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* These numbers are continued from the Table on p. 11.

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CHAPTER IV,

THE HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET.

1154-1399.

43. HENRY II., 1154-1189.-Son of the Empress Maud and Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. Henry was the first of the Plantagenet line, a name derived from the broom (planta genista), a sprig of which his father wore in his hat. In 1151, he had married Eleanor of Guienne, the divorced wife of Louis VII. of France, and so acquired Aquitaine. Romance has added greatly to the story of his affection for the beautiful Rosamund Clifford, commonly called 'Fair Rosamund,' by whom he had two sons.

44. Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164.-These were enacted at Clarendon, near Salisbury, with a view to check the encroachments of the clergy. The chief articles were: (1) That clergy accused of any crime should be tried by civil judges; (2) that no chief tenant of the crown should be excommunicated, or his lands put under interdict; (3) that bishops were to be regarded as barons, and be subjected to the burdens belonging to that state; and (4) that no person of any rank was to leave the realm without the royal license. The Assize of Clarendon, a series of regulations respecting civil affairs, was passed at the same time.

45. Strongbow's Invasion of Ireland, 1170.-Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke (Strongbow), having been invited to Ireland to assist Dermot, King of Leinster, who had been expelled from his kingdom for abducting the wife of another prince, invaded that island, obtained possession of Leinster, and married Eva, Dermot's daughter. After this, King Henry, jealous of Strongbow's progress, went over himself, in 1171, and received the submission of the Irish chiefs. Thus was Ireland annexed to the English crown.

46. Murder of Thomas à Becket, 1170.-Thomas à Becket, Archdeacon of Canterbury, having sedulously forwarded the projects of Henry, had, in consequence, become his chief adviser and had been raised to the important office of Chancellor. In 1162, the

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king advanced him to the primacy in the hope that he would assist him in his ecclesiastical reforms. After the Constitutions of Clarendon, however, the archbishop strenuously opposed all Henry's measures. He ultimately retired into exile, but, being recalled, became more violent than ever; whereupon Reginald Fitz-Urse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy, and Richard Brito, four of the king's knights, instigated by some angry expressions he had let fall, pursued him to the shrine at Canterbury and there murdered him. Henry is said to have regretted this crime, and, in 1174, made a penitential pilgrimage to Becket's shrine.

47. Battle of Alnwick, 1175.-William the Lion, King of Scotland, entered Northumberland, at the head of an army, in the cause of Henry's sons, who, instigated by their mother, Eleanor, had rebelled. He was defeated and taken prisoner at Alnwick. By way of ransom he ceded the fortresses of Roxburgh and Berwick, and consented to do homage to Henry for the Lowlands of Scotland.

Roxburgh and Berwick were afterwards sold by Richard I. to raise funds for the Crusades.

48. Division of England into Circuits, 1176.-In this reign the kingdom was divided into six circuits for the administration of justice, and judges were appointed to visit each district for the purpose of trying cases.

49. Trial by Jury.-A form of Trial by Jury is supposed by some to have existed in Alfred's day. The difference between the alleged jury of Anglo-Saxon times and the modern form was, however, considerable. In Henry's reign an approach to the existing method took place. By the assize of novel disseisin, a suitor in civil causes who was unwilling to risk the trial by battle might refer his case to the verdict of a jury of sixteen. But this body based their decision upon their own knowledge of the facts of the case, and not on the evidence of witnesses. It was only in the reign of Edward III. that the witness and the juryman became distinct persons, and even long after this period a personal knowledge of the facts of the case by the jurors was permitted.

50. RICHARD I. (Cœur de Lion), 1189-1199.-Third son of Henry II.; married Berengaria of Navarre in 1191. He was brave, warlike, and generous; nevertheless, his military enterprises and perpetual absences caused great general discontent and suffering. He was killed by one Bertrand de Gourdon at the siege of the Castle of Chaluz, which was held against him by a rebellious vassal.

51. The Crusades, 1096-1270.-The preaching of Peter the Herta native of Picardy, who had witnessed the cruelty of the Saracens

towards the Pilgrims in the Holy Land, roused Europe to attempt to seize the Holy Sepulchre. In the first crusade (1096), undertaken for this end, Robert, Duke of Normandy, had embarked (see p. 13, s. 38), and Jerusalem had fallen into the hands of the Crusaders. In 1187 it was recaptured by the Saracens. Richard's warlike nature now engaged him in the enterprise in conjunction with Philip of France, who, however, returned after the taking of Acre, 1192. The forces under Richard then defeated the Saracens at the Battle of Ascalon, 1192, which town fell into their hands. But the army was too much wasted by sickness to attempt the siege of Jerusalem, and a truce of three years was entered into, by which it was agreed that the Christians should hold the seaport towns of Palestine, and that pilgrims to the Holy Land should not be molested.

52. Imprisonment of Richard, 1192.-On his return from the Holy Land, Richard was wrecked. Making his way in disguise through Germany, he was seized by Leopold, Duke of Austria, an old enemy, and delivered to Henry VI., Emperor of Germany. Ultimately he was ransomed by his subjects for 150,000 marks (13s. 4d. each), to the dismay of his younger brother John, who, during his detention, had attempted to seize the crown.

53. JOHN (Lackland), 1199-1216.-Fifth son of Henry II. By his first wife, Hawisa of Gloucester, whom he married in 1189, he had no issue; his second was Isabella of Angoulême, daughter of the Count of Angoulême (1199). He was one of the most despicable of English kings, tyrannical, perfidious, and cowardly. He murdered the direct heir to the crown, his young nephew Arthur, the son of his elder brother Geoffrey, whose cause had been embraced by Philip of France, and by the people of Geoffrey's territories, Anjou, Touraine, and Maine. He is supposed to have died of chagrin for his reverses.

54. England under an Interdict, 1208-1213.-John having refused to receive Stephen Langton, the Papal nominee to the See of Canterbury, Innocent III. placed England under an interdict. While this lasted, no public service could take place in the churches, only persons at the point of death could be absolved, and the dead were left unburied. The pope, moreover, excommunicated the king, absolved his subjects from their allegiance, and authorised Philip of France to dethrone him. John finally submitted, consented to hold his kingdom as a fief of Rome, and received his crown from Pandolf, the papal nuncio.

55. Magna Charta, 1215.-The barons having assembled at

Runnymede, between Staines and Windsor, with Stephen Langton at their head, forced John to sign Magna Charta—a charter of liberties, based upon a charter of Henry I., which in its turn was based on the laws of Edward the Confessor. Its chief provisions were: (1) That no freeman should be disseised of his freehold, outlawed, or exiled, save by the lawful judgment of his peers or the law of the land; (2) that justice or right should neither be sold, delayed, nor denied to any man; (3) that all freemen might quit or return to the realm at pleasure; (4) that no freeman should be fined excessively; (5) that no peasant or villein should be deprived of his implements of husbandry; and (6) that, except in certain cases, no scutage or aid should be imposed without the consent of the council. It is needless to observe that John had no intention of allowing himself to be bound by the Charter he had signed.

56. HENRY III., 1216–1272.-Eldest son of John; married Eleanor of Provence in 1236. This was one of the longest and most inglorious reigns in English history. The king was weak and vacillating, and the puppet of powerful barons.

57. Battle of Lincoln, 1217.-King John having broken faith with the barons and violated Magna Charta, not only by retaining the foreign mercenaries whom he had agreed to dismiss, but also by seeking the aid of others, they had offered the kingdom to Louis, son of Philip, King of France, who accordingly came over to England. At John's death, however, they all forsook Louis, and he was defeated at Lincoln by the Earl of Pembroke, who had been chosen Protector of the kingdom during the minority of Henry, then only nine years of age. At the same time, Louis's fleet was nearly destroyed off Kent by Hubert de Burgh. This was the first great naval victory over the French.

58. Rebellion of Simon de Montfort, 1264.-The king's brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort (who had been created Earl of Leicester), and several powerful barons, took advantage of the weakness of Henry to rebel against him. They defeated Henry at the 59. Battle of Lewes, 1264, taking him prisoner, together with his brother, the Duke of Cornwall, and his son Edward.

60. First House of Commons, 1265.-Simon de Montfort, in order to ingratiate himself with the people, summoned burgesses for the first time to sit in the great council of the nation. The writs addressed by him to the cities and boroughs directed them to choose and send two discreet, loyal, and honest men' to represent them in Parliament.

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