Public School History of England and Canada/England/Chapter 6

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CHAPTER VI.

THE CROWN, THE CHURCH, AND THE BARONS.

1. Henry II.—Henry was only twenty-one years of age when he came to the throne; but he was already a statesman and an able ruler. He was a stout, strong man, with red hair and grey eyes; and was so restless and active that he could scarcely find time to eat his meals. He loved order and good government, although his temper which was fiery and passionate, sometimes made him cruel and unjust. He ruled over England, Normandy, and Maine, his grandfather’s possessions; and, besides, had Anjou and Toursine from his father, Geoffery, Count of Anjou; Brittany, through Constance, wife of his brother Geoffery; and Poitou, Aquitaine, and Gascony by his wife Elanor, a woman who had been divorced from Louis VII., King of France. Thus Henry ruled over more French territory than the king of France himself. Henry was the first of the Plantagenets, a line of kings whose name arose from the fact that Geoffery of Anjou, Henry’s father, had worn a sprig of broom, planta genista, as his device during the crusades. Another name for the same line of kings is the Angevin, because they had for their family possessions, Anjou.


2. Henry’s Reforms.—One of the first things Henry did was to make the barons pull down their castles, so that they could no longer use them as strongholds in which to carry their plunder and

torture their victims. His grandfather, Henry I, had made a beginning in sending out judges on circuit, and Henry II. followed and extended his plan. Judges now made their circuits more regularly, and it was arranged that in each shire there should be four knights, and in each neighbourhood twelve men, who should place before the judges all cases of evil-doing, and should swear to the guilt of the accused, or to the facts about any property in dispute. This was the beginning of the Grand Jury of to-day. The ‘‘ordeal” was still in use; but it was abolished forty years later. As the Grand Jury, in many cases, did not know all the facts, the custom was introduced of calling on twelve men, who had the necessary information, to state what they knew about the matters in dispute. This body of twelve was called the “Petty Jury.” Its decision as to the guilt or innocence of the accused was called the ‘‘verdict,” which means “truly said.” So we see that at the outset our juries not only heard the evidence but also acted as witnesses. It was not till many years had passed that the jury ceased to do aught except hear the evidence and give the decision.

Henry also lessened the power of the barons by allowing them to pay money to the king instead of giving military service. By this means, and by allowing the small landowners, or yeomanry, to keep arms and defend themselves, he did much to put a stop to such outrages as took place in the reign of Stephen.


3. Henry and the Church.—Henry’s love of order and good government led him to try to make the clergy submit to be judged by the ordinary courts of the land. At this time nearly all the men of any education were clerks or clergy, or in some way connected with the church. William I. had granted the clergy their own courts; and when a clerk committed a serious crime he could not be put to death, for the church courts had no power to inflict such a punishment. So it came to pass that a great many crimes like theft and murder were not duly punished, and wicked men escaped very easily, if they in any way belonged to the clergy. Henry tried to change this, and to have but one kind of law for all classes of his subjects.


4. Becket.—As you may think, the clergy were very much against such a step, and Henry thought if Thomas Becket were made Archbishop of Canterbury, his help would enable him to carry out this reform. Becket had been Henry’s bosom friend and his chancellor, or man of business. He was gay, reckless, and extravagant while Henry’s chancellor, and Henry thought that if he made him Archbishop he would use his influence with the clergy in favour of Henry’s plans. When, however, Becket became Archbishop he changed his habits entirely, and instead of supporting Henry, he upheld the cause of the clergy. Henry was very angry at Becket’s conduct, and when Becket refused to be bound by his own signature to the ‘‘Constitutions of Clarendon,” drawn up in 1164, and making the desired changes, Henry drove him out of the country by the insults and indignities he put upon him.


5. Becket’s Murder.—While Becket was absent, Henry persuaded the Archbishop of York to crown his son Henry. This was a new cause for quarrel, for no sooner had Becket returned to England, than he suspended the Archbishop of York for crowning the king’s son. Then Henry, who was a man of very violent temper, exclaimed, ‘‘Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest!” Four knights, who were only too well pleased to have such an excuse, left France, where Henry was, crossed over to England, and murdered Becket in his own cathedral at Canterbury. Henry was very sorry for what his foolish passion had brought about, and immediately sent a messenger to the Pope to say that the murder was committed without his consent. Later on, to satisfy the people who thought a great crime and sin had been committed by murdering a bishop in a church, Henry did penance at Becket’s tomb, allowing himself to be scourged on his bare back by the monks.


6. Conquest of Ireland, 1172.—Henry was glad to have an excuse, after Becket’s murder, to leave England, and a good one was found in the state of Ireland. This island was inhabited by people of the same race as the Britons, and like England had been troubled with attacks from the Danes, who managed to get a footing on the eastern coast. The Irish people could not wholly drive them out, although they fought many battles with them. These wars had a bad effect on the Irish, for instead of remaining at peace, the Irish chieftains fought against one another with so much ferocity that the civilization and learning that had existed in Ireland before the time of the Danes began to die out. To save the land from disorder and misrule, the Pope gave Henry permission to conquer Ireland. The opportunity was given when an Irish king, Dermot of Leinster, came over to England to get help against one of his enemies. Henry allowed Richard de Clare, or “Strongbow,” to go and to take along with him a small army of Norman adventurers. Strongbow soon defeated Dermot’s foes, and marrying Dermot’s daughter, settled down as his heir. He conquered so much territory in Leinster that Henry thought it wise to cross over and get him to acknowledge the king as his ‘‘lord.” This Strongbow did, and Henry received homage from some of the Irish chiefs about Dublin, as well as from Strongbow. This was only the beginning of the conquest of Ireland, for Ireland was not wholly subdued until more than four centuries after.


7. Death of Henry, 1189.—Henry’s life was full of trouble. He had trouble with the barons, with the Church, with his wife Eleanor, and with his sons. His wife, who was not kindly treated, stirred up strife and caused his sons to rebel against him. The kings of France and Scotland sought to take advantage of Henry’s difficulties to wrest territory from him. But Henry was more than a match for all his enemies. He defeated his sons, took the king of Scotland prisoner, and put Eleanor in confinement during the rest of his life. Two of Henry’s sons died, and the remaining two, Richard and John, joined the king of France in an attack on their father’s possessions in Touraine. When Henry was shown a list of those trying to injure him, and saw therein the name of his favorite son, John, he cried, “Shame, shame, on a conquered king,” and, heart-broken, two days after, died.


8. Richard I., The Lion-Hearted.—Richard, Henry’s elder surviving son, succeeded his father. He can scarcely be called a king of England, for during the ten years he held the throne he was not one year in the country. It is doubtful if he understood the English language, or could speak the English tongue. The only use he had for the English people was to supply him with money for his foreign wars and for his crusading adventures. He was a very strong, brave man, and while abroad in the armies of the crusaders performed many remarkable acts of daring and courage. The English had but little reason to love him as a ruler, yet they were proud of his strength, valour, and fame as a warrior. Nevertheless, in some ways, his neglect of his kingly duties, and his greed for his subjects’ money, did good. To get money he sold to many towns and cities the right to govern themselves. In this reign London got its first Lord Mayor, Henry Fitz-Alwyn, A.D. 1191. He also sold offices and honors belonging to the Crown and the Church, and would have sold London could he have found a buyer.

Almost at the beginning of his reign he went to the Holy Land to war against the Turks and to take Jerusalem. He left his mother and William Longchamp to govern in his absence. When Longchamp was put aside by the barons in 1191, Richard’s brother John sought to rule in his place but was not permitted. Richard, meanwhile, was doing great deeds of valour in the Holy Land, but did not succeed in taking Jerusalem, although once in sight of it. He had for rivals in the crusading armies, Philip of France, and the Duke of Austria, the latter of whom, it is said, he grossly insulted. It happened that Richard, returning from the crusades, fell into the hands of his old-time enemy, and by him was sent a prisoner to the German Emperor. The Emperor would not release him until he had paid a ransom of £100,000, and this large sum (for money was worth a great deal more then than now) the English people had to raise to free their king. John had tried to persuade the Emperor to keep Richard a prisoner, and for this and other acts of treachery Richard, on his return, took away John’s castles and lands. Richard now spent a few months in England, collecting all the money he could get to make war against his enemy, Philip of France, and then went to Normandy. He never came back, for while besieging the Castle of Chaluz, an archer took deliberate aim and shot him. Before he died he forgave his slayer, but Richard’s followers were more revengeful, and put the poor archer to a very painful death. Thus came to a violent end Richard, Cœur-de-Leon, the hero of many a romantic tale.


9. John, surnamed Sansterre or Lackland.—John, Richard’s brother, now came to the throne of England. He is the one king of England about whom no good can be said. Although able, handsome and, when he wished, pleasant and agreeable, he was cruel, licentious, and teacherous. He was chosen king of England over his brother Geoffrey’s son, Arthur, a lad twelve years of age; but his claims to his father’s French possessions were disputed. Arthur was the rightful Count of Anjou, and Anjou and Brittany held by him. In the war that followed Arthur was taken prisoner, and no more was heard of him, The rumour spread, and was generally believed, that he was murdered by his uncle; some say, with John’s own hands. Philip of France, as John’s feudal lord, called upon him to answer the charge of murdering his nephew; and as John paid no attention to the summons, Philip made war upon him and took from him all his possessions north of the Loire. John had now only his mother’s lands, Gascony and part of Aquitaine. In this way the kings of England lost Normandy, Maine and Anjou. Now that most of their French possessions were gone, the kings of England paid more attention to the wants and wishes of the English people. English men and English money were not, henceforth, so liable to be taken abroad to be used in their king’s foreign quarrels.


10. John quarrels with the Pope.—Not content with murdering his nephew, John must needs plunder and torture his own subjects. No class of his people was free from his insults and outrages. He kept in his pay a large number of foreigners, who fought his battles and helped him to put at defiance his barons. The Church, too, felt his heavy hand, for clergy and laity alike were victims of his greed and brutality. When Hubert, the Archbishop of Canterbury died, some of the monks of Canterbury secretly chose his successor. John, when it came to his ears, was greatly enraged and had another one chosen. The matter came before Pope Innocent III. and he put both choices aside, and induced the monks to elect Stephen Langton, a man of great learning and worth, at that time living at Rome. But John would not allow Langton to come to England. Then in 1208 the Pope placed the land under an ‘‘Interdict,” that is he forbade the Clergy to marry the people in the Church, or to bury their dead. For four years the churches were closed, and their dead were buried in ditches and fields. But John cared for none of those things. He took his revenge by robbing and murdering the clergy, using for this purpose his hired foreign troops. One outrage followed another until the Pope called upon Philip of France to invade England and take the throne from John. This Philip proceeded to do; but John, at last greatly alarmed, placed his crown and kingdom at the Pope’s feet, promising to be his vassa] and pay him a sum of money yearly in token of his supremacy. By this act John put himself under the Pope’s protection and Philip had to withdraw. John now felt free to give full vent to all his wicked passions, and the barons were powerless to stop his outrages. Fortunately for them and for England, Langton the new Archbishop, was a true patriot, and determined to do all he could to free the people from John’s oppressive rule. The nation now was becoming more united; English and Norman met at the Universities as equals, and in many other ways the old distinctions between the two peoples were fading away. It was well that this was so, for now all classes had to unite against a cruel and tyrannical king.


11. Magna Charta, A.D. 1215.—Langton now became the leader of the barons. He brought forth the charter containing the laws of Henry I., and urged the barons to demand that John should agree to be bound by them. John delayed his consent, hoping to collect his foreign troops, and then crush his opponents. But the barons were much in earnest, and hearing of John’s treachery, took up arms, and forced John, who was quite unprepared for a war, to sign the Great Charter, or ‘‘Magna Charta.” This famous charter was signed at Runnymede on the Thames, on the 15th June, 1215. Most of its provisions were old, and had been in other charters, such as that of Henry I. But the Great Charter is important because it was wrung from an unwilling king, and because it states very clearly and positively the rights of the people. It contains a great many clauses, of which the principal are: first, that the king could levy no taxes without the consent of the bishops and the barons; second, that no man could be imprisoned, dispossessed of his land, or otherwise punished, without a fair trial by his peers or equals. Its two great principles are the right of the people to control their own taxation, and the right to be free from the king’s arbitrary arrest and punishment.


12. Death of John, 1216.—The Barons were so anxious to have the Charter carried out, that they appointed twenty-five of their own number to watch the king, and if he refused to do as he had promised, they were authorized to seize the king’s castles. But John did not intend to keep his word, and putting off the barons with excuses, he managed to get his paid troops together, and then began a civil war. The barons were not able to cope with him, and called upon Louis, the son of the French king, to come to their aid with an army, and to be their king. Louis landed with a large force, and it looked as if England was once more to be ruled by French kings. Fortunately, John, sorely vexed at losing his baggage, jewels, and crown while crossing the Wash, took ill and died. His son, Henry, a lad nine years old, was chosen by the barons to succeed him.