RECOGNITION OF ENGLISH SUZERAINTY.

383

dominion became manifest; and Henry was forced to publish the papal bull granting Ireland to him, which he had hitherto suppressed. At last, in 1175 A.D., Roderic O'Connor made a treaty with the English crown, and agreed to render homage, tribute, and submission, in return for royal rights in his own kingdom of Connaught. At the same time, the limits of the English pale, as it was afterwards called, were defined. This district, which was immediately subject to the king of England and his barons, comprised Dublin with its appurtenances, Meath, Leinster, and the country from Waterford to Dungarvan. The articles of this treaty were ratified in a council of prelates and barons. From the English point of view, the kings of England were henceforth lords-paramount of Ireland; the fee of the soil vested in them; and all Irish princes in future were no more than tenants-in-chief. From the Irish point of view, the English kings were nothing more than military suzerains in the districts outside the pale.1

For the conquest of Ireland, I regard Giraldus Cambrensis as the only real authority. I have based this chapter upon Moore's History of Ireland.

PRIVATE LIFE, AND FAMILY WARS AND DEATH, OF

HENRY II.

CHARACTER OF HENRY II.-FIRST FAMILY WAR.-SUCCESS OF THE OLD KING.SECOND WAR.-SIEGE OF LIMOGES, AND DEATH OF PRINCE HENRY.-WAR WITH RICHARD AND PHILIP AUGUSTUS.-DEATH AND PUBLIC CHARACTER OF HENRY II.

THE death of Becket and the conquest of Ireland did not give Henry the repose he desired. The double curse of his own actions and his wife's character, followed him inexorably through life. There were strange stories of Eleanor's ancestry. Her father had carried off his viscount's wife, and had been cursed by a monk of the time with a prediction that no good fruit should ever come of the unhallowed alliance. One of her ancestors had married a woman of no birth, but endowed with marvellous beauty. It was observed that the countess always quitted church, before the mass was offered up. One day her husband gave orders she should be detained, and the lady escaping from those who held her, rose into the air, with two of her children in her grasp, disappeared through the church window, and was never more seen. "We came of the devil, and shall go to the devil," was Richard Cœur de Lion's comment upon this tradition. But Henry needed no other Nemesis than that of his own crimes. He had unbridled passions, and no principle but a fear of divine wrath and a hope of divine favour. His penance at Becket's tomb, while he favoured Becket's murderers and disregarded his principles, was no mere appeal to the bigotry of the multitude: it rested on the idea that he could cajole the saint into procuring success for him. In a similar spirit, he once exclaimed, in the last years of his life, that he

1 Brompton; Twysden, 1045.

would no longer reverence Christ, who gave a beardless boy the victory over him. In his observance of promises, Henry was so bad as to be branded with utter untrustworthiness by his contemporaries. Yet the truth seems to be that he fixed certain arbitrary bonds to himself, the feudal oath or kiss, which he never broke; he was thus punctilious but not honourable. His love of diplomacy was increased by his want of warlike ability; rapid movements and large forces often won him successes; but he was not a match for soldiers-born, like his own sons or Philip Augustus. A passionate and uncertain man, Henry was disliked in his own household. His conjugal infidelities distressed his queen the more that she was older than himself. The fiery and vindictive woman revenged her wrongs as a wife on Henry's heart as a father.

The coronation of the young prince Henry had been procured by his father at the price of much intrigue, many promises, and a yet deeper breach with Becket. During Becket's lifetime, it enlisted the prince on his father's side against the primate, whom he regarded as his enemy. But when Becket was removed, prince Henry soon wearied of the title, without the power, of royalty. During a visit to Paris, he was persuaded by the French king to demand that his father should entrust him with England or Normandy. The news of this intrigue reached Henry II., and he instantly recalled his son. But in 1173 A.D., the king of England was in the south of France, occupied with a settlement of feudal claims, and a contract of marriage between his youngest son, John, and a princess of Savoy. Prince Henry took occasion to protest against the cession of Chinon, Loudon and Mirebeau, as his brother's marriage portion; and having established a grievance, escaped from the court as it returned north, and took refuge at St. Denys. It soon appeared that there were other malcontents in the king's family. Richard and Geoffrey contrived to join their brother; the queen herself was taken in man's clothes,

"Omnia prius quam arma pertentans.”—Girald. Camb. de Inst. Princ.,

CC

386

HENRY'S DANGER AND PENANCE.

as she tried to fly, and thrown into prison. Nevertheless, Henry was not dismayed. The bishops stood by him; and of all his sons' retinue, only three accepted permission to follow their masters' fortunes. The importance of the war was not understood for some time. Hatred of his powerful neighbour had long rankled in the breast of Louis; and while the king of England so little suspected, or so profoundly despised him, that he offered to make him mediator, the French king meditated an implacable war. He rejected the proposed office, on the ground that Henry was thoroughly faithless. In an assembly at Paris, every discontented noble who held anything of the English crown was invited to transfer his homage to the young king, and the counts of Flanders were among those who complied. The fidelity of the nobles of Aquitaine had already been undermined. The king of Scotland was bought over with the promise of Northumberland for himself, and Huntingdon and Cambridgeshire for his brother. The carls of Leicester and Derby agreed to raise the standard of revolt. Strong in these allies, Louis fortified his castles and collected an army of twenty thousand Brabançons.

Yet the successes of the first campaign were on the whole with Henry, who took Dôl with the Earl of Chester inside it, and forced Louis to retreat. In England, lord Arundel captured the earl of Leicester, who landed with a body of Flemings in Norfolk. But in July, 1174 A.D., the bishop of Winchester1 crossed to warn Henry that only his own presence could retrieve England, where a Scotch army was pouring in from the north, while David of Huntingdon headed an army in the midland counties, and the young prince was preparing to bring over fresh forces from Gravelines. Henry crossed the channel in a storm, and, by advice of a Norman bishop, proceeded at once to do penance at Becket's shrine. On the day of his humiliation, the Scotch king, William the Lion, was surprized at Alnwick and captured. This in fact ended the war, for David

1 So many messengers had already gone over, that the Normans said the next envoy sent would be the Tower of London.-Diceto; Twysden, 576.

THE KING'S TRIUMPH.

387

of Huntingdon was forced to return into Scotland, where the old feud of Gael and Saxon had broken out. The English rebels purchased peace by a prompt submission. In less than a month, Henry was able to return into Normandy. There the citizens of Rouen had gallantly beaten off the whole French army, during a siege of three weeks, in the hope of speedy relief. In spite of his pious abhorrence of treachery in others, Louis was well inclined to gain by fraud what he could not win by arms: he proposed an armistice in honour of St. Lawrence, and prepared, under cover of this, to storm the city. Some clergy who had mounted the cathedral belfry, perceived the treacherous attempt; the alarm bell was rung, and the citizens, swarming to the walls, repulsed the enemy. Next day the English army appeared. A body of Welshmen stole through the woods, and intercepted the provisions of the French.

The confederates were now weary of war, and agreed to an armistice. Richard alone tried to hold out, but his castles were speedily reduced. Before long peace was arranged (September 29, 1174 A.D.) The conquests on both sides were restored. The young king received two castles in Normandy, with an income of fifteen thousand Angevine pounds; Richard two castles in Poitou, with half the revenues of the earldom; and Geoffrey two castles in Brittany, with half the rents that earl Conan had enjoyed the rest were to be paid him on his marriage with Constance, the heiress of the duchy. The three sons did homage: the two younger by agreement; the eldest at his own demand, that he might have some better security than his father's love. Henry II. released his captives, 969 knights in all-a signal proof of his success, and of the extent of the insurrection. The king of Scotland was still captive in Falaise. By advice of a deputation of Scotch prelates and barons, he at last consented to swear fealty to Henry as his liege lord, and to do provisional homage for his son. His chief vassals guaranteed this engagement; hostages were given; and English garrisons received into five Scotch towns, till the treaty had been solemnly ratified in the next year at