the king at once.' 'I dare not, the king is asleep. Come in the morning.' The king roused himself at the noise, 'Who is there? Let him in!' 'Brian, Ranulf of Glanville's man, from the north.' 'What news, Brian?' 'Sire, the King of Scots is taken, and all his barons.' 'Is this the truth?' 'Yea, sire, by my faith.' 'Then God be thanked, and S. Thomas the martyr!' Then the king arose and went to his councillors and woke them, telling them the good news. Next day in the forenoon there came other messengers confirming Brian's words. Then the king sent for Brian, and handing him his riding-switch told him that ten farms went with it as a reward for his good tidings." On the 13th July, Odinel of Umfraville, hearing that King William with sixty knights and a few Flemings had gone on before his host to Alnwick, proposed to Ranulf of Glanville to fall upon him at once while he was unprepared. Under cover of a fog they rode unseen to the meadow where William was tilting with his knights, and raised their warcry. The king put on his helmet, mounted his grey steed, and shouting to his friends, "Now we can soon prove who is the best man!" charged the English barons. But the grey horse was thrust through with a lance, and fell, dragging its rider to the ground, so that he could not rise and was at once taken prisoner. Most of his knights were captured with him, but the Flemings were slain without quarter. When it was known that King William had been sent prisoner to Henry, the leaderless Scots hastened home, and Êarl David and the other rebels gave in one by one. So that in a few days the king was able to go back to Normandy, and drive his son from before Rouen, which he had closely beset. With this the rebellion ended. Henry was very merciful, he forgave his undutiful sons, let the traitor earls go free, with the loss of their castles only, many of which he pulled down, and released the King of Scots by a treaty sworn at Falaise, 1174, in which he promised to do homage for his kingdom, and make his clergy acknowledge the rule of the Archbishop of York. Henry's reforms, 1174-1183. 7. Henry was now able to take up the work which the death of Beket and the revolt had hindered. Filling up the vacant sees and lay offices, he himself went round the country in 1175 to see that the Forest Law was carried out and evil-doers rightly punished, for many disbanded soldiers and convicts had taken to the woods. He also forbade the bearing of arms in England. In 1176, by the Assize of Northampton, he ordered his judges to see that every man swore fealty to him, and made sterner punishments for robbers and outlaws. In 1177 he held a grand review of all his knights, barons, and earls at London. In 1178 he set a board of five judges to hear appeals from the Assizes, this new court was called King's Bench. Next year the great Justiciar, Richard of Lucy, became a monk in the monastery he had founded at Lesnes in honour of S. Thomas, and Ranulf of Glanville took his place. Their faithful comrade against the rebels, Geoffrey, Bishop of Lincoln, the king's base son, was made Chancellor soon after. In 1181, too, the Assize of Arms was put forth, regulations for better ordering of the militia, which had done such good service in 1173. Every freeman according to his degree was to furnish himself with arms and attend regular musters before the king's judges of assize-the knight or squire with helmet, mail-coat, shield, and lance; the yeoman with hauberk, iron headpiece, and lance; the burgess and artisan with wadded coat, headpiece, and lance -under penalty of losing their lives or limbs. 8. Henry was now at the height of his power. He married his daughters Joan and Eleanor to Henry's last the kings of Sicily and Castile, and acted as days and death, umpire for the latter and his uncle the King of 1183-1189. Navarre. Henry the Lion, who had quarrelled with the emperor, took refuge at his court, and the young King of France, Philip, sought his friendship and alliance. But the folly of his sons brought fresh troubles: Earl Richard had refused to do homage for Aquitaine to his jealous brother Henry, who listened to his friend Bertran of Born, and in alliance with Geoffrey of Brittany attacked him fiercely. "This Bertran was a good knight, a good lover, and a good poet, wise and fair-spoken, and well skilled to work either good or evil. He could govern King Henry and his sons as he liked. But he would always have them warring together, father and brother and son, one against the other. And he would always have the kings of France and England warring together. And if there were peace or truce, then would he labour to egg them on by his satires to undo the peace, and persuade them that peace was a dishonour to each of them. In his songs he used to call the Earl of Brittany Rassa, and Earl Richard Yea and Nay, and the young king Sailor." Henry started to succour Richard, when the young king fell ill and died, begging his father's forgiveness, 11th June 1183. He was rash, proud, and faithless, but his bravery, generosity, and handsome face had won him many friends. In one of his Laments for him Bertran says— "From this weak world, so full of bitterness, Wherefore is grief and sore distress and woe!' Bertran was one of the last that held out against Henry and Earl Richard, and when his castle was stormed, he was taken and brought before the angry king. "You boasted, Bertran, that you would never need more than half your wits, you need them all now to save your head.' 'It was a true boast, sire; but the day your son, the brave young king, died, I lost all my wits and senses and skill.' When the king heard what Bertran said, sorrowing for his son, great grief filled his heart and his eyes and he swooned away for sorrow. And when he came to himself he said with tears,' O Bertran, you are right indeed, and it is small wonder that you should have lost your senses at my son's death, for he wished your welfare more than any one in the world. And for love of him I set you and your land and castle free, and give you back my love and favour and grant you 500 marks for the damage I have done you.' Then Bertran fell at the king's feet and thanked him with all his heart." Next year John and Geoffrey quarrelled with Richard, and the king with difficulty stopped this civil war. For a time, however, these disputes were stayed; for Heraklios, Patriarch of Jerusalem, came to England on behalf of the barons and knights and clergy of that kingdom, to offer the crown to Henry as the only prince that could save them from Saladin. But in spite of the Patriarch's prayers, tears, and even curses, Henry was too wise to leave his Western kingdom exposed to the attacks of the French king and the misbehaviour of his sons. In 1186 Earl Geoffrey again rebelled, but his death from a fall at a tournament in Paris, and the evil tidings from the East, restored peace between Philip and Henry at Gisors, 1188, where both kings and Earl Richard took tne Cross, and laid tithes on all men's goods for the equipment of their armies. For Saladin had overthrown the Christians at Tiberias, taking the king and the True Cross, and seized Ascalon and the Holy City itself, disasters which called for a fresh crusade. However, before Henry could take steps to fulfil his vow, Philip broke the peace, and Earl Richard, jealous of his father's love for John, suddenly went over to him with all his vassals. Fever-stricken and disheartened by his son's treachery, Henry saw his birthplace, Le Mans, taken before his eyes, and was unable to save Tours. His luck had left him, and he made peace at Colombières, July 4, 1189, promising to make Richard his heir, and to let his barons swear homage to him. As he gave the kiss of peace to his traitor son, he prayed God to let him live long enough to punish him; but when he found that John, for whom he had suffered this dishonour, had been leagued against him, his heart broke, he threw himself on his bed, with his face to the wall, and groaned, "Let things go as they will, I care no more for myself or anything in the world." Two days more he lingered, crying in his fever, "Shame, shame on a conquered king!" and then, on the 7th July, died in the arms of his one faithful son, Geoffrey the Chancellor. Richard now repented, but all he could do was to follow his father's body with bitter tears to its grave at Font-Evraud. Eyewitnesses describe Henry as of a ruddy weatherbeaten countenance, round head, reddish hair, and fierce grey eyes; of middle height, strong limbed, deep chested, and somewhat stout of body in spite of his temperate fare and ceaseless exercise; for he rose at daybreak, passed most of his time on horseback, and when he came home in the evening, would tire out his courtiers by standing, for he would never sit down save at council or dinner. His ungloved hands were rough and scarred with work, his legs bowed with riding, and his voice harsh from shouting to his soldiers and his hounds. His subjects knew him as a wise and mighty king, merciful and careful of his people's rights, but bearing not the sword in vain, the father of the poor, the wayfarer, and the stranger, "the flower of the princes of this world;" but we must look on him as the great lawyer who linked the free old English local moots to the strong central Royal Court by his plan of petty juries and judges of assize, a system which in substance is ours of to-day; and be thankful to the wise statesman who saved England from the barons' tyranny and the despotism of the Church, and made firm the foundations upon which his successors have reared the free Constitutions under which we English and Americans are now living. CHAPTER II. Richard Lion-Heart, 1189-1199. 1. On June 20 Richard was girt with the sword of the Duchy of Normandy at Rouen, where he made his brother John Earl of Mortain, and named Geoffrey to the archbishopric of York. He also sent to England to free his mother, Eleanor, from the imprisonment she had been in since 1173, and made her Regent of the realm till he could cross the sea. This he was soon able to do, and on September 3, in great state and before a mighty gathering of clergy and barons, he was hallowed king at Westminster. As he had made up his mind to fulfil his vow, he now busied himself with getting together money for his journey and settling for the good rule of domains whilst he was away. Meaning to make his nephew Arthur of Brittany his heir, in order to bind his brother John to faithfulness he gave him the earldoms of Cornwall, Derby, Devon, Dorset, and Somerset, many castles, and a rich wife, Hawis, heiress of Gloster. He freed the King of Scots from the homage of Falaise for 10,000 marks, and sold the earldom of Northumberland to the crafty Bishop of Durham, Hugh of Puiset, so turning “an old bishop into a young_earl." William of Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, bought the Chancery for £3000, and was made Justiciar, for Ranulf of Glanville wished to join the Crusade. The sheriffs were shifted, the vacant sees and offices filled, and many grants of crown lands made, a goodly sum being paid in each case to the king, who swore he would have sold London could he have found a bidder," for he put everything up for sale. In December Richard left England and set out on his journey through France. Richard makes ready for the Crusade, 11891190. The slaughters 1189-1190. 66 2. For some time companies of Jews had been dwelling under the kings' care in many English towns. of the Jews, As for the most part they gained their living by money-lending, which the Church forbade to Christians, and as they were thought to use witchcraft and believed to kidnap Christian children and slay them for sacrifice at their passover, they were much hated by the people. The Church also looked with disfavour upon them because of their religion. But the kings, who took care to make them pay highly for the rights they gave them and shared in their gains, found them a useful source of |
