeal, he withdrew to Home, and
William at onoe laid violent hands upon his estates. The arch-
bishop remained in exile for the rest of the reign. Alone of the
king's subjects, he had dared to resist his will.
11. The dispute between Church and State did little to check
the prosperous course of the king's affairs. Master of Eagland,
Rufus threatened the independence of Scotland and _ _ „ » f
Wales even more signally than his father had done. Cumberland
In 1092 he conquered Cumberland, which had hitherto and death of
been an independent state, tracing back its origin to the canmore.
old kingdom of the Strathclyde Welsh. Cumberland
was made a new English county, and Carlisle, now an English
city, became in the next reign the seat of a new bishopric. In
1093 there was war between WiUiam and Malcolm Canmore. Mal-
colm invaded England, but lost his life at Alnwick. His reign
is of the greatest importance in Scottish history. The rude High-
land chieftain had been tamed into civilized M-ays by his saintly
wife Margaret, the sister of Edgar the ^theling. Through
Margaret's influence English fasliions of life were spread through-
out the Celtic kingdom. Her influence lived on during the reigns
of her sons, and as Scotland became more English, it was inclined
to be more friendly with the English kings.
12. Even more notable was the advance of the English power in
Wales, though here it was brought about after a different fashion.
The Welsh princes remained as fiercely Celtic as ^^^ Norman
before, and William himself did not manage to subdue conquest of
the stronger of them in any real fashion. But many ^o"*'*^ Wales.
Norman adventurers, debarre<l by Rufus's strong hand from ruling
England as they itished, swarmed over the boundary-line, and,
lighting for their own hands, carved out with their swords new
lordships for themselves at the expense of the Welsh. Soon all
eastern and southern Wales was overrun by Norman barons, who
set up castles to hold the lauds they had conquered. Thus arose
what was afterwards called the lordsln'ptt marcher, or border lord-
ships of Wales. These were small feudal states, ruled almost
independently by great Norman families, and owing little but bare
100 WILLIAM IL, RUFUS [1095-
allegiance to the English king, who permitted their establishment
because it was a cheap way of occupying his restless barons and
keeping the Welsh in check. Prominent among these feudal states
were the palatine earldom of Pembroke, the lordships of Grlamorgan,
Brecon, and Montgomery. Only amidst the hills of Snowdon did
the Welsh succeed in maintaining their independence.
13. The separation of England and Normandy hardly lessened
William's importance in continental affairs. Robert's weakness
made his government of Normandy a sorry failure.
Normandy -^^ ^ ^^ ®*^^^ ^^ ^Xic)x dire distress for money that he
sold the Cotentin and the AArranchin, the western
districts round the towns of Coutances and Avranches, to Henry,
the youngest and wisest of the Conqueror's sons. When William
in his turn invaded Normandy, Robert bought off his hostility by
yielding to him also a large tract of territory in the east. Maine
revolted from Robert, and once more was riiled by her own line of
counts. Sometimes William and Robert acted together. They
grew jealous of Henry's power in the Cotentin, and united for a
moment to drive him out. Before long, however, the prudent
Henry found liis way back again.
14. In 1095 Urban 11. urged all Europe to join in a holy war
to rescue the sepulchre of Christ and the other holy places in
The First Palestine from the yoke of the Mohammedans.
Crusade, Palestine had been ruled by the Mohammedans for
many centuries, but so long as its masters were the
Arabs, Christian pilgrims were still permitted to visit the spots
consecrated by Christ's presence. Recently, however, the Turks,
a fierce race of barbarians from central Asia, had made them-
selves the greatest power in the Mohammedan world, and had
taken possession of Syria. Their fanaticism put aU sorts of diflS-
culties in the way of the pilgrims, and their complaints at last
moved the pope to take up their cause. He promised the favour
of the Church and all sorts of spiritual privileges to all who would
join in the holy war. Those who agreed to go wore a cross sewn
upon their garments, and the holy war was called a Crusade. It
was just the sort of enterprise to appeal to a time when the warrior
and the monk represented the two types of Hfe that were most
generally esteemed. All Europe sent its chivalry to fight against
the infidel at the command of the pope. The First Crusade,
as it was called, was a wonderful success. The Turks were
expelled from the Holy Land, and Godfrey of Boulogne was
established in 1099 as Christian king in Jerusalem.
■IIOO.]
WILLIAM II., RUFUS
lOI
15. Robert of Normandy was anxious to go on crusade, but he
liad no money to equip himself or his followers for the expedition.
In 1095 William advanced him a sufficient sum, and ^..j.
Robert handed over to him Normandy as a pledge gains Nor-
that he would repay it. This prudent bargain allowed mandy and
Robert to win glory in Palestine while WiUiam ruled
Normandy. Among Robert's companions in the holy war was
Edgar the ^theling. Meanwhile William's stern government
soon restored order in Normandy. He won back Le Mans, and
went to war against France. His success enhanced liis reputation,
and, to the alarm of the French king,
Duke William of Aquitaine, anxious,
like Robert, to go on crusade, offered
to pledge his great duchy to him
in return for the necessary funds.
Visions of a power in France ex-
tending from the Channel to the
Pyrenees floated before William's
eyes ; but before he could take any
steps to realize his dreams he was
suddenly cut off. On August 2. 11()<).
he went to hunt in the New Forest.
There an arrow drawn by an unknown
hand pierced him to the heart. The
courtiers scattered, and next day
some foresters bore the corpse to Winchester on a cart, and it was
laid, without service or ceremony, in a tomb in the minster. A
stone, called Rufus's atone, marks the place where the tyrant was
traditionally said to have met his death. William, says the English
chronicler, " was loathsome to all his people and abominable to
God. as his end shewed, for he departed in the midst of his
unrighteousness without repentance or atonement."
W^kectl'ockrnUM.
THE JTEW FOREST
CHAPTER III
HENRY I.
(IIOO-
-II35)
Chief dates :
IIOO.
Accession of Henry i.
1 102.
Fall of Robert of Belleme.
1106.
Battle of Tincbebray.
1107.
Reoonciliaiion of Henry and Anselm.
1 120.
Loss of the White Ship.
II3S-
Dciith of Heory i.
1. Henry, the dead king's younger brother, was a member of the
hunting party in which Rufus met his fate. Without a moment's
delay, he hurried to Winchester, secured the royal
and early treasure, and procured his election as king by the
measures of handful of magnates who happened to be there.
1 foo ^ ' Thence he hastened with all speed to London, where,
on August 5, the fourth day after the New Forest
tragedy, he was crowned as king.
2. Immediately after his coronation, Henry issued a Charter of
Liberties, wherein he sought to win the favour of every class by
Henry's promising to reign after a better fashion than his
Charter of brother. To the Church, suffering from Rufus's
Liberties. constant encroachments on her liberties, he promised
freedom of election to all bishoprics and abbeys, and declared
that henceforth he would not sell or f avoui* the revenues of vacant
sees. To the barons he announced that he would not insist on
the unreasonable reliefs, excessive marriage fines, oppressive ward-
ships, and other exactions of his brother's days. To the nation at
large he offered the abrogation of " all the evil customs whereby
the realm has unjustly been oppressed," and the renewed enjoy-
ment of the laws of Edward the Confessor. He stipulated that he
would take care tliat his barons gave the same concessions to
their tenants as he himself had given to his tenants in chief. Only
in respect to the forests would Henry yield nothing. Besides
issuing this charter, Henry imprisoned Ranulf Flambard in the
Tower of London, wrote at once to Anselm to urge him to return
II02.] HENRY I. 103
to England, and married Edith, daughter of Malcolm Canmore and
St. Margaret, and sister tu Edgar, the reigning king of Scots.
In all these acts Henry posed as the friend of the English and the
foe of the feudal baronage. His marriage with a descendant of
the West Saxon kings was particularly poptdar, though to please
the Normans he changed the lady's name to Matilda, or Maud, the
name of his mother. She soon became loved as the good Queen
Maud. But the Normans sneered at Henry's affectation of Eng-
lish ways, and derided him and his wife by nicknaming them
Godric and Godiva.
3. Within a few weeks of his brother's accession, Robert of
Normandy came back from the Holy Land, having won great glory
by his exploits as a crusader. He resumed the p^^jj^pg ^f
government of Normandy, which again feU into the Robert's
disorder which it needed a strong hand like that of r?Q?'^'
Henry to check. E/anulf Flambard escaped from the
Tower, and told Robert that the Norman barons were eager to put
him on the English throne in place of Henry. Accordingly, in
1101, Robert collected an army and landed at Portsmouth in quest
of his brother's crown. But the English rallied around their king,
and Anselm, now back in England, marshalled all the forces of
the Church on the same side. Robert saw that the good wUl of the
barons availed him nothing against such odds. He was the last
man in the world to persevere in a hopeless enterprise. He gladly
accepted Henry's proposal to hold a personal interview. When
they met the brothers made friends. Robert agreed to yield up his
claim on England on consideration of Henry giving him a pension,
and surrendering to him his lands in the Cutentin.
4. Abandoned by Robert, the Norman barons in England were
now exposed to the wrath of King Henry. The fiercest, strongest,
cruellest of them was Robert of Belleme, who added ^^ ^^jj ^^
to vast dominions in Normandy the lordships of Robert of
Arundel and Chichester in Sussex, and the palatine ??q|'"®'
earldom of Shrewsbury on the Welsh border. A
mighty warrior. Robert had been one of the foremost of the
Norman conquerors of Wales, and nearly all Mid Wales and much
of Soutli Wales was ruled by him and his brothers. In 1102
Henry picked a quarrel with him. and Robert had to defend him-
self. But liis tyranny had made him odious to all ; the Welsh and
English refused to fight for him. and the weak Duke Robert was
easily persuaded by Henry to attack liis possessions beyond sea.
The kiiag made himself master of Arundel and other castles of his
I04 HENRY I. [1102-
euemy. Robert of Belleme strove to defend himseK in his Shroi)-
shire estates. But Henry besieged the mighty new castle which
Robert had erected at Bridgnorth, on the Severn, and the townsmen
compelled the garrison to surrender. Driven to a last refuge at
Shrewsbury, the lord of Belleme was forced to make his submission.
He was allowed to leave England for Normandy, but all his
English lands were forfeited to the crown. Henry put an end
to the palatine earldom of Shrewsbury, as the Conqueror had put
an end to the palatine earldom of Hereford. The English were
overjoyed at the faU of the tyrant. " Rejoice, King Henry," ran
a popular song that they sung, " and give thanks to the Lord God,
for thou hast begun to reign freely now that thou hast conquered
Robert of Belleme, and hast driven him from the boundaries
of thy kingdom." Henceforth the feudal nobles were cowed, and
Henry, having had good reason to distrust them, now gave his
confidence to knights and clerks of lower birth, but of greater
fidelity. Some of his ministers were even men of English origin.
5. Henry was soon able to tui-n the tables on his brother.
Robert found Normandy was gradually slipjiing away from him.
Battle of Robert of Belleme. now limited to his Norman estates,
Tinchebpay, deprived liim of many great tracts of territory. In
two successive expeditions Henry conquered miich of
Normandy for himself. At last, in 1106, Henry made a final in-
vasion of such of his brother's inheritance as stUl remained faithful
to him. The decisive battle was fought at Tinchebray, where Robert
lost both his dominions and his liberty. For the rest of his life he
was kept in kindly custody in his brother's English castles, and
died at Cardiff nearly thirty years later. His comrade on the
crusade, Edgar the ^theling, and Robert of Belleme, were also
taken prisoners at Tinchebray. Henry released them both from
custody ; but while Edgar lived for the rest of his life in obscurity
in England, Belleme plunged into fresh revolts that involved him
ill lifelong captivity. Henceforth Henry ruled Normandy as well
as England, and the duchy, like the kingdom, was reduced to
good order.
6. Anselm had loyally helped Henry against the barons, yet
from the moment of his retui-n a grave question of principle in-
The Invest!- "^°^^®*^ ^ ^^^8" <iispute between the king and the arch-
tupe Contest bishop, Dui-ing his exile, Ansehn had taken an
l"l03^-?H)7^' *^*^^^ P^^ "^ *^^® famous Investiture Contest -which
was still raging between the pope and the emperor.
He had attended a council in which prelates had been forbidden
-no;.] HENRY I. IO5
to receive investiture from laymen, or even to perform homage to
them. Hitherto English bishops, including Anselm himseK, had
received investiture from the king and done homage to him without
a scrapie. Now Anselm refused to renew his homage to the new
king, and declared that he could not countenance any bishops
following the ancient custom. The dispute was carried on ia a
good-tempered way, and, though Henry and Anselm were^quite
firm on the matter of principle, neither party lost his respect for
the other. At last, in 1103, Ansehn withdrew from England to
lay his difficulties before Pope Paschal ii.. at Rome. The arch-
bishop remained in exile until 1107. Then a satisfactory com-
promise was arranged, by which he was allowed to return. Henry
yielded one of the points at issue, but An.selm surrendered on the
other. The king utterly renounced lay investitures, while the
arclibishop withdrew his objection to clerks pei-forming homage to
the king. Henry's change of front was intelligible, since lay
investitures were hard to defend upon the principles which all men
then accepted, for the ring and the staff were admittedly symbols
of spiritual dignity, and no lay prince had any authority to confer
spiritual jurisdiction. But Henry regarded investiture as the
means by which he asserted his authority a.s kiug over the prelates
of his realm. Anselm. by giving u^) his point about homage,
enabled the king to maintain his hold over the higher clergy in a
way less offensive to their scruples. Henceforth, in return for the
abandonment of investitures, it was arranged that no bishop was to
be consecrated or abbot enthroned until he had rendered homage to
the king for his temporal possessions. Seemingly, the compromise
was in favour of the Chui-ch, for Henry had given up lay investi-
tures. But Henry might well maintain tliat he had surrendered
1 he shadow and retained the substance. How far the compromise
would work depended upon the good sense and forbearance of future
kiugs and prelates. But it gave peace for tlie time, and was so far
looketl upon as satisfactory that, more than fifteen years later, the
original conflict between pope and emperor was ended upon the
lines of the agreement of Henry and Anselm by the Concordat of
Worms. But the dispute, which in England was amicably settled
after five years of negotiations, had plunged all Germany and Italy
into confusion for nearly fifty years.
7. Master of Church and State alike, absolute lord of England
and Noi-mandy, Henry's power exceeded tliat of Itis brother
and father. Scotland, ruled by the queen's brothei-s and nephew,
was friendly and submissive, and so close were the relations of
I06 HENRY I [1107-
the two courts fliat pushing Norman adventurers began to in-
sinuate themselves into the good will of the Scottish kings, and to
_ ^ . receive so many lands and favours from them that
Extension c, !•• ■, , -tx 1 -a- , -, ■,
of Norman the bcottish nobility became ultimately almost as
influence Norman as the baronage of England. After 1124
°and. °° *^® ^"^^ ^'^ Scots was David, MatUda's brother, who
, had passed his youth at his sister's court, and as the
husband of Waltheof 's heiress, received Waltheof 's old earldom of
Huntingdon. David was even more thoroughly normanized than
his father, Malcolm, had been anglicized. He had no scruple in
frequently attending King Henry's court, or in performing homage
to him. Norman ideals of warfare, law, government, and social life
spread from his example over aU northern Britain. In this in-
direct way a sort of Noi-man conquest of Scotland was gradually
brought about : but it was due, not to violence, but to the peaceful
permeation of Norman influence.
8. During the same years the more forcible Norman conquest
of Wales which began under Rufus was completed, save that the
. Welsh princes of Gwynedd, or North Wales — they no
of the longer were called kings^held their own amidst the
Norman hills of Snowdon, where Henry was powerless to dis-
South Wales ^°^?® them. In the conquests of the marchers, Henry
had little interest, for after the fall of Robert of
BeUeme none of them were strong enough to threaten his power.
Yet it was with his good will that Flemings were settled in the
earldom of Pembroke, where their successors became so numerous
that they drove out the Welsh speech from southern Pembroke-
shire, and, adopting the English tongue, made that district the
" Little England beyond Wales," which it stUl remains. More-
over, a prudent marriage secured to Henry's own f amUy some of the
chief spoils of conquest. The king married his favourite illegitimate
son, whose name was Robert, to the daughter of Robert Fitzhamon,
Robert of ^^^^ ^^ Gloucester and conqueror of Glamorgan.
Gloucestep Robert inherited his father-in-law's possessions which
and were erected by Henry into the earldom of Gloucester.
This earldom of Gloucester, always including the great
marcher lordship of Glamorgan, was henceforth one of the greatest
of English dignities. Robert himself was a famous warrior and
man of abUity. He loved literature, and particularly history, and
showed such sympathy for the legends of his Welsh subjects, that
it was at his direction that a Welsh clerk, named Geoffrey of
Monmouth, wrote his History of Britain. This book made famous
-1 124.] HENRY I. 107
all over Europe the picturesque romance which Geoffrey x)alnied
off as true history.
9. After the conquest of Normandy, Henry had constant
trouble with France, now ruled by Louis vi., a much more capable
and powerful king than his predecessor, Philip i.
Duke Robert's son William sought to drive his uncle L^'V'Vf *"*
out of Normandy, and was supported by Louis, who
was jealous of Henry's power. There was a good deal of fighting,
in which Henry was generally successful. At last the chief source
of danger was removed by the death of William.
10. In England Henry ruled as an absolute king, after the
fashion of his father. He chose as his justiciar, or prime minister,
a Norman priest named Roger, who became bishop
of Salisbury. Roger was as devoted to the king's in- Salisbury
terests as Flambard had been, but he was no mere and the
extortioner, but an orderly-minded, careful, and tiyl^sy'stem
prudent statesman with a genius for administration
and organization. He set up a body of well-trained clerks and
lawyers, whose help and advice enabled the king to govern
his dominions better than they had ever been ruled before. Two
great courts arose, each with its staff of trained officials, which
divided between them the chief business of the crown. One of these,
the Curia Begig, or King's Court, was mainly a judicial body. It
sat in judgment on cases where the tenants in chief were concerned,
and on other cases which were transferred to it from the courts of
the barons, or from the shire moots. It sent its judges, called
justices, all over the country, to hold periodical circuits and try
locally cases that it was not convenient to bring before the king's
presence. It soon became a privilege to have a cause tried by the
king's judges rather than in the local courts, and henceforth the
Curia Regis prove<l a formidable rival to the ancient Anglo-Saxon
moots as well as the private courts of the nobles. Side by side
with this body was the Exchequer, served by officials calle<l borons
of the Exchequer. This assembly collected and controlled the vast
revenue which Henry exacted, and in return for which the j)eople
got peace and sound rule. Despite the lieavy price they paid for it,
the people gained by the process. The land l)ecame prosperous,
and such good justice was done between man and man that the
English called Henry the " Lion of Righteousness."
11. Misfortunes clouded Henry's later days. His queen,
Matilda, died, leaving him a son named William and a daughter
named Matilda. The latter was married when a young girl to
I08 HENRY /. [1120-
the Emperor Henry v., the same prince who concluded with the
pope the Concordat of Worms. William was drowned in 1120,
The loss of when returning- from Normandy to England. The
the White king's son sailed in a vessel called the White Ship. He
'P' • gave the sailors so much wine that they became care-
less, and kept a bad watch. Then the ship struck on a reef of rocks,
and soon began to sink. A boat was got out, and William and others
embarked in it and rowed away from the wreck. But then he
found that one of his sisters had been left behind, and returned to
save her. When the boat came alongside, a rush of the panic-
stricken crew swamped it and drowned the heir to the throne.
The blow was a cruel one to Henry, and it is said that he never
smUed again.
12. Henry married a second wife named Adelaide of Louvain,
but she brought him no children. In 1125 the Emperor Henry v.
died, and his childless widow, Matilda, came back to
and™ njou England. Henry had resolved to make his daughter
his heir. It was an unheard-of thing in those days
for a woman to rule a race of warriors like the Normans, and
Henry's barons were disgusted at the proposal. But they dared
not withstand the king's will, and bit by bit they were cajoled or
dragooned into taking oaths to recognize MatUda as Henry's
successor. She found another husband in Geoffrey, count of
Anjou, called Geoffrey Plantagenet, because he wore a sprig of
bloom, or planta genista, in his helmet as his cognizance. The
county of Anjou was but a small district situated on the lower
Loire, with Angers and Tours as its cliief towns, and divided from
Normandy by the county of Maine. Yet the race of counts that
ruled this little territory was so fierce, enterprising, and able that
Anjou was a much more important state than most lauds of its
size. Anjou and Normandy had long been rivals, and the Nor-
mans hated its people, who were called the Angevins, while the
Angevins grudged the Normans the possession of Maine, which
they thought ought to be theirs. Henry married MatUda to
Geoffrey, hoping that the match would end the long feud between
the two lands, and would ultimately unite the two countries.
He was delighted when the young couple had children, and fore-
saw the time when his grandson Henry would be lord of England,
Normandy, and Anjou.
13. Henry died in 1135, his end being hastened by an over-
hearty meal of lampreys, which he ate contrary to the orders of
his physician. He was buried in Reading Abbey, a monastery of
-1 125.]
HENRY I.
109
his own foundation. He was a good king, though personally lie
was as hard and selfish as ever Rufus had been. But he was wise
enough to see that his interests required that his dominions sliould
enjoy peace and prosperity, if only because he could raise heavier
no HENRY I. [1 135.
taxes from prosperoiis than from impoverished subjects. Unlike
Rufus, he kept his fierce passions in such check that he never did
Death and cruel deeds save with a politic object. His subjects
character of respected him even though they feared him. The
enry . English chronicler thus writes about him : " He was
a good man, and there was great awe of him. No man durst misdo
another iu his time. He made good peace for man and beast.
Whosoever bore his burden of gold or silver, no man durst say
ought to him but good." Under liim the full effect of the Con-
queror's policy was worked out, and England became a peaceable,
orderly state, ruled by a strong but wise despot.
CHAPTER IV
STEPHEN OF BLOIS (1135-1154)
Chief dates :
"35.
Accession of Stephen.
1138.
Battle of the Standard.
1 141.
Battle of Lincoln.
IIS3.
Treaty of Walliugford.
"54-
Death of Stephen.
1. Among the kinsfolk to whom Henry i. had given lands and
I)Ower was his nephew, Stephen of Blois, a younger son of the
powerful count of Blois, who ruled over the Loire Accession of
country between Anjou and the domains directly Stephen of
governed by the French king. Stephen's mother was ^'o's. 1135.
Adela, a daughter of William the Conqueror. Henry i. had shown
marked favour to his sister's sons. He had procured Stephen's
marriage to Matilda, heiress of the ricli county of Boulogne, and
had obtained the important bishopric of Winchester for his younger
brother Henry, During his lifetime Stephen had been \mswervingly
faithful to his uncle, and had joined with the other barons in taking
oaths to acknowledge his cousin, the Empress Matilda, as Henry's
successor. But he knew how unpopular among the barons was the
prospect of being ruled by a woman and an Angevin, and on
Henry i.'s deatli made a bold and successful attempt upon his crown.
He hurried to England, and was welcomed by most of the barons.
The wealthy citizens of London showed him marked good will, and
his brother, Bishop Henry of Winchester, used his powerful interest
in his favour. Even the justiciar, Roger of Salisbury, forgot his
pledges to his old master and declared for Stephen, and his action
brought all tlie jiistices and officials of the old king to take the same
^•ide. Accordingly Stephen was chosen king, and crowned by the
urchbisliop of Canterbury, William of Corbeil. Like Henry i., he
issued a charter, and tried to win to his side all sorts of 8up{>orter8.
His first charter was a liasty affair, and couched in vague lan-
guage. He soon supplemented it by a fuller one, in which he set
lit
112 STEPHEN OF BLOTS [1135-
forth. in detail the many liberties which he was willing to give to
the Church. He promised to root out aU injustice and extortion,
Stephen's ^'^^ pledged himself to uphold the good old laws and
Charters of customs of the realm. Though keeping for his use
Liberties. ^j^^ forests as they were under the two Williams, he
offered to relinquish tlie new ones created by Henrv i.
2. At first Stephen seemed to have won complete recognition
as king. The barons of Normandy, hating the rule of the Angevin
and his wife, recognized him as their duke. It was to no purpose
that some of the English baronage, seeing that he was carrying
on the same policy as that of Henry i., rose in revolt against him.
He was equally successful in dealing with David, King of Scots,
who in 1138 invaded the northern counties as the champion of
Matilda. Thurstan, the old archbishop of York, stung to indignation
at the merciless raiding of the Scots, summoned the levies of the
north to repel them. The English met the Scots at Northallerton.
Battle of the -"-^^ ^^ middle of their ranks was a cart, on which were
Standard, placed the standard of the king and the banners of
the three most famous Yorkshire saints. The English
fought on foot after the old fashion, but they broke the charge
of King David's knights, and drove the Scots in disorder from the
field. The fight was called ihe 'Battle of the Standard.
3. Stephen was a man of very different mould from Henry T.
Like Robert of Noi-mandy, he was a gallant soldier and a kind.
Stephen's open-hearted, chivalrous gentleman. Yet a worse man
quarrel with of greater firmness and policy would have proved a
Roger of better king. If Stephen's earlier years remained
peaceful, the merit was due not to the sovereign, but to
Roger of Salisbury and the tried ministers of Henry i. Unluckily,
Stephen grew to mistrust the justiciar, and became jealous of the
great power which he and his kinsfolk were wielding. Besides
Roger's own high offices in Church and State, his son was chan-
cellor and two of his nephews were bishops of Ely and Lincoln.
Eearing lest so mighty a family should encroach still further on the
royal dignity, Stephen in 1138 called upon Roger and his nephews
to surrender their castles. The result was a complete breach
between the king and the powerful official class. Roger was
-driven from office, and no competent successor to him was found.
Grradually the administrative system set up so laboriously under
Henry began to grow weaker, and henceforth nothing prospered
with Stephen.
4. Robert, earl of Gloucester, was a partisan of Matilda, but he
-II38.J STEPHEN OF BLOIS II3
had been compelled to acknowledge Stephen after his father's
death. Witliin a few weeks of Roger's disgrace he Beginnings
lauded in England, accomijanied by the empress, who of civil
now demanded Stephen's throne. Civil war at once ^^'*'
broke out, and went on with hardly a break for the rest of
Stephen's reign.
5. Stephen strove to withstand Matilda with the help of Flemish
mercenaries, hired with Henry i.'s gold. He never threw himself
upon the people as Henry i. had done, and never T},g rivalry
obtained much support from them. Matilda was of Stephen
almost as badly off. Her only competent adviser was *°*^ Matilda.
Robert of Gloucester, for the barons who professed to uphold her
cause fought in reality for their own hands. Whichever side they
championed, the barons had no wish for either Stephen or Matilda
to win outright, but preferred that the civil war should go on as
long as possible, so that they should make their profit from the weak-
ness of both rivals. The result was that neither party was strong
enough to defeat the other, and neither was able to control its
followers or govern the territory which it held. The barons took
advantage of the dispute to win for themselves the independent
position which the first three Norman kings had denied them.
England was plunged into indescribable anarchy and confusion,
and the wretched peasantry suffered unspeakable misery.
H. The English chronicler, who finally laid down his pen at the
end of this reign, gives us a moving picture of the desolation of
the country. "Every nobleman built a castle and
held it against the king ; and they filled the land with J^ln^fin'J,
castles. When the castles were made, they filled them
with devils and evil men. Then they took all who had any
property and put them in prison and tortured them to get their
gold and silver. They taxed the villages, and when the wretched
countrymen had no more to give them they burnt their villages.
Then was com dear, and meat and cheese, for there was none
in the land. Men starved for hunger, and .some that were once
rich men went about begging their bread. They robbed churches
and churchmen, and though the bishops and clergy were ever
cursing them, they cared nothing for their curses. The land was
all undone with their deeds, and men said that Christ and his
xaiuts slept." Another writer says that " there were as many
kings, or rather tyrants, as there were lords of estates."
7. A few greedy nobles profited by the necessities of the rival
claimants to make their own profit out of both. Conspicuous
I
114 STEPHEN OF BLOIS [1141-
among these was GeofErey of Maudeville, a cumung, strong, and
cruel self-seeker, who, hy joining first one side and then the other,
obtained from both grants of enormous estates and
Geonpey of j^g recog-nition as earl of Essex. At last he overreached
Mandeville. ^
himself, and provoked Stephen to make a mighty
effort to crush him. Greoffrey fled to the fens, the region once
famed for the daring deeds of Hereward. He held his own there
until he was slain in a chance skirmish. His power perished with
him, but there were plenty of others to take his, place, though
none could play his daring game so cleverly or so successfidly.
8. The course of the war between Stephen and Matilda had
little effect on the country at large. Stephen's strongest partisans
were the Londoners and the rich and populous shires of the south-
east and south. Matilda's chief strongholds were Bristol and
Gloucester, the main centres of the power of her brother. Earl
Robert. The greater barons were largely on her side, among them
The Battle being Robert's son-in-law, Randolph, earl of Chester,
of Lincoln, In 1141 Robert and Randolph strove to relieve
1141. Lincoln, which Stephen was besieging. In a battle
fought outside the town Stephen's army was overwhelmed and he
himself taken prisoner. Many of the king's partisans fell away
from him now that he was helpless. His own brother, Henry
of Winchester, deserted him and declared to a council of barons,
gathered in his cathedral city, that by the defeat of Lincoln
God's judgment had been clearly shown to be against Stephen's
claim to the throne. The barons then chose MatUda as their
queen, and she went to London to be crowned. But
Matildas ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ haughty manner disgusted her best
friends, and the Londoners, who always wished well
to Stephen, rose in revolt and drove her from their city. A strong
reaction in favour of Stephen broke out. Henry of Winchester
again changed sides, and in a battle fought at Winchester, Robert
of Gloucester was taken prisoner in his turn. Matilda now had to
lead her own side as best she could, while Stephen's cause was ably
upheld by his heroic wife Matilda of Boulogne. Before long, how-
ever, the two Matildas agreed to exchange Stephen and Robert
for each other, and so the war went on as before. But the
empress had lost her best chance, and in 1148 the death of her
wise and strenuous brother ruined her last hopes. In despair
she quitted England for Normandy, and Stephen henceforth reigned
nominally as sole king. But the land remained in horrible con-
fusion, and the broken-spirited monarch was far too weak to restore
-1154-] STEPHEN OF B LOIS II5
order. Only in the northern counties, where David, king of Scots,
was iu possession, was there any approach to good government.
The Welsh profited by England's anarchy to throw off the yoke of
the marcher lords.
9. In 1153 Matilda's eldest son, Henry, landed in England to
claim his mother's heritage. Though only twenty years old, he
had made himself duke of Normandy. On his father's jj^g Treaty
death he had succeeded to Anjou, and a prudent ofWalling-
marriage with Eleanor, heiress of Poitou and Aqui- • '*°3.
taine. the divorced wife of Louis vi. of France, had secured him
the overlordship of all France from the Loire to the Pyrenees.
Carefully trained in war and statecraft by his uncles Robert and
David, he proved himself a much more formidable enemy to
Stephen than ever his mother had been. The king had no heart
to struggle against his young rival, and the deaths of his high-
souled queen and of his eldest son Eustace made him anxious to
end his days in peace. Accordingly, he yielded to the advice of.
his wisest counsellors, and made terms with Henry by the treaty
of WaUingford. By this it was arranged that Stephen was to go
on reigning for the rest of his Ufe, but that Henry was to succeed
him to all his dominions. Henry remained in England for a time,
and did his best to help his rival to pacify the kingdom.
10. Soon after Henry's return to Normandy, Stephen died.
His reign is only important because it showed what the rule of the
barons really meant. The cruelties of the Conqueror Death of
and his sons pale into nothingness as compared with Stephen,
the horrors wrought in the name of tliis well-meaning *'^ •
king. Stephen's failure showed how vital to England's prosperity
was that strong and ruthless despotism which the Norman kings
had set up. The power of the crown was })roved to be necessary,
since it was the only way of saving England from anarchy.
CHAPTER V
HENRY II. OF ANJOU (1154-1189)
Chief dates
"54.
Accession of Henry ii.
"59-
War of Toulouse.
I164.
Constitutions of Clarendon.
1 166.
Assize of Clarendon.
1 170.
Murder of St Thomas.
1171.
Norman conquest of Ireland.
1 174.
Feudal revolt suppressed.
1 181.
Assize of Arms.
1184.
Assize of the Forest.
1189.
Death of Henry ii.
1. Ox Stephen's death Henry of Anjou became Henry 11. according"
to the treaty of Wallingford. Under him the houses of Normandy
and Anjou, hitherto rivals and enemies, became united,
and charac- Moreover, through his grandmother, Matilda, queen
ter of of Henry i., Henry was descended from the old English
1 15^^ ' ^^^® ^^ kings. He was one of the ablest of all our
monarchs, and no ruler has left a deeper impress on
our history. He was a strong, restless man, avIio worked so hard
that he would never sit down except at meals and at council
meetings. He had little respect for tradition, and was fond of
making experiments in government. A mighty wan-ior, he showed
even more ability as a statesman and a lawyer. He was weU edu-
cated, and amused himself with reading as well as with hunting. He
took no pains to win popularity, and was indifferent to royal pomp.
Generally shrewd and prudent, he was at times swayed by fierce
bursts of passion which made him the terror of all aroiind him.
2. Henry's first business was to put an end to the disorders of
The pestopa- Stephen's reign and bring back England to the con-
tion of dition in which it was when Henry i. died. He sent
order. Stephen's Flemish mercenaries back to their work-
shops. He annulled his predecessor's lavish grants of land, and
called upon the barons who had built castles without the king's
116
Ii62.] HENRY II. OF ANJOU II/
permission to destroy them at once. These strongholds were called
adalterine castles, and the barons bitterly resented their destruction.
Some tried to resist by force, but Henry easily put down their
rebellions. He compelled Malcolm iv., king of Scots, who had
recently succeeded his father David, to surrender the northern
counties and pay him homage. He led an expedition against
Wales, and though his troops fled from the Welsh in disgraceful
panic, the Welsh prince Owen found it prudent to make peace
with him. But Owen's success secured the freedom of Gwynedd.
even though, with Henry's help, the lords marcher regained their
l)ower in the ea.st and south of Wales.
3. After a few years the administrative system of Henry i. was
fully restored. The Curia Regis and Exchequer were again Iiard at
work ; justice was executed, and the reign of law
uplield. In carrying out these changes, Henry's chief ge^!!^*^
lielpers were Richard of Lucy and Robert, earl of
Leicester, who divided between them the office of justiciar.
Nigel, bishop of Ely, Roger of Salisbury's nephew, became treasurer.
Perhaps the king's most trusted officer was Thomas of London, the
chancellor, called in later times Thomas Becket. Thomas- was the
son of a London merchant, and first became important as arch-
deacon of Canterbury. He was as indefatigable a worker as Henry
liimself. Though an ecclesiastic, he seemed wholly devoted to the
interests of the king. So convinced was Henry of his loyalty that
in 1162 he procured his appointment as archbishop of Canterbury.
Henry's wish in raising him to this office was to have an arch-
l)i.shop of his own way of thinking. He was jealous of the growing
claims of the Church, and thought that the privileges claimed by
ecclesiastics stood in the way of the extension of the royal power.
He thought tlie best way to make his reforms acceptable to church-
men was to have an archbishop by his side with whom he could
work as cordially as William i. had worked witli Lanfi-anc.
Thomas took a very different view of his new office. He hesitated
to accept the jmst because, as he said, he knew that Henry's
ecclesiastical policy would differ from that which as archbishop it
would be his duty to uphold. Much to Henry's disgust he re8igne<i
the office of chancellor. As chancellor he had been tlie most
zealous of servants of the king, but as archbishop he Iwcame a
strenuous ui)holder of ecclesiastical ])ri\-ileges. He gave up his
pompous and magnificent manner of life, and lived as strictly and
au.sterely as a monk. He took Anselm as his model, and resolved
to maintain strenuously all the rights of the Church. It wa«
Il8 HENRY II. OF ANJOU [1162-
inevitable, under these circumstances, that Henry and Thomas
should soon quarrel. Disputes at once arose upon various grounds.
Thomas complained that the king- had appropriated some of the
property of the archbishopric, and opposed a plan of Henry's for
changing the method of levying some taxes. Soon these quai*rels
sank into insignificance as compared with the question of the trial
of criminous clerks.
4. From early times the Church had had courts of its own
under the control of the bishops. Ever since William the Con-
queror's law separating the bishop's court from that
andlhe*^ of the hundred, these ecclesiastical courts had been
question of steadily increasing in importance. They administered
^r^°k"°"* a special law of their own called Canon Law, whose
chief source was the decrees of the popes. The anarchy
of Stephen's reign had immensely increased the importance of the
Church courts, for they continued their regular meetings when
civil war had made irregular the sessions of the king's courts of
justice. By this time the courts of the Church had become rivals
to the courts of the State. They claimed to try not only all
ecclesiastical suits, but all cases in which clergymen were concerned.
It was thought to be against the privileges of the Church for a clerk
to be brought before one of the king's courts. This claim was the
more dangerous from the wide sense in which the word " clerk " was
used. Not only persons in lioJy orders, bishops, priests, deacons,
and sub-deacons, were clerks ; the term included a multitude of
persons in minor orders, and a still larger nxunber who had merely
been set apart to the service of the Church by receiving the tonsure.
In short, nearly every man who could read was called a clerk, and
claimed as such the privilege of being tried in the Church court
only. Things were made worse because the ecclesiastical judges
were lenient to brother clergymen, and because they could inflict
no harsher punishment than imprisonment. In those days death,
mutilation, and torture were regarded as the appropriate penalties
for more heinous crimes.
5. To an order-loving king like Hemy, the exemption of the
clergy from the jurisdiction of his courts was most unpalatable.
_,, ,. . He had brought several clerks before his own judges,
between and was bitterly indignant when Thomas denounced
Henry and iiis action as a breach of the liberties of the Church.
omas. j^ great disgust, Henry summoned the bishops to
meet at Westminster, and asked them whether in the future they
were willing to accept the old customs of the realm as they existed
-1164.] HENRY II. OF ANJOU II9
in the days of his grandfather. The bishops agreed to this " saving*
the rights of their order." Thereupon, Henry drew up in writing
a list of these ancient customs which in January, 1164, was laid
before a great council held at the king's hunting-lodge of Clarendon,
near Salisbury. For this reason it was called the GonMtutions of
Clarendon.
6. The sixteen articles of the constitutions covered the whole
ground of the relations of Church and State. They provided that
clerks accused of crimes should be brought before the .^^ Constl-
king's justices. If they could prove that they were tutlons of
clergymen they were to be sent to the Church courts 9!^^°**°"'
to be tried ; if convicted, the ecclesiastical court was
to degrade them from their orders, and then they were to be
brought back to the king's court and to receive, as laymen, a lay-
man's punishment. The Church courts were to be carefully
watched, and their jurisdiction limited to strictly ecclesiastical
matters. Moreover, the rules which William the Conqueror had
drawn up to determine doubtful points between Church and State
were to be reasserted. The compromise arranged between Henry i.
and Anselm was reaffirmed, and bishops were to hold their lands
like other barons. Appeals to Rome were not to be made without
the king's con.sent, and prelates were to be elected in the king's
chapel under the king's eye.
7. After a momentary acquiescence, Thomas refused to accept
the Constitutions of Clarendon, declaring them to be against the
liberties of tlie Church. Henry was moved to deep xhomas
indignation, and resolved to ruin him. Courtiers leaves
were encouraged to bring lawsuits against him, and ^"*'^""'
Henry called upon him to give an account of the money which he
had received when he was chancellor. The king's violence gave
Thomas a better argument than he had previously had for rejecting
the constitutions. If the king's courts could he made the instru-
ment for ruining the king's enemies, it was not unreasonable that
the Church should strive to protect her clergy from such unright-
eous bodies. As in the days of Anselm, most of the bishops were
on the king's side, and begged Thomas to submit. In the Council
of Northampton, October, 1164, the archbishop met Henry face to
face and refused to surrender. The justiciar declared Thomas
a traitor, whereupon the archbishop appeale<l to the pope and
withdrew. A few days later he sailed in disguise to France. The
angry king banished all his kinsfolk from England.
8. For six vears Thomas remained abroad and carried on
I20 HENRY II. OF ANJOU [1164-
a violent controversy with the king". He was disg-usted to* find
that the pope, Alexander iii., gave him only a lukewarm supjjort.
Thomas's Alexander himself was eng-ag-ed at the moment in
return to a great quarrel with the powerful Emperor Frederick
fi"'^^"*^' Barbarossa, who had driven him from Italy to France.
In his distress the pope was anxious not to break
utterly with so mighty a prince as Henry, and did what he could
to smooth matters over. Henry, on his part, was desirous of avoiding
a breach with the pope. G-radually he became more reasonable,
and after years of exUe even Thomas was less stiff in his attitude.
At last, in 1170, a vague agreement was patched up. Henry and
Thomas met in France ; they said not a word about the Constitutions
of Clarendon, but the king promised to restore the archbishop and
liis friends, and to be guided by liis counsel in futiu-e. On Decem-
ber 1, 1170, Thomas returned to England and took up his abode
at Canterbury. During the negotiations for his restitution fresh
causes of difficulty liad arisen. The king's eldest son, Henry, was
now a young man, and tlie king, following a custom usual in France,
resolved to have him crowned dui-ing liis own lifetime, so that the
prince might learn the business of kingcraft under his father's
eye, and share with liim the hea^y task of governing his vast
dominions. The yoimger Henry's coronation took place on Whit
Sunday, 1170. To crown the king was one of the most cherished
rights of the archbishop of Canterbury, but, as Thomas was still
abroad, Roger, archbishop of York, a close supporter of the king,
had performed the ceremony. Thomas bitterly complained of this
as a violation of the privileges of Canterbury, and excommunicated
Archbishop Roger and all the bishops who took part in the cere-
mony. Matters stood thus when Thomas returned to England.
It is strange that Henry should have omitted to make terms with
Thomas in this matter, but he probably thought that tlieir agree-
ment to let bygones be bygones included the question of the corona-
tion as well as the Constitutions of Clarendon. He was at once
disapj)ointed in this hope, l&o sooner was Thomas established at
Canterbury than he renewed the excommunication of the offending
prelates.
9. Henry was moved to a characteristic outburst of temper
Murder of when he learned that the archbishop's retiirn meant
Thomas, a net\' quarrel. " What fools and dastards have I
nourished in my house," he cried, "that not one
of them will avenge me on one upstart clerk ■" " Four knights
took Henry at his word, and rode straightway to Canterbury,
-II70.]
HENRY II. OF ANJOU
121
which they reached on December 29. They made their way
lo tlio archbishop's chamber and bade him forthwith obey the
king's order and absolve the excommunicated bishops. Thomas
decLired that he was only obeying
tlie pope, and gave the knights
no satisfaction. They left him
in a rage, and the archbishop
went into the cathedral, where
the terrified monks were singing
vespers. Meanwliile the knights
put on their armour and, accom-
panied by a band of soldiers, fol-
lowed Thomas into the clmrch.
The archbishop's attendants
would have closed the door which
k'd from the cloister into the
north transept. Thomas fprbade
them to do tliis, and moved
slowly up the steps into the
choir, as the four knights burst
into the building. They cried,
" Where is the traitor P "
Thomas then returned to the
transept, crying, " Here am I ;
not traitor, but archbishop and
priest of God." A fierce alter-
cation followed, but soon the
knights drew their swords and
slew him as he stood. His last
words were. " For the Name of Jesus and in defence of the
Church, I am ready to embrace death."
10. The cruel murderers of Thomas had done the worst service
they could to their master. Against the living archbishop Henry
had been able to contend on equal terms, but he was rononlza-
powerless to hold his own against the outb\irst tlon of St.
of popular indignation which attended their deed Thomas of
of blood. Men forgot that the cause for which
Thomas had died was not the^ause of the Church, but the cause
of the see of Canterbury over its rival York. They hailiMl the
dead archbishop as a martyr who liad laid down his life for the
sak«* of justice. Stories were spread of his sanctity and devout-
neiis. It was believed that miracles were wrought by his mangled
X Plact inhere St. Thomas uias slain.
PLAN OF CHRIST CIICRCH, CANTER-
BURY.
(The buildings are maiDly of later date
than llTO.)
122 HENRY II. OF ANJOU [nee-
remains. Pilgrims flocked from all Christendom to do honour
to the martyr's tomb in Canterbuiy Cathedral. Alexander iii., who
had neglected him in his life, declared him a saint aiter his death.
All went ill with Henry until he solemnly renounced the
Constitutions of Clarendon, bought off the threatened censures of
the pope by an unconditional submission, and purged himseK of
complicity in Thomas's death. As the last sign of his penitence
Henry himself went on pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas,
and was scourged with rods as a penance for his hasty words. In
the broader question of the treatment of criminous clerks the
martyred archbishop secm-ed a substantial victory. From that
time tUl the Reformation the ecclesiastical courts remained the sole
tribunals in which a clerk could be condemned. All that Henry
gained was that henceforth all persons accused of crimes were in
the first instance brought before the king's tribunals ; but any
criminal who could prove that he was a clergyman, was allowed
what was called ienefit of clergy, and the king's courts had no more
to say to him. It shows how widespread was clerical privilege that
the proof of clergy required was ability to read Latin. Despite
all Henry's power the Church remained a state within the State,
and the strongest of his successors was warned by the great king's
failure to respect those inordinate privileges of the clergy for which
Thomas thought he had laid down his life.
11. The long struggle with Archbishop Thomas quickened rather
than slackened Henry's zeal to improve the government of his
Henpv's dominions. Hitherto he had been content to restore
reign as a the system of Henry i. Now that he had accomplished
period of that, he besran to devise new laws of his own. Henry i.
tion between ^^^ done a great work, but in his scheme the old
Normans popular institutions of Anglo-Saxon times and the new
an nglish. monarchical institutions of the Norman kings had
not been completely welded into a single scheme. It was the
special work of Henry ii. to put an end to this double system. His
reign has been called a period of amalgamation, ,because he joined
together what was best in old and new alike. Before he died the
old local courts of the shire and hundred were closely bound
together with the new royal courts administered by the king's
officials. Not only was there an amalgamation of English and
Norman institutions ; the English and Norman races, which had
hitherto stood apart from each other, were similarly united by
community of interests and frequent intermarriages. We have the
testimony of one of Henry's ministers that the two peoples were
-1 176.1 HENRY II. OF ANJOU 12$
already so indistinguisliable that no one knew who was a Norman
or who was an Englishman by race. The higher classes still spoke
French, and French Christian names alone were popular. But
these French-speaking Englishmen were becoming English in feel-
ing, and as the old Norman families died out, new ones arose who
had neither estates nor kinsmen in Normandy, and were sometimes
purely English in blood.
12. Henry ii. was one of the greatest legislators in English
history. The most important of his laws are called Assizes, and
the first of these was the Assize of Clarendon, drawn up j^q Assize of
in that same Wiltshire hunting-lodge that had witnessed Clarendon,
the beginning of Henry's struggle with- Beck et. The *'°°'
Assise of Clarendon completed the constitution of the new judicial
system, towards which things had been drifting since the reign of
Henry i. By it the king's justices were directed to go on circuit
throughout the country, and visit every shire in turn and try
criminals. At their coming each county court was to choose s
committee of landholders, which was to bring before it all persons
suspected of criminal offences within the shire. This body was
called a jury because its members were sworn (jurati) to accuse
truly. It was called a jury of presentment because it presented
criminals for trial before the justice. The justice represented the
new jurisdiction of the crown, the jury the old popular court of the
shire. Their combination in this judicial system proved permanent.
The modem Orand Jury still continues to discharge the work of
Henry's juries of presentment, and to this day the king's >rj,g Assize of
judges go on circuit to each shire after the fashion Northamp-
systematized by the Assize of Clarendon. Ten years **"*• **'®*
later the Assize of Clarendon was reissued in the Assize of North-
mtipton, which imposed severer penalties on offenders.
13. Another law of Henry's, the Grand Assize of uncertain date,
extended the jury system from criminal to civil cases. Since the
Norman conquest, the ordinary way of deciding dis-
putes about land was by trial by battle. The idea was j^jfjje™"
that the two claimants should fight out their claims
with each other, and that God would work a miracle by giving the
victory not to the better warrior, but to the man with the better
claim. So crude a system now seemed impious to the clergy and
foolish to the lawyer. The Grand Assize gave claimants to estates
the opportunity of referring their claim to tlie decision of a jxury, as
an alternative to the barbaric custom of trial by battle. This was
welcomed as an especial boon to the weak and feeble.
124 HENRY II. OF^NJOU [1166-
14. Another famous law of Henry's was tiie Assize of Arins of
1181, by wkich. the old English national militia of the fyrd was
The Assize revised and organized. By it every freeman was re-
ef Arms, quired to provide himself with arms of a kind suitable
to his estate, so that he might when called upon defend
the country from invasion or assist in putting down rebellion. This
assize made the feudal service of the barons less imijortant. Long
before this the kings had established the custom of levying taxes
called scutage, or shield-money, from the military
tenants, whereby they paid to the crown sums of money
instead of serving personally. With this money the king was able
to hire professional soldiers, who fought better than the barons.
But the mercenaries were expensive and unpopular, and after the
Assize of Arms Henry employed tliem for foreign service only,
and depended chiefly on the fyrd for home service. Despot
though he was, he was pojjular enough to be able to trust the
English people to bear arms, even though those arms might be used
against him.
15. In 1184 Henry issued the Assize of Woodstoch, or the Assize
of the Forest. He was an indefatigable hunter, and his chief object
The Assize of ^^^ ^° protect the game which he preserved for his
Woodstock, sport. Moreover. Hke his predecessors, Henry regarded
the forests as the districts specially subject to his
arbitrary control. This assize accoi'dingly was very severe, and shows
Henry's government at its worst. It was the first formal code of
regulations drawn up for the forests, and something was gained
when even a severe law was set up in place of the royal caprice
which had hitherto alone regulated them. A system of forest
courts was established analogous to those of the rest of the country.
Even in the forests Henry found scope for his favourite system of
juries.
16. Henry 11. won back the authority over Britain as a whole
which his grandf atlier had exercised. The lords marcher in Wales
Henry II 's J"6gained the position which had been threatened under
relations to Stephen ; but the princes of Gwynedd, though acknow-
Wales a^d ledging Henry as their overlord, were able in practice
to keep him at arm's length. Thrice Heniy led ex-
peditions to the wilds of Snowdon, but not one of them was reaUy
successful. The restilt of this was that North Wales remained a
strong and nearly independent national Welsh state ; but Welsh
and marcher lords alike looked up to Henry as supreme. Under
liim the Welsh bishops finally accepted the claims of the archbishop
-ii88.] HENRY II. OF ANJOU 125
of Canterbury to be their metropolitan. In 1188 Archbishop
Baldwin traversed Wales from end to end to preach a new
cmsade. Scotland, even more than Wales, felt the weight of
Henry's arm. We have seen how he compelled Malcolm iv. to
surrender the advantages won by David under Stephen. Mal-
colm's brother and successor, William the Lion, was a warlike and
powerful king. In 1173 he united with Henry's foreign and
baronial enemies in a great attack on his power. Taken prisoner
at Alnwick, he was forced, as the price of his release, to sign the
ignominious treaty of Falaise ; by this he fully accepted Henry as
liege lord of Scotland, and admitted English garrisons into Edin-
burgh and other chief towns of his realm.
17. Henry ii.'s reign is remarkable for the extension of the
Norman power to Ireland. Ireland, which in the days of Anglo-
Saxon barbarism had been the most civilized country -., ^ . .
in western Europe, had now fallen far away from its period of
ancient glory. The land was divided among many '""'sh Inde-
petty kings, who were always waging war against each
other. Though one of these claimed to be overlord of the whole
land, he had little real power. The old Celtic system, by which
the chief of each tribe really ruled over his clansmen, still prevailed,
and kept back the political development of the island. Danish
chieftains bore rule over coast towns, such as Dublin, Cork, and
Limerick, and added a new element to the general confusion. The
Church was as disorganized as the State.
18. The quarrels of the Irish with each other first gave the
Normans a pretext for establishing themselves in Ireland. The
heroes of the Norman conquest of Ireland were the -^^ Norman
Norman marchers of South Wales, who extended their conquest of
power over the island by the same devices that had J'*'*"^-
secured for their grandfathers the richer parts of South Wales.
Dermot, king of Leinster. was driven in 1166 from his dominions,
and rashly invited some of the Norman lords of South Wales to
lielp him to win them back. At their head was Richard of Clare,
surnamed Strongbotp, lord of Chepstow and palatine earl of
Pembroke. He restored Dermot to his kingdom, married his
daughter, and seized upon his dominions after his death. Other
Norman adventurers followed his example, and added to the con-
fusion of Ireland by setting up small feudal lordships in the districts
which tliey had won by their swords. Henry il. had no part in
tlieir conquests, but he became alarmed lest they .should estabUsli
a power dangerous to himself. In 1171 he betook liimself to
126 HENRY II. OF ANJOU [1159-
Ireland, iu order to establish his authority over Irish, Dane, and
Norman alike. None dared resist him. The native Irish welcomed
him as their protector ag-ainst the new-comers from Wales, and the
Normans submitted because they had not sufficient strength to
withstand him. In these circumstances it was easy for Henry
to obtain acknowledgments of his supremacy from aU the chief
powers in Ireland. He added to his titles that of lord of Ireland,
and set up an English government in Dublin. He introduced
Norman ecclesiastics, who strove to reorganize the Irish Church
after the Roman pattern. English traders established themselves
in the towns, and strong castles kept the fertile plains in subjection.
But the Irish clans held their own amidst the mountains and bogs,
and everywhere Henry's influence was very superficial. In this
fashion Henry carried out in a way the dreams of Edgar and
William i. He was the first English king who was in any sense
lord of all the British is]ands.
19. By inheritance and marriage Henry was suzerain over all
western France. Prom his father came the county of Anjou
and Touraine ; Normandy and Maine he inherited
EmD^^^^*° from his mother; his marriage made him duke of
Aquitaine. His wife, Eleanor, was the heiress of the
old line of the dukes of Aquitaine, whose authority extended over
all south-western France, from the river Loire to the Pyrenees, and
from the Bay of Biscay to the mountains of Auvergne and the
Cevennes. The northern part of this region was the county of
Poitou, whose capital was Poitiers. More to the south lay Guienne
and Gascony, of wliich the chief towns were Bordeaux and Bayonne.
Over the whole of this region the French kings had never exercised
any substantial authority, and even the dukes of Aquitaine were little
more than its overlords. Real power belonged to the turbulent
feudal nobles, whose constant feuds with each other, and with the
towns, kept the whole land full of violence and bloodshed. Never-
theless it was a rich and vigorous region, differing so widely from
northern France that its inhabitants looked upon botli king of
Paris and dukes of Rouen as foreigners. South of the Dordogne
the people spoke the Gascon or Provencal tongue, which was a
different language from the French of the north. They cherished
dearly their local independence, and even a strong ruler like Henry
was not able to subject tliem to the severe discipline which had
made England peaceable and law-abiding.
20. Eleanor of Aquitaine was a woman of vigorous character and
unruly disposition. She had married Henry because she had been
I
-II74-1 HENRY II. OF ANJOU 12/
at variance with her first htisband, Louis vii. of France, who had
wedded her for the sake of her dominions. Before long she quar-
relled with Henry also, and inspired her sons to 'join jjenpy II.
with her former husband in attempts to overthrow and his
their father. It was easier for her to do this, since ™-™"y'
Henry was an affectionate father, and anxious to share with his sons
the g-overnment of his dominions. We have seen how he crowned
his eldest son Henry king* in 1170, and proposed to make him his
partner in power. He wished to establish the younger sons also
in the government of some outlying portion of his dominions.
Richard, the second son, was made duke of Aquitaine, and showed
great valour and energy in his efforts to reduce his mother's in-
heritance to some sort of order. Geoffrey, his third son, married
the heiress of Brittany, and the lands under Henry's overlordship
were still further extended when Geoffrey became reigning count of
Brittany under his father's supremacy. John, the youngest and
best beloved of Henry's sons, was married to the heiress of the
great Gloucester earldom, and sent to rule Ireland. But none of
Henry's sons were worthy of their father's generosity ; their con-
stant intrigues and rebellions embittered the last years of his life.
21. Neighbouring princes were extremely jealous of Henry's
great position, and did their best to undermine his power. Among
his chief enemies was the count of Toulouse, the here- Henry's
ditary rival of the duke of Aquitaine, and against him foreigrn
Henry waged, in 1159, a war called the war of Toulouse ; Po'lcv*
later on he compelled the count of Toulouse to do homage to him.
The count of ToiUouse was only saved from destruction by the help
afforded Mm by LouLs vii. of France, against whom -j-jje ^^p ^f
Henry had scruples in waging war because Louis was Toulouse,
liis overlord. In the hope of keeping up friendly relations ^
with France, Henry married his eldest son to Louis's daughter ;
but Louis was as treacherous as Henry's own cliildren. During the
period when tJie outcry against Henry as the cause of St. Thomas's
death had turned public opinion against him. Louis made an
alliance with the young king and his brothers Richard and Geoffrey.
This grew into a great confederation of all the English king's
enemies. WiUiam of Scotland, as we have seen, joined the league,
and the feudal barons, both in England and Normandy, jj^g ^ars of
though afraid to attack Henry so long a« he was at peace. 1 1 73 and
eagerly availed themselves of his difficulties with his l*'^*'
fliildren and foreign neighbours to unfurl once more ilie Twnuer
of baronial independence. In 1173 and 1174 the great struggle
128
HENRY II. OF ANJOU
[1174-
William /'s Posessions in France
County of A nJou..~. ......
Continental Lands of Stephen. „„
Inheritance of Eleanor of Aquitaine. L — J
County of Brittany I J-
French' King's Domain in 1185-. I 1 ^
Boundary of French Monarchy..
EmeryWaUc
FRANCE IN THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES, SHOWING THE
CONTINENTAL DOMINIONS OF THE NORMAN AND ANGEVIN KINGS.
J
-1 189.] HENRY II. OF ANJOU I29
between Henry and his enemies extended from the Tweed to the
PjTenees. Henry was everywhere victorious. We have seen how
he crushed William of Scotland and forced him to sign the
humiliating treaty of Falaise. Louis of France failed in his
invasion of Normandy, and the fleet with which the younger Henry
set out to invade England was scattered by a storm. The fidelity of
the official class, and the loyalty of the English people, made it an
easy matter for Henry to suppress the baronial rebellion. Over
his nobles his triumph was a permanent one ; the rising of 1173
and 1174 was the last of the many feudal revolts against the
national monarchy which had begun a hundred years earlier with
the rebellions of earls Raljjh and Roger against William i.
22. For the next few years Henry ruled in peace. With wonder-
ful magnanimity he forgave Ixis rebellious children, and restored
them to their governments. He was now one of the Henry's
greatest kings in Christendom, and foreign princes foreign
eagerly sought his alliance. He married his daughters * ances.
to the kings of Castile and Sicily, the count of Toulouse, and to
Henry the Lion, the greatest of the German dukes and the rival
of the mighty Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. By these alliances,
and by other means, Henry obtained powerful support against his
natural enemy the king of France. He established friendship
which long outlasted his life v/ith Castile, the chief Spanish king-
dom, with Germany, and with Flanders. For the rest of the Middle
Ages there was a traditional friendsliip between England and these
three lands, just as there was a traditional enmity with France.
Thus the foreign policy of the Angevin king coloured the foreign
policy of England for several centuries.
23. The folly and wickedness of his children cast a gloom over
the last years of Henry's life. The young King Henry went to
war with his brother Richard, and forced the old king ^^^ rebel-
to take up arms on behalf of the latter. In the course lions of
of the struggle the young king expired in 1183. Henry's
G^Boffrey of Brittany died two years later, in 1185 ;
but Richard still gave liim plenty of trouble. In 1189 Richard
once more rose in revolt, and made a close alliance with the son of
Louis VII., Philip ir., called Augustus, who became king of France
in 1180. It was a grievous disappointment to Henry that his
youngest son, John, wlio ha<l hitherto remained faitliful, joined his
brother in tliis rebellion. After this Henry had no heart to fight
against his treacherous sous. Smitten with a mortal illness, he
threw himself on his bed, and cried, " Let things go as they will ;
K
I30 HENRY II. OF ANJOU [1189.
I care no more for myself or for anything else in the world." A
few days later he died, on July 7, miirmuring, " Shame, shame on
a conquered king." Here Henry was unjust to him-
deawf ^189 ^^ ' ^* work was far from being undone, even by the
treachery of his own sons. He had established the
unity of England on so firm a basis that it could not be shaken
even by the incompetence of those who came after him.
CHAPTER VI
RICHARD I. CCEUR DE LION (1189-1199)
Chief dates:
1 189. Accession of Richard i.
I189-II92. Richard on Crusade.
1 194. Richard's release and second visit to England.
1 199. Death of Richard i.
1. Richard of Aquitaine succeeded without difficulty to all his
father's dominions. Despite his treachery to his father, he was
not without noble qualities, and shed bitter tears
when he heard of Henry's miserable end. Brought Rj^^pd^'' °
up amidst the constant tumults of his mother's in-
heritance, he became a constimmate warrior and a famous knight.
He was tall and handsome, with fair hair and blue eyes. Well
educated, he could, it was said, talk Latin better than an arch-
bishop. He loved poetry, and was himself a poet, while among
his friends was Bertrand de Bom, the greatest of the troubadours,
or poets, of southern France. He had ability enough to make him
a good ruler ; but he cared little for extending his power over his
dominions, and threw his whole soul into the quest of personal
adventures. He was the least EngUsh of our kings, and during
his reign of ten years only paid two short visits to England.
During those years his exploits as a warrior made him the hero of
all Christendom, and gained him liis surname of Richard the Lion
Heart. But the personal adventures of the king go on quite
different lines from the history of his kingdom.
2. When Richard became king, all Europe rang witli the preach-
ing of a new crusade. The Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, estab-
lished by the First Crusade, had long fallen into evil mgj,,ip<i gj,^
days. The energy of the western lords of Syria the Third
withered away amidst a tropical climate and oriental ^ro^****'
surroundings. For a time the Crusaders held their
own because of the divisions of their Mohammedan enemies. At last
a great Mohammedan state grew up in Syria, whose head waa the
»3«
132
RICHARD I. CCEUR DE LION
[1187-
Sultan Saladin. In 1187 Saladin won a great victory over the
Christians, and wrested from them Jerusalem itself. The crusading'
kingdom was reduced to a few seaport towns, and would clearly he
destroyed altogether unless Cliristendom united in a great crusade
to restore it. The new expedition, called the Third Crusade, was
preached with energy and success. Frederick Barbarossa, the old
emperor, and Philip Augustus, the young king of France, both took
the cross. To Richard the crusade offei-ed the chance of personal
^oqHwj"
The Crusade of Richard I.
Outward route shown thus:-....—^.—
adventure and military distinction such as he loved. He went to
England, was crowned king, and used every means to raise money
to equip himself and his followers on the crusade. He sold to the
highest bidder the chief offices of Church and State in England.
William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, a foreigner by birth, bought
the offices of chancellor and justiciar. He allowed William of Scot-
land to renounce the hard conditions of the treaty of Falaise in
return for a money payment. So eager was he to amass treasure
that he declared that he would have sold London could he have
found a purchaser. Then he stai-ted for Palestine, and England saw
no more of him for five years. Richard travelled to the Holy Land
by way of France. At MarseUles he took ship for the East, but
tarried on his way in Sicily and Cyprus, where he married his wife
Berengaria of Navarre. In 1191 he landed near Acre, the chief
-II94-] RICHARD I. CCEUR DE LION 133
port of the enisading" kingdom, and a place which still held out
against Saladin. Philip Augustus had arrived there before him, and
the two kings soon forced Acre to surrender. From Acre Richard
marched towards Jerusalem, and arrived within a few miles of the
holy city ; but bad weather prevented further progress, especially
as the French and English elements in the aimy were quarrelling
bitterly with each other. PhUip Augustus was already jealous of
his old ally, and hurried back to Europe to profit by his absence.
In these circumstances all Richard's personal heroism could not
procure complete success to his cause. In 1192 he made a truce
by which the Christians were consoled in some measure for the
loss of Jerusalem by the condition that pilgrims were allowed free
access to the holy places.
3. Richard then started to return to Europe ; news reached him
that Philip Augustus was so hostile that the direct route back
through France was unsafe. Richard therefore Richard's
determined to travel by way of Germany. To avoid captivity In
attention he went in disguise, accompanied by only a "®''™*"y'
few followers ; but he soon attracted notice, and near Vienna was
arrested by Leopold, duke of Austria, an old crusader with whom
he had quarrelled in the Holy Land. The supreme ruler of Ger-
many was now the Emperor Henry vi., son of Frederick Barbarossa,
who had died on the crusade. Henry vi. hated Richard because
he had given a refuge to his brother-in-law, Henry the Lion,
whom Frederick Barbarossa had expelled from Germany. He
welcomed the accident which had brought Richard within Leopold's
power, and soon the Austrian duke handed Richard over to the
emperor's direct custody. Henry kept Richard in prison until he
agreed to pay the enormous ransom of £100,000 — a sum almost
amounting to two years of the royal revenue, at a time when the
people were taxed to the uttermost. Besides this, Richard was
forced to surrender his kingdom to the Emperor, and receive
it back as a fief of the empire. In compensation for this humi-
liation Henry granted Richard the kingdom of Burgundy, or
Aries — a grant which meant nothing at all, as Henry had little
power over that district. Meanwhile strenuous effortin were made
to raise the king's ransom. Every landholder was called tijwn to
pay a fourth of his income, and the very chalices in the churches
were melted down to make up the sum. By 1194 the money was
paid, and Richard was free to go home.
4. During the five years of Richard's absence there had been
much confiision and some civil war in England. Yet it was a
134 RICHARD I. CCEUR DE LION [1189-
remarkaHe testimony to tlie abiding strength, of Henry 11. 's
administrative system that the machinery of government continued
to work even in the absence of the sovereign. Bishop
during Longchamp, the justiciar .was not a successful minister.
Bichard's He offended the barons by his pride and his foreign
tl89"l 194 ^^y^' ^^*1 tli^y called on Earl John, the king's younger
brother, to help them to drive him from power.
Longchamp could not resist the force they brought against him.
and was forced in 1191 to quit the realm. At that moment
Walter of Coutances, archbishop of Rouen, came back from
crusade with a letter from Richard, nominating him as justiciar.
The barons accepted the king's candidate, and the archbishop
ruled England peaceably for two years. But when Richard's
captivity was known, Philip of France invaded Normandy, and
tried to capture Rouen. John alKed himseK with the Trench
king, and rose in revolt against Richard. It is good evidence
that the archbishop of Rouen was a wise minister, that he drove
Philip out of Noi'mandy, put down John's revolt, and raised the
king's ransom.
5. In 1194 Richard again appeared in England. His second
visit was almost as short as his first, and, as before, he devoted
England most of his energy to raising money. He generously
from 1 1 94 forgave his treacherous brother, but was eager to have
to 1 1 99. revenge on the French king, who had striven to rob
him of his dominions when he was the emperor's captive. Leav-
ing his comrade on the crusade, Hubert Walter, archbishop of
Canterbury, as justiciar, Richard soon left England, and was never
seen there again. He spent the rest of liis life in waging war
against the French king, and left the whole administration of
England in the hands of the justiciar. Hubert Walter was a
nephew of Ranulf Glanville, justiciar of Henry 11., and had been
well trained in the work of administration. He was powerful
enough to make several improvements in the administrative
system, and was ingenious in devising expedients to supply Richard
with money for fighting his battles. In 1198 he imposed such
burdens upon the people that they cotJd bear them no longer.
When called upon to furnish knights to fight for Richard in France,
the barons resisted. Hugh of Avalon, bishop of Lincoln, a saintly
man who had once been a hermit, made himseK the spokesman
of the opposition. He declared that he would rather go back to ■
his old hermit's life than lay fresh burdens on the tenants of his
bishopric. Hubert was forced to withdraw the proposal, and soon
-1 199-]
RICHARD I. CCEUR DE LION"
135
after resigned office. His successor was a layman, Geoffrey Fitz
Peter, earl of Essex.
6. During" all these years Richard was doing his best to break
down the power of Philip of France, and achieved a fair measure of
success. To protect Rouen and Normandy from in- „. . .,
vasion he built a new castle on a chalk cliff dominat- last wars
ing the Seine, near the town of Les Andelys. It was *"<* death,
a large and well-planned structure, and it was built
within twelve months. Proud of his skill as an engineer, Richard
cried. " Is not this a fine saucy baby of mine, this child of a year old ? "
From this jest Richard's
castle took its name of Clia-
teau Gaillard — that is, Saucy
Casth. GraUant soldier though
he was, Richard's camxmigns
were somewhat unfruitful.
His energies were consumed
in petty wars which had no
real influence on events. In
one of these he met his death
in 1199. A vassal of Richard's,
lord of Chains, near Limoges,
discovered a treasure buried
in the earth. Richard claimed
the find for himself, on the
ground that, as treasure-trove,
it belonged to him as over-
lord. His vassal resisted, and
Richard went in person to be-
siege the castle of Chiilus.
which the rebel held against
him. One day, as the king
was watching the progress of the siege, he was struck in the breast
by the bolt of a crossbow. The wound was treated by so unskilful
a surgeon that the flesh mortified. As Richard lay dying the
castle was taken, and the soldier wlio had shot him was brought
captive before him. " What have I done to thee," said the dying
king. " that thou shouldst slay me P " " Thou hast slain," answered
the archer, " my father and two of my brothers ; torture me as thou*
wilt, I shall die gladly since I have slain thee." Richard ordered
the man to l)e set free. He then gathered his barons round him,
and urged them to accept John as his successor. He died on
A. Outwork
B. Outer Wew(
C. Inner Ward
D.Keep
E.Outworlia leading
to River Seine
■ourr Vallut K.
PLAN OF CHATEAU GAILLARD.
136 RICHARD I. CCEUR DE LION [1199.
April 6, 1199, and, in spite of his commands, the crossbowman
was cruelly put to death. Though he had done so little for
England, Richai'd's reputation as a warrior long kept his memory
green. Apart from his personal exploits, the importance of his
reign rests in the fact that it proved that the foundations of the
system of Henry 11. had been so carefully laid that the ministers
were able to rule England in peace, despite Richard's absence and
neglect.
CHAPTER VII
JOHN LACKLAND (1199-1216)
Chief dates :
1199. Accession of John.
1204. Loss of Normandy.
1208. England put under Interdict.
1213. John's submission to Innocent ill.
1215. The Great Charter.
1216. Death of John.
1. On Richard's death John hurried to England, and easily got him-
self accepted as king. He was not the nearest heir by birth, for
his elder brother, GeofErey of Brittany, had left a son
named Arthur. Many who distrusted John wished j^^^^^I°qq^
that Arthur should succeed Richard. But Arthur was
a boy, and it was quite in accordance with old English precedent
that his uncle, who was a grown man, should be preferred to him.
Philip of France, ever anxious to make mischief in the Angevin
dominions, supported Arthur's cause ; but Queen Eleanor, though
now very old, used all her influence against her grandson, and in
favour of her youngest son. On May 27 John was crowned in
Westminster Abbey by Hubert Walter.
2. John's previous career was ominous for the future. When
sent as a young man to rule Ireland, his petulance and folly had
so disgusted the Irish chieftains that Henry ii. was
compelled to withdraw from him the government of pacter.
the island. We have seen already his treachery and
ingratitude to his father and elder brother. Able, like all the
Angevins, and capable, on occasion, of energetic action, both as a
wan'ior and statesman, he wrecked his whole career by the narrow
selfishness wliich sacrificed all his highest interests to gratify the
caprice of the moment. His life was foul ; he was cruel, treacherous,
and deceitful ; he could be bound by no promise, and kept stead-
fast in no course of action. The history of William Rufus had
shown that a bad man might be a competent king. As a man, John
137
138 JOHN LACKLAND [1199-
was not much worse than Euf us ; as a king, he was utterly lacking-
in that intelligent sense of self-interest which gave purpose to
Rufus's wickedest acts of tyranny. From the beginning of his reign
he was only saved from disaster hy the restraining influence ex-
ercised over him by three wise advisers. His mother, Eleanor,
secured his succession to the whole of the Angevin Empire.
Hubert Walter, the archbishop of Canterbury, kept up some sort
of terms between him and the Church. The justiciar, Greoffrey Fitz
Peter, managed, despite many obstacles, to carry on the internal
government of England on the lines laid down by Henry 11. As
time went on the removal of these three faithful friends left John
free to follow his own caprice, and in each case his personal action
involved him in humiliation and disaster. The death of Eleanor
was quickly followed by the loss of Normandy. The death of
Hubert Walter soon led to a mortal quarrel with the Church.
When Fitz Peter died John blundered into a quaxTel with his
English subjects which cost him his greatest and last humiliation.
Round these three great calamities the history of his reign centred.
The Angevin Empire, which had survived the neglect of Richard,
was destroyed by the active tyranny of John.
3. It was with great difficulty that Eleanor had succeeded in
winning over all the Angevin dominions in France to John's side.
John and ^^® ^^^ helped by the treachery of Philip 11., who
Apihup of took up arms on Arthur's behaK, but kept all the con-
Brittany, quests he made for himself. This annoyed Arthur's
friends so much that they made terms with John, and finally,
in 1200, Philip himself recognized his rival as his brother's heir.
Within a few months of this recognition John's foUy and greed
compelled him to fight once more for his dominions. He repudiated
his rich wife Isabella of Gloucester, and married Isabella of
Angouleme, the heiress of the county of that name. Isabella was
betrothed to Hugh of Lusignan, coxint of La Marche, the most
powerful of the lords of Poitou, who was bitterly incensed at losing
both the lady and her possessions. He called upon the barons of
Poitou to help him ; many of these had grievances of their own
against their capricious sovereign, and they willingly appealed to
Philip II. as overlord to protect them from the lawless acts of their
immediate lord. After long delays PhUip accepted their appeal,
and in 1202 summoned John to Paris to answer the complaints
brought against him. John refused to appear, and the court of the
French king condemned him to lose all his lands in France. Philip
at once invaded Normandy, in the hope of enforcing the sentence
I2I4.] JOHN LACKLAND 1 39
in person. He recognized Arthur of Brittany as lord of Aqoitaine
and Anjou, and invited him to conquer his inheritance. Arthur,
thouprh only fifteen years old, showed gallantry and resolution. He
invaded Poitou, and took possession of Mirebeau, one of its chief
strongholds. His grandmother, Eleanor, who was in the town, was
forced to take refuge in the castle, where she was strictly blockaded
by her grandson. John himseK came to his mother's rescue,
defeated Arthur's troops, and took his nephew prisoner. Arthur
was imprisoned at Rouen, and was murdered in 1203 by his uncle's
orders. Next year old Queen Eleanor died, and John's cause
speedily collapsed.
4. PhiUp II. threw all his energies into the conquest of
Normandy. John remained inactive at Rouen, and seemed un-
moved by his rival's successes. " Let Philip go on," Tj,g \q^^ of
he said ; " whatever he takes, I shall retake it in a Normandy
single day." At last Philip besieged Chateau Gaillard. ^"*^ ^'^°"-
Richard's favourite castle held out gallantly for eight months, and
its reduction was one of the greatest feats of military engineering of
the time. John made but feeble efforts to succour the garrison, and
in April, 1204, Philip captured the place by assault. Normandy was
now open to attack, and many of its barons, disgusted with John's
slackness, made common cause with the French king. With the
surrender of Rouen in June, the whole of the duchy passed into
Philip's hands. Next year Philip established liis power over the
greater part of Poitou. Anjou was overrun with equal ease, and
by 1206 John's authority over France was limited to the lands
south of the Charente.
5. For the rest of his reign John made half-hearted and gene-
rally unsuccessful attempts to reconquer his father's lands, and the
levity and instability of the Poitevin barons gave him
many chances of turning the tables on Philip. His l^ Roche au
most serious attempt was made in 1213, wlien he Moine and
managed to win back much of the ground lost in ^ouvlnes,
Poitou and Anjou. His nephew Otto, son of his
sister and Henry the Lion, who had been brought up at his court,
was now Roman emperor, through the support of Pope Inno-
cent III. Otto, however, soon quarrelled with the pope, and as
John was also on bad terms with Rome, uncle and nephew worked
closely together. As Philip of France was the close ally of Inno-
cent, Otto and John formed a great league of excommunicated
l)rince8 against him. In 1214. while Otto carried on the war in the
northern frontier of France, John went to An jon and besiegwi the
I40 JOHN LACKLAND [1205-
castle of La Roche au Moine, on the Loire. Lotiis, Philip ii.'s
eldest son, led an army to its relief, and a battle seemed imminent,
but at the last moment John shirked an engagement, and fled to
the south. In the same year Otto was defeated by Philip in a
great battle at Bouvines, near Tournai. This double disaster broke
up the coalition. It secured the establishment of PhUip's power
in Anjou and Poitou, and for the rest of his life domestic concerns
occupied John too fully to allow him to contend any longer against
his adversary. Henceforth the northern parts of the Angevin
empire were permanently annexed to France. Though the circum-
stances of their loss was very disgraceful to John, yet the separa-
tion of England and Normandy proved, in the long run, a good
thing for France and England. The two countries were bound to
remain separate and independent nations, and it was best for both
that they should be so. Philip's conquests so immensely increased
the strength of France that henceforward the French monarchy,
so feeble under the early Capetians, became one of the greatest
states of Europe. It was also a gain to England that Normandy
should no longer be under the rule of the English king. Up to
then many English barons had had estates in both countries, and
the consequent division of their interests made it hard for them to
become good Englishmen. They had now to choose between
France and England. Those who had their main estates in
England lost their Norman possessions, so tliat their sole interests
were for the future on this side of the channel. Thus the separa-
tion of the kingdom and the duchy was another step f oi-ward in the
growth of English unity and English national feeling. The
Norman aristocracy of England had no longer any reason for acting
otherwise than as Englishmen.
6. In 1205 Hubert Walter, the wise archbishop of Canterbury,
died. His death removed a powerful check from the king, and a
Th d" t d ^sp^^s about the succession soon led Jolin into a
election at fierce conflict with the Church. The right of electing
Canterbury, any bishop rested with the chapter of liis cathedral,
and the Benedictine monks of the cathedral of Christ
Church, Canterbury, had an undoubted legal claim to choose the
new ai'chbishop. But the monks were apt to take a narrow view
of their duty, and to forget that the selection of the head of the
English Church was a business that concerned the whole country.
As a matter of fact, the king had always a large share in deciding
who was to be archbishop, and the tendency was to reduce what
was called the canonical election by the chapter to the mere form
-I207.] JOHN LACKLAND 141
of the monks accepting the king's nominee. On this occasion,
however, the monks of Christ Church could not agree among eacli
other or with the king. The younger bretliren, thinking of the
interests of their monastery, rather than the interests of the
Church as a whole, elected as archbishop their sub-prior B>eginald,
a boastful *and commonplace monk, with no claim to so distin-
guished an office. They did not ask John's permission to proceed
to election, and made their choice in the utmost secrecy. They
sent Reginald to Rome to get \,\\& 'paUiwm from the pope, and told him
to say nothing about their action. Reginald, however, was so pleased
with his new dignity that he could not keep it to himself. News of
the monks' hasty choice soon reached John, who in great anger
ordered the chapter to choose one of his ministers, John de Grey,
bishop of Norwich, who was a mere politician. Some of the monks
consented to do this from fear of the king, and soon Grey also was
urging the pope to give him the pallium as the rightly elected
archbishop.
7. As supreme head of the Church the popes had long claimed
a voice in the appointment of the chief ecclesiastical dignitaries.
A disputed election such as this always gave them a
special opportunity of interfering with effect. The pnocures
Roman see was now held by Innocent iii., who was Langton's
perhaps the most powerful of all the popes of the t{^^» 1207
Middle Ages. He was eager to extend his influence in
every direction, and being a high-minded and honourable man,
was anxious that the best possible person should become archbishop
of Canterbury. He soon convinced himself that both Reginald
and John were unfit for so great a burden. He summoned repre-
sentatives of the chapter to Rome, and advised them to pass over
both candidates and make a fresh election. He recommended them
to choose Stephen Langton, an Englishman by birth, and a famous
theologian, who was then living at Rome as a cardinal of the
Roman Church. The monks could not resist papal pressure,
and elected Langton. Thereupon Innocent gave him the j>rt//n/»j,
and consecrated him bishop with his own hands.
8. Langton was likely to ha a much better archbishop tlian the
foolish monk and the greedy worldling respectively favoured by
chapter and king. But however wise Innocent's appoint- Quarrel of
ment was, it was a dangerous tiling that the head of John and
the English Church should be forced upon the country ^n^ocent "'•
by the pope, and wiser kings than John might well have hesitated
to accept the nomination from Rome. There is no need, however, to
142 JOHN LACKLAND [1208-
suppose that deep motives of policy and a high-minded desire to
resist papal aggression moved John to resist Innocent's nominee.
John's sole wish was to get as archbishop a dependant who woTild
help him to plunder and oppress the Church. But, whatever his
motives, he would not give way to the pope, and as Innocent was
equally unbending, a fierce conflict broke out between them. Mean-
while the church of Canterbury remained vacant, for Innocent
would not recognize Grrey, and John would not allow Langton
to enter the country. After a year Innocent put Eng-
dict ?208 hind under an interdict. An interdict was one of the
severest punishments which the Church could inflict.
By it all public worship was forbidden ; churches were closed ; no
bell was tolled ; the dead were buried in unconsecrated ground
without any religious rites ; it was a favour that the dying were
admitted to the last sacraments, and baptism allowed to the new-
born child. Men thought that God's favour was withdrawn from a
land under interdict, and in that age of faith the loss of the con-
solations of the Church was a thing grievous to be borne. John,
who was as godless as William Rufus, cared Little for the interdict.
He was strong enough to force many of the clergy to continue their
services and ignore the pope's orders. Those priests who observed
the interdict were driven into banishment. A year passed by,
John's ex- ^^^ John remained as obstinate as ever. In 1209
communlca- Innocent excommunicated John ; that is to say, he
ion, 20 . refused to allow him to participate in any of the ser-
vices of the Church. The king was as careless of excommunica-
tion as he had been of the interdict, and Innocent was forced to
seek a more effective weapon against him. As head of the Church
the pope had long claimed the power of declaring that princes who
were foes to the Chiirch had ceased to reign over their dominions.
By virtue of this Innocent had already deposed John's nephew,
Otto. In 1212 he declared that if John resisted any longer he
would deprive him of his throne. Innocent called upon John's
enemy, Philip 11., who was now a close friend of the papacy, to
execute the sentence. Philip willingly accepted the commission,
and prepared to invade England.
9. John was seriously alarmed, and sought to buy off the
John' b- pope's hostility by an offer to accept Langton as
mission to archbishop. Innocent insisted on a more abject sub-
Jo^^^^"*' mission, and John, in despair, yielded to all his
demands. In 1213 there came to Dover a papal envoy
named Pandidf , appointed to reconcile John to the Church if he
-I2I3.] yOHI^r LACKLAND I45
fulfilled the hard conditions imposed npon him. John agreed to
recogTiize Langton as archbishop, to restore to their benefices the
partisans of the pope whom he had banished, and to surrender his
crown to the triumphant pope. Two days later he received it back
a^ain from Pandulf , on promising to be the pope's vassal for the
future. Like any other feudal vassal, he took an oath of fealty to
Innocent as to his suzerain, and performed the humiliating act of
homage to the pope's representative. Moreover, he agreed to pay
henceforth a tribute of 1000 marks a year to the Eoman see.
10. Thus John became the vassal of the pope, as Richard had
become the vassal of the emperor. To the men of the time there
seemed little that was humiliating in both acts ; to . . .
modems both seem equally disgraceful. As regards comes the
their consequences, there was all the difference in the vassal of
world between the two surrenders. The emperor's
power was small, and constantly growing less. He had no means of
enforcing his lordship over England, so that Richard's surrender
was a mere form which even the emperor did not care to revive,
and which was soon forgotten. The pope had more influence in
every country in western Europe than the king, and he had in the
clergy permanent agents of his will. To the enormous ecclesias-
tical authority exercised by the pope in England after the Norman
conquest was now added political supremacy as overlord. Hence-
forth England was regarded as depending on Rome in the same
way that Gascony dejjended on France, or Wales on England.
John, however, thought little of the ultimate consequences of his
act, for to him it was but a move in the game. Henceforth he had
the pope on his side, and having by his surrender stopped the
French invasion, he was in a position to renew the attacks on
France, which ended so disastrously, as we have seen, at La Roche
au Moine and Bouvines. Luckily he was turned from this purpose
by a quarrel with his subjects.
11. From his accession John had ruled England capriciously
and tyrannicaUy, and had offended many of the most powerful of
his barons. It wa.s, however, no new thing for king _. »,_gn-w
and nobles to be at variance. Since the days of tlie between
conquest the king always relied upon his people as a ^?**r*"**
whole to support him against aristocratic revolt. But
times had changed since the reign of Henry ir. Cut off from
Normandy, the barons now thought mainly of England, and were
rapidly forgetting the feudal tradition whioli liad niaile it the
ambition of each one of them to be a little king over hia own
144 JOHN LACKLAND [1213-
estate. The baronial leaders were still turbTilent and seMsh in their
policy, but their object was henceforward not to upset the central
government so much as to take a prominent share in its ad-
ministration. Their aims were henceforward so far national that
there was no reason why Englishmen should not support them.
Moreover, John had ruled so badly that the people might well
support any party which aimed at reducing his authority.
12. John's excessive demands for foreign service first fired the
indignation of his barons. In 1213 many refused to follow him to
Progress of Poitou, and in 1214 the same magnates declined to
the quarrel, pay a scutage which he demanded. While the king
was abroad the barons met in coujicil, and Langton
laid before them Henry i.'s charter of liberties, and advised
them to obtain a similar document from John. Up to 1213 the
prudent rule of the justiciar, Fitz Peter, had partly checked
John's tyranny ; but the justiciar now died, and John, with
characteristic ingratitude, rejoiced at the removal of the restraint
which Geoffrey had imposed upon him. During John's long absence
abroad the barons organized resistance. When he returned in 1214,
he came back disgraced and vanquished. Finding that there was
no chance of exacting concessions by peaceful means, the barons took
arms and went to war against their sovereign. Every one now
deserted John, save a few faithful nobles like William Marshall,
earl of Pembroke, who believed that they were bound to support
the king, even when he was a bad one. John's main reliance was
upon his foreign favourites and mercenary soldiers imported from
abroad to overawe his kingdom. With such backing it was im-
possible for John to hold out long against his subjects, and he soon
yielded as abjectly to his barons as he had formerly surrendered to
the pope. On June 15, 1215, he met the baronial leaders at a
meadow on the banks of the Thames, between Windsor and Staines,
called Runnymede. There he sealed the articles of submission
which the barons had drawn up for his acceptance.
13. Tliis document is famous as Magna Carta, or the Great
Charter, and is justly regarded as marking the beginnings of
The Great English liberty. From the conquest to this date the
Charter, Norman kings had reigned as despots. The union of
*^^^' aU classes agaiust John now forced the king to agree
that his authority should be limited. The clauses of the charter
were to some extent modelled on that of Heniy i., but there was a
great difference between a charter granted with the king's goodwill
and a charter imposed on a reluctant king at the point of the sword.
-I2i6.] JOHN LACKLAXD I45
Moreover, the charter of 1215 was a much fuller document than
that of 1100. It contained few novelties, but clearly stated the
ctistoms of the realm in the days of Henry 11. It promised free-
dom to the English Church, and esjiecially freedom to chapters to
elect their bishops. A large number of clauses carefully limited
the rights of the crown to exact feudal dues from the barons, and
the barons were similarly required to treat their own tenants
leniently. London and the towns were to have their liberties
preserved ; merchants had freedom to trade in times of peace. No
new aids or taxes were to be levied by the king without the con-
sent of the great council of barons. Justice was to be denied to
no man, and no freeman was to be imprisoned or outlawed, save
according to the judgment of his peers and the law of the land.
14. John accepted the barons' demands without the least intention
of keeping his word. His object was to gain time, and, as soon as
he could, he repudiated his promise. He persuaded _ .
Innocent iii. that the charter was against the interests the war of
of the Eioman Church because it reduced the power of '^•"B^ and
the pope's vassal. In consequence of this Innocent
issued a bull declaring the document invalid. John then raised an
army of foreign mercenaries, and went to war against the barons.
For once he showed energy and activity. Before long he pressed
the nobles so hard that they were forced to call in foreign aid.
They requested Louis of France, who had defeated John at La Roche
au Moine, to come over and help them and be their king. Louis
at once accepted their offer, and landed in England. Even with
his aid the barons had still a hard task before them. The pojw
excommunicated Louis, and few of the clergy dared to support
him, while many of the officials of the school of
Henry 11. faithfully rallied round the king. However, J^JJ'* °|,g
on October 19, 1216, John died suddenly in the midst
of the struggle. He was the worst of English monarchs, and his
persistent ill fortune was entirely his own fault. It was no wonder
that men called him, in shame, John Lackland. With him the
Norman despotism came to an end. It liad done its work in
making England peaceable and united, and was no longer needed.
CHAPTER VIII
FEUDAL BRITAIN
1. The chief results of the Norman conquest were to stimulate the
energy of England, to promote its uaity, and to break down the
wall of separation that had hitherto divided it from
tanceo^°the ^^^ ^'^^t of the world. In a lesser degree the Normans
Norman exercised a similar influence over the non-English
a°rBrftein°'' P*^ ^* *^^ British Islands. They made English-
speaking Scotland a feudal land as much as England.
Though their influence was more superficial in Celtic districts, they
made their power felt in Celtic Scotland, in Wales, and in Ireland.
Reduced to a common subjection under their restless and masterful
Norman lords, the Irish and the Welsh, like the English, lost some-
thing of their ancient freedom, and were for the first time brought
into more than nominal dependence upon an English king. Thus
the Norman conquest, which finally brought about the union of
England, did much to prepare the way for the later union of the
British Isles. While, however, Norman and Englishman were
amalgamated by the twelfth century into a single people, Celtic
tribalism and Norman feudalism lay too far asunder to be capable
of fusion. It resulted from this that Norman influence over
Celtic lands ever remained what it originally was in England — that
is, the rule of the alien based simply upon military force. For
that reason it was more superficial than was the case in England.
Nevertheless, the history of the British Islands would have been
very different had there not been Norman conquests of Scotland,
Wales, and Ireland, as well as of England. To all these countries
alike the conquest marks the chief turning-point of their history.
2. We have seen how the Norman kings completed the estab-
lishment of the feudal system of land tenure in England. In so
doing, they brought our country into line with the genei-al civi-
lization of that mediaeval Europe of which England soon became
one of the important powers. Henceforward the isolation of
Anglo-Saxon England was replaced by openness to new ideas, and
146
I2i6.] FEUDAL BRITAIN 1^7
constant participation in aJl the great moTements of the time.
While Angio- Saxon Eng-land lived its life apart in sliig<gish
indifference to the world beyond, Norman and Ang-evin
England stood in the forefront of every great Enro- deajf^Ks
pean movement. Its king's were as powerful across between
the sea as in Britain. Its feudal institutions were Britain and
those of the western world. Its knights Lived the same nent.
life and fought after the same fashion as the warriors
of the continent. Englishmen took their full share in the crusades
and the other international movements of the time. This communion
of sympathy was even greater in the domain of ideas than in the
world of action. We shall see this in detail when we study the new
position of the EngUsh Church.
3. The vital fact of the Norman and Angevin periods was the
permanent establishment of the centralized despotism of the king.
The only real checks to the caprice of the monarch •ri,gi,i__
were the nobles and great ecclesiastics, and even these and the
had little power to control the king, save by directly Great
waging war against him. The place of the Witenage'niot
as the council of the nation was now taken by the Great Council,
which did not differ very greatly from it in constitution or powers.
It was composed, during the twelfth century, of all the tenants in
chief of the crown, but in practice only the more important tenants
were in the habit of attending it. It agreed to new laws and to
extraordinary taxes; but, like the Witenagemot, it seems seldom
or never to have ventured to resist the wishes of a strong king.
Even more under the monarch's control were the courts composed
of officials appointed by him, such as the Curia Regis and the
Exchequer, of which we have spoken elsewhere. In both of them
the chief ministers of the crown had seats. Besides the Justiciar,
the regent in the king's absence, and the prime minister when he
was in England, the king's chief ministers wore the Chancellor, who
was a sort of secretary, issuing all writs and documents, and the
Treasurer, who controlled the finances. It was generally thouglit
best to give these offices to ecclesiastics, who were better educated
than laymen, and were not able to hand on their powers to their
families. The offices of state, held by lay lords, such as the military
dignities of Marshal and Constable, became liereditary.
4. The local courts of t])e Shire and Hundred were still con-
tinued. Though the feudal courte of the great landlords often
usurped tlie jurisdiction of the hundred, the shire moot remained
a strong body, though it also became in practice a court of the
148 FEUDAL BRITAIN- [io66-
landlords. The circuit and jury system of Henry 11. brought it
into close relations with the central government, and the kings
found it very useful as a means of raising money and
Local of ascertaining public oj^inion. The immense revenue
of the crown was mainly derived by taxes on land.
It was collected by the Sheriffs of the shires, who went twice a year
to the Exchequer at "Westminster to present their accounts and
pay over the money they had raised. They were the chief agents
of the king in dealing with the local government, and had much
more power and importance than before the conquest.
5. Great as were the changes brought about by Norman in-
fluence, the vast majority of Englishmen still lived a Hfe not very
Earls different from that of their ancestors before the
barons, and conquest. Land remained the cliief source of wealth,
knights. jj^j^jj nearly everybody depended on agriculture for his
livelihood. Like the Anglo-Saxon thegns, the Norman nobles
owed their importance to their being possessors of large landed
estates. Though the kings looked with suspicion upon tlie political
ambitions of the barons, they put no obstacles in the way of the
accumulation of great estates under a single hand. War, however,
and the unhealthy conditions of life made the duration of a baronial
house extremely short. By the beginning of the thirteenth century
there were few Norman houses left whicli could boast an uninter-
rupted descent from those who came over with the Conqueror.
This was particularly the case with the earldoms, whose possessors
still formed a small and powerful class at the head of the aristocracy.
Next to them came the greater harons, who included all tenants in
chief important enough to be summoned to the king's council by a
special writ. By the thirteenth century, these were not more than
a hundred in number. The lesser harons were the tenants in chief,
who were called to the king's councils by general writs addressed
to the sheriff of each county. They ultimately became combined
with the mesne tenants, to form the lesser nobility, or knighthood,
which plays in mediaeval history the same part as tliat taken by the
coimtry gentry of more modern limes. Properly, a knight was a
fully armed and mounted soldier who had been solemnly admitted
to the use of arms by his older and tried comrades. The greatest
kings and soldiers were proud to be dubbed knight by some famous
warrior ; but every landowner of a fair-sized estate was, by the
thirteenth century, compelled by the king to become a knight, so
that a knight often meant simply a smaller landlord.
6, The estates of the nobles and gentry were divided into
t2i6.] FEUDAL BRITAIN 1 49
•manors, which were all much of the same type. Each manor had
its lord, who controlled all the land and exercised jurisdiction
in his manorial court over his tenants. Sometimes
the lord had special rights of jurisdiction, as, for ex- sy^t^"*"" *
ample, the trial of crimiuals. In this case, he also held
a court-leet, in which these powers were exercised. If the lord were
a great man, he held many manors scattered all over England, and
was in consequence seldom in residence. His steward, or repre-
sentative, then acted on his behalf, while in any case his bailiff
looked after the details of cultivation and the management of the
estate. There was probably a hall where the lord could reside
with his family and servants. The land was divided into two
parts. First, there was the demesne, or home farm of the lord,
which was cultivated by his bailiff for him, by the help of the
villagers, who were compelled to work on their lord's
estate for a certain number of days in the year. The
rest of the manor was divided among the villagers, most of whom
belonged to the villein class. The villeins were serfs, bound to the
soil, who could not move from the estate of their lord. In some
ways they were not badly off. Each had his cottage and little
jmtoh of ground, from wliich he could not be turned off so long as
he performed the services of his lord. Though they had no luxuries,
the villeins seem to have had in ordinary times plenty of meat,
bread, and ale, and enough warm wooUen clothing to keep out the
cold. They were, however, exposed to the caprice of their lords,
and, though not caUed upon to perform military service, were the
first to suffer whenever war broke out. Though the Norman
conquest increased the number of viUeins, there was this compen-
sation — that the absolute slavery which was common in early
England died out during the Norman i)eriod.
7. There was little variety in the cultivation of the soil. The
ploughs were heavy, and were drawn by several yoke of oxen.
The old succession of corn-crops and fallow stUl went
on. The lands tilled by the tenants were not grouped husbandry,
together in compact Iioldings, but were scattered in
long narrow strips all over the manor. This was also the case
with the lord's demesne. In most other ways the Anglo-Saxon
system was continued. There was still a large extent of common
land, and after harvest any tenant could stiU pasture his cattle
on the arable fields. The farmer's object was still to raise enough
corn and meat to keep liim-self and his family througli tlie winter.
Though trade and markets were becoming more important, there
I50 FEUDAL BRITAIN [1066-
was little intercourse between various districts. The estaWishment
of the strong Norman despotism greatly added to the happiness
of the ordinary man, who could till his fields and go ahout his
business in comparative safety.
8. Towns and trade received an immense impetus as a result of
the Norman conquest. Towns not only became bigger and richer ;
they ceased to be mainly the homes of husbandmen or
trade^ ^° refugees in time of war, and henceforth were centres
of trade and industry. The merchants of the chief
towns formed societies called Merchant-guilds, and in many places
the merchant-guild secured a monopoly of trade for its members,
as well as virtual control of the government of the borough. The
Norman trader was as restless and energetic as the Norman soldier,
and since Edward the Confessor's days many Normans had settled
down in English towns, and actively busied themselves in commerce.
The father of St. Thomas of Canterbury was, for example, a Norman
who had established himself in London and won a high position for
himseK in the city. After the conquest Jews began to take up
their abode in the greater English towns, and made much profit for
themselves as money-lenders. In this business the Jews had a
practical monopoly, since the law of the Chui-ch for-
bade all Christians to lend money on usury. They
were unpopular, and were often cruelly persecuted. They were
forced to wear a distinctive dress, and live in a special part of
the town, called a Jewi-y. But they generaEy enjoyed the king's
protection, because they could afford to pay heavily for it. Gradually
they obtained special laws, courts, and recognized customs of their
own. They were much richer than the Christians, and were
among the first private people who built stone houses to live in.
9. Even before the conquest London was the most important
town in England. From Edward the Confessor's time onward, the
London and court made Westminster its chief centre, and it followed
other chief from this that London gradually became a recognized
owns. capital. It received many libei-ties by royal charters, of
which the most important was one issued by Henry i. Its citizens
took an active part in politics, and their zeal in supporting Stephen
and in opposing John were especially noteworthy. Under Richard I.
London obtained the right of choosing its own mayor, and was
henceforth self-governing in every respect. The countiy towns
were contented to obtain from the king charters which extended to
them privileges which were already possessed by the Londoners.
Conspicuous among them were York, the capital of the north;
-I2i6.] FEUDAL BRITAIN I5I
Exeter, the chief town of the west ; Bristol, the most important
port after London ; and Norwich, the leading- manufacturing city.
Amonpr the ports, those of the south-east coast were partdcnlarly
conspicuous. They were called the Cinque Ports, because they were
originally five in number. They formed a confederation among-
themselves, and showed great activity. When war arose, the ships
of the Cinque Ports formed a large part of the royal navy. The
most famous of them was Dover, the chief port of passage between
England and the continent. As the Norman power was extended
over Wales and Ireland, towns grew up for the first time in those
countries under the protection of the Norman lords. Despite the
great development of town life, the English were still not very
energetic in commerce. What foreign trade there was remained in
the hands of foreigners. It was for that reason that the Great
Charter laid special stress upon protecting foreign merchants, and
griving them free access to England in peace time.
10. Life was stUl simple, primitive, and hard. Even the king
and the great nobles had no high standard of comfort. There was
little money in the country, and a great man could
only support his numerous train of followers by wan- j'^shlons of
dering ceaselessly from one of his estates to another.
When the produce of one estate was eaten up, the magnate went
on to the next, for it was easier for men to move about than
it was for produce to be carried for long distances. Kings and
nobles were thus forced to change their abode so often that it was
never worth while to collect much furniture or make their dwellings
comfortable. Houses were still mainly built of wood, and the
castles, erected for military purposes, were cramped and dark places
to live in. There was much dirt and overcrowding among most
orders of society, and only the great had any chance of privacy.
Men huddled together to sleep in the same room in which they
lived or ate. There were few amusements, and scanty means of
keeping out the cold of winter.
11. Despite these disadvantages, the Normans brought in a
more refined way of living than that which had prevailed before th©
conquest. They cooked their food more delicately,
and despised the gross feeding and heavy drinking of dpws*"
the English. They also brought in new methods of
dress, which were especially exemplified by the profligate dandies
of William Rufus's court, whose rich mantles, embroidered tunics,
and long shoes, curling up to a point, were bitterly denounced by
Auselm and the zealous ecclesiastics. Normans out their hair short.
152 FEUDAL BRITAIN [1066-
and shaved their faces, so that to the English they all looked like
priests. Married women wore a wimple and veil, and dressed very
much as nuns still do. Unmarried women and men went bare-
headed, though in stormy weather travellers would protect them-
selves by low round hats. Foreign luxuries were more common
than formerly, and furs were used by the wealthy of both sexes.
The weapons and armour of warriors long remained similar
to those used by the Normans in the battle of Hastings. By
the tweKth century horses as well as men-at-arms were protected
by armour. The knight's hauberk of chain-mail was supplemented
by other trappings to protect him better from attack. The helmet,
hitherto open, save for a nasal, protecting the nose, became an
elaborate structure, closed by a grating, or visor, with holes for
the eyes and mouth. Under the helmet was worn a skull-cap of
steel, covered by a hood of mail, protecting the head and neck.
12. The towns and villages were still rude collections of wooden
and mud huts, but great care was taken in the erection of castles,
churches, and monasteries. The first Norman castles
castles were hastily built structures of wood, raised upon a
lofty artificial mound of earth, which was surrounded
by a deep ditch and defended by a thick palisade. Soon stone
castles began to be erected. These were of two types. In
both, the defences centred round a great tower, called the keep.
Sometimes the keep was a high square tower built of solid stone
with walls of enormous thickness, and roofed either with wood or
by vaults of stone, so that the whole area within its walls served
for habitation or storage. Sometimes the keep was more lightly
erected on the top of an artificial mound of earth, which was not
strong enough to bear the ponderous weight of the former variety.
This latter species was called the shell-keep, and was often hexagonal
or polygonal in shape. In this the exterior wall of the tower served
only as a curtain, and the buildings were roughly erected in wood
or stone within its area. The White Tower of the Tower of London,
and Rochester Castle, are famous instances of the square keep,
while the keeps of Lincoln and Carisbrooke exemplify the shell-keep.
In each type of castle tliere were exterior defences, enclosing a
wide area by stone waUs, liigh earthworks, and deep ditches filled
with water. Later on, the Norman builders sometimes erected
round, instead of square keeps, as, for example, at Pembroke, or at
Conisborough, near Doncaster, in Yorkshire, where the huge round
tower is further strengthened by buttresses, and its interior is
richly fitted up and adorned. Wherever the Normans went they
-12 16.] FEUDAL BRITAIN 153
built their fortresses, so that the march of Wales, even more than
England, became pre-eminently a land of castles. The famous
Chateau Gaillard, built by Richard i. in Normandy, was the most
elaborate castle of its day (see ground plan on page 135), and pre-
pares the way for the magnificent and complicated fortresses of the
thirteenth century.
13. The Norman style of architecture, roughly illustrated by their
military buildings, attained its richer and more artistic develop-
ment in the solemn and mighty churches wliich the
piety of the new-comers erected in every part of the churches
land. EUward the Confessor's abbey of Westminster
shows that this fashion had begun before the conquest. The
removal of the cathedrals from the country to the great tovms, and
the wonderful development of monastic life which followed the
conquest, gave many opportunities for erecting Norman churches
in every part of England. The nave of Durham Cathedral, com-
pleted by Ranulf Flambard, and the cathedral of Norwich, erected
by bishop Herbert of Losinga, represent the earlier Norman
type ; while the naves of the cathedrals of Peterborough and Ely
illustrate the richer Norman of the twelfth century. Both are
characterized by the prevalence of the rotind arch and by massive
solemnity of proportion, while in the later examples there is much
barbaric richness of decoration. They belong to the Romanesque
type of architecture which the Romans bequeathed to all Europe.
14. The Romanesque builders were irnable to erect vaults of
stone over large or high buildings. About the middle of the
twelfth century successful experiments in the art of
vaulting large spaces resulted in the Gothic style of nlngs of
architecture, which began to replace the Romanesque. Gothic
The earliest Gothic buildings were erected in France, f^^ ^'^
There was no sudden change from the old to the
newer style. Gothic grew gradually out of the older Romanesque,
and we can trace, especially in the buildings of Henry ii.'s time, how
the one style fades into the other. Examples of the transition are
to be seen in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral, built by a French
arcliitect soon after the murder of St. Thoma.s, and in the great
abbeys erected to accommodate tlie Cistercian and other new
orders, conspicuous instances of which are the pictures«iue ruins of
Fountains or Kirkstall in Yorkshire. In these round arclies, after
the Norman fashio^, are found side by side with the pointed arch
of the later style. The Gothic vault is largely employed, and the
general structure is lighter and more masterly than that of the
154 FEUDAL BRITAIN [1066-
Norman builders. When the G-othic style had attained its fuU
proportions, the pointed arch replaced the round Norman arch.
The first truly G-othic building erected in England was the choii-
of Lincoln Cathedral, built by its bishop, St. Hugh, at the very
beginning of the thirteenth century.
15. We have already seen that a remarkable development of
monastic life followed the Norman conquest. In the abbey of
New monas- Battle, erected on the site of his victory over Harold,
tic move- the Conqueror set a model which his followers faith-
ments. fully adopted. New monasteries rose up aU over the
land, and many French houses of religion received great estates in
England. At first the new abbeys aU followed the rule of St.
Benedict. Early in the twelfth century fresh monastic types were
brought from the continent into England. Conspicuous among
these were the Cistercians, or White Monies, who sought
C s epc ans. ^ ^^^^ themselves from the temptations of the Bene-
dictine houses by extreme asceticism of life, by withdrawing from
the haunts of man and setting up their abbeys in the wilderness,
and by eschewing aU pomp and ornament even in the conduct
of Divine worship and the building of their habitations and
churches. For this reason the Cistercian monks chose for their
abodes remote districts, such as the hills of Yorkshire and the
mountains of Wales. About the same time there came to England
the Canons Regular, who, while living the Hfe of
Regular. monks, strove to do also the work of clerks, and
busied themselves with teaching and preaching as well
as with meditation and prayer. Another new monastic type was
that of the Military Orders, which were set up as the result of the
Crusades. The chief of these were the knights of the Temple and
the knights of St. John. These orders lived, when at peace, the
life of the canons regular, but their special mission
tary Opdeps ^^^ ^ ^8"ht the heathen and the infidel, and in par-
ticular to defend the sepulchre of Christ from the
assaults of the Mohammedans. In them the two great types of
the Middle Ages, the warrior and the monk, were curiously com-
bined. All these new orders took deep root in England, notably
during the anarchy of Stephen's days, when men, despairing of
this world, were fain to turn to the cloister for refuge. As a result
of the monastic movement, a great religious revival arose. Even
more conspicuously important than those in England were the
monastic and religious movements which followed in the train
of Norman influence in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. In these
-1216.] FEUDAL BRITAIX 1 55
lands ihe Noorman priests and monks eradicated the last traces
of the ancient independence of the Celtic churches, and broug-ht
in the £oman tyjjes of ecclesiastical life, organization, and art,
for which they had already secured a paramount position in
England.
16. The twelfth century saw the best results of the improre-
ments in government and civilization and the revival of religion
which followed upon the Norman conquest. The life .^^ Twelfth
of learning and study again became possible. At fii-st Century Re-
the chief teachers and students came, like Lanf ranc and na'ssanc©
and the
Anselm, from the monasteries. Before long, however, beginniners
the love of knowledge spread to secular clerks, and o^ Univer-
even to laymen. Masters or teachers collected round
them bands of eager students of philosophy, philology, and litera-
ture. So numerous did these groups of teachers and students
become that i)ermanent schools grew up at various centres. Before
long the teachers in each place became an organized society or
corporation, with special privileges and strong position. These
organized schools were called Universities, a word which means
simply a corporation. The most famous university in the west was
that of Paris, to which students flocked from every part of Europe.
In the course of the reign of Henry ii. an English university arose
at Oxford, one of the most important towns of the south midlands.
It was not, however, until the thirteenth century that the imiver-
sities became fully organized and played a great part in the history
of thought and learning. As time went on. even the households
of kings and great nobles became centres of study and intellectual
interest. Robert of Gloucester, as we have seen, did much for
historical learning in his day. The court of Henry ii. was a
famous home of intellectual activity and literary composition.
17. Latin was still the universal language of scholars, the clergy,
and statesmen. In it all serious books were written, and all legal
documents, state pai)ers, and diplomatic correspon-
dence drawn up. It was the everyday speech of ^^ ^""^
clergy and scholars, and all lectures at the universities
were given in it. Mo«t of tlie best writing set forth by English-
men was in this tongue, notably the chronicles and hi-stories. which
during the twelfth century attained a high level of thought and
style, as is shown by William of Malmesbury. William of Nen-
bjirgh, Roger of Hoveden, and many others. Men read tlie Latin
classics eagerly, and based their style u|)ou them, a** was notably
the case with William of Malmesburj-, Even a great romancer like
156 FEUDAL BRITAIN [1066-
Geoffrey of Monmouth composed his book in Latin, and gave it
out to be a serious history.
18. The English tongue was not much affected in form or
vocabulary by the Norman conquest. The effect of the coming
English and ^^ ^^ Norman was, however, that fewer books were
French written in it. For example, the English Chronicle,
1 era ure. ^hi(.}i }iad been kept up since Alfred's days in some of
the great monasteries, was after the conquest continued at Peter-
borough only, and ceased even there by th( end of the reign of
Stephen. Latin was now used where English had often been em-
ployed earlier. English lost even more ground, however, as a spoken
tongue than as a written language. The Normans brought French
with them, and down to the thirteenth century French continued
to be the ordinary vernacular speech of the coui-t, the nobles, and
the mass of the landed classes. The lighter popular Kterature,
which was written to amuse lords and ladies, was henceforth largely
composed in French also. The result was that English became
the spoken language of peasants and the poor. There was no longer
a literary standard, such as that which has been set at the West
Saxon court, and everybody spoke and wrote in the dialect of his
native district. There were three chief dialects, corresponding
roughly to the three Anglo-Saxon great kingdoms of Northumbria,
Mercia, and Wessex. Of these, the southern dialect was the most
like the old English of the West Saxon court. The northern dialect
was marked by a certain number of Danish and Norwegian words.
It was the beginning of the Lowland Scots of a later age, as weU as
of the popular dialects of the north of England. The midland
dialect is more important to us, because it is the source of the
standard English which all write and speak nowadays. In aU these
varieties there was a movement towards the cutting down of cases
and inflexions, and the simplification of grammatical forms, so that
the language — now called Middle English — forms a sort of bridge
between the old English of the Anglo-Saxon and Norman days
and the modern Ensrlish which we now use.
I2l6.J
FEUDAL BRITAIN
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158 FEUDAL BRITAIN [121^
Books Recommended for the Further Study of Book II., 1066- 121G.
Good detailed accounts of the history of the whole period can be found in
H. W. C. Davis' England under the Normans and Angevins, and in G. B.
Adams' History of England, 1066-1215 (Lonprwians' "Political History of
England," vol. iii.). Stubbs' Constitutional History of England, vol. i. chaps.
ix. to xiii., contains the most authoritative account of the constitutional
development of the period. Some important criticisms and amendments
of Stubbs are given in C. Petit-Dutaillis Studies Supplciaentary to Stubbs,
i. v.-xii. Useful biographies of important characters are Freeman's
William the Conqueror and Mrs. J. R. Green's Henry II., both in Mac-
millan's "Twelve English Statesmen series." R. W. Church's Life of St.
Anselm gives a picturesque delineation of the life and times of the greatest
English churchman of the period, and the story of Becket c«n be read in J.
Morris' Life and Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket. For general Church history,
W. R. W. Stephens' History of the English Church, 1066-1272, is useful, and
Miss Knte Norgate's England under the Angevin Kings and John Lackland are
valuable from the accession of Henry 11. onwards, and Stubbs' Early Plan-
tagenets (Longmans' " Kpochs of Modern History ") gives a masterly account
of the Angevin period on a small scale. T. A. Archer's Crusade of Richard J.
sets forth from translated extracts of contempornry writers a srood account of
the Third Crusade. Miss Mary Bateson's Mediaval England, 1066-1350, parts
i. and ii., give an admirable picture of the social life of the period. Barnard's
Companion to English History (Middle Ages) contains a series of useftd
articles on trade, social life, architecture, warfare, art, learning, etc. Map xvii.
(England and Wales in 1086) in Oxford Historical Atlas is of importance
for the study of British historical geography. For Irish history, G. H.
Oi-pen's Ireland under the Normans, or more briefly, A. G. Richey's Short
History of the Irish People ; for Welsh history, J. E. Lloyd's History of Wales,
vol. ii, and for Scottish history, P. Hume Brown's History of Scotland, i.
1-130.
BOOK III
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ENGLISH NATION
(1216-1399)
CHAPTER I
HENRY III. (1216-1272)
Chief dates :
1216. Accession of Henry iii. 1
\ZVJ. Battle of Lincoln.
1219. Death of William Marshall.
1232. Fall of Hubert dc Burgh.
1242. Battle of Taillebonrg.
1248. iSimon of Montfort, governor of Gascony.
1258. Provisions of Oxford.
1259. Treaty of Paris.
1264. Battle of Lewes.
1265. llontfort's Parliament and the Battle of Evesham.
1267. Treaty of Shrewsbury.
1272. Death of Henry iii.
1. Joun's eldest son was only nine years old at hiij father's death,
but the dead king's friends at once proclaimed him as Henry ni.
Grnalo, the poi)e'8 legate, proonred for him the _. gonfligt
support of the Church, and showed that John's sur- between
render to the pope was a reality by taking on him- JJ^"**?'",,
.self the supreme direction of the kingdom. Gualo ^^^ Louis
worked in close harmony with the leader of Henry's of France.
English iwtrtisans, William Marshall, an aged baron '
of unblemished honour, who had married Strongbow's daughter,
and thus become earl of Pembroke and lord of Strongbow's
great possessions in Wales and Ireland. Pembroke was apiwinted
Ruler of the King and Kivgdom, a title which was practically
equivalent to that of regent. The prudent measures taken by
Chialo and Pembroke soon began to increase the party <rf tii«
»S9
l6o HENRY III. [1217-
little king. The rebellious barons bad taken up arms to secure
the privileges contained in the Great Charter. Reversing the policy
of Innocent in., Gualo now allowed Pembroke to issue a con-
firmation of the charter in Henry's name. This wise step cut the
ground from under the feet of the partisans of Louis. Those who
had hated John the most had no ill will to the monarchy, and the
innocent boy on the throne was in nowise responsible for the
crimes of his father. Gradually the friends of Louis feU away
from him and declared for Henry. The feeling grew that it was
a dangerous thing for England to be ruled by a prince who woxild
one day be king of France ; but the chief thing that weighed with
the deserters was their knowledge that the pope and the Church
had declared against Louis. Even Philip ii. of France dared not
give any help to his son, because he was afraid of provoking a
quarrel with the j)ope. In tliese circumstances Louis steadily lost
ground. In 1217 Marshall defeated him in a pitched battle in the
streets of Lincoln. Later on in the year a fleet sailed
The Battle from France, bringing him reinforcements ; but Hubert
of Lincoln, t ti i ji • ,. . , ,, ^ ,
and the de iiurgh, the justiciar, met the French fleet off
Treaty of Sandwich, and utterly destroyed it. It was useless
1217.^ ' for Louis to persevere any longer. In September,
1217, he made the treaty of Lambeth with William
Marshall, by which he agreed to leave England. No sooner had
he gone than Magna Carta was once more reissued, in what was
substantially its permanent form. Besides this, a Forest Charter
was also published by the king, which mitigated the severity of
Henry ii.'s Assize of Woodstock, and laid down the great principle
that no man was to lose life or limb for breach of the forest
laws.
2. William Marshall continued to rule England tiU his death
in 1219. He had put an end to the civil war and restored the
The rule monarchy, but he did not venture to interfere with
of William the supremacy of the pope, and was much hampered
Tiii-rila ^^ ^^^^ ^'"^^ ^^^^ ^® ^^^ obliged to trust the greedy
and Hubert foreigners who had been the chief supporters of John.
de Burgh, On his death no new regent was appointed. At first
1219 1232 XI ? 1
the popes legate practically acted as regent. The
legate was now that Pandulf who had received John's submission
in 1213. His constant interference in the details of government
provoked much resentment in England, and at last Archbishop
Langton went to Rome and persuaded the pope to recall him.
From that time there was no regular papal legate in England, save
i
1234.] HENRY III. l6l
the archbishop of Canterbury himself. Langton henceforward
did his best to restore peace and prosperity to England, and
worked weU with Hubert de Burgh, the justiciar, who, after
Paudulf's recall, was the chief ruler of England. Hubert was a
capable and vigorous man ; he made it liis chief object to restore
the system of strong rule which had prevailed under Henry ii.
Many difficulties stood in his way. During the long ci^-il war the
feudal party had revived, and Hubert, like Henry ii., at his
accession was obliged to put down adulterine castles and compel
the nobles to obey the law. An even graver trouble arose from
John's foreign friends. The chief of these were Peter des Roches,
a native of Poitou, who was bishop of Winchester, and a mercenary
soldier. Falkes of Breaute, who had fought John's battles so well
that the late king had given him enormous territories. In 1224
Falkes rose in revolt, but Hubert captured and destroyed his chief
castle at Bedford and drove him into exile. With the fall of
Falkes the reign of the foreigners was over, and the government
of England again fell into English hands. Disgusted with liis
rival's success, Peter des Roches left England to go on crusade.
3. In 1227 the pope declared that Henry was old enough to
govern his kingdom ; and Langton died in 1228. Hubert continued
to act as justiciar till 1232 ; but his severity raised uj) -.. f n f
a host of enemies against him, and he gradually lost Hubert,
the support of the young king. At last Peter des 1232, and
Roches returned to England, and cleverly brought of Peter
about his fall. Henry dismissed the faithful Hubert, des Roches,
aud i)ersecuted him with much ingratitude. Peter des * 232- 1234.
Roches succeeded Hubert as justiciar, but held power for only
two years. He gave the chief offices of the state to his friends and
kinsfolk from Poitou, and soon excited tlie bitterest indignation
among the English barons. Richard Marshall, earl of Pembroke,
the son of the late regent, made himself the si)okesman of the
Imrons' discontent, and finally headed a revolt against the justiciar.
Peter maliciously revenged himself by stirring up a rebellion against
Richard in his Irish estates. Richard was forced to go to Ireland,
where he was treacherously slain ; but Henry was horrified when
lie heard of the justiciar's deceit, and wa« easily persuaded by
Edmund Rich, a saintly scholar who had just become archbishop
of Canterbury, to drive Peter and his Poitevins from office.
4. With the fall of tlie bishop of Winchester, the first period of
Henry iii.'s reign comes to an end. During all these years Henrj-
had been either a minor or under the control of one powerful
M
1 62 HENRY III. [1234-
mind which, he could not easily resist. For eighteen years, then,
the personal authority of the king was small. This circumstance
Growth of helped to spread the notion of a limited monarchy,
limited with which was combined the view that the natural
monarc y. lielpers and advisers of the crown were the great
barons who sat in the royal council. We already seem far away
from the Angevin despotism. Though the charters were often
broken in their details, the spirit of them had begtm to enter into
English political life.
5. With the fall of Peter des Roches, Henry in. personally
undertook the government of the country. The king was resolved
The nep- ^^^^ henceforth he would submit to no master. He
sonal pule of would be his own prime minister, holding in liis own
Henpy III. hands aU the strings of policy, and acting through
subordinates, whose duty was to carry out their
master's orders. Under such a system the justiciarship practically
ceased to exist, for Des Eoches's successor, Stephen Segrave, was
a mere lawyer who never aspired to be chief minister. Before
long the justiciar had become a simple president of the law courts.
Unluckily, Henry iir. was not hard-working or possessed of suffi-
cient strength of wiU to rule England effectively. He possessed,
indeed, some noble and many attractive qualities ; his private life
was pure ; his piety was sincere ; he was well educated and loved
fair churches, beautiful sculpture, and richly illuminated books.
Boi'n and brought up in England, he was proud of his English
ancestors, was devoted to English saints, and gave his children
English names like Edward and Edmund. Nevertheless, Henry
showed less sympathy with English ways than many of his foreign
predecessors. Too feeble to act for himself, too suspicious to trust
his barons, he leant upon the support of foreign favourites and
kinsmen. From 1234 to 1258 he sought to rule England through
foreign dependants. The work of Hubert seemed altogether un-
done when swarm after swarm of aliens came from abroad, and
obtained place and power beyond their deserts through the weak
complacency of the king.
6. The new alien invasion began soon after Henry's marriage in.
„, ,. 1236 with Eleanor, daughter of the count of Provence
The alien
invasion. ^^<i sister to Margaret, wife of Louis ix., who in 1226
The Pro- succeeded his father, Louis viii., the sometime invader
Savoyards.*^ of England, to the French throne. Eleanor's mother
was a daughter of the count of Savoy, and her numerous
Savoyard uncles, having but a slender endowment in their own
-1258.]
HENRY III.
163
monntain land, made their way to England to share King
Henry's boimty. It soon became known that Henry was willing
to welcome any attractive foreign adventurer of high birth, and
many such flocked to the land of promise. Among them was
Simon of Montfort, son of a famous Simon of Montfort who had
been a chief instrument in extending North French and orthodox
influence over the heretical Albigenses of southern France, and who
had won for himself by his sword the county of Toulouse, and
quickly lost it again. From his mother the elder Simon inherited
a claim of the earldom of Leicester. The younger Simon per-
suaded his brothers to make over their pretensions to him, and
went to England to demand the Leicester titles and estates. Henry
recognized Simon as earl of Leicester, married him to his sister,
and lavished on him many marks of favour.
THE PKOVENQALS AND SAVOYARDS
Amadeus,
count of Savoy.
I
Beatrice,
m. Raymond Berengar,
count of Provence.
I
^ I
Boniface of Savoy,
archbishop of
Canterbury.
Other sons and
daughters.
Margaret,
ni. Louis IX.,
king of France
Philip III. of
France.
Eleanor,
m. Henry in.
of England.
Edward i.
Sanchia,
m. Richard of
Cornwall, king
of the Romans.
Beatrice,
m. Charles of
Anjou, king
of Sicily.
7. Another foreign element that weighed with increasing force
on England was the i)ower of the i)ope. The successors of Inno-
cent III. pressed still further the exalted claims of their
predecessor. They declared that it was their right to Romans
appoint their nominees to any bishopric or benefice.
At their caprice they issued what were called papal provisioiig, by
which the rights of electors, or patrons, were put aside in favour
of the pope's nominee. The result of this was that a swarm of
Italian and French priests were established by the pope in English
benefices, and grew rich on the spoils of the English Church with-
out attempting to do the work of their ofilces. Besides this, the
l)ope claime<l the right of taxing the Church at his will. About
this time papal taxation became more severe on account of a quarrel
Avhich broke out between Pope Gregory ix. and the Emperor
164 HENRY III. [1234-
Frederick ir. Frederick 11., the son of Henry vi., had been
made emperor by Innocent iii., after the fall of Otto iv. He
was now waging- deadly war against the papacy, and Gregory
looked upon the English Church as a sure source of supplies to
equip armies to fight the emperor. Though Henry had married
his sister to Frederick 11., and was on friendly terms with him, he
dared not resist the pope's demands. Things became worse in
1237, when the pope sent to England the first legate despatched
from Rome since the days of PanduK. This legate, a cardinal
named Otto, made himself unpopular both by his strictness in
reforming abuses and by the zeal with which he furthered his
master's interests. In 1238 he visited Oxford, where a great
school or university had recently sprung up. An afEray broke out
between the legate and the scholars, and the latter forced the
pope's representative to take refuge in a church steeple until the
king could send soldiers to effect his release. At last Otto went
back to Rome, leaving very bitter memories behind him.
8. The gentle Archbishop Edmund did aU that he could to save
the clergy from the exactions of pope and king. Though high-
Edmund minded and well-meaning, he was not strong enough
Rich and to grapple with the difficult task before him. In 124()
Robert \q Jeft England in disgust, and soon afterwards died
GrossetGste. .
abroad. His reputation for holiness was such that he
was soon canonized as St. Edmund. His successor at Canterbury
was a man of very different stamp. The new archbishop was
Boniface of Savoy, one of the queen's uncles. He owed his office
entirely to the favour of the king and pope, and made no effort to
protect the clergy from them. In these circumstances the leader-
ship of the clergy passed to Robei-t Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln,
a famous writer, a saintly man, and the most practical reformer of
Church abuses of his day. Innocent iv., Gregory ix.'s successor,
made even severer demands on England than liis predecessor. In
1245 he deposed Frederick from the emjiire, and j)ersecuted him
relentlessly tUl his death in 1250. Frederick was the last of the
great emperors of the Middle Ages, and his fall marked the end
of the long struggle between papacy and empire, which began
with the investiture contest between Gregory A 11. and Henry w.
Grosseteste continued his protest, and even ventured to withstand
Innocent iv. face to face. Nothing, however, came from his
complaints. However much the clergy grumbled, Henry, gave
them no help, and they were forced to i)ay whatever the pope
exacted.
-1258.] HENRY III. 1 65
9. As Henry in. grew older he felt the disgrace of his father's
failure to retain the Angevin Empire abroad. In 1230 he led an
expedition to recover Poitou, but obtained nothing by Henry's
his attempt. In 1242 he again went in person to fopeisrn
prosecute his rights to the Angevin inheritance which «^""''®s.
was fast slipping away owing to the growing power of Louis ix.
The French monarch was a high-minded and conscientious king, as
wise as he was good, and so universally admired and beloved that
after his death he was canonized as St. Louis. But he was anxious
to extend his authority and complete the work of his grandfather,
Philip II. With this object Louis made one of his brothers count
of Poitou and of Toulouse, and thus threatened the last hopes of
Henry in Poitou. But the barons of Poitou were even more afraid
of the growth of the French power than was the English king, and
now turned to Henry and besought him to save them from French
domination. At their head was Hugh of Lusignan, coimt of
La Marche. the mighty Poitevin baron, whose rage at John's
abduction of Isabella of Angoulome had given the signal for the
conquests of Philip ii. Hugh of La Marche was now Henry iii.'s
step-father, for on John's death I6a1)ella had gone back to France
and married her old lover. She added her appeals to those of her
second hu.sband, and Henry, always dutiful to his family, willingly
listened to his mother's entreaties. But when Henry got to Poitou,
he found that Hugh and Isabella had no real care for his interests,
and simply used him as a tool to prosecute their grievances against
tlie French king. He learnt how impossible it was to build upon
Poitevin promises. The army of Louis ix. defeated his troops at
Taillebourff. near Saintes, and drove him in panic flight to Bordeaux.
The expedition was an utter failure, and henceforth Louis's brother
ruled Poitou as he would. On his death Poit-ou became part of
the direct domains of the French king.
10. The chief result of the expedition was the ruin of the house
of Lusignan. The numerous children of Hugh and Isabella,
finding that they had no prospects in France, crossed 7},^ polte-
over the Channel and threw themselves on the bomity vlns In
of their half-brother. Henry welcomed them warmly, "* *"
and loaded them with grants and presents. He marriwl one of them.
William of Valence, to the heiress of the Marshalls, earls of Pem-
broke, whose house had recently died out in the male line. Another
brother, Aymer, a violent and incompetent man, l)ecaine bishop of
Winchester. Henry's half-sisters found husbands among the richest
of the earls. Henceforth the Poitevin half-brothers of the king
l66 HENRY III. [1246'
rivalled the Savoyard uncles of the queen in wealth, pride, and
unpopularity.
11. The government of England by Henry and his foreign
friends was not only expensive and unpopular, but weak and in-
Rlse of the effective. Though the people paid heavy taxes, good
Principality order was not maintained. Under a feeble king like
of North Henry, the princes of North Wales became very power-
ful, and extended their power to the south at the
expense of the lords marcher. Since the days of Griffith ap
Llewelyn no Welsh prince had been as mighty as Llewelyn ap
lorwerth. He joined with the barons in wresting Magna Carta
from John, and took advantage of the troubles of Henry's minority
to push his dominions from the Dovey to Carmarthen Bay. Though
married to Henry's sister, he was constantly at war with his brother-
in-law. Under his grandson, Llewelyn ap Griffith, who became
prince in 1246, the Welsh principality became even stronger.
12. Henry's remaining dominions in France were, like Wales,
slipping away from his control. All that now remained of the
Simon of inheritance of Eleanor of Aquitatne was Gascony, but
Montfopt in even in Gascony Henry's power was very small. The
^aseony, nobles behaved like independent princes, and great
towns like Bordeaux were becoming little republics
which cared nothing for the commands of their duke. Things got
to such a pass that even Henry saw that something had to be done.
In 1248 he made his brother-in-law, Simon of Montfort, governor,
or seneschal, of Gascony, and gave him full power to reduce the
unruly Gascons to obedience. Simon threw himself into the rude
task with wonderful ability and energy. He restored order, but
showed little regard for impartiality or jiistice. The Gascons
sent piteous complaints against him to England. Henry listened
to their murmurs, and gradually withdrew his confidence from
Simon. Profoundly irritated at tliis shabby treatment, Simon
resigned his office in disgust in 1252. Henceforward he became
Henry's bitter enemy. Keturning to England, he put himself
at the head of the opposition which the king's fatuous government
had created.
13. For many years many protests had been raised against
Henry's misrule, but, for want of competent leaders, nothing had
come out of these efforts. For a time Henry's yoimger brother,
Richard, earl of Cornwall, had led tlie baronial opposition; but
Richard now married Sanchia of Provence, the queen's younger
sister, and reconciled himself with the court. The failure of aU
-I258.I HENRY III. 167
attempts to check him encouraged Henry to adopt a more adveil-
turous i>olicy. His children were growing up, and he wished to
establish them in life. To his elder son. Edward, he
made over the earldom of Chester which had recently Edmund,
^„ * KinfiT 01
lai)se<l to the king's hands, all his lands in Wales, sicily; and
and the duchy of Grascony. Edmund, his second Richard,
sou. was still unprovided for, and Henry eagerly the Romans
gi-asped at a chance of establishing him in a foreign
kingdom which the pope now offered. After the death of
Frederick 11., the popes continued to wage unrelenting war against
his- childi-en. They were particularly anxious to prevent the
kingdom of Sicily, which Frederick had ruled, remaining united
with Germany and the empire. Accordingly the pope offered to
make Edmund king of Sicily, and Henry greedily swallowed the
tempting bait. Edmund, who was a mere boy, remained in
England, but Henry allowed the pope to wage war in Sicily in
Edmund's name, and promised to defray the expenses. This
was not the only foreign kingdom which Henry's kinsfolk
obtained. In 1257 Richard of Cornwall was elected emperor after
the death of Frederick ii.'s son. His title was disputed, and
as he was never crowned by the pope, he was called king of the
Romans.
14. Each new adventure of Henry and the pope imposed a fresh
burden upon Englishmen. The taxes became heavier, and the
king'.s misgovemment steadily became worse. Henry's
, , , . . -I-. 1 J • j.i' PollUcal re-
mi.si-ule was the more grievous, since England m other tro^resslon
ways was full of life and progress. It was the time of and
the great religious revival which saw the establishment "^•^'o"*!
of the Mendicant Friars, whose two chief orders, the
Dominicans and the Franciscans, came to England in 1221 and 1224.
It was a time of remarkable intellectual progress, of the growth of
the j(>u"rem<ie«, where flourished many famous scholars, pliilosophers,
and theologians. It was the time when mediaeval art attained its
highest development in the growth of Gothic architecture. The
coimtry was becoming increasingly wealthy through the spread of
manufactures and commerce, and towns and town life became more
important than they had ever been before. It was now also that
English national sentiment was becoming conscious of it.self. In
every direction there was rapid progress, but political progress wm
stayed by the incompetence of the king and his adviser."*. But the
day of reckoning was now at hand. Led by Earl Simon, the barons
at last knew what they wanted. In 1258 the storm of icdignation
l68 HENRY III. [T258'
f)urst, and drove Henry and his favourites from the position vliiejj
they had so long misused.
15. The crisis was hastened by the enormous demands of the
pope for the prosecution of the war waged for Sicily in Edmund's
The Mad name. Henry could only satisfy the pope by raising
Papliament, fresh taxes, and to do this he had to obtain the
*^^ consent of the barons. In a council, or as it was
now called, a parliament, at "Westminster, the barons utterly
refused to give the king any money, and forced him to ccnsent to
a drastic reform of the government. In June a second parliament
met at Oxford. Taking advantage of a stmimons for an expedition
against the Welsh, the barons came arrayed for war and attended
by their armed followers. The king's friends called this assembly
the Mad Parliainent, but the barons knew very well what they were
doing. A committee of twenty-four, chosen in equal proportions
by king and barons, laid before the Oxford parliament an elaborate
scheme for the future government of the realm. The new con-
stitution was called the Provisions of Oxford, and readily adopted
by the barons. By it a standing council of fifteen was established,
by whose advice and consent Henry was henceforth to exercise all
his authority. All aliens were to be expelled from office and new
ministers were appointed under stringent conditions. To save the
barons the expense of attending frequent parliaments, a bo<ly of
twelve was appointed to represent the whole nobUity. This was to
meet three times a year and to discuss public affairs with the
committee of fifteen.
16. The Provisions of Oxford carried to a still further i)oint the
idea of limited and constitutional monarchy first expressed in the
The Pro- Great Charter. Every royal power was to remain
visions of unimpaired, but henceforth it was to be exercised not
Oxford. j^y ^}jg king in person, but by a committee of the
barons. The feudal tradition, when each baron's dearest wish was
to break down the monarchy and reign like a king over his own
lands, was thus qiiite forgotten. The scheme was quite effective to
check the autocracy of the crown. The danger was lest it .should
set up in the place of the Angevin despotism a narrow baronial
oligarchy, as careless as the king had been of the welfare of the
country as a whole. There was no time, however, to think of
future dangers at the moment. Headed by William of Valence,
the king's half-brother, the foreigners steadily resisted the new
scheme. They were soon overpowered and driven into exile.
Henry and his eldest son were forced to take oaths to observe the
-1259.1 HENRY III. 169
Provisions. Next year, when King Kichard came back to England,
he was not allowed to land nntil he took the same oath. Thus
the fifteen triumphed over all opposition. Henceforth they, and
not Henry, were the real rulers of England.
17. One result of the baronial victory was the abandonment
of Henry's ambitious schemes of foreign domination. His son
Edmund renounced his phantom kingdom of Sicily, The Treaty
and the pope found a more competent instnunent for of Paris,
his purpose in Charles of Anjou, a younger brother ^^^^"
of Louis IX. Charles, who had married the youngest sister of
Queen Eleanor, had already won for himself her father's county of
Provence. In 1265 he established himself in Naples and Sicily,
and was the ancestor of a long line of kings ruling over southern
Italy under the pope's supremacy. In 1259 Henry went to Paris,
where he concluded a permanent peace with the king of France.
By this treaty of Paris he renounced all his claims over Normandy,
Anjou, and Poitou, retaining only the Channel Islands, a fragment
of the Norman duchy, over which the English kings still ruled
l)ecause they were stronger by sea than the French. Besides this,
Henry agreed to perform homage to Louis for the duchy of Gtiscony,
which remained under its English dukes. Louis was so anxious
to make peace that he voluntarily handed over to Henry some parts
of Grascony which were actually in his possession and also paid him
a considerable sum of money, nominally to equip knights to fight
on a crusade. This treaty was the first peace made between
England and France since Philip 11. 's conquest of Normandy. It
failed, however, to establish permanent friendship between the two
countries. So long as Gascony remained ruled by dukes who were
also English kings, real cordiality between them was impossible.
18. In England the fifteen ruled for some years in Henry's
name, but they governed in such a selfish and narrow way that
murmurs, almost as loud as the old outcry against
Henry, arose against them. Earl Simon of Leicester up of parties
took broader views than most of the barons, but he found and the
it very difficult to make the other nobles accept his ^^o"'"*
policy. After all he was a newcomer and a foreigner. Barons'
and with all his greatness he was so masterful and War, 1259-
overl)earing that he was not easy to work with. The
majority of the barons deserted his leadership for that of Richard of
Clare, earl of Gloucester, the most powerful of the earls of English
birth. Gloucester was a much less able man than Simon, and looked
with suspicion upon his rival. From their disputes arose a division
I70 HENRY in. [1259-
in the baronial ranks, which gave Henry iii. a good chance to win
back power. Henry himself was not clear-sighted enough to make
the most of his opportunities ; but Edward, his eldest son, now a
grown man, did much to compensate for his father's weakness.
The king's son put himseK at the head of a popular royalist party,
and showed himseK more disposed to trust the people than
Gloucester. It was plain that he had no sympathy with Henry's
past misdeeds, and that under him there would be no danger of
the domination of foreign favourites. In fact, Edward stood
to the royalist party as his uncle Leicester stood to the
baronial oligarchy. For a time Edward and Simon worked well
together, but they were too much like each other to agree long.
Ultimately Edward proved Mmself Simon's most deadly enemy.
He persuaded many of the barons to desert to the royalist side,
and in particular won over from the opposition the fierce and
warKke lords of the Welsh March, of whom, as earl of Chester, he
was the natural leader. By 1263 the royalist party had become
so strong that Henry repudiated the Provisions, and shook himself
free of the control of the fifteen. He persuaded the pope to annul
the Provisions, and absolve him from the oath which he had taken
to observe them. This growth of the royalist power forced the
barons to unite again, and their reunion was easier since Earl
Ricliard of Gloucester died, and his young son. Earl Gilbert of
Gloucester, was a devoted follower of Montfort. Open hostilities
broke out between the king and the barons, which were called the
Barons' War. In this struggle both parties were so evenly matched
that neither could obtain a victory over the other. The best way
out of an imi)ossible situation seemed to be to appeal to the
arbitration of some impartial outsider. Accordingly, in December,
1263, the two parties arranged to submit aU disputes between them
to the judgment of Louis ix.
THE HOUSE OF LUSIGNAN
Isabella of Angouleme.
m. (1) John, King of England.
(2) Hugh of Lusignan, count
of La Marche.
( 1) (1) (2)J (2) L2)
Henry iii. Richard, William of Valence, Aymer of Other sons
king of king of m. heiress of the Valence, and daughters
England. the Romans. Marshalls, earls bishop of settled or
of Pembroke. Winchester, married in
Aymer oj Valence,
earl of Pemhrohe.
England.
-1 264.1 HENRY III. 171
THE EARLS OF GLOUCESTER
Henry i.
Robert,
earl of Gloucester, d. 1147.
Wxlliam,
earl of Gloucester.
LJ
Amtcia, Isabella of Gloucester,
m. Richard of Clare. m. King John.
Gilbert of Clare,
earl of CHoucegter.
I
Richard of Clare,
earl of Gloucester, d. 1262,
Gilbert of Clare,
earl of Gloucester, d. 1295,
nr.. Joan, daughter of Edward r.
I i I I
Gilbert, Eleanor, Margaret, another
earl of Gloucester, m. Hugh le Despenser m. Peter of Gaveston. daughter,
d. 1314. the younger.
The names in italict are not referred to in the text.
19. The king of France was the justest of kings ; bnt, after all,
he was a king, and naturally prejudiced in favour of a sovereign
waging war against his subjects. In January, 1264. .^^ failure
he issued his decision in a document called the Mise of the Mise
of Amiens, which pronounced the Provisions invalid, of Amiens,
mainly because the pope had already condemned them.
This judgment was too one-sided to be accepted, and the barons,
headed by Leicester, resolved to continue the war. In taking this
step Simon deliberately broke his pledged word, but he was not
more forsworn than the king, who had so solemnly promised to
abide by the Provisions. Though deserted by many of his
followers, Simon did not lose heart. The defection of his allies
gave him almost uncontrolled power over the Imronial jmrty. and
he now showed himself as good a general as he had been a states-
man. War was renewed, and at first the royalists gained some
successes. At the head of their victorious troops. Henry and
Edward marched triumphantly through Kent and Sussex, and at
last took up their quarters at Lewea, where, on May 14, the deoisiTe
battle of the campaign was fought.
1/2
HENRY III.
[1264-
20. The royalist army was holding the town of Lewes, which is
situated on a sort of peninsula on the right bank of the river Ouse.
Th3 Battle Early in the morning, Montfort's army advanced from
of Lewes, the north and made their way over the open chalk-
1264. downs which encompassed Lewes on three sides.
Simon's hope was to surprise the royalists in their camp, but they
obtained information of his approach, and swarmed out of the
town to meet him. The baronial troops moved in two great
divisions along two spurs of the downs, separated by a vaUey.
Their best soldiers were on the right wing, and their left wing
largely consisted of the Londoners, who were ardent partisans of
Earl Simon. Edward, who commanded the right wing of the
royalists, attacked the Londoners with such fury that he drove
them in confusion many miles from the field. During his absence,
however, Montfort with his right wing had captiu-ed Lewes town,
utterly defeated the king's troops, and taken prisoners Henry and
his brother, the king of the Romans. When Edward returned from
the pursuit it was too late to renew the conflict. Next day the
king's son surrendered, so that the barons won a complete triumph.
21. The victors drew up a new plan for the government of tlie
country, called the 'Mise of Lewes. By it the king's power was
The rule handed over to a committee of nine, and Henry and
of Earl Edward were forced to swear to observe its provisions.
^''?°"' In reality, however, Montfort now governed England.
His position was much stronger than it had been in
the early years of the struggle, and for the first time he was able
-1263.] HENRY III. 173
to enforce his policy upon all his party. His position, however,
was still very difficult. The lords of the Welsh March were still
in arms for the king-, and the pope was Henry's warm partisan.
Queen Eleanor and her kinsfolk assembled an army on the French
coast, and waited for an opportunity of invading England.
22. Montfort saw that the best way of resisting the formidable
forces opposed to him was to call upon the people as a whole to rally
round him. With this object he summoned, in Tj,e Parlia-
January, 1265, a parliament which, unlike the Parlia- ment of
ment of 1258, was not a mere councU of barons. He »265.
called upon every shire, city, and borough in England to elect two
representatives who were to join with the barons and bishops in
their deliberations. This action of Montfort's has made the
Parliatnent of 1265 very famous in our history. It has been called
the first House of Commons, and Montfort has been named the
creator of the House of Commons. Neither of these claims can be
justified. It was no new thing to call upon the shires to send their
representatives to treat with the king or his ministers. The policy
of electing representatives of the shires began when Henry 11.
instituted the system of grand juries, and sent his justices to trans-
act business with them. It was only a small step forward when,
instead of the king's representative dealing with each shire in turn,
representatives of all the shires were joined together in a single
assembly, and brought face to face with the king in person. This
was first done, so far as we know, under John in 1213. Under
Henry in. it became a common custom for the king to call together
such representatives, or, as they were called, knights of the shire,
and to take their advice or listen to their complaints. Moreover,
when the king wanted to get money from the merchants, or advice
on matters of trade, he had already more than once summoned
representatives of the cities and boroughs. Nevertheless, Mont-
fort's Parliament does mark a real advance. It was a new thing
to join both the shire and borough representatives in a single
gathering. Moreover, Montfort did not summon this j)arlianieut
merely to raise taxes, and to discuss matters of little importance.
His object was to take the i)eoi)le into partnership with him, and
fiud out their real views as to the government of the country.
Thus, while the barons of 1258 acted as if none but the magnates
had any voice in matters of politics, Montfort allowed commons bh
well as lords a voice in liigli matters of state. Since Magna Carta
tlie king's power had been limited. It was the glory of Montfort
that he was the first man to see tliat the power of the crown should
174 HENRY III. • [1265-
be controlled, not only by the barons and bishops, but also by the
lesser land-owners, the men of business, and the smaller people as
well. Nevertheless, Montfort's Parliament was but the expedient
of the moment. "We must wait for a generation before the rival
and disciple of Montfort, Edward, the king's son, established the
popular element on a firm basis.
23. Earl Simon's rule lasted only a few months. His fierce and
overbearing temper, and the deep differences of policy between him
The revolt ^^^ such of the magnates as still adhered to him, made
of the permanent co-operation between him and the barons
Mapchers, impossible. Grilbert of Clare was now old enough to
shake off the fascination which had bound him to
Simon in earlier years. He quarrelled first with Simon's sons, who
had all the defects and little of the greatness of their father. Then
he broke violently with Simon himself, and raised the standard of
revolt in his lordship of Grlamorgan. The marchers, whom Simon
had never been able to subdue, rallied round him, and Simon was
forced to proceed to the west to wage war against Gloucester and
his friends. He took with him Henry and Edward, both of whom
were still practically prisoners. One day, however, Edward, who
was allowed the diversion of hunting, escaped f I'om his guards and
joined Gloucester. By this time a strong band of exiles, headed
by William of Yalence, had landed in South Wales and added their
forces to those of Edward and Gloucester. Simon strove to create
a diversion by making a close alliance with Llewelyn of Wales, but
the Welsh prince gave him little real help. Llewelyn had ali-eady
profited by the civil war to conquer many of the lordships marcher,
and he would not stop adding to his territories to fight Montfort's
battles. Before long Montfort was forced to recross the Severn,
closely followed by Edward and the marchers. On August 4,
1265, a decisive battle was fought at Evesham in Worcestershire.
24. Evesham, like Lewes, stands on a peninsula, and is almost
encircled by a wide curve of the Avon. Simon and his war-worn
The Battle ■'^^^^ were resting in the town when Edward occupied
of Evesham, the narrow neck of land which Kes a little to the north
^^^* between the two reaches of the stream. This cut
off all prospect of escape by land, especially as Gloucester with a
strong force occupied the village of Bengeworth on the left bank,
which was connected with Evesham by the only bridge on that
part of the river. Simon saw that Edwai-d had outgeneralled him,
yet could not but admire his adversary's skill in warfare. " By
the arm of St. James," he declared, " they come on ctmningly ; yet it
-1267.]
HENRY HI.
175
is from me that they have learnt their order of hattle. God have
mercy on our souls, for our bodies are the lord Edward's." The
battle then begun, and Montfort's troops, though fighting bravely,
were overpowered. Montf ort himself perished in the fight, but his
memory lived long in the hearts of Englishmen, who worshipped
him as a saint and martyr, and believed that he had laid down his
Bmco' Valkcr K.
BATTLE OF EVESHAM.
life for the cause of justice and religion. The best of Simon's
work survived the battle of Evesham. His victorious nephew
learnt well the lesson of his career, and the true success of the
martyred earl was the future Edward i.
25. Edward now restored his father to liberty and the throne.
There was a greedy scramble for the spoils of victory, and the
greatest of these, the forfeited earldom of Leicester, The Royalist
went to Edmimd, the king's younger son, who soon Restoration,
also became earl of Lancaster and Derby. But the 1266-1267.
victors' resolve to deprive their beaten foes of their estates drove
the vanqmshed into fresh revolts, and for two years there was still
much fighting in England. At last the chief rebels were forced to
<lefend themselves behind the strong walls of Konilworth Castle.
There were two parties among the royalists ; one, led by the cruel
marchers, thought of nothing but spoils and vengeance, while the
1/6
HENRY III.
[1267-
other, headed by G-loucester, recommended moderation in victory.
At first Edward favoured the former, but he now adopted
Gloucester's milder policy, and drew up the Dictmn de Kenilworth,
which allowed rebels to redeem their estates by paying a fine
assessed at five years' value of their lands. In 1266 the defenders
of Kenilworth were admitted to these terms, and in 1267 a few
desperate partisans, who still held their own amidst the fens of the
Isle of Ely, were also forced into submission.
26. England was thus restored to peace, but Llewelyn ap Griffith
stUl remained under arms. Even Edward was now tired of fighting,
The Treaty ^^^ ^ September, 1267, gave Llewelyn liberal terms
of Shrews- of peace in the treaty of Shrewsbtwy. By it Llewelyn
bury, 1267, ^^^ recognized as prince of Wales, and as overlord of
all the Welsh magnates. Many of his conc[uests were definitely
^ Lleuielyn 'a lands at his accession 1246.
,....., ..Land held by other Welsh Princes in
| |||||||| 1246 and brought more or /ess under
Llewelyn's control by 1267.
^.——-Marcher lands occupied by Llewelyn
>^^^ and assigned to him by the Treaty of
"•"^ Shrewsbury 1267.
□ Marcher Lordships remaining outside
Llewelyn's power in J267.
EmeryWalker so
WALES AND THE MARCH, SHEWING THE GROAVTH OF THE POWER OF
LLEWELYN (1246-1267).
ceded to him, including the four cantreds of the vale of Clwyd,
over which Edward himself had claims. Alone of Montfort's
friends, Llewelyn came out of an unsuccessful stmggle upon terms
which are seldom obtained even by a victor in the field.
27. The rest of Henry iii.'s reign was as peaceful as the middle
part had been stormy. The old king was practically replaced by
-1272] HENRY III. 177
Ids wise son, and Edward was shrewd enough to rule the land after
a fashion more in accordance with the ideas of Earl Simon than
with those of his father. Before long things became jf,g g„j ^f
so quiet that Edward was able to leave England and the reigm,
go on a crusade. Ever since the Third Crusade the 1267-1272.
Christian kingdom in Palestine had been steadily decaying, and it
was clear that unless a new holy war were preached, it would soon
be completely overwhelmed. Louis ix. undertook to lead a crusade
in person, but instead of going to the Holy Land, he turned his
arms against Tunis, where he died in 1270. Soon afterwards
Edward arrived off Tunis, only to find that Louis was dead, and his
son, Philip iii., had concluded a truce with tlie Mohammedans.
Disgusted by what he regarded as treason to Christendom, he made
liis way to Palestine, where he remained tiU 1272. He was tlie
last of the great crusaders, and even liis fire and courage could do
little to uphold the crusading kingdom, which a few years later was
altogether destroyed. Edward was still away in the East when
Henrj- in. died, in November, 1272. The old king was buried in
Westminster Abbey, wliich lie had rebuilt in honour of St. Edward,
his favourite saint. During his lifetime the old Norman despoti-sm
liad faded slowly into the national and constitutional monarchy
which Simon had begTin, and which Simon's conqueror was soon to
complete.
CHAPTER II
EDWARD I. (1272-1307)
Chief Dates :
1272. Accession of Edward i.
1274. Edward's coronation.
1277. The first Welsh War.
1279. Statute of Mortmain.
1282-1283. Conquest of North Wales.
1285. Statutes De- Bonis and of Winchester.
1290. Statute Quia Emptores.
1292. John Balliol, king of Scots.
1295. The Model Parliament.
1296. First conquest of Scotland.
1297. Conjirmatio Cartarum.
1298. Battle of Falkirk.
1303-1304. Completion of second conquest of Scotland.
1306. Revolt of Robert Bruce.
1307. Death of Edward i.
1. Edward i. was thirty-tkree years old when he became king, and
the hroad lines of his policy had already been formed in the nide
Character school of the Barons' War. He was wise enough to
and policy profit by his experience, and his love of strong rule
of Edward I. ^^^ efficiency, his courage, energy, and honesty stand
in strong contrast to the weakness and incompetence of his father.
Edward loved power too much to part with it willingly, but he saw
that if he wished to be a successful ruler, he must make his policy
popular. For this reason he strove to carry out the great idea of
Earl Simon of taking the people into a sort of partnership with
him. The result was that his people trusted and followed him.
Edward found that he could thus get more of his own way than by
constantly wrangling with his subjects. His remarkable personal
gifts made it easy for him to win respect and love. He was of
elegant buUd and lofty stature, an eloquent speaker, a consummate
swordsman, and a mighty hunter. He was hot-tempered and
passionate, and when moved to wrath was sometimes hard and
almost cruel. He committed many deeds of violence in his youth,
178
I277-] EDWARD I. 1 79
but he learned to curb his impetaoTis temper, was proud of his
straifjfhtforwardness, and boasted that he always kept his word.
Yet Edward had a curious narrowness of temper, which made him
sometimes look at the letter rather than the spirit of his promises.
An enemy said of him that he called prudence the treachery
whereby he advanced, and believed that whatever he liked was
lawful. He was hard-working, clear-headed, and practical. His
family life was unstaiued. He was a loyal friend, and was sincerely
reUgious. With aU his faults he was the greatest of all his house.
2. Edward was proclaimed king" during his absence. A regency
was appointed whose chief members were Walter Grey, archbishop
of York, and Robert Burnell, a Shropshire clerk, who
was already the new king's most intimate confidant, ment during
and was soon made his chancellor and chief minister. Edward's
They kept England in such unbroken peace that there f 272"f274
was no need for Edward to hasten his return. He
tarried for more than a year in France, and paid a prolonged visit
to Grascony. At last, in August, 1274, he crossed over to England,
and was crowned king.
3. Edward's first trouble came from Wales, where the treaty of
Shrewsbury had not brought enduring peace. The brilliant success
of the Welsh arms and diplomacy seems somewhat to jjig jj^gt
have turned Llewelyn's brain. Visions of a wider Welsh war,
authority constantly floated before the Welsh prince, ^^77.
and he dreamed of driving the Saxons out of Wales and making
himself an independent ruler. Accordingly, when the regents of
the new king required him to take an oath of fealty co Edward, he
answered them with all sorts of pretexts and delays. There were
many other subjects of contention, and both English and Welsh
complained that the treaty of Shrewsbury had not been properly
executed. Even after Edward's return Llewelyn continued to
evade the performance of his feudal duty. At last he declared
that he dared not leave Wales to perform homage unless Edward
sent his brother, Earl Edmund of Lancaster, to Wales as a hostage
for his safety. Llewelyn also strove to stir up dissension in
Edward's realm by posing as the disciple of Simon of Montfort,
and in 1275 sought for Montfort's daughter Eleanor as his wife.
However, on her way to Wales Eleanor was capturod by Edward's
sailors, and kept in restraint at court. Edward at last lest all
patience, and in 1277 led an army to North Wales, blockaded
Llewelyn in Snowdon, and forced him to make his submission by
the treaty of Conway. This treaty deprived Llewelyn of all that
l80 EDWARD I. [1277-
he had won at Shrewsbury, and reduced him to the position of a
petty North Welsh chieftain, strictly dependent on his English
overlord. Next year he was allowed to marry Eleanor of Montf ort ;
Edward was not inclined to treat him severely if he accepted his
position of dependence.
4. For the next few years Edward strove with all his might to
establish English law in the districts ceded to liim by Llewelyn.
Renewed ^^^ ^^"^ attitude was unsympathetic to the Welsh, and
Welsh his agents were often brutally harsh. A loud outcry
troubles, against the king's rule arose from his new subiects, and
1277—1282 00 «i ?
especially from those of the four cantreds of the vale of
Clwyd. They called upon Llewelyn to help them, and Llewelyn's
brother David, who in 1277 had been on Edward's side, reconciled
himseK with his brother. A revolt of the four cantreds broke out
suddenly in the spring of 1282. Llewelyn and David gave active
assistance to the rebels, and almost simultaneously another rising
took place in South Wales.
GENEALOGY OF THE LAST WELSH PRINCES
OwEX,
prince of North Wales under Henry 11.
lorwerth.
I
Llewelyn,
d. 1240, m. (2) daughter of John.
I
t (2)
Griffith, David,
d, 1246.
Llewelyx, David, Roderick.
d. 1282. d. 1283. |
Thomas.
I
Sir Owen of Wales
(time of Edward iii.).
(The names in italics are not referred to in text ; Welsh princes
in small capitals.)
6. Edward led a second expedition against Llewelyn in the
summer of 1282. Again the rebel prince was shut up in Snowdon.
but he managed to break liis way through the English troops and
excite a fresh revolt on the upper Wye, where he was slain on
December 11, at the battle of Orewyn Bridge. David, now prince
of Wales, held his oivn in the mountains for another vear : but at
-1284.]
EDWARD I.
l8l
last he was tracked and captured. In October, 1283, ho was
executed as a traitor at Shrewsbury. This was the
end of the native principality of Wales. It is often quest of the
called the conquest of Wales, but it was in reality Prlncl-
only the conquest of Llewelyn's principality. The ?282-i283
marches of Wales remained under their feudal lords
until the sixteenth century.
6. In 1284 Edward drew up the Statute of Wales. He declared
Milford
Haven
^__^ ^^^ EmcryValkcr vc.
L I The Principality I I The smaller marcher lordships
lii.i Ir/ie Palatine counties I iFn/jUfh shire ground
Modern boundary between England A Wales ..~-.-
WALES AND THE MARCH BETWEEN THE CONQUEST UNDKH EDWARD I.
AND THE UNIO.V UNDER IIENKY VIM.
that the principality of Wales, hitherto feudally subject to him,
was henceforward to be directly ruled by him, and drew up a
scheme for its future government. He divided it into five comities
— Anglesey, Carnarvon, Merioneth, Cardigan, and Carmarthen
l82 EDWARD I. ' [1275-
— and added a new county, FlintsMre, to the earldom of Chester,
which was now permanently in the king's hands. In each o£ the
The Settle- ^^^ shires the EngKsh system of local government was
mentofthe set up, though such Welsh laws as Edward thought
Princi- i-easonable were allowed to continue. In all the details
' ' of the settlement Edward strove to deal fairly with
the Welsh, though he never understood them well enough to
respect their feelings. To secure his conquest Edward surrounded
Snowdon with a ring of fortresses, which still, in their ruin, bear
witness to the solidity of their work. Round each castle, such as
Carnarvon and Conway, grew up a little English town whose in-
habitants might help the soldiers of the castle to keep the Welsh in
Ed a d f check. In one of Edward's new strongholds, that of
Carnarvon, Carnarvon, his son, the future Edward 11., was born,
prince of Jn 1301 this Edward was made prince of Wales by his
' * father. After this it gradually became the fashion to
create the king's eldest son prince of Wales. That custom has
lasted down to our own day.
7. Though Edward was an able soldier, his greatest strength
was as a lawgiver and administrator. Intent as he was on his
Edward's conquest of the Principality, he was even more busily
legislation, engaged, during the first half of his reign, in drawing
1274-1290. ^p ^ remarkable series of new laws and in striving
with all his might to see them carried out in practice. With all
their importance Edward's laws do not contain very much that is
novel or original. They owe their fame to the care with which he
discerned the practical needs of his people and the skill with which
he engrafted into our permanent constitution the best resTilts of
the age of unrest and revolution in which he had grown up. His
reign has been called a period of definition, by which it is meant
that he made clear points that were formerly doubtfid, and selected
from the rich store of precedents, furnished by the age of the
Barons'* War, the institutions which his keen eye saw were of most
value to himseK and his subjects, and the most likely to bring about
the permanent welfare of England. Between 1275 and 1290 a
series of great laws passed in review every branch of both the local
and central administration, and made their permanent mark in
English history. In the later years of his reign we shall see the
same statesmanlike policy of definition applied to the constitution,
which under his guidance took the form which it has retained ever
since.
8. On reaching England Edward made Bishop Burnell his
-1284.] EDWARD I. 183
chancellor, and retained him in that olfice until his death in 1292.
Much of the legislation of the period is doubtless due to the wisdom
of the chancellor, though Edward must not be denied ct f te f
a full share of the credit. In 1275 the first of the West-
great laws of the reign was passed in the statute of minster I.,
Westminster the Mrst. It was mainly aimed at strength-
ening the king's government and ensuring peace and strong
inile ; but it re-enacted many of the best provisions of the Great
Charter and provided for the freedom of elections to parliament.
Part of the statute included a permanent grant to Edward and his
successors of a duty on every sack of wool and every bundle of
slieepskins and leather sent out of the country. Tliis
wa.s called the Old and Great Custom. It was hence- "^^^^^^
Custom,
forth an important source of revenue, and it was a proof
of the growing wealth and prosperity of the countrj' that the kings
were able in the future to derive a large portion of their income
from a tax on trade.
9. In 1278 Edward passed the statute of Gloucester, which
ordered an inquiry into all law courts and jurisdictions held by
the feudal barons, and sought to limit their number, jj^e statute
Commissioners went through the country to every of Glouces-
franchise, and demanded by what warranty the holder • '
of it exercised his right. For this reason the letters issued by
Edward's commission were called writs of quo warranto. Edward's
object was to break down the power of the nobles, and make every
court depend on the crown. But his barons bitterly resented his
action as an attack upon their privileges. It was said that when
the commissioners asked Earl Warenne by what right he held
his courts, the earl bared his sword and haughtily declared that
this weapon was his authority. " My ancestors came over with the
Conqueror." said Warenne, " and won their lands with their sword,
and with the same sword will I defend them against all who wisli
to take them from me." These fierce words voiced the opinion of
the barons, and Edward was wise enough not to force tliem to
extremities. He suffered many franchises to remain that he would
gladly have abolished ; but he took care to create no fresh ones, and
saw that all the lords were thoroughly obedient to him.
10. In 1279 Edward passed the statute of Mortmain. Lands
wliich went to the Church were said to have fallen j^e statuts
into the dead hand, or in Latin, in mortua manu. of Mort-
aud the statute forbade any further grants of lands ™^ "•
to the Church without the king's leave. Edward's motive
184 EDWARD I. [1284-
was partly to prevent an increase of the wealth, and power of
the Church, and partly to prevent more lands falling' to clerical
owners, who were not so well able to fight his battles as the lay
barons. His action was resented by the stricter churchmen, and
in particular by the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop
at the time was John Peckham, a Franciscan friar, and a very
busy, well-meaning, and active man, who was so eager for
the rights of the Chtu-ch that he was constantly causing great
irritation to Edward by his claims. More than once there seemed
to be a good chance of a conflict between Edward and Peckham
breaking out, such as had raged between Henry 11. and Arch-
bishop Thomas. But Edward's prudence and Peckham's fear of
his sovereign continued to keep matters at peace. On the whole, how-
„. ever, the advantage was with the king, who would not
specie g'ive up the statute of Mortmain, and who in 128-5
Agatis, passed a law called Circumspecte Agatis (act cautiously),
by which he forced the Church courts to confine them-
selves to business that was strictly ecclesiastical, and not to en-
croach upon the jurisdiction of the law courts of the crown. Yet,
powerful as he was, Edward could not prevent the popes nomi-
nating whom they would to great places in the English Church.
Peckham himself had been appointed by papal provision, and
Edward could never persuade the pope to allow the Chancellor
Burnell a richer bishopric than his see of Bath and WeUs. Edward
was, however, strong enough to put a practical end to the pope's
exercising any rights as overlord of England by virtue of King
John's submission in 1213. He refused to pay the tribute John
had promised, and the popes were wise enough not to press for it.
11. In 1285 Edward passed two famous laws, called the statute
of Westminster the Second and the statute of Winchester. The
former made important changes in the land laws. One
Statutes or ^^ -^^ clauses was called Be Bonis Conditionalibus — that
minster II. is, " concerning gifts on condition." Its effect was
and to make it easier for a landholder to entail, or settle, his
1285 ^ ^' ^^^^ upon a particular line of his descendants for ever.
In practice, however, this custom of tying up lands
from generation to generation was found to work badly, and the
judges interpreted Edward's law in such a fashion that it lost its
worst sting. It had, however, some effect towards creating the
English custom of settling lands strictly on the eldest son, which
has proved more profitable to a few great houses than to the king
or country. The statute of Winchester aimed at putting down riots
-I290,] EDWARD I. 185
and violence by making each Hundred responsible for all breaches
cf the peace within its limits, and by providing for the proper
arming and calling out of the fyrd, or, as it soon became called, the
militia. It was in a sense a new version of Henry ii.'s Assize of
Arms brought up to date.
12. The last great law of the reign was the statute of West-
minster the Third, passed in 1290, and often called from its opening
words. Quia Emptores. It allowed any landholder to statute of
sell his land if he wished it, but enacted that the west-
buyer should not be the vassal of the man of whom minster III.,
1 290*
he had acquired the land, but stand in the same
relation to the lord of the seller as the seller had stood himself.
The effect of this was, in the long run, to bring most landholders
under the direct lordship of the crown, and so still further to
weaken the position of the barons.
13. Despite Edward's new laws, the government was only
properly carried on when the king was himself in England.
Between 1286 and 1289 foreign troubles carried both
Edward and Bumell to Gascony. During their Jl^^}^?^
absence the judges sold verdicts for money, and the i289, and '
ministers were so corrupt and oppressive that Edward, expulsion of
on his return, appointed a special commission to hear jglo *^*
the numerous complaints brought against them by his
subjects. All the judges but four were heavily fined and dismissed
from office. Soon after tliis stern act, Edward issued orders that
all Jews should be expelled from England. The Jews had come
to England about the time of the Norman conquest, and had
shown such skill in business as to make much money for them-
selves. They were unpopular as foreigners and as unbelievers,
and also because they were in the habit of lending money at high
rates of interest. They were, however, favoured by the kings, and
were glad to pay highly for the royal protection. Gradually, how-
ever, the feeling against them became very bitter. Edward was
brought over by it to withdraw his support from them. In 1290
he drove them from the land altogether.
14. In 1286 Alexander iii. king of Scots died, the last male
representative of the old line of Scottish mouarchs. With him
ended a long and prosperous period for Scotland, cgo^jand
during which the various nations wliich were ruled under
by the Scots king were gradually becoming blended Alexander
together into a single people. The elements wliioli
made. up the Scottish kingdom were even more various tlian thoHe
1 86 EDWARD I. [1286-
wliich were brought together in Edward's reahn. The original
Scots were the Celtic-speaking Highlanders, who dwelt amongst
the mountains of the north and west. Their territory did not,
however, extend further south than the Clyde and the Forth,
which were the original southern limits of the Scottish kingdom.
But we have seen how by the conquest of Strathclyde, or
Cumbria, a Welsh population in the south-west of the modern
realm was brought under the rule of the Scottish king, so that
his rule extended over the Clyde to the Solway and the Esk. We
have also seen how from the cession of the English district of
Lothian, originally the northern pai*t of Northumbria, the
dominions of the Scottish king had been extended towards the
south-east from the Forth to the Tweed. To these new districts
and new peoples brought under his sway must be added the Danes
and Norsemen, who had largely displaced the Celtic inhabitants
in the western and northern islands and in the extreme north,
and the Norman nobles who had become the cliief landed
l)roprietors since the tweKth century. By tliis time the
Welsh, the Normans, the English, and the Danes were sufficiently
united with the Celts for all to call themselves Scots. The most
important and populous part of the country was in the south or
Lowlands, which spoke a form of the old speech of Northumbria,
which was soon to be called the Scots tongue. The original Scots
were henceforth called Highlanders, and their language more often
called Gaelic than Scots. The Highlanders were very like their
near kinsmen the Irish, and were still for many centuries to be
governed after the old Celtic fashion, by which each tribe was
practically ruled by its clan chieftain. On the other hand, English
and Norman influence had made most of the Lowlanders almost
Englishmen. The Welsh of the south-west were rapidly losing
their old nationality and becoming English in speech and
institutions. The Danes of the north, cut off from their kinsfolk
in Scandinavia, since the Norse invasions had come to an end, were
also becoming Anglicized. Up the east coast English influence
gradually penetrated over the Forth and Tay, or to the low and
fertile region between the mountains and the sea, far beyond
Aberdeen, and almost up to Inverness. The result was that
English-speaking Scotland was become very extensive. But all
the various races dwelling in Scotland were ruled by one king, and
were becoming equally jiroud of the name of Scot. For a century
their rulers had lived on good terms with the English monarchs,
but this happy period now ended.
"I289.]
EDIVARD I.
187
GENEALOGY OF THE EARLY SCOTTISH KINGS, SHOWING THE
CHIEF CLAIMANTS IN 1290
Malcolm Canmoue,
d. 1093, m. St. Margaret, sister to Edgar ^tbeliug.
David i.,
1124-1163.
Henry,
earl of Huntingdon.
Iklatilda,
m. Henry
^\'iLLiAM TUB Lion,
1165-1214. .
I
Alexander ii.,
1214-1249.
I
Alexander hi.,
1249-1286.
Margaret,
m. Eric of N<»way.
Margaret,
the Maid of Norway,
d. 1290,
David,
earl of Huntingdon.
Margaret,
m. Alan of Galloway ,
Devorgilla,
m. John Balliol.
I
John Balliol,
king of Scots,
1292-1296,
I
Edward Balliol,
noniiual king of
Scots, 1332-1338,
Isabella,
m. Robert Bruce.
I
Robert Bruce
the claimant.
I
Robert Bruce,
earl of Carrick.
Robert 1. Bruce,
king of Scots,
1306-1329.
David ii. Bruce.
1329-1371.
Margaret,
m. Walter Stewart
of Scotland, from
whom the Stewarts
are descended.
(Scottish kings in small capitals ; names in italics not mentioned in text.)
15. Alexander iii.'s nearest lieir was Margaret. lu.s daughter s
daughter, a young girl, called the Maid of N&ncay. because her
father was Eric, king of that country. Proclaimed j^e Maid
queen of Scots ou Alexander's death, she remained of Norway,
in Norway under her father's care, while her realm 1286-1290.
was ruled by a regency, which found it hard to keep tlie country
in good order. Edward, who watched Scottish affairs carefully,
saw in a female reign the best prospects of extt»uding lii-s jwwer
over the north. He proposed tliat his eldest surviving son,
Edward of Carnarvon, should marrj' the little queen, and thus
briug about the union of the two lauds. Ou his pledging himself
1 88 EDWARD I. [1290-
that the two kingdoms should each retain their own laws and
customs even if the marriage resulted in their being joined under
a common sovereign, the Scots cheerfully accepted his plan. In
1290 the treaty of Brigham was signed embodying these conditions.
It was the wisest scheme that could be devised for bringing about
the peaceful unity of Britain. Unluckily, the Maid of Norway died
in the course of the same year on her journey from Norway to
Scotland.
16. A swarm of claimants now arose to the Scottish throne.
As none had a clear title, and several had eager supporters, it looked
as if the sword alone would settle the question of the
l^ma t succession. The Scots were alarmed at the prospect
to the of a long and bloody civil war, and resolved to get out
Scottish of the diificulty by calling on Edward to decide which of
1290-1292.' the candidates had the best right. Edward willingly
agreed to undertake this course. He required, how-
ever, that aU the Scottish barons and all the claimants should take
an oath of fealty to him as overlord of Scotland before he began
to examine the question. He gladly welcomed so good an oppor-
tunity of settling the relations of the two kingdoms which had
remained somewhat doubtful since Richard i. remitted to William
the Lion the hard conditions of the treaty of Falaise. Though
every subsequent Scottish king had done homage to the English
king, yet each of them possessed large estates in England, and it
was not always clear whether their submission was for their English
estates or for the Scottish throne. As Scotland grew stronger her
kings became more unwilling to acknowledge their subjection to a
foreign king, and the good understanding that had prevailed for so
long between them and their southern neighbours had made the
English kings see no reason in pressing their claim. However,
circumstances had now changed. If Edward did not arbitrate,
there was the certainty of Scotland falling into terrible confusion.
The claimants, in their anxiety to curry favour with Edward, were
the first to submit. The chief nobles followed, and Edward there-
upon undertook to try the great suit for the succession.
17. The pleas were examined by 104 judges, of whom 24 were
chosen by Edward and 40 by each of the two claimants whose
Accession rights seemed the nearest. These were John BaUiol,
of John lord of Galloway, and Robert Bruce, lord of Annan-
fpqo"'' (lale. Both of these were descended on the female side
from David, earl of Huntingdon, Balliol being the
grandson of his eldest daughter, Margaret, and Bruce the son of
-1293.] EDWARD I. 1 89
hLs second daughter, Isabella. Balliors claim was based upon his
representing the elder branch, while Bruce's title rested on the fact
that he was a generation nearer Earl David. The judges went into
the case with great care and impartiality, and finally adjudged
the crown to BaUiol. The decision was announced on November
130, 1292, at Berwick-on-Tweed, then a Scottish town. Balliol at
once did homage to Edward, and was crowned king of Scots. The
question seemed peaceably settled, and Edward won great reputa-
tion for justice in his conduct of the case.
18. Fresh trouble at once fell upon Edward ; this time from
France. All through his reign there had been constant bickering
int ween Edward and the French kings. There were England
frreat difficulties in carrying out the treaty of 1259, and France,
and the irritation caused to the French by Edward's 1259-1293.
l)osition in Gascony was increased when his queen, Eleanor of
Castile, inherited through her mother the county of Ponthieu on
the lower Somme, so that Edward's position in France was thereby
.^rengthened. All through the reign of Philip iii., who succeeded
his father St. Louis in 1270, the relations of the two countries were
sti"ained ; but in 1279 both kings agreed to make the treaty of
Amieng, by wliich Edward's position in Gkiscony was improved and
liis wife put in possession of Ponthieu. Philip n., who became king
of France in 1285, was a stronger king than his father, and was
eager to undermine Edward's hold over the French fiefs, by pushing
liis jwwer as suzerain to the uttermost. Matters were made worse
by quarrels between English and French seamen, wliich grew so
bitter that the French hanged some English mariners to the yard-
arms of their sliips. with dogs hung up beside them, " as if they made
no difference," said an indignant chronicler, " between a dog and
an Englishman." This so enraged the English shipmen that in
1203 they challenged the French to fight a pitched battle, in wliieh
the latter were defeated with great slaughter. Tlie beaten saUors
l)e8ieged Philip iv. with their complaints, and Philip summoned
Edward to his court at Paris to answer for the behaviour of his
subjects. Edward sent liis brother Edmund, earl of Lancaster, as his
agent, but Edmund was too simple to be a good negotiator. Philip
l)ersuaded liim to give up Gascony to him just as a form, and on
condition of its being soon restored. But when the time of restitu-
tion came. Pliilip's agents kept a tight hold over the whole of the
duchy. Edward, seeing that his brother had been tricked, angrily
broke off negotiations, and went to war with the French.
19. Philip IV. prepared to invade Eughmd, and sought to stir
190
EDWARD I.
[1293-
ap Edward's enemies to make common cause against him. At
French instigation the Welsh rose in revolt, and forced Edward to
divert to their subjection an army collected to recover Gascony. It
BmeryWalkCT so
Boundary of Lands nominally allowed to Henry III. in 1259-
Lands secured by Edward I. in 1279 i^
Lands surrendered by Edward I. in 1279
ENGUSH king's DOMINIONS IN FRANCE IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY,
was only after hard fighttag, in the course of which Edward
himself ran great personal risk, that the Welsh reheUion was put
down. Then Philip stirred up an even more effective enemy to
-1295.] EDWARD I. I9I
Edward in Scotland, where things had heen going badly since John
BalUol's succession. Now that Edward's authority over Scotland
had been recognized, Scotsmen, beaten in the local The French
law coar*-:, appealed to Edward's courts and asked and Scottish
him to do them justice. It was a regtdar thing ^f^g^'g,*! 295
for a suzerain to receive appeals from his vassal's
courts, and Edward had suffered much from the way in which
Philip IV. of France had encouraged his vassals in Gascony to
take their appeals to Paris. He saw no harm, therefore, in allowing
the Scots to come to liis court, and was probably surprised when
the Scots nobles grew indignant at the practice. But there had
been no precedents for such appeals from Scotland to England in
the past, and the Scots declared that they would allow Edward no
such power. As John Balliol seemed weak and hesitating, the
nobles deprived him of nearly all his authority, and entrusted it to
a committee of twelve, like the council of fifteen of the Provisions
of Oxford. The new government broke off all relations with
Edward, and concluded a close alliance with the French.
20. Edward met this combination of enemies by forming an
alliance with the emperor, the count of Flanders, and other friends
of England abroad. But he chiefly relied upon the f },e Model
good will of his own subjects, and the step he now Parliament
took to win his people to his side was ever memorable
in the history of the growth of our constitution. Already on
many occasions he had summoned representative parliaments like
Montfort's famous assembly of 1265 ; but never had there been
assembled so full and popular a parliament as that which Edward
gathered together in 1295. Not only did he convoke the earls
and barons, the bishops and abbots. Beside them came two
knights from every shire, and two citizens and burgesses from
every city and borough. A new element was also introduced in
the appearance of representatives of the lower clergy, in the persons
of deans and archdeacons, one proctor, or representative, of every
cathedral chapter, and two proctors for the j^rish clergy of every
bishopric. Thus each of the three estates, or class divisions, into
which society was then divided — the barons, the clergy, and the
commons — had every chance of making their wishes felt. Later
times have called this parliament the Model Parliament, because
it, much more than the Parliament of 1265, was the type upon
which all later parliaments of England were based. And its
assembly is the more important since Edward deliberately called
it as a means of taking his people into partnersliip in a great crisis.
192 , EDWARD I. [1295-
" "What touches all," said he, in his letters, or writs, of summons,
" should be approved of all. It is also very clear that common
dangers should be met by measiu-es agreed upon in common." It
is from this moment that the ijarliamentary constitution of England
was completed. What with Simon of Montfort was the expedient
of a moment, became henceforth with Edward i. a permanent
principle of policy.
21. Edward's parliament voted large sumis of money which
enabled liim to crush the Welsh revolt, ward off any prospect of
The con- invasion, and send an army to win back G-ascony. But
quest of it was evident that Philip would not be beaten until the
Scotland, Scots had been taught to respect the power of Edward.
Accordingly, in 1296 Edward led an army into Scotland,
and resolved to punish Jolm Balliol as Tie had formerly punished
Llewelyn of Wales. Balliol made a poor resistance, and after a
very little fighting, surrendered his crown to Edward. The sub-
jection of Scotland was thus apparently effected with infinitely
greater ease than the conquest of the Principality. Edward
treated Scotland as he had treated Wales. He declared Scotland
annexed directly to his crown, and appointed English nobles to
rule the realm in his name. He wandered through the land
and received the homage of thousands of Scottish landholders.
He ti-ansferred the sacred stone, seated on wliich the Scottish
kings had been wont to be crowned at Scone, to Westminster
Abbey, where it ultimately became the base of the coronation chair
of the English kings. After this easy conquest of a kingdom he
hoped to devote all liis resources to the recovery of Grascony.
22. New troubles arose in his own realm, which once more
forced Edward to postpone his purpose. This time his own clergy
The clepieal ^^^ barons J.layed the game of the enemy. The
opposition trouble with the clergy began when Robert Winchel-
w'^^v. ^^*' ^^^^ ^^*^ succeeded Peckham as archbishop of
Canterbury, refused to allow Edward to raise any
more taxes from ecclesiastics, on the ground that the ])ope, Boni-
face vni., had issued a bull, called Clericis laicos, which forbade
the clergy to pay any taxes to sectdar princes. In great disgust
Edward declared that, if the clergy would not help to suppoi-t the
state, the state should not protect them. He declared all the
clergy outlaws, and announced that he would punish no man who
did injury to a priest.
23. It was now the turn of the barons to resist. Edward wished
to send many of his chief lords to Gasconv, while he himself went
-1297] EDWARD I. 1 93
to fig-ht against Philip iv., in Flanders, whose count was his ally.
Headed by Humphrey Bohun, earl of Hereford, constable of
England, and Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk, marshal jy^^
of England, a large section of the barons declined baronial
to go to Gascony unless the king accompanied them, opposition
In 1297 there was a hot dispute between Edward foij^ ^^^
and the earls at the parliament at Salisbury. " You Hereford,
shall go to Gascony," said Edward to Norfolk, the *^^^"
marshal, '• whether I go or not." On the marshal persisting in his
refusal, the king burst into a passion. " By God, Sir Earl," he
cried, " you shall either go or hang." " By the same oath," answered
Norfolk, " I will neither go nor hang." The two earls gathered
an army round them, and made common cause with Winchelsea.
In great disgust Edward went to Flanders to fight against Philii),
leaving his chief nobles behind him. He could send no real help
to Gascony. He only raised money to pay his troops by im-
posing taxes of his own arbitrary will. He seized all the merchants'
wool and forced them to pay a heavy duty, called- the Maletote, or
evil toll, before he would surrender it. As soon as he was beyond
sea, the two earls marched to London and easily forced the weak
regency, of which the boy, Edward of Carnarvon, was the nominal
head, to submit to their wiU. It was now agreed that conflrmatio
a fresh confirmation of Magna Carta and the Charter Cartarum,
of the Forest should be issued in Edward's name, to ^297-
which new articles were to be appended by which the king
promised to renounce the Maletote, and never in the future to raise
similar aids or taxes save with the consent of parliament. This
Confirmatio Cartarum was sent over to Edward in Flanders, and
very unwillingly he gave his consent to it. It was an important
•epoch in the groMrth of our constitution. Though the earls were
greedy and pedantic, and Winchelsea thought more of the privi-
leges of the Church than the liberties of the realm, Edward in liis
need had acted as a mere tyrant, and it was necessary that his
jK)wer should be checked.
24. Terrible news from Scotland showed that the king had
yielded none too soon. With all his ambition and violence,
Edward still wished to rule Scotland well, but many -. ^oo\,x\sYi
of those who governed that kingdom in his name were rising under
cruel and greedy men, and the Scots hated English Wallace,
<lomination even when it was fair and just. Their
subjection had been due to the folly of their king and the lialf-
hoarteilnesa of the chief Scottish nobles, most of wliom submitted
O
194 EDWARD I. [1297-
because they possessed estates in England which they did not wish
to lose by offending Edward. It was otherwise with the mass of
the Scots people, who werp indignant because their national iu-
dependence was destroyed and their country trampled upon by the
foreigner. Within a few months there were popular risings all over
the country, and soon an able leader to the insurgents was found
in Sir William Wallace of Elderslie, not far from Glasgow. In
1297 Wallace gathered a gallant army round him, and offered battle
to Earl Warenne, Edward's aged and easy-going governor of
Scotland. At Stirling Bridge, near the abbey of Cambuskenneth,
Warenne was out-generalled by Wallace and utterly defeated.
Before the end of the year aU Scotland threw off the English
yoke, and Wallace spread desolation over the English border.
25. Edward hurried back from Flanders, where he had done
very little against PliiliiJ. In 1298 he once more led an army into
Battle of Scotland, and engaged Wallace in battle at Falkirk
Falkipk, on July 22. The English army fought on horseback,
afteB tlie fashion that had prevailed ever since the
battle of Hastings, though Edward had learnt from his Welsh war
the wisdom of combining archers with the cavalry, so as to wear
down the foe from a distance. Most of the barons and knights of
Scotland were holding aloof from Wallace, or were actually on
Edward's side, so that the Scottish hero had to tmst to those
Scots who were not rich enough to fight on horseback. But
Wallace had the eye of a good general, and saw that his only chance
of victory was to keep his troops closely together. He planted his
infantry, whose chief arm was the pike, in dense squares or circles.
For a long time the stubborn pikemen resisted the repeated rushes
of Edward's knights, but the king cleverly broke through their
ranks by constant flights of arrows; and then the cavalry rode
through the gaps and dispersed the Scottish squares with great
slaughter. Wallace fled to France, and once more it seemed as if
Scotland were at Edward's feet.
26. A renewal of Edward's domestic troubles, and the continued
struggle with Philip iv., destroyed the king's hopes of completing
the conquest of the north. He soon saw that he coidd
reconeilia- ^^^ fight both France and Scotland at the same time,
tion with and in 1299 made peace with Philip, and, being now a
fhe^Chupch '"'i^ower, married the French kiug's sister Margaret
as a pledge of better relations for the future. Even
then Philij) retained for sevei-al years the greater part of Gascony,
but luckily for Edward, the French king quarrelled with the
-1304.] EDWARD I. 195
imperious Pope Boniface viii., and soon found it necessary to buy
Edward's friendship by surrendering 1dm Gascony. By 1303
Philip had ruined Boniface and broken do^^Ti the overwhelming
powrer of the papacy. In 1305 a Gascon subject of Edward's
was chosen pope by Philip iv.'s good wiU, and took the n&me
of Clement v. This unworthy pontiff deserted Italy and tarried
in France, finally taking up his abode at Avignon, on the !Bhone,
and doing complacently the will of the mighty French king. He
was only less subservient to Edward, and abandoned Archbishop
Winchelsea to the king's anger. Winchelsea was driven into
exile, and with his fall Edward became once more master over the
English Church, Long before that the bull Clericis laicos had
been given up, and Edward's persecution of Winchelsea had
a sinister appearance of mere revenge.
27. France was thus conciliated and the clerical opposition
crushed. While these i)rocesses were going on, Edward was also
breaking down the baronial opposition which had j^^
triumphed over him in 1297. Despite his agreement baronial
to confirm the charters, his troubles with the barons opposition
went on for several years, and effectively prevented
the imited effort of all England, which alone could complete the
work l)egan at Falkirk. Edward was very sore at being forced to
give up so much power, and behaved almost as badly as his father
had done in regarding the letter rather than the spirit of his con-
cessions. Disgusted at his narrow spirit, the barons refused to
follow Iiim to Scotland until he had really carried out his promises.
In 1300 he^was forced to accept another series of additions to the
charters, contained in a document called ArticuU super Cartas,
which ordered a survey of the forests to be made, in order to check
the king's encroachments on freemen's rights by extending the
boundaries of the forests, witliin which he had more power than
over the rest of liis realm. Edward resented the attempt to limit
his authority over the forests with extreme bitterness, and struggled
as long as he could. In 1301 he made a further submission, but
even after that he induced Clement v. to free him from his oath,
though, to his credit Ije it said, he made no use of the papal dis-
pensation. The long struggle taught him that It was only by
yielding to his barons that he could subdue Scotland.
28. At last, in 1303, Edward was able to throw all his efforts into
this long-delayed work. In 1304 he conquered Stirling, and at
last saw Scotland at his feet. Wallace now came back to the scene
of his former triumphs, but was not able to efEect much against
196 EDWARD I. [I SOS-
Edward. He was taken prisoner, and in 1305 beheaded as a traitor
at London. Fierce and cruel though he had been, liis courage
. and daring had made him the idol of his country-
conquest of men. When the nobles despaired of freedom, Wal-
Scotland, lace organized revolt and kept alive the spirit of
1303-1305. liberty. The work that he did survived his apparent
failuire.
29. Edward had drawn up a plan for the government of Scotland,
under which the land was to be divided into four parts, each of
The rising which was to be under two justices, one a Scot and
of Robert the other an Englishman ; while the king's nephew,
Bruce. 1306. j^j^^ ^^ Brittany, was to be warden of all Scotland.
But the new system had hardly begun when a fresh revolt compelled
Edward to begin the work of conquest aU over again. Robert
Bruce, earl of Carrick, grandson of the unsuccessful claimant, had
generally been a supporter of Edward, and had taken a prominent
part in establishing the new constitution. He had a great foe
in John Comyn of Badenoch, the hereditary rival of his house. In
1306 the two enemies agreed to make peace and meet at Dumfries
to discuss their future action. There Bruce suddenly fell upon
Comyn and treacherously murdered him. Despairing of Edward's
pardon, he fled to the hiUs, and finding the people rallying round
him, he dexterously posed as the champion of Scottish inde-
pendence, and renewed his house's claim to the throne. The Scots
were glad to follow any leader against the hated English, and
Bruce, thotigh treacherous and self-seeking, soon showed that he
had the abUity and courage necessary to rule a people, struggling
for freedom. In a few months he was crowned king at Scone, and
for the third time Edward had to face the prospect of conquering
afresh the stubborn nation that had so long defied his efforts.
30. Edward was now nearly seventy years of age, and his health
had latterly been broken ; but his courage was as high as ever, and
Death of ^® resolved to conquer Scotland for the third time. In
Edward I., 1307 the old king was once more on the border, but liis
infirmities made it impossible for him to move quickly.
The effort proved too much for his declining strength, and on
July 7 he died at Burgh-on- Sands, almost the last village on
the English border. With him perished the last hope of con-
quering Scotland, but though the chief ambition of his life was
thus a failure, he had done a great work for England. The con-
queror of Wales, the framer of a whole series of great laws, the
maker of our mediasval constitution, he had turned the French
-1307.3 EDWARD I. 197
king from his dearest purpose, curbed the fierce baronage, and even
set some limits to the claims of the Church. He was the first
real Englishman to reign after the Norman conquest, and the
creator of the modem English nation as well as of the modem
English state, though he could not effect liis purpose of bringing
all our island under his own domination. That his own realm
should henceforth be ruled after a constitutional fashion, and not by-
despotic caprice, seemed assured when even the stubborn will of
Edward was forced to give way to his subjects. The best guarantee
for the permanence of the charters and of the popular parliament
lay in the fact that they were wrested not only from a capricious
despot like John, or a weakling like Henry iii., Init also from a
strong and powerful king like Edward i.
CHAPTER III
EDWARD II. OF CARNARVON (1307-1327)
Chief Dates :
1307. Accession of Edward ii.
1311. The Ordinances drawn up.
1312. Death of Gaveston.
1314. Battle of Bannockburn.
1322. Battle of Boroughbridge.
1326. Landing of Isabella.
1327. Deposition of Edward ii.
1. Edwahd of Carnarvon was twenty-three years old when he
became king. Tall, graceful, and handsome, he looked almost as
Edward II ^^ ^ man as his father, but an utter lack of serious
and purpose blasted his whole career. It was to no purpose
Gaveston, that Edward i. had carefully trained his son both in
1307
military science and in business ; the youth showed
no taste for anything but his own amusements. The old king was
bitterly disgusted, and attributing his son's levity to the influence
of a Gascon knight, Peter of Graveston, with whom he had been
educated, he banished the foreign favourite early in 1307. But
as soon as his father was dead, Edward recalled Graveston, and,
despite his having solemnly promised his dying father to persevere
in it, abandoned the campaign against the Scots. In every way
he reversed the policy of Edward i., and at once embarked upon a
course of action that ultimately involved himself in ruin and
wrought terrible havoc to his kingdom. Though there have been
worse kings than Edward 11., there have been none so negligent
and light-minded.
2. Under Edward i. the barons had been discontented with the
growing power of the crown, but had been restrained in their
Gaveston 's opposition by the strong will and wise policy of the
exile and l^ing. With the accession of Edward n. the baronial
recall, opposition at once revived, and soon proved as for-
• midable to the monarchy as in the days of Henry in.
The barons' disgust of Edward's affection for Gaveston gave them
I3I2.] EDWARD II. OF CARNARVON I99
their first pretext for revolt, and they had the people with them in
their aversion to the favourite. Gaveston was quick-witted and a
good soldier, but his head was turned by his sudden elevation, and
he had an iinhappy knack of sharp and bitter speech tliat mortally
offended the barons. Before long Edward made liim earl of
Cornwall and married him to his niece, the sister of the young
Earl Gilbert of Gloucester. In 1.308 a parliament of barons met
and forced the king to drive him into exile. Edward strove to
lighten his misfortunes by appointing him governor of Ireland, and
set to work at once to intrigue for his return. In 1309 the king
shrewdly adopted a long series of reforms, which a parliament of the
three states urged upon him. In return for these concessions, the
parliament allowed Edward to bring his friend back to England.
But the leading barons refused to be bound by the acts of this
parliament.
3. In 1310 another baronial assembly resolved to punish the
king for restoring his favourite by compelling him to appoint a
committee of barons to draft ordinances for the
future government of his realm. In a vain hope of nances and
saving Gaveston, Edward agreed to this proposal, the Lords
Accordingly, a body of twenty-one Xor<Z« Ordainers ?3fo!i3n'
was appointed from the earls, barons, and bishops.
In 1311 they drew up the Ordinances. By them Gaveston was to
be banished for life, the great offices of state were to be filled up
with the advice of the barons, and the king was not to go to war,
raise an army, or leave the kingdom without their permission. It
was a complete programme of limited monarchy, but no word was
said as to the commons and clergy. To the ordainers parliament
still meant a parliament of bai'ons.
4. Gaveston went into exile for the second time, but early in
1312 Edward recalled him. Thereupon the ordainers raised an army
and besieged Gaveston in Scarborough Castle. After jhe murder
a short siege Gaveston surrendered, and the barons of Gaveston,
agreed to spare his life. Not long after he was brutally * 3 ' 2.
put to death by the earl of Warwick, the most rancorous of lus
enemies, who thought himself free to slay the favourite because he
had not been a party to the promise to spare his life. The king
was bitterly incensed at the treachery which had lured his favourite
to death, and feebly strove to revenge him. Ultimately he
was forced to give way, and leave power in the hands of the
ordainers.
5. It was high time that the king and barons made peace, for
200
EDWARD II. OF CARNARVON'
[1307-
during their dissensions Robert Bruce had been establishing his
power over the whole of Scotland. When Edward i. died, Bruce's
position was still doubtful ; but when the new king
gave up fighting the war in person the chances of the
Scots grew brighter. Between 1307 and 1314, Bruce
conquered nearly aU Scotland. He won over most of
the Scottish barons to his side, and gradually captured
the strong castles which Edward i. had established
to keep the Scots in subjection. The chief of the few castles
Robert
Bruce
baoomss
master of
Scotland,
1307-1314,
A. Bruce's Army I I
b. Pits dug by Bruce '"''''1
C. English Cavalry L^^
D. English Infantry ^M
Walker &■ Cockerell sc.
BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN.
tliat still remained in English hands was Stirling, a place of gi-eat
military importance, because it commanded the lowest bridge over
the Forth, by which the easiest road between the Lowlands and
the Highlands passed. At last Bruce besieged Stirling, and pressed
the garrison so hard that they agreed to surrender if they were
not relieved by St. John the Baptist's Day, June 24, 1314.
6. If Stirling fell, the last vestige of English rule in Scotland
Battle of ""^^s destroyed, and even Edward felt that he must
Bannock- make an effort to avoid such a calamity. King and
burn. 131 . ]barons accordingly joined to raise a great army, and set
off to relieve Stirling before the appointed day. The mighty host
-I3I4-] EDWARD II. OF CARNARVON 20I
was more formidable in appearance than in reality. The presence
of tlie king prevented any real general from being appointed, and
tJie barons. stiU sulky and discontented, fought with undisguised
reluctance. The English army moved so slowly that it only reached
the neighbourhood of Stirling on June 23. Next day Bruce
resolved to fight a battle to prevent the siege being raised, ,and
marshalled his forces at Bannochhum, a few miles to the south of
Stirling. As at Falkirk, the Scots fought on foot and the English
on horseback. Taught by Wallace's failure, Bruce took every
precaution to protect liLs soldiers from the English attack. His
si>farmen were mustered in dense squares, and pits were dug
))efore his lines and covered lightly over with turf. Edward ii.
neglected all the precautions that had won his father victory. No
effort was made to combine the archers with the men-at-arms, and
the English relied entirely upon the shoftk of a cavalry charge.
But the foremost of the English ranks plunged blindly into the
concealed pits, and those who escaped this snare found themselves
unable to penetrate the squares of Scottish pikemen. Soon the
whole English army was in a state of wild confusion. The few who
fought bravely, conspicuous among whom was the young earl of
Gloucester, perished on the field. The majority fled disgracefidly,
and Edward ir. set the example of cowardice to Ids army. Bruce
won a complete victory. Stirling Castle opened its gates to him,
and Scottish independence was fully vindicated.
7. The disaster of Bannockburn made Edward more dependent
upon his barons than ever. For the next few years power remained
with the ordainers, but the ordainers proved as in-
competent as Edward to govern England. Their Janca^te"/
wi-sest councillor. Archbishop Winchelsea, was now
dead, and their leader was Edward's cousin, Thomas, earl of
Lancaster, the son of Earl Edmund, brother of Edward i. Earl
Thomas was by far the most powerful and wealthy of the English
earls. By inheritance and marriage he united under his control
the resources of five earldoms. He had been a capable leader of
opposition, but his ability was small; he was greedy, selfish, and-
domineering, and knew better how to humiliate the king than to
rule the country. He made few attempts to save the northern
counties from tlie frequent forays M'ith which the Soots now
insulted the weakness of England. The country was fidl of tiimult
and private war, and as Lancaster's weakness became knonni, even
Edward plucked up courage to assert himself.
8. New favoui'ites had caused Edward to forget Oaveston.
202 EDWARD II. OF CARNARVON [1322-
These were the two Hugh Despensers— father and son. They
were at least English noblemen, and not foreign upstarts like
The fall of Graveston ; but the barons soon showed that they
Lancaster, could hate a renegade as bitterly as they had ever
hated an alien adventurer. Tliey strongly resented the
titl«s, estates, and favours which Edward conferred on liis new
friends. In particular they took alarm when the younger
Despenser, who, like Graveston, had married a sister of the earl of
Gloucester slain at Bannockburn, strove to obtain for himself the
position of earl of Gloucester, vacant since his brother-in-law's
death without male heirs. By 1321 the Despensers were strong
enough to make the barons very anxious to mete out to them the
fate of Gaveston. Headed by Lancaster, parliament sentenced
them to banishment. The loss of his favourites inspired Edward
with an energy rarely ♦) be found in him. In 1322 he took up
arms on their behalf, and recalled them from beyond the sea. The
barons made a poor fight, and before long Lancaster was defeated
and taken prisoner at the hattle of Boroughhridge, in Yorksliire. A
few days later he was tried and executed at his own castle of
Pontefract.
9. From the fall of Lancaster to 1326 the Despensers ruled
England. They were shrewd enough to profit by the eiTors of
The Parlia- ^® ordainers, and professed to be the friends of the
ment of Commons. Immediately after Lancaster's death,
York, 1322. they held a parliament at York, which revoked the
ordinances as infringing the rights of the crown, and because they
were drawn up by a council of barons only. This parliament
laid down the important principle, tliat matters which are to be
established for the estate of our lord the king and for the estate
of the realm, shall be treated in parliament by a council of the
prelates, earls, and barons, and the commonalty of the realm.
This is the most important constitutional advance made under
Edward 11. Henceforth no law could be regarded as valid tmlesji
it had received the consent of the Commons.
10. Despite this wise beginning, the rule of the Despensers
broke down as signally as that of Lancaster. They were utterly
The pule unable to guard the north of England from the
of the devastating inroads of Robert Bruce, and in 1322 made
?322^fl28^' * ^^nice with him which practically recognized him
as king of Scots. The favourites thought more of
winning territory and wealth for themselves than of the good
government of the kingdom. The elder Hugh became earl of
-1327.] EDWARD II. OF CARNARVON 203
Winchester, and his son acqtiired the power and many of the
estates, thoug-h not the title, of earl of Gloucester. Their covetous-
ness and pride made them generally hated, and their foUy prevented
them from taking proper measures to protect themselves. They
soon excited the enmity of all classes against them.
11. Among the many persons whom the Despensers offended
was the queen, Isabella of France, a daughter of Philip the Fair.
Seeing that she was not strong enough to induce her
husband to dismiss his favourites, she cleverly dis- MorUn^r
sembled her wrath, and, in 1325, persuaded her husband
to allow her to visit France, then ruled by her brother. King
Charles iv. With her went her eldest son, Edward of Windsor,
who was appointed by his father duke of Aquitaine, and com-
missioned to do homage for that duchy on behalf of the king of
England. At Paris Isabella made friends with some of the exiled
members of Lancaster's party, at whose head was Roger Mortimer
of Wigmore, the most powerful of the barons from the March of
Wales, who was eager to be avenged on the Despensers and obtain
restoration to his estates. At Mortimer's advice, Isabella refused
to return to England as long as the Despensers remained in power.
Soon the scandal caused by the queen's open affection for Mortimer .
induced King Charles to send her out of France. Therefore she
went to Hainault, where she betrothed her son to Philippa, daughter
of the count of Hainault, and obtained from him enough soldiers
and money to make it possible for her to invade England and drive
her husband from the throne.
12. In September, 1326, Isabella, Mortimer, and the young
Edward landed at Orwell, in Essex, declaring that they had come
to avenge the murder of Lancaster, and to drive the ^j^g fg^u ^f
Despensers from power. England was so tired 6f Edward II.,
Edward and his favourites, that men of all ranks 1326-1327.
flocked eagerly to the camp of the queen. The chief barons,
including Henry of Lancaster, the brother and heir of Earl
Thomas, declared in her favour. The Londoners murdered
Edward's ministers, and opened their gates to liis enemies.
Against these powerful forces Edward 11. could do nothing. He
fled to the west, accom{>anied by the Despensers, and rapidly
followed by Isabella and Mortimer. The elder Despenser waa
taken and slain at Bristol, and his son was hanged at H«ireford.
The king strove to take refuge in the younger Hugh's Glamorgan-
shire estates, but ho waa soon tracked out and brought prisoner
to London. Early in 1327 parliament met at Westminster. It
204 EDWARD I!. OF CARNARVON [1327.
recognized Edward of Aquitaine as Edward iii., and forced the
old king- to resign the crown to his son. Next year the deposed
monarcli was cruelly murdered at Berkeley Castle, in Gloucester-
shire. He was the most worthless of our kings, and riclily
deserved deposition, yet few beneficial changes have been brought
about with more manifest self-seeking than that which hurled him
from power. The angry spite of the adulterous queen, the fierce
rancour and greediness of Roger Mortimer, and the cowardice of
the lesser agents of the revolution can inspire nothing but disgust.
Among Edward's foes, Henry of Lancaster alone behaved as an
honoxu-able gentleman. But though his wrongs were ostentatiously
put forward, he was, like the young duie of Aquitaine, a mere tool
in the hands of Isabella and her paramour. Yet the ostentatious
care shown to make parliament responsible for the change of ruler
showed that even the weak reign of Edward 11. had done some-
thing to strengthen the fabric of the English constitution.
CHAPTER IV
EDWARD III. (1327-1377)
Chief dates :
1327. Accession of Edward iii.
1328. Peace of Northampton.
1330. Fall of Mortimer. •
1333. Battle of Halidon Hill.
1337' Beginning of Hundred Years' War.
1340. Battle of Sluys.
1346. Battles of Cr6cy and Neville's Cross.
1348. Outbreak of the Black Death.
1351. Statute of Provisors.
I3S3' Statute of Prsemraiirc.
1356, Battle of Poitiers.
1360. Treaties of Brcftigni and Calais.
1367. Battle of Ndjera.
1369. Renewal of the Hundred Years' War.
1371. Clerical ministers removed from office.
1376. The Good Parliament
1377. Death of Edward ill.
1. Edward hi. was only fourteen years old when he became king,
and for three years Isabella and Mortimer ruled in bis name.
Nominally power went to the council, of which Henry ^.^^ ^^^^ ^^
of Lancaster, now restored to his brother's title and Isabella and
estates, was chairman. Troubles at once arose, both '*'°''^*TJ?rA
1327-1330.
with Scotland and France. Robert Bruca's fighting
days were over, but he took advantage of tlie revolution in England
to send an army across the border. Though a great force was
gathered togetlier to repel the Scots, the English dared not risk a
battle, and soon began to negotiate for peace. In 1328 this
resulted in the treaty of NoHhampton, by which England with-
<lrew all claim to feudal superiority over Scotland, recognized
Robert Bruce as king of Scots, and agreed to the marriage of his
son David to Joan, Edward's infant sister. The treaty excited great
indignation, and men called it a shameful peace, but it is difficult
to see on what other terms an agreement could have been made.
205
206 EDWARD III. [1327-
There was not the least chance of driving Robert Bruce from the
throne which he had so laboriously won for himself. To continue
the war was useless, and its only result would have been to expose
the northern counties of England to constant Scottish invasions.
Yet the formal surrender of Edward i.'s claims over Scotland cost
much to a proud and liigh-spirited nation. The humiliation was the
worse since it was only by concessions almost as hard that Isabella
and Mortimer managed to secure peace with France. During the
troubles that preceded the faU of Edward of Carnarvon, Charles iv.
had taken possession of Gascony, on account of which nominal war
had broken out between the two countries. The English were
as little able to reconquer Gascony as to win back Scotland, and
here again Isabella and Mortimer accepted inevitable facts, though
they were more fortunate than in their dealings with the northern
kingdom, since they obtained a partial restoration of Gascony
before they would agree to conclude peace. This was done by the
treaty of Paris of 1327. From this time the English duchy of
Gascony was cut down to narrow limits, centring round the cities
of Bordeaux and Bayonne. Next year, 1328, Charles iv. died, having
been the third son of Philip iv. to reign in succession over France
and die without male heirs. Immediately the French barons
recognized the nearest male heir, Philip, count of Valois, the son of
Charles, count of Valois, a brother of Philip iv., as Kiag Philip vi.
It had already been laid down in France, when Philip the Fair's
eldest son died, leaving a daughter, that women were excluded from
the succession. Accordingly the accession of Philip vi. went
almost as a matter of course. Isabella, however, who was Charles's
sister, protested against the Yalois succession. She recognized
that France must have a king, and did not claim the throne for
herself. However, she maintained that a woman, though incapable
of reigning, might form the " bridge and plank " through which
her son, Edward iii., might succeed. The French barons rightly
regarded this as a dangerous claim. Its effect would have been,
whenever a king died without a son, to transfer the throne to
some foreign prince, whose descent could be traced to a lady of the
royal house. The French were not wiUing to hand over their
throne to a foreign sovereign, and Isabella's claim on her son's
behalf was quietly pushed aside. She was quite unable to do more
than protest, and in 1329 her son virtua,Uy recognized the lawful-
ness of Philip's position by performing homage to him for
Aquitaine.
-1329.] EDWARD III. 20/
GENEALOGY OF THE FRENCH KINGS OF THE DIRECT CAPETIAN
LINE, SHOWING EDWARD III.'s CLAIMS
Hugh Capet,
987-996.
996-1031.
HSfTRY t;
1081-1060.
Philip i.,
1060-1108.
Louis VI.,
1108-1187
Louis VII.,
1137-1180.
Philip ii., Adgu&tus,
1180-1222.
Louis VIII.,
1222-1226.
i
I I
Louis ix., Charles of Anjou,
in. Margaret of Provence, King of Sicily,
1226-1270. m. Beatrice of Provence,
I d. 1285.
Philip hi.,
the Bold,
1270-1285.
I
Philip iv., Charles, Count of Yalois.
the Fair, |
1286-1814. Philip vi., of Valois,
I 1328-1350.
Lovia x„ Pbilip r., Charlks iv., Isabella,
iai4-1316. 1816-1322. 1322-1828. m. Edward ii.
of England.
I
Edward iii.
French kings mentioned in the text in small capitals; all names not
moutioncd in the text in itaXict.
2. The home government of Isabella and Mortimer was as
unsuccessful as their foreign policy. Mortimer thought of nothing
have of ac(xuiring a great position for liimself. His ambition was
208 EDWARD III. [1329-
to unite the whole of the Welsh March under his sway, and he
received the title of earl of the March of Wales, or, more shortly.
The fall of ®*^1 of March. For a time he vigorously stamped out
Moptimep, all attempts to oppose him. His last triumph was
in 1330, when he put to death Edmund, earl of Kent,
Edward i.'s son by his second wife, who had convinced himself that
his brother, Edward 11., was stiU alive, and strove to bring about
his restoration to the throne. Edward iii. was now becoming a
man, and was keenly alive to the humiliation involved in his
dependence on his mother and her paramour. Henry of Lancaster
was equally indignant at his exclusion from all real share of power.
Accordingly, in 1330, a conspiracy was arranged to drive Mortimer
from the position which he had usurped. A band of soldiers was
introduced through a secret passage into Nottingham Castle,
where Mortimer and the queen were staying. The favourite was
arrested and soon afterwards hanged. Isabella was henceforward
excluded from any share in public affairs. With their faU the real
reign of Edward iii. begins.
3. Edward iii. was not a great man like Edward i., but he won
a conspicuous place in history by the extraordinary activity of his
Character temperament, and the vigour and energy with which
and policy of he threw liimself into whatever work he set himseK to
award I . j^ jj^ delighted in hunting and tournaments, was
liberal, easy of access, good tempered, and kindly. He was not
only a consummate knight, but a capable soldier, with the general's
eye that takes in the points of a situation at a glance. His weak
points were his extravagance, his love of frivolous amusement, his
self-indulgence, and his disregard for his plighted word. His main
ambition in life was to win fame and glory abroad, but he ruled
England creditably, and made many concessions to his subjects'
wishes in order to obtain supplies for carrying on his foreign wars.
Like Edward i., he attempted far more than he was able to carry
through ; but it was only at the very end of his reign that his
subjects realized that the popular and glorious king had failed in
his chief ambitions.
4. In the early years of his personal rule, Edward's cliief object
was to win back for England something of the greatness it had
David Bruce ^'''l^^'^'l under Edward i. He was bitterly irritated
and Edward '^^ the establishment of Scottish independence, and
Balliol, before long fortune gave him a chance of upsetting in
an indirect way the treaty of Northampton. Robert
Bruce died in 1329, and was succeeded by his son David, Edward iii.'a
-1333-] EDWARD III. 209
brother-in-law, who was a mere boy. Under his weak govern-
ment troubles soon broke out in Scotland. A large number of
Scottish barons who had opposed Robert Bruce had been driven
into exile when Robert became king. They were called the Dis-
inherited, and they saw in the minority of King David a chance of
winning back their estates by force. At their head was the son of
the deposed King John, Edward BaUiol, who had not forgotten his
father's claim on the Scottish throne. Edward iii. gave them no
direct help, as he feared to break wantonly the treaty of Northamp-
ton. However, he made no efEort to prevent the Disinherited from
collecting a little army, with which they invaded Scotland in 1332,
under the command of Edward Balliol. The invaders won a
decisive victory over the army of King David at DuppUn Moor
near Perth. A few weeks later Balliol was crowned king of Scots
at Scone. He gained recognition by Edward as king of Scots through
promising to hold Scotland of him, and to cede him Berwick. The
l)arty of David, however, was not entirely crushed, and before the
end of the year they surprised Balliol at Annan, and drove him
back into England. His reign only lasted four months.
5. Edward iii. now openly took up BaUiol's cause, and in 1333
invaded Scotland to restore his vassal to his thi'one. His first step
was to besiege Berwick, and the Scots forced Edward
to fight a battle before he could secure the town, uni 1333
This fight was fought at Halidon Hill, a short
distance west of Berwick. The English men-at-arms dismounted
and fought on foot after the Scottish fashion. Their tactics
proved signaUy successful. The Scots were beaten, and next
day Berwick opened its gates, to be for the rest of its history an
English frontier town. Edward's action now showed that BaUiol
was but a tool in his hands. In 1334 he restored his namesake to his
throne, but only on his agreeing to cede to England the whole of
Lothian and the eastern part of Galloway. Any fuint chance that
Balliol had of success was completely destroyed by Edwai-d's
greediness. The Scots hated him as the betrayer of his country,
and the English treated him as the puppet of their king. For
many years he strove to make himself real master of tliat part of
Scotland which Edward permitted him to claim. David was sent
to Franco for safety, but most Scots still upheld him against the
two Edwards. At no time did either Edward Balliol drvI(« finally
or tlie King of England effectively possess the Scottish established
lands they claimed as theirs. But their efforts to «" Scotland.
'stabliKh themselves involved the north in many years of bloodshed
T
210
EDWARD III.
[1333-
and misery. At last, after Edward iii.'s breach with France,
David returned to Scotland and made himself king over the whole
country. Thus Edward iii. failed as signally as his grandfather
in his efforts to conquer Scotland.
6. Dui'ing the years of Edward's attempt on Scotland the
EmeryWalkei
NORTHERN ENGLAND AND SOUTHERN SCOTLAND IN THE FOCRTEENTH
CENTURY.
relations of England and France became increasingly unfriendly.
Causes of Edward complained that Philip vi. kept David at his
the Hundred court, and openly took the side of the Scots against
Years' War. ^j^^ English. There were other difficulties about
Gascony, where Philip vi., like Philip iv., was doing what he
could to lessen the power of Edward as duke. It was, in fact,
the impossible position of Edward in Gascony which caused the
fiindamental difference between the two nations. Edward could
not abandon his ancient patrimony, and Philip could not give
up the policy of every king since St. Louis of gradually absorbing
I
-1337-] EDWARD III. 211
the gi'eat fiefs in the royal domain. Besides this, there were
many secondaiy causes of the war. One of these was Philip's
support of the Scots. Another cause of dispute arose from
the rival interests of England and France in Flanders. This
county, though nominally a fief of France, was largely hostile to
the French king. Flanders in those days was the chief manu-
facturing district in northern Europe, and its chief towns, Ghent,
Bruges, and Ypres, were the best customers that England had.
England in the fo\irteenth century was a piu-ely agricultm-al and
l)astoral land. Its chief product was wool, which was exported to
Flanders to be woven into cloth in its populous clothing towns.
The gi'eat Flemish towns had liberties so extensive that they were
virtually independent, both of their immediate master the count
of Flanders, and of his overlord, the king of France. The count
of Flanders called in the help of Philip vi. to subdue his unruly
townsmen, and these in their turn appealed to Edward for help.
The leader of the Flemish citizens was James van Artevelde of
Ghent. He saw that the best hopes of Flemish municipal inde-
pendence lay in a close alliance with England, and was eager to win
over Edward to his side. Under his guidance the towns of Flanders
di'ove away their count, and made a treatj- with England. Philip
deeply resented Edward's interference with liis Flemisli vassals.
He was still more angry when Edward added to the Flemish alliance
a close friendship with the Emperor Louis of Bavaria and the chief
imperial vassals of the Netherlands. Louis of Bavaria, who had
man-ied Queen Philippa's sister, was now engaged in a fierce
struggle with the Avignon popes, who had excommunicated and
deposed him. Yet, in 1338, Edward \'isited Louis at Coblenz, on the
Rhine, where he made a close alliance with him, and was appointed
the emperor's vicar in the Netherlands. Thereupon the count of
Hainault and Holland, brother-in-law of king and emperor alike,
the duke of Brabant, and other Netherlandish vassals of Philip,
took Edward's pay and agreed to help liim against France. This
alliance intensely annoyed the pope, who had long been making
strenuous efforts to bring about peace. But the popes were now
Frenchmen, and thought by England to be prejudiced in favour of
France, so tliat the cliief result of their interference wa.s to make
tlie papacy disliked in England. Besides all these troubles, there
were many commercial disputes, and French and English sailors
were already coutenUing with each other at sea, as they liad don©
in 1293.
7. Under these circumstances both countries slowly drifted into
212 EDWARD III. [1339-
war, and the first open hostilities took place in 1337. When war
had already become inevitable, Edward iir. immensely compKcated
The chief ^^® situation by reviving the claims on the French
features crown which Isabella had advanced on his behalf at the
of the time of the accession of Philip of Valois. At first
strussrle
these claims were not very seriously meant, and it is
a mistake to suppose that they were the chief cause of the war. It
was not until 1340 that Edward assumed the title of King of
France, and then he did so simply to please the Flemings, who had
scruples in fighting their feudal overlord, which disappeared
when they pursuaded themselves that Edward, and not Philip, was
the real king of France. From that moment, however, Edward's
pretensions became more important. The persistence of Edward
and his successors in maintaining the claim made real peace
impossible for many generations. The residt was that the war
which now began is known in history as the Hundred Years' War.
Though fighting did not go on aU that time without a break,
England and France were for more than a hundred years generally
unfriendly, and nearly always actually at war with each other.
Even when peace was made, the claim was not dropped, and every
English king down to George in. called himself king of France,
and quartered on his shield the lilies of France with the lions of
England. Edward's claim did not seem so unreasonable then as it
seems to modern eyes, but the French rightly resisted it, as his
success would have meant the subjection of their land to the rule
of a foreigner.
8. War on a great scale began in 1339, when Edward led an
English army to the Netherlands, and strove, with the help of his
The Nether- ^^^^^^^ ^^^ imperial allies, to invade the northern
landlsh frontiers of France. Neither Edward nor Philip
Campaigns, ventured to fight a pitched battle, and Edward's
Gennan confederates were more anxious to take his pay
than to do him real service. The only residt of Edward's Nether-
landish campaigns was to exhaust his resources and diminish his
reputation.
9. The most decisive fighting during these wars was at sea.
Tlie French had planned a great invasion of England, and though
The Battle this came to nothing, they collected a powerful fleet,
of Sluys, which, in 1340, strove to prevent Edward's returning
to the Netherlands to renew the campaign. The residt
of this was a great sea fight off the Flemish port of Sluys, in
which the French navy was absolutely destroyed. This battle put
1 346. J
EDWARD III.
213
an end to all schemes of invasion, and gave the English for many
years the command of the Channel. Henceforward Edward boasted
that the king of England was lord of the sea. Yet even the glory
of Sluys did not help Edward in his land campaign. Before the
end of IS^O he made a truce with the French and returned to
■ England. Though his people had granted him large supplies, he
was almost bankrupt. He unfairly laid the blame of this on his
ministers, the chief of whom was John Stratford, Archbishop of
EmeirWalkrr K.
THE CR^CT CAMPAIGN, 1346.
Canterbury. On his return to England he drove Stratford from
power, and appointed an entirely new body of ministers.
10. Before the truce expired a fresh cause of difference arose
between Edward and Philip. There was a disputed succession to
the Duchy of Brittany, between John of Montf ort and war of
Charles of Blois. As Pliilip supported the claims of the Breton
Charles of Blois, Edward upheld those of Montfcrt. succession.
Both kings went to Brittany to uphold their respective cliampions,
and there fought campaigns tliat were almost as futile and ex])en-
sive as the campaigns in the Netherlands. In 1345 direct war was
renewed, and at first the chief fighting was in Gascony. Both
countries frittered away their strength in desultory warfare, and
very little came of it.
11. More serious results followed in 134<>. In that year Edward
led a great English army into Normandy, and took with him
214
EDWARD III.
[1346.
his eldest son, Edward, Prince of Wales, a youth of sixteen, after-
wards famous as the Black Prince. In July the English landed
The In- ^ ^^ HougTie in the Cotentin, and marched through
vasion of Normandy, plundering and devastating, and only
Nopmandy, meeting with serious resistance at Caen, which they
captured. Thence they struck the left bank of the*
Seine, and advanced up the river almost to the gates of Paris. Philip
gathered together a numerous force for the defence of liis capital,
and Edward was forced to retreat northwards, closely followed by
the French king. At last he reached the river Somme, but he
found the bridges guarded by the French, and was unable to get over
the stream. There was grave danger of his being driven into a
corner between the Somme and the sea, when he luckily discovered
a ford, called Blanchetaque, by which the Somme was crossed.
12. The French were so close on Edward's heels that he was
Battle of
CRECY
1346.
English Mile
English dismounted men at arms. I
English archers ".:
French cavalry 13
French infantry in rear E!l]
Genoese crossbouimen %%%%
Emery Walker sc
obliged to turn and fight a battle in liis own inheritance of Ponthieu.
The Battle He took up a strong position on a low hUl, with his
of Cp^cy, right resting on the little town of Crecy, and his left
on the village of Wadicourt. After the fashion learnt
1346.
in the Scottish wars, the English knights and men-at-arms sent
their horses to the rear and fought on foot, standing in close ai-ray.
1346. J EDWARD J II. 21 5
and divided into three great divisions. Two of these were stationed
on the crest of the hill, while the third was jwsted in the rear
in reserve, under the king in person. The archers, who since
Halidon HiU had been regarded as a very important element in
the English ai*my, were posted on the wings of each of the three
divisions. The French took np their position on an opposite hill,
separated from the English by a shallow waterless depression
called the VaUe'e aux Clercs. Their numbers were much greater
than those of the English, but they were much worse commanded
and worse disciplined. They still fought in the old feudal fashion,
set little store on their infantry, which they placed in the rear,
and threw their main effort in a cavalry charge. The battle begun
in the afternoon of August 26. The French, who had marched
all the way from Abbeville, were already weary, but their leaders
were so confident of victory that they insisted upon attacking the
English at once. The first hostilities proceeded from the advance
of a force of Genoese crossbowmen, who were ordered to shoot their
bolts against the English lines to prejmxe their way for the cavalry
charge. But the crossbows had an inferior range to the English
long bows, and, to make matters worse, the evening sun was
shining behind the English lines right in the faces of the Genoese,
many of whose weapons had, moreover, been made useless by a
recent shower, which had wetted their strings. The result was
that few bolts from the crossbowmen reached the English ranks,
whilst the arrows of our archers soon threw the Genoese back in
confusion. By this time the French cavalry had grown impatient
of waiting. At last they rushed fiercely through the ranks of the
unlucky crossbowmen and made their way through the valley
towards the English lines. Again the archers threw the enemy
into confusion, and though they made repeated charges, few of the
French succeeded in crossing lances with the enemy. At one x)oint
only did they get near their goal, and that was on the English right,
where the Prince of Wales was in command. A timely reinforce-
ment saved the position, and the French retreated. protecte<l, as
the English boa.sted, by the rampart of the dead they left behind
them. It was the greatest victory of the age, and won for the
English a great reputation as warriors. Moreover, it proved
conclusively that disciplined infantry could withstand a cavalry
charge, and so taught all Europe the superiority of the tactics
which the English had adopted.
13. So war-worn were the victors that all the immediate profit
they could win was the power to continue undisturbed their march
2l6 EDWARD III. [1346-
to the sea coast. Instead, however, of retui-ning to England,
Edward laid siege to Calais, the most northerly town of the French
Calais king's dominions. He persevei-ed in this siege for more
Aubepoche, than a year, and in 1347 the famine-stricken burgesses
Neville's q£ (Calais were compelled to open their gates to him.
La Roche ^^^ more than two hundred years Calais remained an
Derien, English town, and was of great importance, both as a
1346-1347. fortress through which an English army might at any
time be poured into France, and as a warehouse tlirough which the
weavers of Flanders were to draw their supplies of raw wool.
Crecy and Calais were not the only triumphs of this glorious time.
Edward's cousin, Henry, earl of Lancaster, son of the Earl Henry
we have already mentioned, won decisive victories in G-ascony at
Auberoche and Au/uillon. David, king of Scots, who invaded
England when Edward was fighting the Crecy campaign, was
defeated and taken prisoner at the battle of Neville's Cross,
near Durham. In 1347 Charles of Blois was beaten and captured
in the battle of La Roche DeHen, which secured for a time the
establishment of Montforfs cause in Brittany. Yet in the midst
of his career of conquest Edward concluded a new ii'uce in 1347.
His want of money and the need of repose account for this halt in
the midst of victory. Yet the necessity of the truce showed that
Edward had embarked upon a course far beyond Ids capacity.
However many battles he might win, it was clear that he could
never conquer all France.
14. Up to this point Edward's reign had been a time of great
prosperity. Edward had, it is true, dissipated liis resources in
The Black fighting the French and the Scots, but the country
Death, 1348- was sufficiently wealthy to bear its burdens with-
out much real suffering. A war waged exclusively
abroad did little direct harm to England, and offered a lucrative,
if demoralizing, career to the soldiers, who received high wages and
good hopes of plunder in the king's foreign service. The war was
popular, and the English supremacy at sea did much to promote
oiu- foreign trade. But in 1348 a pestUence, known as the Blade
Death, which had already devastated eastern and southern Europe,
crossed over the Channel and raged witli great virulence in Eng-
land untU 1349. It is sometimes thought that a third of the
population died of the Black Death, and the results of the visita-
tion changed the whole character of English history.
15. The horrors of the plague could not destroy Edward's
satisfaction in his victories. In the midst of the visitation, he
-I3S6.] EDWARD III. 2\y
celebrated by magTiificent feasts and entertainments the establish-
ment of the Order of the Garter, the first and most famous
of those orders of knighthood which delig-hted the jj^ Black
chivalry of the fourteenth century. Neither the Prince in
plagTie nor the truce entirely stopped the war, and there Aqultaine,
was much fighting, though most of it was indecisive
and on a small scale. Gradually the main scene of operations
shifted to the south, and in 1355 Edward sent the Black Prince to
Gascony, which then became the chief theatre of events. In 1355
the Black Prince led a successful raid up the Garonne valley and
penetrated as far as the shores of the Mediterranean. He re-
turned loaded with plunder and glory, and, in 1356, started from
Bordeaux in a similar marauding expedition over central France.
Accompanied by the best knights of England and Gascony, he
marched as far as the Loire, and then began to make his way back
with his booty. Philip \i. had died in 1350, and his son, John,
now ruled over France. The French king was as gallant a knight
a.s the Black Prince, and pur.sued his foe with a great army in the
hope of intercepting his retreat. Just as at Crecy, ten years before,
the prince found himself forced to fight a battle with weary troops
against enormous odds.
16. The scene of the action was a few miles south of Poitiers,
on the banks of the little river Miausson. As at Crecy, Edward
resolved to fight on the defensive ; he stationed Ids Battle of
army on the side of a hill which sloped down on the Poitiers,
left towards the marshes of the Miausson. Some *3^^-
distance in front of the English jwsition, a long hedge and ditch
afforded an additional means of protection. It was broken by a gap,
through which a farmer's track connected the fields on either side
of it. The French had now learnt the English fashion of fighting
on foot, but tliey did not fully understand Engli.sh tactics, and took
no pains to combine archers and crossbowmen with their men-at-
arms. Thoy mustered in four lines on the northern side of the
hedge, and each line in succession strove to make its way tlirough
to attack the English on the further side. But the hedge
was lined in force by tlie English archers, who shot down the
enemy as tliey made their way in close order to the gap in it. How-
ever, the French fought desperately, and for long the fight was
doubtful. A dexterous manoeuvre on the part of Edward at last
secured him the victory. He ordered the Captal de Buch, the best
of his Gascon leaders, to march, under cover of a hill, ronnd the
French position, and attack the enemy in the rear. This settled
2l8
EDWARD III.
[1356-
the hard-fought clay. SurroTinded on every side, the French
perished in the ranks or surrendered in despair. Among the
prisoners was king John himself. Soon afterwards he was led
in triumph through the streets of London, and joined the king
of Scots in the ToTver.
17. The captivity of 'the king threw France into a desperate
plight. Charles, duke of Normandy, son of King John, acted as
The treaties ^'^g'^^^^' ^^^ ^^ nobles and commons did exactly what
of Bretigni they liked, and soon reduced France to a terrible con-
and Calais, flition of anarchy. In 1359 John made the treaty of
London with Edward iii., by which he surrendered to
Edward in full sovereignty nearly all the lands which Henry it. had
ruled in France. But the French wotild not accept so humiliating
a treaty, and Edward led a new invasion out of Calais to compel
them to agree to his terms. During the winter and spring of 1.360
Edward marched at his will all over northern France, and attempted
-1 366. J EDWARD III. 219
the siege of Paris. His success in maintaining himself in their
country showed the French that it was no use resisting any longer,
and his failure to effect permanent conquest taught Edward the
necessity of abating some of his demands. Accordingly negotia-
tions were renewed, and in May, 1360, preUminaries of peace were
arranged at Br^tigni, near Chartresr which took their final form in
the treaty of Calais of October. By this John was released in
return for an enormous ransom. Edward abandoned his claim to
the French crown on condition of receiving Calais and Ponthieu
and the whole of Aquitaiue, including Poitou and the Limousin.
The English rejoiced at the conclusion of so brilliant a peace, and
the French were glad to be delivered from the long anarchy.
18. It was easier to make peace than to cany out the treaty.
King John, who had been liberated, found it impossible to raise
his ransom from his impoverished subjects, and was jijeg^ggu.
annoyed to find that one of his sons, left as hostage for tlon of the
his return, had broken his word and fled to France, treaty of
Thereupon he honourably returned to his captivity, **^'
and died in England in 1364. Charles of Normandy now became
Charles v. He was less chivalrous and heroic, but more prudent,
than his father. Under his rule France recovered from the worst
horrors of the evil days after Poitiers. His chief trouble was with
the disbanded soldiers, who, losing their occupation with the peace,
had organized themselves into formidable armies under generals of
their own choice, and carried on war on their own account.
19. A civil war in Castile gave Charles the opportunity of
persuading the Free Companies, as they were called, to abandon
France for more distant lands. A revolt had broken jhe civil
out in that country against its king Peter, infamous war In
in history as Peter the Cruel. The rebels had set up Castile,
his half-brother, Hem-y of Trastamara, as their king, and Henry,
despairing of his position, appealed to Charles v. for help. Bertrand
du Guesclin, a Breton nobleman who had won a great reputation
during the succession war in his native ducliy, welded the scattered
companies into an army and led them over the Pyrenees. English
as well as French mercenaries gladly joined under his banner, and,
with his help, Henry drove his brother into exile and became, in
1366. Henry 11. of Castile. The deposed tyrant went to Bordeaux,
where, since 1363, the Black Prince had lived as prince of Aqtiitaine,
for Edward iii. had created his new possessions into a principality
and conferred it on his son, in the hope of conciliating the Gascona by
some pretence of restoring their independence. Peter easily
The English Dominions in
FRANCE
after the Treaties of Bretigni and
CaIais,i36o.
Eng-lish M
English Territory
Boundary of French Kingdom
Battlefields Si
f/laich of the Black Prince 1355
March of the Black Prince 1356.
March of the Black Prince 1367.
MED I TERR A NE AN
SEA
Emery VaUUr K<
1369] EDWARD III. 221
persuaded the prince to restore him to his tlirone by force, and, in the
spring of 1367, Edward made his way with an army through the
pass of Roncesvalles in the hope of reconquering Cas- The Battle
tile for his ally. Beyond the Ebro at the village of of Najera,
Ndjera, on AprU 3, he met Henry of Trastamara and *'*^^-
Du Guesclin in battle, and won a complete victory over them.
After tliis he restored Peter to the Castilian throne and returned
to Aquitaine. But during the campaign the prince contracted the
beginnings of a mortal sickness and lost the greater part of his
army from disease. Henceforth misfortune dogged his whole career.
In 1368 Henry of Trastamara returned to Spain, defeated and
killed Peter, and established himself permanently as king of Castile.
Thus the whole work of the prince in Spain was undone.
20. Up to the time of his Castilian expedition, the Black Prince's
rule in Aquitaine had been fairly successful. It was popular with
the towns, and especially with those like Bordeaux The pevolt
and Bayonne, which had been for a long time subject of Aquitaine.
to the English dukes. His court at Bordeaux was one ^^°^'
of the most brilliant and magnificent in Europe. Yet Edward
could never win over the newly ceded districts, which had abandoned
their French nationality with great reluctance, and were eagerly
awaiting an opportunity for revolt. He looked with suspicion
upon the great lords, and gave them much offence by limiting their
privileges and excluding them from his confidence. Things became
worse when the expenses of the Spanish campaign compelled Edward
to impose fresh taxes on the Gascons. In 1368, he obtained from
the estates of Aquitaine a new hearth-tax. The mass of the people
paid this willingly, but the greater feudatories availed themselves of
its imposition as a pretext for revolt. They appealed to Charles v.
against the tax, and Charles accepted their appeal, declaring
that his rights as overlord still remained, because all the formalities
which should have followed the treaty of Calais had not been com-
pleted. Cited Iwfore the Parliament of Paris in 1369, the Black
Prince replied tliat he would answer the summons with helmet on
his hea^l and sixty thousand men at his back. His father re-
assumed the title of king of France, and war broke out again.
21. The new struggle was fought with very different results from
those of the earlier campaigns. Under the guidance of Charles v.
and Bertrand du Guesclin, the French were much more wisely
directed than before. They had learned from their failures how to
defeat the English tactics, and they Imd the great advantages of
always taking the offensive and having the people of the country
222 EDWARD III, [1369-
actively on their side. Du Guesclin's policy was to avoid pitched
battles and encourage the English to waste their resources in
fruitless forays. The Black Prince's health was now
the English ^° ^^^ that he could not mount his charger, but directed
power in his army from a horselitter. His last martial exploit
fqRqffQ77 ^^^ ^^® recapture, in 1370, of Limoges, which had
thrown off the English yoke. The whole popu-
lation was put to the sword, and a few gentlemen alone were
saved for the sake of their ransoms. Next year he went back to
England for good. His successors were equally unfortunate. In
1373 his brother, John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, marched with
an army from Calais to Bordeaux, devastating France from end to
end. John could not force the French to fight a battle, and before he
reached his destination half his army had perished of hunger and cold,
and in petty warfare. With the help of their Castilian allies the
French defeated the English na^y, and, by depriving their enemies
of the command of the sea, made it very difficult for them to keep
up communications between England and the armies in France.
Among the most conspicuous of the French leaders was Sir Owen
of Wales, a grand-nephew of Llewelyn ap Griffith, who posed as
lawful prince of Wales, and sought to stir up revolt against Edward
in his native land. After a few years of fighting, the English
dominions in France were reduced to a few coast towns, and at last,
despairing of success, Edward iii. made a truce with the French,
which lasted just long enough to allow him to end his days in
peace. The only towns of importance stiU remaining in English
hands were Calais, Cherboui-g, Brest, Bayonne, and Bordeaux. The
wave of French national feeling which had swept the English out
of the acquisitions made in 1360 had almost engulfed Edward's
hereditary possessions in Gascony. Crecy and Poitiers were com-
pletely avenged.
22. At home, as abroad, there is the same contrast between the
later and the earKer part of Edward iii.'s reign. The days of
prosperity ended, as we have seen, with the Black
partially recovered from the first visitation of the
plague, others befel them that were scarcely less severe. The years
1362 and 1369 almost rivalled the horrors of the earlier outbreak.
Great changes resulted from these plagues. The popxilation de-
clined so greatly that there were not enough labourers left to till
the fields, or enough priests remaining to administer spiritual con-
solations to the dying. The immediate result of this was that
-I377-] EDWARD III. 223
every soi"t of wages rose. The increased sums paid to workers had
the effect of raising" the prices of most commodities. Yet the
pLigTie had so much diminished the prosperity of the country that
men found themselves hardly able to pay the prices and wages
which they were accustomed to. In those days, if anything went
wrong it was thought the business of the state to ~.j^
set it right, and parliament, in 1351, passed a law statute of
called the statute of Labourers, which enacted that Labourers,
both prices and wages should remain as they liad been
before the pestilence. It was found impossible to carry out this
law. Labourers would not work xinless they were paid the wages
they asked for, and employers preferred to break the statute
rather than see their crops perish in their fields for lack of harvest-
men. All that landholders could do was to grow those crops which
needed little labour. Corn-growing was therefore abandoned for
sheep-farming and cattle-raising, and thus the amount of employ-
ment in the country became permanently less. Besides this, much
dissension arose between employers and their workmen. The
labourers coinplained of the harshness and cruelty of their masters,
and the masters of the idleness and greediness of the workmen.
The struggle of classes which resulted from this culminated, as we
slLall see, in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
23. The spirit of unrest was everywhere in the air, and the
same generation that saw the social and economic changes
wliich resulted from the Black Death, witnessed the
Ijeginning of religious discontent that soon threatened AvJgrnon
to break up the majestic unity of the Western Church, the Statutes
From 1305 to 1377 the popes lived at Avignon, and ofProvIsors
were generally Frenchmen under the control of the ^ j *"
French king. The English hated the French so
much that they looked with distrust upon French popes. Even
under Henry m. tliere had been a great outcry against papal
exactions, and this outcry became much stronger when there was
a danger lest the money raised by the pope from English benefices
found its way, indirectly, into the pockets of our French enemies.
The system of papal provisions, by which the pope appointed his
nominees to English benefices, liad long excited deep discontent.
In 1351 a law was passed called tlie statute of Provisors, which
attempted to get rid of the abuse. It was followed in 1353 by
another anti-papal measure, the statute of Pra.'^munire, which
was so called from the first word of the Latin writs issued to
enforce the law. It forbade, under heavy penalties, Englishmen
224 EDWARD III. ' [1340-
canying- lawsuits out of the country, and though the papal court
was not specially mentioned, the measure was clearly aimed against
it. If these laws had been strictly carried out, the papal authority
in England would have been almost destroyed, but parliaments
were content with making their protest, and Edward himself set
the example of disregarding his own laws by asking the pope to
make his friends bishops by the way of papal provision. There
was no real desire to question the papal power as long as the popes
did not go too far. Yet, however obedient most Englishmen stiU
were to the pope's spiritual authority, they utterly repudiated the
claims to feudal supremacy over England which the popes stiU made
by virtue of John's submission. Edward in. absolutely refused
to pay the tribute which John had offered to Innocent iii., and in
1366 parliament declared that neither John nor any one else could
put England into subjection without the consent of the people.
The same rising national spirit which resented the interference of
a foreign ecclesiastic with English affairs inspired the statute of
1362, which made English instead of French the language of the
law courts. The tongue which, since the Conquest, had almost
ceased to be the language of courts and nobles, was, as a result of
the hatred of aU things French, brought back into greater favour.
The age of Edward iir. was the age of Chaucer and Gower and
WycKffe.
24. The reign of Edward iii. was not marked by any great
changes in the constitution. Parliaments met very often, and the
Edward III. king's need for money to carry out his foreign wars
and his Par- made him willing to abandon many of his powers
liaments. j^ return for handsome subsidies. Thus, in 1340,
Edward accepted a statute which abolished the royal right of
laying at his discretion taxes called tallages upon the royal domain.
In 1341, as a result of his conflict with Archbishop Stratford,
Edward was forced to recognize the claim of members of the House
of Lords to be tried by their peers. In the same year he allowed
parliament to nominate his ministers and examine the accounts
of the national revenue. On this occasion, however, as soon as
parliament was dissolved, Edward cooUy revoked these laws as
trenching upon his prerogative, and succeeded in persuading the
next parliament, which met in 1343, to repeal them. The French
war was so popidar that at first parliament had willingly granted
Edward supplies to carry ic on, and Edward was shrewd enough to
consult the estates about his foreign policy, because he saw that if
they made themselves responsible for it they could hardly refuse to
-1376.] EDWARD III. 225
pay its cost. In 1348, however, parliament answered his request
for advice about the war by declaring they were too ignorant and
simple to be able to counsel him in such high matters. After the
troubles of the Black Death, the war became less popular, and
parliament joyfully haUed every effort made to procure peace.
25. Edward and Philippa of Hainault were the parents of a
large family, and the king's efforts to provide for his children
without incurring too great expense for himself form Edward's
an important element in his later policy. We have family
seen how the prince of Wales was amply endowed settlement,
with the new principality of Aquitaine. Besides this, the Black
Prince held Wales, Chester, and Cornwall, while his marriage
to his cousin, Joan of Kent, the heiress of Earl Edmund of Kent,
executed in 1330, provided him with an additional English earldom.
Edward introduced a new grade into the English peerage to
increase the dignity of his son, by making the Black Prince
duke of Cornwall. It was by the creation of new duchies and
by rich marriages that Edward iii. provided for his younger
children. His second son, Lionel of Antwerp, married the heiress
of the great Irish family of Burgh, earls of Ulster and Connaught,
and was made duke of Clarence. After his marriage Lionel was
sent to Ireland to represent his father. He found the English
power at a low ebb, since Edward Bruce, brother of Robert, king
of Scots, had made a valiant attempt to set himself up as king of
Ireland against Edward II. Bruce was soon slain in battle, but
English influence never recovered the blow he had dealt to it. To
revive it now Lionel passed the statute of Kilkenny in 1366, which
strove to prevent the Norman settlers in Ireland from adopting
Irish ways and making aUiauce with the native Irish chieftains. The
law was a complete failure, and Lionel soon returned to England
in disgust. He died soon after, leaving as his heiress a daugliter,
Phillipa, whose marriage with Edmund Mortimer, earl of March,
great grandson of the traitor Roger, made tlie great west country
house of the Mortimers the representatives of the second line of
the descendants of Edward in. The king's third surviving son,
John of Ghent, or Gaunt, was married to Blanche, heiross of her
father. Earl Henry, the last of tlie old line of earls of Lancaster,
and John was mmle duke of Lancaster. The eldest son of John
and Blanche, Henry, earl of Derby, the future Henry iv., married
one of the heiresses of the Bohuns of Hereford, and Henry's uncle.
Tliomas of Woodstock, afterwards duke of (rloucester, married
tlie otiier Bohun heiress. Edward's family settlement is of gi-eat
Q
226 EDWARD III. [1376-
f uture importance, because it connected the royal family with many
of the chief baronial houses, and apparently immensely increased
its wealth and influence. Its ultimate result, however, was harmful
to the power of the crown, as the descendants of Edward iii. forgot
their kinship with the king, and adopted the policy of opposition
with which the houses into which they intermarried had long been
associated.
26. Factions among his nobles and dissensions between his sons
embittered the last years of Edward's reign. The Black Prince
The court ^^^ John of Gaunt, who had disagi'eed with each
and con- other about the conduct of the war in Prance, trans-
stitutional ferred their rivalries to England, and became the
heads of sharply marked parties in the council of
the old king. The iU feeling which parliament had shown to the
papacy in its legislation included within its scope the English
church as well. The barons were jealous of the power of the
higher clergy, and denounced their interference in politics. Up
to this time some of the chief offices of state, such as that of
chancellor, had almost invariably been held by a prominent bishop.
However, in 1371, a group of courtiers procured the removal of the
king's clerical ministers, and substituted laymen for them. The
chief of the displaced ministers was WiUiam of Wykeham, bishop
of Winchester. It was natural that he and the other bishops
should be henceforward in opposition to the government. Before
long John of Gaunt became the leader of an anti-clerical court
party, and for some years exercised a strong influence over his father,
who was gradually falling into his dotage. John's chief helpers
were Lord Latimor, a London merchant called Kichard Lyons, and
Alice Perrers, the greedy and unscrupulous mistress of the old
king. Knowing that the higher ecclesiastics were bitterly opposed
to him, John also struck up an alliance with a famotis Oxford teacher
named John Wycliffe, who had become conspicuous for his denun-
ciation of the corruption of the clergy, and for teaching that
priests should live lives of apostolic poverty and have nothing to do
with politics.
27. The rule of John of Gaunt and the courtiers was neither
honest nor successftd, and an active opposition was formed of which
The Good the Black Prince and the Earl of March were the
Papliament, leaders. Strong feeling arose in the country against
*^^®' the men who had lost all France and brought Eng-
land to bankruptcy and shame. This indignation found its expres-
sion in a parliament which met in 1376, and became famous as the
'I377-] EDWARD III. 22/
Good Parliament. Inspired by the Black Prince, the Earl Edmnnd
of March, and the bishops, the House of Commons made a vigorous
attack on the courtiers. It chose as its speaker, or spokesman
before the king. Sir Peter de la Mare, steward of the Earl of
March, a man who had boldness enough to say what was in his
mind regardless of the good-wUl of the great. It accused Latimer
and Lyons of taking bribes, and the House of Lords condemned
them to imprisonment. These are the first examples of the process
called impeachment, by which political offenders were accused by
the Commons before the Lords. Parliament also removed Alice
Perrers from court.
28. In the midst of these proceedings the Commons lost their
strongest support by the death of the Black Prince. Lancaster
now resumed his influence ; the Good Parliament was
dismissed, and, in 1377, a fresh parliament carefully cauntand
packed with John's partisans reversed its acts. Parlia- John
ment was thus silenced. The convocation of Canter- Wycllffe,
1376-1377
bury remained bitterly hostile to John. Accordingly
the duke met its opposition by calling John WyclifEe to his aid.
WyclifEe's denunciations of the*rich land-holding prelates were
answered by an accusation for heresy being brought against him.
Summoned before Bishop Courtenay of London to answer the
charge, WycUfEe appeared in St. Paul's, supported by Lancaster
and Henry Percy, one of Lancaster's chief friends. A violent
scene took place in the cathedral between Lancaster and the bishop.
The London mob took the part of Courtenay against the courtiers,
and rose in a riot, pillaged John's palace, and forced Death of
him to flee from London. Soon after this stormy Edward III.,
scene Edward iii. died, on June 21, 1377. As he lay *^'^"
dying his courtiers deserted him, and Alice Perrers took to flight
after robbing him of the rings on his fingers.
CHAPTER V
RICHARD II. OF BORDEAUX (1377-1399)
ief Dates :
1377-
Accession of Eichard ii.
1378.
The Papal schism.
1381.
Peasants' Revolt.
1384.
Death of Wycliflfe.
1388.
The Merciless Parliament.
1396.
The Great Truce with France.
1397-
Eichard's triumph over the Lords Appellant
1399-
Deposition of Eichard ii.
1. As the Black Prince had died before his father, his only son,
Richard of Bordeaux, a boy ten years of age, succeeded Edward iii.
The Rule as Richard ii. No regent was appointed, but, as in
of John the latter years of Henry iii.'s minority, the council
01 Gaunt. ruled in the king's name. This meant in practice
that the preponderating influence was with John of Gaunt. The
result was that the first few years of the new reign witnessed the
continuance of the bad and unpopular government which had dis-
graced the close of the reign of Edward in. Heavy taxes were
raised, but the people obtained little benefit from paying them. The
nobles quarrelled fiercely with each other, and, on the expiration of
the truce with France, the French plundered the English coasts and
threatened the land with invasion. Luckily, however, for England,
Charles v. died in 1380. His son and successor, Charles vi., was
a boy like Richard, and the French soon had reason to say with
the EngKsh, " Woe to the land when the king is a child." For
some years the Hundred Years' War was suspended by reason of
the weakness of both England and France.
2. It was a miserable time for Europe generally. In 1378 the
papacy returned from Avignon to Rome, but the pope who had
The Papal ^h® courage to take this step died soon after he reached
Schism and Italy. His successor. Urban VI., was an Italian, and
Wycliffe. likely to remain in Rome. Thereupon the French
cardinals, who wished to keep the pope in their own country,
228
1 38 1.] RICHARD II. OF BORDEAUX 229
denied the validity of Urban's election, and chose another pope,
named Clement vir. Europe divided itself between the two popes,
and as the French and Scots favoured Clement, the English
supported Urban. The result of this Great Schism of the Papacy
was to discredit the popes, who had already lost much ground
during the captivity at Avignon. The spirit of religious unrest
that was already in the air spread widely, and led men to look
closely into their beliefs. John WycUfEe had already made himself
conspicuous as the ally of John of Gaunt against the over-wealthy
prelates. Since the scene at St. Paul's in 1377, his views were be-
coming more and more antagonistic to those professed by the Church.
In the year of the schism he began to raise doubts as to the truth of
the doctrine of transubstantiation, or the change of the bread and
wine in the Holy Communion into the Body and Blood of Christ,
which the whole Church had accepted for many centuries. This
open avowal of heresy lost WyclifEe the support of Lancaster and
most of his powerful friends. Henceforth he sought to appeal
to the people as well as to scholars and men of rank. He sent
throughout the country disciples who were called his poor priests,
and by this means his teaching was spread all over the land. Up
to now he had written in Latin for scholars, but he henceforth set
forth his teaching in English. He denied the authority of the
papacy and of the clergy, and taught that dominion was founded
an grace, by which he meant that power and property could only be
righily held by good men. He also encouraged men to seek for
their religion in the Bible only. To make the Bible accessible, he,
with the help of his friends, translated it from Latin into Englisli.
His teaching excited bitter hostility among the clergy, and in
1382 his opinions were condemned by a council of English bishops.
Wycliffe stiU had many friends, and was very derteroiis in explaining
away his opinions. He was therefore set free, and spent the rest
of his life at his country living of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire,
where he died in 1384. His influence continued after his death.
His followers, called Lollards, or babblers, spread widely, and. for the
first time since the establishment of Christianity in England, there
were many men who disbelieved in the teaching of the Church.
3. Four years after Richard's accession discontent came to a
head in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The causes of _. „ ,.
tliis rising were numerous. The deepest of them luy ©f the
in the changes which had effected society since tlie Peasants*
time of the Black Deatli. The demand for labour Revolt,
was still great, and the free labourers, who could hire themselves
230 RICHARD II. OF BORDEAUX [1381.
out where they would, were bitterly discontented with the laws which
tried to keep down their wages. They had formed associations to
defeat the statute of Labourers, and for a generation there had been
much Quarrelling between them and their masters. The grievances
of the free labourers were, however, small as compared with the
troubles of the serfs or villeins. In Norman times the mass of the
people had, as we have seen, become villeins. During the fourteenth
century the number of villeins was steadily decreasing, as many ran
away from their lords, and many were set free, since lords had
f oiind that it paid them better to cxdtivate their lands withf ree labour,
while the Church taught that it was a meritorious act to enfran-
chise a bondman. However, the strong demand for laboxu-, which
resulted from the decline of population after the pestilence, had
retarded this movement towards freedom. When it became very
difficult to obtain free labour, it was natural that the lords of serfs
should exact to the uttermost the rights they still possessed of com-
pelling their bondmen to work for them without pay. At the same
time the villeins became more unwilling to give up so much of their
time to their lords, when they saw that their free brethren could
earn large wages without difficulty. The result was that the
villeins were even more discontented than the free labourers, and
both classes alike were ripe for revolt. Thiis the unrest and dis-
content of Edward iii.'s time stiU continued. It was increased by the
struggles in the boroughs between the craftsmen of the guilds and
the rich merchants, who kept the government of the towns in their
own hands, and ruled harshly in the interests of their own class.
Old soldiers who had come back from the French wars told the
poor English how the men of Flanders had shaken off the yoke of
their count, and had, by union and determination, won liberty for
themselves. The friars stiU wandered through the land, teaching
that Christ and His apostles had had no property, and denouncing
the oppressions of the rich. Wycliffe's "poor priests" were now
also traversing the country, maintaining their master's doctrine
of dominion founded on grace and declaring that it was the
duty of a Christian to deprive unworthy men of their offices
and lands. John Ball, an Essex priest, made himself the mouth-
piece of this widespread discontent. " "We are all come," said he,
" from one father and one mother, Adam and Eve. How can the
gentry show that they are greater lords than we ? " On every
side the old social order was breaking up, and men were ripe for
revolution.
4. Disgust at the bad government of John of Gaunt and the
1381.] RICHARD II. OF BORDEAUX 23 1
council added political to social tmrest. Heavy taxes were levied,
though the people got nothing in return from them. Finally, in
1381, the imposition of a new poll-tax — that is, a tax -,,^
levied on each individual in the community, brought the Peasants'
discontent to a head. The Kentish men were among Revolt of
the freest and most turbulent of Englishmen. There '^°**
was no villeinage in Kent, but nowhere was the indignation at the
badness of the government so deeply felt. Headed by Wat Tyler,
the Kentish men refused to pay the poll-tax, rose in revolt, and
marched in great numbers to London. At the same moment dis-
turbances broke out all over England, as if in obedience to a common
command. The most formidable were in the eastern counties,
where the numerous serfs of great abbeys, like Bury St. Edmunds
and St. Albans, rose against their monastic landlords and demanded
their enfranchisement. Like the Kentish freemen, the villeins of
the eastern shires also made their way to London. The rebels soon
took possession of the capital, and wrought many outrages. They
murdered some of the king's ministers, including the chancellor,
Simon of Sudbury, the archbishop of Canterbury. They burned
John of Gaunt's house, the Savoy Palace in the Strand, and de-
clared they would have no king named John.
5. Richard 11. was only sixteen years old, but he showed a
courage and resolution that put to shame the weakness of his
ministers. One day lie met the rebels from the j,^g ^
eastern counties at MUe End, agreed to give them pression of
charters of freedom, and persuaded the majority to ^^^ revolt,
go home. The Kentish men, however, remained in arms, and
constantly perpetrated fresh outrages. Next day Richard went
with William Walworth, the mayor of London, to treat with
them in Smithlield. Tyler, the rebel leader, behaved with great
familiarity, but Richard promised to accept most of his demands.
Unluckily, one of the king's followers declared that Tyler was the
greatest thief in Kent, and Tyler sprang upon him with his dagger.
The mayor strove to protect the courtier, and a scuffle ensued
between the two, in which Tyler was slain. The rebels drew their
bows at the king, but Richard, riding up among them, declare<l,
" I will be your captain ; come with me into the fields, and you
shall have all you ask." His presence of mind saved the situation,
and gave time for the soldiers to surround the rebels and force
them to lay down their arms. The troubles in London wer« thus
ended, and all over the country the gentry, plucking up courage,
set to work to put down the revolt systematically. The cruelties
232 RICHARD II. OF BORDEAUX [1381-
worked by the peasants in their brief moment of triumph were now
more than revenged on them by their victorious masters. Even
the king took part in punishing the rebels. He put John Ball to
death at St. Albans, and revoked the charters of freedom which
he had issued on the grounds that they had been obtained by
violence, and that he had no power to interfere with the lord's
property over his serfs. When parliament met it approved the
king's action, and declared that it would never agi*ee to the libera-
tion of the vUleins. However, a little later, the marriage of the
king to Anne of Bohemia, daughter of the Emperor Charles iv.,
was made an excuse for extending a general pardon to all the
rebels. Despite the apparent faUure of the peasants, the revolt
was not entirely without fruit. It taught the government and
the gentry that it was dangerous to press the tenants too much,
and, though for a time it probably made the conditions of the
viUeins worse, it led in the long ran to the restriction of villeinage.
Many landlords found that it was easier for them to set free their
peasants and to accept money payment in lieu of their accustomed
services. Within a himdred years of the Peasants' Revolt, vil-
leinage had almost disappeared from England. Besides this
something was done to remedy the misrale against which the
Kentish men had so loudly protested. John of Gaunt was so
unpopular that power shpped away quietly from him, and before
long he betook himself to Spain, where he strove, with little result,
to make himself king of CastUe by reason of his marriage with
Constance, the daughter of Peter the Cruel. His faUui-e taught
the king's council some measure of wisdom and prudence, and the
country became somewhat better governed in the years succeeding
the Peasants' Revolt.
6. The good hopes excited by Richard's courage in 1381 were
not borne out by the events of the next few years. With plenty
• 1 ^^ ability, a strong will, and a liigh courage, Richard
opposition showed a passionate and hasty temper, and a greedi-
and Thomas ness for power, which soon brought him into collision
ofGlou- with his nobles. He was self-wiUed, craftv. and
revengeful, and his love of pomp led him to waste
large sums in keeping up an extravagant coiu-t. Distrusting the
nobles, he gave his chief confidence to courtiers and favourites,
who carried on the evil traditions of the court party which had
excited the wi-ath of the G-ood Parliament. Prominent among liis
favourites was Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford, whose ancestors had
held that dignity since the days of Stephen, and whom Richard
-1 388. J RICHARD II. OF BORDEAUX 233
made duke of Ireland. His chief minister was the Chancellor.
Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, whose grandfather had been a
Hull merchant, and who had obtained his wealth by trade. Oxford
and SutEolk soon became very unpopular, partly through their own
fault, and partly because they were looked upon as the causes of
the weak government and unconstitutional rule which still went
on. The greater part of the nobles disliked them exceedingly, and
joined together to put an end to their power. Thus the party of
constitutional opposition was reformed to meet the encroachments
of the court party. Its leader was Thomas of Woodstock, duke of
Gloucester, the youngest and most capable of the king's uncles.
For the rest of his life Gloucester withstood Hichard 11. as Thomas
of Lancaster had withstood Edward 11.
7. Trouble began in 1386, when parliament demanded the dis-
missal of the chancellor. Richard ordered parliament to mind its
own business, and insolently said that he would not ~ t\ac\r
dismiss the meanest scullion from his kitchen to please ©n the
it. Thereupon the angry Commons impeached courtiers.
Suffolk, and forced Richard to submit. A com- 1386-1387.
mittee of eleven nobles was appointed for a year, with powers so
extensive that they remind us of the lords ordainers of Edward ii.'s
time. Richard was compelled to take an oath to accept any
ordinances that the eleven might devise. For the moment the
triumph of the opposition seemed complete. Their administration
threw new vigour into the government. They revived the French
war. and, in 1387, one of their number, Richard Fitzalan, earl of
Arundel, won a victory over the French fleet, which saved England
from a threatened French invasion.
8. Richard was no weakling like Edward 11., and soon began to
take steps to win back his power. He released Suffolk, and took
coimsel with his judges as to the lawfulness of the _. j-fg-t
committee of eleven. The judges declared that the of the
commission was illegal because it infringed the royal courtiers,
prerogative. By his orders the duke of Ireland raised *^®®'
an army, and civil war between the king and the opposition broke
out. However, Richard had acted too hastily in assertion of his
independence. In December, 1387, the barons scattered Vere's
troops at Radcot Bridge, over the upper Thames in Oxfordshire.
When parliament met in February, 1388, the king was once more
helpless in the haud'4 of the opposition.
9. The victors showed such ruthlessness that this parliament,
which was altogether on their side, became known in history as the
234 RICHARD II. OF BORDEAUX [1388-
Merciless Farliament. In it an accusation, of treason was raised by
five baronial leaders against Suffolk, Ireland, and other chief friends
of the king-. The charge was technically called an
less Paplia- '^PP^'^^ of treason, and the five lords on that account
ment and were called the Lords Appellant. At their head were
the Lords Gloucester and Arundel, the hero of the recent victory
1388 *"*' ^^^^' ^^® French. The other members were Thomas
Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, Thomas Mowbray, earl
of Nottingham, and Henry, earl of Derby, eldest son of John of
Gaunt, who availed himself of his father's absence in Spain to
identify himself with the traditional policy of his mother's family,
the old line of earls of Lancaster. Parliament gladly accepted the
appeal, and the lords condemned the courtiers as traitors. Suffolk
and Ireland escaped punishment by flight abroad, but many minor
royalist pai"tisans were put to death. Richard avoided deposition
by bending before the storm. He was, however, strictly subjected
to a council, and in this body the Lords Appellant ruled supreme.
10. Richard never forgot nor forgave the humiliations inflicted
on him by the appellants. Experience had, however, shown him the
uselessness of hasty action, and he quietlv waited for
Richard's ,■ .J -i. , ,
prudence. ^^ revenge. Alter more than a year he began to
reassert himself. On May 3, 1389, he asked Gloucester
in the council chamber how old he was, and was told that he was
twenty-two. '• Since I am of age," he replied, " I am old enough
to rule my people. Hitherto I have lived under governance, now I
will govern." He then dismissed the appellants from power, but
he prudently called into office William of Wykeham, the old bishop
of Winchester, and other magnates who sympathized with the con-
stitutional party. With great wisdom he made no attempt to
recall his exiled friends, and before long restored some of the
appellants to their places on the council. John of Gaunt now came
back from Spain. He had learnt discretion by experience, and gave
his nephew good advice. So judicious was the policy of the crown
that the appellants had no chance of withstanding Richard's action.
For the next seven years qvdei and good government was main-
tained at home. Old laws, such as the anti-papal statutes of
Provisors and Praemunire were revived, and useful new laws were
passed. A truce was made with the French and Scots, so that
England enjoyed peace, abroad as well as at home.
11. During this period Richard's first wife, Anne of Bohemia,
died without children. So friendly now were Richard's relations
with Prance that, in 1396, he married Isabella, daughter of
-1397.1 RICHARD II. OF BORDEAUX 235
Charles vi., the French king, and made a truce for twenty-eight
years. Though the new queen was only a child of seven, French
influence henceforth became strong in Richard's
councils. Always anxious to be a despot, Richard j^ypg ^^^
became eager to abandon constitutional courses and the French
make himself as thoroughly master of his subjects as marriage,
was his father-in-law, the Frencli king.
12. The party of the Lords Appellant seemed hopelessly broken
np. John of Gkiunt's influence had brought Henry of Derby round
to the court party, and Nottingham also had de- ^jjg royalist
sorted his former friends. Gloucester, Warwick, and reaction,
Arundel stiU persevered in their ancient policy, and 1397.
with them was associated Anindel's younger brother, Thomas
Fitzalan, archbishop of Canterbury, commonly called Archbishop
Arundel. After nine years, Richard's wrath against the appellants
was still unsatisfied, and in 1397, he thought he was strong enough
to wreak his long-deferred vengeance. Rumours that Gloucester
was plotting against him gave Richard an excuse for action. He
suddenly arrested Gloucester, Warwick, and Arundel, and a group
of royalist barons, one of whom was Nottingham, appealed the
three prisoners of treason. Their trials took place in the parlia-
ment which met in September. This body was carefully packed
by the king, and overawed by a body of two thousand archers from
Cheshire, wearing the king's cognisance of the white hart. The
three lords were condemned as traitors, and Arundel was beheaded.
His brother the archbishop was banished. Warwick was pardoned
in return for an abject submission, and Gloucester was privately
murdered at Calais, where he had been confined under Nottingham's
charge. The acts of the Merciless Parliament were repealed, and
the estates of the traitors divided among the king's friends. The
turncoats, Derby and Nottingham, were rewarded for their com-
plaisance by being made dukes of Hereford and Norfolk. The
royalist restoration was completed at a second session of the
parliament, held at Shrewsbury, when the king was granted a
revenue for life, and a committee of eighteen persons appointed
to deal, after the dissolution, with petitions which had not been
an8were<l during the session. Richard's enemies saw in this latter
step an effort of the king to cany on indefinitely tlie powers of
this subservient parliament through the committee of eighteen,
and believed that he was resolved to do without parliaments for the
future.
13. Richard's position was now so menacing that the new dnk*
236 RICHARD II. OF BORDEAUX [1398-
of Norfolk took the alarm. He told Hereford that Richard had
not yet forgiven them their share in the work of the appellants, and
I h- ^^g"®*! ^aim to iinite with him against the king. Here-
ment of ford told the whole story to Richard, and Norfolk de-
Norfolk and clared that it was aU an invention of Hereford's. A
1 ^qs deadly quarrel henceforth divided the two old associates.
and they were ordered to prove their truthfulness by
irial by battle. The fight was arranged to take place at Coventry
on September 12, 1398. Just before the duel began, the king stopped
the fight and banished both combatants, Hereford for ten years,
Norfolk for life. But while Norfolk was treated with every severity,
Hereford was still regarded with comparative favour. His term of
exile was cut down to six years, and he was promised that, in the
event of his father dying, he should forthwith inherit the duchy
of Lancaster. Thus even the appellants who had deserted their old
side came within the scope of the king's vengeance. Richard's
triumph was now complete. He ruled England with the help of
flatterers and favourites, and declared " that the laws were in his
mouth or in his breast, and that he alone could change the statutes
of his realm." His Cheshire archers maltreated his subjects at
their will, and a veritable reign of terror proclaimed the reality
of the new despotism. When John of Gaunt died, early in 1399,
Richard and the committee of parliament withdrew the permission
granted to Hereford to receive his father's succession in his
absence.
14. So secure did Richard now feel himself, that in May, 1399,
he crossed over to Ireland, and busied himself with a vigorous
TheLan- attempt to restore the waning power of England in
castrlan that island. In July, Henry of Hereford and Arch-
revolution bishop Arundel landed with a small force at Ravenspur,
on the Humber. Henry declared that he had only
come to claim his duchy and to drive away the favourites who had
taught the king to play the despot. Many of the northern lords
flocked to his standard, among them being Henry Percy, recently
made earl of Northumberland, the old ally of John of Gaunt. Henry
tlien marched southwards with a constantly increasing army. Before
long he was joined by the regent, his uncle the duke of York. He
captured Richard's chief ministers at Bristol and put them to death.
With his growing power the invader enlarged his ambitions, and
began openly to aim at the crown. Meanwhile Richard returned
from Ireland and marched through North Wales to Conway. These
tidings brought Henry northwards again to Chester. But Richard
-I399.J RICHARD 11. OF BORDEAUX 237
had alienated every class of his subjects as signally as Edward 11.
had done. Fiading that he had no backing, he submitted to his
cousin at Flint, whence he was taken to London as a prisoner.
Parliament then met, and Richard was forced to surrender the
throne. Next day his abdication was read in parliament, which
had assembled in a great hall before an empty throne. Henry of
Lancaster sat in his place as duke, but before long he rose and
claimed the throne, as being descended from Henry iii., and
" through the right which God had given him by conquest, when
the realm was nearly undone for default of governance." Parlia-
ment rapturously applauded this, and he sat dowTi on the throne as
Henry iv. Next year it was given out that Richard had refused
liis food, and died of self-inflicted starvation in his prison at
Pontefract. There is not much doubt but that his end was
hastened by violence, but the circumstances of his murder were so
obscure that his partisans long believed that he was still alive, and
an impostor who assumed his name was for a time treated as
Richard by the Scottish enemies of England.
CHAPTER VI
BRITAIN IN THE THIRTEENTH AND
FOURTEENTH CENTURIES
1. In the beginning of the thirteenth century the Angevin
despotism was at the highest point of its power. It was broken
down by the calamities of the reign of John, and re-
civilization placed by something quite different during the reigns
of John's son and grandson. The fourteenth century
saw the working out in detail of the principles laid down in the days
of Henry iii. and Edward i. The result of this process was that
England became a national state, governed by a strong monarch,
who was in his turn controlled by a popular and representative
parliament. The period which we now have to study is that of the
formation of the English nation and of the English constitution. It
was in these days when the state of society which we call medieeval
reached its culminating point. Not only were the state and the
constitution as vigorous as the times permitted : mediaeval religion,
science, literature, life, trade, and society alike attained their
highest perfection.
2. In matters of state the king stiU governed the country, and
was expected to use all the power which the constitution gave him.
The kine ^^^ ministers of the crown were chosen by him, and
were responsible to him alone. It was only when a
weak or incompetent monarch was on the throne that the barons
took the executive power out of his hands and transferred it to such
a body as the Fifteen of 1258, the Lords Ordainers, or the Lords
Appellant. Yet even an Edward i. was expected to rule with some
regard to the opinion of his subjects, and in particular the views of
the mighty barons who claimed to be the natural-bom counsellors
of the crown, and its partners and f eUow-workers in determining
the policy of the nation. After the reforms of Edward i. had de-
stroyed the political power of feudalism, the barons found it in-
creasingly expedient to work through the means of parliament.
238
I2i6.] THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES 239
It is as the leaders of public opinion as expressed by parliament
that the nobles now held the great position which they still
retained in the English state.
3. Parliament in the early days of Henry m. was merely
another name for the Norman Great Council of the tenants-in-
chief. Since the days of Simon of Montfort it became Tj,g parlla-
usual to strengthen the baronial element by associating ment of
with it the representations of the shires and boroughs. ^^ Three
After Edward i.'s time th6 only body to wliich the
name of parliament rightly belonged was the representative
assembly of the three estates, and after 1322 no law was regarded
as valid unless it had been approved by this body. By the reign of
Edward iii. the lower clergy had ceased regularly to send their
representatives to parliament. This made it easy for the higher
clergy, the bishops, and abbots, to take their places along with the
secular magnates. The result was the creation of the modern
House of Lords, which thus represented both the estate of the
nobles and, to some extent, the estate of the clergy. The third
estate now exclusively formed the House of Commons. Cut off
from the assembly of the nation, the lower clergy were content to
meet in their clerical assemblies, which were summoned for each
province by the archbishops of Canterbury and York. These pro-
vincial synods were called the convocations of Canter-
burj' and York. The king used them to raise taxes jion.
from the clergy, but properly speaking they were no
part of parliament. So long as the king got enough money from
the clergy, he was indifferent whether it was voted him by an
ecclesiastical or a political assembly.
4. The Home of Lords of the fourteenth century consisted of
the lords spiritual and temporal. The former included all the
archbishops and bishops, and a considerable number of *
abbots and priors, the heads of the more important The House
monasteries. For most of the middle ages the clerical
meml)er8 formed a majority of the House. The lay peers were, up
to tlie reign of Edward iii., either earls or barons. The earls were
seldom more than a dozen in number, and were in nearly every
case men of vast wealth and territorial influence. They were the
natural leaders of the baronage, and were still looked upon as
officials as well as mere dignitaries. The lay barons of the four-
teenth century were less than a hundred in number, and were
always tending to become less numerous. Both earldoms and
baronies had become by this time strictly hereditary. Under
240 THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES [1216-
Edward iii. new grades of the peerage were added, such, as dnke,
tnarquis, and viscount. This tended somewhat to depress the
dignity of the earl, as he now ranked after the duke and the
marquis, and the number of earldoms became somewhat greater.
5. The House of Covimons consisted of two knights of the
shire, chosen by the county court of each English county, and
of two citizens or burgesses, elected by the coui'ts of
?P House ^ their respective cities and boroughs. The two great
palatine counties of Cheshire and Durham sent no
representatives, as they were so fully under the control of their
earl and bishop that they were for most purposes outside England
altogether. Under Edward iii. Lancashire also became a palatine
county, but having already sent knights and biu'gesses to parlia-
ment, it continued to do so as before. Wales, both the Principality
and the March, was also unrepresented in parliament, save on two
occasions under Edward 11. Though ruled by the English crown,
Wales was no part of the English realm. In practice the sheriffs,
who returned both the knights and the burgesses, had a good deal
to do with determining which individuals should be chosen. The
king decided which boroughs should be asked to appoint repre-
sentatives, and as the sending of members was thought a burden
rather than a privilege, towns were often anxious to avoid having to
make an election. The result was that the number of boroughs was
constantly iluctuating. As parliament became stronger, it suited the
king's interest to summon burgesses from small places under his
control, as he had power of influencing members so selected. Thus,
even in early times there were many parliamentary boroughs which
were not places of any importance. Both counties and boroughs
paid wages to support the members they sent to parliament. The
knights of the shire, who in practice represented the country gentle-
men or smaller landholders, were the more important element of the
House of Commons. They had greater wealth, a higher social
position, and were more interested in pubKc events. The citizens
and burgesses were generally content to follow their lead. But even
the knights were not always capable of independent action. As
a rule, the opposition to the crown was stronger among the Lords
than the Commons, and the Commons were largely in the habit of
looking up to the peers for guidance. This is seen very clearly in
the debates of the Good Parliament of 1376.
6. The powers of parliament were very considerable. It was
on the petition of the estates that the king drew up the statutes
or acts of parliament, so that no new law could be promidgated
M399-] THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES 24 1
except on their initiative. The Commons were especially con-
cerned in the finances of the nation. As most taxes were paid
by them, they were naturally anxious that they should
have control over the king's expenses. By the four- parliament
teenth century, it was considered unlawful for the king
to raise general taxes which had not been granted by the Commons,
though the clergy in their convocation also granted money payable
by the clergy only. The Commons also had the right of petitioning
the crown and unfolding aU their grievances and complaints against
the king's government. The Lords joined in most oi this work, but
they also exercised judicial functions, in which the Commons
refused to take any part. A wise king took care to keep on friendly
terms with his parliament, and even strong rulers were often forced
to give up power that they cherished to please it.
7. The old institutions of the twelfth century still went
on, though with diminished vitality. Great Councils of the nobles
stiU sometimes assembled, but as they could not
grant money, they were of little use to the king, council
More important than these occasional assemblies was
the permanent councU of the king, called sometimes the Consilium
Ordinariwm, and later the Privy Council. This was a standing
body of the king's ministers, judges, courtiers, and personal
friends, which accompanied him in his constant journeys, and
gave him advice as to the conduct of affairs of state. As many
of its members were great barons and bishops, the king's council
could sometimes take up a fairly independent line, though it was
mainly a consultative rather than a directing body. With the
help of his councU the king governed the country. As time went
on the council began to encroach upon the powers of parliament.
In particiilar, it exercised considerable judicial as well as adminis-
trative authority. Though it was not supposed to legislate, it
published ordinances that every one had to obey, and which were
laws in everything but name. An able king made Ids council
reflect his own will. Under a weak king or dtiring a minority,
the council became the battle-ground of contending factions, and
xwXmA very much as it liked.
8. The law courts took their modern shape by the time of
Edward i. There were three common law courts, the King's
Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of Exchequer.
The first and tliird of these were descended from the Curia Regis
and Exchequer of Norman times, but they had ceased to be chiefly
concerned with politics and finance, and were now mainly busy
B
242 THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES [1216-
with holding trials and pronouncing judgments. Cases wkich. the
common law could not deal with, or cases where the common law
was too harsh and narrow, were referred to the Court of Chancery
tinder the Chancellor. This gradually became what was called a
Court of Equity, wherein the rigid doctrines of the common
lawyers were brought into harmony with men's natural sense of
justice. All through this period the lawyers were powerful, rich,
and numerous. In the thirteenth century many lawyers in the
king's courts were clergymen. By the fourteenth the lawyers had
become a lay tvofession, with a strong corporate spirit and fixed
traditions of tneir own. Great schools of law grew up in London
called the Inns of CouH, which took the place of the universities as
places of study for English law. Besides the king's lawyers and
courts there were stiU the lawyers and courts of the Church, which
exercised such extensive powers that the king and his lawyers
looked upon them with the utmost suspicion.
9. The religious and intellectual movements of the twelfth
century yielded, their finest fruits during the period now before
The Church ^^- '^^^ Church was at the height of its power
and the and influence during the thirteenth centuiy. Though
Papacy. many individual churchmen, like Langton or Grosse-
teste, were patriotic Englishmen, the Church as an institution
was not national. It was the chief representative of that cosmo-
politan ideal which still looked upon the nations of the civUized
world as part of a single Christian commonwealth. Of this great
power the pope was the recognized head, and for nations like
England the only head, since the power of the emperor had
never been real outside Germany and Italy, and after the fall of
Frederick 11. had ceased to be effective even in those countries.
The pope was the universal bishop of Christendom, and for
England he was, for most of the thirteenth century, the feudal
overlord as well. Though his ujiHmited authority, especially in
politics, at last provoked a strong reaction, there was no one at this
period who ventured to question his ecclesiastical omnipotence.
10. A great religious revival in the early years of the thii'teenth
century emphasized the strength and authority which the Church
still exercised over men's minds. Like ail mediaeval
and the religious movements, it took the shape of a new develop-
Mendicant ment of monasticism. Vast as had been the influence
Friars. p£ ^^^q Cistercians and Regular Canons in the monastic
reformation of the twelfth century (see p. 154), the new orders had
not escaped the dangers against which their rules had been a
-1399-] THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES 24 J
protest, and tkeir very wealth and authority exposed them to all
the temptations of pride and worldliness. Against aU the evil
tendencies of the times a vigorous reaction was embodied in the life
and work of St. Francis of Assisi. A young Italian gentleman,
Fi'ancLs forsook his father's heritage and devoted his life to the
care of the poor, the sick, and the neglected. He gave out that he
had weddetl the lady Poverty as his bride, and taught the followers
who soon gathered round him that they must literally live, like
Christ and the apostles, lives of absolute self-renunciation. He
thus became the founder of a new order, to which he gave
the name of the Friars, or brothers, or, as he called them in
his humility, the Minorites, or Lesser Brethren. The fame of
their leader also caused the saint's followers to be called Franciscmts,
while the rough garb of undyed wool which they wore also led the
people to speak of them as the G-rey Friars. Francis' first principle
was that of absolute poverty. The monks had taken the vow of
poverty, but they interpreted it as meaning individual poverty,
and the monastery could hold as much land as it could get, though
each monk could possess nothing. To Francis this was not enough,
and he ordered his followers so to rinderstand their vow that they
were bound to corporate as well as individual poverty. They were
therefore called tlie Mendicant Friars, because, having no goods of
their own, they gained their bread by begging from the faithful.
So l>eautiful was the character of St. Francis, and so wonderful the
work of Ixis followers, that many other orders of friars were formed
upon the model which he suggested. The chief of these was the
Order of Preachers, called the Black Friars from tlie black hood
they wore over their white dress, or the Dtmvinicans, from their
founder St. Dominic, a Spanish canon regular, who had devoted
his life to preacliing the doctrines of the Church and winning
back the heretic and the infidel to its fold. Inspired by Francis
and Dominic, the MeiidScant orders worked |i wondrous change for
the l)etter in the religious life of Europe.
11. In 1221 the Dominicans first came to England, and in 1224
they were followed by the Franciscans. They established their
first convents at London and Oxford, and rapidly spread ^j^^ pp^n.
all over the country. Their piety, devotion, and ciscansand
sincerity soon won for them numerous disciples among Domlnlcaai
nil ranks of Englishmen. They kboured for the '"England,
salvation of souls, the care of sickness, and the relief of distrefw.
They ingratiated themselves with tlie rich a« well as with the poor.
Henry iii. and Edward i. selected friars as their confessors, and
244 THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES [1216-
Simon of Montfort and Grosseteste were among their chief
supporters. A special field for their labour was the crowded
suburbs of the greater towns, where the people lived in ignorance,
squalor, and vice. They erected in the chief towns their spacious
but plain churches, adapted for preaching to large congregations.
Unlike the monks, who withdrew themselves from the world, they
lived in the world and tried to make it better. They had many
enemies, as for example the lazy parish clergy whose work they
did, and the monks and canons who envied their zeal and poptdarity.
As time went on they fell away from their early activity, and often
became corrupt. Yet down to the time of the Reformation the
friars remained the chief teachers of religion to the poor. Hardly
less important was their influence on the thought and learning
of their age. Before long most professors of theology at the
Tiniversities were Mendicant Friars.
12. The universities, which began in the twelfth century,
became exceedingly flourishing in the thirteenth. In the reign of
Henry iii., Oxford became one of the chief centres of
versities. study in Europe, and a second English university had
arisen at Cambridge, though this was less important
than Oxford for the rest of the Middle Ages. Paris stiU remained
the greatest university of the West, and many English scholars
still studied there. All classes of society were represented among
the students. There were rich noblemen living in their own
houses with a band of servants, while many scholars were so poor
that they had to beg for their living. There was plenty of
freedom and activity, but little order and discipline. All the
scholars ranked as clerks, and had the privileges of clergy ; but
this did not prevent them rioting, drinking, and fighting with
the townsfolk. AU lectures were in Latin, and the teachers were
those students who had completed their courses, and so became
doctors or masters. There were four faculties, or branches of
study — Theology, Law, Medicine, and Arts. Most scholars began
with arts, that is, grammar, philosophy, and mathematics. It
took seven years' study before a student could become a Master
or Doctor of Arts, and then he was compelled to stay for a time
at the university and teach others. Some Masters of Arts also
studied in one of the other or higher faculties.
13. After the coming of the friars, Oxford became much more
important than before. In particular, the friars devoted themselves
to the study of theology, which worldly men neglected in favour of
law and medicine because these opened up better prospects of success
-1399-] THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES 2^t^
in their careers. The chief thinkers in philosophy and theology were
called schoolmen. Among- them a large proportion came from
Britain, snch as Alexander Hales, Duns Scotus, William
of Ockham, and Robert KUwardby and John Peckham, schoolmen
the two Mendicant friars who became in succession arch-
bisliops of Canterbury under Edward i. Tlie example of Kilwardby
and Peckham shows how the Universities opened up brilliant
positions for poor men of ability. Never were men of learning more
powerful and influential than in the great days of the schoolmen.
14. As time went on, rich men gave lands and money to the
universities to help forward poor students and unpopular studies.
In particular, small societies were set up witliin the
universities called colleges, where buildings were
erected iu which scholars could be supported while devoting them-
selves to study. The first important college was Merton College at
Oxford, set up by Walter of Merton, chancellor of Henry iii. In
the fourteenth century there were many such foundations, both at
Oxford and Catnbridge. By this time the universities were losing
some of their first energy and freedom, but they stiU played a con-
siderable part in the life of the nation. It was at Oxford that John
Wycliffe first taught those new views about religion which were to
make so great a stir all over Christendom. But the times were not
ripe for so thorough-going a reformer as Wycliffe, and the end of
the fourteenth century saw the Church restored to much of its
former power.
15. Gothic architecture, Uke the universities, began in the
twelfth century, and attained its full glory in the thirteenth. At
first the English had built much upon the lines of cothic
those who had first created the Gothic style in France, archl-
but under Henry iii. English Gothic struck out ways lecture,
of its own. The so-called Early English fashion of building,
with its lancet windows, clustered shafts, square east ends, and
delicacy of detail is best exemplified in Salisbury
Cathedral, whicli altogether dates from the reign gnffUsh
of Henry in. A comparison between it and the
cathedral of Amiens, the chief work of contemporary French art,
will well illustrate the difference of plan and construction between
English and French Gothic of the best period. Yet the French
tastes of Henry iir. have given us an opportunity of studying the
French style in our own land. His favourite foundation of West-
minster Abbey reproduced on English soil the towering loftiness,
the vaulted roofs, the short choir, and the ring of absidal chapeli
SOME FORMS OF MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE.
b. Nonnan. c. Early English,
e. Flowing Decorated. f. Perpendicular.
(^From Parker's " Glossary of Architecturs," 1850.)
a. Anglo-Saxon.
d. Geometiical Decorated.
i
-I399-] THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES 247
of the great French minsters. As the century advanced some of
the fashions of the French builders, notably as regards window-
tracery, were taken up in England. The early days of
Edward i. mark the beginning of the so-called Decorated '
style. The earlier form of this, characterized by large windows
adorned with elaborate tracery marked out in geometrical patterns,
is well exemx)lified in the angel choir of Lincoln, built about 1280
to contain the shrine of St. Hugh, who himself erected the westerly
part of the choir of the same cathedral. Later Decorated is called
floioing, because the patterns of the window-tracery take wavy or
flowing lines, such as can be seen in the nave of York minster.
In Exeter Cathedral, which is almost entirely of the Decorated
period, we can best study the development in succession of both the
geometrical and decorated types of tracery. Side by side with these
changes, the building as a whole became more elaborately decorated,
and the mouldings became enriched with carved flowers and delicate
carved leafwork. As time went on the decoration became exces-
sive, and masked or impaired the solidity of the constructive parts.
When ornament thus became used for its own sake,
the spirit of Gothic architecture was beginning to pendicular.
decay. By the reign of Edward ill. the last and most
peculiarly English type began. This is called the Perpendicular
style, and is characterized by the great use made of right angles
and upright lines, and in particular by the rigid and straight lines
of its window tracery. The arches became gradually flattened
instead of pointed ; the windows and doors became square-headed ;
and walls were enriched by flat paneUing instead of the arcading of
the earlier styles. The earliest examples of Perpendicular are to
be seen in the choir of Gloucester Cathedral and the nave of
Winchester Cathedral, both built under Edward 111., the latter by
William of Wykeham. It is a noticeable feature of both these
buildings that their architects did not erect them afresh, but recased
and adapted the old Norman buildings, toning down and hiding
the massive romanesque structure by their new work.
16. Ca.stle-building followed similar changes. The stem
simplicity of the Norman castle had already given place to the
newer style which began with Chateau- Gaillard in Normandy, and
which is seen in its perfection in the castles such as j^^ (,(,„.
Carnarvon, Conway, Harlech, and Beaumaris, erected cenlrlo
by Edward l. to ensure the subjection of the moun- castle,
taineers of North Wales. The castles of this period were often built
after what is called the concentric fashion, and were charsoterised by
248 THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES [12 16-
successive lines of defence, each roughly radiating from a common
centre. The keep, the special feature of Norman strongholds, was
suppressed altogether, and replaced by many lofty towers erected
along the lines of the successive circuits. The most perfect ex-
ample of the type is perhaps found iu the castle of Caerphilly, erected
by Gilbert, earl of Gloucester, Edward i.'s rival and son-in-law, in his
Marcher lordship of Glamorgan. After this period castle-building,
unlike church-building, became much less frequent. By the four-
teenth century England had become so peaceable that noblemen
had no longer any need to erect castles to live in, but could look to
comfort and convenience as well as to safety from attack. The
improved condition of society is seen in the greater stateliness and
beauty of domestic and civil architecture, which were now far more
important than in previous ages.
17. Arms and armour became, Kke buildings, more complicated
and costly. Great pains were taken to perfect the machines by
_,, , which castles were assaulted, and ponderous instru-
Tnc si6fire-
train and ments, such as the trebucltet, could hurl huge stones a
the be- great distance by means of an elaborate system of
ginnings pulleys and counterpoises. About the middle of the
fourteenth century the use of gunpowder became
known, and the earliest artillery was designed. These cannons were
cumbrous and ineffective weapons, which, if sometimes dragged
about on a campaign, as at Crecy, were more often used for siege
purposes than in the open field. Armour changed greatly in
character during the fourteenth century, as gradually solid plates
of steel supplemented the chain-mail of the thirteenth century.
The knight of the age of Edward iii. covered his
armour ^^^^ ^^ TuaU. with a breastplate of richly embossed and
decorated steel, and wore brassards, cuissards,jambards,
and other plates of metal to protect his arms and legs. Over his
armour he still donned a surcoat, which, having been long and
loose in the thirteenth centuiy, became short and close-fitting
about the time of the advent of plate-armour. On this and on
his shield was embroidered or painted the knight's arms or device.
Every knightly house possessed by the fourteenth
century its hereditary arms, and a special science
called heraldry grew up, which explained the differences between
the arms of various noble famiKes. The tournaments.
ments which, though condemned by the Church, remained
very popular, kept the knight in exercise, and gave
him chances of glory even in peace time. After Bannockburn
-I399-] THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES 249
and Crecy had rung the knell of the ancient fashion of fighting-
on horseback in the field, the old-fashioned tilting on horse-
back with lances was still practised in the tournament. The
tiltyard did 'much to spread the chivalry which was c^jyairy
so marked a feature of the age of Edward 111. This and the
was further kept up by the orders of knighthood, Orders of
of which Edward's Order of the Garter was the first Knighthood,
example. All knights belonged to an international brotherhood
of arms, and if their pride of caste made them often contemptuous
of the common people, it did good service in promoting kindly
feeling between kings, barons, and simple country gentlemen.
There was no royal caste in the fourteenth century, and the
country squire, who was a knight, had much in common with his
brother knight, the king or the great earl. Yet social distinctions
no longer counted for much in serious warfare. The archer won
battles more than the mail-clad knight and squire.
Unlike the man-at-arms, the bowman went to the fight
unprotected except by his steel cap and leather jerkin, and save for
his long bow of yew and his arrows, a yard long, tipped with bright
steel, his only weapons were his sword and buckler. The mobility
thus gained compensated to some extent for the lack of protection
afforded by body-armour.
18. Much that we have described was common to all Western
Christendom. Every country had its representative system of
estates, its king and barons, its lawyers, chtirclimen.
and friars. The universities knew no distinction of mopolltan
nationality, and Gothic architecture, the baronial and the
castle, the equipment of the warrior, and the brother- nat^'on^l
hood of chivalry were shared equally by every nation
with which Englishmen were brought into contact. Even the
national movement was common to most of the kingdoms of the
West, and the thirteenth century saw the growth of the French
and Spanish as well as of the English and Scottish nations. Yet
the result of the national movement was to separate one people
from another, and with the fourteentli century a sliarp line of
demarcation began to be drawn between England and her neigli-
bours. The English and French states, very similar in the days
of Edward i. and Pliilip the Fair, became quite different under
Edward hi. and the early Valois kings. The common Euglisli
of the days of the Hundred Years" War hated the French with
a liatred more deadly than was found among tlie cosmopolitan
knightly class that took the lead in the fighting against the
250 THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CEN7URIES [1216-
national enemy. In sncli circumstances, though the bilingaal
habit long clave to the upper classes in England, the result of the
process was in the long run the restoration of English to its
position before the Conquest as the everyday language of all
classes of Englishmen from king to peasant. From this flowed
the marvellous development of English, Kterature, which was one
of the great features of the age of Edward iii.
19. The thirteenth century was not a very literary age.
Though many books ivere written by Englishmen in Latin, French,
and English, few of them had any serious pretensions
rif*'°t *** liig'l^ literary rank. The grave Latin treatises
produced by the scholars of the Universities was almost
entirely destitute of any literary charm. It was a great age for
science and philosophy, and men of learning cared nothing for the
form of the matter that they produced in their books. The finest
Latin literature was that of the chroniclers, and especially of the
series of illustrious historians who made the Benedictine abbey of
St. Albans the most continuous centre of historical composition in
Britain. Of these, the best is Matthew Paris, who
ParS'^'^ wrote the history of England up to 1258. He is,
j)erhaps, the greatest historian of the Middle Ages,
having a vivid though prolix style, a bold and independent judg-
ment, an insatiable curiosity, and a sturdy English patriotism that
makes him the forerunner of the national movements of the days
of thi-ee Edwards. As the schoolmen became more powerful, even
historical literature began to decline, and the chroniclers of the
reign of Edward I. are but sorry successors to those of the days of
Henry 11. and Henry iii. Things became better under Edward iii.,
but for the most ai-tistic presentations of that famous reign, we
must go to those who wrote in French rather than in Latin.
20. Never was French more used or better written in England
than in the days of Henry iii., in which reign French words first
began to be used freely in the English language, which
literatupe since the Norman conquest had stubbornly refused
them admission. Moreover, public proclamations and
«flB.cial letters, hitherto mainly issued in Latin, are often published
in French, which by the time of the Hiindred Years' War began to
rival Latin as the international tongue of the statesmen, diploma-
tists, and lawyers. It also remained the most usual language in
which men composed the light literature of song, romance, and
chronicle, which was written to amuse the upper classes. The most
vivid description of Edward iii.'s reign was written in French by
-1 399-] THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES 2t)\
the Hainaiilt clerk, John Froissart, who spent many years at the
court of his patroness and compatriot, Queen Philippa. Froissart
had no care for accuracy, and was blind to the deeper John
movements of the time ; but in wealth of detail, in Froissart,
literary charm and colour, and in genial appreciation » 333-? 1404.
of the externals of his age, he was unsurpassed. Nowhere else can
be read so vivid a picture of the courts, battles, tournaments, and
feasts of the knights and barons of the Hundred Years' War.
21. English literature was mainly represented during the thir-
teenth centuiy by a great mass of translations and adaptations,
which showed that there was a public ready to read
vernacular books, but not at home in the French literature
language. Few continuous works of high merit were in the
as yet written in the native tongue, but much evidence thirteenth
century
of deep feeling and careful art lay hidden away in
half-forgotten and anonymous lyrics, satii-es, and romances. The
language in wliich these works were written was steadily becoming
more like our modem English. The dialectical differences became
less acute; the inflections began to drop away; the vocabulary
gradually absorbed a large romance (French and Latin) element, and
the prosody abandoned the forms of the West Saxon period for
measures that show a close connection with the con-
temporary poetry of France. With the age of uterature
Edward iir., the time of triumphant English nation- in the
ality, a really great literature in English wa.s written, fourteenth
While the Frenchman Froissart was the chief "''^'
literary figure of Edward iii.'s court in the middle period of his
reign, his place during the last few years of it was occupied by
Geoffrey Chaucer, the first real poet of the English Geoffrey
literary revival. The son of a substantial London Chaucer,
vintner, Chaucer held minor offices at cotu-t, took part ^ 1340-1400.
in the several campaigns of the Hundred Years' War, and served
in diplomatic missions to Italy, Flanders, and elsewhere. His early
poems reflected the modes and metres of the current French tradition
in an English dress. His Italian mission may have first introduced
him to the famous Italian poets — Dante. Petrarch, and Boccaccio —
whose works he admired and copied. In his Canterbury Tales, he
produced the most consummate work which any Englishman ever
wrote before the Elizabethan age. Though he waa a court poet,
writing to amuse lords and ladies, he depicted every phase of English
life witli imrivalled insight, knowledge of character, delicacy of
humour, and profound literary art.
252 THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES [1216-
22. Chaucer wrote in the tongTie of the southern Midlands, the
region wherein were situated his native London.the two Universities,
_. , the habitual residences of the court, the chief seats of
The be-
ginnings parliaments and councils, and the most frequented
of standard resorts of commerce. The later Middle English which
English. Yie used prepared the way for the Modern English of
the sixteenth centiuy. For the first time, a standard English
language, the King's English, came into being, which largely dis-
placed for literary purposes the local dialects which had hitherto
been the natural vehicles for writing. The dialect of the south,
the descendant of the tongue of the West Saxon court, became the
language of peasants and artisans. That a greater future remained
to the idiom of the north country was due to its becoming the
speech of a free Scotland, the language in which John Barbour,
archdeacon of Aberdeen, commemorated for the court of David 11.
and Robert 11. the exploits of Robert Bruce and the heroes of
the Scottish war of independence. The unity of England thus
found another notable expression in the oneness of the popular
speech, while the development of the northern dialect into the
Lowland Scottish of a separate kingdom showed that, if England were
united, English-speaking Britain remained divided against itself.
23. Froissart and Chaucer show us the bright sides of the
England of Edward iii. The social and economic troubles of the
William years of strain and stress that succeeded the Black
Langland, Death are shown in the Vision of Piers Plowman, the
1330-1400. ^ork of William Langland, a man from the March
of Wales, who spent his life mainly in London, and wrote in the
language of the city of his adoption. His vigorous and purposeful
verses set closely before us the miseries of the poor, the corruptions
of the Church, the greediness of the lords and ladies, the unrest and
discontent of the labouring classes, and the bitter indignation of
the masses against tlie old social order which found its fullest
expression in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Though written in
archaic diction and in the ancient alliterative metre, Langland.
even more than Chaucer, reflected the modernity of his age. A
John Wy- still more modern note was sounded by John Wycliffe,
cllffe, 1384, the first Englishman to lead a revolt against the
be'^inninR teachings of the mediaeval Church. Wyclift'e's early
of modern writings were in Latin, and are altogether technical
English and scholastic in their character. When, after the
prose. outbreak of the papal schism, he became an avowed
heretic, he saw that it was not enough to have doctors and thinkers
-I399-] THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES 253
on his side, but that he must make an appeal to the people of Eng-
land. Accordingly he began to employ the English tongue, and.
Yorkshireman though he was, he wrote in the southern language of
London and Oxford rather than in the dialect of his native north.
In pithy vigorous tracts and sermons, he strove to take the English
people into partnership with him in his war against the old Church.
Above all, he inspired his followers to undertake a translation of
the Bible into English, and probably carried out a part of the work
with his own hands. Wycliffe's English Bible, extensively cir-
culated by his poor priests and other Lollard teachers, became
widely read and eagerly studied. It stands to English prose as
Chaucer's poetry stands to English verse. With these works the
future of the English tongue was finally fixed, and in them the
national movement of the fourteenth century found its fullest and
completest expression.
Books recommended for the Further Stddt of the Period
1216-1399.
The first four reigns of this period are covered by Tout's History of
England, 1216-1377 (Longmans' ' Political History of England," vol. iii.), and
that of Richard ii.'s, by Oman's History of England^ 1377-1485 ("Political
History of England," vol. iv.). Stubbs' Constitutional History, vol, ii.,
exactly includes this portion of our histor}*. Ecclesiastical History may be
studied the later part of W. R. W. Stephens' History already referred lo,
and its continuation W. W. Capes' History of the English Church in the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. For particular points the following may
be consulted : G. W. Prothero's, or Charles B^mont's Simon de Montfort
(the latter in French) ; Little's Mediceval Wales ; O. M. Edwards' Wales
(" Story of the Nations") ; Tout's Edward I. (Macmillan's "Twelve English
Statesmen''); Warburton's Age of Edward III. (Longmans' " Epochs of
Modem Hi.storj'"); R. L. Poole's Wycliffe (Longmans' " Epochs of Church
History '') ; and G. M. Trevelyan's England in the Age of Wycliffe. The latter
part of Miss Bateson's Mediceval England (" Story of the Nations ") illustrates
the social history, for which also Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales,
and .G. C. Macaulay's abridgment of Froissart's Chronicle in English (Mac-
millan's "Globe Series"), may most profitably be consulted. Jusserand's
English Wayfaring Life in the Fourteenth Century (translated by Lucy T.
Smith), and the same writer's Piers Plowman, throw light on important aspects
of the time. Canningham's Growth of English Industry and Commerce : Middle
Ages, shows the industrial development of the period. G. G. Coulton's
Chancer and his England gives a lively picture of late fourteeuth century
Knglish society. Maps xviii. (Edward I,), xix. (Anglia Sacra), xxv, (Scotland
c, 1300), and xxix. (Early Ireland) in Oxford Historical Atlas.
254 THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES [1399.
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BOOK IV
LANCASTER AND YORK (1399-1485)
CHAPTER I
HENRY IV. (1399-1413)
Chief Dates :
1599. Accession of Henry iv.
1400. Revolt of Owen Glendowen
1401. Statute de heretico comburetido.
1403. Battle of Shrewsbury.
1408. Battle of Brainham Moor.
1413. Death of Henry iv.
1. The Lanc&strian revolution of 1399 marks the end of the
period which had opened with the granting of Magna Carta and
the beginnings of the parliamentary system. That time had seen
the growth of our system of limited monarchy and parliamentary
control, and strong kings like Edward iii. had sought to evade
i*ather than deny tlieir constitutional restrictions. Alone of the
fourteenth-century kings, Richard 11. had striven to break down
the constitution and make himself a despot. On liis utter failure,
the tlirone passed to the man whose previou-s career and ancestry
alike compelled him to accept the constitution and rule England
as a limited monarch. With Henry iv.'s succession, __ ^
,, ,.-,., .,. , , . , , - TheCon-
the constitutional opposition, whose claims Jiad so of ted stiiutional
been upheld by the House of Lancaster, mounted the Revolution
throne. No one could be deceived either by Henry's
pretence to inherit the throne from Henry ni. or by his claim to
possess it by right of conquest. The son of Jolin of Gaunt was
not even the nearest heir to Richard by blood, and the deposed
king liad acknowledged the earl of March, tlie grandson of Lionel of
Clarence, as presumptive successor to the crown. But the growth
o£ the parliamentary system had made the hereditary element less
ass
256 HENRY IV. [1399-
important than ever. Henry owed his throne to the choice of par-
liament, which saluted in him the avenger of the Lords Appellant,
and expected him to rule after a constitutional fashion. The first
result of the r^olution, then, was to secure the triumph of the
constitutional cause. Henry iv.'s parliaments forced him to redress
their grievances before they would grant him supplies, and under
him the House of Commons secured for aU time the exclusive right
of initiating taxation. On more than one occasion the Commons
forced him to nominate his council in parliament. If this custom
had become permanent, his reign would have anticipated the modern
system of cabinet government, by which the ministers, formally
chosen by the king, are reaUy subject to the approval of parliament.
Moreover, not only Henry iv., but his son and grandson also ruled
after this constitutional fashion. Under the Lancastrian kings the
parliament attained the greatest power that it ever secured before
quite modern times.
2. Richard 11. had been careless of the Church as well as
neglectful of the constitution. Under him LoUardy grew, though
The ecele ^® ^^^ ^^ Lollard ; and he was bitterly opposed
siastical to the orthodox constitutional prelates, whose in-
reaction fluence had so long been thrown into the side of the
of 1399. opposition. With Henry of Lancaster archbishop
Arundel came back to England, and was restored to the throne of
Canterbury. He was the strongest of the conservative prelates of
his time, and soon made his influence felt against heretics and
enemies of the Church. Moreover, Henry iv., a crusader in his
youth, was the most devout and orthodox of kings. The result
was that the Lancastrian revolution was as much an orthodox
reaction from the lax and anti- clerical spirit that had prevailed at
Richard's court, as it was a constitutional reaction from the late
king's despotic ways. The change which secured the rights of
parliament brought about the decline and fall of Lollardy. In 1401
Archbishop Arundel carried through parliament a statute for the
burning of heretics {de heretico comhurendo), by which persons con-
demned in the Church courts for false teaching were handed over to
the sheriff of the county to be burnt alive. The first victim of the
new policy was a Lollard priest named Sawtre. Before the king
died, Lollardy had produced many martyrs ; and Wyclilf e's teaching
was not firmly enough rooted to endure the fires of persecution.
3. It was easier for Henry iv. to win the throne than to keep
it. All through liis reign he was beset by troubles on every side.
The encroachments of his parliaments and the resistance of the
-I402.] HENRY IV. 2$y
Lollards were not the worst of his difficulties. He had to face
a constant series of conspiracies and revolts at home, the persistent
hostility of the chief foreign powers, and the unending „ .^ ,
jealousies of rival court factions. Though he had character
stooped to acts of treachery and violence, he was on and
the whole a high-minded and well-meaning man, and <ilfflculties.
the death of Richard sat heavily upon his conscience. Though in
the end he overcame his worst troubles, he wore himself out in the
struggle.
4. After the accession of the new king, parliament reversed the
acts of the Parliament of 1397, and Richard's friends were deprived
of their new titles and estates. In disgust at this, the
partisans of the late king formed a plot against his tJigh- j,^ tj
successor. Their plan was to meet at Windsor on
Twelfth Night, 1400, on pretence of holding a tournament. Then
they were to seize the king and put him to death, and restore
Richard to the throne. The design was betrayed, and the chief con-
spirators fled to Cirencester, where the townsfolk forced them to
surrender. The only important result of the conspiracy was that
it taught Henry the danger of allowing Richard to remain alive.
A short time after its failure it. was announced that Richard was
dead at Pontefract.
5. Serious trouble soon broke out in Wales, where Richard's
party was still strong; and where the tradition of national inde-
pendence still lingered. Difficulties began in a dis-
pute between the Marcher baron. Lord Grey of Ruthin, Qi^n^ower
and a neighbouring Welsh landlord, Owen ap Griffith.
lord of Glyndyvrdwy, on the upper Dee, commonly called Owen
of Glendower. Grey had taken possession of certain lands which
Owen claimed, and Owen, being refused all redress by the English
law courts, recovered the districts by force of arms. His private
war against Grey soon grew into a formidable rebellion. Before
long Owen as.sumed the title of Prince of Wales, and set vigorously
to work to restore the independence of his country. Every part of
Wales rallied round him. Many of the castles of the king and his
Marcher lords fell into his hands, and two expeditions led by
Henry in person against him proved utter failures. At la.st, in
1402, he occupied Rutlun, and took Grey, his enemy, prisoner into
Snowdon. A few months later he defeated Sir Edmund Mortimer,
a grandson of Lionel of Clarence, and uncle of Edmund, earl of
March, at Pilleth, near Radnor, and also took him prisoner. A
third royal expedition to Wales was as unsuccessful as the two
s
258 HENRY IV. I1403-
previous ones. On Henry's retirement, Mortimer made peace
with Owen, and married his daughter. It was now given out that
the object of the allies was to restore King Richard if he were
alive, and, if not, to procure the accession of the earl of March,
under whom Owen was to reign as prince of Wales. This union of
the Welsh and the Mortimers threatened alike the English power
in Wales and Henry's position in England.
6. Henry iv. was the less able to grapple with the Welsh revolt
since foreign powers regarded him with great hostility. The
Revolt of French long refused to recognize him as king, and
the Percies, there were fierce disputes about the return of Queen
1403. Isabella, Richard's widow, to France. The Scots were
equally hostile, and in 1402 invaded England, but were defeated by
Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, at Humbleton, where many
Scottish lords were taken prisoners. Northumberland and the
Percies had materially helped to gain Hemy his tlu-one, but they
were discontented that the king allowed them less power than
they had hoped, and threw a large share of the trouble and expense
of fighting the Scotch and Welsh on to their hands. Northumber-
land's son, Henry Percy, called Hotspur, by reason of his rash
valour, was the brother-in-law of Edmund Mortimer, and was
induced by him to make common cause with the Welsh. At last,
in 1403, the Percies made peace with the Scots, rose suddenly
against the king, and marched from the north to join the Welsh
and the Mortimers. Henry resolved to crush the rebellion before
the Welsh and Percies united their forces, and was helped in this
by Grlendower rashly choosing this moment to extend his power
into South Wales. When Hotspur approached Shrewsbury on his
way to join Owen, he found that the Welsh were far away, and
that the border city was occupied by the king with a strong force.
On July 21, the battle of Shrewsbury was fought at Berwick, three
miles to the north of the town, on a site since marked by the
church of Battlefield, erected by Henry in commemoration of the
victory which he won. Hotspur was slain, his uncle, the eaid of
Worcester, and his ally, the Scotch earl of Douglas, were taken
prisoners. A few weeks later Northumberland, who had remained
in his Yorkshire estates, made his submission. For the moment
the English rebellion seemed suppressed.
7. Owen Glendower stUl remained in arms. A fourth expedi-
tion of Henry proved as unsuccessful as the rest. Owen now made
an alliance with the French, and a French fleet came to Carmarthen
Bay to help him. He summoned a Welsh parliament, and
-i4o8.] HENRY IV. 259
transferred his obedience from the Roman pope acknowledged in
England, to the Avignon pope recognized by the French. In
1405 his cause was helped by a second revolt of Qradual
Northumberland. Thereupon Owen, Mortimer, and collapse
Northumberland made a treaty by which they divided o^ ^^i®
England into three parts, of which each confederate ^ ^ "*^'
took one as his share. Meanwhile Henry's troops put down
Northumberland's rising at Shiptan Moor, in Yorkshire. North-
umberland escaped, but Archbishop Scrope of York, who had
joined liim, was taken prisoner and executed, with complete dis-
regard to the immunity of the Church from secular jurisdiction.
Northumberland fled to Scotland, but in 1408 he once more
appeared in the north, and again rallied a force round him. He
was again defeated, at Bramham Moor, in Yorkshire, and perished
in the conflict. After his death Henry had no more trouble with
his English enemies. Even Owen Glendower grad\ially began to
lose ground. The king's son, Henry, prince of Wales, bit by bit
conquered all southern and central Wales. However, Owen held
out manfully in the north, and was still in arms at Henry iv.'s death.
He was no longer a prince, but a fugitive in the mountains. In
the days of his prosperity he had shown wonderful courage and
.skill both in fighting the English and in building up his new
principality. He now showed even more rare gifts in bravely
coping with adversity. It was no wonder that he became the
great hero of his countrymen. Wales was, however, once more in
English hands, and stem laws kept its people in subjection.
8. As Henry's domestic difficulties decreased, he gradually
became able to take up a firmer position abroad. In 1406 a
piece of good luck saved him from further difficulties
with the Scots. In that year James, the son of njid^an'ce
Robert iii., king of Scots, was captured by English
sailors off Flamborough Head, as he was on his way to be edu-
catetl at the French court. Within a few months his father's
death made Henry's captive king James i. He remained for
nineteen years a prisoner in England, where his presence was
H guarantee that the Scots could not inflict much harm on
England. Henry was equally lucky in his dealings with France,
when king Charles vi., Richard 11. 's father-in-law, went mad and
was quite unable to restrain the tierce faction tights that now
broke out between the two parties of the Bun/midiaitg and the
Annagnaca. The former faction was beaded by tlu> king's cousin,
John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy and count of Flanders, who
26o HENRY IV. [1406-
was not only th.e mightiest noble in France but also aspired to the
position of an independent prince. The rival party of the
Armagnacs was led by the count of Armagnac, one of the greatest
of the feudal lords of the south. The disputes between them soon
reduced France to such a low condition that Henry had nothing
more to fear from her hostility. Towards the end of his reign he
was able to revenge himseK for the French help given to Grlen-
dower by sending expeditions to France. These forces at one time
helped the Armagnacs, at another the Burgundiaus, and thus
increased the confusion in that country,
9. Thus, after long struggles, Henry iv. established himself
securely in his throne. But he wore himseK out in the conflict,
and after 1406 was a broken-down invalid. His un-
forts and fitness to govern gave opportunity for court factions
the prince to revive and struggle for power. Archbishop Arundel,
of Wales. ^jj^Q j^j^^ long been Henry's chief minister, represented
the traditions of the Lords Appellant and the old constitutional
party. He found bitter enemies in the Beauf orts, the haK-brothers
of the king. The Beauforts were the sons of John of Gaunt by
Catharine Swynford, who became the duke's third wife after their
birth. This marriage gave an excuse for Richard 11. legitimatizing
Catharine's children, but Henry iv., when he confirmed this act,
provided that they should not be regarded as competent to succeed
to the throne. The eldest of the brothers, John, became earl of
Somerset, while Henry became bishop of Winchester, and Thomas,
the third, succeeded Arundel as chancellor in 1410. The Beauforts
upheld the tradition of the courtiers with whom John of Graunt
had himself so long been associated. They had a powerful ally in
Henry, prince of Wales, a high-spirited and able young man,
who, when very young, had won much credit by the share he took
in putting down the Welsh rising, but had caused some scandal by
his wild and injudicious ptirsuit of amusement during his scanty
leisure. The prince was ambitious, and showed an eager desire to
profit by his father's iUness to get power into his own hands.
Against him and the Beauforts Arundel strove to uphold the per-
sonal authority of the sick king. The archbishop's dismissal and his
replacement by Sir Thomas Beaufort was the work of the prince. It
Death of "^^^ believed that the prince wished to procure his
Henry IV., father's abdication, and the king was bitterly wounded
^'*^^- by his son's conduct. Recovering his health somewhat,
Henry restored Arundel to the chancellorship. Soon afterwards he
grew worse again, and died in 1413, when only forty-six years of age.
-I4I3-
HENRY IV.
261
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22 a
CHAPTER II
HENRY V. (1413-1422)
Chief Dates :
1413. Accession of Henry v
1414. Oldcastle's Rising.
1415. Battle of Agincourt.
1417. End of the Papal Schism.
1419. Conquest of Rouen.
1420. Treaty of Troj'es.
1422. Death of Henry v.
1. Henry v. was crowned king on Palm Sunday, 1413. " As soon
as he was crowned," wrote a chronicler, " suddenly he was
Early changed into a new man, and all his intention was to
measures of live virtuously." He had not shown much good
Henry V. feeling in his relations to his father, but he was now
eager to set his past aside, and to rule wisely as the chosen king of
the whole nation. He strove to bury the old feuds by releasing his
rival, the earl of March, from prison, and by erecting a sumptuous
monument over the remains of Richard 11. in Westminster Abbey.
In his anxiety to put a complete end to the Welsh revolt, he offered
to pardon all the Welsh in arms against him, including Owen
Grlendower himself. This prudent policy proved completely suc-
cessful. Owen scorned to accept pardon from his supplanter, and
remained unconquered among the mountains. His followers,
however, made their submission, and, on the chieftain's death soon
afterwards, the Welsh troubles were completely ended.
2. The only thing which Henry did that showed any spii-it of
revenge was his removal of Archbishop Anindel from the chancery.
Henry Beaufort became chancellor in the archbishop's
Oldcastle , '' , •jxi. i-- -l- £ j •
and the place, and remained the new king s chief adviser.
Lollard Henry, however, continued to work cordially with
rising, Arundel, especially when the archbishop attacked the
LoUards. The most powerful supporter of the
LoUards was Sir John Oldcastle, a knight from the Welsh Marcli,
who had become Lord Cobham by his marriage with a Kentish
heiress. He was an old friend of the king, and had fought under
him in several campaigns, but Henry's fierce orthodoxy made him
262
1 4 14] HENRY F. 263
rejrardless of x)ersonal ties when he had to deal Tvith heretics.
Oldcastle was arrested, and convicted of heresy before Archbishop
ArundeL Soon after his condemnation Oldcastle escaped from the
Tower, and neither king- nor archbishop could find out his hiding-
place. The Lollards had long" suffered severely from persecution,
and in the fall of their leader their last hopes seemed to have
vanished. In their despair they formed a plot to capture the king
at Eltham. while a Lollard mob mustered in St. GUes' Fields,
to the west of London, and sought to divert attention from the
attack on Henry by an assault on the city. Henry's promptitude
easily frustrated the conspiracy. He left Eltham for London, and
sliut himself with an armed force within the capitaL Next mom-
ing, January 12, 1414, he surrounded the LoUard gathering at St.
GUes' Fields, and easily frustrated their designs. Oldcastle fled to
the March of Wales, where he lay hiding till 1417, when he was
captured, taken to London, and hung as a traitor. With his execu-
tion LoUardy almost disappeared from history. Though the Lollard
leaders had shown great constancy in persecution, they were too
few in numbers and held too extreme views to have much influence
over the nation at large. Within a generation the LoUards were
almost extinct. Thus the orthodoxy of the Lancastrian kings
secured a complete triumph.
3. Henry v. was above all things a soldier, and liis chief anxiety
was to revive the foreign policy of Edward iii. He had good
reason to resent the hostility of France to the House p- ew 1 f
of Lanca.ster, and the deplorable state of anarchy into the claim to
which France had now fallen offered him a temptation, the French
which he made no effort to resist, to profit by French throne,
misfortunes. His first parliament agreed with him that he
slioidd renew Edward iii.'s claim to the French throne, though,
even if Edward 111. 's title to France had been a just one, the heir
of it was not the king, but the earl of March. Parliament made
Henry a liberal grant of money to enable him to enforce liis claim.
Besides this, it passed an act whereby the alien priones — that is,
the small mona-steries of foreign monks established on the English
estates of French houses of religion — should be suppressed, lest the
foreign inmates should send English money out of the country to be
employed in making war against England. This law is worth
remembering, because it marks the first occasion on which parlia-
ment ventured to suppress religious houses and lay hands upon the
property of the Church. Orthodox as were Henry and his jtarlia-
ment, they hud no great love of extreme ecclesiastical pretensions.
264
HENRY V.
[1415.
4 In the summer of 1415, Henry went down to Soutliampton
to embark with his army to France. His departure was delayed
The flpst "^^ ^^® news that his cousin Richard, earl of Cam-
expedition bridge, the son of Edmund, duke of York, had joined
to France, a plot to deprive the king of his throne, in favour of
Edmund, earl of March, whose sister, Anne, he had
married. Earl Edmund, however, repaid Heiu'y's generosity by
refusing to join the conspirators, and repeating all that he knew to
the king. Cambridge was arrested, and condemned to immediate
execution, and March himself sat among his brother-in-law's
Southampton
THE AGINCOUKT CAMPAIGN.
judges. Immediately afterwards the king and his troops crossed
over to France, landing at the mouth of the Seine.
5. In France, Henry's iirst step was to besiege Harfleur, a town
which was then the chief port on the north bank of the estuary.
Harfleur made a heroic resistance, and the English
Hapfleu^ ° suffered greatly from sickness during the long siege.
When, late in September, the place at last surrendered,
Henry's army was so much weakened that aU he could do was to
march northwards to Calais, by as direct a road as lay open to him.
He proceeded along the Norman coast as far as the Lower Somme,
where he reached the ford of Blanchetaque, which Edward iii. had
crossed in 1346. There, however, he found that the French held
1415.] HENRY V. 265
the bank with, such force that it was dangerous to attempt the
passage. Accordingly, he marched past Abbeville and Amiens,
up the left bank of the Somme, which he at last succeeded in
crossing a little higher up than Peronne. Hei'e he again resumed
his northward progress, which was uninterrupted until he had safely
crossed the Ternoise at Blangy, between Saint-Pol and Hesdin.
Once over the river, he climbed up through naiTOw and deep-sunk
lanes to the plateau which lies north of the stream, and took up
his quarters at the village of Maisoncelles. There he jwrceived
that his further movements was blocked by a great French army,
which held the flat upland immediately to his north, between
the villages of Tramecourt and Agincoiirt, now called Azincourt,
whose hedges and enclosures formed natural limits to the battle
ground to the oast and west.
6. The war-worn English army had now the alternative of
retreating, or of cutting its way through the superior forces of the
enemy. Henry at once resolved to engage in battle, and fhe battle
his soldier's eye saw at once that the narrow plateau on of Agin-
which the French had elected to fight did not give court,
them room enough to employ their superior numbers to advantage.
By the morning of October 25, his troops were ready to fight a
defensive battle after the accustomed fashion. Archers and men-
at-arms were alike dismotmted, and the former, placed on the wings
of each of the three divisions of the army, provided themselves with
stakes to form a palisade to protect them from the French charge.
For gome time they waited, hoping that the enemy would attack,
but instead of this the French withdrew somewhat to the north.
Thereupon Henry ordered the English to advance, and take up a new
position between Agincourt and Tramecourt, within bowshot of
the foe. This act of daring stin-ed up the French to make their
long-deferred attack. The bulk of their army was also dismounted,
but cavalry forces occupied each wing, and these, galled by the
English arrows, advanced, in the hope of riding down the English
archers. Protected by their palisades, the English bowmen made
light of the assault, and soon the French horsemen were retreating
in confusion. By tliis time the French men-at-arms had drawn near
to the English centre. The soft ground was muddy from recent
rain, and the heavily armoured French. a.ssailed by the archers on
their flanks, found their action much impeded. Seeing that the
enemy's forward movement was checked, the arcliers, flushed with
victory, abandoned the palisades, and fell on the French with
sword, axe, and maUet in flank and rear. Before long the whole
266
HENRY V,
C1415-
Frencli army was thrown into hopeless confusion, and the English,
with slight loss, won an overwhelming victory. Next day, the
conquerors renewed their march for Calais, and, within a few
weeks, Henry marched in triumph through London.
The dotted lines mark the hedges enclosing the villages •
7. Agincourt won for Henry as great a position va. Europe as
ever Edward iii. had enjoyed. One good result that flowed from
The Council ^^^ ^*^' ^^^-^ Henry was able to use his influence to
put an end to the deplorable schism in the papacy,
which, since 1378, had scandalized aU Europe. The
Emperor Sigismund was very anxious to restore unity
to the Church, but the first efforts to promote it had
had the unfortunate result that a third pope was elected
while the other two popes stUl remained in office. Sigismund visited
England, where Henry gave him a royal welcome. Thanks largely
to their efforts, a General Council of the Church met at Constance.
At first, it seemed likely that the enmity of France and England
would make peace hopeless among the assembled councUlors ; but
at last the union of the English and Germans resulted in the
deposition of all three popes, and the appointment of Martin \., a
new pope whom all Europe recognized. The council also tried to
of Con-
stance, and
the end of
the Schism
in the
Papacy.
-I420.] HENRY V. 26/
remedy the abuses of the Church. In this it was not very
successful; but it burnt John Huss, a professor of the univer-
sity of PragTie, in Bohemia, who had studied Wycliffe's writing*,
and had striven to establish in his own land the views that the
Lollards had upheld in England. Thus the teaching of WyclifEe
was condemned on the Continent as well as in England. The
Hussites, though they made a brave fight, were put down like the
Lollards, and the orthodox party ti-iumphed everywhere.
8. The battle of Agincourt had not resulted in the capture of a
single castle, and from 1415 to 1417 all the lands held by the
English in northern France were Calais and Hai-fleur. jj^g ^.q^.
Harfleur itself, which Henry wished to make a second quest of
Calais, was in some danger. However, in 1417, Henry Normandy,
. . 1417-19.
led a second expedition into France, with which he set
to work to effect the conquest of Normandy. He met with fierce
resistance at every step, but persevered with such energy, that, by
1419, nearly the whole of the duchy was in Ids hands. The last
place of importance that resisted him was Rouen, which surrendered
early in 1419, after a long and famous siege, which tried the skill and
endurance of Henry's soldiers far more than the fight at Agincourt.
9. Burgundians and Armagnacs continued their feuds even
when the enemy was conquering their native country, and it was
not until all Normandy was in English hands that the -^^ treaty
two factions made an effort to unite against the ofTroyes,
invader. At last, however, it was arranged that **20.
Charles, dauphin of Vienne, the mad king's eldest son. who
now led the Armagnacs, should hold a conference with Duke
John of Burgundy, at Montereau on the Yonne. The meeting took
place on the bridge, and was signalized by the ti*eacherous murder
of the duke by the Armagnacs. A great wave of feeling now
turned all northern France from the bloodthirsty Armagnacs.
Philip the Good. Duke John's son and successor, at once made a
treaty of alliance with the English. Paris, where Bm-gundian
feeling was very strong, gladly followed his lead, and in 142(> the
treaty of Troyen was signed between Henry and his French allies,
by which the foreign invader assumed the new character of the
partisan of the Burgundian faction. By it, Heniy was to marry
Catharine, tlie daughter of the mad King Charles vi., and to govern
France, as regent, for the rest of his father-in-law's life. On
Charles's death, Henry and his heirs were to succeed to the
French throne, it l)eing only stipulat<>d that France should still be
ruled by French laws and by French councillors. So bitter waa
268 HENRY V. [142 1-
the feeling against the dauphin, that a large number of Frenchmen,
and most Parisians, gladly welcomed the victor of Aginconrt as
their ruler. English arms had won Henry only one glorious victory
and one province. The Burgundian alliance now opened up the
prospect of his ruling over all Fi-ance.
10. The treaty of Troyes was largely accepted in the north.
However, south of the Loire, where Armagnac feeling predomi-
The battle nated, Charles the Dauphin was stUl recognized, and
of Baug6, Henry's pretensions were rejected. While Henry re-
^'*^^' turned to England with his new queen, his brother
Thomas, duke of Clarence, strove to extend the sphere of Ang'lo-
Burgundian influence in Central France. In 1421 Clarence Avas
defeated and slain, at Bauge, by a force of French and Scots.
11. It was clear that much fighting would take place before
the treaty of Troyes could be carried out. Henry at once led
a third expedition into France, taking with him the
pedition captive king of Scots in the hope that the Scots
and death of wotdd hesitate to fight against their own sovereign.
?499^ ^" Henry was welcomed by the Parisians as their futui-e
king, and had made some progress with his difficult
task, when he was carried off by disease, at Vincennes, in August,
1422, when only thirty-five years of age, and before disaster had
checked his wonderful career of conquest. He was one of the
greatest of our kings, an admirable soldier, an able general, a
wise and conciliatory statesman, and a highminded, honourable
gentleman. He was strict, austere, grave, and cold. His inten-
tions were good, but he wanted insight, sympathy, and imagination.
He found it easy to persuade himseK that whatever he wished to
do was right. Thus he was profoundly convinced that his pursuit
of power and glory flowed altogether from his conviction of the
lawfulness of his claims to the French crown. He was, however,
wonderfully efficient in carrying out anything that he ujidertook.
Though he could be cruel to those who stood across liis path, he
was, for the most part, a lover of justice, a kind master, merciful
to defeated foes, and careful of the comfort and well-being of his
soldiers and subjects. His piety was sincere, but showed an un-
lovely side in his harshness to the Lollards. He was the only strong
and popular king of the house of Lancaster, and Englishmen
trusted him so entirely that he could afford to play the pai-t of
a constitutional ruler, since his parliaments always gave him all
that he asked for. His glory, undimmed during his life, shone
with even brighter lustre through the disasters of the next reign.
■1422.3
HENRY V.
269
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CHAPTER III
HENRY VI. (1422-1461)
Chief Dates:
1422. Accession of Henry vi.
1429. Belief of Orleans.
1431. Death of Joan of Arc.
1435. Congress of Arras.
1444. Truce of Tours.
1447. Deaths of Gloucester and Henry Beaufort.
1450. Revolt of Cade.
1453. Battle of Castillon.
1455. Battle of St. Albans.
1460. York claims the throne ; battle of Wakefield.
1461. Deposition of Henrj- vi.
1. On Henry v.'s death, liis only son, a baby nine months old,
succeeded him as Henry vi. A few weeks later the little king's
grandfather, Charles vi., died also. Henry was thereupon proclaimed
Regency of ^^S of France as well as England. It was hard
Bedford enough, under any circumstances, to carry out the
established, conditions of the treaty of Troyes, and this policy had
now to be executed under tlie special dijficulties of a
long minority in both realms. The English parliament made
Henry's elder uncle, John, duke of Bedford, protector of Eng-
land, and the king's chief councillor ; but as John also became
regent of France, it was provided that, in his absence, his younger
brother, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, should hold his English
oflB.ce. In reality, the royal power was put into the hands of the
councU, of which Grloucester was little more than the president.
2. Bedford was a true brother of Henry v., and showed rare
skill, devotion, and magnanimity in carrying out the hopeless
task which lay before him. He was wise enough to
work in see that the only chance of making his nephew king
France, of France lay in close alliance with Philip the Good
1422-1428. g^jj^ ^j^g Burgundian party. He showed such loyalty
to his allies that, in Paris and all other districts of northern
270
1426.] HENRY VI. 2/1
France where the Burgundians were influential, his nephew was
accepted as king' without difficulty. He further strengthened his
position by an alliance with the duke of Brittany, who, after
Burgundy, was the most powerful of the great French feudatories.
Ail his exertions could not, however, prevent the proclamation of
the dauphin as Charles vii. in central and southern France ; and,
south of the Loire, the only district that acknowledged Henry as
king was the scanty remnant of the English duchy of Aquitaine.
Charles vii. was, however, hated for his share in the tragedy
at Montereau; and his self-indulgent, lazy, and unenterprising-
(character made him ill-iitted to play the part of a patriot king.
His enemies called him, in derision, the " king of Bourges,*' and
he seldom went far from the region of the middle Loire, where
his best friends were to be found. Bedford and Burgrmdy
now sought to extend their power. In 1423 they defeated the
Armagnacs at Cravant, near Auxerre, in Burgundy, and in 1424
won another brilliant victory at Verneuil, in upper Normandy.
As the Scots continued to give much help to the French, Bedford
released the captive James i., married him to Jane Beaufort, the
daughter of the earl of Somerset, and sent him back to Scotland
as the ally of the English. Bedford's prudent policy was, how-
ever, sorely hampered by the folly of his brother Gloucester, who
made himself the rival of Burgundy by marrying Jacqueline of
Bavaria, a claimant to the county of Hainault, over which Duke
Philip also had pretensions. The Anglo-Burgomdian alliance
seemed on the verge of dissolution, when Duke Humphrey invaded
Hainault, and waged open war against Duke Pliilip. However,
in 1426, Bedford managed to patch up peace between them, but
it was long before the old cordiality between England and Bur-
irniidy was restored. The natural result of this was that the
cause of King Henry made slow progress in France. Though
Bedford and Burgundy could win battles, they were not strong
enough to govern the country which they conquered. Northern
France fell into a deplorable condition of weakness and confusion.
Things were even worse in the regions which acknowledged
Charles vii. The increasing weakness of the rival factions
threatened all the land with the prospect of long years of anarchy.
3. In England, Duke Humphrey gave almost as much trouble to
Be<lford as in the Netherlands. He was a showy, vain-glorious,
.self-seeking man, who made constant efforts to win iwpularity.
His only good point, however, was his love of letters and patronage
of learned men. He was an incompetent politician, and under
272 HENRY VI. [1422-
his presidency the council was rent asunder by the disputes
of rival factions. Gloucester posed as the leader of the popular
Gloueestep P^^ty' while his uncle, Henry Beaufort, bishop of
asProtectop Winchester, carried on the traditions of the court
of England, politicians with which the Beauforts had been identified
since the reign of Henry iv. Beaufort was a wiser
statesman than his nephew, and had more influence in the council ;
while Grioucester was popular with the commons, who called him,
with little reason, the Good Duke Humphrey. The disputes between
the two rivals destroyed the efPectiveness of the council, and
weakened the government of the country. More than once Bedford
was forced to abandon his work in France, and betake himself to
England to reconcile his brother and his uncle. He never succeeded
in establishing real cordiality between them. When the pope made
Beaufort a cardinal, Grioucester demanded that he should be driven
from the council, since, as cardinal, he was the natural counsellor
of the pope, and had, therefore, no place among the advisers of an
English king. So troublesome did Grioucester remain, that, in
1429, it was thought wise to ci'own the little king. Henry was only
seven, but, after this ceremony, it was imagined that he was com-
petent to rule on his own account. Gloucester ceased to be pro-
tector, and power fell more and more into the hands of Beaufort.
His rival, however, was stiU strong enough to put grievous obstacles
in the way of effective government.
4. The restoration of the Anglo-Burgundian alliance, and the
diminution of Gloucester's influence in England, enabled Bedford
Tte sieg3 ^^ undertake fresh steps for the extension of his power
of Orleans, in France. He now resolved to attempt the conquest
1428. q£ ^Jjq jg£^ bank of the Loire, where Charles's power
chiefly centred. As a preliminary to this he began, in 1428, to
besiege Orleans. Tliis town, which is situated on the right bank
of the Loire, commanded one of the few bridges that then spanned
the rapid river. It was the natural gate of the south, and its
reduction would have been a deadly blow to the fortunes of the
king of Bourges. Charles, however, was quite unable to give any
help to the hard-pressed garrison, and it looked as if Orleans would
soon be forced to surrender to the Anglo-Burgundian alliance.
5. At this moment of extreme depression in the fortunes of
France, there occurred one of the most wonderful things in
aU history. One day there came to King Charles's court at Chinon
a simple country girl, named Jeanne D'arc, or, as the English
called her, Joan of Arc. She was a native of Domremi, a
-1 429- J HENRY VI. 2/3
village on the banks of the Mense, on the borders of Champagne
and Lorraine, and at the eastern extremity of the French king-
dom. While tending her father's sheep in the fields, xhg mission
she had long pondered over the evils which the war of Joan
had brought upon Prance. At last, as she firmly o^^rc.
believed, God revealed Himself to her in visions, and bade her
undertake the work of saving France from the foreigners, and
restoring the blessings of peace. When first she told of her revela-
tions every one mocked at her, but soon her faith won over many
to believe in her mission. She was despatched right through the
enemy's country, from Domr^mi to the king's court at Chinon.
'• The King of heaven," said she to Charles, " bids me to tell you
tliat you shall be anointed and crowned in the church of Reims,
and that you shall be the deputy of the King of heaven, who is also
King of France." Charles vii. had little belief in her words, but
affairs were now so desperate that he let her do what she would.
She donned armoui* like a man, and rode on a horse at
the head of the garrison despatched to relieve the force j Orleans
at Orleans. At the end of April, 1429, Joan fought
her way into Orleans, where her presence fiUed the discouraged
soldiers ivith renewed hope. On May 7 she led an attack on the
Tourelles — the strongest of the forts which the English had
erected to shut in the beleaguered city. The Tourelles were taken,
and. next day, the English abandoned the siege, and withdrew to
the north of the Loire. A few weeks later Joan won
a pitched battle over the English in the open field patay.
at Patay. These successes broke the long tide of
disaster, and the courage and faith of Joan again made Frenchmen
have confidence in themselves and their country.
6. Joan now bade the English quit France and recognize
Charles as king. She fulfilled her promise by conducting Charles
through the heart of the enemy's country to Reims, corona-
where she stood by while he was crowned and anointed tlon of
king. Charles's position in the north was stiU so weak Charles
that he was forced to retreat beyond the Loire immediately after
the ceremony. Yet from this moment his position in France was
changed. Up to now he had been the discredited leader of a
faction ; henceforth he was the divinely appointed monarch, with
an indefeasible claim to the obedience of all Frenclimen. French
patriotic feeling, long suspended through the baleful effeotg of
party strife, once more asserted itself in response to tlie teaching of
the m^id of Orleans.
T
274
HENRY VI.
I1429-
Bmery IVaCkcr.sc.
Burgundiof)
1 \ English Territory !■ French
[iSj^Territory other than English, French or Buraundian
A Battlefields
FIt,VXCE IN 1429.
-I43»] HENRY VI. 2^$
7. The first stage of Joan's work had now been accomplished ;
but she did not regard her mission as completed until she had
driven the English out of France. She therefore stUl Martyrdom
remained with the army, and made desperate efforts to of Joan of
win over the north to the patriotic cause. Victory, ^^'^' 1*31.
however, had made her over-confident. Her merit lay in her faith
and inspiration. Now that, owing to her success, soldiers sought
her advice on problems of generalship, she naturally made bad
mistakes. She failed completely in an attack on Paris, and rashly
threw herseK into Compiegne, a place which, stirred up by her
patriotic influence, had tlirown ofE the Burgundian yoke and was
now besieged by Duke Philip. On May 23, 1430, she fell into the
hands of the enemy as she was returning from an unsuccessful
sally on the defenders. After a long imprisonment, Joan was
condemned, by a French ecclesiastical court, as a witch, and in
1431 was burned to death at Rouen. She had done such great
deeds that English and French alike believed that there was some-
thing supernatural about her. But while French patriots wei-e
convinced that she was a maid sent from God, the English and
Burgundians professed that she was inspired by the devil. She
died so bravely that the more thoughtful of her English foes were
convinced of her nobility of purpose. •' We are undone," said they,
" for this maid whom we have burned is a saint indeed."
8. The work of the maid of Orleans outlasted her martyrdom.
The whole French people was now on the side of _ .
Charles, and even the Burgundians who had done Joan of Henry VI.
to death began to feel that their true position was that at Paris,
of traitors in league with the national enemy. In *'"'•
the face of ever-increasing difficulties, Bedford struggled nobly
to uphold the English power. As if to answer the hallowing of
Charles at Bairns, he brought King Henry to France, and sought
to have him also crowned at the accustomed crowning-place. But
the patriotic party was now so strong in Champagne that access
to Reims was impossible, and, after long delays, Bedford was
forced to be content with his nephew's coronation in the cathedral
of Paris. An English bishop, Henry of Winchester, performed the
ceremony, and even the faithful Parisians grew discontented at the
prominence given to the young king's English councillors.
9. The personal relations between Bedford and Burgundy now
became strained. The deatli of Bedford's wife, who was Duke
Philip's sister, broke the closest tie between them, and Beilford
soon committed his one imprudence, that of marrying Jacquetta of
2/6 HENRY VI. [1435-
Luxembui-g, a vassal of Philip, without the duke's knowledge or
permission. From that moment the English power in Fi-ance
rapidly declined. The end came the quicker since
Arras and ^^® intrigues of Duke Humphrey once more forced
death of Bedford to revisit England. When he went back to
Bedford, France he found that, outside Normandy and the
neighbourhood of Paris, the English power was
almost at an end. Duke Philip, now anxious to break with his
English allies, summoned, in 1435, a general European Congress
to meet at Arras, in the hope of making peace. There the English
were offered the whole of Normandy and a large extension of their
Gascon duchy if they would conclude peace and renounce their king's
claim to France. With great unwisdom, Bedford refused these
terms. He withdrew from the congress, and died soon after.
Burgundy then made peace with Charles, and, in 1436, Paris opened
its gates to the national king.
10. The war stiU Lingered on for many years. Though success
was hopeless, the English stiU struggled bravely, and the French
Th eaee '^ei'e still so weak that their progress was compara-
and war tively slow. Henry vi. was now reaching man's
parties in estate. He was virtuous, intelligent, religious, and
England. humble, but he was not strong enough, either in mind
or body, to rule England effectively. The factioTXS strife in his
council went on as much as ever, and the parties of Grloucester and
Cardinal Beaufort still contended for ascendancy. Beaufort was
statesman enough to see that the wisest course for England was to
conclude an honoui-able peace with France, which was still willing
to make substantial concessions of territory in retui'n for Henry's
renunciation of his claim to the throne. Duke Humphrey bitterly
opposed this pacific policy, and won a cheap popularity by
denouncing all concessions, and clamouring for the continuance
of the war. The young king was sincerely anxious for peace, and,
as he grew up, his suppoi-t gave Beaufort's party the ascendancy in
the council. The indiscretion of Eleanor Cobham, G-loucester's
wife, now brought about a further diminution of the duke's
influence. The duchess of Gloucester, knowing that her husband
was next in succession to the throne if Heniy should die, constilted
witches and astrologers as to the best way of hastening that event.
By their advice she made an image of the king in wax, and melted
it before a slow fire, believing that, as the wax melted away, so the
king's life would waste away. In 1441 the duchess's childish form
of treason was detected. Her accomplices were put to death, and
1
-I447J HENRY VI. 277
Eleanor herseK was imprisoned for life in the Isle of Man. Not
daring to intervene, Duke Humphrey " took all things patiently,
and said little." Henceforth he had little influence, and chiefly
busied himself with his favourite pursuit of literature.
11. In 1442 Henry came of age, and, guided by Beaufort's
advice, pressed forward the policy of peace. William de la Pole,
earl of Suffolk, a soldier who had fought bravely against
the French, and a strong supporter of Cardinal Beau- TjSrs^T+44*
fort, became the chief agent of the royal policy. In and the
1444 he negotiated a short truce at Tours, by which a French
marriage was arranged between Henry and Margaret !^y ®'
of Anjou, the daughter of Rene, duke of Anjou,
nominal king of Sicily and Jerusalem, and actual count of Provence
and duke of Lorraine. The house of Anjou was a junior branch
of the French royal house, and Rene's sister was the wife of
Charles vir. In 1445, Margaret, a high-spirited girl of fifteen, was
brought to England by Suffolk, and married to Henry.
12. The marriage was not popular ; Margaret was poor, and did
not even bring assured peace with France as her wedding portion. It
was necessary to renew the truce from time to time, and pgj, ♦ hs of
the English were forced to purchase its continuance Gloucester
by the surrender of the few posts they held in Maine *"•* Beau-
and Anjou, nominally to Margaret's father, really to °'' '
the. French. Suffolk was now made a duke, and became the chief
adviser of the king and queen. In 1447 he procured the arrest of
Gloucester, who had bitterly oppose<l the French marriage. Soon
after his apprehension Duke Humplirey died. He had long been
in wretched health, and his death was in all probability due to natural
causes. His friends, however, persisted in believing that he was
murdered, and accused Suffolk of the crime. In the same year his old
enemy, Cardinal Beaufort, died also. He was the shrewdest statesman
of the age, and his policy, though unpopular, was undoubtedly the
right one. His death left the chief burden of responsibility on Suffolk.
His nephew, Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, now represented
the family tradition, and was Suffolk's most prominent ally.
13. The weak point of Suffolk's position was that, though he
had staked everything upon the French alliance, he had made no
lasting peace. Yet he was so sure that peace would continue, that
he neglected the commonest precautions for securing such pos-
sessions as still remained in English hands. His ally Somemet,
who was governor of Normandy, so grossly neglects his charge,
that it was not unreasonable that doubts should be oast upon his
278 HENRY VI. [1449-
honour. Knowing that the English were in no position to resist,
the French broke the truce in 1449, and invaded Normandy,
which had been largely in English hands since its
Nopmandy conquest by Henry \. thirty years before. Somerset
1449-1450, made a poor resistance, and, by 1450, the whole of
and Gas- Normandy had passed over to the French. Next year
' * Grascony was attacked, and the last remnants of the
Aquitanian inheritance renounced English sway when Bordeaux
and Bayonne opened their gates to the conqueror.
14. There was, however, a great difference between Gascony and
Normandy. In Normandy the French came as deliverers, while in
The Battle Grascony they came as conquerors. The men of the
of Castillon, south had no complaint against the rule of their English
and the end (Jujjes, and the government of Charles vii. proved so
Hundred harsh and unpopular that, in 1451, they rose in revolt.
Years' War, John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, an aged hero who
1453. }iad fought in every war since the rebellion of Owen
Glendower, was sent, in 1452, at the head of a considerable army
from England, to assist the revolted Gascons. On his arrival nearly
tlie whole of the district round Bordeaux rt uurned to the English
obedience. On July 17, 1453, Shrewsbury fought the last battle
of the war at Castillon on the Dordogne. The French held a large
entrenched and palisaded camp, defended by three hundred pieces of
cannon. The Anglo- Gascon troops raslily charged these formidable
earthworks, but were decimated by the enemy's j&re before they
reached the entrenchments. Shrewsbiuy himself was among the
slain, and on that day the English duchy of Gascony finally perished.
This was the last act of the Hundred Years' War. Henceforth
Calais alone represented the English king's dominions in France.
15. The disasters in France created a strong feeling among the
English against the incompetent statesmen who controlled her
Murder of destinies. In the parliament of 1450, Suffolk was im-
SuCfolk, peached, and a long series of charges brought against
1450. hira. He was accused of corruption and maladminis-
tration, of betraying the kings' counsel to the French, and of
conspiring to win the throne for his son. So loud was the outciy
against him, that Henry vi. dared not protect his favourite minister.
He declared the charges against him not proved, but strove to
appease the Commons and keep the duke out of harm's way by
banishing him from England for five years. As Suffolk was sailing
towards Calais, his vessel was intercepted by a royal ship, called the
Nicholas of the Tower, which was lying in wait for him. Carried
I450.] HENRY VI. 279
on board the Nicholas he was greeted with the cry of " Welcome,
traitor I " and bidden to prepare for his end. Next day he waa
forced into a little boat, and an Irishman, " one of the lowest men
in the ship," clumsily cut off his head with a lusty sword. The
headless body was thrown upon the English coast, that all might
see that not even the king's favour could save a man from the
judgment of the commons of England.
16. The murder of Suffolk by the king's own seamen showed
that the government was unable to preserve order. A few weeks
later the incapacity of the administration was further Revolt of
proved by a formidable rising of the commons of Kent. Jack Cade,
Led by an Irish adventurer, named Jack Cade, who **^"-
gave out that he was an illegitimate son of the last earl of March,
a formidable force of Kentish men marched towards London, and
set up a fortified camp on Blackheath. They defeated the king's
troops, and Henry was forced to flee before them from London to
the midlands. On his retreat, the citizens opened their gates to the
rel)els. At first. Cade kept good order, but his followers soon got
out of hand, slew the king's ministers, and began to rob the citizens
of their property. Many of the Londoners now turned against
them, and there was a formidable fight between the citizens and the
rel)els on London Bridge. At last, however, the Kentish men were
persuaded to go home under promise of a general pardon. Cade
now endeavoured to excite a fresh revolt in Sussex, but was slain
by a Kentish squire. His death ended the rebellion. At first
sight the revolt reminds us of the rising of 1381, but the only
grievances of the commons of Kent in 1450 were political. Their
rebellion was a protest again.st the maladministration which still
prevailed at court. Even the fall of Suffolk had taught nothing to
the king and his advisers, and the only way to clear the council of
Suffolk's party seemed to be armed resistance.
17. Cade had made use of the name of Mortimer ; and, soon after
his death, the true heir of the Mortimers. Richard, duke of York,
came to London from his Irish estates, and assumed _. _„i»i„„
,,,,,.«, The position
tlip leadership of the opposition. York was the only of Richard.
son of Richard, earl of Cambridge, whom Henry v. duke of
had executed in 1415, and his wife. Anne Mortimer. ^°^^'
sister and heiress of Edmund, the la.st earl of March of his hoose.
From his grandfather. Edmund of Langley. third surviving son of
Edward iii., he inherited the duchy of York, but his real importance
wa.** due to his having inherited from his mother the earldoms of
March and Ulster, with vast estates in the west of England and in
280 HENRY VI. [1450-
Ireland. Moreover, Anne Mortimer was the heiress of Lionel,
duke of Clarence, so that her son represented the elder line of the
descendants of Edward iii. Neither York nor his friends, however,
regarded him as a rival to Henry ti. as king. Duke Richard's
object was rather to renew the policy of Thomas of Lancaster or
Humphrey of Gloucester. He aimed at acting as the leader of the
constitutional opposition, and his chief motive was to drive the un-
popular courtiers from the king's council, and help Henry to rule
more firmly. Henry and Margaret were, however, childless, and
York was generally looked upon as the nearest heir to the throne.
18. About the time York came back from Ireland, the French
conquest of Normandy compelled its discredited governor, Somerset,
Beginning *^ retm-n to England. Despite his proved incom-
of the Wars petence and possible treachery, Somerset was cordially
of the Roses, welcomed by king and queen, and forthwith put in the
1450-1455. ^\^QQ which Suffolk had once occupied. York at once
demanded the dismissal of Somerset from the king's counsels.
The outcry against the unpopular duke was soon increased by
the tidings of the loss of Grascony, and the king, who was weak
and peace-loving, might well have yielded to the storm. Margaret
of Anjou, however, possessed the vigour and manliness which were
80 singularly wanting in her husband, though tmluckily she never
understood England, and thought only of protecting her friends
against their enemies. Through her support Somerset's position
remained unassailable. At last, in 1452, York raised an ai-my.
He was, however, anxious to avoid civil war, and dismissed his
forces on the king's pledging himself that he should be admitted
to the council, wliile Somerset should be imprisoned until he cleared
himself of the accusations brought against him. Margaret pre-
vented her husband from carrying out his promise, and York soon
found that he had been tricked. In 1453 the king lost his reason.
In the same year the birth of a son to Henry and Margaret —
Edward, prince of Wales — cut off York's prospects of a peaceful
succession to the throne, while the tidings of the battle of CastUlon
came to increase the distrust generally felt for the negligent
government. For a time the council carried on the administi-ation
in the king's name, but in 1454 parliament insisted on the appoint-
ment of a regent, and, to Margaret's disgust, the Lords chose
York protector of England. Before the end of the year the king
was restored to health, and York's protectorate was put to an end.
Somerset was restored to power, and York was even excluded from
the royal council. Irritated at this treatment, Duke Eichard once
-1455-] HENRY VI. 28 1
more appealed to arms. In 1455 he defeated his enemies at the battle
of St. AU)ang, where Somerset was slain and the king wounded
and taken prisoner. His agitation once more robbed Henry of his
reason, and for a second time York was made protector.
19. The battle of St. Albans is generally described as marking
the beginning of the Wars of the Roses, so called in later days
because the house of York had a white rose as its character -
badge, and the house of Lancaster was thought to istlcs of the
have a red rose. In reality the red rose was not used Wars of
tin later, when it became the badge of the Tudors, who ^'
were the heirs of the Lancasters. The phrase Wars of the Hoses,
then, is a misnomer ; but it is one so generally used that it may
be allowed to stand. Whatever their name, these wars lasted for
thirty years. It was not, however, a period of continued fighting,
and affairs were not much more disorderly after the battle of
St. Albans than before it. It was rather a period of short wars,
divided by longer periods of weak government. The ultimate
cause of the struggle was the inability of Henry vi. to govern
England. Part of this was due to Henry's personal incompetence,
but the root of the matter lay deeper. The long war with France
had increased the greediness and ferocity of the English nobles,
and now that they could no longer win booty and glory abroad,
they began to fight fiercely with each other. Nothing but a strong
king, able to enforce his will, could remedy this state of thingfs.
Since 1399, however, parliament had been so powerful that the
crown had not enough power left to do its work. The Commons
were not yet strong and coherent enough to take the lead, and
parliamentary government meant, in practice, the rule of a t\ir-
bulent nobility, which delighted in anarchy and was too proud to
obey the law. The majority of the nobles were contented with
the weak government of Henry, and even lent a steady support
to Somerset. The Commons, on the other hand, longed for the
restoration of order, and upheld the cause of Richard of York
because they thought him vigorous enough to put an end to the
prevailing misgovemment.
20. Though most of the nobles were Lancastrians, a few great
houses supported the Yorkists. Conspicuous among these was the
junior branch of the great Yorkshire family of the
Nevilles, earls of Westmorland. The head of tliis JJj^yiJ",**
was Richard Neville, who became by marriage earl of
Salisbury, and whose sister Cicely was the wife of Richard of
York. His eldest son, also named Richard NeviUe, became earl of
282 HENRY VI. [1455-
Warwick by Ms marriage with the heiress of the Beauchamps.
Both father and son had taken a prominent share in winning the
battle of St. Albans, and hencefoi-ward they were the chief sup-
porters of the Yorkists (see for the Nevilles table on page 294).
21. The second protectorate of York was even shorter than the
first. Early in 1456 the king regained his wits, and York was
forced to resign. The death of Somerset weakened the
Reconcilia- < . j tt 1 t_ ^i • ;
tionandthe l^ieen s party, and Henry, always honestly anxious to
renewal of restore peace, allowed York to keep his place on the
the strife, council. Both factions, however, bitterly hated each
1455-14'59 ' »/
other, and every nobleman went about with a band
of armed followers, even when attending royal councils. The
country was hardly governed at all. Private wars became common,
and the French commanded the Channel and plundered the coasts.
Amidst the general confusion Warwick showed himself the
strongest man in England. In 1458 he gained a naval victory
over the French which saved England from invasion. Soon after-
wards he quarrelled with Margaret and withdrew to Calais, of
which he was governor, leaving the queen supreme. Next year
(1459) Margaret strove to strengthen her position by an attack
on Salisbury. War was at once renewed. Salisbury defeated
Lord Audley, the queen's commander, at Blore Heath in Stafford-
shire, near Market Drayton. Soon afterwards Warwick returned
from Calais. The two Nevilles joined Richard of York at Ludlow
the centre of the Mortimer estates. Thereupon the king proceeded
to the Welsh March, and showed such activity that he scattered
the Yorkist forces without having to fight a battle. York took
refuge in Ireland, while Warwick and Salisbury fled to Calais.
After this flight a packed pai-liament at Coventry attainted aU
the Yorkist leaders. The triumph of the king seemed complete.
22. Henry's sudden burst of energy did not last long. The
next year, 1460, Warwick and Salisbury came back to England,
York claims ^^^ ynth them came Edward, earl of March, the
the throne, duke of York's eldest son. On July 10 they fought
and won the battle of Northampton, when Henry was
taken prisoner. York now returned from Ireland, and, when parlia-
ment assembled in October, claimed the throne as the nearest kin of
Edward iii. through Lionel of Clarence. The lords of parliament
coiu-ageously rejected this claim, but agreed to a compromise, which
Henry, to spare further bloodshed, also accepted. By this Henry
was to keep the throne tiU his death, but York was declared his
successor, and was to act as protector for the rest of the king's life.
-1461.] HENRY VI. 283
23. After the battle of Northampton, Margaret had fled to
Wales with her son Edward. She was bitterly indignant with her
husband for his weak abandonment of the rights of jhe fall of
their child, and resolved to carry on the struggle Henry VI.,
against Duke Richard. With that object she made 1*60-1461,
her way to Scotland, where she obtained substantial help at the
price of the surrender of Berwick. She was still in Scotland when
the Lancastrian lords of Yorkshire rose in revolt against the rule
of York. In December, Richard hurried to the north to suppress
the rebeUion. He kept his Christmas at his castle of Sandal, near
Wakefield, which the enemy threatened to besiege. York scorned
to be " caged like a bird," and on December 30 marched out of
Sandal to offer battle to the superior forces of the Lancastrians.
The fight which ensued, called the tattle of Wakefield, Battle of
cast him his army and his life. Salisbury, who was Wakefield,
taken prisoner, was beheaded next day, and York's 1*60.
younger son, the earl of Rutland, was butchered after the fight
by one of the Lancastrian lords. Thereupon Margaret hurried
from Scotland and joined her victorious partisans. At the head of
the fierce warriors of the north, she made her way to London. As
she approached the capital, Warwick went out to intercept her at
St. Albans, taking the king with him. On February second
17, 1461, the second battle of St. Albans was fought, in Battle of
which Warwick was completely defeated and Henry fell St. Albans,
into his wife's hands. The wild north cotmtrymen were, *
however, so much out of hand that even the I'eckless Margaret feared
to lead them on to London lest they should wreak such atrocities as
should permanently alienate the citizens from her cause. While
she hesitated, Edward, earl of March, now duke of York by his
father's death, effectively rallied his party. A fortnight before
Margaret's victory, he had scattered the Lancastrians of the west
at the battle of MortimerB Cross, near Leominster. Battle of
Thereupon he hastened towards London at the head of Mortimer's
a great army of Welshmen and Marchers from his own Cross, 1461.
estates. He joined Warwick's beaten troops on the way, and nine
days after the battle of St. Albans, took possession of London.
Soon after, Warwick's brother, George Neville, bishop of Worcester,
the Yorkist chancellor, declared to the citizens that Edward might
rightly claim the crown. On March 4, Edward 8eat<«d himself on
the royal throne in Westminster Hall and asked tJie people if they
would have him as king. A shout of " Yea, yea I " rose from the
assembly, and henceforth the pretender ruled as Edward i\.
284
HENRY VI.
L1461.
GENEALOGY OF THE HOUSE OF YORK, INCLUDING THE MORTIMERS
AND STAFFORDS
Roger Mortimer,
1st earl of March, d. 1330,
great-grandfather of
Edward iir.
(See table on page 254).
(3)
(5)
(6)
Edmund Mortimer,
earl of March, d. 1881.
Lionel of Antwerp,
duke of Clarence,
m. Elizabeth de
Burgh.
I
m. Philippa.
Edmund of
Langley,
duke of York,
d. 1401.
Roger Mortimer,
earl of March,
d. 1398.
Sir Edmund
Mortimer, m.
daughter of
Owen Glendower.
Elizabeth
Mortimer,
m. Henry
Percy,
"Hotspur."
Edmund Mortimer
earl of March,
d. 1424.
Anne Mortimer m. Richard, earl of
Cambridge,
d. 1415.
Thomas of Woodstock
duke of Gloucester,
m. heiress of
Bohuns.
I
Arme
m. Edmund Stafford,
great-grandparents of
Henry Stafford,
duke of Buckingham,
d. 1483.
I
Edward Stafford,
duke of
Buckingham,
d, 1521.
Richard, duke of York, m. Cicely Neville
d. 1460. I (see table on page 294).
Edward, earl
of March,
Edward iv.,
1461-1483,
m. Elizabeth
Woodville
(for her family
see table on
page 299).
Edward v.,
1483.
Edmund,
earl of
Rutland,
d. 1460.
George,
duke of
Clarence,
d. 1478.
m. Isabella
Neville
(see table
on page 294).
Richard,
duke of
Gloucester.
Richard hi.,
1483-1485.
m. Anne
Neville
(see table
on page 294).
Margaret,
m. Charles,
the Rash
duke of
Burgundy
(see table
on page 269).
Richard, duke
of York,
d. 1483.
Elizabeth,
m. Henry vii.
1485-1609.
Henry viii.,
1509-1547
(see table on page 419).
Catharine,
m. Edward
Courtenay,
earl of
Devonshire.
I
Henry Courtenay
marquis of Exeter
d. 1638.
Persons not mentioned in the text in italics.
CHAPTER IV
EDWARD IV. (1461-1483)
Chief Dates :
1461. Accession of Edward iv. and battle of Towton.
1464. Battles of Iledgeley Moor and Hexham.
1470. Restoration of Henry vi.
1471. Battles of Bamet and Tewkesbary.
1475. Treaty of Picquigni.
1478. Death of Clarence.
1483. Death of Edward iv.
1. Edwaed IV. was only nineteen years old when he became king,
but had already shown himself to be a born general and leader of
men. He was exceedingly tall and good-looking, and p^ward IV
his winning manners made him personally popular. He and the
was inclined to carelessness and self-indulgence, but Yorkist
whenever he spurred himself to take action, he showed ^*'' ^*
wonderful decision and vigour. Though pleasure-loving, greedy,
and cruel, he was just the strong man needed to save England
from anarchy. He owed his throne to his wisdom in the camp
and in the cabinet, and few Englishmen concerned themselves as
to whether he were the nearest heir of Edward iii. All those
parts of England, and all those classes of society to which peace
and good order mattered most were his partisans. The townsman,
the trader, and the artisan, the whole of the south and east, then
the richest part of the country, were in his favour. The Londoners
strongly supported him. Besides those, Edward owed much of his
triumph to the steady backing of Warwick, who. after his father's
death, united in himself the Beauchamp and Montagu inlieritances.
Warwick had enormous estates all over the country, and could raise
an army of his own tenants in the west midlands. Gentlemen of
good estate thought it an honour to wear his livery and display his
badge of the bear and ragged staff. Men called him the King-
maker, because he had done so much to win Edward tlie crown.
His services to Edward were even more signal tlian tliose whicli the
Percies had rendered to Henry iv. Another great source of
285
286
EDWARD IV.
[1461-
strength to the new king were his own vast estates, and especially
the enormous territories which he itherited from the Mortimers.
2. Many still regretted the rule of Lancaster. There was
still much sympathy for the gentle and unoffending king, and
Battle of every tenant of the broad estates of the house of
Towton, Lancaster felt personal devotion to his cause. Outside
his hereditary lands, Henry's chief supporters were
the fierce barons of the north, who had profited by his weakness
to build up their own power. All the great names of the north
^^Si^^
EmerjrWalkzr sc
BATTLE OP TOWTON.
country, such as Clifford and Percy, were on his side, including
even the senior branch of the house of Neville, which held the
earldom of Westmorland. The natural antagonism of the Princi-
pality and the March made the Welsh good friends of Henry.
Accordingly, when, after Edward's proclamation, Margaret hurried
with her husband to the north, the Lancastrian partisans were
still able to fight desperately. Edward at once followed Mar-
garet to Yorkshire, and, on Palm Sunday, 1461, the decisive battle
of the war was fought between the northern and southern armies
-1464.] EDWARD IV. 287
at Towton, three miles south of Tadcaster, in Yorkshire. The
Lancastrians were stationed on the northern slope of the rising^
ground overlooking the depression called Towtondale, between the
villages of Towton and Saxton. Their left extended to the main
road from the south to Tadcaster and York, while their right
stretched towards the Cock beck, a tiibutary of the Ouse. A
blinding snowstorm blew into their faces, and almost prevented the
armies seeing each other. On such a day there was little opportunity
for manoeuvring, and even archery was ineffective. Nevertheless,
Edward marshalled his inferior forces with such consummate skill
that the Lancastrians lost the chief advantages derived from their
strong position and numerical superiority. The southerners fought
their way bit by bit up the slopes of the hill, and finally drove the
northerners in panic flight from the field. The slaughter was
terrible. Many fugitives were drowned in the swollen Cock, afid
the snow along the York road was stained with their blood. Henry
and Margaret fled to Scotland, and their open alliance with England's
traditional enemies robbed them of their last chance of the throne.
3. For the next nine years Edward iv. was monarch in fact as well
as in name. He returned to London, and was crowned king. His
brothers, George and Richard, were made dukes of
Clarence and Gloucester, and parliament attainted Edward IV
Henry and the chief Lancastrian partisans. Even
now Margaret did not lose heart. She sought help from the
French as well as the Scots, and for the next four years her
attempts to stir up risings in the north made Edward's throne
insecure. The last of these efforts was in l'i64, and was crushed
by the Yorkist victories of Hedgeley Mom- and Hexham. Henry vi.,
who had joined the rebels, narrowly escaped capture in the pursuit
that followed the latter battle. The Scots now abandoned him,
and made a long truce with Edward. For more than a year the
dejwsed king hid himself away amidst the wild moorland that
separates Lancashire and Yorkshire. At last he was captured near
Clitheroe, in Bibblesdale, and taken to London. Misfortune and
harsh treatment soon robbed him of his small wits ; but, as long as
his son lived and was free, it was the obvious interest of Edward
to keep him alive.
■1. No sooner had Henry's captivity secured the throne for
Edward iv. than difficulties arose between the new king and his
own partisans. Warwick expected to keep liim in constant con-
trol. The earl secured for his brother George the archbishoprio
of York, and placed his other brother, John, in the earldom o£
288 EDWARD IV. [1468-
Northtimberland, forfeited by the Percies through, their obstinate
adhesion to Lancaster. Now that peace was restored at home,
The Nevilles ^^^^ig"^ policy agaia became important, and Warwick,
and the adopting the traditions of the Beauf orts, urged Edward
Woodvllle to make an alliance with France, which was then ruled
marriage. y,j the crafty and politic Louis xi., who had succeeded
his father, Charles vii., in 1461. Louis was anxious to win Edward's
support, because he was engaged in a life-and-death struggle with
the House of Burgundy, now ruled by Charles the Rash, son of
Philip the Grood. The Burgundian power extended over the whole
of the Netherlands, and its duke rivalled the king of France,
and STU'passed the emperor in wealth, power, and importance.
Accordingly, Louis proposed that Edward should wed Bona of
Savoy, the sister of liis queen. Warwick eagerly supported this
proposal, and prepared to embark for France to bring about the
match. Before he could start, Edward publicly announced that he
was already married. His wife was Elizabeth Woodville, daughter
of Lord Rivers, and widow of Sir John Grey, who had perished,
fighting for Lancaster, in the second battle of St. Albans. The
lady was poor, and her family was insignificant, but her beauty
attracted the king, who was very glad to inflict a public slight on
the too-presumptuous Warwick by ostentatiously putting him into
a false position. Edward soon broke with the French and made an
alliance with Charles of Burgundy, who, in 1468, married Margaret,
the king's sister. In his anxiety to free himself from the control
of the NevUles, Edward strove to raise up in the kinsmen of
the new queen a party devoted to himself and bitterly hostile to
Warwick (see table on page 299). Her father became Earl
Rivers, her brothers and sisters made rich marriages, and soon a
family party arose whose wealth, arrogance, and want of ancestral
dignity made them bitterly hated by the old nobles.
5. Warwick lost all his influence at court, and his brother,
the archbishop of York, was driven from the chancery. In deep
disgust, the king-maker sought for an ally against the
Welles and ^^^^' ^^^ found one in Edward's vain and wortliless
Robin of brother, George, duke of Clarence, who fully shared
Redesdale, Warwick's jealousy against the queen's kinsmen.
Warwick had no son, and his two daughters. Isabella
and Anne, were likely to divide his great possessions. In 1470
Warwick married Isabella, his elder daughter, to Clarence, and
lured his son-in-law into treason by holding out hopes of putting
him on his brother's throne. In 1469 Warwick's kinsfolk and
-I470.] EDWARD IV. 289
dependents stirred up a poptilar rising agrainst Edward. The
rebels, commanded by a knight who took the false name of Robin of
Redesdale, defeated the king's troops at Edgecote, near Banbury,
and beheaded the queen's father, whom they took prisoner. Edward
was reduced to such distress that he surrendered to Archbishop
Neville, and remained for a time at the mercy of his foes. Next
year (1470) the tide turned. There was another rising of the Neville
partisans, headed by Sir Robert Welles. Edward put this down
with promptitude at Stamford, where the insurgents threw off their
coats to run away with sucli haste that men called the day Lone
Coot Field. Welles, taken prisoner, confessed that there had been
a plot to make Clarence king. Edward then sought to lay hands
upon his enemies, and Warwick and Clarence took ship for France.
(). Louis xr. gave the exiles a cordial welcome. The French
king was anxious to weaken Charles of Burgundy by driving
Edward from the throne, and was shrewd enough to .... -
see that Warwick's best way of winning back bis Warwick
position in England was by effecting a reconciliation 8-"^ Mar-
between him and the Lancastrians. After much S^''®'"
difficulty, Louis managed to make an alliance between Warwick
and Margaret of Anjou, who, since her lxu.sband's captivity, liad
lived in France. It was arranged that her son, Edward, prince of
Wales, should marry Anne Neville, Warwick's younger daughter,
and Warwick promised henceforward to be faithful to Henry vi.
Louis then equipped a small expedition, and sent Warwick and
Clarence to England. In September they landed at Plymoutli.
and, profiting by Edward's absence in the north, marched to
London, and brought back Henry vi. from the Tower to the
throne. Edward, unable to resist, fled to the Netherlands, where
he took shelter with his brother-in-law, Charles the . Rash. Tlius
Warwick once more proved his right to his title of king-maker.
He was now monarch in all but name, for misfortunes had reduced
Henry to permanent imbecility. The restored monarch was now.
we are told, " like a sack of wool," and " as mute as a crowned calf."
7. Henry's vi.'s nominal restoration to power la.stp<l from
October, 1470, to May, 1471. In March, 1471, Edward iv. landed
at Ravenspur, on the Humber, where Henry of T^erestora-
Lancaater had landed in 1399. Englishmen who tlon of
had been too apathetic to save him from his dftJfsat. Henry VI..
stood aside with equal indifference while ho strove
to win back power. At first Edward gave out that he had only
returue«l to claim his father's duchy of York, bat, as followers
U
290
EDWARD IV.
[1470-
gathered round him, lie openly announced that he wished to
regain the throne. Before long he was joined by his brother
EmeryWalkcr
Clarence, who saw that Warwick's alliance with the Lancas-
trians was fatal to his personal ambitions. The brothers then
-I47I.1 EDWARD IV. 29 1
pushed south for London, whioh opened its gutes to them on
April 11. Thereupon Henry \ i. was put back in the Tower, and
Edward was once more recog-nized as king-. Edward tlien marched
out of London, and on Easter Sunday, April 14, g-ave battle to
Warwick at Barnet, ten miles to the north of the capital. The
ftg'ht took i)lace in a thick mist, so that everything' depended
upon hard hand-to-hand fig-hting-. Warwick and Ids brother John,
marquis of Montagu, were slain on the field, and the death of the
king-maker consummated the triumph of the Yorkists. With all
his vig'our and energy, Warwick had shown no striking capacity
either as a soldier or as a statesman. His diief motive of action
was the acqmsition of power for himself and his family. He is
the last conspicuous embodiment of the great baronial class whose
turbulence had reduced England to anarchy.
8. Margaret, who had hitherto tarried in France, landed in the
west of England along with her son on the fatal Easter Day
which witnessed the ruin of her cause. Yet even jyie Battle
now a considerable force from the south-west and ofTewkes-
from Wales rallied round her. Edward hastened to bury, 1471.
clieck her progre.ss, and on May 4 the Lancastrians stood at bay at
Teivkenbury. Edward easily won the day. and took Margaret and
Edward prisoners. The young prince of Wales was barbaroiLsly
butchered, and the same fate befel the duke of Somerset, the third
head of the house of Beaufort who had lost his life in the civil
wars. Margaret was taken by her captors to London, and was
kept in prison for the next five years, after which she was suffered
to go home to France to die. Immediately after Edward's arrival
in London, it was given out that her husband had died in the
Tower. " out of pure displeasure and melancholy." It was generally
believed that he was murdered, and rumour made Edward's brotlier.
Tlichard of Gloucester, specially responsible for the crime. In truth,
after his son's death, Henry's life was no longer valuable to Edward.
so he ordered him to be slain without delay. Of aU the cruel deeds
of this pitiless time none was more wanton than the death of the
harmless and saintly king.
9. Edward reigned in peace and without a rival for the rest of
his life. His position was much stronger than in tlie earlier periml
of his rule, and he soon felt liimself able to revenge himself on
lioois XI. for abetting Warwick. In 1470 he agree<l to unite wi^i
his brotlier-in-law, Charles of Burgundy, in a combined attack on
Fniiipo. Parliament gladly voted a liberal subsidy, and Edward
marohe<l out of Calais at the head of a large and brilliant force.
292 EDWARD IV. [1475-
Much to liis disgust, Cliai-les joined him, not with an army, but
almost alone. The duke of Burgundy had unwisely gone to war in
Edward IV. Grermany, though his French rival was still unbeaten.
Burgundy, Edward and Charles disliked each other already, and
and France. Charles's lack of faith gave the English king a good
excuse for deserting so untrustworthy an ally. Louis, eager to win
England to his side, was lavish in promises, and at last the two kings
held a meeting on the bridge of Picquigni, a village on the Somme,
between Abbeville and Amiens. So distrustful were they of each
other that they kept themselves apart by a wooden partition, and
talked through a grating. In the treaty of Picquigni Louis bought
peace with England by the payment of a large sum of money, and
a promise to marry his son to Edward's daughter. Edward then
returned home, leaving Charles to his fate. Two years later, in
1477, the rash duke of Burgundy was slain at the battle of Nancy,
in the course of an unsuccessful war which he had foolishly pro-
voked with the Swiss. Louis xi. now annexed Burgundy to
France, but could not prevent the Netherlands going to Mary,
Charles's daughter, though not by his English wife, Margaret of
York. Mary married the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, and
we shall soon hear again of her descendants. Even after this
check, Louis xi. was so powerful that he had no longer any need
to humour the king of England. Just before the death of both
kings in 1483, Louis repudiated the marriage arranged at
Picquigni, and ceased paying subsidies to keep England quiet.
Edward was so much mortified that the French believed he died
of grief at the news of this breach with France. But for his death
a renewal of war would have probably ensued.
10. Edward was the strongest ruler of England since Edward ill.
He was popular with the people, and especially with the merchants,
Home policy because he kept the nobles in good order and sternly
of Edward put down private war. He ruled in a very different
■ fashion from that of the Lancastrians. He looked
on parliaments with suspicion, and summoned them as seldom
as he could. When he wanted money he did not always go to
parliament, but often asked his subjects to give him what was
called a benevolence. This was nominally a free gift offered by
the subject to the king, but in reality those who were asked to
g^ve a benevolence dared not refuse to pay it. Edward did not.
however, risk the popularity which he loved by exacting too large
sums from his subjects.
11. Clarence soon began once more to excite the suspicions of
-1483.] EDIVAUD IV. 293
the king-. He had been fully pardoned for his treachery in 1470.
He was made earl of Warwick and Salisbiuy, and hoped to secure
for himself the whole inheritance of his father- in- .v «••
law, the king'-maker. He found, however, a rival for clarence,
the Warwick estates in his younger and abler brother, 1 478, and
Richard, duke of Gloucester. Anne Neville, War- Edward IV.,
• . 1483
wick's younger daughter, was the widow of the
unfortunate son of Henry vi. In 1472 she was prevailed upon
to marry Richard of Gloucester, the reputed murderer of her first
husband. Henceforward the two brothers were rivals for the
Neville and Beauchamp lands, and Clarence became very dis-
contented when Edward assigned the larger portion of them to
his brother. Things grew worse when Isabella Neville died,
and Clarence sought to upset his brother's good underetaniling
witli France by a iiroposal, which came to nothing, that he should
many Mary of Burgundy, the heiress of Charles the Ra.sh.
Clarence now had against him the king, Gloucester, and the
powerful kinsmen of the queen. In 1478 he was accused of
treason, attainted in parliament, and condemned to execution.
Edward was afraid to slay Clarence openly, and put him privately
to death in the Tower. It was believed at the time that he was
drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine. Five years later, in April,
1483, Edward iv. died.
294
MDWARD m
ti4S3-
GENEALOGY OF THE NEVILLES
John Lord Neville of Rabv,
d. 1388.
Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland,
d. 1425.
I
John Neville,
Richard NeviUc,
1
Cicely,
ancestor of the
carl of Salisbury',
m. Richard,
carls of West-
ni
heiress of Montagus,
duke of York,
morland, elder
d. 1460.
d. 1460 (see
and Lancastrian
tabic on
branch of the
page 284).
family.
Richard Neville,
I.
John Neville,
George
earl of Warwick
sometime
Neville,
and Salisbury, the
earl of
bishop of
kinjj-maker, d. 1471
Northumberlaud
Worcester
ni. heiress of
and marquis
and arch-
Beauchamps.
c
f Montagu.
. (1) Edward,
bishop of York.
I
Isabella,
Anne, m
m. George,
prince of Wales,
duke of Clarence.
d. 1471, (2) Richard,
1
duke of Gloucester,
1
1
Richard in., d. 1485.
Edward,
Margaret,
earl of
countess of
Warwick,
Salisbury,
d. 1499.
d. 1541".
Reginald Pole,
cardinf.1 and arch-
bishop of Canterbury,
d. 1558.
Persons not meHtioned in the text in italicc
I
CHAPTER V
EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III. (1483-1485)
Chief Dates :
1483. Reign of £dward v. Accession of Richard in.
1485. Battle of Bosworth and death of Richard in.
1. Edwakd IV. left two sons. The elder, who was only twelve years
old, now became Edward v., and his younger brother, Richard, had
already been made duke of York. By the late king's
will, the guardianship of the young king went to his ^^^ "
uncle, Kichard, duke of Gloucester, who was at once
acknowledged as lord protector by the council. Richard had kept
on good terms with the queen's kinsmen, and they doubtless expected
to share power with him. The chief of the queen's family were her
brother Antony Woodville, Earl Rivers, and her two sons by her first
marriage, Thomas Grey, marquis of Dorset, and Sir Richard Grey.
At the moment of his accession the young king was at Ludlow, in
the custody of his uncle Rivers and his half-brother, Richard
Grey. Fearful lest Gloucester should put an end to their influence,
they formed a plan with the queen for Edward's immediate corona-
tion, hoping that this would put an end to Gloucester's protectorate,
and make the Woodvilles and Gx'eys masters of the kingdom. The
upstart kinsmen of the queen were, however, very unpopular, and
were particularly disliked by the old nobles, whom they had driven
from the court and council of the late king. The most important
of the old nobles was Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, a
descendant of Thomas of Woodstock, the son of Edward iii.. and
the representative of the great house of the Bohuus. Buckingham,
though married to a sister of the queen, was bitt<*rly opjwsed to her
policy. He made common cause with Gloucester, atud the two
allies showed great vigour in striking against their enemies. As
the young king was riding from Ludlow to London, escorted by
Rivers and Richard Grey, Gloucester and Buckingliam fell upon
him, took Rivers and Grey prisoners, and secured the personal
»9S
296 EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III. [1483-
custody of Edward, whom they brought to London. In great
alarm Queen Elizabeth fled for sanctuary to Westminster Abbey.
2. Gloucester's first move was so successful that it encouraged
him to go further and aim at the crown. He found a fresh
The deposi- difficulty when some of the nobles, who had cordially
tion of supported him against the Woodvilles, refused to join
Edward V. ^^^h him in this further step. At the head of this
party was Lord Hastings, a prominent friend of Edward iv., and,
up to now, a conspicuous ally of Gloucester. Gloucester showed
the same vigour against Hastings that he had shown against the
Woodvilles. On June 13 he accused Hastings of treason, during a
meeting of the council. After a stormy scene, Gloucester struck
his fist sharply on the table, whereupon soldiers rushed in, dragged
Hastings out, and at once cut off his head on a log of timber.
Rivers and Grey were now executed, and Dorset only saved his life
by flight beyond sea. The queen was persuaded to surrender the
duke of York to the protector, who forthwith shut him up in the
Tower, where the king was already in safe custody. The protector's
next step was to win over the Londoners to his side. Next Sunday,
June 22, his partisan, Dr. Shaw, brother of the mayor, delivered a
sermon at St. Paul's on the text, " Bastard slips shall not take deep
root." The preacher declared that Edward iv. had made a contract
to marry another lady before he had wedded Elizabeth Woodville,
and that therefore his marriage with her was invalid. As a result
of this, the young king and his brother were illegitimate. Doubts
were also cast on the lawful birth of Edward iv. and Clarence, and
the duke of Gloucester was declared to be the rightful heir to the
crown. The Londoners heard this strange tale in silence ; but,
two days later, Buckingham repeated Shaw's statements in the
Guildhall to the mayor and chief citizens. The majority of his
audience was still unmoved, but a few of the retainers of the two
dukes raised shouts of " King Richard ! " and their cry was sup-
posed to be evidence that the city had declared itself in favour of
the protector. Parliament met next day, and begged Richard to
accept the throne. After a sham pretence of reluctance, Gloucester
fell in with their wishes. On July 6 he was crowned Richard iir.
in Westminster Abbey. After this event nothing more is known
as to the fa^ of the deposed Edward v. and his brother Richard
of York. There is little doubt but that they were murdered in the
Tower by their uncle's orders.
3. In the sordid revolution which made Richard iii. king, Buck-
ingham had played the part of a king-maker. Richard now
-1485.] EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III. 297
overwhelmed him with favours, and even promised to surrender to
him the half of the Bohun estates which Henry iv., in the right of his
mother, had brought to the crown. Yet Buckingham Richard III.
soon became discontented, and his inordinate ambition and Buck-
made him look still higher. In August he fled from Ins'^am.
court, and raised the standard of revolt at Brecon. At first he thought
of claiming the throne for himself, but in the end he was prudent
enough to unite with the remnants of the Lancastrian party, which
was still strong in Wales. At the head of a considerable force of
Welshmen, Buckingham marched as far eastwards as the Severn.
But the river was in flood, and he could not effect a passage over it.
This check soon proved fatal to his hopes. His forces melted away,
and he was obliged to flee in disguise. Before long he was tracked
to his hiding-place, and on November 2 was beheaded in the market-
place of Salisbury.
4. Early in 1484 Richard met his parliament. It attainted
Buckingham and the other enemies of the king, and passed many
useful acts, conspicuous among which was a statute Rjchard
declaring benevolences illegal. Its proceedings show III.'s policy,
that Richard was making a bid for popular favour, 1483-1485.
and striving to pose as a constitutional Yorkist king. He was
anxious to remove the bad impression created by the crimes
through which he had won his way to the throne, and he was
so able a man that he might very well have become a good ruler
and a useful king if he had had the chance of developing his policy.
However, his power rested on too narrow and personal a basis. He
could not conciliate the Lancastrians, and he had hopelessly set
against himself most of the supporters of York. He could expect
no faithful service from the selfish noble.s who had helped him to
the throne, and constant intrigues and conspiracies made his position
insecure. Moreover, domestic troubles further clouded his prospectus.
His only son and his wife died. Thereupon he thought of making
his heir, Edward, earl of Warwick, the son of Clarence. Richard
also proposed to marry his own niece Elizabeth, the daughter of
Edward iv. and Elizabeth Woodville. Before this scheme could
be carried out, a fresh revolt cost him his crown and his life.
5. After the murder of Henry vi. and his son, the main branch
of the house of Lancaster had become extinct. The only repre-
sentative of the line of John of Gaunt had now to be jj,g g^^y.
sought in the house of Beaufort, whose legitimate forts and
descent was more than doubtful. Even the house of theTudors,
Beaufort was extinct in the male linei when the last of the dukes
298 EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III. [1485.
of Somerset was put to death on the battlefield of Tewkesbury. It
was, however, stiU represented by the Lady Margaret Beaufort,
daughter of John Beaufort, first duke of Somerset, and now the
heiress of all the Beaufort claims. From her cradle the Lady
Margaret had been a great heiress, and she had been married by
Henry vi. to his half-brother, Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond.
Richmond's father, Owen Tudor, was a Welsh gentleman who had
neither high rank nor great possessions. He was good-looking,
plausible, and attractive, and won the heart of Henry vi.'s mother,
Catharine of France. To the great scandal of the court, Catharine,
the widow of a king of England and the daughter of a king of
France, took this Welsh squire for her second husband, and had by
him two sons. The elder of these was the Edmund Tudor, earl of
Richmond, who was married to the Lady Margaret, while the
younger, Jasper, became earl of Pembroke. Edmund Tudor had
long been dead, but his son by Margaret, Henry Tudor, inherited
the earldom of Richmond, and was now, for the lack of a better, the
only possible head of the house of Lancaster, to which aU the
Tudors were entirely loyal. Both Henry Tudor and his \incle
Jasper had long been living in exUe in Brittany. The split in the
house of York, consequent on Richard's usurpation, had revived
the hopes of the Lancastrians, so that Henry Tudor now became
an important personage. Though Margaret was stlU alive, Henry
was regarded as the only possible Lancastrian monarch. Bucking-
ham, when he revolted from Richard, declared himself in favour
of Richmond's claims to the throne, and, after Buckingham's fall,
aU who wished to put an end to Richard's power looked to the exile
in Brittany as the most likely instrument of their wishes.
Prominent among Richard's supporters were the brothers Thomas
and William Stanley, the heads of a rising house which had already
attained a great position in south-west Lancashire. Like Bucking,
ham, the Stanleys were disloyal to Richard, and Thomas, the elder,
was now the husband of the Lady Margaret, Richmond's mother.
While stUl remaining in Richard's confidence they intrigued with
the Breton exiles.
6. In 1485, Richmond and Pembroke left Brittany
The battle ^^^ France, where Charles Vlll., who had succeeded his
and the father, Louis xi., in 1483, received them with favour,
death of and helped tliem with men and money. In the sum-
?jjiei*''^ '^^" '^®'* ^■^^y crossed over from Harfleur to MiKord
Haven, where they landed at the head of a small
army. The Welsh flocked in large numbers to their countryman's
1485]
EDWARD V. AND RICHARD III.
299
standard, so that Henry Tudor was strong enough to march
through Wales into the Midlands and challenge Richard's throne.
On August 22 the decisive battle between Henry and Richard was
fought at Market Boaworth, in Leicestershire. During the struggle
AVilliam Stanley deserted Richard for Henry, and this settled the
fortunes of the day. Richard perished, fighting desperately to the
la-st. When the field was won, Thomas Stanley, who had taken no
part in the action, came up and joined the victor. At the end of
the figlit. the crown, discovered in a hawthorn bush, was placed by
Thomas Stanley on his stepson's head. Henceforth the Lancastrian
exile was King Henry vii.
GENEALOGY OF THE GREYS AND W00DVILLE8
Richard Woodville, earl Rivers, d. 1469,
in. Jacqnetta of Luxemburg,
widow of John, duke of Bedford.
Autbouy Woodville,
carl Rivers,
d. 1483.
Elizal)eth Woodville,
m. (1) Sir John Grey,
d. 1461.
(2) Edward iv.,
d. 1483.
1
Catharine Woodville,
m. Henry Stafford,
duke of iUickinphani,
d. 1483 (see table
on page 284).
i
(1)
Thoniaii Grey, S
marquis of
Dorset, d. 1501.
1
(I)
ir Richa
Grey,
d. 1483
of Dorw
d. 1654
1
(2)
rd Edward v.,
d. 1483.
Richard,
duke of
York,
d. 1483.
k
Elizabeth,
m. Hknby
vn.
Thomas Grc}-,
marquia of
Dorset, d. 1630
(commander in
Spain, 1512).
Henry Grey, marquis
duke of Suffolk
Mary m. CI
duke
itaud
, m. FranceH I
larles Hrandou,
9f Suffolk.
raudon.
HkMRY VIII
(hco table on
page 419).
1
Lady Jane Gtey.
Lady Catharine Grey.
Lord Beauchamii.
CHAPTER VI
BRITAIN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
1. TuE fifteenth century in England witnessed no great changes
in the constitution. We have seen how, in the earlier part 5f it,
The o - ^^® Lancastrian rulers were so completely controlled
stitutlon ^y their parliament that in a fashion their government
in the seems to anticipate our modem cabinet system. But
fifteenth ^|^g times were too rough to make such a method of
C61ltllPV>
government practicable. The supremacy of parliament
meant in effect the increase of the power of the nobility, and the
rule of the nobles meant constant factions and threatened anarchy.
The Lancastrian constitutional experiment perished in the Wars
of the Roses, and the result of the failure was the restoration of
a strong monarchy under Edward iv., who prepared the way for
the stiU stronger rule of the Tudors. With the decay, alike in
numbers and in power, of the baronial aristocracy, one characteristic
feature of mediaeval English society was removed.
2. The Church, like the nobility, had seen its best days. It
had escaped the threatened danger of LoUardy, and seemed out-
wardly as powerftil as ever. Never was it more wealthy
urch. ^^ magnificent, and never did chiirchmen take a more
prominent share in the national life. But it had lost the old
vigour and spiritual force which had marked the Church of the
thirteenth century. Its characteristic leaders were political
ecclesiastics, who spent their days in the service of the State, and
received their reward from the wealth of the Church. In the
days of St. Thomas of Canterbury it had been thought impossible
for the same man to be archbishop of Canterbury and the king's
minister. In the fifteenth century it became a regular custom to
make the southern primate lord chancellor. The State had no
longer anything to fear from the restlessness or the encroachments
of the Cliurch, for the Church in its half-conscious weakness leant
upon the support of the State, and had little wish to assert itself
against the secular power. There was little energy and small wish
for reform, though the abuses of the Church were great, and a few
earnest men w^re still found who were anxious to make things
300
14S5.] BRITAIN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 3OI
better. It was not so much the corruption as the worldliness
of the Church that was so conspicuous. There were few spiritual
leaders of the people, and the most active and public-spirited of the
bishops were those who lavished their wealth on pious foundations,
on erecting magnificent colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, and in
building schools to supply them with scholars.
3. In the universities also there was the same want of life and
freshness. After the silencing of WyclifEe, Oxford sank back into
orthodoxy, but showed little energy and produced few ,j.j^g ^^^^
noteworthy writers or thinkers. Both Oxford and versities
Cambridge were adorned with magnificent buildings, and learn-
great and well-endowed colleges, and stately and well- *^'
stocked Hbrariea. Conspicuous among these new foundations were
New College, at Oxford, the creation of Bishop William of Wyke-
ham, and Kind's College, at Cambridge, which was established by
Henry vi. Both the bishop and the king founded great schools in
connection with their colleges, to supply them with students. Wyke-
ham thus set up Winchester school, and Henry vi. Eton. But
though such measures rendered the means of study more accessible,
the spirit that inspired study was seldom very strong. The best
thought and literature were outside the universities, which remained
the homes of the decaying scholasticism of the Middle Ages.
4. Deficient as was the fifteenth century in strenuous purpose and
liigh ideals, its history is in no wise altogether a history of decline.
Despite the fierce fighting at home and abroad, Eng- pposnerltv
land did not altogether stand still. The quarrels of of the
kings and nobles affected but little the life of the fifteenth
ordinary man. Even during the Wars of the Roses c®"t^"''y-
tlie simple Englishman managed to tiU his farm and seU his goods,
with Uttle regard to the clash of party strife. Farmers throve by
rea.son of gootl harvests and improvements in cultivation. Villein-
age steadily died out because it was more profitable to cultivate the
soil by means of free labour. In particular, the constant demand for
Engli.sh wool from the Netherlands made sheep-farming a profit-
able business for farmer and landlord alike. All classes prospered
through tlie increase of trade and the beginnings of our foreign
commerce ; when Edward iv. began to bring back order and strong
government, progress became rapid. Population increased greatly,
though it was still not very high, and England probably numbered
at the end of our period about four million inhabitants.
5. In the towns trade was brisk and increasing. It was the
time of the greatest influence of the craft-guiUis. These were olubs
302 BRITAIN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY [1399-
or societies formed by members of each of the chief trades practised
within a town. They served as benefit societies to shield their
members from misfortunes, and as social clubs which
and trade^ celebrated holidays by feasts, processions, and solemn
services in church. Besides thus encouraging self-
help and good-feUowship, they kept prices steady, watched over the
quality of the articles produced, and protected the guild brethren
from undue competition and the cutting down of profits. Foreign
commerce was on the increase, and at last a fair proportion of it
was falling into English hands. In earlier days the Easterliugs,
or merchants from the Hanse towns of Northern Germany, the
Venetians, and other Italians, had the bulk of English commerce
in their own hands. Since the great naval victories of Edward iii.
Englislimen took more readily to the sea. Shipbuilding developed,
and numerous commercial treaties opened up foreign ports to
English enterprise. The English merchants formed societies for
mutual assistance. Of these the most famous was the society of
the Merchant Adventurers, which set up its factories in the Scan-
dinavian kingdoms, and began to compete successfully with the
Hanse merchants for the trade of the Baltic and North Sea.
London was crowded with ships, and flourished exceedingly. Bristol,
the chief western port, prospered on account of the Irish trade, and
obtained a large share of the commerce with Iceland, whose stoi-my
seas were a rare school of seamanship. The export of wool, still
our chief product, was mainly conducted through Calais, the seat
of the stai^le, and now a thoroughly English town. As the ojien
door through which English wool was exported to the clothing
towns of the Netherlands, it was as important in commerce as it
was in politics as the gate which opened up France to the invasion
of English armies.
6. The increased prosperity of the towns and country alike was
seen in the increasing number and splendour of the churches and
. p public buildings. A large number of stately and mag-
pendicular nificent parish churches were erected all over the land,
apchitee- They were built in the Perpendicular style of Gothic
^"''®* architecture, which continued to be the one fashion of
building until the middle of the sixteenth century. The later Per-
pendicular buildings were even more costly and sj»acious than those
of the reign of Edward lii., and were infinitely more numerous. One
feature of the style was the erection of beautiful and richly adorned
towers ; others were the magnificent timber roofs, or the fantastic
and elaborate stone vaulting, in which ornament and decoration
-1485.1 BFITATN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 303
were pursued for their own sake. The culmination of this is to be
found in the fan tracery of the vaults of Henry vi.'s chapel of
King's College, Cambridge, or Henry vii.'s chapel at the east end
of Westminster Abbey, both characteristic buildings of the period.
Though this style is less pure than the earlier Gotliic, it is still
very rich, impressive, and magnificent. Nor were churches, colleges,
and monasteries the only structures which men now set up. Private
liou.ses were now built in a more durable and comfortable fasliiou,
and even the warlike nobles gave up erecting gloomy
castles for their abodes, preferring in their stead large, buildings
well • lighted, and roomy mansions, which, though
following the Hues of the old castles, and capable of standing a
siege, were built with a primary regard for the comfort of those
living in them rather than with the view of keeping out the enemy.
Magnificent specimens of the castellated mansions of the nobles of
this period are to be seen in the ruined houses of Tattershall, in
Lincolnshire, and Hurstmonceaux, in Sussex, both of which belong
to the reign of Henry vi. They are both remarkable as being
among tlie earliest brick buildings erected in England since Roman
times. By the end of the century the fashion of building in brick
liad become common, and made it easier to erect substantial houses
iu districts where stone was scarce or bad.
7. New styles in dress and customs showed how general was the
change of taste. Armour became more costly and elaborate thau
ever, and efforts were made to strengthen it in such
a fasliion as would protect the wearer from bullets and Armour and
11 » .1 ,, . i . 1 weapons,
arrows as weU as from the thrust or cut of lance or
sword. The use of firearms became more general, and light hand-
guns, the predecessors of the later musket, were beginning to come
into use. Yet the long-bow, now at its prime, was still generally
l)referred in England to these clumsy and uncertain weapons. It
wati abroad rather tlian at home that new experiments were now made
iu the art of war. The Frencli adopted the use of artillery more
readily than the English, and it was by reason of the exc^ellence
and number of their cannon that they discomfited the long uucon-
tjuerable English archer, notably at tlie battle of Castillou, which
closed the Hundred Years' War.
8. The literature of the fifteenth century reflects the general
character of the age. Since the death of Chaucer there was no
more poetry of the highest rank, but th«» style of
(Miaucer wa.s imitated by a whole school of versitit'rs,
who wrot*< fiuenily, frwly, and vigorously, tliuugh witli litU«
•304 BRITAIN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY [1399-
originality or artistic gift. The best poetry of the time is to be
found in the large number of anonymous ballads, some of which
are of a high order of excellence. Another feature was the growtli
of a popular drama, which was chiefly represented by
th(B drama religious dramas called Mysteries, or Miracle-plays,
wherein enacted stories from Scripture, or sermons
in verse, setting forth the mysteries of the faith. It became the
custom for the townsmen to amuse themselves on holidays by
witnessing miracle-plays of this kind, acted in temporary theatres
erected in tlie streets and public squares. We have still extant the
cycles of dramas that delighted the citizens of Chester, York, and
Wakefield during this period.
9. Prose was better than poetry. There was a larger reading
public, but it was not very particular as to the quality of what it
read so long as it was amusing or instructive. The
monastic chronicles became few and feeble, as the
vigour of the religious life declined ; but as a compensation great
men began to employ private historiographers, who set down in prose
or verse the deeds of their patrons. These men were sometimes the
heralds or chaplains of their employers, and sometimes foreigners,
especially Italians, who were brought into the country by noblemen
and prelates anxious to show their sympathy for the wider and
fuller literary movements of lands beyond the sea. Humphrey, duke
of Gloucester, was the most bountiful and broad-minded of these
noble patrons of letters. He had in his pay an Italian who called
himself Titus Livius, and wrote at his master's bidding a Latin life
of Henry v. The Percies employed an Englishman named John
Harding to compose a metrical history of their house, wherein he
took good care not to minimize the glories of the distingiiished family
to which he owed his bread. It is a sign of the greater extension
of knowledge and the spread of the practice of composition that we
have for the first time collections of private and familiar correspond-
ence, which give us a much more vivid idea of what ordinary men
thought and said than can be gathered from the stiff and formal
official letters of state which alone survive from earlier ages.
Conspicuous among such collections are the Paston Letters, the
correspondence of a pushing and rising family of Norfolk squires,
which give us far the best picture that we have of the state of
society during the Wars of the Roses.
10. The increased demand for books led to the existence of a
large class of scriveners and stationers, wliose business was to copy
out and sell volumes for which there was a constant popular
-1485.] BRITAIN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 305
demand. The skill shown by these men was great, and they multi-
plied books with as much faitlif illness and quickness as were possible,
so long as every fresh example had to be written out by
hand. But the impossibility of producing books by the pfT^f J*
laborious process of copying them out in manuscript
set men's brains to work to devise means of multiplying them by
mechanical devices. In the course of this century the invention of
printing was soon to make obsolete the painful art of the scrivener.
11. The first books produced by mechanical means were what
were called block-books. In these the matter which had to be
reproduced was written on flat blocks of wood, and jhe inven-
then tlie rest of the surface of the block was cut away tlon of
so that the imttem written stood out in relief, and P'*'"' "8f*
when smeared over with oily ink, could be pressed or printed upon
pieces of paper, much as wood-cuts were multiplied in later times.
This method was only possible for short works of considerable
circulation, since it was slow and costly, and the blocks were useless
save for the one purpose for which they were designed. For about
a century, however, block-books were the only alternatives to manu-
scripts, until about the middle of the fifteenth century, the ingenuity
of John Gutenberg, a citizen of Mainz, in Germany, de\'ised the
method of casting movable types in metal to correspond to the
various letters and characters. These types could then be set up to
represent any combination of letters, and when the copies needed
were printed off, the type could be distributed and rearranged to
make a fresh book. Gutenberg's great invention soon spread all over
Euroi)e, and that the more rapidly since the first book he printed,
a Latin Bible, issued in 1455, was of such extraordinary beauty as
to rival or surpass the best type of manuscript. The result of the
spread of printing was that books became suddenly cheapened and
multiplied, and that a great imi)etus was given to reading and study.
12. In Edward iv.'s time printing was brought into England
by a Kentishman named William Caxton, a shrewd and successful
merchant, settled for many years in Flanders, who „ .
learnt in the Netherlands and in Gennany the new caxton,
art about which all interested in books were talk- the first
ing. He bought ty^ws from a Flemish printer, and, English
about 1474, pro<luced with them at Brugi»s, in
Flanders, the first printed books in English. These were A
romance called a Reruyell of the Histories of IVoy, and a treatise
en The Game and Play of Chess. In 1477, Caxton went back to
>^gland, and set up his press under the shadow of Westminster
306 BRITAIN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY [1399-
Abbey, where he printed and published many books, both in English
and Latin. Caxton was not only a good business man but a com-
petent scholar, who wrote prefaces to his books and translated
many of them into English. Edward iv. and Richard in. and
the more cultivated nobles were his patrons. After his death
in 1491, his press went to his pupil, Wynkyn de Worde. Other
men followed their example, and before the end of the century, the
art of printing was firmly established in England. So powerful
was the press by this time, that the king and the Church would
allow only those books to be printed which had obtained a licence.
13. One feature of this period is the growth of an independent
English-speaking state in Scotland. So constant was the hostility
of the northern and southern kingdoms that it was
in the ^^ France rather than to its neighbour that the little
fifteenth Scottish kingdom looked for support and guidance. It
century. ^g^g characteristic that, for example, Scottish buildings
which in earlier ag-es had been erected after the same fashion as
those in England, now followed the French rather than the
English style. Thus there is hardly any Perpendicular Gothic
in Scotland, though builders were as busy beyond the Tweed as
in England during the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
The Scottish churches of this time follow in preference the Flam-
boyant or late Gothic of France, which differs in some Avays more
widely from contemporary English art than any other mediaeval
style. A comparison of the Flamboyant churches of Melrose or St.
Giles, Edinburgh, with the English churches of the same date, will
show how deeply divided against itseK English-speaking Britain
had become. It was the same with domestic architecture, where the
Scottish barons erected for themselves imitations of French castles
rather than English manor-houses. When in 1508 the art of
printing was tardily introduced into Scotland, it was in France that
the earliest Scottish printers learnt their craft. In law, in the
same way, the Scots looked to France and the Roman Civil Law
rather than to the customary law of England, which was originally
common to all parts of the English-speaking race. In literature,
also, the court speech of Edinburgh was, as we have seen, the old
Northumbrian dialect, and not the Midland tongue which Caxton,
like Chaucer, adopted as the most appropriate for English literary
speech. Yet the ties of common language stUl counted for some-
thing. James i., a cultivated and intelligent king, brought back
from his long EngUsh captivity a sincere love for Chaucer's poetry,
and wrote his own poem, called the Kingis Qiihair, in the style of
-1485.] BRITAIN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 307
the soutliern master. Prom this time the fashion of Chauoer took
a deep hold on Scottish men of letters. All through the fifteenth
century Scots poets, like Robert Henryson, set forth in the northern
form of English spirited imitations and adaptations of Chaucer's
themes and metres, which show that there was more true poetic
spirit to the north than to the south of the Tweed. The reigns
of the early Stewart kings witnessed in this, and in many other
ways, a wonderful growth of civilization, order, and i)rosperity.
Historians of the school of Barbour described the stirring deeds of
the heroes of the War of Independence, and a wandering minstrel
called BHnd Harry wrote a rude poetic romance on the erploits of
Wallace, the great popular hero of the north. The same i)eriod
also witnessed the establishment of three Scottish universities at
St. Andrews, Aberdeen, and Glasgow, so that the northern scholar
had no longer to leave his own land to obtain a learned education.
Save in the wild Highlands beyond the Forth, where the un-
changing Celtic civilization still went on without a rival, Scotland,
like England, was becoming awake to the new issues that were
soon to excite the interest of aU Eurojje.
14. The changes which we have sketched show that fifteenth-
century Britain was by no means standing still, though it was not
now, as it had been, fuUy abreast of the Continent, jheend
Everywhere the Middle Ages were slowly dying away, of the
It was an age of discoveries, of new inventions, of Middle
great,er love of knowledge, and of a wider interest in ^*^®*'
man and nature. Before long, Columbus was to make liis way to the
new world called America. It was already the time of the licvival
of LetterK, or the Renascence — that is, the now birth of learning
and tliought. None of the new movements hml as yet roached
Bribiin, but elsewhere, and especially in Italy, there had been won-
derful j)rogre88 made in many directions. Even in our island
some men were beginning to Imj interested in the new tendencies.
'J'hose who read deeply began to think for tliemselv(«. When men
began to think for themselves, modern times were already at hand.
Hooks nKcoMMKNDKo^KOR the Further Stodt of the Pekiou 1399-1486
Omnn's Ilirtory nf Knfflnnil, 1377-1485, in Lonjnnans P0lilic.1l HiKtory of
Englnnd, vol. iv. ; Stiibhs' Const itiitional Enfflnud, vol. iii., which iucludcs
the best survey of the political history of the |)eriod ; J.Tines Gairdiier's J/outrt
of Lancaster and }'o>i- (I^ingnians' E|)och8 of Mo<icrn History) ; A. CJ. Bradley's
Owen (Hyndwr and C. L. Kingsford's Henry V. (both in Ht-roos of tlio Nations) j
Oman's Warwick the Kini) Maktry a spirited skotch (Macmillan's Men of
Action). For Caxton and his successors, sec K. (t. DufTs Earltf Printett Hooks,
ch. viii.-xi. The I'atUm fitters, edited with valuable introductions by .Tanies
Gairdner, thro\r a flooJ of liglit ou the political and social history- of the period.
BOOK V
THE TUDORS (1485-1603)
CHAPTER I
HENRY VII. (1485-1509;
Chief Dates :
1485. Accession of Henry vir.
1487. Imposture of Lambert Simnel.
1492. Treaty of Etaples ; beginning of Warbeck's imposture.
1494. Poynings' Law.
1496. The Magnus Intercursus.
1499. Execution of Warbeck and Warwick.
1503. Marriage of James iv. and Margaret Tudor.
1509. Deatii of Henry vii.
1. Henry vii. had been schooled by his early trials in prison and
exUe to repress his feelings, and to regard his own interests as his
primary care. Silent, cold, suspicions, and reserved,
Henpv^Vir ° ^^® ^^^ never able to make himself popular, though he
delighted in fine clothes and the pageantry of liis
office. Prudent, careful, and politic, he was remorseless to those who
stood in his way, though never capricious or bloodthirsty. Greedy
as he was of wealth and power, he refused to regard himself as the
mere chief of the Lancastrian faction, and did his best to make
himself king over the whole nation. One of his first acts was to
marry the Lady Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward iv.,
and, by her brothers' disappearance, the nearest i-epresentative of
the house of York. He hoped thereby that the friends of Edward
IV., who had hated the usurpation of Richard, would thus become
his supporters. Anyhow it was certain that the children of Henry
and Elizabeth would have a clearer title to the throne han any
king after Richard n.
2. The long faction fight could not be ended in a day, and the
308
-1487. J HENRY VII. 309
first years of the new reign seemed but a continuation of the old
struggles of the rival houses. Henry had to reward Iiia followers,
and though he deprived few Yorkists of their estates continuance
and titles, the return of the Lancastrian exiles, and of the old
the elevation of his friends and kinsfolk to high Party
strufirfiriGs
rank, naturally changed the balance of parties. The
Yorkists at once sought to redress their fortunes by rebellion, and
Henry vii. soon found, like Henry iv., that his real difficulty was
not in conquering England, but in holding it.
3. The first Yorkist rising was in 14^B6, when Lord Level and
the StafPords, the kinsmen of the late duke of Buckingham, broke
• into rebellion at once in different parts of the country.
They were easily put down. Without a leader, it was ^J"!** ^°iTo'k
hard for the Yorkists to act together. Their natural
head was the wife of the Lancastrian king, while their nearest male
representative, Edward, earl of Warwick, the son of the murdered
Clarence and a daughter of the king-maker, was detained a close
prisoner in the Tower by the suspicious Henry.
4. Outside England, circumstances were more favourable to the
Yorkists. Edward iv.'s sister, Margaret of Burgundy, the widow
of Charles the Rash, still possessed great influence in Lambert
the Netherlands, and encouraged every plot agaipst SImnel,
tho hated Tudors. Though Ireland was for all prac- *'**'•
tical purposes independent of England, and ruled by its own clan
chieftains and feudal lords, yet the house of York, as heir of the
Mortimers, had a strong position among the leading Irish families.
There were many Irish barons eager to make loyalty to York an
excuse for throwing o£E even nominal obedience to the English
king. Chief among these was the earl of Kildare, the head of the
Leinster branch of tho great Norman house of Fitzgerald. Kildare
had l)een made dt<puty. or governor, of Ireland by Richard in.,
and was no friend to Henry Tudor. Though the new king had
not ventured to take away from him his office, he had set over him
as lord lieutenant his uncle, Jasper Tudor, now duke of Bedford.
This so much irritated Kildare that he gladly fell in with the
scheme hatched by Margaret of Burgundy to supply the Yorkists
with a pretext for a frosli rebellion. In 1487 there landed in
Ireland a pretty boy. al)out twelve years old, accompanied by a
priest, who gave out that the child was Edward, earl of Warwick,
who, he (said, had escaped from the Tower. The Fitzgeralds at
onoe took up the cause of tlie youth, and had him crowned king in
Dublin. Really, the pret^ndfT was one Lambert Simnel, the son of
3IO HENRY VII. [1487-
an Oxford org-an-maker. Having no true prince iii whose name
they could fight, the Yorkists set up this impostor as their candidate
for the tlirone. It was easy for Henry to defeat so transparent a
fraud. He took the real Warwick out of prison, so that the
Londoners could see for themselves that the boy-king in Ireland
was a counterfeit. Before long, Simnel's friends were reinforced
by the exile Lovel and a troop of German mercenaries, under
Martin Schwara. They were now emboldened to cross the Channel
and try their fortunes in England. But few English joined the
motley host of Irish, Germans, and Yorkists. The invaders were
easUy defeated at the battle of StoTce, near Newark, and the pre-
tended Warwick fell into the king's hands. Henry showed his *
contempt for the impostor by giving him a free pardon, and
making him first turnspit in the royal kitchen. Henry was, how-
ever, still so weak that he forgave JCildare, the real author of the
revolt.
5. During the first years of his reign, Henry had many troubles
abroad. Besides the old duchess of Burgundy, both Scotland and
France were unfriendly to him. To meet the hostility
The Breton ^^ Charles viii. of France, Henry made an alliance
succession
and the with Duke Francis of Brittany, who was at war with
treaty of }iig overlord. However, in 1488, Francis died, leaving
1492 ^^' *^ ^^^ ^®^^ ^^ ^^^y daughter named Anne. The
French now sought to marry the Duchess Anne to
their young king, Charles viii., and so unite Brittany and France.
This alarmed the chief enemies of France, Ferdinand, king of
Spain, and Maximilian of Austria, king of the Romans, who, by
marrying the daughter of Charles the Rash, had established him-
seK as lord of the Netherlands. Henry ventured to ally liimself
with these princes against the French, and sent small forces to
Flanders and to Brittany. The French now overran Brittany,
and in 1491 Anne was married to Charles viii. Next year (1492)
Henry levied a large army, and landed in France. Like Edward
IV. in 1475, he showed little eagerness to fight, and willingly made
peace with the French in the treaty of Etaples, by which the
French paid him a good round sum of money to ensure the with-
drawal of his army. This inglorious retreat of Henry disgusted
his allies without conciliating his enemies.
6. The friendlessness of Henry outside his kingdom soon bore
fruit in a new imposture, much more formidable than the weak
attempt of Lambert Simnel. A little before the treaty of Etaples
there landed in Ireland a youth of noble presence and attractive
-1496] HENRY VII. 3II
manners, who declared that he was Hichard, duke of York, the
younger of the sons of Edward iv. whom Richard iii. had immured
in the Tower. He said that he had escaped when his pepj^j^
brother Edward v. was slain, and had now come to Warbeck,
claim his inheritance. In truth, he was Perkin War- 1492.
beck, a native of Tournai, in the Netherlands, and inspired, like
Simnel, by the bitter malice of Margaret of BxirgTindy. Warbeck
played his part so weU that many people honestly believed in him,
and for seven years he was a source of constant anxiety to Henry vii.
7. Moved by Henry's clemency on a former occasion, Kildare
and the Fitzgeralds guve a colder welcome to Warbeck than
to Simnel. The new impostor soon left Ireland.
Charles viii. recognized him, and invited him to of |f" °"
France, where many of the exiled Yorkists gathered William
rouqd him. Driven from France by the treaty of ji^jg'®^*
Etaples, he found a refuge with Margaret of Burgundy^
who declared him to be her nephew. Meanwhile, Yorkist con-
spirators were active in England. In 1495 these were joined by
Sir William Stanley, who, with his brother, in 1485 made earl
of Derby, had been chiefly instrumental in gaining Henry the
throne. Like Hotspur under Henry iv., Stanley was discontented
with the rewards given to him by the king, and was now eager to
undo the work of his own hands. His plot was discovered ; he
confessed his guilt, and was put to death.
8. Disappointed at the failure of his friends, Warbeck strove to
take his destinies in his own hands. Little success attended Ids
gallant attempts. He failed to effect a landing in Kent ;
another effort to win over Ireland was attended with exclusion ^
indifferent success. Meanwliile, Henry had cultivated from
the friendship of both Charles viii. and Maximilian cr^'j'^^d"**
with such success that the Continent was henceforth
barred to the impostor. James iv., king of Scots, was still Henry's
enemy. In 1496 he invited Warbeck to Scotland, married him to
his cousin, the Lady Catharine Gordon, and invaded tlie north of
England, proclaiming that he was come to overthrow the usurper
Henry Tudor, and uphold the just claims of Richard iv. No
English would join a pretender backed up by the Scots, and James
was forced to retire without daring to fight a battle. Next year a
threat of invasion from England compelled the king of Scots to
dismiss Warbeck from his country. Once more the impostor took
refuge in Ireland, but soon found that his chance was as hopeless
ther9 M in the north.
312 HENRY VII. [1496-
9. In 1496 Henry vii. made the Scots inroad an excuse for
exacting heavy taxes from his subjects. In 1497 the Cornishmen,
who had no fear of the Scots, rose in revolt, and.
The Cornish lieaded by a lawyer named Flammock, marched to
rising, 1497, London, and encamped on Blackheath, where, after
execution hard fighting, they were scattered. Warbeck took the
of Warbeclt bold course of landing in Cornwall, hoping that the
W pwiclc inhabitants of that shire, inspired by the spirit which
1499. ' had sent them to Blackheath, would welcome him, and
rebel once more in his favour. He soon found enough
followers to march eastward and besiege Exeter. Failing to capture
the capital of the west, he resumed his eastern march as far as
Taunton, where a royal army stopped his further progress. Seeing
tliat battle was inevitable the next day, Warbeck lost heart.
Leaving his followers to their fate, he took sanctuary with, the
Cistercian monks of Beaulieu in Hampshire. The Cornishmen,
abandoned by their leader, went back to their homes, and so the
danger to Henry's throne was over. Before long Warbeck was
persuaded to surrender, on the promise of his life being spared.
He was imprisoned in the Tower, where he made friends with the
captive earl of Warwick. In 1499 both Warbeck and Warwick
were condemned and executed, on a charge of an attempt to seize
the Tower and overthrow the king. Whether guilty or not, their
removal deprived the Yorkist party of its last sorry leaders, and
firmly established Henry Tudor on the throne. The Wars of the
Roses were at last over.
10. Henry had perceived that his chief danger from Warbeck
came from the unfriendliness of foreign powers. He therefore
strove to conciliate the chief princes of Europe, and
The Magnus ^g have seen how successfully he had cut at the roots
Intcpcupsus -^
1496 and ' of the impostor's strength. The treaty of Staples had
the Malus driven Warbeck from France. It was a harder busi-
1506^"^^"*' ^^^'^ ^^ remove him from Flanders, since Maximilian
declared that the dowager duchess was free to do what
she liked in her own lands. Henry had, however, a useful weapon
against him in the close commercial relations that still bound
Flanders to England. By prohibiting all trade between the two
countries, he soon persuaded Maximilian to keep Warbeck out of
his dominions. In 1496 the relations between Maximilian and
Henry were made very cordial by a treaty called the Magnus Inter-
cursus, or Great Intercourse, by which trade was resumed, and both
princes promised not to support each other's enemies. Ten years
-I SOI.] HENRY VII. 313
later, in 1506, Maximilian's son, the Archduke Philip, the real ruler
of the Netherlands, was driven by bad weather to take refuge in
an English port on his way to claim the throne of Simin. Henry
treated Philip with all honour, but would not suffer him to
continue his journey until he had signed a new treaty of commerce.
This favoured English traders so much that the Flemings called
it the Malus Intercursus — that is, the Bad Intercourse.
11. Foreign politics were more important than at an earlier
time, since the leading monarchs of Europe were now so powerful
that they had plenty of time to intervene in each other's
affairs, and their mutual jealousies and alliances led to p
the beginning of what was called the European political
Political System, in which the chief princes strove to system and
...t, J. ■, J I. XI. J the balance
maintain a balance of power between each other, and ^f power.
prevent any one state from attaining such greatness
as to make it dangerous to its neighbours. After the conquest of
Brittany, Charles viii. of France invaded Italy in 1494, and made
himself for a time king of Naples. This triumph was but short-
lived, for the Italians contrived to drive him out, and his rivals
sided with them through their fear of the French. Conspicuous
among the enemies of France were the Emperor Maximilian i.
and Ferdinand, king of Aragon. Maximilian was a vain, showy,
and moneyless prince, whose power was not very great. Ferdinand
of Aragon was the wisest and strongest king of his day. He had
married Isatella, queen of Castile, and tlie union of the two chief
kingdoms of the peninsula under this couple was the beginning of
the great Spanish monarchy.
12. Always suspicious of France, Henry made it the main
object of his policy to win Ferdinand and Isabella to his side. He
servilely followwl their load, and sought to inai-ry liis jj^^ Spanish
eldest son, Artliur, prince of Wales, to their younger alliance,
daughter, the Infanta Catharine of Aragon. After *^*'*-
live years' negotiations, the wedding was completed in 1501. Next
year, however, Arthur died. Henry was .so anxious to keep up the
Spanish connection and to retain Catharine's liberal wedding
portion in England, that he proposed that the widowe<l princess
sliould marry his younger son Henry, who was now made Prince
of Wales. As a marriage of a man to his brother's widow was
prohibite<l by the Church, Henry obtained from Pope Julius u. a
diapenaaiion which suspended the law in this particular case. Thus
Catharine remained in England, though several years elapsed before
she and Henry were actually united. Meanwliile the dependence
314 HENRY VII. [1503-
of Henry on Ferdinand continued. The Archduke Philip, who
had married Catharine's elder sister, Joan, and so became king of
Castile on Isabella's death, died in 1506. Soon after his visit to
England, Henry, already a widower, proposed to Ferdinand to
marry Joan of Castile, though she was a madwoman.
13. Moreover, ia 1503, Henry vii. wedded his elder daughter
Margaret to James iv., king of Scots, who had up to then been
The Scottish g'e^^raUy hostile. Henry hoped to wean him from
marriage, that close connection with France that every Scottish
1503. monarch had cultivated since the days of Edward i.
Though the first hopes of this were disappointed, this marriage
was so far successful that a hundred years later a descendant of
James and Margaret united the English and Scottish thrones.
14. Despite Henry vii.'s intrigues and alliances, the power of
England abroad was stUl iusignificant. It was something, how-
Henry's ever, that the Tudor king had shown that England
domestic had once more a foreign poHcy, and was no longer in
policy. ^j^g state of impotence and isolation which she had
occupied during the Wars of the Roses. Henry's best work, how-
over, was not abroad, but at home, where he gradually restored the
royal power and put an end to the weak rule and confusion which
had culminated in the struggle of Lancaster and York. Though
he was a Lancastrian, he made no attempt to govern in the con-
stitutional fashion of the three Henries who had preceded him.
He preferred to base his rule on the model of Edward iv. He
summoned parliament as seldom as he could, and did not scruple to
disregard the law of Richard iii. by raising money by benevolences.
He i)assed several wise laws, one of the most important being an
act of 1495, by which it was declared that no one who obeyed the
king who was reigning for the time being should be punished as a
traitor, whether that king ruled with a good title or not.
15. Henry vii. was fortunate in liis ministers. His chief adviser.
Cardinal Morton, who was both archbishop of Canterbury and lord
chancellor, was much more of a statesman than an
mln^"ters ecclesiastic. Morton served the king too faithfully to
be popular, and was particularly shrewd in filling the
king's coffers by indirect devices that did not openly break the
law. After his death, in 1500, Richard Fox, bishop of Winchester,
was one of Henry's chief advisers, but the most trusted confidants
of the king's latter years were two men of lower rank, Edmund
Dudley and Richard Empson. Denounced by the people as Henry's
"horse-leeches and skin-shearers," they managed to fill both the
-1509.] HENRY VII. 315
king's pockets and theii' own by devices muoli more odions than
any that Morton had indulged in. Throug-h their help, and
through the rigid economy which never deserted him, Henry
accumulated a store of treasure such as no previous English king
had gathered together. ^
16. Englishmen could afPord to submit to Henry's exactions,
since he kept the land in better order than it had known for a
century. The chief trouble of fifteenth-century j>gH„„fi-jn
England had been in the inordinate jwwer of the of the
nobles. Henry was doing a service to the people as '',?*^*''i,^*^
well as to the throne when he devoted his best energies
to compelling the turbulent nobles to obey the law like ordinary
citizens. A chief means by which the nobles had defied the law was
through the custom of livery and maintenance, whereby aU who wore
the badge or livery of a lord were bound to support him in all his
quarrels, while the lord in return was bound to maintain his livery-
men. This meant that he was to back them up in whatever trouble
beset them, and either to coerce the law-courts not to pass sentences
against them, or, if they were condemned, to see that the sentences
against them were not carried out. Many statutes had been passed
making livery and maintenance unlawful, but none of them had
succeeded, since they were carried out by those very courts which
were so powerless against the great nobles. In 1487 Henry pa^ised
a fresh act against livery and maintenance, by which a new court was
established to carry out the law. This court consisted of ministers
of state of such high rank that they were not amenable to the
l)res8uro which the nobles were so often able to exert against the
judge and jury of an ordinary assize court. This body was one
source of the famous Star Chamber, which was to serve later
raonarchs in such good stead. Through this new court,. Henry's
statute was carried out so thoroughly that the abuses of livery and
maintenance were speedily ended. The fate of tlie nobles ruined in
attempts te resist Henry showed that the miglitiest barons were no
longer above the law. In thus breaking down the power of the
aristecracy, Henry vii. laid solid foundations for that Tudor
despotism which attained its culminating point under Henry viii.
and Elizabeth.
17. Henry vii. also did a little to extend strong government to
Wales and Ireland. Proud of his Welsh descent, he Henry VII, 's
called his eldest son after the famous British king Welsh and
Arthur, and sent him te rule his principality from ''"'**' Po'^cv.
Ludlow, the old home of the Mortimera. The council of alvisers te
3l6 HENRY VII. [1509.
the young- prince became the nucleus of the body which in the next
reign became the Council of Wales. In Ireland more immediate
steps were necessary, and after Warbeck's first attempted landing,
Henry deprived Kildare of his deputyship, and sent Sir Edward
Poynings to Ireland as his successor. A plain Englishman,
superior to the local feuds of the land he ruled, Poynings passed in
1494 the famous Irish act of parliament, called Poynings' Law, by
which all English laws were declared to be of force in
Law^ "494 Ii'eland, and the Irish parliament was forbidden to
pass any measure until it had received the approval of
the king's council in England. Thus Ireland was made definitely
dependent on the English goveriunent of the day. Henry had not,
however, power to go far in tlie direction thus defined by Poynings.
Before long he again made Kildare his deputy, thinking that the
cheapest way of keeping some sort of order was to invest one of
the Irish magnates with the exercise of the royal authority. " All
Ireland," he was told, " could not rule the earl of Kildare." Henry
is reported to have answered, " Then let the earl of Kildare rule
all Ireland." Thus Ireland still remained practically independent
under its own clan chieftains and feudal barons.
18. In this as in so many other matters, Henry vii. was only
sowing that others might reap. But, when prematurely aged by
the toils of statecraft, the first Tudor king died in
Henry VII 1509, he had established the infant dynasty on such a
solid basis that his son and successor became from the
moment of his accession one of the strongest of English monarchs.
CHAPTER II
HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY (150^1529)
Chief Dates :
1509. Accession of Henry viii.
151 1. The Holy League.
1513. Battles of the Spurs and Flodden.
1515. Francis I., king of France; LVopia published.
1517. Beginning of the Reformation in Germany.
1519. Charles v., emperor.
1521-1525. War with France.
1521. Fall of Buckingham.
1525. Battle of Pavia.
1527. Henry applies for a divorce.
1529. Fall of Wolsey,
1. Henry viii. was only eighteen years old when he succeeded
his father as king' of England. Tall, robn.st, and well-built, with
a round and fair-complexioned face, and short-cut,
bright, auburn hair, Henry was the handsomest Henry%1ll?
sovereign in Christendom. He was a splendid athlete,
an accomplished horseman, an enthusiast for the chase, and an
excellent tennis-player. He looked every inch a king, with his
stately form set off by gorgeous attire, glittering with jewels and
gold. Though tenacious of his dignity, his friendly hearty manner
won him the love of rich and poor alike. CarefuUy educated by
his father, he played and sang well, spoke several languages fluently,
and delighted in the society of scholars. Though seemingly ab-
sorbed in a round of pleasure and amusement, he never forgot that
his real work was to rule England. His strength of will and
stubbornness of purpose made him one of the very ablest of our
kings. He knew what he wanted, and had few scruples as to how
to get it. A shrewd judge of character, he chose his ministers
well, and used them to the uttermost. He was selfish, greedy,
hard-hearted, without the faintest gleam of pity or of softness.
Ever stern and relentless, he became in later life a cruel and
hateful tyrant ; but he never quite lost the love of his subject*,
3'7
3l8 HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY [1509-
and there always remained, amidst the worst excesses of his later
life, some touch of his lionlike will and splendid force of purpose.
2. Henry was the first king since Henry v. whose title no man
seriously disputed. Inheriting the fruits of his father's painful and
laborious poKcy, and the great store of treasure that
of Empson ^^ elder king had hoarded up, Henry aspired to play
and Dudley, a leading part in European politics. He felt that he
could take up a bolder and more popular line than
Henry vii. He strove to win over the people to his side, while he
completed his father's work of crushing the old nobility and the
great churchmen, who had so long stood in the way of the royal
power. His ambition was to rule England as a strong but popular
and national despot, and his people, long accustomed to find in the
king their best protection against aristocratic licence and misrule,
gave him a hearty and ungrudging support. In his eagerness to
win popular favour, he sent to the Tower Empson and Dudley, the
hated agents of his father's grasping extortion. At first they were
charged with tyrannising over the king's subjects in their collection
of the taxes, but this true accusation was dropped for a foolish
charge of treason and conspiracy against the king. Early in 1510
parliament passed an act of attainder against them as traitors. A
few months later both were beheaded on Tower Hill.
3. Though remorselessly sacrificing to popular hatred the most
notorious of his father's subordinate agents, Henry continued in
ofiice the tried ministers who had really fashioned
minlste^s^ Henry vii.'s policy. They were mainly bishops and
nobles of high position, but of no great ability or
energy. The foremost among them were Richard Fox, bishop of
Winchester, and Thomas Howard, earl of Stirrey. Fox was a good
and pious man, but anxious to give up politics ; and Surrey, though
a capable soldier, and the only conspicuous representative of the
older nobles who remained unswervingly faithful to the king, was
not clever enough to be able to give effect to the ambitious schemes
of his young master. To carry out these an abler and more
strenuous helper was necessary, and Henry soon found a minister
after his own heart in Thomas Wolsey, The son of a substantial
Ipswich merchant, Wolsey early distinguished himseK at Oxford,
but soon abandoned the student's career to become
Wot ev chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury. Bishop Fox,
who thought well of him, gave him a footing at court,
and under Henry vii. he had shown his capacity in several embassies.
Under the young king he became dean of Lincoln and almoner.
-151 1.] HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY 319
Fox's gradual withdrawal from politics guve Wolsey his oppor-
tunity, and the growing complication of foreign politics soon made
him indispensable to Henry. In 1514 he became bishop of Lincoln,
and, before the end of the year, archbishop of York. In 1515 he
was made lord chancellor, and the pope sent him a cardinal's hat.
For sixteen years Wolsey was supreme both in Church and State.
Fresh preferment was heaped upon him, until he enjoyed the
revenues of three or four bishoprics and of one of the richest
abbeys in England. He lived on terms of intimate friendship with
Henry, and though never gainsaying the fierce king's wishes, was
able to control his policy as no other minister of the reign ever
did. He was an indefatigable worker, and kept all the business
of the state under his own control. Equally competent to organize
an army and to conduct a subtle diplomatic intrigue, he was alike
able to formulate a great policy and to plod patiently through the
dull details of administration. He affected a pomp tind ostentation
such as the proudest nobles did not aspire to ; but he posed as the
friend of the poor, listening patiently to their lawsuits, and dealing
out to them even-handed justice. The great nobles both envied
him and hated him, recognizing in him the chief instrument em-
ployed by the king for their abasement. He had few of the strict
virtues of the churchman, though he was a munificent patron of
learning, and wished to see the clergy better educated and more
energetic. He had something of the pride, the greed, the ostenta-
tion, and love of pleasure of his master ; but he had a clear vision
of the right poUcy for his country, and without his rare gifts the
young king's reign would have been shorn of much of its glory.
4. The ability and energy of Wolsey were of special service to
his ma.ster in the region of foreign politics. Under Henry vii.
England hatl been of little account in European
affairs; and the old king's fidelity to the Spanish n^miFJ'
alliance had met with but scanty recompense from
Ferdinand of Aragon. As in the days of Henry vii.. the rivalry
of Louis XII. of France and of Ferdinand of Spain was the
central fact of the European situation, and Italy had become more
than ever the prize of victory. Louis, as duke of Milan, was the
chief power in Northern Italy, and Ferdinand, as king of Naples
and Sicily, dominated the south of the peninsula. Both princes
threw themselves into the complicated intrigues of the Italian
statesmen, and shared their fears of the aggressions of the wise,
strong, and wealthy republic of Venice. So far did this fear lead
them, that in 1508 Ferdinand and Louis forgot their rivalry for a
320 HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY [15 ii-
moment, and united with tiie Emperor Maximilian i. in the League
of Cambrai against Venice. This union of all the chief powers
of the Continent had the effect of isolating England from all
opportunity of taking part in Continental poKtics. Nevertheless,
Henry viii. kept on good terms with Spain, and witlxin a few
weeks of his accession, he carried out his long-deferred marriage
with Catharine of Aragon, Ferdinand's daughter, and his brother
Arthur's widow. For three years the contiuuance of the League
of Cambrai made Henry powerless to take a line of his own. But
the clever Yenetian statesmen began to play upon the jealousies of
the ill-assorted coalition arrayed against them, and in 1511 they
succeeded in breaking up the alliance altogether. Julius 11., the
fierce and warlike pope, who had taken a prominent part in the
league, became alarmed lest the destruction of Venice should be
followed by the establishment of French rule in Italy. He per-
suaded Ferdinand and Maximilian to break off their connection
The Holv with France, and to join in a new combination with the
League, Venetians, whose object was to drive the French out
*S^1' of Italy. This league was called the Holy League,
because the pope was at the head of it.
5. Henry vnr. was delighted that the break-up of the con-
federates of Cambrai into two factions gave him a chance of taking
Henry Joins ^^P ^ ^^® ^^ ^^^ own. He joined the Holy League,
the Holy hoping to win glor'y for himself by gaining victories
League. ^^^^ ^^^ French, and believing that with the help
of Maximilian and Ferdinand he might again bring Nonnandy
and Gascony under the English king's rule. Wolsey showed won-
derful energy in raising armies to fight his master's battles, and in
levying the sums of money necessary to equip and feed them. It
was the first time that England actively entered into a general
European war waged on the large scale of modern times.
6. In 1512 there was fighting all over Europe. The Holy League
drove the French out of Milan, and Ferdinand of Aragon con-
The war In quered the little kingdom of Navarre, which was closely
1512 and allied to France. Henry sent his cousin, Thomas
1513. Grey, marquis of Dorset, with a considerable army to
the north of Spain, hoping that the Spaniards would co-operate
with him in his attempt to win back Gascony, the ancient heritage
of the English kings. But Ferdinand was busy with Navarre, and
left the English to look after themselves. The raw English troops
were kept inactive ; and disgust at the weakness of their generals,
and complaints of the badness of the food and drink supplied to
-i5«3-]
HENRY VI II. AND WOLSEY
321
them, soon drove them into mutiny. Dorset was forced by his o^gi
soldiers to return to England without accomplishing- anything at
all. It was a ludicrous result after all Henry's fine talk of foreign
conquests.
7. In 1513 Henry and Wolsey made fresh efforts to restore the
credit of their arms. The king himseK led an army through the
open gate of Calais into the French king's lands, and gattle of
the needy emperor, who claimed to be Caesar Augustus, the Spurs,
and lord of the world, appeared in the English camp, 1^'3.
and greedily took EngUsh pay. Henry defeated the French at
Guinegatte with so much ease that the English called their victory
'Dunkirk
^'^r^Pf^i7M!Sj5^^^^^"rTv^''*^^''"^^ Boundaries of France and
-'^^alai^S(i5»o)&(»588) Netherlands 1550. — —
THE KKENCH AND NKTIIERt.ANDISH BORDERS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTLRY.
the Battle of the Spurs, since the enemy made more use of their
spurs in their flight than of their swords in the struggle. This
victory led to the capture of the towns of Therouanne and Tournai.
Wolsey, who had served all through the campaign with but little
regard to the peaceful character of a prelate, was now made bishop
of Tournai as the reward of his efforts.
8. After the ancient fasliion, the French sought to weaken the
£nglish attack by stirring up their old allies the Scots to cross the
Border, James iv., though Henry vili.'s brother-in- law. eagerlj
322
HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY
[1513-
abandoned his new friendship with the English in favour of the
traditional policy of the Scottish kings. About the time of the
Battle of the Spurs he crossed the Tweed at the head
FieM^1513 ^^ ^ well-equipped and gallant army, and easily
captured many of the border castles. The earl of
Surrey hastened to the north to expel the intruder. On Surrey's
approach, James took up a strong position on Flodden Edge, one
of the northern offshoots of the Cheviot hills, a few miles south of
Emery Wallter s
A. First position of the Scottish army.
B. Second position of the Scottish army.
C. Position of the two armies at tbe beginning of the battle.
1. The Earl of Surrey. a. Borderers.
2. The English left. b. King of Scots.
xxxx Their flank charge c. Highlanders,
during the battle. d. Scottish reserve.
Coldstream. The deep and broad river Till protected his right
flank, and a marsh made his left hard to get at. Surrey, who was
on the opposite or east bank of the Till, was unable to attack with
advantage, but by a clever march northwards he succeeded in
crossing the Till at Twizel Bridge, and put liimseK between the
Scots army and Scotland. As Surrey moved northwards, James
-I5I4-] HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY 323
foolishly abandoned Flodden Edge and stationed his army on
Branxton Hill, a lower elevation, at some distance to the north.
Surrey turned south to meet him, and on his approach, the Scots
came down from the hill, and ou September 9 tlie decisive battle
was fought in the plain at its foot. The Scots king blundered to
the last, and the four divisions into which his army was divided
were stationed so far apart that they could do little to help each
other. The struggle soon resolved itself into a fierce hand-to-hand
fight. Though the borderers on the Scots' left carried all before
them, the English left easily scattered the Highlanders who fought
on the Scots' right. In the centre there was a prolonged struggle
between Surrey and James, but when the English left turned from
the pursuit of the Highlanders and took James in fiank and rear,
all that the Scots could do was to sell their lives as dearly as
possible. The northern army was utterly destroyed, and James,
with the bravest of his nobility, lay dead on the field. The
victorious Surrey was rewarded by being made duke of Norfolk, a
title which his father had forfeited by his support of Richard iii.
9. Flodden Field was the only great exi)loit in the war. Henry
was bitterly disappointed with the result of his intervention on the
continent. He had got no help from his selfish allies,
who only looked after their own interests, and he saw France and
that it was hopeless to expect to win by English Scotland,
resources alone new victories that could match with
Cr^cy and Agincourt. Louis xii., who had been finally driven out
of Italy, was old and broken in health, and wishful to end his days
in peace. Julius 11. was dead, and the new pope Leo x. was anxious
not to risk the results of his victories by continuing the war.
Moreover, after James iv.'s death, his widow, Margaret Tudor,
rule<l over Scotland in the name of her little son, and won over the
country to the English side. It thus became easy for Henry to
make peace with France and Scotland, and he had little scruple in
throwing over his father-in-law, Ferdinand, wlio had helped him so
badly. The peace with France was cemented by the marriage of
Henry's younger sister, Mary, to Louis xii. With his two sisters
reigning over the Frencli and Scots, Henry came easily out of a
war that had brought him more expense and worry than glory.
10. For the next seven years England enjoyed unbroken i)eace.
The special feature of this time was the dying ofE
of the older generation of rulers, in whose places n-ujcgs"*
arose young, vigorous, and able princes, of the same age
and with the same ambitions as the king of England. Louia xil.
324
HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY
[i5'5-
died early in 1515, whereupon his widow speedily married her old
lover, Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, the personal friend and
boon companion of her brother. Francis i., Louis' cousin, became
king of France. He was ambitious and warlike, and at once renewed
the struggle for Milan, winning in 1515 the great battle of
3Iarignano, which restored him to the possession of that duchy, and
forcing his enemies to make peace on terms that left Milan under
French rule. In 1516 Ferdinand of Aragon died, and was siic-
ceeded by his grandson, Charles of Austria. Charles's mother was
Joan, elder daughter and heiress of Ferdinand and Isabella, and
his father, the Archduke Philip, was the son and heir of the
Emperor Maximilian and of Mary of Bui'gundy, the only daughter
of Charles the Bold. On Ferdinand's death, Charles, who was
already lord of the Netherlands, also became king of Spain and
Naples and ruler of the great empire which Spanish adventm-ers
were winning by the sword in the newly discovered continent of
-i5«9]
HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY
325
America. In 1519 tho Emperor Maximilian died also, whereupon
Charles succeeded to Austria and the other hereditary dominions of
the Hapsburg-s.
THE GENEALOGY OF CHARLES V. AND THE HAPSBURG
KINGS OF SPAIN
Charles the Rash,
duke of Burgundy,
d, 1477
(see table on page 269).
Ferdinand, king m. Isabella, queen Maxihiliak i., m. Mary of
of Aragon,
d. 1616
(2)
of Castile,
d. 1604.
(I)
Roman emperor,
d. 1519.
Burgundy.
Catharine of Aragon.
m. (I) Arthur, pnnce
of Wales.
(2) Henry viii.
Joan, queen m. Philip, archduke of Austria,
of Castile.
and Philip i. of Spain,
d. 1506.
(•2)
Marv Tudor,
155"3-1558,
m. Philip II.,
king of Spain.
Chables v., 1519-1556,
Roman emperor and
king of Spain.
d. 1668.
Ferdinand i., Roman
emperor (d. 1564), ancestor
of the later emperors
of the house of Austria.
(illegitimate)
Don John of Austria.
Philip ii. of Spain,
1666-1698.
Philip hi. of Spain, 1598-1621.
Philip iv. of Spain, 1621-1665.
Charles ii. of Spain, 1665-1700.
11. The once great title of Roman emperor had now been borne
for several g'enerations by the head of the house of Austria. But
every emperor was chosen by the Seven Electors, and _
some of them were so much afraid of young Charles's Charles V.
power that they hesitated to appoint him to succeed his and
grandfather. Francis offered himself as a candidate, '^"*' * '
but after a fierce contest, Charles was preferred. He was henceforth
called the Emperor Charles v., though the title did little to increase
his real resources. However, the ancient rivalries of the older
rulers of France and Spain were at once renewed between these
two ambitious sovereigns. For the rest of their lives Francis and
Cliarles contested fiercely for the first place in Europe. All tho
lesser states of Europe ranged themselves aside with one or the
326 HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY [1520-
other, though the more prudent began to feel that the right
policy for them was to strive to set up some sort of balance
between the two great powers. It was mainly through the long
rivalry of Charles and Francis that the doctrine of the
of Power Balance of Power was accepted as the basis of all
European politics. It was thought to be the interest of
every state to prevent any of its neighbours growing so strong that
it could upset what was called the European Balance. The notion
has prevailed more or less ever since, and most of the wars and
treaties of the last four centuries have been directed to uphold the
political equilibrium between the different states in Europe.
12. Wolsey was strongly influenced by the notion of the
political balance, and persuaded Henry that it was his iuterest to
Wolsey's prevent either Francis or Charles having a decided
foreign preponderance over the other. Wolsey also strove to
policy. maintain peace between the rivals by threatening to
throw the weight of England on to the side that began hostilities.
For several years this policy succeeded, though it led to endless
hollow and insincere intrigues, and made both parties look upon the
English with suspicion. Moreover, after the contest for the
empire, war became inevitable, so that after aU Henry had to take
a side. It speaks well for the way in which the reputation of
England had revived that both Charles and Francis competed
eagerly for her support.
13. In 1520 Henry and Francis held a personal interview on
the border between Calais and the French king's territory. Each
The Field of ^^^S showed such magnificence and splendour that
the Cloth of men called the place of their meeting the Field of the
Gold, 1520. QlQ^J^ qJ QqI^_ Francis and Henry claimed to be like
brothers in their affection, and wasted huge sums in giving
elaborate entertainments to each other. There was, however, little
reality in these solemn declarations, and very soon afterwards Henry
held a less ostentatious nieeting with Charles v. at G-ravelines, and
came to an understanding with him. Wolsey still professed to
mediate between the rivals, but Henry had definitely gone over to
the emperor's side. He stiU hated the French as England's
hereditaiy enemies, and wished well to Charles v., who ruled over
countries bound to England by many ancient ties of friendship,
and was himself the nephew of Queen Catharine. Despite the talk
about upholding the balance, Henry threw his weight into the scale
which soon proved to be the heavier one.
14. Between 1521 and 1529 Charles and Francis were at war.
-1529.] HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY ^Zf
Henry began as an active ally of Charles, and in 1522 and 1523
Eng-lish armies invaded France from Calais, the second of
them beinp commanded by Henry's brother-in-law, ^ hk
Suffolk, the husband of the widowed queen of France. France,
But neither expedition inflicted much harm on the 1521-1525.
French. As during the war of the Holy League, Henry had the
mortification of seeing his enemies defeated by his ally, without
being able himself to do anything effective against them. Charles
drove Francis out of Italy ; and when in 1525 the gallant chivalry
of France again crossed the Alps and strove to win back Milan,
Charles won a complete victory at Pavia and took his rival captive.
15. The overwhelming defeat of the French made the prospect
of a fresh English attack on France very hopeful, and for a
moment there was talk of invading that country.
However, Wolsey had at last managed to make Henry ^f cha 'im''**
believe in the new theory of the Balance of Power, and the
He urged that Charles's victory was so complete that French
he seemed likely to be master of all Europe, and that
his preponderance might well become dangerous to England if he
were allowed to cmsh France altogether. Accordingly, Henry
broke off his friendship with Charles and made peace with France.
Francis, who was released from prison in 1526, again strove to
win back his position in Italy. He would have been very glad
of Henry's direct help, but the English, though professing great
sympathy for him, left him to do all liis fighting for himself.
The little princes of Italy, wiio like Henry were much afraid
of Charles's power, formed a league to help him to drive the
emperor from the peninsula. Clement vii., the pope, a nephew of
Leo X., put himself at the head of this confederation. But the
emperor proved irresistible. In 1527 he brutally sacked Rome and
took the pope prisoner. All Europe was horrified, but the severe
lesson showed the Italians that Charles was their-'real master.
Francis struggled on till 1529, when he made the peace of Cambrai
with Charles on terms tliat left the emperor supreme in Italy.
Henry and Wolsey had done nothing to prevent Charles's tri;unph.
With all their fine talk about holding the balance between the
rivals, they had not ventured to strike a blow to save France from
humiliation. Wolsey s diplomacy was as ineffective as Henry 'g
armies. It was useless for England to pose as the mediator of
Europe, when it refused to throw its weight on the weaker side.
It seemed almost as if the English were conscious that their power
counted for so little, and believed that even if it had been turned
328 HENRY VIII. AND IVOLSEY [1521-
against the emperor, it wotdd have been unable to redress the
balance.
16. The old nobles envied Henry and Wolsey even their barren
triumphs on the continent, and stood aside in sullen isolation,
Fall of Buck- ^^8^*7 ^^^^ low-born men should have the king's chief
ingham, confidence, while they, whose ancestors had ruled aU
England, were quite without real power. The leader
of the old houses was Edward Stafford, duke of Buckingham, son
of the Buckingham whom Richard lii. put to death. He was a
proud, vain, foolish man, who was persuaded by false prophets that
Henry would soon die and that he himself would become king, as
one of the descendants of Edward iii. He talked rashly about the
king and the cardinal, and perhaps contemplated a real attack
upon them. In 1521 he was suddenly arrested and accused of
treason. The lords condemned him to death without much real
evidence. But the king said he was guilty, and they were too
timid or deferential to go against the king's wishes. He was
beheaded as a traitor, and his fate frightened the proudest of the
magnates into absolute subservience to the fierce and masterful king.
17. Henry might safely humiliate the nobles so long as the
people were on his side. But the cost of his expensive foreign
The king policy and wasteful court revels had long ago ex-
and the liausted his father's hoards of treasure, and the English
Commons. king's ordinary revenue was so smaU that unusual
expenses could only be met by fresh taxation. The House of
Commons was loyal to the king, and in 1512 granted him aU the
money he asked for to carry on the French war. But in 1522 and
in 1523 Henry made such vast demands upon his subjects that
parliament began to grow restive. The English hated nothing
so much as taxes, and while willing enough that the king should
fight the French, showed a strong disinclination to pay the ex-
penses necessarily involved in such a policy. The parliament of
1523 made a much smaller grant than the king had asked for. and
only gave this after Wolsey had gone down to the Commons and
lectured them on the necessity of supporting the king's government.
So serious did their attitude seem that for the six years that remained
of Wolsey's ministry the king never summoned another parliament.
In 1525, when he thought of fitting out another army, he strove
•pjjg to raise the money by what was called an Amicable
Amicable Loan, in which every one was called upon to lend to
Loan, 1525. ^^^ king a sixth part of his income. There was a
storm of resistance everywhere. It was said that Henry was
-1525.] HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY 329
reviving benevolences, which had been abolished tinder Richard ill.,
and the only answer Wolsey could give was that Richard was a
usurper and his laws invalid. A popular rebellion was threatened,
and Henry was forced to cancel the loan and take what money his
subjects offered freely. The cardinal was regarded as responsible
for his master's failure. Already bitterly hated by the nobles,
Wolsey was henceforth equally disliked by the common people.
18. New ideas were in the air, and beneath the seeming calm
of the times the seeds of far-reaching changes were being sown.
It was the time of the Renascetice — that is, of the
revival or new birth of learning. Men, who in former nagggnge
days had been content to take everything on trust,
began to ask questions for themselves, and would believe in nothing
that did. not seem to them good and reasonable. The remarkable
revival of arts and letters which had begun in Italy, gradually
spread itself to lands like England, where old-fashioned notions
had hitherto prevailed. Printing had now made books cheap and
accessible, and scholars studied not only the schoolmen of the
Middle Ages, but the classic literature of Greece and Rome.
Indeed, a zeal for the study of Greek, a language little known
in the Middle Ages, was a chief characteristic of what was called
the New Learning. With the revival of antiquity came some
sort of revival of the spirit of the ancient world.
19. The institutions and ideas of the Middle Ages had brought
about much good in their time, but many men liad aiow lost f^th in
them. The Church had been the greatest institution
of the Middle Ages, but the Church had long been in fit*ch*^ h
a state of decay. The papacy had ceased to be in any
sense the religious centre of Christendom. The popes were still
rich, powerful, and prominent, but it was as politicians or as
patrons of the new learning, rather than as spiritual guides to
the faithful, that they made themselves conspicuous. The chief
popes of the time were fierce warriors like Julius 11. or clever
statesmen and lovers of art and literature like Leo x. The corrup-
tion of the head was but a sign of the decay of the members.
Gross abuses were common throughout the whole Church, but
more harm perhaps was done by the wide spread of indifference
and worldliness. The great ecclesiastics had but little of the true
spirit of religion. Among the people there was miich superstition
and ungo<lliness, and but little real faith and earnestness. The
clergy were largely indifferent or hostile t-o tlie movements for
reform. They thought mainly of preserving their old privileges
330 HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY [1509-
and their own wealth. They were getting quite out of touch with
their flocks. Yet, despite the growth of the new spirit, the
Church was still outwardly unshaken. It was as rich, as strong,
and as proud as ever, and though earnest men denounced its
corruptions, there were very few who disbelieved in its doctrines
or wanted to change its system.
20. The best minds in all countries were striving to make the
new learning as widely spread as possible, and to get rid of the
ignorance, superstition, and corruption which stood in
peformeps*^ the way of aU reform. Since the reign of Henry vn.,
a little band of Oxford scholars had been upholding
the new learning in England. Conspicuous among them was
John Colet, who, after doing much for the revival of the study of
Greek in Oxford, was made dean of St. Patd's ia London. There
he exercised immense influence by his preaching and life. Early
in Henry viii.'s reign he set up a new school, called 8t. PauVs
school, LQ which boys were to be brought up in the spirit of the
new learning. He was a straightforward, high-minded, and deeply
religious man, who wished to make the clergy more active and
better educated, but who had no desire to alter the doctrines or
constitution of the Church.
21. Among those whom Colet's example deeply influenced were
the famous foreign man of letters, Erasmus of Rotterdam, who spent
many years in England, and the brilliant young English
and^McJr^e lawyer, Sir Thomas More. Erasmus was an enlightened
but timid scholar, who laughed at bigotry and super-
stition, and did good service for learning by his writings and by
his edition of the Greek Testament. But he had little of the
sturdy directness of spirit of Colet, and his thoughts were always
for the little world of scholars and thinkers rather than for the
people at large. More combined with the delicacy and insight of
Erasmus some of the vigour and straightforwardness of Colet. It
was a great disappointment to his student friends when he gave
up the scholar's life to become a lawyer and a statesman. But his
knowledge of practical afEairs gave him an insight into the roots of
the evil that underlay the prosperity of the times, such as no mere
Mere's scholar could ever possess. In his famous book Utopia,
"Utopia." written in Latin and published in 1515, he described
1515. with great clearness and spirit the evils of the age,
and by way of contrast drew an imaginary picture of a perfect
commonwealth, called Utopia, where everything was ordered for
the best. In this ideal state there was none of the selfishness and
-1518.] HENRY VIII. AND IV0LSE7 33 1
greed for gain that he saw in the England aronnd him. Every
man had enough and none more than enongh. Men could think as
they pleased and worship Grod as they liked. They were interested
in reading and improving their minds, and were not allowed to
quarrel with each other. Very different from this, thought More,
was the state of affairs in England. There the rich became richer
and the poor poorer. Men UQwUling to work, or for whom no work
could be found, swarmed over the country as vagrants, thieves, and
murderers. The hard laws that sent all felons to the gallows were
useless to remedy this condition of things. The poor had nothing
to do but to beg and rob, for grasping landowners had found out
that it paid them better to turn their corn lands into pasture.
Sheep, More said, were devourers of men, since fewer labourers were
wanted to watch the great flocks of sheep that now pastured on
lauds which of old had been tilled to produce crops of com. But the
riemish weavers paid a higher price for wool than the farmers
could get for com, and thinking of nothing but their own private
gain, the landlords were stripping England of its inhabitants and
the poor of their daily bread.
22. Henry viii. and Wolsey never seriously grasped the need of
such reforms as Colet and More described. But they were not
untouched by the better spii-it of the times, and they
sometimes turned half aside from their schemes of the Church
selfish statecraft to strive feebly to make things
better. More entered into Henry's service, and the king listened
to his advice and treated him with great respect. Wolsey formed
schemes to reform the Church, and obtained from Leo x., in 1518. a
special appointment as papal legate, so that he could control the
whole English Church by virtue of his representing the pope, and
lord it even over the archbishop of Canterbury. He used his new
power to dissolve several small and corrupt monasteries, and with
their revenues he set up a great college at Oxford, which he called
Cardincd College, and a noble school at Ipswich, his birthplace, to
supply hia Orford college with well-trained students. It was no
new thing for great prelates and nobles to endow richly schools and
colleges. But not even William of Wykeham and Henry vi. had
designed their foundations on so magnificent a scale as Wolsey.
However, he was so bu«iy in other work that he never had time to
carry out hia plans properly. What he desired was wise and noble.
Like Colet and More, he wished to reform tlie Church from within.
He strove to improve education, to make the clergy work harder
and avoid gnross corruption. But he never set his own life in
332 HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY [1517-
order, nor did he even offer to resign the many bishoprics whose
revenues enabled him to live like a prince, but whose duties
he never troubled himself about discharging. It required more
unselfishness, more faith, and more hard work than Henry and
Wolsey were able to give, before the abuses of the Church could
really be set aright.
23. On the continent, as in England, attempts were made to
reform the Church from within. Erasmus, the friend of More and
Colet, inspired those who wished to carry out such
ninffs ofThe schemes, but, as in England, there was too much
Reforma- selfishness and too little earnestness for them to
V?9fl^^^^~ prosper. At last a more rough and ready method
was tried with greater success. In 1517 Martin
Luther, a friar of Wittenberg, in Saxony, stirred up a great
agitation against the sale of indulgences. These indulgences
were remissions of the penance, which those who confessed and
repented of their sins had imposed upon them by the authority
of the Church. They were openly sold for money, and the sturdy
friar became indignant that men should be encouraged to believe
that a mere cash payment would do away with the
Martin g^j results of sin. He taught that men were not
made righteous by their good works, or formal acts,
but by their faith in God, not by what they did, but by what they
were. Finding that his teaching was condemned by Leo x., he
began to denounce the power of the pope and the authority of the
bishops. This was the beginning of the Befoi-mation. In a few
years Luther led aU North Germany to revolt against the papal
authority and the system of the Mediagval Church. His coarseness,
his violence, his contempt for the past, his revolutionary ideas,
frightened cautious reformers Kke Erasmus and More into be-
coming lovers of the old ways. But the sturdy zeal of the Saxon
friar accompKshed the work that his more timid predecessors had
faUed to carry out, though it was done at the price of breaking
up the majestic unity of the Mediaeval Church, and with a haste
and violence that destroyed what was good as weU as what was
merely corrupt and decayed. But if the work had to be done,
Luther's way was the only practical method of doing it. It was
in vain that the young Emperor Charles strove to silence the
audacious heretic, and patch up peace with his captive Clement vii.
on the basis of an alliance against the reformers. The spirit of
Luther spread everywhere. His followers, called after 1529
Protestants, could not be put down.
-1525.] HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY 333
24. Side by side with, the Lutheran reformation, Ulrich Zwingle
had started a similar movement among- the Swiss at the foot of the
Alps. And a few years later John Calv'in, a French-
man, began to do in France and French-speaking oJJd'tSwin
countries what Luther and Zwingle had done for the
Germans. All these leaders of the Reformation broke utterly with
the old Church, and set up new Churches of their own, ba.sed on
principles which they believed to be more like primitive Christianity
than the Church of the Middle Ages. As they could not agree
with each other, the quarrels between the different schools of
reformers complicated the strife of the old and the new faiths.
Coming in the wake of many other far-reaching changes, the
religious revolution called the Reformation completed the end of
the Middle Ages, and ushered in the freer, wider life of modern
times. But there was so much unrest, disturbance, and bitterness
caused by the conflict of the old and the new, that men began
sometimes to sigh for the days before the great changes began.
25. When Luther first began to denounce the pope and the old
Church, every one in England was horrified at his boldness. Henry,
who was proud of his knowledge of theology, wrote a
book in Latin against the reformer, called the Defence andYuther
of the Seven Sacraments, and Leo x. was so pleased with
it tliat he gave Henry the style of Defender of the Faith, which
curiously enough still remains among the titles of our English
sovereigns. There were few Lollards left to welcome Luther as a
new Wycliffe. Even the Englishmen who were fond of grumbling
about the wealth, privileges, and corruptions of the clergy, had no
real quarrel with the Church, and Luther's methods had convinced
reformers like More that the old ways were better than his. Gradu-
ally, however, some young scholars went over to Germany and became
ardent followers of Luther. Chief among these was the strenuous
but bitter William Tyndall, who in 1525 published an English New
Testament, that was eagerly circulated among the few English
innovators, though condemned by the Church, which burned all the
copies of it that could be found. But Wolsey found no trouble in
silencing the majority of the English Protestants, and forced many
to give up their new doctrines. For many years they were of no
importance whatever. It was not through following in the foot-
steps of Luther that the English Reformation began, but from the
self-will and violence of the king himself.
26. About the time that Henry broke with Charles v., he begun
to grow tired of his wife, the emperor's aunt. Catharine of Arag^ou
334
HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY
ti52S-
was five years the senior of her husband, and bad health already
made her an old woman. All the children of the marriage were
Catharine ^®^*^ except one girl, the Lady Mary. Henry now
of Apagon persuaded himself that the death of Catharine's other
and Anne children was a proof that Grod was displeased at his
breaking the law of the Churcli by marrying his brother
Arthur's widow. Most Englishmen wished Henry to have a son,
who might succeed peacefully to the throne, for there had been no
instance of a woman ruling England, and it was feared that trouble
might foUow if Henry died without a male heir. But the real
cause of Henry's scruples was the appearance at court of Anne
Boleyn, the lively and attractive daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, a
Norfolk gentleman, who was connected with the great house of
Howard by his marriage with Anne's mother, a daughter of the
duke of Norfolk, who had won the battle of Flodden. With her
the selfish king fell violently in love, and her charms made him
eager to divorce Catharine, that he might make her his wife.
THE HOWARDS AND BOLEYNS
John Howard, duke of Norfolk, /SjV Geofrey
' killed at Bosworth, 1485. Boleyn, mayor
I of London.
Thomas, earl of Surrey,
duke of Norfolk, d. 1514.
Sir W. Boleyn,
Thomas, duke
of Norfolk,
d. 1554.
Henry, earl
of Surrey,
beheaded 1547.
Sir Edward
Howard,
Wiiliam, lord Elizabeth, m. Sir Thomas
Howard of
Effingham.
Catharine Howard, Charles, lord
m. Henry viii. Howard of
of Effingham
(Admiral in 1588).
Thomas, duke of Norfolk,
beheaded 1572.
Boleyn,
afterwards
earl of
Wiltshire.
Anne Boleyn,
m. Henry viii.
Queen Elizabeth.
Philip, ancestor
of later dukes.
Lord Thomas Howard,
Admiral in the Azores, 1691.
Names in italics not mentioned in text.
27. In the Middle Ages a marriage sanctioned by the Church
could not be dissolved. What was called a divorce meant declaring
that a marriage had never been a valid one from the beginning.
But the law of marriage was so complicated, and the Church
courts were so corrupt, that it was not as a rule hard for a great
-1528.] HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY 335
prince like Henry to find excuses for such an annnUing of what
seemed a lawful wedlock. Having resolved to get rid of his
wife, Henry applied in 1527 to Clement vii. for a declaration that
his marriage was invalid. It was a particularly awk- ^^^ oriirln
ward time to raise this question. Catharine was the of the
emperor's aunt, and Charles v. had recently sacked divorce
Kome and had taken the pope prisoner. He was
therefore Clement's master, and was not likely to allow him to
gratify the king of England, whose desertion of the imperial cause
Charles had not yet forgiven. Moreover, in raising the question
of a divorce at all, Henry seemed to be following Luther's example
of questioning the power of the pope. The ordinary law of the
Church declared the marriage unlawful. Nevertheless, Julius ii,
had issued a dispensation, which made an exception from that law
in Henry's favour. In asking Clement to disregard that, Henry
pi*actically raised the question of whether Julius had power to
dispense with the law of the Church in his favour. It is true
that Henry tried to avoid that issue by suggesting that there
were certain irregularities of form in Julius's dispensation which
made it possible for that particular document to be put aside without
the general question of right being discussed. But plain men were
sure to concern themselves with this problem, so that Clement was
not only prevented from falling in with Henry's wish by fear of
the emperor, but also by respect for the power of the office which he
held. Neither party thought much of the wrongs of Catharine.
28. Clement vii. thought that the best way out of his difficulties
was to delay everything as long as he could. He was afraid to
grant a divorce, but he did not want to quarrel with .^^ Decretal
Henry, as he hoped that some day Henry and the king Commission,
of France would release him from his dejiendence on 1^28.
the emperor. As a middle course, he agreed to api>oint what was
called a Decretal Comraission, that is, he empowered a special court
to find out whether the form of Julius's dispensation was, a.'« Henry
said, an irregular one, it being laid down that, if such were the case,
the marriage was invalid. Tlie court was to consist of two papal
legates, wlio were to sit in England. One of them was Wolsey
himsfclf , and the other was Cardinal Campeggio, an Italian living at
Rome, wlio had done so much service to Henry tliat he was allowed,
after the evil fashion of the time, to hold the bishopric of Salisbury.
29. It seemed s great triumph for Henry that the decision of
his suit should be handed over to two of his dei>endeuts. But
Campeggio was faithful to Clement, and took care to dalt^
33^ HENRY VIII. AND WOLSEY [1529-
proceedings as much as lie could. He wasted a very long time in
travelling to England, and it was not until the summer of 1529 that
the legatine court was ojiened in London. But it then
152^ "''®' seemed as if everything was nearly over. Catharine de-
clared before the legates that she regarded herself as
Henry's lawful wife, and refused to hide herself away in a convent,
as had been suggested to her. She appealed to the pope in person,
and the best of Englislimen sympathized strongly with her wrongs.
30. Clement grew anxious after he had appointed the commis-
sion that took the matter out of his own hands ; and the emperor
The fall of ^^^ alarmed lest the legates should give a decision in
Wolsey, Henry's favour. Before very long the pope annulled
1 529. ^j^Q commission, and ordered the whole business to be
gone over again at Rome. Henry was moved to violent anger, and
made Wolsey the scapegoat of his failure. The cardinal's favoui*
had long been declining. He had done his best to get Henry his
divorce, but his desire had been that the king should marry a
French princess, who would bind him more closely to the policy of
Francis, and he did not like the notion of Henry wedding the giddy
Anne Boleyn, who would bring him no strong continental alliance.
But Henry's self-will had triumphed over his minister's opposition,
though the king now trusted him so Kttle that he kept him in the
dark as to much that was going on. He knew that Wolsey was
hated by nobles and people alike, and was glad to get a fresh
speU of popularity by throwing Mm over as he had thrown over
Empson and Dudley. The new duke of Norfolk, Anne's uncle,
hated the cardinal, and Anne herself believed Wolsey was to blame
for the failure of the legatiue coui't. All combined to attack
the unpopular minister. Wolsey was driven from the chancellor-
ship, and his property seized. His great foundations feU into
Henry's hands, and the king made it a merit to refound the Oxford
College on a smaller scale under the name of Christ Church.
Wolsey abjectly yielded to his enemies, and was finally allowed to
retire to the north, where he threw himself with strange energy
into the liitherto neglected duties of his archbishopric. But he
soon began to intrigue for his return to power, whereupon he was
arrested and brought back to London, to answer the charge of
treason that Henry always brought against a fallen minister. But
liis health, long weak, broke down under the hardships of a winter
journey, and he died at Leicester Abbey in November, 1530, lament-
ing the instability of the favour of princes. With liis fall ends
the first part of his master's reign.
CHAPTER III
HENRY VIII. AND THE BEGINNING OF
THE REFORMATION (1529-1547)
Chief Dates :
iSag. Meeting of the Keformation Parliament.
1533. Act of Appeals.
1534* Act of Supremacy.
IS35' Execution of Fisher and More.
1536. Dissolution of the lesser monasteries ; union of England and
Wales.
1539' Dissolution of the greater monasteries and Six Articles Statute.
1540. Execution of Cromwell.
1542. Battle of Solway Moss.
1544. Capture of Boulogne.
1547. Death of Henry viii.
1. In' the years that followed the disgrace of "Wolsey, Henry viii.
still made it his main business to get a divorce from Catharine of
ArajBTon. Wolsey's failure had shown that there was progress of
little use in trying- to persuade the pope to annul the the divorce
marriage, and Henry now sought for stronger methods i"®stion.
of enforcing his will on Clement. He hoped great things from the
alliance with France, which remained as the cliief legacy of the
fallen cardinal, and imagined that Francis would really give him
help in winning over the pope to his side. But Francis was only
playing his own game. It was not his interest to quarrel with
Rome to plea.se so uncertain an ally as Henry, and he saw that it
was useless for him to attempt to drive Charles out of Italy,
though it was only by expelling the emperor from the peninsula
that Clement could ibe made a free man. Yet Henry persevered
for years in tliis new policy, while he also strove to appeal from
the pope to learned public opinion, by consulting the universities of
Europe as to the validity X>i his marriage. However, the universities
gave a divided answec and in most cases said exactly what the
rulers of the country in which they were situated told them, so
that Henry got no good from this step,
337 Z
338 HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION [1529-
2. Henry was gradually forced to see that if lie obtained his
divorce, he must mainly rely upon himself and his own subjects.
He VIII -^^^ •'^^^^ ^^'^ most effective method of bringing' pres-
and his ' sure on the pope was to show him that England was
subjects. backing up liis request. It was not hard for Henry to
force the Church and the people of England to profess themselves
in agreement with him. Men were still accustomed to look up to
the king and take what he said as true. Henry had plenty of ways
of dragooning his subjects into obedience, and did not scruple to
use them. Convinced that he had a better chance of obtaining his
own way if he made a show of consultiug his people, Henry made
a point for the rest of his reign of getting parliament, and in
Church matters convocation, on his side. But it would be very
wrong to think that this pretence of consulting the people and the
Church meant anythrag real. Left to themselves. Englishmen
would never have entered upon so bold a policy of change as that
which Henry's self-will now induced him to undertake. He was
already contemplating the withdrawal of English obedience from
the papacy if Clement still held out.
3. Soon after Wolsey's fall, parliament and convocation were
assembled. Between 1529 and 1536 the same parliament continued
to hold its sessions. Before it separated, it had enabled
mation ^'^ kinf? ^0 break finally from the Church of the
Papliament, Middle Ages. Fear and seK-interest made all men
1529-1536. ^^^ ^^ ^^ ^j^g king's will. The chief danger of
opposition came from the Church, but Henry persuaded parliament
to pass various laws against ecclesiastical abuses in order to
frighten the clergy. Then came a more crushing blow. Henry
told the clergy that they had all broken the Statute of Praemunire
(see page 223) by acknowledging Wolsey as papal legate. What
he said was quite true, but the statute of Prasmunire had long been
neglected, and Henry himseH had been as guilty as anybody.
However, the clergy were forced humbly to confess their error; and
gladly bought their pardon of the king by paying him an enormous
fine. Even this was not enough. They were also forced
Supreme to acknowledge that Henry was tfie Supreme Head of
Head of the tJig English Church. It was a vague phrase, which
Church. inig}it mean anything or nothing. But Henry showed
from the beginning that he meant to press the title to the utter-
most. Before long the Royal Supremacy, henceforth the great
doctrine of the English Reformation, was found incompatible with
the papal supremacy, in which all men had hitherto firmly believed.
-I534-!! HENRY VI 11. AND THE REFORMATION 339
4. Having shown himself master of his own clergy, Henry
began to pass measures through parliament against the pope's
power, hoping thus to frighten him into granting a
divorce. But Clement was as unable as ever to do separation
what the king wanted, and the only result of this policy from Rome,
was that the pojie's power in England was gradually
cut away. The first step towards this was reviving the old laws
against the pope, such as the statute of Praemunire. New legislation
soon followed. In 1532 Annates, or First Fruits, that is, the pay-
ment of the first year's revenue of a new benefice, which the clergy
had hitherto made to the pope, were transferred to the crown. In
1533 the Act of Appeals was passed, which forbade Englislimen to
carry apx)eals from the English Church courts to the court of the
pope. Clement answered by affirming the lawfulness of Catharine's
marriage ; and dying soon after, liis successor, Paul in., threatened
Henry with excommunication. Henry replied to these menaces by
fresh laws against the papacy. In 1534 the separation from Rome
was completed by the Act of Supremacy, wliich made it treason to
deny that Henry was supreme head of the English Church.
5. The archbishopric of Canterbury falling vacant, Henry
appointed to that great office a Cambridge scholar named Thomas
Cranmer. Cranmer was a pious, learned, and well- cranmer
meaning man, but he was weak and undecided, and and the
soon proved himself a mere creature for carrying out <^vorce.
the strong king's will. Despairing of getting a divorce from
Rome, Henry now secretly married Anne Boleyn. He forced con-
vocation to declare Catharine's marriage void ; and the new arch-
bishop held a court at Dunstable, in which he also solemnly declared
the former marriage to be against God's law. As the Act of
Appeals cut ofE the Roman jurisdiction, the archbishop's court was
now the highest Church court for England. There was no longer
any way of taking Catharine's case any further, and thus the great
divorce suit was tenninated after six years of delay. But the price
Henry had paid was the breaking of the tie which had so long bound
the English Church to the Churches of Christendom. Nominally,
the breach with Rome left the English Church independent.
Practically, it became absolutely subject to the fierce will of the
king. The separation from Rome brought the Tudor despotism to
its highest point.
6. England was now as completely separated from Rome as
were the Protestant churches of Germany. But Henry still
looked with horror on Protestantism, and professed to make no
340 HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION [1534-
changes in the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the English
Chtirch. He was proud of his middle way between the two ex-
Henry VIII tremes. He strove to prove his love for the old faith
and Pro- by seeking out and burning to death all the English
testantism. Protestants on whom he could lay his hands. But what-
ever the king might profess, the abolition of the papal supremacy
was a real revolution. It was not simply a political change, as
Henry maintained. It was a religious change as well, when the
English nation repudiated the authority to which it had looked up
ever since it had become a Christian people. Other changes were
sure to foUow, and however much Henry might hate Luther,
common enmity to Rome was bound sooner or later to bring all
reformers together.
7. The great majority of Englishmen passively accepted the
king's policy ; but there were murmurs against it from the begin-
The resist- ^^S from a few high-minded and clear-sighted men,
anoe to the who realized more f uUy than most the true meaning of
supremacy, j-y^^ step. John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, an aged
prelate of great learning and piety, protested from the beginning
against the king's action. Sir Thomas More, who had become
chancellor after Wolsey's faU, gave up his office and retired into
private life rather than acknowledge the royal supremacy. They
were not allowed to remain long undisturbed. Before the end of
1533 a daughter, named Elizabeth, was born to Henry and Anne.
As Catharine's child Mary was cut off from the succession when
the marriage of her mother with Henry had been declared invalid,
it was thought necessary to pass in 1534 an Act of Succession,
settling the crown on the little Lady Elizabeth and any other
children there might be of the marriage of Henry and Anne.
Moreover, a new Treasons Act was hrirried through parliament,
which made it treason to deny to the king any of his royal titles.
It was not easy for those who gainsaid the king's policy to escape
the consequences of these laws.
8. More and Fisher were called before Archbishop Cranmer
and asked to take the oath of succession, drawn up under the recent
More and ^^^" They said that they would wUHngly accept Anne
Fisher oppose Boleyn's children as future rulers of England, since an
Henry, ^(.^ ^f parliament was competent to alter the succession
to the throne. But more than this was demanded of them. They
were required to declare Anne Boleyn Henry's lawful wife, and to
renounce the authority of the pope. These two things they declared
they could not do with a good conscience.
-I53S-] HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION 34I
9. Other men of less position followed or anticipated their
example. Conspicuous among these latter were many of the monks
of the London Charterhouse, one of the best ordered
of all the English monasteries. Among other oppo- house
nents of the supremacy was Reginald Pole, a young monks and
churchman, then studying in Italy, who, as the grand- P^j^'"*''*
son of George, duke of Clarence, brother of Edward iv.,
stood near to the throne (see table on page 294). Pole gave up
his prospects of high preferment ia England rather than renounce
his faith. Appointed cardinal in 1536, he remained in exile,
constantly protesting against Henry's doings.
10. Henry shut up in prison aU opponents of the supremacy
within his reach, and had no difficulty in procuring their con-
demnation as traitors. In 1535 the victims of his «. j
policy suffered on the scaffold. The obscure monks of Fishep
the Charterhouse were among the first to die. Fisher's executed,
fate was soon settled by the rash kindness of the new
pope, Paul III., who made him a cardinal. After this, Henry at
once ordered him to be put to death. A few days later Sir
Thomas More was also executed. The sacrifice of men so famous
brought home to every one the relentless policy of Hemy. The
king had trampled on aU opposition, and was more master of Eng-
land than ever,
11. Henry now resolved to work out to the uttermost the
doctrine of the royal supremacy. He created a new minister, called
the king's vicar-general in matters ecclesiastical, and cromwell
appointed to it one of Wolsey's former servants. This vlcar-
was Thomas Cromwell, the son of a fuller at Putney, s:®"®''*'-
In early life Cromwell had been driven from England for his bad
conduct, and had wandered about Italy and the Netherlands, at one
time serving as a soldier, but finally takiag to trade, and thriving
so well in it, that he came back home a wealthy and prosperous
man. Wolsey took him into his service, and he was employed in
suppressing the monasteries, from whose funds the cardinal hoi)ed
to endow his colleges at Oxford and Ipswich. After Wolsey's fall,
Cromwell behaved with such discretion that he was regarded by the
cardinal's friends as showing remarkable fidelity to his disgraced
master, while he was at the same time craftily winning the king's
favour. Very soon Henry took him into his service, and at onco
found in him just the man that he wanted. Cromwell was a strong,
able, and far-seeing man, who had neither doubts or scruples, but
devoted all his cunning and resource to carrying out the capricen
342
HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION. [1535"
o£ the despot. He was just the clever tool who could strike the
bold strokes that Henry was now meditating. Between 1535 and
1539 he carried out such a revolutionary change, that the abolition
of the papal power seemed but a small matter beside it.
Emery Walker »c
12. The monasteries had long fallen into evil days. In the
early Middle Ages they had done a great work in spreading religion
and civilization (see pages 55, 154, and 243), but they
State of th^ had now fallen out of touch with the times. It had
long been a rare thing to set up new religious houses.
-1536.] HENRY VJII. AND THE REFORMATION 343
All throug-h the fifteenth century there had been plenty of liberal
foundations, but the new establishments were colleges, schools, and
houses of " secular " priests. Sometimes, as Wolsey's case showed,
it was thoug-ht a wise thing- to abolish monasteries in order to
procure the money to bxiild such new coUeg-es. The old fervour of
devotion that had ennobled the ancient abbeys had become so rare
a thing, tliat the heroic self-sacrifice wliich had led the monks of the
London Charterhouse to become willing martyrs for their faith,
stood in marked contrast to the timidity and selfishness of the
majority of the monasteries. The greater houses were often the
abodes of formalism and dull respectability. In some houses there
was gross corruption ; and this seems especially to have been the case
in the smaller houses, which often were so poor that they could neither
pay their way nor live according to their nde. Most men looked
upon the monks with indifference. Few were anxious to enter the
monastic life. Though the orders were too timid to oppose actively
the royal supremacy, they were the least national part of the Church,
being bound closely to their foreig^n brethren, and being at all times
good friends of the papacy. Thus their principles excited suspicion,
while their helplessness made them easy victims, and their wealth
excited the greed of the rapacious king and his minister.
13. In 1535 Cromwell sent royal commissioners throughout the
country to inquire into the state of the monasteries. The com-
missioners worked actively and unscrupulously to get
up a case against the monks, and reported to their ^® ^HP?''^^"
, ii J. i.- J- ,-i_ ••, slonofthe
master that corruption and immorauty were very wide- smaller
spread among them. In 1536 parliament was induced monasteries,
by their evidence to pass an Act abolishing all
monasteries that had a revenue of less than £200 a year. Their
goods were seized by the king ; and the ordinary Englisliman found
out for the first time that the old religion of the country was being
undermined, when hundreds of ancient houses of religion were
ruthlessly broken up, their inmates scattered, their churches pro-
faned, and their lands squandered among greedy courtiers.
14. The north of England was the part of the country least
affected by the new ways. There the monks were still doing
good service, and were still beloved and popular. The ^.
sturdy north-country men broke into open revolt, to Pii^mage
showtlieir detestation of the policy that led to the sup- of Grace,
])ressiou of tlie smaller monasteries. The first riots were
in Lincolnshire, but the most formidable was in Yorkshire, wher* a
great body of rebels gathered together at Douoaster under Bobert
344 HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION [1536-
Aske. The revolt was called the Pilgrimage of Grace, because the
rebels resolved to march to London on pilgrimage to the king,
hoping to persuade him to set back the Church in its old glory,
to drive away upstarts like Cromwell from his councils, and
to put the old nobles back in their natural places as his advisers.
The duke of Norfolk, sent by the king to put down the revolt,
persuaded the pilgrims to go home peaceably, and announced that
the king would redress their gi-ievances. This broke the back
of the rebeUion, but next year Henry made new riots a pretext for
violating his promise, and for hunting down and putting to death
the leaders of the rising. To prevent such revolts in the future, he
set up at York a new court, called the Council of the North, which
soon made the wild regions beyond the Humber as peaceable and as
dependent on his wiU as the richer and tamer south country.
15. The monasteries spared in 1536 soon met their fate. Crom-
well's commissioners strove hard to persuade the different abbeys
to surrender their property to the king ; when bribes
sion of the ^^^ entreaties were of no use, threats and violence
greater were unscrupulously employed. Some of the houses
isse^l'ssfl^^' ^^^*^ °^^ heroically, but Henry found it easy to trump
up some charge against their inmates. For example,
he accused the abbot of Glastonbury of stealing the plate of the
abbey, and hanged him on a high hiU overlooking the whole
countryside, as a warning of the fate of those who resisted the king.
In three years nearly every abbey had submitted to the royal will,
and in 1539 a new act was passed which finally gave the king all
the abbey lands. There was much talk of employing the vast sums
thus confiscated to the king for public purposes, such as for
founding new bishoprics, reorganizing the navy, and defending
our coasts against invasion. But about half of the abbey estates
were squandered by the king on his friends and courtiers, or sold
to speculators at low prices. Thus the fall of the monasteries had
a great effect on the lives of the people. They not only lost their
old houses of prayer, and were shocked by the king's carelessness
of their most sacred beliefs ; they saw their easy-going old land-
lords replaced by new men who, having paid for their lands, strove
to get as high a rent as they could ; and knowing and caring
nothing for their tenants, took little interest in their welfare.
The doles which the monks had scattered among the poor ceased,
as did the kindly spirit they had often shown to their dependents.
But the king gained what the people lost. The spoils of the
monasteries enabled his courtiers to become the founders of a new
-1539-] HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION 345
nobility devoted to the king, from whom their prosperity came,
and eager to help him in his schemes. The House of Lords
became, by the fall of the mitred abbots, an assembly with a strong
lay majority, and more dependent on the king's will and less repre-
sentative of the Church. A mere trifle was kept for the Church,
out of which six new bishoprics were set up at Chester, Gloucester,
Bristol, Peterborough, Westminster, and Oxford (see map on page
342). A few abbey churches were kept as the cathedrals of these
new sees or to replace the chapters of the old sees that had hitherto
been served by monks. A larger proportion of the spoil was spent
on other public purposes, and in particular in building ships of
war, erecting fortifications on the coast, and casting strong cannon
to equip them.
16. Other religious changes attended the suppression of the
greater monasteries : images and relics were destroyed, the shrines
of English saints broken up, and some of the old _. „
Church holidays were abolished. Cranmer and Crom- gible and
well began to look upon the German Protestants as the growth
their allies, and persuaded the king to give bishoprics onrnions"
to lovers of new ways. The best of these Hugh Lati-
mer, who was made bishop of Worcester, had been the friend
of some of the Protestant martyrs burned a few years earlier.
It was another great change when Henry allowed English
Bibles to be printed and circulated, and before long ordered that
every parish church should possess a copy of an edition called the
Great Bible which was issued by Cranmer himself. These versions
all showed the influence of Tyndall's earlier work. Yet at the
same time that Henry allowed them to circulate, he encouraged
Charles v. to seek out TyndaU in the Netherlands and execute him
for heresy. Though the king was drifting towards Protestantism,
Protestants were still hunted down and punished. While they were
burned to death as heretics, the king still laid violent hands
on all friends of the pope who denied the Royal Supremacy, and
ruthlessly butchered them as traitors.
17. The king's rule was becoming a bloody tyranny. Nothing
stood in the way of his reckless will and his fierce desires. He
soon grew tired of the giddy and foolish Anne Boleyn. j^^ . ,
He was disappointed that no son had been born to and his
them, and was irritated by her unseemly dealings witli wives,
the courtiers. Moreover, he fell in love with a pretty lady about
the court named Jane Seymour, and Anne now stood across his
path much as the unhappy Catharine of Aragon had once been in
346 HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION [1536-
the way of Anne herself. In 1536 Anne was accused of adultery,
tried before a court presided over by her own uncle, and, though
protesting her innocence, hurried to the scaffold. The very next
day Henry married Jane Seymour. In 1537 Queen Jane gave
him the long-hoped-for male heir, but she herself died soon after.
Queen Catharine had died before Queen Anne, so that the little
Edward, prince of Wales, was the undoubted heir of his father.
The Lady Elizabeth, Queen Anne's daughter, was now pushed
aside like the Lady Mary. Before her mother's death, Cranmer
had pronounced the marriage invalid, so that Elizabeth and Mary
alike were regarded as illegitimate. Queen Jane's brothers, the
Seymoui-s, remained high in Henry's favour, and generally sup-
ported CromweU and Cranmer in their forward religious policy.
18. The reckless changes brought about ia religion excited
wide and increasing discontent. None now ventured on open
Cojj. rebellion, for even signs of disagreement with the
spiracles, king's policy invariably led to condemnation as a
1538-1539. traitor. In 1538 Henry Courtenay, marquis of Exeter,
a grandson of Edward iv. and the king's first cousin (see table on
page 284), was executed on a charge of conspiracy which was in
no waj^ legally proved. At the same time, the brother and some
of the kinsfolk of Cardinal Pole suffered a like fate. In 1541,
Pole's mother, Margaret, countess of SaKsbury, also perished on
the scaffold. There was no evidence that the aged lady had com-
mitted treason. But it was enough that she was a daughter of the
duke of Clarence and the mother of Cardinal Pole, who had long
been doing his best to excite the Continent against Henry.
19. The Tudor despotism was now at its height. The parlia-
ment of 1539, which abolished the greater monasteries, passed a
The Six statute that gave the king's proclamations the force
Articles, of law, and thus practically surrendered to Henry the
1539. parliamentary right of making new laws. But Henry,
with aU his self-wiU, was quick to perceive the signs of the times,
and perhaps he had now grown tired of change, or was fearful of
the consequences of fiirther innovations. He induced the same
parliament to pass the Six Articles Statute, which showed very
clearly that England had still no sympathy with the doctrines of
the Grerman Protestants. This law affirmed strongly the chief
doctrines of the Mediaeval Church. By its first clause, aU who
disbelieved in the doctrine of Transuhstantiation, or the change of
the bread and wine of the Eucharist into the substance of Christ's
natural Body and Blood, were liable to be burned as heretics. In
-1540.] HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION 347
the other articles, the celibacy of the clergy, the need of auricular
(or private) confession to the priest, and the sufficiency for the
laity of receiving- the bread without the wine in the Holy Com-
munion, were strong-ly affirmed. The Protestants, who had hoped
for everythinpr, gave way to despair when Henry had knotted this
"whip with six strings," as they called it. The prisons were
filled with them. Latimer guve up his bishopric ; Cranmer, who
had secretly married, sent his wife home to Germany. The
reforming' period of the reign was at an end.
20. Cromwell saw that his influence was on the wane, and
made a desperate effort to win back the favour of his master.
Henry had had little to do with foreign politics for
many years. Charles and Francis alike stood aloof cieves and
from him, and more than once talked of ending their the fall of
jealousies by joining together to bring back England 15^^^
to the old faith. Henry had therefore reason to fear
invasion, and had little hope of support from his old allies. Crom-
well proposed that he should set off against the anger of Charles
the friendship of . the North German princes, who were mostly
Protestants and all jealous of the emperor. Since Jane Seymour's
death, Henry had remained a widower. Cromwell now proposed
that he should mairy Anne, sister of the duke of Cieves, a mighty
prince on the Lower E>hine, who, though not a professed Lutheran,
was inclined to favour the Protestants. This marriage, Cromwell
believed, would bind Henry closely to the German princes, and
give him powerful helpers against the emperor. The king rose
eagerly to the proposal, and the marriage was agreed upon. But
when Anne of Cieves came to England, the king found her duU,
plain, and ignorant of any language that he knew. He accord-
ingly turned against her from the first, and easily persuaded
Cranmer to declare the marriage void on some frivolous pretext.
At the same time, the North German princes would have nothing
to say to his proposals of an alliance. The wrath of Henry, mad-
dened by this double failure, fell on Cromwell with more crushing
force than ever on Wolsey. Norfolk, as before, eagerly took
advantage of tlie chanoe of mining the upstart. Cromwell was
arrested on a charge of treason and heresy. Parliament passed,
without a murmur, an act of attainder. In 1540 the last strong
minister of the reign lost his head on Tower HOI. On the very
day of Cromwell's execution, Henry married for the fifth time.
His new wife was Catharine Howard. Norfolk's niece.
21. The fall of Cromwell stopped almost entirely the progreM
348 HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION [1540-
of the Reformation. Historians have called the years between 1540
and 1547 the reactionary 'period of Henry's reign, because the
kiner, tired of the colossal chang-es which Cromwell
The peaC"
tionapy ^^^d Cranmer had brought about, went back to his
period, former love of ancient ways, and broke decisively with
1540- 47. j^^ j^g^ opinions toward which he had long been
drifting. Norfolk, the queen's uncle, was now the chief lay noble
in the king's council. Along with Stephen Grardiner, bishop of
Winchester, and Edmund Bonner, bishop of London, Norfolk headed
fhe men of the old learning, who, though accepting the royal
supremacy and the abolition of the monasteries, steadily set their
faces against aU further change. The men of the new learning, best
represented by the timid Cranmer and by the king's brothers-in
law, the Seymours, were allowed to remain in the council, but were
watched and suspected and excluded from aU real power. One of
the signs of the times was the passing of a curious law, forbidding
any but gentlemen to read the Bible in English. Another was the
increased number of Protestants who were biu-ned at the stake as
heretics.
22. Foreign policy, like ecclesiastical policy, went back on its
old lines. Scotland had long given Henry a great deal of trouble.
War with -^^^ sister Margaret, who ruled for a time after
Scotland. Flodden, soon fell from power, and her son, James v., as
1542-1545. YiQ grew up to manhood, was gradually brought round
to the French alliance that was ever popular beyond the Border.
James also became as great a friend of the pope as he was of Kiag
Francis, and in both capacities gave his uncle much trouble. But
James, though a brilliant and popular king, lost the love of his
own nobles, who refused to fight for him. Accordingly, in 1542,
the English gained an easy victory at Solway Moss. James, who
was already broken in health, died soon after the battle, leaving the
throne to Ms baby daughter Mary, henceforth known as Mary
Queen of Scots. But the weak government of an infant queen
gave Henry his opportunity. His brother-in-law, Edward Seymour,
earl of Hertford, won a cheap reputation as a soldier by plundering
and devastating the Lowlands. Henry professed now to wish for
peace, and proposed to marry his son Edward to the little queen.
But he took a strange way of winning his object, and Hertford's
cruelties made the Scots look to France more than ever.
23. Henry was soon involved in war with France as well as
Scotland. This led him to patch up his old quarrel with Charles v.,
and, in 1544, Henry and Charles agreed upon a joint invasion of
-1545-3 HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION 349
France. But Charles threw Henry over, and made a separate
peace, leaving Henry to fight single-handed against both the
French and the Scots. In the course of the struggle -^^^ ^^j^
Henry captured Boulogne. This so annoyed the France,
French that they prepared a great fleet and army to ^ ^**-
invade England. However, this proved a failure, and after fruit-
less attempts to effect a landing for their army, the French were
forced to retreat to their own harbours. Before the end of the
reign, they were glad to make a peace which left Boulogne to Henry.
24. The foreign war exhausted Henry's treasury. He had long
ago squandered the lands of the monks, and was now so poor that
he tried to set his finances straight by mixing copper _,
with the silver which was coined into money at the wave of
royal mint. But this debasing of the coinage did him refopmation,
little good, as every one began to demand higher prices
for their goods, now that the shilling contained less than half
silver and the rest base metal. In his need for money, Henry
again turned greedy eyes on ecclesiastical property, and strove to
make his policy of robbery more respectable by professing onoe
more a great desire to purify and reform the Church. In 1545
parliament gave him power to dissolve the chantnes, foundations
where priests offered masses for the repose of the souls of the dead,
and those colleges, or corporations of clergy, which, not being
monasteries, had escaped the clutches of Cromwell.
25. Norfolk and his friends now steadily lost influence. In
1542 Norfolk's niece, Queen Catharine, was executed, like her
cousin Anne, on a charge of adultery, that was proved
more clearly than most of the crimes which Henry Howard"*
attributed to those who stood in liis way. Henry now and
married Ids sixth and last wife, Catharine Parr, a Catharine
bright young widow, who stood aside from politics,
and showed such prudence tliat she managed to outlive her husband.
Her brother was strongly on the reforming side, and joined with
the Seymours and Cranmer in fresh effort* to oust the Howards
and their friends from power.
26. Henry's health was now breaking up, and it was clear that
he would not live much longer. The t^vo parties into wliich the
council was divided contended fiercely for supremacy, _. - ..
and the suspicions old tyrant inclined more and more of the
to the reformers. The imprudence of the Howards Howards,
ha.stened on their downfall. Norfolk liimself was bad-
tempered, hauglity, and incompetent. His eldest son, the earl of
350 HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION [1509-
Surrey, was a gallant young nobleman of great accomplishments,
and famous as a versifier and the reformer of English poetry.
But he was as overbearing as his father, and rashly provoked the
old king's anger by assuming arms that had once belonged to the
crown. He was accused of aiming at the throne, thi-own into
prison, condemned as a traitor, and beheaded early in 1547. His
father was included in the same accusation, and was also sentenced
to death. He was only saved by Henry's dying before the time
fixed for his execution.
27. The reign of Henry viir. saw important changes in the
relations of England with the other parts of the British Islands.
Like Edward i., Henry wished to be lord of the whole
andlreland ^^ Britain and Ireland. His greediness and im-
patience prevented him from doing anything to end
the hostility between England and Scotland. But both in Ireland
and Wales he was able to accomplish something considerable
towards effecting his purpose. When he came to the throne, he
found Ireland was practically independent and ruled by the Norman
feudal lords of the centre and south, and by the native clan
chieftains of the wilder north and west. The Fitzgeralds, earls
of Kildare, were the most powerfid of the Norman families, and
it was only by making them viceroys that Henry was able to keep
even a semblance of authority in the English pale. But at last the
Pitzgeralds grew too insolent for the king to be able to endure
them. In 1535 they rose in revolt, and Henry managed to break
down their power. In the years that followed, he bribed the Irish
lords by English titles and by dividing among them the lands of
the Irish monasteries. This led them to accept, at least in name,
the extension to Ii-eland of the doctrine of the Royal Supremacy.
In recognition of his increased authority, Henry gave up the
simple title of Lord of Ireland, borne by all kings since Henry ir.
Instead of this he called himseK King of Ireland, a name that
indicated a more direct and complete sway. But his policy only
started that new conquest of Ireland which liis great daughter
completed.
28. Henry's efforts had more complete success in Wales. He
set up a Council of Wales at Ludlow, which secured good peace in
_ the Principality and in the March alike. There was
England ^o longer any need to keep up this twofold distinction,
and Wales, since the king had now become direct ruler of most of
the Marcher lordships through the dying out of the
old feudal houses that once bore sway over them. A king, sprung
-IS47] HENRY VIII. AND THE REFORMATION 35 1
from Welsh ancestors, saw it was both a good and a popnlar thing
to put an end to the humiliating dependence of Wales on England,
that had lasted since the conquest of Edward i. Accordingly, in
1536, Henry divided all Wales into thirteen counties and incor-
porated the whole with England. The Welsh shires now sent
members to the English parliament, and had the same system of
laws as England. The county palatine of Chester was also in-
cluded in this legislation, and for the first time now became
represented at Westminster.
CHAPTER IV
EDWARD VI. (1547-1553)
Chief Dates :
1547. Accession of Edward vi. ; Battle of Pinkie.
1549. The first Prayer-book ; and the Devonshire and Norfolk revolts.
1552. Second Prayer-book ; Execution of Somerset.
1553. Death of Edward vi.
1. Henry viii.'s only son, wlio now became Edward vi., was a
sickly boy of ten, and much too young to rule on his own behalf.
The old king, foreseeing a long minority, had drawn
becomes '•^P ^ scheme for a carefully balanced council oj
Protectop, regency, in wliich the old and the new learning should
1547. |jg gQ equally represented that things would not be
likely to be altered tmtil his son became a man and could
decide for himself. The triumph of the new learning over the old
learning just before Henry's death had, howerer, given such a
strong position to the reformers that they were no longer content
to bide their time. Anxious for the immediate possession of office,
the reformers upset all Henry's plans, and made their leader Hert-
ford, duke of Somerset and Jjord Protector, with almost royal power,
and with a councU on wliich the reformers had the complete mastery.
2. As the little king's nearest kinsman, Somerset seemed the
most natural guardian of his nephew's throne. He liad won
„.g popularity by reason of his gracious manners, sympathy
character for the poor, and skiU as a soldier. Though he did
and policy, not scruple to enrich himself with Church property,
he was more kindly and honest than most of the statesmen of his
day. His chief objects as a ruler were to carry to comjjletion the
reforming movement that had already begun in the last years
of Henry viii.'s reign, and to continue as well as he could the old
king's foreign poKcy. But Somerset was not strong enough to
accomplish this double task. Weak, obstinate, and unpractical, he
never realized the necessity of doing one thing at the time. Within
three years he had failed so utterly that he was driven from power
in disgrace.
352
-I547-]
EDWARD VI.
353
3. Henry viii. liad made peace with the French and Scots
before his death, and common prudence should have induced
Somerset to keep on good terms with both countries. _^
Two circumstances, however, strongly impelled the vasionof
Protector to take up a strong line as regards Scotland. Scotland,
One was tliat the regency, which ruled Scotland in the
name of the little queen Mary, had persecuted the Scottish Pro-
testants with such vigour that they had risen in revolt against the
government, and, being overpowered, had appealed to England for
Bmoy Valkcr k.
M . Firiit position of EngliRh army.
B. Fiivl pooition of Scottish u'tny.
— Forward march of the Scots.
D. Scottish position before the battle.
C. English position before the battle.
1. Grey.
2. Warwiclc.
3. Somerset.
assistance. The other was that Somerset was anxious to carry out
Henry viii.'s policy of uniting the two realms by the marriage
of Edward with tlie queen of Scots. Somerset was so eager in
helping the Scottish Protestants that he did not. see that he could
not combine tliis course of action with the peaceful negotiations
with the regency for the marriage of Edward and Mary. Before
long his want of tact agtiin involved the two countries in a war,
2a
354 EDWARD VI. [1547-
wliich long postponed both the Scottish Reformation and the
reconciliation of the two British kingdoms. In September, 1547,
Somerset invaded the Lothians, and on September 10 fought
a battle against the Scots who had assembled an army to defend
Edinburgh. Somerset held the high land on the
P^kie° right bank of the Esk, while the Scots, posted on
rising ground on the left bank, waited for his attack.
After two days' inaction the Scots grew weary, and, crossing the
Esk, advanced against the English position. The battle was
fought near the village of Pinkie. At first the Scottish pikemen
withstood and broke the shock of Lord Grey's cavalry, who
rode down the liiU to meet them. But the presence of mind of
John Dudley, earl of Warwick, saved the situation. He charged
the victorious Scots with fresh troops, and soon put them into
confusion. Complete victory attended the English arms, but the
first use Somerset made of it was to desolate aU south-eastern
Scotland with fire and sword. His military triumph counted
Postpone- ^^^ little as compared with the complete political
ment of the failure which attended it. The Scots, angry at the
Scottish invasion, saved theii" queen from the danger of be-
^. coming the bride of the EngHsh king, by despatching
her to France, where she was educated to be a French-
woman, a Catholic, and a bitter enemy of England. For another
ten years Scotland remained CathoHc because the Reformation was
identified with England.
4. France, as usual, took up the Scottish cause, and continental
war soon followed war within Britain. The French now threat-
ened Boulogne, Henry viii.'s conquest, but the English
B ^loene garrison just held its own. Desultory war continued
until after Somerset's fall, when peace was made both
with France and Scotland on terms that undid the work of Henry
VIII. By it Boulogne was restored to the French.
5. At home Somerset threw his chief energy into bringing about
a further reformation of the Church. Cranmer, his chief adviser,
Ppogress of ^^*^ ^^ ^^^^ tmiQ drifted far away from Henry viii.'s
the Reforma- via media, and had become a disciple of the Grerman
^*°"' Lutherans. Royal visitors of the Church were sent
throughout the land and instructed to break down images of
saints, stone altaiTS, and emblems that savoured of the ancient
faith. Bishops of the old learning, like Bonner and Gardiner,
struggled in vain against the visitors, and, before long, were im-
prisoned and deprived of aU power. A new standard of doctrine
-I549-] EDWAJiD VI. 355
was set forth in a Book of Homilies, written in Eng-lish, which the
more ignorant clergy, who could not preach sermons of their own,
were instructed to read to their flocks as the official teaching of
the Church. Soon parliament met, and by repealing, the Six
Articles statute and other laws of Henry viii., made further
changes easier. Priests were allowed to marry, and foesh confisca-
tions of Church property were ordered. Such colleges and chantries
as Henry viii. had not time to suppress were abolished, and most
of the money thus procured from the Chiirch was squandered
among Somerset's friends and councillors. The protector himself
did not scruple to appropriate a good share of the spoil. A few
hospitals and schools in connection with suppressed churches were
suffered to remain, and Edward vi. has won the reputation, which
is very little deserved, of being a liberal founder of hospitals and
schools. He deserves little more credit for giving his name to
such old schools as he allowed to survive the general ruin, than
Henry viii. merited by continuing Wolsey's college at Oxford as
a foundation of his own.
6. The most important of the religious changes now brought
about was the abolition of the Latin services of the Church and
the setting up of an English Prayer-book, winder
Henry viii. some progress had been made in that ppayep-
direction, and Cranmer had been engaged since 1543 book of
in drafting a form of common prayer in English. ^^^^^^ ^^"
His labours culminated in the Act of Uniformity of
1549, which enjoined that all churches should henceforward use the
English services contained in the First Prayer-book of Edward VI.
This was a very careful and reverent translation of the mediaeval
Latin services into the vulgar tongue, with certain omissions and
alterations and the combination of the numerous short forms
of the older worship into the order for Morning and Evening
Prayer. Cranmer, at his worst when his weakness made him the
puppet of contending politicians, was at his best when engaged
in this work. Though he ha<l lost his faith in much of the ancient
creed, Ids timid, scholarly, and sensitive mind clung to the old
forms even when they had ceased to have their old meaning to him,
while his exquisite literary sense made the new prayers models of
pure and dignified English. In the Communion Ser\-ice which
was to replace the Latin mass, great care was taken to maintain
ancient ceremonies and deal tenderly with conservative sentiment.
7. Englishmen were no lovers of novelties, and the pains
bestowed on making the new service seem like the old were
356 EDWARD VI. [1549-
fchrown away on those who still cherished the ancient rites. When
the Prayer-book was first read in a Devonshire Tillage chtirch,
the congregation forced the priest to go back to his
Devonshire Latin mass, declaring that the new service was like
pebellion of a Christmas game. Then they rose in revolt after
1 549. .y^g fashion of the Pilgrims of Grace. They demanded
the restoration of the mass and the Six Articles, and found the
south-west overwhelmingly on their side.
8. The Devonshire revolt against the Prayer-book was only one
of Somerset's difficulties. He was much troubled by opposition
within the council, where he was soon found out to be
of Thomas ^^ weak to play the part which Henry viii. himself
Seymour, had found was all that he could do to fulfil. His own
brother, Thomas Seymour, now Lord Seymour of
Sudeley, an ambitious, rash, and foolish i)erson, had intrigued
against him, and early in 1549 the protector found it necessary
to put him to death by an act of attainder. But the discontent
among the people was even more formidable to him than the cabals
of his rivals. While the conservative south-west was in arms against
novelties, the reformers in the eastern counties, who had no com-
The Norfolk plaints against Somerset's religious policy, set up
rebellion of another rebellion which had its centre round Norwich.
1 549. rpi^Q enclosure of commons, the turning of plough-land
into pasture, and the greediness of the new landloi-ds who had taken
the place of the easy-going monastic proprietors, had borne hardly
upon the Norfolk peasantry. Things were worse now than they
had been thirty-five years before when More wrote his Utopia, and
the new gospel had done nothing to better the position of the poor
man. A quarrel between Robert Ket, lord of the manor of
Wymondham, and a neighbouring landlord now set the whole
countryside in a blaze. Before long Ket put himseK at the head
of a mob which pulled down fences round enclosures, and demanded
that all villeins should be set free. An army soon collected under
the popular leader, who held a sort of court under an oak tree called
by him the Otik of Reformation on Household Heath, near Norwich.
He kept wonderful order among his followers, and sent up moderate
demands to the council. Getting no answer, he took possession of
Norwich, and defeated the king's troops.
9. Somerset was eager to put down the Devonshire rebels, but
he sympathized with the Norfolk men, though he was too weak to
remedy their wrongs. Both revolts soon rose to a great head,
and the protector was helpless to put them down. PubKc order
-ISSO.] EDWARD VI. 357
had to be restored, and stronger men now pushed him aside. John
Rnssell, afterwards earl of Bedford, crushed the Devonshire revolt,
while Warwick put down the eastern rebellion with p^jj ^f
fierce ruthlessness. A little later the council deprived Somerset,
Somerset of the protectorate, and imprisoned him
in the Tower. So impotent did the fallen ruler seem that his
enemies, with unusual leniency, soon released him from prison,
and restored him to the council.
10. Henceforth the council resolved to keep authority in its
own hands. But if it were hard for Somerset to wield the power
of a Henry, it was quite impossible for the greedy and
self-seeking councillors to maintain that strong rule ascendency
which alone could save the state from confusion, of Warwick,
Gradually John Dudley, the earl of Warwick, son of 15*9- 1653.
the minister of Henry vii., executed in 1510, worked his way into
the first place. A successful soldier of overweening ambition, he
professed a great zeal for reforming the Church, and made himself
the head of the resolute little party which looked upon the changes
effected by Somerset as only small instalments of that com-
plete reformation which they now desired to bring about. The
misfortunes of continental Protestantism now played
into their hands. Luther and Francis i. were both influence
dead, and Charles v., who was trying hard to put down of the
the German Reformation, seemed on the very point of fo>^ign
success. A swarm of exiles fled from his tyranny to
England, whose leaders, Martin Bucer of Strassburg and Peter
Martyr an Italian, were made professors of theology at Oxford
and Cambridge. They became the chief teachers of the forward
school in England, and soon had plenty of disciples. Cranmer
himself was now drifting away from Luther, and was inclining
towards the more revolutionary teaching of the Swiss reformer
Zwingle, who denied the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
His cha])lain, the learned Nicholas Ridley, an avowed Zwinglian,
was made bishop of London in succession to Bonner, who was at
last deprived of his see for resisting the Prayer-book, and kept,
like Gardiner, in prison for the rest of the reign. Another new
bishop was John Hooper of Gloucester, the first English Puritan,
who long refused to wear the old episcopal vestments, regarding
them as rags of popery. All these men looked up to Warwick
to bring about innovations in the Church, and Warwick gladly
furthered their wishes, since each fresh change meant new distriba«
tions of Church property among himself and his allies.
358 EDWARD VI. Ii55»-
THE DUDLEYS
Edmund Dudley,
extortioner,
executed 1510.
John Dudley,
earl of Warwick, 1547,
duke of Northumberland, 1551,
executed 1553,
Ambrose Dudley, Robert Dudley, Guildford Dudley,
earl of Warwick. earl of Leicester, m. Lady Jane Grey,
d. 1588. executed 1554.
11. The scramble for Churcli property soon grew worse and
worse. Many bishopries were suppressed, including Henry viii.'s
new see of Westminster, and the revenues of those
scramble suffered to remain were cut down. Laymen appointed
for the themselves to ecclesiastical oifices, and pocketed the
th° ch°^ h I'evenues without performing- the duties. The colleges
at Oxford and Cambridge were tlireatened, and it
looked as if all the lands of the Church would be filched from her.
12. There was much discontent, but few ventured to speak. The
best and bravest of the Protestants, Hugh Latimer, said that
Execution things were worse than in tlie old days of popery,
of Somerset, Deprived of his bishopric of Worcester in 1530, he
1 552. refused to accept another see, and devoted himself to
preaching the new gospel with absolute honesty and rare freedom
of speech. The young king gladly Ustened to his sermons, but he
told the truth so fully that the council bade him preach no more
before the court. In their despair the people tui-ned to the fallen
Somerset as a deliverer. But he was far too deeply discredited to be
able to stem the tide. His feeble efforts to win back power only led
to the completion of his ruin. Early in 1.552 he was beheaded as a
felon, and Warwick, now duke of Korthumberland, secured com-
plete ascendency. He alone had the ear of the young king, and
could carry everything as he would.
13. Sweeping religious changes were now brought about. The
Prayer-book of 1549 seemed to be too old-fashioned; it was re-
vised in a more Protestant sense, and in 1552 a new
Prayep-^"^ ^cf of Uniformity required the use in churches of this
book of Second Prayer-hooh of Edward VI. The changes in
Edward VL, ^j^g Communion Office showed the gi-eat advance of
Zwinglian doctrine, and tended to set aside the dogma
of the Real Presence which liad been fully recognized in the earHer
-1553-] EDWARD VI. 359
book. But Cramner was still able to keep up no small measure of
the spirit of the earlier office, and of aU the reforms of Edward's
reign, his Prayer-book is among the most enduring- and valuable.
In most essentials the book of 1552 is the same as the present
service-book of the Eng-lish Church.
14. Other great chang-es followed. The most imjwrtant of these
was the new Protestant form of doctrine embodied in the Forty-ttoo
Articles of Religion of 1553. Derived largely from the
Lutheran confession of faith, these articles show much Porty-two
more than the Prayer-book how the English Church Articles,
had fallen in with the views of the continental re- *°^3'
formers. They are the basis of the Thirty-nine Articles, which
under Elizabeth became the permanent standards of dogma in the
English Church.
15. All seemed going well with Northumberland and the
reformers. Edward, now sixteen years of age, was strongly on
their side, and, young as he was, had already made it jjjg failure
clear that he had inherited some of the strong will and of Edward
royal imperiou>sness of his father. A grave, precocious, ^ health,
and solitary boy, he had been overworked from his tenderest years,
and had worried himself over problems of Church and State when
other children were at their play. His delicate frame was unable to
bear the strain put upon it, and he soon lay dying with consumption.
He was much troubled by the dangers that he foresaw would as.sail
Protestantism after his death. By law the next heir was his half-
sister, the Lady Mary, the daughter of Catharine of Aragon.
Though Mary had been, like her sister Elizabeth, declared illegiti-
mate after her mother's divorce, she had been restored to her place
in the succession. Parliament, foreseeing disaster if the succession
were disputed, had passed an act empowering Henry -fj^e testa-
VIII. to settle the future devolution of the crown by his ment of
testament. Henry had drawn up such a will whereby Henry VIII.
he had arranged that his two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, might
both succeed in order of birth if Edward, the tindoubted heir, died
without children. Moreover, he provided that if tliese also died
without heirs, the throne should next be settled upon the descendants
of his younger sister Mary, duchess of Suffolk, passing thus over
his elder sister Margaret, queen of Scots, whose r(>i)resontatives,
l>eing rulers of Scotland. Henry regarded as disqualified from being
kings of England. But these problems were as yet far in the
future.
16. Edward n.'s zealous Protestantism was very uneasy at the
360 EDWARD VI. [1553-
prospect of being- succeeded by his sister. Mary was a bitter enemy
of the Reformation, and had clung to the mass despite Acts of
p , ,, Uniformity and English Prayer-books. Under her the
device light of the Gospel would be extinguished, and Edward
for the -v^ras accordingly well pleased when Northumberland
* suggested an illegal plan for changing the succes-
sion in the interests of Protestantism. Northumberland easily
persuaded the masterful young king that, like his father, he also
could assign the throne by testament. He induced him to set
aside not only Mary, but Elizabeth, who had not shown hostility to
the new system. In their stead, Edward bequeathed the throne
to the Lady Jane Grey, the eldest child of Frances, duchess of
Suffolk, the daughter of his aunt, Mary Tudor, and Charles Bran-
don, her second husband. Lady Jane was a girl of about Edward's
age, with something of her cousin's seriousness, and all his zeal for
the Reformation. But the chief reason for her advancement was
that she had been married to Lord Guildford Dudley, one of
Northumberland's sons. It is clear that the real motive of the
duke was to reign through his daughter-in-law.
17. Edward had hardly drawn up his will before he became
worse, and died on July 6, 1553. For two days Ms death was kept
ft T„v,« secret, while Northumberland won over the councillors
Queen Jane ' , -i i m-L t
and Queen to give their support to the scheme. Then Lady
Mary, 1 553. j^ne was proclaimed queen of England. But no one,
save the zealous Protestants and Northumberland's greedy council,
wished to have her as queen. All felt that Mary had the better
title, and no one wished to continue the selfish Northumberland in
power. Mary fled to the eastern counties, where the people,
Protestants though they were, warmly supported her cause.
Northumberland started from London to oppose her, but when he
reached Cambridge his troops mutinied, and he was forced to give
up the attempt. After a ten days' nominal reign, the unfortunate
Lady Jane gave place to King Henry's daughter, amidst universal
rejoicings.
CHAPTER V
MARY (1553-1558)
Chief Dates :
1553. Accession of Mary.
1554. Restoration of papal supremac}'.
^SSS- Execution of Ridley and Latimer.
1556. Execution of Cranmer.
1558. Loss of Calais ; death of Mary.
1. Maky, the first queen regnant in England, was thirty-seven
years old when she ascended the throne. She was brave, honourable,
and religious, but her health was broken and her Accession
temper soured by the miserable life of self -suppression of Mary,
which she had led. She had her full share of the fierce *^^3.
Tudor will and character, and had ever remained true to her
mother's memory and to the ancient faith. She had consistently
opposed the acts of her brother's ministers, and her accession
was the more welcome since it involved the reversal of their
policy.
2. Mary's first business was to undo the religious changes of her
brother's reign. Norfolk, Gardiner, Bonner, and the other victims
of Edward's ministers, were released from prison, and
beoame her chief advisers. She showed no great Edward's
vindictiveness against the friends of Lady Jane, and reiffn
only Northumberland, with two of his subordinate ""°o"®'
agents, atoned for their treason on the scaffold. Latly Jane and her
husband were condemned to death, but were suffered to remain in
prison. The Protestant bishops were driven from their sees, and
foreign Protestants were ordered out of the realm. As Cranmer
and the leading Prot«stants had become accomplices of Northumber-
land, it was easy to attack them as traitors as well as heretics.
When parUameut met, it declared Mary to be Henry's legitimate
daughter, re])eale<l Edward vi.'s acts concerning religion, and
restored the Six Articles, the mass, and the celibacy of the clergy.
361
362 MAHV [1554-
Tlxe effect of ilais was to bring back the Cliiirch. to tbe state in
whicb it had been at the death of Henry viii. So completely did
the queen restore her father's legislation that she even assumed the
title of Supreme Head of the Church. For more than a year no
further religious changes were effected. Yet the daughter of
Catharine of Aragon had not much more love for the system of her
father than for that of her brother. Her real wish was to make
England as it had been before Henry questioned her mother's
marriage. Politically, she wished to restore the imperial alliance ;
ecclesiastically, she was eager to bring back the pope and the monks.
But Gardiner and her ministers had been so long identified with
Henry viii.'s policy that they thought the reaction had gone far
enough. It reqiiired all the fierce persistency of the new queen to
realize these objects.
3. Parliament wished the queen to marry an English nobleman.
But Charles v., who had always been her good friend, proposed
The Spanish ^^ ^®^' *^ ^ husband liis eldest son, PhiUp, prince of
marriage, Spain. Mary eagerly fell in with the suggestion , though
Philip was eleven years her junior, and there was a
grave danger to English independence in the queen becoming the
wife of the heir of Charles v. But Philip represented her mother's
family, and was already famous for his uncompromising zeal for the
Roman Catholic Church. Thinking that her marriage with him
would realize all her ambitions by one stroke, she disregarded the
advice of council and parliament, and signed the marriage-treaty
in January, 1554. The people's dislike of the Spanish marriage
took shape in a series of revolts such as always attended an un-
popular step on the part of a Tudor monarch. The most formidable
of these was that led by Sir Thomas Wyatt, the gallant young son
of Wyatt the poet, who raised Kent and Sussex against the Spanish
match. At the head of a great following of disorderly Kentishmen,
he marched to London, and occupied Southwark. There was a
panic in the city, wliich was only appeased when the queen went
down to the GruildhaU and inspired the Londoners with some of her
own courage. Before long, Wyatt was overpowered and captured.
This second rising was dealt with more sternly than the attempt of
Northumberland. Wyatt and other leading rebels were executed,
and Lady Jane and Lord Guildford Dudley were put to death under
their former sentence. The Lady Elizabeth, whose claims the
rebels had upheld, was for a time imprisoned in the Tower. But
Wyatt on the scaffold declared that she had no knowledge of the
conspiracy, and Elizabeth was soon set free. Henceforward the
-IS55-] MARY 363
daughter of Anne Boleyn scrupulously kept on good terms with
her sister, and attended mass with a great show of devotion. Now
that the revolt was suppressed, Philip came to England, and was
married to Mary by Gardiner in Winchester Cathedral.
4. Mary strove her utmost to bring about a reconciliation
between England and the papacy. Though Gardiner had first
made his name by defending the royal supremacy
under Henry viii., his exjjerience under Edward vi. ^j^^ ^f jj,g
seems to have convinced him that his old master's papal
" middle way " led in practice to the Protestantism ? ^=4,*™**'^'
which he had always opposed. He was, therefore,
willing to fall in with his mistress' plans. The chief opposition to
Mary came from the lay nobles who had been enriched with the
spoils of the monasteries. Knowing that the queen wished to bring
back the monks as well as the pope, they trembled for their new
estates, and reftised to accept a papal restoration until they were
assured that the abbey-lands would not be given' back to the Church.
When the pope had promised not to insist upon the restoration of
the monasteries, all difficulties were removed. A new parliament,
which met in November, 1554, repealed Henry viir.'s laws against
Home, declared unlawful the title of Supreme Head of the Church
which Mary had borne since her accession, and restored the old laws
against heresy. One of the acts of this parliament was the reversal
of the attainder which in Henry viri.'s time had been i>assed against
Cardinal Pole. Pole, now one of the leading advisers of the pope,
had some time before been appointed papal legate, but had long
been impatiently waiting beyond the Channel until matters were
ripe for his return. He was at last suffered to land in England,
where Mary gave him the warmest of welcomes. A few days later,
he solemnly pronounced the restoration of England to com-
munion with the Roman Church. Thus the resolute purpose of
the queen destroyed the work of her father as well as that of her
brother. It is significant that there was no such popular revolt
against the restoration of the papacy as there had been against the
Spanish marriage.
5. There remained the punishment of those who refused to
change their religion to please the queen. Many of the Protestant
leaders under Edward vi. had escaped to the Con- The Marian
tinent. But the most prominent of the Edwardian persecution,
bishops were awaiting in prison the moment of the *^*^"**^8.
queen's vengeance. The revival of the lieresy laws by the last
parliament enabled them to be dealt with. Early in 1555 Pole M
3^4 MARY [1555-
legate set up a commission to try heretics, and on February 2,
John Rog-ers, a prebendary of St. Paul's, who had taken a promi-
nent part in translating the Bible into English, was the first
to lay down his life for his faith. His martyrdom was rapidly
followed by that of the Puritan Bishop Hooper of Gloucester.
Alone among the Protestant leaders. Hooper had refused to take
part in Northumberland's effort to deprive Mary of her throne,
but his loyalty availed him nothing. He was condemned as a
heretic, deprived of his bishopric, and burnt at Grloucester under
the shadow of his own cathedral. A little later Bishop Ferrar
of St. David's was burnt at Carmarthen, the chief town of his
diocese. He was one of the most obscure and harmless of the
bishops, but this did not prevent his being singled out as an
example.
6. More prominent Protestant mai-tyrs followed in Latimer,
Ridley and Cranmer. Like Hooper, Latimer had had no share in
Martyrdom Northumberland's treason, and was so generally re-
of Latimer spected that he was long allowed to remain at large, and
®^' every chance was given him to escape to the continent.
But he scorned to flee, and cheerfully journeyed to London to answer
a charge of heresy. Ridley and Cranmer had been deeply implicated
in Northumberland's conspiracy, but the queen preferred to keep
them in prison until they might be punished as heretics rather
than execute them earlier as traitors. In March, 1555, aU three
were sent to Oxford to dispute with Catholic divines on the doctrine
of the mass. After many disputations and delays, a commission of
bishops on October 1 sentenced Ridley and Latimer. A fortnight
later they met their end with splendid courage.
7. Cranmer still lingered for five months in his Oxford prison.
He had been consecrated before the breach with Rome, and had
The fate of ^^J received his pallium from the pope. He coTild not,
Cranmer, therefore, be condemned so swiftly as the schismatic
bishops whose power the Church had never recognized.
An archbishop could only be tried and deprived by the pope himself,
and the papal court moved slowly. At last his condemnation and
degradation were effected, whereupon the pope appointed Pole his
successor as archbishop. In February, 1556, Cranmer's priestly
gown was torn from him, and, clad as a layman, he was handed over
to the sheriff for execution. He was an old man, and his character
had always been feeble. At the last moment he was persuaded to
recant, and his cruel enemies forced him to sign no less than seven
forms of abjuration. But there was no mercy for the man who
-i5S8.] MA/^y 365
Lad divorced Catharine of Aragon, and, despite his submission, he
was ordered to execution. On March 21, before the sentence was
effected, he was taken to the university church to hear a sermon
on the enormity of liis offences. At its end he was called upon to
read his recantation to the people. The timid scholar found his
courage in the presence of death. " I renounce," he said, " and
refu.se all such papers as I have written and signed with my
hand since my degradation, wherein I have written many
things untrue, and as my hand offended, my hand therefore shall
be first burnt." He was at once hurried from the church
to the stake. When the fire was lighted, he plunged his right
hand into the flame, exclaiming, " This hand has offended."
The courage of his end did something to redeem the weakness of
his Ufe.
8. The five episcopal victims were the most conspicuous of the
Marian martyrs. Though nearly three hundred other persons
perished for their religion between 1555 and 1558, the j^^ lesser
great majority of them were obscure clergymen, victims of
tradesmen, and workmen. Nearly all the martyrs Persecution,
came from London and its neighbourhood. This was partly
because Bonner, who was again bishop of London, and Pole,
whose diocese included most of Kent, were the most active of the
persecuting prelates. But the truth was that outside the home
counties there were few Protestants to bum. The only other
dioceses where victims were numerous were those of Norwich and
Chichester (see map on page 342), Thus the limitation of the perse-
cution to so short a time and so small an area made it the more
severe. Sympathy with the brave deaths of the sufferers did more
to set up a Protestant party in England tlian all the laws of King
Edward or all the preaching of his divines.
9. The fierce persecution of the Protestants has given Mary and
her advisers an evil reputation in history which they do not alto-
gether deserve. In the sixteenth century, as in the
Middle Ages, it was still thought the business of the Seratlon**^
state to uphold religious truth and to put down false in the
teaching by the severest means. To tolerate error sixteenth
was regarded as a sin, and it was looked upon as some-
thing Uke rebellion for a subject to' reject tlie religion of his
sovereign. Protestant and Catholic kings alike had sent those
who disagreed with their doctrines to the scaffold. We have seen
how many were the victims of Henry viii.'s ecclesiastical policy.
Edward \i. had burnt the extreme Protestants called Anabaptittt,
366 MAny [1553-
and Calvin himself had condemned to death the Unitarian Ser-
vetus. The faults of Mary and Pole were those of fanatics and
enthusiasts, and not those of cruel or unscrupidous persons. Even
Bonner was coarse and callous rather than vindictive or ill-natured.
The real punishment of Mary and her friends was in their com-
plete failure to stamp out their enemies by force. Fortunately for
his reputation, Gardiner died in 1555, at the very hegiuning of the
persecution.
10. It was not only by repression that Mary strove to secure
the triumph of her Church. She forced her parliament to restore
firstfruits to the pope, and spent what money she
of B^py" could in reviving a few of the monasteries, includiag
Westminster Abbey. Grave troubles at home and
abroad soon distracted her energies into other channels. She had
disputes with her House of Commons, which, for the first time
under the Tudors, showed a disposition to oppose the government.
There were several popular revolts, and some of the bolder Protestant
refugees procured ships from France with which they practised
piracy on the English coasts. The queen's health became wretched,
and her domestic life was most unhappy. Pole was her only
real friend, and Philip of Spaia neglected her utterly until he
wished to seciu-e her help ia the war which he was waging against
France.
11. Between 1552 and 1559 the last of the great struggles
between France and the Empire was being fought. Henry 11., king
of France since his father Francis's death in 1547,
between proved himself as formidable to Charles and Philip as
France and ever his father had been. After successfully saving
the Empire, -^jj^e German Protestants from Charles's designs against
them, Henry allied himself with Pope Paul iv, to
upset imperial domination in Italy. He succeeded so far that
Charles v., crippled with gout and weary with his misfortunes,
abdicated his dominions in 1556. His German possessions and the
name of emperor went to his brother Ferdinand, king of Hungary
and Bohemia, who became the founder of the junior or Austrian
branch of the house of Hapsbiu-g. Spain and the Indies, Italy,
the Netherlands, and the county of Burgomdy went to Mary's
husband.
12. Philip II. of Spain made a g-reat effort to secure victory
over France. In 1557 he persuaded Mary to take part in the
struggle, and broke the back of the French resistance by his famous
victory of St. Quentin. He restored the Hapsburg power in
-1558.] MARY 367
Italy by cmshing Paul iv. as completely as his father had defeated
Clement vii. Henceforth the papacy was reduced, like the other
Italian states, to obey the will of Philip, who completely England at
dominated Italy. Deprived of temporal power, the war with
popes were thrown back upon their ecclesiastical posi- France,
tion, in the strengthening of which they could count
on Philip's support. It was, however, a strange irony that Mary
was forced by her Catholic husband to be a party to war against the
pope, whom she had restored to the headship of the English Church.
Beaten on the battlefield, Paul iv. revenged his defeat by accusing
Cardinal Pole of heresy and depriving him of his position as papal
legate. The French also revenged themselves for Philip's triumphs
at St. Quentin at the expense of his weak ally. In January, 1558,
they stormed Calais, the last remnant of the triumphs
of the Hundred Tears' War. The loss of Calais was ^^^ °Jgg
the final blow to the unhappy Mary. She died
November 17, 1558, and twelve hours later Cardinal Pole followed
her to the tomb. Both died conscious of failure. The work to
which they had devoted their lives was forthwith to be undone
after their decease.
CHAPTER VI
ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
(1558-1587)
Chief Dates :
1558. Accession of Elizabeth.
1559. Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity.
1561. Mary Stewart returns to Scotland.
1565- Pariier's Advej-tise7ne7its.
1568. Mary Stewart escapes to England.
1569. Revolt of the Northern Catholics.
1570. The pope excommunicates Elizabeth.
1572. The revolt of the Dutch from Spain.
1576. Grindal, archbishop of Canterbury.
1577- 1580. Drake's voj'sge round the world.
1579. The Union of Utrecht and the Desmond rebellion.
1583. Whitgift, archbishop of Canterbury.
1584. The Bond of Association and the breach with Spain.
1586. Babington's plot and the battle of Zutphen.
1587. Execution of Mary Stewart.
1. Elizabeth was just five and twenty when she became queen.
She was tall and good-looking, with strong features, a gi-eat hooked
Charactep nose, fair complexion, and light auburn hair. Pos-
and policy of sessed of a magnificent constitution, she worked as
Elizabeth. hard at amusing herself as on business of state. She
inherited many of her father's kingly qualities, and made herself
l)opular by her hearty fidendly ways and by going on progress
tliroughout the country and receiving the hospitality of the
gentry. With Henry's love of power and instinct for command,
she also inherited some of her father's coarseness and insensibility.
She was unscrupulous, regardless of the truth, and even in small
matters there was little that was womanly or sensitive about her.
Selfish as she was, she had a full share of that fine Tudor instinct
which identified itself with the country which she ruled, and she
watched over the interests of England as she looked after her own
I)ersonal affairs. Though carefully educated, like all Henry's
children, she was little influenced by the literary movements of
her age, and, though forced as Anne Boleyn's daughter to take
36S
I5S8.] ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 369
up the reforming side in religion, she was to a very small
extent affected by religious feeling. Clear-headed, far-seeing, and
competent, strong, courageous, and persistent, her great delight
was in exercising power, and she loved to rule so well that she
would not share her authority even with a husband. To her
father's strength and statecraft Elizabeth also added a large share
of her mother's light and frivolous character. She was extremely
vain, and enjoyed the grossest flattery. She loved gorgeous
dresses, and as she grew old delighted to liide the ravages of time
by false hair, paint, monstrous ruffs, and stiff farthingales. She
found it hard to make up her mind in little matters, and found it
politic seldom to show her full purpose iu great ones. But she
sliowed a rare consistency of purpose in carrying out for the forty-
five years of her reign the same general policy which she had
marked out for herseK at the moment of her accession. Amidst
the many trials of a period of revolution, she safely steered the
ship of state through the breakers, and was able to enjoy during
her declining years the calms that succeeded the storms of her
middle life. Never a very attractive or amiable woman, she was
one of the greatest of our rulers, and in the worst trials of her
reign she did not lose faith either in England or in herself.
2. Like Henry viii., Elizabeth was her own chief minister, but
few nilers have had more able statesmen to assist her in carry-
ing out her ideas. To these she clave with such per-
sistence that her servants grew old in her ser\'ice, minlste^" *
and M'ere unswervingly loyal to her, though she
was niggardly in rewarding them, and callous in the extreme
when policy made it expedient for her to shift the blame of an
unpopular or risky act from herself to her helpers. The chief of
her advisers was Sir "William Cecil, who, first as The Cecils
secretary of state and then as treasurer, served and the
her with unostentatious fidelity from her accession bacons,
to his death in 1598, though his efforts to make her policy more
Protestant and more uncompromising were constantly discourapred
by her, and he received no higher reward than the barony of
Burghley, which made liim, as he said, "the poorest lord in
England." With him worked hia brother-in-law, Sir Nicholas
Bacon, the keeper of the Great Seal, whose long service wa«
not even rewarded by the title of chancellor. Office was almost
hereditary, and Sir Robert Cecil, Burghley's second son. was as
prominent as the secretary of the queen's declining years as liis
father had been in the earlier part of her reign, while the lord
2b
370 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS [1558-
keeper's brilliant and ambitions son, Sir Francis Bacon, was
bitterly disappointed that his cousin's jealousy excluded him from
following in the same way in his father's footsteps.
vv^slng- Perhaps the ablest of Elizabeth's advisers was Sir
Francis Walsingham, secretary of state from 1573
to 1590, whose sincere but unscrupulous devotion to his mistress's
interests enabled him to worm out the secrets of her enemies and
confound the plotters who were constantly striving to deprive her
of her life and tlirone.
3. Beside the plain and hard-working statesmen was the crowd
of worthless courtiers, who amused the queen's leisure and glorified
Leicester ^^^^ beauty and wisdom. It was only in favour of
and the these giddy pleasure-seekers that she broke through
eouptiers. j^^^, g-g^eral rule of parsimony, by lavishing grants and
titles upon them. The chief among them was her old playfellow,
Lord Robert Dudley, the younger son of the duke of Northiunber-
land, whom she loved for old association's sake as well as for his
good looks, fine dress, and skill as a courtier. She made him earl
of Leicester, and would have married him but for her resolve to
live and rule alone. Down to his death in 1588 she never lost her
devotion to him, and spoilt some of her boldest enterprises by
entrusting them to his incompetent direction.
4. The first task that lay before the queen was the settlement of
the Church. She had seen how both Edward vi. and Mary had'
failed in their ecclesiastical policy because each had,
Elizabethan ^^<^^o^ i^ different ways, taken up too extreme a line,
settlement She had unbounded faith in her father, and experience
°h*^^fi cleai-ly brought home to her the excellence of the
middle way that Henry viii. had pursued. Great
difficulties, however, beset her on both sides. The Protestant
exiles hurried back to England and clamoured for a reformation
even more thoroug-h-going than that of Edward vi. But the
ministers and bishops of Mary were still in power, and the Catholic
party was strongly backed up from abroad. Moreover, since
Grardiner and Bonner abandoned the system of Henry viii., there
were few prominent men left who believed in his pai-ticular policy.
Elizabeth was forced, therefore, to ally herself with the Protestants
in order to defeat the Catholics, and their support could only be
gained by reverting mainly to the system of Edward vi. Finding
convocation opposed to all change, she fell back on parliament,
where, in January, 1659, she carried through new Acts of Supremacy
and Uniformity, despite the opposition of the bishops.
-1563.] ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 37 1
5. The Act of Supremacy of 1559 followed the general lines
of Henry viii.'s Act of 1534, and completely renounced all papal
jurisdiction over England. But Elizabeth cautiously
dropped the title of Supreme Head of the Church, and sSpr^macy
was content to be described as " the only supreme and
Governor of this realm, as well in all spiritual or Uniformitj,
ecclesiastical things or causes, as temporal." After
this fashion the queen sought to prevent men thinking that she,
like her father, claimed to exercise spiritual jurisdiction over the
Church, as though she were its chief bishop. The new Act of
Uniformity showed the same spirit of compromise. Roughly
speaking, it restored the Second Prayer-book of Edward vi. as the
future service-book of the English Church. Several significant
changes were, however, made in it. The Communion Office was so
drawn up that both the Zwinglian doctrine of the Eucharist and
the opposing doctrine of the Real Presence might seem to be
allowed, while the famous Ornaments Rubric was added, ordering
that all ornaments of the Church should be retained as they were
in the second year of Edward vi.
6. So careful was Elizabeth to avoid committing herself that it
was not until 1563 that she allowed a new statement of doctrine to
be drawn up. This was contained in the Thirty-nine
Articles, based on the Forty-two Articles of 1553, but xhlrty-nlne
these articles had been carefully revised with the view Articles,
of making them less offensive to the friends of the old *^®^*
faith. Such were the main outlines of the Elizabethan settlement
of the Church. Though clothed for the most part in the forms
of Edward vi., it was inspired by the spirit of Henry viii. rather
than tliat of Somerset or Northumberland. Its defects were
that it was a settlement of a politician rather than that of an eccle-
siastic, and, that while hate<l by the Roman Catholics, it was only
accepted as a first instalment of change by the thorough-going
Protestants.
7. Elizabeth had made up her mind that no further alterations
should be made, and having fixed the form of her Church, she now
strove to enforce obedience to it. Only one of the Archbishop
Marian bishops would accept her jwUcy, and all the Parker,
rest were deprive<l of their sees. The majority, in- »669-1675.
eluding Bishop Bonner, spent the rest of their lives in prison. In
their place, Elizabeth Bppoint««d as many bishops of her own way of
thinking as she could find. She was especially Inoky in procuring
a man after her own heart as Pole's saooessor at Canterbury. Tliis
3/2 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS [1559-
was Matthew Parker, a wise and learned man, who, when dejirived
of his deanery of Lincoln under Mary, had preferred to Kve quietly
in England rather than escape to the continent with the advanced
reformers. Like Elizabeth, he looked on things from a purely
English standpoint, and, after the queen, was the only prominent
upholder of her middle way. In 1559 Elizabeth set up a permanent
Court of Ecclesiastical Commission, called also the High Com-
m,ission Court, of which Parker was the chief commissioner. Its
object was to exercise the royal supremacy over the Church, and
enforce the Elizabethan settlement on all the clergy.
8. Elizabeth insisted that aU her subjects should accept her
creed and attend her Church, and gradually imposed fines and
Eli b th oilier penalties on those who refused to do so. The
and the friends of the pope who could not in conscience be
Roman present at Protestant services, were branded as Popish
Catholics .
Recusants, and their lot constantly became harder.
At first, however, Elizabeth and Parker did not experience much
trouble from the Roman Catholics. Most of the parish clergy
accepted the new settlement, though many were so disloyal to it
that it was gradually found necessary to deprive a large number
of their benefices. The majority of the friends of old ways were,
however, too sluggish and inert to oppose the government
effectively. The real trouble was not with the passive resistance
of the old-fashioned clergy as much as with the unwillingness of
the more ardent Protestants to accept the Elizabethan compromise.
9. The leaders of the disaffected Protestants were the returned
Marian exUes. Many of these had, during their banishment,
Geneva become the disciples of the great French Protestant
and the John Calvin, who, up to his death in 1564, reigned
Calvmists. -^^^ ^ despot over Church and state in the free city
of Geneva, the chief stronghold of advanced Protestantism on
the continent. There they had become enthusiasts for the rigid
dogmatic system called Calvinism, which taught that God was
a stern taskmaster, dealing out salvation and reprobation in
accordance with His predestined decrees. The Church of Geneva
had, moreover, abandoned the rule of bishops, and was governed by
little councils of ministers, all equal in rank, and named presbyters,
80 that this system was called Preshyterianism. Moreover, it
rejected fixed forms of prayer like those of the English service-
books, and worsliipped God with the utmost simplicity of ritual,
while enforcing a rigid system of moral discipline over the whole
congregation. From their profession of pui'ity in doctrine,
-1565.] ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 373
worship, and life, the English followers of Calvin were generally
described as Puritans.
10. To Calvin's followers in England, Elizabeth's Church
seemed far removed from the apostolic purity of the Church of
Geneva. If at first they supported it, in the hope that
Elizabeth, like Edward vi., would soon bring about pj^pj^ans
more changes, they became very discontented when and the
they found that the queen had set her face against Elizabethan
further innovations. They had no love of bishops,
disliked set forms of prayer and elaborate ceremonies, and thought
the special dress worn by the EngHsh clergy a relic of Roman
Catholic times. Many of the Puritan clergy obstinately refused
to wear surplices when conducting divine worship, and neglected
such forms as the use of the sign of the cross in baptism and
kneeling to receive the communion. Their opposition was the
more important since they included the majority of the active and
high-minded Protestants, and it was only with their help that
Elizabeth could fight the battle against Kome. For this reason
the queen was forced for the first few years of her reign to let
them have their own way. As she grew stronger, she resolved to
enforce the law. The repression of Pui'itanism began in 1565,
when the archbishop issued a series of directions to the clergy,
called Parker's Advertisements, which ordered that the minister in
all churches should wear a surplice, and conform to the fhe Adver-
other directions of the Prayer-book. Though the tlsements,
advertisements rather relaxed than changed the law, 1^^^«
a storm of protest from the Puritans burst out against them.
Nevertheless, Elizabeth and Parker persevered, and in 1566 about
thirty clergymen, mainly in London, were deprived of tlieir benefices
for their obstinate refusal to wear the vestments enjoined by law.
Embittered by the queen's action, the Puritans soon broadened the
ground of their attack on the Church. Not content with simply
rejecting ceremonies, they denounced the government of the
Church by bishops, and demanded that the English Church should
be made Presbyterian like the Church of Geneva. The leader of
this party was Thomas Cartwright, a professor of divinity at
Cambridge, and a book called An Admonition to Parliament,
written by two of his friends, explained his objectiona to the
Prayer-book and episcopacy.
11. Some of tlie clergy ejected for refusing to wear snrplicM
were not content to abandon their teaching, and formed separate
congregations of their ovra. These were called Sectaries, because
374 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS [1558-
they formed new sects, or Separatists, because they separated from
the Church altogether. One of their leaders was Robert Brown,
_ who taught that there should be no national organiza-
Sepapatlsts. ^^^^ ^^ religion, but that each congregation was a
self-governing Christian Church. From him the
Separatists were called Brownists, and from his teaching they got
the name of Independents. They were the first Protestant Dis-
senters in England, though for a long time tliey were few in
number and bitterly persecuted. The mass of Puritans had, how-
ever, no sympathy with the Separatists. They remained in the
Church, and many of them held livings in it. Though always
liable to be deprived of their benefices, many contrived to evade
compliance with the hated ceremonies. For this reason they were
called Nonconformists. But these early Nonconformists were dis-
contented and disobedient Chui-chmen, not Dissenters. Separatists
denounced them as " h\i)ocrites, who strain at a gnat and swallow
a camel."
12. Parker died in 1575, and the new archbishop, Edmund
Grindal, was much more friendly to the Puritans. After a few
years he provoked the queen's wrath by refusing to
Grindal, P^^ down meetings of the Puritan clergy called
1576, and Prop/ies?/zVigrs, which Elizabeth disliked, because they
1583*^'^'' encouraged the Zealots to resist her authority. In
great anger, she suspended G-rindal from his oflB.ce, and
soon afterwards he died in disgrace. In 1583 Elizabeth put into
Grindal's post John Whitgift, an old enemy of Cartwright at
Cambridge and a bitter enemy of tlxe Puritans, though, like most
of the Elizabethan bishops, he was a Calvinist in theology. Whit-
gift's strenuous enforcement of conformity infuriated the Puritans,
and increased the number of Separatists, who revenged themselves
for their persecution by attacking the bishops in scurrilous
pamphlets, called the Martin Marprelate Tracts. Though the
attitude of Puritans and Separatists showed that Elizabeth's ideal
Hooker's ^^ ^ united and submissive Protestant Church was but
" Eccleslasti- ^ dream, the latter years of her reign saw a distinct
cal Polity," strengthening of the Chm-ch and a weakening of ex-
1593 . .
treme Puritanism. The close of the century was marked
by the rise of a school of divines, whose teaching tended to draw a
deeper line between the Church and the Puritans. The greatest
of these was Richard Hooker, whose famous book on the Laws of
Ecclesiastical Polity, published in 1593, showed that beautiful and
seemly practices sanctioned by tradition were not to be rejected
-i6o3.] ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 2)71
because not enjoined in the Scriptures. Before long- others went
further than Hooker, and taug-ht that a Church without bishops,
such as the Puritans preferred, was no Churcli at all. Thus the
system which had begun as a politic compromise began to have
defenders on grounds higher than expediency. Yet the Puritans
remained a strong party in the Church, though it became increas-
ingly difficult for them and their rivals to live side by side within
the same communion.
13. The period which saw Calvinism checked and limited in
England witnessed the establishment of its absolute ascendancy in
Scotland. For ten years after her daughter had been . . „
sent to France, Mary of Guise had upheld a French
and Catholic poUcy in Scotland as successfully as Mary Tudor had
upheld the Spanish and Catholic policy in England. The few
pioneers of Scottish Protestantism were driven into exile. Among
these was a priest named John Knox, whose fiery eloquence had
made him a popular preacher of extreme Protestantism in England
under Edward vi., though his stem Puritan principles led him to
refuse the bishopric which was offered to him. On Edward vi.'s
death he fled to Geneva, and strengthened his Pui-itanism at the
feet of Calvin. When Elizabeth became queen he wished to return
to England, but she would not admit him because he had
written a wild book called The Blast of the Ti-umpet against the
Monstrous Regiment of Wamen, in which he denounced the rule
of queens as contrary to the Scriptures. Thereupon Knox boldly
returned to Scotland, where, despite Mary of Guise's efforts,
Protestantism was beginning to make some headway. A league of
Soots nobles, called the Lords of the Congregation, had been recently
formed against the regent and the bishops. Knox now threw all
his masterful energy and unconquerable will on the reforming side.
A fierce fight between Mary of Guise and the lords of the congre-
gation ensued. Though the people were strongly Protestant, the
regent obtained troops from France, and pressed the rebels so hard
that they were forced to appeal to Elizabeth for help.
14. Elizabeth hated rebels and John Knox, but she saw the
obvious advantange in winning over the Scots from France and the
papacy, and, wliile professing not to approve of the j^^
Scottish revolt, she sent, in 1560, sufficient forces to Reformation
Scotland to besiege the French in Leith. Mary of in Scotland.
Guise now died, and before long the defenders of Leitli signed the
treaty of Edinburgh, by which both the English and French
troops were to quit Scotland. As soon as foreign iufloenoe WM
376 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS [1558-
removed, the Scottish Parliament abolished the power of the pope
and accepted Knox's scheme for making the Church of Scotland
correspond in all important points with the Church of Geneva.
Popular tumults completed the destruction of the old Scottish
Church. Churches and monasteries were burnt and pillaged, the
mass violently suppressed, and the lands of the Church were seized
by the victorious nobles. The only thing that Knox coxild not do was
to persuade the Protestant lords to set aside a large share of Chui-ch
property for the relief of the poor and the setting up of a school in
every parish. The barons even grudged the scanty endowments left
to the Protestant ministers. But however j)oor they were, Knox
and his brother clergy henceforth exercised wonderful power over
Scotland. The chief council of the Presbyterian Church, called
the General Assembly, had more influence and better expressed the
wishes of the people than the Scottish parliament. From the
adoption of Presbyterianism the modem history of Scotland begins,
for in welcoming the new faith the Scots nation first began to grow
conscious of itself. Never were movements more strongly con-
trasted than the short, swift, logical, destructive Reformation in
Scotland and the political, compromising, half-hearted English
Reformation, imposed on a doubtful and hesitating people by the
authority of the crown. But the movements had this in common,
that in making Rome the common danger to both countries, it
brought England and Scotland together in a fashion that had
never been possible since Edward i.'s attacks on Scottish inde-
pendence. Soon the old hostility began to abate between English
and Scots, so that what had seemed to Henry viii. a quite im-
possible thing — the accejitance by England of the king of Scots
as their ruler — was peacefully accomplished after Elizabeth's
death.
15. While Scotland thus became Presbyterian, her queen was
growing up to womanhood as a Catholic and a Frenchwoman.
Beautiful, accomplished, tactful, and fascinating, she
of^Scots!^ ^ ^^ ^^^® capacity for commanding the sympathy and
affection of those who were brought into close relations
with her. Different as she was from Elizabeth, there were yet as
many points of comparison as of contrast between them. More
straightforward and simple than her English rival, loving boldness,
directness, and plain speaking, she rose superior to the petty
vanities of Elizabeth, though she could not compete with her in
persistency, hard work, and statecraft. Ambition and love of
power were the guiding motives of both queens, though Mary was
-I5S9-] ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 377
liable to be turned from her purpose by gTists of passion to which
the colder nature of Elizabeth was almost a stranger. Both were
bom to be leaders of religious parties, and Mary, though almost
as destitute of deep religious feeling as her rival, had the
loyalty to the old Church which a good soldier has to his general,
and strove with all her might to uphold its interests. It was her
misfortune always to be the champion of the losing side, and thus
to sacrifice her life in fighting impossible battles. In the cause of
her Church and people she struggled with extraordinary courage
and resource, and often with but little regard to honour or
principle. She was no national queen Uke Elizabeth. When she
came to Scotland her people were already hopelessly alienated from
her creed and her French friends, and she was perforce compelled
to play a more personal game than that of her rival. Yet the long
struggle between them was not only the contest of rival queens ; it
involved the last great struggle between the old and the new faiths
of which circumstances had made them the champions.
16. Even more than the preceding generation the age of
Elizabeth is pre-eminently a period of religious conflict. Though
Lutheranism had lost its early energy, Calvinism ■-.
was still in its full career of conquest. It had over- Counter-
whelmed Scotland and threatened England. It was Reforma-
making great strides in France, and becoming in-
creasingly powerful in the Netherlands. But side by side with the
growth of Calvinism the forces of Catholicism had revived. The
laxity and corruption of the old Church, which had made easy
the preaching of Luther, were swept aside by a great religious
revival in Catholic lands, called the Counter- Reformation, or
the Catholic Reaction. The papacy had reformed itself, and the
popes were no longer politicians or patrons of art, but zealots and
religious leaders. New religious orders had been set up to teach
the old faith to the heathen, the heretic, or the indifferent. Con-
spicuous among these was the Order of Jesus, set up in 154(;> by the
Spaniard, Ignatius Loyola, and alreatly conspicuous all over Europe
for its zeal, tact, and devotion, its iron discipline, its influence on
the education of the youth, and its willingness to sacrifice everything
to further the service of the Church. Jesmt missionaries soon
became the most ardent and successful champions of the Counter-
Reformation, while for those whom no argument would reach there
was still the Inquisition, revived and reorganized, a Church court
which sought out and tried heretics and handed them over to tlie
state to burn them. The worst abuses of the Church had been
378 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS [1559-
removed, its faith, defined, and its discipline improved by the Council
of Trent, which held its final sessions in 1563. Thus the reform of
Catholicism and the counter growth of Calvinism had the result of
dividing Europe into two religious camps, bitterly opposed to each
other, and ready to plunge into mortal conflict. The consequence was
that the next forty years saw religious strife talcing the place of the
old struggle of the nations for supremacy. National hatreds were
almost forgotten in the fierce sectarian animosities that divided
every nation iu middle Europe into two factions, and soon was to
bring about warfare in nearly every land. We shall never rightly
understand the poKcy of Elizabeth if we do not realize that all
her action, at home and abroad, was determined by her relai^on
to the great struggle which, was convulsing Europe.
17. The point of European history in which the Counter-Refor-
mation began to complicate the general course of politics coincided
The treaty i^oughly with Elizabeth's accession. The war which
of Le Cateau- Philip II. had waged with English help against
Cambptisis. France still lingered on, but Philip had so fully
secui-ed victory that, in April, 1559. France was compelled to
make peace. This was done in the treaty of Le Cateau- Camhresis,
by which Spain finally obtained the chief control of Italy, but
allowed the French to keep Calais, so that England had to pay the
price of her ally's success. This peace marks the end of the long
struggle for supremacy in Europe which had begun with the war
of Louis XII. against Maximilian and Ferdinand, and had culminated
in the rivalry of Francis I. and Charles v. Though the dominions
of Charles \. were divided, his son, Philip of Spain, the lord of
the most important of his possessions, was incontestably the first
power in Europe. The death of Henry 11. of France soon after
the conclusion of the treaty added still further to Philip's pre-
dominance. There were no more strong kings of France for more
than thirty years, during which period the three worthless sons of
Henry ii. successively ruled.
18. Among the motives for the conclusion of the treaty of Le
Cateau was the recognition by both the French and Spanish kings
that it was inexpedient for the two chief Catholic
and the ' monarchs to continue fighting when neither of them
Counter- was able to stop the growth of Protestantism in his
tion '""^^ own dominions. Philip now set himself to work with
a wUl to stamp out Calvinism in his Netherlandish
possessions, while Francis 11. of France was, through his wife Mary
Stewart, induced by her mother's kinsfolk, the house of Guise,
-1563.] ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 379
the mQst strenuous upholders of Catholicism in France, to take
vigorous measures to suppress the Calvinists of France, who were
more generally called Huguenots. National animosities, however,
could not die down in a day, and Spain and France long p , ,.
remained so exceedingly jealous of each other that and his
they found it impossible to work together for a common Queen.
purpose. This was particularly fortunate for England since French
illwill had by no means ceased at the peace. Not content with
her position as queen of France and Scotland, Mary Stewart
assumed the title of queen of England, and strict Catholics were
reminded that the pope had never sanctioned the marriage of
Anne Boleyn to Henry vni., and that their daughter could never
be therefore the legitimate queen of England. In Rivalry of
tlie face of such a challenge Elizabeth can hardly be Mary and
blamed for helping the Scottish Protestants to estabUsh Elizabeth.
their supremacy. The result of the triumph of the Scottish
Reformation was the practical destruction of Mary Stewart's
power in her native land, since the Scots had effected their
revolution without seeking for or obtaining her good will, and
the effect of their action was to set up a Calvinistic republic in
Scotland.
19. Before many months, however, the sickly Francis 11. died,
and his brother and successor Charles ix. was controlled by their
mother, Catharine de' Medici, a cunning Italian, who
Th© loss
feared tJie Guises, and sought to maintain the royal ^f Le
power by balancing the Protestants against the Havre,
Catholics. Religious war broke out as the result of *^^3'
tliis in France, and tlxe Huguenots, who were but a minority of
Frenchmen, were so soon beaten that they called upon Elizabeth
for help. Elizabeth, though professing a great reluctance to help
rebels, soon succumbed, as in Scotland, to the temptation of making
her profit out of the divisions of her enemies. She sent some lielp
to the Protestants, who in return put her in possession of Le
Havre, which she hoped to hold as an equivalent for Calais. Un-
luckily for her the French factions made peace, and in 15G3 united
to erpel the English from their new foothold beyond the ChanneL
But the weak rule of Cliarles ix. and the continuance of religious
struggles prevented France from inflicting harm on England.
Moreover, French hostility to England made Philip 11. anxious to
kee]) up liis alliance with her, despite his disgust at the religious
changes brought about after Elizabeth's succession. Thus Elizabeth
was able to steer between tlie rivalries of the cliief continental
380 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS [1561-
powers. The continuation of the old national animosities saved
England from the greatest danger that she cotdd encounter — the
danger, namely, of a combination of Catholic powers against her.
With great skiU and cunning Elizabeth kept England as free as
she could from the intrigues of the continent, and sought to work
out her country's destinies after her own fashion.
20. In 1561 Mary Stewart returned to Scotland. She had no
prospects of power in France after her husband's death, and her
bold spirit preferred to abandon the comfort and repose
'f^S ^ ^"^^"^ ^^^ *^® ^^^^ ^^ ^®^ adoption stiU offered the queen
restored to dowager for the risks and excitement of attempting
Scotland, to play the royal part in the country that hated her
religion and rejected her authority. She was coldly re-
ceived in Scotland, but she showed marvellous tact and self-restraint,
and gradually won over many of the nobles to her side. She was
content to let the country be ruled in her name by her brother,
James Stewart, earl of Moray, an illegitimate son of James v. She
accepted the establishment of Calvinism, and only required liberty
to hear mass. The only person unmoved by her blandishments
was Knox. He bitterly denounced the services of the queen's
private chapel. " One mass," he declared, " is more fearful to me
than ten thousand armed enemies."
21. Four years of inaction taught Mary that she had not much
to hope for in Scotland. She was too ambitious to endure for
_. ^ , ever the position of a nominal queen, and as she
TheDarnley / • a xi j i,
marriage, could not get real power m bcotland, she once
1565. more began to make England the chief centre of her
efforts. The English Roman Catholics were getting more and more
disgusted with the rule of Elizabeth, and were hoping that Mary
would some day become their queen and restore their faith.
Mary was delighted to become their champion, and preferred to
see Elizabeth driven from the throne by force to the remote chance
of waiting for her death. In 1565 she declared to the world her
interest in EngHsh affairs by choosing as her second husband
her cousin, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, the son of the earl of
Lennox, and near to the succession of the English throne, since
his mother was the daughter of Margaret Tudor, the -nddow of
James iv., by her second husband the earl of Angus. Darnley,
who had been brought up in England, was a soi-t of leader of
the English Catholics, and Elizabeth was so disgusted with the
marriage, that she incited Moray and the Scots nobles to rise in
revolt against it. Mary now felt strong enough to act for herseK.
-1567.] ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 38 1
She completed her marriage with Damley, defeated Moray, and
drove him out of Scotland.
22. Mary soon found that her husband was so foolish and
treacherous that he was useless to help her to carry out her plans.
She gradually gave her chief confidence to an Italian
named David Riccio, whom she raised from the yAccXo 1566.
position of one of the singing-men of her chapel to
be her secretary. Darnley grew furiously jealous of the Italian
upstart, and joined with some of the Scottish nobles in an intrigue
against him. On March 9, 1566, while Riccio was supping with
the queen at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, the conspirators
suddenly burst into the room, dragged the shrieking secretaiy
from her presence, and stabbed him to death in an ante-chamber.
Stung to profound indignation by her favourite's mtu'der, Mary
kept her presence of mind with remarkable fortitude. She soon
persuaded her weak husband to give up his associates and retui-n to
her side. Then she fell upon the murderers and drove them out of
the country. Like Moray, they fled to England, where Elizabeth
readily sheltered them. Three months after Riccio's murder,
Mary's only child was born, the future James vi. of Scotland and
I. of England.
23. Mary and Darnley soon began to quarrel again. The
queen now found a stronger and more capable instrument of
her ambition in James Hepburn, earl of Bothwell, ^ •** Af. f
ruffianly border noble of rare courage, energy, and Darnley,
cleverness. Mary became his absolute slave, and 1667.
scandal became busy with their names. Bothwell made it his
object to get Darnley out of the way so that Mary might be
free to marry him. Accordingly he met some of the discontented
nobles at Craigmillar Castle, near Edinburgh, where they signed
what was called the Bond of Craigmillar, by which the con-
spirators pledged themselves to Darnley 's death. Darnley, who
was just recovering from a dangerous illness, now took up his
quarters at a lonely house called the Kirk o" Field, a little to
the south of Edinburgh. On tlie night of February 9, 1567,
the Kirk o' Field was blown up by gunpowder, and Darnley *8
body was found not far from the ruined house. There can be
no doubt that Bothwell had accomplished the murder. What
share Mary had in it is not easy to determine ; but it is probable
that she both knew and approved of what Bothwell was doing,
and it is certain that he in no wise forfeited her favour.
24. Lennox, Darnley 's fatlier, accused Bothwell of his son's
382 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS [1567-
urarder, and Mary, who was forced to seem anxious to aveng-e
her husband's death, fixed a day for his trial. But good care was
taken to make the proceedings a mere farce. Lennox himself was
SCOTLAND
in the 16th. & 17th. Centuries
Clan names under/ined...£6MES2tH
Emery Walker sc.
-1568.] ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 383
afraid to appear, and no man ventured to give evidence againi^t
the queen's favourite. The court therefore acquitted Bothwell,
and Mary made its action the excuse for once more Deposition
giving him her open support. Even now she was of the
afraid to wed herself to the man whom all suspected as fl"®^" o'
her husband's assassin. It was accordingly arranged '
that Bothwell should fall upon her as she was riding from Stirling
to Edinburgh and make a show of forcing her to become liis wife.
But the pretence was too transparent to deceive any one. All Scot-
land rose in revolt against the queen and her ruifianly husband.
Even the nobles who had helped Bothwell were delighted to have
an excuse in his crime for attacking the royal power. It was to no
purpose that Mary, for the first and last time in her life, showed
a disposition to abandon her religion rather than give up the fierce
noble who had won her heart. She attended Protestant sermons,
and sought to put herself at the head of the Protestant party.
But the very soldiers she called upon to protect her from the rebels
refused to strike a blow in her favour. At Carherry Hill, outside
Edinburgh, her partisans deserted her, and she was taken prisoner
by the rebel lords. Bothwell fled from Scotland, and died a few
years later. Mary was deprived of her throne, and her infant
son proclaimed James vi. Moray and the Protestant exiles
returned and assumed the government in his name.
25. For nearly a year the deposed queen was kept a captive in
the island-castle of Lochleven in Kinross-shire. But the victorious
nobles soon began to quarrel among themselves, and j.
in 1568 the great Clydesdale house of Hamilton raised flight to
a revolt in her favour. Mary escaped from Lochleven, England,
and was once more at the head of an army. On May 13,
however, she was defeated by Moray at Lavgaide, near Glasgow.
Unable to bear up any longer against her enemies in Scotland,
Mary took the bold step of throwing herself upon the mercy
of Elizabeth. She rode from the field of Langside to the Solway,
crossed its waters in a fishing-boat, and landed in England, im-
ploring her cousin's protection. From this moment a new stage in
their rivalry began. The fugitive was henceforth. to be a greater
source of trouble to Elizabeth than ever she had been when
mounted on the thrones of France and Scotland.
26. Elizabetli was immensely embarrassed by Mary's appeal.
She dared not offend her allies, tlie Scottish Protestant*, by
restoring the exiled queen, and she was equally afraid to let her
escape to France, whei-o her claims on England might onoe more
384 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS [1568-
be taken up. Yet she was almost equally alarmed at the pros-
pect of keeping Mary in England, where she would be at hand
to be the centre of every Catholic conspiracy, and
DHsonment ^ig"!^^ ^^ ^^1 moment be raised from her prison to
the throne. Under such circumstances Elizabeth found
it easy to adopt the policy of hesitation and delay on which she
was always wiUing to fall back. Her strongest reason for not
helping Mary was the fatal business of the murder of Darnley.
Accordingly, she announced that before taking any decided steps
in the matter she must investigate the charges brought against
the queen of Scots, and for that purpose she appointed a com-
mission, at the head of which was the duke of Norfolk. Moray
and the Protestant lords laid before this body aU the evidence
they could find as to Mary's guilt. Chief amongst it was a series
of letters and love-poems, called the Casket Letters, because it was
said that they had been found in a casket at Carberry Hill, at the
time immediately before Mary's deposition. If genuine, the casket
letters were convincing proofs of Mary's guilt, but her friends
have always declared them to have been forged by Moray and his
friends. Anyhow, the commissioners never came to any decision
in the matter. Elizabeth preferred that Mary should be neither
condemned nor acquitted, but rather remain in captivity under
a cloud, so that she might be used or condemned accordingly as
future events miglit determine. Mai-y was therefore retained in
honourable imprisonment in England, while Moray and the Scots
lords went back home, secure of Elizabeth's support.
27. Eighteen years of plots and rebellions were Elizabeth's
punishment for lacking courage to take a decided course. The
The revolt ^®^ jQwc (1569) the Catholics of the north rose in
of the revolt under the leadership of the two chief repre-
nopthern sentatives of the ancient noble houses that had so
earls lS6d
' " long been their natural leaders. These were Thomas
Percy, earl of Northumberland, and Charles Neville, earl of
Westmorland. It was another Pilgrimage of Grace, and showed
that the north country was stiU strongly in favour of the old
religion. An unsuccessful effort was made to free the queen of
Scots, which was defeated by Mary being moved to the midlands
far beyond the northerners' reach. Then the earl of Sussex put
down the insurrection, and soon di-ove the two earls to find a refuge
in exile. The collapse of the rebellion immensely strengthened
Elizabeth's position. For the rest of her reign none of her enemies
succeeded in exciting an open rising.
-1571] ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 385
28. Other resources were still, however, open to the foes of
Elizabeth. In 1570 the regent Moray was assassinated in Scotland,
and three years of civil war and confusion ensued. _,, v .. »
These did nothing, however, to help Mary's cause, and excom-
in 1573 another strong regent was found in the earl of munication,
Morton, who successfully upheld Protestant ascendancy
and good order in the name of the Little James vi. Of more value
to Mary than her brother's death was the intervention of the pope
in her favour. The pope was now Pius v., an old Inquisitor, and
a bitter, if high-minded, zealot for the Counter- Reformation. In
February, 1570, Pius issued a bull excommunicating Elizabeth,
and deposing her from the throne. Parliament answered him by
passing acts that made it treason to introduce papal buUs into the
(iountry or to become a convert to the E>oman Catholic faith.
Henceforward there was, as long as Elizabeth Hved, war to the
knife between England and Rome. It was almost impossible for
an Englishman to remain a good Catholic and a faithful subject
of Queen Elizabeth, and a series of Catholic plots to depose Eliza-
beth and put Mary in her place, showed the result of the pope's
action on the minds of the more zealous of his disciples.
29. In 1571 a Florentine banker named Ridolfi, who had long
resided in England, and was a secret agent of the pope and Philip
of Spain, persuaded the duke of Norfolk to put himself
at the head of a rebellion to release Mary Stewart and |J^ 1 57 1
restore Catholicism. Norfolk, a son of the poet earl
of Surrey, was the only duke left in England, and, though he had
always conformed to Elizabeth's Church, he was very lukewarm
in his support of the Reformation, and was indignant that a man
cf his high rank should have so little power at court. He was
tempted by the proposal that ho should be married to Mary, who
might then be restored to the Scottish throne and recognized as
Elizabetli's successor. After trying for a time to reconcile loyalty
to Elizabeth with the acceptance of this glittering prospect, the
duke was talked over by Ridolfi into overt treason. But Cecil and
his spies had discovered all about the plot, and in 1572 Norfolk
was convicted of treason and executed. For the next few years
England enjoyed comparative peace. Despite the papal excom-
munication, Elizabeth seemed stronger than ever.
30. France, distracted by civil war, had now dropped into a
secondary position in politics. In 1572 Protestant Europe wa«
horrified by the cold-blooded massacre of the French Protestant*
^u St. Bartholomew's day, at the instigation of Charles i\. This
2o
386 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS [1572.
was but an isolated act of cruel policy, and the French, monarchy,
floating- helplessly between the CathoUc and Protestant parties,
IT ^^^ powerless to hurt England. Pliilip of Spain, as
and the ' ^^ avowed leader of Catholicism, was gradually be-
pevolt of coming the supporter of the English Catholics and
lands^'**^'' ^'^ ^^®* ^^^P® ^^ *^® captive queen of Scots. But
Philip's attention was much taken up with other
matters, and he was still so jealous of France that he tried to
keep on good terms with England. Philip had had to contend
since 1572 with a formidable revolt in the Netherlands, where
his attempts to make himself a desj)ot and to crush out Pro-
testantism had completely failed. For five years his ruthless
general Alva had ruled the seventeen provinces of the Spanish
Netherlands with an iron hand. But it was impossible by persecu-
tion to change the faith of a whole nation, and the only result
of Alva's repression was that Holland and Zealand, the most
Protestant and energetic of the provinces, rose in revolt, and
heroically defied the whole reso\u*ces of the Spanish monarchy.
Not only did Philip fail to put down the Hollanders; in 1576
all the other provinces followed theu.- examjjle, and tmited in the
Pacification of Ghent, by which the Catholic and Protestant dis-
tricts alike agreed to protect their ancient political liberties from
Philip. This comprehensive Tinion did not last long, and Philip's
illegitimate brother, Don John of Austria, who was now governor
of the Netherlands, soon persuaded some of the southern provinces,
which were mostly Catholic, to recognize Plulip's rule on condition
that he gave up his attacks on their political liberties. Thereupon
the seven northern provinces, headed by Holland, formed in 1579
the union of Utrecht, by which they became a federal Calvinistic
commonwealth under WUHam, prince of Orange, as their stadt-
holder, or governor. Such was the origin of the Dutch Mepuhlic
of the Seven Provinces of the United Netherlands. As England
sympathized strongly with the rebels, there was fresh reason for
ill-wiU iietween Elizabeth and Philij). But neither dared attack
the other yet.
31. Elizabeth found compensation for these troubles in the
increasing loyalty of her subjects, and theii" increasing willingness
~j^ to accept her ecclesiastical policy. So feeble was the
seminary position of Catholicism in England that the leaders
priests. of the Church took the alarm, and made a determined
effort to rekindle the zeal of the English Romanists. A
Lancashire priest named William Allen, who had forsaken hia
1572.] ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 387
country rather than recognize the royal supremacy, set up at
Douai, within Philip's Netherlandish dominions, a college or
seminary, to train young Englishmen for the priesthood, that they
might return to their homes as missionaries of the old faith. The
lUncryWaUcx «c.
college at Donai. soon transferred to Reims, in French territory,
became very flourishing, and sent forth a stream of missionary
clergy to Enf-laud, where their energy gave new life to the
Catholic cause. Up to this time many Roman Catliolics had
been content to attend the services of their parish churches, and
388 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS [1577-
to take little part in politics. The seminary priests, as the
pupils of the college were called, soon put an end to such laxity,
and excited the alarm of the government. The severe laws passed
in a panic in 1571 were employed against them, and in 1577
Cuthbert Mayne, executed at Launceston for denying the royal
supremacy and having a papal bull in his possession, was the
first Catholic martyr wliich Douai sent forth.
32. Three years later even greater fear was excited among
the Protestants by the first appearance of the Jesuits in England
The Jesuit (1580). Their leaders were Robert Parsons, a subtle
Invasion, and dexterous intriguer, and Edmund Campion, a
1 580. high-souled enthusiast, who was careless about politics,
and thought only of winning souls over to his Church. In great
alarm fresh laws were passed against popish recusants, and a keen
search made for the Jesuits, who wandered in disguise throughout
the land, stirring up the zeal of their partisans. Parsons escaped
to the continent in safety, but Campion was captured. He could
not be proved to be disloyal to Elizabeth, and was cmelly tortured
in the hope of extracting some sort of confession from him. In
due course he was convicted and hung as a traitor at Tyburn. He
was as much a martyr as any of the Protestants who suffered under
Mary. During the rest of Elizabeth's reign scores of Catholic
priests and laymen incurred the fate of Mayne and Campion.
33. The sanguinary persecution of the missionaries had a sort
of justification in the fact that many of them, like Parsons, were
The Bond of ^^^^P^*! ^o the lips in treason. Plot after plot was
Association, framed to compass EKzabeth's death and bring Mary
1584. Iq f}^Q throne. Philip of Spain gave help to the
conspirators, and in 1584, on the failure of a scheme to murder
Elizabeth, the Spanish ambassador was ordered to quit London.
Burghley and Walsingham drew up a document called the Bond of
Association; which aU classes of Englishmen eagerly signed. The
members of the bond pledged themselves to defend Elizabeth
against her enemies, and bound themselves, in the event of her
murder, to put to death any person on whose behalf the deed was
committed. This meant that if Elizabeth were slain, the queen
of Scots would be at once executed. In 1585 parliament legalised
the association and passed fresh laws against the Catholics. It
banished all Jesuits and seminary priests, and made the return of
any one of them an act of treason. •
34. In 1586 a new plot was formed to murder Elizabeth. Its
instigator was the seminary priest, John BaUard, and its instrument
-IS87.1 ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS 389
a foolish and vain young Catholic gentleman, named Anthony
Babington. Babington was so proud of his boldness that he
rashly boasted of what he was going to do, and soon
enabled Walsingham's spies to find out all about the Babington
conspiracy. At last Walsingham got into his hands conspiracy,
letters of Mary written to Babington, in which she ^^^^•
expressed her approval of the attempt to murder Elizabeth. Then
he fell on Babington, and put him and his accomplices to death.
35. The chief importance of the Babin^on conspiracy is that it
supplied Walsingham with evidence of Mary's complicity in an
assassination plot, and frightened Elizabeth, who had _
hitherto been afraid to proceed to extremities against of Mary
Mary, into allowing the queen of Scots to be tried for Queen of
ti-eason. A court for the trial of Mary was held at '^° ^'
Fotheringhay Castle, near Peterborough. Mary refused to answer
before the court on the ground that as a crowned queen she was no
subject of Elizabeth, and could not, therefore, commit treason
against her. Nevertheless, she was, in October, 1586, sentenced to
the block as a traitor, though Elizabeth long delayed the execution
of the sentence. Parliament urged her in strong terms to put Mary
to death at once, but Elizabeth delayed until February, 1587, before
she would allow anything to be done. Even after signing the order
for her rival's death, she would not allow it to be sent down to
Fotheringhay, tiU at last the council, which fully shared the
opinions of parliament, ordered Davison, the secretary of state, to
despatch the warrant. On February 8, 1587, Mary was beheaded in
the great hall of Fotheringhay Castle, meeting her end with rare
courage and dignity. Elizabeth loudly protested that the deed was
not of her ordering, and ruined the unlucky Davison for breaking
her commands. This she did partly to evade responsibility, and
partly so as to give some specious excuse to her ally, James \i., for
liis mother's execution. But Elizabeth was the cliief gainer by her
rival's death. There was no longer any use in miirdering the queen
of England when her successor would be the Protestant king of Scots.
The worst of Elizabeth's troubles was over after the tragic fate
of Mary Queen of Scots. •
CHAPTER VII
THE LATTER YEARS OF THE REIGN OF
ELIZABETH (1587- 1603)
Chief Dates :
1588. Defeat of the Spanish Armada.
1591. The fight of the Revenge.
1596. The capture of Cadiz.
1597' First Monopolies contest.
1598. The Irish rebellion.
1601. Second Monopolies contest.
1603. Death of Elizabeth.
1. Dtjking the years of Mary's imprisonment England and Spain
were slowly drifting into war. Philip was the instigator of
,pj^ every plot for the release of the captive queen, and
relations England retaliated by giving as much help to the
between Netherlandish rebels as Elizabeth would allow. More-
and Soain over, Philip sent, as we shall see, ti'oops and priests to
Ireland to stir up the Irish against England and Pro-
testantism, while he kept up active intrigues in Scotland, and strove,
though but to little purpose, to persuade James vi., who was now
growing up to manhood, to take up the Catholic cause, and make
efforts on behalf of his mother, There was even more friction
between England and Spain by sea than by land, and each power had
done so much harm to the other that in any ordinary times open
war would certainly have ensued between them. Yet after nearly
twenty years of ceaseless friction nominal peace stiU prevailed.
This was partly duo to the fact that both Elizabeth and PliiHp were
somewhat irresolute in temperament and too timid to run the
risks which war involved. But the chief reason of the hesitation
of Philip was the general political condition of Europe. Though
nearly thirty years had elapsed since the outbreak of a national
war like those which had been waged before 1559, yet the
old jealousy between France and Spain was by no means dead.
Philip was still afraid that if he attacked England, France would
take advantage of his plight and fall upon him with aU her might.
390
1581.] LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH 39 1
Thus it was that, though as the champion of Catholicism he would
have dearly loved to conquer England, as the chief monarch of
Europe he was so conscious of the risk to his authority that a fight
with Elizabeth implied, that he still preferred to let things drift,
and still professed to value English friendship aft«r the feeling
between the two countries had become very bitter.
2. Philip had a special motive for hesitation in the revolt of the
Netherlands. Thanks to Don John of Austria, he was making slow
but steady progress in winning back his position over
the southern and central provinces, though the north p^^^ch
still defied his efforts. Don John of Austria soon died, interven-
but a worthy successor to him was found in Alexander '^•o" •" ^^he
Famese, duke of Parma, one of the best generals of i^nds.
that age. His advance soon frightened both Elizabeth
and Henry iir. of France, and dread of the imminent triumph of
Spain brought about for the moment that alliance between England
and France which Philip dreaded more than anything else. It was
proposed in 1581 to cement tlus friendship by a marriage between
Elizabeth and Francis, duke of Anjou, the younger brother of
Henry iii., who in 1574 had succeeded his brother Charles ix. as
king of France. The scheme was the more formidable to Philip
since it was hoped that Anjou would be accepted by both the
Protestant and Catholic Netherlanders as their ruler. Thus the
result of the Anglo-French alliance was to be the establishment of
a French prince on the ruins of the Spanish power in the Low
Countries. It was as severe a blow as could be directed against
Philip n.
3. There had been constant talk of the marriage of Elizabeth
ever since her accession. Her people, anxious that she should have
a direct heir, had long urged her to choose a husband, .j-j^^ Anjou
and Elizabeth had so far gratified them that she marriage
entered into numerous negotiations with a view to her scheme,
marriage, though she had made up her mind never to
share her throne with a husband. Now, when the queen was nearly
fifty years of age, the most serious of her marriage projects was
started. Anjou, an ugly, contemptible fellow, more than twenty
years her junior, came to England, and Elizabeth received him as
her future hu.sband. Before long, however, realizing the folly of
her position, she was glad to send off Anjou to the Nellierlands,
and showed an unwonted liberality in supplying him with men and
money for carrying out lus projects. Anjou's incompetence, how-
ever, soon wrecked all the fine schemes formed by England and
392 LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH [1584-
France to lay low the power of Philip. In a short time he was
driven away by the Netherlanders themselves, and went back to
Fraroe, where he soon died. Long before this, the fantastic notion
of wedding him to Elizabeth had been quite forgotten.
4. The chief importance of the Anjou marriage scheme was
that it induced Elizabeth to take an active part in supporting the
Leicester in i*6^olted Netherlanders against the king of Spain,
the Nether- After Anjou's failure, Parma renewed his advance,
lands, 1 586. ^^^ soon the provinces were reduced to the greatest
straits. In 1584 their heroic leader, William of Orange, was
murdered by a Catholic fanatic. It was the same year in which
Elizabeth expelled the Spanish ambassador for complicity in an
assassination plot. In 1585 Parma captured Antwerp, and thus
broke the back of the resistance of the southern provinces. In
their despair the Netherlanders offered to make Elizabeth their
ruler if she would protect them from Philip's assaults. Too
prudent to accept this sovereignty, Elizabeth sent an army to help
them, at the head of which she placed her favoui'ite, the earl of
Leicester. But Leicester was almost as incompetent as Anjou, and
his arrival brought little relief. The most famous episode in his
campaign was a fight against the Spaniards near Zuiphen, in
which his accomplished nephew. Sir Philip Sidney, the pattern
Elizabethan gentleman, poet, romance-writer, courtier, and soldier,
received liis death-wound. Before the end of 1586 Leicester
quarrelled with the Dutch and went back to England. Then
came the Babington conspiracy and the execution of Mary Queen
of Scots. At last even the sluggish Philip felt that the cup of
English offences was full to the brim, and prepared to wreak a
signal vengeance upon the English heretics.
5. A generation of conflict between Englishmen and Spaniards
on the ocean made tlie long-delayed ruptxire more complete and
more bitter. The discovery of America by Columbus
fh H" ri"^ ^^^ opened up for Spain a mighty empire in Southern
and Central America, and had forced a nation of
soldiers and priests to produce, almost in its own despite, navi-
gators, colonisers, and traders. The commercial position of Spain
was made much stronger when, in 1580, Philip conquered Portugal
and its colonies, and so extended his power to Brazil and over the
remnants of the great Eastern Empire which the Poi-tuguese had
set up, following on the tracks of Vasco da Gama. who had first dis-
covered the sea-road to India and the East. At fii'st the Spaniards
and Portuguese had no rivals in their quest of wealth, conquest,
-1586.] LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH 393
and adventure in strange lands. Least of all was competition to be
expected from England, whose people, np to the middle of the
sixteenth century, were distinguished neither for their seamanship,
commerce, nor love of adventiu-e. Englishmen remained what they
had been in tlie. Middle Ages, an easy-going, stay-at-home people,
loving hard fighting and good living, but so indifferent to trade
and money-making, that they were still content that the larger
share of the external trade of their island should remain in the
hands of foreigners.
6. Signs of a new spirit of activity were dimly discernible
in early Tudor times. The marvellous discoveries of Columbus
and Vasco da Gama stirred the sluggish fancy of
Henry vii., who sent Jolm Cabot, a Venetian settled ginnlngs
in Bri-stol, on a voyage to America, which resulted of English
in the discovery of the coast of Labrador. Notliing maritime
practical came of this, however, until the private
enterprise of the merchants of Bristol, the adopted home of Cabot,
sent out expeditions of discovery that won for England a small
share in the Newfoundland fisheries and the trade with West
Africa. PljTnouth adventurers, conspicuous among whom was
WiUiam Hawkins, opened out commerce between England and
Soutli America. In London, the Co7npany of Merchant Adven-
turers, which, as the chief society of English traders, had long
competed for the Baltic and Scandinavian markets with the
German merchants of the Steelyard, showed, under the guidance of
Sebastian Cabot, the son of the discoverer of Labrador, an enterprise
foreign to earlier generations. In 1553, at Cabot's chancellor's
suggestion, the first native English voyage of dis- voyage,
covery was undertaken by Sir Hugh Willoughby and * ^^^'
his pilot, Richard Chancellor, who strove to open up new trading
centres in northern and eastern lands, and to discover, if possible,
a nortli-east passage to Cliina through the Arctic seas. Ill luck
attended this pioneer expedition, and only Chancellor with a few
of the ships made any discovery of importance. He found his way
into the White Sea. and opened up trading relations with Hussia
of such importance that a Muscovy or Bussia Company was started
to work it.
7. Though Chancellor's voyage was undertaken under Mary,
the new impulse which drove Englishmen to adventure and dis-
covery was the direct re.sult of the great stirring of men's minds
that followed the Heformation. Tliougli no theologians, and
greedy, orael, and reckless in their lives, most of the English
394 LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH [1562-
seamen were sound Protestants and great haters of the pope.
Already in Mary's reig-n some of the Protestant refugees took to
Protes- ^^® ^^^ ^^^ robbed their Catholic fellow-countrymen
tantism and with special zest. A few years later the struggling
adTentupe Protestants of France and the Netherlands followed
their example, and the water-beggars, as the Calvinist
shipmen of Holland and Zealand were called, found an easy
prey in the richly freighted galleons of Spain. Thus the Pro-
testant saUors of England and Holland alike found that to pliinder
Spaniards was a shorter way to get rich than to trade honestly
on their own account. ReKgious zeal made it a pious work to
despoU. the papist subjects of Philip 11. Moreover, the Spaniards
kept their American colonies under strict control, and claimed
an absolute monopoly of trade with them. The dearness which
followed monopoly made the Spanish colonists themselves welcome
any merchants daring enough to disregard the navigation laws
and sell them the goods of which they had urgent need. Hence
smuggling commodities into Spanish colonies became another way
of making money easily. The impulse to adventivre had begun.
8. The special want of the Spaniards in America was that of
labourers to work their mines and till their plantations. They
Hawkins were too few and too proud to work themselves in a
and the tropical climate, and the native Americans of the
slave-trade. West India islands died off like flies when forced to
labour for their new masters. John Hawkins, son of
the William Hawkins of the reign of Henry viii., made voyages
in his father's track, and soon learnt that an easy way to win riches
was to kidnap or buy shiploads of strong and hardy negroes in
"West Africa, and seU them to the Spaniards in America and the
West Indies. In 1562 and in 1564 Hawkins made two slaving
voyages to the Guinea coast, and sold his human cargo to such
profit in Hispaniola and Mexico that he came home a wealthy and
a famous man. Philip 11. was much incensed at the daring heretic.
When, in 1567, Hawkins attempted a third voyage on a larger
scale, the Spanish officials would not allow him to transact business.
Hawkins tried to force his wares upon the colonists, but was en-
trapped into the narrow harbour of Vera Cruz in Mexico, and
overborne by numbers. He lost most of his ships and profits, but
returned safely to England, and showed the way to other adven-
t\irers. He was the founder of the negro slave-trade wliich made
possible the colonization of tropical America by a planter aristo-
cracy cultivating its lands by black labour, and which for more
-1567.] LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH 395
396 LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH [1577-
than two hundred years was to be a source of immense gain to
English, merchants. Neither English nor Spaniards had the least
care of the cruelty and wickedness of this traffic in human flesh.
9. Hawkins was a mere man of business, though terribly
efficient at his work. His example was soon followed by others,
in some of whom his greedy commercial spirit was in
voyage somewise ennobled by romantic love of adventure and
round the a sort of crusading enthusiasm against the Spanish
15°77-i580 papists. Conspicuous among the higher sort of ex-
plorers was Martin Frobisher, a Yorkshireman who
made three voyages to the frozen coasts of Labrador in the hope
of finding a north-west passage to Cliina, and Francis Drake, a
Devonshire man and a kinsman of Hawkins, who, after having on
a voyage to Panama climbed a hill from which he could look down
on the Pacific, formed a resolution to sail an English ship upon
that strange ocean which had hitherto been navigated by the
Spaniards alone. With this object Drake set forth in 1577 with
a fleet of five small vessels, hoping to redeem his vow. He was
away from England for three years, and met with countless perils
from storms, mutinies, and the hostility of the Spaniards. He lost
aU his ships save his own vessel, the Pelican, which he rechristened
the Golden Hind. He crossed the South Atlantic, sailed through
the dangerous straits of Magellan to the open Pacific, where he
plundered the Spaniards at his will, and at last, loaded with
precious booty, sailed westwards over the Indian Ocean, and 'safely
got home in 1580 by way of the Cape of Good Hope, being the first
captain who had sailed round the world and returned alive to port.
His success made him the hero of the moment, and Elizabeth,
visiting the Golden Hind as it lay in the Thames at Deptford,
dubbed him a knight on his own quarter-deck.
10. The Spaniards rightly denounced Drake as a pirate, and
demanded his surrender and the restitution of the property he had
stolen. It was the time of the Jesuit invasion and
V^t ^^Q^^^ the Anjou marriage scheme, and Elizabeth was of no
England mind to give up the adventurer to his enemies. She
and Spain, p^t cfl the Spaniards with fair words, and encouraged
Drake as much as she could. New sources of offence
now arose daily between the two countries. After the expulsion of
the Spanish ambassador in 1584, Philip retaliated by confiscating
all English ships and property found in his dominions. Drake
and Frobisher were for the first time commissioned in the queen's
service to make reprisals on Spanish ports. In 1585 they plundered
-IS88.] LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH 397
Vigo, and led a fresh expedition to the West Indies. In 1587
the execution of Mary Queen of Scots at length goaded Spain
into open war, and in great indignation Philip prepared a fleet
that would avenge English insults to his coasts and his religion
by pouring an army into their island. When his plans were still
but half ready, Drake sailed into Cadiz harbour and sank or burnt
his ships. Philip was more than ever bent upon revenge, and
fitted out another fleet which was to invade England in 1588.
11. Philip's plan was to send his fleet to Flanders, whence it
was to carry the duke of Parma's army over the narrow seas to
England. It was hoped that on the landing of the ,
Spaniards the English Catholics would gladly join pjans for
with them in throwing ofE the yoke of the heretic Invading:
queen, and WUliam Allen, now made a cardinal, wrote Enfirlana.
an exhortation to the English to accept Philip as the executor of
Pius v.'s sentence of deposition. Philip's hands were set free by
the death of Mary, whom he had always suspected by reason of her
French connections. He claimed the English throne himself, as a
nearer descendant of John of Gaunt than the Tudors.
12. England had no regular troops to oppose the Spanish
veterans, and her best chance was to meet her enemies at sea, where
the English had so often beaten the Spaniards in recent ^-^^ Snanlsh
years that they had no great reason to fear them now. Armada,
Since Henry viii.'s time the royal na^y of England 1588.
had been an efficient and growing force, and Hawkins, of late
years Treasurer to the Navy, had bmlt a large number of new
ships, on better lines than any of the Spanish vessels. Lying
lower in the water than the Spaniards, and with fewer " castles," or
decks, piled up high fore and aft, the English vessels looked smaller
than the Spanish, even when they were much of the same size. But
they were easier to manage, more seaworthy, quicker, and better
equipped than those of the enemy. Moi-eover, they were built to
fight, and were not, like many of the Spaniards, mere transports
crowded with soldiers, and ill found for a long voyage. Even the
armed merchantmen which swelled the scanty numbers of the royal
vessels were trained by a long career of privateering or piracy, and
the crews, accustomed to the boisterous seas of the Atlantic fishing-
grounds, were much better sailors than their opponents. Both
fleets alike were commanded by great noblemen, the Spaniards by
the duke of Medina Sidonia, a young grandee with no great know-
ledge of the sea, and the English by Lord Howard of Effingham,
a cousin of the Norfolk beheaded in 1572. However, while the
398 LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH [1588-
subordinate commaiiders on tlie Spanish side were also noble-
men whose experience was on land and whose skill that of the
soldier. Lord Howard's immediate subordijiates were practical
seamen, who had already had long acquaintance with Spanish war-
fare. Sir Francis Drake was second and John Hawkins third in
command, while the largest ship in the fleet had as its captain
Martin Frobisher, who, with Hawkins, was knighted during the
struggle. A land army was hastily levied, the command over
which Elizabeth insisted on giving to Leicester, whose last months
of life were devoted to
this supreme service to his
mistress. Despite the
efforts of Allen, Catholics
joined with Protestants in
resisting the invaders. It
was no longer a war of
reKgions, but a struggle
between two nations.
13. The Spaniards were
impressed by the magni-
tude of Philip's prepara-
tions, and proudly styled
their fleet the Invincihl e Ar-
mada. Misfortune dogged
its path from the begin-
ning. Starting in May
from Lisbon, it was driven
back by rough weather and
insufficient equipment into
the ports of northern
Spain, whence it did not
finally sail until July. On
July 19 the Armada en-
tered the Channel, and
was rapidly blown by a favourable south-wester towards the straits
The Armada ^^ Dover. The English admiral, who had waited for
in the it in Plymouth Sound, allowed the enemy to pass
Channel. j^^g anchorage, whei'eupon he sailed out and closely
hung upon the Spaniards' rear. A running fight ensued for
the best part of a week. The English had the advantage
of attacking on the windward side, and their greater power of
sailing close to the wind enabled them to escape action at near
FRANCE
THE COURSE OV THE SPANISH AKMADA.
-1589.] LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH $gg
quarters, which was what the Spaniards wanted. Ship after
ship of the Armada was cut oft" and captured hy the English.
The long artUlery fight used up the ammunition of both, fleets.
The English, however, could get fresh supplies from the shore,
while the Spaniards had no such resource open to them. From
the very beginning the Spaniards had the worst of the encounter,
and at last cast anchor in Calais roads, fully conscious of failure.
14. Lord Howard now began to adopt bolder tactics. He drove
the enemy from their anchorage by sending fireships among them,
which forced them to cut their cables to avoid being ^j^^
burnt to pieces. Then, on July 29, the English bore battle off
down on the Spaniards off Gravelines, where the Gravelines.
decisive battle was waged for nine hours without intermission.
The Spaniards were likely to do better in a regular engagement
than in the preliminary skirmishing. They now fought with
great courage, and though beaten in the end, were able to retreat in
good order. But as the wind stiU blew from the south, Sidonia's
only way of retreat was to sail northwards, and finally make his
way home by doubling the north of Scotland, High gales proved
fatal to many of the war-worn and storm-tried ships, and many
wrecks strewed the western coasts of Scotland and Ireland. It
showed rare tenacity among the Spaniards that Sidonia was able to
bring badk nearly half his fleet to Spain.
15. Thus the attack on England utterly failed. The defeat
of the Armada left England free to settle her own destinies for
herself, and saved English Protestantism. By making
England a great naval power, it prepared the way for of tj,e
our commerce and colonies. It made easy the union Protestant
with Scotland and the conquest of Ireland, which ^''^'•°'*y-
were soon to come. Nor were its effects limited to England. It
inflicted the greatest check ever encountered on the triumj)hant
forces of the Catholic reaction. It secured the freedom of the
Seven United Provinces, which, like the fate of England, had
hitherto been trembling in the balance. It thus limited the
Spanish Netherlands to the Catholic provinces of the soutlx.
It). Even in France the results of the Protestant victory were
strongly felt. There the strife between Calvinists and Catholics
had just reached its crisis. The weak Henry iii. had „ .„
been rejtudiated by the extreme Catholics, who looked king of
npou Philip of Spain as their leader, and hoped with France,
his help to make France as strenuous in its devotion
to the old faith as was Spain itself. Heury was therefore forced
400 LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH [1589-
to go over to the Protestants, and was soon afterwards murdered
by a Catholic zealot. His death made his distant cousin, Henry,
duke of Bourbon and king- of Navarre, Henry iv. of France. Thus
the house of Valois, which had reigned in France since 1328, gave
place to the house of Bourhon, which was henceforth to rule
France as long as France was to be governed by kings. Henry iv.,
though the Protestant leader, was no bigot, but a clear-headed,
selfish, and capable politician, who looked on religion much in the
same way as Elizabeth did. He saw that as a Protestant he
had no chance of ruling France, so he turned Catholic, and soon
the French, weary of religious warfare, rallied round him. His
conversion meant that France remained a Catholic country, but it
was a liberal, tolerant Catholicism, very different from the bigoted
faith of Spain. Henry gave the Protestants toleration by the
edict of Nantes, showed that, like Elizabeth, he wished to be king
over all his people, restored the declining fortunes of France,
and gradually won back for it the first place in Europe. With
this object he formed a close alliance with the EngKsh queen
against Spain, and for ten more years both powers were at war
against Philip. In 1598 Philip made peace with France, and died
shortly afterwards. With him ended the greatness of Spain.
17. England and Spain continued fighting until after the
death of Elizabeth. The main struggle was still at sea, where the
The war efforts of England were not so successful as they had
with Spain, been earlier. Thus, in 1589, Drake failed in an attack
1589-1603. Qj^ Lisbon; and in 1591 an expedition sent to the
Azores under Lord Thomas Howard was compelled to retreat
before a stronger Spanish fleet. One of Howard's ships, the
Revenge, commanded by Sir Richard Grenville, was
of the so slow in withdrawing that it was cut off from its
"Revenge," fellows by the Spanish fleet. Thereupon Gren\dlle
formed the rash resolve to cut his way tlirough the
whole of the enemies' squadron. He was soon assailed on every side,
and, mortally wounded after a long resistance, was forced to sur-
render. He showed such heroism that the fight of the Revenge was
long remembered among the most brilliant deeds of EngHsh seamen.
18. In 1595 Drake and Hawkins led a last expedition to the
West Indies. The Spaniards were now used to the English way
The capture ^^ fighting, and better prepared to meet it. Accord-
of Cadiz, ingly the fleet captured no treasure and won few
^^^®' successes. Both Drake and Hawkins died at sea. and
altogether the voyage was a failure. Next year Philip fitted out
-1598] LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH 40I
a new Armada at Cadiz, whereupon Lord Howard of EflBngh.ani
and Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, sailed to the Spanish port,
destroyed the ships in harbour after a fierce fight, and took Cadiz
itself by storm. This rude lesson kept the Spaniards quiet for some
years, and, after Philip ii.'s death in 1598, the war languished for
the rest of the reign.
19. The last years of Elizabeth's reign saw the first attempts
to found English colonies in America. As early as 1583, Sir
Humphrey Gilbert strove to plant an English __
settlement on the dreary coast of Newfoundland, but attempts
failed utterly, and perished at sea on his way home, at English
His half-brother. Sir Walter Raleigh, the most co^o^'es.
brilliant and many-sided of the Devonshire heroes of the reign,
took up Gilbert's ideas, and between 1585 and 1590 made three
attempts to set up an English colony in a part of the mainland
of North America, which he called Virginia, in honour of the
virg^ queen. But Raleigh was too busy pushing his fortunes
at court to go himself to Virginia, and, without his guidance, the
effort came to nothing. When the queen died there was not a
single English settlement on the American continent.
20. Englishmen who wished to find a new home beyond sea
obtained what they sought in Ireland rather than over the Atlantic.
We have seen how, under Henry viir., the first ipgiand
English king of Ireland, vigorous efforts had been under
made to make the rule of the English monarchs a MaryTudop.
reality, and the limited amount of success that had attended
them. They were continued under his two daughters, and the
first great extension of the English power occurred under Mary,
when the districts called Leix and Offaly, hitherto governed by
Irish clan chieftains, were conquered by the queen's deputy, or
governor, the earl of Sussex, and were made, as the phrase went,
shire-ground. By that it was meant that, as in Wales, the setting
up of English law followed the establishment of new counties.
The newly conquered Irish districts were called King's County and
Queens County, and their county towns Philipstottm and Mary'
borough, in honour of Philip and Mary. Tliis was the last advance
of the English jwwer in Ireland during the days when English
and Irish, though divided by race and language, still agreed about
religion.
21. Elizabeth extended to Ireland her English ecclesiastical
policy, though there were few Protestants there, either among the
native Irish or the Norman lords. She was so thrifty, and had so
2d
402 LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH [1558-
much to do at home, that she was very anxious not to incur
expense by pursuing an energetic policy in Ireland, and was wilLLng
Shane ^"^ ^^® ^^® island through the local chieftains, as her
O'Neill and father had done. Quarrels among the O'Neills, the
Elizabeth, chief native Irish sept, or family, in Ulster, soon made
this idea impracticable. The head of the O'Neills had
been made earl of Tyrone by Heniy viii. in the hope of winning
him over to the English side. Shane O'NeiU, the ablest and fiercest
of his sons, was disgusted to find his father obtain from the English
permission to make another of his children his successor as earl.
He therefore rose in revolt, mm-dered his brother, and drove his
father out of the country. The O'Neills elected the victorious
Shane as chief of the sept, or, as he was called. The O'Neill, and the
successful rebel made himself absolute master of Ulster. Elizabeth
strove in vain to treat with liim, but Shane was so strong that he
openly defied her ; and in 1567, the deputy, Sir Henry Sidney,
the father of Sir Pliilip, was compelled to wage war against
him. Before long Shane was murdered by a rival clan which
envied the power of the O'Neills.
22. Sidney made Ulster shire-ground, and Walter Devereux,
first earl of Essex, tried to establish a settlement of Protestant
Ireland and ^<^l<^^sts in Antrim, which was soon an utter failure,
the Counter- Before long Ulster fell back into its old lawless freedom,
Reforma- and Sidney's work seemed to be altogether in vain.
A great change was now beginning to bring Irish
politics into closer relations Tvith the great world. Up to now
Ireland had been quite separated from all European movements.
But the constant trouble which Ireland gave Elizabeth tempted the
queen's Catholic enemies to avail themselves of the Irish hatred of
England and the English religion, and make their land a centre
of the Counter-Reformation. The pope sent priests and the king of
Spain sent soldiers to Ireland, and these kindled a new rebeUion in
1579. This was not, like the revolt of Shane O'NeUl,
The the work of a native clan. Its centre was the Munster
rebellion branch of the great Norman house of Fitzgerald,
1579, and whose head was the earl of Desmond. Elizabeth put
the Planta- down the revolt with gi-eat cruelty, and reduced the
Munster. Desmond country to a desert. The rebels' lands were
forfeited to the crown, and in 1584 a systematic
attempt was made to establish English colonists in Munster. This
was called the Plantation of Munster. The forfeited estates were
divided among gentlemen adventurers, who were to let out their
-1584.] LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH 403
lands to Enprlish fanners. But most of the grantees remained in
England, and sought to make profit out of their estates by hiring
them out for as much rent as they could get. Few Englishmen
would pay high rents for land in Ireland, where they stood a good
chance of being murdered by the natives, and were certain to live
rough and uncomfortable lives. The result was that the Plantation
of Munster proved a failure. A few poor gentlemen, one of whom
was the poet Edmund Spenser, settled down in the old homes of
ublin
Fitzgerald /i:f/uence.. i^
Butler Influence.^ ^B
EmcnrVallut tc
IRELAND UNDER THE TUDORS.
the Desmonds, but the mass of the forfeited lands were granted to
Irishmen, who alone would offer the impossible terms demanded
by their landlords. Before long rebellion made short work of the
scattered English settlers, and the only real result of the move-
ment was tlie establishment of some great English landlords in the
estates once held by the Desmond family.
23. The suppression of the Desmond revolt left Ireland in com-
parative peace for twenty years. During tliis period bitter hatred of
404 LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH [1598-
the Englisli and the new zeal of the Irish for Catholicism were rapidly
breaking down the barriers which sepai'ated clan from clan and the
The Irish ^^ Irish from the descendants of the Normans. "When
revolt of revolt again broke out in 1598, it was not confined to
a single family, race, or district. When the head of
the O'Neills, Shane's nephew Hugh, earl of Tyrone, raised Ulster,
he had among his supporters the rival clan of the O'Donnells,
because he was not like Shane fighting simply for his own clan,
but for the pope and all Ireland. Moreover, the rising spread to
Munster, where the return of the exiled earl of Desmond gave the
signal for a general revolt, which soon swept away the English
colonists. Soon all Ireland was ablaze with rebellion. It was the
first combined national and Catholic movement against English
supremacy.
24. Robert Devereux, eai*l of Essex, the son of the would-be
colonizer of Antrim, and the hero of the Cadiz expedition of 1596,
Essex In ^^^ ^ gallant and showy young nobleman, and the
Ireland, chief favourite of the old queen. Though liis wayward-
1599. j^ggg jj^^^j already irritated his sovereign, she entrusted
him, in 1599, with the difficult task of suppressing the Irish
rising. Essex, however, managed matters very incompetently, and
soon gave up the task in disgust. In 1600 a stronger
supppesf ^^^^ '^^^ found in Charles Blount, lord Mountjoy,
the rebel- under whom the Irish resistance was gradually broken
'*°JJ' down. Though a large Spanish force come to their help,
Mountjoy's energy and ruthlessness finall y prevailed
over aU opposition. The O'Neills held out longest, but about the time
of Elizabeth's death, Mountjoy pressed them so hard that Tyrone was
forced to make lus submission. Thus Ireland was at last conquered ;
but the cruelty of the process, largely the result of the queen's
over-thriftiness, left the bitterest memories beliind it. The Irish
loathed the foreign yoke, and were only kept down by sheer force.
25. While Ireland was thus conquered by Elizabeth, important
steps were being taken to bring about the union of Britain. Wales,
- united to England on equal terms by Henry viii., was
towards under Elizabeth for the first time won over to Pro-
British testantism by native bishops, of whom the most im-
^* portant was William Morgan, bishop of St. Asaph,
whose single-minded zeal procured the publication of a translation
of the whole Bible into Welsh, so that it became easy to preach
Protestantism with effect to the Welsh people in their own tongue.
Moreover, the new friendship which common Protestantism had
-i6o3.] LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH 405
brought about between England and Scotland was working out its
natui-al results. Though the will of Henry viii. had provided that
the succession to the English throne should go to the descendants
of his younger sister, Mary, duchess of SufEolk, no one paid any
serious i*egard to the children of Lady Catharine Grey, Lady Jane's
sister. It was generally agreed that when the old queen died, the
next monarch would be the king of Scots, though Elizabeth herself
was so jealous of power that she could never bear to have mentioned
the question of the succession.
26. The last years of the reign of Elizabeth were a pei-iod of
wonderful prosperity. Britain was at peace ; Ireland was being
conquered ; the Spaniards were beaten, and the pope Tj,e Cecils,
and the Jesuits were no longer dangerous. The newly Essex, and
found restlessness and energy which had disputed with "*^ ® K .
Spain the sovereignty of the seas, and won for England the
beginnings of her commerce and maritime greatness, found other
outlets in the most wondrous outburst of literature that Eng-
land was ever to witness. Hardly moved by these new glories,
Elizabeth grew old in increasing loneliness as her old favourites
and ministers were taken away by death. Burghley, the last of
the band, died in 1598, and was lucky in handing on his power to
his son, Sir Robert Cecil. While Robert Cecil upheld the cautious
views of his father, Essex and Raleigh represented the party that
wished to prosecute the war with Spain with more activity than
the prudent Cecils would allow. Essex, the favourite of the queen's
old age, finally lost her favour by his incompetence in Ireland. On
his return without leave from his Irish government, Elizabeth put
him into prison. He was soon released, but ordered not to show
liimself at court. Like a spoilt child he fretted under his sovereign's
displeasure. As he could not persuade Elizabeth to receive him
again, he strove, in 1601, to excite a revolt among the Londoners,
hoping thereby to drive the Cecils from power and compel the old
queen to readmit him to his former position. Essex's attempt
utterly failed, and he was convicted and executed as a traitor.
The result of liis folly was to establish Robert Cecil more firmly
than ever as chief minister until the old queen's death.
27. As troubles from abroad lessened, Elizalieth had increased
difficulties with her own subjects. Some of this was perliaps due
to that arbitrary temper which resented all opposition as disloyalty,
and continued measures barely justifiable in a time of great crisis
when the crisis was almost over. Thus Wliitgift continued to
Lorry the Puritans as if their excesses were still a danger to
406 LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH [1558-
Protestantism. Long after England had ceased to have any real
need to fear the pope, the Roman Catholics were still persecuted
almost as cruelly as in the days of the life-and-death
Dersecutlon struggle of the two faiths in the years immediately
of Puritans succeeding the buU of Pius v. The prisons remained
^"*h crowded with, popish recusants, and the ghastly execu-
tions of Catholic priests as traitors were still numerous.
But, in addition to her old troubles, Elizabeth now had to face
difficulties in dealing with her parliaments.
28. Like Henry viii., EHzabeth had striven to base her govern-
ment on the support of parliament. Even under Mary the House
Ell beth ^^ Commons had begun to show signs of restiveness,
and her and Elizabeth was soon to discover that the days of
Parlia- ]xer father were over, and that neither Lords nor
" ^' Commons would submissively ratify all her commands.
Her early parliaments gave her general support, and were liberal
in making grants, but they irritated her by urging her to marry,
to conciliato the Puritans, and take up a more Protestant foreign
policy. She therefore resolved to have as little to do -R-ith parlia-
ments as she could, and practised great parsimony so as to avoid
frequent occasion for calling them together, so that there were
only thirteen sessions of parliament diu'ing the forty-five years
of her reign. Moreover, she showed much skill in keeping the
House of Commons in good humour whenever she had occasion to
assemble it. She increased her influence over it by creating a large
number of new boroughs, mostly small places, which were sure to
return any members that she selected. Sir Robert Cecil also, though
her chief minister, remained a commoner, and sat in every parlia-
ment, being perhaps the first English statesman who took great
pains to manage the House of Commons and persuade it to uphold
his policy. If parliament got out of hand, Elizabeth did not
scruple to rebuke it, to silence it, or to send the leading commoners
to the Tower. Such arbitrary action only increased the Commons'
irritation, and made them excessively jealous of their rights.
29. Elizabeth's tact and insight, and the Commons' confidence
in her general policy, postponed serious conflict until the concluding
T~-^ ,r years of her reign. At last, in 1597, the Commons
TheMonopo ^ ^ * , . , /,
lies contest, sent up a grave remonstrance agamst the queen s over-
1 597 and lavish grants of monopolies. A monopoly was the
exclusive right to seU a certain article, so that the
holder of the privilege could enrich himself by raising its price
without fear of competition. Such an exclusive right given to an
-i6o3.] LATTER YEARS OF REIGN OF ELIZABETH JlfiJ
inventor or discoverer is common enough nowadays, and does
more good than harm. But Elizabeth found that the grant of a
monopoly was the cheapest way in which she could reward her
favourites and courtiers, and she soon created so many monopolies
in common articles of necessity that they became a serious burden
to her people. Even the remonstrances of the parliament of 1597
bore little fruit, and in 1601 a new parliament met and renewed
the complaints of its predecessor. When the list of monopolies
was read before the Commons, a member exclaimed, " Is not bread
among the number ? Nay, but it will be if no remedy be found
before the next parliament." So loud was the outcry that
Elizabeth gave way. She promised to revoke all monopolies that
weighed heavily upon her people, and graciously thanked the
Commons for calling her attention to grievances of which other-
wise she would have had no knowledge. Thus her tact triumphed
over the arbitrary temi)er of her family, and though England had
outgrown the Tudor despotism, men bore willingly the rule of so
popular a queen and so good an Englishwoman.
30. Elizabeth's health was now breaking up, but she still
refused to nominate her successor, though all her ministers
wished to have the king of Scots. As she lay dying, ^g^^j, ^^
they urged her to declare her wishes. When her Elizabeth,
statesmen spoke of the king of Scots', she gave no sign ; 1603.
but when they mentioned Lord Beauchamp. the son of Catharine
Gi'ey, she fired up, and cried, " I will have no rascal's son in my
seat ! " At last she died on March 24, 1603, when nearly seventy
years old.
THE CECIL AND BACON FAMILIES
&\r Anthony Cooke
Mary m. (1) William Cecil, (2) m. Mildred Cooke
Cheke Lonl Biirghley,
d. 1.198.
(1) \ (2)
I
Thomas C«cil,
first Lord Exeter.
Richard Cecil,
ancestor of present
Marquis of Exeter.
Edward Cecil,
Viscount Wimbledon,
d. 1638.
Robert Cecil, first
earl of Salisburj-,
d. 1612,
ancestor of the
Marquis of Salisbury,
prime minister of
Queen Victoria.
Anne m. Sir Nicholas
Cooke I Bacon, Lord
Keeper
Francis Bacon,
Viscount Ft. Albans
and Lord Chancellor,
d. 1626.
CHAPTER VIII
ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS
1. The Tudor period saw the end of the Middle Ages, and the
beginnings of modern times. It was a season of great revolutionary
The beirin- changes. It was the age of the Renascence, or the new
nlngs of birth of thought, and learning, and of the Reformation
modern which saw the break up of the unity of the Church cf
the Middle Ages. Though the Counter-Reformation
threatened both Renascence and Reformation, it was, so far as
England went, powerless to change the direction of oiu- national
life. Elizabeth saved the Reformation which Henry viii. had
begun, and restored the greatness of the English state. Under her
the Renascence first took a firm hold of her people, and manifested
itseH in the great outbui-st of many-sided energy that marked the
last five and twenty years of her reign.
2. Such a time of revolutionary storms needed strong pUots to
steer the ship of state, and the A^eUed despotism of the Tudors gave
Engiand a form of government which carried it success-
monarchy. ^^^^ through the age of crisis. Yet the vigorous
power exercised by these sovereigns was not due to any
formal change in the constitution so much as to the confidence of
the people, the ability of the monarchs, the needs of the times, and
the decay of the two gi-eat checks that had curbed the power of
mediaeval monarchs. The Church had fallen, and the nobility had
lost its old independence. Prelate and noble, the rivals of earlier
kings, were now the chief supports of the throne. The independent
Commons had not yet arisen.
3. Parliament continued to hold its ancient position, and it was
a part of Tudor statecraft to obtain parliamentary sanction for
Parliament ^^^ most arbitrary acts. Up to the end of Elizabeth's
under the reign the Commons could always be trusted to endorse
Tudops. ^j^g royal policy. Changes in the constitution of parlia-
ment tended to increase its subservience on the crown. Thus the
House of Lords became quite different from the House of Lords of
408
i6o3.] ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS 409
the Middle Ages. It had been an independent body, mainly ecclesi-
astical in character. It became a preponderatingly lay assembly,
and strictly submissive to the crown. Even before the mitred
abbots were removed by Henry viii. there was a small lay majority.
After 1539 the ecclesiastical element, only represented by the
bishops, became insignificant. Even a more important change was
brought about by the dying away of the ancient baronial houses,
and the rise in their place of new families, enriched by the spoils of
the monasteries, and owing their importance to the service of the
crown. Few old families like the Howards, Nevilles, and Percies
still stood out among the Russells, Cavendishes, Cecils, and other
ministerial houses of recent date. Though tlie ntunber of lay peers
was still very small, the majority was well under the control of the
crown. Not many Tudor bishops were bold enough to disobey the
orders of their sui)reme governor. While the Lords on the whole
declined in number, the number of the Commons was added to by
Henry viii.'s new members from Wales and Cheshire, and by
frequent creations of boroughs. Many of these latter were places
of no importance, and were only called upon to return members in
order to increase the influence of the crown.
4. There was little friction between crown and parliament,
since the province of the two authorities were recognized as
distinct. Parliament raised taxes, passed laws, and „
sent up complaints if anything went amiss. The between
8i)ending of money, and the execution of the laws were Crown and
entirely in the hands of the crown. The great feature Parliament,
of the constitutional history of the time is the strengthening of the
executive power of the monarchy, both in its central and local organs.
5. The king was his own chief minister, and held in his own
hands all the strings of policy. But the task of ruling a grea^
country was so laborious that he was forced to share the king
the burden with his ministers. These ministers were and his
partly great noblemen, who held as of prescriptive '"'"'steps,
right the ancient high offices of state, such as those of treasurer,
admiral, or chancellor. But a great noble was not always clever
or hard-working, and could not always be trusted to play the king's
game. The result was that important and confidential business
was increasingly left to the king's two secretaries, who were called
under Elizabeth tlie secretaries of state. The Tudor secretaries
were men of humbler rank but greater ability than the high
officials. They were professional statesmen, and quite devoted to
their master. From their staff of clerks and subordinates we hare
4IO ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS [1485-
the beginning' of the elaborate civil service and the complicated
machinery of government of the modern state.
6. When the king, wanted advice he went to his coxmcil, now
sometimes called the privy council. This was a smaller and more
confidential body than the Concilium oi'dinarium of
earlier times, which was now practically extinct. The
Tudor council was a small board of less than twenty members, and
including as a rule men of different ways of thinking, so that the
king could hear all sorts of opinions in it. It was so active and
powerful that the Tudor period has well been described as the age of
government by council. Yet it was the king or queen that acted :
the council only advised. When the cro-mi had decided, it was the
business of the council to carry out the royal wiU. Besides its
main consultative and administrative function, the council issued
ordinances or proclamations, which were not very different from
new laws, and which encroached on the powers of Parliament. In
the same way council encroached upon the law courts by its ever-
increasing judicial activity.
7. The jurisdiction of the council was an inheritance from the
Middle Ages, but was largely added to in Tudor times. Its
judicial functions were largely handed over to a com-
Chaml«p mittee, which soon became identified with the special
and the tribunal set up for the trial of great offenders by Henry
local vii.'s statute against livery and maintenance. This
councils
body, which acquired the name of the Star Chamber
from holding its sessions in a room whose ceiling was painted with
stars, became in substance the council in its judicial aspect, includ-
ing all the councillors and some of the chief judges. It did good
work aU through Tudor times, partly by making great offenders
obey the law, and partly by taking a quicker, wider, and more equit-
able view of cases than was possible for the common law courts with
their stiff traditions of what the law should be. A feature of Tudor
times was the establishment of local courts of the same type as the
Star Chamber, such as the Council of the North at York, and the
Council of Wales at Ludlow. The Court of High Commission, set
up at Elizabeth's accession, did for the Church what the other pre-
rogative courts did for the state. This last body always provoked
much opposition, but it was hardly untU Stewart times that the lay
courts became oppressive. AU, however, owed their authority
to the crown, and worked without a jury and without the traditional
regard to fixed legal j)rinciple8 which were both the glory and the
limitation of the common law courts.
-i6o3.] ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS 4II
8. Local administration was in the hands of the country gentry.
The shire moot was now obsolete except for parliamentary elections,
having been superseded by the justices of the peace, Local
who acted under royal commissions, yet were not state govern-
oflBcials, but the independent and unpaid gentry of the ment.
district. The justices as individuals tried i)etty offenders, and all the
justices of the county met from time to time in quarter sessions,
which discharged the whole functions of local government. It
is characteristic of the popular character of the Tudor monarchy
that it felt itself strong enough to hand over such important work
to the local gentry. The schooKng in law and administration which
his work as justice gave every country squire was of immense
importance in preparing the way for the time when a new genera-
tion of the landed gentry led in the House of Commons the revolt
against the Stewarts.
9. Another aspect of the popular Tudor despotism was its power
to govern without the aid of a strong military force. There were
no regular soldiers in Tudor England, save a corps Mjiit-
of yeomen to guard the king's person, and the weakness
permanent garrisons of Calais, Berwick, and a few o^ the
fortresses. Henry viii. hired foreign mercenaries in
the latter years of his reign, but they soon disappeai-ed after his
death. The main defence of the country still fell upon the local
militia, to serve in which was one of the duties of a citizen. It
was commanded by a lord lieutenant, appointed for every county
since the days of Edward vi. and Mary. Under him were deputy-
lieutenants, who belonged, like the justices of the peace, to the
local gentry. Thus even military commands were entrusted by the
Tudors to the country squires. More was done by the state for
the navy than the army, but oven in a crisis like the Armada, the
forces of the crown had to be supplemented by armed merchant-
men.
10. Competition became fiercer, and careers were more readily
opened to talent as the modern spirit became stronger. The sup-
pression of the monasteries did much to uproot the old - , ,
• 1 J -J J XI 1 » -TT Social and
social and economic order, and the annals of Henry viii. economic
and Edward vi. show how the spirit of unrest was changres.
abroad, and how much suffering was involved in the displacement
of the ancient landmarks. Yet class distinctions remained strong,
even when it was easier to rise from one class to another. The
gentry were stiU a class apart from the rest of the community ; but
the professional and merchant classes were attaining increased
412 ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS [1485-
importance. The one great mediaeval pi-ofession, that of the clergy,
lost power, wealth, and social estimation. A married clergy found
it hard to Uve on the scanty remnants of the old endowments, and
a large proportion of the parish priests were iU educated as well as
poor. But lawyers made great fortunes, and the medical profession
begins to have a status when Henry viii. set up the Colleges
of Physicians and Surgeons. Trade grew, and with it the wealth
and importance of the merchants, until the highest classes in
the land became infected with the commercial spirit. Elizabeth
herself took shares, and made her profit out of Drake's piratical
attacks on Sj)ain. Landholders regarded their estates as a com-
mercial investment which must return them a high rate of interest
for their outlay. The permanent result of this spirit was by no
means all evU. As the century grew old, new ways of employ-
ment were opened up, which got rid of the sturdy beggar more
effectively than the cruel laws of an earlier time. Corn-growing
again became profitable as population increased and markets
were developed. Fresh crops, such as hops and many new fruits and
vegetables, were introduced from the continent, and before the
great queen's death the cultivation of the potato was brought in
from America. There were more manufactiu'es, and emigration,
especially to Ireland, afforded careers for those without occupation
at home. Thus both the yeomen and the craftsmen flourished.
Many yeomen were able to buy up the lands of the unthrifty
gentry, and the successful trader from the towns was constantly
becoming absorbed in the landed classes. Anxiety to keep up the
supply of skilled workmen took the shape of Elizabeth's famous
Act of Apprentices of 1563, which declared that no one should
exercise a trade untU he had served a seven years' apprenticeship in
it. The same year saw the first attempt of the state
The Poop ^^ g^^ ^p ^ systematic and compulsory system of poor
relief. This culminated in the most famous of the
Elizabethan poor laws, passed in 1601.'' By it the justices were
empowered to nominate overseers in every parish, and these had
authority to tax every inhabitant, so as to provide the sums neces-
sary to support the poor of the parish. Thus grew up our system
of poor relief, which remained much the same imtil the new poor
law of 1834.
11. One sign of the growth of English resources was the
wonderful raising of the material standards of comfort and civiliza-
tion. The gross abundance of earlier times had given Englishmen
plenty to eat and drink, and the upper classes lived with great
-i6o3.] ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS 413
outward state and magnificence. Now the ordinary man's house
was built more solidly and comfortably, and lovers of old ways
denounced the effeminate luxury that rejected round in^pease of
logs for pillows and bolsters, clean straw or rushes for refinement
carpets and tapestry, and a hole in the roof to let out ^"** luxury,
the smoke for a chimney. Forks came into general use instead of
fingers. Food also became more varied and wholesome. The intro-
duction of hops improved the quality of beer, and towards the end of
the period American explorers introduced a new luxury in tobacco.
Men ate so much flesh meat that the state, not so much for
religious reasons as for the sake of encoui*aging the fisheries, strove
to keep up the old habit of fasting on Fridays. Dress became
exceedingly rich and gorgeous, and the clothes both for men and
women became less tasteful and more barbaric in Elizabeth's days.
Conspicuous articles of ladies' attire were the ruff, an exaggerated
collar, towering high above the neck, and the farthingale, or hoop,
which assumed a ridiculous stiffness and enormous dimensions.
12. Education became wider, and affected larger classes of
society. Though the changes in religion resulted in much uji-
necessary havoc among the schools and colleges that
had come down from the Middle Ages, some effort was an^^^v"]
made to set up new ones in their place, and education
was no longer regarded as simply a training for scholars and pro-
fessional men. A certain amount of culture was demanded from
every gentleman and lady. A gentleman was expected to be weU
read, fond of poetry and music, an expert in fencing and horse-
manship, polished in his manner, and elegant in his garb. For
an education so comprehensive as this, travel was one of the best
schools, and the educated scholar and gentleman made a point of
going abroad, particularly to Italy, which was still the traditional
centre of European inteUectnal life. Lovers of old ways com-
plained that many Englishmen got more harm than good from
their foreign experience, and denounced the profligacy and irre-
ligion that too often made the '* Italianate Englishman a devil
incarnate." Travel was facilitated by the better police of the seas
that kept down piracy, and within England by the introduction of
coaches, which, however heavy and cumbrous they seem to us. were
denounced as dangerous luxuries, only permissible to the aged and
infirm. Men still mainly made their journeys on horseback, and
gentlemen carried arms, partly as a sign of their gentility, but
partly as a means of protection against the robbera that infested
every highway.
414 ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS [14S5-
13. Another sign of modern times was the dying out of Gothic
architecture, though this took place very slowly. Under Henry viii.
Renascence ^^ stately a Gothic building as Bath Abbey could still
apchitec- be erected, while the methods of mediaeval constiruction
tare. lingered on, notably at Oxford and Cambridge, until
the middle of the seventeenth centui-y. The age of the Reforma-
tion did not build churches, but pulled them down, so that it is to
domestic and civil rather than to ecclesiastical architecture that we
must look if we would study the change of fashion that now came
in. Italian influence made itself felt about the middle of the century,
though few great houses were erected in the pure Renascence or
Italian style. The gorgeous palaces of Elizabethan nobles were stUl
Gothic in their general outline, but the details and the ornamen-
tation were those which the classic revival had borrowed from Italy.
As good examples of this mixed Elizabethan or Jacobean style, as
it is called, we may mention the two great houses of Burghley, near
Stamford, and Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, which were erected by
William and Robert CecU. Though the style may easily be criti-
cized as a confused medley of different types, it is picturesque,
appropriate, and dignified. The mansions erected in it were much
more comfortable to live in than the castles of the Middle Ages.
14. Other arts were less flourishing than architecture. There
was a real EngKsh school of Church musicians, and the Elizabethan
composers could set appropriate music to the delicate
lyrics of the best age of English song-writing.
English painting and sculpture were, however, at a low ebb,
as many a bad picture in old houses, and still more numerous
stiff and clumsy sculptured tombs of Elizabethan worthies show.
Henry aiii., who loved art and splendour, gave pensions to foreign
artists, though many of them were not much more skilled in their
craft than their English rivals. Some of Henry's foreign artists,
however, were men of real distinction. The Italian sculptor,
Torrigiano, wrought for him the beautiful effigies of Henry vii. and
the Lady Margaret Beaufort, his mother, in the new Henry vii.'s
chapel of Westminster Abbey, which is itself one of the glories
of sixteenth-century Gothic architecture. The German Hans
Holbein spent nearly twenty years in England in the latter part
of the reign of Henry viii., and has painted and drawn the men
of that age with uncompromising truthfulness and consummate
technical skill. Very inferior to this great artist were the common-
place painters who came from Italy and Flanders to portray the
worthies of the age of Elizabeth.
-i6o3.] ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS 415
15. For the first three-quarters of the sirteenth century the
output of good literature in England was not great. But the
activity of tlie numerous printing-presses showed how
love of learning and a taste for reading had sjjread. nt^p^^ture*"'
Poets still followed the fashion set by Chaucer, but
it was in Scotland rather than in England that the Chaucerian
tradition was most fruitful of good work. The real literary
importance of the early part of Henry tiii.'s reign is not so much
the actual literature produced as the impulse which men like Colet
and More set towards the humanism of the Renascence. The
most notable book produced by this circle of reformers was More's
Utopia. Though written in Latin, it was, as we have seen, very
definitely English in its unsparing analysis of the evils from which
our country was then suffering. The next generation saw the
effects of the Reformation in such work as Latimer's homely and
outspoken Sermons, while the habitual use of the various English
translations of the Bible and of the Edwardian Booh of Common
Prayer did much to set up a high standard of dignified English
prose. The fashion of writing became less cumbrous and more
direct in the straightforward EugUsh, written much after the
fashion of homely speech, which came from the pen of the school-
master and refonner, Roger Ascham, whose works mark the
beginnings of a more modern style of English prose.
16. Towards the end of Henry viii.'s reign a new school of poets
arose, which derived its chief impulse from Italy. At its head
were Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, the headstrong _. . .
lord beheaded by Henry viii. in 1547, and Sir Thomas nlngs of
Wyatt, the father of the rebel against Queen Mary. Elizabethan
This school brought in Italian metres such as the i'^®''*-*'"'*®"
sonnet and blank verse, and their occasional poems became •widely
read in manuscript in courtly circles, though they were first printed
in Tottel's Miscellany, a collection of verses published by a book-
seller named Tottel in the reign of Queen Mary. From the issue of
tliis epoch-making collection the new inspiration to poetry began.
It was, however, but very slowly that the new spirit made itself
generally felt. The first twenty years of the reign of Elizal>eth
were not much more productive than the g<?neratiou that preceded
them. Then the true Elizabethan literature burst forth with
strange suddenness and overwhelming glory, in those days of fierce
struggle when England was fighting for her existence against the
Jesuits and the Spaniards, when Brake was sailing round the
world, and when Gilbert and Raleigh were first dreaming of
4l6 ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS [1485-
an English colonial empire. A wonderful output of the noblest
works illustrated the last five and twenty years of the queen's reign,
and continued well into the next century. Much of what is most
distinctly regarded as Elizabethan was written under James i.
17. The publication of Edmund Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar
in 1579 begins the flowering time of Elizabethan poetry, and
Snensep revealed to the world the greatest poet of the new era.
and the Spenser was soon called away from literary work to
poets. take part in the plantation of Munster, whence, after
twenty years of prosperity, he was driven out by the last Desmond
rebeUion, to die ere long in London, poor and disappointed, but
never neglected. His great unfinished epic, the Faerie Queen,
written in Ireland, and published in 1589 and 1598, sets forth in
the richest and most musical of verse all that was best in the
spirit of the English Eenascence^magination, chivalry, love of
beauty, enthusiasm for knowledge, deKght in allegory, mystery,
adventure, and fairy tales, burning devotion to England and her
queen, earnest moral purpose, and fierce hatred of the pope and
Spain. Spenser's work stands alone, but some share of liis poetic
spirit was reflected in a crowd of lesser writers. His love-sonnets
increased the fashion for long sonnet cycles, which had already
obtained much vogue through the following of foreign examples,
and through the sonnets wherein Spenser's friend and patron, Sir
Philip Sidney, described his unhappy love for SteUa. This tendency
reached its supreme height in the wonderful sonnets of Shakespeare.
Nothing, however, better shows how the spirit of poetry was in
the air than the grace and spontaneity of many a nameless lyric
that can be found in the song-books and plays of this great age.
18. Most of aU is the spirit of the Elizabethan period reflected in
the development of the dramatic literature, which is its special glory.
The medifeval taste for mysteries and moralities had
The first spread among the people a great taste for shows and
theatres theatrical entertainments, which, inspired by the classic
and their spirit of the Renascence, found a new outlet in repre-
pepform- sentations of Latin plays by scholars at the universities
and Inns of Court, and finally led to theii- imitation in
English. At last the rude beginnings of a more national English
drama began to appear, and as the taste for theu- representation
grew, regular theatres were opened in which plays coidd be acted.
In 1576, James Bui-bage, the first famous Elizabethan actor, opened
the first building set apart for dramatic performances at Shore-
ditch, just outside the city of London. It soon had many rivais
•i6o3.] ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS 417
and snccessors, of which the best known was the Qlohe theatre
in Southwark. These Elizabethan playhouses were but rude
structures, built of wood and roofed with thatch at the sides.
They were exposed in the centre to the weatlier, except on the side
of the stage, where the wealthy patrons of the drama sat on stools
among the actors, while the ordinary spectators stood in the exposed
pit, and the few ladies who ventured to be present, hid themselves
away masked, in boxes ranged round«the covered sides of the house.
Performances took place in the afternoon, and Sunday was the
favourite day for them, though the Puritans looked askance on
this violation of the sabbath as well as at the reckless profligacy
of many of the actors, and the lax morality of many of the pieces.
There was hardly any scenery and properties, though the actors
often wore rich dresses. Boys acted women's parts, which were,
however, but few as compared with the number of male characters.
Though there was Httlo money to be got by writing plays, success-
ful managers and actors were able, with prudence, to make a fortune.
19. The opening of public theatres soon brought about a
wonderful change in the quality of the pieces performed in them.
A group of young men who had acquired a taste for Marlowe and
the drama at the universities, settled down in London, the early
where they lived riotous lives and wrote plays which, o'^^^^^tists.
with much bombast and crudity, revealed real fire and action and
a vein of true poetry. The great age of the drama began when
Christopher Marlowe, the most gifted of the band, produced his
Tamburlaine the Great in 1587. In Marlowe's short, riotous, and
tragic career the first stage of EUzabetlian tragedy reached its
height. Cut off in a tavern brawl before he was thirty, he had left
work behind him who86 force and passion gave him a permanent
rank among the great poets of the world.
20. About the time that Marlowe wrote Tamburlaine, WiUiam
Shakespeare, a youth of two or three and twenty, left his home and
family at Stratford-on-Avon and went to London to shake-
push his fortunes. He soon found profitable employ- speare and
ment in working up old plays for representation, and ^^^ °*' '
before long, inspired largely by Marlowe's genius, began to attempt
original flights of liis own. After essays at fantastic and boisterous
comedy, his fervid love tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, and his
stirring patriotic dramas from English history, secured for him a
foremost position in his craft, while the Merchant of Venice, pro-
duced in 1594, a few months after Marlowe's success, first demon-
strated the full extent of his powers. Shrewd, businesslike, and
41 8 ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS [1485-
thrif ty, he had attained before Elizabeth's death a competent fortune,
a high social position, and a reputation quite unique among his
contemporaries. His profound knowledge of the human heai-t, his
breadth, naturalness, and self-restraint, his deep passion, abundant
humour, ripeness of judgment, and wonderful command of the
mother tongue, stand by themselves in aU literature. Round him
gathered a great school of dramatists, whose work, attaining its
climax under James i., slowly decayed under his successor, until the
great civil war brought it to an end.
21. Elizabethan prose did not attain the level of Elizabethan
poetry or the drama. There were few received standards of prose
composition, and the force and spirit of the age were
ppoIb'^*^^" half hidden away by the quaint conceits and tangled
and inartistic periods of many able writers. Richard
Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, which raised ecclesiastical pamph-
leteering into sound and dignified literature, and Sir Francis
Bacon's famous Essays, first published in 1597, were the greatest
masterpieces of Elizabethan prose. The patriotic impulse of the
age was reflected in the large output of historical work, of which
Holinshead's Chronicles, from which Shakespeare derived so much
of his history, are a conspicuous example. A feature of the time
was the extensive literature of travel and adventure, foremost
among which was Hakluyt's Principal Navigations of the English
Nation (1587), wherein the simple narration of the great deeds of
the Elizabethan seamen brings home vividly to us the close connec-
tion between the life and the literature of the time. It was the
richest, fullest, and most heroic period of English history.
Books kecommexded for the Further Study of the Period
1485-1603
Gairdner's Henry VIL ; Creighton's Wolsey (both in MacmillarCs Twdve
English Statesmen) ; Brewer's Reign of Henry VIII. (to the fall of Wolsey) ;
Pollard's Henry VIII. and the Protector Somerset ; Fronde's History of England
from thej'all of TVolsey to the death of the Armada (12 vols.), brilliant, preju-
diced and inaccurate, but of value for the reign of Elizabeth ; Creighton's-
Queen Elizabeth ; Seebohm's Protestant Revolution (Epochs of Modern His-
tory), useful for foreign relations in the early sixteenth century. For eccle-
siastical history, Gairdner's History of the English Church from Henry VIII.
to Mary; W. H. Frere's History of the English Church under Elizabeth and
James I., and Perry's Reformation in England (Epochs of Church History).
More's Utopia, R. Robinson's translation, Harrison's Description of England,
and Payne's Voyages of Elizabethan Seamen illustrate important aspects of
this period. The chapters on England in the Cambridge Modern History pre-
sent in a succinct form the facts of our history from 1485 onwards ; H. Fisher's-
History of England, 1485-1547 (Pol. Hist, of England, Vol. v.).
-i6o3.]
ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS
419
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BOOK VI
THE STEWARTS (1603-1714)
CHAPTER I
JAMES I. (1603-1625)
Chief Dates :
1603. Accession of James r.
1605. Gunpowder Plot.
1607. Plantation of Virginia.
1610. Plantation of Ulster and Dissolution of James' First Parliament.
1614. The Addled Parliament.
1618. Execution of Raleigh and Beginning of Thirty Years' War.
1620. Voyage of the Mayflower.
1621. Fall of Bacon.
1624. War with Spain.
1625. Death of James i.
1. The house of Stewart, which had been reigning over Scotland
for more than two hundred years, mounted the English throne at
the death of Queen Elizabeth. Its accession to the
of the throne meant much more than is ordinarily involved
English and in the change of one dynasty for another. The peace-
cpowns! ^^ -aiAon of the rival monarchies of England and
Scotland was a great thing in itseK ; and it became
more important since James i., the new king, was very anxious to
make the union as complete as he could. He saw that the personal
union of the two crowns under the same king was not enough. As
long as England and Scotland remained two countries with different
laws, institutions, and traditions, and even with different customs
as to the succession, the feeble tie of a common monarch might be
snapped at any moment. He therefore assumed the title of King
of Great Britain, and strove to build up a single state out of the
two very different lands over which he ruled. Though he had
grown up to middle life as king of Scots, and in most ways never
420
I6i8.] JAMES I. 421
ceased to be a thorough Scotchman, James's long experience made
him realize how much better oft" was the powerful English monarch
than the weak king of Scots, the puppet of his nobles and the
Puritan clergy. His idea of union was, therefore, to make Scotland
as much like England as possible, and his old subjects soon resented
the way in which he preferred English to Scottish fashions. He
set tliis policy to his successors, and all the Stewart kings more or
less embroiled themselves with their own country in their efforts
to bring English fashions into the northern realm. For this reason
the Scots disliked further attempts at union. But the English
were little better pleased with them. They were quite contented
with things as they were, and had no love for change. More-
over, they were suspicious lest a race of Scottish kings should
upset the good old English constitution in favour of their northern
fellow-countrymen and to the loss of the native-born English
subjects. "While, therefore, James, inspired by his solicitor-general.
Sir Francis Bacon, hopefully anticipated the time when the two
lands shotdd have one parliament, one law, one Church, and one
nation, his parliament looked with distrust on his plans. The result
waB that James only ventiired to ask his parliament for a very
little. He was content to demand that Englishmen and Scotchmen
should no longer be treated as foreigners in each other's country,
and that there shotild be freedom of trade between the two
nations.
2. In 1607 the House of Commons rejected both these proposals.
The only step towards union which James could secure from the
English side was a decision of the judges that all
Scotsmen born after his accession to the English James's pro-
throne possessed the full rights of English citizens. Jeets for
He had more success in assimilating Scottish institu- ^igff union
tions to those of England. In 1610 he restored bishops
to the Scots Church, though they had little power. In 1618 he
imposed on the Scots the Five Articles of Perth, which introduced
into Scotland some of the ecclesiastical ceremonies and Church
holidays which prevailed south of the Tweed. These measures
excited deep antagonism among the fiercely Presbyterian Scots.
With such strong suspicions on both sides of tlie border, it was
ea.sy to understand why a full union of England and Scotland was
still a hundred years off.
3. The moment of James's accession had witnessed tlie com-
pletion of the Tudor conquest of Ireland, so that James ruled
Ireland as fully as Great Britain, and was thus the first monarch
422
JAMES I.
[1607-
o£ the three kingdoms. The Irish remained bitterly discon-
tented with English and Protestant rule, and were only kept
down by main force. In 1607 the earl of Tyrone
strove once more to attack the English power, and,
failing utterly, fled from Ireland. His estates and
those of his f I'iends were declared forfeited for treason,
and in 1610 Sir Arthur Chichester, James's deputy,
divided the forfeited lands among English and Scottish settlers,
and thus carried out the famous plantation of Ulster.
This had more permanent success than the Elizabethan
plantation of Munster. Though the wild west of
Ulster stni remained fully Irish, eastern Ulster became
the home of a vigorous and energetic English-speaking and
The com-
pletion of
the con-
quest of
Ireland.
The Plan-
tation of
Ulster,
1610.
Emery Walker sc
The shaded part shouts the Protestant districts
in Ireland, which resulted from James I's.
Plantations,
IRELAND IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
Protestant population. Henceforth the Ulster settlers remained
as a Protestant garrison in Ireland. Though this immensely
-i632.] JAMES I. 423
strengtliened the English power, it brought new difficulties with
it. The Irish problem became more complicated, since side by
side with the old Catholic and Celtic Ireland a new Protestant
and Saxon Ireland was created. Bitterly hating the aliens who
persecuted their religion and robbed them of their lands, Celtic
Ireland sullenly waited for the hour of vengeance.
4. James i.'s reign saw the first establishment of new Englands
beyond the sea, as weU as extension of English influence over the
three kingdoms of Britain. The impulse towards « i •
. . ijejrinnings
expansion which had inspired both the Irish planta- of English
tions, and the failures of Gilbert and Raleigh in colonies.
America, now led to the first successful establishment of English
colonies beyond the Atlantic. In 1607 Virginia was settled by a
small band of emigrants, who named their first settle- plantation
ment Jamestown in honour of the English king. At of Virginia,
first they suffered terribly from disease, famine, and ^607,
the constant attacks of the Indian tribes, but these were successfully
overcome, and as the colony grew in numbers and strength it
received a free constitution with a House of Burgesses like the
House of Commons at home. A few years later Lord Baltimore, a
Catholic nobleman, established Maryland immediately
to the north of Virginia, receiving in 1632 a charter ^njj f 532
from Clftirles i., which made liim supreme lord of the
whole settlement. Maryland was the first proprietary colony,
controlled by a groat landlord. In 1625 the settlement of Barbados
was the first step towards the establishment of English plantations
in the West India islands. The settlers were not wiUing to do
hard work themselves. The land was divided into great estates
and plantations, whose proprietors cultivated tobacco, sugar, and
other products of warm climates. For long they had much
difficulty in obtaining labour, but at last fell back upon the labour
of negro slaves, imported from Africa and compelled to work for
their masters.
5. Other colonies arose in the colder regions to the north of
"Virginia, which received the name of New England. The first
of these settlements owed its origin to a little band
of English separatists, who, finding it impossible tatlo^*"'
to worship God after their own fashion in England, of New
resolved to seek freedom in tlie wilderness beyond the fr^i^f^oo
Atlantic. In 1620 a littlo band, aft(>rwards called the
Pilgrim Fathers, sailed in a small ship called the Mayjlowcr from
Southampton. They settled near Cape Cod, and called their new
424 JAMES I. [1600-
home Plymouth. Soon larger settlements arose round them, the first
and chief of which was Massachusetts, established in 1629, with
Boston as its capital. . Many other small colonies were planted in
New England under Charles i. The New England colonies formed
a class by themselves, and were soon clearly marked off from the
southern plantations. They became a land of yeoman proprietors,
farmers, fishermen, and ti'aders, with neither a wealthy planter
aristocracy nor a large population of slaves. They lived a
free and strenuous but somewhat hard and narrow life, prizing
their democratic institutions and their Puritan faith, and perse-
cuting those who did not hold their religion. In Massachusetts
no one could be a citizen who was not a member of an Independent
church ; but another of the colonies, Rhode Island, practised from
the beginning complete religious toleration. Virginia and the
West India Islands generally accepted the doctrines and worship
of the English Church. Their planter-aristocracies were quite
as jealous of freedom as was the Puritan democracy of New
England. Both types of colonies soon began to thrive exceedingly.
By the middle of the seventeenth century their success ensured the
extension of the English race and tong-ue over the greater part of
the eastern seaboard of North America. It is through these first
pioneers that the foundations of a world-wide " Greater Britain "
were laid.
6. James i.'s reign witnessed an expansion of English trade
corresponding with the growth of English colonization. Here, as
with the plantations, the Elizabethan impulse achieved
The begm- j^g o-j-eatest results after the queen's death. After the
nings 01
the East conquest of Portugal by Philip 11., the Dutch robbed
India Com- the Spaniards of much that remained of Portuguese
pany, . (.Qm^gj-gQ ^nd empire in the East. Their success
inspired English adventurers to follow in their footsteps, and in
1600 Elizabeth gave a charter to the English JE'rts^ India Company,
which at once entered into rivalry with the Dutch merchants.
Soon commercial antagonism sharply divided two nations which
common religion and common hostUity to Spain had hitherto closely
united. The struggle was sharpest in the archipelago of further
India, then called the Spice Islands, because the centre of the
The Am- lucrative spice trade. Its most striking incident was
boyna the massacre by the Dutch, in 1623, of the English
massacre, settlers in the little island of Amhoyna. In India
itself the English merchants soon obtained a stronger
position than the Dutch. They obtained grants of factories or
-i6si.] JAMES I. 425
trading settlements from the Mogul or Mohammedan emperors who
in those days ruled over the greater part of India. The first of these
to become important were Surat, set up in 1612, and Madras,
established in 1639. Other English trading settlements were
made on the west coast of Africa, where also Dutch competition
was keen. After the Dutch settled at the Cape of Good Hope
as a good halfway house to India, the English Ea.st India Company
founded an intermediate station of its own in the island of '
St. Helena in 1651. Thus the same generation which saw the
origin of our colonies saw the rise of our commerce with remote
lands, and the faint beginnings of our modern empire in the
East. For aU these reasons, our history can no longer be limited to
the story of the British Islands after the accession of the Stewart
kings.
7. England itself saw great changes under Stewart rule. The
land had outgrown the need for the Tudor despotism. The parlia-
ment of the active and energetic England of these days
was no longer content to foUow the lead of the kings, Stewarts
and thus the great event of the Stewart period is the and Parlia-
century of struggle between the king and the House of ment.
Commons, which only terminated when parliament had secured its
control over the crown. The accession of a foreign race of kings
with narrower sympathies, less knowledge of English ways, and
less broad intelligence than the Tudors, precipitated and intensified
the contest. Yet even if rulers as strong as Elizabeth had been
given to England, the contest would have been inevitable.
8. James i. was iU adapted to deal with the situation that he
had to face in his new kingdom. He was able, well-educated,
and the most scholarly king of his time. He was
good tempered, kindly, and honestly loved peace and Character
moderation. But he had formed all his habits before
he came to England, and never really understood English ways.
He was very conceited and obstinate, and was destitute of the
royal bearing of his preilecessor. Lazy, vacillating, and pro-
crastinating, he prefeiTed to live in retirement in tlie country,
amusing himself with hunting and study, and loving to shift
the hard work of government on to his favourites and ministers.
Yet he M'as proud of his statecraft, and delighted to dogmatize
on the divine right of kings and the sin of op})osiug the Lord's
anointed. He was shrewd enough, however to take broader views
of many questions than the majority of his subjects. Yet even
when his policy was right he was unable to carry it out effectively.
426 JAMES I. [1603-
His worst fault "was liis incurable habit of distingniisliing between
his own iaterests and those of his subjects.
9. James's general idea was to foUow as closely as he could the
policy of Elizabeth. But he neither fully understood his pre-
Robert Cecil decessor's aims, nor was he able to give effect to his
and his intentions. He was wise enough, however, to continue
enemies. ^^^ ministers of Elizabeth in office, and Sir Robert
Cecil, made earl of Salisbury in 1605, remained chief adviser to the
crown, and carried on, until his death in 1612, the traditions of
Elizabethan statecraft. Cecil's continuance in power drove his
enemies into a series of plots to overthrow him. Cliief among these
was the Main Plot as it was called, whose instigator was Lord
Cobham. Another conspiracy was the Bye Plot, a foolish scheme
of a Roman CathoKc priest named Watson, to keep James a
prisoner until he gave freedom to the Catholics and made the
plotters his chief advisers. Both designs were easily discovered,
and the chief conspirators were ptinished. Among them was Sir
Walter Raleigh, a known enemy of Cecil, whose condemnation was
only secured by very doubtful measures. Raleigh was not, however,
executed, but kept a close prisoner in the Tower with the death
sentence stiU hanging over his head.
10. James's continuation of Elizabeth's policy provoked bitter
discontent among both Puritans and Roman Catholics. The
The Hamn- Puritans who had long suffered severely from Whit-
ton Court gift's persecution, had hoped great things from a
^"nl^^^"*^^* -^^^^^y^®^^^^ king. On his way to London, a large
number of Puritan clergy presented to him what they
called the Millenary Petition, which begged for a relaxation of the
ceremonies so much disliked by the Puritans. James fell in with
their wishes so far as to hold a conference between the two parties
in the church at Hampton Court, in 1604. Proud of his theo-
logical learning, the king took a leading part in the debates
and showed bitter hostiKty to the Puritans when he realized that
they wanted to introduce the Scottish system into England.
" Scottish Presbytery," he declared, " agreeth as well with monarchy
as God with the devil." Under such circumstances, nothing im-
portant came of the Hampton Court conference. A few changes
were made in the Prayer-book, but they gave no satisfaction to the
Puritans. The only solid result was the ordering of a new trans-
lation of the Bible. This led to the Authorized Version of 1611,
which soon, through its merits, became the single translation used
by English-speaking Protestants.
-i6o5.] , JAMES I. 427
11. "When WMtgift died in 1604, Bancroft, who was bishop of
London, and had taken the chief part in opposing- the Puritans at
Hampton Court, became his successor. He was one of ArchbishoDs
the first Protestant divines to teach that a Church Bancpoft
without bishops was no Church at all, and he dealt *"<* Abbot,
as severely with the Puritans as Whitgift had done. His successor,
Archbishop Abbot (1610 to 1633), inclined to Puritan views, but
he gradually lost aU influence at court, and the main current of
Church opinion was setting steadily against him. A new school
of churchmanship now arose, whose leader was the saintly Bishop
Andrewes of Winchester, and whose most active partisan was
William Laud, who became bishop of London. They were called
Armimans, because they followed the Dutch professor Arminius
in rejecting the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination. They also
believed in the necessity for bishops, held the doctrine of the Real
Presence, loved elaborate ritual in divine worship, and claimed
continuity with the Church of the Middle Ages. The rise of this
school further embittered the lot of the Puritans.
12. The £>oman Catholics expected great things from the son
of Mary Stewart, and James, who was more tolerant than most
rulers of his time, made himself unpopular with rigid jj^^ nun-
Protestants by his unwillingness to send priests to powder
the scafEold. He made no attempt, however, to alter P'o^^i 1605.
the severe laws against the Catholics, and many still suffered for
their faith. In despair of lightening their lot by peaceful means,
a band of Catholic enthusiasts turned to treason. Headed by
Robert Catesby, a Warwickshire gentleman, a knot of recusants
formed a plot to blow up the king and parliament with gunpowder
on the occasion of the meeting of parliament on November 5, 1605.
Guy Fawkes, an old soldier in the Spanish service, became the
chief instrument of the conspirators. Some cellars were hired
under the House of Lords ; there explosives were hidden, which
Fawkes was to fire when the king opened the Houses on November 5.
At the same moment the Catholic gentry of the Midlands were
to be collected at Dunchurch, near Rugby, on the pretext of a hunt,
in the hope that on the news of the London catastrophe they would
seize the king's daughter Elizabeth, who was living in the neigh-
bourhood, make her queen, and bring her up as a Catholic. Cecil's
spies unearthed the plot before the meeting of parliament. On
Novem'ber 4 the cellars were searched, the powder discovered, and
Fawkes was taken prisoner and severely tortured. Catesby escaped
to Warwickshire, hoping still to induce the huntsmen of Dnnchuroh
428 JAMES I. [1604-
to rise in rebellion. Failing- altogether in this object, Catesby
and a few friends fled further, to Holbeach in Staffordshire, where
they were soon surrounded, and, after a hard fight in which Catesby
was killed, captured. Besides Fawkes, and the actual conspirators,
the persons executed for complicity included Henry G-arnett, the
provincial or head of the English Jesuits. The chief evidence
against him was that he had been told of the conspiracy under the
seal of confession. The main result of the Gunpowder Plot, as it
was called, was to frighten the king into carrying out the recusancy
laws with more severity than ever.
13. James found great difficiilties in dealing with his parlia-
ments. Never practising the severe economy of Elizabeth, he was
James and ^^^^^ ^aore frequently compelled to ask parliament for
his Parlia- money, and showed a disposition to bargain with the
ments. Commons, which was fatal to his dignity and authority.
The Commons severely criticized his harshness to the Puritans, and
complained that his foreign policy was not sufficiently Protestant.
They distrusted his great plans for change, such as the proposed
union with Scotland, and resented his habit of lecturing them on
his own dignity and their insignificance. The result was that he
was constantly involved in petty disputes with the Commons.
14. James' first parliament met in 1G04, and continued its
sessions tiU 1611. In the very first session there were hot disputes
about privilege of parliament, and the Commons, in-
Impositlons ^^^^'^ ^^ gi^ng James a subsidy, offered liim plenty of
and the unpalatable advice. There were worse troubles when
Great Con- James, encoiu-aged by a decision of the judges that he
tract 1610*' o %! JO
might alter taxes on exports and imports without re-
course to parliament by virtue of his right to regulate trade, issued
what was called the Booh of Mates, whereby, of his own mere
motion, he largely added to the customs-duties. In 1610 parliament
denounced the New Impositions, as the taxes were called, as a
violation of its rights. James and Salisbury chose this moment
for submitting to the Commons an elaborate scheme called the
Great Contract, wliich was proposed to resign the feudal revenue
if the king's debts were paid and his income increased by £200,000
a year. After much time consumed in haggling about details,
James dismissed Parliament in 1611 without having obtained its
consent to his proposals.
15. For three years James managed to get on without parlia-
mentary grants. He was so poor that he was forced to offer the
new hereditary title of baronet to any gentleman of position who
-i6i4.] JAMES I. 429
would lend him a thousand pounds, and in 1614 was again com-
pelled to face the estates. Before parliament met James ne^fo-
tiated with some prominent members of the last jjj^ Addled
House of Commons, who promised that if he would Parliament,
make concessions and take their advice, they would 1614.
keep the Commons in a good temper and persuade it to make
grajjts. Those who made this bargain with the king were called
the Undertakers. They found, however, that parliament, when it
met, regarded them as traitors and repudiated their guidance, and
took up so fierce an attitude that James dissolved the House before
it had passed an act or made a grant. For this reason the parlia-
ment of 1614 was called in derision the Addled Parliament. After
this James did not venture to summon another parliament for
seven years.
16. During this period many great changes happened. Salis-
bury died in 1612, and the same year saw the death of the
king's eldest son, Henry, prince of Wales, a youth james's
of promise, whose younger brother Charles became family and
prince of Wales in his place. James was so jealous lavourltes.
of yielding up authority, and so conceited with himself, that he
thought there was no need for him to have a chief minister
to replace Cecil. But he was not hard working enough to control
the state as Elizabeth had done, and was so easy-going and
good-natured tliat he soon felt the need of a confidential adviser,
who, without ha\-ing a policy of liis own, would save the king
trouble by looking after details and taking unpleasant burdens
on his shoulders. The result was that royal favourites soon began
to wield a dangerous and discreditable influence.
17. The first of James's personal favourites to win much favour
was Robert Ker, a good-looking Scot from a fierce Border
stock, who, after Salisbury's death, became Viscount
Rochester, and wielded an immense infiuence over his
master. Ker was a sulky, obstinate, and ignorant fellow, so dull
that he was obliged to depend upon the advice of a clever, arro-
gant man-of-letters named Sir Thomas Overbury. Rochester's
wife was, however, an enemy of Overbury, and contrived to get
him shut up in prison, where her agents put liim to death by
poison. Now made Earl of Somerset, the favourite remained
at the height of his power for two years more, though lie grew
so insolent and ill tempered that even James became tired of him.
At last the confession of one of Lady Somerset's accomplices
revealed to the world the true story of Overbury 's death. Both
430 JAMES J. [1604-
earl and countess were tried "before the House of Lords, and
co^^demned to death, the countess as a murderess, and her husband
as an accessory to her crime. James pardoned the guilty pair
their lives, but their faU from power was complete and final.
The hideous revelations at the trial did James himself much harm,
though he was guiltless of anytliing worse than weakness and
credulity. ^
18. James soon found a new favourite in George Villiers, the
sou of a Leicestershire knight, a proud, quick-witted, handsome
man, rather shallow and vain, whose head was turned
Villiers. ^7 ^^ success, and who soon became unpopular through
his ostentation and overbearing pride. The king's
favour made him lord high admiral, and first earl and then duke
of Buckingham. All seekers after court favour found it necessary
to procure his support, and the gravest and wisest of the king's
counsellors owed their advancement to Buckingham's goodwill
rather than to their own merits. Laud drove Abbot from James'
favour, and with Buckingham's help won the old king over to the
Arminians. The great lawyer and brilliant writer and thinker,
Francis Bacon, tardily attained the position of chancellor through
the patronage of the favourite.
19. Foreign policy, always important, now became the chief
concern of James and his ministers. James's general ideas as to
James's English foreign policy were sound and wise, but, as
foreign usual, he was not able to carry them out in i:)ractice.
policy. Like Elizabeth, he loved peace, and thought that each
nation ought to settle its religion for itself, so that he was adverse
to the popular idea that it was the business of good Protestants
Kke the English to wage war against Spain as the chief enemy of
the faith. In 1604 James made peace with Spaia, and even sought
an alliance with her, though he also strove to continue his pre-
decessor's friendly relations with Henry iv. of France. In 1610
Henry iv. was murdered by a Catholic fanatic, and during the
minority of his son and successor, Louis xiii., Henry's widow ruled
France in the interests of Siiain and the strict Catholic party.
Thus Spain got back something of the position she had lost.
20. Spain wished for English support, and James thought it
would be an excellent way of proving the real friendship that
existed between the two peoples if his son Charles, prince of
Wales, were married to the Infanta Maria, the daughter of PhUip
III. and the sister of his successor, Philip iv. Negotiations for
this match were begun in 1616, but almost at the same time
-i6i8.] JAMES I. 431
James's eager desire for money led him to listen to a proposal quite
incompatible with any real Spanish aUiance. Sir Walter £<aleigh
had in his early years made a voyage to Guiana, and |>„jg.„i,'
brooded in his weary imprisonment over the fancied last voyage
splendours of that land, where he believed there existed *"** execu-
gold-mines of unheard-of richness. He now offered, if jglS.
released from the Tower, to lead an expedition to gold-
mines in Guiana, whose produce would make James the wealthiest
prince in Europe. The glittering bait was easily swallowed by the
king, and in 1617 Raleigh was allowed to sail to South America
in quest of the promised mine. He was told, however, that he
must on no account molest the Spaniards, the king's allies, and
must prosecute his quest entirely by peaceful means. Haleigh
readily agreed to all this; but it was quite impossible to him to
fulfil his promise, since the Spaniards claimed the whole of the
region that he sought to explore, and looked upon his expedition
as piracy. Moreover, when South America was reached, the old
spirit of lawless adventure made light of Spanish opposition.
Raleigh sent his ships up the river Orinoco, and when a Spanish
settlement blocked the way, his captains attacked and burnt it
as Drake or Hawkins would have done. But the Spaniards, soon
proved stronger than Raleigh's cowardly and mutinous followers,
who, in their fear of the Spaniards, forced their leader to sail
home to England. Long before that the loud complaints of the
Spaniards had reached James's ears. Gondomar, their ambassador,
demanded that Raleigh should be surrendered to Spain to be tried
as a pirate, and James was so afraid of provoking the wrath of
his ally that he thought the easiest way out of tlie difficulty was to
put Raleigh to death under the old sentence of 1603. This satisfied
the Spanish complaints, but English opinion lamented the death
of the high-souled adventurer as that of a hero sacrificed by his
cowardly king to gratify the bitter hatred of the Spaniards.
21. In 1618 a great religious war broke out in Germany, and
soon spread over all Central Europe. Lasting until 1648, it was
called the Thirty Years' War. It had its roots in the
quarrels between the Catholics and Calvinists in Ger- ^\J^g ^f ,{,e
many, which had long threatened the peace of that Thirty
country. Its immediate origin was the revolt of the j^|fg* War,
Bohemian Protestants from their new king, the
emperor Ferdinand 11., the head of the hou.se of Austria, and a
bigotted Roman Catholic. Thereupon the Bolieniiaus chose as
their king Frederick, the Elector Palatine 0/ the Rhine, the leader
432 JAMES I. [1622.
of the German Calvinists, and closely connected with England by
reason of his marriage to the Lady Elizabeth, James's only
daughter. It was hoped that James, who was devoted to his
child, would assist his son-in-law against Ferdinand ; but James
hated war, and above aU religious war, and gave Frederick no
help. Under these circumstances, Frederick could not long main-
tain liimself. He was first driven from Bohemia, and then from
liis own hereditary dominions. Though the more strenuous German
Pnotestants supported him, the only result of this was to make the
war more general. Bit by bit he lost the Palatinate as weU as
Bohemia, and liis expulsion meant the subjection of Germany to
the triumphant Catholics.
22. James had not countenanced Frederick's aggression in
Bohemia, and English Protestant zeal had regarded his holding
back another proof of his cowardice and want of
efforts to faith in Protestantism. But the same desire to leave
restore the things as they were which had made him reluctant
Elector ^q j^gip ^jg son-in-law in Bohemia, rendered him very
1622-1623. anxious to prevent the elector being deprived of his
hereditary possessions. English volunteers were per-
mitted to join Frederick's army ; but even now James shirked
strong measures. He believed that the best way to set things
straight was for him to use his influence over his Spanish allies,
and thus bring about Frederick's restoration by peaceful means.
It was, however, absurd to think that the German Catholics would
give up their conquests to please the Spaniards, even if the
Spaniards were willing to ask them to do so. As a matter of fact,
the Spaniards had no intention of procuring the Elector Palatine's
return. They used James as a tool, and encouraged him to resume
the negotiations for the marriage of his son with the Infanta,
which had broken down on the previous occasion.
23. Spain was delighted to delay matters by treating with Eng-
land for the prince's hand. But it gradually became clear that Philip
would not really accept any marriage scheme unless
the Spanish James promised to give such freedom of worship to
marriage, his Catholic subjects as the English parliament would
*^^^* never allow. It suited the Spaniards' game, however,
to waste time on trivial details, untU Buckingham, who ruled
Charles as absolutely as liis father, persuaded the prince of "Wales
that the best way to settle the question one way or the other was
for him to go to Spain and woo the Infanta in person. Accord-
ingly, in 1623 the prince and his friend made their way to Madrid,
i62i.] JAMES 1. 433
only to find that the diplomatic difficulties remained as ^Teat as
ever, and that Spanish etiquette and the Infanta's dislike of a
hei*etic wooer put fresh obstacles in his way. At last he realized
that the Spaniards were playing" with him, whereupon he went
home, brimful of indication and eap-er to persuade his timid
father to take up arms to restore the Elector Palatine, since the
last efforts of diplomacy to effect this object had so sig-nally failed.
Charles and Buckingham revenged themselves on Spain by
negotiating" an alliance with France, which had once more
begun to take up a line of its own. It was agreed that Charles
should marry Henrietta Maria, sister of King Louis xiii. This
proposal was less hated by the English than the Spanish match,
but any marriage of the heir-apparent with a Roman Catholic was
disliked. Moreover, the French proved ineffective allies, and
James's first efforts to send help to his son-in-law were sorry
failures.
24. Foreign complications again necessitated recourse, to parlia-
ment, and James twice more met his estates in 1621 and 1624, His
third parliament in the former year assembled at the jan,es<5
time when James's slackness in helping Frederick third Par-
made him unpopular among mUitant Protestants. Hamcnt,
James asked for a large supply, though he made it
clear that he would not fight if he could helj) it. He was answered
by the Commons refusing to grant liim a subsidy until their chief
grievances had been redressed. Conspicuous among these were
monopolies, which had become even more burdensome than in the
last years of Elizabeth. The indignant Commons especiaUy com-
plained of a monopoly for licensing ale-houses, which the monopo-
lists, headed by Sir Giles Mompesson, had used so selfishly as
to encourage drunkenness. Mompesson fled from the country, but
could not escape condemnation.
25. The ministers of the crown were also signalled out for
attack, chief among them being the lord chancellor Bacon, a
stout friend of monopolies. Some aggrieved suitors ^^^ ^^^ .
in the Court of Chancery complained that Bacon had Bacon,
accepted bribes, and that he had given decisions 1621.
against them. Thereupon the Commons sent up to the Lords the
complaints made by the suitors, that they might be judicially in-
vestigated. This was the practical revival of the laie mediieval
custom of impeachment, whereby the Commons presented a jmblio
offender to be tried by the Lords as judges. Bacon did not
seriously defend himself. He declared that he had never given
2f
434 " JAMES I. [1625.
corrupt judgments, though he acknowledged that he had fallen
into the evil system then usual of accepting presents from litigants.
He was condemned, deprived of office, and for a short time im-
prisoned; but James soon released the fallen statesman from the
Tower. Bacon died five years afterwards, a disappointed man,
though he found in his release from office opportunity for working
out some parts of the great schemes for building up a new philo-
sophy which had long amused his leisure.
26. Both in the matter of the monopolists and Bacon, James
had given way to the Commons. After granting a subsidy, there
, was a short prorogation until the autumn, when the
fourth Pap- same House reassembled. The renewal of the Spanish
liament, negotiations disgusted the Commons, who sent a
death^"625 ^'^^^^^^ ^^ James that he should marry his son to
a Protestant. James told them it was no business
of theirs, but they replied that they had a right to give advice on
any subject. Thereupon James angrily dismissed them. When
he next met a parliament in 1624, the breach with Spain had made
him popidar, but even now there were disputes as to the way the
war should be carried on, and the Commons showed their resolu-
tion by impeaching the lord treasurer Middlesex, and passing an
act declaring that monopolies were already illegal. On March 27,
1625, the old king died.
CHAPTER II
CHARLES I. (1625-1649)
Chief Dates :
1625. Accession of Charles i.
1628. The Petition of Right.
1629. Dissolation of Charles' third Parliament.
1633. Laud archbishop of Canterbury.
1638. Hampden's Case and the Scottish National Covenant.
1640. Meeting of the L«ng Parliament.
.1641. Execution of Strafford and the Irish Rebellion.
1642. Battle of Edge Hill. *
1643. Battle of Newbury.
1644. Battle of Marston Moor.
1645. Battle of Naseby.
1648. Second Civil War.
1649. Execution of Charles i.
1. Chakles, prince of Wales, became Charles I. at the age of
twenty-five. Handsome, dignified, and serious, lie far surpassed
his father in all the external graces of his station, but
he was without James's shrewdness and wide know- ^f ^^p'i|s j
ledge. Though carefully brought up, he had not very
great ability, and was curiously slow in thought and action. He
could neither think nor speak clearly, and, unable to understand
any one else's standpoint, he lived in a dream-world of his own.
He was proud, obstinate, and unyielding; yet he had a great
difficulty in making up his mind as to,any decided course of action.
His piety, gravity, love of culture, and care for his friends attracted
the devotion of Ids personal followers, but he was out of sympathy
with his people as a whole. His ministers complained that he
would never yield them his full confidence, and that it was im-
possible to tie him down to any fixed policy. His devotion to
Buckingham made his people regard him with distrust. His
wife, Henrietta Maria of France, was frivolous and intriguing,
and her great influence over him was by no means exercised
for good.
2. When Charles became king, England was already at war
43s
436 CHARLES I. 11625-
witli Spain. He was so anxious to restore the Elector Palatine
and to fight the Spaniards, that he promised large subsidies to
_,, his uncle, Christian of Denmark, who agreed to in-
with Spain vade Germany and revive the Protestant cause. The
^"•i alliance with France would, as he hoped, help both
Charles's . • •
flpst Par- -^^ Spanish and his German designs. Knowing that
liament, a Protestant war against Spain and the German
1625. Catholics was popular, Charles reasonably expected
that parliament would give him sufficient supplies to enable
him to cany out his comprehensive designs with vigour. But
when parliament met in 1625, it refused to make substantial
grants unless Buckingham were removed from his counsels, and
showed an unexpected want of sympathy for his Protestant foreign
policy. Charles thought that the Commons had played liim false,
and angrily dismissed them. Their claim to withhold supplies
until his advisers were of their liking seemed to him to be a wanton
attack on the king's right to rule the country as he would.
3. It was clear that Charles was now likely to be involved in a
fierce struggle with his parliaments. A prudent statesman would
Home and have abandoned his foreign designs in the face of the
foreign attitude of the Commons. Anyhow, he would have
policy. chosen between fighting parliament and fighting the
Spaniards. Charles was too confused a thinker to grasp this
point, and resolved to go on with his war whether the Commons
helped him or not. Tliis was a course certain to make Charles
unsuccessful in both struggles.
4. The war itself was mismanaged, and Charles's finances made
fighting on an adequate scale impossible. The French gave him little
help, and an expedition sent from England under
The French Edward Cecil, afterwards Lord Wimbledon, to attack
Charles's Cadiz, and cut ofE the American treasure fleet on its
second way to Spain, proved a lamentable failure. Before
^ggg*™®"*' long Charles quarrelled with France as well as Spain,
and in 1626 was involved in hostilities with his
brother-in-law. Under these circumstances he was again forced
to summon the estates. But Charles's second parliament, which
met in 1626, was as uncompromising as its predecessor. Led by
Sir John Eliot, an eloquent Cornish gentleman, the Commons
resolved to impeach Buckingham, and Charles soon found that
the only way to save his favourite was to dissolve parliament.
5. Charles's foreign policy was already a complete failure. He
could do no harm to Snain, and the cause of the Elector Palatine
-i628.] CHARLES I. 437
became hopeless when Christian of Denmark was utterly beaten
by the German Catholics in 1626. Christian bitterly complained
that the English had broken their promise to help
h i m with men and money, but Charles was quite un- ]q^®„ °n^®
able to redeem his word. Nevertheless he now planned Darnell's
an expedition agtiinst France, where the revolt of the ^*^®'
HugTienots of La Rochelle, then the chief seaport
of western France, gave him an opportunity of winning allies
among his enemies' subjects. As the Commons would not make
him grants, Charles sought to provide money for the expedition
by levying a forced loan upon all his subjects. The legality of
this was more than doubtful, for an act of Richard ill. had
prohibited all benevolences or compulsory gifts to the crown.
The king's lawyers argued, however, that there was no law that
prevented Charles borrowing his subjects' money, and great
pains were taken to force every substantial Englishman to
hand over to Charles the sum which he fixed should be lent to
him. Soldiers were bUleted on those who refused to pay, and
commissions of martial law issued which sought to withdraw the
trial of offences wrought by such soldiers from the ordinary law
courts. Many persons, including Eliot himself, who refused to
comply with the king's orders, were put into prison. Among the
prisoners were five knights, who resolved to test the lawfulness of
the king's demand by requesting their release from prison by what
was called a writ of habeas corpus. By this the gaoler was com-
pelled to produce the body of the prisoner before the judges in
court, and to specify the offence for which he was detained. If
the judges thought that the prisoner was unlawfully kept in prison,
it was their duty to order his release. In DarnelVs case, as this
case was called from the name of one of the five knights, the gaoler
returned the answer to the writ that the captives were detained by
the special command of the king. The judges thereupon ordered
their recommittal to gaol, thus practically deciding in the king's
favour and admitting that the king could imprison his subjects
at his discretion. So little success attended Charles's efforts even
after this, that in de.spair he set the five knights free and summoned
another parliament. He at length understood that the only way
to help La Rochelle was to obtain a parliamentary grant.
6. Cliarles's thinl parliament assembled in 1628. Besides Sir
John Eliot. Sir Thomas Wentworth, a Yorkshire landlord, was
conspicuous among the leaders of the Commons. Under their
guidance the Commons showed a resolute determination to defend
43^ CHARLES I. [1628-
the liberty and tlie purses of Englishmen from Charles's attacks.
Wentworth had no wish to diminish the king's authority, but he
distrusted Buckingham and wished to drive him from
third Pap- power. He proposed that a bill should be passed
liament and enacting that in the future forced loans and im-
*f ^rT^m *°" prisonment without legal warrant should be restrained,
1628. ' ^^^ Charles resented the proposal as an encroachment
on his prerogative, and Eliot did not think it went
far enough. In the end Eliot's counsels prevailed over those of
Wentworth, and the Commons sent up to the king a document
called the 'Petition of Bight, which declared that the recent acts
of Charles were already against the law, and in particular de-
nounced as illegal the levying of gifts, loans, or taxes without
parliamentary consent, the imprisonment of persons without cause
shown, the billeting of soldiers and sailors on householders against
their wills, and the issuing of commissions of martial law.
7. At first Charles returned an evasive answer to the Petition
of Right, but Commons and Lords aHke urged that he should say
Charles ^^^ °^ ^^' ^^^ ^^® Commons proposed to renew the
accepts the impeachment of Buckingham. Fear for his friend
?fi9«'*'"' ^^^^ compelled Charles to yield the royal assent to the
petition. Parliament then made him a large grant
of money, and went home for the holidays, conscious that it had
at last won a complete triumph over the crown.
8. The subsidy of the Commons at last made the expedition to
La Rochelle possible. It was high time, for Louis xiii.'s troops
Murder of ^^ besieged the Protestant stronghold, and unless
Bucking- the English sent a relieving force its capitulation
ham, 1628. could not be long delayed. Buckingham, who as
lord admiral was to command the fleet, went down to Portsmouth
to hasten the preparations. There he was mui-dered by a fanatic
named Felton, whose motive, however, was private spite, not political
animosity. Buckingham was so unpoptilar that the mob made a
hero of the murderer. Few save Charles lamented the dead
favourite. His removal did not, however, result in any improvement
in the relations between Charles and Lis subjects. The king's
policy remained the same, and the indignation which had hitherto
fallen on the duke now fell directly upon the monarch.
9. In 1629 Charles's third parliament met for a second session,
and, despite the Petition of Right, began to attack the king more
fiercely than ever. The Commons complained that Charles stiU
levied some customs duties, called tunnage and poundage, which his
-i629.] CHARLES I. 439
first parliament, rejecting" the custom of earlier times which voted
the king tunnage and poundage for life, had only granted him
for a single year. Charles had thrown into prison
a member of the House of Commons who had refused of charle°s"s
to pay this tax, and the Commons now said that this third Pap-
was an attack on the privilege of parliament to be 1'™®°''
exempt from arrest. Moreover, Charles had recently
promoted to bishoprics and other ecclesiastical preferment divines
who belonged to the Arminian party, which was so distasteful
to the Puritan Commons. There was soon so complete a breach
that the king resolved to prorogue parliament. The Commons
shut the door of the House in the face of the king's messenger,
and two members. Holies and Valentine, held down in his chair the
timid Speaker, who had sought to end the sitting. Amidst stormy
scenes the Commons voted, on Eliot's motion, that all who intro-
duced Arminianism, or bi'ought in innovations in religion, or paid
tonnage and poundage without parliamentary grant, were traitors
to the Commonwealth. Then the door was opened, and the king's
messenger admitted. The Commons streamed out to receive notice
that their session was prorogued, and a few days later parliament
was dissolved. Eliot, as the ringleader, was thrown into the
Tower, where he died three years later of consumption, aggravated
by the rigour of his imprisonment.
10. The first period of Charles's reign ends with the dissolution
of his third parliament. The second comprises the eleven years
from 1629 to 1640, during which Charles managed to j,. , ,
carry on the government without summoning a new arbitrary
one. Five years of strife had showr. that the claims rule. 1629-
of the crown and of parliament were incompatible with
each other. The Commons were no longer content to accept
the position which had satisfied them under the Tudors. They
now demanded supremacy in the state, for they required that the
king should change his ministers whenever the Commons were
displeased with them. Though the Commons declared that they
were only following up ancient precedents, Charles can hardly be
blamed for resenting their interference as a new and revolutionary
pretension. His predecessors had governed England as they
would, and now parliament sought to make his government de«
pendent upon itself. Neither king nor Commons quite saw the
real issue. The real truth was that the country had outgrown the
old constitution, and that the future could only be settled when it
was seen whether king or parliament was the stronger. Two
440 CHARLES I. [1629-
issues were aloue possible. If Charles could do without parliaments
he could make himseK a despot like his brother-in-law Louis xiii.
If parKament could beat the king, then the strong monarchy of
the Tudors was dead, and the king must henceforth content him-
self with a mere shadow of his former power. But Charles went
on blundering in the old ways, and even during those eleven years
never strove to make himself strong and popular, so that the x^eople
might trust him rather than the Commons.
11. Charles's first efforts were now to raise enoug-h money to
be able to live without parliamentarji grants. With this object he
, practised the greatest economy in all liis expenses. He
expedients ^^ l*st saw how imijossible it was to fight foreign
for raising nations without parliamentary help, and concluded
"^ " peace with both Spain and France, thus abandoning
the unlucky Elector Palatine to his fate. Meanwhile the thirty
years' struggle stiU continued in Germany, when first Gustavus
Adolphus of Sweden, and afterwards Louis xiii. of France and his
great minister Richelieu, stepped in to save the Protestants from
destruction. Peace was not made until 1648. Even when at peace
Charles found himself hardly pressed to obtain a revenue. He
dared not openly break the law and raise taxes of his own authority,
but he sought to evade the spirit of the law in all sorts of under-
hand ways. His chief care was to revive obsolete royal rights, by
which a little money might be made. Thus he increased the
customs duties, because as king he had the right to regulate trade,
and on the same ground continued to le^'y tunnage and poundage.
He renewed an old custom, called distraint of knighthood, by which
the king could fine all gentlemen of landed property who had
neglected to get themselves dubbed knights. He strove to increase
the limits of the royal forests after the fashion of the Norman
kings. Above all, he revived an ancient right, whereby in ancient
times the different maritime districts had been required to provide
the king with ships, or had been forced to pay instead a money
composition, called ship money, with which the king
Ship miffht construct vessels for himself. There was, in-
money. " .
deed, urgent need for increasing the royal navy, and
Charles honestly spent the money he thus got in building slxips
to protect the shores and commerce of England. He was so
encouraged by the success of Ms scheme, that he soon extended
sliip money from the coast region to the inland counties. It
th\is became practically a new tax levied without parliamentary
grant.
-1638.] CHARLES I. 441
12. The old opponents of Chaxles in parliament were much
disgrusted with ship money, and John Hampden, an able and
wealthy Buckinghamshire g-entleman, a former member
of the House of Commons, and a close friend of Sir y^T ^ f ?q^
. case, l63o.
Joliu EUot, refused to pay his quota of the sum
demanded from Buckinghamshire to equip a new ship for the king.
In 1638 his case was tried before aU the judges, who decided by a
majority in favour of the legality of the tax. But Hampden's
resistance focussed the popular opposition to Charles's pitiful
financial expedients. Henceforth ship money was paid with in-
creasing reluctance, and dislike to the king's ai-bitrary and incom-
petent government became widely spread.
13. Charles's ecclesiastical policy had still more share in
making his rule odious tlian his attempts to raise money. Even
more than Elizabeth and James i., Charles showed Charles's
himself a bitter enemy of the Puritans, whose cause eccleslas-
was the more odious to him since it was so popular tical policy,
with the House of Commons. A friend and disciple of Laud,
Charles was a sincere Arminian, and in fidl sympathy with the
new school whose affinities with the Church of the Middle Ages
made them so antipathetic to the Puritan Calvinists. Apart from
theological preference, however, Charles trusted the Arminian
clergy because they were always on the side of the monarchy, and
ever anxious to magnify the sacred character and divine commission
of a crowned and anointed king. In 1628 he made Laud bishop
of London, and in 1633, when Archbishop Abbot died, raised him
to the see of Canterbury. Throughout all these years Laud was
Charles's most trusted adviser.
14. The new archbishop was a man of learning, high character,
and wonderful energy. He was sincerely anxious to improve the
condition of the Church, which was still full of abuses Archblshoo
and laxity. But he was narrow-minded, meddlesome. Laud and
and wanting in tact, and as incapable as Charles liim- ^•^^ Purl-
tans*
self of understanding the temper of people who diffei'ed
from himself. His respect for antiquity and his martinet's sense
of discipline made Laud regard rigid conformity and unity in
ceremonies as etjually important with the maiuteuauce of morality
and reUgion. Under Abbot the Puritan clergy had been permitted
to be somewhat lax in regard to ceremonies, and Laud now made
it Ids chief care to establisli a higher standard. The noncouf ormingr
clergy were rutlilessly driven from their cures, and severity
naturally added considerably to the hitherto scantv i-anks of the
442 CHARLES I. [1629-
separatists. Preachers were forced to read Common Prayer
before giving their sermons, and even foreign Protestants were
compelled to use the Prayer-hook. It was required that the
communion tables should be placed at the east end of the churches,
and fenced with rails to keep them from profanation. Puritans, who
regarded Sunday as a Christian sabbath, were scandalized when
Laud caused to be read in churches a proclamation recognizing
lawful sports, such as archery and dancing, after service on Sunday.
The indignant Puritans were convinced that their enemy was
aiming, in league with the Roman CathoKcs, at the subversion of
Protestantism. The Catholic surroundings of the queen, even the
tolerance that refused to butcher Catholic priests as Elizabeth had
done, were regarded as further proofs of the disloyalty of king
and archbishop to the Reformation.
15. For a time all opposition was stilled. Laud strove to revive
and extend the power of the Church courts, which continued to
The victims ^^^rcise intolerable tyranny over all men. Great
of Charles's offenders were punished by the court of High Com-
poliey. mission. It was by extraordinary courts of tliis type
that Charles as well as Laud found their chief means of enforcing
obedience. The Star Chamber made itself odious by the severity
of its punishments, the secrecy of its proceedings, and its absolute
deference to the wishes of the government. A Scottish physician,
named Alexander Leighton, was imi)risoned, flogged, and cropped
of his ears for writing a book against bishops. WiUiam Prynne,
a learned lawer and antiquary, was put in the piUory, mutilated,
and imprisoned for libelling the queen, because in writing a book
against stage plays he had reflected on the moral character of
actresses, and the queen was fond of acting in masques.
15. Laud believed that he had restored the Church to the great
position it had lost at the Reformation. As in the Middle Ages,
the clergy began to hold the highest offices of state,
We"twopth ^^^ Juxon, bishop of London, a college friend and
close ally of Laud, was made lord high treasurer.
Among the lay allies of Laud, Sir Thomas Wentworth, now Lord
Wentworth, was by far the ablest. "We have seen how Wentworth
had had something to do with the passing of the^ Petition of Right
and the attack on Buckingham. After Buckingham's death, how-
ever, he abandoned his old associates and joined the court party.
He was no mere apostate, as has sometimes been thought. He had
always upheld the prerogative, for, like Bacon, he believed that he
would be more likely to secure the strong government and
-1637.1 CHARLES I. 443
comprehensive reforms that he loved from an enlightened king
than from the conservative and pmitanical House of Commons.
Wentworth, however, did not fully enjoy Charles's confidence, for
the king was too half-hearted and vacillating for so thorough-
going a minister. He employed Wentworth first as president of
the council of the north and afterwards as deputy of Ireland. In
the latter office Wentworth showed extraordinary vigour and
energy, ruling Ireland firmly but roughly, maintaining peace,
and improving its agriculture, trade, and material prosperity.
He planned a new plantation of Connaught, which would have
driven the native Irish from their last retreats. But his master-
ful ways alienated Irishmen of every class. Wentworth was a
great friend of Laud, who shared his views. They called their
system of trampling down aU opposition Thorough, and Wentworth
was soon able to boast to the archbishop that the system of
" thorough " had been completely established in Ireland. He
raised an army in Ireland, which might well some day be useful
to extend the reign of " thorough " to Britain.
16. Scotland also was to share with Ireland and England the
new system of government, of which Laud and Wentworth were
the great exponents. Charles pressed on his father's ^^ Scottish
policy of extending liis power over the Scots by Prayep-
making Scottish institutions as much like those of book, 1637.
England as he could, and, in particular, by assimilating the
Scottish Church to the Church of England. In 1633 Charles
visited Edinburgh, and was crowned king of Scots. Laud
accompanied him, and, by the archbishop's advice, the power
of the newly restored Scottish bishops was increased, and a new
bishopric was set up in Edinburgh. Surplices were ordered to
be worn by the clergy when conducting divine worship. At last,
in 1637, a great ftirther step was taken, when a service-book
was drawn up for the Scottish Church. The Scots hated all set
forms of worship, and looked on the English Prayer-book as poj^ry
in disguise. The book Charles now ordered them to use was based
upon the English service, and alterations which were made in it,
with the professed object of giving the Scots a special book of
their own, were all of a character that made it more in accordance
with the teaching of Laud and his school than the English Common
Prayer. So unpopular was the plan in Scotland that Charles did
not venture to get the con.sent either of the Scottish parliament
or of the general assembly of the Scottish Church. It was imposed
upon the country by the royal prerogative alone.
444 CHARLES I. [1638-
17. All Scotland was indignant at the new service-book.
When the dean of the new c|ithedral of St. Giles's in Edinburgh
The National attempted to read prayers from it for the first time,
Covenant, there was a riot in the church. AU over Scotland
^^^' the clergy, still Presbyterian at heart, despite the
restoration of episcopacy, refused to use the hated litiu-gy, and
were backed up by the thorough sympathy of their flocks. The
nobles, who had hitherto supported the king against the ministers,
fell away, and, headed by Archibald Campbell, earl of Argyll, and
James Graham, earl of Montrose, made common cause with the
clergy in defending Scottish Puritanism and Scottish national
rights. Four tables, or committees, were set up, representing the
nobles, gentry, clergy, and townsfolk, and as Charles had no means
of enforcing his wiU, these committees became for all practical
purposes the rulers of Scotland. In March, 1638, Scots of all
ranks united in signing what was called the National Covenant,
^hereby they pledged themselves to abhor " papistry " and uproot
all traces of its " idolatries," to uphold the king's lawful authority,
and to labour to restore the purity of the Gospel as " established
before recent novations." It was in vain that Charles abandoned
the Prayer-book. A General Assembly of the Church met at
Glasgow, and soon showed so mutinous a spirit that the king
dissolved it. The assembly declared that the king had no right
to interfere with the spiritual freedom of the Church, and went
on with its work all the same. It formally abolished episcopacy,
and the good will of the whole nation secured that its decree
should at once be carried out.
18. Charles thus saw his authority set aside by his Scottish
subjects. Being without an army, he had no means of restoring
The First ^^^ sway. His only chance was to appeal to the old
Bishops' hatred of the English to the Scots, and raise a force
War, 1639. jn England by which he might conquer Scotland like
a foreign countiy. But the English saw that the Scots had a
common cause with them against the king, and honoured the Scots
for showing them the way to resist him. The few troops that
Charles could collect were mutinous, ill trained, and had no heart
for his cause. Against him the Scots brought together a fine
army, many of the soldiers having, like the general, Alexander
Leslie, been trained in the art of war when fighting as volunteers
for the Protestant cause in Germany. The result was that the
First Bishops' War, as men called it, which Charles attempted to
fight in the summer of 1639, was a sorry failure. Charles, finding
-1640,] CHARLES I. 445
his soldiers would not fight, was forced to sign the treaty of
Berwick, by which all Scottish grievances were to be settled by
a free parliament and general assembly. Perceiving, however,
that both parliament and assembly were resolved to insist on the
abolition of episcopacy, Charles adjourned their sessions, and
again resolved to try the fortune of war.
19. This bold policy required a stronger hand than Charles or his
weak ministers possessed. The king therefore recalled Wentworth
from Ireland, made him earl of Strafford, and gave j. short
liim his chief confidence. Strafford was clear-headed Parliament,
enough to see that Charles could only hope to be April, 1640.
successful in fighting the Scots by summoning a parliament and
throwing himself upon the support of England. Very unwillingly
Charles accepted his advice, aiid again met a parliament in April,
1640. Led by Hampden, the hero of the ship-money struggle, and
John Pym, an able and eloquent squire of Somerset, the Commons
refused to give Charles any supply unless he first redressed their
grievances. This meant changing Charles's whole system of govern-
ment, a courae for which the king was not yet prepared. Accord-
ingly Charles dissolved his fourth parliament when it had sat about
three weeks. For this reason it was known as the Short Parliament.
20. Despite his failure to get parliamentary supplies, Charles
managed somehow to get an army together to fight the Scots in
the summer. This time the Scots did not wait for ,_ second
Charles at home, but boldly invaded England, where Bishops'
they were welcomed as liberators. It was in vain that War, 1 640.
Charles strove to defend the passage of the Tyne against the
northern army. After some fighting at Newbum. near Newcastle,
the English ran away, and the Scots occupied the south bank of
the river. Their march southwards was no longer opposed. In
October, Charles, again forced to treat, made with them the treaty
of Ripon, by which he promised to j)ay the expenses of the army
which had beaten him. Next year he signed a permanent treaty that
left Scotland in the hands of the Presbyterians. Thus the Second
Bishops' War was even more disastrous to the king than the first.
21. The need of paying the Scots army brought Charles's
embarrassments to a head. He was now obliged to raise a large
sum of money, and, fearing to meet another parlia- jy^^ ereat
ment, he called together at York a great council of council at
lieers. The lords told him that he must summon a York,
parliament, and, having no other resource, he was constrained to
follow their advice.
44^ CHARLES I. [1640-
22. On November 3, 1640, Charles's fifth and last parliament,
memorable in our history as the Long Parliament, assembled at
Meeting of Westminster. The king- was absolutely at its mercy,
the Long and the whole of the Commons and a large number of
Papllament, the Lords were bent on reversing- the whole of his
Nov., 1640. , J, J mi 1 .
system ot government. The king s ministers were at
once attacked. Strafford and Laud were impeached, and Strafford,
as the more dangerous of the two, was first brought up for trial
before the Lords. It was soon, however, found very difficult to
convict him of any legal offence. He was charged with treason,
but treason, by English law, was treason against the king, and
Strafford's real crime was to have served the king too well at the
expense of his country. Great efforts were made to prove that
a letter of Strafford, in which he urged the king to use the
Irish army against the English or Scots, amounted to levying
war against the king. This was, however, a most strained and
unnatural twisting of the law, and the Lords, the judges of the case.
Attainder of ^^^sitated as to whether it would be accepted. De-
Straffopd, spairing of wreaking vengeance on their foe by judicial
May, 1641. means, the Commons dropped the impeachment, and
borrowed from the worst precedents of Henry viii., the procedure
known as an act of attainder. This was simply passing a new
law enacting that Strafford should die. It was practically denying
to the accused any proper trial, and disposing of him by virtue of
the power of a law to do anything. The bUl easily passed the
Commons, and the Lords were frightened into accepting it by the
timely discovery of what was called the army plot, an intrigue of a
few courtiers to upset the parliament and establish a despotism,
Charles was then asked to give the royal assent to the bill. He had
promised Stratford that not a hair of his head should be hurt, but,
after a pitiful hesitation, gave way. On hearing the king's decision
Strafford exclaimed, " Put not your trust in princes." On May 12,
1641, he was beheaded on Tower Hill. Laud was kept in the
Tower until there was leisure to proceed against him also.
23. The more satisfactory work of the early sessions of the
Long ParKament was the clean sweep which it made of the
macliinery by which Charles had attempted to play
me™sures ^^® despot for eleven years. It abolished the Court of
of the Long High Commission, the Council of the North, the Star
1 64o'-^'64r*^' Chamber, and the other prerogaiive courts, and released
their victims, such as Prynne, who were now hailed as
popular heroes. It reversed the unconstitutional decisions of the
-l64i.] CHARLES I. 447
judges, such as those in Darnell's c^e and Hampden's case. It
declared ship money, tunnage and poundage, and the new imposi-
tions illegal. It passed a Triennial Act, enacting that not more
than three years should elapse without a meeting of parliament.
It deprived Charles of his favourite weapon of a dissolution by
forcing on him a law that the existing parliament should not be
dissolved without its own consent. As with Strafford's impeach-
ment, parliament showed a wonderful agreement in carrying all
these measures. The king had no party, and was forced to stand
aside while Pym and Hampden, the spokesmen of the representa-
tives of the nation, destroyed his power as tliey would.
24. Having reordered the government of the State, the par-
liamentary leaders set to work to provide for the future of the
Church. With Pym and Hampden's goodwill a bill x^e Root
was brought forward, called the Moot and Branch and Branch
Bill, which proposed to abolish bishops altogether and • *®*^*
put the control of the Church into the hands of a commission of
laymen. The revolutionary character of this measure had the
result of dividing the Long Parliament for the first time into
parties. There were stiU many who loved bishops and the Prayer-
book. Such men would willingly have made common cause with
Pym and Hampden in getting rid of what were called Laud's
"innovations," but their conservative temper made it intolerable
to them that the' Elizabethan settlement of the Church should be
destroyed. Headed by Edward Hyde, a rising lawyer, and by Lucius
Gary, Viscount Falkland, a broad-minded, warm-hearted enthusiast
of deep religious feeling, they opposed the Root and Branch Bill.
The result was that the second reading was only carried by a small
majority. Soon afterwards parliament se])arated for the vacation.
25. When Parliament scattered Charles went to Scotland.
Some of his followers formed a foolish plot, called tlie Incident,
which aimed at arresting Argyll and the Presbyterian xhe
leaders at the moment when Charles professed the Incident,
utmost friendship for them. Though Charles denied
any knowledge of the scheme, the detection of his friends' treachery
brought him much discredit.
26. Still graver suspicion was cast upon Charles when a serious
rebellion broke out in Ireland. As soon as Strafford's strong hand
Was removed, the oppressed Irish burst into revolt jj^^ j^j^j^
against his weak successors. The native Irish in Rebellion,
Ulster rose against the Protestant settlers, and Owen *641.
Boe O'Neill, the exiled chief of the greatest of the Ulster clans,
44^ CHARLES I. , [1641-
came back from his exile, and put himself at the head of the rebels.
Soon the rising spread to other provinces, and the StrafEordian
system of " thorough " was soon violently overthrown. Great atroci-
ties were wroug'ht, which were magnified by rumonj" in England.
It was reported that the bloodthirsty Irish had massacred thousands
of Protestants in cold blood. The king and his papist queen were
denounced as accomplices of the assassins, or as anyhow having
given the signal to the revolt by the sympathy they had shown to
Roman Catholics.
27. In the autumn of 1641 parliament met again, thoroughly
alarmed by the Irish rebellion, and eager to take advantage of
every rumour that blackened the king. It drew up
Remon- ^ long document, called the Grand Remonstrance,
stpance, wherein it recapitulated all the evil deeds wrought by
°^" ' Charles since his accession. It attributed the root of
the mischief to Charles's " malignant design to subvert the funda-
mental laws and principles of government," and demanded that
ministers should be employed who possessed the confidence of
parliament, and that the Church should be reformed by a synod of
divines. In substance it declared that Charles's concessions counted
for nothing, and that parliament would only be satisfied with revo-
lution in Church and state. Hyde and Falkland now mustered
those who had opposed the Root and Branch Bill to vote against
the Remonstrance. After a hot debate, Pym and Hampden only
managed to j)ass the Remonstrance through the Commons by a
majority of eleven.
28. The division of the once united Commons into two nearly
equal parties gave Charles a splendid opportunity of winuing back
a position of influence. The foes of the Remonstrance
slon of were a constitutional royalist party in the making,
Parliament pledged to uphold the existing institutions in Church
'"^°tles° ^^^ state, though equally pledged against arbitrary
rule and Laudian innovations. But Charles had no
eyes to see how affairs were tending, and his one idea was to win
back aU that he had lost by taking advantage of the disunion of
his natural enemies, the Commons. He made a feeble attempt to
conciliate the moderate party by giving office to Falkland, but he
. immediately afforded damning proof that Pym and
on the five Hampden were justified in their incurable distrust of
members. i^\jj^ i,j a fooKsh and treacherous attack on the leaders
^"■' ■ of the majority. On January 3, 1642, he accused
Lord Kimbolton and five commoners, among whom were Pym
-1642.] CHARLES I. 449
and Hampden, of hiph treason, on . the fj^roiind of their neg-o-
tiations with the Scots, whicli he regarded as consijiring- with
the king-'s enemies. Not content with that, he went down to the
House of Commons, and demanded that the five members should be
surrendered. Forewarned of the king's designs, the five members
had escaped to the City, and Charles was forced to withdraw,
amidst angry cries of " Privolege." Thereupon the Commons
transferred their sessions from Westminster to the City, whose
walls afforded them protection, and whose citizens were ardently
on their side.
29. Charles was so completely baffled that, a week later, he
abandoned the capital, leaving his palace and aU the resources oi
the state in his enemies' hands. War was now almost _.
The rupture
inevitable, but efforts to avoid a rupture still occupied between
the first six months of ItJ 42. Cliarles ma<lo Ids last King and
concession when he gave the royal consent to a biU
excluding bishops from the House of Lords. Soon after the
Houses sent up for his approval a Militia Bill, which transferred
the command of the militia from officers a])pointed by the king to
commanders appointed by themselves. When Charles refused to
accept this, the Lords and Commons ordered that it should be
carried out as an ordinance of parliament, and were obeyed over
a great part of the country. Parliament then formulated tlieir
final terms in the Nineteen Propositions presented to Charles at
York, the effect of which would have been to make him only a
nominal ruler. Indignantly rejecting these proposals, Charles
raised troops and money on his own account. There had already
been collisions betw(»en the friends of the king and parliament at
Mani'hester and Hull when, on August 22, tlie king set up his
standard at Nottingham as a signal tliat civil war had begun.
3<J. The Great Rebellion, as it was called, saw the division of
the nation so wjually between king and parliament that the struggle
was necessarily long and severe. Despite Charles's _ „ ..
recent signs of bad faith, he found a largo proportion and Parlia-
of the country enthusiastically on his side. Few mentary
Englishmen had any real love of revolution, and the
uncompromising wish shown by the parliament to alter the whole
system of government in Church and State caused many to rally
round the king. Nearly all those who had upheld Hyde and Falk-
land were now on Charles's side, and gradually more than a third
of the Commons, and more than half of tli« Lords, deserted West-
minster and joined Charles. Both ^Mirties professed to maintain
4SO CHARLES I. [1642-
the old constitution, and many holding almost the same views were
found in opposite camps. In the kings favour was the strong
personal attachment of his own friends and the stronger feeling of
loyalty to the office of monarch. Against him were the errors of
his past career and the profound distrust which so many felt of his
character and motives. Religion divided the two sides more clearly
than politics. Puritanism was the real strength of j)arliament,
and all who loved bishops and Prayer-book, or were afraid of the
setting up of a rigid Calvinistic despotism over conscience and
liberty, fought for the king. The Roman Catholics were neces-
sarily royalists, since a Puritan triumph meant a renewal of bitter
persecutions for the friends of the old Church. There was no clear
class division between the parties. Though the majority of the
Lords and country gentry were royalists, yet a large proportion of
the greater nobles of old standing was opi^osed to the crown, and
the leaders of the Commons were gentlemen of large estate and
high social position. It is easier to draw a geographical line
between parties, though both sides had rej)resentatives everywhere.
Roughly speaking, pai'Liamentary preponderance rested on London
and the southern and South-eastern shireS ; while the districts most
loyal to the king were the north, Wales, and the south-west. This
corresijonds very roughly to the older divisions between York and
Lancaster, between friends and foes of the Reformation under the
Tudors. The more wealthy and progressive parts of the land were
for the parliament ; the old-fashioned and conservative districts
felt more keenly the impulse of loyalty to the crown. Parliament
had most resources, and was, in particular, in a much stronger
financial position than the king. The royalists were called Cava-
liers — that is, horsemen or gentlemen ; and the Parliamentarians
were nicknamed Roundheads, from the close-cropped hair affected
by the Puritans.
31. Charles soon gained a large following in the Midlands,
He appointed the earl of Lindsey to the supreme command, and
— placed the horse under liis nephew, Prince Rupert, the
campaign son of Frederick, Elector Palatine, and his English
of 1642. -wiiQ, Elizabeth Stewart. Charles's j)lan was to march
southwards on London, the parliamentary headquarters. But the
chief parliamentary army, commanded by the earl of Essex, the
son of Elizabeth's favourite, followed closely on his heels, and com-
pelled him to fight the first pitched battle of the war at Edge Hill,
on the borders of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. Led by the im-
petuous Rupert, the king's cavalry easily defeated the horsemen
-1643.] CITARLES I. 451
of the enemy, but the parliamentary infantry proved sniwrior to
the foot-soldiers of tlie king. When nig-ht fell, Essex withdrew
his troops, leaving' the king the fruits of victory. Edge Hill
Charles thereupon resumed his march to London. On and
his way he occupied Oxford, and made his headquarters Brentford,
of that city, whose university, inspired by Laud's teaching, was en-
thusiastically on his side. From Oxford he pushed his way through
Reading to London. He got to Brentford, within a few miles of
the capital, but dared not venture to fight a pitched battle with the
London militia, ma^ssed to oppose him on Tumham Ch'een, between
Hammersmith and Brentford. Winter was approaching, and
Charles withdrew from Brentford to Oxford. He was never so near
success as when he thus ttirned back from the suburbs of Londor.
32. The early part of the campaign of 1643 was decidedly in
favour of the king. The main armies, ranged between Oxford and
London, did not show great energy, and the most i-jje
memorable conflict between them was a skirmLsh campalsrn
between Rupert's horsemen and the parliamentary
forces at Chalgrove Field, ten miles east of Oxford, where Hampden
received his death- wound. His loss was the greater since Pym, tho
other parliamentary spokesman, died in the course of
the same year. The main scenes of fighting were in gycMsses
the north and west, where each side had set on foot
independent local armies. In both cases the pi"ej)onderating feeling
of the district was royalist, and in both the royalist cause prevailed.
The king's general, the earl of Newcastle, defeated Lord Fairfax
and his son, Sir Thomas Fairfax, at Adwalton Moor, near Bradford,
and conquered all Yorkshire, save Hull. In tho south-west tho
battle of Strattoii was an equally decisive royalist triumph. Corn-
wail and Devon were conquered, and the western army finished up
its career of victory by marching through Somerset and defeating
Sir William Waller at Boundway Down, near Devizes, in Wiltshire.
Plymouth alone in the west upheld the cau.se of parliament.
Bristol opene<l its gates, and nothing save the resistance of
Puritan Gloucenter prevented the royalist conquest of tho lower
Severn valley.
;i;i. The royalists threw all their efforts into the attack on
Plymoutli, Hull, and Gloucester. Charles himself undertook tho
investment of the latter place, and soon presswl it so _., .....
1 1 ii . Ti ji 1 , . . . « .. « , First battle
.hai'd that li.rt.sex, though a sluggisli general, felt forced of Newbury,
to attempt to raise tlie siege. On his approach Charles Sept., 1643.
fled, Mid Gloucester was thus saved from dangper. Essex now made
452 CHARLES I. [1643-
his way back to London, retiring- by circuitous roads so as to
avoid Oxford. On September 20 lie found liis return blocked
at Newbury by Charles's army, and was forced to accept battle.
Charles's army was strongly posted on the slopes of a hill, and
Essex's men had to advance through narrow lanes and broken
ground to the attack. Rupert's impatience at lighting a mere
defensive action caused him to risk the day by leading a tierce
charge against the enemy. But the steadiness of the London
militia resisted his headlong assaults, and when night fell the
sturdy citizens stiU maintained their ground. The royalists suffered
such severe losses that Chai'les, under cover of darkness, retreated
to Oxford. Among the royalists slain was Falkland.
34. The relief of Gloucester, and the virtual victory at New-
bury, marked the turning-points in the war. Henceforth the
.. royalist successes were stayed, and the year ended
and the withoiit any mox*e decisive action. In one field, the
Eastern eastern counties, the Puritan cause held its own,
* even in the darkest days of the war. There was no
fighting here, since, on the outbreak of hostilities, the various
shires were combined in an organization known as the EaHtem
Association, which setup a well-disciplined army of sturdy Puritans,
commanded by the earl of Manchester — who, as Lord Kimbolton,
had shared the fate of tiio five members — and by Oliver CromweU,
a descendant of a Welsh nephew of Thomas Cromwell, and the
member for Cambridge town in the Long Parliament. Cromwell
was soon the soul of the Eastern Association, which he inspired with
his own fierce and determined spirit. Its army conquered Lincoln-
shire at Winceby fight on the same day that Newcastle was forced
to I'eltnquish his long siege of Hull.
35. After nearly two years of almost balanced victory, king and
parliament now sought to obtain outside support. Portiinately
foreign intervention was impossible, since the Thirty
Hon and Years' War stiU occupied the attention of the chief
the Solemn nations of Europe. But Charles looked to Ireland and
Covenai^" parliament to Scotland for possible assistance. Charles
made a treaty called the Cessation with the Irish
Catholics, which set free Strafford's army to come over and help
him, though it once more involved him in the imputation of being
a friend of papists. Pai-liament did a better stroke of business in
signing a treaty with the Scots, called the Solemn League and
Covenant, by which the Scots army was sent to aid the English
Puritans on condition of England pledging itself to accept
-1644.] CHARLES 1. 453
Presbyterianism, which the Scots believed in so greatly that t^ey
vrould not move a fing-er to help the English until tliey adopted it.
36. Early in 1(544 fighting- was renewecL The army sent from
Ireland to aid the king was scattered soon after its landing, but the
well-disciplined levies of the Scots joined the Fairfaxes, _.
and soon reversed the previous fortunes of war in the campaigrn
north of England. At last the combined Puritan of 1644.
armies shut up Newcastle and his army in York, which they
straightway besieged. Manchester and Cromwell came up to
the help of the Scots and Fairfaxes. Soon York was so severely
pressed that Charles sent Rupert with the best part of his army
to its relief. On his approach the siege of York was raised and
the three armies of the parliament took up a position facing
northwards on rising ground between the villages of Marston and
Tockwith, a few miles west of York, where they awaited the attack
of Newcastle and Rupert. Thus was brought about, on July 2, 1644.
the hattle of Marston Moor, the most important battle of the war.
37. The three Puritan armies were posted amidst fields of rye
on the low ridge that dominates Marston Moor from the south.
Manchester and the Association army held the left.
liis extreme left being protected by CromweU at the of Marston
head of the eastern cavalry and David Leslie with the Moor,
Scots horse. Lord Fairfax and the Yorkshire J"ly2.1644.
infantry were in the centre, while the Scots foot, commanded by
Alexander Leslie, now Lord Leven, Dav-id's uncle, were stationed
more to the right. The right flank was held by Sir Thomas
Fairfax and the Yorkshire cavalry. On the other side Rupert
.stationed his horsemen over against Cromwell, while Lord Goring,
with the rest of the cavalry, held the left wing opposite Sir Thomas
and his Yorkshiremen. The infantry was massed in the centre,
Rupert's troops being in advance of Newcastle's, which were held
in re.serve in the rear. The armies fac«d each other until six
o'clock in the summer evening, when Rupert resolved to postpone
the attack till next day. Suddenly the parliamentary forces
advanced in a late and unexpected assault. Though taken by
surprise, the royalists held their own manfully. Soon the tide of
battle 1)egan to set against the Puritans. Lord Fairfax's centre
was cut through, and his son's cavalry fled in headlong panic beforft
Goring's troopers. The fortunes of the day wore, however, stayed
by the steadiness of Leven's Scottish infantry, who, though isolated
by the retreat of the Fairfaxes on Imth sides of them, held their
own with flerce pertinacity. Meanwliile, Cromwell and Rupert had
454
CHARLES I.
[1643-
L_J Districts held by the Kin^
Parliament
NORTH
ENGLAND AND WALES DURING THE GREAT CIVIL WAR, MAY. 1G43.
■1644-1
CHARLES I.
455
I I Districts held by theking
H| - Parliament
trntri/tVaCktr. «»
K;«OLA;fD AND WALKS DLKl.Nti llll. i.lillAT CIVir, WAR, NQVKMBKR, tC44.
45<5
CHARLES I.
[1644-
crossed swords in the western section of the field. These commanders
had already won tlxe reputation of being- the ablest generals of
cavalry on their respective sides. Meeting each other for tlie first
time, they fought with extreme coui'age and endurance. For a
time Cromwell's heavy horsemen held their own with difficulty
against the boisterous onslaught of Rupert. Then a timely charge
of David Leslie turned the balance, and Rupert's troopers were soon
driven in flight to the north. With great prudence Cromwell
desisted from the pursuit, and tiirned to the assistance of the hotly
pressed Scots foot. Manchester's men rallied on witnessing their
Emery Walker 5
comrades' success. Thereupon the whole forces of the Association
assailed the royalists on their right flank, and soon won a complete
triumph. " God made them," boasted Cromwell, " as stubble to our
swords." The royalists were scattered ; a day half lost was changed
into a great victory, and the whole of the north fell into the hands
of the conquerors.
38. Parties were still so weU balanced that Marston Moor was
not in itself decisive. Essex's army was destroyed by an abortive
attempt to invade Cornwall ; and later in tlie year, when Manchester
and Cromwell marched south to redress the Puritan fortunes, the
sluggishness of the former missed a good chance of victory in the
second battle of Newbury. But the greatest successes of Charles were
-1645.1 • CHARLES I. 457
brought about by an unexpected royalist rising- in Scotland under
James Graliam, earl of Montrose. Montrose liad act^d with Arpryll,
the Presbyterian leader, in repudiating- the bishops
and accepting- the covenant. But he g-rew weary of s^p^ugfjon
the Calvinistic tyranny and was disgTisted at the strong- of Essex's
position which Arg-yU and his allies, the ministers, had ?f "^ ^"*^
attained. Montrose's ideal was that of a constitutional Montrose,
monarchy, ruling- throug-h the nobles and g-antry, and
keeping- the clergy and the greater magnates in subjection. Pres-
hyterianism was so strong-, however, in Lowland Scotland that
Montrose had no chance of winning- many followers in the south.
After vainly attempting- to stir up a rising- there, he turned to the
Highlands, where he met with a warmer welcome. In the wild
north and west of Scotland the Highland clans still maintained their
turbulent independence. Every valley was governed by the clan
chieftain just as tlie O'NeiUs and their fellows had ruled in Ii*eland
until the Elizabethan conquest. Argyll was not only a great Low-
hvnd nobleman, but the head of the powerful Presbyterian clan of
tlie Campbells, whose greed and aggressiveness made tliem hated
by all the neighbouring triliesmen. The Highlanders readily rose
at the bidding of the foe of the Campbells, and Montrose, with a
true soldier's instinct, first led the fierce clansmen into the Low-
lands, and made them the arbiters between the contending factions
of the south. His appreciation of tlie military value of the High-
landers brought a new element into the scene which clianged tlio
fortunes of Scottish hi.story on at least four occasions within tlie
next hundred years. For the moment he was brilliantly successful.
After many minor victories he scattered the Campbells at Inver-
lochy, near Ben Nevis, on February 2, 1645.
39. The continued successes of the royalists filled the party of
the parliament with extreme disappointment. Ardent spirits
declared that the failure of the popular cause was
largely due to the sluggishness and incompetence of L*^j'*|®^j
tlie great noblemen, like Essex and Manchester, to ^y^^ 5g]f>.
whom the command of the armies had been assigned Denying
by reason of their hereditary claims. Others saw a Prfi"*""®'
chief reason for ill succesw in the want of organiza-
tion and method of the locally raised and independently controlled
armies. It wa« a proof tliat the extreme men were growing in
power, that the aged Laud was attainte<l and executed early in
ItM*), a cruel act of vengeance that did nothing save to make ])eaoe
more impossible. More honourable triumphs were the passing of
458
CHARLES I.
[1645-
the New Model Ordinance, wliicli welded the armies of the Parlia-
ment together in a single whole, with sterner discipline, better
organization, and regular pay, and the Self-Denymg Ordinance, by
which members of either House of Parliament were deprived of their
commands. This was an ingenious plan for getting rid of Essex,
Manchester, and Waller, but it shoxild also have involved the removal
of Cromwell. Cromwell was, however, the real inspirer of the
new army system, and was thought indispensable. He was made
lieutenant-general, or second in command, with supreme authority
over the cavaliy. Sir Thomas Fairfax became general-in-chief.
40. The campaign of 1645 proved the value of the New Model.
Royalist foot CH
Royalist horse [21
Parliamentary foot...
Parliamentary horse
jf/) JNaseBy""'
Emery WaUcer s
After purposeless wanderings in the Midlands, Charles and Fairfax
met in battle on the high plateau of Nasehy, in
of Naseby Northamptonshire, on June 14. As usual, the cavalry
June 14, on the wings took the chief part in the struggle, but
1645. while Rupert on the king's right, after scattering
his opponents under Ireton. wasted his time in pursuing the enemy
and plundering the baggage train, Cromwell, who easily scattered the
royalist left, at once desisted from pursuit, as at Marston, and fiercely
-1646J CHARLES I. 459
attacked the infantry on the royalist centre that liad more than held
its own in the early part of the encounter. Crashed between Crom-
well's troopers and the rallying? infantry of the New Model, the
royalist centre was soon hopelessly defeated. Before long- Cromwell
had won a battle even more complete than the fig'ht at Marston Moor.
41. The royalists still strug-gled manfully, but Montrose in
Scotland was the only g-eneral who could still win victories for
Charles. The Highland host had swept everything
before it, but, when the fight was won, the simple phiup-
clansmen had no thought save to go home and revel haugh,
on the spoils. Montrose soon found the impos-sibility of Sept., 1645.
keeping a Higliland army long in the field an insuperable obstacle
between him and the conquest of Scotland. In despair of his
Celtic allies, he once more appealed to the Lowlands, but he was
only joined by a' few border lairds and their followers. David
Leslie returned from England, and had little difficulty in destroy-
ing Montrose's litt.le force at Philiphaugh, on Ettrick Water, in
September, 1G45. Montrose fled to the Highlands and tlience to
the continent. The Covenanters again dominated all Scotland.
42. For nearly a year after Naseby Charles continued the
struggle. At last, in May, 104(>, seeing tliat his only choice was
between exile and surrender, he rode into the Scots
camp, thinking that he might persuade them to renders to
uphold him against the English. Tliis the Soots the Scots,
might have done if Charles would have given up *^'
episcopacy, but on his refusing their terms, they handed him over
to parliament, and went back to their own country. Fortune,
however, still favoured the king. If he could not set Scots against
Englisli, he soon had a chance of winning back some power by
playing off against eacli other the two factions into which the
victorious parliamentarians were now breaking up.
4:3. Already, during tlie discussions about the New Model, a
strong cleavage liad become marked between the moderate men,
powerful in the two Houses of Parliament, and tlio _ .
extreme men, who gaine<l the chief positions in the terlans and
reorganize<l army. In an age that set religion before Indepen-
politics, these two parties became known as Presby- *** *
teriana and Independents. The Presbyterians of the Long Parlia-
ment were not zealots for the divine right of Presbytery like tlieir
Scots allies, tlioiigh they had agreed to make the English Clmrch
Presbyterian. With the help of the WeMminster Asaemhly of Divines
they liad removed bishops and Prayer-book from the English Church,
4<5o CHARLES I. [1646-
and liad made it in all things like the Church of Scotland, save
that they insisted on maintaining parliamentary control over the
Church after a fashion that the Scots thought an impious inter-
ference by the secular power with spiritual matters. Even in the
Westminster Assembly, however, a little knot of sectaries, or
Independents, made their influence felt. Holding the same views
as the Brownists of Elizabeth's reign, the sectaries wished to make
each congregation a self-governing Church. They thought that
the " new presbyter is biit old priest writ large," and feared to
extend to England ihe spiritual tyranny set up in Scotland. It
followed from their views that they were advocates of toleration,
while the Presbyterians were more eager than Laud to impose their
tenets upon every one, and stamp out all dissent.
44. The might of Independency lay in the strong and growing
hold which it had over the army. When appeal is once made
Parliament ^^ ^^^ sword, the sword naturally has the final settle-
and the ment of affairs. But the Presbyterian leaders in
army. parliament did not realize what an immense authority
belonged to the warriors who had fought their battles. Now that
the war was over they hoped to disband the army, and were so
eager to do this that they did not even pay the soldiers their arrears
of i)ay before their dismissal. This foolish step united the army
as one man against the Lords and Commons. The beginnings of
opposition arose from the elected representatives of the soldiers,
but Cromwell, after some hesitation, threw in his lot with them.
45. Parliament, alarmed by the attitude of the army leaders,
began to negotiate with the king and Scots. Thereupon Cromwell
Charles's ^®^^ ^ ^^^ troops of horse to Holmby House, near
intrigues Northampton, where Charles was living, and secured
with both ^j^g custody of the king for the army. Charles was
and the respectfully treated by the soldiers, who offered him
Presby- better terms than the Scots or parliament had done,
terians. tt • ^ j. ±- • ^
He might even continue episcopacy so long as none
were forced to obey the bishops' jurisdiction. But Charles, as
usual, shirked taking up a straightforward line. Deceived by the
anxiety which both parties had shown to get him on their side, he
thought he was still strong enough to play off one against the other,
and ultimately win back his old position. His incurable vacillation
and lack of faith soon convinced the soldiers that no trust could be
placed in him. While professing to listen to the army terms, he
signed a secret Engagement with the Scots, in which he promised to
set up Presbyterianism for three years and put down heresy — that
-1649.] CHARLES I. 461
is, Independency. In deep disgTist the Independent leaders resolved
to have no more to do with the treacherous king. An unsuccessful
attempt at escape gave them the pretext for keeping" him. under
restraint for the first time, at Carisbrooke Castle, in the Isle of Wight.
46. In 1648 the English Presbyterians joined hands with the
Scots against the army. The result was the second Civil War, in
which a Scottish force advanced through Cumberland ~ second
and Lancashire to restore the king, whUe Presbjrterian civil War,
Kent and Essex, where there had hitherto been no 1648.
fighting at all, rose in revolt against army rule. Fairfax soon
crushed the rising in the Home Counties by the capture of Colchester,
while Cromwell fell upon the Scots and signally defeated them in
a series of fights between Preston and Warriiujton. AH England
was now at the mercy of the New Model army, controlled by fierce
fanatics, who were weary of compromise and intrigue, and felt a
divine call to govern England after their own fashion.
47. Parliament still timidly upheld the Presbyterian position,
and tried to renew negotiations with the king. On December 6,
1648, Colonel Pride went down to Westminster and
drove out the Presbyterian members of the House of ^f j^e Inde-
Commons. The minority of Independents, soon derided pendents,
as the Bump, was allowed to sit, but these men were ^^^'^ile
puppets in the hands of the soldiers. The army now execution of
demanded that Charles should bo brought to trial as ^*'*'''^1Iq
guilty of the unnecessary bloodshed of the second Civil "'
War. The little knot of Independent peers shrank from so violent
a policy, whereupon the Commons resolved that as representatives
of the people they had power to act by themselves. A High Court
of Justice, of which John Bradshaw was the president, was then set
up to try the king. Though barely half the members nominated
were willing to sit, Fairfax the general being himself among tliose
who refused, the resolute fanatics resolved to hold their court.
Charles, brought before it, declared that no tribunal of subjects had
a right to sit in judgment on its sovereign. This plea was dis-
regarded, and, after a mere pretence of a trial, the king was con-
demned to death on January 27 as a murderer and a traitor. On
January 130 he was beheaded outside the Banquetting House of his
own palace of Whiteliall. In the presence of death the better side
of Charles's character asserted itself. He die<l with such piety,
patience, and meekness that tlie incurable errors of his life were
forgotten in the pity excited by his death, and he was reverenced
as a martyr to Church and constitution.
CHAPTER III
THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE
PROTECTORATE (1649-1660)
Chief Dates :
1649. Establishment of the Commonwealtli ; Cromwell's victories in
Ireland.
1650. Battle of Dunbar.
1651. Battle of Worcester.
1652. War with the Dutch.
l653' The Instrument of Government.
l6SS> Conquest of Jamaica.
1657. The Humble Petition and Advice.
1658. Death of Cromwell.
1659. Fall of Richard Cromwell.
1660. Convention Parliament and Declaration of Breda.
1. Afteji the execution of Charles r., the Rump, disregarding the
claims of his son Charles, prince of Wales, abolished both
monarchy and House of Lords, and resolved that hence-
ment of the forw^ai'd England should be a Republic, or Common-
Common- wealth, ruled by a House of Commons only. The
16^*^' carrying out of the laws was entrusted to a new
Council of State of forty-one persons, which was to
take the place of the Privy Coimcil. The next thing to follow
naturally would have been the dissolution of the Rump, and the
holding of a general election ; and the army, the real source of the
Rump's authority, was anxious that tliis step should be effected with-
out delay. However, the Rump clung to power, and feared lest a
freely elected parliament should sweep away the new constitution.
Its ideal was a republican aristocracy, such as that of Holland or
Venice, maintaining good order, and upholding religious toleration
for aU sorts of Puritans. For more than four years it was suffered
to go on ruling England. Its real masters, the soldiers, had plenty
to do during that period in defeating their enemies in Scotland
and Ireland, and in teaching foreign states to respect the young
republic. •
462
1650.] COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE 463
2. Even in England troubles beset the infant commonwealth.
The royalist party was inspired with new life by the pity felt for
the fate of Charles i. A little book called, Eikon DifWguities
Basilike, or the Kitigly Image, which professed to of the new
contain the prayers and meditations composed by the Kovern-
martyr before his execution, was so eagerly read and
admired that Jolm Milton, the poet, now secretary to the council
of state, wrote an answer entitled Eikonoklastes, or the Image-
breaker. An even greater peril came from the more turbulent
spirits called the Levellers, who thought that the army leaders had
not gone far enough, and insisted upon the immediate setting
up of a complete democracy. Many of the keenest politicians in
the army were of this way of thinking, and there was real danger
from their fierce zeal. Cromwell, however, declared himself strongly
against them. "Break them in pieces," said he to the council.
" If you do not break them, they will break you." He sternly put
down the mutinies which the Levellers had stirred up among the
soldiers. The Commonwealth must make itself supreme before the
question of what form it should take could be considered. The
royalists dared not rise, so that the fall of the Levellers meant the
complete subjugation of England.
3. Ireland and Scotland were still outside the rule of the Rump.
In Ireland since the Cessation most of the country was in Catholic
hands, though the difEerences between the extreme
Irish party and the moderate Catholic nobles made their conquest of
position difficult, and allowed the duke of Ormonde, the Ireland.
royaUst leader, to make an aUiance between the Catholic * ^*®" * ^^^'
lords and the Protestant royalists, and proclaim the prince of Wales
as Charles 11., king of Ireland. Early in 1649 Cromwell crossed
over to Ireland and waged a war against the Catholics and royalists.
His first victories were the captures of Drogheda and Wcstford,
where he massacred the whole of the defeated garrisons, thinking
that this cruel example would frighten the rest of the land into
obedience. In 1650 the conquest liad proceeded so fw that Crt>m-
well was able to leave its completion to his lieutenants. These
now restored Protestant and English ascendency in very mucli the
same fashion as Strafford. The Catholic worsliip was suppressed,
and the Irish landlords were driven from their lands, or compolled
to exchange their fertile estates for stretches of bog and moorland
beyond the Shannon. Their property was sold to 8p<»culators, or
else handed over to Puritan veterans, on condition of their settling
down ae new members of the English garrison. Ireland had secured
464 COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE [1650-
peace and sound government, but was so stei-nly coerced that the
rule of Cromwell has ever after been hated by the Irish as a time
of peculiarly bitter tyranny.
4. In Scotland the Presbyterians, indignant at their defeat in
the second civil war, and always professing loyalty, after their
Charles II fashion, to the monarchy, proclaimed the prince of
king of Wales king of Scots immediately on his father's
Scots, death. The young king was, however, an exile in
1649-1651 J o o ' ' ^
Holland. Clever and clear-headed, but needy, frivolous,
and debauched, Charles 11. had no mind to submit himself to the
restraints wliich the Covenanters sought to impose upon their
king, and remained in Holland, while Montrose crossed to Scot-
land in 1650, and attempted another royalist rising, in the hope of
making the king's nominal rule a real one. He was unsuccessful,
and was soon captured and hanged. This tragedy showed Charles
that he must accept the Presbyterian terms or remain in poverty
and exile. He bent his neck to the yoke, subscribed the Covenant,
pledged himself to set up Presbyterianism in all the three king-
doms, and was thereafter coldly welcomed by his subjects, and
crowned king of Scots in January, 1651. Argyll, however, re-
mained the real ruler of Scotland, and the young king was com-
pletely dependent on his stern Pnritan taskmasters.
5. The Rump saw that either they must conquer Scotland, or
that the Scots would attempt to conquer England. Fairfax, long
B ttle f disgusted with the turn things were taking, refused
Dunbar and to lead the army against the Scots, and resigned his
Worcester, command. Cromwell, who had no such scruples, be-
came general in his place, and invaded Scotland in the
summer of 1650. On September 3 he gained one of the most
brilliant of liis victories at Dunbar, over a Scots army commanded
by David Leslie, his old companion in arms. The result was the
conquest of southern Scotland. In 1651 the Scots, in despair of
resisting the invader any longer, took the desperate resolve of
invading England, hoping that a royalist rising would follow the
appearance of the king and his troops. David Leslie again led the
Covenanting army, and Charles 11. himseK accompanied the expedi-
tion. England was, however, so sick of war that not even the appear-
ance of the son of the martyr of Whitehall could stir up a revolt,
especially for a Presbyterian king surrounded by Puritan soldiers.
CromweU followed hard upon the invaders, so that their movement
had more the appearance of a flight than a spontaneous advance.
At last, on September 3, 1651, exactly a year after Dunbar, the
-1653.] COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE 465
general overwhelmed the weary band at WorcMie,r, a battle which
he described as a " crowning mercy." The three kingdoms were
now at his feet, for Argyll, unable to defend even his Highland
valleys, was forced to make peace. Scotland, like England, became
a commonwealth, without king or House of Lords. Presbyterian-
ism was deprived of its assemblies and political influence, and
toleration was secured for all Puritans in the land which had
hitherto had freedom of worship for none save Presbyterians.
After Worcester, the king of Scots escaped to the continent,
having many romantic adventures on his way.
6. The British islands all subdued, the yoimg republic next
turned against the foreign enemies that had insulted it. Con-
spicuous among these was the Dutch republic, whose jj^g Dytg^
strong commercial rivalry with England overbore the war,
common bonds that should have bound together two 1662-1653.
Calvinistic commonwealtlis. The Rump did not fear to challenge
Dutch hostility by passing, in 1651, a Navigation Act, which was
directly aimed at the carrying trade which was the chief source of
the enormous wealth of the United Pro\dnce8. By it goods were
to be henceforth imported into England, either in English ships or
in vessels of the country to which the cargo belonged. The result
of tlie act was a fierce war at sea between England and the Dutch.
At first the enemy had nearly everything in their favour. Their
ships and ca])tains were the most famous in Europe, while the
Hump had to create a new English navy and find naval com-
manders from its generals on land. Luckily a leader of great
capacity for seamanship was found in Robert Blake, a Somerset-
shire man, who had fought well on the side of Puritanism during
the Civil War. Beaten in his first efforts by the eminent Dutch
admiral Tromp. Blake was able to win a decided victory off
PortUmd in 1653. Henceforth the two navies were so equal and
the seamen of each so brave and obstinate that the fight was one of
peculiar stubbornness. There was no longer, however, any danger
of foreign nations striving to upset the young republic. Abroad
as at home the commonwealth seemed firmly established.
7. Now that fighting was over the Puritan army had again
leisure to concern itself with politics. It became indignant that so
narrow an oligarchy as the Rump should still cling to ^^^ ^^^
power, and still profess to speak in the name of tlie pulsion of
English people. It drew up scliemes for the future **»® Rump,
government of England on popular and PuriUin lines.
and strongly urged the dissolution of parliament. The oligarchy
466 COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE [1653^
paid little attention to its views. The Rump had now been so long
in power that it forgot that it had been created by the soldiers
and was dependent upon them. Before long the army leaders lost aU
patience. Cromwell, though slow to move, never hesitated to take
a decisive Line when he thought the time was ripe for action. He
convinced himself that the Rump would never willingly put an end
to itself, and that the continuance of its rule was a danger to
freedom. On April 20, 1653, he made a speech in parliament
bitterly rebuking his colleagues for self-seeking and greed. " It
is not fit," he cried, " that you should sit here any longer." There-
upon some of his soldiers drove the Commons out of their own
House. Thus an end was put to even a pretence of parliamentary
government. The army thus destroyed the Commons as well as
the monarchy and the Lords.
8. Power was now concentrated in the soldiers and their
general. Cromwell, though careless of forms, had no wish to
rule as a mere military chieftain. Now that tlxe
ParHament I^i^^P '^^^ removed, he cast about for a body corre-
sponding to the House of Commons, though lie had
not enough faith in popular government to summon a free parlia-
ment and let it do what it liked. He was an enthusiastic Puritan,
and thought that the best rulers of a nation were godly and
religious men. He now strove to gather together an assembly of
leading Puritans selected by himself. When they met he told
them that they had been chosen to govern England because of
their piety. His nominees in this assembly soon got out of hand.
They forced forward wild schemes for getting rid of priests and
lawyers, and their impracticable crochets soon made CromweU see
that he had made a mistake in calling tliem together. He persuaded
some of the more discreet members to resign their power into his
hands. Thus ended the meetings of the body which men called in
derision the Tjittle Fmiimnent, though in truth it was no parlia-
ment at all. It was also called Barehoyies' Parliament, from one of
its members whose name was Barbon.
9. The soldiers showed more good sense than the fanatics, and
in December, 1653, the council of officers drew up a scheme for
the future administration of England, called the In-
ment of strument of Government. It provided that England,
Govern- Scotland, and Ireland should be united in a single
™®"*" commonwealth, with one parliament and one execu-
tive. This parliament was to consist of a House of Commons only,
containing four hundred members, representing the three nations,
-I6SS.] COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE 467
and chosen according to a sclieme that gave members to districts
according to their wealth and importance, and votes in choosing
them to all persona possessed of property worth £'20O. To this
reformed House of Commons the whole legislative power was
assigned. The government of the country was, however, entrusted
to a Iiord Protector, assisted by a Council of State. Cromwell was
to be the lord protector, and tlie effect of the plan was to give
him a sort of limited monarchy for life, though with not nearly so
much power as the old kings had possessed.
10. For the rest of his career Cromwell ruled England as pro-
tector. He soon showed that he was as great as a statesman as he
had been as a general. In modern days we may look ^ ,.
back with special interest to liis work, since under his Protector,
rule the three kingdoms first had a single parliament, 1653-1668.
the first reformed parliaments sat, and religious toleration was
tried for tJie first time. Wise, active, and high-minded as he
undoubtedly was, Cromwell, nevertheless, was not able to rule
England successfully. When liis parliament met, it Iw^gan to
quarrel with the system under wliich it had been created, but this
Cromwell would not permit. Ho told the members that they must
acoei)t the general principle of the Instrument of Government,
and would not allow those who refused to bind themselves to do so
to sit any longer. Even after this purging the Commons con-
tinued to give Cromwell trouble, so that he dissolved them in
disgust.
11. Cromwell now threw over all pretence of constitutional
rule. Ho levied taxes witliout parliamentary grant, and turned
out the judges who seemed too outspoken in their _. „ ,
.... r I • tr ■•• • 1 1 -n , • ^"® Major-
oritioisms of ms system. He divided England uito generals,
ten large districts, over each of wliich ho appointed a ^ 655. .
soldier, with the title of Mdjor-Oeneral, to act as its governor.
This revealed the true charack^r of the new protectorate. It was
baseil upon the power of the sword, and without the sup^wrt of tlie
Puritan army it would not have lusted for a month. The royalists
hated Cromwell as a king-killer ; the republicans as a reuegiule who
made himself a sort of king ; and oven his own soldiers wavered in
their loyalty to him. Ireland and Scotland resented his rule as
that of an alien comiueror, and wore only kept quiet by main force.
In short, all Cromwell's playing with constitutional forms was
insincere. It is true tliat he preferred to rule through a ]iurlia-
ment. Yet he was determined to govern afk'r his own way. and
if his Commons did not Uke it, he dealt with them more ronglily
468 COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE [1654-
than ever Charles i. dared to do. His sway was, therefore, that of a
military despot, and he belongs to the same type as Julius Caesar
and Napoleon Buonaparte. But though one of the most arbitrary
he was one of the most efficient of all our rulers, and, considering
the narrow basis of his power, he accomplished great things.
12. Cromwell devoted much care to the settlement of the
Church by bringing in a larger measure of toleration than
Cromwell's England had ever known before. There was still a
Puritan state Church, which, after a brief experience of
State exclusive Presbyterianism before 1648, became under
Cromwell the common ground for aU men of Puritan
views. Even the old clergy were not disturbed if they would
abstain from using the Prayer-book and promised to be faithful
to the commonwealth. Cromwell boasted of his comprehensive
Church system. " Of the three sorts of godly men," he said,
" Presbyterians, Baptists, and Independents, though a man may
be of any of these three judgments, if he have the root of the
matter in him he may be admitted." Ministers of these three
ways of thinking held the livings, received the tithes, and preached
in the churches. But outside Cromwell's tolerance were " Papists "
and " Prelatists," partly becau.se they were not faithful to the
commonwealth, but partly also because their opinions were thought
to be superstitious. In other directions CromweU was so liberal that
he allowed Jews to settle in England and erect synagogues there
for the first time since the reign of Edward i. A tolerance that
excluded the Prayer-book and the mass could not but find many
dissatisfied persons, and besides Catholic and Anglican malcontents,
new Puritan sects now arose which also stood outside Cromwell's
Church. Chief among these were the Society of Friends, or the
Quakers, whose protests against Calvinistic dogmatism took the
form of believing that the inner light of each man's conscience was
the best test of spiritual truth.
13. Cromwell's foreign policy brought him especial fame. Alone
of our seventeenth-century rulers, he had the advantage of having
C mwell's ^^ army beliind him, and could therefore make his
foreign influence felt in a fashion impossible for any Stewart
policy. king. His first idea of foreign politics was to go back
to the days of Queen Elizabeth, and pose as the protector of the
Protestant interest aU over Europe. With this object he made
peace with the Dutch in 1654, and strove to form a league of the
Protestant powers. He soon found, however, that religion was no
longer the chief element in determining the relations between state
'I658.] COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE 469
and state, and that Protestant nations hated eacli other as bitterly
as did the chief Catholic powers, France and Spain. Politics still
centred round the rivalry of these two kingdoms. The Thirty
Years' War had ended in 1648 by the treaty of Westphalia giving
religious peace to Germany. But the position then won by the
Protestants in Germany was due, not to their own efforts, but to
the influence of France, which in its hatred of the Hapsburgs had
backed up the Lutherans. The peace of 1648 secured the supre-
macy of France, which, under its young king Louis xiv. (1643-
1715), liecame once more the first state in Europe. So jealous was
Spain of French ascendency that it refused to make peace, and war
between the two great powers continued until 1659. Their eager
rivalry made both anxious to get the support of Cromwell.
14. Rudely deceived in his hoi>e8 of forming a Protestant leagrue.
the protector had now to decide between the rival claims of two
CathoUo states to his favour. He soon cast in his lot -, French
with France, largely on the ground that France was alliance,
less bigoted in its popery than Spain, but also moved 1656.
by the fact that, as in Elizabeth's days, Spain was still our chief
rival on the sea and in America. In 1654 he sent Blake to upliold
English interests in the Mediterranean, wliile another fleet under
Penn and Venables was despatched to the West Indies to renew the
old Elizabethan attacks on Spanish power in the new world. Blake
soon won fresh glory for our fleets, concluding his great career in
1657 by totally destroying a Spanish fleet at Santa Cruz, in
Teneriffe. He died on the way home, having in a few years won
an enduring place among the very greatest of English seamen.
15. Penn and Venables were less fortunate, failing in an ill-
planned attack on Hispaniola, but taking Jamaica from the
Spaniards in 1655. This was the first colony won by
England by conquest from another European powt*r. igss^f^'j
In 1657 and 1658, Cromwell's Puritan soldiers fought the battle of
side by side with the French in Flanders, gaining a ^jat?""®^*
brilliant victory in the battle of the Dunes, which re-
sulted in our capture and occtipation of Dunkirk. With English
help, France so thoroughly defeated Spain that in 1659 the Spaniards
were glad to make ]>eace. The conditions made Louis xiv. by far
the strongest prince in Europe and gained Dunkirk for England.
Cromwell's foreign policy won England a position she liad not had
since the days of Eliza1»eth. It deserves every praise for vigour
and energy, yet the fundamental idea of it was mistaken. If a
balauoe of power was to be maintained, Cromwell did a bad service
4/0 COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE [1656-
to England and Europe by helping to build up the overweening
power of Louis xiv.
16. Despite his first failure CromweU still strove to rule with a
parliament, and in 1656 summoned a second House of Commons,
The Humble ^^"^^S"^ again excluding from their seats all persons
Petition known to be opposed to his policy. This purged
and Advice, assembly, pleased at the withdrawal of the rule of the
major-generals, drew up, in 1657, a new scheme of
government called the Humble Petition and Advice, which is
memorable as an attempt to restore the traditional constitution
before the Civil Wars. In the original plan CromweU was to be
made king, and, though respect for the prejudices of his republican
friends led him to reject the title, a revised scheme was drafted
giving him as protector the chief powers of a king, including the
right of naming his successor. Moreover, the House of Lords
was to be restored as weU as the monarchy, though also under
another name. An upper house, consisting of life peers, nominated
by the protector, and called the Other House, was henceforth set
up beside the House of Commons. Thus the old constitution was
to come back under the house of Cromwell and with a Puritan
Church establishment.
17. Cromwell did not live long enough to carry out this new
•system completely. He was cut off on September 3, 1658, the
anniversary of Dunbar and Worcester, and the pro-
Protec- tectorate, difficult enough under a man of genius,
RTha^d speedily became impossible under his eldest son.
CromweU, Richard CromweU, whom OUver had nominated as
September, j^jg successor, became protector as easily as one here-
1659. ' ditary king succeeds another. His advisers, anxious
to make the restoration of the old constitution
more complete, abandoned the reformed scheme of representation,
and caused his first parliament to be elected by the old con-
stituencies, rotten boroughs and aU. The Commons showed
friendliness to Richard because they were afraid of the army, and
hoped to make an alUance with him against the soldiers. The real
trouble began when the army insisted on having as their new
general, Fleetwood, with powers independent of protector and
parliament. Richard refused this, though he offered to make
Fleetwood Ueutenant- general under himself as general. Then the
army coerced the weak-spirited protector into dismissing parlia-
ment. On May 25, 1659, Richard, only anxious for a quiet Ufe in
the country, resigned the protectorate altogether.
-i66o.] COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE 4^1
18. The army did not know what to do with the supreme power
which devolved upon it on the coUajise of parliament and protector.
Without CromweU there was no one to frame them
a policy, and the would-be successors of Cromwell ^a^oped''
quarrelled among* each other instead of agreeing"
upon common action. At last, in depair, the Rump was asked to
resume power. The nan-ow and self-satisfied olig-archy had learned
nothinjr during its years of retirement. It again arrogated to
itself aU the rights of the Commons of England, and took up a
lofty tone in dealing with the soldiers.
19. Everything was now in confusion, and the weakness of the
government inspired the Presbyterians of Cheshire to rise in
revolt. The army could still fight, though it could j^ presbyte-
not rule, and Lambert, the strongest of the genei-als, rJan revolt
easily suppressed the insurrection. When peace was suppressed,
restored, Lambert turned out the Rump ; but so little
was the army able to govern that, on December 26, it recalled the
Rump for the second time.
20. The only way that had not been tried to remedy the hope-
less condition into which affairs had drifted was the bringing back
of the old king and the old constitution. The first j^j^j^j^ jg.
man of authority bold enough to make this experiment clares for a
was George Monk, a silent, hard-headed, shrewd soldier, ^^^ Parlia-
who then commanded the army that kept Scotland in *
obedience to the commonwealth. StiU keeping his own counsel as
to what he meant to do, Monk crossed the Tweed into England on
January 2, 1660, and marched slowly to London. During the
journey he received a warm welcome from every one, among others
from Fairfax, now eager to undo the work of his own hands.
When Monk reached London, he declared himself in favour of a
free parliament meeting at once to settle the future destiny of the
nation. He compelled the Rump to receive back the members
ejected at Pride's Purge. Tliia gave a majority for his friends,
who at once vot^<d that tlie Long Parliament should come to an end.
Its last act was to make Monk general of the army.
21. All eyes were now turned to the king of Scots and his
court of exiles. To fut'ilitate Monk's work, Charles issued, on
April 4, the Declaration of Breda, in which he promised a
general pardon, agreed to let parliament settle the chief matters
of importance, and declared his desire to grant a '• liberty to tender
consciences " in matt<'rs of religion that did not disturb the peace
of the realm. A few weeks later tlie free parliament assembled,
472
COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE [1660.
the Commons for England only after the old fashion, and the
Lords temporal, without the bishops, who had been lawfully-
excluded. This assembly, called the Convention, since
it was not summoned by royal writ, voted that " the
g-overnment is and oug-ht to be by kings. Lords, and
Commons," and invited Charles to come and receive
his birthright. On May 29, which was also his birth-
day, Charles 11. entered London amidst the unmeasured
rejoicings of nearly the whole nation. This Restora-
tion was, however, not merely a restoration of the crown. It was
preceded by a restoration of parliament, and the wholesome laws of
the early days of the Long Parliament remained on the statute-
book, and made it impossible for Charles to follow blindly in his
father's path. Thus the one great break in the continuity of
modem English history was ended by the bringing back of the old
constitution.
The decla-
ration of
Breda and
the pesto-
ration of
Charles II.,
April-May,
1660.
THE CROMWELL FAMILY
Walter Cromwell, fuller at Putney.
Thomas Cromwell,
earl of Essex,
executed, 1540.
Catharine m. Morgan Williams,
of Glamorganshire.
Richard Williams,
alias Cromwell.
Sir Henry Cromwell,
of Hinchinbrook.
C'ro
Oliver Cromwell,
of Hinchinbrook.
Robert Cromwell.
Oliver Cromwell.
Lord Protector,
d. 1658,
m. Elizabeth Bourchier.
Elizabeth Cromwell,
m. William Hampden,
John Hampden,
d. 1643.
r
Richard Cromwell,
Lord Protector,
d. 1712.
Bridget Cromwell,
m. Charles Fleetwood,
Lord General, 1659.
CHAPTER IV
CHARLES II. (1660-1685)
Chief Dates :
1660. Kestoration of Charles 11.
1662. Act of Uuiforniity.
1663. Foundation of Carulina.
1665. The Dutch War ; the Great Plagiie.
1666. The Great Fire of London.
1667. Treaty of Breda and Fall of Clarendon.
1668. Triple Alliance.
1670. Treaty of Dover.
1673. Test Act and Fall of Cabal.
1678. Treaty of Nijniegen and Popish Plot.
1679. Fall of Danby and the Habeas Corpus Act,
1680. Exclusion Bill rejected.
1681. Foundation of Pennsylvania.
1682. Rye House Plot.
1685. Death of Charles 11.
1. Many delicate matters remained to be settled after the restora-
tion of Charles ir. The king had beenbronght back by the Presby-
terians, but the old royalists now returned from ^ . _..
their exile or retirement, and it was no easy matter Convention,
to satisfy both of these parties. The Convention, 1660-1661.
now turned into a formal parliament, set to work to embody in law
the conditions of the Declaration of Breda. An Act of Indemnity
was paMse<l which gave a general pardon to those who had fought
against Charles i. The regicides, who had sat in judgment on
liim, and a few others, were excepted from the amnesty, and
thirteen of these were put to death, while others were imprisoned
or exiled. Even dea<l regicides were exposed to such dishonour as
could be wrought upon them. The bodies of Cromwell and other
commonwealth leaders were dug out of their graves in Westminster
Abbey, and hanged on the gallows at Tyburn. Monk's army
received its arrears of pay, and was dislmnded, except about five
thousand men. These few regiments formed the nucleus of our
modern standing army, which thoB is directly descended from the
473
474 CHARLES II. [1661-
CromwelKan soldiers. All the pi'oceedings of the revoliiiionaiy
government were now treated as invalid, but very few of the early
acts of the Long Parliament, which Charles i. had accepted, were
tampered with, though the Triennial Act was made less severe, and
bishops were restored to their place in the House of Lords. Many
of the laws of the Rump and of the protectorate, which were thought
good in themselves, were now re-enacted in a more legal faohion.
Among these was the Navigation Act of 1651, and an act abolish-
ing military tenures. A permanent excise was granted to the
king in compensation for his loss of the feudal revenue, and an
income of £1,200,000 a year was voted to Charles for life.
2. Public opinion soon ran far beyond the policy of the Conven-
tion Parliament. The ruined royalists denounced as rebels many
of those who had been most prominent in bringing about
tl^n^ett?e-*' the Restoration. In particular there was a strong in-
mentofthe disposition to allow a Puritan assembly to settle the
9ggp^» future constitution of the Church. Accordingly, the
Convention was dissolved in December, and in May,
1661, a new parliament was elected. In this the old Cavalier spirit
was supreme. It insisted upon further exceptions to the Act of In-
demnity, though Charles and his ministers did what they could to
prevent additional deeds of vengance. The first work of this new
parliament was the settlement of the Church. Neither Prayer-book
nor bishops had been legally abolished. The surviving bishops
were restored to their sees, and the empty bishoprics were filled up.
The chief difficulty in the bishops' way lay in the fact that parish
clergy, appointed since the Civil War, were Puritans, who hated
episcopacy and the Prayer-book. At first there was some talk of
so altering the constitution of the Church as to retain the more
moderate of the Puritan clergy within its fold, and Charles himself
had px'omised to reform the Church so as to make it better liked
by the Presbyterians. With that object a conference was held in
1661 at the Savoy Palace in the Strand, between the bishops and
the Presbyterian leaders. The bishops, headed by Gilbert Sheldon,
then bishop of London, and soon after this made archbishop of
Canterbury, took up an unconciliatory attitude ; and the Presby-
terians, whose chief spokesman was Richard Baxter, demanded such
extensive changes, that the bishops had some excuse for refusing
any concessions at aU. A slight revision of the Prayer-book was
the chief result of the Savoy Conference ; but the changes mad©
in it were such as made it more distasteful to the Puritans than it
had been before.
-i665.] CHARLES II. 475
3. A series of acts of parliament now completed the restoration
of the old Clnirch. The first of these was the Corporation Ad
of 1661, which required that all memhei-s of municipal ^j^^ ciaren-
corporations should receive the Communion according don Code,
to the rites of the Church, and abjure the Covenant. 1661-1666.
Next came the Act of Uniformity of 1662. which made comjiulsory
the use of the revised Prayer-hook after St. Bartholomew's Day,
AugTist 24. Another act required that all the beneficed clergy
on whom a bishop had not laid his hands should receive episcopal
ordination. When these laws came into operation nearly two
thousand beneficed clergymen resigned their benefices, rather than
read the Prayer-book and seek episcopal ordination. Their ex-
pulsion from the Church made it necessary for such as wished
to continue their ministry to set up congregations of their own.
The result was the beginning of Protestant dissent on a large
scale. Up to now the general plan of the Puritans had been to
remain within the Church and change its character. This policy
was henceforth impossible. Not only the Independents and
Baptists, who had had chtirches of their own since Elizabeth's day,
left the Church. Even the Presbyterians followed their ex-
ample, though it was a proof of the weakness of English Presby-
terianism that a large number of the leaders of the old Presbyterian
party conformed to the new settlement. Stem laws strove to
defeat the efforts of the expelled ministers to form congregations
for themselves. Charles ir. did what he could to carry out the
promise of " liberty to tender consciences " which he had promised
at Breda. But even tlie wish of the king was of no great force
on the zealots who professed to be glorifying his power. In
1664 a Conventicle Act enacted that any meeting of more than five
persons for religious worship, hot in accordance with the ]jracticeB
of the Church, was an illegal conventicle, attendance at which was
severely punished. In 1665 the Five-Mile Act forbade the ejected
clergy to teach in schools or live within five miles of any town or
of any place where they had once held a cure. For the rest of
Charles's reign the prisons were filled with Dissenters who had
broken these cruel laws in their wish to worship God in the way
they thought right. John Bunyan. the minist«»r of a village con-
gregation of Baptists near Bedford, was shut up for more than
twelve years in Bedford gaol, where he wrote his famous Pilijn'ni's
Proffrcnit.
4. Thus the eeolesiastioal system of Laud and Charles i. was
fully restored. It is the best proof of the tkorotigluiesti of the
47^ CHARLES II. [1660-
reaction against Pui-itanism that that E/estoration was the work of
parliament itself. Laud, in defiance of pai'liament, had persecuted
The reaction ^^^^® ^^^^ disagreed with him ; the Dissenters of the
against age of the Restoration were legally persecuted by
Puritanism, ^j^q ^^t of the House of Commons itself. The same
strong reaction against Puritanism led to a curious glorification
of royalty and the erection of loyalty into a sort of religion. New
churches were dedicated to King Charles the Martyr as to a new
saint. The restored clergy preached the divine right of kings,
and the duty of the subjects passively obeying the will of the
Lord's anointed. The rebound from Puritan aiisterity showed
itself even more strongly in a wild time of riot and dissipation
in which the king and his courtiers took the lead.
5. Scotland and Ireland were as strongly affected by the
Restoration as England. In both countries the Cromwellian
The Resto- Union was set aside as illegally brought about, and
ration in both the bringing back of the local parliaments and
Scotland. the ending of the Independent tyranny made Soots
and Irish at first welcome the movement. But in neither country
was there a real restoration of local independence, and English
ascendency survived in more disguised forms. In Scotland a
Rescissory Act abolished all legislation passed since 1633, and there-
fore restored bishops in the Church, though no effort was made
to set up anew the Liturgy of Laud. This measure, passed by
a union between the king and the nobles, curbed the power of
the Presbyterian clergy, and began to make the Restoration
disliked among the Scots. Before long things went mucli
further. Argyll, the Presbyterian leader, was executed upon
frivolous charges of complicity with the death of Charles i. With
the hell) of the new archbishop of St. Andrews, James Sharp, and
of John Maitland, earl of Lauderdale, both recent converts to
episcopacy, Charles ir. renewed the policy of the early Stewarts
of keeping Scotland under English influence, which in effect meant
the subordination of the smaller to the larger kingdom. The
Covenanters, who refused to worsliip in a Church ruled by bishops,
were brutally persecuted, and the feeling of the people was with
them, so that the king's policy became unpopular and provoked
frequent insurrections.
6. There was no pretence of restoring freedom to Ireland.
Protestant and English ascendency assumed a Cavalier and Epis-
copal rather than a Puritan shape, and the duke of Ormonde,
the chief agent of the Irish Restoration, showed more toleration
-I662.] CHARLES 11. 477
to the Roman Catholics than the Cromwellians had done. The
chief problem of the Irish Restoration, however, was the ques-
tion of the land. The Puritan adventurers had been ~ Resto-
settled on estates that had been forfeited, partly for ration In
rebellion against Eng'land, and partly for loyalty Ireland,
to Charles i. They were, however, a powerful addition to the
Protestant garrison, and it seemed dangerous to English interests
to remove them. Accordingly, the Act of Settlement of 1661
allowed the Puritan settlers to keep their estates, while promising
restitution to all royalists, whether Protestant or Catholic, who
had lost their lands for adhesion to King Charles. It was soon
found that there was not enough land to satisfy everybody, and
a later Act of Explanation annulled a third of the Cromwellian
grants in order to help back loyalists. This seemed a liberal policy
to Ormonde, but the result of it was that a very small propor-
tion of Irish soil was restored to native Irish or Catholic hands.
TIence arose the great agrarian question of later Irish history.
The divorce of the Irish Catholics from their land condemned them
to hopeless poverty and intensified their deep sense of wrong.
They were, however, less harshly dealt with than in Puritan times.
The mass was again allowed, though the Catholic clergy were
badly treated. Bishops were restored in the Protestant Church,
which, however, kept up its Puritan traditions by way of being aB
different as possible from the Catholic majority.
7. Foreign policy was not greatly influenced by the Restoration
80 far as its general direction was concerned, though the different
way in which the same policy was carried out soon ^h R t
made the changes seem greater than they were, ration and
Charles j i. continued Cromwell'saUiance with Louis xiv., ft>relfirn
though the overwhelming power of that monarch was "^ °^'
already recognized as threatening the balance of Euroi)e. Two
important restilts soon flowed from tlie French alliance. In 1662
Cliarles sold the Cromwellian conquest, Dunkirk, to tlie French.
This act was unpopular, and was unjustly set down to corrupt
motives. Men said that Charles was more anxious to please Louis
than jirotect the honour of England. The king's marriage in the
same year was another triumph of French diplomacy. Charles
chose aH his wife Catharine of Braganza, sister of tlie king of
Portugal. This country lia<l revolted from S])ain iu 1640, and was
still maintaining its independence with the help of Ihe French.
Louis now secured English recognition of Port ugal by tlie marriage
of Charles to a princess of that nation. It ytaa a deadly ofTence to
478 CHARLES II. [1663-
Spain, for Portugal became sure of her freedom during the next
few years. Moreover, the rich wedding portion with which Portugal
purchased the English alliance proved of great importance for the
development of English trade. Besides a large sum of money,
Portugal handed over to England Tangier, on the African side of
the Straits of Gribraltar, and the island of Bombay in India. The
latter was 'handed over to the East India Company, and soon
became the chief of its trading settlements, and the only one that
was not held of the Mogul Empire. With its acquisition we haver
the first faint beginnings of our Indian Empire. At present, how-
ever, the India Company still pursued merely commercial objects.
It became very wealthy and successful in the generation that
followed the Restoration.
8. Charles 11. was as anxious as CromweU to further English
commerce and colonies, and his brother James, duke of York, now
lord high admiral, administered the navy with skill
of England ^^^ success. The first war of the new reign was a
and Hoi- war for trade and empire. The commercial rivaliy of
land. England and HoUand was now keener than ever.
The renewal of the Navigation Act had embittered feeling between
the two countries. Even after the Dutch had acquiesced in that,
Dutch and English traders were fighting on their own account in
Africa and North America. In 1665 the clamour of the English
merchants forced England to declare war against the Dutch.
The Dutch "^^^ struggle was as obstinate as that which had taken
war, 1665- place twelve years earlier. The Dutch, commanded
1667. l)y their admiral, Ruyter, were more skiHul than their
oi)ponents, though heroes of the Civil Wars like Prince Rupert
and Monk, now duke of Albemarle, acquired fi*esh credit as com-
manders of our fleets. After two years of hard fighting the
English, having exhausted all their money, fooUslily laid up their
great ships in harbour, and thereby left the Dutch in temporary
command of the sea. They availed themselves of this to sail up
the Medway to Chatham, where they burnt three men-of-war laid
up uselessly in the harbour, and cut off London from all communi-
cation with the sea for several weeks. This was the more alarming
since Louis xiv., alarmed at the power of the English navy, sup-
ported the Dutch against us. This temporary triumi^h was not,
however, due to the superiority of the Dutch so much as to the
want of wisdom of the EugHsh. The best proof that forces were
still equally balanced was that in the course of the same year (1667),
peace Avas signed at Breda, by which each coiintry was allowed
-l6Si.] CHARLES II. 479
to retain possession of the territories which it held at that moment.
The effect of tliis was to transfer the Dut«h colony of New
Amsterdam to English rule. Granted to the king's brother, James,
Duke of York, it took the new name of New York. Its acquisition
was of the greatest importance for the future of English North
America. New Amsterdam had kept asunder the New England
group of colonies from Virginia and its neighbours. Henceforth a
continuous row of English settlements monopolized the eastern sea-
boai*d of Central North America.
9. In other ways also the period of the Restoration is important
in the growth of our American colonies. The eai-lier plantations
increased in wealth, population, and importance. The addition of
Cromwell's conquest of Jamaica to Bai-bados and the other Eng-
lish settlements in the West Indies, much strength-
enod our commerce in that direction, while the further of the
development of the slave trade made it easier to find American
labour for the sugar plantations. Fresh colonies were colonies,
also set up in the mainland of North America. The first of these
was Carolina, established in 1663, and named, like Charlestown
its capital, from Charles ii. Situated to the south of
Virginia, in a semi-tropical climate, Carolina was from jglo
the beginning largely dependent upon slave labour,
especially in its southern districts. Ultimately the colony split up
into North and South Carolina. Even moi-e important than
English expansion southwards was the completion of the filling up
of the gap between New England and Virginia. The conversion
of New Amsterdam into Neto York had pax-tly effected ^,
this ; but the settled Dutch district did not go beyond ^nd New
the Hudson, and the coast-laud between the Hudson Jersey,
and the Delaware were still untilled soil. The duko *^^^'
of York sold the vacant Dutch lands beyond the Hudson to Sir
George Carteret, who, in 1667, estabUshod therein a new colony
called Neto Jersey, since Carteret was a Jer.sey man. The jilania-
tions of the midland district was still further developed in 1681,
when William Penn, the son of the conqueror of Jamaica, obtained
a graut of the land west of the Delaware stretching
iuto the interior, and on wliich lie settled a new colony v*"r*^168l
called I'oinsylvmiia. Penn, a gentleman of wealth,
high positiou, ami noble ideals, had lately joined the Soci'cly of
Friends, and wished to find a now home for his co-religionist«, who
wore as severely jjersoouted by the government of the Kestoration
as by that of the Commonwealth. Though Pennsylvania was his
48o
CHARLES II.
ti665-
own property, being, as it was termed, a proprietary colony, he drew
up a very liberal constitution for it by which a popular assembly
was elected by ballot and religious freedom given to all who believed
in Grod and the moral teaching of Christianity. He called his
capital Philadelphia — the city of brotherly love — and would not
allow war to be waged even with the Indians, with whom the other
colonies were constantly engaged in hostilities. The combined
result of all these new movements was that England became one
.of the chief colonizing and maritime powers. It was gradually
driving its old rival Holland into a secondary position. Its
success excited the jealousy of France, which, under Louis xiv.,
-i667.] CHARLES II. 481
first began to devote herself to foreign trade, to the sea, and to
colonies.
10. The slow and unnoticed growth of English power in distant
lands did not compensate for the many failures of the Restoration
government in dealing with the matters that were ,_. - jj ^
immediately before it. During the disasters and mis- Clarendon,
management of the Dutch war, London was exposed 1667.
to two great calamities. In 1665 it was decimated by the Great
Plague, and in 1666 half the city was burnt down by the Great
Fire. There was a bitter outcry against the profligacy and
corruption of the court, the blunders of the Dutch war, the sub-
servience of tlie crown to the French, and the general mal-
administration of the country. Even the loyal parliament elected
ui 1661 was beginning to grow restive, and a strong opposition,
called the country party, sought to renew the policy of Pym and
Hampden. Edward Hyde, the old associate of Falkland, earl of
Clarendon and chancellor since the king's return, was looked
upon as chiefly responsible for the policy of the government.
The country party disliked him as an advocate of the preroga-
tive. Puritans and Dissenters hated him for his jealous chami)ion-
ship of the Church, and called the i)ersecuting laws of the period
the Clarendon Code. He was more unjustly blamed for the de-
merits of the king's foreign policy, with which he had little to do.
Moreover, though his daughter, Anne Hyde, was the wife of the
duke of York, the heir to the throne, he was not supported strongly
at court, where lie was looked upon as old-fashioned, slow, and
over-scrupulous. Accordingly, when the Commons showed a desire
to make Clarendon the scapegoat of their growing indignation, the
king willingly gavo liim up. In 1667 the chancellor was dis-
missed from ofllce and impeached for high treason. The charges
brought against him were so far from amounting to that crime
that the Lords refused to commit him to prison. But Charles,
who wished to get rid of him, recommended Clarendon to leave
the country. Taking the king's advice, he withdrew to France.
Thereupon parliament, taking his flight as a proof of guilt, passed
an act for his banishment. With his exile the first period of Chiurles
li.'s reign comes to an end.
11. In the administration thai was formed after the chancellor's
fall, there was no single statesman who held so {jowerful
a position as Clarendon had previously occupied. He Tgg^ jSSL
ha<l been drive/i from power by a coalition of country
party and oourtien, and both these discordant elements were noW
2i
482 CHARLES II. [1667-
strongly represented in the government. Chief among them was
George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, son of Charles i.'s favourite,
vpho, as the king's personal friend and the political ally of the
Puritans, formed a connecting link between the two parties.
Though able and enterprising, Buckingham had neither earnestness
nor principle. A stronger statesman was Anthony Ashley Cooper,
Lord Ashley, a former partisan of Cromwell's, the ablest of the
opposition, a keen advocate of parliamentary supremacy and of
toleration, and the best party manager of his time, though he
was ambitious, factious, and unscrupulous. Henry Bennet, Lord
Arlington, a pompous diplomatist, and Lord Clifford of Chudleigh,
a hot-headed Catholic, were dependents of the court ; while Lauder-
dale, the fifth prominent minister, though working with the
others, limited himself mainly to Scots affairs. These five gained
an infamous notoriety as the Cabal, a word then used for the little
groups of politicians whose secret deliberations were beginning to
have more influence upon the conduct of affaira than the more
formal debates of a large and heterogeneous body like the privy
council, the traditional organ of the executive power. The Cabal,
however, widely differed among themselves, and were only accident-
ally bound together by their common dislike of the old CavaUer
party that had dominated affairs under Clarendon. They posed as
friends of toleration at home and of peace abroad, and in both these
matters their policy was more sound than that of their predecessors.
In particular, they looked with suspicion on the ever-increasing
aggressions of Louis xiv., who was again at war with Spain, and
rapidly overrunning the Spanish Netlierlands, to which he laid
The Triple claim on behalf of his wife, the sister of the new
Alliance, Spanish king Charles 11. In 1668 England imited
1668. yfiih. the Dutch and the Swedes to form a Triple
Alliance to restore peace to Europe. So formidable was the com-
bination that Louis unwillingly made peace, and surrendered many
of his conquests. He was bitterly mortified at the league formed
against him, and strove with all his might to break it up.
12. The early acts of the Cabal gave promise of better things
than resulted from them. The ministers were, however, greedy,
The Tpeatv corrupt, and divided, and did not persevere in their
of Dovei», wiser policy when their self-interest impelled them in
1670. a contrary direction. Louis xiv. brought his influence
to bear upon Charles 11., and in 1670 signed with him the secret
treaty of Dover, by which Charles promised to help Louis against
the Dutch and Spaniards, while Louis agreed to send men and
'1673.] CHARLES II. 483
money to assist Charles to put down opponents to his power and
restore Catholicism to England. Charles only communicated the
full details of tliis scandalous compact to Arlington and Cliiford,
but Buckingham and Ashley were i^rsuaded to agree to help the
French against the Dutch. Louis, who looked upon the Dutch as
mainly responsible for the Triple Alliance, now made the humilia*
tion of the United Provinces the great object of his policy.
13. Having stripped Holland of all her allies, Louis and Charles
declared war against her in 1672. So mismanaged were Charles's
finances that he could obtain funds to e<xuip his fleet ^^^ Dutch
only by a discreditable refusal to rejjay from the war, 1672-
Exchequer a large sum of money temporarily deposited 1673.
there by the bankers. This measure was called the Sto'p of the
Exi-hequer. Unlike former English attacks upon Holland, this
war was not popular. Though Englishmen had no love for
their rivals in trade, they saw that England was making her>
self the tool of France, whose ascendency was more dangerous
both to our commerce and our liberty than that of a slowly
dec-aying small state which was already almost beaten in the contest
with us. The utmost sympathy was shown when the Dutch,
attacked both by sea and land, prejiared to resist Louis as they had
resisted the Spaniards a himdred years earlier. Before long, other
nations, dreading the advance of France, made common cause with
the Dutch, so that Louis had to fight not a single state but a
European coalition. Led by their heroic young stadtholder, William
lir., prince of Orange, a nephew of Charles i., called from private
life to defend his country against the French and restore the power
of the house of Orange over the Dutch Republic, the Hollanders
held their own so well that there was no longer any danger of the
destruction of their republic. Before long William of Orange
showed such skill as a general and a diplomatist that he became
the soul of the general European opposition to the overmighty
power of France. For the next thirty years he made it the chief
business of his life to btiild up coalitions and command armies
against Louis xiv.
14. The unpopularity of the war destroyed the influence of the
Cabal, an<l rumours of Catholic intrigue and dangers to Protes-
tantism Ieake<l out. despite the secrecy which was carefully preserved
as to the treaty of Dover. The Cabal now went back to it* earlier
lK)li<'y of tolenition at home, and as it was hopeless to ask Parlia-
ment to relax the laws against the Dissenters, it sought to compass
tiw same end by royal prerogative. Charles claimed that as king
484 CHARLES II. [1673-
lie possessed a power both to suspend altogether any act of
parliament, and also to dispense in particular cases with its opera-
The De I - ^ion. By virtue of these powers he issued in 1673
ration of ^ Declaration of Indulgence, proclaiming religious
Indulgence, freedom to aU Dissenters. The Church party, stiU
and tl^e fall' ^^^^^8" "^ '^^^ Commons, was very indignant at this,
of the Cabal, while even the Protestant Dissenters looked askance at
^^'^' toleration that flowed from royal prerogative only,
especially as they saw that it was clearly granted in the interests
of the Roman Catholics, who were popular and numerous at coui-t.
Charles himself had secret sympathies with the Catholics, and
the duke of York had recently become an avowed Romanist. A
great cry arose that Protestantism was in danger. This soon
broke up the ill-cemented ranks of the Cabal. Ashley, now earl of
Shaftesbury, threw himself into violent opposition once more. In
1673 the Protestant party hurried a Test Act through parliament,
which required all holders of office under the crown to receive the
Communion after the fashion of the English Church and renounce
the doctrine of transubstantiation. Shaftesbury hotly supported
the bill, which Charles dared not refuse to accept. Clifford would
not take the test, and Arlington was driven from power. The duke
of York laid down the admiralty rather than accept the test. In
1674 parliament forced Charles to make peace with the Dutch.
15. The reaction from the Cabal restored power to the old
Cavalier party, now represented by Sir Thomas Osborne, a York-
The minis- shire gentleman, who became earl of Danby and lord
try of high treasurer. The Commons had confidence in
Danby, him, because, like Clarendon, he was a good friend of
the Church, and indisposed to show favour either to
Catholics or Protestant Dissenters. In foreign policy, however,
Danby took up a different line from that which Clarendon had
been credited with. In his distrust of France he went back to the
principles of the Triple AUiance, though he was prevented by the
king from actively siding with the European coalition that was
stUI fighting with no great success against Louis xiv. Thus king
and minister worked in different directions, with results that proved
extremely discreditable' to the country. Soon Charles signed
another secret treaty with Louis, by which he promised to make
no alliance with a foreign power without the French king's leave.
Moreover, he and his courtiers freely took pensions and bribes from
Louis, who naturally expected the supiioi-t which lie had paid for.
Yet next year Danby raised an army to fight the French, and
-i679.] CHARLES II. 485
man*ifi{l the princess Mary of York, the next heir to the throne
after Charles and James, to "William of Orange, the pillar of
Protestantism and opposition to France.
16. In great diag-ust at these acts of hostility, Louis signed with
his enemies the treaty of Nijmegen in 1678, preferring- to stay his
course of victory rather than run the risk of England -. Tpeatv
joining his enemies. Prof oundly irritated at the in- ofNiJme-
explicable difference between Charles's promises and fif®"« 1678.
his ministers' acts, the French king resolved no longer to waste his
money on so shiftless a dependent. His bribes now flowed into the
coffers of the opposition, and he roused the just indignation of the
country party by revealing to them his secret dealings with
Charles, to some of which Danby had been an unwilling partner.
In December, 1678, Danby was hurled from power and threatened
with impeachment, whereupon, in January. 1679, tin king dissolved
parliament. It was still the same longlived House of Commons
that had been elected in 1661. Distrust of the king had quite
destroyed its former excessive loyalty, but it remained to the la.st
as zealous for the Church as in the early days of the Clarendon
Code.
17. A new trouble had already fallen upon the country during
tlie last months of Danby 's ministry. In 1678 a clergyman named
Titus Gates announced that he had information that _j^ p ■ .
the Roman Catholics had formed a plot to murder the Plot, 1 678-
king and restore their religious ascendency. Why a 1679.
king so friendly to the Catholics as was Charles should have been
assassinatecl by them is not easy to understand, and the character
of the informant was so bad that it was diflicult to accept his
statement as evidence of anything. Expelled from his ministry
in the English Churcli, Gates had gone abroad and turned Catholic.
His gross vices had brought him into trouble in his new as in liis
old faith, and he came back to England, professing a new zeal for
the Protestant cause and a special store of information al)Out the
misdeeds of the papists. There had been so much Catholic intrigue
that plain rann might be pardoned for being credulous, and the
secret dualings of Charles with Louis xiv. and the convert's zeal of
tlie duke of York for liis now faith, all naturally prwluced an
excitable and suspicious condition of public opinion. Yet nothing
can excus«( tlip blind faith wliich soTht men now sliowed in Gates's
revelations. Other scoundrels, seeing how i)rofif«l)le was the trade
of informer, followe<l his example. Innocent Catholics were
denounced, tried by venal judges before timid juries, and hurried
486 CHARLES IT. [1679-
to the scaffold on perjured testimony. The panic resulted not only
in the collapse of the power of Danby ; it gave the country party,
already eager to uphold the Protestant interest, an admirable oppor-
tunity of forcing its way to place. Shaftesbury, its leader, made
a clever but unscrupulous use of the chance thus put into his hands.
He hoped to regain authority as the saviour of England from
popery, and did not care how many innocent persons suffered if
he could fulfil his purpose.
18. In March, 1679, a new parliament met. Elected under the
panic fear of the papists, the Commons were entirely in Shaftes-
bury's hands. Two chief measures were laid before the
Corpus A^c^^ estates by the popular leader. One of these, a measure
and the Ex- for securing the liberty of the subject, called the Habeas
1679°" ^^^'' ^^'^^* -^^^' speedily became law, and did much good
in making it more difficult for the crown to imprison
innocent persons without legal warranty. The other was a bolder
measure, namely, an Exclusion Bill, to keep the Catholic duke of
York out of the succession to the throne on his brother's death.
Besides this, parliament renewed the impeachment of Danby. who
was not very fairly regarded as responsible for a policy which he
had done his best to prevent.
19. In July, 1679, Charles dissolved parliament, in the liope of
saving his brother's chance of the succession. Though fresh
Whies and elections were held at once, the temper of the new
Tories, House of Commons was reported to be so unruly that
1679. Charles feared to summon it to ti-ansact business.
The friends of the Exclusion Bill, therefore, sent up petitions to
the king, urging him to allow parliament to meet. From this
they were called Petitioners. But there were signs that the
violence of the ultra-Protestant party had already begun to pro-
duce a reaction. The old devotion to monarchy showed itself in
the friends of hereditary succession drawing up counter petitions
to the crown, in which they expressed their abhorrence of the
petitioners' attempt to interfere with the royal prerogative. For
this reason these people were styled Abhorrers. As in 1642, the
nation was splitting up into two parties, and the Petitioners of
1679 were like the Roundheads of the earlier year, whilst the
Abhorrers were tlie same as the Cavaliers. Shorter and more con»
venient nicknames were soon found for the two parties than these.
The Petitioners were called Whigs, a nickname first applied to the
Scottish Covenanters ; while the Abhorrers were described as Tories,
a word first used to distinguish the Catholic rebels and outlaws in
-i68i.] CHARLES 11. 487
Ireland. Though both in their origin the insulting epithets of
opponents, the two short words took root, and the two great parties
into which the nation was henceforth divided were proud to he
described as Whigs and Tories. A little later the strong Church
party, the Laudians, got the nickname of High Hljrh Church
Church ; while the more Puritanical, or liberal, section and Low
of Churchmen were spoken of as Law Church. Tory Church,
and High Church, Whig and Low Church, were virtually synony-
mous terms.
20. The outlook long remained stormy. In 1679 the extreme
Scottish Presbyterians, or Covenanterg, murdered Archbishop
Sharp, and rose in revolt against king and bishops. Bn*»ig _*
By Shaftesbury's advice the task of suppressing the Bothwell
revolt was entrusted to James, duke of Monmouth, Bridge,
1 679
the eldest of the king's numerous iUegitiraate children.
Monmouth defeated tlie Covenanters at Bothwell Bridge, over the
Clyde, near G-lasgow. This broke the back of the rising, and the duke
of York, sent down by his brother to Scotland, punished the rebels
very sternly. He drove away from Scotland the earl of Argyll, who
aspired to play the iMirt of his father, the Argyll beheaded in 1601.
21. Monmouth was a popular but showy and shallow person,
and Shaftesbury, who treated him as a tool, wa.s glad to use him
as much as he could. There was even talk that he
was Charles's lawful son. and should l)e the next king reject the
instead of the duke of York. Charles, however, upheld Exclusion
his brother as loyally as he could, though in general ' ' "Mo-
tile king had good sense enough to see that it was not wise for
him to set himself too strongly against public opinion. Thus he
gave way to Shaftesbury and the Whigs, though he hated their
views, and had no faith in the popish plot. After keeping back
the parliament elected in 1679 for more than a year, Charles at
last allowed it to assemble in October, 1(>80. The Commons at
once carried the Exchision Bill, but tlie Lords rejected it, mainly
through the advice of Lord Halifax, who boasted tliat he was
neither a Whig nor a Tory, but a Trimmer between tlie two.
22. In January, 1681, Charles dissolve<l parliament, and met
another one in March at Oxford. Passion was now so deeply
aroused that the Whig members rode to Oxford with *j^^ Oxford
bands of armed followers, like the Ma«l Parliament of Parliament,
1258. It looked an if another civil war wan absolut-ely '^81.
inevitable. The Commons clamoured for exclusion, and the king,
backed up by the Church party, would not give up Iiereditary right,
488 CHARLES 11. [1685.
After a short but violent session, Charles once more dissolved his
parliament. It was the last that met during his reign.
23. The violence and factiousness of Shaftesbury had overshot
the mark. The panic of the Popish Plot had died down, and
The Rye Charles, skilfully though selfishly, waiting on events,
House Plot, had given the Tories time to rally. A strong Tory re-
1683. action set in which soon involved Shaftesbury in dis-
grace. The Tories now showed themselves as cruel as the Whigs
had been. Shaftesbury and Monmouth fled to Holland, where the
Whig leader soon died. The extreme Whigs in their disgust
formed a conspiracy called the B,ye House Plot, which aimed
at assassinating Charles as he rode past a house called the Rye
House on his way from London to Newmarket. The plan was
detected, and its chief authors executed. Some of the Whig
leaders, including Lord Russell, the eldest son of the earl of
Bedford, and Algernon Sidney, the republican son of the earl of
Leicester, were accused of complicity in the conspiracy. Though
the evidence against them was weak, they were condemned and
executed. They were looked upon as martyrs to the popular cause.
24. The Tories remained in power for the rest of Charles ii.'s
reign. The reaction against the tumults of the period of the Popish
The Torv ^^ot made the king as popular at the end of his life
reaction, as he had been in the first enthusiasm of the Restora-
1682-1685, tion, and when he was suddenly cut off in February,
death of 1685, he died generally lamented. In some ways his
Charles II., popularity was very lightly gained. Genial, good-
* tempered, and easy of access, he knew how to make
himself pleasant to his subjects ; but he was idle, improvident,
selfish, extravagant, and immoral. The dissoluteness of his private
life set the worst of examples to his people. He sold himself
to Louis XIV., and would willingly have restored Catholicism and
arbitrary rule had he the power to do so. Yet Charles was too
idle and careless to make the consistent effoi't necessary to carry
out a strong personal policy of his own. Abler and much clearer-
headed than any other Stewart king, Charles had the shrewdness
to see things as they really were. He perceived that he could not
safely take up the line of his father, and, being determined to die
on his throne, he learnt in some ways to play the jjart of a con-
stitutional king. Alone of his house he recognized the force of
public opinion, and he was thus able, though not from high
motives, to save England from the danger of more revolutions
when her greatest need was quiet and rest.
CHAPTER V
JAMES II. (1685-1688)
Chief Dates :
1685. Accession of James 11. ; Revolts of Argyll and Monmoath.
1688. Declaration of Indulgence and fall of James 11.
1. TitK Tory reaction of the last years of Charles ii.'s reign still
flowed so strongly that the duke of York was proclaimed James 11.
without a murmur of opposition. The new king was
neither so able nor so attractive as his brother. He Character
„,,. ,., , ■,■,••!, 01 James II.
was careful, businesslike, and a good administrator,
and had sacrificed much through his devotion to the Catholic faith.
Like Charles I., he was obstinate, tenacious, and lacking both in
straightforwardness and insight. Yet even James could not but
recognize that his i)eaceful accession was due to the loyalty of the
High Church and Tory party. Though he went to mass in 8tat«,
he professed to regard his religion as a private matter. He allowed
himself to be crowned after the Protestant rite by William San-
croft, archbishop of Canterbury, and promised to uphold the Church
because Churchmen were always loyal. He kept his brother's Tory
ministers in office, and the first few months of his reign were simply
a continuation of the last years of Charles 11.
2. James was strong enough not to be afraid of public opinion.
He at once assembled both the English and the Scottish parlia-
ments, and found steady support from both these _. poriio-
bodies. The Scots parliament passed fresh laws ment of
against the Covenanters, while the high Tory majority 1686.
in the English House of Commons voted James a revenue of
.€1.9(M).0<X) a year for life. This sum was so largo tliat it made
James almost in<lej)ondent of future parliamentary grants. Parlia-
ment released Danby from liis long imprisonment ; the informers
whose perjured testimony ha<l brought to the scaffold so many
innocent Catholics, were sought out and punished. Titus Oateg
was whippe<l so cruelly that liis survival seemed almost a miracle.
;}. The peaceful acce.ssioii of James filled with despair the
489
490 JAMES II. [1^5.
Whig refugees in Holland. Seeing that the new king could not
be overthrown by peaceful means, they fell back on treason. In
Arevll's re- ^^^ summer of 1685 two smaU groups of exiles landed
bellion, in Britain, hoping to stir up rebellions. One of these
1 685. -ypaa led by the earl of Argyll, who landed in the Camp-
bell country of the western Highlands in the expectation of raising
his clansmen. He had some success in this, but his associates
failed to excite a revolt among the Covenanters of Ayrshire, and
the expedition was so badly managed that it soon collapsed. Argyll,
like his father, was executed as a traitor, and the persecution of
the Covenanters became more bratal than ever.
4. The chief effort of the exiles was directed to the south-west
of England. In June the duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme
Monmouth's ^^P^^' ^'^ Dorsetshire, declaring that he was Charles ii.'s
rebellion, lawful son and rightful king of England. A large
1685. force of Puritan peasants and miners gathered round
him, and he became so strong that he was able to advance through
Somerset towards Bath and Bristol. Both these towns, liow-
ever, refused to receive him, and he was compelled to retire
to Bridgwater, closely pursued by the king's army, commanded
by the earl of Feversham, under whom was John, Lord Churchill,
the ablest soldier of his time. Monmouth gallantly resolved
to surprise Feversham's troops in their camp at Sedgmoor, a
few miles east of Bridgwater. After a long night march the
rebel army attacked Feversham in the early morning of July 6.
They found the royalists well prepared to meet them, and Mon-
mouth's cavalry fled in a panic. The raw infantry gallantly
stood their ground, but they were outflanked and outgeneralled,
and at last utterly routed in the last jjitched battle fought on
English soil. Monmouth himself was captured a few days later,
hiding in a ditch from his pursuers. On July 15 he was beheaded
on Tower Hill. The most cruel vengeance was wreaked upon the
rebels. Besides many executions immediately after the battle, a
whole host of victims was condemned by Chief Justice Jefferies,
whose circuit for the trial of the rebels became notorious as the
Bloody Assize. On his return Jefferies was rewarded by a peerage
and his elevation to the office of lord chancellor.
5. James ir. was now at the height of his power. He had
been so successful that he began to forget the narrow basis on
which his tlirone rested. He was naturally impatient at the dis-
abilities still imposed by law on those who held his faith. It
seemed to him unwofthy that he should be ruling England and
i68s.]
JAMES It.
491
492 JAMES II. [1685-
worshipping- freely after the Catholic fashion while his brother
Catholics were unable to practise their religion lawfully or to
_ . hold the meanest office under the crown. Accordingly,
between ^® asked the parliament to repeal the Test Act, and
James and was much annoyed to be met with a blank refusal,
ones. Parliament, however, was even more loyal to the
Church and to Protestantism than to the crown. It believed that
the Test Act was more than ever necessary now that a Roman
Catholic occupied the throne. In great disgust James dissolved
parliament, and dismissed the Tory ministers whom he had inherited
from his brother. The result was a complete breach between
James and those who had given him the throne.
6. James was now treading in his father's footsteps. He
appointed as his chief adviser Robert Spencer, earl of Sunderland, a
The dlspens- ^t^t^s^^^ii of great ability and foresight, but selfish,
Ing and the corrupt, and unprincipled, and not scrupling to profess
suspending ^jg conversion to the Roman CathoKc faith in order
to please the king. Visions of a Catholic and absolutist
restoration began to float before the mind of James and his advisers.
The first steps towards this were won by obtaining from subservient
judges decisions that enabled tlie king to override the laws which
parliament had refused to repeal. Even in Charles ii.'s days there
had been much talk of the king possessing a dispensing power
which enabled him to stay the operation of a law in any par-
ticular case, and a suspending power by which he could tem-
porarily suspend the whole operation of a statute when the interest
of the state seemed to require it. It was by virtue of these
powers that Charles 11. had issued his Declaration of Indulgence
in 1672. James now appointed a Roman Catholic named Sir
Edward Hales as colonel of one of his regiments. Hales was
prosecuted by his coachman for illegally holding office without
receiving the sacrament or taking the oath of supremacy. In
June, 1686, the judge decided that Hales's commission was lawful,
since the king had granted him a dispensation from these obliga-
tions. Fortified with this decision, James pushed his dispensing
power so far as to appoint many Catholics to civil and military
posts. Before long he even gave offices in the Church to avowed
Romanists. He required the University of Cambridge to give the
degree of M.A. to a Benedictine monk named Francis, whom lie
dispensed from taking the usual oaths. He ordered the fellows of
Magdalen College. Oxford, to elect as their president a Roman
Catholic of bad character, though the office of president of the
-1688.] JAMES II. 493
colleg-e was open only to clergy of the English Church. He strove
to stifle the murmurings that arose by establishing a new Court of
High Commission. This was an avowedly illegal act, and directly
opposed to the statute of the Long Parliament, which had declared
such commissions unlawful. A large army was enlisted, many of
whose officers were Koman Catholics, and was encamped on Hounslow
Heath to overawe the Londoners.
7. James embarked on a definite policy of undermining Pro-
testantism and the constitution. The Court of High Commission,
of which Jefferies was the leading spirit, dealt out —^ court of
stem but illegal punishment to all who went against High Com-
the king's will. It deprived the vice-chancellor of m'ssion.
Cambridge of his office, because he resisted the royal mandate to
give a degree to Francis. At Oxford it ejected the fellows of
Magdalen Ixicaiise they declined to choose a popish president.
8. A great cry arose that Protestantism was in danger. Not
only in England were the fortunes of the reformed religion now
imperilled. In 1685 James's ally, Louis xiv., ha«l ,^
The revoca-
revoked the Edict of Nantes by which the French cation of
Huguenots had for a century enjoyed toleration, the Edict of
Tens of thousands of French Protestants, exiled from jQg5 ^'
their country for their loyalty to their faith, sought
refuge in England and other Protestant lands. Their presence in
our midst quickened the deep hatred and distrust of popery that
had HO long been among the rooted convictions of Englishmen.
Even the Higli Chui*chmeu, who had so long made a religion of
loyalty, began to grow restive. They were not prepared to allow
the king to use Ids position as head of the Church to ruin the body
of wliich he was supreme governor.
9. James's chief difficulty in carrying out his plans was that
tliere were not enougli Homan Catholics in England to form a
strong j)arty. He tried to make uj) for this by concili-
ating the oppressed Catholics of Ireland, and appointed i^ireland
as lord-lieutenant of Ireland the Catholic earl of
Tyrconnell, who 1)egan to assail that Protestant ascendency on which
English rule in Ireland was based. Irish help, however, did James
more harm than good in England, and gradually the king saw that
his best diance of overthrowing the Cliurch was by uniting the
Protestant Dissenters, whom hitherto he had severely persecuted,
with his Roman Catholic followers.
10. In 1H87 and 1«)H8 James issued two decliirations of indulgence
by which by his own authority he susx)unde<l all the lawn agaiiut
494 JAMES II. ti688.
both Roman Catholics and Dissenters. Very few of the English
Dissenters were bHnd enough to accept the king's lead. They
The Decl ^**^ ^° reason to love the dominant and persecuting
ration of Church, but they saw that the Church was the chief
'j"^"'8^®"<5s» bulwark of Protestantism, and that its overthi'ow
would be followed by the extension to England of the
persecution that so sorely afflicted their brethren in Prance and
Scotland. Thus they refused to become accomplices in the restora-
tion of arbitrary power and popery in England, and prepared to
take sides with their old enemies in the defence of the liberties of
England and the Protestant religion. The crisis came in 1688,
when James gave ordei's that his second Declaration of Indulgence
should be read in all churches on the first two Sundays in June.
Archbishop Sancroft, an extreme Tory and High Churchman, took
counsel with six of his brethren, of whom Ken, the holy bishop of
Bath and Wells, was the most important. The seven bishops agreed
to petition the king not to force the clergy to break the law.
James was very angry at the prelates presuming to question his
acts, and became furious when the great majority of the clergy,
inspired by the bishops' resistance, refused to read the declaration.
He brought the seven bishops to trial for publishing a seditious
libel. On June 30 a London jiuy acquitted them of this ridiculous
charge amidst the universal rejoicing of the whole nation. The
seven bishops became popular heroes for having led the way to
resistance against the popish king.
11. While the trial of the bishops was still pending, another event
had occurred which intensified the need for resistance. Hitherto
' many men had borne with James's doings, since
tion to ^® ^*s *^ old man, and on his death his throne would
William of have gone to his Protestant daughter, the princess
range. Mary of Orange, the grand-daughter of Clarendon.
But on June 10 a son, named James, was bom to the king and his
second wife, Mary of Modena. The new prince of Wales would of
com'se be brought up as a Catholic, and thus there was every
prospect of a long continuance of popish rulers. Accordingly, on
the very day of the bishops' acquittal, seven leading men united in
sending a letter to Mary's husband, WiUiam of Orange, inviting
him to come to England to save the land from popery and arbitrary
power. Not only Whig magnates like the earl of Devonshire, but
Tories so staunch as Dauby signed this appeal.
12. A new Eiu'opean war was breaking out, and William of
Orange, the leader of the coalition which he had formed against
i688.] JAMES II. 495
the French, was eager to get England on his side. He accepted
the invitation, and on November 5 anded in Tarbay at the liead of
a Dutch army. All England fell away from James, The fall of
who strove, when it was too late,, to conciliate his James II.,
angry subjects by dissolving the Court of High
Commission. William was welcomed by the gentry of the west,
and advanced slowly from Exeter to London. James found that it
was useless to attempt resistance. His own daughter, the princess
Anne ; his favourite soldier, Lord Churchill, deserted him ; and as
the Dutch approached London, he was forced to flee to France.
13. Once master of the capital, WiUiam issued writs summoning
a Conventimi Parliament. Like the body that restored Charles ii.,
this convention was in aU but name and form a real
parliament. It met on January 22, 1689. Though y^^ and the
the majority was fiercely Whig, there was a strong Declaration
body of Tories returned, who, now that James's fliglit jgss
had dissipated their worst alarms, began to have
scruples against resisting or deposing the king by divine right.
They proposed that James sliould remain nominal king wliile
William became regent. But this was an absurd compromise that
pleased nobody, and finally the Convention took up a more decided
line. It voted that James had abdicated the throne by his flight to
France, and that the throne ha<l thereby become vacant. It drew
up a Declaration of Bight, wherein the worst of James's acts were
denounced as illegal. The declaration was presented to William
and Mary, who ratified it. Thereupon the throne was offered to
William and Mary as joint sovereigns. On their ac(!eptanc« of
the throne, the " Glorious Revolution," as it was called, was com-
pleted. The Stewart attempt to set up king above parliament
was finally defeated. Working out still ftirther the principles of
the men of 1(541 and 1860, the Convention set up a monarchy,
created by parliament, and responsible to it. It thus destroyed
the old Tory theory of divine hereditary right, and made the king
an official, subject, like other officials, to dismissal if he neglected to
perform his duties. Thus parliament became the strongest element
in the English state, and the seventeenth-century struggle of king
and his subjects was finally ended by the triumph of the parliament
over the crown.
CHAPTER VI
WILLIAM III. (1689-1702) AND MARY (1689-1694)
Chief Dates :
1689. Accession of William and Mary ; Bill of Rights and Toleration
Act.
1690. Battle of the Boyne.
1692. Battle of La Hougue and Massacre of Glencoe.
1694. Death of Queen Mary.
1696. First Whig Ministrj'.
1697. Treaty of Kyswick.
1698. Failure of the Daricn scheme ; First Partition Treaty.
1700. Second Partition Treaty.
1701. Act of Settlement.
1702. Grand Alliance formed ; death of William iii.
1. On February 13, 1689, William 111. and Mary were put in
possession of the tkrone. Much still had to be done before the
Theacces- changes made necessary by the flight of James ii.
sion of were completed. To carry some of these out, the
Wiluam and Convention, following the precedent of the convention
the bIii of which restored Charles ii., was turned into a regular
Rights, parliament. It set to work to pass new laws which
1689 . .
should make it impossible for any future king to
govern on the lines of James ii. The most important of these
was the Bill of Mights, which re-enacted the Declaration of Rights
in a more forpial fashion. It declared illegal many of James's
unconstitutional acts, such as levying money and keeping a
standing army without the sanction of parliament, and stated
that subjects had a right to petition the king, and that parliaments
should be freely elected, frequently held, and have free speech.
It declared the suspending power altogether illegal, and the dis-
pensing power " as it hath been exercised of late." Its most
important clauses, however, were those which bore upon the future.
It enacted that " for the safety and weKare of this Protestant
kingdom,"' aU persons " who profess the popish religion or marry
a papist, shall be incapable to inherit or possess the crown."
496
1689.1 WILLIAM III. AND MARY 497
2. Other laws of scarcely less importance were passed by the
Convention. A Mutiny Act was drawn up, which authorized the
king- to maintain a standin),' army and enforce dis- _, „ .
cipLine in it by martial law. This act was only passed Act, and the
for a short period, so that the king was forced to go revenue,
every year to parliament for its renewal. This was
a more excellent means of keeping William dependent on parlia-
ment than the abstract resolutions of the Bill of Rights. Even
more effective, however, was the action of parliament with regard
to the royal revenue. While Charles ir. and James 11. had re-
ceived a grant of a large income for life, so that they were able
to carry on the government in a fashion witliout ha\ang further
recourse to the Commons, parliament cut down the life revenue of
the crown to very modest limits, and resolved to make parliamentary
grants from year to year only. This action resulted in the necessity
for annual sessions of parliament ever since. Were parliament
not to assemble, the Mutiny Act would lapse, so that the standing
army would become illegal, while most taxes would come to an end,
for no one would have any obligation to pay them.
3. Another law, passed in 1689, was the Toleration Act, which
gave Protestant Dissenters who believed in the Trinity the right
to worship freely in their own chapels. It was not fhe joiera-
a broad or comprehensive measure of toleration, tion Act,
Unitarians were excluded from it, and the penal *°^^'
laws against Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters still
remained on the statute-book. Yet it practically carried the
principle against wliich nearly all religious parties had been
fighting since the Reformation. It recognized that Englishm(»n
did not all think the same way in matters of religion, and allowed
pttrsous who disagre<Ml witli the established system of the Churdi
to a.s,semble for worship after their own fasliion. The Dissenters
still romainod under all sorts of disabilities, but they had at last
won the right to exist. Gradually the spirit of the times changed,
and extended tlio })eneiits of the Toleration Act to thoso wlio were
expressly excepted from it. But many a battle ha<l still to be
fought Iwfore complete religious lil)erty was won.
4. The High Church party disliked the Toleration Aci. and
wero afraid of the results of the revolution. Though many of
tliem had deserted James in his hour of need, they soon iM^oame
di.Haffeotecl with the rulo of a king who gave toleration to Dis-
s«n1ers and was a Prwsbyterian in his own country. They were
still a very powerful body, and were strong enough to prevent
2k
498 WILLIAM III AND MARY [1689-
William carrying out his wish to change the constitution of the
Church in such a fashion that it might include some of the mode-
The Low ^*^® Dissenters, and particularly the Presbyterians.
Church Some of the High Church leaders still upheld the
triumph doctrines of divine right and passive obedience, and
schism of denied that William had any right to the throne,
the Non- When called upon to take an oath of allegiance to
Jurors. ^]jg j^g^ sovereign, many of the clergy refused to
accept it. Among them were Archbishop Bancroft, of Canterbury,
and Bishop Ken, of Bath and WeUs, and several hundred parish
clergymen. All these were driven from their offices, and the
bishoprics thus made vacant were filled up by William from the
Low Church party, which was enthusiastically upon his side.
The new archbishop of Canterbury, TiUotson, was the leader of
the Low Church, and much disliked by the High Churchmen for
his wish to widen the limits of the Church by bringing some of
the Dissenters within it. Those who refused to swear allegiance
to William were called the Non-Jurors. The more exti-eme among
them broke off all relations with the Church, and held services of
their own. This schism of the Non- Jurors was, however, never very
formidable, since few laymen followed the clergy who left the
Church. And the seceders were only a minority, even among the
High Church clergy. The majority took the oaths without giving
up their old theories, and remained very hostile to the Church
policy of the new king. Many of them soon became Jacobites, or
partisans of King James, and they were the more formidable,
since they stiU had a great hold over the people. Thus, even
in England, the revolution was not carried through without grave
difficulties. It was still harder to establish the power of William
and Mary in Ireland and Scotland.
5. Ireland supported James 11. long after lie was exjjeUed from
England. His deputy in Ireland, Tyrconnell, had already destroyed
_, Protestant ascendency in Ireland, and, M'ith the flight
power up- of James, the last restraint ui)on his zeal was removed.
held In Hitherto James had looked with suspicion upon the
Ireland. Irjgh movement, because, though he sympathized with
the Irish as Catholics, he had no wish to help them to throw off
English rule altogether. Now, however, James had to accept any
allies he could get, and allow them to act as they thought best. In
March, 1689, James himself landed in Ireland, bringing with him
some French troops. He summoned an Irish parliament to
Dublin, the great majority of wliich was Catholic. It showed a
-1690.] WILLIAM in. AND MARY 499
bitter hatred to Eng-land and Protestantism. It repealed the
Act of Settlement of 1661, by which the greater pai-t of Irish
land had been confirmed to English and Protestant owners. It
passed an Act of Attainder, which condemned more than two
thousand partisans of WiUiam of Orange.
6. Tlie scattered Irish Protestants of the south were forced to
submit to James and the Catholics; but in Ulster, where the
Protestants were numerous, they at once took arms
in favour of King William and the Protestant Siege of
_. . r„, , TTi i J P r 1 1 Derry and
religion. The two Ulster towns 01 Londonderry the battle of
and Enntukillen were the chief centres of resistance. Newtown
King James's army soon besieged Derry, and pressed iggg^''*
the garrison hard. The walls were weak, and pro-
visions soon ran short, but the Protestants held out with great
stubbornness. Ships laden with provisions were sent from England
for their roUef, but the Catholic army had tlirown a boom across
the river Poyle, so that it seemed impossible for vessels to sail up
to the town. However, on July 30, when the garrison was almost
desperate from want of food, a merchant ship sailed up the river,
and managed to break thi-ough the obstruction. Her stores re-
moved all danger of starvation, and the Catholics, losing heart at
the unexpected relief afforded to their enemies, at once raised the
siege. Three days later, the men of Enniskillen defeated another
Catholic army in the battle of Newtown Butler.
7. Despite these successes, the Irish Protestants were too few
to hold their own permanently again.st the Catholics. Their only
chance lay in obtaining help from England, and gattle of
luckily for them, this wa.s not long in coming, the Boyne,
William saw that if James kept his hold on Ireland l^^O.
he would soon attempt to win back England also. He therefore
.sent an English army, under General Schomberg, a French
Protestant refugee, to light against James in Ireland. But
sickness broke out in his army, and he was not able to accom-
])lisli anything. Next year (169<>) William himself undertook
the conquest of Ireland. Landing at Carrickfergus. he advanced
southwards towards Dublin. James resolved to hold against
him the line of the river Boyne, which, dividing the counties
of Lontli and Meath, runs into the sea just Ih>1ow Drogheda.
On July I tiio hnttlc of the lioyiie was fought. Schomberg
was killed in tlie light, btit William's troops forced the passage of
the river, and drove tlie Catholics in a panic towards Dublin. James
fled to France ; William occupied the capital, and conquered
500 WILLIAM in. AND MARY [1689-
the greater part of Ireland. The Catholics noW stood on the
defensive, and made their last stand at Limerick. The forti-
fications there were as feeble as those of Derry, but the stout
spirit of the defenders enabled them to hold their own. Towards
the end of the summer William returned to England without
having taken Limerick.
8. In June, 1691, the Dutch general, Ginkel, captured Athlonc,
which commanded the passage over the Shannon. This enabled
him to invade Connaught, where, on July 12, he
testant con- defeated the Irish army at the battle of Aughrim.
quest of Before long aU western Ireland was overrun, and for
IMf"^' * second time the Catholics stood at bay behind the
weak walls of Limerick. This time further resistance
was useless, and Ginkel offered easy conditions in order to bring
the war to an end. In October the Irish accepted the treaty of
Limerick, by which it was agreed to allow all the Irish soldiers
who chose to abandon their country to take ship for France. The
Catholics who took the oath of allegiance to William were promised
forgiveness, and were guaranteed the same liberty to hear mass tliat
they had been allowed in the days of Charles 11. But the Irish
parliament was now once more a purely Protestant body, and was
desperately afraid of the CathoUcs, who had so nearly overthrown
Protestant ascendency. It declared that Ginkel had gone beyond
liis powers in making these promises, and meanly refused to be
bound by the treaty. Eager to have revenge on the Catholics,
the Irish parliament restored Protestant ascendency in a more
cruel fashion than either Strafford or Cromwell had maintained
it. Gradually it built up a Penal Code of extreme severity,
which took away from the Catholics aU political rights, reduced
them to poverty by taking away their lands, and barely allowed
them the exercise of their religion.
9. In Scotland the revolution followed the course of events in
England rather than that in Ireland. James 11. had set himself
The pevo- against Scottish popular opinion even more than ho
lution in had gone against the wishes of liis soiithern subjects,
Scotland. ,^^^ ^j^g Scots rejoiced greatly when the English
drove him out. A Convention of the Scottisli estates met in
Edinburgh, and resolved that James vji. had forfeited the Scottish
crown. A Claim of Bight wa« di-awii up which declared that
prelacy was an insiipportable grievance and ought to be abolished.
WiUiam and Mary accepted the throne, and agreed to carry out
the wishes of the Convention. In 1690 the General Assembly
-I69I.1 WILLIAM III. AND MARY 50I
of the Scots Church met for the first time since the Cromwellian
conquest, and carried out the restoration of the Presbyterian
system. The bishops and their followers were forced to set up a
separate Church of their own, which was strong-ly Jacobite and
bitterly persecuted. But the abolition of episcopacy in the Scottish
Church made it possible for Scotland to be governed much more in
accordance with Scottish ideas than it had been in Stewart times.
10. There was fig-hting before the revolution was completed
in Scotland. John Graham, of Claverhouse, whom James had
made Viscount Dundee, withdrew from the Convention g„,^j- „»
in disgTist, and called upon the Highland clans to Killle-
uphold the cause of the Stewarts. The Highlanders ?ao5*^*®*
cared Little about the disputes between bishops and
presbyters, Jacobites and WiUiamites. The revolution meant for
them the restoration of the earl of Argyll, the son of the earl
executed in 1685, to the chieftainship of his clan. The smaller
clans, such as the Macdonalds and Camerons, had long been
afraid of the Campbells, and willingly rose in revolt to prevent
the danger of a renewal of Campbell domination. Accordingly a
large army gathered together from the Tory clans who hated the
Whig Campbells. To these Graham stood as his kinsman Montrose
had stood to their fathers. But though he showed great capacity
as a general, his career was too short to enable him to rival the
deeds of Montrose. After various wanderings, Dundee and his
Highlanders took up a position in the Perthshire Highlands near
Blair Atholl. The Lowland army of King WiUiam, under the
Highland general Mackay, marched against them through the
pans of KilUecrankie. Soon after Mackay had made his way
through the pass, the army of Dundee went forth to meet him
on July 27, lfi89. The Lowlanders gave way before the fierce
Highland charge, but Dundee was slain in the moment of victory,
and Mackay rallied his troops so effectively that, after a few days,
the Highlanders became weary of fighting, and went home with
their spoils.
11. The break-up of the Highland host made William undis-
pnted king of Scots. The Highlands were then gradually pacified.
Though the work was slow, it was at length accom- _.
plished, and amnesty was promised to aU those who, sacre of
before the end of 1691, would take oaths to live 91'1'1*'*'*'
peaceably under King William. Most of the chief-
tains made their snljmission, but one of the heads of a branch of
the Macdouald clan, Maclan of Olencoe, made it a jK»int of honour
502 WILLIAM III. AND MARY [1689-
to hold out as long as he could, though within a few days of the
time fixed, he took the oath to William. The chief adviser of
William for Scotch affairs was John Dalrymple, called the Master
of Stair, because he was the eldest son of Viscount Stair. He was
a Lowlander anxious to teach Highlandei's to respect the law, and
he thought that Maolan's neglect to take the oath gave him a
good pretext for reading the clansmen a much-needed lesson.
Accordingly he persuaded WiUiam, who knew nothing of the facts,
that it was desirable " for the vindication of public justice to
extirpate that set of thieves," meaning thereby the Macdonalds of
Glencoe. The order was carried out by a detachment of soldiers
from Argyll's own regiment, who, as Campbells, were the natural
enemies of the Macdonalds. The dalesmen of Glencoe were so
unsuspicious that they entertained the soldiers with gi-eat hospi-
tality. Suddenly, on the early morning of February 13, 1692, the
Campbells fell upon their hosts, and brutally put them to the
sword. This deed of blood was called the Massacre of Glencoe.
It excited such indignation that William was forced to dismiss the
Master of Stair from his service. William himself was severely
blamed, but the real guilt rather fell upon Dalrymple and the
Campbells.
12. A general European war had broken out on the eve of
William's expedition to England. Since the treaty of Nijmegen
The war ^^ 1678, Louis xiv. had provoked the indignation of
agralnst all his neighboui's by a series of wanton attacks upon
France, them. William of Orange had striven for many years
to form a general league against Louis xiv. He
welcomed his accession to the English throne chiefly because it
gave him the hope of adding England to the coalition against the
French. Louis's own action in supporting James li. excited so
much indignation in England that William found it an easy task
to persuade his new subjects to enter upon war against France.
This struggle lasted from 1689 to 1697. Though Holland, Bi-an-
denburg, Spain, the Empire, and many smaller powers were allied
with England against France, Louis was still able to withstand this
fonnidable coalition.
13. The French won every battle in the Netherlands, and
even at sea were able to give the allies much trouble. Thougli
England and Holland, the two greatest naval powers, were united,
the French admiral, TourviUe, won, on June 30, 1690, a brilliant
victory over their combined fleets off Beachy Head. This success
made it easy for Louis to send help to the Catholics in Ireland.
-1697.1 WILLIAM in. AND MARY 503
He also thought of invading England, being encouraged to do bo
not only by avowed Jacobites, but also by some treacherous ministers
and generals of William himself. So long aa the Battles of
French retained the command of the sea, England Beachy
was exposed to real danger. However, on May 19, ^®^ ^'a '
1G92, Admiral Russell decisively defeated the French Hougrue.
navy under Tourville off La Hougue, in Normandy. 1692.
Henceforth the English and Dutch retained the command of the
Channel, though the Frencli grievously harried English commerce
for the rest of the war.
14. On land the chief fighting was in the Netherlands. Every
summer William took command of the allied army and did his
best to withstand the French. Every year he was pgn»~of
beaten in a pitched battle, but he had a wonderful Ryswick.
power of rallying his army after defeat, so that the 1697.
French progress was very slow, despite their victories. As time
went on, William became more successful, and in 1695 he managed
to capture the strong fox-tress of Namur. The two sides were now
fighting on such equal terms that they soon got weary of con-
tinuing a costly and unprofitable war. At last, in 1697, peace was
made at Byswick, near the Hague. By it Louis restored the
conquests he had made during the war, and agreed to recognize
William as king of England. It was not a very glorious peace for
the allies, but it was the first treaty which Louis had signed by
which he had not gained Ikrge additions to his dominions. His
power was still very great, but it had ceased to grow. This was
largely due to the fact that England had definitely ranged herself
on the side of the enemies of France. One of the most imi)ortant
results of the revoln^on was the increased part which Entrlanc}
took in foreign politics . Under the gnidanoe of the trreat states -
man who was no^ |^^^ Irin g. she had set limita to the power of
France, and tif^tan won / »<• ^«»"H>K ^^'^ p osftion of a leading
Enropean power.
15. During the war England was exposed to many difficulties.
In partictilar the cost of the war was so enormous that it involved
new ex])edient8 for raising money. Frosli taxes were
imposed, among them being a Land Tax, which the jy^[^
country gentlemen bitterly opposed. But it was soon
found quite im]>ossible to raise enough money year by year to meet
the expenses of the campaigns. Charles Montague, chancellor of
the exche<|uor, was forced to borrow large sums of money. From
these loans bngan our National. Debt, for Montague did not follow
504 WILLIAM III. AND MARY [1694'
the earlier fashion of borrowing, by whiclx tempoi-ary advances
were demanded for a short period. The new loans became per-
manent, and their interest a fixed charge on the revenue. One of
the earliest loans was made by a company of merchants, which in
return was constituted as the Bank of England, and given special
advantages in carrying on financial business. This was the first bank
on a large scale set up in England. It proved very successful,
partly because it gave better security to those who trusted their
money to it than the goldsmiths, the earlier bankers, had afforded,
and partly because it became the agent of the ministry for
borrowing fresh loans and managing the ever-increasing national
debt. One indirect advantage came from these loans. The persons
who lent their money to the government had good reason to be
afraid of a Jacobite restoration, since it was unlikely that James
would pay interest on money borrowed by William to maintain
himself on his throne. Thus the wealthy classes became solidly
attached to the Revolution settlement. It was a time when commerce
was greatly extending, and many Englishmen were amassing riches
through trade.
16. WiUiam had many other difficulties besides those which
sprang from the need of raising money for the war. He never
Death of made himself popular in England or took any trouble
Queen to understand English ways. His whole mind was
Mary, 1694. absorbed in his lifelong struggle against France. He
distrusted Englishmen, and had good reason for doing so. He
was always glad when he could get away to Holland, and his chief
friends were Dutchmen, whom he enriched with English estates
and raised to English peerages. His health was weak, and he was
peevish, morose, taciturn, and selfish. These faults blinded most
Englishmen to his real greatness. Things grew worse after Queen
Mary's death in 1694, for she was bright, gracious, and popular,
and a thorough Englishwoman. As they had no children, the next
heir to the throne was now the princess Anne, Mary's younger
sister. Anne was on bad terms with her brother-in-law, and had
as her chief adviser John Churchill, earl of Marlborough.
Marlborough was a great general, but a greedy and self-seeking
politician. When engaged in William's service, he did not scruple
to intrigue with the exiled king.
17. All through these years the Jacobites were active. Plot
after plot was formed to restore King James and to assassinate
William. So alarming were these conspiracies that in 1696 par-
liament followed the example of Elizabeth's parliament in 1584,
-1696.] WILLIAM III. 505
and drew up a "Btmd of Association, by wliicli they agreed to stand
by King William and the Protestant succession, and to avenge
any attack on either. Faction rose high both in ^j^^ ^q^^ of
parliament and among the king's ministers. At the Association,
beginning of the reign William, who was anxious 1^6.
not to be the king of one party only, had chosen his ministers indif-
ferently from both the Whig and the Tory statesmen. But the
two factions hated each other, and would not work loyally together.
Things were the worse since the Tories disliked the war with
France. They declared that it was dangerous for England to have
a strong anny, and that continental politics were no concern of hers.
18. It was soon clear that a ministry chosen from the two
parties would not work. The renegade Sunderland, now again a
Protestant and returned from exile, wormed his way
into WiUiam's favour, and showed him the advantages united Whig
to be gained from having ministers all of the same ministry,
way of thinking. The king gradually drove away the
Tories from office, and selected his advisers exclusively from the
Whigs. The last Tory to go was the duke of Leeds, the former earl
of Danby, who narrowly escaped a second impeachment on a charge
of corruption. By 169G a united Whig ministry was formed, of
which the leaders were a little knot of statesmen called the Junto.
Chief among them were the chancellor. Lord Somers ; Charles
Montague, the brilliant financier, who was soon made Lord Halifax ;
and Admiral RusseU, the victor of La HougTie, now Lord Orford.
As soon as WilUam gave his chief confidence to the Whigs, he
adopted their policy and accepted their measures. In 1694 he gave
his assent to the Triennial Act, which laid down that no parliament
should last more than three years. In 1695 he allowed the act to
lapse which, since the Restoration, had empowered the king to
appoint a licenser, without whose permission no newspaper or book
could be printed. This aboUtiou of the censorship of the press was
as great an encouragement to freedom of writing as the Toleration
Act had been to freedom of worship.
19. William had not thought that he was making any great
change when he created his united Whig ministry. He was eager
to use all the power that the law, as modified by the _ ^
revolution, gave him. First among his royal rights of cabinet
he reckoned his power to choose his ministers freely, Bovern-
and so to control the government of the country. But
the Whigs, at the time they became his ministers, were the party
which commanded a majority in the House of Commons, and the
506 WILLIAM IIL [1695-
real advantage which he got from the change was in the harmony
between his policy and that which commended itself to his parlia-
ment. It was, in fact, a move in the direction of the modern
system of the Cabinet Goveimment, by which the king is compelled
to have as his advisers the leaders of the pai-ty commanding a
majority in the lower House. Already under Charles 11. there had
been a tendency towards this plan. The ministry of the Whig
Junto marked a much further step along the same road. The final
result was that the king ceased to govern the country at all, and
that the executive power passed virtually to the House of Commons.
But this change, which was the greatest of all the results of the
revolution, was brought about very slowly, and only completed
after the accession of the house of Hanover. Yet before the end
of WiUiam's reign another approach to cabinet government was
made, when William had to dismiss his Whig ministers, because
the House of Commons ceased to have a Whig majority.
20. Scotland gave trouble to William as weU as England.
Scotland was in those days a very poor country, with little industry
The Darlen ^^ trade. Now that England was rapidly gaining
scheme, wealth by foreign commerce, the Scots naturally
wished to do the same. There were, however, grave
difficulties in the way. The English Navigation Acts treated Scot-
land as a foreign country, and, in particular, shut the Scots out of
all share in the profitable trade with English colonies. Paterson.
a shrewd Scot who had helped Montague to establish the Bank
of England, proposed to his countrymen to set up a Scottish
colony and trading station on the Isthmus of Darien, or Panama,
which separates Noi"th and South America. He believed that he
would be able to bring nearly aU the trade between the Pacific
and Europe through his new colony, and thus make Darien one
of the great commercial centres of the world. His plan was
taken up with enthusiasm ; a Darien company was floated, and in
1698 Paterson himself landed at Darien with the first settlers.
Three obstacles stood in tlieir way. Tlie climate was so hot and
unhealthy that the colonists died off rapidly of fever. Spain claimed
the site as hers, and regarded the Scottish settlers as pirates.
England looked with ill will on a new colony that would prove, if
siiccessftil, a rival to her own. For all these reasons the Darien
scheme proved a failure. Such settlers as survived the climate
were driven out by the Spaniards, and England did not raise a
finger to help them. The chief result of the fiasco was that the
Scots became bitterly hostile to England.
(
-1698.1
WILLIAAf III.
507
21. The treaty of Ryswick brought no lasting peace. Charles n.,
the cliildless king- of Spain, was slowly dying-, and it was certain
that on his death Louis xiv. and the emperor Leopold i. .j.^^^ snanlsh
would each try to establish a member of their own partition
family on the Spanish throne. Charles's two sisters, ^'^^^'f *• „
Maria Theresa and Margaret Theresa, had married
Louis and Leopold, and Leopold's mother had been Charles's aunt.
The son of tlie elder sister, Maria Theresa, and Louis xiv.. the
danpliin Louis of France, was the nearest heir to Charles 11. After
him came tlie electress of Bavaria, the only child of Margaret
THE SPANISH SUCCESSION, 1700.
Philip III. of Spain,
1598-1621.
Aune, in. Louis xiii.
I of France.
Philip IV.,
1621-1665.
I
Maria, m. tho Emperor
I Ferdinand in.
I.ouia XIV. 111. Maria Clharles 11.,
cf France. I Theresa. 1665-1700.
Margaret m. (I) I^opold i., m. (3) Eleanor of
Theresa I d. 1706. I Neubnrg.
Louis the Max Emanuel, in. Maria Josepli
Dauphin. Elector of I Antonia. d. 1711
Bavaria.
Ix)uiB, duke of
Burgundy.
Philip, duke of Anjou
(Philij) V. of Spain).
Louis XV. of France.
Archduke Charles,
'Charles in. of S|)ain.
Emperor Charles vi.
after 1711, d. 1740.
.loseph Ferdinand,
Electoral prince of Bavaria,
d. 1699.
Theresa and Leopold. But both tlie sisters had solemnly renounced
their rights to Spain when they had married, and if these renuncia-
tions were valid, the nearest heir was Leopold himself, wliose
mother had made no such surrender of her claim. Both the king
of France and the emperor meant to do what tliey could to press
forward their pretensions, and statesmen were almost e<iually afraid
of either of them 8uccee<luig, since the union of Spain wiili France,
or even witli Austria, would have utt^^rly upset tlie Europ<>au
balance of power. William iii. strongly lield ihis feeling, and was
able to jwrsuade Louis xiv. that it was lietter for liim to obtain
a part of tlie Spanisli succession without a straggle ratlier than
plunge into u long and doubtful war on the chance of winning the
508 WILLIAM IIL [1698-
whole. Accordingly, in 1698, England, Holland, and France signed
the First 'Partition Treaty, by which it was agreed that the electoral
prince of Bavaria, the son of the electress and grandson of the
emperor, should be the next king of Spain. France was to be
compensated with the Basque province of Guipuscoa and with
Naples, while the emperor was to be bought ofE with the Milanese.
Looking at the Spanish succession question from the European
point of view, it was a wise plan to make that prince king whose
accession would least disturb the European balance, and both
WiUiam and Louis deserve credit for making it. Unluckily,
the Bavarian prince died in 1699, and so the whole question was
reopened. Loiiis and William were still anxious to avoid war,
and resumed their negotiations. In 1700 they agreed upon a
Second Partition Treaty. In this Louis recognized the emperor's
second son, the archduke Charles, as king of Spain, and received
as additional compensation the Milanese as well as Naples and
Gruipuscoa. This meant that Louis resigned his son's claims in
order to win for France the supreme position in Italy enjoyed by
the Spanish Hapsburgers since the days of Charles v.
22. The weak point of the policy of WiUiam and Louis was
that it took no account whatever of the wishes of the Spaniards.
Though the treaties were kept secret, news about
of the them soon leaked out, and Spaniards felt indignant
partition that foreign princes should presume to cut their
1700 ^^' empire into pieces and distribute the fragments at
their pleasure. The dying Charles 11. so fully shared
this feeling that he made a wiU, giving the succession to the whole
of his dominions to Philip, duke of Anjou, the younger son of the
dauphin, to whom his father, following the example of Leopold's
handing over his pretensions to the archduke Charles, had yielded
up his claims. Soon afterwards he died, and Louis xiv., yielding
to the temptation, threw over the partition treaty, and sent his
grandson to Spain. Before long, the whole of the Spanish dominions
recognized the French prince as Philip v. Thus the great ambition
of William's life was frustrated, for the union of Spain with France
seemed likely to make Louis xiv. more dangerous to the European
balance than ever.
23. Nothing, however, could be effected for the moment. A
The Tory strong Tory reaction had followed the treaty of Rys-
peaction, wick, and the new parliament, which met in 1698, had
1698-1700. reduced the English army to seven thousand men,
and done all that it could to baffle WiUiam and his Whig ministers.
-170I.J WILLIAM in. 509
The wish of the Commons was to drive the Whi^ from power,
but William did not see why he should dismiss ministers he liked
because the Commons did not happen to aj^ee with their policy.
For a long time he held out, being* helped in his resistance by the
support of the House of Lords, a body in which the Whigs had in
those days a permanent majority. However, before the end of 1700
he was obliged to give way, and accept a Tory ministry, headed by
the earl of Rochester and Lord Godolphin. It was another step
forward towards our modern cabinet system when so able a king
as William had to change liis ministers at the bidding of the I [oust;
of Commons. It was gradually becoming clear that the revdlulimi
h ad made the C ommons stronger lliaii tiilit r \\w kinu- or the Lords.
24. WUliam felt bitterly that his Tory luiiiisti is aiul parliament
I)revont«d him from taking any steps to prevent tlie establishment
of Pliilip of An jou in Spain. The Tories declai-ed that fhe Act of
the balance of power was no concern of England, and Settlement,
impeached the fallen Whigs for having made the ^'°*°
partition treaty without the consent of parliament. Nothing, how-
ever, came of this, because the Whig House of Lords took good care
not to condemn the chiefs of their own party. There was another
general election in 1701, but the Tories were still in a majority.
The chief measure of this new parliament was the Act of Settlement
of 1701, by which the succession to the tlirone was provided for in
the event, whicli seemed certain, of both William and his sister-in-
law Anne dying without children. By it the crown was settled,
after Anne's death, on Sophia, electress of Hanover, and her heirs,
being Protestants. Sophia was the daughter of Frederick the
Elector Palatine, and sometime king of Boliemia, and of Elizabeth,
dauglitor of James i. She was selected for this position because she
was the nearest Protestant descendant of James i., lier grandfather.
There were plenty of nearer heirs, but they were all Catholics.
25. In providing for the Protestant succession without regard
to the strict laws of inlieritance, the parliament of 1701 showed
that Torias, like Wliigs, now accepte<l the doctrines
of the revolution, and treated tlio mouarcliy as an ^^^ constl-
offico which could bo conferred by act of parliament. iimltaUons
In fact, tlje Tory Commons were so jealous of a Whig In the Act
king like William, that they took particular care to men""'**
limit the authority of the crown as soon a.s the now
law came into force. Some of the constitutional safeguards intro-
duced into the Act of Settlement liavo great future importance,
and worthily completed the legal changes brought about by the
510 WILLIAM III [1702.
revolution settlement. AU future kings were to be members of the
Church of England ; they were not to engage England in war to
protect their foreign dominions without the consent of parliament,
and no foreigner was to hold grants, or office, or sit in parliament.
Judges were to have fixed salaries, and only to be removed from
office by petition of parliament, and no royal pardon could be
pleaded as an answer to an impeachment. jAll these articles showed
distrust of the crown and a wish to wound William's feelings.
The same spirit came out even more clearly in three clauses, which
were repealed in the next reign before they came into operation.
By these the future king was not to be allowed to leave England
without consent of parliament. No minister, placeman, or pen-
sioner was to sit in the House of Commons, and affairs of state
were to be transacted, not in cabinet councils of ministers after the
Whig fashion, but in the full privy councilj Had these two last
articles ever come into operation, they would have altered the
whole coiu'se of our later history by stopping the growth of cabinet
government. It was soon found, however, that it was the only
practical way of giving the strongest pai-ty a chance of getting its
own way. However, when in the next reign the clause excluding
placemen from parliament was repealed, the present plan was brought
in of making ministers seek re-election after receiving office.
26. William was thus checked both at home and abroad. His
health was breaking up, but he never lost heart, and gradually the
outlook became brighter. At last a false step on the
The Grand -fn^xi, of Louis xiv. gave him his cJiance. James 11.
Alli3,nc6 A <->
and the * died in 1701, and Louis, moved by a generous impulse
death of not to desert the unfortunate, recognized his son
1702.^™^"" James, prince of Wales, as the true English king.
This was a breach of the treaty of Ryswick, and bad
policy, because it stii-red up English national feeling against
France. Even the Tories became wiUing to fight the French ;
and William was at last enabled to build ui) a Grand Alliance
against the union of France and Spain, in wliich England was to
take a leading part. Before long William was able to dismiss his
Tory ministers and dissolve his Tory parliament. A Whig
majority was returned at the general election, which backed up the
new Whig ministers in their preparations for war with France.
All was ready for fighting when William died on March 8, 1702,
from the effects of a fall from his horse. He lived long enougli to
start the great league which in the next reign was to carry out his
dearest wish to destroy the power of Louis xiv.
CHAPTER VII
QUEEN ANNE (1702-1714)
Chief Dates :
1702. Accctisiou of Queen Anne.
1704. Battle of Blenheim and Act of Security.
1706. IJattle of Ramillies.
1707. Battle of Alnianza and union with Scotland.
1708. Battle of Oudeuarde.
1709. Battle of Malplaquet.
1710. Fall of the AVhigs.
1713. Treaty of Utrecht.
1714. Death of Anne.
1. Qu£EX Anne was g-ood-natured, true to her friends, sincerely
religious, and a thoroug-h Englishwoman. She was popular because
of her honesty, and her strong sympath y •""jtili ^^'^ Character
Tories and the High Churchmen . But she was ob- of Queen
stinate, and narrow-minded, and her husband, Prince A""®*
George of Denmark, M'as even duller than his wife. Anne bad
been entirely raled for many yeai\s by her old friend Sarali
Jennings, who became the wife of Marlborough. Lady Marl-
borough was strong-willed, qmck-witted, and devoted to her
husband. The result was that Marlborough really governed the
yolicv of the new queen . A cold-hearted and selfish man, who had
betrayed James n. an? William in turn, Marlborough was a clear-
headed and far-seeing statesman, and tlie greatest general of his
age. Uo was the one man in Europe strong enough to continue
the life-work of William m., and it was well for England that he
was available to guide the counsels and direct the armies of tlie
newnysen.
K'TJT Marlborough was a Tory, and his influence caused Anne
to dismiss her brother-in-law's Whig ministers and put Tories
in their place. The chief of the new ministors was Marlborough's
close friend, Godolphin, a slirewd and i)rud»>nt tiuaucier. who was
made lord treasurer, and the earl of Nottingham, the leader of
the High Churchmen, who became secretary of state. Marlborough
5»i
512 QUEEN ANNE [1702-
was made a duke and captain-general of the English, and Dutch
armies. It was his business to cany on the war, while Godolphin
found the money to pay for it. But lie remained a
f m''"i statesman as well as a general, and the custom of the
borough armies of the period going into winter quarters en-
and Godol- abled him to take his share in the work of parlia-
1 708'. ment and government in the winter, while commanding
the troops in the field during the summer. It was
a great proof of his power over his party that he persuaded them
to prosecute the war so vigorously, though all the Tory tradition
was in favour of peace.
3. War began within a few weeks of Anne's accession. The
chief parties to the Grand Alliance were England and HoUand,
_. „ which still acted closely together, and the emperor,
the Spanish who hoped to win the Spanish throne for his younger
succession, ^on. Many of the smaller German princes followed
1702-1713 . .
the emperor's lead, conspicuous among them being
the elector of Brandenburg, who had been bribed to take sides
against Prance by being recognized as Frederick i., king of
Prussia. Yet Louis had greater resources than ever under his
control. France was the richest, most compact, and, in some ways,
the best ruled state in Europe. Its army had an almost unbroken
record of victory, and its generals and statesmen enjoyed the
highest reputation. Spain, liitherto the opponent of France, was
now Louis's active ally, and was inspired witlr a new energy
by her French king. The Spanish Netherlands, hitherto an
impregnable barrier to French advance, were under Louis's control,
and the Dutch frontier stood open to invasion. Even in Germany
the French stiU had some partisans, notably the elector of Bavaria,
and his brother, the elector of Cologne. Italy also, wliich had
hitherto been against him, was mainly on his side, owing to
Spanish influence and to liis alliance with Victor Amadeus, duke
of Savoy and lord of Piedmont, the strongest of the Italian princes.
The struggle between allies so well matched was soon to prove itself
one of the most memorable in history.
4. The first campaigns of the war were not very eventful. The
Dutch were fearful of their laud being invaded by the French, and
_. . compelled Marlborough and the cliief army of the
campaigns allies to devote his main attention to the defence of
of the war, their frontier. In 1702 and 1703 Marlborough not
1702-1703 . . .\
only saved HoUand from invasion, but captured Liege
and Bonn, and overwhelmed the elector of Cologne. Louis's chief
-I704.1 QUEEN ANNE 513
ally in N orthern Gennany. Elsewliere, however, the coalition was
less successful. In upper Germany the French and their Bavarian
supporters invaded Austria and marched on Vienna, while a revolt in
Hungary also exposed the emperor to trouble in the east. Spain
and Italy were so entirely unaer French control that Portug-al and
Savoy, alarmed at the danger they were exposed to from French
ascendency, changed sides and joined the coalition. The treaty
between England and Portugal was called the _. ^«^
Methuen Treaty (1703), from its negotiator, John Methuen
Methuen. By it Portugal opened up her markets Treaty,
to English manufacturers, while England agreed that
Portuguese wine should pay a less duty than French wine. The
result of the compact was that for the best part of a century Portugal
became dependent on England both in politics and trade.
5. In 1704 matters became critical for the allies. Vienna was
threatened both from Bavaria and from Hungary, and it seemed as
if the emperor would be forced to make peace. The o_«.ig -f
only army that could help him was that of Marl- Blenheim,
borough, which lay hundreds of miles away protecting 1704.
the Dutch frontier, and whose presence there the Dutch thought
necessary for their safety. Armies of this period were unwieldy
and slow, but it is the mark of a general of genius to break from
the traditions of his day, and Marlborough rose to the great
opportunity which was offered to him. He resolved to shift his
army from the lower Hhine to the upper Danube and save the
emperor. He overcame the reluctance of the Dutch with extra-
ordinary tact, and persuaded them to allow him to remove his troops
on the pretence of fighting on the Moselle. But he hurried his
force up the Rhine and Neckar, and invaded Bavaria from the west.
Prince Eugene of Savoy, the best of the imperial generals, now
united his army with that of Marlborough. Thereupon the French
and Bavarians were compelled to fight a battle to save Bavaria from
being overrun. It took place on Augu-st 13, 1704, at Blindheim,
called by the English Blenheim, a village on the north bank of the
Danube, not fur east from Hochstadt. The Franco-Bavarian army
took up a position facing eastwards on some rising grround com-
manding the marshy valley through wliich the little river Nebel
runs to join the Danube. Blenheim, the right of their position,
was held by Marshal Tallard. the chief French general ; in the left
were the Bavarians under their elector ; while the centre consisted
of French troops under Marshal Marsin. Ihe allies were on the
opposite bank, Prince Eugene being opposed to the elector and
2 L
514
QUEEN ANNE
1 1704-
Marsin, while Marlborough fought against TaUard. The battle
begaai by Marlborough fiercely attacking Blenheim ; but the
village was strongly foi-tified, and many lives were lost to no
purpose. Marlborough's quick eye soon saw that TaUard had
drawn off mai;y troops from Marsin's column in order to protect
Ids threatened right. He at once threw all his forces against the
weak point in the enemies' lines, and managed to break through his
centre. Thereupon the elector retreated with the left wing, while
Tallard and the defenders of Blenheim were forced to lay down
their arms. The battle of Blenheim was the first great victory won
against Louis xiv. in the open field, and dealt a heavy blow to the
prestige of the French army. Austria was saved ; Bavaria forced
to make peace ; the French were driven over the Danube ; and
Marlborough won the reputation of a brilliant general whose
daring tactics, rapid movements, and briUiant attacks raised him
far above the stiff and slow commanders of the age.
6. In 1706 the successes of Blenheim were followed up by a
remarkable series of victories. Marlborough, who had returned to
the Netherlands, wo» the hatUc of RamilUa^, near Namur, the
result of which was the capture of almost aU the Spanish
-1709.1 QUEEN ANNE 515
Netherlands. Prince Eugene, who had undertaken the command
in Italy, won the decisive battle of Turin, which drove the French
out of Italy and established the archduke Charles in victories of
Milan and Naples. The attack on Philip v. in Spain, the allies in
which had begiin by Admiral Rooke's capture of 1704-1706.
Gibraltar in 1704, and extended after Barcelona had been won
in 1705, was consummated by the union of two aUied armies in
Madrid. One of these, starting from Barcelona, consisted largely
of the Catalans, who had revolted from Philip and proclaimed
the archduke Charles their king ; while the other, composed of
Portuguese, English, and Dutch, marched up the Tagus valley to
the Spanish capital. It seemed as if Prance were beaten in every
field of the war.
7. Louis and his grandson were inspired to new efEorts by their
earlier failures, and in 1707 the tide of victory turned against the
allies. This was particularly the case in Spain, where ^j^^ y^^ui^
the proclamation of the hated Austrian had been Almanza,
followed by a great popular rising of the Spanish 1707.
people in favour of the king of their choice. In 1707 the aUies
were decisively beaten in the battle of Almanza, and Philip \. was
i-estored to Madrid. In the Netherlands many of the fortresses
lost after Blenheim were won back, wlule the invasion of Germany
was renewed. It was clear that the French were not yet powerless.
8. In 1708 the allies regained their lost ground in the Nether-
lands. Marlborough and Eugene won the battle of Oudenarde,
which repeated the success of Ramillies, and was B_t,i_ «
followed by the recaptiire of the Netherlandish Oudenarde,
fortresses. At last the storming of LiUe, the key of 1708.
French Flanders, opened up Louis's own dominions to invasion.
Louis became so despondent that he offered to make peace and
renounce the Spanish succession. But the allies declared that tliey
would only agree to make terms if Louis would help them to expel
Philip from Spain. The French king declined to do this, and
manfully prepared to resist invasion.
9. In 1709 Marlborough won the last of his great victories at
Malplaquet. The French resistance was very stubborn, and the
allies lost more heavily than the defeated enemy. Very _. battle
few important results attended this triumph, and ofMalpla-
for the rest of the war the campaign in the Nether- Quot, 1709,
lands languished. The English now made their chief efforts in
Spain, whore, in 1708, General Stanliope captured the important
island of Minorai, and in 1710 again occupied Madrid. Again the
5l6 QUEEN ANNE [1709-
loyalty of the Spaniards to Philip v. made the allies triumph a short
one. Before the end of the year Stanhope was defeated, and forced
to surrender with most of his troops at Brihuega.
?7io"^^^' Henceforth Philip of Anjou reigned over Spain.
Only the Catalans continued to uphold the archduke
Charles. And in 1711 the allies themselves became lukewarm in
Charles's service, for in that year Charles became emperor on his
brother's death. Henceforth his accession to Spain seemed nearly as
likely to upset the balance of power as the rule of Philip v. The
war was waged with decreasing energy, and neither side scored
any remarkable successes. The conquest of the Netherlands by the
allies and the exhaustion of France were balanced by the establish-
ment of Philip both in Italy and Spain. At last a change in the
political conditions of England made our country anxious to put an
en^to the war.
^ 10. For the first few years of Anne's reign, Grodolphin and
Marlborough ruled England as the heads of a Tory ministry.
Their great anxiety was to carry on the war, and for
tests, 1702- that reason they strove to keep on friendly terms with
1708. the Whig leaders, who were the natural supporters of
a spirited foreign policy. To conciliate the Wliigs they had to
check the zeal of the High Tory party for upholding the Church at
the expense of the Dissenters. The Highfliers, as they were called,
were anxious to make law a Bill against Occasional Conformiiy,
which was to prevent Dissenters qualifying for office by receiving
once in the way communion in Church. Marlborough and
Godolphin hesitated to pass a measure that would have utterly
alienated the Whigs and Dissenters. Before long they opposed it,
whereupon Nottingham resigned office in jiisgust, and raised the
cry that the ministry was hostile to the Church. Besides this,
Marlborough was gradually finding out, like WiUiam, that only
the Whigs were really to be depended upon for supporting his war
policy. Accordingly, he filled up vacancies with Whigs, and in
1706 gave the office of secretary of state to his son-in-law. Lord
Sunderland, the son of the old adviser of James it. and WiUiam iii.
Sunderland was a strong Whig and closely allied to the chiefs of
the Whig Junto, who were stiU excluded from office. Gradually
the Tory element in the ministry was pushed into the background.
In desperation the Tories intrigued against their colleagues, and
strove to Tvin court favour by undermining the influence of the
duchess of Marlborough with the queen. Robert Harley, the Tory
secretary of state, obtained a place at court for his cousin,
-I7IO.] QUEEN ANNE 517
Mrs. Masham, whose placable and easy temper soon won Anne's
confidence, especially as she was getting tired of the overbearing
duchess. Mrs. Masham taught the queen that the Whigs were
plotting against the Church.
11. It was clear that either the Whigs or the Tories must go.
Marlborough and Godolphin definitely went over to the Whig*,
forced the reluctant queen to turn out Harley and his
Tory colleagues, and replace<l them with Somers, borough's
Orford, and the lords of the Junto. Among the Whig
younger Whigs now taken into office was the capable ^^o^^liQ
Norfolk squire, Robert Walpole, who succeeded Henry
St. John, the most brilliant of the Tories, as secretary at war.
From 1708 to 1710 Marlborough and Godolphin retained power
through the help of their old opponents. Foreign policy now really
divided Whig and Tory. It became the party interest of the Whigs
to prolong the French war, and for this reason they rejected, as we
liave seen, the offers of jjeace which Louis xiv. made in the days of
his worst distress. After the campaigns had ceased to be successful
and the accession of Charles vi. to the Empire, they were still
anxious to continue the struggle. Henceforth war or peace
depended less on the armies in the field than on parliamentary
struggles and court intrigues. It was soon made clear that the
Whigs were playing a factions game in the hope of maintaining
their power, and plain men became disgusted that a bloody and
unprofitable war should be continued indefinitely to meet the interest
of a place-loving ministry.
12. Once more the cry was raised that the Church was in
danger. Anne, now altogether under Mrs. Masham's influence,
became extremely suspicious of her ministers' doings,
and a Tory parson, named Dr. Sacheverell, won extra- peachment
ordinary influence by his political sermons against the of Dr.
Whigs. The Whigs unwisely made a martyr of reuj^nog.
Sacheverell by impeaching him, though his ofEence
was so technical that even the Whig House of Lords could inflict
upon him no worse punishment than three years' suspension from
preaching. This was enough, however, to make the doctor a
})opular hero, and an effective electioneering agent for the Tories.
Anne began to consult Harley and remove the Whigs from office.
The general electio n o f 1710 returned a strong majoriiy of Torieg
andHigh ^Jimrohn^B^ jifl 4:lia Unna^ ^ f Tommon^ The result of
this was that the Tories remained in power for the rest of the
queen's life.
5l8 QUEEN ANNE [1710-
13. Robert Harley, who became in 1711 earl of Oxford and lord
high treasurer, was now the chief minister. He was a skilful party
The Tory manager and a dexterous intriguer, but was timid,
ministry, hesitating, a jjoor speaker, and of somewhat ordinary
1710-1713. temperament. Far more brilliant and attractive was
Henry St. John, the secretary of state, who soon became Viscount
BoUngbroke. He was a man of fashion and a famous writer, of
wonderful eloquence, and clear insight into EngUsh character.
But he looked upon politics as a mere game, and had little real
earnestness or conviction. Under the influence of these two, Marl-
borough was dismissed from the command of the army, and charges
of corruption and peculation brought against him. His successor
as general-in-chief was the duke of Ormonde, an incompetent
nobleman, who withdrew from aU active share in the war. The.
Whig^ajority in the House of Lords was broken down by cre ating
twelve^Tpry peers, one of whom was Mrs. Masham's husband. The
Tories now showed as much factious zeal in hurrying forward the
conclusion of peace as the Whigs had manifested in refusing to
end the war. They threw over the emperor altogether, and in
1713 united with the Dutch to make a separate treaty with the
French and Spaniards at Utrecht. It was only in the following
year that Charles vi. was' reluctantly forced to end the war by the
treaty of Rastadt.
14. The cliief condition of the treaty of Utrecht was that
Philip V. should be recognized as king of Spain and the Indies,
The Treaty ®^^^ ^^® Catalans, whq had fought so well for Charles,
of Utrecht, being forced to accept his rule. The emperor was
l'^^' compensated in Italy, where Milan, Naples, and Sar-
dinia were ceded to him. Charles \i. had also hoped to get the
Netherlands and Sicily, but the Netherlands were handed over
to the Dutch, who were only to resign them to the emperor when
he had concluded with them a harrier treaty, by which the fortresses
on the French frontier were to be permanently garrisoned by Dutch
troops. Sicily escaped Charles altogether, being given to Victor
Amadeus, duke of Savoy, with the title of king. jEngland received
some reward in the recognition of the Protestant succession, tlie
cession of Newfoundland and Acadie (Nova Scotia) by France, and
the surrender of Gibraltar and Minorca by Spain. Important
commercial advantages were also secured to England and Holland.
The commerce of the Netherlands was ruined to please the Dutch,
and Spain made with England a contract called the Asienio, which
gave the English the lucrative monopoly of supplying her American
-I7I3-
QUEEN ANNE
519
^ a. eo <n *
520 QUEEN ANNE [1713-
colonies with negro slaves. Spain also permitted England to send
one ship a year to trade with Portohello, in South Ameri ca.A
15. The treaty of Utrecht marked an epoch both in the history
of Em-ope and of England. It completed the downfall of the over-
End of great power of Louis xiv., who died in 1715, after having
the age of outlived the glories of his age. It brought about the
ou s V. revival of Spain and the beginning of the European
importance of the two new monarchies of Brandenburg-Pi-ussia and
Sicily- Savoy. It witnessed the establishment of England in the
prominent p osition won for liorby Marlborough's victories, and u'ave
her gr eat commercial advantages, fresh colonies, an estalilislniu'ut
m the Mediten-aneau. and the status of the supreme inariliuie
power in the world. It was, however, concluded in such a liui-ry"
that the Whigs complained with reason that the government had
neglected to secure many advantages which Louis might have
yielded, if the English had shown more caution in the conduct of
the negotiations. The treaty was denounced as a party move, and
the Tories were held up to shame as having neglected the interests
of their country in their desire to play the game of their faction.
It is impossible to justify the way in which England threw over
her allies or hurried on the treaty. But it was a good tiling to
make peace, and it would not have been to the permanent interest
of England to have humiliated the French any further.
16. Oxford and BoUngbroke looked forward to a long lease of
power. The peace was popular and the country prosperous. The
High Church party was won over by passing the Act
ministry against Occasional Conformity in 1711, to which was
and the added, in 1714, the Schism Act, which prevented any
successfon' I^issenter from becoming a schoolmaster. A new
general election returned another Tory House of
Commons, and the good-will of the queen was absolutely secured
for them. But Anne's health was now breaking up, and, as the
electress Sophia, who was over eighty years of age, died at this
time, it looked as if the throne would soon pass, according to the
Act of Settlement, to her son, George, elector of Hanover. George
was an enemy of the treaty of Utrecht and a friend of the Whigs,
and Bolingbroke feared lest his accession should involve the expulsion
of the Tories from office. Above aU things, Bolingbroke was a
strong party man, and he began to think that his party could only
be kept in place by overthrowing the Act of Settlement. He had
no faith in divine rig'ht or arbitrary power, but he preferred a
Stewart to a foreign king, and jmt the interests of his party first
-1 714-1 QUEEN ANNE 521
of all. There were stiU many Tories and High Churchmen who
upheld the divine right of the old line of kings, and Anne herself
was not unwilling to secure the succession for her half-brother.
The main obstacle in the way was the fact that James was a E/oman
Catholic, and that he would not deny or dissemble his faith.
17. Bolingbroke threw himself witli eagerness into his treason-
able policy. He won over some of his colleagues, but his chief
difficulty was with Oxford, who was too cautious and
timid to embark upon great risks, and was jealous Oxford and
of the personal ascendency of the briUiant secretary, the death
The result was a fierce quarrel between Bolingbroke Anne* 1714
and Oxford, which culminated in an unseemly alterca-
tion before the sick queen. Anne took BoUngbroke's side, and
on July 27, 1714, deprived his rival of office. Bolingbroke then
Jiad everything his own way, and prejjared for a revolution. His
plans were still but half reatly when, on July 30, the queen was
smitten with apoplexy. All was now confusion, and the cabinet
met to decide what was to be done. While they were deliberat-
ing, the Whig dukes of Argyll and Somerset demanded, as privy
councillors, to be admitted to share their deliberations. The
law knew nothing of cabinets, and they claimed that one privy
coimciUor had as much right to be consulted as anotlier. One of
the ministers, the duke of Shrewsbury, backed up their claims, and
they insisted that he should be made Oxford's successor as treasurer.
The three dukes now took everything upon themselves, and
ignoring the ministers, summoned to the council all the privy
councillors, the majority of whom were Whigs. When Anne died
on August 1, they proclaimed the accession of the elector of
Hanover as George i. Bolingbroke shrunk from open resistance,
and set down his misfortune to the sudden death of the queen.
" In six weeks more," he said, " we should have put things in such
a condition that there would have been nothing to' fear. But
Oxford was removed on Tuesday ; the queen died on Sunday !
What a world is this, and how does fortune banter us ! "
18. Under Queen Anne the parliamentary union of England
and Scotland was happily accomplished. Since the
collapse of the Darien project, there had been much ill- ^{at'i"®*'
feeling between the two countries. It had been hoped of England
that the revolution had set tha northern kingdom free and Scot-
to work out its own destinies. But the Darien failure 1702'.
had shown tliat Scotland, as the weaker power, was still
obliged iu imi)ortaut matters to follow the lead of England, and
522 QUEEN ANNE [1702-
that as long as Scotland remained under a separate government,
Scotsmen were shut out from aU the sources of wealth which
were making England the greatest commercial country in the world.
It was clear that things could not go on as they were, and that
there must either be complete separation or fuller union. Wise
men like WiUiam iil saw in the latter course the best way out of
the deadlock. But a patriotic party grew up in Scotland, led by
Andrew Fletcher, of Salton, who wished for absolute separation
between the crowns, and the restoration of Scotland to the position
of independence it had enjoyed before 1603. Largely through
Fletcher's influence, the Scots rejected William's overtui-es for a
union, and the need of providing for the succession after Anne's
death gave him the chance of vindicating the freedom of his country.
19. It had been expected that just as in 1689 Scotland had
followed the lead of England, and had dethroned James in favour
The Act of ^^ William, so after 1701 she would pass a new Act of
Security, Succession on the lines of the English Act of Settle-
1703-1704. jneji^ Fletcher was resolved that Scotland should
take up her own line, and in 1703 brought forward a Bill of
Secunty, by which on Anne's death the Scottish throne was to go
to some Protestant descendant of the royal house, but excluding
the successor to the English throne, unless he accepted a series of
Limitations, by which aU the power of the crown in Scotland was
permanently handed over to a committee of the Scottish Parlia-
ment. It was the moment of the crisis of the Spanish succession
war, and Godolphin dared not risk a conilict between England and
Scotland. After once refusing the royal assent to the BiU of
Security, Anne accepted it in 1704.
20. The Act of Security was in substance a declaration of
war. The English not unnaturally retaliated by cutting ofE aU
. trade with Scotland, denying the Scots aU rights in
Squadron England, and by massing troops on the Borders. But
and the gradually the Scots became more prudent. If they
lions for quarrelled with England, they lost all chance of a
the union, share in English trade, and there was a real danger
1704-1707. jgg^ ^j^gy. ijggaiiie the tools of the Jacobites and en-
dangered Presbyterianism and Protestantism. A middle party
arose, called the Flying Squadron, which, whUe professing to hold
the balance between Fletcher and the English party, showed a
willingness to accept reasonable proposals for union. Godolphin
then took up a moderate line, and in 1706 commissioners from the
two nations were empowered to draw up the conditions of a treaty.
-1707.1 QUEEN ANNE 523
In 1707 an Ad of Union was laid before the two Parliaments.
Accepted easily by the English parliament, it also passed through
the Scots estates by a small majority, though Scottish national
feeling was bitterly opposed to it.
21. By the Act of Union it was agreed that there should be
one parliament, one privy council, one government, and the same
law of succession to the united monarchy. The United
Kingdom was to be called Great Britain, with a JfgnUry*
national flag — the " Union Jack," made of the crosses union of
of St. Andrew and St. George combined. Scotland ^"f^^"*?
was to be represented in the united parliament by j^nd 1707.
forty-five commoners, chosen by the shires and burghs,
and by sixteen peers, elected by the whole body of Scottish
nobles. The Presbyterian Church system was declared the
only government of the Church within Scotland, and every
monarch was required on his accession to take an oath to protect
it. The Scottish law courts and law were continued, though there
was now an appeal from the Court of Session at Edinburgh to the
House of Lords. Complete commercial equality between the two
countries was est^^l^ahed. an ^ jhat. SUwtg miybt tnuJA ■^'fli f.Tip
English coloniflg. This last clanae was very important, because it
soon gave the Scots such material advantagea ffowi tba nflinp |.hat
they were content to put up witk the rest of it. Moreover, the
wise care taken to safegTiard the Scottish Church and the Scottish
law blunted the sharpest edge of hostility. Yet the union remained
intensely unpopular in Scotland, and even in England was looked
upon with but little favour. The best sign of the hostility of the
Scots to the new system was soon to be found in the fact that
within forty years of the Act, the fervid Protestants of the north
twice stood aside and allowed the Highlanders to proclaim popish
pretenders.
CHAPTER VIII
GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE STEWARTS
1. In the course of the Stewart period England became the greatest
colonizing and commercial nation in the world. We have seen
how she established colonies in North America and
and com- ^^® West Indies, and trading stations in Africa and
mercial India, which spread English commerce and influence
m^e^t°^ over distant lands. While the Stewarts were still
on the throne, England made up for the lateness
with which she had entered in these fields by the superior energy
and vigour with which she outdistanced Portugal and beat
Holland after a severe struggle. The last Stewart reigns saw the
carrying trade of the Dutch transferred to England. Our colonies
became more important than those of any European state save
Spain, and infinitely superior to those of the Spaniards in aU that
makes new lands great. The same age witnessed the first triumphs
of England over France, and the beginnings of the long process
that was to bring the trade and colonies so laboriously established
by Louis xiv. under the control of the English state. After the
Revolution and the treaty of Utrecht, England had established her-
self firmly as the chief trading power of Europe.
2. The effects of this expansion on England were numerous
and important. The growth of trade resulted in increased weight
Results of ^^iiig" given to commercial questions, enhanced the
the growth wealth and influence of the trading classes, and pro-
of trade on foundly affected our foreign policy. It enabled a
larger national income to be levied without incon-
venience to the taxpayer, and thus made it possible to equip the
navy which contested with the Dutch and French for the supre-
macy of the seas, and the great armies which, under William iii.
and Marlborough, broke down the supremacy of Louis xiv. Bank-
ing and finance became important, as was shown by the establish-
ment of the Bank of England. Men began to give serious thought
to the problems iirisiug from commerce, and to those questions
524
I7I4 1 GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE STEWARTS 525
concerning" the production and distribution of wealth wliich are
called economic. The theory of trade which now held the field
was called the Mercantile System. This taug'ht that the advantage
of foreign trade depends upon the amount of g-old and silver which
it broug-ht into a country. If a trade tlius hroug-ht in bullion, the
Balance of Trade was said to be in our favour ; if not. then the
balance was aguinst us. It was, therefore, a matter of supreme
concern to make exports exceed imports, and the growth of ex-
ports involved the increase of manufactures and commerce.
3. Manufactures became more numerous and important, though
England still remained a commercial and agricultural rather than
a manufacturing country, and depended upon France,
Holland, and the East for the finer wares which our own rr.tll"
' , tures.
craftsmen were still unable to produce. A great impetus
was given to our industries when the x>er8ecutions of the French
Protestants by Louis xiv. drove to Britain as to other Protestant
lands a large number of skilled Huguenot mechanics and craftsmen.
Agriculture was so prosperous that farmers and landlords alike
throve, and the demand for more land led to great schemes for
draining swamps and fens, of which the most important was that
carried out by Dutch engineers in the fen district of northern
Cambridgeshire, where vast tracts of country were turned from
their old condition of an unhealthy desert into the best corn-
growing land in England.
4. The peasantry shared in the increased prosperity, and
pauperism, so terrible a trouble under the Tudors, became less
burdensome under the Stewarts. Yet it still remained jhe poor
a real evil, and the unequal distribution of the poor and the
made their relief very burdensome to those districts ''°°'' '*^'
where the poor chiefly congregated. Hoping to remedy this, the
Restoration Parliament passed the Act of Settlement of 1GG2. By
it, each parish was allowed to remove a new-comer, likely to become
cliargeable to the rates, to the place where he had previously had a
legal settlement. The act gave a great blow to vagrancy, but by
tying down the workman to the spot of his birth, prevented him
from transferring himself freely to the district where his services
were most wanted.
5. Population grew, but not rapidly. Towards the end of the
century tliere were perhaps five million inhabitants of England
and Wales. The north was still poor and scantily peopled, and
the increase was :<till mainly in tlie east and south. London, which
had perhaps half a million inhabitants, waM the only really large
526 GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE STEWARTS [1603-
town, the next to it being Bristol and Norwich, with about thirty
thousand inhabitants in each. It followed from this inequality that
London had immense influence on poKtics, fashion,
the towns ^^^ opinion. Nearly all the ablest men lived in or
near it ; nearly all the printing of the nation was
done there. It had grown so enormously since Elizabeth's days
that men grew alarmed, and feared that it would soon prove im-
possible to feed, govern, and keep healthy so great a mass of human
beings. Yet the measures taken to prevent the growth of London
proved entirely ineffectual, and great suburbs arose on every side
of the city of London, which did not extend its ancient narrow
limits. A fashionable quarter grew up roujid the court to the west,
while manufacturing and commercial regions extended eastwards
of the city down the course of the Thames. The new districts
were less overcrowded than the city, and free from the antiquated
rules of the city companies, which restrained rather than encouraged
the trades they were meant to protect. The sanitary condition
of city and suburbs alike was deplorable. Until the reign of
James i. aU drinking water came from the Thames or from shallow
weUs, until the l^ew Biver Company brought a wholesome supply
of running water from the streams of Hertfordshire. Plague was
seldom long absent, and the wooden, closely packed houses were in
constant danger of fire. After the Great Fire in the city, brick
replaced wood as a btdlding material, but no attempt was made
to rebuild the town on an intelligent plan, or with streets and
public places of adequate size. The streets were badly paved, dirty,
and ill-lighted ; the police was very ineffective ; robbery and
violence were common, and after dark bands of gentlemen amused
themselves by assaulting and insulting the passers-by.
6. With all its drawbacks, life in London had plenty of attrac-
tions. Until 1642 the playhouses were in full swing, but they were
then closed by order of parliament, and were not re-
ments " opened until the Restoration. After that event plays
were represented with much more attention to scenery
and spectacular effects than in the days of Elizabeth and James i.
Women for the first time acted in the female parts, and ballet-
dancing, brought in from France, became poptdar. Gentlemen
exercised themselves at the riding-school or with fencing, tennis,
and a game at ball called pall-mall. They amused themselves with
the fashionable sports of cock-fighting, horse-racing, and gambling.
It was a sign of the progress of refinement that the old national
amusements of bull- and bear-baiting were no longer approved of
-I7f4] GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE STEWARTS 527
in polite circles, tlioug-h still extremely popular wdth the people.
The bear-gardens were also used for boxing and prize-fights with
swords. Two features of the Restoration period were the open-
ing of public gardens, of which Vauxhall was the most famous,
and the growth of Coffee-houses, which served the purpose of
modern clubs, and were centres of gossip and society. Coffee and
tea were first drunk in Charles 11. 's time, and these beverages did
something to change social habits and make life more refined,
though drunkenness was still very common in all classes of society.
Charles 11. was famous for bringing in a more elegant way of
living, but foreigners still complained of the grossness of English
repasts. There was still only two meals a day. Dinner was at one
o'clock, and few took anything earlier but a " morning-draught "
of beer, with some bread-and-butter.
7. Despite the badness of the roads men flocked to London, and
fashionable people spent their holidays at inland watering-places,
such as Bath, Tunbridge WeUs, Harrogate, or Buxton.
Coaches, which were a rare luxury under Elizabeth, ^"JJJ"" '
became common, though active people, who wished to
travel quickly, still preferred to go on horseback. Carriers'
waggons began to replace pack-horses as means of transporting
goods, especially in the south. Stage-coaches began under the
Commonwealth, and under Charles 11. flying-coaches, as they
were called, managed to travel about fifty mUes a day. Hackney-
coaches, plying for hire in the streets, first began under the
Commonwealth, and the same period saw the establishment of a
government postal system, which the Restoration adopted and
improved.
8. Dress underwent a complete revolution daring the century.
The dignified costume of the gentlemen depicted in Van Dyck's
portraits of the contemporaries of James i. and
Charles i. became more fantastic and extravagant
towards the middle of the century, and afforded reasonable grounds
for Puritan attack. Some simplification resulted for a time from
Puritan influence, though it is an exaggeration to suppose that
the politics of a gentleman during the Civil War could at once be
discerned by the cut and colour of his clothes. Under Charles n.,
the doublet and long cloak ceased to be worn, and in their place
men dressed in the garments which ultimately ]>ecame the modem
coat and waistx^oat. and in loose knee-breeclies. Low shoes super-
seded Iwots. and a lace cravat took the place of bands. Early in
the reign men shaved their heads, and used wigs instead of their
■528 GREAT PRTTAIM UNDER THE STEWARTS [1603-
own hair. Up to tlus time moustaches and a pointed beard had
been generally worn, even by bishops like Laud, but with the intro-
duction of the periwig the face began to be clean-shaven. Ladies
dress underwent similar changes. The beauties of Charles ii.'s
court wore trains and low dresses, and, like men, many of them
adopted wigs, while others wore " puffs " of false curls, extended on
wires, that made their heads look very wide. Patches also came
into common use.
9. In fashionable circles education became more and more the
learning of good and graceful manners, and for this, as for more
solid things, every one, after the Restoration, looked
to France for guidance. Gentlemen of fashion were
content with a superficial smattering of elegant French culture,
and the average lady of quality could neither spell nor express
herself correctly. Yet there were many scholarly and learned men
in the chief professions, and even among the higher classes. In the
great world the elements of knowledge became more widespread,
and the growing taste for reading encouraged the multiplication
of books, pamphlets, and newspapers. Since the days of Whitgift
and Laud the universities had been purged of all Puritan leanings,
until, under the Commonwealth, they were reformed on Puritan
lines. The expulsion of many men of learning because of their
views led to evil results, despite the high character of the Puritan
scholars who replaced them. Things were made worse when the
Restoration brought about more ejections on political and religious
grounds. Both Oxford and Cambridge were strong supporters of
Church and king, but the violence of their politics did not prevent
the prosecution of serious study. In particular they became the
centres of the strict investigation of nature, which was a marked
feature of the time.
10. The revolt of the Reformation against the Middle Ages
had led to an utter contempt for its theories of natural science.
The Novum Organum of Francis Bacon, though of
sdence little influence on scientific workers, exjiressed with
brilliant eloquence the high expectations which gifted
minds had formed of the fruitful results to be expected from the
scientific methods of observation and experiment. The great
British men of science of this age were the Scottish laird,
Napier of Merchiston, the inventor of logarithms, and William
Harvey, Charles i.'s physician, who demonstrated the circulation
of the blood. About the middle of the century the diffused
interest in experimental science led to the periodic meeting
-1714.] GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE STEWARTS 529
together of a little band of able men devoted to its pnrsnit. This
society was incorporated in 1602 under the name of the Eoyal
Society by Charles 11., who was himself much interested in these
studies. Among- the early members of this body was Isaac
Newton, a professor of matliematics at Cambridge, whose famous
mathematical and physical discoveries raised liim to a unique
position among* English men of science. By the labours of these
men the foundations of modem Eng-lish science were securely
laid.
11. The steady progress of science stands in strong contrast to
the necessary fluctuations of art. Under James i. nobles built their
great country houses on Hnes which are not readily
distinguishable from those of the age of Elizabeth, but ^^^^ ^*^"
two new impulses came in early in the century, when
the Laiidian school revived the use of Gothic architecture, notably
at Orford. and when the work of the Welsh architect, Inigo Jones,
brought into England a taste for the classical buildings which the
example of the Italian designer, Palladio, had already made fashion-
able in Italy. After the Restoratien, Sir Christopher Wren
carried out still further the work begun by Inigo Jones. The
Great Fire of London gave liim a unique opportunity. His new
St. Paul's and a crowd of noble city churches have immortalized
his name. His eye for proportion made the interior of many of
his churches beautiful works of art, conspicuous among them being
St. Stephen's, Walbrook. A special feature of his work were the
graceful spires and towers which, grouped round the great dome of
St. Paul's, still give the characteristic feature to all views of tlie
modern city of London. His pupils carried on his traditions far
into the eighteenth century, and Queen Anne's Act for building
fifty new churches round London gave them opportunities of
showing their skill. Domestic architecture found its best models
in the brick-built houses of Holland, and culminated in the
picturesque and convenient " Queen Anno " stylo, which has been
largely revived in the latter part of the ninet^jentli century.
12. There was more taste for painting and sculpture in England
under the Stewarts than under the Tudors. Charles 1. was a dis-
cerning- patron of art. and, despite his scanty means, pajntlng
made a fine collection of pictui-es. Thougli no sculpture.
Englishman made a great name for him.solf as a *" music,
painter or sculptor, many distinguished foreign artists took up
their residence in England, and produced there many of their best
works. Conspicuous among these were the magnificent Flemish
2 m
530 GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE STEWARTS [1603-
colourist, Peter Paul Rubens, and his best pupil, Antony Van
Dyck, both of whom were dubbed knig-hts by Charles i. Puritan
intolerance worked havoc with aU forms of art. Charles i.'s
pictures were sold and dispersed, though the sound taste of Crom-
well saved some of the most precious of them for the country.
Peter Lely, a shrewd Dutchman, came to England during the
Commonwealth, and for forty years did an excellent business in
painting all manner of men and women, from the Lord Protector
to the ladies of Charles 11. 's court. His successor was another
foreigner, Godfrey Kneller. Very important was the work of the
incomparable Dutch wood- carver. GrinUng Gibbons, wliose tasteful
and delicate work adorned the interior of many of Wren's churches.
Music received a peculiarly heavy blow from Pui-itan ascendency,
especially by reason of tlie hostility of Puritans to the dignified
worship of the cathedrals, whose choirs had always been the best
schools of English vocal art. Yet two of the foremost Puritans,
Cromwell and Milton, were sincere lovers of music, and the cathedral
choir, revived after the Restoration, produced in Henry Purcell
a great English composer, whose untimely death cut oft' the
prospect of the growth of a reaUy English school of musicians.
Under the Commonwealth and Charles 11., Italian o'pera was first
introduced into England, and Pui-cell himself wrote notable operas.
This form of art, though ridiculed by Addison as foreign and
womanish, became popular, and did something by its combination
of poetry and music to compensate for the decay of the masque
of the early seventeenth century.
13. The revolution in taste and feeKng which the Stewart
period showed is strikingly illustrated in its literature. Under
James i. we were still in the Elizabethan age. The
first years of the reign of the first Stewart witnessed
the production of the most sublime of Shakespeare's dramas. But
about 1611 Shakespeare retired with a fortune to Stratford, where
he died in 1616. Seven years after his death, in 1623, the First
Folio, the earliest collected edition of his works, was published by
his friends and feUow -actors. His place as a dramatist was in some
measure taken by his friend, Ben Jonson (1573-1637), a rough,
strong, and learned playwright and an admirable critic, who, as he
grew old, became the oracle of the chief literary society of his time.
After Jonson the chief dramatists of James i.'s reign were Francis
Beaumont and John Fletcher, who wrote many plays in partner-
ship, and John Webster, a man of mighty tragic genius. Under
Charles i., Philip Massinger and John Ford carried on the
-1714] GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE STEWARTS 53I
Elizabethan tradition. But the character of the drama changed
slowly but surely, becoming more fantastic, extravagant, and
profligate. Yet good pieces were stUl written until the closing of
the playhouses in 1642, and James Shirley, the last of the " Eliza-
bethan " dramatists, lived to see the theatres reopened in 1660.
After the Restoration dramatic fashions changed, though the plays
of the great period were stUl admired and acted, and John Dryden
(1631-1700), the foremost man who wi'ote for the stage, based the
style of his later dramas on the Elizabethans. However, in his
earlier pieces Dryden had imitated the classical French school, and
had adopted the heroic rhyming couplet as his dramatic metre.
The theatre now became limited to bombastic and empty " heroic "
tragedy, and to bright and witty but coarse comedies of manners,
the work of the so-called Restoration d/ramatists, whose main
work was done towards the end of the seventeenth century. The
famous attack of the Non-juring divine, Jeremy Collier, on the
profligacy of the stage, was written under William iii. in 1698.
Under Queen Anne, Joseph Addison attempted, with no great
success, to bring into England the severe and stately forms of the
classic French drama. The stage, still popular as an amusement,
failed to play the i)art in the life of the later Stewarts which it had
taken before the Ci\'il, Wars.
14. The poets of the early Stewarts worthily continued Eliza-
bethan tradition, and a remarkable aftergrowth of the Elizabethan
spirit was to be seen in tlie delicate school of lyric
poets which flourished in the middle of the century, ^j^g poe*s
and whose most charming representative was Robert
Herrick. The Laudian revival produced a school of religions
poets, whose best-known work is to be seen in the quaint piety of
" holy George Herbert." A deeper and more individual note was
struck by John Milton (1608-1674), a London scrivener's son, whose
early verse, sweet, musical, and strong, produced between 1629 and
1637, would in itself entitle him to a great place in our literature.
Called away from poetry by travel and politics, he wrote no verse,
save a few masterly sonnets, for more than twenty years, lavishing
liis great powers on his routine work as Latin secretary to the
council of state set up after Charles i.'s death, aud only employing
his pen on political pamphleteering, the acrimony and narrowness
of which are redeemed by its splendid eloijuence. The Restoration
sent the Cromwellian partisan into a retirement which was made
more irksome by his blindness and domestic troubles. His austere
and somewhat impracticable character had kept Iiim aloof from his
532 GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE STEWARTS [1603-
age even in the days of his pamphlet-writing. He was doubly lonely
Avhen, amidst the riot of the Restoration, his genius attained its
loftiest heights in Paradise Lost, which wedded the severest and
sternest spirit of Puritanism to the most exquisite and scholarly
music. Yet sound critics, like Dryden, at once recognized the
unique greatness of the Puritan epic, and to men who loathed his
politics and religion, Milton's solitary figure represented aU that
was most characteristic of English literature.
15. After Milton's death, Dryden represented the prevailing
tendency in our poetry. He stood as literary oracle to the end of
_, . . the century in much the same position as Ben Jonson
Dryden and , . . ^
the poetry liad attained in a previous age. His generation was
of the Re- largely influenced by the dominant classic school of
France. The spontaneous poetry of emotion was now
succeeded by the studied poetry of the intelligence, and it was
characteristic that Dryden's most famous verses, Absalom a»wZ
Achitophel, and The Hind and the Panther, dealt with such sub-
jects as the Popish Plot and the religious controversies excited
by James 11. "s attempt to win back England to Rome. For the
naturalness and freshness of the older poetry we have now to go
from the fashionable versifiers to such works as the vivid and life-
like allegories of the village preacher of the Baptists, John Bunyan,
whose Pilgrim's Progress, published in 1678, sets forth the Puritan
ideal with a dramatic force and vividness that make it a real prose
poem. Bunyan's were the first great books in modern EngKsh
literature written by a man of the people for the people.
16. Prose thus advanced whUe poetry declined. Early in the
century a noble standard of good prose-style was set almost uncon-
F t br h- sciously by the committee of scliolars who drew up the
mentofa Authorized Version of the Bible. The majestic but
modern involved periods of Elizabethan prose still formed the
model of the stately periods of Clarendon's History
of the Behellion, of the poetic and luscious eloquence of Jeremy
Taylor, and of the rich meditative soliloquies of Sir Thomas Browne,
the Norwich physician. As men read more widely and more
hurriedly, the style of books began gradually to assimilate itself to
the spoken speech. A crowd of pamphlets and newspapers, pro-
duced by the Civil Wars and the fierce party strife of the later
seventeenth century, helped forward the creation of a natui'al prose.
Di'yden's famous critical works first gave the new prose the stamp
of a high style and the sanction of a great name. French influence
is as decisive on the development of our prose as on the new
-1714-1 GREAT BRITAhV UNDER THE STEWARTS 533
departiire in our poetry. Before the end of the century, a nervous,
simple, and idiomatic standard of composition had become established
which greatly raised the level of all the journeymen work of
literature and of the books whose importance rests in facts and
argTiments rather than in their style. It attained its culmination
in the age of Queen Anne, when the periodical essay which began
with Steele's Tatler in 1709, became famous when Addison joined
him in 1711 in starting the Spectator, which " brought philosophy
out of closets, libraries, and schools, to dwell in clubs and assemblies,
at tea-tables and coffee-houses."
Books recoumendbd for thk Further Study of the Period
1603-1714
S. R. Gardiner's elaborate investigations cover the period 1603-1656, and
arc detailed, careful, impartial, and authoritative. His work is published as
Hidory of England to the Outbreak of the Great Civil War, 1603-1642 (10 vols.),
History of the Great Civil War, 1642-1649 (4 vols.), and History of the Com-
monwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1656 (3 vols.). Gardiner's short books, the
Puritan Revolution, the Thirty Years' War (both in " Longmans' Epochs of
Modem History"), and CromwelVs Place in History, (pve briefly some of his
chief conclusions. C. H. Firth's Oliver Cromwell (" Heroes of the Nations ")
and CromwelVs Army are of great importance. Airy's English Restoration and
Louis XIV., and Morris's Age of Anne (both in " Epochs of Modem History "),
arc useful for the latter part of the period. For ecclesiastical history, Frerc's
History of the English Church under Elizabeth and James I., W. H. Hutton's
History of the English Church from Charles I. to Anne, W. A. Shaw's History
of the Church during the Commonwealth, and H. Wakeman's The Church and
the Puritans 1570-1660. The Oxford translation of Ranke's History of England
in the Seventeenth Century (6 vols.), and J. R. Seeley's Grou-th of British
Policy (2 vols.), are of special value for foreign policy. Lucy Hutchinson's
Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson and the Memoirs of the Verney Family (4 vols.)
throw light on English society of the Puritan period ; while Pepys' and
Evelyn's Diaries illustrate the social life of the age of the Restoration ; and
Macaulay's History of England tells with great detail and picturesqueness the
history of the reigns of James 11. and William iii. ; F. C. Montague's History
(f England, 1603-1660 (Pol. Hist, of England, Vol. vii.), brightly sum-
marises the political facts, and G. M. Trcvelyan's England under the Stuart*
ably sketches the general tendencies of the period.
534 GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE STEWARTS [1603-
GENEALOGY OF THE STEWART KINGS IN SCOTLAND AND
ENGLAND
Robert i., Bruce, King of Scots.
I (d. 1329).
Margaret, m. Walter, Stewart
I of Scotland.
Robert ir., King of Scots,
I 1371-1390.
Robert iii., King of Scots,
I 1390-1406.
James i., King of Scots,
I 1406-1437.
James 11., King of Scots,
I 1437-1460.
James iii.. King of Scots,
Henry vii, I 1460-1488.
I I
The Earl of Angus, (2) m. Margaret, m. (1) James iv., King of Scots,
i I 1483-1513.
Margaret,
m. Matthew Stewart,
earl of Lennox.
James v. of Scots,
1513-1542,
m. Mary of Guise.
Henry Lord Darulej', m. Mary Queen of Scots,
I 1542-1567.
James vi. of Scotland (1567-1625), and i. of England, 1603-1625.
m. Anne of Denmark.
Henry, prince of Wales, Charles i., 1625-1649, Elizabeth, m. Frederick,
d. 1612. m. Henrietta Maria of France. Elector Palatine.
Charles ii., Mar
1660-1685. Willi
m. Catharine of Oi
of Braganza.
(illegitimate)
James, duke
of Monmouth.
s\ m.
am IT.
ange. m
1
James ii.,
1685-1688,
(1) Anne Hyde.
(2) Mary of'
Modena.
Charles
Louis,
Elector
Palatine.
Prince Sop
Rupert, m. E
of Ha
Georg
1714-1
(see tab
pages 640-
lia,
ector
aover.
1
(1)
William hi., ni. Mary,
1689-1694.
William, alone, 1694-1702.
1
Anne,
1702-1714,
m. George of
Denmark.
Chart
the Youi
d.
James,
the Old
Pretender,
d. 1765,
i
E I.,
727
leon
-641),
es Edward,
ig Pretender,
1788.
Henry, duk
York, and Can
d. 1807,
3 of
dinal,
-1714] GREAT BRITAIN UNDER THE STEIVARTS 535
BOURBON KINGS OF FRANCE
IIksry IV.,
1589-1610
(fonnerly duke of Bourbon and king of Navarre ; descendant in male
line of Robert, sixth son of Louis ix.)
Loi.'is XIII.,
1610-1643.
Louis xiv.,
1643-1715.
Louis the Dauphin.
Louis,
duke of Burgundy.
Louis xv.,
1715-1774.
I
Louis the Dauphin.
Henrietta Maria,
m. Charles i. of England.
Philip,
Duke of Orleans.
Philip, duke of Orleans,
I'cgent after 1715,
Sreat-grnndfather of
Louis Philippe,
king of the French,
1830-1848.
Louis xvi.,
1774-1792.
Louis XVII I.,
1814-1824.
Charles x.,
1824-1830.
Louis the Dauphin,
called I^uis xvii.
• BOOK VII
THE HOUSE OF HANOVER AND THE RULE
OF THE ARISTOCRACY {\Ti4-i2>2o)
CHAPTER I
GEORGE I. (1714-1727)
Chief Dates :
1714. Accession of George i.
1715. Jacobite Revolt.
1716. The Triple Alliance.
1717. The Whig Schism.
1718. Battle of Cape Passaro.
1720. South Sea Bubble.
1721. Walpole becomes Prime Minister.
1725. First Treaty of Vienna.
1727. Death of George i.
1. George, elector of Hanover, was more than fifty years old when
he became king of Great Britain, He was a slow-minded, heavy
The acces- ™^^' "'"^^i fixed habits. He understood foreign politics,
sion of though he always looked at them from the point of
George I,, view of his electorate, which he had ruled well as a
1714.
despot, and to which he was sincerely attached. He
never took the trouble to learn English, and was ignorant of Eng-
lish politics and English ways. He knew, however, that he owed
his throne to the Whigs, and was content to entrust them with
the government of his kingdom. He got rid of the Tory minister.?
of Queen Anne, against whom the Whigs clamoured for venge-
ance. Oxford was impeached and imprisoned in the Tower.
Bolingbroke fled to France, where he became the secretary of
state of the pretender. Ormonde followed him into exile, and
sentences of attainder were passed against both. The Tory
party was destroyed by the treason of its chiefs. Plain English-
men thought that the Tories wished to bring back despotism
536
I7I4-] GEORGE I. 537
and popery, and no longer gave them their support. The times
were changing, and the strong High Church feeling fhe long
which had been the main strength of the Tories Whig rule,
rapidly declined. For two generations the Whigs had ''l*"*'^'*
a great majority in both Houses of Parliament as well as the favour
of the crown. From 1714 to 1761 none but Whigs held office.
2. During the long Whig rule the fuU effects of the revolution
of 1688 worked themselves out. Cabinet government, which had
made great strides both under William m. and Anne, ^j^^ j^^ ^.
was finally established, owing to the harmony of policy custom of
between the Whig leaders and the two foreign kings the constl-
who now governed England in succession. The result
of this was that a much greater change was brought about in the
working of our constitution than by any of the new laws which
had been passed as the direct result of the expulsion of the Stewarts.
The formal law of the constitution remained as it had been, but
tliere gradually grew up a new custom of the constitution which
effected a real revolution. By law the executive power still re-
mained in the hands of the king and his advisers. But the custom
grew up which in practice compelled the king to chose as his
ministers the leaders of the party which possessed the
confidence of the majority of the House of Commons, system.
These ministers formed the Cabinet — that is, a small
body of men agreeing on all the main questions of the day, and
having at its back the support of the House of Commons. The
king acted mainly by the advice of his cabinet, and was often com-
I)elled to follow its recommendations, whether he agreed with them
or not. The resiUt of this was twofold. Many legal rights of the
crown fell into disuse, as, for example, the power of refusing to
consent to laws which had passed through parliament. The main
power of the crown, the power of governing the country, imper-
ceptibly passed away from the king and went to his advisers.
Henceforth the power of the king became much diminished,
though the power of the crown, as exercised by its constitutional
advisers, was continually growing. The result was that the Com-
mons, not the king, had the ultimate voice in the government of
England. For the Commons' control over the public T^g supre-
purse kept the Lords as well as the crown in sub- macy of the
jection. The House of Lords ceased to have co- Commons,
ordinate authority with the Commons, and became a regulating,
checking, and revising chamber, compelled to give way before the
strongly expressed opinion of the popular repreiientativM.
m 2m*
538 GEORGE I. [1714-
3. The House of Commons thus became supreme, but the result
of this chang'e was to make England an aristocracy rather than
The Whie * democracy. There were two chief reasons for this :
arlsto- one was to be found in the temper of the people, and
cracy. the other in the fashion in which the House of
Commons was elected. Few Englishmen troubled themselves
about poKtics except lords, country gentlemen, and rich merchants.
The ordinary man thought it quite natural that the landlords
should govern the country, and was quite content to follow their
lead and receive his opinions from them. Moreover, since the
failure of Cromwell's reformed plan of elections, the House of
Commons remained chosen after the same fashion that had pi'e-
vailed since the Middle Ages. Few members were really appointed
by the people. The counties, which returned two members each,
whether they were big or little, rich or poor, populous or desolate,
were looked upon as the freest electing bodies, though none but
landholders had votes in county elections. The boroughs . were
far worse, for while some great towns returned no members
at all, many small places, of the sort afterwards called "rotten
boroughs," elected their two representatives each. It was not hard
under these circumstances for rich people to buy estates which
included boroughs of this description, and then return what
members they chose. Even the counties and the larger boroughs
could be influenced by the great landholders, or by the government
of the day. Bribery or intimidation came in when influence was
not enough. It was found that with these narrow constituencies
it was easy for a ring of politicians to return a large proportion of
members through their personal influence. Electioneering, or the
management of elections, became a regular system, and side by side
with it arose the arts of parliamentary management, by which the
ministry kept its hold by flattery or corruption on the members
who were returned to parliament. SkiU. in these arts made the
"Whig nobles the real rulers of the country. They owned the small
boroughs and controlled the counties; they dictated the king's
policy; their favour alone opened up the road to power and place
both in Church and state. Thus for fifty years the Whig aristocracy
governed the country, owing to their control over king and
Commons. It was natural that they should forget their old
popular cries. Thinking that the country had got all it wanted
by the revolution, they became very conservative, opposing aU new
and sweeping changes. But they gave England a long period of
Bound and careful rule, during which the fierce religious and
-I7I5-] GEORGE I. 539
political passions of the Stewart period gradually died away.
Under their prudent but uneventful government, England grew
more rich and prosperous, and neither king nor Commons really
saw how they were both alike in the hands of an aristocratic clique.
4. The Tories were powerless and unpopular, and the Jacobites,
seeing that the way of bringing back the pretender by intrigue had
failed, made a half-hearted efEort to upset the throne
of the Hanoverian king by open revolt. In 1715 a hites ^1^715
Jacobite conspiracy was formed to excite rebellion
both in England and Scotland. Ill-luck attended every step of
the desperate movement. Louis xiv., from whom much was hoped,
died at this time, and the regent, Philip, duke of Orleans, who
governed in the name of the little Louis xv., the late king's great-
grandson and successor, wished to be on friendly terms with George I.,
and would give the Jacobites no help. The pretender was dull and
ignorant. He had so little confidence in Bolingbroke, his only able
adviser, that the exile before long gave up his cause in despair, and
strove to make his peace with the new king. Prompt measures nipped
in the bud the English conspiracy. A Riot Act was
passed which gave the ministers increased power to ^^^ ^^jg
put down popular disturbances. The plotters' plans
were discovered, and the leading Jacobites were arrested before
they could do any harm. The result was that it was only in
Northmnberland that the English Jacobites were able to rise in
revolt, and here the rebellion was insignificant. A few hundred
country gentlemen and their retainers rose in arms under the
incompetent leadership of Thomas Forster, the member for
Northumberland. But the mass of the people would not join
them, and they wandered about aimlessly, not knowing what to do.
5. In Scotland the rebellion was much more serious. In the
hills of the south the Jacobite lords and gentry took arms under
Lord Kenmure, and, crossing into Northumberland, jj^g m-h.
joined Forster and Ids followers. But the combined lands of
forces were insignificant, and the real danger to Scotland.
Hanover came, not from the south, but from the north. Beyond
the Qrampians and the Firth of Clyde the Higlilaud clans still
retained their ancient freedom. The union made no practical
difference to them, and the clan chieftains still ruled over their
kinsfolk and tribesmen, as careless of the government at West-
minster as their fathers had been of the government at Edinburgh.
The Highlanders were poor and rude ; they lived in miserable
turf -walled cots; their only wealth was in cattle, and their only
540 GEORGE I. [1715-
language was Gaelic. They were passionately devoted to their
native glens, and fervently loyal to their chieftains. They knaw
nothing of the disputes of Whig and Tory, Prelatist and Presby-
terian. Many were avowed Catholics, and most were ignorant,
superstitious, and fickle. Their good qualities were their polite-
ness, devotion to old poetry, their simplicity, bravery, and con-
tentment; but they were idle, untruthful, revengeful, and quick
to shed blood. Rival clans waged constant war against each other,
but would sometimes unite to raid the farms and plunder the cattle
of their Saxon, or English-speaking, neighbours in the Lowlands.
The gentry were often educated in France, and were thus made
good Catholics and loyal partisans of the house of Stewart. Besides
their traditional patriarchal influence over their clansmen, they
enjoyed in many cases a grant of regality, or of royal powers, which
enabled them to exercise an hereditary jurisdiction over their
district. The greatest clan was still that of the Campbells, whose
head, now duke of Argyll, was a great Lowland noble, as well as
the first of the Highland cldeftains. As in the days of Montrose,
the Campbells were stiU Whigs, Presbyterians, and enemies of the
Stewarts. This made the lesser clans Tories, Jacobites, and foes
of the Protestant succession. They had long feared the aggressions
of the Campbells, and their alarm was now the greater since
the Campbell chieftain was one of King George's most trusted
councillors. Their interests, their sympathies, and their love of
adventure combined to make the Tory clans, as they were called,
as ripe for revolt as they had been when their forefathers followed
Montrose or Dundee to battle for the Stewarts.
6. The signal for revolt was given by John Erskine, earl of
Mar, sometime a member of BoUngbroke's Tory ministry, but so
weak and changeable a politician that he was nick-
bite rising named " Bobbing- John." On September 6, 1715, he
of 1715. raised the standard of James viii. in Braemar, and
at once rallied the Macdonalds, the Camerons, the Stewarts, the
Erasers, the Mackenzies, and the other Tory clans to the Jacobite
cause. Save in the west, where Argyll kept the country loyal to
King George, the whole of the Highlands was soon Tinder Mar's
power, and with a little more energy, he might easily have
made himself master of the Lowlands, where disgust at the union
made even Whigs and Presbyterians lukewarm for the cause of
King George. As it was. Mar reached no further south than
Perth, where he uselessly lingered while Argyll collected an army
against him. Hearing, however, that the southern insurgents
-I7l6.] GEORGE I. 54I
were hardly pressed, Mar despatched Brigadier Macintosh, with
nearly two thousand men, to sweU their ntunbers. This force
marched right through Fife and the Lothians without meeting
any opposition, and joined Kenmure and Forster, who were now
in Scotland, at Kelso. After much indecision, the united forces
resolved to invade England, and marched through Cumberland and
Lancashire. On November 9 they reached Preston, but armies of
superior strength surrounded them on every side, and they were
ill-disciplined and badly led. After a mere show of resistance, the
whole force surrendered on November 13.
7. On the day of the capitulation at Preston, Mar and his
Highlanders, who at last had moved south from Perth, engaged
in battle with Argyll on the Sheriffmuir of Menteith, Bn*»ig «*
near Dunblane. The fight was indecisive, the right Sherlff-
wing of each army defeating the left wing of the niu'i*. 1716.
enemy, and neither Mar nor Argyll had the skill or resolution
to profit by the measure of success that they gained. The fruits
of victory remained, however, with the Hanoverians. Mar retreated
to Perth, and on the approach of winter many of the clansmen
went back to their homes. There was a slight rally towards the
end of the year, for on December 22 the pretender himself landed
at Peterhead. But the Highlanders lost all heart when they found
that the silent, melancholy prince had neither courage to lead them
nor faith in his own cause. Early in 1716 Argyll _ .. .
drove the Jacobite army out of Perth, its headquarters, the rebel-
and a few days later both the pretender and Mar 'Ion-
slunk back to France. The Highlanders disbanded after the
flight of their leaders, and no attempt was made to punish them.
The vengeance of the government fell rather upon the English
and Lowland lords, taken prisoners at Preston. Several of these,
including Kenmure, were executed; while others, among whom
was Forster. escaped death by breaking out of prison.
8. According to the Triennial Act a general election should
have been hold in 1716, when the country was still excited by the
recent revolt. Knowing that their success was due .j-j^^ ^^
rather to the unpopularity of the Stewarts than to tennial Act,
the merits of the new dynasty, the ministry feared to '716.
risk a general election at so critical a time. They repealed the
Triennial Act, substituting for it the Septennial Act, increasing
the length of Parliament to seven years, which is still law. This
measure made the House of Commons more independent of its
oonstitueuts, and so made it easier for the Whig lords to manage it.
542 GEORGE I. [1714-
9. From George i.'s accession to 1717 the ministerial history-
was uneventful; but the older generation of Whig statesmen
The Whig passed away, and Marlborough, though still alive,
ministpy, was broken in liealth and trusted by nobody. Their
1714-1717. removal left Viscount Townshend, a Norfolk noble-
man, who held one of the secretaryships of state, the chief
of the ministers. Under him were his brother-in-law, Robert
Walpole, chancellor of the exchequer, General Stanhope, the
sometime commander of the English forces in Spain, the other
secretary of state, and Sunderland, the lord-lieutenant of Ireland.
Dissensions, however, soon arose among the Whig magnates. One
section, chief among whom were Stanhope and Sunderland, clung
to the foreign policy held by the Whigs of Anne's time, and
sympathized with George's efforts to continue it.
10. In 1716 Stanhope went with George to Hanover, and
became responsible for a Triple AUiance, which George there
The Whig concluded with HoUand and France. Townshend and
schism of Walpole, who, like the Tories under Anne, disliked
^'J^'i' unnecessary foreign complications, denounced the
treaty as Hanoverian, and resigned office in 1717. They united
with George, prince of Wales, who was on bad terms with his
father, in a furious opposition to the king and the ministers of
his choice. Their removal broke the Whig party into two.
11. Stanhope became first lord of the treasury, and Sunderland
secretary of state, the other secretaryship falling to Joseph
Addison, the famous Whig essayist and pamphleteer. The policy
of the new government was more active than that of ToAvnshend.
At home they showed a more aristocratic spirit tlian any other
ministry of the time. Anxious to retain power for the existing
The Peer- peers, they introduced, in 1719, a Peerage Bill, which
age Bill, provided that only six new peers should be added to
' • the existing number, and only allowed the king to
exercise his right of calling fresh members to the House of Lords
on the extinction of existing peerages. The authors of the measure
hoped to make the Whig majority in the Lords secure against a
Tory ministry filling the Upper House with new peers, as they
had done under Anne. They also sought by it to protect the
independence of the House of Lords of the king Just as the
Septennial Act had made the Commons more independent. The
effect of the measure would have been to hand over the government
to a ring of great families, whose power could only be overthrown
by revolution. However, the opposition of Walpole and the Tories
-I7I9-] GEORGE I. 543
wrecked the bill in the Commons, after it had easily passed the
Lords. In ecclesiastical matters the Stanhope ministry showed a
great dislike to the High Church party. They repealed the Act
against Occasional Conformity and the Schism Act, and thought
of abolishing the Test and Corporation Acts. Before they could
do this, they were driven from power.
12. The foreign policy of the Stanhope ministry was active and
enterprising. The government, as we have seen, owed its origin to
the Triple Alliance of 1716. This was a union of Eng- Foreign
land and HoUand, now often described as the Maritime policy, _
Powers, with France to maintain the peace of Europe *
on the basis of the treaty of Utrecht. It was strange that France
should have joined with its old enemies, England and HoUand, in
upholding a treaty by which France had lost so much. But Philip,
duke of Orleans, the regent of France for Louis xv., was very
jealous of Philip of Spain, and anxious to secure the tlirone of
France for himself to the exclusion of Philip in the event of the
death of the sickly young king. Moreover, Philip of Spain,
guided by his Italian adviser. Cardinal Alberoni, was
making a great effort to win back for Spain its old
position in Europe. The first step towards this was to restore the
Spanish power in Italy. To do this was, of course, a breach of
the Utrecht settlement. Hence the French king of Spain turned
away from his fellow-countrymen, and disturbed all Euroi)e by
efforts to upset the treaty. Finding no support among the chief
powers, Alberoni turned to two famous men whose rivalries had
long distracted northern Euiope. These were Charles xii., the
last great king of Sweden, and his successful rival, Peter the
Great, the first great tsar of Bussia. The old enemies were per-
suaded to unite against the parties to the Triple Alliance, and
there was talk of the Swedes landing in Scotland to stir up a new
Jacobite revolt. Nothing came of these wild projects, but a
serious attack was made upon the recent acquisitions of Austria
and Savoy in Italy. The Spaniards conquered Sardinia and Sicily,
but their further progress was stopped when Admiral Byng won
for the English fleet the supremacy in the Mediter- Battle of
ranean in the battle off Cape Passaro in Sicily (1718). Cape Pas-
The Emperor Charles vi., who had been holding aloof **'^' *'*^*
from the maritime powers, because of his dislike of the Barrier
Treaty, was now forced by fear for Italy to join them and France.
His inclusion converted the Triple Alliance into a Quadruple
AUiance. In 1719 Alberoni fell by a court intrigue, and next
544 GEORGE I. [1720-
year peace was secured. The chief result of the troubles was that
the emperor obtained Sicily, forcing Victor Amadeus to accept the
less fertile and wealthy island of Sardinia. Henceforth the duke
of Savoy was called hing of Sardinia.
13. The year 1720 was marked by a great commercial crisis,
known as the bursting of the South Sea Bubble. Ever since the
The South treaty of TJtrechf trade had been particularly brisk,
Sea Bubble, and many people were looking out for good invest-
1720. ments for the money they had saved. In these cir-
cumstances joint stock companies were floated in large numbers,
and found their shares eagerly taken up. Conspicuous among such
undertakings was the South Sea Company, a body of merchants
formed by Harley in 1711, and to which had been given aU the
rights of trade with Spanish America granted to England at
Utrecht. The company was successful in its commerce and paid
good dividends. Though much was said about the great wealth
to be gained by trade with the South Seas, Spanish jealousy strictly
limited the operations of the society, and it sought to increase
its business in other directions. In particular, the South Sea
Company entered into competition with the Bank of England for
the conduct of government financial business and the management
of the National Debt. The ministers gladly accepted the large
sum of money which the directors offered to the state for these
privileges. The company sought to get its return by persuading
holders of government stock to exchange their state bonds for
South Sea .stock, holding out as the inducement the vast profits
they were likely to make. The plan was successful; there was
such a run on South Sea shares that their price went up tenfold.
The speculation in them fomented the gambling spirit which
now seized upon all classes of society. All sorts of companies
were started, and people were found to invest their money in the
most foolish of them. Among them were companies for making
salt water fresh, for importing jackasses from Spain, and for " an
undertaking which should in due time be revealed."
14. Before long the reaction came. The South Sea Company
was so afraid of the effect of the bubble companies on its own
The burst- shares that it prosecuted some of them. A panic soon
ing of the set in. The fraudulent ventures collapsed altogether,
bubble. g^jj^ j^i^Q value of the shares of even the soundest under-
takings went down so rapidly that those who had bought them
when they were artificially inflated, found themselves ruined. There
was everywhere panic, suspicion, and distress. There was a loud
-1727] GEORGE I. 545
outcry for the punishment of those who had lured the dupes on to
ruin. The directors of the South Sea Company were disgraced
and stripped of their property. Indignation rose high when it was
discovered that many of the ministers had made large sums by
speculation, and some had received bribes from company promoters
to further their criminal ends. The ministers were fiercely attacked
in parliament. Aislabie, the chancellor of the exchequer, was
turned out of the House for corruption ; and one guilty minister
committed suicide. Stanhope died suddenly ; and Sunderland, after
being acquitted of the charges of malversation brought against him,
retired from office, and soon afterwards died.
15. The misfortunes of their rivals gave the leaders of the
"Whig schism of 1717 a chance to win back place. In the general
distress of the nation, it was thought wise that the
party should again present a united front. Towns- ppjme
hend and Walpole came back to office, and in 1721 minister,
Walpole became the chief minister as first lord of the '
treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. He was the ablest
financier of his generation, and his judicious measures soon re-
stored public credit and confidence.
16. A long calm succeeded the storm of 1720. Walpole (Sir
Robert Walpole after 1725) remained in'power for the Death of
rest of the old king's reign, and under him England George I.,
again became peaceful and prosperous. In 1727 ^'27.
George i. died, when on a visit to Hanover, and was succeeded by
his son George, prince of Wales.
2h
CHAPTER II
GEORGE II. (1727-1760)
Chief Dates :
1727. Accession of George 11.
1731, Second Treaty of Vienna.
1737. Porteons Kiots.
1738. Third Treaty of Vienna.
1739. War with Spain ; beginnings of the Methodist movement.
1742. Fall of Walpole.
1743. Battle of Dettingen; England joins the war of the Austrian
succession.
1745. Jacobite revolt ; battle of Fontenoy.
1746. Battle of CuUoden.
1748. Treaty of Aachen.
1754. Death of Henry Pelham.
1756. Beginning of Seven Years' War.
1757. Pitt's Ministry formed ; battle of Plassey.
1759. Battles of Quebec and Minden.
1760. Death of George 11.
1. George ii. was over forty wten he became king, and was
almost as mucli of a German as his father, though he could speak
English fluently, and had more knowledge of British
and Capo- affairs than George i. He was regular, busiaess-like,
line of straightforward, just, a brave soldier, and a shrewd
observer of foreign politics. He was small-minded,
vain, selfish, hot-tempered, greedy for money, and a despiser
of learning. He was tinder the influence of his clever wife,
Caroline of Anspach, who showed her good sense by inducing
her husband to keep Walpole in power, though George disliked
him because he had been the faithful minister of his father. The
result of this was that Walpole remained in office for more than
twenty years.
2. The long ministry of Walpole best illustrates the strong and
the weak points of the rule of the Whig aristocracy. He was a
shrewd man of business, whose aim was to keep his party in power
and retain for himself the chief position in his party. He was
no orator, but a skiLful debater, who thoroughly understood the
546
1727.] GEORGE II. 547
management of men, and had a complete insight into the temx)er
of the House of Commons. He was a successful administrator and
4 very able financier. He disliked violent changes, rhanacter
and was careful not to rouse up opposition by attack- and policy
ing vested interests. "Let sleeping dogs Lie" and °^^^'P°'®»
quieta non movere were his favourite sayings. In
this spirit he sought to conciliate the Dissenters without irritating
the Church. The Dissenters demanded the repeal of the Test and
Corporation Acts, and Walpole professed every sympathy with
them. But he kept putting them off from year to year, and at
last refused to carry out their wishes. He was afraid to stir up the
fierce ecclesiastical passions which had brought such harm to the
Whigs in the days of the trial of Sacheverell. But any measure
that helped the Dissenters without annoying the High Churchmen
met his entire approval. Thotigh he would not repeal the Test
Act, he passed every year an Indemnity Act, by which the penalties
imposed on those who broke the Test Act were remitted. This
curious compromise went on from 1727 to 1828. All that time the
Test Act remained the law, but the Dissenters who held office in
defiance of the law were excused by annual acts from the punish-
ment they had incurred for breaking it.
3. Walpole practised with great skill the arts of managing
elections and controlling the House of Commons. He took care
to conciliate piiblic opinion and to please the average parllamen-
Eriglishman. But he was quite willing to bribe or tary man-
to browbeat, when more legitimate measures were not **®'"®"t'
sufficient for his purpose. He had no high ideals, but was coarse,
callous, and corrupt. Under him bribery became a regular system,
and many members of parliament were kept faithful to the govern-
ment by sinecure places and even direct payments of money. Yet
crooked as were his means, Walpole's ends were patriotic and
lionourable. He saw that the country required rest after the
storms through which it had passed, and aimed at giving it what he
knew was best for it. He brought the country gentry round from
Jacobitism to support the new dynasty. He kept the merchants
and tradesmen Whigs by his sound commercial and financial
measures. Many more high-minded statesmen have done less good
to their country than this sagacious worldling.
4. Walpole was so much the strongest of the ministers that he
was able to a.ssume a position of superiority over his colleagues
that no previous minister had aspired to. It took a long time to
reconcile Englishmen to the idea of a cabinet ; but they were
548 GEORGE II. [1727-
even more suspicious of the notion of a Prime Minister, thinking
that such an office threatened both the supreme position of the
Walpole the crown and the right of all the chief ministers to be
first Prime regarded as equal associates with each other. Under
Minister. "VViUiam III. and Anne, the monarch presided at cabinet
councils, but when the Hanoverian kings absented themselves
from a body whose deliberations they could not readily follow, it
was found necessary for some one minister to take the chair and
direct the debates. Moreover, the growth of the party system made
a leader a necessity, to whom the party could look up for direction
and encouragement. Walpole's great ability and masterful dis-
position combined to make him the first real prime minister that
English history knows. Yet, even when exercising the power,
Walpole disclaimed the name of prime minister, because his
enemies regarded it as a matter of reproach that he seemed to
dictate the whole policy of the government, and degrade colleagues
who should have been his equals into subordinates compelled to
carry out his orders.
5. Walpole had to exert all his skiU to keep order among the
ministers. Every servant of the crown resented his chief's habit of
The oppo- domineering, and was indignant that his own power
sition to was so circumscribed. It had been common in earlier
Walpole. dajs for one minister to intrigue against another, but
Walpole thought that the party system required from all ministers
loyalty to the prime minister, and a general acceptance of his policy.
His colleagues cherished theii- independence, and strove hard to
undermine his power. The result was that minister after minister
was brought into conflict with him, and, being worsted, was driven
from power. So early as 1724 he dismissed Lord Carteret, the
king's favourite minister, from the oifice of secretary of state,
because Carteret did his best to prevent Waljiole establishing a
cordial alliance with France. Pulteney, the chief Whig orator,
also broke with him, and Walpole came into conflict with his
brother-in-law, Townshend, who was annoyed at his increasing
ascendency. Walpole himself put the real cause of the quarrel
clearly enough when he said, " As long as the firm was Towns-
hend and Walpole, the utmost harmony prevailed, but when the
firm became Walpole and Townshend, everything went wrong."
Townshend maintained that as secretary of state he was respon-
sil)le to the king only, and not to the first lord of the ti'easury.
As he could not gain his point, he resigned office, and retired into
private Ufe. The majority of the fallen ministers, however, plunged
-1742.] GEORGE II. 549
into furious opposition, and denounced Walpole for ambition and
corruption. They called themselves the Patriot Whigs, and took a
very high line in everything. Walpole treated them
with great contempt. " All these men," he said, " have whigs.
their price." But he did not choose to pay the high
price necessary to buy back the support of the factious seceders
from his party. He preferred to go on ruling with the help of men
of less brilliant parts but of more trustwoi-thy character. Con-
spicuous among those who stiU adhered to him were Thomas Pelham,
duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and his brother, Henry Pelham.
6. Walpole took little pains to conciliate the younger generation
of politicians, and most of the rising men joined the Patriots in
opposing him. In his scornful way Walpole laughed j^e " Boys "
at them, calling them the " Boys," and affecting to and Wil-
despise them. But one of the " boys " was a man of
far loftier ideals and more power to move men than Walpole
had ever possessed. This was William Pitt, whose impassioned
eloquence, unswerving honesty, and contempt for jobbery and the
tricks of the politician's trade, had already won for him a unique
position. Like the Patriots, Pitt and the Boys were all professed
Whigs. Since the fall of Bolingbroke the Tory party had been
represented in tlie House of Commons by two or three score of
country gentlemen, despised for their want of ability, Bolingbroke
and suspected of being more friendly to the pretender and the
than to King George. However, a revival of the New Tories.
Tory party was now brought about by the same restless genius
that had formerly destroyed it. Convinced by his personal rela-
tions with the pretender that Jacobitism was a lost cause, Boling-
broke made his peace with the House of Hanover, and in 1723 was
suffered to return to England. Henceforth he devoted all his social
charm and literary skill to biulding up a new Tory party, purged
of all suspicion of Jacobitism. So loyal was he now to the German
dyna.sty that he loudly professed his wish to save the monarchy
from its dependence on the Whig faction and to inspire it with
a mission to lead the people and to exercise to tlie full all its
prerogatives. Though the old king was not won over, Boling-
broke found a disciple in his son Frederick, prince of Wales, who
was on as bad terms with his father as George himself had been
with George i. Frederick was a shallow, worthless man. but he
was pleased to pose as a true English prince, and glad to annoy
his father by associating himself with the opposition to Walpole.
Round his court at Leicester House the chief enemies of Walpole
550 GEORGE II. [1727-
met on common ground, and Bolingbroke cleverly suggested the
part which Frederick was to play by his pamplilet On the Idea of
a Patriot King. Most of the men of letters lent their pens to the
opposition. Among them was the poet James Thomson, who wrote
his Hule Britannia as the popular song of the new national party.
In a few years a powerful but heterogeneous opposition had at
least this much unity of policy that it agreed in assaUing the prime
minister. But despite Patriots, Boys, New Tories, and the prince
of Wales, Walpole still commanded a parliamentary majority,
as well as the vigorous support of the king, though he lost a
sturdy friend in 1737 by the death of Queen Caroline.
7. Gradually the opposition began to make head against the
minister. Its first triumph was in 1733, when its unreasonable
_, - .. clamour forced Walpole to give uj) his Excise Scheme,
of Walpole's on which he had set his heart. This was a plan to
excise turn the customs duties, first on tobacco and afterwards
SChGI116
on wine, into excise duties — that is to say, to convert
taxes levied at the ports when the commodities came into the
country into internal dues, paid at the warehouse when the goods
were required for consumption. One of Walpole's chief motives
for effecting this change was the wide prevalence of smuggling by
which customs duties were evaded. Another object that he had was
to make England a central market where all nations could buy and
sell freely, without their trade being hampered by the necessity of
paying outport charges. The scheme was a wise one, and Walpole
believed that, without adding to the burdens borne by taxpayers, it
would so largely increase the revenue that he would be able to
conciliate the country gentry by reducing the land tax. UnluckUy
the name " excise " was an unpopular one, partly because it suggested
the visiting of every man's house by prying excisemen, and partly
because it had been borrowed from the Dutch, who were still far
from being loved. The opposition made an unscrupulous use of
the weapon which prejudice put into their hands. They said that
Walpole was preparing the way for a general excise, and that his
excisemen would rob Englishmen of their liberty by violating the
sanctity of their homes. Walpole held his ground for a time, but
saw that even if he could carry his plan through parliament, he
could only enforce it on the people at the risk of bloodshed. At
last he reluctantly withdrew the scheme, convinced that, however
wise his design was, it was not exjDedient to carry it out.
8. Four years later, in 1737, Walpole received another check.
The Edinburgh mob, irritated at the harshness of Poi-teous, the
•1742.] GEORGE II. 551
captain of the city guard, broke open tlie Tolbooth, or city prison,
and hanged Porteous in the public place of execution. Walpole
proposed to punish this lawless act by taking away
the charter of Edinburgh. Again the opposition was tecTus riots
up ia arms against this attack on the liberties of a in Edin-
great city. Even the Scotch members, who received a ^73?*^'
regular salary to vote for the government, refused to
support the bill, and Walpole dropped the essential parts of it. A
proposal to give a pension to the murdered man's widow got through
parliament with the greatest difficulty.
9. Walpole's foreign policy opened up easier chances of attack
than his prudent and unadventurous domestic administration. The
prime minister remained faithful to the principles he
had upheld when Stanhope drove him from office, and treaties of
in the fulness of his power had the courage to break Vienna,
with the bad Whig tradition of excessive interference ^^^^ ^°
with the afEairs of Europe. All through his tenure of
office the peace of Europe was endangered by the persistent efforts
of Philip v. of Spain to upset the treaty of Utrecht. Urged on by
his second wife, Elizabeth Famese, a princess of Parma by birth,
he strove to establish their children in Italian principalities at the
expense of Austria. Besides that, Charles \i., who still resented
the Barrier Treaty, continued very angry with England and
Holland, or, as they were called, the maritime powers. Charles,
though hating his old rival in Spain, had a common grievance
with Philip in his dislike of the treaty of Utrecht. At last, in
1725, a clever Dutch adventurer, named Ripperda, who had, like
Alberoni, won the confidence of Philip and his wife, persuaded the
king and the emperor that they could best attain their ends by
forgetting their old feuds and making a treaty of alliance. This
was done by the first treaty of Vienna of 1725. Thereupon the
maritime powers, inspired by Walpole, united with France, then
ruled by Cardinal Fleury, in the treaty of Hanover of 1726, which
aimed at upholding the treaty of Utrecht against Spain and
Aastria. Europe was threatened with a general war, and in 1727
there was some lialf-hearted fighting between England and Spain.
But the firebrand Ripperda fell suddenly from power like Alberoni,
and Walpole and Fleury struggled so earnestly for peace that
hostilities were soon suspended. Spain and England signed, in 1729,
the peace of Seville, and in 1731 the second treaty of Vienna
completed the pacification of Europe. It wa.s a great triumph for
Walpole to have avoided without dishonour a European war.
552 GEORGE If. [1738-
10. Two years later another war broke out, called the War of
the Polish Succession, though in reality one of the chief objects
_ for which it was fought was to establish Don Carlos,
Treaty of '^lie son of Philip v. and Elizabeth Farnese, on the
Vienna, throne of Naples by the expulsion of the Austrians.
France and Spain again united, and Spanish troops
drove Charles vi. out of Naples and Sicily. It was a glaring
violation of the treaty of Utrecht, but "Walpole steadily refused to
take any part in it. " This year," he boasted, " ten thousand men
have been slain in Europe, but not one of them was an EngHshman."
He was as anxious for peace with France as ever, even though he
knew that Philip v. and Louis xv. had signed a Family Compact
by which they bound themselves to act against England. The
result was that Austria had to give way and sign, in 1738, the third
or definitive treaty of Vienna, which set up a third Bourbon
monarchy in favour of Don Carlos in Naples.
11. Many Englishmen, who had no love of war, thought that
Walpole's desire for peace had carried him too far in not opposing
Outbreak of Spain in this business. The revival of the Spanish
war with power made politicians exceedingly suspicious of
pam, . pj^ijip y^ a^jj^ commercial difficulties soon arose which
strained the relations between England and the Peninsula. The
Spaniards, who claimed a monopoly of all traffic with their colonies,
bitterly resented the limited right of trade with them given to
England at Utrecht, and had good reason to complain of the im-
mense system of smuggling which English sailors established
under cover of the commercial clauses of the treaty. They care-
fully searched English vessels for smuggled goods, and loud com-
plaints were raised of the harshness with which the Spanish
officials exercised their right of search at the expense of British
subjects. At last a great cry arose that British honour must be
vindicated by a declaration of war with Spain, and Walpole was
bitterly attacked by the opposition for his carelessness and contempt
of his country's interests. The demand became so persistent that
AValpole saw that he must either submit or resign office. In 1739
he declared war against Spain. However, he conducted it so slug-
gishly that the opposition had good reason for denouncing his
half-heartedness.
12. In 1740 new troubles arose on the death of the Emperor
Charles vi. A European coalition was formed to break up the
Austrian monarchy and to prevent Charles's daughter, Maria
Theresa, succeeding to her father's inheritance. Again Walpole
-1746.] GEORGE 11. 553
reftised to interfere, and once more there was bitter denunciation
of his neglect to uphold British interests and treaty obligations.
By this time the minister's position had become much
weakened. The opposition grew in strength, and after ^® ^"S"
the general election of 1741, it commanded a majority cession,
of the House of Commons. The king, who disliked 1740, and
his pacific policy, went against him, and early in 1742 ^alD0le°
he was forced to resign. There was talk of impeaching 1 742.
him, but the day was past when a triumphant oppo-
sition could glut its spite by the judicial condemnation of its beaten
rivals. The king made him earl of Orford, and he still had friends
in officQ to save him from all serious attack. He died in 1745.
With all his faults he had given England peace, both at home and
abroad, for more than twenty years.
13. There was no great change of policy at home after Walpole's
fall. The opposition agreed in nothing but in attacking the common
enemy, and neither the Tories nor the Boys were suffered _.
to hold office. The ministry remained purely Whig, tenet mln-
and Walpole's chief friends, the Pelhams, retained their Istry, 1 742'
offices. George put into Walpole's post an incompetent '
courtier named Lord WUmington, on whose death, in 1743, Henry
Pelham himself became prime minister. More powerful than
Wilmington was Lord Carteret (afterwards Earl Granville), who was
secretary of state. He was the ablest and most attractive states-
man of his day, and knew more about foreign affairs than any
other English politician. He was a special favourite of the king,
because he could talk German, and sympathized with his foreign
policy. But he was irregular, dissipated, unbusinesslike, and con-
temptuous of routine. The Pelhams gradually under- jj,g Pelham
rained his influence, and, despite the favour of the king, ministry,
he was forced to resign in 1744. His retirement, even 1744-1764.
more than Wilmington's death, set Henry Pelham free to govern
the country after his own fashion. A thorough disciple of
Walpole, he ruled England in accordance with Walpole's ideas.
But he learnt from his master's mistakes the need of conciliating
every strong interest, and therefore formed what was called
a Broad Bottom Administration, which took in every section
of the Whigs, and even found room for one or two Tories.
Nothing but George's personal dislike kept William Pitt out of
office, and in 1746 Pelham forced the king to give way and make
the eloquent orator paymaster of the forces. From this time to
the death of Pelham in 1754, there was no further ministerial
554 GEORGE II. [1739-
crisis. The disciple of Walpole healed the Whig schism that
followed his fall, as effectively as Walpole himself had reunited
the party after the collapse of the South Sea scheme.
14. A great European war made it desirable that England
should be at peace with itself. Since 1739 there had been fighting
at sea between England and Spain, and since 1743
theAus- George ir. and Carteret had involved England in the
tpian sue- War of the Austrian Succession, which raged on the
mo°n48 continent from 1740 to 1748. Troubles began with
the death, in 1740, of the Emperor Charles vi., the
Archduke Charles of the succession war in Spain. Having no
sons, Charles had drawn up a document, called the Pragmatic
Sanction, wMch declared that the various states which constituted
the Austrian dominions should never be broken up, and that his
elder daughter, the Archduchess Maria Theresa, had the right to
succeed to the whole of them. He had persuaded nearly every
European power to guarantee the Pragmatic Sanction, but his
death was followed by a general attempt to partition his territories.
The lead in this was taken by Frederick 11. (the Great), who had
become king of Prussia in 1740, and who soon showed a daring but
unscrupulous statecraft and a matcliless insight as a general, which
were ultimately to win for his little kingdom a permanent position
among the chief powers of Europe. Frederick laid violent hands
upon Silesia, and his success encouraged Bavaria and Saxony to
invade Bohemia. Spain and Sardinia threatened the Austrian
power in Milan; and behind all these powers was the sinister
influence of France. Maria Theresa held her own with extreme
difficulty. Her territories were overrun ; her subjects of doubtful
loyalty ; and she had the mortification of seeing her husband,
Francis of Lorraine, rejected by the electors, who preferred to
choose her rival, the elector of Bavaria, as the Emperor Charles vii.
It was the fii'st time for three hundred years that an emperor had
been appointed outside the house of Hapsburg.
15. In 1743 England sent large subsidies to Maria Theresa, and
George 11., who was eager for fighting, took command of a large
army of English and Hanoverian troops, which moved into Central
Germany, so as to threaten Bavaria and turn the Bavarians and
T> *♦!.. f their French allies from the invasion of Austria. On
Battle 01 1 T-i 1 J.
Dettingen, June 27 George won a battle over the French at
1743. Dettingen, on the Main, between AschafEenbui-g and
Frankfort. It was the last battle in which an English king
commanded in person. The consequences of George's victory
-I74S-] GEORGE II. 555
were considerable. Prance and England, who had hitherto fonght
as auxiliaries of the foes and friends of Maria Theresa, declared
war against each other. The result of this was to shift the centre
of conflict from Germany to tlie Netherlands and the ocean. Maria
Theresa was forced by the English and Dutch to resign SUesia to
Pruiwia. She hated doing this, but had no alternative, as her allies
would not support her until she had bought off the enemy they
chiefly feared. At this price she secured the succession to the
rest of her father's lands, and, on the death of Charles vii., even
Prederick of Prussia voted for her husband as emperor. With the
accession of Prancis r. to the empire, the attempt to break up the
Austrian dominions substantially failed.
16. The struggle about the Austrian succession was soon blended
with a contest of England with Spain and Prance for maritime and
colonial supremacy. The land war was now mainly gattle of
concentrated in the Southern Netherlands, out of Fontenoy,
which the Prench made desperate efforts to drive *'^*^'
the Austrians and Dutch. To assist her allies, England now
sent to that region a strong force, commanded by William, duke
of Cumberland, George ii.'s second son. On May 11, 1745,
Cumberland was beaten in the hard-fought battle of Fantenoy,
near Toumai. The French then began to capture the great
barrier fortresses, a ta,sk soon made more easy by the withdrawal
of most of the English troops to suppress rebellion at home.
17. Jacobitism revived as a result of the breach of the long
friendship of Prance and Britain. The Prench thought that a
good way of diverting the English from defending xheJaco-
the Netherlands was to excite a rising in favour of bite revolt
the Stewarts. The pretender was now getting an 0^1745.
old man, but his son Charles Edward, called the Young Pretender
by his foes and the prince of Wales by his parti.sans, was twenty-
five years of age, and was more fitted to stir up enthusiasm
for his cause than his melancholy and incompetent father.
The Prench planned an invasion of England, which Charles
Edward was to accompany. But, in 1744, a terrible storm
destroyed the fleet destined to take the young pretender to the
throne of his ancestors, and after that the Prench neglected
him. Weary with delay, the gallant prince resolved to take
his fortunes into his own hands. He collected what money he
oould, hired two ships, and. without the knowledge of either the
Fi-ench government or his father, sailed for the Highlands, and
on July 25, 1745, landed with only seven companions near Moidart,
55^ GEORGE II. [1745.
on the west coast of Inverness-shire. He called upon the clans to
follow him, but even the Highland chiefs, his loyal and chivalrous
supporters, were aghast at the rashness of his enterprise, and
advised him to go back to France. But a trifling success over
two companies of soldiers sent out to apprehend the invaders
stirred up the enthusiasm of the Highlanders. The marquis of
Tullibardine, who had forfeited his duchy of Atholl for his treason
in 1715, appeared in the Perthshire Highlands, and roused the
Stewarts of Atholl to the Jacobite cause. Before long Macdonalds,
Camerons, and other Jacobite clans mustered by the thousand
round the prince's standards. General Cope, commander of King
George's troops in Scotland, managed matters so badly that Charles
Edward soon found the way to the Lowlands open before him. In
September he marched into Edinburgh, and proclaimed his father
as James viii. from the market cross of the capital. Thence he
marched out against Cope, who had taken up a position at
Preston Pans, a few miles to the east. On September 21 he
easily won the battle of Preston Pans.
IS. For two months Charles Edward kept his court at
Holyrood, and his personal charm and gallant bearing won him
The march iimch devotion and support. But mo.st Lowland Scots
to Derby, remained indifferent to the claims of a popish pre-
tender, supported by a rabble of plundering High-
landers. Great effoi-ts were made by the government to suppress
the rising, and Charles saw that if he waited, doing nothing at
Edinburgh, the game would soon be up. The wise rashness that
had led him to land at Moidart now inspired him to attempt an
invasion of England, though his counsellors denounced the enter-
prise as madness. Before the end of November the Highlanders
were again on the march. They captured Carlisle very easily, and
proceeded without opposition through Cumberland and Lancashire.
Bitterly to Charles's disappointment, the Tories and Churchmen
of Northern England showed as little zeal for his cause as the
Whigs and Presbyterians of Southern Scotland. He gained very
few recruits ; his greatest success was at Manchester, where a force
of Some two hundred men was levied under a Catholic Lancashire
squire. But he pressed on as far south as Derby, though armies
far stronger than his own were gathering on every side, and the
Highlanders, unaccustomed to prolonged warfare, were growing
weary of their absence from home and of the discomforts of a
winter campaign.
19. On December 6 Charles was, against his better judgment,
1745]
GEORGE 11.
557
■■•qrWalktr K.
558 GEORGE II. [1746-
f orced by Ms advisers to retrace his steps. He made his way safely
back to Scotland, only to find that in his absence most of the Low-
_ ... - lands had been won back by the Hanoverians. He had
Falkirk and still to retreat before them back to the Highlands. A
Culloden, i^st gleam of success shone on his cause on January
17, 1746, when he inflicted a severe check on General
Hawley at the hattle of Falhirk. Cumberland, recalled from the
Netherlands, now took up the command of the king's troops, and
Charles fled before Mm beyond the Grampians. At last, on April
16, the HigMand army was attacked by Cumberland at Culloden
Moor, near Inverness. Exi)erience had at last taught the soldiers
how to meet the fierce rush of the HigMand charge. They stood
with fixed bayonets, reserving their fire until the enemy was close
upon them, and then firing a volley, wMch inflicted terrible execu-
tion. TM'ice the gaUant clansmen rallied trf the charge, but each
time they were driven back with loss. Then the soldiers charged in
their turn, and slew many at the bayonet's point. No quarter was
given, and the rebels were punished so brutally that Cumberland
won the nickname of the Butcher. Great efforts were made to
capture Charles Edward, and a huge reward offered for Ms
apprehension. But the poor HigManders kept with remarkable
loyalty the secret of his Mding-places, and, after many hairbreadth
escapes, he succeeded in escaping to France. Disappointment
soured his better nature, and he showed a weakness of character
that could not bear adversity with dignity. He became a confirmed
drunkard, and, though he Lived till 1788, lost all influence. On
his death, his brother Henry, a Churchman and a cardinal, called
Mmself Henry ix., but he was so poor that he was forced to take a
pension from George iii. Jacobitism had become a mere sentiment
long before tMs last representative of the ill-fated house of Stewart
died in 1807.
20. The suppression of the HigMand revolt was followed by
the putting down of the old HigMand anarchy that had made the
rebellion possible. The clans were disarmed, and for-
gation of bidden to wear their national dress. Great efforts
the High- were made to break down the warm attachment felt
for the clan chieftains. The friends of Charles were
driven into exile, and the Episcopalian and Catholic clergy cruelly
persecuted. Hard roads connected the garrisons established to
keep the clansmen down, and schools were established to spread a
knowledge of English. Within a generation the whole social
condition of the HigMands was changed. The Celtic cMeftain
-1748.] GEORGE II. 559
became like the Lowland landlord, and the clansman became a dis-
contented crofter, paying a huge rent for a little farm that would
hardly maintain his family. Some of the more daring spirits joined
the Highland regiments which parliament caused to be raised.
Later on there was a great emigration to America. The Highlands
became peaceful and law-abiding, but in the process many of the
finest features of Gaelic Ufe had been destroyed.
21. The continental war still went on, and the French had
taken advantage of the withdrawal of the English troops from the
Austrian Netherlands to conquer the greater part of j^^ treaty
that district, and to threaten the United Provinces of Aachen,
with invasion. But, as in 1672, the Dutch resolutely *'*°*
repulsed the invader. In other fields the French had not been
successful. They had lost many colonies, and their fleets had been
defeated by the English and Dutch. An English sailor, Captain
Anson, plundered the Spaniards in the Pacific, like another Drake,
and, like Drake, completed his hazardous expedition by circum-
navigating the world (1740-1744). At last both England and
France were willing to make peace, and Maria Theresa was forced
to faU in with their wishes. The war was ended by the Treaty of
Aachen of 1748, by which England and France mutually restored
all conquests, and France accepted the Protestant succession in
England, and agreed to expel the pretender. The Pragmatic
Sanction was guaranteed, but Maria Theresa, besides the loss of
Silesia, was forced to give a slice of the Milanese to Sardinia, and
to yield up Parma as a duchy for Philip v.'s younger son Philip.
She was, therefore, very indignant with the English and Dutch,
who, she believed, cared little for her interests as long as their own
were secured. In the peace between England and Spain, the
question of the " right of search," which had started the war in
1739, was not so much as mentioned.
22. The years that succeeded the peace of Aachen were marked
by great prosperity. Henry Pelham, the prime minister, governed
the country prudently and well. Like his master, p-ju-m.-
Walpole, he disliked great changes, and he was even domestic
more prudent than Walpole in conciliating aU opposi- reforms,
tion. The chief features of his administration were
useful measures of domestic reform, such as the adoption of the
New Style of reckoning dates according to the improved Gregorian
Calendar, so called from Pope Gregory xui. (1572-1586), in whose
days it was first devised, and which most continental nations had
already accepted. There was eleven days' difference of time
560 GEORGE II. [1754-
between the old and the new calendars. Another important im-
provement was the consolidation, after the peace, of the various
loans which the government had borrowed into a single stock,
paying the uniform rate of three per cent. These were the three
per cent, consols which remained famous for more than a century.
23. The quiet times continued until Henry Pelham's death in
1754. " Now," said G-eorge 11., " I shall have no more peace."
The New- This was true enough, for the declining years of the
castle old king were marked by a revival of domestic faction
'"'n'th''^ and foreign war. Dull and commonplace as Henry
Whig Pelham had seemed, he had shown wonderful tact,
schism, skiU, and dexterity in preser\dng peace both at home
1754-1756 J r r> IT
and abroad, and on liis death there was no one who
could step into his place. His brother, the duke of Newcastle,
became prime minister, but he was fussy, incompetent, and so
greedy of power that he would not trust the other ministers.
Newcastle's strongest point was wonderful craft in wirepulHng and
intrigue, but his blunders soon broke up the ministry. He had to
appoiat a leader of the House of Commons in succession to his
brother, but he was too jealous to give him a free hand, and found
that the stronger politicians would not hold office on the terms that
he offered. For a time he strove to rule the Commons with the
help of a dull diplomatist. Sir Thomas Robinson, but the members:
so soon got out of control that he was compelled to get rid of
Robinson and give his office to Henry Fox, on terms that made Fox
a colleague and not a mere subordinate. Fox was a very able man,
the best debater in the House of Commons, and a skilful party
manager, but he was selfish, corrupt, and unpopular. He was quite
content to hold a lucrative office and to pile up a fortune for himself.
24. Very different to the position of Fox was that of WiUiam
Pitt, who from 1746 to 1754 had been a subordinate member of the
Pelham ministry. On Pelham's death, Pitt soon broke
Pitt and "with Newcastle, and once more his eloquent voice was
the Whig raised in opposition to the government. He was so
opposition. ^gg^.gj^^ f roin the other statesmen of the day that his
very singularity marked him out as a person apart. He had never
lost that command of the popular ear which he had won when
he first thundered against the corruption of Walpole and the
Hanoverian foreign policy of Carteret. His birth excluded him
from the Kttle circle of gi-eat families which divided between each
other the government of England. His lofty and imperious dis-
position raised him above the timid place-hunters and self-seeking
-1760.] GEORGE II. 561
jobbers who made politics a race after the spoils. He appealed
from the venal politicians in Parliament to the unrepresented
masses of the English people, so that, though distrusted at court
and feared by place-hunters, he was the one popular hero among
the statesmen of the day. His withdrawal from Newcastle's
ministry weakened it immensely in public opinion.
25. Newcastle's un.stable position woidd not have mattered if
peace had continued ; it became important, since England was
drifting into a fresh war. The earlier stages of this
found England unprepared and Newcastle incompetent ^* qa "**^-
to grapple with the situation. Discontent rose high shire's
out-of-doors, and faction became intense in Parliament, ministry.
In 1756 Newcastle resigned, and the duke of Devon-
shire, a great Whig magnate who had quarrelled with him,
became head of a new government, and gave high office to Pitt.
But the Pitt- Devonshire ministry only lasted until the next year.^
Without Newcastle's command over votes, the ministers were
Tinable to carry their measures through parliament. Things
seemed at a deadlock, when, in 1757, Devonshire and Pitt resigned.
But it was no time for English statesmen to quarrel when disasters
were falling thickly upon our colours in every part „. p.^^.^
of the world. It was at last found possible to make a Newcastle
coalition between Pitt and Newcastle, by which they ministry,
jointly became sharers of power. This arrangement
worked well, and outlasted the reign of George 11. Newcastle
confined himself to intrigue, parliamentary management, and the
details of administration. Scornfully indifferent to such sordid
cares, Pitt threw his whole soul into the conduct of the war, and
under his guidance, a struggle that had begun disastrously for
England soon became one of the most glorious wars that this
country has ever waged.
26. The war, called the Seven Years' War, had, like the war of
the Austrian succession, a twofold origin. One source of it was.
a contest with France for commercial, colonial, and ftpi_._ ^r
naval supremacy ; the other was provoked by the ques- the Seven
tions of the balance of power in Europe. Though inde- X?**^'
pendent in their origin, the two conflicts soon became
blended in a single struggle, which raged for seven years over
America, India, and the ocean, as well as upon the coutineiit ol
Europe.
27. Ever since the revolution, England had been growing
steadily richer by foreign trade, and was now become the foremost
2o
562 GEORGE n. [1740-
commercial, colonizing, and naral power. Holland, her rival in
the seventeenth century, was beaten in the race and content to be
her satellite ; but France, her nearest rival, watched
Commercial ■, .., , , • j t ii •
and colonial ^^^ progress with constant anxiety. In this corn-
rivalry of mercial competition, even more than in jealousies about
Eng"an<f " European affairs, lay the true cause of the long conflict
which, save in the days of Walpole, made England and
France remain almost i)ermanent enemies from 1688 down to the
battle of Waterloo. India, America, and the ocean were the chief
fields of this hostility, and circumstances now sharpened the conflict
in all these directions.
28. India had been, siace the early sixteenth century, a great
source of attraction to European traders. The English East India
Company was among the most successful of the associa-
trade^s^^ tions of foreign merchants whose members acquired
. India under great wealth by the trade with the East. The com-
the Mogul pany had long had trading stations or factories in
India, of which Fort William (Calcutta), Fort St,
OeorgB (Madras), and Bombay were the most important. Since
the days of Louis xiv. it had found its chief European competitor
in the French East India Company, whose principal factory on the
mainland was at Pondicherri, north of Madras. But the rivalry
hitherto had been that of men of business competing in the same
markets. India was ruled by the great Mohammedan Mogul
Empire, whose emperors at Dellii govei-ned Northern and controlled
Southern India. The Moguls were strong enough to prevent any
European society of merchants aspiring to establish its rule over
any wide tract of India outside their own factories. But in 1707
Amrangzeb, the last great Mogul emperor, died, and at once the
Mogul power broke up. A similar state of things occurred
in India to that which had happened in Europe after the downfall
of the Roman empire. The Nawabs, or viceroys of the emperor,
became practically independent and hereditary princes. The
Hindus, who had borne with impatience the domination of the
Mohammedans, began to throw off their yoke and set up indepen-
dent rajas and mahdrdjds of their own race and creed. In
particular, the warlike Marathas, of the regions surrounding Bom-
bay, established great and powerful states. Yet India was plunged
into extreme confusion. Any warlike adventurer had the chance
of making himself a king, though he often found it hard to main-
tain himself in his precarious sovereignty.
29. The break-up of the Mogul Empire first gave the companies
-I75I] GEORGE II. ■ 563
of European traders a chance of profiting by the anarchy in India
to aspire to share its sovereignty with the native rulers. The
first European to see this was a JPrenchman. Dupleix,
governor of Pondicherri, perceived that by setting ni^ns ^
one prince against another, he might take a lead-
ing part in Indian affairs. He grasx>ed that India was not a
nation but a continent, and that immense differences in religion,
language, civilization, and race kept the various peojjles of the
peninsula hopelessly apart. He soon also realized that the more
warlike of the tractable and intelligent races of India might, if
officered and disciplined by Etiropeans, become such good soldiers
that they could easily defeat the ill-disciplined armies trained after
the native fashion. Hence it was not impossible with Indian gold
and Indian arms for a mere handful of Europeans to dominate
millions of Hindus. In these visions Dupleix saw the whole future
history of India, though in the long run it was not his country
that was to demonstrate the practicability of his ambitions.
30. Already, during the Austrian succession war, Dupleix
began to carry out his schemes. In 1746 he captured Madras,
and this conq[ue8t, though surrendered by the peawe „ , .
of Aachen, increased the reputation of the French and France
throughout India. The years of peace between France '" India,
and England were no time of peace for India. Dupleix
took up the cause of one claimant to the great post of nawilb, or
viceroy, of the JLamAtik, the region in which both Madras and
Pondicherri were situated. It was inevitable that the English
should take up the cause of the other pretender. The English
at Madras were clerks and merchants, while the French at
Pondicherri were soldiers and statesmen ; yet among the clerks
of the English factory a man was found fuUy equal to cope with
Dupleix. This was Robert CUve, the son of a poor _.. .
Shropshire squire, who had been sent out to India the siege of
because his turbulent disposition seemed to unfit him ^r?!*'
for most careers at home. Clive had become a soldier
in the days of Dupleix's conquest of Madras, and now urged that
the best way to counteract the French schemes was to seize Arcot,
the capital of the Kamdtik. He was entru.sted with the task,
and easily captured the town. Then, in 1751, he stood a siege
with such determination that in the end Dupleix withdrew dis-
comfited before the walls which Clive and his sepoys so gallantly
defended. The result was the collapse of Dupleix's schemes,
soon to be followed by his recall in disgrace. Thanks to Clive, the
564 GEORGE II. [1731-
factory at Madras controlled the Karndtik, tlirougli its nominee
the nawdb.
31. A few years later the nawab of Bengal, Sirdj-ud-Daula,
formed an alliance with the French, captured Fort WiUiam, and
shut up the little band of Englishmen who held it
of Plassey ^^ ^ small prison, afterwards called the Blach Hole of
1757, and Calcutta, where nearly all died of suffocation in the
hi 760 course of one ti'opical night. Clive was sent to restore
the [English influence in Bengal, and on June 23,
1757, utterly defeated the vast army of Sirdj-ud-Dauld at the
battle of Plassey. The nawdb was dethroned, and an English
dependent set in his place. Henceforth Olive's genius ruled
supreme in Bengal as well as in the Karnatik. But before this
England and France were at open war, and the French sought to
revive Dupleix's schemes in Southern India. Again they were
defeated. Colonel Coote won the battle of Wandewash in 1760,
which was as decisive for the Karndtik as Plassey for Bengal. In
1761 he annihilated French influence by the capture of Pondi-
Ciierri. Thus the foundations of the British power in India were
laid. Clive and Coote had learnt the lesson of Dupleix so well
that they had won for England the great position in the East that
the Frenchman had hoped to secure for his own land.
32. A similar struggle between France and England for
supremacy in North America also disturbed the years of nominal
peace. After the treaty of Utrecht, which ceded New-
England in foundland and Acadie to England, there was a con-
North tinuous line of English settlements, extending from
^ ' the mouth of the St. Lawrence to Carolina. Acadie
was colonized by British settlers, and renamed Nova Scotia, in
commemoration of the recent union with Scotland, which had
made English colonies accessible to Scotsmen also. In 1731 the
British sphere had been pushed southwards to the frontier of the
Spanish colony of Florida by the establishment of Georgia, named
after George 11. This series of English colonies was rapidly
growing in wealth, population, and energy ; but the various
colonies were very different in climate, population, character, and
industry, and were not in the habit of co-operating with each other.
Moi-eover, they were surrounded on the north and the west by
lands over which the French had claims, and some of wliich the
French were effectively occupying. Canada, which stretched
from the great lakes down the course of the St. Lawrence, was
the most important French settlement. Besides this, the French
-1761.] GEORGE II. 565
islauds of St. John (Prince Edward's Island) and Cape Breton still
g^ve to Breton fishermen a large share of the Newfoundland
fisheries. More dangerous still was the gradual growth of the
French colony of Louisiana, which, starting from its capital of
New Orleans, stretched northwards up the valley of the Missis-
sippi. Though the French colonies were thinly inhabited and
badly governed, the population was hardy, adventurous, and skilful,
and, as in India, the governors formed wide schemes for extending
French power. It became French policy to build a line of forts
from Louisiana up the Ohio valley, and thence northwards to the
great lakes of Canada. By this means it was hojjed to open out
the whole Mississippi valley to French settlement, and shut in the
English colonists between the Alleghanies and the Atlantic.
33. The key to the French system of frontier posts was Fort
Duqueane, on the Alleghany river, a tributary of the Ohio.
Alarmed at the French advance, the colony of Vir-
ginia fitted out, in 1754, an expedition of the local Duauesne
militia, at the head of which was Major George Wash-
ington, a young Virginian planter, who now first had the chance of
showing his great talents for leadersliip. Washington attacked
Fort Duquesne, but failed badly, and was compelled to surrender
to the French. Next year English and French regulars were
both sent to take part in the struggle, but for long the tide of war
flowed in favour of France.
34. A European war soon complicated the struggle of Eng-
land and France for India and America. A European coalition
was formed, primarily against Prussia, but partly
against England also. A great change in the rela- p^arfcoail-
tions of European states had taken place after the tlon acrainst
treaty of Aachen. Maria Theresa was so disgusted Prussia and
with England making her give up Silesia to Prussia 1756.
that she broke away from the traditional alliance of
Austria and England, and made friends with France, the here<
ditary enemy. Russia, now ruled by the Empress Elizabeth, a true
daughter of Peter the Great, joined the alliance, which many
smaller states, in their jealousy of Prussia, also gladly entered into.
Prussia was thus forced to struggle for her very existence, but
Frederick the Great showed a wonderful coolness and energy in
the face of danger. Up to now George ii. had been very jealous
of Prussia, but he saw that the interests of Prussia, England,
and Hanover were the same, and in 17o6 made a treaty with
Frederick which gave Prussia at least one ally. In 1756 what
566 GEORGE II. [1756-
is properly called the iSe^en Years' War broke out, when Frede-
rick II. anticipated attack from his enemies by beginning' the war
himself. In the same year the tidings of disputes in India and
America forced England and France into open hostilities. From
that date the two struggles were combined into a single war.
35. It was a time when England, divided against itseK by
ministerial dissensions, was quite unready to fight. From the Far
British East came the news of the Black Hole of Calcutta,
disasters, while from the Far West arrived the tidings of disasters
'°'' on the Ohio and the St. Lawrence. Things were even
worse in Europe, where Frederick 11. was holding his own with
extreme difficulty against overwhelming odds, while the duke of
Cumberland was defeated by the French, who overran Hanover, and
compelled him to sign the capitulation of Kloster Zeven. By this
treaty Hanover was abandoned to the French, so that they were
left free to attack Frederick. Even at sea England was now beaten.
Minorca, which had been English since 1708, was attacked by a
French force, and the English admiral, Byng, son of the victor of
Cape Passaro, sailed away without daring to fight a battle, and
abandoned the island. It was expected that the French would
invade England, and that Austria and Russia would wipe out
Prussia from the map of Europe. A disgraceful panic seized upon
the English people. The unlucky Byng was made a scapegoat of
the popular fury. Condemned by a court-martial for neglecting to
fight, he was shot on the quarter-deck of his flagship (1757).
36. It was at this crisis that the coalition between Pitt and
Newcastle ended the struggles of faction in parliament, and gave
Pitt as the Britain the strong government that it needed. Pitt
inspirep of himself took the direction of the war, while Anson, the
1757-1760 (^irciimnavigator, became first lord of the admiralty.
The great commoner set to work with a sublime self-
confidence that was fully justified by results. " I am sure," he
declared, " that I can save the country, and I am sure that no one
else can." He boasted that he was called to office by the voice of
the English people. He drew up brilliant schemes, and sought out
subordinates whom he could inspire with something of his lofty
spirit. India was too far off for him to be able to do much for it,
and Plassey had been fought at the moment of his advent to power.
But he saluted CUve as a " heaven-born general," and did all that
he could to encourage him in his career of conquest. He threw to
the winds his old hatred of German alliances and foreign subsidies.
The old foe of Hanover struggled manfiiUy to recover from the
■I7S7-]
GEORGE II.
567
568 GEORGE II. [1758-
Pi-ench George's hereditary dominions. He repudiated the capitu-
lation of Kloster Zeven, and pushed the continental war forward
with great energy. In 1759 the deHrerance of Hanover was
secured by a victory at Minden. His subsidies to Prussia enabled
Frederick to carry on his heroic struggle. Yet, with all his zeal
for conquest in Germany, he never forgot that the real mission
of England was colonial and maritime predominance. " America
must be conquered in Germany," was his answer to those who were
alarmed at the immense expense of his German campaigns. He
showed wonderful skill in selecting the right men to be admirals
and generals. In 1759 his favourite admiral, Hawke, put an end
to all fears of invasion by annihilating the Trench navy in a battle
in Quiberon Bay, off the south coast of Brittany. This restored to
England the command of the sea, and enabled the British fleets to
■conquer French colonies and trading-stations all over the world.
We have seen how by this time French influence was annihilated
in India. Of even greater moment for the future was the extinction
of French power in North America by WoHe, Amherst, and Howe,
three generals of Pitt's own choosing.
37. Even before England had thrown its energies into the
struggle, the French in North America had ceased to win victories.
The con- Amherst conquered Cape Breton and destroyed the
quest of fortress of Louisburg, which had long dominated the
???o^<^'cn mouth of the St. Lawrence. The English colonists
1/00-1 /OU, 'J^TillT • 1 t n
united as tney had never united before, and drove the
French from Fort Duquesne, which became an English settle-
ment, and was renamed Pittsburg by the grateful colonists. This
destroyed the French ambition of linking together Louisiana and
Canada, and opened out the west to English settlement. Canada
itself was now assailed, and though the first effort to conquer it was
foiled, when the soul of the expedition seemed to expire on the
death of the gaUant Howe, Wolfe was sent in 1759 with an expedi-
tion up the St. Lawrence to effect the conquest of Quebec. The
marquis of Montcalm, the French governor, gathered together all
the forces of Canada to withstand the English fleet and army.
Wolfe made his way up the difficult navigation of the St. Lawrence
in safety, and took up a position nearly opposite Quebec. Failing
to attack the town on the east side, Wolfe moved higher up the river
and planned an attack on Quebec from the west, where high cliffs,
overhanging the river valley, were thought to make the city im-
pregnable. In the dead of night the English troops were droppad
in row-boats down the St. Lawrence to the foot of the steep rocks.
-1760.] GEORGE IT. 569
These they scaled as best they could, and before morning the
French found the English arrayed on the Heights of Abraham to
the west of Quebec. The battle that ensued proved fatal both to
Wolfe and to Montcalm, but the French fought badly, and the
English won an easy victory. Canada was not yet conquered, but
Amherst next year completed the successes half achieved by Wolfe.
Montreal capitulated in 1760, and with its fall Canada became
English.
38. In the midst of these wonderful successes George ir. died in
October, 1760. He had lived long enough to see Pitt, whom h©
had once hated, restore his rule over his own electorate. Death of
save Prussia and the balance of power in Europe, win George II.,
for England the foremost place as a naval, colonial, *'""•
and trading nation, and create the modern British Empire as one
of tha greatest sovereignties the world has ever seen.
CHAPTER III
GEORGE III. AND THE WAR OF AMERICAN
INDEPENDENCE (1760-1789)
Chief Dates :
1760. Accession of George iii.
1761. Resignation of Pitt.
1763. Peace of Paris.
1765. The Stamp Act.
1768. The Wilkes Riots.
1770. North, Prime Minister.
1775. Battles of Lexington and Bunker's Hill.
1777* Capitulation of Saratoga.
1780. Gordon Riots.
1781. Capitulation of Yorktown.
1782. Rodney's victory off Dominica; Legislative Independence of
Ireland granted.
1783. Treaty of Versailles ; Pitt becomes Prime Minister.
1788. Trial of Warren Hastings.
1. Fkederick, prince of Wales, having died in 1751, George n.
was succeeded by his grandson, George iii., Frederick's eldest son.
Charactep '^^^ ^^^ king, who was twenty -two years old when he
and policy came to the throne, was slow, serious, good-natured,
of George and weU-meaning. He was ill-educated, obstinate, and
prejudiced, of narrow intellect and limited outlook.
But he was hard-working, religious, and the first Hanoverian king
who lived a good private life. He had a strong wiU, high courage,
and a vigorous character. Brought up in the traditions of his
father's court at Leicester House, he was anxious to take as
his model Bolingbroke's Patriot King. Boasting that he was
" born and bred a Briton," he loyally accepted the legal constitution
as defined after the revolution of 1688, but waged implacable
war against the customs of the constitution which, under the
first two Georges, had undermined the power of the monarch.
Above all, he considered himself free to choose as his ministers
whatsoever persons he liked best. He was shrewd enough to see
that what stood in the way of his exercising this power was the
570
1760.] GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 57 1
ring of great Whig houses that had governed England during
the last two reigns. He perceived, therefore, that his first object
should be to destroy the Whig connection. With tliis motive he
dissociated himself from parties, and denounced party government
as inevitably tending to the rule of a faction. But he made what
allies he could in his war against the Whigs, and often closely
associated himself with the new Tories of the school of Boling-
broke. Yet George was no Tory king, as his grandfather and
great-grandfather had been Whig kings. He strove to be above
all parties, and only allied himself with the Tories because they
were his most effective helpers in breaking down Whig supre-
macy. But his chief wish was to create a party of his own, which
would vote as he told them, and do his bidding in all things.
Gradually there grew up a group of politicians known as the
king's friends, whose only principle of politics was to obey George.
To keep his friends together, George bribed and exercised corrupt
influence as unscrupulously as Walpole, and cleverly turned to
the ruin of the Whigs aU the machinery of jobbery and cor-
ruption which they had built up to consolidate their own power.
He pursued this policy with extraordinary persistence and courage
for more than fifty years, never flinching before the storm of hatred
that assailed him, and winning the day in the long run. He was
helped by the respect felt for his x>orsonal character and the purity
of his aims, and still more by tlie unpopularity of the great Whig
houses, their quarrels among themselves, and the corrupt and irre-
sponsible character of the House of Commons. He would have
won his way much sooner had he been more intelligent and more
scrupulous in his choice of means to carry out his purpose. But
when bitter experience taught his slow mind the right way to go to
work, he was marvellously successful. Before liis political career
was over, he had put an end to the Wliig power and restored to
the king the chief voice of choosing the ministers of the crown.
At the same time he won greater popularity as he succeeded better.
2. At first everything was against George. The ministry of
Pitt and Newcastle absolutely dominated the state and won great
glory by its naval and military successes. Yet George
set to work at once to break up the Whig party by ^®j''S/'^*
sowing dissension among it, and sliowed great eager-
ness to end the war so that he might have more leisure and
money to carry out his jwlicy at Iiomo. So slow was he of compre-
hension that he could not see any difference l)etween Pitt and
Newcastle, except that he hated Pitt the more because he was the
572 GEORGE in. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [1761-
most powerful and popular of his ministers. Yet there was
much in common between Pitt and the new king, and a wiser
politician would have made friends with the statesman who agreed
with him in hating party, and in disliking the great Whig lords,
and was ever exceedingly deferential to the personal opinion of the
monarch. Pitt was too great for George to appreciate or under-
stand. The king preferred to be guided by his mother, Augusta,
princess of Wales, and by John, earl of Bute, a Scottish nobleman
of great wealth and some refinement, but narrow-minded, ignorant
of politics, and too much given to intrigue.
3. An opportunity soon came for getting rid of Pitt. Don
Carlos of Najdes, the old foe of the English, became Charles iii. of
Pitt driven Spain in 1759, and in 1761 formed a Family Compact
from ofiice, by which the Bourbon courts of France, Spain, and
Italy were united against England. This accession
of Spain to the coalition against England seemed the last chance
to destroy the wonderful ascendency which Pitt's victories had
gained for the country. Pitt gained early intelligence of the
Family Compact, and proposed to fall upon Spain before she was
ready to fight. But Bute's intrigues had ttu-ned his own cabinet
against him, and even Newcastle refused to foUow his lead. Pitt
haughtily declared that he was accountable to the people who had
called him to ofiice, and resigned, announcing that he could not
remain responsible for measures which he was not allowed to guide.
As soon as he was got rid of, Newcastle was attacked in his turn,
and driven away from ofiice in 1762. Then Lord Bute became the
king's chief minister. His ministry was the first of the series of
weak coaKtions by which George in., in the early years of his
reign, sought to destroy the Whig power and make himself the real
head of the ministry.
4. Bute tried to make Pitt impopular by giving him a pension
and making his wife countess of Chatham. Though eager for
peace, he was soon forced to justify Pitt's policy by
The Bute going to war against Spain. The Spaniards failed
1761-1763, signally to stem the tide of English successes, and
and the gQon saw Manila and Havana pass into English hands.
Paris 1763. -^ '^^^ time, however, Bute, like Bolingbroke in 1713,
was pressing hard for peace, and sacrificing the allies
of England in his anxiety to score a party triumph. In February,
1763, he concluded with France the peace of Paris, which gave
England a great deal, but not nearly so much as she had a right
to expect. By the treaty France ceded Canada and Cape Breton
- 1 763. J GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 573
island to Eng-land, but was allowed to keep a share of the New-
foundland fisheries. The Mississippi was fixed as the boundary of
British North America and Louisiana, an arrangement which so
spoilt the French g-ame that before long Louisiana was sold to
Spain. France surrendered Minorca, but Pondicherri and other
French possessions in India were restored by England, along with
most of her other conquests, though she kept a few more West
India islands and African settlements. Florida was ceded by
Spain, but England returned her Havana and Manila.
5. Frederick of Prussia was much disgusted at George's
abandoning him, and remained very hostile to England for the rest
of his life. But he had gained more by a change of _ ...
sovereign in Bussia than he lost by the change of and foreigr'n
sovereign in England. His enemy, Elizabeth of Bussia, politics,
died, and power went to a tsar, Peter iii., who had an
enthusiastic admiration for Frederick. He withdrew from the
war, and thus enabled Frederick to conclude peace upon terms that
left him Silesia. For the next few years George iii. kept aloof
from foreign politics in the hope of concentrating his efforts on
restoring his power at home. During this period the chief feature
of European history was the growth of the northern and eastern
powers, such as Bussia under Catharine 11., Prussia under Frederick,
and Austria under Maria Theresa. The old jealousy of England
against France and Spain became soon only a secondary considera-
tion in European i)olitics, for France was becoming too weak to
do England much harm. But most foreign states looked with
jealousy on English trade, and envied England her wonderful
successes during the Seven Years' War. Before long George iii.'s
mismanagement gave them a fine opportunity of revenge.
6. Bute did not long continue in power after the peace. With
the help of Pitt's sometime rival, Henry Fox. he used all the iUicit
power belonging to the ministry to ruin the friends of ^^g resig-
the Whigs, and George denied office to any but Tories, nation of
"king's friends," or Wlxigs who had qiiarrelled with 2"^®» *'83'
Newca.stle and the great Whig connection. But all this was done
so clumsily that what was an attack upon a greedy faction seemed
also to be an attack upon popular liberty, and George and Bute
made themselves more unpopular than ever the Whigs had been.
Bute soon shrank from the rougli work which Q«org« had given
him to do, and resigned office in 1763.
7. George was annoyed at Bute's deserting him, especially as
it involved his calling upon at least some of the Whi^ to supply
574 GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [1763-
his place. However, a very slight shuffling of the cards was all
that was necessary. Since the fall of Newcastle the "Whig party
had fallen into various separate groups. The chief of these,
including the partisans of Newcastle— the great Whig connection,
as it was called — was George's special object of dislike. Besides this,
there was the personal following of Pitt, and various subordinate
The Gren- l>odies. George now made prime minister the leader
ville minis- of one of these groups, George Grenville, a clever
^''y« 1763- lawyer and good parliamentary leader, but a man of
Httle sympathy and insight, and as nai*row and pedantic
as the king, Grenville was Pitt's brother-in-law, but had quarrelled
with him. He soon strengthened himself by a ooaUtion with
another separate Whig faction, called the Bloomsbury Gang, a
name derived from the London house of its leader, the duke of
Bedford. Grenville's power seemed to be fii-mly established. But
within three years his want of tact and judgment had infuriated the
people, alienated the king, and prepared the way for the revolt of
the American colonies.
8. Ever since his accession George iii. and Bute had been
bitterly denounced in the press. Among the most scurrilous of
Wilkes and ^^® attacks were those written by John WUkes,
the "North member of parliament for Aylesbury, in a newspaper
Briton." called, in derision of Bute, the North Briton. In
No. 45 of that newspaper Wilkes gave such offence to the court by
his criticisms of the king's speech in parliament that Grenville
resolved to prosecute him. With his arrest, Wilkes, a clever
Londoner of very bad character, becjne the hero of the people.
Excitement ran high when it was found that the government, in
its eagerness to punish Wilkes, had gone further than the law
permitted. The law courts declared that Wilkes's arrest was illegal,
because he had been apprehended on a general warrant — that is,
a document mentioning no persons, but generally authorizing
the imprisonment of the authors, printers, and publishers of
the offending number of the newspaper. Wilkes now sued the
ministers who had arrested him, and was awarded heavy damages
by a sympathetic London jury. He was soon after attacked for
publishing a blasphemous and obscene poem, and running away to
France, was declared an outlaw, and lived abroad for more than
foTir years.
9. Of more importance than the Wilkes episode was the passing
by Grenville, in 1765, of the Stamp Act, which required that legal
documents in America should be liable to a stamp duty. Before
-1766.] GEORGEIII. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 575
the disastrous consequences of this act had began to be felt,
George drove Grenville from office. Though the king agreed
with Grenville in prosecuting Wilkes and taxing _. ctamn
America, there was so much similarity between the Act and the
pedantic, narrow, and hard dispositions of George and ^^^^ °^ Gren-
his minister that they could not long get on well '
together. Grenville treated the king with outrageous rudeness,
and George could not bear to endure him any longer. The difficulty
of the king was, however, in the choice of GrenviUe's successor. He
was not strong enough to rule openly with the help of the " king's
friends," and he had quarrelled with every other group of politicians
in turn. Finally, he was unwiUing'ly compelled to restore to office
the chiefs of the great Whig connection, though, true to his dislike
of a party ministry, he insisted upon imposing upon them several
of his own friends as their colleagues. Newcastle was now old
and feeble, and only held a nominal post in the new government.
The leadership of the party passed to the marquis of Rockingham,
a nobleman of high character but of no strong ability. Rocking-
ham, however, had for his secretary a young Irish man of letters,
named Edmund Burke, who was soon to prove himself the greatest
writer and deepest political thinker of his day. Henceforth Burke
was the brain of the Whig party, though his humble position long
kept him from winning a foremost place in their counsels.
10. Rockingham held office from 1765 to 1766. He repealed
the Stamp Act, and put an end for the time to the Wilkes troubles.
But he was detested by the king and secretly attacked _ Rock-
by the " king's friends." The Whig connection was ingrham
not strong enough to hold its own long against the ministry,
ill-will of the court and the jealousy of rival factions.
Pitt, whose support might have given Rockingham the popular
backing which he lacke<l, obstinately held aloof, being resolved to
have no more dealings with Newcastle and his party, and the Whigs
themselves disliked the " great commoner " so much that they
took no pains to induce him to change his decision. Pitt was now
approached by the court, and his sympathy with some of George's
views, as well as his dislike of the Whigs, made him fall without
much difficidty into the king's plans. Having won over Pitt,
(Jeorge abruptly turned Rockingham out of office, and called upon
Pitt to form a new administration.
11. The second ministry of Pitt was in strong contrast to his
previous one. Ill health made it impossible for him to take the
chief place or endure the fatigue of attendance in the House of
576 GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [1766-
Commons. George accordingly made him earl of Chatham, and
gave him the nominal post of lord privy seal. But his accei^tance
The Chat- ^^ * peerage made him very unpopular. " The joke
ham minis- is," wrote a critic, " that he has had a fall upstairs,
try, 1766- ^nd will never be able to stand on his legs again."
Moreover, in harmony with the dislike of party govern-
ment which he shared with George, Chatham invited men of all
schools to serve with him. Burke truly described his ministry as
" such a piece of mosaic, such a tesselated pavement without
cement, patriots and courtiers, king's friends and republicans,
Whigs and Tories, that it was indeed a curious show, but unsafe
to touch and unsure to stand on."
12. Chatham formed great schemes for carrying out his ideals.
He wished to transfer the government of India from the company
The renewal ^° ^'^ crown. He strove to remedy the evil results
of the of George's disregard to foreign affairs by building
Wilkes lip a northern alliance, iacluding Russia and Prussia,
troubles
against the house of Bourbon. He desired to remedy
the misgovernment of Ireland. But his weak nerves soon forced
him to withdraw altogether from politics without accomplishing
anything, and in his absence the " king's friends " controlled
the ministerial policy. Charles Townshend, chancellor of the
exchequer, imposed fresh taxes on America. When WUkes came
back to England he was thrown into prison by the government,
and thus once more made a martyr. The freeholders of Middlesex
returned him to the House of Commons, but the ministers persuaded
parliament to defy the electors and annul liis election more than
once. These ill-judged measures involved king and ministers in
much unpopularity. In 1768 there were dangerous riots in South-
wark outside the prison in which Wilkes was shut up.
13. The ministry was bitterly attacked in the press, notably
by an anonymous writer named Junius, and by Edmund Burke,
whose famous pamphlet on the Thoughts of the Cause
Bupke ana ^^ ^j^^^ Present Discontents defended the Whig system
of party government against both George and Chat-
ham. Long before discontent reached its climax, Chatham partly
The Grafton recovered his health, and abandoned in disgust
ministry, colleagues who had used his name to set at naught his
1768-1770. most cherished principles. On his retirement the duke
of Grafton kept on the ministry from 1768 to 1770, when he too
resigned.
14. George then appointed Lord North first lord of the treasury.
-1782.] GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 577
North's task seemed an impossible one, but a profound calm soon
followed the storms of the early years of George's reign, and
North had tact and dexterity enough to retain oflBce j^e jjorth
for twelve years. He was the first avowed Tory to be ministry,
chief minister since the days of Queen Anne, but he ''^70-1782.
was stiU more a " king's friend " than a Tory. He permitted
George to have the general direction of the policy of the govern-
ment, so that the king, and not North, was the real jjrime minister.
The king's ambition to choose his own ministers was thus at length
realized. It was to no purpose that Chatham thundered against
the ministers, and declared that the only remedy for the slavish
dependence of the House of Commons on the king and his agents
was parliamentary reform. But he still stood aloof from the
Whigs, and the divisions of the opposition weakened their influence
out-of-doors. George was much more popular than he had been
in the early years of his reign, and many of his people were better
pleased to be ruled by the king than by the Whigs. One good
resulted from the exclusion of the Whigs from power. They
became more liberal and less corrupt than in the days of their long
monopoly of office. Inspired by Burke and led by Charles James
Fox, son of Chatham's old rival, Henry Fox, they began to purge
themselves of the old leaven of Walpole and Pelham. But they
were still factious, violent, and unpatriotic, and their narrow out-
look increased the hold of the king and North on office. Unluckily
the king misused his power; he showed a blindness and selfish-
ness at least as great as that of the Whigs. From the king's
triumph sprang the troubles which lost England her North
American colonies, and gave her enemies in Europe their best
chance to seek revenge for the victories of England during the
Seven Years' War.
15. The troubles between Britain and her American colonies
flowed directly from the expulsion of France from Canada. The
result of this was that the thirteen colonies no longer Qriirln of
stood in need of English protection, and some of the the Amerl-
leadiug colonists began to look with impatience on the ?*" revo-
control which the mother country exercised over them.
Politically the Americans had no deep grievances ; they ruled
themselves as freely as do the Canadians or the Australians of
the present day. Tliey had, however, real cause for dissatisfaction
at the commercial policy of the mother country. By the Navigation
Act all the foreign trade of the colonies and Europe was to be
exclusively conducted in English ships, and Britain did what it
2 p
578 GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [i 765-
coTild to prevent the growth of manufactures in America lest their
competition should do harm to English traders. Things grew
worse after George iii.'s accession, for the new king abandoned
the easy poUcy of the Whigs, who had left the colonies to them-
selves, and, guided by George Grenville, insisted upon the strict
execution of the commercial laws which gave Britain a monopoly
of American trade. Resistance to this policy first excited general
discontent among the Americans. Things became worse when, in
1765, Grenville passed hi« Stamp Act. This was a measure which
required that aU legal documents and formal acts in America
should be written on stamped paper, the proceeds of the duty going
to the imperial exchequer, and the tax being imposed by authority
of the English parliament. Grenville had no thought of lessen-
ing the liberties of America when he brought in the measure. He
wished to keep up a permanent army in America, and thought that
the Americans ought to bear a part of its cost. As each colony
had a separate government of its own, there was no way of passing
a law binding upon the whole thirteen, save by bringing it through
the parliament at Westminster. This had often been done pre-
viously without the colonies raising any objection. But circum-
stances had now changed, and the weak point in Grenville's policy
was that he thought of nothing but the legal aspect of the ques-
tion. Common sense wotild have shown him that it was unwise to
rouse the suspicion of America at a moment when it was already
irritated about other matters.
16. The Americans took up a high ground. They declared that
taxation and representation went together, and as they had no
share in choosing members for the British parliament,
hend's ^* ^^^ against their privileges as Englishmen to be
customs taxed without their consent. They refused to use the
fh **A^ g"r_ stamped paper, and raised such an outcry that, in 1766,
can resist- the Rockingham ministry repealed the Stamp Act
ance, 1768- altogether. This did not, however, end the trouble.
1770
Rockingham passed at the same time a Declaratory
^ci, maintaining that the British parliament had the right to make
laws binding on the colonies in all cases whatsoever. Pitt alone
among prominent English statesmen objected to the Declaratory
Act. He maintained that England had no right to tax the colonies
without their consent ; but by right he meant moral right, which
was true, and not legal right, which was false. Worse was soon to
follow. WhUe Pitt, now Lord Chatham, was incapacitated by iUness,
Charles Tovmshend, the chancellor of the exchequer of his own
-I770.] GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 579
The
THIRTEEN COLONIES
in 1765
English Milea
o jo 100 ay> 300 40
Florida.-Spanlsh up to 1763andafter17l!3. ,.,^.>^
English 1763-1783 ^r%i^.K.Jk^
Louiaiana:-Spanl3h after 1763, ^•■■•i'-
pteulously French ^^ "
Immr^Amm
5 80 GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [i 770-
ministry, was foolish enough to irritate the Americans afresh by
imposing new duties on glass, colours, paper, and tea imported into
America. The result was a fresh agitation among the colonies,
and a general determination on the part of the Americans not to
pay the new taxes. In 1770 there were riots in Boston, and some
British soldiers fired upon the mob and shot several of the rioters.
The colonists denounced this as a bloody massacre, and became
very bitter against the mother country.
17. Lord North strove to continue Townshend's policy. Not
seeing that the real objection to the duties was on the score of
L d N th principle, he thought it would make things easier
and the if he lessened the amount of them, while retaining a
tea duty, small tax so as to insist upon the right of England to
levy revenue in America. In 1773 he repealed aU
Townshend's duties except that on tea. This made the Americans
more angry than ever. What they objected to was not the
amount of the imposts, which was insignificant, but the principle
involved in taxation without representation. Accordingly, when a
fleet of tea-ships sailed into Boston harbour, laden with taxed tea,
a mob, dressed up as Red Indians, boarded the vessels, and threw
their cargo into the water. The government regarded this as
rebellion, and as the magistrates of Boston declared that they could
not discover the offenders, it was resolved to punish the whole city
for the disorderly acts of the rioters. A British act of parliament
closed the port of Boston to all commerce, and soon afterwards
another act deprived the great colony of Massachusetts of its
representative institutions, and put its government in the hands of
crown officials sent out from England.
18. This last act brought things to a crisis. Delegates from
twelve of the thirteen colonies met at Philadelphia in order to
organize a common resistance to the British govern-
^^^'"I'f ^ ment. It was now clear that America meant to resist
by armed force if the attempts to control its indepen-
dence were insisted upon. Chatham and Burke urged upon parlia-
ment the vital importance of conciliating America, but a deaf ear
was turned to their pleadings. At last, in February, 1775, North
himseK made concessions to American opinion. He carried a bill
by which such coloni* as made a grant towards the expenses of
the Empire should be freed from aU imperial taxation. But this
concession was too small and came too late. Within two months of
his partial change of front, open war had broken out between the
colonists and the mother country.
-1 776-] GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 58 1
19. A considerable force of British troops had already been
despatched to America and was concentrated at Boston. The Mas-
sachusetts assembly, which refused to disperse when
parliament decreed its dissolution, called out the local ^f t^e
militia, and began to collect military stores in order to American
resist King George's soldiers. One of the chief of the ^*''*
colonists' magazines was at Concord, and a detachment of British
troops was sent from Boston to destroy it. Having accomplished
their mission, the soldiers were making their way back to Boston,
when, on April 19, 1775, they were attacked at Lexington by a body
of colonial militia, and forced to retreat with some loss
before their as.sailants. This was the beginning of ^nd Bun-
the war of American independence. The victorious kep's Hill,
• 1775
colonists were soon strong enough to blockade Boston.
They took up a commanding position on bunkers Hill, a small
height overlooking the town. On June 17, General Gage, the
British commander, made an attack upon their entrenchments.
After three unsuccessful attempts Gage managed to capture
the position. But the Americans fought so well that the battle of
Bunker's Hill gave more encouragement to the colonists than to
King George's troops.
20. The congress at Philadelphia now assumed the position of
the supreme authority in America, and levied an army. It
appointed as its commander-in-chief, George Washing- _. necla-
ton, a Virginian planter, who had taken a leading part ration of
in the war against the French, and already held a L"**®'^^,.,-
considerable military reputation. Washington was a
wise and prudent soldier, cheerful, resourceful, and moderate. He
reached Massachusetts after the battle of Bunker's Hill, and
soon inspired the disorderly colonial levies with some of his spirit
and energy. He at once renewed the blockade of Boston, and
pressed Gage so hard that, in March, 1776, the British army fled by
sea to Halifax, leaving the great port of Massachusetts in Wash-
ington's hands. On July 4, 1776, the congress, now representative
of all the thirteen colonies, took the decisive step of renouncing all
allegiance to King George. It issued on that day the famous
Declaration of Independence, which claimed that the thirteen
colonies were free and independent states, free from all political
connection with Great Britain. The new federal republic took the
name of the United States of America.
21. The War of American Independence was of more political
than military importance. The armies on both sides were small,
582 GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [1776-
half -hearted, and badly led, and the profound differences felt hoth in
England and in America as to the justice and wisdom of the war,
_. . had a paralyzing effect upon those entrusted with its
Istics of the conduct. George in. sliowed plenty of spirit, and did
American jj^jg ij^st to secure victory, but he was hampered by
the Whigs, who rejoiced at the successes of the
Americans, and he could not pick out the right men as generals,
as Chatham would have done. Washington also had grave diffi-
culties to encounter. There was a large minority, especially in the
south, which had no wish to break off the English connection, and
his soldiers were ill-trained and badly disciplined. But every
advantage was on the side of the colonists, for the English never
understood how hard a task lay before them in conquering so vast
a country. At first, however, the trained British troops proved
superior in battle to their enemies. Sir William Howe won, in
August, 1776, the tattle of Sroohlyn, the first fight in the open
field, and drove Washington from New York, which then became
the English headquarters for the rest of the war. But Howe,
unlike his dead brotlier, Pitt's favourite, was a poor general. He
was not active enough to push home his successes, and wasted the
cold season in winter quarters at New Yoi'k. In the summer of
1777 he again took the field, drove the congress from Philadelphia,
and took possession of that city. Meanwhile General Burgoyne,
more conspicuous as a man of fasliion and a playwright than a
general, led an expedition from Canada southwards in the hope of
joining Howe. His army was too feeble for the task it undertook,
and in October, 1777, Burgoyne was surrounded and forced to
sun-ender with all his troops to the American general,
lation of Gates, at Saratoga, on the Hudson. This great failure
Saratoga, more than counterbalanced Howe's victories, especially
since Howe once more wasted the winter in idleness at
Philadelphia. Though Washington's army was reduced by disease,
desertion, and bad weather to a few thousand dispirited men, Howe
made no attempt to attack them, and so lost the last chance of
success.
22. The capitulation of Burgoyne made a greater impression in
Europe than even in America. Foreign nations that had long
_, g envied England the position she had won during the
pean attack Seven Years' War thought that she was now involved
on Britain, jj^ ^ losing struggle, and eagerly took the oppoi-tunity
of revenge. Before long Britain had to face not only
her revolted colonies, but a coalition of half Europe against her.
-1778] GEORGEIII. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 583
France, now ruled by her younj? king Louis xvi., led the way to
the attack, and early in 1778 declared war against England.
Next year Charles in. of Spain, true to the Family Compact, fol-
lowed the French example. In 1780 our old ally Holland also
declared war. Besides the active hostility of three sti-ong powers,
Britain had to face the passive hostility of several others. In
the same year, 1780, the northern powers, headed by Catharine 11.
of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia, formed what was
called the Armed Neutrality, whose object was to prevent British
warships searching the merchant vessels of neutral powers for
enemies' goods.
23. When the struggle with Europe became imminent, many
Englishmen's thoughts turned to Chatham. Once before he had
saved England, and he stUl seemed the only man who rhntham
could deal with the situation. Chatham was still a and Amerl-
oonspicuous friend of the Americans. He had resisted can Inde-
American taxation with all his might, and he urged
that Britain should abandon the attempt to coerce America, and
throw all her energies into the struggle against her foreign foes.
He hated, however, the notion that the Empire which he had done
80 much to establish should be rent in twain, and stiU hoped for
reunion through the voluntary action of America. The result of
this policy was that he could not work with the king, who was
eager to crush American resistance, or with the Whigs, who had
declared in favour of recognizing American independence. At
last George was induced to offer liim a post in the ministry, but
he declined to take office unless an entirely new government was
formed under his leadership. George refused to do this, and in
truth it was too late for Chatham to be of any help. His health
had broken down hopelessly, and he was nearing his end. Anxious
to dissociate himself from the unpatriotic Whigs, he Death of
went down to the House of Lords to protest against Chatham,
"the dismemberment of tliis ancient and most noble '''*•
monarchy." He fell back in a fit when he had finished his si)eech,
and died, a few weeks later, in May, 1778. With him expired the
last faint hope of regaining America.
24. In the earlier days of the European war England lost the
command of the sea. It was impossible to prevent a swarm of
French volunteers flocking over to help the Americans, and difficult
to defend our scattered colonies and possessions. Yet George stuck
bravely to lus task, and the American war was now prosecuted
with a vigour that had not been shown in the eai'lier stagres. A
584 GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [1780-
competent British general was at last found in Lord Cornwallis,
who conquered Georgia and the Carolinas, where the loyal element
was strong. In 1781 CornwaUis sought to add Vir-
and the 8'iiiia, the home of many of the American leaders, to
end of the his conquests. But he had not enough soldiers for so
wa'p''l°^"l g^eat an undertaking, and, after some preliminary suc-
cesses, was compelled to make his way to Yorktovcn, a
seaport, where he hoped to be joined by the English fleet. Unluckily,
the navy was not there, having been driven into port to refit after
a disastrous action with the French commander, Admiral de Grasse,
who soon made common cause with Washington in his attack on
the British. Masters over both land and sea, the enemy sun'ounded
Cornwallis on every side, and on October 17, 1781, forced him to
surrender with aU his men. This second capitulation of a British
army practically put an end to the war. The Americans re-
conquered the southern states, and ere long only New York upheld
the British flag. The independence of the United States was thus
assured, and a great migration of persecuted loyalists to Canada
completed and made permanent the fall of British influence.
25. Great efforts were now made to restore the English supre-
macy at sea. In the beginning of the struggle our position was
so insecure that a bold American privateer, named
Rodney Paul Jones, plundered the British coasts ; our com-
P6SL0P6S
British merce suffered severely in every part of the world ;
naval Minorca and Gibraltar were closely besieged ; and
1782^™^''^* many colonies, including most of the British West
India islands, passed into the enemies' hands. After
the fall of Yorktown, Grasse transferred himself from the American
coast to the West Indies, and planned the conquest of Jamaica.
But in April, 1782, Admiral Rodney won a decisive victory over
Grasse near Dominica, in which he managed to effect the operation
of breaking the French Hne. This saved Jamaica and restored the
naval preponderance of England. Though Minorca fell, Gibraltar
was relieved before the end of the year by Admiral Howe, brother
of the two generals.
26. The French took advantage of the weakness of England to
form plans for recovering their influence in India. Haidar All,
sultan of Mysore, became their ally, devastated the Karnatik to
the walls of Madras, and strove to make himself the chief power
in southern India. At the same time the Maratha confederacy
took arms against the English, and defeated the Bombay army. A
great French admiral, the bailli de Suffren, obtained the mastery
- 1 782.] GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 585
of the Indian Ocean. Luckily the governor-general of India at
the time was Warren Hastings, the greatest man after Clive
among the founders of British India. He rose to the
height of the occasion, and, after a fierce struggle, ^^tlnKs
succeeded in restoring the supremacy of England, restores
In 1781 Haidar Ali was beaten by Sir Eyre Coote, British
the veteran hero of Wandewash, at Porto Novo ; j^ india.
Bombay was saved from the Marathas by troops sent
by Hastings from Bengal ; Suffren's career of victory was stayed ;
and with the restoration of the English command over the ocean,
the worst of the dangers to British India passed away.
27. Troubles at home complicated the difficulties of England
abroad. North's ministry was incompetent to conduct so mighty
a struggle ; the king, though brave, was narrow and
blind ; and the Whig opposition showed great want of ^j^^^ j ygQ
patriotism. A well-meant attempt of North to help
the Boman Catholics led to serious " no popery " riots in London
in 1780, where the mob, led by the fanatical and half -mad Lord
George Gordon, bnmt Catholic chajiels, opened the prisons, plun-
dered the town, and fought against the soldiers with such effect
that the disturbances were only put down after serious loss of life.
28. The worst of Britain's troubles was in Ireland, where a
systematic attempt was made to imitate America and cast ofE
British ascendency. There the danger came, not from ipeland
the Catholic Irish, but from the dominant Protestant imitates
minority. Since the revolution of 1688 the penal A™®"*'*'
code established by the conquerors had deprived the Catholics of
all political rights, and had driven the bravest and best of Irishmen
to seek abroad the career cruelly denied them at home. The ma-ss
of the Irish Catholics were peasants, reduced to misery by a hard
land system, and paying an exorbitant rent for the little patch of
ground which they cultivated. But the Protestants also had their
grievances. The best posts in Church and state were given to
Englishmen ; the administration was entirely conducted in the
interests of England ; Irish manufactures were stopped lest they
should compete with those of Britain ; and the Irish parliament,
though exclusively a Protestant body, was not allowed to make what
laws it Uked, for Poynings' Act, passed under Henry vii., was still
maintained, which enact^l that no law should be even brought
forward in the Irish parliament until it had been approved by the
English privy council. Under George 111. things became worse
than before. The king saw in the g^reat Protestant landholders a
586 GEORGEIII. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [1782-
body not Tinlike the hated Whig connection, and strove to break
down their power with such energy that the leading men in
Ireland were bitterly inflamed against him. Accordingly, when
the American troubles broke out, the Irish Protestant leaders
showed a strong inclination to imitate the colonists in their
resistance to England. Cliief among them was the eloquent Henry
G-rattan, who obtained a wonderful hold over the Irish parliament.
Taking advantage of the fear of invasion, and the fact that the
island had been stripped of regtdar troops, they enrolled volunteers
among the Protestants, and soon had an armed force
The lesfis-
lative inde- ready to carry out their demands. A convention met
pendence of at Dungannon in imitation of the congress at Phila-
1 782" delphia. At last, m 1782, a declaration of legislative
independence was unanimously passed through par-
liament in which Ireland repudiated the control which England
had so long exercised over the Irish parliament. And the attack
on England became the more dangerous when Grattan passed
Catholic relief acts, which began to relax the severities of the
penal code and associate the dumb millions of Irish peasantry with
the policy devised by their masters.
29. With aU these difficulties to meet, there was no wonder that
England lost America, and it was a great proof of her vigour and
The e d tenacity that she kept her continental enemies in
Rocking- check, won back the command of the sea, and main-
ham minis- tained her Indian empire. But the struggle was a
' severe one, and though the king never lost his courage.
Lord North, an easy, good-natured, weak man, had long wearied of
the thankless task of acting as minister, and in March, 1782,
suddenly resigned office. The king was bitterly incensed with
North, and looked upon him as a deserter. His anger became even
more intense when he found that he had no alternative but to give
office to the hated Whigs. Kockingham became first lord of the
treasury and Charles Fox secretary of state. But George was
strong enough to insist on some of the " king's friends" retaining
their posts, while he further tempered the Wliig preponderance by
giving the second secretaryship of state to the earl of Shelburne,
an accomplished and broad-minded man, but distrusted for his bad
temper and habit of intrigue. Shelburne Avas now the leader of the
little band of Chathamites which still kept alive the principles
of Pitt.
30. Rockingham's chief business was to get England out of her
many difficulties. At home he strove to put down the political
-1783.] GEORGEIII. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 58/
corruption which the Whigs had introduced, but which the king
had now cleverly turned against them, by a scheme of what was
called Economical Reform. Burke, who was only put Burke and
in inferior office, was entrusted with bringing in this Economical
plan, but it was made less sweeping than he wished, in "^^o'*™-
order to conciliate the king. The Irish disturbances were appeased by
the surrender of the chief demand of Grattan's party. Poynings' Act
was repealed, and the legislative independence of the Dublin parlia-
ment fully recognized. But the greatest work of the new ministers
was entering upon negotiations for peace both with America and
with our European enemies. However, before these were ended,
a violent quarrel between Fox and Shelbume threatened the
stability of the ministry. Rockingham died soon after, and
George, who was eager to get rid of the Whigs, took the decisive
step of putting Shelbume in his place. In July, Fox _.. eugi.
and the Whigs went out of office, leaving Shelbui-ue burne
at the head of a ministry of "king's friends" and ministry,
. 1782-1783
Chathamites. In this Chatham's second son, William
Pitt, who had just entered parliament, became chancellor of the
exchequer at the age of twenty-three.
31. The first work of Shelbume was the conclusion of ]>eace.
In November, 1782, he made a provisional treaty with the
Americans, by which England recognized the inde- _. *_eo.y
pendence of the United States, and yielded up to them of Ver-
aU her claims on the lands to the west of the AUe- sallies,
1 783
ghanies. There was more delay in settling the terms
of peace with France, Spain, and Holland, mainly because of the
strong desire of Spain to get back Gibraltar. However, early in
1783, an agreement was made by which Spain was forced to be
content with Florida and Minorca. France gained Tobago,
Senegal, and Goree, but restored to England most of her con-
quests. Finally, the formal treaty of Versailles was concluded in
September, 1783.
32. Before the long negotiations had concluded. Shelbume's
ministry had fallen. Shelbume himself was genei-ally disliked,
and held office merely through the king's favour and _. ,,
,, , ., ,. . ,». . ™, The coali-
through the disunion of his enemies. Tliero wei*e two tlon of Fox
chief elements in the opposition : the Tories under *"<* North,
1783
North and the Whigs under Fox. Finding that
singly they were poM-erless, Fox and North agreed, early in 1783. to
form a coalition to drive Shelbume from offioo. Few men were
prepared for so sudden a change of front. Fox had bitterly
588 GEORGEIII. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [1783-
denounced North for many years, and had publicly declared that
the idea of union with him was " too monstrous to be admitted."
But though factious hatred of the ministry had too large a share
in the league between them, both North and Fox stood at the head
of parties and as party leaders were afraid of George's constant
endeavour to choose whomsoever he would as his ministers.
Moreover, North had so long been subject as minister to George's
caprices, that his conversion to the opposition was the more start-
ling because of its unexpectedness. The former agent of the
" king's friends " now declared himself against the whole policy of
his long ministry. " Government by departments," he told Fox,
" was not brought in by me. I found it so, and had not vigour to
end it. The appearance of power is all that a king in this country
can have." The coalition, on its more respectable side, was an
effort to save party government from the disciples of George iii.
and Chatham.
33. At first the union of Fox and North carried everything
before it. In April, 1783, Shelburne was forced to resign, and
The coali- George was compelled to accept a ministry that he
tion minis- bitterly hated. His disgust was the greater since his
try, 1783. eldest son, George, prince of Wales, now just of age,
was a strong partisan of the coalition. The prince was dissipated,
extravagant, and reckless, and was only too glad to have the means
of annoying his father. In the new government the duke of Port-
land was the nominal prime minister, but real power was shared by
the two secretaries of state. Fox and North. George scarcely
treated his new servants with civUity, and set to work to under-
mine their authority by all means at his command. He gained
his first success when he forced them to abandon an extravagant
scheme they brought forward to provide for their ally, the prince of
"Wales. Before the end of 1783, George found a better opening to
attack them in Fox's India Bill. This was a measure devised by
Burke to take away from tlie East India Company all its political
power. Accident had entrusted a company of merchants with the
management of a mighty empire. The disorders which
ox s n la j^^^ attended this system made such a measure highly
desirable, but Fox laid himself open to attack when
he proposed that India should be ruled by seven commissioners
nominated by parliament. The India company denounced his
scheme as an infringement of its chartered rights. The king's
friends were very indignant at his attack on royal prerogative,
and declared that India, if not ruled by the company, should
- 1 789.] GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 5 89
be governed, like Britain, by the crown. " If this bill passes,"
declared Lord Thurlow, the chief of the " king's friends," " the king
will take the diadem from his own head and put it on the head of
Mr. Fox." Nevertheless, Fox's India Bill easily got through
the Commons, and was only stopped in the Lords by an extreme
amount of pressure from the king. The House of Lords had now
lo.st its old Whig majority, through the lavish creation of " king's
friends" as peers, and rejected the measure. George at once
turned the coalition out of office.
34. An extraordinary struggle ensued. Fox had boasted that
no one but a madman could venture to form a ministry. But
George did not flinch from pursuing his advantage, ^...
and called upon young William Pitt to undertake the Pitt's
office of prime minister. Pitt had such difficulties in ministry,
1783-1801
getting politicians of position to act with him that he
could not give a single place of cabinet rank to a member of the
House of Commons. He was beaten over and over again, and
called upon to resign or dissolve parliament. But he haughtily
declared that as long as he held the king's favour he would neither
give up office nor appeal to the constituencies. Gradually popular
opinion began to flow in his favour. His youth, courage, and his
father's name all helped him, and, young as he was, he showed
remarkable dexterity in the conduct of affairs. The king was
altogether on his side, and was now much more popular than in the
early years of his reign. Aristocratic feeling was gradually turn-
ing towards the Tory policy, and, the Tories began to desert North
for George. The narrowness of the Whig oligarchy had made
them hated, and their unpatriotic action during the late war had
brought their reputation to a very low pitch. Even thorough-
going reformers, like Wilkes, preferred Pitt to the coalition.
Gradually Pitt's position became strengthened, and in March, 1784,
he felt liimself able to risk a general election. The new elections
gave him and the king a solid majority, and the constituencies where
the right of voting was most in the hands of the people, were just
those which, as a rule, rejected the nominees of Fox and North.
The king had learnt from the younger Pitt what he would never
learn from Chatham. He had at last discovered that the right
way to win power was not to strive to fight his jieople as well as
the Wliigs, but to put himself at the head of lii.s people against
the greedy faction that had so long claimed the sole right of
governing the country. Thus the victory of George and Pitt
was also the victory of the people. The principles of Chatham
590 GEORGEIII. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [1783-
won an easy triumi)h when allied with the principles of BoUng-
broke. For seventeen years Pitt remained chief minister, and at
last only gave up oifice because he had ceased to agree with the
king.
35. Pitt was five and twenty years of age when he won his
crowning victory. He was tall, thin, stiif in his manner, weak in
health, shy and proud, only showing the kinder and
and policy brighter sides of his nature to a few intimates. He
of the had but little of his father's genius, but he possessed
PRt"*^*'' ^^® ^^"^ ^^^ business capacity which Chatham had
entirely lacked. He was no orator like Chatham, but
he was fluent, ready, and impressive as a debater. Though closely
bound up with the king, he was too able and too hard-working to
become his dependant as Noi-th had done. Though the head of a
Tory administration, his views were broad and liberal. He had
inherited many of his father's views, and advocated parKamentary
reform, the relief of the Catholics, the generous treatment of Ireland,
the growth of our colonies, trade, and manufactures, and the puri-
fication of the administration. His fault was that he was too ready
to content himself with making his views known, without taking
any vigorous steps to carry them into effect. But there were many
difficulties in his way, and he had never qtiite faith enough in his
princijiles to make the effort to surmount them. Thus he brought
forward a Beform Bill, but did not pin his faith to it, dropping
the measure when he found that the majority of his supporters
were unwilling to accept it. In this as in other measures he was
hampered by the obstinacy of the king, the subservience of the
" king's friends," and the dislike of his Tory followers to alter the
laws. But though he made few great changes, he breathed a new
spirit into the administration of the country. He reduced ex-
penditure and increased efficiency. He got rid of scandals and
put an end to bribery such as the Whigs and George had previously
practised. He sought support from the wealthy classes, and was
a lavish creator of new peers, believing that all very rich men
ought to sit in the House of Lords, and managing after this
fashion to encourage the growth of a new Tory aristocracy that
made it difficult for the Whigs to win back their old position. He
made finance his special care, and devised plans, which were not
very successful, for paying off the national debt. He believed in
free trade and in the development of our colonies. He made a
famous commercial treaty with France, which immensely in-
creased the trade between the two countries. He established the
1789.] GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE 59 1
government of Canada on lines that left the French to themselves
and sowed the first seeds of Canadian freedom.
36. Pitt put an end to the worst abuses of the government of
India by his India Act of 1784, which, though not so thorough as
Fox's plan, kept the East India Company in check by pjtt»s indla
setting up a new department of the state called the Bill, 1784,
Board of Control, under a president of cabinet rank, *"** Warren
whose duty was to supervise all the political acts of *^ "*^^*
the company, while leaving it free to carry on its commerce as it
thought proper. The system was a compromise, but it worked
fairly well, and lasted until the abolition of the company in 1858.
Its success was largely due to the high character and ability of the
men selected by king and company to carry out the government of
India, and not least to the remarkable gifts of Warren Hastings,
who now became the first governor-general of India in consequence
of the act. After a few years the factious Whigs brought grave
charges of tyranny, oppression, and extortion against Hastings.
Pitt was horrified at the tales told against Hastings, and gave
great offence to the king by supporting the impeachment which
was now brought against the great governor-general. The accusa-
tions were urged with much eloquence by Fox, Burke, Sheridan,
and other Whig leaders, but the majority of them utterly broke
down. Though Hastings had committed strong and high-handed
acts, he was in no wise guilty of the foul offences which his enemies
laid to liis charge. The famous trial began in 1788, and after
languishing for many years, ended in the much-wronged Hastings'
acquittal. During all the proceedings, George iii. stoutly upheld
Hastings' innocence.
37. Pitt's foreign policy did much to restore for England the
position which she had lost during the American War. His
commercial treaty with France made our relations pjtt's
much more easy with our traditional enemy. He won forelgm
back Prussia, which had been opposed to England since P*'"*'^'
1763, to our alliance, and formed a close league with Prussia,
Holland, and some of the northern powers. He was tlie first
English 8tat«8man to look with jealousy on the rise of Russia,
which, under the great Empress Catharine li., had taken the lead
in the partition of Poland, and had formed designs to destroy the
power of Turkey.
38. In 1788 Pitt's position was threatened by the serious illness
of the king, who lost his reason so completi>ly that he could not
carry on the goverxunent. Fox and the Whigs argued that their
592 GEORGE III. AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE [ 1 789.
ally, the prince of "Wales, had a right to become regent. Pitt
rightly maintained against them that j)arliament had the absolute
_. power of appointing a regent, and proposed to make
regency the prince regent by act of parliament. Luckily the
question, king soon recovered, and his gratitude for Pitt's action
made him jnore closely attached to his minister than
ever. Secure of royal favour, master of both houses of parliament,
popular with the best of his countrymen, opposed only by a factious
and discredited opposition, it looked as if Pitt's power might weU
endure as long as he lived. The country was peaceful, prosperous,
and contented, and rapidly became the chief manufacturing state
in Europe. All calculations as to the future were, however, rudely
disturbed by the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.
CHAPTER IV
GEORGE III. : THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
AND THE IRISH UNION (1789-1802)
Chief Dates :
1789. Outbreak of the French Revolution.
I793' England declares war against France.
1798. Battle of the Nile ; Irish Rebellion.
1799. Napoleon, First Consul.
1800. Union with Ireland.
1801. Resignation of Pitt.
1802. Treaty of Amiens.
1. No event in history has been more gradually prepared for than
the French Revolution. Even in the great days of Louis xi\".,
there had been much that was evil in the condition prance
of France. The government was a despotism, but, before the
though the kings had deprived the clergj- and the Revolution,
nobles of nearly all share in ruling the state, they still remained
privileged orders whose immiinities were very burdensome to the
mass of the commtinity. Nobles and clergy, for example, paid few
direct taxes, and the result of this was that the mass of the national
revenue was raised from those who were least able to contribute it.
Besides this, many of the peasants were still bound, as in the
Middle Ages, to work on their lords' fields, grind their corn at
their lords' mills, and mend the highways at their own cliarges.
Though most of the peasants were free, and in many cases
owners of the land they tilled, many were still forced to pay all
sorts of exactions to the nobles. This was all the more felt as the
nobles, having no political power, did nothing in return for what
they took from tlie people. The social exclusiveness of the nobles
bore exceptionally hardly on the wealthy and intelligent middle
classes who had acquired fortunes by trade. There were the same
inequalities in the Chiirch as in the state. A few bishops and
abbots derived great incomes from their benefices, while most of
the work was done by poverty-stricken parish priests, who suffered
almost as many hardships as the peasants to whom they ministered.
593 2 Q
594 GEORGE III. AND FRENCH REVOLUTION [1789-
2. Under Lotds xiv. the Frencli despotism had at least been an
efficient one. Things were far other\vise during the long reign of
Voltaire Louis y:v. (1715-1774), in which period the French
and monarchy became hopelessly corrupt and discredited.
Rousseau. Louis xv.'s grandson and successor, Louis xvi., though
not a bad man, was not intelligent, hard-working, or strong enough
to set things right. The failures of France during the American
war showed that she was no longer the leading state in Europe.
The decay into which the French state had fallen was the more
remarkable since France and Frenchmen exercised more influence
over the ideas and thought of Europe than they had ever done
before. France had long become the centre for the destructive and
restless spirit of the eighteenth century. All over Europe men
eagerly read the vigorous attacks on the existing order of things
which were written by famous French men of letters. Yoltaire
and his school taught the supremacy of human reason, and
attacked aU authority and everything that could not give some
plain reason for existing. In particular, they were conspicuous for
their hostility to the Christian religion, and their influence was so
widespread in France that the Church had lost almost aU its hold
over men's minds, though it was still strong enough to persecute
Protestants. An even more powerful influence than Voltaire was
Jean Jacques Rousseau, a Genevese settled in France, who preached
with religious fervour a new political gospel of the rights of man,
and of liberty, equality, and fraternity. He maintained that all
government was unlawful that did not depend on the sovereign people.
3. So widespread was the influence of the French philosophers
that intelligent sovereigns in other lands, such as the Emperor
Joseph II. and Catharine 11. of Russia, reformed their
^f t^^^*^'"^ states after French models. It was only in France
States that there was an attempt to put in practice the
*'®oq''*'* teachings of the French reformers. All change was
kept off so long that when the movement for reform
finally made itself felt, it swept everything before it. At last the
government of Louis xvi. fell into such distress that it could
only avoid bankruptcy by compelling the privileged orders to bear
their share in the national burdens. Too timid to do this himself,
Louis XVI. was compelled to summon the States-General of France,
the body wliich had the same origin and early history as our parlia-
ment, but which had never met since 1614. When the three
estates of France assembled on May 5, 1789, the French Revolution
began.
-1792.] GEORGE III. AND FRENCH REVOLUTION 595
4. The States- General declared themselves a National Assembly,
and set to work at once to sweep away all the old institutions of
France and build up a new constitution. The leaders
of the movement were men of liberal views and much constitution
honest zeal for reform, but they had no practical and its
knowledge how to grovem a state, and looked for i7g9''f792.
guidance, not to the lessons of history or erperience,
but to the fine-sounding" doctrines of Kousseau. They set up a
new constitution which estabh'shed a limited monarchy, and gave
all Frenchmen equal rights. They established religious and civil
freedom, and separated the Church from Rome, making it a
department of the state. But the new system worked badly from
the beginning. As Louis xvr. was always intriguing against it,
it was natural that the reformers should cut down his power almost
to nothing. The result of this, however, was to make the govern-
ment too weak to maintain order, and rule soon passed to the
Paris mob. Quite early in the movement the people of Paris
had shown their power by storming and destroying the Bastille,
the prison in which political ofPenders were confined. Later on
the mob perpetrated all sorts of atrocities, and forced the king and
assembly, which had hitherto sat at Versailles, to go to Paris,
where they were no longer free agents. By 1793 the ■phe Reign
new constitution had broken down, and was superseded of Terror,
by a revolutionary government controlled by the »'93"*'9o«
extreme faction, called the Jacobins. The king and queen were
now tried and beheaded, and a republic established. Priests and
aristocrats were hunted down and put to death. The Christian
faith was proscribed in favour of the worship of the Supreme Being,
and afterwards of the Goddess of Reason. Conspiracies against
the Revolution were crushed with merciless severity. This was
the period of the Reign of Terror.
5. Even before Jacobin ascendency and the Reign of Terror
had begun, the French Revolution had brought about a general
war in Europe. The partisans of the old order in g„_„_- _♦
France had emigrated in large numlwrs. and besought war with
the chief continental sovereigns to tight again.st the the Revolu-
Revolution, because it threatened the whole exifrting *
order of society. Church, and state. The emperor and the king of
Prussia, to whom they chiefly appealed, were slow to move, and had
no wish for war. They enraged the French, however, by issuing
a declaration that they would use force to restore Louis xvi. to
power, provided that they oould obtain the help of the chief states
Sg6 GEORGE III. AND FRENCH REVOLUTION [1792-
of Europe. The revolutionary leaders in France availed them-
selves of the indiscretions of the jjowers to stir up a warlike f eeUng-.
They had the faith of zealots in the revolutionary principles, and
believed that, if they took up arms against the despots of Europe,
they would be welcomed by the peoples whose kings they fought
against, and would be able to establish their doctrines every-
where. Early in 1792 France declared war against Austria and
Prussia. Thereupon the allies invaded France, but their progress
was soon checked by the cannonade of Valmy. It was now that
the Jacobins became supreme, ' made France a republic, and put
the king to death. The war soon became a war of opinion and ideas.
With all their cruelty and fanaticism, the Jacobins were terribly
efficient. They not only saved the Revolution in France, but over-
whelmed the Austrian Netherlands, Savoy, and Germany as far
as the Rhine. Everywhere the soldiers of the Revolution were
welcomed as liberators, and a few short campaigns extended the
limits of France to the Rhine and the Alps.
6. At first England showed great sympathy with the French
Revolution. Englishmen believed that the French were going to
_ . . set up a constitutional system like that of Eng-
and the land, and hoped that the similarity of government
French between the two countries would stiU further increase
the good feeling between them which had begim
with Pitt's commercial treaty. Pitt himself was friendly to
the new movement, and many of his Whig enemies regarded it
with unbounded and enthusiastic admiration. Fox, when he heard
of the capture of the Bastille, wrote, " How much the greatest
event it is that has happened in the world, and how much the
best ! " Clubs were formed in the large towns to spread revo-
lutionary principles. A new agitation arose for pai'liamentary
reform, and a few extreme men wished to remodel the English
government after the fashion of the French. Soon the violence
which marked every stage of the French movement began to
frighten the more timid. Thoughtful observers perceived that
the spirit in which the French worked was better calculated to
upset states than to reform them. At last Edmund Burke, the
greatest of the Whigs, gave the tone to English public opinion by
his famous pamphlet, called Reflections on the French Revolution),
which was published in November, 1790. In it he showed the
great differences between the spirit of the French reformers and
the leaders of the English Revolution of 1688. While the latter
had limited themselves to correcting abuses in the old constitution.
1 794-] GEORGE III. AND FRENCH REVOLUTION $97
the French had renounced all their past history, and had suddenly
attempted to alter every institution of the nation. With all his
wisdom and insight, Burke was violent and one-sided. Before long
he broke utterly with Fox, refusing even to be the private friend
of a man who retained sympathy with the French. He declared
that his last dying words would be, " Fly from the French con-
stitution ! " As the excesses of the revolutionary party developed,
the great majority of Englishmen followed Burke. A large section
of the Whig party deserted Fox, and, in 1794, Pitt admitted some
of the Whigs of Burke's school into his government. Henceforth
aristocratic influence was dissociated from the Whig policy which
it had so long supported. The new Tory aristocracy adhered to
George and Pitt in their resistance to revolutionary ideas. The
faithful few who still adhered to Fox were powerless in parlia-
ment and unpopular in the country. Only in some of the great
towns, especially the new factory towns of the north, was there
much sympathy with the Revolution.
7. Pitt was not excitable and emotional like Burke, but he
gradually came quite round to Bui-ke's way of thinking. Both at
home and abroad, fear of the French Revolution pro- -jj^q p^-
foundly modified his policy. A groundless fear that action and
large numbers of Englishmen wished to imitate the
French, drove him into a policy of repression which stood in
striking contrast with his old liberal leanings. He ceased to
support parliamentary reform, declaring that it was not a time to
make hazardous experiments. He suspended the Habeas Coi-ptia
Act ; he put down even lawful agitation with a strong hand ; he
passed an Alien Act, giving the government power to watch or
remove suspected foreigners. He put in prison many of the leaders
of the political clubs which wished to imitate the French, and
strove in vain to get them convicted of treason. Finally, he passed
a law which made uttering words against the king's authority to
be treason, and exciting hatred against the government and con-
stitution a misdemeanour.
8. Despite his fear of the Revolution, Pitt long strove to
maintain peace. When France went to war with
Austria and Prussia, Burke preached that England fjjnj^^o
also should wage a sort of crusade against the French, war asralnst
as enemies of God and man. Pitt had no wish to draw J*^® Revo-
the sword for an idea, but resented the French inter- 1793-1797.
ference in English affairs, and finally declared himself
willing to fight the French if they invaded the United Province^
59^ GEORGE III. AND FRENCH REVOLUTION [1793-
which were closely allied to England. Early in 1793 the Trench
solved aU difficulties for him by declaring war against the English
and Dutch alike. Even now Pitt did not rightly estimate the gravity
of the situation. " It will be a short war," he said, " and certainly
ended in one or two campaigns." " It wiU be a long and dangerous
war," was Burke's truer prophecy. In carrying out the struggle,
Pitt showed no very great capacity. He joined in the great coali-
tion which was formed against the French, and spent in subsidis-
ing our allies vast sums which would have been better employed
in training British soldiers. He did not know where to strike,
and the generals who carried out his poKcy were often dxill and
incapable. The result was that the addition of England to the
enemies of France made no difference to the general fortune of
the war. Nothing could stop the enthusiasm of the Jacobin
armies. They defeated George iii.'s second son, Frederick, duke of
Tork, a foolish man, and an incompetent general. They conquered
aU Holland, expelled George's cousin, the Stadtholder, and set up
a revolutionary republic in that country. It was to no purpose
that Pitt sent expeditions to help revolts that had arisen in France
against the Jacobin government. One of these, sent to Toulon in
1793, was dislodged from that city by tlie skill of a young Corsican
officer of artillery, named Napoleon Buonaparte, who first showed
his conspicuous genius in the conduct of that siege. A larger
force, despatched to Quiberon, in Brittany, in 1795, was equally
unsuccessful. In 1795 Jacobin supremacy was overthrown in
France, and a more moderate government, called the Directory,
was set up. Even before this, Prussia, Spain, and other allies of
England were frightened into peace with the victorious republic,
and Holland and Spain actually joined the war against England.
Affairs now became more critical than ever. In 1796 Buonaparte
received his first independent command as general of the army of
It%ly. In a campaign of tmexampled brilliancy and success, he
drove the Austrians out of the peninsula, forced them to make a
treaty leaving Italy to the French, and arranged for a conference
to settle the affairs of Germany. England was thus^left single-
handed to carry on the struggle against France and her allies.
9. Every military enterprise directed by Pitt had failed, and
England had only her gold and her ships to rely upon. Now, how-
The suspen- 6ver, the vast sums lavished by Pitt on untrustworthy
sion of cash allies threw the country intQ financial difficulties. So
payments. much gold had been drained from England that many
merchants, though perfectly solvent, could not meet their debts
-1798.] GEORGE III. AND FRENCH REVOLUTION 599
because there was not enough gold and silver in the country to pay
them. T^his monetary crisis, as it was called, was only set right by
the Bank of England being authorized by parliament to suspend
cash payments. For more than twenty years bank-notes were circu-
lated, though the bank would not exchange them for gold. It
shows how little the real credit of the country was touched that
the value of bank-notes as compared with gold declined very
slightly.
10. In the early years of the war England had been very
successful at sea ; but when the French had got the help of the
Spanish and Dutch fleets, they formed schemes for the jyxe revel u-
invasion of England and Ireland. In 1796 some tionary war
French managed to land near Fishguard in South **• ^®**
Wales. Though they surrendered the next day to the local militia,
they proved how easy an invasion was. Next year the enemy
planned to unite the French and Spanisli fleets in the channel,
with the view to overthrow our naval supremacy, and thus prepare
the way for an invasion on a large scale. To prevent this, Admiral
Jervis attacked the Spaniards off Cape St. Vincent on February
14, 1797. The English fleet was inferior in size, and the battle
was long doubtfiU. It was at last won by the action of Commodore
Nelson, who, on liis own responsibility, attacked the Spaniards at
close quarters and won a decisive victory. Yet witliin a few months
the righteous discontent of the sailors led to formidable mutinies of
the British ships at Spithead and the Nore. The bad management
which had crippled our armies had extended to the n&vj. Many of
the captains were abominable tyrants; the food was unwholesome
and bad, the discipline cruel, and the sailors' pay had never been
altered since the days of Charles 11. After a time, however, both
fleets went back to their duty, and, under the popular Admiral
Duncan, beat the Dutch off Camperdown.
11. The French navy was still unconquered, and fresh schemes
of invasion were formed after the peace between France and Austria.
One French army was to land in Ireland, wliich was on Buonaparte
the verge of rebellion, wliile the victorious army of In Egypt,
Buonaparte was encayii)ed along tlie channel in the ''^°'
hope of invading England. This latter sclieme was probably little
more than a blind to cover an attack on Egypt, wliicli Nai>oleon
had long b«en meditating. In 1798 the Egyjitiau exp«<dition took
])lace. On his way Buonaparte took Malta from tlie Knights of St.
John. He then easily conquered Egy])t. wliioh ho saw to be the
key to the East, and the highway to India, where Tipu Soltau, of
600 GEORGE III. AND FRENCH REVOLUTION [1798-
Mysore, the old enemy of the English, had made an alliance with
the French republicans against British ascendency.
12. Buonaparte's head was filled with all sorts of wild schemes.
He dreamed of conquering Turkey, of destroying the English
The battle power in India, and finally of taking Europe in the
of the Nile, rear. Sir Horatio Nelson, the real conqueror at the
battle of St. Vincent, now sought to destroy the fleet
which had taken Buonaparte to the East. On August 1, 1798, he
found the Trench anchored in Abouhir Bay, close in shore, and pro-
tected by strong batteries. With great daring he managed to
place part of his fleet between the French and the coast. While
these vessels attacked the French from within, the remainder of the
Eng-lish fleet assailed them from seaward. The battle, which
began at sunset, raged the whole night, and ended in the complete
destruction of the French fleet. The battle of the Nile, as it was
called, established British supremacy over the Mediterranean, and
put an end to Buonaparte's visions of Eastern conquest.
13. The same period saw the destruction of the French designs
for restoring their influence in India. In 1799 the Marquis
Wellesley, governor-general of India, sent a force
® I?99^ which besieged and stormed Seringapatam, and Tipii
died during the struggle. In the same year Buona-
parte left his troops in Egypt to shift for themselves, and escaped
to France in a fast cruiser. Troops from India and England now
poured into Egypt, and Buonaparte's deserted soldiers were
defeated in the battle of Aboukir. Soon after Egypt was
evacuated and restored to the Turks.
14. In 1799, while Buonparte was absent in Egypt, the general
war had been renewed in Europe. A conference which met to
The war of ^^^^^ German affairs could not agree, whereupon Pitt
the Second formed the league called the Second Coalition, of which
Coalition, Austria, Russia, and England were the chief members.
1799~1801
In one year's fighting France lost nearly all the
conquests which she had gained during the revolutionary wars, and
was threatened with invasion. At that moment Buonaparte came
back on the scene. In 1799 he put an end to the Directory by force
of arms, and drew up a new constitution, by which he was made
First Consul with almost \mlimited powers, and the sovereignty of
the people reduced to a sham. The Revolution thus culminated
in a military despotism, and the greatest of the soldiers of the
Revolution, like another Cassar or Cromwell, became master of the
state. The French were now so tired of change that they welcomed
-i8o2.] GEORGE III. AND FRENCH REVOLUTION 6oi
the Corsican's accession to power, and Buonaparte's magnificent
energy and ability won for him a remarkable series of successes.
He persuaded the Tsar Paul of Russia to abandon tlie
coalition. He crossed the Alps, and crushed the Marengo
Austrians at the hatile of Marengo, June 14, 1800, a 1 800, and
victory which restored French supremacy in Italy, the treaty
Despairing of further resistance, Austria made the yllle, 1801.
treaty of Luneville with France, by which it recognized
all French conquests, including the Netherlands and the left bank
of the Bihine.
15. England was then again forced to fight single-handed
against France. Her danger became more extreme since Paul i.,
the half -mad tsar, manifested a great friendship for
Buonaparte, and in 1801 stirred up against England Jgutp^^fy
an Armed Neutrality of the northern powers, con- and the
spicuous among which were Sweden, Denmai'k, and battle of
Russia. As in the days of the previous Armed hagen.
Neutrality of 1780, the northern powers did not
directly declare war against England, but announced their refusal
to be bound by the claims of England to search neutral vessels with
the object of finding French goods. To meet this new foe a fleet
was sent to the Baltic, though pedantic regard to seniority gave
the cliief command to a commonplace admiral named Parker, under
whom Nelson was to act as second. The English attacked the
Danish fleet and batteries in the battle of Copenhagen. Parker
grew alarmed when the Danes resisted obstinately, and ordered
Nelson to retire. Nelson disregarded his superior's commands,
and went on fighting until he had won the day. Copenhagen was
now oi)en to the English attacU, and the Danes were forced to
make an armistice. About the same time the Tsar Paul was
murdered, and his successor, Alexander i., dropped the principle
that the flag covers the cargo. Thus the Armed Neutrality came
to an end, and with it Buonaparte's last hope of overthrowing the
naval supremacy of England.
16. There was now little left for England and France to fight
about. Buonaparte was supreme on land, and could do -. . . j,
what he liked with the European powers. England, ton mlnls-
however, was supreme at sea, and Nelson had frustrated ^''V- ' 801 ,
all the French attacks on our ships, colonies, and treaty of
commerce. Both countries were exhausted by the long Amiens,
struggle, and Buonapart« himself wislied for a short ^^^^'
period of repose during which he ootUd build up his despotic power.
602 GEORGE III. AND IRISH UNION [1782-
Negotiations were accordingly begun, and their progress was made
easier by the resignation of Pitt, who had offended George iii., and
gave np office in the spring of 1801. Nearly all the able ministers
went out with their chief, and Addington, Speaker of the House
of Commons, a dull and incapable man, made up what sort of
government he could with the rank and file of the Tory party.
Addington, in his anxiety to end the war, did not trouble himself
about the balance of power in Em-ope. In March, 1802, he con-
cluded peace with the French in the treaty of Amiens. By it
England abandoned most of the conquests she had made from
France and her allies beyond sea, though Spain gave up Trinidad,
and Holland, now called the Batavian republic, surrendered Ceylon.
Malta, wliich after Nelson's victory had been taken from the French,
was to be restored to its former owners, the Knights of St. John.
17. The wars against the French Revolution were thus, like
the Revolution itself, at an end, though not before the old state
The il t °^ society had been shattered and the old political
that balance of Europe completely overthrown by the First
weathered Consul of France. England had struggled bravely
and constantly, though with little intelligence. Under
Pitt she had weathered the storm of revolutionai'y action, but had
paid a heavy price by losing much of her liberty and suffering
much distress from high prices and heavy war taxes. If she had
escaped tevolution at home, the chief reason was not to be found in
Pitt's repressive policy, but in the fact that the people of England
were after all much better off than the people in France, and were
therefore much less tempted to advocate violent changes than the
French had been.
18. During the whole war against the French Revolution,
Britain's position had been further imperilled by the discontent
and distress of Ireland. Since 1782 Ireland had
Ireland possessed a parliament independent of imperial
Grattan's control. But the Irish parliament, though more
Parliament, powerful since Grrattan's reforms, remained an
1782-1800
exclusively Protestant parliament, and represented
only the Protestant minority. However, it did much better than
before 1782, and in particular it repealed many of the worst laws
wliich had oppressed Roman Catholics since the Revolution of
1688. Yet even the Protestants were not aU satisfied with what
had been done. Some of them, including Grattan, wished to see
the Catholic gentry sitting in parliament, and in this Pitt agreed
with the Irish leader. Others, however, refused to give any
-1 794-] GEORGE III. AND IRISH UNION 603
political power to the Catholics, seeing" that if it were once
conceded Ireland would soon fall under their control. The
Catholic question soon broke up the unity of the Irish Protestants.
The eloquence of its orators gave distinction to the IhibUn
})arliament, but its members were factious and quaiTelsome. No
attempt was made to deal with the real root of Irish trouble, the
miserable poverty of the mass of the peasantry. Moreover, the
government of Ireland was still controlled by the English ministry,
and the system of bribery and jobbery was still continued in order
to keep a majority of the Dublin parliament supporters of the
king's representatives.
19. The outbreak of the French Revolution soon complicated
the Irish situation. Among the Presbyterians of Ulster and the
freethinkers of the great towns revolutionaiy ideas
won many supporters, and in 1791 Theobald Wolfe JJifh^eif*^
Tone, a Protestant lawyer, set up a society called the and the
United Irishmen. Its profes.sed object was to join p''®"?'l,
together Irishmen of aU creeds and classes to agitate
for parliamentary reform and complete Catholic emancipation.
Its leaders, however, soon looked beyond these aims towards
asserting the complete independence of Ireland from the English
connection, and their methods were largely borrowed from those
of the French Revolution, for which they expressed the warmest
admiration. In opposition to the United Irishmen, the extreme Pro-
testants formed clubs, called Orange Lodges, in memory of William
of Orange. From this they derived their name of Orangemen.
20. Between the revolutionaries and the bigots stood the
Catholic party, representing the mass of Irishmen. The Catholics'
position was a strong one, since Pitt and Grattan j^^ Relief
sympathized with them, and tlie United Irishmen Act of 1 798,
bade heavily for their help. As a rule, however, only *"'* ^^^
the educated Catholics looked to the government of puz.
for support, while the ignorant masses fell blindly wllllam,
into the plans of the United Irishmen. Unluckily, the * '"•
government had no settled policy. Sometimes the liberal instincts
of Pitt prevailed, as in 1793, when the great Catholic Belief Act was
passed, which gave the Roman Catholics a vote at elections witli-
out the right of being returned members. In 1794 Pitt appointed
Lord FitzwUliam, one of the new Whig ministers, lord-lieutenant
of Ireland, and a further attempt was made to conciliate the
Catholics. But Fitzwilliam's xeal for purity and reform frightened
every plaoe-hunter in Ireland, and a loud outcry was raised agtunst
604 GEORGE III. AND IRISH UNION [1798-
him. Fitzgibbon, afterwards Lord Clare, the Irish chancellor,
persuaded Greorge iii. that he would break his coronation oath
if he permitted the Catholics to sit in Parliament. Fitzwilliam
was recalled ; Grattan's Reform Bill was rejected ; and the failure
of the moderates left the way open to the United Irishmen.
21. Tone and his associates now prepared for revolution. Their
first idea was to get the French to send a fleet and army to Ireland,
but the victories of Nelson and Jervis prevented much
Hon of 1798 danger of invasion, and forced the United Irishmen
to fall back upon local resources. In 1798 civil war
broke out, but, despite the revolutionary aims of the leaders, they
found their following almost exclusively in the Catholic peasantry,
and nearly all Protestants united to uphold their ascendency and
the EngKsh connection. The vigour of the Grovernment prevented
a rising in Ulster, and the prompt arrest of the leaders deprived
the rising of its natural chiefs. There was, however, a formidable
struggle in Leinster, where a great army of peasants took the field,
under the leadership of some of their priests. For some time the
insurgents held nearly all Wexford, but at last General Lake stormed
their camp at Vinegar Hill, near Enniscorthy. After this the
rebel army broke up into small bands, which gradually melted away.
The revolt was soon put down so completely that when, a few
months later, a considerable French force managed to land in
Connaught, very few dared join them, and they were soon forced
to surrender. Unluckily, the triumphant Protestants avenged
themselves on the defeated Catholics by atrocities equally cruel
and far more widely spread. The lack of regular troops forced
the government to make large use of the Protestant yeomanry in
putting down the rebellion, and most of the worst misdeeds were
due to their bigotry and spirit of revenge.
22. Pitt sent Lord CornwaUis, formerly general of the English
army in America, to Ireland as lord-lieutenant. His task was to
prevent the Irish of the two factions from attacking
Dolicy ®*^^ other, and he soon convinced himself that Ireland
could only be justly ruled by men free from the
prejudices of either party. He held that the rebeUion had proved
the failure of the rule of the Protestant minority, and that the true
solution of the difficulty lay in the parliamentary Union of Ireland
with Great Britain. Pitt cordially agreed with him, and sought to
make the Roman Catholics favourable to this scheme by proposing
to combine with the Union a plan of complete Catholic emancipation,
by which Roman Catholics were to be admitted into parliament
>i8oi.] GEORGE III. AND IRISH UNION 605
and suffered to hold office tinder the state. Pitt so far succeeded
that the chief opposition to his plans came from the Protestants,
who still controlled the parliament at Dublin. To them the Union
meant the loss of aU their privileges, and, headed by Grattan, they
bitterly opposed Pitt's proposals. The only way to carry the Act of
Union through the Irish parliament was by buying off the owners
of rotten boroughs by heavy compensation, and by lavishing titles,
pensions, and even direct bribes on all members who were willing to
sell their votes for a consideration. The corrupt Irish parliament
was brought round by this policy to pass the measure in 1800. It
had already been easily got through the parliament at Westminster.
23. By the Act of Union the separate Irish parliament was
abolished. Instead of this, four Irish bishops and twenty-eight
temporal peers were to sit in the House of Lords for
the United Kingdom, while one hundred members Tgno " °'
of the House of Commons, two for each shire, the
rest for the boroughs, were henceforth to represent Ireland at
Westminster. Absolute freedom of trade between Great Britain
and Ireland was established. The Irish Church and army were
united to those of England, but the separate law courts, the lord-
lieutenancy, and a distinct executive government were retained.
24. Pitt now prepared to fulfil his promises to the Irish Catholics
by laying before the cabinet a plan for Catholic emancix>a-
tion. One of his colleagues betrayed his intention pallureof
to the king, and plied the monarch with arguments Catholic
against it. George had already been convinced by emanclpa-
Fitzgibbon that it was impossible for liim to accept resl^ation
the policy, and declared, " I shall reckon any man my of Pitt,
personal enemy who proposes such a measure." There- *°" •
upon Pitt brought his suggestions before George, declaring that he
mu.st resign if they were not accepted. George vainly endeavoured
to persuade him to say nothing more about them. Pitt's answer
to this was to offer to resign. This event was delayed by George
being driven by the excitement produced by the crisis into another
fit of insanity. On his speedy recovery, Pitt, out of pure com-
])assion. informed the bewildered king tliat he would not trouble
him with further advice on the Catholic question. England was
still engaged in her life-and-death struggle against Napoleon, and
Pitt saw that it was even more important to keep George in health
and courage than to set free the Catholics. Then, in Marcli, 1801,
he laid down the seals of office. His resignation was another
triumph of the indomitable will of George in. It weakened the
6o6
GEORGE III. AND IRISH UNION
[1801,
administration at a period of difficulty, and soon destroyed the
hopes that had been formed as to the results of the Irish Union.
This measure, unaccompanied by emancipation, resulted in effect
in a prolongation of Protestant ascendency in Ireland, and a con-
tinuance of the legitimate grievances of the Catholics. Inevitably
the Catholics resented the trickery by which their support of the
measure had been won. They grew more disgusted with the Union
than the Protestants had ever been, and were henceforward its
chief enemies. The result was that the one-sided Union faUed
either to conciliate Ireland or promote its prosperity. The blame
of this was, however, due, not to Pitt, but to George iil.
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BATTLE OF
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21st.Oct.1S05
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CHAPTER V
GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON 1,1802-1820)
Chief Dates :
1803. Renewal of war with France ; battle of Assaye.
1804. Pitt's second ministry.
1805. Battles of Trafalgar and Austerlitz.
1806. Death of Pitt and Fox.
1807. Treaty of Tilsit ; beginning of the long Tory rule.
1808. Battle of Vimiero ; beginning of the Peninsular War.
1809. Battles of Wagram and Talavera.
1810. Battle of Busaco.
iSii. Regency established ; battles of Faentes de Ofioro and Albuera.
1812. Battle of Salamanca ; failure of Napoleon's Russian campaign ;
war with America. ^
1813. Battles of Leipzig and Vitoria.
1814. First fall of Napoleon.
1815. Battle of Waterloo and final fall of Napoleon ; Peace of Paris and
Ck)ngres8 of Vienna.
1819. The Manchester massacre.
1820. Death of George iii.
1. The treaty of Amiens was little more than a truce. Though
the English looked forward to a long period of repose, a permanent
peace was no part of the designs of the First Consul of
France. All that Buonaparte wanted was a short of the
breathing-time while he built up his great fabric of treaty of
despotism. But he soon fancied himself so strong that j ^^3 '*
he became indifferent as to England's action. He had
now made his peace with the pope by the Concordat, which restored
the Roman Catholic Church in France, and enabled Buonaparte to
pose as the protector of religion, which had been almost overthrown
by the Jacobins. Already he began to make fresh aggressions on
the continent. He seized Piedmont and Parma, and sent liis troops
to occupy Switzerland. No continental power ventured to oppose
liim, for Alexander of Russia was his ally, and Germany wm
plunged into confusion. The treaty of Luneville had necessitated
the reconstitution of the whole of Germany, and Austria and
Prussia were angrily quarrelling as to their share of the plunder.
607
6o8 GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON [1803-
Secure on the continent, the First Consul took up a high line
with England. He had not forgiven her for frustrating liis plans
in Egypt, and he was shrewd enough to see that his European
position could not be secure so long as she retained the command
of the sea. He was anxious to recover the lost French colonies, to
increase the maritime commerce of France, and to make its navy
the first in the world. England, and England only, stood in the
way of the accomplishment of these objects, and Buonaparte
thought that his commanding position made it desirable for him
to attack her as soon as possible, since there was little immediate
prospect of her winning any continental allies. Accordingly, he
took every opportimity of picking a quarrel with England. He
complained that the royalist emigrants settled in England were
libelling him in a newspaper which they published in London. He
demanded the expulsion of the Bourbon princes, and angrUy
resented the refusal of the English to carry out the treaty of
Amiens by the evacuation of Malta. He took up so offensive an
attitude that even the weak government of Addington felt that it
had no alternative but to renew hostilities. In May, 1803, Britain
declared war against France, less than fourteen months after the
conclusion of the treaty of peace.
2. The war lasted mthout a break from 1803 to 1814. It was
fought for very different objects to those which England had
The Napo- fought for from 1793 to 1802. It was waged to main-
leonic War, tain the balance of power and the liberties of Europe,
1803-1814. -prhich were threatened by the despot who had ah-eady
put down the freedom of his adopted country. During this long
period there were many changes on the continent. The never-
ceasing aggressions of Napoleon compelled the continental j)owers
on several occasions to draw the sword against him. In no case
coTild they resist him for any length of time. His military genius
easily enabled him to overthrow their armies, and their subjects were
indifferent to their defeat, even welcoming the French conquerors
as the apostles of the ideas of the revolution. With England,
however, Buonaparte had to fight, not only against the government,
but against the whole people. It was England which first taught
the conqueror of so many governments how hard it was to conquer
a nation. Gradually, as his designs became clearer, England
succeeded in rousing the continent to defeat his designs of universal
monarchy. It was natural that Napoleon should manifest an
extraordinary hatred against the one state which successfully
blocked his march towards the monarchy of the world.
-i8os.] GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON 609
3. Buonaparte wished to end the war rapidly by pouring' an
army of overwhelming- force into England. He collected all
his available troops along the north coast of France, _ ,,
and filled every harbour from Antwerp to Le Havre rebellion,
with a fleet of flat- bottomed boats, with which he 1803.
hoped to carry what he called the army of England over the
Channel. He took up his headt^uarters at Boulogne, and waited
for an opportunity of evading the English fleet and invading the
country. At the same time he sought to distract English attention
by stirring up trouble within her own empire. The attack began
in Ireland, where in July, 1803, Robert Emmet, brother of one of
the rebel leaders of 1798, was incited by Buonaparte to attempt a
rising in Dublin, hoping that the disappointment felt among the
Irish Catholics at the failure of Catholic emancipation would
make the disturbances general. Emmet's attempt failed. All that
he could do was to stir up a riot in Dublin, during which the mob
murdered the chief justice of Ireland. The disturbances were put
down, and Emmet was taken and hanged.
4. Buonaparte was more successful in India, where he stirred
up the warlike Marathiis to resist the English power. The Marquis
Wellesley, who had already frustrated a similar alliance
between revolutionary France and Tipii of Mysore, ^f^'bu'v,^
was still governor-general, and took prompt measures British
to defeat the Mariithas clans. He despatched two supremacy
armies against the chief s of the Maruthu states. One i7gg-ig()5
of these, which operated in the south, was commanded
by the governor-general's younger brother. Sir Arthur Wellesley,
who had just shown, in a subordinate position during the Mysore
war, his gfreat qualities as a general. In 1803 Wellesley won two
brilliant victories, at Assaye and Argaum, over the southern army
of the Manithjis ; while General Lake, who operated in the north,
conquered Delhi, and released the descendant of the Mahommedan
emperors from his dependence on the Marathil confederacy. The
Maratha lords were forced to make peace, to dismiss the French
officers sent to train their soldiers, and to surrender large portions
of their territory. The governor-general concluded with them, tlie
puppet emperor of Dellii, and other Indian chieftains, subBidinry
treaties, whicli bound them to formal vassalage to the i^g jyj^
East India Comj)any. By his enormous annexations sidiary
of territory, tlie Marquis Wellesley established for the *''«»tles.
first time the direct rule of Britain over vast tracts of Indian
territory. By his system of subsidiary treaties he extended the
2 R
6lO GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON [1804
British power over the most dangerous of the native states. After
Warren Hastings, he is the second founder of our Indian empire.
Like Hastings, he found his services little appreciated. The Whigs
denoujiced his subsidiary system, and the directors of the company
disliked to have so much responsibility and cost forced upon them.
He was recalled in 1805, but nothing could destroy the fruits of
his triumphs, and, all against its wiU, the company was forced by
irresistible facts to rule half India and be suzerain of the rest.
5. In England the Addington ministry was quite incompetent
to meet the national danger involved in Napoleon's threats of
Pitt's invasion. A great cry arose for the return of Pitt to
second power, and not even the king's friendship could keep
"y^'stpy, Addington long in office. In May, 1804, he had to
give way to Pitt, who thought that, in the face of the
enemy, his duty was to save the state rather than bewilder the haH-
mad' king with advice on the Catholic question. Pitt thought that
at this period of national peril a broad ministry should be formed,
in which all parties could unite for the defence of the country.
His plan was, however, frustrated, because the king absolutely
refused to give office to Fox, the Whig leader. Pitt made no
heroic attempt to struggle against the king's wiU. He gave up
Fox as he had given up the Catholics, and built up a ministry out
of his Tory followers. Before long, Addington himself joined the
government, and was made Lord Sidmouth. Fox almost justified the
king's action by his factious opposition to the government, and by his
fatuous belief in the benevolence and pacific wishes of Buonaparte.
6. Pitt restored confidence by his zeal in meeting the threatened
invasion. As soon as the war began, a great volunteer movement
The volun- ^^^ broken out, and more than thi-ee hundred thousand
tear move- Englishmen joined in it. Pitt now encouraged the
ment. volunteers, and strengthened the army and navy.
Nearly every step he took was factiously opposed by Fox and his
followers.
7. In May, 1804, Buonaparte declared himself Napoleon i.,
emperor of the French. For more than a year his " army of
England " had waited with no results on the coast of
^fl^^r^d ^^® Channel, and the invasion seemed further ofB
and the than ever. It became cleai* that Ms original scheme
supremacy of evading the English fleet was impracticable.
1804-1805.' '^^^ English command of the seas was so com-
plete that there was no chance of the French slipping
over the Channel. Gradually Napoleon realized that the only way
-i8o5.] GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON 6ll
of conquering England was to defeat the English fleet. As the
French alone were not strong enough to do this, Napoleon forced his
dependent, Charles iv, of Si)ain, to build a great navy and add it to
that of France. Pitt got early intelligence of the Spanish scheme,
and declared war against Charles iv. in December, 1804. Immense
efforts were now made to collect all the Spanish and French
men-of-war in the Channel in order to overpower the English by
their numbers. It was, however, very difficult to effect this, as the
chief French fleets were in i)ort at Brest and Toulon, blockaded by
superior English squadrons, and the Spaniards were mostly at
Cadiz. A first step towards the concentration of the enemy's fleet
was, however, accomplished when the Toulon fleet, under Admiral
ViUeneuve, took advantage of a storm to escape from that port,
joined the Spaniards at Cadiz, and then sailed with them to the
West Indies. Nelson, who commanded the British Mediterranean
fleet, pursued ViUeneuve to the West Indies. But when he got
there, ViUeneuve had already sailed back to Europe, and strove to
Uberate the French squadrons in the Atlantic ports. He was
frustrated in this by Admiral Calder, who engaged with him in a
hard-fought, though indecisive, battle off Ca'pe Finistei-re. Not
long after, ViUeneuve was again at Cadiz, and conscious that his
plans had failed.
8. In October, 1805, Nelson again saUed to Spain, and Napoleon
ordered ViUeneuve to take the sea against him. On October 21
the fleets met off Cape Trafalgar. Nelson had twenty- gattle of
seven ships of the Une to meet the thirty-three of the Trafalgrar,
French and Spaniards. ViUeneuve arranged his ships
in a single line, which graduaUy drifted intx) the form of a crescent.
Nelson divided his into two squadrons, hoping to attack with both
at once, and so break the enemy's Une in two places (see cliart on
page 606). Both divisions succeeded in this manoeuvre, and a deadly
struggle between ships almost interlocking each other broke out.
Nelson's flagship, the Victory, which led the weather Une of attack,
suffered terribly, and the admiral himself was struck down by a
musket-boU from a neighbouring ship. He Uved long enough to
know that a decisive victory had been obtained. Henceforth the
command of the seas remained until the end of the war absolutely
in EngUsh hands. For nine years no enemy's fleet ventured to
leave port against the Englisli, and aU fears of invasion were at
an end. Thanks to Nelson and his sailors, Britain could safely
defy the mastiT of all Europe.
9. The battle of Trafalgar was the more remarkable since it
6l2 GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON [1805-
came at the moment of Napoleon's completest triumph on land.
Early in 1805 Pitt's diplomacy had triumphed over the jealousies
of the powers, and a Third Coalition of England,
Coalition Russia, Austria, Naples, and Sweden was formed
and its against France. The " army of England " had now
i^n^-?sns something better to do than wait idly in its camp at
Boulogne for the success of the French fleet. With
admirable promptitude Napoleon hurried his troops from the
Channel to southern Germany, hoping to attack Austria before she
was ready. On December 2, 1805, he won a decisive victory on the
snow-covered plain of Austerlitz, and forced Austria to accept the
humiliating peace of Pressburg, which gave liim the supremacy
over both Italy and Germany. Napoleon then set up a ring of
dependent kingdoms round his mighty empire. He already ruled
northern and central Italy as king of Italy, and he now put his
brother Joseph into the kingdom of Naples, from which he expelled
the Bourbons. Other brothers of Napoleon became kings of
HoUanci. and WestpkaLia, the nucleus of the latter kingdom being
George iii.'s Hanoverian dominions. The smaller German states
1)ecame Napoleon's abject dependents, and were combined in the
Covfederation of the Rhine, of which he was the protector. It
was now that the ruler of Austria gave up his vain title of Roman
emperor, and called himself Emperor of Austria.
10. The collapse of the coalition was a fatal blow to Pitt.
Trafalgar was very little consolation for Austerlitz and Pressburg.
Though England was saved, the continent was at
Napoleon's feet, and the balance of power utterly pj^^ jgQg
destroyed. On January 23, 1806, the great minister
died, exclaiming with his dying breath, " Oh, my country, how
I leave my country ! " It was impossible to keep his cabinet
together without him, and the plan of a broad ministry, which he
had previously advocated, was at last realized after liis death.
George iir. was forced to accept Fox as secretary of state, while
Pitt's cousin. Lord GrenviUe, who had long been Mj-jstpy
Fox's ally, became first lord of the treasury. Whigs, of all the
Tories, and " king's friends " all had their share in the T|lt."H'n7
new government, for, though Pitt's chief followers
abandoned ofiice, room was found even for Lord Sidmouth. This
comprehensive cabinet was called the Ministry of all the Talents.
11. Fox had professed as much admiration for Napoleon as
he had formerly showed for the French Revolution. He had
denounced the war as unnecessary, and now attempted to negotiate
-i8i2.] GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON 613
for peace with the French emperor. Bitter experience soon taught
him that Pitt had been right and he had been wrong. Napoleon
refu.sed to make peace on reasonable terms, and even
Fox saw that the war must be continued. However, p^* jgQg
on September 13, Fox died, worn out, like Pitt,
and humiliated by failure. His last measure was the congenial
task of pledging parliament to put an end to the brutal and
degrading slave trade. The act abolishing the slave trade was
passed in 1807, after his death.
12. In 1807 the Grenville ministry resigned on the Catholic
question. The Union had joined together the English and Irish
armies, and in the latter the Irish Catholics could hold _. pgc«<r.
rank up to that of colonel. GrenviUe now proposed nation of
that Engli.sh Catholic officers should have the same 9rfll^'''®'
rights which already belonged to Irish Catholic officers.
Tliis at once aroused George's undying prejudices. He accused
the ministers of indirectly aiming at the removal of the Catholic
disabilities, and frightened them into dropping their scheme. The
ministers, however, drew up a minute in which they declared in
general terms their right to give the king advice on any matter.
" I must be the Protestant king of a Protestant country, or no
king." said George, and demanded the withdrawal of the minute.
On the ministers' refusal, he turned them out of office.
13. This was the last and the greatest of George's triumphs.
Henceforth he kept the Whigs out of power, and to the end of his
reign the Tories alone held office. The divisions of 71,6 long
the Tories gave the extreme section the preponderance Tory rule,
in power. From 1807 to 1809 the nominal prime 1807-1830.
minister was the duke of Portland, who had previously been prime
minister of the coalition ministry of 1783. Under the duke, Pitt's
chief disciples, Canning and Castlereagh. held important posts.
In 1809. however. Canning and Castlereagh quarrelled and Port-
land died. A reactionary ministry, in which the Pittites sat
witliout controlling it, was now formed under Spencer Perceval.
He retained office until 1812, when he was murdered by a madman
in the lobby of the House of Common.'*. He was succeeded by
Lord Liverpool, who remained at the head of affairs till 1827.
Before tliis last change, George >ii. became j)erman"ntly insane,
and the prince of Wales was appointed Prince Regent early in
1811. The regent had hitherto profps.sed great friendship for
the Whigs, and George iii. had raised tlio royal power to such a
height that the new ruler might easily have recalled his allies to
6 14 GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON [1806-
officG. The regent was, however, a weak and selfish man, and had
supported the Whigs to annoy his father rather than because he
agreed with them. As ruler he took up aU his father's prejudices,
including even George iii.'s strong views about Catholic emanci--
pation. The result of this was that the insanity of the king made
no difference in the administration of the kingdom.
14. The war against Napoleon absorbed the whole energy of
the nation. After Fox's abortive attempt at peace, active opera-
tions were renewed, but the GrenviUe ministry frittered
ofthe°wap° ^^^J i^s resources in petty expeditions, which, even
when successful, had no effect on the general course of
affairs. The Tory governments which succeeded GrenviUe showed
more perseverance but not more intelligence. They knew nothing
of continental feeling, continued the wasteful policy of small expe-
ditions, showed no insight in the choice of generals, and manifested
jealousy against the able men who served the country in the field.
Their only merit was that they kept fighting away against Napo-
leon in a sort of buU-dog fashion, and triumphed in the end by
sheer pertinacity.
15. Napoleon carried everything before him on the continent.
After Austerlitz, Prussia went to war against him, but on
The treaty October 14, 1806, the Prussian army was crushed at
of Tilsit, Jena, and Napoleon entered Berlin in tiiumph.
Russia alone now remained in the field, and a fierce
and bloody campaign was fought between Napoleon and Russia,
until the genius of the Corsican once more triumphed in the hattle
of Friedland. In 1807 the Tsar Alexander abandoned his allies
and made the treaty of Tilsit with Napoleon, by which they
divided Eui'ope between them. Napoleon strengthened his ascend-
ency over the west by reducing Prussia to a petty state, and
Alexander took what lands he could get from the Swedes and the
Turks. It was now that Finland was filched from Sweden and
annexed to Russia. From 1807 to 1812 the alliance of Napoleon
and Alexander continued.
16. After these fresh triumphs. Napoleon renewed his attempts
against England. His plan was now to ruin the English by
The Con- cutting off their trade with the continent. With
tinental this object he devised what was called the Continental
System. System, by which he declared all the British Islands in
a state of blockade, forbade any of his dependents or allies to trade
with them, confiscated aU British goods, and seized upon every
English subject he could catch. Even neutral vessels which
-i8o8.1 GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON 615
touched at British ports were declared liable to capture. Hence-
forth he made the acceptance of the continental system the con-
dition of his friendship. England retaliated with effect by issuing
Orders in Council, which forbade all trade with France and her
dependencies, and still further dinunished the rights of neutral
powers. So powerful was Britain now at sea that she could do
much more harm to the trade of the continent than it could inflict
on British trade. Before the war was over, Britain had swept the
commercial navies of her enemies ofE the sea, had seriously damaged
the maritime position of the neutral powers, notably of the United
States of America, and had secured for herself a practical monopoly
of the carrying trade of the world. In 1807 she seized the Danish
fleet, and kept it until the peace, because she had good reason for
knowing that Napoleon was preparing to employ it against her.
She captured at her leisure the colonies of France, Spain, and
Holland, and thus built up a new colonial system for herself which
compensated for the loss of America. She did not even lose her
trade with the continent, for colonial produce and many manu-
factured articles could be obtained only from the English. A vast
system of smuggling grew up, whereby British products were
introduced into Napoleon's empire. Nothing was more fatal to
Napoleon than this continental system. The high prices of com-
modities, and the dislocation of trade which flowed from it, did
much to stir up hatred of his rule among his subjects.
17. After Tilsit, Portugal, the old and faithful ally of England,
stood almost alone in rejecting the continental system. There-
upon Napoleon sent a French army under General
Junot to Portugal. It easily occupied the country, rising
and drove the Portuguese government to take refuge agralnst
in Brazil. In annexing Portugal, Napoleon had the ^gol'®*"*'
help of his ally, Charles iv. of Spain. Charles, an
incompetent and worthless king, was on very bad t^rms with his
heir, the Infant Ferdinand. At last father and son both appealed
to Napoleon, who, in 1808, forced them both to abdicate their
rights. In their stead Napoleon made his brother, Joseph, king of
Naples, king of Spain. Tliis was perhaps the worst blunder that
Napoleon ever made. Hitherto Spain had quietly followed his
lead, but the Spaniards bitterly resented the emperor's claim to
bestow their throne at his will, and a popular rising soon set the
whole peninsula on fire. For the first time on the continent
Napoleon had roused a whole nation against him. Though the
Spanish insurrectionary government was weak and turbulent,
6i6
GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON
[1808-
thoug-h its armies were mutinous, ill-prorided, and miserably
led, the French could only hold the ground on which they were
encamped. Every Spanish peasant took arms, and every French
straggler was mercilessly cut off. In a few months a French
army nearly twenty thousand strong was forced to capitulate to
the Spaniards at Baylen, Joseph " Buonaparte was driven from
Madrid, and the emperor, who ruled Germany and Italy without
trouble, found all his plans frustrated by the heroic resistance of
the Spanish people.
THE BUONAPARTE FAMILY
Charles Buonaparte, m. Letitia Ramolino,
d. 1785. I
Joseph
Napoi,kon I
, m. (1) Josephine Lucien.
Louis, king
1
Jerome,
king
1804-1814.
Beauhamais.
of Holland.
king of
of
(2) Maria
1
Westphalia.
Spain,
Louisa
Napoleon hi.,
i
d. 1844.
of Austria.
1852-1870,
d. 1873.
Jerome
Napoleon,
m. Clotilda
(2)
1 1
1
(I
tfapoleon 11.,"
duke of
Eugene. Hortense, m.
Louis Napoleon,
" Prince
of Italv.
1 "
Reichstadt,
Imperial,"
Victor.
d. 1832.
d. 1879.
Arthur
Wellesley's
conquest of
Portugal,
1808.
18. Since Tilsit, England had been fighting Napoleon single-
handed. The resistance of the peninsula to Napoleon now gave
us once more continental allies, and an opportunity to
assail the enemy by land as well as by sea. The
greatest enthusiasm was expressed in England for the
heroic Spaniards, but the government was exceedingly
slow in taking advantage of the chance which it now
had. At last a small force was sent to Portugal under Sir Arthur
WeUesley, the hero of the Maratha war. "Wellesley's operations at
once showed that he was as competent to deal with a European
as with an Oriental enemy. He wisely kept his trooj)s together,
and struck a decisive blow as soon as he could. On August 21
he completely defeated Junot at the battle of Vimiero. At the
moment of the engagement, however, Wellesley was superseded in
his command by the arrival of an incompetent senior officer, Sir
Harry Burrard. Burrard stopped all pursuit of the enemy, and
showed so little vigour that Jimot recovered his strength and
began to negotiate. A few days later the convention of Cintra
-l809.] GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON 617
was signed between the two forces, by which Jtinot agreed to
evacuate Portugal if his whole army and his arms were shipped
over to France. Thus was Portugal cleared of the French, but
I)eople at home thought that Junot had been let off too easily, and
were very angry at the favourable terms granted to him.
19. Later in 1808 Sir John Moore became commander in the
peninsula. His force was strengthened, and he was instructed to
march through Portugal to the Ebro, and unite with ^^ failure
the Spanish armies. It was, however, too late for of Sip John
Moore to act with safety. Alarmed at the disasters of Moore.
Baylen and Cintra, Napoleon himself went to Spain,
and mustered aU his available troops in a desperate effort to crush
the national movement. The Spanish armies crumbled away
before the genius and the sui)erior forces of the emperor. Early
in December Napoleon entered Madrid in triumph. His victory
was fatal to the advance of Moore, who had already reached Sala-
manca. On learning the defeat of the Spaniards, the English '
general's only hope was in a hasty retreat to the sea. Napoleon
hurried after him, but Moore moved still faster, over bad mountain
roads, amid the storms and snows of winter. His troops became
demoralized, disorderly, and mutinous. Though other business now
took away Napoleon from Spain, one of the best of his marshals.
General Soult, continued to pursue the retreating British. Moore
managed to make his way to CoruRa by January 10, 1809, only to
find that the fleet, which he expected would be there to take him
home, had not yet arrived. Thus driven to bay, Moore was forced
to fight against Soult the hattle of Coruna. The English general
was slain in the battle, but the French were beaten off. But the
ships had now arrived, and the only result of the victory was that
it gave a safe embarkation to Moore's army.
20. Napoleon had hurried away from Spain because Austria
had again taken up arms. His tyranny had already begun to do
its work in Germany, and there were signs that th«>
Germans, like the Spaniards, were eager to throw off between
his yoke. Even the Austrian court was inspired with France and
some touch of a patriotic spirit, and Napoleon found fonfli'''*'
a much harder task before him than in the days of
Austerlitz and Jena.
21. The extension of the war from Spain to Austria gave
Britain a unique opportunity. Vigorous efforts were made, and
an army of over two hundred thousand regulars was enrolled. Un-
hickily. the ministers did not know what to do with tliis great force.
6l8 GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON [1809-
They chose to send a large portion of it to attack Antwerp, whose
fortifications were impregnable, and which lay in a district weU
Walcheren affected to the French emperor. To make matters
and Wag- worse, the command of this army was given to Pitt's
ram, 1809. elder brother, the second earl of Chatham, who was a
thoroughly incompetent commander. Chatham got no further than
the island of Walcheren, in Zeeland, amidst whose unhealthy
swamps his troops soon lost their health and vigour. When fever
had swept away thousands of soldiers, the expedition was abandoned
in despair. Nothing was done to stimiilate the national movement
in Germany, which was soon crushed by Napoleon. On July 6
the emperor won a great victory over the Austrians at Wagram,,
and forced them to make peace. He had triumphed at every
point, and was now stronger than ever.
22. The only wise thing done by the English ministers in 1809
was to appoint Arthur Wellesley to the supreme command in the
The battle peninsula. Wellesley was now master of Portugal,
ofTalavera, and was busily engaged in creating an effective
809. Portuguese army. Had the troops wasted at Wal-
cheren been put under his command, he might easily have driven
the French out of Spain. As it was, he had less than twenty
thousand English under his command. Nevertheless, he boldly
marched into the heart of the peninsula, hoping to maintain himself
there Avith the help of the Spaniards. He f otmd to his disgust that
the Spaniards were of little use to him, and that he had to depend
altogether upon his own troops.. Soult, who was still in command
of the French, formed a skilful plan of occupying the ground
between Wellesley and Portugal, while King Joseph lured him
further into Spain. Wellesley nearly fell into the trap, but was
saved by Joseph preferring to risk a battle rather than lose Madrid.
On July 28 Wellesley defeated Joseph's army at the battle of
Talavera, a victory towards which the Spaniards contributed
nothing. Wellesley did not venture to pursue, and only escaped
from Soult by a roundabout march over the hUls, which was as
fatal to the discipline of his troops as the retreat of Moore to
Coruria. Yet the brilliance of his victory broke the prestige of the
French army, and gave Wellesley so strong a position that the
government was afraid to supersede him. He was now raised to
the peerage as Yiscount Wellington of Talavera.
23. After the pacification of Germany, Napoleon poured all his
available troops into the peninsula. The incapable ministry left
WeUington to shift for himself, and the factious opposition
-i8io.]
GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON
619
620 GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON [1810-
denotinced him as incompetent. He now showed as much self-
restraint and caution as he had before shown courage and vigour.
Torres Finding it impossible to keep the field against the
Vedras and overwhelming forces brought against him, Wellington
fgfo*'^' constructed a double chain of entrenchments, called
the lines of T<yn-es Vedras, between the sea and the
lower Tagus, by which he was able to hold Lisbon and its neigh-
bourhood. The French were so busy in Spain that they left
Portugal to itself until the late summer of 1810. At last, in Sep-
tember, General Massena invaded Portugal. Wellington checked
his progress at the battle of Busaco, but once more retired after
victory in the field. He remained within the lines of Torres
Vedras tiU the spring of 1811, when bad weather and hard fare
drove Massena out of Portugal.
24. In 1811 WeUington ventured on a more forward policy.
In May he won another victory over Massena at Fuentes de
Fuentes de Onoro, and a few days later. Marshal Beresford, the
Onoro and EngKsh general of the Portuguese, gained a remark-
^Ibuera, able success by sheer hard fighting at Alhuera, where
six thousand British soldiers stubbornly withstood the
attack of a much more numerous French force. Yet the only
result of these triumphs was that Wellington was able to maintain
himself in Portugal.
25. In 1812 the long alliance between Napoleon and Russia
came to an end, and the best French troops were withdrawn
The Rus- fi*om the peninsula to form the Orand Army of nearly
sian, Gep- half a million men, which the French emperor led
man, and to the invasion of Russia. Napoleon penetrated to
national Moscow, and occupied the ancient Russian capital.
revolts. But. as in Spain, he had set a whole people against
181 2—1 S13.' xxo
him, and the incessant attacks of the Russians and the
rigours of a northern winter drove him back to Germany, after a
disastrous retreat which almost annihilated the Gi'aud Army. As
the consequence of the Russian expedition, Wellington had an
easier task before htm. He resolved to invade Spain, and in the
spring prepared the way for this step by storming with teii-ible
loss the border fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajos. On
July 22 he defeated General Marmont in the hattle of Salamanca,
and pressed on to Madrid, which he occupied in August amidst
the rejoicings of the popidace. At the approach of winter, how-
ever, Wellington was once more forced to retreat to the Portuguese
frontier. It was the last of his retreats. In 1813 all Germany
-i8i4.] GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON 621
rose agtiinst Napoleonic domination, and, despite the extraordinary
energy and skill of the emperor, his troops were defeated at the
battle of Leipzig, and by the end of the year he was driven over
the Rhine. It was inevitable in such circumstances that the
French armies in Spain should be weakened to support Napoleon
in his life-and-death strug-gle in Germany. Welltng1»n now over-
ran Spain from end to end, and on June 21 defeated King Joseph
in the battle of Vitoria. After this the French were thrown back
on their frontier, where Soult, the best of the French generals,
strove to rally them to defend their own land.
26. In 1814 France was invaded from the north, east, and south.
Napoleon struggled gallantly till the last, but, late in March, the
Germans and Russians entered Paris, and on April 3 j^g f^jj ^f
the emperor abdicated his throne. Wellington, a duke Napoleon,
after his victory at Vitoria, had already entered France '
from the Spanish side, and, a week after Napoleon's abdication, of
which he had not yet heard, he won his last triumph over Soult at
TouLouae. Napoleon's fall had already ended the war. The do-
throned conqueror was sent to the island of Elba, and Louis xvjii.,
brother of Louis xvi., was made king of France. The conditions
of peace were determined by the first treaty of Paris, and it was
arranged that the final settlement of Europe should be effected in
a general congress, which soon met at Vienna.
27. Before the Napoleonic war was over. Britain was engaged
in another struggle with the United States of America. The
Orders in Council, provoked by the continental system,
had excited great discontent in America, which, after ^j^j, ^j,g
all Europe had fallen under Napoleon's influence, was United
the only neutral state of importance left. The British f8^^%i4
carried out the war in as high-handed a spirit as
that which Napoleon had himself showed. They seized many
American ships which sought to escape the blockade and trade
with France. Others they searched for enemies' goods, or to find
deserters from the British nairy who had taken service under Ameri-
can colours. In disgust at this policy the Americans broke off all
trade with England, and declared war in 1812. The English now
abolished the Orders in Council, a step which, if taken earlier,
might have averted the war. The Americans invaded Cana<la and
failed, but won a good many small victories at sea, especially M'ith
tlieir lai'ge and heavily armed frigates, wliich easily captured our
smaller frigates and worked havoc on our trade. The tide was
turned when the British man-of-war, the Shannon, commanded
622 GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON [1814-
by Captain Broke, captured the American ChesapeaTce, after a
short but sharj) encounter. The American navy proved too weak
to attempt a general action or to protect the coast from blockade
or invasion. After the end of the Peninsular War, Wellington's
veterans were sliipped over the Atlantic, where they gained some
successes, but failed on other occasions. At last, in 1814, the
mediation of the tsar led to both parties making peace in the
treaty of Ghent. It was a wasteful and unnecessary war, which
might have been avoided had both parties shown more tact and
good sense.
28. In March, 1815, Nai)oleon, who could not rest at Elba,
returned to France, and was welcomed with such enthusiasm that he
The Hun- "^'^^ *^ once restored to power and Louis xviii. driven
dred Days, into exile. Thereupon the Congress of Vienna ceased its
work, while the chief powers collected armies on every
side of France to assail the disturber of the peace. Napoleon saw
that his best chance was in promptitude, and he resolved to make
a rapid move against the allied army which was assembling in the
Southern Netherlands under Wellington, hoping to defeat it before
the Russians and Austrians were ready to invade France from the
east. The allies lay extended to the south of Brussels, the left
wing being held by the Prussians, under Marshal Bliicher, while
Wellington, with a motley force of English, Netherlanders, and
flanoverians, held the centre and right. On June 16 Napoleon
defeated the Prussians at Ligny, and forced them to retire. His
attack on the British outposts at Quatre Bras was not successful,
but the retreat of the Prussians forced Wellington also to concen-
trate nearer Brussels. Neither section of the allies had been much
hiirt, though Bliicher had removed to some distance from Welling-
ton's quarters.
29. On Sunday, June 18, Napoleon delivered his chief
attack on Wellington. The allies were encamped on a low ridge,
about two miles south of Waterloo, and immediately
Waterloo before the village of Mont- Saint- Jean. The country
house of Hougoumont protected his right, a farm
called La Haye Sainte formed his centre, and another called La
Haye was on his left. The numbers of the two armies were about
equal, but Napoleon's troops were more homogeneous and bett«r
trained. The French began the battle by a desperate onslaught
on Hougoumont, which was gallantly defended. Then the French
infantry and cavalry marched in close columns against the English
centre, supported by a heavy artUlery fire. The British formed
i
-i8is.]
GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON
623
squaires to resist the French cavalry, and stood tinflinchingly a whole
series of fierce attacks. The battle raged all the afternoon, and
the English generally stood firm. But the French took La Haye
Sainte, and made a serious gap in the squares on our left. They
were, however, so exhausted by the straggle that it is doubtful
how far they could have maintained their advantages. But the
Prussians were now advancing from Wavre, after a heavy march.
The last desperate charge of the French guard failed, and there-
upon Wellington ordered a general advance. The French line was
now broken, and the Prussians, following up the pursuit, effectually
scattered the remnants of Napoleon's last army. The allies marched
to Paris, and Napoleon took refuge on an English man-of-war.
Battle of
WATERLOO
une
£incry Valkcr K.
His restoration had only lasted a hundred days. The deposed em-
peror was taken to Sf. Helena, a little island in the South Atlantic,
where he lived in captivity until his death.
30. The second peace of Paris now restored Louis x\in., and
somewhat diminished the territories of France, which had already,
in 1814, been reduced to those whicli it had possessed before
1792. England surrendered many of her colonial conquests, but
retained Mauritius and some West Indian islands from _.. ,,
France, and Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope from stress of
the Dutch. The Congress of Vienna now completed its Vienna,
settlement of Europe. It restored most of the petty
princes of Italy, M'hom Napoleon had driven out. including the
pope ; but it gave Milan and Venice to Austria, whose alrms alone
624
GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON
[1815-
-i820.] GEORGE III. AND NAPOLEON 62$
protected the smaller rulers from the illwill of their subjects.
Napoleon's German settlement was practically continued, and his
allies, the lesser princes, were let off veYy lightly. Prussia was
compensated for her sufferings by receiving most of the German
lands on the left bank of the Rhine, while George iv. was re-
stored to Hanover with the title of king. The tsar received back
most of Poland, and the old Dutch Republic and Austrian Nether-
lands were united in the new kingdom of the Netherlands, of
which the prince of Orange was king. Everywhere the kings
looked after their own interests, and paid scanty attention to the
national feeling which had done so much to destroy the power
of Napoleon. They were equally hostile to the ideas of freedom,
which had survived as the best side of the work of the French
Revolution. For these reasons the Vienna settlement, though it
secured peace for a time, did not prove permanent, and provoked
bitter discontent from the beginning.
31. England was terribly exhausted by the long war. Taxes
were high ; the national debt had enormously increased ; trade did
not improve after the peace, and a new com law, _ . .
which prevented the importation of foreign wheat till after the
its price was SOs. a quai-ter, made bread so dear that peace,
many workmen could not get enough to eat. Things
became worse through the unwisdom of the government, which made
no attempt to grapple with the troubles that beset the country.
It was still afraid of the principles of the French Revolution, and
saw no means of meeting just discontent save repression. A
natural result was that riots broke out in many places. In the
country the labourers burnt the farmers' ricks, and in the industrial
towns the factory hands destroyed their masters' labour-saving
machines. Even to demand parliamentary reform was looked
upon as seditious, and in 1819 a mass meeting of Lancashire
reformers, who marched in military order to a small waste plot
in Manchester, called St. Peter's Field, was dispersed with un-
necessary violence by a cavalry charge. The affair was magniiie<l
and described as the Manchester Massacre or Peterloo. It alarmed
the government so much that they passed through parliament a
series of repressive measures known as the Six Acts, by which the
right of public meetings was severely restricted. Next Death of
year (1820) the old king died. Of late years he ha<l been GeorRe III.,
blind and deaf as well as mad. and was utterly uncon- '^^^•
scious that the great power which he had handed on to his wretched
son had, happily perhaps for the nation, slipped unnoticed away.
CHAPTER VI
GREAT BRITAIN DURING THE EIGH-
TEENTH CENTURY: THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
1. Up to the early years of the reign of Georg'e iiL England
reiuaiucd juainly a nation of farmers and merchajits. By the
/ Commereial ^^^^^sion of Greorge I. she had won the trading
( ascendency supremacy over the world. The treaty of Utrecht
P^P^®^* and the Asiento gave a fresh start to our commerce.
I ' Bristol merchants grew rich on the slave-trade, which
was so profitable that no one thought of its wickedness. The
growth of the East India Company's territories, the conquest of
the French colonies, and the spread of our own, all gave fresh
openings to British men of business. London grew fast, Liverpool
began to rival Bristol in the American trade, and, after the Union
had made England and Scotland a single country commercially,
Glasgow became a formidable competitor with the great English
ports. It was not by peace and free trade, but by successful war
and monopoly, that Britain won its preponderating commercial
\ position. Yet having got it, she managed to beat all possible
competitors. Even the loss of the American colonies did not stop
her progress, and the volume of trade between Britain and the
United States was soon greater than it had ever been in the days
when we enjoyed a monopoly of traffic with them.
2. Manufacturing industry also grew steadily during the first
haK of the eighteenth century ; but it was on the old lines and
with the old tools. There was little elaborate machinery,
taven^ons li^l® concentration of labour into factories, limited
division of labour, and miserable means of communica-
tion. Early in the reign of George in. a series of discoveries
enormously multiplied the power of production. Four great
inventions made the cotton trade, hitherto one of the smallest of
our industries, the rival of the wooUen trade itself. These were
626
l820.] THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 627
Arkwright's system of spinning by rollers which led to his water-
frame ; Hargreaves's spinning-jenny, which enabled one person to
spin several threads at once ; Crompton's mtde, which combined
the principles of Arkwright's and Hargreaves's devices ; and Cart-
wright's power-loom, which enabled weaving operations to be
extended proportionately to the improvements in spinning. Mean-
while, the steam-engine, known for the best part of a century in
a clumsy and unpractical shape, was so greatly improved by the
inventive skill of James Watt that it became the chief agent in
revolutionizing the old state of trade and labour, and ultimately of
society. The iron trade was immensely developed by the discovery,
largely due to John Roebuck, that iron- ore might be smelted with
pit-coal, as well as with charcoal, the supply of which was limited
by the small amount of timber available for fuel. One result of
this was an immense increase in the output of our collieries. The
labours of Josiah Wedgwood gave a new impetus to the potteries
of North Staffordshire. In almost every trade it became possible
to produce goods more abundantly and at a cheaper rate.
3. Better conununications were as much needed as machines to
make English trade grow. As long as goods could only be carried
about by pack-horses over lull-paths, or in heavy
waggons along infamous roads, only places near to- f,J^pj"s
gether could exchange their commodities with each
other. Grreat efforts were accordingly made to open up communi-
cations by hard roads between one town and another, and the
system grew up of erecting tv/mpilces, at which tolls were levied,
on all the main roads, and devoting these toUs to the betterment
of the highways. Very slowly the condition of the main roads
were improved, and many bridges were built at great expense to
span over rivers, hitherto only passable by ferry-boats or by
dangerous fords. At the end of the century the chief roads were
so hard and smooth that fast coaches, conveying passengers and
mails, could go over them at a rapid rate. The postal services
were correspondingly improved, and most important towns had
daily posts, which were often conveyed in a quarter of the time
wliich was formerly taken.
4. Road transport necessarily remained too costly for the
conveyance of heavy goods and pieces of machinery. In order
to enable horses to drag heavier weights tlian thev _
Tramways*
could carry even over the best of roads, recourse
was had to tramways. The earliest of these were in the colliery
districts, and especially in Northumberland and Durham, where
628 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY [1714-
cheap means of conveying coals from the pits to the ships were
indispensable, if the coal trade were to grow. The earlier tramways
were made by pieces of smooth timber being let into the roads for
the wheels of the waggons to rnn on, but after 1776 cast-iron rails,
which were smoother and more durable, superseded wooden ones.
5. Water-carriage, however, was much cheaper than land-
traction, even along iron tramways, and the greatest improvements
Navigable ^^ communications were made by making rivers
rivers and navigable, and by the construction of artificial water-
cana s. courses, or canals. In 1720 an act was passed for
making the river Irwell navigable up to Manchester, while the
opening of the Aire and Calder navigation did wonders for the
trade of the West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1761 Francis, duke
of Bridgwater, called in the services of a shrewd engineer, named
Brindley, to make a canal to convey coal from his collieries at
Worsley to Manchester. This Bridgwater Canal was afterwards
extended to the Mersey at Runcorn, and soon superseded the
difficult and uncertain navigation of the Irwell as the readiest and
cheapest means of communication between Manchester and Liver-
pool. The wealth and fame thus acquired by the duke of Bridg-
water directed general attention to canals. Between 1758 and
1803, 165 Canal Acts were passed and nearly 3000 miles of canals
were constructed. Gradually the Thames, the Trent, the Severn,
and the Mersey were all connected together. A ship canal con-
nected Gloucester with the deep waters of the Severn at Berkeley.
One canal joined Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the Caledonian
Canal joined together Inverness and Fort William, and enabled
smaU. ships to avoid the difficult navigation round the northern
extremity of Scotland. So convenient were canals that they were
used not only for the haulage of goods, but also for the transport
of passengers, who were conveyed in swift packets drawn by horses
at rates much less, and with comfort much greater, than by coaches
along the high-roads. Canals were to this period what railways
were to a later age.
6. The new inventions, the widening of markets by improved
means of communications, and the rapid increase of the volume of
■ trade, made Britain a great manufacturing country,
system and New seats of industry grew up, especially in those
the Indus- districts where coal and iron were abundant, or where
trial revo- there was cheap means of access to the ports. Lanca-
shire became the chief seat of the cotton trade, while
the old clothing towns in the West Riding grew quickly in
-l820.]
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
629
Enwry WUkM k.
630 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY [1714-
wealth and population. Some of the older #idustrial centres were
replaced by new ones, and in particular the iron trade deserted the
Weald of Sussex and Kent for districts such as Birmingham,
Sheffield, Glamorganshire, and the region surrounding Glasgow,
where pit- coal was procurable on the spot. Popidation increased
enormously, and between 1750 and 1801 (when the first census was
taken) ran up from six to nine millions. Everywhere the old
domestic system of manufactures gave way to the factory system.
The process by which these changes were brought about has
sometimes been called the industrial revolution. Production
was now centred in growing towns. Instead of the small master
working in his own home with a few apprentices and journeymen,
the rich capitalist employer with his army of factory hands came
in. A new and keener spirit of competition arose, in which only
the strongest, wisest, and most cunning survived. Many of the
masters were rough, illiterate, and hard, though shrewd and far-
seeing in business. Their workmen, gathered from all the country
round into new, badly built, unhealthy cottages, were forced to
work for long hours in dark, dirty, and unwholesome workshops.
The state did nothing to protect them ; the masters only thought
of their profits ; and unjust laws prevented the operatives combining
together in trades unions to help themselves. Women and children
were forced to work as long and as hard as the men. A regular
system grew up of transporting pauper and destitute children to
weary factory work. The workmen were ignorant, brutal, poor,
and oppressed. Trade and employment fluctuated constantly, and
in hard times there was much distress. The workmen naturally
listened to agitators and fanatics, or took violent means of avenging
their wrongs. They had no constitutional means of redress, for even
the masters seldom had votes, since the new towns sent no members
to parliament. The transfer of the balance of population, wealth,
and energy from the south and east to the north and midlands made
parliamentary reform necessary. It also produced a great deal of
rivalry between the rich manufacturers and the old landed gentry,
a struggle in which the former were bound ultimately to win. As
the landlords became after 1760 more and more Tory, so did the
trading classes become more and more Hadical.
7. Side by side with the industrial revolution went an agrarian
The agra- revolution. In 1760 a large proportion of arable land
rian revo- remained common-field, on wliich, after harvest, all
ut on. villagers had the right to turn their cattle, and wliich
was cultivated on the wasteful old three years' system of wheat.
-i820.] THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 63 1
fallow, and barley. Farms were generally small, and cultivated with
little skill or capital. Custom alone was the gmide of the ordinary
farmer. Yet the small farmer, whose home was often the seat of a
domestic manufacture, was self-supporting", and independent of
markets. Gradually the increase of population increased the de-
mand for food. First of all, England ceased to export com, as she
had done in large quantities up to the middle of the century. Then
great attention was paid to agriculture, with the results that a
series of improvements in cultivation revolutionized husbandry,
and largely augmented the supply of food. Norfolk set the
example of agricultural reform to the rest of England. There
Townshend, after his quarrel with Walpole, settled down to farm
his estate at £>aynham, and his example made the cultivation of
the turnip general, and so made it possible to get rid of the
wasteful systems of fallows. Large farms replaced small holdings.
The capitalist farmer now came in, like the capitalist employer.
His gangs of poor and ignorant agricultural labourers were the
counterpart of the swarm of factory hands. The business of
farming was worked more scientifically, with better tools and
greater success. The breeds of sheep and cattle were improved.
A long series of Enclosure Acts began in 1760, by which common
of pasture was greatly limited, and arable common lands were
almost got rid of. The change was necessary, for without en-
closures good farming was impossible.
8. The limiting of their common-rights bore hardly on the
rural poor, and nearly all the land enclosed became the private
property of the great landlords. Moreover, the price pauperism
of com fluctuated violently, and, especially after the and the
Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, was often very ^°''° L"-ws.
high. Things were made worse by Corn Laws, first passed in
1773, by which foreign corn was only allowed admission to British
markets when the price of wheat was high. The benefit of these
high prices and of the improvements in agriculture went to the
landlords and farmers. Tlie condition of the agricultural labourer
got no better, and the great mass of the rural population were mere
labourers. The small freeholders or yeomen, so powerful in the
seventeenth century, were rapidly disappearing, except in ou<-of-
the-way parts of the country. The decline of domestic manu-
factures and the Enclosure Acts were partly accountable for their
decline, but the main cause of it was the political importance attached
to land-holding after 1688, which canseil men anxious to rule the
ooontry to buy them up at high prices. It paid small capitalists better
632 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY [1714-
to invest their money in other ways. So the power of the territorial
aristocracy grew, and the land passed into fewer and fewer hands,
for the small squire, rustic in garb and speech, who never travelled
further than his county town, was swallowed up almost as com-
pletely as the yeomanry. Meanwhile, pauperism became a more
pressing evil, especially as the custom grew up of supplementing
the inadequate wages received by the rural labourers by a system
of doles from the poor-rates. This practice grew to such an
extent that, in the early years of the nineteenth century, a seventh
of the population was in receipt of poor-law relief. Thus, despite
the increase of population, wealth, and ti-ade, there was much
distress and discontent, which was increased by the hardships and
high prices that resulted from the great wars against the French
Revolution and Napoleon.
9. The eighteenth century saw as complete a revolution in
men's thoughts and beliefs as in their relations to material nature.
The old religious passions which had raged throughout
reason^ "^ ^^® seventeenth century, and divided men as fiercely
as ever in the days of Queen Anne, died down with
remarkable suddenness under the first G-eorges. The High Church
and Puritan parties alike lost ground. The higher clergy were now
mostly Low Churchmen, or Latitudinarians, or, as we should call
them, Broad Churchmen. Laymen became careless and sceptical.
Preachers taught that men should be prudent, tolerant, moral, and
moderate. A school which disbelieved in miracles and revelation
grew up, called the Deists. Men boasted that they lived in the
" age of reason," and looked upon all enthusiasm or emotion with
suspicion and distrust. Leading clergymen were anxious to escape
signing the articles and repeating the creeds. English Presby-
terians became Unitarians. Church-going ceased to be fashionable,
and few new churches were built.
10. The most emotional and enthusiastic of modern forms of
Protestantism sprang up in strong reaction to the general temper
The Metho- ^^ ^^® eighteenth century. About 1729 a few earnest
dist Move- Oxford men formed a little society, whose members
ment. were remarkable for the holiness and good order of
their lives. They were laughed at by their fellow- students, and
nicknamed Methodists. Their leader was John Wesley (1703-
1791), a feUow of Lincoln College, and with him were associated
his brother, Charles Wesley, afterwards famous as a hymn-writer,
and George Whitefield, a poor servitor of Pembroke College, who
>goou gained extraordinaiy influence by his vivid and heart-stirring
-l820.] THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 633
sermons. The society was broken up when John Wesley went, in
1735, on a mission to the colony of Georgia. In 1738, however,
Wesley returned to England, where he fell under the influence of
the Moravians, a German sect of g-entle enthusiasts, and convinced
himself that he was for the first time converted to a true sense
of religion. Henceforth Wesley and his friends preached with
a stronger fervour than ever. The sober and decorous clergy
thought the Methodists mad, and refused to let them preach in
their churches. In 1739, therefore, the Methodists first bmlt
chapels of their own, though they declared that they were not
dissenters, but anxious only to labour on the ground left untUled
by the Church. For the rest of their lives Wesley and Whitefield
wandered ceaselessly over the land. Wherever they went they
produced a storm of opposition or enthusiasm. They were often
in danger of their lives, and the wild excitement that followed their
preaching sometimes led their followers into mad extravagancies.
But they roused many thousands to lead new lives, and to
shake off sluggish indifference and brutal vice. Before long
Wesley saw that, to make the effects of his preaching last, he must
establish an organized society. A man of forethought, with great
statesmanlike capacity, he soon raised the Methodist body into
a large and well-governed community, which, as time went on,
gratluaUy drifted into the position of a new dissenting church. Long
before this Wesley had broken with his old comrade, Whitefield,
through theological differences. Whitefield was a Calvtnist like
tlie old Puritans, while Wesley's High Church surroundings had
made him a strong Arminian. However, the great preacher lacked
Wesley's organizing power, and the Calvinistic Methodists, of
whom he was the chief, gradually dwindled away in England,
though in Wales a parallel Methodist movement fell ultimately
almost entirely under Calvinistic auspices, and to this day the
Calvinistic Methodists are the most numerous religious body in the
Principality.
11. The most striking feature of the religions life of the latter
part of the eighteenth century was the Evangelical Movement.
This was nearly akin to Methodism, and yet was not -^^ Evan-
simply a further growth of it. Though some of the sellcal
earliest Evangelicals were also Methodists, the move- Movement,
ment was more properly a revival of seventeenth-century Puritan-
ism, which affected both the Church and the older Nonconformist
bodies. It was Calvinistic in ii» theology, and therefore strongly
out of sympathy with much of Wesley's teacliiug. It did not lead
634 ^'-^-^ EIGHTEENTH CENTURY [1714-
to the formation of any new Clmrch, but influenced all the existing
ones, and produced as its results a stronger sense of personal
religion, and a zeal for good works and philanthropic efforts. The
Evangelicals founded missionary societies, the Bihle Society, and
Sunday schools, and did much to promote the movements for the
abolition of negro slavery. The leaders of the movement were not
learned, but good and self-denying, though in some ways rather
narrow in their teaching. The two greatest Evangelicals were
laymen : WiUiam Cowper, the reformer of English poetry, and
WUliam Wilberforce, the Tory member for Yorkshire, and friend
of the younger Pitt. Fear of the irreligious character of the
French Revolution largely strengthened the Evangelical ranks, and
during the early years of the nineteenth century the Evangelical
revival exercised its widest influence.
12. In Scotland there was the same contrast as in England
between the prevailing Latitudinarianism and the Puritan reaction
from it. The great question in dispute was the lawf ul-
Religrion in j^ggg ^f pj-ivate patronage, which had been restored in
the Scotch Church in 1712. Twice at least during
the eighteenth century there were secessions from the Established
Church on the part of the sturdy Covenanters, who would make no
compromise with the state. Within the Church there was a constant
conflict between the Moderates, who upheld, and the Evangelicals,
who opposed, the law of patronage. Towards the end of the century
the Evangelicals, as in England, grew much stronger. It was not
until the reign of George iii. that much toleration was shown to
the Scotch Episcopalians, partly by reason of Presbyterian bigotry
and partly because most of them were Jacobites. Thus, during the
century religious toleration was established in England and Scot-
land alike, for the whole temper of the age was averse to persecii-
tion, and gradually the laws against disbelievers in the Trinity and
the Roman Catholics fell into disuse. The Evangelical revival was
unfavourable to the Roman Catholic claims to emancipation, though
enlightened men, like Pitt, saw that they were just and necessary.
13. The changes of the eighteenth century brought with them
many abuses, but the spirit of humanity and philanthropy had
. begun to shine amidst the rough and brutal manners
tarlanism of the age. This spirit was largely fed from the
and philan- Methodist and Evangelical movements, but was also
largely due to that wide sympathy for httman suffering
and indignation against oppression and injustice which was among
the best sides of the teaching of the French freethinkers, which
-i820.] THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 635
made a cynic like Yoltaire enthusiastic, and rose to a white heat in
the fervent sentimentalism of Rousseau. Conspicuous among the
philanthropic movements of the time were the self-denying labours
of John Howard for the reform of the condition of the prisons, in
which offenders of all classes had hitherto been herded together in
total disregard to their health and moral welfare. Even more
memorable was the movement for the abolition of the trade in negro
slaves imported from Africa into the American colonies, which,
though conducted with callous disregard to humanity, had in the
early part of the century been simply looked upon as an easy way
to get rich. At last, in 1787, there was formed the Society for
the Abolition of the Slave Trade, of which Thomas Clarkson and
WiUiam WUberforce were leading members. The organization
wisely avoided attacking slavery, but Clarkson collected evidence
of the horrors of the " middle passage " across the Atlantic to
America, during which nearly half of the negroes stolen from
Africa died. Pitt, under Wilberforce's influence, showed an
interest in the movement, which was on the verge of triumphing
when the outbreak of the French Revolution frightened the richer
classes into opposing a movement which now seemed to savour of
revolutionary violence. It was not until 1807 that an act of
parliament abolished the slave-trade, whereupon a fresh movement
was started by WUberforce for getting rid of slavery altogether.
The same increasing regard to humanity produced the first factory
acts for regulating the abuses of the factory system, and preventing
children being overworked in mills and workshops.
14. Manners were still very rough. Popular literature and the
stage were often broad and vulgar, and cruel amusements were still
widely popular. Gambling and hard drinking were
very common, though less so at the end of the century
than at the beginning. George iii.'s homely and decorous private
life had no small influence for good, but its dolness forced his own
sons into riotous disorder, and the '* first gentleman of Europe," as
his flatterers called George iv., set an example of everything that
was bad. The tendency of the age was towards the breaking down
of class distinctions, and the greater easiness of getting about pro*
duced a nearer likeness in manners between gentry and trades-
people, and broke down a good deal of the distinction between town
and country. Love of show still, however, found plenty of ways of
displaying itself. Old-fashioned people complained that the rich
tradesman gave up residing over his shop for a suburban villa, and
aped, in his style of living, his carriages, his travels, and his wife and
636 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY [1714-
daughters' dresses, the manners of the landed gentry. With less
vain pomp, comfort and refinement grew, which, with high prices,
made Kving much dearer. Though the garb of the upper classes
remained long very costly and rich, the simpler styles of modem
dress gradually set in as a result of the influence of Rousseau, who
taught that the equality of men should even extend to their clothes.
Wigs wei'e given up ; swords went out of fashion ; pantaloons and
long boots superseded knee breeches, sUk stockings, and shoes.
Towards the end of the century the habit of sea-bathing set in,
and became even more popular than the earlier custom of " taking
the waters." George iii. made Weymouth a popular watering-
place, and his eldest son did even more for Brighton, which from a
fisliing village became a great town.
15. Early in the century architecture was the most flourishing
of the arts, but later on it declined, and the mass of building of the
Georgian period aimed at solid comfort rather than
beauty. Towards the end of the century James Wyatt
attempted to revive Gotliic architecture, which had hitherto been
looked upon with contempt, but he had neither the knowledge nor
the taste for this. He nearly ruined Salisbury Cathedral vrith his
" restorations," and, at the command of the prince regent, erected
a commonplace though grandiose palace on the site of the historical
castle of Windsor. But the height of bad taste was found in the
fantastic Pavilion, on which the regent wasted huge sums at
Brighton. As architecture fell away other arts improved. A
national English school of painting, foreshadowed by the rough
but original genius of William Hogarth, was founded by the great
Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792). In 1768 the Royal Academy
was established, with Sir Joshua for its first president. Somewhat
later John Flaxman (1755-1826) established a British school of
sculpture. There was much excellent work done in engraving,
etcliing, and similar arts. Music received a new impetus when the
greatest musician of his time, Frederick Handel, a Saxon, was
brought to England to manage the Opera House. Failing as a man
of business, and only moderately successful as a composer of operas,
Handel turned to the Oratorio, producing his Messiah in 1741.
This soon won a popularity which resulted in a wider love of serious
music and a higher sense of the aims and dignity of the art. But
though there was much good work done in nearly every branch,
the general level in taste and feeling was not very high in any of
the arts at the end of the eighteenth century.
16. Literature and language faithfully mirrored the age. The
-i82o.] THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 637
poeta of the early eighteenth century lacked passion and imagina-
tion, and were fast bound by self-imposed rules. Their favourite
metre was the heroic couplet ; their favourite themes
were satire, compliment, and criticism. The tendencies ^^^ dmima
of the time were best erpressed in the exquisitely
finished and polished verse of Alexander Pope (1688-1744). How-
ever, in Pope's followers the style which a great artist could
ennoble became vapid, commonplace, and artificial. The drama
declined like poetry. The last great dramatists of the old style
were the refined and humorous Oliver Goldsmith and the brilliant
and epigrammatic Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the Whig politician.
But though few great plays were now produced, much pains was
taken to edit and represent the work of Shakespeare and other
older playwrights, and the drama more than held its own as a
popular amusement. The age of David Garrick (1716-1779), the
famous player and manager, marked, perhaps, the most flourishing
period of English acting.
17. Prose was better than poetry. There was now a standard
prose-style, polished, idiomatic, forcible, and exact. Even the
pamphlets and newspapers, which reflected the political
and theological controversies of the time, showed
the spread of a good fashion of writing. The periodical essay,
made popular by Steele and Addison, long retained its vogue,
until, in the hands of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), it lost the
lightness of touch which had been its greatest charm, and gave
place to the novel, the magazine, and the political newspaper. The
greatest men of letters of the time took an eager part in the political
controversies which ushered in the Hanoverian period. Jonathan
Swift, dean of St. Patrick's, DubUn (1667-1745), fiercely upheld
the Tories and the treaty of Utrecht, while against him Addison
wrote his M-ay by his Whig pamphlets to the position of a secre-
tary of state. Swift was the best prose writer of the time. His
laat great work, written before his mind gave way in his lonely
Irish exile, was his OulUvers Travels (1726). The English philo-
sophical tradition which John Locke had first firmly established
in the age of the Revolution, was carried on still further by George
Berkeley, bishop of Cloyne. and by David Hume, a Scotch Tory.
Both Berkeley and Hume were eminent men of letters, besides being
famous philosophers. One of the chief features of the eighteenth
century was the growth of the noxiel out of the old romance, turned
to describe real life. Daniel Defoe's Rohin«on Cruxoe (1719)
prepared the way for the broad and genial works of Henry Fielding,
638 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY [1714-
the sentimental and pathetic writings of Samuel Richardson, the
rough but vigorous painting of manners of Tobias SmoUett,
the quaint humour of Lawrence Sterne, and Oliver Goldsmith's
charming idyll, the Yicar of Wakefield. Samuel Johnson, poet,
essayist, moralist, critic, and writer of an English Dictionary, was
the centre of the literary life of more than one generation so
vividly pictured for us in Boswell's matchless Life of Johnson.
History lost in accuracy and depth what it gained in art in David
Hume's History of England, and combined a scholarship that has
seldom been overthrown with the stateliest, most artificial of styles
in Edmund Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(1776), the one historical work of the age which retains permanent
value. The eighteenth century took little interest in history, and
alone of his age Edmund Burke knew how deep the roots of the
present lie in the past. Burke was not only the wisest of the
political thinkers of the period, but one of the greatest and richest
writers of prose that English literature has ever known.
18. A great change came over English literature after the
middle of the century. The style and subject of poetry equally
changed. The way of writing became more varied
tic^reviva"' ^^^ natural, and bit by bit the bondage of the heroic
couplet was shaken off. Writers again began to revel
ia country life and beautiful scenery, and mountains, hitherto
objects of horror, were described with enthusiasm and sympathy.
Their view of man became enlarged, and they went through the
conventionalities of society down to the elemental passions of the
human heart. Heralded by the revived study of the romantic past,
through the means of such books as Bishop Percy's Beliques of
Ancient English Poetry (1765), and by such precursors as James
Thomson, the poet of the Seasons (1730), the new spirit took
different shapes in the lyrics and satires of Robert Bums, the
Ayrshire farmer ; the delicate humour of William Cowper ; the
realistic pictures of Suffolk village life of George Crabbe ; the strange
prophetic vision of William Blake, and the stiiTing romances
and tales in verse of the Edinburgh lawyer. Sir Walter Scott.
Towards the end of the century it came to a head in the so-
called Lake School, headed by WilKam Wordsworth (1770-1850),
the lofty singer of nature, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a subtle
poet and a mystic thinker. Fear of the French Revolution soon
woke these writers from fervid dreams of a coming era of peace
and truth into sympathy with old ways. And soon the very
bigotry of the reaction drove younger men, and notably George
-r82o.] THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 639
Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824), the greatest poetical force of his
day, into fierce dennnciations of the tyranny of cant and custom.
To this day the verse of the whole civilized world shows clearly
the effects of Byron's spirit. Side by side with him as a bard
of revolution stood Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), the most
musical and imaginative of poets. Along-side them wrote John
Keats (1795-1821), cut off before his rare genius had whoUy
ripened. His career marks the exhaustion of the impulse which
began with Bums and Cowper, and which had now fiUed all Britain
mth singers. Their work showed that the age of aristoci*acy was
nearly over, and ushers in the democratic England, whose faint
beginnings are to be found in the years which follow Waterloo,
Books recohmemded fob the Further Study of the Period
1714-1820
Of the larger works, Stanhope's ffistort/ of Englaixd, 1715-1783 (7 vols.),
careful, but rather dull ; Lecky's interesting though rather discursive History
of England in the Eighteenth Century (8 vols.), which is especially detailed
when dealing with the history of Ireland ; and Massey's History of England
in the Reign of George III, (4 vols.). Suggestive phases of history are
illustrated by Seeley's Expansion of England, and Captain Mahan's Influence
of Sea Power on History. Short books on persons of importance include J.
Morley's Walpole ; F. Harrison's Chatham ; and Lord Ro8eberj''3 Pitt (all in
" Twelve English Statesmen " series) ; Macaulay's Essays on Chatham, Clive,
and Warren Hastings ; Morley's Burke ; Sir C. Wilson's Clive ; Sir A. Lyall's
WatTen Hastings; Sir G. O. Trevelyan's Early Life of C. J. Fox ; G. Hooper's
Wellington (" Men of Action" series) ; and Mahan's Life of Nelson. Sir W.
Napier's History of the Peninsular War is elaborate ; some of his best battle
pictures are extracted in his one-volume Battles and Sieges of the Peninsula;
Hunt's History of England, 1760-1801 ; and Brodrick and Fotheringham's
History of England, 1801-1837 (Longmans' " Political Historj'," vols, x, and
xi.). For the social and economic aspects of historj', see A. Toynbee's In-
dustrial Revolution ; W. Cunningham's Growth of English Industry and
Commerce, vol. ii., book xiii. ; and Social England, vol. v., by various writers.
GENEALOGY OF THE PITTS AND GRENVILLES
Hester, Countess Temple m. Richard Grenville
I I* I
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l^rd Chatham I Earl Temple, prime minister
d. 1779. 1763-1765,
d. 1770.
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carl of Chatham, prime minister Earl Temple, ville, prime minister
general at 1788-1801, d. 1818. 1806-1807,
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BOOK VIII
NATIONALITY AND DEMOCRACY (1820-1901)
CHAPTER I
GEORGE IV. (1820-1830)
Chief Dates :
1820. Accession of George iv.
1822. Canuingites admitted to office.
1827. Death of Canning and battle of Navarino.
1828. Repeal of Test and Corporation Acts.
1829. Catholic Emancipation Act.
1830. Death of George iv.
1. The death of George iii. led only to nominal changes. The
prince regent became Greorge iv. He was vain, selfish, pleasure-
Accession of lo^^g"' ^^^ i*^®- -^o °^® liked or respected him either
George IV., as regent or king. After his accession he made an
1820. attempt to -non popularity by visiting Scotland, Ireland,
and Hanover, and was wonderfidly well received, though his
behaviour, " like a popular candidate on an election trip," disgusted
right-thinking men. His health soon decliaed, and he soon shut
himself up at Windsor and Brighton, a peevish, whimsical, selfish
recluse, with few friends and little influence.
2. In 1795 George had married Caroline of Brunswick, but
they soon quarrelled and were separated, and of late years she had
lived abroad. Their only child, the Princess Charlotte, died in.
1817, so that the next heir to the throne became George's sailor
brother, "WiUiam, duke of Clarence. After George's accession
Caroline came back to England, and demanded recognition as
queen. George, who hated his wife, wished to obtain a divorce
from her, and was stiU sti-ong enough to be able to compel his
reluctant ministers to bring forward a biU in the House of Lords
to dissolve the marriage. The evidence was not creditable to-
642
i820.] GEORGE IV. 643
Caroline, 'but public feeling rose high that so bad a husband as
George should venture to complain of his wife's conduct. The
opposition took up her cause, and Caroline became _, . .
very jjopular. So strong was the sympathy she ex- of Queen
cited that the miuisters barely succeeded in carrying Caroline,
the divorce bill through the Lords, and dared not intro-
duce it into the House of Commons. Before long, however, the
queen lost her hold on the people's goodwill, and next year she died.
The main result of the scandal excited by her trial was to deprive
the king of his last hold over his subjects.
3. The Tory ministry continued as before. Soon after George's
accession a plot was formed by Arthur Thistlewood to murder
the whole cabinet. The conspiracy was called the jj^_ r^t
Cato Street Conspiracy, because Thistlewood and Street
his friends held their meetings in a loft in Cato ^g"^''''^*^'
Street, London. A comrade betrayed their plans,
and Thistlewood and others were executed. PubUo horror
at Thistlewood's dastardly attempt did something to revive the
waning popularity of the government, but the ministers were
divided among themselves, and all the tact of Liverpool, the prime
minister, could not keep the government together. It suffered a
great loss when the brilliant and eloquent George Canning, the
chief of Pitt's personal followers, resigned oflBce rather than support
the bill agaiost Queen Caroline. It finally collapsed when Lord
Londonderry, the ablest of the old Tories, committed suicide in
1822.
4. Londonderry, formerly known as Lord Castlereagh, had
been regarded, not very fairly, as the chief representative of the
reactionary Toryism which had been dominant for j^^ q|j g^^^^
many years. This was the party wliich still lived the new
in constant fear of the French Revolution, and Tories,
opposed aU great changes in the belief that any real reform would
pave the way for revolution. There was, however, a more liberal
section of the Tory party, of whom Canning was tlie most im-
portant. Like Pitt, the Canningites were strongly in favour of
Catholic emancipation, and tliought that the death of the old king
made it easy to raise the Catholic question once more. On many
Bubjeots they held more liberal views than the Whig opj)ositiou,
and they differed mainly from the Whigs because tliey were
opposed to the reform of parliament. In this they wvru less wise
than Pitt, who had favoured parliamentary reform long before the
Whigs had taken it up. The Whigs, however, were weak in
644. GEORGE IV. [1822-
parliament, and not much liked out-of-doors. Their leader was
now Earl Grey, a proud and dignified aristocrat, whose chief merit
was that he had first thoroughly identified his party with the
cause of parliamentary reform. In the House of Commons the
most prominent of the Whigs was Henry Brougham, a vain,
versatile, and pushing lawyer, and Lord John Russell, a younger
son of the duke of Bedford. There was no thought, however, of
admitting the Whigs to office.
5. After Londonderry's death, Liverpool saw that he must
either reorganize his government or resign ; his remedy was
to offer office to the Canningites. Canning became
nlngltes foreign secretary and leader of the House of Commons,
admitted His friend Huskisson was president of the Board of
1822^''^' Trade, and the Marquis Wellesley, Wellington's elder
brother, lord-Heutenant of Ireland. At the same
time Robert Peel, the only rising man of ability among the
old Tories, became home secretary. He was the son of a rich
Lancashire baronet, and represented the new aristocracy which
had made fortunes by trade. Under the influence of these men
a new spirit was given to the government. Between 1822 and
1827 a series of great administrative and legislative changes showed
that the earlier and wiser policy of Pitt had once more taken
possession of the Tory leaders.
6. Canning made his personal influence felt mainly in foreign
poHcy. Since 1815 the kings and emperors who had controlled
Canning's ^^® European settlement at the Congress of "Vienna
foreign had acted together in order to put down revolutionary
policy. Qj. reforming movements. Prominent among these
were the emperors of Austria and Russia and the king of Pi'ussia.
Their league was commonly caUed the Holy Alliance, and they
sought to control all Europe by means of general congresses. Their
policy was very unpopular, and revolt after revolt broke out against
their harsh and despotic rule. In Spain, Portugal, and Naples the
people revolted, and set iip liberal constitutions. The Spanish and
Portuguese colonies in South America rose against the narrow and
oppressive rule of their mother countries, and, in the East, the Greeks
raised an insurrection against the hateful tyranny of the Tui-ks.
7. The despots of the Holy Alliance declared that reforms in
states ought to spring from the kings alone, and they
Aman"'/ ^^^ Austrian troops to restore despotism in Naples,
and a French army to put down the new constitution
in Spain. England at no time approved of these proceedings.
-1824.] GEORGE IV. 645
Even Castlereagh refused to have anything to do with the Holy
Alliance, and protested against foreign intervention in Spain and
Naples, maintaining that each nation ought to manage its own
affairs. But Castlereagh was anxious to be on good terms with
the leading powers of the alliance, and was known to dislike
revolutions. He therefore contented himself with secret protests,
and was denoimced in England for sympathizing with a policy
which he was trying to prevent being carried out. Canning's
policy was not in essence very different from that of Castlereagh.
He made it, however, his business to emphasize the deep gulf
that existed between the attitude of England and that of the Holy
Alliance. Though he took no steps to help the constitutionalists
in Naples and Spain, he publicly emphasized his favourite doctrine
of the non-intervention of one nation in the internal affairs of
another. He had his revenge when he recognized
the freedom of the Spanish colonies in South America. ^^ ^^^e
" I resolved," he declared, " that if France had Spain, Spanish
it should not be Spain with the Indies. I called colonies and
^ ,,■,■,■• the Monroe
the New World into existence to redress the balance doctrine.
of the Old." In helping forward the independence
of the South American states. Canning worked along with the
United States of America, and it was with his approval that
the American president Monroe laid down the famous Monroe
doctrine, that the United States would not allow either North or
South America to serve as fields for European colonization or inter-
vention. When the restored despot of Spain sought to put down
constitutional government in Portugal, Canning resolved to inter-
fere. Afraid of provoking war with England, the Spaniards
withdrew from Portugal, and Canning's vigour secured iMf con-
tinuance of constitutional rule in that country.
8. Canning warmly shared in the widespread sympathy for
the Greeks, who were waging an heroic struggle for freedom
against Turkey. Many prominent Englishmen went canning
to Greece and fought against the Turks, among them and Greek
being the famous poet. Lord Byron, who was carried '"g'f,'^
off by fever in 1824. The Russians were also strongly
in favour of the Greeks, and so, though supporting the Holy
Alliance in the West, they made themselves the accomplices of
rebellion in the East. Many in England declared that Russia's
interest in Greece was due to her wish to extend lier power on the
ruins of the Turkish Empire. They therefore maintained that
the Turks ought to be supported as the best way of checking
646 GEORGE IV. [1825-
Riissian aggrandisement. Canning, however, saw that the hest
way to help the Greeks was to work along with Russia. In 1827
he made a treaty with Nicholas i., who had succeeded Alexander
as tsar in 1825. By 'this treaty England, Russia, and France
pledged themselves to mediate between the Turks and the Greeks,
and insisted upon an immediate truce. The powers declared
that they did not intend to break off their friendship with the
Turks, but instructed their admirals in the Mediterranean to
enforce the armistice. In October, 1827, the Turkish fleet lay
anchored in the Bay of Navarino, on the west coast of the Pelo-
Battle of ponnesus. English, French, and Russian squadrons
Navarino, took up their station ofE Navarino and persuaded the
1827. Turkish commander to accept a truce. Despite this,
the Turks continued to devastate the Peloponnesus with fire and
sword. Thereupon the allied admirals, disgusted at these atrocities,
entered Navarino Bay to insist upon the enforcement of the truce.
Almost by chance the Turks fired on an English ship, and brought
about a general action. In this the Turkish fleet was altogether
destroyed, and the victory made Greek independence possible.
Canning was, however, already in his grave. He had restored
England's reputation abroad as the friend of freedom and national
rights, and had maintained his poKcy of non-intervention against
the combined powers of the Holy Alliance.
9. The changes in home policy brought about by Canning's
preponderance were even greater than the alteration of English
Peel' e- policy abroad. Peel, the home secretary, though an
forms as enemy to all changes in the constitution, was a first-
home rate man of business. He had already made his mark
secpe apy. ^^ passing, in 1819, a law which provided for the
resumption of cash payments by the Bank of England. He now
took up the reform of the criminal law wliich had hitherto been
extraordinarily severe. Men could be hanged for over two hundred
offences, among which were such trifling matters as being found on
the highway with a blackened face, injuring Westminster bridge,
or personating out-patients of Greenwich Hospital. The result was
that juries refused to convict guilty persons when the punishment
of so small a crime was so monstrous. By Peel's efforts laws were
passed which abolished the death penalty for more than a hundred
crimes. Even more important than Peel's legislation was the
honesty and thoroughness with which he carried on the everyday
administration of home affairs. As the result of his wise rule,
the distrust which the poor had long felt for the government
became greatly mitigated.
-i828.] GEORGE IV, 647
10. Huskisson, the president of the Board of Trade, was
deeply versed in all matters of finance and economics. Under his
auspices the duties on many articles were reduced,
and the acts making combination of workmen x>6nal commercial
were repealed, so that trades unions became hence- and flnan-
forth lawful. Huskisson also brought about great ^^ '*®"
changes in the navigation acts, which, since the days
of Charles 11., had insisted that goods imported into England
should be brought in English ships or in ships of the country
to which the goods belonged. Our commercial supremacy was
now so assured that these acts were no longer necessary, and
they had always produced difficulty in practice. Of late years
some foreign countries, including the United States and Prussia,
had refused to allow our ships to trade freely with them, because
England wpuld not permit their ships freedom of commerce with
us. To avoid these troubles, Huskisson carried an act which
allowed the government to make treaties with foreign powers to
admit their ships to our harbours, in return for equal privUegea
for English traders. Tliis was called the policy of reciprocity.
11. Early in 1827 Lord Liverpool was smitten with apoplexy,
and could no longer act as chief minister. It was as much as
his tact could accomplish to keep the Canningites and _ ,
the old Tories together. On his retirement the king ministry
was forced to make Canning prime minister, where- and death,
upon Wellington, Peel, and the old Tories, who had ^ ®^^*
long looked upon Canning with disfavour, threw up their offices.
Canning managed to form a government without them, but died six
months later. He was the most brilliant statesman of his time,
but has been attacked for ambition and want of seriousness. His
flippancy was, however, always in his talk rather than in his mind.
In his later years he nobly redeemed the mistakes of his early
life, and his death removed England's greatest statesman.
12. Canning was succeeded by Lord Qoderich, who was too
weak a man for his post. When news came of the battle of
Navarino. Goderich did not know what to do. _, .
The ministers quarrelled violently with each other, rich, 1827-
and, after a short time, Go<lerich roaigne<l office, in 1828. and
January, 1828. The old Tories then came back to ^^^^^^'
power. The duke of Wellington became ])rime ministries,
minister, and Peel, who was again home secretary, l)e- 1828-1830.
came leader of the House of Commons. Most of the Canningites,
including Huskisson, agreed to continue in office, but, after » few
648 GEORGE IV. [1823-
months, they resigned, so that the old Tories had everything in
their own hands.
13. The Catholic question now came to a crisis. All the
leading politicians, except the high Tories, had long been in f avoni-
The Catholic ^^ Catholic Emancipation, and several bills to give tlie
Association Catholics votes had passed the House of Commons,
and the ij^t had been rejected by the Lords. Since 1823 a
election vigorous movement in its favour had been started in
Ireland. The leader of this was Daniel O'ConneU,
the greatest of Irish agitators, a Catholic of good family, a leader
at the Irish bar, a speaker with wonderful power of stirring the
emotions and ruling the hearts of his people, briUiant and incisive,
though coarse and not over-scrupulous. O'Connell soon became
complete master of Ireland. He formed a Catholic Associatimi,
which at once became a great power. He set his face against aU
crime and outrage, and the agitation was the more impressive
from its orderly character. So formidable did the Catholic Asso-
ciation seem that in 1825 it was dissolved by act of parlia-
ment. But a new society was at once started to do its work,
and the movement went on much as before. Under O'ConneU's
guidance the small Irish voters, who had hitherto always voted for
the candidates supported by the great landlords, began to vote
for men of their own way of thinking. In 1828 O'Connell himself
became a candidate for County Clare against Vesey Fitzgerald,
a popular Irish landlord, and a friend of the Catholic claims. He
was returned with a huge majority, though, as a Catholic, he could
not hold his seat. His election created such excitement in Ireland
that it seemed as if civil war was likely to break out between the
Catholics and Protestants.
14. Since the expulsion of the Canningites the majority of the
government belonged to that section of the Tories which had
Catholic always resisted the Catholic claims. Both Wellington
e^anclpa- and Peel had been conspicuous upholders of the
tion, 1829. existing system. But, though slow to see the necessity
of change, both were open-minded and sensible. The course of
events in Ireland gradually convinced them that even Protestant
ascendency might be upheld at too high a cost. Already, in 1828,
they had allowed a biU to pass for the repeal of the Test and
Corporation Acts, which, though for a century never carried out,
stUl delighted the bigots by their presence in the statute-book.
In 1829 Peel and Wellington brought in a bill to admit the
Catholics to parliament, though they proposed that, as a safeguard.
-1830.] GEORGE IV. 649
the francliise in Ireland should be raised, so as to exclude from
voting the poverty-stricken small farmers who had returned
O'Connell for Clare. The high Tories were bitterly disgusted,
and complained that their leaders had betrayed them. Neverthe-
less, the bUl easily got through parliament, and " the only hope of
the Protestants lay with the king." For a time George blustered,
and declared that he would rather lay his head on the block than
yield. But he had neither courage nor constancy, and quickly
gave way. O'Connell, not allowed to sit for Clare without a fresh
election, was returned without opposition, and took his seat.
Flushed with this triumph, he started a new agitation for the
repeal of the Union.
15. Though forced against his will to carry through Canning's
policy in the matter of Catholic emancipation, "Wellington did his
best to reverse Canning's ideas with regard to foreign welllnK-
affairs. The king's speech lamented the battle of ton's
Navarino as an " untoward event," and spoke of fo'^^fif"
Turkey as an ancient ally. It was impossible now
to put down the Greeks altogether, but Wellington sought to Umit
the Greek state to the Peloponnesus. Russia profited by Eng-
land's weakness to take up the cause of the Christian subjects
of the Turks. In 1829 she went to war with the Turks, and
secured larger though still scanty limits for Greece at the point
of the sword. When Dom Miguel, the absolutist champion in
Portugal, overthrew the constitution and made himself king,
Wellington resolved " that no revolutionary action should come from
England," and took up a neutral attitude. He was friendly with
the bigoted Charles x., who, after his brother Louis xviii.'s death,
became king of France in 1824. He was looked upon as the great
upholder of absolutism throughout all Europe. In strong contrast
to his colleague's action, Peel continued Ids useful Death of
reforms at home. In 1829 he set up a nexc police George IV.,
system, which established the trained and effective '^3"-
police force which we still have. Peel and Wellington were still
in power when G«orge iv. died on June 26, 1830.
CHAPTER II
WILLIAM IV. (1830-1837)
Chief Dates :
1830. Accession of William iv. ; Grey's Whig Ministry.
1832. The Reform Act.
1833. Slavery abolished.
1835. Municipal Corporations Reform Act.
1837. Death of William iv.
] . The two chief political forces of the nineteenth century were
democracy and nationality. The former began with the French
Democracy Revolution, and the latter hecame strong when the
and nations of Europe rose in revolt against Napoleon's
nationality, attempt to establish universal monarchy. The reaction
after 1815 proved nearly fatal to both, and the despots of the Holy
Alliance strove to put down nationality and democracy as fatal to
order, property, monarchy, and religion. England never sympathized
altogether with this reactionary policy, though she allied herself
with its exponents, and for long protested against it with little
energy. It was the work of Canning to reassert the ideal of
nationality, while even Tories like Peel and Wellington showed
their appreciation of the force of democracy by their surrender on
the Catholic question. Thus the reign of George iv. marked the
first faint breaking away of Britain from the old tradition, and the
beginnings of the movements Which gathered increasing force in
the times that we have still to traverse.
2. Even on the continent the wave of reaction was coming to an
end. The liberals, as the enemies of the system of the restored
despots were called, were now strong enough to make
tinental' their influence felt, and the year 1830 was a year of
revolutions revolution all over the "West. It witnessed the over-
of 1830. throw of Charles x., the bigoted king of France, and
the setting up in his place of a constitutional monarch of the
English pattern in Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans, and now king
of the French. It saw Germany and Italy make fresh though futile
650
i
1830.] WILLIAM IV. 65 1
attempts to shake off obedience to their j)etty monarchs. It was
famous for the revolt of the Catholics of the Southern Netherlands
from the Protestant Dutch, with whom the Congress of Vienna
had united them. Henceforth the king of the Netherlands ruled
over the north only, while the south, the old Austrian Netherlands,
became the constitutional kingdom of Belgium, under the rule of
Leopold of Saxony-Coburg, the widower of the Princess Charlotte.
3. In Britain the liberal movement on the continent took the
form of an agitation in favour of parliamentary reform. Welling-
ton set his face against it, and declared that our system _ n jrita-
of election was so perfect that if he had to invent a tlon for
new one he could not have devised a scheme better parlla-
able to fulfil its purpose. Thus he irritated the refopm.
reformers after having already alienated the old Tories
by his change of front on the Catholic question. The completeness
of his isolation was seen when the general election which followed
George iv.'s death destroyed his majority and compelled him to
send in his resigTiation.
4. WiUiam iv., the new king, was a very ordinary person. He
was eccentric in language and conduct, and was so excited at being
a king that he behaved in a very strange fashion. He •^ijjjan, jy
was, however, good-natured, kind-hearted, and well- and the Grey
meaning, and his conduct was generally straight- ministry,
forward and honourable, if not always discreet or
far-seeing. His affability and simplicity made him popular, and he
was thought to be a reformer. When the WeUington-Peel ministry
fell, WUUam gave the office of prime minister to Earl Grey, the
Whig leader, who formed a strong reforming ministry from the
Whigs and the Canningites. Brougham became chancellor and a
baron, while Lord Althorp, son of Lord Sjwncer, led the House of
Commons with great tact and good sense. The Canningites, who
had now lost their master's dread of parliamentary reform, mustered
strongly. Among them were the foreign secretary. Viscount
Palmerston, an Irish peer, and Lord Melbourne, both of whom
afterwards became chief ministers. Then when, after twenty-three
years of exclusion from power, the Whigs again entered office, they
absorbed into their body the best element among their Tory rivals.
The new ministry at once prepared a bill for reform of parliament.
6. Since the days of the two Pitts it had been felt by the wisest
Englishmen that the traditional method of choosing members of
parliament was unsatisfactory. The system of election and the dis-
tribution of members had not been altered for hnndreds of years.
652 WILLIAM IV. [1830-
and the great changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution,
and the growth of the factory districts in the north, had shown
conclusively the small extent to which the House of
for par- Commons represented the people. Each county of
liamentary England and Ireland returned only two members.
The greatest and richest shires, like Yorkshire or
Lancashire, had no more representation than Rutland or Westmor-
land. Many great towns, such as Manchester, Sheffield. Leeds, and
Birmingham, returned no members at aU, while in London the
populous new suburbs had no voice in parliament, electoral rights
being limited to those dwelling within the narrow limits of the
cities of London and Westminster and the borough of South wark.
On the other hand, there were many towns, called rotten boroughs,
which returned two members apiece, though they had hardly any
inhabitants or electors. Conspicuous among these places were
Gatton in Surrey, which was a gentleman's estate in a park, and
Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, an ancient fortress on a hiU, deserted
since the thirteenth century for the new Salisbury which had
grown up in the adjoining valley of the Avon. If things were
not quite so bad in Ireland, it was because the Act of Union
had given an opportunity of destroying many of the smallest Irish
boroughs, while in Scotland the state of affairs was far worse than in
England. Moreover, very few persons had votes at elections. In
the counties only the freeholders could exercise the franchise, while
many borough members were chosen by the town councils, which
were close corporations filled up when vacancies arose by the voices
of the surviving members. In Scotland there was a mere handful
of persons qualified to vote for any constituency. The result of all
tliis was that the House of Commons was controlled by the great
landliolders. This system not only excited the indignation of the
poor ; the rich manufacturers and merchants of the new manu-
facturing districts were particularly badly represented, and were
indignant that their opinion should count for so much less than
that of the landed classes.
6. The French Revolution stayed, as we have seen, the reform
agitation for a time, though the extreme party, called Radicals,
never desisted in their demand for a thorough change
movement i^. the representative system. Under G-eorge iv. the
under cry for reform was taken up by the Whigs in parlia-
Geopge IV. j^j^^^^ ^^^^ ^ few feeble steps taken towards redressing
some of the worst grievances. Two small boroughs were dis-
franchised for notorious corruption, but an effort made to transfer
-1832.] WILLIAM IV. 653
their seats to Leeds and Birmingham was defeated by the Tories
insisting that they should go to increase the number of county
members. Even before the question become important in parlia-
ment, it excited much strong feeling in the country. Reformers
Unions, of which that at Birmingham was the most famous, were
established ; and the agitation they stirred up affected even the
existing constituencies, and helped to create the reforming majority
which floated G-rey into power.
7. In March, 1831, Lord John B>u88ell, a member of the Grey
ministry, laid a Refoi'm Bill before the Commons. It passed its
second reading by only one vote, and came to grief in __
committee. Parliament was dissolved, and returned struggle
such a strong majority of reformers that Russell had ^<"* reform,
no further difficulty in carrying his bill through the
House of Commons. However, in October, 1831, a second bill
was rejected by the House of Lords. Thereupon riots broke out
all over the country, which frightened the Lords into passing the
second reading of a third biU in May, 1832, by a small majority.
This did not, however, settle the matter, for the Lords in
committee passed a resolution postponing the consideration of
the disfranchising clauses. Regarding this as fatal to the bill,
Grey asked William iv. to create enough new peers to secure its
passing unaltered through the Lords, and, on the king's refusal,
the ministry resigned office. Wellington boldly attempted to form
another government, though the excitement out-of-doors was now
terrible, and there was talk of stopping all supplies until the bill
was passed. Wellington at last saw that reform was inevitable,
like Catholic emancipation, and that he could not longer resist the
people's will. As a soldier he did not care to hold an untenable
position. He gave up his attempt to form a ministry, and persuaded
80 many of his followers to withdraw from the House of Lords that
the bill went through on June 4. 1832, by a considerable majority.
8. By the Befarm Act of 1832 all boroughs containing less than
2000 inhabitants were entirely disfranchised, while boroughs with
between 2000 and 4000 inhabitants were cut down to
one member. The seats thus set free were given to ^® "/^saS
the larger counties, whicli were broken up into two or
even thi*ee divisions, and to the unrepresented towns, including
Manchester, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, and several other large
places, including new London boronglis, all of wliich had hence-
forth two members each. Other smaller, but still considerable,
places each returned one member. The county franchise was
654 WILLIAM IV. [1833-
enlarged by adding- copyholders, leaseholders, and £50 tenants at
"will to the freeholders, while the borough franchise was made
uniform for the first time, and votes given to those occupying
houses of £10 rateable value. The Tories rightly described the
act as a revolution, though it was a long time before its full
effects were felt. It dethroned the landed aristocracy, which since
1688 had controlled the country, and transferred the balance of
power to the middle classes, such as the farmers and shopkeepers.
Few workiag-men got votes, so that the bUl did not bring ia
democracy, though it prepared the way for it.
9. Ths first reformed parliament met early in 1833, and was
anxious to make more changes. The Tories were few in number,
Irish Repeal ^^^ ^^ ministry had an enormous majority, though
and the some of its nominal supporters were discontented
1 e ap. Jiadicals, who disliked the narrowness and aristocratic
bias of the Whigs, and nearly half the Irish members were Repealers,
or followers of O'ConneU. They were, however, all in agreement
with the ministers in supplementing the Reform Act by other new
laws, though there were fierce disputes as to how far each measure
should go. There was much trouble in Ireland where O'ConneU's
repeal agitation was complicated by what was called the Tithe War.
This was caused by the refusal of the Catholic peasants to pay any
longer for the support of the Protestant Church, and filled all
Ireland with outrages. The government put down disorder with
a strong hand, cut down some of the worst abuses in the Irish Church,
and finally, passed an Irish Tithe Commutation Act, which turned
the tithe of a tenth of the produce into a fixed rent-charge. Even
earlier than that, a new law commuted English tithes also into
a rent-charge fixed by the price of corn.
10. The reforming parliament was strongly opposed to slavery,
and in 1833 passed the Emancipation Act, which set free all slaves
Other ^ ^^® British Empire, and awarded the planters
reforms, £20,000,000 as compensation. In 1834 it passed the
1832-1835. 2i^eijo Poor Law, which put an end to the degrading
system of doles from the parish in aid of wages, and improved the
administration of the poor law by establishing unions of several
parishes governed by popularly elected guardians of the poor. In
the long run, this measure probably did more to improve the
condition of the people than any other single law of the time, but
at first the change caused much hardship to those who had acquired
the habit of looking to the rates for support. In 1835 a further
great change was made by the Municipal Corporations Reform Act,
-i834.] WILLIAM IV. 655
which did for the local parliaments of the boroughs what the
Beform BUI had done for the jmrliament of Westminster. Up to
now corx)orations had been mostly self-appointed, and were often
scandalously corrupt. They were now superseded by town councils
chosen by the people, except that a third of them consisted of
aldermen, elected, like the mayor, by the councillors themselves.
11. Foreign i)olicy during these years was controlled by Pabner-
ston, who would not suffer the least interference from his colleagues.
A disciple of Canning, Palmerston broke with the p_i___ _
traditions of Wellington, though in his zeal for carry- ton's
ing out his ends he sometimes lost sight of Canning's foreigrn
doctrine of non-intervention. Whenever he interfered,
however, it was on the side of nationality and liberty. Thus he joined
with Louis Philippe of Prance in winning the freedom of Belgium,
helped the constitutional queen of Portugal to win a final triumph
over her imcle, Dom Miguel, and in similar fashion backed up
Queen Isabella of Spain, the young daughter and successor of King
Ferdinand, who had to fight for her throne against her iincle, Don
Carlos, who claimed the inheritance as the nearest male heir, and
aimed at setting up a despotism. Palmerston was less successful
in the Eaat, where the principles of the Holy Alliance were still in
the ascendency.
12. After a few years the energy of the reforming government
wore itself out. It was never successful in administration, and
failed altogether in finance. In the cabinet the Radicals _^ „ ._
quarrelled with the aristocratic Whigs, while some of bourne
the more conservative ministers resigned in disgust, ministry,
because they thought that some of Grey's proposals
went too far. In 1834 Lord Grey left office, and Lord Melbourne
became prime minister. He was learned, clever, and liberal-
minded, but was wanting in seriousness, resolution, and firmness.
His chief object was to keep his party together, and maintw'n it in
place against the ever-rising tide of opposition.
13. As the Whigs lost ground, tlie Tories once more became
powerful. Old Toryism of tlie type of Castlereagh and Wellington
was killed by the Reform Act, but Peel (Sir Robert .
since 1830) was still to be reckoned with. Distru.'ited the Con-
by his followers because of the part he took in emanci- servatlve
j)ating the Roman Catholics, Peel gradually won back P*''''^*
their allegiance by quaUties that raised him head and shoulders
above every otlier member of the House of Commons. His cold
manner, shyness, and want of enthusiasm prevented him from
656 WILLIAM IV. [1837.
being personally popular, but his honesty and public spirit, his tact,
promptitude, and judgment, and his deep insight into public
opinion, won him universal respect. Sensible men, tired of the
weakness and narrowness of the Wliigs, looked up to him with ever
increasing attention. Peel knew that the British middle classes
were no revolutionists, and set about forming a new party adapted
to the new state of things. He offered a programme of good
government, sound finance, moderate reform, and the preservation
of the existing constitution in Church and state. Dropping the
discredited name of Tory, his followers called themselves Conserva-
tives. An enemy bitterly described them as " Tory men with Whig
measures," but their policy soon became popular with the new
constituencies. Moreover, William iv. was altogether tired of
the Whigs. In November, 1834, he suddenly dismissed Melbourne
from office, and called upon Peel to form a new ministry. Peel
boldly accepted the task, and, as he was in a hopeless minority in
the House of Commons, he called together a new parliament. The
Death of Conservatives gained enormously at the elections, but
William IV., not enough to enable them to retain their places.
1837. Accordingly Peel was forced to resign in Api-il, 1835.
Melbourne and the Whigs came back to office, and remained in
place rather than in power tiU the old king's death in June, 1837.
CHAPTER III.
VICTORIA— PEEL AND PALMERSTON
(1837-1865)
Chief Dates :
1837. Accession of Victoria.
1839. Penny Postage introduced.
1841. Peel's Ministr>%
1846. Repeal of the Com Laws ; Rassell's Ministry.
1847. The Irish famine.
1848. Revolutions in Europe ; failure of the Chartists.
1852. Derby-Disraeli Ministry.
1853. Aberdeen Coalition Ministry.
1854. Outbreak of Crimean War.
1855. Palmerston's Ministry.
1856. Peace of Paris.
1857. Chinese War.
1859. Palmerston's second ministry.
1861. American Civil War.
1865. Death of Palmerston.
1. As William iv. and Queen Adelaide left no children, the throne
devolved on their niece Victoria, the only child of Edward, duke of
Kent, and his wife, Victoria of Saxony- Coburfr, sister connratlon
of Leopold, king- of the Belgians. An immediate result of England
of the accession of a queen to the English throne was *"**
the separation of the throne of Hanover from that
of the United Kingdom. As women were not eligible to reign in
Hanover, Ernest, duke of Cumberland, the most unpopular of
George iii.'s sons, became king of that country, which henceforth
pursued s separate course of history until its absorption in Prussia
in 1866.
2. The new queen was only eighteen years old, and had been
brought up so quietly by her mother that few |>eople .
knew much about her. She showed from the ftrst Victoria
great calmness and self-possession as well as rare *"•* Prince
courage and discretion. At first she depended very
much upon Lord Melbourne, who took the utmost pains to instruct
657 2 V
658 • VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON [1837-
her in politics. But Melbourne was not a strong minister, and
there was some danger lest Ms mipojyularity should be extended to
the mistress who trusted him. Even if Melbourne had been better
fitted for this work, there were grave inconveniences in the queen
being advised by the leader of one, of the two rival parties in the
state. Luckily this was removed when Victoria married, in 1840,
her first cousin, Albert, duke of Saxony-Coburg Gotha. Albert was
called the Frince Consort, and though even younger than the
queen, proved from the first a wise, prudent, and unselfish adviser,
honestly and modestly striving to do his duty, while keeping in the
backgroujid to avoid jealousy. Stiff in liis ways, and German
rather than English in character, he was not very popiilar at first,
but the more he was known the better he was liked. Himself
learning much from Melbourne, he saved the queen from too great
dei)endence on a faUiug ministry.
3. Prince Albert and the queen worked in absolute agreement
with each other. He taught her that " if monarchy was to rise ia
The haneed P*^P^^^^ty, it was only by the monarch living a good
conception life, and keeping quite aloof from party." With
of the work great tact he brought the monarchy into touch with
apchy and ^^® state of things brought about by the Reform Bill.
House of He did for the crown what Wellington did for the
Lords. House of Lords. Just as the duke saw that the
Lords must give up setting themselves against the national will
strongly expressed, so did the prince see that the crown could no
longer exercise those legal rights for which George iii. had fought
so manfully. Like the Lords, the crown now became a checking
and regulating rather than a moving force. It remained as the
symbol of the unity of the nation and the empire, and did good
work in tempering the evils of absolute party government. Though
most of the royal prerogatives which survived wei*e henceforward
carried out by ministers, the royal influence continued considerable
in every department of the state. At no time during her long reign
did Victoria hesitate to take up a strong line of her own. The
times were critical, and the condition of politics changed rapidly.
The tendencies towards nationality and democracy, of which we
have spoken, exercised a steadily increasing force. The effects
of the Reform Bill were gradually worked out, and two other
reform acts made the government more and more dependent upon
the people, untU at last nearly every male had a voice in the
government of the country. It is in no small measure due to the
wisdom of Prince Albert and the devotion of the queen that
-i839.] VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON 659
the monarchy became more popular and useful than it had been for
a long time.
4. In the early years of Victoria's reign the state of the country
was unsatisfactory. Ireland was still demanding the repeal of the
Union. The Whig government would not agree 'to o « u
this, but was obliged to conciliate O'Connell and his and
followers, since it required their votes in the Com- Chartism,
mons to keep the ministry in office. Some substantial improve-
ments were effected in the state of Ireland, notably by passing an
Irish poor law and by the abandonment of the worst of the
traditions of the old Protestant and landlord ascendency party.
So far was Irish agitation stayed that the outlook in England
became almost more alarming tlian in Ireland. Working-men
found that they were no better off after the Heform Bill than
before it. Wages were low, and the price of bread was kept very
high by the com law, which prevented wheat being brought into
the country because of the heavy duty imposed upon it. Popular
discontent found its expression in the plans of the brilliant
Welshman, Robert Owen, to reorganize society on the basis of
Socialism, and came to a head in the Chartist Movement. This
began in 1838, when Feargus O'Connor, a boisterous Irishman,
started an agitation for what was called the people's charter,
which laid down five points for which the Chartists were to
agitate. These were universal suffrage, vote by ballot, annual
parliaments, the abolition of the property qualification for mem-
bers of parliament, and the payment of members. In 1839, the
extreme Chartists, called the Physical Force Party, drilled their
followers, held great meetings, and organized riots. The most
formidable of these was at Newport, in Monmouthsliire, but it was
suppressed without great difficulty. Before long the alarm which
such acts of violence caused, and the divisions among tlie Chartists
themselves, stayed the progress of the movement. For many years
the Chartists were looked upon with great alarm, though most of
the things they asked for have since been quietly granted.
5. In distant parts of tlie empire there were almost as many
troubles as at home. There was a dangerous war in India with
the amir of Afghanistan. In Canada there was Melbourne's
civil war between the English and French settlers, ministry,
MellH>urne had a difficult task in dealing with so "
much discontent. Weak as his govumment wiia, it effoote<l some
important reforms. Conspicuous among these was the introduction
of Penny Postage within the British islands, a measure adopted in
66o VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON [1839-
1839 at the suggestion of Rowland Hill. In the same year, how-
ever, he saw his majority reduced to five votes, and gave up office.
Peel refused to form a ministry unless the Whig ladies in the
queen's household went out along with their husbands. The queen
was very indignant at this, and restored the Whigs to power.
The Con- "^^^ ^^° more years her favour alone kept Melbourne
servative in place. In 1841 there was a general election, which
1*841^*°" °^ gave the Conservatives a majority of ninety. After
this royal favour was useless to Melbourne, and Peel
became prime minister. He formed a strong government, which
remained in office until 1846. Though the queen received him
very unwillingly, she soon reconciled herself to her new advisers.
It was the first sign that the monarchy was rising above party.
6. Both at home and abroad Peel's cabinet aimed at peace and
conciliation. Palmerston, Melbourne's foreign secretary, had gene-
rally managed to get his own way in foreign affairs,
policy of ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ taken up such a high line that he had more
the Peel than once brought England to the verge of war. In
1841-1846 particular, Palmerston had quarrelled with France in
1840, becaiise he had resented the efforts of Louis
Philippe to establish French influence in Egypt, and to encourage
the warlike pasha of Egypt to conquer Syria from the Turks.
Not only England, but Russia, Austria, and Prussia were alarmed
at this aggression of the French. Accordingly, the four powers
formed, in 1840, a Quadruple Alliance, which checkmated the plana
of the French, and restored Syria to the Turks. Palmerston
believed that the Turks were capable of reforming their govern-
ment and making Turkey a civUized state. His triumph gaA'e the
Turks time to show what they could do, but left France irritated
and hostile to England. Lord Aberdeen, Peel's foreign minister,
Tvas much more anxious for peace than Palmerston. He restored
friendly relations with France, and the good understanding between
the two powers was increased by Victoria and Louis Philippe
paying visits to each other. The friendship of the two countries
was not, however, very deep, and Palmerston's suspicions of
Louis Philippe were justified when fresh disputes arose on two
occasions, in 1844 and 1846. Thus within six years England and
France were thrice brought to the verge of war. Aberdeen's
pacific policy was even more successful in determining our relations
with the Unitsd States. In 1842 he made a treaty which settled
the boundary between Canada and the state of Maine. A new
boundary question, however, rose at once in the extreme north-
-1846.] VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON 66 1
west. For a time the uncompromising attitude of the Americans
threatened war, but Aberdeen managed to renew negotiations, and
the line between the American and British territories on the
Pacific was settled by treaty in 1846.
7. After the fall of the Whigs, O'Connell revived the repeal
agitation. His efPorts were strengthened by a new party which
arose in Ireland in 1842. It was called the Young
Ireland party, and was headed by a band of youthful jpL^ond
enthusiasts who sought to revive the memories of
1798 and obtain repeal by force. Though wanting in balance and
sound sense, the eloquence and passion of the Young Ireland
leaders set all Ireland aglow. Though O'Connell was alarmed at
their rashness, and discouraged their talk about rebellion, their
influence revived the somewhat langTiishing agitation for repeal.
Monster meetings were held all over Ireland, of which the most
famous was at Tara, the old home of the Irish kings, where
O'Connell prophesied to a vast throng that a year would see the
Irish parliament restored to Dublin. At last the government took
the alarm, stopped the meetings, and arrested O'Connell. In 1844
the Liberator, as O'Connell was called, was condemned for con-
spiracy. Though the Lords reversed the sentence, O'Connell
never recovered the blow inflicted on his prestige. Three years
later he died on his way to Home on a pilgrimage.
8. Peel saw that tlie constant disturbances in Ireland shewed
that something was radically wrong. He appointed a commission
of inquiry, at the head of which was Lord Devon. i» i 1 h
The report of this Devon Commission showed that the policy,
land question was at the bottom of Irish grievances,
and, by laying bare the condition of the peasants, and the scandals
of the land system, marked the first effort of England to probe
the sotirces of Iri.sh discontent. Peel also sought to lessen the
grievances of the Catholics by increasing the state grant to
Maynooth College, where the Catholic clergy were educated,
and by establishing Queen's Colleges at Belfast, Cork, and
Galway, where tlie Catholic and Protestant youth of Ireland
might receive, side by side, a secular education. The Maynooth
grant lost Peel the support of the more bigoted Protestants, and
Catholics and Protestants joined in denouncing the queen's
colleges as godless. Witli all liis wish to do right. Peel was
too stiff and too English to understand the real needs of Ireland.
9. Britain was still unrestful. In 184iJ the Scottisli Churclj
was burst asunder by the secession of the Free Church, and in
662 VICTORIA— PEEL AND PALMERSTON [1S39-
1845 came the crisis of the new Hig-h Chm-ch movement in
England, when John Henry Newman, its leader, became a Roman
The corn Catholic. The Chartists again became active, and
laws and there was still so much distress and discontent in
popular ^j^0 country that they had a large following. One
of the great sources of distress was the high
price of bread wliich followed from the corn laws. Every
year the popidation of England increased, owing to the growth
of manufactures. It became yearly more impossible to feed the
people with English corn alone, but the heavy duties imposed on
foreign corn only allowed it to be brought into England when the
price of wheat was very high. The consequence was that whether
the harvest was good or bad the poor man had to pay heavily for
the bread that he ate. This state of things was kept up in the
interest of the landlords and farmers, who reaped a rich harvest at
the price of the nation at large. So strong was the landed interest
in parliament that neither Whigs nor Tories were willing to
repeal the corn laws. Melbourne had done nothing to alter the
bread tax while he was in power, but, on going out of office, had
pledged his party to the policy of superseding the law by a
moderate fixed duty on corn. Even this had alarmed the land-
lords, and one element in giving Peel his great majority in 1841
had been the conviction of the landed interests, that if the corn
laws were reduced or repealed, they wotild be ruined. Thus the
Tory party was even more j)ledged to a policy of protection than
the Whigs had. been.
10. In 1839, some north-coTintry manufacturers had met in
Manchester, and started the Anti-Corn-Law League, which
The Anti- demanded the total and immediate repeal of all
Corn-Law taxes on corn. Its leaders were Richard Cobden,
Vr^q"^' ^ Manchester calico-printer, of great earnestness,
attractiveness, and power of persuasion, and John
Bright, an eloquent Quaker manufacturer from Rochdale. The
league at once began a new agitation. Meetings were held,
pamphlets circulated, and large sums of money raised to carry
on the propaganda. Gradually the league convinced many people
that it was more important to give many men cheap bread than to
keep up the artificial prosperity of a single class of the nation.
11. The greatest work of the league was the conversion of Peel
himself. He was, above all things, a practical man, an administrator,
and a financier. In the earlier years of his government he had
been especially successful in improving the state of trade, and putting
-1846.] VICTORIA— PEEL AND PALMERSTON 663
the national credit and finances into a creditable condition. Almost
without knowing it, his financial reforms led Peel, as they had
led Hnskisson, in the direction of free trade. He
had strong sympathies with the manufacturing f^^'f"^-
class, from which he had sprung, and wliich was
now decidedly against the corn laws. But his party was not
with him. The landed interests thought their prosperity bound
up with protection, and wished to keep up the taxes which made
it hard for foreigners to compete with them. They soon began
to murmur against Peel's free-trade budgets, and at last found a
spokesman in Benjamin Disraeli, a brilliant and eccentric novelist
of Jewish origin, who had made himself conspicuous as the leader
of the fantastic Young England party, which had sought for some
years to revire old-fashioned and romantic notions. Disraeli was
not taken seriously, and Peel thoroughly distrusted and offended
him. As a result, Disraeli declared in parliament " that protection
was in the same condition as Protestantism in 1828," and held Peel
to scorn for " catching the Whigs bathing and running away with
their clothes."
12. In 1845 the partial failure of the Irish potato crop brought
matters to a crisis. Since the Union the population of Ireland
had grown enormously, though there was no corre- ^^ _ „
, . ..,.,,. —,, The failure
sponiung expansion in her industries. There were now of the Irish
more inhabitants of Ireland than the country would potato crop,
feed, and the land laws made the people at the mercy
of their landlords. In a large part of Ireland the soil was tilled
by small farmers, who paid such high rents that they had very
little left to live upon. They were, therefore, compelled to eat the
cheapest possible food, and for this reason the greater part of the
Irish peasantry subsisted almost entirely upon potatoes. A disease
now broke out which made potatoes unfit for human consumption.
The poor were plunged into great distress, and could only be kept
from starvation by a large importation of com.
13. To bring in foreign grain was impossible so long as the
com law remained in operation. Accordingly Peel took the
decisive step of telling his cabinet that the corn law -^q repeal
must be relaxed forthwith to fee<l the starring Irish, of the corn
and that when once tliis was done, no minister could **''
over venture to bring it back again. Aft«>r some hesifation. a large
section of the cabinet refused to support his proposal to abolish the
bread tax, whereupon Peel resigned. Lord Jolin Ru.«sell. the
Whig leader, who had recently abandoned the doctrine of a
664 VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON [1846-
moderate fixed duty, and now advocated total repeal, failed to
form a ministiy, and then Peel resumed office. In January,
1846, he proposed to reduce the duty on corn to a nominal amount.
The result was a break-up of the Conservative party. The greater
part of it, henceforth known as the Protectionists, rose in open
revolt against Peel, under Lord George Bentinck, a shrewd, hard,
racing man, who hated Peel, and Benjamin Disraeli, who denounced
Peel's change of front with pitiless cruelty. Peel could only carry
the repeal of the bread tax with the helj) of the votes
\fl°^ ^®®'' of the Whigs. A Httle later the Protectionists had
their revenge. Peel brought in a Coercion Bill to
put down tiisorder in Ireland, and the Protectionists joined with
the Whigs in defeating it. Peel at once resigned. His great
merits were his honesty and straightforwardness. Though he
seldom took a broad and far-seeing view of a question, he always
kept his mind oi^en to facts, and whenever he saw that a thing
was right, he declared for it. The reason which made him a bad
party man made him a good practical statesman.
14. For the next twenty years there were three parties in
English politics. The smallest and least popular, but the ablest
of these, was the little band of Peel's personal
Ppo-'*^^' followers, who followed him in Ids change of front
teetionists, in 1846. They were called the Peelites, and were
Liberals. led, after Peel's sudden death in 1850, by Lord
Radicals. Aberdeen. The most remarkable of the party was,
however, William Ewart Gladstone, the son of a
Liverpool merchant, whose ability, eloquence, and high character
had already marked him out for a great career. Next came the
Protectionists, under Bentinck and Disraeli, who were joined by
the vigorous and energetic Lord Stanley, who deserted Peel in
1845. The disunion of the Conservatives gave their opponents a
stronger position in the House of Commons than the two parties
combined. They were now more often called Liberals, from a
word borrowed from continental politics, which suggested a
broader and more democratic policy than the name Whig. But
the Liberals were almost as much divided as the Consei-vatives.
The ties of party sat very loosely on the Radicals and the Irish
members. Among the former must be included the Manchester
school, under Bright and Cobden, who, with much zeal for reform,
honest indifference to clique, and special knowledge of trading
questions, were ignorant and careless of foreign policy, and tied
down by nan-ow notions of the business of the state, and by
-1847.1 VICTORIA — FEEL AND PALMERSTON 665
middle-class prejudices, that made them oppose many measures for
the welfare of the people. Despite all these drawbacks, the
Liberals were nearly always in power, and only yielded up office
by reason of their own divisions.
15. After Peel's fall, the prime ministership passed to Lord John
Russell, a dexterous tactician and a consistent Whi|C^, who had no
great claim to the higher merits of statesmanship. His jj^g Russell
influence was overshadowed by the dominating person- ministry,
ality of Pahnerston, who resumed his post at the 1846-1852.
foreign office, where he gained for the government most of the
credit which it won. The bad feeling between these two weakened
the ministry, which, however, remained in place until 1852.
16. The first concern of the new government was Ireland,
where the repeal of the corn laws had done little to remedy the
distress produced by the failure of the potato crop.
In 1846 the potato disease was much worse than in famine* and
1845, and a terrible famine fell upon the country, its con-
Soon the people were dying wholesale from want of ftAfl^fm*
food and from fevers caused by bad and insufficient
nourishment. England was deeply moved by the tale of Irish
suffering, but the government was ignorant and timid, and was
afraid of the cry of the Radicals that state interference with the
food supply was an intrusion upon the work of the traders and
airainst the doctrines of political economy. They therefore started
relief works and paid the workers, but they left the food supply to
the ordinary traders, who made disgraceful fortunes by speculating
in Indian meal and flour. It was not until 1847 that the ministers
were taught by experience that the only way to keep the Irish alive
was to distribute food to them. Gradually the harvests improved,
but the condition of Ireland still remained very bad. Many land-
lords were almost as unprosperous as their dependants. In their
eagerness to make all they could out of their estates, they saw
clearly that the system of small farms no longer paid them. They
therefore turned out the poor tenants, and combined several little
holdings into one large farm. The result of these clearances and
evictions was an enormous and continued emigration, which in fifty
years cut down the population of Ireland from eight millions to
five. The emigrants to America and the large towns of Britain
could not but hand down to their cliildren the fiercest hatred of the
English name. This much good flowed from the Irish famine, tliat
it put an end to the cottier system, which stood in the way of all real
improvements. Save in the extreme west, where small holdings
666 VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON [1848-
lingered on, those who were left in Irehind slowly became somewhat
more prosperous. Yet the bringing- in of English ways and English
capital made them as bitter as ever against the political system of
the dominant country.
17. In 1848 a general revolutionary movement upset half the
thrones of Europe. Louis Philippe was driven from France and a
The year of republic set iip. There were revolutions in nearly
revolutions, every state of Grermany and Italy, in which countries
the national movement for winning unity under a
single popular government took a strengthened hold upon the
people. The Italians and Hungarians revolted against Austria ;
the Germans assembled a national parliament at Frankfort.
18. The revolutionary wave extended even to the United
Kingdom. In England Chartism revived, while in Ireland the
Young Ireland party sought to raise a rebellion. In
and Young 1848 the Chartists summoned a great meeting on
Ireland, Kennington Common, in the south of London, and
the government feared a riot. Yery few people
appeared, and the Chartist leader, Feargus O'Connor, lost heart
and did nothing. A little later an enormous petition was sent in
by the Chartists to parliament, but on examination the signatures
proved largely fictitious. This double failure ovex'whelmed them with
ridicule, and the movement soon collapsed altogether, for improved
work and higher wages took the worst sting from the discontent
which animated them. Equally complete was the failure of Young
Ireland. Smith O'Brien, their chief, made a feeble attempt at a
rising, but was taken prisoner in a cabbage garden, whereupon the
movement died out. Thus Britain weathered the storm which
threatened so many foreign states. In 1851 it celebrated the return
of peace and prosperity by holding in Hyde Park the first Great
Exhibition of the industrial products of aU nations. This was
largely owing to the influence of the prince consort.
19. When the troubles of 1848 broke out abroad, Palmerston
looked upon the constitutional and national movements with such
p . favour that men of the old school condemned him
ston's as a firebrand and a revolutionary. As time went
foreign qh^ however, the liberal agitation became a revo-
lutionary one. There was street fighting in half the
capitals of Euroj)e. Reaction followed revolution, and in the result
the constitutional movement seemed undone. This was notably the
case in France, where Louis Napoleon, a nephew of Napoleon the
Great, became elected president of the French Republic only to
1852.] VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON 667
overthrow it. In its stead he made himself Napoleon iii., Emperor
of the French, and souf^ht with indifferent success to copy the
methods of his uncle. Henceforth France was ruled by a military
despotism controlled by fortune-hunters and adventurers.
20. Palmerston was so disgTisted with revolutions ending" in
anarchy that he privately expressed the fullest approval of Louis
Napoleon's hig-h-handed subversion of the French
Republic. He had not consulted either the queen or Palmer ston,
the cabinet, and both were annoyed at the easy way 1851, and
in which he pledg-ed them to approve of perjury and jgg^ '
violence. Already he had g-iven much offence to crown
and coUeagTies, and the queen had previously drawn up a memoran-
dum insisting that he should always state what he proposed to do,
and not alter measures after she had given them her sanction. After
this fresh indiscretion he was dismissed from office. He bitterly
complained that Russell had given way to the queen and the prince,
and eagerly sought for an opportunity of being revenged upon him.
His chance came in February, 1852, when Russell sought to allay
the fear of invasion which had followed from the establishment of
another Napoleon in France by bringing in a bill to strengthen the
militia. Many details of the proposal aroused dislike, and Palmer-
ston, seeing in the Ul will these excited a chance for revenge, carried
an amendment against the ministers, and forced them to resign.
21. Palmerston was not strong enough to form a government
himself. His triumph brought into power the Protectionists, and
Stanley, now by his father's death earl of Derby, became
prime minister, with Disraeli as chancellor of the ex- pgpby,^
chequer and leader of the House of Commons. But the Disraeli
new ministers were in a minority, and held office through IJ*)!?),^'^''^'
the favour of Palmerston and the divisions of their
opponents. At first it was feare<l they would revive the com
laws, but Disraeli, who was rapidly showing that he was to be
taken seriously, was too wise to go back on what had l)een done.
He dropped with tlie name and the policy of protection, and hia
followers soon included the whole Conservative party, since the
Peelites remained completely estranged, and generally voted
against them. Before the end of the year the Whigs and Peelites
put the government in a minority, and on December 16 it resigned.
22. It was time to have done with government* on sufferance,
and it was agreed that a coalition miniatry should be formed of
Peelites and Whigs. Aberdeen, tJie Peelite leader, became first
lord of the treasury and prime minister. He was an accomplished
668 VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON [1852-
and able man, but lacking in firmness, resource, and knowledge of
character. Lord John Russell, the Whig leader, became leader of
the House of Commons, and Palmerston accepted the
The .
Aberdeen home secretaryship, an oifice he cared little for, but
coalition took because he thought England wanted a strong
7852-*1855 government. Gladstone became chancellor of the ex-
chequer, and showed himself a worthy disciple of
Peel by his brilliant budgets and masterly budget speeches. He
carried through financial reforms which made further strides in the
direction of free trade ; but before long the outlook abroad turned
men's minds from reform at home.
23. The Eastern question was revived through the action of
Nicholas i., the able and masterful tsar of Russia. Nicholas had
long been seeking to persuade the powers to agree to
and tlie ' some sort of partition of the Turkish empire. " We
Eastern have on our hands," said he, " a sick man ; it will be a
great misfortune if he slip away from us before all
necessary arrangements have been made." Nicholas showed fore-
sight in anticipating the dissolution of Turkey, but he naturally
wished to make Russia gain as much as he could from the
collapse of the Turks. His policy excited great alarm in the
West, and led many statesmen to make efforts to uphold the Turks
so as to keep up the balance of power, and prevent Russia from
becoming too strong in the south-east of Europe. This policy,
of which Palmerston was the chief exponent in England, was
quite wrong ; for the Turks, though admirable soldiers, were
quite unteachable as rulers, and so habitually neglected and
maltreated their Christian subjects that the latter were perpetu-
ally rising in revolt against them. Encouraged by the example
of the Greeks, other Cliristian subjects of the Turks were seeking
to win their liberty, and looked up to Russia for help. The right
policy for Europe would have been to join with Russia in getting
rid of Turkish rule. It would not have been impossible, if the
powers had worked together, to prevent Russia obtaining undue
power at the expense of the Turks. However, the jealousies of
the powers prevented combined action, and petty disputes between
the Greek and Latin clergy in Jerusalem began a conflict which
ultimately ripened into war. Nicholas supported the Greek
monks, wliile the Latin clergy were supported by the French. In ,
their alarm of Russia the Turks leant to the Latin side, and
Nicholas made their action an excuse for taking up a strong line
against them. In 1853 he occupied Moldavia and Wallachia, the
-1 855-] VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON 669
present kingdom of Roumania, bat then vassal states of Torkey.
He gave out that he intended to hold them until the Turks restored
the Greek clergy to their accustomed position as custodians of the
holy sepulchre.
24. Napoleon iii. saw in the dispute between Hussia and the
Turks a chance of establishing his throne and winning glory for
himself, and Pahnerston, always mistrustful of Russia, origin of
largely sympathized with him. He was still the strong the Crimean
man of the ministry, and his influence prevailed over War.
that of Aberdeen and the Peelites, who were eager for peace, but
did not know how to get it. A close alliance was formed between
England and France, and England gradually drifted towards war.
On Russia refusing to evacuate Moldavia and Wallachia, the
English and French fleets entered the Dardanelles. Thereupon
the Russians fell upon a Turkish squadron at Sinope, and destroyed
it utterly. In January, 185-4, the allied fleets entered the Black
Sea, and war thus broke out. For the first time, after many
generations. Englishmen and Frenchmen fought side by side.
25. The first hostilities by land were on the Danube, where the
Turks checked the advance of the Russians by their stubborn
defence of the fortresses which commanded the course __.^
The
of the great river. English and French troops were Crimean
now sent in large numbers to Varna, the English ]^*^' 1^^*"
being commanded by Lord Raglan, and the French by
Marshal Saint- Arnaud. Thereupon the Russians withdrew from
the Danube, and abandoning Moldavia and Wallachia, returned to
their own territory. The chief object of the war was g^ned,
but the cabinet thoughtlessly ordered the troops at Varna to
invade the peninsula of the Crimea, where the Russians had
recently erected the new fortress and military station of Sebastopol,
from which it sought to command the whole of the Black Sea
lands. In September, 1854, the troops at Yama, already weakened
by disease, were carried over the Black Sea, and landed in the
west of the Crimea and the north of Sebastopol. Their ecjuipment
and supplies were adequate for an expedition rather than a pro-
longed campaign, and an immediate advance towards Sebastopol
was made. A Russian army blocked the allies' line of advance, but
on September 20 its strong position was captured in the battle of
the Alma. Aft«r this victory the allies abandoned the bold but
wise plan of a sudden attack on SebastojMl, and resolved to conquer
it by a regular siege. The sieye of Sehaatopol lasted from October,
1854, to September, 1855. The allies did not possess resources or
6/0
VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON
[i8S4-
skill enough to carry out siege operations properly, and were
haanpered by constant attacks from tlie large Russian armies that
held the country within a few miles of the fortress. It was against
these that, on October 25, the allies fought the battle of Balaclava,
where the incompetence of the generals was redeemed by the valour
of the soldiers, and notably by the two charges of the heavy and
light brigades of British cavalry. On November 5 the battle of
Inkerman was fought, when the Russians in Sebastopol made a
general assault on the besieging lines. Again victory was won by
EmeryWalkcr :
the valour of the soldiers rather than the skill of the generals.
After these rude checks the Russians showed greater caution in
attacking the allies, but winter soon came on with its terrible cold,
and the shameful incompetence of the home authorities left the
troops utterly unprepared to face its severity. It was found
impossible to shut off Sebastopol from communication with the
army outside, and this pressed so hardly on the besiegers that they
were almost as much on the defensive as the garrison. The land
transport broke down so badly that it was almost impossible to
convey stores from Balaclava on the sea-coast to the trenches
that surrounded the south side of Sebastopol. Sickness worked
more havoc than the Russian bullets, and nothing but the patient
-1 859.] VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON 67 1
endurance of the troops enabled the siege to be maintained.
Matters grew brighter with the retnm of fine weather, and at last,
in September, 1855, the French captured the Malakov redoubt, the
key of the defences. Therenpon the Russians evacuated the
doomed fortress, and on September 8 the allies took possession of
it. Every party to the war had lost so severely that aU were glad
to negotiate for peace, and in March, 1856, the treaty of Paris
ended the Crimean War, One of its clauses forbade Kussia main-
taining a war fleet in the Black Sea.
26. The mismanagement of the war had already brought
about the fall of the coalition. A storm of indignation rose in
England when the sufferings of the army became •
known, and in January, 1855, a motion for the ap- ston's first
pointment of a committee to inquire into the state of ministry,
the army was carried against the government by an 6-1858.
enormous majority. Aberdeen was driven from office, and the
Peelites soon followed him. Palmerston became prime minister,
and his former chief, Russell, consented to serve under him.
Palmerston's energy soon put a new spirit into the conduct of the
war. The skill and cheerfulness with which he retrieved disaster,
and carried matters through to the peace, made him by far
the strongest force in English politics for the rest of his life,
though his restlessness and love of strong courses brought him
more than once into trouble. He soon quarrelled with RusseU,
who was forced to leave the ministry. In 1857 he went to war
against China, and when the House of Commons accepted a motion
of Cobden that there was no justification for his violent action against
the Chinese, he appealed to the country, which showed its confi-
dence in him by returning a large majority of his followers. Next
year he was agrain in difficulties, because he brought in a Con-
epiracy to Murder Bill, in order to please his ally. Napoleon in.,
who had complained that a plot to miirder him had been de^-ised in
England, and demanded an alteration of the law to prevent such
conspiracies in future. A combination of Conservatives, Peelites,
and Radicals again defeated Palmerston, and this time he was
forced to resign.
27. Derby and Disraeli now formed their second ministry, but
they were in a minority in parliament, and were driven
from power in June, 1859. Palmerston was then restored oerby-
to office. His second ministry liosted until his death in DIsrael
1865. It included both Whigs and Peelites. who were ^ggj^^^g'g
now almost welded together into a single Liberal
6/2 VICTORIA — PEEL AND PALMERSTON [1859-
party, of which the PeeKtes were in some ways the advanced
_ , half.
Palmers-
ton's second 28. During Palmerston's last ministry great
ministry, changes took place on the continent. The movement
towards Italian and German unity, which had been
rudely checked after the failure of the revolution of 1848, now
Italian and resumed its course. Yictor Emanuel, king of Sar-
German dinia since 1849, put himself at the head of the Italian
unity. national party, and was made king of Italy. A great
step towards German unity was taken in 1864, when Austria and
Prussia united and expelled the Danes from the duchies of
Schleswig and Holstein, which were largely German. But they
quax'relled over the distribution of the spoils, and engaged, in 1866,
in a short but decisive struggle for supremacy. The Austrians
were beaten, and expelled from the German confederation.
Prussia, now ruled by King William i. and liis minister, Bismarck,
became the leading power in Germany. A North German con-
federation was formed, which secured Prussian supremacy over all
Germany north of the Main.
29. A fresh trouble arose in 1861, when a great civil war rent
asunder the United States of America. The Southern states
seceded, and formed a new confederation to uphold
can Civil slavery. England pi'ofessed strict neutrality in this
War, 1861- conflict, but public opinion was largely in favour of
the South, which was believed to be anxious to make
itself an independent nation as the Italians and Germans were
doing. This led to somewhat strained relations between England
and the Northern states. The Americans particularly complained
of the slackness of the EngHsh government which allowed priva-
teering cruisers, such as the Alabama, to be built in English dock-
yards, to prey on their commerce. When, in 1865, the persistent
efforts of the North had restored the imperilled union, there was
still much bad blood between the Americans and the English.
Another result of the war was the cotton famine in Lancashire,
which was a time of great distress for the factory hands, whose
supply of raw cotton had been cut off by the Northerners' blockade
of the Southern ports.
30. During aU these troubles Pahnerston guided the fortunes of
England with fair, but not distinguished, success. He had the good
sense not to interfere with movements with which he had little
sympathy. He did something to help the Italians, and resisted
the temptation of assisting the Danes in their plucky but unavailing
-i86s.] VICTORIA— PEEL AND PALMERSTON 673
struggle to retain the duchies. Amidst great difficulties he kept
up our good understanding with France, though the restless policy
of Napoleon iii. made the outlook very uncertain, „ .
and a renewed fear of invasion in 1859 led to a great ston's
volunteer movement, which has since largely in- fopeigrn
creased the defensive forces of the crown. Dread of "^ ^^'
Napoleon, however, soon wore away, and, in 1860, Cobden negotiated
a commercial treaty with France, which led to the restoration
of friendly relations.
31. All through these years foreign affairs called away English
attention from domestic politics. Palmerston, now a very old
man, care<l nothing for reforms at home, and very »,. . .. .
little for the party game. His strong desire to do palmerston
nothing provoked much resentment among the more and Its
ardent spirits in his cabinet. Chief among these were r|ig
the Peelites, who were more eager for change than
the old-fashioned Whigs. Palmerston allowed Gladstone, the
Peelite chief, to be his chancellor of the exchequer. In a series
of brilliant budgets 61ad.stone removed the chief obstacles to
free trade, an end which Cobden's commercial treaty furthered.
The times were very prosperous, and the revenue increased
rapidly, though tax after tax was given up. But Palmerston
looked with great distrust on Gladstone. He was shrewd enough
to see that after his retirement the reformers would have the
upper hand. " Gladstone," he said, " will soon have his way ;
whenever he gets my place, we shall have strange doings." So
long, however, as the old minister lived, he clung to power, and
kept back his eager followers. He died on October 18, 1865, when
over eighty years of age. His best points were his strong will,
courage, energy, cheerfulness, kindliness, but he was lacking in
seriousness and high principle, very self-confident, and too much
given to flippancy and bluater. But he honestly strove, sometimes
perhaps not very discreetly, to uphold the honour and interests of
England, and his death removed the most interesting and popular
personality in English politics. With him ends the i)eriod which
began with the Reform Bill of 1832. It was a time of middle-
class ascendency, and the strong and weak points of the Englisli
middle class are strongly brought out in the history of the period.
Four years before this the sudden death of the Prince Consort
removed another great moderating influence.
'-' X
CHAPTER IV
VICTORIA-GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI
(1865-1886)
Chief Dates :
1866. The third Derby-Disraeli Ministry.
1867. The second Reform Act ; Fenian risings.
1868. The first Gladstone Ministry.
1869. Disestablishment of the Irish Church.
1870. The Franco-German War.
1874. The Disraeli Ministry.'
1878. Treaty of Berlin ; Afghan War.
1880. Second Gladstone Ministry.
1882. British occupation of Egypt.
1884. Third Reform Act.
1885. Death of Gordon ; short Salisbury Ministry.
1886. Gladstone's defeat on Home Rule.
1. On Palmerston's death Riissell, who since 1861 had sat in the
Lords as Earl Russell, became prime minister. Palmerston's place
as leader of the Commons was given to Gladstone.
f the" ^^^ appointment showed that the reforming section of
transition the cabinet, which Palmerston had so long kept under,
to de- had got the upper hand. Its immediate resiilt was
1865".**^^' *^® beginning of a new period of change which
soon began to undermine the middle-class ascendency
established in 1832. A transition to democracy began, which all
parties helped on, though none with full knowledge of what they
were doing. The twenty years which foUow are occupied in tlie
working out of this movement.
2. Parliamentary reform became a burning question. The
Radicals had long been dissatisfied with the act of 1832. For
many years the old Whigs had declared it to be a final
ministry settlement of the question, but the cry for thorough
and the reform became so loud that Russell himself brought
?865''?866 '' ^^ several reform bills, and Disraeli proposed another
in 1859. None of these measures were either popular
or successful, and lor the last few years Palmerston had prevented
674
i867.] VICTORIA— GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI 675
the question being renewed. Now that his inflnence was removed,
Gladstone introduced, in 1866, a new Reform Bill. Palmer-
ston's followers, who shared their old chief's hatred of reform,
retired, as Brij^-ht said, into a new Cave of Adullam, into which,
like David, they iuvit«fl all the discontented to join them. The
Conservatives and Adullamites joined tog-ether, and, in June, 1866,
drove the g-ovemment out of office.
3. For the third time the uneasy task fell to Derby and
Disraeli of forming" a stop-g-ap ministry from a minority of the
House of Commons. Disraeli had been for more
than twenty years the leader of a minority, and had Derby-
failed to win either parliament or the middle-class Disraeli
constituencies to his ideas. A g-reat reform ag-itation Tygl^'ig^'a
broke out, which convinced him that the working-
men were resolved to have a democratic parliament. Undeterred
by his failure in 1859, he brought forward a new Reform Bill
in 1867. Some of his followers were alarmed at its jhe second
boldness, and left the ministry in disgust. The most Reform Act,
important of these was Lord Cranborne, afterwards **^''
Marquis of Salisbury. Despite this, the measure was carried
through. Before it became law, it was made even more popular
through the action of the Liberal majority in the House of
Commons. By it all householders, rated to pay poor-rate, in
English and Scotch boroughs, obtained votes, though in Ireland
a £4 rating qualification was fixed. Lodgers were also allowed to
vote if they paid £10 a year in rent and lived in the same rooms
for a year. In the counties the franchise was extended to occupiers
paying a rent of £12 a year. A redistribution of seats was also
effected. Some small boroughs were disfranchised, and those having
less than 10,000 inhabitants lost one member. The vacant seats
were mostly given to the greater counties, but some of them went
to new boroughs, while the greater centres received increase of
representation. Five very large cities, Leeds, Liverjwol. Man-
chester, Birmingham, and Glasgow, got a third member. House-
hold suffrage was thus introduced in the towns, and a great step
was made towards democracy, for it was plain that the middle-
olass county constituencies could not last much longer now that
all workmen who happened to live in boroughs possesse<l votes.
4. Grave trouble soon arose in Ireland. About 186JJ a party
of Irish and Irish-Americans started a secret society, whose
members were known as the Feniaiu. Its object was to set up an
Irish republic, and it gained increased strength when, after the
6^6 VICTORIA— GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI [1867-
end of the American civil war, many Irish, who had leai*nt mili-
tary discipline in America, returned to their native country. In
1867 a general revolt was attempted in Ireland.
Fenians Though little came of this, the Fenian sympathizers
succeeded in carrying out a series of daring acts in
England. An attempt was made to rescue some Irish prisoners
from a police- van in Manchester, and the police-serjeant in charge
was shot. In London the wall of Clerkenwell prison, where several
Fenian leaders were confined, was blown down with gunpowder,
and many innocent persons were injured and slain. The crimes of
the Fenians called attention to the undoubted grievances of the
Irish. Gladstone and the Liberals started a new agitation for
Irish reform, and carried through the House of Commons a resolu-
tion in favour of the disestablishment of the Irish Church,
Disraeli had just become prime minister, on Derby's retirement
from ill health. He soon dissolved parliament, but the new con-
stituencies showed themselves unfavourable to the author of the
second Reform Act. The Liberals obtained a majority of over
a hundred, and Disraeli resigned.
5, A strong Liberal ministry was formed with Griadstone as
prime minister. For the first time the decided reformers were
Th fl t stronger tlian the aristocratic Whigs, and a place
Gladstone was found for John Bright, who, since Cobden's death,
ministry, was the most conspicuous of the Radical chiefs. For
the next six years a series of changes was carried out
greater than any that had ever been previously attempted. The
first of these was the disestablishment and dlsendowment of the
Irish Church in 1869. The Protestant episcopal
Discst&b—
lishment of Church of Ireland was now doing its spiritual work
the Irish far better than in the eighteenth century, but it was
?Rfio°'^' ^^® Church of a minority, and the Catholic majority
looked upon it as the representative of foreign con-
quest, while nearly half the Irish Protestants were Presbyterians,
When once attacked, it was almost impossible to defend it, and its
fall was made easier by the liberal terms granted to it.
6. The deepest grievance of the Irish was not tlie Church, but
the land. Nearly thirty years before the weak points of the Irish
land system had been revealed by tlie Devon com-
system mission, but nothing had been done to redress them.
Speaking rouglily, the land laws in England and
Ireland were the same, but the practical difPerence was enormous
owing to the great differences between the two peoples. In both
-1870.] VICTORIA— GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI 677
countries rent was supposed to be settled by competition. In
England this competition was to some extent real, but in Ireland
the needy peasant farmers were quite unable to bargain on equal
terms with their landlords, and cheerfully promised to pay impos-
sible rents, since getting a farm was their only remedy against
starvation. Moreover, wliile in England most improvements were
made and buildings set up by the owner, in Ireland these improve-
ments were made by the tenant, though as soon as they were made
they became the property of the landlord.
7. In the old times, custom had kept the tenant on his holding
for generations together, but after the famine grasping agents
and improving landlords neglected these traditions. The first
and rack-rented and evicted the tenants just as Irish Land
they thought fit. Thus the very improvements ^^^^ 1870.
in Irish agriculture since the famine only added to Irish
discontentj and deepened the deep gulf between tenant and
owner. In 1870 Gladstone's first Iri»h Land Act attempted to
remedy these grievances. It forced landlords to compensate their
tenants for improvements effected by them, and allowed tenants,
evicted for other causes than non-payment of rent, compensation
for being di.sturbed in their holdings. Its effect was to recognize
a dual oimiership of the land between landlord and t«nant, but it
was not thorough enough, and therefore not a great success. It
left landlords as free to evict as ever, if they chose to pay com-
pensation ; and it was not rigorous enough to prevent such landlords
as wished it from evading the act.
8. Besides the changes in Ireland, the miniiiters introduced
many other plans of reform. In 1870 W. E. Forster carried
through an Elementary Education Act which allowed The Educa-
districts to elect a School Board, levy an education t'on Act,
rate, and comjwl cliildren to go to school. Before that
the education of tlie pe(>]>le had de]>end(Kl upon the voluntary action
of iudividualM or of private societies. For more than thirty years
the government had made grants to scliools thus establislKMl, but
it was only now that a national system of education was set
on foot.
9. In 1871 Card well, the war minister, b«>gan a series of army
reforms by whicli sliort 8»>rvice was introducwl, and the germs of
a now army system laid, whidi included militia and
voluntet»rs as well as the regular forces. Cardwell "^jj®''
also proposed to abolish the custom by winch ofiicers
bought their commissions in the army. The Lords put aside
^J?) VICTORIA — GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI [1870-
this scheme, whereupon Grladstone took the high-handed course of
abolishing purchase by royal warrant. In 1872 a Ballot Act was
passed to establish secret voting at elections of the House of
Commons. In 1873 Lord Selborne, the chancellor, passed his
Judicature Act, which united the different law courts into a single
high court of justice, and aimed at making law simpler, cheaper,
and more certain.
10. During these years stirring events abroad made British
foreign policy very important. In 1870 war broke out between
the French Empire and Prussia, in which every
German German state except Austria took the Prussian side.
War and its Yictory at once fell to the Germans, who invaded
^«7n-\^«7i France, took the emperor prisoner, and dictated peace
after the capitulation of Paris. By this peace France
surrendered Alsace and part of Lorraine to the Germans. This
triumph comjjleted the unity of Germany. During its course the
southern states joined with the north to form a new German
Empire, and King William of Prussia accepted the imperial crown
at Versailles. Italian unity was also completed at the same time
by Victor Emanuel destroying the temporal power of the pope,
and making Rome the capital of his kingdom. During the struggle
France rejected the authority of the captive emperor, and set up
the Third Republic, which has lasted ever since. For long there
was great iU-feeling between France and Germany, while united
Germany and united Italy were drawn very close together.
Abandoning its old policy, Austria also joined the Germans and
Italians. Ultimately Russia and France established a close friend-
ship to meet the triple alliance of the powers of central Europe.
11. During the Franco-German war, England took up an
attitude of neutrality. Russia took the opportunity to announce
Gladstone's ^^^^ ^^® ^^ longer considered herself bound by the
foreign treaty of 1856, and again intended to keep warships in
po ley. ^j^g Black Sea. As the government was not prepared
to fight to uphold the treaty, it was forced to acquiesce in Russia's
action. The ministry also agreed to submit to arbitration the
claims brought against it by the United States for compensation
for the loss of their commerce due to the action of the Alabama
during the civil war. In 1872 the arbitrators decided that
England was to pay three million pounds for her remissness. It
was a heavy, and possibly excessive, sum, and the ministers were
severely blamed, as they were also for their yielding to Russia.
12. The energy of Gladstone's government had been only
-1 876. J VICTORIA— GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI 679
matched by that of Lord Grey in the years after the first Bieform
Act. After six years of vigorous policy, a reaction came
similar to that which had weakened the Whigs under pall of
Grey's successor, Melbourne. Every one was tired of Gladstone,
I'eform, and Disraeli laughed at the ministers sitting
opposite to him as a range of exhausted volcanoes. The govern-
ment became unpopular through its weak foreign policy, the want
of tact or firmness of some of its members, and the scandalous
character of some of its appointments. Some of its later measures
were extremely iU-advised. Conspicuous among these was the
proposal to set up a new university in Ireland, in which neither
theology, philosophy, nor history were to be taught. The revolt
of its own supporters forced the government to give up this absurd
proposal, and Gladstone resigned. However. Disraeli refused to
form a fourth stop-gap ministry, and Gladstone resumed office.
His position was, however, fatally weakened, and in January, 1874,
he suddenly dissolved parliament. A majority of more than fifty
Conservatives was returned to the House of Commons, whereupon
the ministers tendered their final resignation. They had done
gfreat things, yet few cabinets had failed more signally.
13. Up to now Disraeli had always been in a minority, and
whether in opposition, or as minister on suffrance, had lia<l little
chance of showing his statesmanship. His success xhe Disraeli
showed that he had made his popular national Toryism ministry,
attractive to the lower middle classes, which had
hitherto voted Liberal, and to the workmen of the towns to whom he
had first given votes. A Conservative reaction, as decided as that
of 1841, proved him a party leader of great insight and shrewdness,
and enabled him to form a strong government, which kept in power
for over six years. He ofFere<l a policy of no violent changes,
steady practical improvements, good administration, and careful
regard to the interests of the Empire. He passed many tiseftil
measures, which, not having much party bearing, hardly brought
him as much credit as they deserved. Moreover, many of his
reforms were permissive and not compulsory, so that they were not
wholly satisfactory, though they sometimes prepared public opinion
for stronger measures in the same direction.
14. In 1876 Disraeli became earl of Beaconsfield. whereupon
Sir Stafford Northcote became leader of the House of The Home
Commons. His gentle methods soon proved inade- ""•• move-
quate to deal with a new Irish difficulty which now *"*" '
disturbed the popular chamber. For some yeoni an agitation in
680 VICTORIA— GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI [1877-
favour of Home Rule for Ireland had been raised. It became
important when an Irish Nationalist party was organized under the
strong- and astute guidance of Charles Stewart Parnell, a Protestant
country gentleman from Wicklow. The Nationalists took up the
Home Rule agitation, and sought to press their views on the House
of Commons by organizing the systematic obstruction of aU
business. A small knot of members, regardless of the orderly
traditions of the house, was able to keep parliament sitting all
night, and almost prevent any business being done. The objects of
the Nationalists were even more agrarian than political. The land
act had not fully dealt with the evils it sought to remedy, and bad
harvests intensified the chronic distress of Ireland. Accordingly
Parnell started the Land League, with the object of obtaining for
the occupier of Irish land complete property in his holding. Violent
speeches were made to ignorant, excitable, and suffering audiences,
and outrages became common in southern and western Ireland. The
agitation weakened the government, and ministers made no attempt to
grapple with the source of discontent by further agrarian legislation.
15. The Eastern question now again came to a head. The
national movement, which had united Grermany and Italy, was felt
The Russo- ^^ ^^® Balkan Peninsula, where a minority of Moham-
Turkish medan Turks still misgoverned a population that
War, 1877- ^^s mainly Christian. The special difficulty in the
situation was that the Balkan lands did not contain
one nation, but many. Servians, lioumanians, Bulgarians, Greeks,
and others were scattered about the peninsula, and, though united
against the misrule of the Turks, were bittei'ly opposed to each
other. The majority of the people were Slavs, and the Slavs
turned, as usual, to Russia for help. A revolt of the Bulgarians
was put down by the Turks with fearful cruelty. Thereupon
Servia and Montenegro took up arms against the Porte, but could
not effect much. These proceedings showed that the attempts to
reform Turkey after the Crimean War had utterly failed, and that
it was useless to prop up so miserable a power any longer. The
best way now, as in the days of Canning, would probably have been
for Europe to combine to force the Turks to give some kind of
seK-government to their subjects. But the jealousies and in-
difference of the European powers, and the stolid obstinacy of the
sultan, made this policy impracticable. As in 1829, Russia took up
ai-ms on behalf of the revolted Christians, and, after fierce fighting
in Bulgaria, the beginning of 1878 saw the Russians marching in
triumph on Constantinople.
-1879.] VlCTOklA — GLAbSTOM^ AMD DISRAELI 68 1
16. The plain danger of a Bnssian occupation of Constantinople
brought about a loud cry for war in England. Beaconsfield fostered
the agitation, sent a fleet to the Sea of Marmora, called
out volunteers from England, and hurried Indian ofSanSte-
troopa to Malta. English feeling was, however, divided, fano and
since there was a strong dislike to help the Turks, and ^|''g"*
a widespread sympathy with the sufPering Christians.
However, the warlike preparations of England induced Russia to
give moderate terms to the Turks in the treaty of San Stefano.
Lord Salisbury, now foreign minister, objected to some of these,
and demanded that the conditions of peace should be examined by
a European congress. Accordingly, in June, 1878, a congress of
the great powers met at Berlin, in which Beaconsfield and Salisbury
represented the United Blingdom. Here was drawn up the treaty
of Berlin, which settled the Eastern question for a few years. By
it Bulgaria north of tho Balkans was made a self-governing state,
paying tribute to the sultan, while Bulgaria south of the Balkans,
called East«m B/OumeUa, was allowed a certain amount of local
self-government under a Christian pasha. , Montenegro, Servia,
and Ronmania were declared independent, and received additions
to their territory. Russia and Greece acquired fresh lands at the
expense of the sultan, and Austria was allowed to take possession
of Bosnia. Cyprus was handed over to the English on condition
of their protecting Asia Minor. The chief difference between this
treaty and that of San Stefano was in the division of Bulgaria
into two parts. The division was, however, unpopular with the
Bulgarians, and seven years later the two Bulgarias were united.
The main importance of the treaty lies in the triumph of the policy
of replacing the dying Turkish Empire by national st>lf-goveming
states. Beaconsfield had })een accused of wishing to back up
Turkey, but, if he over held this policy, he seems to have given it
up. He now boa.sted that he had won " peace with honour," and
had protected British interests in the East from Russian aggression.
17. In 1879 Beaconsfield joined with France in setting up a
dual control in Egypt, which practically put the government of
the country into the hands of tlie two Western powers, jj^^ . .
Their intervention was necessary because the khedive, control in
or viceroy, of Egyjit had made tlie country bankrupt Egypt,
tlirough his extravagiinco, and was no longer able to
maintain order. Four years before tliis, Beaconsfield Iwught the
khedive's shans amounting to nearly half the capital, in the Suet
Canal, which, built by French engineers, had, since 1869, immensely
682 VICTORIA — GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI [1880-
shortened the sea journey between Europe and India, by opening
up a navigable way from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.
18. Absorbed in foreign affairs, the government had not dealt
very vigorously with rising difficulties at home, or ruled very
Fall of sternly the disorderly House of Commons. Its foreign
Beacons- policy, though much praised by some, was violently
® ' • attacked by others. Gladstone denounced with fervid
eloquence the threatened alliance with the Turks, and his zeal stirred
up a deep response. Early in 1880 a general election destroyed
Beaconsfield's majority, and brought back the Liberals to power.
A year after his resignation Beaconsfield died.
19. In the new Liberal ministry, Gladstone was first lord of the
treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. His first concern was
The second once more Ireland, and in 1881 he passed the second
Gladstone Irish Land Act, which carried much further the
niinistpy, doctrines of the act of 1870. It allowed tenants to
seU their interest in their holdings to the highest
bidder, and set up land courts to fix rents by judicial process. It
therefore frankly accepted the dual proprietorship between landlord
and tenant implicitly recognized in 1870. For the
policy. moment it brought no peace to Ireland, where out-
rages became general, and the Land League started
a new agitation to induce tenants to withhold altogether the
payment of rent. At the same time the Home Ride members of
parliament continued to embarrass the conduct of business by their
persistent obstruction in the House of Commons. At first the
government answered this agitation by dissolving the Land League,
and putting Parnell and other Irish leaders in prison. In 1882,
however, it somewhat changed its policy, released the Irish leaders,
and seemed disposed to consider their wishes. Almost immediately
after, however, the Irish secretary. Lord Frederick Cavendish, and
T. H. Burke, the permanent under-secretary, were murdered by a
gang of Irish conspirators in Dublin. On this, a Prevention of
Crimes Bill was quickly passed, and, to stop further obstruction,
new rules for conducting business through parliament were enforced
which gave a decided majority the power to compel the closing of
a debate. This policy made the Irish fiercely hostile to the govern-
ment, and they now sought for any occasion to turn it out of
office.
20. Foreign complications soon began to overwhelm the ministry.
India was disturbed by a war with Afghanistan, which was only
ended by the withdraAval of the English from that country. A
-i88s.] VICTORIA— GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI 683
series of disasters in South Africa led to the restoration of the inde-
pendence of the Transvaal. But the greatest difficulty was in
Egypt, where Arabi Pasha headed a rising against
European supremacy. Moreover, the Siidan, or region the Sudan,
of the Upper Nile, which the Egyptians had conquered,
rose in revolt under a Mohammedan prophet, called the Mahdi. The
dual control broke down before the double crisis, and France left
England to deal single-handed with these troubles. Accordingly,
troops were sent to Egypt, and, in 1882, General Wolseley completely
defeated Arabi at Tel-el-Kelnr. This led to the nominal restoration
of the khedive's power in Egypt, but henceforth the country was
practically ruled by England. During these transactions, however,
the Mahdi had conquered the whole Sudan, save a few posts where
loyal Egyptian garrisons still held out against him. Early in 1884
the government sent General Gordon to Khartum, the capital of
the Sudan, to arrange the withdrawal of the garrisons.
21. Charles George Gordon was an engineer officer, who, ten
years before, had won great fame by putting down for the Chinese
government a formidable revolt, showing in his difficult The death
task a wonderful courage and simple faith, a shrewd of Gordon,
insight into savage nature, and a remarkable power of
governing men and inspiring them with confidence in him. After-
wards he became ruler of the Sudan on behalf of the khedive, and
obtained great influence over the people of that wild region.
He now made his way, unarmed and almost unattended, to Khartum.
But he soon saw that he could not save the garrisons as circum-
stances then were. He, therefore, asked the government to give
him troops, or a free hand to choose his own agents for reducing
the disturbed province to some sort of order. The government
refused both reiiuests, and left him to deal as best he could with the
Mahdi. Soon the Mahdi's troops besieged Khartum, and a loud
cry rose in England to save the hero that defended it. After much
hesitation, the irresolute government resolved to send an army to
effect his release. In the summer of 1884 a British force moved
painfully up the Nile, but the water was exceptionally low. and it
made but slow progress. Before Khartum could l)e reache<l the
city had been betrayed to the Malidi, whereniwn. in January. 1885,
Gordon was slain. Sot)n aft*r tliis the Sudan was abandoned.
Luckily, the influence of the Mahdi now dwliuwl. and Egyi)t had
comparative rest for several years. While the Egyptian troubles
were acute, Russia pressed on her forces in Afghanistan, and
threatened the Indian frontier. As in 1878, war with liussia
684 VICTORIA— GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI [1884-
seemed almost inevitable, but the question was referred to arbi-
tration, and some sort of agreement arrived at.
22. In 1884 the government brought forward a new biU for
the extension of the franchise, which was rejected by the Lords on
The third ^^® ground that no scheme for the redistribution of
Reform seats accompanied it. Later in the year the bill was
tgfil' *^^*" again brought forward. This time a plan for the
redistribution of seats was arranged between the
Liberals and Conservatives, so that the third Reform, Act became
law with little diificulty. By it the franchise in the counties was
made the same as in the boroughs, and several new methods of
obtaining a vote were allowed. It disfranchised all boroughs with
under fifteen thousand inhabitants, and reduced all with under
fifty thousand to one member. It cut up the country into single
member districts, the only exception to this being old boroughs
returning two representatives, which remained undivided. A rough
regard was given to population in determining the limits of these
divisions, so that the great towns and the mining and manufactur-
ing districts obtained much more adequate representation than
before. Thus the number of London representatives was raised
from twenty-two to sixty-two. Liverpool and Manchester (with
Salford) got nine each, Glasgow and Birmingham seven each, and
80 on in proportion. The result was that England was made a
thorough democracy, dependent on household suffrage with a
comparative approach to equal electoral districts.
23. The credit it obtained from the Reform Bill did not com-
pensate the government for its failures in foreign policy, and its
The first vacillation in dealing with the situation in Ireland.
Salisbury Beaten by a combination of Conservatives and Irish
ministry, Nationalists, Gladstone resigned in June, 1885, and
' was replaced by a Conservative government under the
marquis of Salisbury. A general election followed in November,
the result of which was that the Irish held tlie balance between
the two English parties. When Parliament met the Irish voted
with the Liberals and restored them to power. In February, 1886,
The third * ^^^^^'^ Gladstone ministry was accordingly established.
Gladstone Some of the moderate Liberals, including the marquis
ministry, of Hartington, son of the duke of Devonshire, and
brother of Lord Frederick Cavendish, had refused to
take part in it. A few weeks later some of tliose who had taken
office abandoned the government. The chief of these was Joseph
Chamberlain, a Birmingham manufacturer, who had taken a
-l886.] VICTORIA— GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI 685
conspicuoug part in the second Gladstone ministry, and was the
chief spokesman of a new school of Radicals, which, unlike the
Manchester school of Bright and Cohden, believed that vigorous
state interference would do more good than the policy of letting
things alone, and had no sympathy with the apathy with which
the older school regarded our foreign and coloniaJ interests. Thus
the Liberal ministry was hardly formed when the party began
to break up,
24. The causes of this split had long been working, but the
crisis was brought about by the knowledge that the prime minister
was prepared to meet the requirements of his Irish Home Rule
allies by introducing a bill giving Home Rule to and the
Ireland. In April, 1886, Gladstone brought forward Jj^heold
a measure giving the Irish a local parliament and a parties,
local executive, and shutting their representatives out 1886.
of the imperial parliament, which was still to carry on affairs
of general imperial interest, while Irish landlords were to be
bought out by a general scheme of land purchase. Ninety-three
Liberals, henceforward called lAheral-JJnionisU, joined with the
Conservatives in upholding the Union, and the second reading was
lost by thirty votes. An appeal to the new democracy confirmed
their action, for a general election held in July gave the allied
Liberal-Unionist and Conservative parties a huge majority over
the followers of Glad.stone and Pamell. Thereupon Gladstone
resigned, and Lord Salisbury was called upon to form a government
pledged to the defence of the Union. Henceforth the new issue
raised by Gladstone divided British parties into Unionists and
Home Rulers. The elections of July, 1886, bring to an end the
well-marked period which began with the death of Palmerston.
For over twenty years the new liberalism had set forth ita plans
of large reforms, and for twenty years the new consert'atism had
maintained its Bi)irited foreign policy and care for imperial interests.
These forces were now turned into fresh channftls. In the next
generation the old party names and watchwords ceased to have
much of their old meaning. New party names were formed, and
new questions sprang up with the solution of which we an* still
busy. The transition to democracy was completed. Social and
economic problems, such as previously hatl been thouglit almost
outside the province of the legislator, sprang up, while qnedtions
of colonial and foreign policy became increasingly important.
CHAPTER V
VICTORIA— HOME RULE AND THE EMPIRE
(1886-1901)
Chief Dates :
1886. Salisbury Unionist Ministry formed.
1887. The Queen's Jubilee.
1888. Pamell Commission appointed.
1892. Fourth Gladstone Ministry.
1894. Resignation of Gladstone ; Lord Rosebery prime minister.
1895. Third Salisbury Ministry established.
1898. Battle of Omdurman.
1899. Beginning of the Boer War. ,
1901. Death of Victoria.
1. During the last fifteen years of the reign of Victoria the
Unionist party remained in office, save for a brief interval between
„. „ „ 1892 and 1895. In the earlier years, between 1886
Th© SaliS"
bury and 1892, the government was chosen almost exclu-
Unionist sively from the Conservative wing of the Unionist
1886-18^'2 majority, though Hartington and Chamberlain, the
Liberal-Unionist leaders, gave the government their
general support. Lord Salisbury, the prime minister, also acted
as foreign secretary, and gave the leadership of the House of
Commons to W. H. Smith, a plain man of business. The other
cliief members of the cabinet were Gr. J. Goschen, chancellor of
exchequer, and the only Liberal-Unionist who held office, and
Arthur J. Balfour, Lord Salisbury's nephew, who was Irisli
seci'etary.
2. Ireland was stiU restless. ParneU declared that, despite the
Land Acts, rents were still too high, and some of his followers
started an organization called the Plan of Campaign,
Camnalen ^^ which the occupiers on certain estates withheld all
rent from their landlords until they were willing to
accept the tenants' terms. The landlords answered the Plan of
Campaign with evictions, and these excited serious riots, which
menaced the public peace. Balfour showed much tact and coolness
in dealing both with the Irisli party in parliament and with the
686
iSgi.l VICTORIA— HOME RULE AND THE EMPIRE 687
ag^eved tenants. Before long the Plan of Campaign agitation
died away, and Ireland became less disturbed.
3. A new phase of the Irish question was soon started. The
Times newspaper accased Parnell of direct complicity with the
worst outrages in Ireland, and published a /flc«^7n^7e of .j^ p ,.
what professed to be a letter from him, in which he commis-
declared that though he regretted the death of Lord slon, 1888-
Frederick Cavendish, "he could not refuse to admit *°°""
that Burke got no more than his deserts." Famell solemnly
protested that he had never written the letter, and, in 1888, parlia-
ment appointed a special commission of three judges to examine the
charges brought by the Tim^s against Parnell. In their report the
commissioners acquitted Famell of the charge brought against him
with regard to the Dublin murders, finding that the letter on which
the accusation was based was a forgery. It found, however, that
ParneU and his associates had incited to intimidate, and " did not
denounce the system of intimidation which led to crime and outrage,
but persisted in it with knowledge of its effect." The general
indignation felt at the blundering of the Times destroyed much of
the effect of this judicial condemnation of the Irish leaders' political
methods. The alliance between the Parnellites and the followers
of Gladstone became closer than ever, and Parnell showed studied
moderation in order to win over English public opinion.
4. A few months later, charges gravely affecting Parnell's private
character were brought against liim in the Divorce Court, and left
unanswered. Notwithstanding tliis, his Irish followers _ .
in parliament re-elected him their leader for the new and Anti-
session, which began in November, 1890. However, Parnellites,
Parnell's British allies were much shocked at the
conduct of a man in whose character they had so loudly expressed
confidence. In efCect, the Irish party in parliament had to choose
between fidelity to their old leader and breaking with the English
Liberals. However, the majority of the Catliolio clergy in Ireland
declared against him, and liis stern discipline was so much resentetl
by many of his subordinates that they gla<lly took this opportunity
of overthrowing him. But Parnell refused to bow before the
storm. A few faitliful allies still clave to him in his misfortune,
and the Irisli party was rent asunder. Though lii.s healtli was
breaking up, he sliowed extraordinary persistence in fighting to the
last, but his candidates were defeated at nearly every elei-tion by
the party of the priest* and the English alliance, and, in 1891,
Parnell died, worn out by tlie struggle. The split between the
688 VICTORIA— HOME RULE AND THE EMPIRE [i886>
Parnellites and the Anti-Parnellites, as the two sections of the
Irish party were called, had now become so deep that it long"
survived his death. When at leng-th a formal reunion between
them was patched up, a disciple of Parnell's, John Redmond, became
the Irish leader. Meanwhile the effect of the schism was greatly
to weaken the Home Rule agitation.
5. Foreign affairs occupied much of Salisbmy's attention.
During" all these years the relations between England and France
Foreign were unfriendly, especially on account of Egypt,
policy, where the British were successfuUv carrying out the
1886-1892 /» ■ ./ ♦' o
work of reorganization in which the French had
declined to take part. This distrust of England, and a feeling that
the Trifle Alliance of G-ermany, Austria, and Italy was hopelessly
hostile, caused the French to look for support to Russia, which had
been alienated from Germany since the death of the Emperor
"William i., in 1888, and the dismissal of his minister, Bismarck, by
his grandson, the energetic William ii. The result was the con-
clusion of a Dual Alliance between the radical democracy of the
West and the reactionary despotism of the East. Between the
dual and the triple alliance, the great powers on the
and the continent were divided into two hostile camps. It
Dual required no little tact for England to steer a clear
ances. course between them. The ever-open Eastern question,
and the movement of Russia towards India, made difficult our
dealings with that power, while the Egyptian question, and colonial
differences aU over the globe, involved us in disputes with France.
Moreover, many points of colonial and commercial interest made
our attitude to Germany somewhat uneasy. Salisbury did his
best to smooth matters over, and in 1890 he made a treaty which
limited the English and German spheres in Africa. In retxirn for
various concessions, of which the chief was the abandonment to
England of all claims to Zanzibar, Salisbury conceded the little
island of Heligoland, one of our spoils of the Napoleonic period, to
Germany. The result was that our relations to the German Empire
became somewhat less strained.
6. At home Salisbury's government effected much good work.
In 1887 it celebrated the Jubilee, or fiftieth year of Victoria's reign.
The Queen's Among its new laws was the act of 1888, which set up
Jubilee, elective county coujicils, and transferred the local
government of the various shires from the magistrates
in quarter sessions to these popular bodies. In the same year
Goschen reduced the interest on the national debt from three to
-1893.] VICTORIA— HOME RULE AND THE EMPIRE 689
two and three-quarters, and finally to two and a half per cent. In
1889 a scheme for adding- to the numbers and efiiciency of the royal
navy was successfully set to work.
7. The opposition to the Salisbury g-ovemment gradually
increased in strength. It was fiercely assailed by Gladstone, now
over eighty years of age, and resolutely bent on carry- ^ fourth
ing through his Home Hule scheme before he abandoned Gladstone
pul)lic life. Accordingly, the next general election, ministry,
which took place in July, 1892, was fought keenly,
and with very even results. A .smaU Gladstonian majority of forty
resulted from the polls, though this was only on the understand-
ing that the Irish Home Rule vote was entirely cast on its side.
This proving to be the case, the Salisbury government was defeated,
and Gladstone formed his fourth cabinet. Small as was his
majority, his government showed remarkable discipline and cohe-
sion, and remained in power for over three years. In 1893 he laid
a new Home Rule BiU before parliament, which differed widely
from the bill of 1886. The Irish parliament was now to include
an upper house, elected by ratepayers with a some- _. , .
what high property qualification ; and besides her local reject the
parliament, Ireland was to send eighty members to Home Rule
Westminster with votes on all questions of general '
imperial policy. This measure was carried tlirough the House of
Commons, but decisively rejected by the House of Lords.
8. A great outcry was raised against the House of Lords, which
was denounced for standing in the way of the wishes of the repre-
sentatives of the people, though, in truth, public opinion
was so evenly divided that an authority, which i)re- ^^^ cup""
vented the carrying into effect the will of a bare
majority of the Commons, discharged a useful function. By
declining to dissolve parliament, and thus to appeal to the people
against the Lords, the ministry showed that it had no great con-
fidence of obtaining a majority in the elections, thougli it was clear
that the Lords' veto could not be maintained if, as on other occasions,
:i decided vote of the people had been given in favour of the measure
t Imy had rejected. Instead of this, the government remaineti in
(iflice, though it was more than likely that, under such circum-
slan<'»»s, the Lords would throw out all their measures which it
<lislik(Hl. It was hojwd that tliis action of the Lonls would "fill
up the cup" of grievances, and would make it possible to go to
the countiy later with a demand for the reform or a1)olition of
the upper house.
2 T
690 VICTORIA— HOME RULE AND THE EMPIRE [1894-
9. Before this policy could be worked out, grave changes took
place in the ministry. Early in 1894 the aged prime minister
The Rose- resigned office, bitterly disappointed at the fate of his
bepy cherished measure, but unable to contend any longer
isai^i'Mf; against the infirmities of years. He died three years
later. With all his limitations, Gladstone stood head
and shoulders above his rivals, and none of his successors could
hope to possess either his unrivalled hold of the House of Commons
or his unique powers of appealing to the emotions and imaginations
of the electorate. The queen chose as his successor Lord Rosebery,
who was looked upon with suspicion by the more radical elements
in the party, and remained little more than a year in office. During
this period, a great number of bills were laid before the House of
Commons, but few of them were carried. The most solid achieve-
ments of the government were therefore in administration and
finance. Conspicuous among these were the successful foreign
policy of Eiosebery himself, and the popular budgets of the chan-
cellor of the exchequer. Sir William Harcourt, who, by raising
the death duties, and extending the principle of graduated taxation,
sought to make the rich contribute a larger share to the national
revenue than had previously been the case. Sir WiUiam Harcourt,
who became Gladstone's successor as leader of the Commons, re-
presented that section of the party which was discontented with
Lord Rosebery. These personal divisions reduced the energy of
the government, and the Irish lost interest in it when it showed
no eagerness to revive Home Rule. At last, in June, 1895, the
government was beaten in the Commons in an unimportant division,
and, welcoming this defeat as an opportunity for escaping from an
intolerable position, at once resigned. Lord Salisbury then became
premier for the third time. His ministry mainly differed from that
of 1886 by including in it a large number of the Liberals who had
opposed Home Rule.
10. Conservatives and Liberal-Unionists were now becoming
bound together into a single party. Of the Conservative chiefs.
The third Lord Salisbury again combined the duties of foreign
Salisbury secretary and prime minister, while A. J. Balfour
ministry, ^(^^3 leader of the Commons. The Liberal-Unionists
were represented by Lord Hartington, who had recently
become duke of Devonshire, and Chamberlain, who was made
colonial secretary. Parliament was at once dissolved, and the
elections in July gave the Unionist government a majority of
more than a hundred and fifty. Tlie ministry remained in office
-1895.1 VICTORIA— HOME RULE AND THE EMPIRE 69 1
for the rest of the queen's reign. With so large a majority, it
held an unassailable position in parliament, and was further helped
l»y the dissensions which broke out within the opposition. Home
Rule policy became discredited by the factions of the Irish party
and their avowed sympathy with our foreig-n enemies. Moreover,
the Liberals were rent by grave schisms, which resulted in the
withdrawal of Lord Rosebery and his chief opponent Sir WiUiam
Harcourt from active political life. Ultimately the party found a
leader in Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman.
11. Foreign policy largely absorbed the new ministry, and
fiercely divided English public opinion. The atrocities worked by
the Turks in Armenia revived the Eastern question
in a new and acute form. Great indignation was *''™®"'* .
felt in England at the systematic ma.s.sacre8 of the
Armenians by the Turks, * and the government was strongly
urged to interfere. But no other power would give England any
help, and it was thought likely that isolated action on her part
would have brought about general European war, especially since
Russia, entirely deserting her former policy, showed extreme
friendliness to Turkey, and no help was to be expected by us from
Germany. A further complication arose when Crete, an island
inhabited by Greeks, rose in revolt against the sultan, and obtained
much sympathy, especially from the Greek kingdom. In 1897
Greece indiscreetly went to war against the Turks, but her badly
led armies were easily beaten, and she was soon forced to sue for
peace. The chief European powers forced the Turks to give easy
terms to the Greeks, and at last took the Cretan question into
their own hands. After much delay they obtained the withdrawal
of Turkisli troops, and garrisoned the island with English, French,
Russian, and Italian soldiers. The Cretans wished for union with
Greece, but were forced to be content with emancipation from the
Turkish yoke under the government of a Greek prince.
12. In the Cretan, as in the Armenian question, the govern-
ment was much blamed for not taking a more vigorous part
against the Turks, but the other difficulties with which other
Britain had to contend during these years acccmnt forelsn
for her inaction. In I89r» a dispute arow* between the troubles.
United Kingdom and Venezuela with regard to the tM)undariefi of
British Guiana. It Inicame dangerous when the United States
(!laimed the right of settling the matter. au<l nmch ill-will arom
between England and America on the subject. Ultimat*dy, how-
ever, the outlook became quieter, and tiually the question wa*
692 VICTORIA — HOME RULE AND THE EMPIRE [1895-
deoided by an arbitration, which gave most of the disputed
territory to Britain. To make matters worse, came the trouble in
South Africa, which culminated in Jameson's Raid (see page 725).
The German emperor showed signs of supporting the Transvaal,
and the indignation felt in England at his action did something to
distract attention from our dispute with America. Fortunately
our relations with America have been improving ever since.
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KGYPT AND THE SUDAX,
More serious were the difficulties with France, which complicated
our uneasy relations with Germany and America.
13. Besides minor troubles, the position of Britain in Egypt
gave cause for much discontent in France. There the English
The con- ^^f'i, xinder the wise administration of Lord Cromer,
quest of the restored the reign of law, civilization, and economy,
Sudan, ^nd Sir Herbert Kitchener had built up, out of the
Egyptian peasantry and the blacks of the upper Nile,
a well-drilled and efficient ai-my. The Sudan was now ruled by
the Khalifa, the successor of the Mahdi, and for many years the
fanatics of the south threatened to overrun Egypt itself. At last.
-1 898. J VICTORIA — HOME RULE AND THE EMPIRE 693
in 1898, the English resolved on the reconquest of the Sudan.
The heart of the Khalifa's empire was assailed by a mixed force of
English and Egyptian troops, and on September 1, the power of
the Khalifa was destroyed in a decisive battle fought outside
Omdurman, his new capital, which had grown up opposite the
ruined town of Khartum. The victor of Omdurman was made
Lord Kitchener of Khartum, and the work of civilization, which
had done so much good in Egypt, was extended, amid extraordinary
difficulties, to the Sudan.
It. The French were mortified at the reconquest of the Sudan,
and made an open attempt to block our further progress in that
region. A French officer. Major Marchand, worked
his way with a little force from the coast to Fashoda, jggg *'
a place much higher up the Nile than Khartum.
Thereupon the French were peremptorily ordered to withdraw
Marchand or face the consequences. French feeling was Wolently
roused by this action, and war between the two countries seemed to
be very near, but France was weakened by internal dissensions,
and Bussia, her ally, was unwilling to provoke a great war for the
sake of a desert in Central Africa. Accordingly, France gave way,
and in 1899, signed a treaty which admitted that the whole Nile
valley lay within the British sphere of influence. Other subjects
of dispute were already settled. The result was that relations
between the two powers became much less strained, and, after a few
years, the old cordiality was completely restored.
15. A fresh problem for Western statesmen was. now supplied
by China. In 1894 and 1895 there was war between China and
Japan. In this struggle Japan won an easy victory, Troubles In
and revealed to the world that a new great power had the Far
arisen in the East, which had so well assimilated tlie * *
lessons of Western civilization that she was ready to match Euro*
peans on their own ground. The immediate result of the Japanese
t riumph was seen in the apparent decay of her defeated rival, and
1 lie chief powers of East and West at once began to form schemes
for profiting by the threatened fall of the Chinese Empire. Russia,
France, and Germany sought from the Chinese grants of " spheres
of influence." witliin which their respective subjectn should have
the monopoly of trade. England, on the other hand, strove to
niaintain the policy of the " oi^n door," by wliich all Clilua was
lUttlly thrown oimui to foreign commerce. At first the change of
liiiieso policy le(l t<i a great extension of Irrnle with Euro|>e. in which
1 England took a leading share. But complications soon followed.
694 VICTORIA — HOME RULE AND THE EMPIRE [1901.
Russia established herself in Manchuria, whereupon Britain and
Germany acquired Chinese ports and territory. In 1900 the
Chinese hatred of foreigners burst out afresh in the sudden attack
on the European legations at Pekin by rebels caUed Boxei's, with
the connivance, however, of the Chinese government. The
legations defended themselves bravely, while a hastily collected
international European army forced its way to Pekin and efPected
a liberation. China was for some months at war with Europe, but
at last an agreement was patched up.
16. At home the government's acts included the extension of
elective county councils to Ireland, the increase of the state grants
Diamond to voluntary schools, and some attempt to organize
Jubilee, secondary education. In 1897 the Empire celebrated
death of what was called the Diamond Jubilee, or the sixtieth
Queen year of Victoria's reign. In 1900, on the imagined
Victoria, conclusion of the Boer War, a new general election
gave the government a majority of a hundred and
thirty. About this time the health of the aged queen, which had
hitherto remained extraordinarily good, began to decline. She died
on January 22, 1901, after a reign which has happUy surpassed in
length all other reigns in our history. Her eldest son was pro-
claimed Edward vii.
CHAPTER VI
THE UNITED KINGDOM IN THE NINE-
TEENTH CENTURY
1. The decay of the effective power of the crown after the death
of George iii. made the king's ministers mainly dependent upon
the House of Commons, and as three successive i«-.pn.ce of
Reform Acts rendered the House of Commons a more the func-
and more popular body, they thus became for most t'ons of the
effective purposes the ministers of the people. There
was some danger, clearly seen by a shrewd observer like Prince
Albert, lest parliamentary government might prove w«ak govern-
ment. Men feared that a state depending on the whims of a jwpular
assembly might fail to carry out a firm and consistent policy. This
danger became the greater since a strong tendency set in aft«r the
middle of the century towards extending on every side the work of
the state. Bitter experience had shown that leaving individuals or
classes to follow their own selfish instincts had resulted in grave
evils. Accordingly the state gradually concerned itself with
checking the bad results of tierce competition. It sought to
provide for the workmen clean, healthy, and projwrly fenced work-
shops ; to save the helpless from unsuitable or excessive toil ; to
procure for every child a proper education, and for every household
a fitting dwelling ; to control the giant monopolies which the
modem system had brought into being, and to sweeten men's lot by
providing means and time for recreation, study, and refreslunent.
2. All this increased work of the 8tat« involved the building
up of fresh machinery for its execution. New government
departments were organized. Inst^tad of the two central
secretaries of state of tlie oiglit«H}uth century, five aeere- covern-
taryi*hip8 of state were cremated, cliarged reHi»ectively '"•"^•
witli the Home, Colonial. Foreign, "War, and Indian depart-
ments, besides a Scottish secretary. As the lord-lioutenaut of
Ireland became more occupied with the cervmuuiul duties of the
695
696 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY [1820-
mock court at Dublin, his chief secretary lias "become for all
practical purposes minister of Ireland. The Board of Trade,
which began under WiUiam in., became increasingly important.
New branches of the government arose in such bodies as the Local
Government Board and the boards for education and agriculture.
So great has been this increase in the number of government
departments that the cabinets of the later nineteenth century have
swollen to numbers nearly approaching twenty. As the heads of
aU these offices were chosen, after the English fashion, from their
position in parliament and the country, rather than for their know-
ledge of their special work or their capacity as administrators, they
were forced into contenting themselves with the general oversight
of their departments, while the details of the work were done by a
paid and trained staff of permanent officials. Fortunately, the
English civil service has always been non-party and permanent.
The influence and knowledge of the official class has accordingly
done much to balance the evUs of party government controlled by
a popular chamber, though it has dangers of its own in the liability
of officials to be enslaved by " red tape " and routine. Of late years
entrance into the civil service has mostly been by open competition.
3. Local government, like the central administration, became
increasingly complicated. For the greater part of the period the
Local administration of the English country districts remained
govern- with the Quarter Sessions of the Justices of the Peace,
™®° a class largely made up of the landed gentry. In Ireland
the same class ruled the shires through the Grand Juries. Local
self-government was, after 1888, extended to the counties of
England, Scotland, and Ireland by means of popularly elected
County Councils. In corporate towns the oligarchical rule of self-
elected corporations was destroyed by the Municipal Corporation
Reform Act of 1835, and by the subsequent creation of new
corporate boroughs in the case of poptilous places like Manchester
and Birmingham. In the country districts elective Parish and
District Councils have extended the same principle to the smaller
areas into which the shires are divided. The local authorities
have extended their sphere of action even more conspicuously than
the central state, and provide gas, water, tramways, and many
other services for their constituents. The county councils have
recently received the responsibility for the control of education
tnthin their spheres.
4. The army which fought so bravely under Wellington was only
kept in discipline by flogging and sternness during the twenty-one
-I901.J THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 697
years of service. The officers, thouprh mostly high-spirited gentle-
men, were ignorant of the art of war until they were brought face
to face with the enemy, and in peace time were as idle
and undisciplined as their men. The army administra-
tion was a marvel of complication and inefficiency. After the peace
of 1815 there stiU survived some of the old jealousy of a standing
army, and Wellington sought to hide it away in small bodies to
prevent it getting too conspicuous. The old system went on
through all the long peace, and finally collapsed in the needless
miseries which it brought upon our army in the Crimean War.
Reforms were then introduced, and a secretary of state for
war appointed. But the commander-in-chief remained directly
responsible to the crown, and every attempt to subordinate the
general to the statesman was resisted as an attack on the royal
prerogative. At last Cardwell's reforms in 1870 and 1872 laid the
foundations of a better system. The organization was simplified ;
the evil custom of officers buying their commissions was abolished ;
and attempts were made to provide them with some system of
military education. Short service was introduced ; flogging was
abolished, and ultimately the army was localized so that each
regiment was connected with a county from which it took its
name, and included not only at least two battalions of the line,
but the militia of the district and the volunteer force, which, first
raised in 1859, added largely to the number of trained men available
for home defence. Meanwhile the development of rifled arms of
precision, loaded at the breech, and firing with a rapidity and at a
range undreamt of in earlier days, has revolutionized the art of
war. Though army reform was never very complete or thorough,
great improvements were effected both in the quality and number
of the forces of the crown. This is showni by the rapidity with
which, in 1899, a larger force than Britain had ever despatched
from her shores was transported successfully to South Africa. But
the failures of the Boer War showed that there was still nee<l for
further reform, and it cannot be said that a satisf aotorj' and rational
army system has yet been established.
5. The navy was never allowed to fall so low as the army. The
introduction of steam brought about a revolution in maritime war-
fare, thougli it was long b(»f<)re steam was thonght
practicable for warships. By the time of the Crimean
War the (jueen's ships were i)ropelle<l l)y steam, though they kept
up the general appearance of the old line-of-lmttle shiiw. Their
inability to tight against shore fortifications led to the building of
698 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY [1820-
floating batteries, protected by plates of iron. Before long armour
plating was employed for sea-going men-of-war ; aU large ships
were built of iron, and latterly of steel ; masts and sails almost
disappeared, and the large number of small cannon was replaced
by a few heavy and powerful guns. Improvements in the steam-
engine made it possible to move the unwieldy modern warship at a
speed of more than twenty miles an hour. Much smaller crews were
now required, and a large proportion of them were engineers and
stokers, who have nothing to do with navigation or fighting.
6. In the early part of the century the Evangelicals were the
most active section in the Church. They were never, however, very
numerous, though their teaching gave colour to many
outside their own body. It was largely owing to them
that many new churches were erected in the large towns. The mass
of the clergy, though good natured, honest, and kindly, were want-
ing in zeal and energy, and many of the bishops were distinguished
by their birth, their scholarship, or by their complaisance to their
royal and noble patrons rather than by the activity with which they
discharged their spiritual duties. The Church was not popular.
Nonconformity was strong among the middle classes ; the mass
of the population was stolidly indifferent to church and chapel
alike ; and reformers resented the tenacity with which the Chui'ch
party clung to its old exclusive privileges. It was believed that
the reformed parliament would make short work of the Church
altogether.
7. The High Church tradition stiU survived in some country
parsonages, and was revived soon after the Reform Bill by a small
„, „ ^ group of Oxford men, whose leaders were John Keble,
The Tracta- ^ r ' '
pian move- the poet of the Christian Year, Edward Bouverie Pusey,
ment and professor of Hebrew since 1828, and, above all, John
Its results, ji^j^^y Newman, vicar of St. Mary's. To this little
band the Church outlook seemed very gloomy, and they resolved to
revive through the press the teaching of the Laudian school as to
the Church, the ministry, and the sacraments. The result was a
sei'ies of pamphlets called the Tracts for the Times, which were
received with great enthusiasm by a few and with a howl of repro-
bation from the many. But gi-adually the movement spread, and
by 1837 the Church revival had become general. Tlie outcry
against the Tractarian movement was still very strong, and a great
blow feU upon it when, in 1845, Wewman became a convert to the
Church of Rome. Many of his followers followed his example, but
the mass of the party stood firm under the quiet and diplomatic
-I90I.] THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 699
leadership of Dr. Pusey, from whom they were often called
Fmeyites, though they chose to call tliemselves the Catholic school.
One result of the movement was a fresh study of medieeval art and
practices, which led up to a revival of the symbolical ritual of the
Middle Ages, and gave the extreme following the nickname of
Bitualids, though the great teachers had cared little for mere
outward forms. Despite much opposition, the devotion of many of
the clergy of this party made their teaching acceptable to large
numbers, and procured for them a practical toleration. All efforts
to put them down have signally failed, and none more completely
than Disraeli's Public Worship Regulation Act of 1874. Mean-
while the Evangelical, or Low Church, party continued its activity,
though it began to show signs of losing its power of spreading
more widely. A new school of liberal or latitudinarian church-
manship, called the Broad Church, revived the spirit of Tillotson
and Burnet. Efforts to restrain these were as ineffective as the
efforts to put down Ritualism. In the end each of the Church
parties got some sort of legal recognition. Some evil has resulted
from the strange growth of party spirit, but also a good deal of
energy and activity which has not altogether limited it«elf to
sectional channels. Vast sums have been spent on building new
churches and in repairing old ones. The Ecclesiastical Commission
set up in 1836 ha.s done a great deal towards the better manage-
ment and the more equal distribution of the estates of the Church.
Many new bishoprics have been established, and a whole hierarchy
of colonial bishops set up, so that in 1878 ninety-five Anglican
prelates mot together in a Pan-Anglican Synmi, and nearly two
hundred and fifty in 1897. Convocation, which, since the reign of
George i. had only met formally, was after 1854 again allowed to
transact business, and as this was not a very representative body,
voluntary Congresses and Councils have been gathered together to
get at Church opinion more fully. All tlirough the century the
Church has been gradually losing its old inWdious supremat^v. Vmt
lias managed to make itself bett«r liked, and to do more work than
in the days of the Reform Bill.
8. Nonconformist bodies have grown in numbers, wealth,
influence, and organization. The disabilities imposed ujwn them
in earlier times were gradually swej)t away. not«bly in ^^
1828. when the Test and Cor]H>ration Act« were re- ProtesUnt
pealed. In 18;k) Dissenters were allowed to be married Nonoon-
in their own chapels, or before a registrar. In 1868 *"*™
Gladstone abolished compulsory church rates, and in 1871 most
700 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY [1820-
religious tests were removed at Oxford and Cambridge. In 1880
the Burials Act allowed burials in parish churchyards " with any-
Christian or orderly religious service." A great change of feeling
has led the mass of Nonconformists to adopt what is called the
Voluntary Principle, and to maintain that the state should have
nothing to do with religion. One result of this has been the move-
ment for the disestablishment and disendowment of the state
Church. The Irish Church Act of 1869 has been the chief victory
of this principle.
9. Another feature of the century has been the great growth
of the Roman Catholic Church in England, beginning with the
Catholic Emancipation Act in 1829 and the repeal of
Catho?icr" *^® repressive laws of earlier times, and helped forward
by the secession of Newman (cardinal in 1879), by the
longing of many to find rest from a troubled and sceptical age
in the bosom of an infallible Church, and by the large migra-
tions of Irish to the English and Scotch great towns. In 1850
a hierarchy of twelve bishops, under the archbishop of West-
minster, was set up, and a similar territorial episcopate has since
been introduced among the Roman Catholics of Scotland.
10. In Scotland there grew up early in the century the same
zeal for ecclesiastical independence which marked the High Church
revival in England. The Evangelical party won back
EstabH "hed * majority in the general assembly, under the leader-
Church and ship of Dr. Thomas Chalmers, and sought to abolish
rJf ^'ift ^^® right claimed by some of the Scottish landlords
Scotland. ^^ appoint ministers to the parish churches. This was
resisted by the patrons, who were upheld by the law
courts, so that a great conflict arose between Church and state.
After ten years of controversy, this was ended in 1843, when nearly
five hundred ministers, headed by Chalmers, gave up kirk, manse,
teinds, and glebe and formed a Free Church, in which their
spiritual liberties were not controlled by secular laws. A large
number of their congregations followed them, especially in the
Highlands, and to this day the Chiurch of Scotland has ceased to
minister to the majority of the population. In 1874 the Patronage
Act of 1712 was repealed, though it was too late to be of much use,
and Scotch Presbyterianism remains split into different camps.
Besides the Free Church, there were various older Pi-esbyterian
secessions, which united in 1847 to foi-m the United Presbyterian
Church, mostly distinguished from the Free Church by upholding
as a theory the " voluntary principle." Of recent years the Free
-I90I.] THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 70 1
Church and the United Presbyterians were united in a body called
the United Free Church, despit^e the protests of a small minority of
the old Free Church which still claims to represent that body, and
has obtained decisions of the law courts in it« favour.
11, In the early years of the nineteenth century the chief
British industries were somewhat langfuishing, but after the
R-radual introduction of free trade by Huskisson and
Peel progress became rapid. The population increased JJ^tfu**
enormously, despite the fact that after 1847 there
was a large and continual falling o£E in Ireland, and that
the tendency of recent years has been towards a steady decline
of the numbers in the jjurely agricultural districts in Britain.
Wealth has grown even more rapidly ; and the national revenue
lias increased in proportion. Prices fell a^i goods could be made
more easily and raw materials coiild be brought in the cheaper
markets. Artisans and professional men earned better salaries,
and the income tax returns showed a steady addition to the
number of people comfortably well off. Despite the repeal of
the com laws, fai'mers and landlords long continued as pros-
perous as the manufacturer and tradesman. But of recent times
the groMTth of foreign competition has cut down the profits of
agriculture and made com growing one of the least attractive
forms of employment. The great national states which have
grown up on the continent, especially Germany, and on the
other side of the Atlantic the United States of America, are
proving formidable rivals to English manufm-turers. Yet the
volume of British trade does not fall off, though capitalists have often
to be contented with a smaller percentage of interest and traders
with a diminished margin of profit. Though it is improbable that
England will ever win back the position she once bade fair to
obtain as the one great manufacturing and commercial nation
of tlie world, she has no great reason to fear, for being every whit
as well situated as her competitors, she is likely to retain a large
share of the world's business.
VI. There is nothing quite so striking in the annals of nine-
teenth-century inventions as tlie story of the great discoveries
which made the industrial revolution possible. Yet all
sorts of machinery Iwcamo eIal>orated with a subtlety, »jq«i- "
detail. and scientific ku(>wle<lge to which the eighteenth-
century inventors were strangers, and man's control over matt«r
wonderfully enlarge<l. This is well illustrated by the euormoos
improvements in the methods of oommunicatiou by which th«
702 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY [1820-
inoreased volume of trade was made possible, and notably by the
application of steam both to land and water carriage. Early in
the centuiy successful experiments were made in steam navigation
both in England and in America, and in 1819 a steamboat crossed
the Atlantic, though it was not for nearly a generation that
improvements in engines and the utilization of the screw-propeller
made steam navigation habitual for large ocean-going vessels. Of
recent years steam navigation has become so cheap that steamers
are rapidly superseding sailing ships.
13. By the early years of the nineteenth century canals had
done a great deal for the transport of heavy goods. Roads had
been made smooth and liard through the improve-
^^yg ments brought in by an engineer named Macadam.
On them magnificently horsed coaches conveyed pas-
sengers and mails at a rate of over ten miles an hour, both by night
and day. Moreover, the roads were at last safe from the highway-
men who had infested them in earlier times. But canals were slow
and road transport costly, and engineers were beginning to look
around for quicker and cheaper ways of moving heavy goods.
In 1802 Richard Trevithick, a Cornishman, took out a patent
for a steam, locomotive, and in 1814 George Stephenson ran his
first engine on a tramway used in the Tyne district for conveying
coals to the port. So successful was this that Stephenson started
an engine factory, and his locomotives soon began to supersede
horses for dragging coal waggons along the mining tramways
of Durham and Northumberland. The first line on which they
were largely used was the Stockton and Darlington Railway, opened
in 1825. But the first really important railway for passengers as
weU as goods was the line between Liverpool and Manchester, which
was completed in 1830. On this line Stephenson's famous engine
the Mocket drew a passenger train at over thirty miles an hour.
Though looked upon with suspicion by lovers of old ways, railway
construction upon a large scale soon set in. The first long-distance
line was one between London and Birmingham, built by Stephen-
son's son Robert in 1839. Soon a network of railways, spread over
the whole country, efPected for inland commerce what steamships
did for sea trade. Britain, the country of their first employment,
was thus enabled to maintain her unique position among the
trading states of the world.
14. Later in the century other mechanical inventions still
further increased facilities for communication. Telegraphs, patented
in 1837, became in 1870 the propei-ty of the state, and in 1866 a
-I90I.] THE NrNETEENTH CENTURY 703
svhmarine cable was first successfully laid between Britain and
America. About 1880 the telephone became utilized. More recently
the bicycle and the motor-car »eem likely to brinj? back
traffic to the roads which became comparatively de- ?*'*'®'',i
serted after the invention of railways. Nor should we
omit to mention among the things which have furthered the
spread of cheap communications, the introduction of penny postag-e
between any part of the United Kingdom in ISiHHt. This boon
was in the last years of the century extended to nearly every part
of the British Empire.
15. Early in the century the terrible evils of the early factory
system still went on unheeded, while the agricultural labourer was
a helpless and spiritless serf. Child labour in factories social and
and mines was rampant, and in many trades wages industrial
were so low and fluctuating that even skilled workmen P''"*'^**'
found life a hard struggle. So gloomy was the outlook tliat it drove
EK)bert Owen to turn his brilliant gifts from the pursuit of his
own fortunes to schemes for improving the condition of the workers
and for the regeneration of society. He gave the first impulse
to factory legislation, and was the founder of English Co-operation.
About 1820 he turned from these fruitful efforts to pursue a scheme
of Socialism, in which he was not at all successful. More plodding
hands took up his practical work, and a series of Factory Acts were
passed, whicli limited the hours of women's and children's labour,
and provided that workshops should lie properly ventilated, fenced,
and inspected. A large measure of the credit of these measures
is due to Michael Sadler, a Tory member of Parliament, and to
Lord Shaftesbury, tlie leader of the Evangelical party in the
Church and a zealous and unwearied philanthropist. They were
opposed by many of the millowners, and by the Radicals of the
school of Bright and Cobden, who denounced tliem as interfering
with individual liberty and hampering the production of wealth.
Parallel to tlie growth of factory legislation went the development
of self-hel{) among the workers themselves. This was made pos-
sible by the repeal, in 1824, of the Combination Law$, which
had prevented the legal combination of workmen to protect their
own interests. Long after this there were strong prejudices on
the part of employers and political economists against attempts
of workmen to join together to raise the rate of wages or to
improve their condition. Trade* Unions, thus discouraged, grew
up under unwholesome conditions. Tliey were often he«de<l hj
ignorant and unreasonable men. and tliu ttriket which, under
704 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY [1820-
their auspices, became more numerous were sometimes marked by
violence, and met by repression that excited bitter feelings between
class and class. Bit by bit things became better, and a series of
acts, beginning in 1871, fully protected and recognized legitimate
trade societies. By teaching self-help and by increasing the work-
man's power, and also by acting as benefit societies on a large scale,
trades unions have done much to raise the condition of more
skilled labourers. Of recent years their operations have been
extended to agricultural labourers and to the coarse and less skilled
occupations in the great towns. As organization becamie more
perfect strikes and lock-outs have become less violent, and in many
trades less frequent than before. By these various means much
has been done to improve the condition of the mass of the people.
The change for the better began perceptibly about 1850. Work-
men are now better fed, housed, clothed, and paid. They work
shorter hours, and have fuller opportunities of employing their
leisure than the brutal drunkenness and degrading pastimes of a
hundred years ago, though there is still need for further effort,
and the slums of the large towns present modern life in its least
satisfactory side. There is too much abject misery among large
sections of the community, and too much dulness, monotony, and
lowness of aim among those comfortably off, to give us any room
for looking upon the undoubted social progress of the nineteenth
century with undue or self-complacent satisfaction.
16. None of the arts was in a satisfactory condition early in
the nineteenth century. In architecture a somewhat incongrous
mimicry of Greek architecture was then fashionable
ture ' ^'^ -^^^ churches and public buildings, until the Romantic
and Tractarian attraction for the Middle Ages brought
about a Gothic Revival, which has filled the whole country with
countless imitations of the fabrics of the Middle Ages. As time
went on these imitations became more artistic, learned, and appro-
priate, but no great school of art can ever arise from the mere
copying of the work of earlier generations. The best result of the
movement is to be found, not so much in the buildings erected
under its auspices, as in the careful and loving study of mediaeval
monuments, both at home and abroad. Unluckily, zeal for uni-
formity, love of prettiness, and conventional propriety have led
to numerous so-called restorations of old buildings, which have in
too many cases wiped out the historical record on the pretence
of removing incongruities and providing modern accommoda-
tion. Later than the taste for Gothic came the study of
'I90I.] THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 705
Benaissance architecture, which has been taken np by several men
of ability.
17. In painting the ablest master in the early part of the
century was the noble colourist, John Constable (1776-1837), the
cfi'ect of whose work at home and abroad has been Paintln?,
second to none in this century. A greater era began music, and
with the romantic landscapes of J. M. W. Turner sculpture.
(1775-1851), whose work, great in oils, was unsurpassed in water-
colours, so that under his influence there grew up a remarkable
school of British landscape painters in the latter medium. A further
step in advance was made when, in 1848, a knot of young artists,
conspicuous among whom was Dante Ga])riel S^ssetti, started a
society called the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which upheld an entire
adherence to the simplicity of nature as its guiding principle. From
their efforts sprang a lasting improvement in English art, which
was felt far beyond the narrow limits and original conceptions of
the actual brotherhood. In 1824 the National Oallery was founded in
London, and as art teaching improved, a higher level of technical
skill everywhere produced excellent results. Some of the beet
modem work is to be seen in black and white work, though the
ancient arts of steel-engraving and mezzotint have gone out of
fashion. In music, the most progressive art in modern times, there
lias been a remarkable development; but sculpture has produced
few masters of real note.
18. No aspect of nineteenth-century development is more im-
portant than the growth of Natural Science. Englishmen were
among the foremost in finding out those marvellous
laws of nature which have so greatly altered our ^l!J^
whole way of looking at the universe, and in their
applications to the practical arts and industries, have so immensely
increased man's command over matter. In the development of
sciences, such as chemistry, electricity, and geology. Englishmen
liave taken a leading part, and the greatest revolution in soientifio
thought in the nineteenth century was brought about by the
publication, in 1859, of the Oriijin of Specie* by Charles Darwin.
It was the first of a series of epoch-making books, which gradually
lod to the general acceptance of the doctrine of Evolution, or the
theory of progress by gradtial growth, which eoon extended from
))iology to many other branches of knowledge. It has taught the
fniitful method of trying to find out the origin of things by
lull i. lit investigation of thoir history rather than by startlinff
lix'orius based upon their later and developed aspecUt. It ha« been
2 t
706 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY [1820-
as epoch-making iu tlie social sciences as in tlie study of natui-e,
and tlie sciences of law, history, and philology have been meta-
morphosed by its iufluence. More than any other single principle,
this Historical Method marks out the contrast between eighteenth-
and nineteenth-centuiy thought.
19. Literatm-e has not altogether fallen short in its progress.
We have spoken already of the Lake-school of poets, and of the
singers who, in the early nineteenth century, were the
apostles of Liberalism, or voiced the Rotnantic reaction
from the shipwreck of eighteenth- century ideas through the Trench
Revolution. A new poetic wave surged up with the great stir of
national life marked by the Reform Bill and the Tractarian move-
ment. Foremost among those who grappled with the problems
which were disturbing the new generation were Alfred Tennyson
(1809-1892), whose work tenderly reflects the varied moods of
nature, and Robert Browning (1812-1887), the poet-philosopher.
In strong contrast to these stood the aesthetic school, which, like
Keats before them, pursued art for her own sake, careless of external
aims. This tendency seemed to centre round the exquisite sonnets
of Rossetti, as consummate a poet as he was unique as a painter.
It became most widely known by the musical and eloquent verse
of Algernon Charles Swinburne, and the fresh narrative poems of
William Mon-is, who was also a paintor and a designer of rare
excellence.
20. In prose the early nineteenth century saw the spread «f the
Romantic School by its prose fiction as weU as by its verse and
drama. The special growth of the age was in the
novel, which continued all through the centuiy to be
by far the most popular form of literature. The historical and
romantic novel, best represented by the Waverleij Novels of Sir
Walter Scott, gradually gave way to the novel of contemporary
life, whose highest exj^onents include, in the middle of the century,
William Makejieace Thackeray, the greatest of English novelists,
and Charles Dickens, the most popular of all writers of fiction;
and, in the next generation, the great and thoughtful work of
George Meredith, and the popular but thoroughly artistic tales
of Robert Louis Stevenson. In other aspects of letters, we
have to note the eloquence of De Quincey ; the taste and humour
of our greatest critic Charles Lamb ; the subtle art of John Heniy
Newman; and the eloquent rhetoric with which the triumi)hs
of Whiggism and of modern material progress were glorified
by Thomas Babiugtou Macaulay, the most popular, vivid, and
-I901.) THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 707
picturesque of hiutorians, and the best index of the merittf and
deficiencies of his time. In strong contrast to Macaulay's good-
natured optimism stood Tliomaa Carlyle, the most influential teacher
of the middle part of the century, who taught reverence, obedience,
liero- worship, and the gosi>el of duty and work ; and Carlyle's friend
and disciple, the ethereal John Buskin, who made art criticism,
expressed with rare eloquence, his vehicle for expounding the moral
and social teaching of his master. The spread of education had
the result of bringing about an enormous growth of periodicals
and of the newspaper press, whose popularity was a sign of s large
class of people fond of reading, but not able or willing to read
systematically and deeply. The abolition of duties on jMiper and
of newspaper stamps had the ett'ect of reducing the price of nearly
all newspapers to a penny, while a great many only cost a halfpenny.
Another sign of the times was the great growth of a daily press in
all the larger towiis, some of which became fully as capably con-
ducted and as influential in guiding public opinion as the London
newspapers. Future improvement is to be hojjed for rather in the
deepening than in the extension of the habit of reading, which in
some shape or another has almost become universaL
21. Another characteristic feature of the nineteenth century is
the enotmous diffusion of education, the change of its methods,
the widening of its subjects, and the gradual assump- „_.
.. J.1 _j. * XT. i i. i * V ■ • Education.
tion on the part of the state of care for its provision,
organization, and direction. Early in the nineteenth century few
children of the English, and hardly any of the Irish lower classes,
had any chance of receiving instruction, though in Scotland a
plan projected by John Knox had been a reality since 1696, and
every parish had had its school for over a century. Early in the
century rival private societies, the Church National Society and the
undenominational British and Foreign School Society, set to work
to provide schools for the children of the poor. Their operations
received a great impetus when, in 1833. the state began to make
grants to help forward elementary education, and still more after
1839, when the rudiments of an education office were organised by
the government. But religious animosities and popular pn«judice
or indifference long made progress slow, and it was not until 1870
that Porster's Education Act supplemented the self-denying effort*
of individuals by establishing compulsory education and a really
national system. Even after this secondary education remmined
entirely at the mercy of voluntary effort and indindual munificence.
in 1868 and 1869 the Public SchooU Act and the Enduwiid SchooU
708 THE NINETEEMTH CENTURY [1901.
Act laid down tke principle that it was the business of the state
to see that educational trusts were strictly carried out, and that
antiquated schemes should be revised and brought up to date. The
care of the state was thus gradually extended from elementary to
secondary education, and this process went on gradually widening
until the Uducation Act of 1902 charged the county councils
everywhere with the responsibility of the oversight of all forms of
education within their respective areas. The state direction of the
higher types of education was to be seen in the appointment of
commissions which, in 1854, and again in 1877, strove to bring the
universities of Oxford and Cambridge more abreast of modern
times. Conspicuous features of educational progress in recent
years have been the establishment of many technical schools for
the promotion of skill in handicrafts and in applied science,
especially in the great towns, and the growth of local colleges,
which in several instances have developed latterly into independent
universities.
CHAPTER VII
BRITISH INDIA IN THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY (1820-1901)
Chief Dates :
1826. First Burmese War.
1828. Lord William Beutinck Governor.
1839. Afghan War.
1843. Conquest of Sind.
1845. First Sikh War.
1849. Conquest of the Punjab.
1848. Ix>rd Dalhonsie Governor.
1857. Indian Mutiny.
1858. End of East India Company.
1877. Victoria Empress of India.
1878. Second Afghan War.
1898. Afridi War.
1, The close of the Napoleonic wars saw Eng-land dominant in
India and making* good progreHS towards the development of a
new colonial empire wherewith to replace the lost jy^^ Indian
American colonies. The position which she had won and colonial
as mistress of the seas enabled her to carry out both *'"'* '^''
tusks with little interference from any other nation, and to profit
by the weakness of France and her involuntary allies to appropriate
for herself the remnants of their Indian and colonial power.
Nothing" in the nineteenth century is more preg'nant with results
for the future than this consummation of the process by wliich
Britain ever since the beg'inning of the seventeenth century lias
been extending her tongnie, people, and traditions over distant
continents, and winning for her empire the most ancient civiliea-
tions of the East. The ninet«euth-century development both
of our Indian empire and our new coloaial system has been ho
independent of our internal hi8tx)ry and of Eiiroj)ean complications,
that it will be simplest for us to study them s«>}>arat(dy, apart from
tlie record of the domestic history of Britain.
2. In India the genius of Clive, Hastings, and Welledey had
709
7IO BRITISH INDIA [1820-
secured for England a large amount of territory directly under her
sway, and a paramount position over the whole of the peninsula.
British The greatest aggregate of country governed imme-
India in diately by the British was in the vaUey of the Ganges.
To Bengal and Behar, annexed in 1765, had been
added the Upper and Lower Doab and Rohilkhand, taken in
1801-1803, which extended our territory to the rich districts
of the Upper Ganges, and included Delhi, the old capital of the
Mogul emperors. In 1803, Orissa, the coast district to the
south-west of Calcutta, had also been absorbed. These regions
jointly constituted the -presidency of Bengal, and were directly
ruled by the governor-general from Calcutta. South of Orissa the
Circars (1769) and the Karnatik (1801) extended the Madras presi-
dency along the whole eastern coast as far as Cape Comorin.
Besides this, Ceylon, acquired from the Dutch dui-ing the Napoleonic
wars, became also British, though then as now separately governed
from continental India. In the west the Bombay presidency up
to 1818 included but a very small area of actual British lands, and
was stiU closely pressed in the interior by the territories of the
Maratha chieftains, who had only been temporarily cowed by
their defeats at Assaye and Argaum. However, in 1817-1818 the
third Mardthd tvar led to the absorption of the whole dominions
of the Peshwa into the Bombay presidency, which thus assumed
dimensions not much infei-ior to those of the eastern seats of
British power. Moreover, the beginning of the Central Provinces
of a later date were now made by other annexations.
3. The British overlordship was at the same time extended over
the most dangerous of the native princes. Holkar and the
Th I di Gaekwar were forced to sign subsidiary treaties, such
vassal a,s the other Maratha lords had already been com-
states in peUed to accept. The result of this was a complete
1820 . / .
destruction of MarathA independence, and the estab-
lishment of peace and sound rule in regions long devastated by the
Maratha hordes and their allies, the freebooting Pindaris. The
warlike princes of Rajputana, long the victims of Maratha inroads,
now gladly accepted British supremacy. In the north the nawab
of Oudh, whose lands were surrounded by British territory ; in the
Decoan the nizam ; and in the extreme south the raja of Mysore. —
were closely boimd by the subsidiary treaties negotiated in Wel-
lesley's governorship. Only in the extreme north was there now
a strong and independent native state. This was the monarcli
which Ranjft Singh had established over the Sikhs of the Punjab.
-I90I.] BRITISH INDIA 7H
The Sikhs wore warlike Hindn devotws wlio had revolted from the
Mogul Empire, and had courage and faith enough to make them
really formidable. But Ranji't Singh was wise enough to keep on
good terms with the English, bo that though he commanded great
military resources, there was no trouble with the Sikhs until after
his death in 1839.
4. The third Maratha war had been fought during the governor-
generalship of the marquis of Hastings, who ruled India from
1814 to 1823. Under his successor. Lord Amherst, a
nephew of Chatham's favourite general, the chief event shlr*of Lord
was the firtit Burmese war, which led, in 1826, to the Wlillam
annexation of Assam and Arakan to the Bengal presi- flog'^Mc
dency. Amherst was succeeded as governor by Lord
William Bentinck, a younger son of the duke of Portland, prime
minister in 1783 and 1807. An ardent Whig and an enthusiastio
reformer. Lord William made his rule memorable, not by oonqueflts,
but by his self-denying efforts to improve the condition of the vast
populations committed to his charge. He had the courage to put
down the ancient Hindu custom of Sati, or widow-burning, despite
the outcry of Hindus and Anglo-Indians, who thought that a revolt
would follow an attack on so long-cherished a superstition. He
also stamped out TJiagi, and rooted out the brotherhootls of tJutgn, or
hereditary murderers, who had wandered over the whole country in
disguise, and made a trade of strangling. He sought to educate
the higher classes of the native races in Western literature and in
the English language. He removed the old restrictions on mis-
sionaries, and encouraged steam navigation on the Gangeii. He
set his face against further annexations, and strove to extend
freedom of speech and writing, and opened the public services to
the native races. He often pursued these laudable aims by methoda
too Western to .suit the circumstances of India, and set the claM*
feeling of the Anglo-Indians strongly against him. But he wa«
strongly supported by the Whig governments of the i)eriod of the
reform movement. In 1833 the East India Company's charter waa
renewed on terms which fitte<l in with the liberal character of
Bentinck's acts. By it the company was forced to nbaudou ita
commercial monopolies and its trading activity. The limitation of
the governing corporation to ndministmtion and patronage greatly
improvotl the tone of its policy, and reacted favourably on the
character of British rule in India.
r>. Under Lord Auckland, the next govemor-genenU (188^184fl),
troubles broke out with Afgh^nistAn, a monut«inoiia eountiy beyond
712 BRITISH INDIA [1820-
tlie western mountain borders of India, inhabited by scattered
tribes of wavlike and fanatical Mohammedans, who had for more
The Af^hft than a century made themselves the terror of
war, 1839- Northern India. Alarmed by the intrigues of Russia,
1842. with Dost Muhammad, amir of Afghanistan, Auckland
resolved to drive him from his throne, and restore his rival Shdh
Siiuja, then an exile in British India. It was a task both dangerous
and unnecessary, but in 1839 was safely accomplished. Shah Shuja
was restored, but even a strong army at Kabul, the capital, could
not maintain the new-comer in his throne. The Afghans revolted,
and pressed the English garrison at Kabul so hard that its com-
mander, General Elphinstone, a weakly old man, inadequate for so
great a charge, was glad to accept the offer of the rebel leader,
Akbar Khan, Dost Muhammad's son, to allow liim to retire in safety
to British teriutory. But Akbar would not, or more probably could
not, keep his promise. As the panic-stricken army wound their
way through the defiles of the passes of the Khurd-Kabul and the
Khaibar, fierce mountaineers, lining every height, shot down the
hapless fugitives as they dragged on in helpless disorder, suffering
intensely from the cold and snows of the hard Afghan winter.
Before long the whole force was annihilated. At last, on the
morning of January 13, 1842, a sentry from the walls of Jalalabad
saw a single white man clinging wearily to the neck of a tired-out
pony that could hardly drag him along. It was the sole survivor
of the army of 4500 men, with its 12,000 followers, wliich had
marched out of Kabul a week before. Next spring Afghanistan
was invaded, the prisoners rescued, and a show made of jjunishing
the offenders. In the end. Dost Muliammad was restored to his
throne, and the war resulted in absolutely no change in the
position of Af ghanistiin, though it did much to reveal to the enemy
the limitations of the British power.
G. The conclusion of the Afghan war was fought under Lord
EUenborough, a vigorous but vain and pompous ruler, who was
governor- general from 1842 to 1844. In 1843 Sir
The coiv- Charles Napier defeated the amirs of Sind, the district
SInd, 1 843, ^^ ^^ Lower Indus, at the battle of Midni, from which
and the followed the conquest of Sind and its annexation to
w^r 1845 the Bombay presidency. Under Lord Hardinge (1844-
1848), the next governor-general, trouble broke out with
the Punjab, which had become hostile to the British since Ranjit
Singh's death, and anxious to try its strength against the power
which had failed so signally in Afghauistau. lu 1845 a very Lard*
-I90I.] BRITISH INDIA 713
fought war was wag-ed with the gallant Sikhs. Ran jit's army
proved a magnificent instrument of warfare, and the headstrong
valour of Lord Gough exposed the British troops to terrible losses
at the hands of the most desperate foe against which they had ever
fought in India. However, they were at last forced to make their
submission. A young son of Ran jit's was made nominal ruler
of the Punjab, but an English resident was appointed at Lahore
to control the policy of those who ruled in his name. The inde-
pendence of the Sikhs was thus brought to an end.
7. From 1848 to 1856 India was ruled by the marquis of Dal-
housie, whose government proved more eventful than any since the
days of Wellesley, both as regfards extension of territory
and internal progress. His first difficulty arose from a Annexation
revolt of the Sikhs, who bore with impatience the loss jab, 1849.
of their freedom, and raised the whole Punjab in 1848. and Lower
The whole of the Sikh district fell away, and early in ^l^^'
1849 Gough fought the battle of ChiliunwiUa, where the
victorious march of the British through a thick jungle against the
weU- protected Sikh batteries was checked by the i>anic- flight of our
cavalry, so that the brave infantry suffered enormous losses, and,
though the enemies' position was captured, many trophies of victory
fell into the Siklis' hands. Next month Gough put down the
revolt in the decisive victory of Gujrat. The Punjab was then
annexed ; and the energy of Dalliouflie, well seconded by the brothers
Lawrence, built up a system of mixed military and civil rule, which
soon reduced the Punjab to obe<lience and contentment. Hence-
forth the remarkable military capacity of the Sikh levies was to be
use<l on the British side, and before long this was to prove th«>
salvation of our Indian empire. In 1852 Dalliousie fought the
gecnnd BurnwHe war, which resulted in the annexation of Lower
Burma and the great trading station of Rangoon.
8. A H])ooial feature of Dalhousie's rule was the wholesale an-
nexation of native states. Disregarding the universally recognised
Hindu custom of adopting heirs to ohildleM princes, Dalhousie's
Dalhousie laid down his famous (loctrine of lapte, and Doctrine of
freely absorl)ed states whose rulers' Ixxlily heirs had *^P***
iVuhI out. Thus, in 1853, Niigpur was seised on the death of the
liis<, of tlie Bhonslas. Moreover, the nis^m was forced to aor-
mider Beriir ; while, in 1854), Ondh was forcibly annexed, on
:i'<'uuntof Dui shameful misgovernment of the last of the nawiibs
of that region. By these annexations the modem l>ouiidarip<i of
British India were in substance aifaiuiMl. Dalliousio upplitHl the
714 BRITISH INDIA [1830-
same doctrine of lapse to the pensioned princes who had ceased
to rule. Among others, he refused to repogTiize the claims of
Ndna Sahib, the adopted heir of the last of the Peshwas. Acts
such as these, based on disregurd of Hindu tradition, did more
to excite native feeling against the governor than his down-
right annexations. And the swift, stern rush of Dalhousie's re-
forms in the administration did not always take sufficiently into
account the unconquerable conservatism of India and the strength
of local prejudice. With all allowances, however, Dalhousie re-
mains among the greatest of Anglo-Indian statesmen.
9, In 1856 Dalhousie. broken down by his strenuous labours,
went home to die, and was succeeded as governor by Lord Canning,
the son of George Canning, the famou.s statesman,
nlngand" Canning had been little more than a year in India
the Indian when a formidable mutiny of the native army of
1857 ^* Bengal placed British rule in the utmost peril. Since
the Crimean war India had been dangerously denuded
of British-bom troops, and the sepoy or native forces had been
alternately pampered by foolish indulgences and irritated by
ignorant offences done to their racial and religious prejudices. At
last a real panic was produced when an improved musket, the
Enfield rifle, was issued to the Bengal army, the ammunition for
which required greased cartridges, the end of which the soldier
had to bite ofE before loading the gun. The Hindu was convinced
that the new ammunition was greased with the sacred fat of cows,
and the Mussulman thought it was lubricated with the contaminat-
ing lard of swine. A rumour arose that the government meant
to destroy their caste and their faith. A wild panic broke the
habits of years, and a general mutiny was skilfully and secretly
planned. The rising broke out at Meerut, and soon spread over all
Northern and Central India, affecting a large portion of the
Bengal army. It was at its worst at Delhi, where the Moham-
medans hoped to revive the Mogul Empire, and in the recently
annexed region of Oudh, where the whole people, headed by the
nobles, joined the rebels, and reduced the English power to a few
hard-beset garrisons, such as those at Cawnpur and Lucknow.
Nilna Sfthib declared himself to be the Pesliwd, and headed the
mutineers at Cawnpur. Before long the Cawnpur garrison sur-
rendered, and wa.s butchered in cold blood by orders of the
Ndna. Luckily the armies of Bombay and Madras, separated
by language and tradition from the Bengal sepoys, remained
true. The leading native princes were also strongly loyal, among
-1901 J BRITISH IVDIA 715
tliow oonqneaooB for tliecr HeKty bsiii^ ik» ltmetA£ priBom,
Holkar aad Siadlua^ and <&« povcrfid uiia. Lover Bii«d
ercB, tiuNtgh diatoriwd, nauiBed for Ike Beai part in Biiliih
iMBds, aad tlw Panjab iras wA only kyal. bat caalribated a Ins*
f oree of wariika SOdM ta tte forDoa wUc^ irero rqpadly iinfliwfaJ
to deal witJi Ae «afiiMWW am tk« Uppv aad Middle Oaagea.
A forae, partly British aad parih- Sikli, Mairfcud aovfk tram. Hm
Pimjal), captured Delhi allar a kng- a iey e . wlule GmmrI Hiive-
look moved up the 6aag«a to I^^sov. aad n iief^d tte fwiiUfid
gwtiaaii. Thia marked tiw ton of the tide. Iktzt year (1858)
the xemaaahi of the mutiny were atnaped o«k with a ntHy
which TiraUed that of the mntmeen fhwwlrw daring their
ahflct BOBreot of triumph. The last ]daoae to reaisi wrr» m
the Maritflii districtB roond Bombay, when maay of the kwal
foreea had dewited th«r loyal prineea aad ralUed rooad Kdaa
S<h3i. la the worst daya of the awtiay. Oiaaiay had Aowa rare
pi - M eae e of mind aad de4enniaathia, aad did mcaeh to BhU Oa
wild nipi'iailB of the Tiotora.
10. Tk mutiny aealed the fate of the Eaat India Company,
whoae poUtJeal power, hy a stxaage aaonaly. had oatJaafod ita
trading days. In 1858 the Derhy adaiahy eawied an ,^ ^^^
India BiU, by which the eoa^May waa dia w l te d aad But laAi
the gorenunent of ladia traaafened to the erowa. ^Ij^S"'^*
wc^kng thronirh a aeerstary of fltate and an expert
rooncil, which replaced the board of oontroL The loeal ad-
ministration was placed under a Ticaroy, to whom all the proTiacea.
inelading eTcn Bombay aad ]fadras, were henoefoiih imberdiaate.
The eompaay'fl Kaiopeaw army was amal^ramated with the fovaaa
of tte erown, and its asfj aboliahed. Canniair became the Sial
TiMroy. but in 1868 ha went home, like Dalhoasie. with brokiM
heaUh. and died iwmadialaiy after his retam.
11. A long pened of eoaqMrative ealm. marked by the avniil— e»
of fraah eoaquest. and by careful atteatka to intsraal re foi a tt and
eeoMoaue deralopment. made the history of the pariod »,n— y
which saeoeeded tiie mntiay itaad ia strontr contrast and
to. the warlike activity aad eiwfM i wi of the days of "'■'*■•■
Dalhoaab aad Canninfr. A aatipork of nulwayn was extended
OT«r the whole of India, and amde H eamr to deal with the periodic
fmmtues, which, however, stfll nawin the wont tmtm of India.
Tka openinir of the Saaa Onal hiaaght Brttahi aad her grrwl
dapaadaaey iato mash ihi a w lalatkaa.
12. In 1877 the qaesa awamii «ha titi* «f ibh of ladia.
7l6 BRITISH INDIA [1820-
Soon after came the most stirring episode in recent Indian history,
the second Afghan war of 1878 to 1880. Its origin, like that of
Second ^^^ predecessor, lay in the jealousy of the British
Afghan government of the intrigues of Russia with the
^tfnfi Rsn ^^iJ*- These intrigues were peculiarly resented at
a time when the relations of England and Russia
had been much strained by the events of the Russo- Turkish war
which had just been concluded. On the refusal of Sher Ali, the
amir, to receive an English mission, Lord Lytton, the viceroy,
overran Afghdnistdn, and drove Sher AH to take flight in Central
Asia. His son accepted the English terms, surrendered the passes
beyond the Indus, and strove to reign with British help. As in
1842, an Afghan rising soon drove the weak amir from the throne.
But General Roberts was now sent with a strong force, with
which he occupied Kiibul. In 1880, however, it was resolved to
abandon Afghdnistd,n, and a treaty was made with Abdur Rahmdn,
a nephew and old rival of Sher Ali, who was then the strongest
force in the country. By it the new acquisitions made by the
previous treaty were relinquished. Abdur Rahman, left to himself,
soon made himself undisputed amir. The only chance of a united
and friendly Afghanistan, sti*ong enough to prove an efficient
barrier to Rtissia, was regained by this reversal of policy ; but the
liesitation of Britain between the two methods of action was
ominous as to the result of the growing influence of English party
struggles on India.
13. During the later years of Victoria, the chief military troubles
of British India were with the fierce frontier tribes of the north-
India at "v^est. Conspicuous among these were the Afridis,
the End of a fanatical hill tribe of warriors, who gave much
Victoria's trouble, and necessitated great efforts before they
could be forced into submission in 1898. In India
itself there was such peace as the land had never known before,
tliough well-being was stUl limited by the chronic poverty of the
mass of the peoi^le, and checked by a series of terrible famines.
The very rapid increase of population brought about since the old
checks on growth have become weaker, raised real problems as
to their maintenance. But manufactures are springing up to take
away some of the surplus population from the soU, and in the
great industrial cities of modern India the stationary stage of
civilization has been almost outgrown. But tlie mass of the popu-
lation stiU live their old life, untouched by the manifestations of
Western civilization which are around them. Nothing is more
-I90I.]
BRITISH INDIA
in
7l8 BRITISH INDIA [1901.
remarkable than the constant contrast of old and new, East and
"West, which British India presents. We must go back to the
eastern parts of the Roman Empire in its palmy days to find its
like. The conq[uest of India is among- the greatest achievements
of Englishmen. Its government by them is stiU more creditable
and wonderful.
CHAPTER VIII
THE BRITISH COLONIES IN THE NINE-
TEENTH CENTURY (1783-1901)
Chief Dates :
1788. lic^^innings of Australia.
1837. Canadian revolt.
1838. Lord Durham Uoveruor of Canada.
1839. New Zealand settled.
1851. Victoria Bcj>arated from New South Wales.
1867. Dominion of Canada established.
l877- Annexation of the Transvaal.
1879. Zulu War.
1889. British South African Company established.
1895. Jameson's Raid.
1899. Beginning of Boer War.
1901. Commonwealth of Australia established.
1. WliiLK British ascendency was being extended over India,
a new colonial empire came into being*, to replace that which
had been lost by the secession of the thirteen
American colonies. After their falling away Britain ^'''t'sh
had few colonies left, save the West Indies and the latter
French Canada, and even in these the British part of the
element was small, since the West Indies, even more ^tury"
than the sonthem states of America, were tropical
in their climate, so that the whites could only form a small
aristocracy of planters and governors, leaving the tilling of the
tields to be done by the labour of negro slaves, and in Canada
the Euro])eau element was French and not English. However,
both these dirttricts grew rapidly in numbers and wealth after 1783.
A migration of ill-treated United Empire loyalists from the statM
of the American Union began tlie settlement of the Upper or
English Canada around the great lakes, and the West India sugar
colonies were soon at the very height of their prosperity. More*
over, with tlie conscious object of rei>lacing in some fashion tlie
loss of America, a few far>8eeing men were tumin^ to the new
* 7«9
720 THE COLONIES [1820-
continent of Australia, for the first time well known through the
voyages of the famous navigator and discoverer. Captain Cook.
In 1788 a small settlement was established by Captain Phillip
on Fort Jackson, a noble harbour in New South Wales, as the
eastern coast of Australia was already called, where there soon
arose the little town of Sydney, so called from the secretary of
state of Pitt's ministry, who favoured the enterprise. But the
settlement was on a small scale, and destined chiefly for the
reception of convicts ; and before long the outbreak of the great
wars against France called away British energies into other
channels. Yet a beginning had been made of another New
England in the Antipodes. These, with a few trading stations
in the tropical parts of Africa, and isolated islands like the
Bermudas and St. Helena, almost completed the list of British
colonial possessions in the latter part of the eighteenth centuiy.
2. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars brought back to
England a colonial supremacy wider than ever dreamed of by
_ , , , Chatham. The immediate result of our maritime
Colonial
expansion ascendency was that the colonies of France and her
duping the compulsory allies were at our mercy, and as many as
lutloiiary seemed worth occupying were captured. The majority
and of these conquests were given up in the peaces of
Napoleonic 1814 ^nd 1815, but a considerable number stiU remained
in British hands. These included several West India
islands, originally French, like Tobago, or Spanish, like Trinidad ;
Demerara and the other portions of Gruiana, taken from the Dutch,
which were henceforth known as British Gruiana; Cape Colony,
already long inhabited by Dutch farmers called Boers ; the Dutch
island of Ceylon, and the French island of Mauritius in the Indian
Ocean. The revolt of the negroes of San Domingo from France,
and the establishment, in the days of Canning, of the independence
of most of the great Spanish colonies of Southern and Central
America, still further cleared the field of European rivals. Thus,
after the death of George iv., the position of Britain as a colonial
power, relative to other European states, was stronger than it had
ever been in the eighteenth century.
3. The new colonies were not all clear gain. Except the Cape,
as yet of little importance, they were all of the hot tropical sort,
Decay of ^^ which Europeans could only live as a leisurely
the West property-owning class, and they increased the diificul-
Indies. ^j^g which the question of negro slavery now brought
forward. After the abolition of the slave trade, labour became
-I90I.] THE COLONIES 72 1
dearer, and during the long blockade of the continent, Europe had
learnt to make sugar from beetroot, so that she had less need of
colonial wares, when, after 1815, our colonies could again send
their products to continental markets. The abolition of negro
slavery throughout the Empire in 1834 gave a fresh blow to the
West Indian planters; and, last of all, came free trade, which
enabled foreign produce, often slave-grown, to crowd out the
produce of British plantations from British markets. There were,
moreover, difficulties with the free blacks, who settled down in
happy sloth on their small patches of land, and could not be
tempted to work regularly for their former masters, while their
numbers and claim to exercise political rights, made them a
political as well as an economic trouble. To avoid being ruled
by the blacks, many West Indian colonies surrendered their con-
stitutions, and preferred to be ruled despotically as crown colonies ;
and to remedy the scarcity of labour, they sought to import coolies,
or coloured labourers from India. These devices were but partially
successful, and bit by bit the West Indies, once the greatest glories
of the Empire, lost nearly all their prosperity, which, based upon
monopoly and slavery, could not continue in an age of free com-
petition in trade and labour. Yet even in their ruin they remained
magnificent monuments of their former greatness.
4. The decay of the tropical colonies brought into greater
prominence the colonies in temperate regions, with a population
largely European, though not in all cases preponderat- j^^ ^^^^
ingly British. These regions had problems of their ^ration
own, for the conquests of the great wars had made UJ°J[^
many Frenchmen and Dutchmen and some Spaniards
the subjects of the British crown. But the growth of population,
and the amount of distres-s and irregularity of emi)loyment at
home, caused many Englishmen to seek new homes for themselves
in colonies beyond the sea, and steadily raised the population and
proportionately increased the British element in our possessions.
6. Other great results followed from the steady flow of emigra-
tion from Britain. Large masses of Englishmnu, freer and more
unconventional in their ways than those left at home, phueg ©f
would never be satisfied with anything but tlio fullest colonial
rights of self-government, and the lesson of the falling ^ ®^*
away of America liafl taught the mother-country the necessity
and policy of allowing them to work out tlu>ir political and economic
destinies as they themselves thought best. Unluckily, the doctrine
first taught in revolutionary Franco, that colonies wore for all
3 A
;722 THE COLONIES [1820-
time parts of the mother-country, found no echo either in England
or even in her colonies. Most statesmen believed that colonies,
when strong enough, would naturally fall away, like America, and
took no pains to prevent such a result. Good resulted at the
moment from this nan-ow policy, since the colonies' demands for
self-government were gracefully conceded.
6. The first step forward from the arbitrary rule of crown
officials, which was necessary in the infancy of a new settlement,
Growth of ^^ ^ grant a local Legislative Council, at first in
colonial many instances consisting of official nominees, but
indepen- ultimately becoming elected by the colonists them-
selves. The second great stej) was when responsible
government was granted — that is to say, when the executive power
was made to depend on the legislative. Tliis process, granted to
Canada in 1840, was completed for most of Australia by 1856.
The result was colonial independence, for the only link now was
the governor, appointed by the crown, who, however, reigned but
did not govern, and the continued jurisdiction of the English
privy councU as the supreme court of appeal from the colonies.
For the rest nothing but common citizenship, common traditions,
and common love of English ways bound the colonies vrith the
mother-country and with each other.
7. This new colonial system gave the colonies not only the
political freedom which the American colonies had had, but also
an economic independence denied to our earlier plan-
Federation '^a^^^on. The principle of free trade was looked uj)on
as incompatible with all commercial monopoly, and
England stood aside even when the colonies set up protective laws
of their own, which powerfully helped on their infant industries,
often to the loss of those of England. But the tendency towards
unity between neighbouring colonies led to plans of federation which
have successfully united British North America and Australia.
The only permanent and satisfactory way of iiniting these great
groups with each other and with the mother-country is bv some
wise scheme of Imperial Federation, which woiild bind together the
British races in one of the greatest states that the world has ever
seen. We can now best follow the history of the three great groups
— North America, Australia, and South Africa — in turn, and see
how it has fared with them under this new colonial system.
8. During the first thii-d of the nineteenth century the state of
affairs in Canada was by no means satisfactory. The English in
the Upper Province tiuarreUed with the French of Lower Canada,
-I90I.] THE COLONIES 723
and in 1837 the French rose in revolt. The rising was onuihed,
and Lord Durham was sent out in 1838 by tho Melbourne
ministry to organize a new government. By his advice xhe North
the two Canadas were united, though as a counter- American
concession the executive ministry was made directly <'°'0°'®S'
responsible to the Canadian parliament. As time went on, tho
system of union i>roved a dead failure, despite the fact that Canada
made wonderful progress after the grant of independence, and the
English element steadily increased.
9. At last, in 1867, a more comprehensive system was adopted,
by which not only the French and English elements in Canada, but
the scattered population of the other North American xhe
colonies, were brought together under a federal system. Dominion of
The Dominion of Canada was established under a *"* **
governor-general appointed by the crown, with a federal i»arliameut
having its seat at Ottawa, and an executive cabinet directly
responsible to it. The adoption of tho federal principle, as in tho
United States, made it easy to extend a full measure of local self-
government to the various provinces, each of which also po MO M o d
its separate parliament and government. One excellent xesnlt of
the scheme was the separation once more of French and English
Canada, which henceforth known as the provinces of Quebec and
Ontario, were enabled to carry on their local affairs each after its
own fashion. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at once joined tho
xmiou, and soon afterwards it was also accepted by Manitoba, British
Columbia, and Prince Edward's Island, so that Newfoundland alone
henceforth stood outside the Dominion. In 1885 the opening of
the Canadian Pacific Railway set up an unbroken railway route
from Halifax to the Pacific coast. The fertile but uninhabited
regions of the West were thus ojHined up for settlers, and during
the last years of the reign of Victoria this development went on at
an ever-increasing rate. Moreover, the discovery of rich gold-
mines at Klondyke and elsewhere in the remote north-west, attractotl
crowds of adventurers to the desolate regions that stretch north-
wards to the Arctic circle. By these means the Domiuion of
Canada became a great country.
10. Equally remarkable has been the development of the Australian
colonies. This was very slow at first, since the original j^^
settlements were mere convict Btatious. To Sydney Common-
(1788) was added Port Phillip (1803). Tasmania (1804), *~^°J[^
pjid the Swan River (182<{), all as penal colouiea.
Progress became possible when the upuuiug up of fartile paatucea
724 THE COLONIES [1820-
led to sheep-farming on a large scale, and this in its turn attracted
free settlers. Before long the colonists refused to allow the further
exportation of convicts to their shores. The discovery of gold-
fields further enriched Port Phillip and its capital, Melbourne,
named in 1837 after the Whig prime minister. In 1851 the regions
round these spots was separated from New South Wales and became
the separate colony of Victoria. Other colonies were cut off —
Queensland in 1859, in the hot but genial regions of the north-east ;
and South Australia, estabUshed in 1836, with a capital named
Adelaide, after William iv.'s queen. Tasmania became a separate
government in 1856 ; and the Swan River Settlement, after a
languishing existence for a long time, received a great impetus
through gold discoveries in its interior, and in 1890, with the name
of Western Australia, received the responsible government already
allowed to its more populous neighbours. At last, in 1901, all the
Australian colonies were united in a federal union, called the
Commonwealth of Australia. Besides these, the flourishing islands
of New Zealand, first settled in 1839 and gradually built up out
of nine separate provinces, were united in 1875 in a single colony.
11. South Africa stands midway between colonies of the type of
Australia and Canada and the West-Indian-planter class of settle-
ment. It is a genuine colony, where Dutchmen since
Africa ^^® seventeenth century, and Englishmen in the nine-
teenth, have settled in large numbers. But the native
races have always been, and wiU certainly remain, the great
majority of the jiopulation, so that its progress has been rendered
slow by the conflict between European and African as weU as
by the national hostility of Dutch and English. Disliking the
pushing ways of the adventurous British settlers, who went to
South Africa after the jieace of Paris, and bitterly resenting the
aboUtion of slavery in the British Empire in 1834, the more inde-
pendent of the Boers withdrew in detachments from the original
settlements in Cape Colony, and sought to find new homes for
themselves in the wilderness. The first migration was in 1835,
when some of the Boers established on the north-east coast the
republic of Natal, but the EngUsh followed them, and in 1843 took
Natal into their own hands.
12. Other more fortunate Boer bands established the Orange
River Free State, which, in 1854, was allowed its inde-
republUss. pendence by Britain; while in 1852 other Boers
migrated north of the Vaal into a district called, after
1858, the South African Republic or the Transvaal. Their numbers
-I90I.1 THE COLONIES 725
were so scanty that they found ^eat difficulty both in administering
the country and in keeping down the natives, and especially the
fierce Zulus who dwelt in the lands between their territories and
the Indian Ocean. From these difficulties so many troubles flowed
to South Africa, that, in 1877, the Transvaal was annexed, and
abortive attempts were made to unite all the South African colonies
in a federation. The native troubles were appeased in 1879, when
the Zulus and their king Cetchwayo were overthrown. As soon as
the Zulu terror was removed, the Transvaal revolted, inflicte<l
signal defeats on the British troops, notably at Majuba Hill, and
in 1881 their virtual independence was restored by the Gladstone
government.
13. Not long after this the discovery of rich gold reefs in a
district of the Transvaal, called the Band, further complicated the
South African problem. A restless cosmopolitan popu- -. « j
lation of gold-seekers fiUed the Rand and its chief mines and
town, Johanne.sburg, and it was inevitable that there the struggrle
should be the strongest antagonism between them and °' Boer and
the slow-minded, hard-fighting, old-fashioned Dutch
farmers. Though hating the foreigners and tlieir ways, the Boers
shrewdly profited by the flowing tide of wealth set rolling by the
Outlanders, oarefuUy excluded them from the citizenship, and, con-
tinuing their old habits of military training, lavishly provided
themselves with modem weapons and artillery. Their dislike of
the new-comers became the greater, since a great extension of
British influence was brought about after 1889, when a British
South African Company was established by Cecil Rhodes, an
English emigrant, who had made a fortune in the diamond fields
of Kimberley, and in 1890 became prime minister of Cape Colony.
Through his operations the districts to the north of the Transvaal
were opened up for settlement under the name of Ithodfsia, through
which tlie Boers were limited to their existing territories. More-
over, Rhodes and his party made common cause with the Outlanders
in the Transvaal, and in 1895 one of the officers of the company,
Dr. Jameson, made a raid into the Transvaal. He was easily over-
powered by tlie Boers. Moreover, his attempt did much harm f^ the
Outlander movement, and stirred up race hatred between English
and Dutch all over South Africa. At tlie C&\m the Dut«'h party
drove Rhodes from jwwer, and replaced him by a ministry strongly
sympathizing with the Boers. The blunders of th««ir enemies
enabled the Transvaal Boers, headed by their president. Paul
Krnger, to pose as the champions of Dutch freedom in South Africa.
726
THE COLONIES
[1820-
14. From 1895 to 1899 strong tension prevailed between the
rival parties in Africa, and, despite many efforts at negotiations,
The pre- Kruger and the Boers refused to accept any terms
papations which the British government would offer. The
OP war. Boers redoubled their military preparations, and in
October, 1899, the Transvaal and the Orange River Free State
combined to invade Cape Colony and Natal.
15. The Boer rvar outlasted the reign of Victoria, and was
The Boer
war.
only concluded under her successor. The Boer states, where every
man was a rider and marksman, put a large force into
the field, and at first swept everything before them.
When an army corps was mobilized in England and
successfully despatched to South Africa, it was split up into foui'
divisions, not one of which was strong enough to effect its purpose.
The fiercest fighting was in Natal, where the Boers besieged the
chief force in South Africa at the beginning of the war in Lady-
smith, and the largest section of the corps sent from England
strove in vain to relieve the siege. Before the end of 1899, three
-I90t.] THE COLONIES JZJ
at least of the divisions of the army corps had delivered their main
attack and failed. But the Boers did not know how to utilize their
successes, and the early months of 190() saw each side waiting for
the other. An enormous number of fresh British troops were
despatched under Lord Roberts, the hero of the Afghan war, with
Lord Kitchener, the conqueror of tlie Sudan, as the chief of his
staff. All through the Empire our reverses excited a wave of
patriotic feeling, and gave admirable opportunity of demonstrating
the reality of our reserve forces, and the zeal of the self-governing
colonies in supplying solid bodies of fine troops for the defence of
the Empire. Lord Roberts then marched from Cape Colony north-
wards to the Free State, defeated the main Boer army, and took
possession of Bloemfontein, its capital. After his advance, the
Boer forces round Ladysmith were so far weakened that it became
a comparatively easy matter to storm their strong positions and
relieve the hard-pressed garrison. A terrible outbreak of typhoid
long delayed Roberts at Bloemfontein, but in May he resumed his
advance, and occupied Johannesburg and Pretoria.
16. The conquest of the Boer capitals increased rather than
diminished the difficulties of concluding the war. The long line
of communications could only be guarded with the
utmost difficulty, and the Boers, who had failed in establUh-
their more constructive plans of strategy, proved ment of
consummate masters of war on a small scale. Their B''*'''**'
energy, skill, and resourcefulness enabled them to
carry on a brilliant and often successful guerilla warfare, which
tried the British to the uttermost, but which resulted in little
save increased bloodshed and bad feeling, and only delayed the
inevitable conquest. They were still by no means at the end
of their resources when Queen Victoria died.
Books RscoHMKNnKu kok thk Furtiibk Studt or trr Tbam 1890
Tf) 1901
As we get nearer onr own days historiea become mora volnminout and leu
authoritative, so that the difficulty of making a selection is an ever increasing
one. Full details are given in a short but rather dry form io J. F. Ilright'a
History qf England, in throe volumps, called respectively (hntlitutional
Monarchy, 1689-1837, The (Irotrih nf Drmocmcy, 1837-1880, and Imprrial
Reaction, 1880-1901. More elaborate and voluminous are Hisa Martinean's
Jlittory of Thirty Yrari Peact; S. Walpole's Hiftory <?/" England /rom 1816 ;
Disraeli's Li/e of I^rd (Jtorge Htntinch ; Charles Urevijle's Afemoirt ; Morley't
Lift of Cobdeti} Morley's Li/« of OUtdttontj and S. L«c's Queen ridoria.
728 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY [1901-
For non-political aspects of history, see T. H. Ward's Reign of Queen Victoria,
and Social England, vol. vi. There are many good short biographies of the
leading personalities of the period. For Indian history, see Sir W. W. Hunter's
Indian Empire, and for the Colonies, H. E. Egerton's Short History of
British Colonial Policy and Lucas' Historical Geographies of the British
Colonies.
BOOK IX.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
CHAPTER I.
EDWARD VII. (1901-1910).
Chief Dates :
1901. Accession of Edward vii.
1902. End of the Boer war ; Balfour's Education Act.
1903. Chamberlain resigned and started Tariif Reform movement.
1904. War between Russia and Japan ; Convention between England and
France.
1906. Conservative defeat at general election ; Campbell-Bannerman
ministry.
1908. Asquith prime minister.
. 1909. Budget rejected by House of Lords.
1910. Federation of South Africa ; Liberal victory at general election ;
death of Edward viil
1. Edward vii. was the first king of England who directly suc-
ceeded as son of a queen regnant. It seems as natural for a son
to succeed his mother as his father, and his accession
Saxony and ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^"^1 break of continuity or change of
the Coburg- policy. Yet with him old-fashioned historians would
Gotha have said that a new dynasty began on the English
throne. The house of Brunswick, which had furnished
us kings for nearly two hundred years, would have been regarded
as ending in the direct line at the break in the uninterrupted
male succession. Just as the old house was called indifferently
Brunswick, Hanover, or Guelph, so the new house could be called
Saxony, Coburg- Gotha, or Wettin. Brunswick or Saxony repre-
sented the general territorial designation of either house ; Hanover
or Coburg- Gotha the particular local branch represented in Eng-
land ; Guelph or Wettin the traditional family name. By strict
-19 la] THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 729
law Edward vii. would have become Duke of Coburp and Gotha,
even before his own succession to the throne. Accordinjrly, when
prince of Wales, Edward waived his German rights in favour of
his young-er brothers and their children. The new king*, who had
been called Albert Edward when prince of Wales, took the style
of Edward vii. He added to his old titles that of " King of the
British Dominions beyond the seas." It was some sort of recog-
nition of the growing power and importance of the colonies.
2. Edward vii. was already in his sixtieth year, and had for
nearly forty years represented his mother on nearly all the cere-
monial sides of her office. He had been an indefati-
gable traveller, knew every part of the Empire, and Idwanl VI?^
had acquired a shrewd judgment of men and things.
He had, however, abstained from taking any part in politics, and
was thought to have had little share in the counsels of his mother.
He was looked upon as an easy-going and pleasure-loving man of
the world, with tact, intelligence, open-mindedness, discretion, and
strong practical interests. He took liis position as constitutional
king very seriously, and made his influence strongly felt, notably
on foreign afEairs. He was even more careful than his mother in
keeping to himself his personal opinions on politic*. His wide
sympathies, tolerance, and good nature made it easy for him to act
with men of different parties, notions, and social j)08ition. He
worked hard nntU the end of his life, winning the respect and
esteem of his subjects, and leaving behind him the reputation of
a monarch who played a difficult part with discretion and succeas.
3. At the new king's accession the war with the Boers was
still dragging on. Lord Roberts had left South Africa, and Lord
Kitchener was in supreme command. Fresh troops g^^^^^j^^
were still poured in, and a series of block-houses was -^^^ ^^^
erected to control the chief centres of resistance.
Nevertheless the Boers raised a revolt in Cape Colony, and de-
feated and captured Lord Methuen after a fierce fight. Gradually,
however. Kitchener's measures of repression began to have tlieir
results. Every week krge numbers of fighting Boers were slain
or captured, and very slowly their olwtinate resistance wore itself
out. At last the Boers saw that further resistance was useless,
and made their submission in May. 191)2. Thus the Boer repobUos
became subject to the British crown, as the Transvaal and Orang*
River Colonies. i » # •
4. War hatl reduced to a low ebb the prosi^rity of South Africa,
and after the peace trade long remained depressed. There were
730 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY [igoi-
diffioTilties in the way of obtaining- enough native labour on the Hand.
To remedy the lack of black workmen in the mines, Chinese coolies
were imported in large numbers. The Chinamen were
African bound by contract to work under strict conditions for
settlement a period of years, and the terms of their service were
?|^"** denounced as amounting to slavery. After the general
election of 1906, the Chinese were sent back to their
own land, and gradually industry in the Transvaal was restored to
its former channels. Political difficulties immensely complicated the
situation. The British and Dutch elements, so recently engaged
in mortal combat, were now forced to live side by side, though
racial antagonism stiU remained strong. Fortunately, both sides
had fought so well that they kept both their own self-respect and
respect for their antagonists. Bit by bit the situation improved.
At last, in 1906, the Liberal government granted self-government
to the Transvaal, and the majority of the elected assembly proving
favourable to the Boers, Louis Botha, their general- in-chief during
the war, became prime minister. A little later responsible govern-
ment was extended to the Orange River Colony, where the Boers
were in an enormous majority. Some friction inevitably arose,
but the Boer leaders showed frankness and loyalty in recognising
their new position as subjects of the British crown. Very soon
the success of the experiment led to a renewal of the negotiations
for the joining together of the various South African colonies
after the fashion of the federation of Canada and Australia. More
than thirty years before, in 1877, the breakdown of the earlier
efforts at union began the long troubles which came to a head in
the war. The revived federal movement was now easUy carried to
a conclusion, and accepted even in Natal, where the British party
was stronger than anywhere else. In 1909, a South Africa Act
was passed through the British parliament by which Cape Colony,
Natal, the Transvaal, and the Orange Biver were to be united from
the year 1910. When the federal government was formed, Botha
became prime minister of united South Africa.
5. For the first years of the new reign the Unionist govern-
ment, set up in 1895, remained in power. In July, 1902, Lord
Salisbury, the prime minister, whose health was
mlnisU'y'"'' rapidly declining, resigned office, and died soon after-
and the wards. Thereupon his nephew, A. J. Balfour, stepped
Education jjj^q }^jg place. In 1902 he passed a new Education
Act, the central principle of which was to make the
county councils of England and Wales the local authority for
-igio] THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 73 1
every aspect of education. The school boards, which since 1870
had been entrusted with the management of elementary edncation,
were abolished, and their functions transferred to an education
committee appointed by the county council. Next in importance
to this was the compelling of the local authority to maintain from
its funds not only the public elementary schools set up by the
school boards, but aU other elementary schools as well, including
the so-called " voluntary schools," the great majority of which
belonged to the Church of England and Roman Catholics. This
led to a great outcry against the biU, which was denounced aa
endowing sectarian education at the expense of the state. There
can be no doubt that the act offered to managers of such schools
freedom from financial anxieties, but it was at the expense of their
giving up the ultimate direction of the school to a popularly
elected body. It is not improbable that the act will in the long
run be best remembered for the fact that it gave the local
authority absolute control over the secular instruction in every
elementary school. Even more important was the duty first im-
posed on the local bodies of being responsible for all education
within its district. It thus made a great step forward towards the
establishment of a uniform national system of education. Other
changes increased about the same time the control of the central
state over all aspects of education. For the moment, however, the
broader issues were lost sight of. There were many persons found,
both among friends and foes of voluntary schools, who believed
that these schools had received a great advantage by the act.
Some of the nonconformist leaders refused to pay the education
rate, because they objected to their money being employed to endow
sectarian teaching. They were known as *' passive resistors."
Meanwhile the operation of the act began steadily to reduce the
number of voluntary schools.
6. In 1903 a costly but necessary step was taken in the lri$h
Land Act, which empowered the state to lend money to Irish
tenants who wished to buy their farms. In IJXH a jj.,jj^ j^^^^
Licensing Act was passed, which provided new facili- and Ltoens-
ties for reducing the numl)er of public- houses, but *"' ^^^
also allowed compensation to be given to thoM< iniereRt<«d in lapsed
licenses out of a fund raised from the license-holders themselveci.
This measure was fiercely denounced, because it was said that tlie
government thus recognised the hitherto precarious yearly license
as a iw>rnianent piece of property.
7. In foreign affairs Lord Lansdowne, who auoceeded Salisbury
732 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Tigoi-
as foreign secretary in 1900, strove to remedy the isolation from
all foreign alliances in which Britain found herself at the time
The isolation of Victoria's death. The traditional friendship with
of England. Germany had weakened under the stress of grow-
ing commercial, naval, and colonial rivalry, while the ancient
dread of Russia remained and threatened to compromise our rela-
tions with Russia's ally, the French Republic, with which we had
many outstanding points of dispute. The general sympathy
shown on the continent for the Boers increased the isolation of
this country. Besides the coolness of Europe, there were troubles
in the Far East and in the Far West.
8. The blackness of the situation was not, however, unrelieved.
In the worst of the South African difficulties, no power gave the
_. Boers more than sympathy, and the military resources
cordiale developed to vindicate our supremacy showed that
with Britain was still no negligible factor in politics. It was
now the work of our statesmen to win back friendship
with the chief powers, while avoiding complications likely to fetter
our future action. The first step in that direction was a treaty of
alliance made in 1902 with Japan. In the same year Britain
joined with Germany to force the South American Republic of
Venezuela to respect the property and rights of subjects of the
two states. More important was the conclusion of a convention
with France in 1903, by which many ancient disputes were settled.
France recognized the British occupation of Egypt ; the trouble
about the respective rights of British and French fishermen ofE the
Newfoundland coast, which went back to the Treaty of Utrecht,
was brought to an end ; some common policy was arranged for
Morocco, and petty boundary disputes in remote parts of the world
were adjusted. Gradually what was called an entente cordiale was
established. Germany, however, resented the Anglo-French
aUiance, and made it a reason for increasing the German navy,
for renewing the old friendship with Russia, and in particular
for complaining that the Anglo-French policy in Morocco was
dangerous to her interests. Some indiscretions on the part of the
French foreign minister gave colour to German irritation. !For
a time war between France and Germany seemed not impossible.
But France was at last forced to gratify the Germans by sacrificing
her foreign minister, and under his more prudent successor the
storm died down. The result was, however, to make Germany
more suspicious of England than ever.
9. Early in 1904 war broke out in the Far East between Russia
-I9IO.] THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 733
and Japan. From the beginning the issne of the straggle was not
left in doubt. Incompetence, corruption, and unrest at home para-
lyzed the huge resources of Erussia. The Japanese The Russo-
showed wonderful efficiency, energy, and self-restraint. Japanese
After a long siege they captured Port Arthur, de- North Sea *
feated the Russians in a series of pitched battles in Incident-
Manchuria, and annexed Corea. At last the Russians sent their
Baltic fleet to dispute with the up-to-date Japanese navy the
command of the Northern Pacific. The Russian ships were ill-
found, and went out conscious of coming disaster. As they sailed
by the fishing-grounds of the North Sea, they mistook a harmle.s8
fleet of English trawlers for Japanese torpedo craft, fired upon
them, and slew some helpless Hull fisherfolk. Great indignation
was excited by this outrage, and the subsequent movements of the
Russians were closely watched by a strong British fleet, deter-
mined to prevent the repetition of such conduct. On reaching the
seat of war, the Russian ships were destroyed by the Japanese in
the battle of Tsushima, the fiercest sea-fight ever fought under
modem conditions. Before long the Russians gladly accepted the
mediation of the United States, which resulted in October, 1905,
in the Treaty of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by which they
yielded to Japan all her chief demands. The spectacle of the
defeat of one of the greatest of European powers by yellow men,
only recently brought under the influence of Western civilization,
demonstrated that Russia was incapable of aggression, and that a
new great power had arisen in the Far East with which European
peoples established in the Pacific lands would have to reckon.
After the treaty, Russia was further distracted by internal
troubles and threatened revolution. The North Sea incident had
necessarily turned British sympathy towards Japan ; but it was
soon made clear that the slaughter of the fishermen was due not tu
design but to blunder and panic, and ultimately comiHmsation was
accepted, and the outrage condoned. By 1907 a good underHtanding
between Britain and Russia was arrived at.
10. In improving the relations of Britain with foreign powertj
au important part wa« played by the i^rssonal action of the king.
He was indefatigable in visiting foreign countries, and gj .^
in welcoming tlio return visitu of kings, president**, the Peaoe
and ministers to our shores. A large numlM«r of Maker.
foreign i)rinces M'ere closely akin to the king or the queen, and
new marriages of the royal family widi«ii»><l tlio circle of nionarrh.H
related to our reigning hotise. The king took a uotab)<' (lart in
734 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY [1901-
bringing about the entente with France, and was equally active in
negotiating good relations with his wife's nephew, the emperor of
Russia. His personal intercourse with his nephew the German
emperor did much to lessen the strain of the relations between
the United Kingdom and Germany. The change of government
in 1905 did little to alter our foreign policy. The Liberal foreign
secretary, Sir Edward Grey, continued the lines already laid
down. If the entente with France was negotiated by the Con-
servatives, the better understanding with Kussin and Germany is
to be set down to the credit of the Liberals. The general result
won for king Edward the title of the Peace Maker.
11. A new direction was given to politics by Joseph Chamber-
lain, the colonial secretary, who now advocated the abandonment
Chamberlain ^^ ^^® system of free trade which since the days of
and tariff Peel and Gladstone, had generally been regarded as
refopm. ^^le essential condition • of our prosperity, Yarious
reasons led him to this conclusion. Despite the example of Britaiu,
our chief commercial rivals had not adopted free trade, and had
nevertheless thriven exceedingly. Even our colonies had become
strongly protectionist, and were as anxious as foreigners to keep
our manufactures out of their markets. Chamberlain dreamt of a
closer union between Britain and the colonies ; thinking that the
easiest way of preparing for this was to ofEer the colonies a pre-
ference in their commerce with us, he saw that this could only be
done if duties were imposed on a large number of articles. More-
over, he believed that free trade had damaged our home industries
and our agriculture by admitting to our markets the products of
countries which jealously kept out our goods by high tai-iffs.
Chamberlain soon gathex'ed round him a certain number of
followers, but he was fiercely opposed by the Liberals and found
little active support in the cabinet. Ritchie, the free trade
chanceller of the exchequer, insisted on taking off the small duty
on corn imposed for revenue purposes during the Boer war.
Feeling himself hampered by office from preaching his new gospel,
Chamberlain resigned in September, 1903. His ideas, however,
had so far taken root in the cabinet that the keener free traders,
including Ritchie and the duke of Devonshire, also gave up their
places soon afterwards. In the reconstitution of the ministry then
effected, his son Austen Chamberlain, who shared his views,
became chancellor of the exchequer, and, after much hesitation,
Balfour began to veer towards tariff" reform.
12. The miuistry was much weakened by these changes.
-I9IO.] THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 735
Efforts to reorganize the army elicited little enthuBiasm or con-
lidence. There was a fierce agitation against the Education and
Licensing Acts, and a hot outcry against what p^n of the
was called " Chinese slavery " in South Africa. The Balfour
conservative instincts of the average British elector "I'n'stry.
made him loath to disturb the free trade system which he was
accustomed to. Political economists declared that Chamberlain's
views were against the doctrines of their science. The poor man
feared that import duties would raise the cost of living. Great
industries, like the Lancashire cotton trade, believed that tariff
reform would diminish their enormous export trade, and there was
a widespread feeling that i)rotection might encourage the growth of
trusts, rings, and corrupt vested interests. For all these reasons
the ministry lost ground. The bye-elections showed that it had
largely lost popular confidence, and yet it made the fatal mistake
of clinging to office and postponing the dissolution of parliament.
At last the situation became so difficult that in December, 1905,
the Balfour cabinet resigned.
13. Sir Henry Campbell- Bannerman then became prime
minister of a Liberal administration, in which Sir Edward Grey
was foreign secretary, R. B. Ualdane minister ot y.
war, John Morley (soon made a viscount) Indian bell-Ban-
secretary, and H. H. Asquith chancellor of the nerman
exchequer. Among the newer men were the eloijuent and the^
Welshman, David Lloyd George, and John Burns, elections
the workmen's representative. Parliament was dis- °^ * ^^'
solved, and the general election of January and February, llMMJ,
resulted in an overwhelming victory for the new government,
whose immediate supporters mustered twice as strong as all sections
of Unionists. Besides nearly 4U0 Liberal members, there was the
usual solid Irish Nationalist vote of over 80, and a new feature of
the election was the return of about 40 members of an Independent
Labour Party, pledged to strong labour measures, and a policy of
social reform veering in the direction of socialism. When
Nationalists and Labour men supported the government, it could
outvote by more than 360 the loO dispirited Conservatives. Never
had there been such a majority before, and never had the individual
majorities of a large number of the victorious party been so over-
whelmingly groat. In Scotland the Liberal majority wivs greatly
increased ; Wales elected no Conservatives at all ; the industrial
districts of the north declared strongly for free trade, aad L»iio»*
ihire, hitherto prepouderatiugly Conservative, returned a Liberal
736 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY [igoi-
majority almost rivalling those of Durham and Yorkshire. London
was more evenly divided, but the Conservatives greatly lost ground,
Even in the home counties and small boroughs of the south a
fair number of Liberals was returned. Only in Birmingham and
its district did the cause of tariff reform win a decided victory.
This was a remarkable personal triumph for Chamberlain. But
before long iU-health gradually compelled him to give up all but a
nominal part in public life. His removal from active politics
deprived Britain of the statesman whose conduct, though very
variously judged, was always dominated by large ideals and com-
prehensive schemes ai)pealing to the imagination of the electorate.
Yet, though the issues before the electors were exceptionally com-
plicated, it is clear that Chamberlain's fiscal policy was not attrac-
tive to the majority of voters, and even clearer that the late
ministry was no longer trusted. It was the first election since
1886 in which Home Rule for Ireland, though stiU part of the
Liberal programme, was allowed to sink into the background.
Another feature of the struggle was the promiuence of the cry for
social reform.
14. The Liberals remained in power for the rest of Edward vii.'s
reign. Campbell-Bannerman, though without any claim to a high
TjjQ rank among statesmen, showed shrewdness, tact, and
Asquith good humour in keeping together his huge, but some-
ramistpy. what discordant majority. It was a real loss to his
party when ill-health compelled his resignation in 1908, and soon
after led to his death. Ascjuith was chosen as his successor, and
lovers of old ways complained that the king, then in the south of
France, sent for the new premier to Biarritz, instead of returning
to England to treat with his servants in his own country. In the
reconstitution of offices necessitated by the change of prime
minister, Lloyd George became chancellor of the exchequer, and
cabinet office was given to Winston Churchill, the brilliant son of
Lord Kandolph Churchill, who had but recently left the Conserva-
tive for the Liberal party.
15. The new government set to work to remedy wliat it
regarded as the errors of its predecessors. Prominent among these
was the Education Act of 1902. Various elaborate
Liberal schemes of educational reorganization were brought
education forward in the years 1906 and 1908. The first pro-
^° °^" posed that no elementary school should be recognized
unless it was provided by the local education authoritj-, and evoked
as violent protests from the church party as Balfoui-'s act had
-I9IO.J THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 737
excited among the nonconfomuBts. The bill passed through the
Commons, but was so much altered in the House of Lords that the
Commons rejected all these amendments, and the government
abandoned it. Early in 19()7 a new bill on different lines was
proposed, but withdrawn in favour of a third scheme introduced in
the autumn session, which sought to disarm opposition by allowing
privately managed schools to "contract out" of its provisions.
This yielded too much to satisfy the extreme supporters of the
government, and not enough to please its opponents. Despairing
of any agreement being arrived at, the government dropped this
plan also. Not even the grievances of the " passive resisters " were
remedied by law, but efforts were made to administer the act of
1902 in such a spirit that the friends of the government should see
less reason to object to it.
16. A second chief concern of the government was to amend
the licensing act of 1904 Accordingly, in 1908 a new Licengitnj
Bill was brought into the House of Commons which ^h t ih«
provided for the compulsory reduction of licenses, and ppogramme
afSirmed the principle that, after a time limit, devised (U"! Ui«
to protect ve.sted interests, a locality might, at its *^''*"-
option, prohibit the sale of intoxicants. A great outcry against
the measure arose on the ground that it dealt unfairly with those
engaged in the drink traffic, and though it passed the Commons,
the House of Lords threw it out. This was only one of several
government measures which the Lords either rejected outright,
or amended so freely that the ministry preferred to abandon them
altogether to accepting them in their altered form ; among the
former was a bill to j)revent plural voting, while among the latter
was a bill to promote small holdings in Scotland. The ministers
succeeded, however, in passing many important acts, including
measures to compensate workmen for injuries received as a result
of their employment, and to allow old age pensions to persons over
seventy not in receipt of parish relief. The hours for work in coal*
mines were fixed by law not to exceed eight hours ; an act wa4
passed for the protection of children, called the Children'n Act,
and two new universities were set up in Ireland, one of whicli,
called the National University, was likely to Iw under the ooutrol
of the Roman Catholics, who had long disliked the Protestant or
non-sectarian character of Irish university e<Iucation. An attempt
to give Ireland an instalment of Home Rule by wlmt was called
the DevolutioH Bill, and a proposal to disestablish the Welsh ohurohi
were not persmurud in by the guverumeut. Already, in 1907,
6 II
73^ THE TWENTIETH CENTURY [1901-
a large scheme of army re-organization was carried by R. B.
Haldaiie, and, later, large sums were spent in adding to the navy
the more recent and expensive types of battle-ship.
17. In 1909 the great measure was the budget of Lloyd George.
This extended the system of graduating the income tax, so that
The budget '^^^^Itliy persons paid at a higher rate than those of
and the moderate means ; increased the taxes on spirits and
House of the amounts paid for Licenses by publicans and sellers
of strong drink ; taxed for the first time the " un-
earned increment " which, it was said, accrued to owners of lands
near growing towns without any eif ort on their own part ; and
claimed a share for the state out of the royalties paid for the right
of extracting minerals from land. The budget was denounced as
revolutionary and confiscatory, and all through the summer was
fiercely contested in the Commons. It was not tiU late in the year
that it came to the House of Lords, which declined to pass the bill
until the country had been definitely asked whether it approved of
it or not. Its necessary result was to force the government to have
recourse to an immediate dissolution of parliament. The electors
had to decide between the Lords and the Liberals.
18. Early in 1910 the second general election of Edward vil.'s
reign was held. The ministers asked the electors to declare in
The elections favour of the budget, and declared that they would
of 1910. not hold office unless means were taken to destroy the
Lords' control over finance, and to end their veto over legislation,
which had in the last parliament wrecked so many of the govern-
ment measiu-es. The Opposition defended the action of the Lords,
but argued that the main issue before the country was the choice
between free trade and tariff reform. The elections showed either
that the electors did not generally regard the House of Lords as
strong enough to be dangerous, or that tariff reform had made
considerable progress. The Liberals lost many seats, especially in
the south and midlands, but the industrial north was still almost
solid for free trade, and against the Lords. Nevertheless the
turnover of votes was not sufficient to give the Conservatives a
majority. Ministers could retain office as long as they kept the
support of the Irish and Labour parties, vdth whose help they had
a majority of about 130. It was therefore with weakened forces
that they met the new assembly.
19. Two questions were prominent above all others. The
government wished to send \ip its rejected budget to the Lords,
-19IO.] THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 739
and to prevent the Upper Honse from thwartiniar its policy in
the future. There was some difficulty, however, in deciding
the order in which these two matters should be pushed „^
forward, and time was consumed in drawing" up resolutions
resolutions declaring" that in the future the Lords' and the
power over finance was to be abolished, and their right "^ ' *^
of veto so limited that any measure desired by the Commons might
become law, despite the peers, before the expiration of the parlia-
ment in which it was first passed by the Commons. Such resolu-
tions involved the whole constitutional problem of the power and
constitution of the second chamber, and demanded much time and
thought before they could be turned into laws. The ministers
were reproached with delaying the budget because they were afraid
that the Irish party, which had no love of the increased duties on
spirits, would vote against it. Witliin a few weeks of the first
meeting of the new parliament there was talk of dissolution.
When, however, the budget of 1909 was at last reintroduced, it
was easily carried through the Commons, and accepted by the
Lords. The question of the second chamber was, however, so
thorny, and the opposition of the Lords to the govenunent
proposals likely to be ho emphatic, that a dissolution still seemed
likely to be inevitable before the problem was settled. Party
controversy remained fierce, when the king, whose health had
latterly been giving way, died somewhat suddenly on May 6, 1910,
at a moment when his mediating influence was specially required.
His son, George prince of "Wales, became George v., and an
informal truce of parties ushered in the new reign.
740 LIST OF MINISTRIES ' [1689-.
LIST OF MINISTRIES AFTER 1689
689-1696. Mixed Ministry of Whigs and Tories.
696-1701. First Whig Ministry of the Junto.
701-1708. Mixed Ministries of varying character under Marlborough and
Godolphin.
708-1710. Whig Ministry under Marlborough and Godolphin.
710-1714. Oxford and Bolingbroke Ministry (Tory),
714-1717. Townshend Ministry (Whig).
717-1720. Stanhope Ministry (Whig).
720-1742. Walpole Ministry (Whig).
742 1744. Carteret Ministry (Whig).
744-1754. Pelham's or the Broad Bottom Ministry (Whig).
754-1756. Newcastle Ministry (Whig).
756-1757. Devonshire Ministry (Whig).
757-1761. Pitt-Newcastle Ministry (Whig).
761-1763. Bute Ministry (Whigs and Tories).
763-1765. Grenville Ministry (mainly Whig).
765-1766. First Rockingham Ministry (the Whig houses).
766-1768. Chatham Ministry (no definite party colour).
768-1770' Grafton Ministry (no definite party colour).
770-1782. North Ministry (Tory).
782. Second Rockingham Ministry (Whig).
782-1783. Shelbume Ministry (King's Friends and Chathamites).
783. Coalition Ministry of North and F'ox (Whigs and Tories).
783-1801. First Pitt Ministry (Chathamites and King's Friends, and
gradually becoming Torj-).
801-1804. Addington Ministry (Tory).
804-1806. Pitt's Second Ministry (Tory).
806-1807. Ministry of All the Talents (Whigs with some Tories).
807-1809. Portland Ministry (Tory),
809-1812. Perceval Ministry (Tory).
812-1827. Liverpool Ministry (Tory, becoming wider after 1822).
827. Canning Ministry (Liberal Tory).
827. Goderich Ministry (Liberal Tory).
828-1830. Wellington- Peel Ministry (Tory).
830-1834. Grey Ministry (^¥hig).
834. First Melbourne Ministry (Whig).
834-1835. First Peel Ministry (Conservative).
835-1841. Melbourne Ministry (Whig).
841-1846. Second Peel Ministry (Conservative).
846-1852. Lord J. Russell's Ministry (Whig).
852. First Derby-Disraeli Ministry (ProtectioniKt and Con-
servative).
-I9IO.] LIST OF MINISTRIES 741
1852-1855. Alierdeen Coalition Ministry (PeelitM and Whigs).
1855-1858. First Palmerston Ministry (Whig).
18581859. Second Derby-DiHraeli Ministry (Conser\'ative)»
1859- 1865. Second Palmerston Ministry (Whigs and Peeiites, Liberals).
1865 -1866. Earl KusseU's Ministry (Liberal).
1866 1868. Third Derby-Disraeli Ministry (Conser^'ative).
1868-1874. First Gladstone Ministry (Liberal).
1874-1880. Disraeli Ministry (Conservative).
1880-1885. Second Gladstone Ministry (Liberal).
1885-1886. Salisbury Ministry (Con8er^'ative).
1886. Third Gladstone Ministrj- (Liberal).
1886-1892. Salisbury Unionist Ministry (Conspr\'ative and Liberal
Unionist).
1892-1894. Fourth Gladstone Ministry (Liberal).
1894-1895. Rosebery Ministry (Liberal).
1895-1902. Salisbury Ministry (Unionist).
1902-1905. Balfour Ministry (Unionist).
1905 1908. ( ampbell-Bannerman Ministry' (Liberal).
190S 1910. Asquith Ministry (Liberal).
^5^
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INDEX
AxciOLV, treaty of (I T48), 559.
Abbeville. 265, 292.
Abbot, Oeorge, arcbblihop of Canterbury,
427,430. 441.
Abdur Rahman, amfr of Afghanintiin, Tie.
Aljerdeen, I-ord, Prime Mlnistor, 660, 664,
667, 669, 671.
Aberdeen, unlveniity of, 307.
Abernethy, 93.
Abhorrerc, the. 486.
Aboiikir Bay, 600.
Abialom and Aehitophel, Pryden'x, 832.
Acadie, 518, 564. See (Uso Nova Scotia.
Acre, 133.
Act of Union, of 1707, the, 623.
of I SOI. 605.
AddingtoD, prime minister, 602, 808, 610,
612. flee alto SMmouth, Ix>nl.
Addison, Joseph, 531, 54'.'. 637.
Adela, daughter of William i., HI.
Adelaide, of Louvain, queen of Stephen, 108.
queen of William iv., 657.
town of, 724.
AdulUmites, the. 675.
Adwalton Moor, battle of, 451.
.£lfgar, E. of Mercia, 65.
ilClflieah. arcbblsbon of Canterbory. 88,
iKlle, Saxon cbieftain. 1h.
vKthelfrith. K. of Bemicla. 21. 27. 30.
Afghanlsttin, 659, 682, 711-712.
Afghin War, the first, 711-712 ; the second,
716.
Africa, 423, 478, 720.
South, 683, 691, 724-721, »M, 730.
West, 393, S94.
AfWdls, trih«of the, 718.
" Age of Hea8on," the, 632.
Aglnconrt, battle of 265-266.
Agrarian revolution, the, 630.
Agrlcola, .lulius, in Itritain, 9.
Aldan, bishop of Northumbria, 82.
AigiiilloD. battle of, 216.
Aire, the river. 628.
Alslnble, chancellor of the esrb«qu«r, 545.
Akbar Khan. Afghan leadar, 712.
Akeman Street, the. 11.
AlaUtma, the, privateering cruiaer, 872,
678.
AUric, the Qotb, 14.
Alban, St., Christian martyr, 12.
Alberoni. Oanllnal. 54.3.
Albert, l>. of Saxony ''ubargOotba, consort
of queen Victoria, 867, 658, 666, 673, 695.
AlMgense*, Um, 163.
Alenin, of York, S8.
Aldermen, royal officers. T8. Set also Ekrta.
Alexander in., pope, 120.
in.. K. of Scots, 185-187.
I., tsar of Russia, 601, 80T, 814.
Alft'ed the Oreat, 43-49.
Alien Act. the, 597.
Allectus, bis rule over Britain, 13.
Ailegbanles. tbe, 587.
Allen, William, Cardinal, 386, 397. 398.
All the Talents, MiuUtry of, 613-613.
Alma, battle of the, 669.
Almanza, battle of. 515.
Alnwick, 126, 127 ; battle of, 91.
Alpbege, St., archbishop of Canterbury, R8.
Alps, the, 696.
Alsace, 67H.
Altborp, Lord, leader of the Commons. 851.
Alva, toe dnke of, 386.
Amboyna, 424.
America. 325, 392-394, 396, 401, 4S3, 519,
6.35, 645, 893.
North, 478.480. 664. 569. 877-684. 728.
South, 396, 431, 520, 644-64S.
Amherst, general, 568, 669.
Ix>rd, 711.
Amiens. 189. 265, 393.
cathedral of, 348.
Miseof, 171.
treaty of (1279). 189.
treaty of (1K02). 602. 687-608.
AnabaptUU, tbe, 366. .s)w alio KaptlsU.
Anderlda, fort of. 14. 18. ."m alto Pevena»y.
Andrewcs, I<anrelnt, bishop of WinrbeMer,
427.
Angers, 108.
Angles, the, their settlement In Britain. 18.
Angleaer, 181. Su alto MotuL
Angus, K. of. 380.
All^U. 108, 116. 116. 136, 139, 189. 3TT.
. Frauds, D. of, 391. *s alto tltf
garet of.
Annan. 209.
A nne. of Robemla, quera of Richard tr., S3S,
334.
queen, daughter of James ii . 495,
504 ; reign of. 51 1-523. Sr* alto Bolryn.
Anne; Oleves. Anno of; Neville. Anne;
and Hyde, Anne.
Aiifiiii. St . arrhbiabop of Csnlerbnry, »T.
119.
V >, 859, 866.
A! uv Laacua, liM, 883.
Aiituoluus tlus, emperor, the wall of. It.
74.?
744
INDEX
Antrim, 402.
Antwerp, 392, 609, 618.
Aost», 97.
Aqiwt SuUs, 11. See also Bath.
Aquitaine, 203, 206, 219, 221, 2T1 ; Eleanor
of, queen, 1 15, 126. See Eleanor.
Richard, duke of, 127. See Richard i.
Edward prince of, 219. See Edward
the Black Prince.
Arabi Pasha, 683.
Arcot, siege of, 563.
Archers, 70, 215, 249, 303.
Architecture, 153, 245-247, 302-303, 529,
636, 7U4-705.
Argaum, battle of, 609, 710.
Argyll, house of, 502.
Archibald Campbell, E. of, 444, 447,
457, 464, 465, 476.
E. of (son of above), 487, 490.
T). of, Whig lord, 621, 540-541.
Arkwright, inventions of, 627.
Arlington, Henry Bennet, Ixird, 482-484.
Armada, the, 398-399.
Armagnacs, the, 259, 260, 267, 211.
Armed Neutrality, the, of 1870, 583.
of 1801, 601.
Armenia, 69i.
Arminiaus, the, followers of Arminius, 427,
430, 439, 633.
Arminius, 427.
Arms and armour, 152, 248, 303.
Arras, Congress at, (1435), 276.
Artevelde, James van, of Ghent, 211.
Arthur, K., 28.
of Brittany, 13?, 138, 139.
prince of Wales, son of Henry vn.,
313, 314.
ArticuU super Cartas, 195. [234, 23.i.
Arundel family (see also Fitzalan), 233,
lordship of, 103.
archbishop of Canterbury, 256, 260, 262.
Ascbam, Roger, 415.
Ashdown battle of, 44.
Ashington, battle of, 59. See Assandun
Asquith, H. H., 735, 736.
Asiento, the, 518, 626.
Aske, Robert, 344.
Assam, 711.
Assandun (Ashington), battle of, 69.
Assaye, battle of, 609, 710.
Asser, bishop, biographer of Alfred the
Great, 49.
Assize, of Clarendon, 123.
of Northampton, 123.
— — the Grand, 123.
of Arms, 124.
of Woodstock, or of the Forest, 124, 160.
the Bloody, 490.
Athelney, Alfred the Great at, 44.
Athelstan, reign of, 51-52.
Athlone, capture of, 500.
AtlioU, the Stewarts of, 556.
Auberoche, battle of, 216.
Auckland, Lord, 711.
Audley, Lord, 282.
Aughrim, battle of, 500.
Augusta, mother of George in., 572.
Augustine, St., archbishop of Canterbury,
mission of, 29-31.
Aurangzeb, Mogul Emperor, 662.
Austerlitz, battle of, 612.
Australia, 720, 722-724.
Austria, 325, 513, 651, 552, 565, 57.3, 596-
598, 600-601, 607, 612, 617, 623, 644, 660,
666, 672, 678, 681, 688.
Austiian Succession, war of the, 552-559.
Authorised Version, the, of the Bible, 426.
Auvergne, mountains of, 126.
Avebury, megalithic monuments at, 3.
Avignon, residence of the popes at, 19.%
223, 229.
Avranchin, the, 100.
Aylesbury, 574.
Azores, the, 400,
Babikgton, Aktont, 389.
IJacon, Sir Francis, Lord St. Albans and
chancellor, 370, 418, 43a, 433, 434, 528.
— Sir Nicholas, lord keeper, 369.
Badajos, fortress of, 620.
Balaclava, battle of, 67o.
Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, 125.
Balfour, Arthur J., 686, 690, 730, 734, 735.
Balkan Peninsula, the, 68U-681.
Ball, John, 230, 232.
Ballard, John, 388.
Balliol, John, lord of Galloway, 188-189;
K. of Scots, 191, 192, 2U9.
Edward, 209.
Ballot Act, the, 678.
Baltimore, Lord, 423.
Bambnrgh, castle of, 95.
Banbury, 289.
Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, 427
Bank of EngUnd, the, 504, 544, 646.
Bannermaii. See. Campbell-Baunerman.
Bannockburn, battle of, 200-201.
Baptists, the, 365, 468, 475.
Barbados, the settlement of, 423.
Barbour, John, his Scottish Chronicle, 252,
307.
Barcelona, 515.
Barnet, battle of, 291.
Barons' War, the, 170.
Bastille, the, storming of, 595.
Batavian republic, the, 602.
Bath, 184, 490, 527. See also Aquae Sulia.
Battle, the abbey of, 154.
Bavaria, 512, 513-514, 554.
the emperor Louis of. 211.
Maria Antonia, electrcss of, 507.
Joseph Ferdinand, electoral prince of,
608.
Charles, elector of, 654. See also
Charles vir., emperor.
Baylen, battle of, 616.
Bayonne, 126, 221, 222, 278.
Baxter, Richard, 474.
Beachy Head, battle of, 502.
Beaconsfield, E. of, 679, 681, 682. See also
Disraeli.
Beauchamp, Thomas, E. of Warwick, 234.
See also Warwick.
Lord, son of Lady Catharine Grey, 407.
Beaufort, house of, 260, 297-298.
John, K. of Somerset, 260. See also
Somerset.
Henry, bishop of Winchester, 260,
262, 272, 275-277.
Thomas, chancellor, 260.
INDEX
745
Beanfort, Jane, wife of Jamea i, of Scotland,
•J71.
Edmund, D. of Somenet, 277. f!eeaUo
Somerset.
Margaret, 298.
IleauKe, battle of, 268.
IteauUeu, abbey of, 313.
tieauiuaris, castle of, 347.
Beanmont, Francis, dramatist, &30.
Bee, In Nunnandy, monastery of, 90, 97.'
Becket, iSt., Thomas, arrhbisliop of Canter-
bury, 117-122, 150.
Bede, Kogllsli liiHtorian, 3S.
Hedford, cantle of, 161.
John, IJ. of, 270-276.
John Kussell, E of, 356.
D. of, bead of the Bloomsbnry Gang,
574.
Behar. 710.
i^Ifust, 661.
lirlKium, kinfcdom of, 651, 656.
Hellenic, Koljcrt of. See Robert.
Benedict, of Nursla. St., 55.
Bengal. 710, 7U, 715 ; the nawitb of, 564.
Bengewortb, vlllaire of, 174.
lientlnck, I»rd George, 664.
Sir William, 71 1.
Berar, surrender to England of, 713.
Berengaria of Navarre, queen of Richard i.,
132.
Beresford, marshal, 620.
lierkeley, 628 ; castle of, 204.
George, philosopher, 637.
Berlin, 614 ; congress at, 681.
Bermudas, the, 720.
Bemlcla, 19, 27, 32, 51.
Bertha, wife of Ethell>ert of Kent, 38, 29.
Bertrand de Born, 131.
Berwick, on Tweed, 189, 209, 268, 411.
treaty of, 445.
near .Shrewsbury, 288.
Bbonslas, the, 713.
Blaod,lUiger, E. of Norfolk, 193.
Bill of Rights, the, of 1689, 496.
BlrlnuB, wessex converted by, 33.
Birmingham, 630. 652, 663, 675, 683, 70^ 736
Biscay, Bay of, 136.
Blsbops' War, the first, 444 ; the second, 445.
Btsmarck, 672.
Black Death, the, 216.
Blackheath, 279. 312.
Black Sea, the, 669. 671, 678.
Blair Atboll, 501.
BUke, Robert, admiral, 466, 469.
William, poet, 638.
Blanche, duchess of liancaater, 235.
Blancbetaque, 214, 264.
Blangy. 265.
Bleddyn, Welsh prince, 66.
Blenheim, battle of, 513-514.
Bloemfontetn, 727,
llluls, domains of the oounta at. 111.
Charles of, 313, 216.
Henry of Set Henry, of BIols, bishop
of Winchester.
Stephen of. See Stephen, K.
Blore Heath, Uttlo of. 38i.
Biacber, marshal, 633.
Boadloea. Se* Bondicc*.
Bourd of Trade, the, 69«.
Boccaccio, 251.
Boers, the, 720, 724-757.
Boer War, the, 694, 697, 729, *3n.
Bohemia, 366, 431, 433, S.M.
Huss In, 267.
Anne of, queen of Richard ii., 2.i2-?34.
See Anne.
Bohnn, Humphrey, E. of Hereford, 193. .''"ee
Hereford.
Boleyn, Anne, qneea of Henry Tin., 334,
336. 339, 345, 3T9.
Boleyn. Sir Thomas, 334.
fiolingbroke. viscount, 536, M9-550. Set
alto St. John.
Bombay, 478, 562, 710, 716.
Bond of Association, the (1584), 381.
the (1696), 505.
BoniCioe, English missionary in Qermanj,
34.
viir., pope, 192. 196.
of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury,l 64.
Bonn, 512.
Bonner, Edmund, bishop of l,ondon, 348.
357, 361, 364, 370.
Bordeaux, 126, 165, 166, 317, 319, 231, 222.
278.
Born, Bertrand de, 131.
Boroughbridge, battle of, 303.
Bosnia, 681.
Boston, MasMcbnaetta, 434, 580, Ml.
Bosworth, battle of, 299.
Botha, Louis, 730.
Bothwell. James Hepburn, R. of, 381, 383.
Buthwell Bridge, Imttle of, 4x7.
lioudicca, queen of the Icrni, 8, 9.
Boulogn*, lUO, 111, 114, 349, 364, 609.
Godft«y of. See Godfrey.
Stephen of. 8m Stephen, king.
Matilda of. Ste Matilda, queen.
Bourbons, the, 400, 572. 576. 612.
Bourges, " the king of," 371.
Boavince, battle of, 140.
Boxers, Chineee rebels, 694.
Bqyne, battle of the, 499.
" Boys," the, 649.
Brabant. D. of. 311.
Bradsbaw, John, president of the court
which tried Charles i., 462.
Brngansa, Catharine of Set Catharine of
Braganca. queen.
Bramhara Moor, battle of, 369.
Brandenburg, 503,512, 630. .SlM a/«e Prussia.
Bran.xt«n Hill. 323.
Braxil. 393.
Brecon, 100, 39T.
BrediL the declaraUon of, 471, 4T3.
ttepeaee of. 478.
BraM,ssa,«n.
BrMiinl. tr«ity oT. »•.
BrM^Tth. castle of. IM.
Bridgwater. 4»0.
— -Fnlncl^ I), of. 63t.
Canal. 63H.
Brigantea. tribe of the, 8, ».
Brigharo, the treaty of, laa.
Bright, John, 6«3. 664. 676.
Rrlshton, 636.
Brihuega. battle oi; SIC
Brtndley. englnasr. eM.
746
INDEX
Bristol, 114, 151, 203, -^45, 393, 451, 490,
526, 626.
Britain, early, 1-17 ; church of, 28, 29.
Bntannia, Superior, Inferior, Prima, Se-
cunda, 10.
British Columhia, T23.
Bfitish South African Compauy, establish-
ment of the, 725.
Britons, the, 4-21.
Brittany, 298.
Geoffrey of, 127.
D. of, 271.
John of, 196.
Francis of, 310.
Anne of, 310.
Brittany, disputed succession to, 213, 216.
Broad Church, tlie, 699.
Broke, Captain, 622
Bronze Age, the, 3.
Broolvlyn, battle of, 582.
Brougham, Henry, Lord, chancellor, 644,
651.
Brown, Robert, founder of the Brownists,
or Independents, 374.
Browne, Sir Thomas, physician, 532.
Browning, Robert, poet, 706.
Brownists, the, 374.
Brnce, David, K. of Scots, son of King
Robert, 205, 208-210, 216.
. Edward, brother of King Robert Bruce,
225.
Robert, Lord of Annandale, 188.
E- of Carrick, grandson of the
above, afterwards K. of Scots, 196, 200-
202, 205, 206, 208, 225.
Bruges, 61, 211. •
Bruuanburh, battle of, 52.
Brussels, 622.
Brythons, the, 2. See Britons.
Bucer, Martin, 357.
Buch, the Ciiptal de, 217.
Buckingham, Henry Stafford, D. of, 29u,
296 2y7
Edward Stafford, D. of, 328.
George Villiers, 1). of, 430, 432, 433,
434, 436, 438.
George V illiers, D.of (son of the above),
482, 483.
Budget of 1910, the, 739.
Bulgarians, the, 680, 681.
Bulls, papal, 92.
Bunker's Hill, battle of, 581.
Bunyan, John, 475, 532.
Buonaparte, Napoleon, 598-607. See also
Napoleon i., emperor of the French.
Joseph, K. of Spain, 612, 615, 616, 618-
621.
Louis Napoleon, 666. See also Na-
poleon III., emperor of the French.
Burbage, James, theatre of, 416.
Burgh Castle, 14. See Gariannonum.
Burgh -on-Sands, 196.
Burgh, Hubert de, justiciar, 160, 161, 162.
Burghley, Lord. See Cecil, Sir William.
house built by William Cecil, 414.
Burgoyne, general, 582.
Burgundians, the, 259, 267, 271, 275, 288.
Burgundy, 133, 366.
John the Fearless, 1). of, 259, 267.
Philip the Good, I), of, 267, 27 1 , 275, 276.
Burgundy, Charles the Rash, D. of, 288-292.
JIary of, 292.
Burke, Edmund, statesman and writer,
575, 576, 580, 587, 591, 596, 597, 603.
T. H., Irish under-secretary, 682.
Burma, annexation of, 713.
Burnell, Robert, bishop of Wells and chan-
cellor, 179, 182, 184, 185.
Burns, John, 735.
Burns, Robert, 638
Burrard, Sir Harry, 616.
Bury St. Edmunds, 231.
Busaco, battle of, 620.
Bute, John E. of, 572, 574.
Buxton, 527.
Bye Plot, the, 426.
Byng, admiral, 543.
admiral, son of the above, 566.
Byron, George Gordon, Lord, poet, 639, 645.
Cabal, the, 482-484.
Cabot, John, 393.
Sebastian, 393.
Cade, Jack, 279.
Cadiz, 397, 401, 436, 611.
Cadwallon, Welsh King, 31.
Caedmon, Anglo-Saxon poet, 35.
Caen, 93, capture of, 214.
Caerleon-on-Usk, 8. See Isca Silurum
Caerphilly, castle of, 248.
CiEsar, Gains Julius, 6, 7.
Caithness, Norse settlers in, 42.
Calais, 222, 235, 26t, 266, 291, 321,367,378,
411 ; siege of, 216 ; treaty of, 219.
Calcutta, 562, 564, 710.
Calder, admiral, 611.
the river, 628.
Caledonian Canal, the, 628.
Caledonians, the, 9, 10, 12.
Calendar, reform of the, 559.
Calvin. John, 333, 366, 372-373.
Calvinism, 377. •
Calvinists, the, 033.
Cambrai, league of, 320.
Cambridge, 244, 301, 357, 700, 708.
Richard, E. of, 264.
Cambuskeuneth, abbey of, 194.
Camerons, the, 510, 540, 656.
Campbell-Banuerman, Sir Henry, 691, T3r>,
736
Campbells, the, 457, 501, 502, .540. Su
also Argyll.
Campeggio, Cardinal, 335.
Camperdown, battle of, 599.
Campion, Edmund, Jesuit, 388.
Camulodunum, 7, 8.
Canada, 564, 568, 569, 573, 577, 621, 659,
660. 719, 722-723.
Canadian Pacific Railway, the, 723.
Canals, 628.
Canning, George, 613, 643, 644-647.
Lord, viceroy of India (son of the
above"), 714, 715.
Canons Regular, the, 154.
Canterbury, 30, 75, 117, 120, 121, 122, 125,
140.
archbishops of. See Augustine, Theo-
dore, Dunstan, Alphege, Jnmleges
AViUiam of, Stigand, I^Anfranc, Anselm,
Corbell William of, Becket St. Thomas,
INDEX
747
Hubert Walter, Langton Stephen, Rich
Edmund, Boniface of Savoy, Kilwardy
Kobect, Peckham John, Wlnchelnea
Robert, Arundel Thomas, Morton, Cnui-
mer Thomas, Pole Reginald, Parker
Matthew, Grindal Edmund, Whitgift
John, Bancroft, Abbot, Laud William,
Sheldon Gilbert, Sancroft, TlUotson.
Ccmitrbury Tales, Chancer's, 251.
Cantred«, the four, of North Wales, 176.
Cape Breton, island of, 565, 568, 573.
Colony,72S,727. fteaf*) Africa .«!onth.
of Good Hope, the, 396, 425, 623.
Bissaro, battle of. 643.
St. Vincent, battle of, 5»9.
CaractacuB, Ron of Cnnobelinus, 7, 8.
Carausius, Roman admiral, 12.
Carberry Hill, battle of, 383.
Cardiff, casile of, U3.
Cardigan. 181.
Cardinal College. Oxford, 331.
Cardwell, war mluister, 677, 89T.
Carisbrook, castle of, 152, 461.
Carlisle, 9, 99, B56.
Carlos, Don, 562. Sm alto Charles in. of
Spain, 572.
(nineteenth centnry), 685.
Carlyle, Thomas, writer, 707.
Carmarthen, 181 ; bay of, 166, 288.
Carnarvon, 181. See alto Segontinm.
castle of, 247.
Edward of, 182, 187. See alto Ed-
ward II.
Carrickfcrgns, 499.
Carolinaa, colonies of the, 479, 884.
C«Toline of Anspach, queen of George ii.,
646.
. of Brunswick, queen of George iv.,
642-643.
Carteret, Sir George, founder of New Jersey,
479.
• , I>ord, prime minister, 848, 853. ft«
alto Granville, E. of.
Cartwright, Thomas, I*nrlt*n leader, al3.
inventor, 627.
(^^assivellaunus, 7.
Castile. K. of. 129.
civil war in, 219-221.
(;aBtlllon. battle of, 278.
Castlercagh, l^ird, 613, 64.3, 848. /tee alto
liondondorry, K. of.
("astles, 152.247-248.
(.'atalans, the. 615. 516, 618
Cateau-Cambn'^ls, le, treaty of, 378.
Catesby. Robert, 427-428.
Catharine of Amgon, queen of Henry viii.,
31.1. :t20, 3:U-,'W0, .■i46.
of PraKftiixa. qufen of Charles ii., 4T7.
,,f Frani-o, qm-en of Honry v. , 267, 298.
II. taarlna of Russia, 578, 688. B9I,
891.
- — - Howard, queen of Henry vm., 349.
Parr, queen of Henry viit., 349.
de, Medici, queen of Henry II. of
Kranif , ^,70.
C-tttholi. \ '••8.
1 •<-619, 700.
CtoN -,64.1.
Cavallfis, 111'', 450.
OiTendish, l-nrrt Frederick, Ml.
Cavendish. Ste alto Hartington and
Devonbhire.
Cawnpur, 714.
Caxton. William, printer. 308-306.
Ceadda, N'ortbuihbrian miaaionary, 32, 33.
Ceawlin. K. of Wessex. 21, 27.
Cecil. Edward, Lord Wimbledon, 4.36.
Sir William, I»rd Bnrghley, 369. 385.
388, 405.
Sir Robert. 2. of Salisbury. 369, 405,
406, 426. 427. 429. Ste alto Saltsbory.
Robert, E.of Salisbury, prime minister.
See Salisbury.
Cedd. St.. missionary In Eaaez tod bisliop
uf London, .13.
CelU, tbe, 2-4. 20, 24.
<'enulf, K. of .Mercia, 38.
<'«rdlc. West Saxon chief, 18.
Cessation, the, treaty of Charles r. with the
Irish, 452.
C'etchwayo, Zulu king, 725
Ceylon, tOl, 6Xi. 710. 720.
Chad, .St., bishop of Lichfield, 33, 33. .^
alto Cead.!a.
Cbatgrovc Field, battle of, 481.
Chalmers, Dr. Tboma^ Scotch dlTine, TOO.
Chalus, l:i5.
CbamberlalD, Austen, 731.
Joacph. politician, 684, 686, 690, 734,
736.
Champagne, 273, 278.
Chancellor, Richard, navigator. 393.
ofllceof, 119, 147.
Cliancery, the Court of. 242.
Channel Islands, the. 169.
Charles, i., K.of EiiRland. 429, 4.10. 438-461.
. ir., 461-465. 471-4T2. 473-488.
Edward, the Young Pretender, &55-688.
IV., K. of France. ao3, 304.
v., ait. aai, tn.
VI.. 228, 389, 367, 370.
VII., 267, 268, 271.
VIII.. 310, 311, 313.
IX., 379. 388.
X., 649, 660.
K. of .Spain, 1. .124. *• Cbarles v.,
the Empen)r.
II.. 482, 807.
HI., 573, 689. See oho rarion,
Don.
IV 611. 618.
son of k. John of France. 218, 319.
Se» alto Cliarle* v., K. uf Spain.
I. .the Great, empenir, 36, 37, 39.
v., the emperor. 324-337, .U3,33T,
348. 3,\T, nnn.
VI . ; • r.i*.
\ I r, 6M-8U.
of > . 1«9.
the »r< IkIiiUc, 5US, bli, 816, (18. dte
«ibo ChariM vi., omptror.
XII. K. of Swedrn, »4S.
Charlestown, 4*9.
Charlutu. princess, daughter of Oeorft nr.,
monks of Ibe, London, 341.
•i»9. t«3. ••«.
.r,i. ins. i!W, lu. »|T.
748
INDEX
Chatham, E. of, 576, 577, 578, 580-583. .*«
alto Pitt, AVllliam, the elder.
the second, E. of, 618.
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 251, 262, 306-307.
Cherbourg, 222.
(^tapeobke, the American sliip, 622.
Cheshire, 240.
Chester, 8, 21, 27, 54, 75, 90, 114, 236, 304,
345. iSee also Deva.
battle of, 21.
palatine, earldom of, 87, 167, l70, 182,
351.
Chichester, lordship of, 103.
Sir Arthur, 42v!.
Chillitnwala, battle of, 713.
China, 393, 396, 671, 693.
Chlnon, 272, 273.
Chivalry, 249.
Christ Church, Oxford, 336.
Canterbury, 121, 140-141. See
also Canterbury.
Christian iv., K. of Denmark, 436, 437.
Christian Tear, Keble's, 698.
Church, the, 79-80, 90-92, 112, 140-143,
242, 300, 329-333, 468, 698.
Churchill, John, Ijord, afterwards D. of
Marlborough, 490, 495, 504, 511-517.
Winston, 736.
Cinque Ports, the, 151.
Cintra, the convention of, 616.
Circars, the, 710.
Circumspecte Agatis, law called, 184.
Cistercians, order of the. 153, 154.
Ciudad Eodrigo, fortress. 620.
Clare, Kichard of, E. of Gloucester, 169-170.
See also Gloucester, E. of.:
Gilbert of. E. of Gloucester, son of
above, 170, 174,176. See aJ«o Gloucester,
E. of.
— E. of Gloucester, son of above, 199, 201.
See also Gloucester, E. of.
lord. See Fitzgibbon.
election for the county of, 648, 649.
Clarence, .John, D. of. 268.
Lionel, D. of, 280.
George, D. of, 287, 288, 290, 292, 293.
William, D. of, 643. See also AVilliam
IV.
Clarendon, Constitutions of, 119.
Code, the, 475.
Earl of. See also Hyde, Edward.
Clarkson, Thomas, anti-slavery agitator,
635.
Claudius, emperor, conquest of Britain in
the reign of, 8.
Clement, the anti-pope, 98.
v., pope,195.
vn., pope, 229, 327, 332, 335, 337.
Clericis Laicos, bull, 192.
Clerkenwell prison, the, 676.
Cleves, Anne of, queen of Henry viii., 347.
Clifford, house of, 286.
lord, of Clmdlelgh, 482-484.
Clitheroe, 287.
Clive, Robert, 563-564, 566, 708-709.
Cloth of Gold, field of the, 326.
Cluny, teaching of the monks of, 91.
Clwyd, the vale of, 65, 176.
Cnut, K. of England and Denmark, 59-60 ;
sarldoms of, 60, 78.
Colchester, capture of, 461. See also
Camulodnnum.
Coldstream, 322.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, poet, 638.
Colet, John, Dean of St. Paul's, 330, 331.
Collier, Jeremy, his attack on the stage,
531.
Colman, Scottish bishop, 33.
Cologne, elector of, 512.
Colonial Federation, 722.
Colonies, the British, 401, 423-424, 479-480,
506, 518, 523, 562, 564-569, 577-581, 615,
623, 659, 719-727, 729, 730.
Columba, St., 24, 29.
Columbus, Christopher, 307, 392.
Cobden, Kichard, politician, 062,664, 671,
673.
Cobham, Eleanor, wife of Humphrey of
Gloucester, 276.
Lord, 426. See also Oldcastle, Sir
John.
Cock, the river, 287.
Cod, Cape, 424.
Combination Laws, repeal of, 703.
Common Pleas, the Court of, 241.
Commonwealth, the, 462-472.
of Australia, the, 724.
Comorin, Cape, 710.
Compiegne, 275.
Comyn, John, of Badenoch, 196.
Concordat of Napoleon and the I'ope, 607.
Confirmatio Cartarum, the, 193.
Conisborough, castle of, 152.
Connaught, 500.
Conservatives, the, 655, 656, 660, 664, 667,
671, 675, 679. 684.
Consilium Ordinarium, the, 241.
Conspiracy to Murder Bill, the, 671.
Constable, John, painter, 705.
office of, 147.
Constance of Castile, wife of John of Gaunt,
232.
council of, 266.
Constantine, the first Christian emperor, 12.
Constantinople, 29, 680, 681.
Continental system, Napoleon's, 614.
Conventicle Act, the, 475.
Convocation, 239.
Conway, the treaty of, 179 ; castle of, 247.
Cook, captain, 720.
Co-operation, 703.
Coote, colonel Sir Eyre, 564, 585.
Cope, general, 556.
Copenhagen, battle of, 601.
Corbeil, "William of, archbishop of Canter-
bury, 111.
Cork, 125, 661.
Corn Laws, the, 631, 662.
Cornwall, 3, 14, 77, 312, 451.
Kichard, E. of, 166.
Gaveston made E. of, 199.
Cornwallis, Lord, 584, 604.
Corporation Act, the, 475, 543, 547, 648, 699.
CoruOa, battle of, 617.
Cotentin, the, sold by Robert of Normandy,
100, 103.
Edward m. lands in, 214.
Counter-Kefonnation, the, 377,
County Councils, 696.
Courtenay, Bishop, of London, 227.
INDEX
749
Coorfenay, Henry, Marquis of Exeter, 348.
Oovenant, the Scottish National, 444.
the Solemn League, and, 452-463.
Covenanters, the, 476, 4»7, 49U.
Coventry, Parliament at, 382.
( 'owper, SVilUam, poet, 634, 638.
("ravaiit, battle of, 271.
Crabbe, George, poet, 638.
Cranbome, Ix)rd, 675. Se« cUto Salisbury,
Robert, marquis of.
Cranmer. Thomas, archbishop of Canter-
bury, 339, 345-349, 354, 365, 367, 361,
36I-365.
Crccy, battle of, 214-216.
Crete, 691.
Crimea, the, 669-671.
Cromer, Lord, in Egypt, 692.
Crompton, inventions of, 627.
Cromwell, Oliver, I»rotector, 452, 453, 466,
458, 460-470.
Kicliard, Protector, 470.
Thomas, E. of Essex, 341-347.
Crusade, the First, 100, 10) ; the third, 131-
133.
Culloden Moor, battle of, 558.
Cumberland, 21, 52, 99, 541, 666.
Ernest, I), of, 657.
William, D. of, 655, 558, .S66
Cumbria, the northern division ol the
Welsh. 21.
( 'unobelinus, 1.
( ustoms, the, 183.
Curia Regit, the, 107, 117, 147.
Cynric, son of Cerdic, Saxon chief, 18.
Cyprus, 681.
Dalhodsie, M. of, governor-general of
India. 713
Dalrymple, John, the Master of .Stair, 503.
Danby, Thomas Osborne, K. of. 484-486,
4»<9, 494, 505. Se* cUto Leeds, 1). of.
Oanegeld. levy of, 68.
Dttiiclaw, the, 45, 46, 60, 74.
iJanes, the, 40-48, 60-62, 67-^, 80. 84, 136,
672.
Daniel, first bishop of Bangor, 38
Dante. 261.
Danube, the, 61 :i, 669.
Dardanelles, the. 669.
Darlcn Scheme, the, 606, 631.
Darnell, the cose of, 437, 447.
Dam ley, Houry Stewart. E. of. 380-381.
Darwin, Charles, naturalist, 705.
David, Saint, 2H.
I., K. of ScoU, 106, 112.
II., K. of .Vols, 206, 308-210, 2U. .SK
alto Hrme, David.
ap ilrifllth, priiK-e of Wales, IM, I»l.
E. of Hunllugdon, 188.
l>Bvlson, Secretary of SUti-. 389.
t>eccan, the uiziim <if the. 710.
Declaration of IndulKeiicv, the (ItTS), 4M.
(16SH), 494.
DeeliM and Hdl qf Uu Roman Xmfirt,
aibbon's, 638.
Defoe, Daniel, writer, 931.
TMra, 19,30,61.
Deists, the, 632.
DaUware, Um river, 4Tt.
Delhi, 562, 609, 710, 714, 715.
Demerara, 720.
Denmark, 60, 673.
I.>eorham, battle of, 31.
Deptford, 396.
Dc Qulncey, Thomas, writer, 706.
Derby, 50, 656: earldom of, 175.
E<lmund of I^ancaster, E. of, 176. 5ae
alto Fxlmnnd of I^ancaster.
Henry of liaacaster, E. of, 228, 234,
236. See alto Henry iv.
Stanlev, Thomas, first E. oi; 31 1. Ste
alio Stanley.
Stanley, Edward. E. of. Prime Minister
under aueen Victoria, 667, (76.
Dcrmot. K. of U-lnster, 136.
Derry, siege of, 499.
Desmond, earl of, 402.
Despensers, the. fathrr and son, 303, 203.
Dettingen, battle of, 554.
Deva. Koman garrison at, 8, II. See alio
Chester.
Devon, county of, 451.
Cummlsslon. tlw>, 661.
Devonshire, E. uf. 494.
* D. of, prime minister nnder Georg*
lit.. 661.
D. of, minUler under Victoria. 690,
f34. See aim Hariiiiinnii.
Devolution In Ireland, 736.
Dickens, Charles, 70S.
Diocletian, the Binpemr, 10, 13.
Directory, the, 60s.
Disraeli, tfenjamiii. 663, SM, M7, 671, «>7I,
676, 676, 679. See aUo Beaoonsfl^ld.
Dissenters, the, 493, 404, 40*. 516, 647, 600.
DoAb, the Upper and Lower, 710.
Dometdag Book, the. 80.
Dominica, battle near, 684.
Dominicans, tlw. 167, 343.
Dominic, St., 343.
Dominion of Canada, the, 733.
Domrtail, 373.
Doncaster. 343.
Dorchester, bishops of, 00.
Dontogne, the river, >3«, 370.
Dorset. Thomas Oiey, Marquis of. 330.
Dost Mabammad, Amir of A(|;bant*t^,
713.
Donai, college at, 387.
r>ouglas, R. of, SOS.
Dover, 143, 151, 300. Sm aUo Dabrae.
treaty of, 483, 483.
Itovey, the river, 1S6.
Drake, .Mr Francis, sailor. 300, 30B, 400.
DroRbeda, capture of, 463.
Druids, the. 4.
Dmrnalbon, 33, 24.
Drydeo. John. pnet,tSI, 632.
Dual AllUnce, the, SSs.
Dublin. 136, I3«. MO. 400, IM.
Dubras, 11. .■*• Dover.
Dodley, Idamnd, extortioQer, d. 1110
814.318.
Jobn, B. of Warwick. 364, 30T, and
D. of Nortbumberlaixl. 3M-MI.
Lord Ooildfcrd, aso, 3SS.
Lord Bobwt, 810. «ki ate Uliss t ir.
K. of.
Dumfries, IH.
750
INDEX
Dunbar, battle of, 464.
Dunblane, 541.
Duncan, admiral, 599.
Dunchurch, 427.
Dundee, Viscount, 501. Stt Graham, John.
Dunes, battle of the, 469.
Dungannon, meeting of Irish at, 586.
Dunliirk, 469, 477.
Duns Scotus, echoolman, 245.
Dunstable, 339.
Duustan, St., abbot of Glastonbury, and
archbishop of Cauterbury, 53-56.
Dupleix, governor of Pondicherri, 563.
Dupplin Moor, battle of, 209.
Duquesue, Fort, 565, 568.
Durham, 87, 90, 240, 702.
■ cathedral of, 153.
- — ■ Lord, 723.
Dutch, the, 424, 465, 468, 478. 482-484, 503,
513. 518, 524, 559, 598, 623, 720, 724.
Republic, foundation of the, 386.
Dyvrig, St., bishop of Llandaff, 28.
Kaldgyth, daughter of ilClfgar, 65.
Earldoms, of Cnut, 60; of William i., 86-
87 ; of Nurman times, 148.
EastAnglia, 19, 27, 28,28,40,43, 51,60, 77, 90.
Easterlings, the, 302.
East India Company, the, 424, 478, 688,
591, 711, 715.
Ebro, the river, 617.
Eburacum, 9, 11, 12. ^ee York.
Ecclesiastical Commission, the Court of,
372, 442, 446.
of James ii., 493.
of 1836, 699.
Ecgfrith, K. of Northumbria, 35.
Edgar, the Peaceful, King, 53-55.
Edgar the yEtheling, 66, 71, 84, 101, 104.
K. of Scots, 103.
Edgecote, battle of, 289.
Edge Hill, battle of, 450.
Edinburgh, 54, 125, 306, 354, 381, 383, 443,
500, 550-551, 556, 628.
— treaty of, 375.
Edington, battle of, 44.
Edith, sister of Athelstan, 52.
wife of Edward the Confessor, 62, 64.
(Matilda) of Scotland,queen of Henry I.,
103. See also Matilda.
Edmund, the Magnificent, King, 52.
Ironside, King, 59.
son of Henry iii., E. of Lancaster, 167,
175, 179, 189.
E. of Kent, son of Edward r., 208.
Edred, King, 52, 53.
Education Act. the, of 1870, 677, 707.
of 1902, 708.
Bills under Edward vit., 730, 731,
736, 737.
Edward the Elder, King, 50-51.
the Martyr, King, 55-56.
the Confe.«sor, King, 61-62, 153, 179.
I., 167, 170, 172-176, 178-197, 247.
II., 182, 187, 198-204, 240.
■ in., 203, 204, 205-227, 249.
■ IV., 285-294.
v., 295, 296.
VI. , 346, 3S2-360.
VII., 694, 728, 729, 733, 739.
Edward the Black Prince, 214-222.
prince of Wales, son of Henry vi., 280,
289, 291.
Edwin, K. of Northumbria, 30-31.
E. of Mercia, 65, 68, 69, 71, 84, 85.
Edwy, King, 53.
Egbert, bishop of York, 35.
K. of Wessex. 39-40.
Egypt, 599, 600, 660, 631, 683, 692-693, 732.
Eikon Basilike, 463.
Eikonoklastes, 463.
Elba, Isle of, 621, 622.
Eleanor, of Aquitaiue, queen of Henry i[.,
115, 126, 127, 137, 138, 139.
of Castile, queen of Edward i., 189.
of Provence, queen of Henry iii., 162,
173.
. princess of Wales, 179. Su also Mont-
fort, Eleanor.
Eliot, Sir John, parliamentary leader, 436,
437-439.
Elizabeth, queen, 340, 346, 359, 362, 368-
407.
queen of Bohemia.daughter of James i.,
427, 432.
Woodville, queen of Edward iv., 296.
■ of York, queen of Henry vii. , 297, 308.
tsarina of Ru-ssia, 565.
Ellnndune, battle of, 40.
Elphinstone, general, 712.
Eltham, 263.
Ely, island of, 84, 176.
monastery of, 153.
Nigel, bishop of, 112, 117.
Emma, of Normandy, wife of Ethelred n.,
58, 59.
Emmet, Robert, Irish rebel, 609.
Empress of India, title of, 715.
Empson, Richard, extortioner, 314, 318.
Enclosure Acts, the, 631.
Endowed Schools Act, the, 707.
England, the begiimings of, 17.
united under one king, 51.
English, the, characteristics of their settle-
ment, 20. ..
EntaU, Law of, 184-185.
Entente cordiaM, the, 733.
Enniskillen, 499.
Equity, the Court of, 243. See Chancery,
Court of.
Erasmus, wilter, 330.
Ermine Street, the, 11.
Essex, Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of, 19, 27,
28, 30, 33.
shire, of, 77, 461. '
Robert Devereux, second E. of, 401,
404, 405.
Walter Devereux, first E. of, 402.
Robert Devereux, parliamentary
general, third E. of, 450, 451, 456, 457,
458.
fleoffrey, Fitzpeter, E. of. See Fitz-
peter.
Etaples, treaty of, 310.
Ethelbald, K. of Mercia, 36.
K. of Wessex, 43.
Ethelbert, K. of Kent, 28-30. 43.
Ethelburga, of Kent, wife of Edwin of
Northumb-ia, 30.
Ethelflaed, the Lady of the Mercians, 45, 50.
INDEX
751
Uthelred, K. of We«sex, 43.
aldemum uf the Uerciaus, 45, &0.
II., 56-59.
Ethelwulf, K. of Wesaex, 41-43.
Ktoll, 301.
Eugene, prince, of Savoy, 513, 51S.
Eustace, sou of Kiog Stephen, 115.
Evangelical movement, the, 633-634, 690.
Evangelicals, tlie, 698.
Evesham, battle of, 174-175.
Evolution, doctrine of, 706-706.
Exchequer, the, 107, 117, 147, 241.
the stop of the, 483.
Exclusion Bill, the, 486-4^7.
Excise, Walpole's, 550.
Exeter, U, 83, 151, 312, 495. Set (Ato Isca
Dumnoniorum.
cathedral of, 247.
Factory sybtcm, the, 630.
Ataerte ^u«en, .'^pcnner's, 416.
Fairfax, Lord, parliamentary geua'al, 451,
453.
Sir Thomas, parliamentary general,
son of the above, 451, 453, 458, 461, 464.
Falaise, treaty of, 125.
Falkee of Breaote, foreign adventurer, 161.
Falkirk, battle ot (1298), 194.
battle of (1746), 658.
Falkland, LucIub Cary, Viscount, 447, 448,
452.
Family Compact, the, 673.
Famese, Elizabeth, queen of Spain, 651.
Faroe islands, Norse settlers In, 42.
Fashoda, 693.
Fawkes, Guy, conspirator, 427-428.
Felix, a Burgundian, East Anglia converted
by, 33.
Felton, the munlerer of Buckingham, 438.
Fenians, the, 675.
Ferdinand, K. of Aragon, 310.313, 319, 320,
324.
I., emperor, 366.
II. emperor, 431.
the Infant of Spain, 615.
Ferrar, bishop of St. David's, 364.
Feudalism, 85-86, 96.
Feversham, E. of, 490.
Fielding, Heury, novelist, 638.
Fife, 541.
Finlstcrrc, cape, battle of, 611.
Finknd, 614.
Fire, the Great, of London, 481.
Fishi-r, .lohn, bishop of Borbetftcr, 340, 341.
Fishguard, 599.
Flizalan, Richard. E. of Amndel, 233. 234.
Thomas, archbishop of Caiiterbur}-,
called archbishop Aruo<l«l, 235, 236, 256.
Fltsgerald, house of, 30*. 311, 360, 402.
&• alto Dcamood, K. of, and Kildars, E.
of.
. Vesey, 648.
Fittgtbbon, I/ord Clare. 604, 605.
Fitzosbern, William, Nurmaii l>aron. 83.
Fitzpctcr, Gcolfrvy, E. of Eaacx, 135, 138.
144.
FittwIUUm, Lord. 603, 604.
Five Articles of Perth, the, 421.
Five-Mile Act, the. 476.
Flambard, Ranulf, Justiciar, M, 102, 103.
Flamborough Head, 259.
Flamboyant. Gothic, 306.
Flammock, Cornish leader, 312.
Flandera, 193, 211, 216, 30}, 310, 313, 397.
Plavia Octsarutuu, 10.
Flaxman, John, sculptor, 636.
Fleetwood, general, 470.
Flemings, the, 106, 116.
Fletcher, Andrew, of .Salton, 522.
John, dramatist, 530.
Kleury, Cardinal, 651.
Fluddeii, buttle of, 322-323
Flint, surrender of Richard 11. at, 237.
FlinUhire. 182.
Florida, 664. 673, 587.
Flying Squadron, the, 622.
Fontenov, battle of, 655.
Ford, John, dramatist, 6:10.
Forest Charter, of Henry 111., 160.
Forster, Thomas, Jacobite leader, 639, 641.
W. E., politidau. 677. 707.
Fort St. Oeorgo, 562.
Fort William (lodUX 662, 664.
(Scotland), 628.
Forty-two Articles, the, 369.
Fosse Way, the. II.
Folberlngliay, castle of, 389.
Fountains abbey, 153.
Fox, BIchard, bishop of Winchester, 314,
318.
Henry, lord Holland, 660, 673, 677.
Charles Jamea^ 677, 686, »<iT-6e9. 69«,
597, 610, 813-613.
France, 115, 119, 120, 126, 189-191, 36«. 433,
436, 440, 469, 483, 603, tOS, 608, 6IS, 643,
543. 651, 552, 555. 55^, 663-56«. 671. 6*7,
691. 699-603, 616. 631-63S. ••«. «6«, 64(9.
678, 681, 693, 733, TS4.
Francis i., of France, 334, S3ft<SaT, SST, Ur,
II., of France, 378.
St., of Assist, 243.
of Lorraine, afterwards the emparor
Francis I., 664, 666.
Franciscans, the, 167, 243-244.
Franco-Uermsu War, the, 678.
Frankfoit, 666.
Franks, the, their settlement in nortbera
Oaul, 14.
Eraser Clan, the, 640.
Frederick 1.. Barbaiosia, eaperor. 130, 131.
II., emperor. 164.
prince of Wales, mm of Oeorge 11..
649.
Vt. ol York, son of George 111.. 6tS.
elector. ]>ala(inr, and K. of BohM
431-4S3, 436, 440.
I., K. of FrunaU. 613.
n., ibe Greet, K. of l*nMaia, tu, 6U,
668. 67.1. A8S.
Free Chnrch, the, ofSootlaad. I«l, TMk
Free Companies, Ute. 3i».
French lltemtnrr In EbkUimI. I6«, IM.
— V'- '. &9j-«<)a.
Friar-.
FrIedUi 614.
Friends. tlii> aocirtr of, 46«, 4T9.
FrobUhcr, Martin, narigklor, M«, IM.
FroUsMt. John, 361
VMBtM do Oftetvt iMtUa •( Ul.
752
INDEX
Fnlford, battle of, 68.
Fyrd, the, military levy of the shire, 78.
Gaekwak, the, 710.
(jiago, general, 581.
Galgacus, Caledonian chieftain, 9.
Galloway, 14, 22, 209.
Galway, 661.
Ganges, the, 710.
Gardiner, Stephen, bishop of \Vinchester,
348, 357, 361, 362, 366, 370.
Gariannonum, fort of, 14. Set, Burgh
Castle.
Garnett, Henry, a Jesuit, 428.
Garonne, the river, 217.
Garrick, David, actor, 637.
Garter, the Order of the, 217.
Gascouy, 126, 166, 167, 169, 179, 185, 189,
190, 192-194, 206, 222. 278, 280, 320.
Gates, American general, 582.
Gatton, in Surrey, 636.
Gauls, the, 5.
Gauut, John of, D. of liancaster, 222, 225-
232, 231-2S6.
Gaveston. Peter of, E. of Cornwall, 198-199.
Geneva, 372, 375.
Geoffrey Plantagenet, count of Anjou, 108.
count of Brittany, son of Henry n.,
127.
of Monmouth, wrote fltstori^q/" fir itat'ji,
106, 107, 155, 156.
George i., 520, 521, 636-545.
II., 542, 546-569.
in., 570-625.
IV., 588, 642-649.
v., 739.
■ of Denmark, husband of Q. Anne, 511.
Georgia, colony of, 564, 584, 633.
Gerberoy, battle of, 88.
Germany, 16, 431, 596, 607, 612, 617, 621,
666, 672, 678, 688, 692, 732, 734.
Ghent, 211.
the pacification of, 386.
treaty of, 622.
Gibbon, Edmund, historian, 638.
Gibbons, Grinling, Dutch woodcarver,
630.
Gibraltar, 515, 518, 584, 587.
Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, navigator, 401,423.
Glldas, Welsh monk, his description of
Britain, 21.
Ginkel, general, BOO.
Gladstone, William Ewart, prime minister,
664, 668, 673, 674, 676-679, 682, 684-685,
689.
Glamorgan, lordship of, 100, 106, 174.
Glasgow, 626, 628, 630, 675, 683.
General Assembly at, 444.
university of, 307.
Glastonbury, abbey, 54.
lake villages discovered near, 4.
Glencoe, the massacre of, 502.
Glendower, Owen, Welsh leader, 257-259,
262.
Globe theatre, the, 417.
Gloucester, 106, 114, 451, 452, 628.
bishopric of, 345.
cathedral of, 247.
statute of, 183.
Gloucester, Gilbert of Clare, E, of, son of
Richard of Clare, 170, 174, 176, 248.
Gilbert of Clare, E. of, sou of the pre-
ceding, 199, 201.
Humphrey, I), of, 270-277, 304.
Richard of Clare, E. of, 169-170.
Richard, D. of, 287, 291, 293. .S'ee
Kichard iii.
Robert, E. of, 106, 112-114, 155.
Isabella of. i9ee Isabella.
Thomas of Woodstock, D. of, 225, 233,
234, 235
Gloucestershire, included In the kingdom
of Wessex, 27.
Goderich, Lord, prime minister, 647.
Godfrey of Boulogne, K, of JeruMlem, Kio.
Godolphiii, Lord, lord high treasurer, 509,
511, 516-517, 522.
Godwin, E. of Wessex, 60-62, 64.
house of, 60-65.
Gofdels, the, or Gaelic race, 2, 3.
Golden Hind, the, 396.
Goldsmith, Oliver, man of letters, 637, 638.
Gondomar, Spanish ambassador, 431.
Gordon, Lady Catharine, 311.
Lord George, 585.
General, 683.
Gordon riots, the, 585.
Goree, 587.
Goring, Lord, royalist general, 453.
Goschen, G. J., statesman, 686, 688.
Gothic architecture, l.')3-154, 245-247, 302-
303, 414, 529, 636, 704.
Gough, Lord, 713.
Grafton, D. of, prime minister, 576.
Graham, James, E. of Montrose. Set
Montrose.
John, of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee,
501. See also Dundee.
Grand Alliance, the, 510, 512.
Grand Remonstrance, the, 448.
Grand Juries, in Ireland, 696.
in England, 123.
Granville, E. 553. See Carteret.
Grasse, de, admiral, 584.
Grattan, Henry, Irish orator, 586, 587, 602-
605.
Graupius, Mbns, 8.
Gravelines, 326, 399.
battle off, 399.
Great Council, the, 147, 239, 241.
at York (1640), 446.
Great Cu-stom, the, 183.
Greeks, the, 644, 645-646, 619, 668, 680,
691.
Greenland, Norse settlers in, 41.
Gregory i., the Great, pope, sends mission-
aries to England, 29.
vn., pope, 91, 92. See Hildebrand.
IX., pope, 163.
Grenvllle, Sir Richard, 400.
• George, 574-575, 578.
Lord, 612-614.
Grey, Lady Catharine, 405, 407.
Sir Edward, 734, 735.
Lady Jane, 360, 362.
Sir John, 288.
John de, bishop of Norwich, 141.
Sir Richard, 295-296.
Lord, of Ruthin, 257.
INDEX
753
Grey, Thomas, Marqoia of Dorset, 295-296.
tiat alio Dorset.
VValter, urclibishop of York, 179.
Lord, Whig prime miDister, 644, 651,
655.
Grey Friars, the, 243. See alto FranciKans.
Grifflth ap Llewelyn, prince of Wales, 65,
166.
Grindal,Edmuud,arcbbiBhop of Canterbury,
374.
GrosHteste, Robert, bishop of Lincoln, 164.
Gualo, papal legate, 150.
Gnesclin, Bertrand du, 219, 221.
Guiana, 431, 691.
Guienne, 126. Se» alto Gaacooy and Aqni-
taine.
Guinea,' 394.
Guinegutte, battle of, 321.
Guilds, 301-302.
GuipuBCoa, 608.
Gujrdt, battle of, 713.
Gulliver't TVuueiJ, Swift's, 637.
Gunpowder, use of, 303.
;Plot, the. 427-428.
Gurtb, K. of Kast Anglia, 66, 71.
Gnstavus Adolpbus, K. of Sweden, 440.
Gutenberg, John, printer, 306.
Gutbrum, 44. 46.
Gwynedd, 106, 117, 124.
Habeas Cokfus Act, the, 486 ; sospeosion
of, 597.
writ of, 437.
Hadrian, Emperor, the wall of, 9, 10, 14.
llaesten, attempts the conquest of WesMS,
48.
Haidar AU, sultan of Mysore, 584, 585.
Hainault, 203, 211, 270.
Halclayt, bis I'rincipal Navigation* of the
Englith Nation, 418.
Ilaldaue, K. Vi., 735, 738.
Hales, Alexander, schoolman, 346.
Sir Edward, 492.
Halldon Hill, battle of, 209.
Halifax, Yorkshire, 487.
N. Americ*, 481, 723.
(Savlle) I^rd, 487.
Cbarles Montague, Lord, 605. See alto
Montague.
Hamilton, the house of, 383.
Hammersmith, 461.
Hampden, John, 44U, 446, 447-449, 461.
Hampton Court, conference at, 426.
Handel, Frederick, musician, 636.
Hanover, 642. 645, 666, 668, 626,667.
treaty of, 551.
Hanse Merc'hanti>, the, 302.
Ilsiwhurg, the liouie of, 326, 366.
Harcourt, .Sir William, politician, 690, 691.
Harding, John, cbninlclcr, ao4.
Hardinge, Lord, goveruor-general of Iitdla,
712.
Harfleur. 364, 298.
Uargreaves, inventions of, 627.
Uarlecb, castle of, 247.
Harley, Robert, E. of Oxford, 616, 617-621,
544. Su alio Oxford.
Harold Fairhair. K. of Norway, 41.
Harcfoot, king, 60, 61.
• sou of Godwin, king, 62-64, 66-71.
Harold Hardrada, K. of Norway, 68.
Harrogate, 627.
Hartliacnut, king, 60, 61.
llartiagton, marquis of, 6M. 686, 690. Sit
alto Devonshire, D. of.
Harvey, William, physician of Cbariet u,
628.
Hastings, battle of, 69-71.
Lord, 296.
Warren, governor-general of lodlJtt
686, 591, 708-709.
marauls of, 711.
Hatfleld House, buUt by Robert Cecil. 414.
Havana, 572, 573.
Havelock, General, 715.
Havre, le, 379 609.
Hawke, admiral, 668.
Hawkins, William, seaman, 393.
Sir John, son of ^e above, 394, 39T,
398, 400.
Hawlev, general, 658.
Haye, la, farm of, 622.
Haye Sainte, U, farm of, 622, 623.
Heathfield, battle of, 31.
Heavenfleld, battle of, 32.
Hebrides, the, Norse settlers in, 43.
Hedgeley Moor, battle of, 287.
Heights of Abraham, the, 669.
Heligoland, 688.
Hengist, traditional leader of the Jutee,
18.
Hcngston Down, battle of, 41.
Henrietta .Maria, of France, queen of
Charles I., 433, 436.
Henry i., of Anjou, K. of England, 94, 100,
102-110.
II., 116, 116-136.
III., 159-177.
IV.,225, 234, 236-237, 266-260.
v., 260, 262-269.
VI., 970-283, 3S6, 287, 289, 291.
VII., 298-299, 308-316.
VIII., 813, 317-361.
II., K. of France, 366, 378.
III., 891, 399.
IV., 400, 430.
'— IV., Emperor, 91.
v., 108.
VI., 133.
of Blols, bishop of WinchaMer, ill,
114.
the young king, son of Henry u., 13o,
129.
prince of Wale*, son of Jamea i., 429.
Stewart, cardinal of York. 66M.
the Lion, D. of Saxony, 129.
Henryson, Robert, (fcots poet, 3o«.
Herbert, Qeorrn, poet, 681.
Hereford, earldom of, (T.
Humphrey, E. of. 188. See ofa*
Bohun.
Henry of Lanculer, I), of. 886. 884.
238, 836. Sm oIm lierby, K. of. and
Henry iv.
Herswaid, Anglo-Suoa leader, M, 83.
Herrick Robert, poet, 631.
Hertford. Idmutd Seymour, K. of, 848,
363-368. Am alto .Somerset, D. of.
Hexham, battle of, 38T.
Ulgh Church, at.
3 Q
754
INDEX
High Commission, Court of, 372, *10, 446,
493, 495.
Highlanders, the, 186, 501, 539, 556.
Highlands, the, 307, 457, 459, 501-502, 539-
540, 555, 558-.559.
Highwaymen, 702.
Hilda, abbess of Whitby, 35.
Hiidebrand, Pope Gregory vii., 91.
Hill, Rowland, postal reformer, 660.
Hind and the Panther, the, Dryden's, 532.
Hindus, the, 711.
Hispaniola, 394, 469.
History of the Hebdlion, Clarendon's, 532.
Hochstadt, 513.
Hogarth, William, painter, 636.
Holbeach, in Staffordshire, 42^.
Holbein, Hans, painter, 414.
Holinshead, chronicles of, 418.
Holkar, Marjitbii prince, 710, 715.
Holland, 386, 464, 478, 4S0, 483, 502, 508,
512, 542, 543, 562, 583, 587, 591, 598, 602,
612, 615.
Holies, Denzil, parliamentary leader, 439.
Holmby House, 460.
Holstein, 672.
Holy Alliance, the, 644, 655.
Holy League, the, 320.
Holyrood, 381, 556.
Home Rule, 680, 682, 685, 688, 689.
Hooker, Richard, on the Laws of Ecclesi-
astical Polity, 374, 418.
Hooper, John, bishop of Gloucester, 357,
364.
Horsa, traditional leader of the Jutes, 18.
Hotspur, Harry, 258. See also Tercy.
Hougoumont, 622.
Hougue, la, 214 ; battle of, 503,
Hounslow Heath, 493.
House carles, the, 60, 69.
Hoveden, Roger of, English chronicler, 155.
Howard, Catharine, queen of Henry viii.,
347, 349.
Lord, of Efiflngham, 397-399, 401.
Lord Thomas, 400.
Henry, E. of Surrey. See Surrey.
John, philanthropist, 635.
Thomas, D. of Norfolk. See Surrey
and Norfolk.
Howe general, 568.
Sir William, 582.
admiral, 584.
Hubert de Burgh, justiciar, 160-161.
Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury,
131, 137, 140.
Hudson, the river, 479.
Hugh Capet, king of France, election of, 66,
67.
Hugh of Avalon, St., bishop of Lincoln, 134,
154, 247.
Huguenots, the, 379, 437, 493, 526.
Hull, 449, 451. 452, 733.
Humber, the river, 84.
Humble Petition and Advice, the, 470.
Humbleton, battle of, 258.
Hume, David, philosopher and historian,
637, 638.
Hundred, courts of the, 77, 147.
Hungary, 366, 513.
Huntingdon, earldom of, 106. ib'ee also
David, E. of.
Hurstmonccaux, 303.
Huskisson, statesman, 644, 647.
Huss, John, Bohemian reformer, 267.
Hyde, Edward, E. of Clarendon, 417, 448,
475, 481, 532.
Anne, first wife of James ii., 481.
Hyde Park, Exhibition in, 666.
Iberians, the. In Britain, 2, 3.
Iceland, Norse settlers in, 41.
Iceni, tribe of the, 8
Idle, battle of the, 30.
Incident, the, 447.
Indemnity Act, the (1660^, 473.
(1727), 547.
Independents, the, 374, 459, 460, 461, 463,
475.
India, 424, 562-564, 584-585, 588, 591, 600,
609-610, 659, 682, 688, 709-718.
Bill, Fox's, 588 ; Pitt's, 591 ; Derby's
(1858), 715.
Indies, the, 366, 392.
Indulgence, declaration of (1673), 484.
(1688), 494.
Industrial revolution, the, 628-630.
Inkerman, battle of, 670.
Innocent iii., pope, 139, 141-143.
IV.. pope, 164.
Inquisition, the, 377.
Instrument of Government, the, 466, 466.
Inverlochy. battle of, 457.
Inverness, 628.
Investiture contest, the, 91, 104-105.
lona, abbey of, 24, 28, 32.
Ipswich, 318, 331.
Ireland 2, 12, 22, 24, 43, 74, 83, 93, 125-
127, 159-161, 199, 236, 280, 282, 309, 311,
316, 350, 401-404, 421-423, 443, 447, 452,
463, 476-477, 498-500, 585, 599, 602-605,
644, 648, 650, 659, 661, 663, 665, 666, 675-
677, 678, 682, 687-689, 694, 731, 736.
Ireton, parliamentarian general, 458.
Irish, conversion of the, 12.
Cliarch, disestablishment of, 650, 676.
Land Act, the first, 677.
the second, 682.
Iron Age, the, 3.
Irwell, the river, 628.
Isabella, of Augouleme, queen of John, 138,
165.
of France, queen of Edward li., 203-
208.
queen of Richard it., 235, 258.
of Gloucester, first wife of King John,
138.
queen of Castile, 313.
queen of Spain, 655.
daughter of David, E. of Huntingdon,
189.
Isca, Dumnoniorum, 11. See Exeter.
Silurum, 8, 11, 12. See Caerleon-on-
Usk.
Italy, 313, 319, 327, 366, 378, 512, 643, 672,
598, 601, 612, 666, 672,678, 688. See aUo
Rome and Romans.
Jacobins, the, 595, 596.
Jacobites, the, 498, 539-641, 655-559, 634.
INDEX
755
JacqueliDe of Baymria, wife of Humphrey,
D. of Gloucester, 271.
Jacquetta of Luxemburg, wife of John, D.
of Bedford, 275.
JaltUttbitd, 7rj.
Jamaica. 469. 479, 684.
James, K. of England, i., 381, 420^34.
II., 478-484, 489-485, 498.
K. of Scotland, r., 359, 271, 306
IV., 311, 314, 321-323.
v., 348.
VI., 381. 383, 389, 407, SU alio
.fames i. of England.
VII. .See James ii. of England.
the Old Pretender, 494, 510, 621.
Jameson, Dr., raid of, 692, 725.
Jamestown, 423. .,.
Japan, 693, 732, 733.
Jeiferiefi, Chief Justice, 490.
Jena, battle of, 614.
Jerusalem, 131, 133, 27}, 668.
Jervis, admiral, 599.
Jesuits, the, 377, 388.
Jews, the 150, 186. 468.
Joan of Arc, 273-275.
of Kent, princess of Wales, 225.
— sister of Edward iii., queen of David
Brace, 205.
— qoeen of Spain, daughter of Ferdinand
and Isabelk, 314, 3-U.
Johannesburg, 725, 727.
John. K.of Knglaiid, 137, 139, 134, 137-146.
K. of France, 317. 218, 219.
Don, of Austria, 386, 391.
of Gaunt. .><t!< Gaunt, John of.
Johnson, Dr. .Samuel, 637, 638.
Jones, Inigo, architect, 529.
Paul, American privateer, 584.
.Tonnon, Ben, dranialist, 630.
Joseph II., Kniperor, 594.
Ferdinand, electoral prince of Bavaria,
508.
Jubilee, the, of 1887, 688.
the Diamond, 694.
Judicature Act, Sellwmc'ii, 678.
Judith, niece of William i., in.
Julius II., po|ie, 318, 330. 323, 335.
Junius, anonymous writer, 576.
Junot, general, 615, 616.
Junto, tlio Whig, MR, 516.
.lu'-y system, the, 123, 148, 173.
Justices of the Peace, 411, 696.
JiiHticiar. olllcu of, 96, 107, 113, UT, 134,
144, 147, 163.
Jutes, the, first Teutonic aetUera in BriUin,
16, 18.
Juzon, bUbop of Londoo, 443.
Kabul, 7H, 716.
Karniltik. the. 668, 664, 710.
Keats. John, poet, 639.
Keble, John, poet and divine, 698.
KeUo, 641.
Ken, bishop of Rath and WvlU, 494, 498,
Kenllworth, castle of, 175.
dictum de, 176.
Kenmure, Ixird, 639, 641.
Kenneth MacAlplne. K. of Picts and ikoU,
34,
Kennington Commoa, duutisl meetfoK on,
666.
Kent, 18, 37, 28, 30, 40, 77, 331, 379, 311,
362. 461, 630.
Keiitlgem, first bisiiop of OUegow, 38.
Ker, Robert. E. nf Somenet, 43»-i9«.
Ket, Robert, of Wymoodbam, 3M.
Khaibar pass, the, 713.
Khalifa, the, 693-693.
Khartum, 6H3, 693.
Kbnrd-Kibul paae. the, 713.
KUdare. earls of, 309, 310, 311, 316, 850.
See Fitsgerald.
Kilkenny, statute of, 335.
Kiliiecrankle, battle, ot 601.
Kilwardby, Uobert, archbisiiop of Canter-
bury, 346.
Kimberley, 736.
Kimbolton, Lord, 448. jiM alw lUacbCiter,
E. of.
King's Bench, the. 341.
King's College, Cambridge, 301, 303.
King's County, 401.
Kirk u' Field, the, 881.
Kirksull abbey. 153.
Kitcbener, Herbert, Lord, 693-693, 737, 739.
Klondike, 733.
Khwter /even, the capitulation of, 666.
Kneller, Godfrey, |iainler, 630.
Kuighlbood, orders of, 349.
Knights, 148.
of the shire, 173.
Knox, John, Scottish reformer. 376. 87«,
380, 707.
Kruger, Paul, Boer presi<ien(, 736, 730.
Labourebs, the eUtuto of, 333, 330.
Labrador, 31)3.
Ladynmith, siege of, 736, 737,
Lake, general, eo4. 609.
Lake School, the, 638, 706.
I.amb, Charles, eeaayist, 706.
Ijunbert .'^imnel, impoMor. 399-31t.
Lambert, general, 471.
Lambeth, treaty of, I««.
Loncoablre, 340. 64 1, &M, 638, 663, 673.
Lancaater, earldom of, 176.
boose of, 201. 336. 366-S3I. 3M.
Thomas B. of, 301. 90S.
Henry, E. of, 393, 304. 39i. 301.
~~~ — ~ — — eon of aboT^ 3I0.
am Blanche of. and Oent John «<; D. oC
ij^aa League, tbe Iritb, 600, 603.
L«nflrane, archblihov of Canlerbwy, 90-93.
94, 96. ^
Langland, William, poet, 36X
Langakle, battle of, aos.
Langtoo, IMephen. arcbbWiop of CkoMw
barr, I4l-l4Si 144, 100, 191.
Lanadowne, Letd, 1st.
Lattmar, Lord, 336
Hugh, Mahop e( WoRealar. a40, SM,
a«4.
I^Un literature, 164-119. 360.
LatltiiillnsrlitnlKin, 4x7, 4911, 433, 634.
I' *rchbtatM>p of I'aMMftWT,
M3,«44, 467.
I ' I'll Malilami, K. of. 4t9. 493.
Lawianre, iienry awl JahO, to IniUa, Tia.
Lea*. 993. on. Of 9.
756
INDEX
Leeds, Thomas Osborne, D. of, 505. Su. also
Danby.
I^icester, SO.
abbey of, 336.
earldom of, 163.
Robert, E. of, justiciar of Henry ii.,
117.
Robert Dudley, E. of, 370, 392, 398.
-' — See Montfort, Simon, E. of.
House, 549, 570.
Leighton, Alexander, Scottish physician,
442.
Leinster, 604 ; Dermot, K. of, 125.
IjBipzig, battle of, 621.
Leith, 375.
liClx, 401.
Ijely, Peter, painter, 530.
I^ennox, E. of, 380, 381.
Leo X. , pope, 323.
Leofric, E. of Mercia, 60, 64, 65.
Leofwlne, E. of Kent, 65, 71.
Leopold, D. of Austria, 133.
I. Emperor, 5u7.
of Saxony -Coburg, K. of the Belgians,
651.
Leslie, Alexander, Lord Leven, 444, 453.
, David, 453, 456, 459, 464.
levellers, the, 463.
Lewes, battle of, 171 172 ; the Mise of, 172.
Lexington, battle of, 581.
Ijiberal Unionists, 685.
Liberals, the, 664, 676, 684.
Lichfield, 33, 37, 38, 76, 90.
Liege, 512.
Ligny, battle of, 622.
Lille 515.
Limerick, 125, 500 ; treaty of, 500.
Limoges, 222.
Limousin, the, 219.
Lincoln, 50, 75, 90, 114; bishop of, 112;
castle of, 152; cathedral of, 154, 245;
battle of, 160.
Lindisfame, 32, 33.
Lindsey, E. of, 450.
Lindum, 11. See also Lincoln.
Lionel, D. of . Clarence, 225, 282. See
Clarence.
Lisbon, 400, 620.
Liverpool, 626, 628, 675, 683, 702.
Lord, 613, 644, 647.
Llewelyn aplirwerth. prince of Wales, 166.
— — ap Griffith, prince of Wales, 166, 174,
176. 179-181, 222.
Lloyd-George, David, 735, 736, 738.
Local Government Board, the, 696.
IxKhleven, castle of, 383.
Locke, John, philosopher, 637.
Loire, the river, 115, 126, 271, 272, 273.
Jx)llards, the. 229, 256, 262-263.
Londiniimi, 8, 11, 12. See also London.
London, 64, 69, 71, 75, 114, 117, 150, 231,
243, 263, 279, 283, 287, 289, 291, 296, 302,
312, 336, 344, 360, 362, 4l7, 450, 451, 452,
471, 481, 495, 525-526, 585, 626, 652, 683,
702.
treaty of (1359), 218.
Londonderry. Lord, 643, 645. See also
Castlereagii.
Lougchamp, William, bishop of Ely and
chancellor, 132, 134.
Lords Appellant, the, 234, 238, 256.
lAjrds Ordainers, the, 199.
Lorraine, 273, 678.
Rene of, 277.
Francis, D. of, 554, 555.
Losinga, Herbert of, bishop of Norwich,
153.
Lothian, 54. 186, 209.
Louis, K. of France, vi., 107, 115.
vn., 127.
vm., 140, 145, 159-160.
IX., 162, 165, 170, 177.
XI., 288, 289, 291, 292.
■ XII., 319, 323.
■ — XIII., 430, 433, 438, 440.
XIV., 469, 477-485, 493, 502, 503,
•07, 508, 510-515, 518-520.
XV., 539, 543, 594.
XVI., 583, 594, 595.
XVm., 621, 623.
Philippe, K. of the French, 650, 655,
660, 666.
son of Louis xiv., 507.
of Bavaria, the emperor, 211.
Louisburg, 568.
Jjouisiana, French colony of, 565, 573.
Level, Lord, 309, 310.
Low Church, 487.
Lowlanders, the, 186.
Lowlands of Scotland, the, 540
Loyola, Ignatius, 377.
Lucknow, 714, 715.
Lucy, Richard of, justiciar of Henry ii.,
117.
Ludlow, 282, 295, 315 350, 410.
Lunevilie, treaty of, 601.
Lusignan, Hugh of, 138. 165.
house of, 165-166, 170.
Luther, Martin, reformer, 332, 333.
Lutterworth, 229.
Lyme Regis, 490.
liyons, Richard, merchant, 226.
Lytton, Lord, novelist, 716.
Macadam, engineer, 702.
Mac Alpine, Kenneth, king of the Scots and
Picts, 24.
■Macaulay, Thomas Babington, historian,
706.
Macdoualds, the, 501, 502, 540, 556.
Maclau, of Glencoe, 501.
Macintosh, Brigadier, 541.
Mackay, general, 501.
Mackenzies, the, 540.
Madras, 425, 562, 563, 564, 710, 714, 715.
Madrid, 515, 616, 617, 618, 620.
Mafjellan, straits of, 396.
Magna Carta, 144, 151 ; reissues of, 160, 193.
Magnus Intercursus, the, 312.
Mahdi, the, 683.
Maine (France), 93, 100, 108, 126, 277.
— — (N. America), 660.
Main Plot, the, 426.
Mainz, 305.
Maisoncelles, 265.
Major-generals, the, 467.
Majuba Hill, battle of, 725.
Maiakov, capture of tlje, 671.
Malcolm, i., K. of Scots, 52.
INDEX
757
Malcolm in., Canmore, 8i, 93, 93, 99.
IV., 117.
Maletote, the, 19.^.
Malmeabnry, William of.KoglUb chronicler,
155.
Malplaquet, battle of, 516.
Malta, 599, 602, 681.
Malu* Jvtercurtut, the, 313.
Malvoitin, ca«tle built by William ii., 95.
Mancheoter, 51, 449, 556, 626, «2i<, 65'i, 653,
66a. 676, 676, 683, 702.
£. of, 462, 453, 457, 458. See alio
Kimbolton.
Mancbarla, 694.
MandevlUe, Geoffrey of, E. of Easex, 114.
Manila, 572. 573.
Manitoba, 723.
Man, Isle of, Norse settlers in, 43.
Manorial system, the. 14<<, 150.
Mans, le, capital of .Maine, 93, 101.
Mantes, taken by William I., 93.
Mar, Julin Erskino, E. ol. 540, 541.
Marutb^, the, 562, r>84, 609, 710, 711.
March, of Wales, the. 99, 174, 282, 286, 350.
title of E. of (we Mortimer), 20H ;
earldom of, 27 !i.
Edmund .Mortimer, E. of (0. 1381),
225, 226.
Edmund Mortimer, E. of (d. 1424),
257, 262, 264.
Mward of York, E. of, 382, 283. See
al$o Edward iv.
Koger Mortimer, Urst E. of. 203-208.
225.
Marcband, major, 693.
Marchers, revolt of the, 174.
Marengo, battle of, 601.
Mare, Peter de la, speaker, 227.
Margaret,St.,(|ueeu of Malcolm CaDinore,99,
103.
queen of Louis IX., 162.
the Maid of Norway, queen of Scot*,
187, 188.
daughter of David of Huntingdon, 188.
— — sister of Philip iv., empresa, 194.
—— of Aojou, queen of Ilenry ri., 277, 380,
289, 291.
of Burgundy, sister of Edwvd iv., 388,
309-311.
Tudor, queen of JamM rv. of Scots,
314, 323, 380.
Theresa, of Spain, qne«n of l/ooia xiv.,
607.
the lady. .See Beaufort, Margaret.
Maria, InfanU uf .Spain, 430, 433-433.
llieraaa, of AusUla, 563-US, 669, 666.
673.
of Spain, 607.
Marigoano, l)attle of, 334.
Marlborough, Lady, 511.
John Churchill, E., and afterward* D.
of, 604, 611-617. Ae Churchill.
Marlowe, Christopher, dramatist, 417.
Marmont, ganeral, 630.
Marmora, sea of, 6H1.
Marshall, the offlce of, 147.
William, E. of Pembroke, 144. I69-
160.
Rlcbanl. K. of Pembroke, 161.
Mvsln, Marshal, 613, 614.
Marston Moor, baUle of; 463, 46«.
Martin v., pope, 366.
Martin Marprelatc TraeU, the, 3t4.
MarwiiUas. See MaasilU.
Mary, of Burgnndy, daughter of Cbarle*
the Bold. 393, 333.
Tudor, d. of Henry vn., qoeen uf
Ix>uis XII. of France, afterwards docliew
of Suffolk, 333, 369. 360.
d. of Henry vui., queen, 334, 346,
359, 361-367, 401.
of Qalse, 376.
g. of Scots, 348, 363, 364, 376, 379,
380-389.
, princess of Orange, d. of Jamea ii..
afterwards queen. 486, 494. 496-504.
— ^of Modena, queen of James ii., 494.
Maryborough. 401.
Maryland, the plantation of, 433.
Maseriield, battle of; 33.
Masbam. Mrs.. 517.
Maaaachuaetts, 424. 681.
Maaaena, general, 630.
Maasllia, (Marseilles), tbe trMla of the
Britons with. 6.
MasKlnger, Philip, dramatist, 630.
Matilda of Flanders, queen of William t.,
94.
^— of Boulogne, queen of Stephen. 114.
d. of Henry i., empress and ooontaas of
Anjou. IU7, 108, 111-116.
MauriUua, 628, 730.
Mamii»a OauarimuU, 10.
Maximilian i., tbe emperor 392, 310,311,
313, 330, 336.
JfoX/iMser, the, 433.
Mayne, Cathbett, 389.
Maynootb College. 661.
Medina Sidonia, I) of, 19T.
Mediterranean, the, 600, 691.
Medway, the river, 478.
Meerut. 714.
Melbourne, IxMrd, prims minialsr, 961, m-
967, 669-660.
town of, 734.
Melrose, abbey of, 309.
Mendicant Friars, tbe, 19T. 943.
MeroanUle .Srstem, the, 636.
Merchant AdTsnturers, aodelj of the, 301,
393
MerGhant-gnllds. 160.
Mercia, 19. 27, 36-37, 38, 40, 60. 61, tS, 69,
6U, 91, 6-'>.
Meredith, Ueorgs, nofcUst, T09.
Merioneth. 181.
Mersey, tbe. 639.
Merton, Walter of, Ibtiadnr ef Mcfton
College, Oxford. 349.
Meuiak, tbe, HamM's, 9t9.
MeUMdiata. Um, 939499.
Metbosn TrMUy, the, 91S.
Mexloo, 394.
Mfani, battle of. T13.
Mlauiuxin, the river, 217.
Mithllo Kngllsb. 166. 262.
Mkidleses. 19. 77. 679.
lord, treasurer of James t., 4M.
Miguel. Dom, of P«>rtnfal. 949. 99*.
MiCm. 319.390. 394, 337, 616. 664. 999, Mi
MlUmese, tbs, 609.
758
INDEX
Mile End, 231.
Milford Haven, 298.
Military Orders, the, 154.
Militia Bill, the, 449.
Millenary Petition, the, 428.
Milton, John, poet, 463, 531, 532.
Minden, battle of, 568.
Minorca, 515, 518, 566, 573, 584, 587.
Minorites, the, 243. ifee also Franciscans.
Mirebeau, 139.
Mississippi the river, 565, 573.
Moderates, the, of the Scotch church, 634.
Mogul, the, 425.
empire of the. 526, 711.
Mohammedans, in Syria, 100, 131.
Moldart, landing-place of Charles Edward,
555.
Moldavia, 668, 669.
Mompesson, Sir Giles, 4,^3.
Mona, 8. See. Anglesey.
Monastic orders, 104.
Monk, George, 471, 479.
Monmouth, Geoffrey of, 156.
James, D. of, 487, 488, 490.
Monopolies, 406, 4.33.
Monroe doctrine, the, 645.
Mtms Graupius, battle of. 9.
Montagu (earls of Salisbury) family of, 281,
285.
John Neville, Marquis of, 291. See
also Meville John, E. of Northumber-
land.
Montague, Charles, financier, lord Halifax,
503, 605, 506.
Montcalm, marquis of, 568-569.
Montenegro, 680, 681.
Montereau, on the Yonne, 267.
Montfort, Simon of, E. of Leicester, 163,
166, 169, 170, 171-177.
Eleanor, 179.
John of, Duke of Brittany, 213, 216.
Montgomery, lordship of, 100.
Montreal, 569.
Montrose, James Graham, E. of, 444, 457,
459, 464.
Mont- Saint -Jean, 622.
Moore, Sir John, 617.
Moravians, the, 633. i
Moray, James Stewart, E. of, 3^0, 381, 383,
385.
Morcar, E. of Northumbria, 66, 68, 69, 71,
84, 85, 94.
More, Sir Thomas, 330, 331, 333, 340, 341.
Morgan, William, bishop of St. Asaph, 404.
Morris, William, poet, 706.
Mortimer, Koger, of Wigmore, first E. of
March, 203-208, 225.
Edmund, E. of March (d. 1381), 225,
226.
Edmund, E. of March (d. 1424), 257,
262, 264.
Sir Edmund, 257-258.
Anne, 280.
Mortimer's Cross, battle of, 283.
Mortmain, Statute of, 183.
Morton, Cardinal, archbishop of Canter-
bury, 314.
E. of, Scottish regent, 385.
Moscow, 620.
Mounljoy, lord, Charles Blount, 484.
Mousehold Heath, 356.
Mowbray, Robert, E. of Northumberland,
95.
Thomas, E. of Nottingham. 234, 235 ;
D. of Norfolk, 235, 236. .See also
Nottingham and Norfolk.
Municipal Corporations Reform Act, 654.
Munster, Plantation of, 402, 404, 416.
Muscovy Company, the, 393.
Mutiny Act, the, 497.
the Indian, 714-715.
Mysore, 584, 585, 600.
Mysteries, and Miracle Plays, 304.
NXgpur, annexation of, 713.
Ni^era, battle of, 221.
Namur, capture of, 503.
N&n^ Sahib, 714.
Nancy, battle of, 292.
Nantes, the edict of, 400, 493.
Napier, of Merchiston, inventor of loga-
rithms, 528.
Sir Charles, 712.
Naples, 169, 313, 319, 334, 508, 515, 652, 612,
664.
Napoleon i.. Emperor of the French, 610-
623. See also Buonaparte.
Napoleon ni., Emperor of the French,
Louis Napoleon, 666-667, 671, 773. See
also Buonaparte.
Napoleonic War, the, 608-625.
Naseby, battle of, 458-459.
Natal, 724, 726, 730.
National Debt, the, 503.
National Gallery, the, 705.
Navarino, battle of, 646.
Navarre, 320, 400.
Navigation Act, of 1651, 465, 478.
Nebel, the river, 513.
Neckar, the river, 513.
Nectansmere, battle of, 35.
Nelson, Horatio, lord, admiral, 599, 600,
601, 611.
Neolithic Age, the, 1.
Netherlands, the, 212, 288, 289, 292, 301,
305, 309, 310, 324, 366, 377, 387, 391, 502,
503, 514-516, 518, 555, 559, 596, 601, 622,
625, 651.
Neville, the house of, 281.
Richard, E. of Salisbury. 281, 282.
Richard, E. of Warwick, 282. See
also Warwick and Salisbury.
George, bishop of Worcester and Arch-
bishop of York, 283, 287, 288, 289.
John, E. of Northumberland, and
Marquis Montagu, 288, 291.
C^ecily, duchess of York, 281.
Anne, 288, 289, 293.
Isabella, 288, 293.
Neville's Cross, battle of, 216.
New Amsterdam, 479.
New Brunswick, 723.
Newburgh, William of, English chronicler,
155.
Newburn, battle of, 445.
Newbury, first battle of, 452.
second battle of, 456.
Newcastle, town of, 9, 445.
Newcastle, E- of, general, 451, 452, 453.
INDEX
759
Newcastle, Tbonuw Pelbam, D. of, 549,
560, 561, 566, 572, 573, 574.
New (JoUoge. UxfonI, 301.
New England, the plantation of, 423.
New ForeBt, the, 87, 101.
Newfonndland, 393, 401, S18, 564, 723, 732.
New Jerney, colony of, 479.
Newman, John Henry, cardinal, 663, £98,
700, 706.
New Model Ordinance, the, 458, 459.
New Orleans, 565.
Newport, Monmouthshire, 6S9.
New South Wales, 720, 724.
Newton, Isaac, mathematician, 529.
Newtown Botler, battle of, 499.
New York, 479, 582, 584.
New Zealand, 724.
Nicholas I., tsar of Riusla, 646, 668.
Nile, the, 683.
battle of, 600.
Ninian, St., sent to convert the Cale*
donlans, 12.
Nonconformists, 374, 699.
Non-Jurors, the, 498.
Nore, the, mutiny at, 599.
Norfolk, 19 77.
earls of, 87, 193. Stt alto Bigod and
Mowbray.
Thomas Howard (1), D. of, 323.
Thomas Howard (2\ I), of, son of
foregoing. 336, 344, 348, 349, 361.
(grandson of above),
384 385
Normandy, 43, 48, 63, 64, 83, 88, 93-95,
100-104, 108, 111, 114, 116, 126-129, 134,
135, 138-14U, 169, 213-214, 267, 276, 278,
320.
Normans, the, 63-64, 69-72, 83-89, 103, 132-
123, 125.
Northallerton, battle of, 113.
Northampton, 460.
Assize of, 123.
battle of, 2H2.
council of, 119.
treaty of, 305, 308.
Iforth Bnlon, the, 674.
Northcote, Sir SulTord, pollticiaii. 679.
North, Council of the, 344, 410, 446.
North, I^rd, prime miuistcr, 676-677, 580,
685-689.
Northumberland, 703.
Henry I'ercy, K. of, 337, 336, 368.369.
Sie <Uto Percy.
John Dudley, D. of, 364, 367. 368-
361.
Thomas Percy, E. of, 384.
Nortbumbrla, 19, 37, 30.^, 40, 43, 61-63,
69, 60, 63, 74, 90.
Norsemen, migratiuns of, 40.
Norway, 187.
Norwich, 90, 151, 356, 526.
cathedral of, 153.
Nottingham, 60, 449.
castle of, 306.
Thomas Mowbray. K. of, 334, tS6.
Ste alto Mowbray.
FInoh. £. of (qiMcn Anne). 611,
616.
Nova Scotia (Acadic), 61i, 1U.
AovMm Oryanum, Bacon'*, Ut.
Oatcs, Titus, Informer, 486. 489.
O'Brien, Smith, leader of Young Ireland,
666.
Occasional Conformity, Act agaiost, 543.
Ocliham, Williatoi of, scboolman, 245.
O'Connell, Daniel, Irish agtUtor, 648, 649,
665, 659, 661.
O'Connor, Feargus, chartist, 669, 666.
Odo, bishop of Bayenx, 83 ; E. of Kent,
87 94 95.
Offa,' K. 'of MercU, 36.3T.
OfTaly. district of, 401.
Ohio, the river, 566, 566.
Oldcostie, Sir John, Lord Cobham, 362-363.
Old Sarum, 636.
Olney, treaty of, 59.
Omdurman, battle of, 693.
O'Neill, Shane, 402.
Hugh, E. of Tyrone, 404, 433.
Owen Koe, 447.
O'Neills, EarU of Tyrone. Sm Tynme,
Earls of.
Orangemen, the, 603.
Orange River Free State, Um, 734, 136.
Ordainers, the Lords, 199, 303.
Orders in Council, the. 614, 631.
Ordinances, the (1312), 199.
Ordorlces, tril>e of tlie, 8.
Orewyn Bridge, battle of, 180.
Orfont. BnsMill. admiral, E. of, 603. &0&,&lT.
Robert Walpole, E. of, 663. See
Walpole. Sir Rol>ert.
Oriffin of flpteies, Darwin's, 705.
Orinoco, the river, 431.
Oriaaa, 710.
Orkney, Norse settlers in, 4X
Orleans, siege of, 272-373.
Philip, I), of, regent, 639, 543.
Ormonde, tbe doke of, 476^477, 618.
Orwell, in Essex, 303.
Osboms. Sir Thomas. St* Danby and
Leeds.
Oswald, K. of Northninbria. S2.
Oswlu. K. of Nortbumbria. 33-33.
OtUwa. 733.
Otto I., tbe Great, Bmparor, 63.
IV., Emperor, 139, 140.
papal legale, 164.
Oudenarde, battle of, 516.
Oudh, tbe nawib of. 710. 718. 714.
Quae, tbe rlrsr. 172.
Ontlanders. tbe, 736.
OvatlMiry. Sir Thonaa, 43*.
Owen, Uwynned, prinoe of Wales, 1 17.
Sir, oC Wales, 333.
Robert, aootallst. 669, T03.
Oieodower. fkt Ulsndowsr. Owtn.
Oxford, 60. 166. 343. 344, M6, 301,346.367,
451, 463, 633. 696. TOO, TOO.
ProTlstoos of, 100, ITO.
— — isftwiMSis. tbe, no.
University of. 166. «44->46, 301, 630,
632, 700, TOO.
Robert de Vers, B. oT, m.
Robert Ilarley, K. of. Mi. A* «Im
Harley.
PALJcoLrrnio Aoi, the, I.
Palatine KarMoma, tbe. H.
76o
INDEX
Palestine, 100, 132, ITT.
Palladlo, Italian architect, 529.
Palmerston, Viscount, prime minister, 651,
055, 680, 665-667, 671-673.
Panama, tlie isthmus of, 396.
Pan- Anglican Synod, the, 699.
Pandulf, papal legate, 142, 160.
faradise Lost, Milton's, 532.
Paris, 189, 214, 219, 244, 269, 275, 276, 595,
621, 623, 078.
treaties of, 169, 206, 210, 572, 621, 623
671.
the parliament of, 221.
Matthew, liietorian, 250.
Parlcer, Matthew, archbisliop of Canterbury,
372-373.
admiral, 601.
Parker's Advertisements, 373.
Parliament, the name of, 239.
history of, 239-241, 256, 292, 300, 314.
328, 406-407, 408-409, 425, 495, 537-538.
. reform of, 466-467, o77, 590, 597, 625,
630, 651-653. See also Reform Acts, the.
the Mad, 168.
of 1265, 173.
the Model, 191.
of York, 202.
the Good, 226, 227, 240.
■ the Merciless, 234, 239.
the Reformation, 338-339, 343.
of James i., 428, 433, 434.
the Addled, 429.
of Charles l., 436, 438-439.
the Short, 445.
the Long, 446-465, 471.
Parebones', 466.
tlie Convention (1660), 472-474.
at Oxford, 487.
the Convention (1689), 495.
Parma, 551, 559, 607.
Alexander Farnese, D. of, 391, 3i(2,
397.
Pamell, Charles Stewart, Irish leader, 680,
682, 685, 68J-688.
Parsons, Robert, Jesuit, 388.
Partition treaties, the, 508.
Paschal ii., pope, 105.
Paston Letters, tbi 304.
Patay, battle of, 273.
Paterson, his Darler scheme, 506.
Patrick, St., his conversion of the Irish,
12.
Patriot King, on the idea of a, Boling-
broke's, 550, 570.
Patriot AVhigs, the, 549.
Patronage Act, of 1712, 700.
Paul, pope, m., 341.
IV., 366.
tsar of Russia, 601.
Paulinus, first archbishop of York, 30, 31.
Paullinus, Suetonius, Roman governor, 9.
Pavia, battle of. 327.
I'easants' Revolt, the, 229-232.
I'eckham, John, archbishop of Canterbury,
184, 192, 245.
Peel, Sir Robert, prime minister, 644, 646-
649, C55, 656, 660-664.
Peelites, the, 664, 667, 671, 673.
Peerage Bill, the, 542.
Pekin, 694.
Pelagius, the opponent of Saint Augustine,
12.
Pelham, Henry, prime minister, 549, 552.
559-560.
Pelican, the, 396.
Peloponnesus the, 646, 647.
Pembroke, Palatine earldom of, 100, 103.
castle of, 152.
Richard, E. of, 125. See also Strong-
bow.
Richard Marshall, B. of. .Sfee Marshall.
William Marshall, E. of. See Mar-
shall.
Penal Code, in Ireland, the, 500.
Penda, K. of Mercia, 27-32.
Penn, admiral, 469.
William, Quaker, 479.
Pennsylvania, 479.
Penny Postage, establishment of, 659.
Perceval, Spencer, prime minister, 613.
Percy, house of, 286, 288, 304.
Henry, E. of Northumberland, 227,
236, 258-259. See also Northumberland.
— — Henry, Hotspur, 258.
Percy's lieliques of Ancient English Poetry,
638.
Perrers, Alice, 226, 227.
Perth, 540, 541.
Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester,
161.
the Cruel, K. of Castile, 219, 221.
Martyr, reformer, 357.
the Great, tsar of Russia, 343, 373.
HI., tsar of Russia, 573.
Peterborough, 75, 1.53, 156, 345.
Peterloo, massacre of, 625.
Petitioners, the, 486.
Petition of Right, the, 438.
Petrarch, Italian poet, 251.
Pevensey, landing of AVilliam of Nor-
mandy at, 69. ^ee Anderida.
Philadelphia, 480, 580, .582.
Philip, I., K. of France, 93.
II., 129, 132-134, 137, 138, 160.
ni., 177, 189.
IV., 189-191, 194-195.
VI., 206.
I., K. of Spain, son of Maximilian of
Austria, 313, 314, 324.
11., 362, 363, 366, 378, 386, 388,
390, 392, 394, 397, 400, 424.
IV., 430.
v., D. of Anjou, 508, 515, 516,
518, .543, 551.
Don, son of Philip v., 559.
Phillip, captain, 720.
Philiphaugh, battle of, 459.
Philippa of Hainault, queen of Edward m.,
203, 225, 251.
, Countess of March, d. of Lionel of
Clarence, 225.
Philipstowu, 401.
Physical Force Party, of chartists, 659.
Picquigni, the Treaty of, 292.
Picts, the, 14, 15, 22, 24.
Piedmont, 512, 607.
Piers Plowman, the vision of, 252.
Pilgrimage of grace, the, 344.
Pilgrim Fathers, the, 423.
Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan's, 476, 533.
INDEX
761
Pilletb, battle of, 257.
P'miiiria, Indian freebooters, 710.
Pinkie, battle of, 354.
Pitt, WiDiam, K. of Cbatlmm, S49, 653,
560, 561, 566-569, 571, 575, 580, 583.
the younger, 587, 589, 596-602,
603-605, 610-612, 635.
Pius v., pope, 385, 397.
Plague, the Great, 481.
Plan of campaign, the, 686-687.
Plaasey, battle of, 564.
PlautiuB, Aulas, Roman general, 8.
Plymouth, 289, 393, 4(1.
New, 424.
Plymouth Sound, 398.
Po'ltevins, the, 161.
Poitiers, capiul of Poitou, 126.
battle of, 217-218.
Poitou, 126, 139, 139, 161, 166, 169, 219.
Poland, 691, 625.
Pole, Margaret. S»e Salisbury, Margaret,
Countese of.
Pole, Michael de la. K. of .SnlTolk, 233, 234.
William de la, fc. (afterwards 1).),
of Suffolk, 277-279. Sfe alto .Suffolk.
Reginald, (Cardinal and archbishop of
Cantierljury, 341, 34«, 363, 364-367.
Polish Succcitsion, war of the, 652.
Polltax, the (1381), 231.
Pondlcherri, 562, 573.
Pontefract, 202, 237, 257.
Pontbieu, 189, 214, 219.
Poor Laws, 412, 654.
I'ope, Alexander, poet, 6.'J6.
Popes, the. Se-r firegory i., Gregory vii..
Urban it.,'Ciement (anti-pope), A lexander
III., Innocent in., Gregory ix., Boniface
vni., Clement v., Uroan vi., Clement
VII. (Avignon), Martin v., Julius ii., \jeo
X., Paul III., Paul IV., Plus iv.
Porteous riots, the, 550-551.
Port Jackson, New South Wales, 720.
Portland, battle off, 465.
D. of, prime minister, 588, 613.
Portobcllo, 518.
Port Phillip, 723, 724.
Portsmouth, 103, 107, 438.
Portugal, 392, 424, 477-478, S13, S34, 616,
620, 644, 649, 665.
Porto Novo, battle of, 685.
lYiynlngs, Sir Mward, 316.
Poynlngs' I-aw, 316, 585, 687.
i'nzniunirc, statute of, 223, 838.
Pragmatic .Sanction, the, 654.
I»rague, university of, 2*7.
Prasutugus, K. of the Ireiii, 8.
Prayer-book, of Rlwanl vi., W« Jlrit, 366.
the tecond, 368.
of Ell«abeth, 371.
^— of James i., 426.
of Charles ii., 474.
Pre-Raphaelite Rrotberhood, tb«. 706.
Presbyteriaulsm, 372. 376. 463, 457, 464.
622-623.
lYesbyterians, the, 469, 461, 466, 468, 474.
476, 498, 603, 632, 67«, 700.
Preasburg, the peace of, 612.
Prcatun, battle of (164M), 461.
battle of (1715), 641.
PrMton Pans, battle of, 656.
Pretoria, 727.
I>ride. colonel, 461.
Prince Consort, the, 658, 673. .Ste alto
Albert, prince.
Prince Edwaixl'a island, 723.
Principality, the, of Wales, 166, 181, 284,
360. See alto Wales.
Printing, the Invention of, 305-306.
Privy Council, the, 241, 410, 482, 610.
ProtectionlsU, the, 664.
Protestants, 332.
the Irish, 603, 604-606, 676.
Provenfals, the, 162-163.
I*rovence, 169.
Rene, connt of, 277.
Provisions, papal, 163.
Provlsors, statute of, 233.
Prussia, 613, 620, 555, 566, 666, 668. 613,
676, 691. 696-598, 614. 622, 635, 644, 667.
660, 673, 678.
Prynne, William, puritan, 443.
Public Sclioois Act, the, 7o7.
Public Worsliip ICegulatlon Act of 1874,
699.
Pulteney, orator, 648.
iniQjitb, the, 71U, 713.
Puroeli, Henry, musician, 630.
Puritans, the, 357, 373. 406, 434. 436. 441.
466. 466. 468, 474, 6.14.
Puaey. Edward Bouverie, High Church
leader, 698, 699.
Pym. John, politician, 446-449.
Pyrenees, tlie, 115, 136.
i^beas. the voyage of. 6.
QUADBDPLB Alliance, the, of 1718, MS.
of 1840. 660.
(^lakera, the, 468, 479.
guatre Bras, 633.
(Quebec, 668, 669.
gnaen't Collegas, Ireland. 461.
ConntT, 401.
Qaeenslana. 734.
Quia Smptortt statute, 186.
Olio warranto, writs of, 183.
Qulberon Bay, battle ol. 6«a.
expediUoo to, 6M.
RAiMxyr Bridge, battle of. 333.
lUdlcaU. the. 664, 666, 664, 6Tl.
Raglan, Lord. 669.
RATput^a. 710.
Raleigh. .Sir Walter. 401, 405, 433, 434. 431.
Ralph. K. of Norfoll(, (T-MS.
RamllUea. batUe ot, 614.
Hand, the, 736.
Randolph. K. ofCbeatar, 114.
Ranjlt Singb. monarrb of tlio Puii>l), 710,
711, 713.
Ranuir Klambard. 96, 103, 103, 107. t&SL
UUnville. 134.
Ravwispnr, 336. SM,
RaynlMB, 631.
RMdlng, Xhbuf of. Henry i. bwM Uwfs
108.
KadMdiri*, RoUn oC tat.
iMmooA, Jooa, Irtoh iMdar, M«.
R«l 8m, Ih*. MS.
762
INDEX
Redwald, K. of East Anglia, 28, 30.
Reflections on the French /{evolution,
Burke's, 596.
Reformation, the, 332-333, 338-349, 370-378,
408.
in Scotland, 375-377,
Reform Bill, the first, 653.
the second, 675.
the third, 684.
negate, the, 97.
Reginald, sub-prior of Christchurch, Canter-
bury, 141.
Reign of Terror, the, 595.
Reims, 273, 387.
Renascence, the, 307, 329, 408, 414.
Rene, D. of Anjou. 277.
Rescissory Act, the (Scotland), 376.
Revenge, the, 400.
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, painter, 630.
Rhine, the river, 513, 596, 625.
confederation of the, 612.
Rhodes, Cecil, 725.
Rhodesia, 725.
Rhode Island, 424.
Rhiwallon, Welsh prince, 65.
Ribblesdale, 287.
Riccio, David, secretary of Mary, queen of
Scots, 381.
Rich, Edmund, archbishop of Canterbury,
161, 164.
Richard i.. King, 127, 129, 131-136.
11.. 228-237.
ni., 291, 293-298.
E. of Cornwall, K. of the Romans,
166, 167, 169, 172.
D. of York, son of Richard, E. of
Cambridge, 279-283.
son of f]dward iv., 295-296.
Richardson, Samuel, novelist, 638.
Richborough. See Kutupiae,
Richelieu, 440.
Ridley, Nicholas, bishop of London, 357, 364.
Ridolfi, Italian banker and conspirator, 385.
Riot Act, the, 539.
Ripon, 33.
the treaty of, 445.
Ripperda, Spanish minister, 551.
Ritchie, chaiicell<jr of the exchequer, 734.
Rivers, E.,AnthonyWoodville,288, 295-296.
Robert, Fitzhamon, lord of Glamorgan and
Gloucester, 106.
of Belleme, 103, 104.
E. of Gloucester, 106, 112, 113.
of Jumieges, archbishop of Canterbury,
63, 64, 68.
D. of Normandy, 88, 93-95, 100-104.
Roberts, Lord, general, 716, 727, 729.
Robinson Crusoe, Defoe's, 637.
Robinson, Sir Thomas, diplomatist, 560.
Rochdale, 662.
Roche au Moine, la, siege of, 140, 145.
Roche Derien, la, battle of, 216.
Rochelle, la, 457, 438.
Rochester, 31, 95; castle of, 152.
Robert Ker, E. of, 509.
Rockingham, Council of, 98.
marquis of, prime minister, 575, 578,
586, 587.
Rodney, admiral, 584.
Roebuck, John, discoveries of, 627.
Roger, E. of Hereford, 87-88.
bishop of Salisbury, 107, 111, 112.
archbishop of York, 120.
Rogers, John, Marian martyr, 364.
Rohilkhand, 710.
Romans, the, 6, 7-12, 14.
Roman Catholics, the, 426, 427, 441, 450,
485, 492-494, 497, 602, 603, 606-609, 634,
700.
Romantic revival, the, 638-639, 706.
Rome, 29, 98, 99, 119, 143, 163-164, 228,
327, 339, 678. See also Popes.
Roncesvalles, pass of, 221.
Rooke, admiral, 515.
Root and Branch Bill, the, 447.
Rosebery, Lord, politician, 690, 691.
Roses, Wars of the, 281-297.
Rossetti, D. G., painter and poet, 705-706.
Rouen, 93, 131, 135, 139, 267, 275.
Roumania, 669, 681.
Roumanians, the, 680.
Roumelia, Eastern, 681.
Roundheads, the, 450.
Roundway Down, battle of, 451.
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 594, 636.
Ro.val Society, foundation of the, 529.
Eubens, Peter Paul, painter, 530.
Rufus's Stone, 101.
Rump, the, 461-465, 471-472.
Runcorn, 628.
Runnymede, 144.
Rupert, Prince, 450, 453. 456, 458, 478.
Ruskin, John, art critic, 707.
Russell, Lord, 488.
admiral, 503, 505.
Lord John, afterwards E. Russell, 644,
653, 663, 665, 667, 068, 671, 674, 675.
Russia, 393, 565, 573, 576, 600, 601, 612,
614, 620, 644, 645, 649, 660, 668-671, 680,
682, 688, 691, 693, 694, 712, 732-734.
Rutland, the earl of, 283.
Rutupiae. See Richborough, fort of, 14.
Ruyter, Dutch admiral, 478.
Rye House Plot, the, 488.
Ryswick, peace of, 503.
Sacheverell, Dr., 517.
Sadler, Michael, 703.
Saint-Arnaud, marshal, 669.
Saintes, 165.
Saladin, Sultan, 131.
Salamanca, 617 ; battle of, 620.
Salisbury, 90, 297 ; cathedral of, 245, 636.
Richard Neville, E. of, 281-283.
JIargaret, countess of, 346.
Robert Cecil, E. of. See Cecil Robert.
Robert Cecil, marquis of, prime min-
ister, 675, 681, 684, 685, 686, 688, 690, 730.
Sanehia of Provence, wife of Richard of
Cornwall, 166.
Sancroft, AVilliam, archbishop of Canter-
bury, 489, 494, 498.
Sandal, castle of, 283.
San Domingo, 720.
Sandwich, 160.
San Stefano, treaty of, 681.
Santa Cruz, battle of, 469.
Saratoga, the surrender at. 582.
Sardinia, 544, 654, B59, 672.
INDEX
7^1
Sati, Hlndn cn«tom, TU.
Savoy, 612, fil3, 518, 520, B96.
Bona of, 288.
Palace, the, 231 ; conference at, 474.
Savoyards, the, 182-163.
Sawtre, William, Lollard martyr, 256.
Saxons, Ibe, 14-16, 18, 19.
Saxon Shore, Count of the, 14.
Saxony, 654.
the bonae of, 11%.
Saxton, 287.
Scapula, OntorliM, Roman general, 8.
Scarborough Castle, ciege of, 199.
Schism of the Papacy, the Great, 228-229,
266, 267.
Schleswlg, 673.
Schomberg, general, 499.
Schwarz, Martin, soldier, 310.
Scone, 193, 196, 209.
Scotland, 22, 24, 64, 93, 99, 106, 124-125,
188, 195-196, 200-301, 208-210, 383, 387,
306-307, 377, 421, 443, 462, 463-465, 476,
498, 600-502, 606, 523-623, 639-641, 684.
ScoU, the, 14, 15, 23, 51, 186, 287, 452, 453,
469, 460, 461.
Scottish Church, the, 13, 29, 33, 33, 375-
376, 634, 661, 7C0.
Scottish Prayer-book, the, 443.
Scbttlsh Succession, claimanta to the, 188.
Scott, Sir Walter, novelist, 638, 708.
Scrope, archbishop of York, 359.
Sebastopol, 669.
siege of, 670-671.
Second Coalition, war of the, 600.
SecreUrles of State, the, 409, 695.
Sectaries, the, 374.
Security, the Act of (Scotland), 623.
Sedgmoor, battle of, 490.
Segrave, StepbPii, Justiciar, 163.
Segontinm. .%« Carnarvon, 11.
Seine, the river, 214, 264.
Belbome, Ixird Chancellor, 678.
Self-Denying Ortlinance, the, 468.
Seminary priests, the, 387.
Senegal, 687.
Separatists, the, 374.
Sepoys, 563, 714.
Septennial Act, the, 641.
Seringapatam, 600.
.Servians, the. 680.
Settlement,Act of, of 1661 Jrclandl,477, 499.
of 1663, •galnrt vagnuicy, 635.
of 1701,809.
Seven United Province*, the, 386, 899, 69T.
iSk alio Holland.
Seven Years' War, the. 661. 566-573.
Severn, tbe river, 37. 36, 174, 297, 6U«. •
Severus, Septimus, Kmperor, 10.
Seville, tba pesMof, 661.
Seymour, Jane, qaeen of Henry vm., 94S,
346.
Tbomaa, liord Seymour of Sudeley,
356.
Edward. Set Hertford and SomerMt.
•Shaflesbury. Anthony Ashley «.^p«r, B. of,
482-484, 486-488.
Ix)rd, philanthropist, 70.1.
Shakespeare, William, dramatist, 417, 6M.
Shannon, the river, 500.
the, British man-of-war, 631.
Sharp, James, ai«bbi«bop of St. Andrewt,
476. 487.
Shaw, Doctor, 296.
Sheffield, 630, 652. 663.
Shelbume, E. of, prime minister, S86, S87,
58H.
Sheldon, Gilbert, archbishop of Canterbury.
474.
Shelley, Percy Byssbe, poet, 639.
Shephtri't Caleildar, Spenser's, 416.
Sher All, amir of Afghanistitn, 716.
Sheridan, Uichard Bilnsley, politician and
dramatist, 591, 636.
Sheriif. office of, 78, 148.
Sboriffmuir, battle of, 541.
Shetland, Norse settlers in, 43.
Ship Money, 440, 441, 445. 447.
Sbipton Moor, battle of, 369.
Shire Moot, the, 77, 147.
Shires, the, 77.
Shirley, James, dramatist, 631.
Sboreditch, theatre at, 416.
.Shrewsbury, 87, 103, 104, 181.
palatine earldom o(^ 87, 104.
treaty of, 176.
battle of, 2(8.
John Talbot, E. of, 378.
D. of, 621.
Shuji. ShiUi. 713.
Sicily. 129, 167-169. 377. 319, 918, 643. 644.
663.
Sidmouth, Lord. 612. Set aUo Addington.
Sidney, Sir Philip, 392, 416.
Sir Henry, 402.
Algernon, 488.
.Sigiamnod, tbe Emperor, 366.
Sikhs, tbe, 710, 711, 713, 716.
Silesia. 664. 656. 669.
Siiures. tribe of the. 8.
Simon of Sndbury. arcbbiabop of Canter-
bury, 331.
Simouy, 91.
Sind, conquest of, 713.
SIndbia. Martftbi prince. tlS.
Sinope, 669.
SlrliJ-nd-l>auU. nnwib of Bengal, 564.
Siw^ir.l, K. ..r Nnrtiiumbria, 63, 64. 65.
'. ■ ■ ' ■ :''..625.
of, 654.
: r of ttM Room of Com-
■:. i;86.
1 i .
lias, norelM, at.
Siia»(|.>n, lUO, l(i«, 134, 179.
Solemn League and Covenant, tlie, 463.
Solway, the river, Oaelk element In land*
around, 3.
Solway Mom, battle of, 348, 363.
.><onipr«, Ixird, chancellor, 6o6, 517.
.Somerset, Joim Bssnfoft, K. oC 960.
O. of, SM.
Kdmnnd Bssafbrt, D. of, in, 3M,
381.
KJward Rssofort. I>. of. 391.
Kdwsnl Msynoar, D. of. 3&3-35». Me*
also Sernour sad Hsrtlbrd.
Bobsrt K«r, K. of. 4*9. teoltoKsr.
764
INDEX
Somerset, the countess of, 429.
Charles Seymour, D. of, 521.
Somme, the river, 214, 264, 265.
Sonnets, 416.
Sophia, electress of Hanover, 509, 520.
Soult, general, 617, 618, 621.
South African Republic, the, 724.
Southampton, 261.
South A-ustralia, colony of, 724.
Sea Bubble, the, 544-545.
Sea Compiiny, the, 541.
Southwark, 362, 417, 576, 652.
Spain, 313, 320, 366, 386, 390, 392, 394-400,
430-433, 436, 410, 469, 502, 507, 512, 515,
516, 518, 524, 543, 551, 552, 554, 572, 587,
898, 602, 611, 614, 615, 617, 61ii-620, 644,
645.
Spanish Succession, the, (1700), 507.
. War of the, 512-516, 518-520.
Spectator, the, 533.
Spenser, Edmund, poet, 403, 416.
Spice Islands, the, 424.
Spithead, mutiny at, 599.
Spurs, battle of the, 321.
Staffords, the, 309. See Buckingham.
Stamford, 50, 289.
Stamford Bridge, battle of, 68, 69.
Stamp Act, the, 574, 578.
Standard, battle of the, 112.
Stanhope, general, 515, 542-545.
Stanley, Thomas, E. of Derby, 298, 299,
■ 311.
William, 298, 299, 311.
Lord, 664, 66Y. See also Derby.
Star Chamber, the, 315, 410, 442, 446.
States General, of France, the, 494.
Steele, Richard, essayist, 533, 637.
Stephen of Blois, K. of England, 111-115.
Stephenson, George, railway of, 702.
- — • Robert (son), 702.
Sterne, Lawrence, novelist, 638.
Stevenson, Robert Louis, novelist. 706.
Stewart, the house of, 306-307, 420-535, 540,
556.
Stlgand, archbishop of Canterbury, 64, 68,
90.
Stirling, 195, 200, 201.
Stirling Bridge, battle of, 194.
Stockton and Darlington Railway, the, 702.
Stoke, battle of, 310.
Stonehenge, megalithic monuments at, 3.
Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, E. of, 445-
446. See also Wentworth.
Stratford, John, archbishop of Canterbury,
213.
Stratford-on-Avou, 417.
Strathclyde, 21-23, 186.
Stratton, battle of, 451.
Strongbow, lord of Chepstow and earl of
Pembroke, 125, 159.
St. Albans, 12, 231, 232.
abbey of, 37, 250.
battles of, 281, 283.
St. Andrews, university of, 307.
St. Asaph, foundation of the see of, 28.
St. David's, foundation of the see of, Wil-
liam I. at, 93,
St. Giles', church of, EdUiburgh, 306, 443.
Fields, London, 263.,
St. Helena, 424, 623, 720.
St. John, Henry, 517-521. See Boling-
broke.
island of, 565. See Prince Edward's
Island.
the knights of, 599, 602.
St. Lawrence, the river, 565, 566, 668.
St. Paul's, London, 529 ; school of, 330.
St. Peter's Field, Manchester, 625.
St. Quentin, battle of, 366.
St. Stephen's, at Caen, monastery of, 90, 93.
Walbrook, church of, 529.
Succession, the Act of (1534), 340.
the Austrian, 554-555.
the Polish, 552.
the Spanish, 507, 512-520.
Sudan, the, 683, 692-693.
Suez Canal, the, 681, 715.
Suffolk, 19, 77.
Michael de la Pole, E. of, 233-234.
William de la Pole, E. of, 277-279.
Charles Brandon, D. of, 324, 360.
Mary, duchess of. See Mary.
Suffren, the bailli de, French admiral, 584,
585.
Sunderland, Robert Spencer, E. of, states-
man, 492, 505. 516.
(son of the above), 516, 542, 545.
Supremacy Act of (1534), 338, 361.
(1559), 371.
Surat, 425.
Surrey, 18, 77.
'i'homas Howard, E. of, 318, 322, 323,
336. See also Norfolk.
E. of, son of above, 350, 385. Set also
Norfolk.
Henry Howard, E. of, poet, 415.
Sussex, 18, 27, 28, 33, 77, 279, 362, 630.
E. of, 384, 401.
Sutherland, Norse settlers in, 42.
Swan River, tlie, settlement of, 723, 724.
Sweden, 482, 601, 614.
Swegen, king of the Danes, his conquest of
England, 58.
Swift, Jonathan, satirist, 637,
Swinburne, Algernon Charles, poet, 706.
Switzerland, 607.
Swynford, Catharine, wife of John of Gaunt,
260.
Sydney, town of, 720, 723.
Syria, 100, 660.
Tacitus, his Life ofAgricola, 9.
Tadcaster, 287.
Tagus, the river, 620.
Talllebourg, battle of, 165.
Talavera, battle of, 618.
Talbot, John, E. of Shrewsbury, 278.
Tallard, marshal, 513, 514.
Tamburlaine the Great, Marlowe's, 417.
Tam worth, royal city of the Mercians, 75,
Tangier, 478.
Tara, meeting at, 66.
Taiiff reform, 734, 736, 738.
Tasmania, 723, 724.
Tatler, the, 533.
Tattershall, 303.
Taunton, 312.
Taylor, Jeremy, theologian, 532.
Tees, the river, 84.
Tel-el -Keblr, battle of, 683.
INDEX
765
TenoysoD, Alfred, poet, 706.
Teat Act, the, 484, 49-J, 643, 547, S48, 699.
Tewkesbury, battle of, 291.
Thackeray, W. M., novellgt, 706.
TAa^i, Hindu custom, 711.
Thames, the river, «4, 71, 83, 144, 333, 638.
Theatres, 416-417, 630-531, 637.
Theodore uf Tarsus, arcbliishop of Canter-
bury, 34.
Therouanne, capture of, 331.
Thirty-nlue Articles, the, 359, 371.
Thirty Years' War, the, 431-433, 436-437,
440.
Tbistlewood, Arthur, plot formed by, 643.
Thomson, James, poet, 550, 638.
Thnrlow, Lord Chancellor, 589.
Thurstan, archbishop of York, 113.
Till, the river, 323.
Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury, 498.
Tilsit, treaty of, 614.
Tinchebray, battle of, 104.
Tipu, sultan of Mysore, 599, 800
Tithe War, the, 654.
Titus Livtus, lulian writer, 804.
Tobago, 587, 730.
Tolbooth, the, 551.
Toleration Act, the, 1689, 497.
Tone, Theoteia Wolfe, Irish rebel, 603-604.
Tottel's MitmUany, 415. ^
Torbay, 495.
Tories, 486. 488, 495, 605, 609, 610, 516-
530, 649-550, 613, 655, 663.
Torres Vedras, the lines of, 630.
Torrigiano, Italian sculptor, 414.
Tostig, E. of Northumbrla, 63, 65, 66, 68.
Toulon, expedition to, 598 { float of, 611.
Toulouse, 165.
count of, 137, 139.
biittlc of, 631.
Touraine, 136.
Tourelivs, tbc, attack on, 373.
Tournai, capture of, 331.
ToumamenU, 348.
Tours, lo«.
the truce of, 377.
Tower of Undon, the, 103, 163, 3t>9, 396,
313, 3IH.
Townshend, rlaoonnt, prime minister, M3,
646, 548, 631.
. Charles, 576, 578, 680.
Towton, battle of, 387.
1'r«ctarian Movement, tbe, 698.
Tra»lcH Unions, 703.
Trafalgar, batUe of, 611.
Tramecourt, 365.
Transvaal, the, 734-736. TS9, 730.
Trustamara, Henry of. King of Castile, 319,
331.
Treason Act, the, 340.
Treasurer, tlie, 147.
Tribuchet, the, 348.
Trent, the river, 2T, 638.
tbe council of, 378.
Trevttbick, Uichard, steam looomotirs of.
703.
Triennial Act, the (1641). 44T, 474.
(1604), 505, 841.
Trimmer, origin of tbe title, 487.
Trinidad, 603, 730.
Trinoranlea, the, 7.
Triple Alliance, the, of 1668,483.
of 1718, 543-543.
Tromp, Dnicb admiral, 465.
Troyea, treaty of, 367-368.
Tudor, house of, 398, 308-419.
Kdmund, E. of Rlcbmond, 398.
Henry, E. of Richmood, 398-399. Sd$
also Henry vii.
Owen, 398.
Jasper, E. of Pembroke, 398, 309.
TuUlbardine, marquis of, 666.
Tunbridge Wells, 537.
Tunnage and poundage, 438, 4S9, 440, 44T,
Tunis. Crusade of Ix>nls ix. dWerted to, 177.
Turin, battle of, 516.
Turkey, 691, 600, 660, 668-680.
Turks, the, 100, 645, 646, 649. 691.
Turner, J. M. W., painter, 706.
Tumbam Qreen, 461.
Tweed, the river, 333.
Twiiel Bridge, 333.
Tyler, Wat, 331.
Tyndall, William, reformer, 333, 345.
Tyroonnell, the E. of, 493, 498.
Tyrone, £. of, 402, 404, 423.
Ulstkr. 379, 403, 404, 433, 447, 499, 603.
Uniformity, Act of (1649), 366.
( 1653), 366.
(1669). 371.
(1663). 475.
Union. Act of (1707). Joining KngUah and
Scottlah Parliamente. 523.
(1800), Joining tbe Irish and
EngUah ParUamenU. 605.
Union Jack, tbe, 633.
Unitarians, the, 497, 633.
United Free Charch, of Scotland. 701.
Irishmen, society of tbe, 603.
■ Presbyterians, <a Scotland, 7V0.
Provinces, tbe, 3S«, 399. 697. Ac
alio Holland and Seven United PiDvinoeB.
Sutce at America, the. 6*1, 687, 631,
686, 660, 673, 678, 691.
UniverslUes, the beginning* vt, 16&. S44,
345.
Urban a, pope. 98, 100.
VI., 338-339.
Urblcus, Lollins. govenor of Britain, 10.
U>k, the river. 65.
Vtoina, More's, 3S0, 415.
Utrecht, the nnkmul, 380.
treaty of, 618-630. 643, 661, U2.
Valkkcb, William of, 168. 168.'
Aymer «C btabop of Winchealer. 166,
174. -
Valmtla, 10.
ValenUoe, 439.
Vall«e ani Olerct, 318.
Valmy, the oaanooad* of, MO.
Valds, boose of, 400.
Van I^. Antony, painter, »ST. IM.
Varna, 609.
VsnabU, admiral. 409.
Vaoettans, the, aei.
Veoamela, 091. TSS.
Venice. SI9. 330. OS.
Vera Crvs, 394.
Jf^
INDEX
Vere, Robert.de, E. of Oxford, 232.
A'erneuil, battle of, 271.
Versailles, 678 ; treaty of, 587.
Verulamium, 8, U, 12. ,S'ee St. Albans.
Veto resolutioDH, the, 738, 739.
Victor .^madeus, D. of Savoy, K., first of
Sicily, theo of Sardinia, 512, 518, 544.
Victor Emanuel, K. of Italy, 672, 678.
Victoria, colony of, 724.
Victoria, queen, 657-727.
Vienna, 513.
— — treaties of, 551, 552.
congress of, 622-625.
Vienne, the dauphin of, 267.
Vigo, 397.
Villeins, the, 149, 230, 356.
Villeneuve, admiral, 611.
Vimiero, battle of, 616.
Vincennes, 268.
Vinegar Hill, battle of, 604.
Vlnland, Norse settlement in America, 42.
Virginia, 401, 423, 565.
Viroconium (Wroxeter) Roman garrison
at, 8, 11.
Vitoria, battle of, 621.
Voltaire, 594.
Vortigern, British king, 18.
Wadicouht, 214.
Wagram, battle of, 618.
Wakefield, battle of, 283.
town of, 30 1
VValcheren, expedition to, 618.
Wales, 3, 14, 22, 24, 28, 99, 103, 106, 117,
124-125, 159, 166, 167, 170, 176, 179-182,
240, 257. 283, 297, 299, 315, 350, 357,
404, 450, 629, 630, 633. See. also Princi-
pality, the.
Council of, the, 350, 410.
Statute of, 181-182.
Wallace, William, Scottish patriot, 194,
195-196.
Wallachia, 668, 669.
Waller, Sir William, parliamentary general,
451, 458.
Wallingford, 71.
treaty of, 115.
Walpole, Robert. Sir, 517, 642, 645-553. See
also Oxford, E. of.
Walsingham, Sir Francis, 370, 388, 389.
Walter of Coutances, archbishop of Rouen,
134.
Waltheof, E. of Huntingdon, 84, 85, 87 ;
B. of Northumberland, 88.
Walworth, Sir Williani, 231.
Wandewash, battle of, 564.
Warbeck, Perkin, impostor, 311-31 2.
Warenne, E , 183, 194.
Warrington, 461.
Warwick, E. of, 199.
Thomas Beauchamp, E. of, 234, 235.
Richard Neville, E. of, 282, 291.
Edward, E. o*, 297, 309, 312.
John Dudley, E. of, 354, 357. See
also Northumberland.
Washington, George, 565, 581, 584.
Waterloo, battle of, 622-623.
Watling Street, the, 11.
Watson, Instigator of the Bye Plot, 426.
Watt, James, discoveries of, 627.
Wavre, 623.
Webster, John, dramatist, 530.
Wedgwood, Josiah, his potteries, 627.
Wedmore, the treaty of, 45.
Welles, Sir Kobeit, 2»9.
Wellesley, Sir Arthur, 609, 617, 618-623,
647-649. See Wellington, D. of.
marquis, 600, 609, 644, 709-710.
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, D. of, 618-
623, 647-649. 653.
Wells, 184.
Welsh, the, 21, 28, 31, 36, 40, 51, 65, 93,
99, 190, 257-259, 262, 286.
Wentworth. Sir Thomas, 437-438, 442-445.
See also Strafford.
Wesley, John and Charles, methodists, 632-
633.
Wessex, 18,27, 33, 38, 39, 43-45, 47, 51, 59,
60, 74.
Western Australia, colony of, 724.
West Indies, the, 397, 423, 424, 611, 720.
Westminster, 66, 118, 168, 203, 345, 446,
449, 461, 652.
Abbey, 66, 72, 76, 94, 153. 177, 192,
245, 262, 296, 303, 305, 366, 414.
Assembly of Divines at, 459-460.
Statutes of (.Edward i.), 183, 184, 185.
Westmorland, earldom of. 281, 286.
Charles Neville, E. of, 384.
Westphalia, treaty of, 169.
kingdom of, 612.
West Saxons, shires of the, 77.
Wexford, capture of, 463, 601.
Whigs, the, 486, 495, 505, 509. 510, 516-518,
532-572, 613, 655, 660, 662, 667, 671.
Whitby, Synod of, 33.
Whitefield, George, methodist, 632-633.
Whitehall, palace of, 461.
White Sea, the, 393.
AVhitgift, John, archbishop of Canterbury,
374, 405.
Wicklow, 680.
Wight, Isle of, Jutish settlement in, 18.
Wilberforce, William, 634, 635.
Wilfrid, St., of Ripon, 33.
Wilkes, John, reformer, 574, 576.
WlUoughby, explorer, 393.
William i., the Conqueror, 63, 64, 67-72,
82-93.
11. Rufus, 94-101.
m., of Orange. 494, 495, 496-510.
IV., 642. 650-656.
D. of Aqultaine, 101.
son of Robert of Normandy, 107.
son of Henry i., 107, 108.
of Corbeil, archbishop of Canterbury,
111.
the Lion, K. of Scots, 125, 132.
I., prince of Orange, 386, 392.
III., prince of Orange, 483, 484. .See
also William iv., K. of England.
I., of Prussia, 672, 678.
D. of Clarence. <See William iv., K.
of England.
Wilmington, Lord, 553.
AVimbledon, Edward Cecil, Lord, 436.
■\V'inceby, battle of, 452.
Winchelsea, Robert, archbishop of Canter-
bury, 192, 193, 195, 201.
Wincliester, royal city of Wessex, 76.
INDEX
767
Winchester, statute of, 184.
cathedral of, 2t7.
school at, 301.
Windsor, 257.
Winwood, battle of, a3.
WItenaRemot, the, 66, 79. 147.
Wittenberg, in Saxony, 332.
Wolfe, general, 56»-569.
Wolscley, general, 683.
Wolsey, Thomas, cardinal and fttcbbishop
of York, 318-321, 326-336.
Woodstock, Thomas of Ste Gloncester.
Woodstock, assize of, 124, 160.
Woodville, Elizabeth, ((ueen of Edwatd iv.,
288, 29.5-296.
family of, 295, 296.
Worcester, battle uf, 465.
AVorde, Wynkyn de, printer, 3M.
AX'ordsworth, William, poet, 638.
Worms, concordat of, lu5, 108.
Worsley, 628.
Wren, Sir Christopher, architect, 639.
Wroxeter. .See Viroconum.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 362.
(son of the above'), poet,
416.
James, architect, 636.
WycUffe, John, reformer, 234, 236-329,
252.
Wykeham, William of, bishop of Win-
chester, 226, 234, 247, 301,
Wymondbam, 356.
York, city of, II, (8, 75, 160, 287, 304.
344, 410. Sm alto Eburacum.
archbishops of, 3u, 120, 319. Set aUo
Paullniis, Kgbert, Thurstan, Roger, Orey
Walter, Scrope, Neville George, and
Wolaer Thomas.
parliament of, 303.
minster, 247.
great comidl at, 445.
siege of, 463.
bonae of, 379-381, 384-399.
Richard, D. of. 37 9-383.
Edward, D. of, 383. See Edward iv.
James, D. of, 478-484. See James 11.
Richard, D. of, 396-396, 3U. See aUo
Richard iii.
I>. of, and Cardinal. 668.
Yorkshire, 77, 84, 90, 638. 863.
Yorktown. 584.
Ypres, 211.
Zanzibar, 688.
Zealand. 386.
New, 734.
Zulos, the, 726.
Zutohen, batilc of, 392.
Zwlogte, Ulricb, refonner, 333.
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