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Title: Little Arthur's history of England
Author: Callcott, Lady Maria
Language: English
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LITTLE ARTHUR’S
HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
LITTLE ARTHUR’S
HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
_In Preparation._
LITTLE ARTHUR’S HISTORY OF ROME.
LITTLE ARTHUR’S HISTORY OF FRANCE.
[Illustration: The Tower of London.]
LITTLE ARTHUR’S
HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
BY LADY CALLCOTT.
[Illustration: Decoration]
_NEW EDITION._
WITH THIRTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK:
THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO.,
NO. 13 ASTOR PLACE.
_Copyright_,
THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO.
1884.
TO MOTHERS.
Though I have not the happiness to be a mother, my love of children
has led me to think a good deal about them, their amusements, and
their lessons.
This little HISTORY was written for a real little ARTHUR, and I
have endeavoured to _write_ it nearly as I would _tell_ it to an
intelligent child. I well remember what I wanted to be told myself,
in addition to what I found in my lesson-book, when I was first
allowed to read the History of England, and I hope I have answered
most of the questions I recollect to have wished to ask.
I may have failed in satisfying the almost boundless inquiries of
intelligent children; and I could wish that the mother or governess,
who may put this little book into the hands of her pupils, would read
each chapter herself before she gives it to a child, that she may be
ready with answers to such questions as the chapter may suggest.
Perhaps I have not made my small volume amusing enough to answer
the purpose of those who wish children to learn everything in play.
I do not know that I could have done so, if I wished it: there are
some things to be learned from the History of England, that are of
some import to the future life of a child, and are no play: things,
independent of the change of kings, or the fighting of battles, or
even of the pathetic tales in which every true history is rich.
These things I have tried to teach in a way to engage the attention,
and to fix them in the memory, till advancing age, and the reading of
history in detail, shall call them into use.
Next to the study of the Sacred Scriptures, I have always held the
history of our own country to be important in education, particularly
in that of boys.
To teach the love of our country is almost a religious duty. In
the Scriptures how often is it referred to! How many beautiful
passages in the Psalms encourage it! “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning.” But above all other tender
expressions is that of the blessed Jesus, addressed to Jerusalem
and its inhabitants: “How often would I have gathered thy children
together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye
would not!”
Let no one fear that to cultivate patriotism is to make men illiberal
in feeling towards mankind in general. Is any man the worse citizen
for being a good son, or brother, or father, or husband?
I am indeed persuaded that the well-grounded love of our own country
is the best security for that enlightened philanthropy which is aimed
at as the perfection of moral education.
This is the feeling that has guided me in writing “LITTLE ARTHUR’S
HISTORY OF ENGLAND.” If it should happily lay the foundation for
patriotism in one single Englishman, my wishes will be answered, my
best hopes fulfilled.
M. C.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
The ancient Britons: their houses—clothes—and
food Page 1
CHAPTER II.
Religion of the ancient Britons—the
Druids—the misletoe—the
Druids’ songs 3
CHAPTER III.
How the Romans came and conquered
the Britons, and made
them work 5
CHAPTER IV.
How the Romans taught the Britons
many things, and how some
of them became Christians 8
CHAPTER V.
How the Romans made a market in
London, and used money, and
built a wall; and how they improved
Bath, and many other
towns 10
CHAPTER VI.
How the Romans left Britain; and
how the Angles and Saxons came
and conquered the country, and
behaved cruelly to the people 12
CHAPTER VII.
How there were seven chief kingdoms
in England; how Augustine
and his friends came from Rome
and made the people Christians;
and how some of the young men
went to Rome to be taught 15
CHAPTER VIII.
How the Angles and Saxons loved
freedom, but made laws to punish
those who did wrong 21
CHAPTER IX.
How Egbert became the first king
over all England; how the Danes
did great mischief to the people;
how Alfred, after much trouble,
drove them away; and how he
built ships and did many other
good things 23
CHAPTER X.
King Edward—King Athelstane;
how he beat the Danes in battle,
and took some prisoners; how he
invited his prisoners to supper,
and afterwards let them go free 31
CHAPTER XI.
How King Edmund was killed by a
robber; how Bishop Dunstan ill-used
King Edwy; how Archbishop
Odo murdered the Queen;
what Dunstan did to please the
people; how King Edgar caused
the wolves to be destroyed; and
how his son, King Edward, was
murdered by Queen Elfrida 34
CHAPTER XII.
Why King Ethelred was called the
Unready; how the Danes drove
away the English princes, and
made Canute king; how Canute
rebuked his courtiers, and improved
the people; and how the
Danes and Saxons made slaves of
their prisoners and of the poor 38
CHAPTER XIII.
How King Edward the Confessor
suffered his courtiers to rule him
and the kingdom, and promised
that the Duke of Normandy
should be king; how some of his
wise men made a book of laws;
how Harold, the son of Earl Godwin,
was made king; how he was
killed in the battle of Hastings,
and the Duke of Normandy became
king 42
CHAPTER XIV.
WILLIAM I.—1066 to 1087.
How William the First made cruel
and oppressive laws; how he took
the land from the English, and
gave it to the Norman barons;
and how he caused Domesday
Book to be written 48
CHAPTER XV.
WILLIAM II.—1087 to 1100.
How William the Second and Robert
of Normandy besieged their
brother Henry in his castle; how
William was killed in the New
Forest; and how London Bridge
and Westminster Hall were built
in his reign 51
CHAPTER XVI.
HENRY I.—1100 to 1135.
How Henry the First married the
English Princess Maude; how his
son William was drowned; and
how he desired that his daughter
Maude should be queen after his
own death 54
CHAPTER XVII.
STEPHEN.—1135 to 1154.
How Stephen was made king; and
of the civil wars in his reign 56
CHAPTER XVIII.
HENRY II.—1154 to 1189.
How Henry the Second did many
good things for England; how
the gentry went hawking; how
Strongbow conquered a great
part of Ireland; and how the
kings of Scotland became under-kings
to the kings of England 58
CHAPTER XIX.
How the Popes wanted to be masters
in England; how that led to
the murder of Becket; how Queen
Eleanor made her sons rebel
against their father; why Henry
the Second was called Plantagenet 63
CHAPTER XX.
RICHARD I.—1189 to 1199.
How Richard the first went to fight
in foreign countries, and the evil
things that happened in his absence;
how the Jews were ill-treated;
how King Richard was
taken prisoner; how he was discovered
and set at liberty; and
how he was killed in battle 67
CHAPTER XXI.
JOHN.—1199 to 1216.
Why King John was called Lackland;
how he killed his nephew
Arthur; and how the barons rebelled
against him, and made him
sign the Great Charter 73
CHAPTER XXII.
HENRY III.—1216 to 1272.
Why taxes are paid; how Henry
the Third robbed the people;
how Simon de Montfort fought
against King Henry, and made
him agree not to tax the people
without the consent of the Parliament 78
CHAPTER XXIII.
EDWARD I.—1272 to 1307.
How Edward the First learnt many
good things abroad, and did many
more to make the people happy;
how he caused the burgesses to
come to parliament; how he made
good laws; why he was called
Longshanks 81
CHAPTER XXIV.
EDWARD I.—_continued._
How King Edward went to war
with the Welsh; how Prince Llewellyn
and his brother David
were put to death for defending
their country; how he made war
upon Scotland, and put Sir William
Wallace to death; and how
ambition was the cause of his
cruelty 84
CHAPTER XXV.
EDWARD II.—1307 to 1327.
Why Edward the Second was called
Prince of Wales; how his idleness
and evil companions caused
a civil war; how he was beaten
by Robert Bruce at Bannockburn;
how the Queen fought
against the King and took him
prisoner; and how her favourite
Mortimer, had King Edward
murdered 89
CHAPTER XXVI.
EDWARD III.—1327 to 1377.
How Queen Isabella was put in
prison, and her favourite hanged;
how Queen Philippa did much
good for the people; and how
Edward the Third went to war
to conquer France 92
CHAPTER XXVII.
EDWARD III.—_continued._
How the English gained a sea-fight;
how King Edward and his son,
the Black Prince, won the battle
of Crecy; how Calais was taken,
and how Queen Philippa saved
the lives of six of the citizens;
how the Black Prince won the
battle of Poitiers, and took the
King of France prisoner, and
brought him to London 95
CHAPTER XXVIII.
RICHARD II.—1377 to 1399.
How Richard the Second sent men
round the country to gather the
taxes; how Wat Tyler killed one
of them, and collected an army;
how he met the King in Smithfield,
and was killed by the
Mayor; how King Richard behaved
cruelly to his uncles; how
he was forced to give up the
crown to his cousin Henry of
Hereford, and died at Pomfret 101
CHAPTER XXIX.
HENRY IV.—1399 to 1413.
How Henry the Fourth had a dispute
with Earl Percy and his son
Hotspur about their Scotch prisoners;
how the Percys went to
war with the King, and were
joined by Owen Glendower; how
Hotspur was killed in the battle
of Shrewsbury; why some men
are made nobles, and how they
are useful to their country; how
King Henry punished people on
account of their religion 108
CHAPTER XXX.
HENRY V.—1413 to 1422.
How Henry the Fifth was very gay
and thoughtless when he was
Prince of Wales, but became a
great and wise king; how he
went to war with France, and
gained the battle of Agincourt;
and how the people lamented at
his death 112
CHAPTER XXXI.
HENRY VI.—1422 to 1461.
How Henry the Sixth became king
while he was an infant; how the
Duke of Bedford governed in
France; how Joan of Arc persuaded
the Dauphin and the
French soldiers to take courage;
how they nearly drove the English
out of France; how Joan
was taken prisoner, and put to
death 116
CHAPTER XXXII.
HENRY VI.—_continued._
How Queen Margaret and Cardinal
Beaufort are said to have caused
Duke Humphrey to be murdered;
how the wars of the White and
the Red Roses were brought
about; how Edward of York
was chosen king by the Londoners 119
CHAPTER XXXIII.
EDWARD IV. OF YORK.
1461 to 1483.
How the Yorkists beat Queen Margaret
at Hexham; how the Queen
and Prince escaped to Flanders;
why the Earl of Warwick was
called the King-maker; how
Prince Edward was murdered
by King Edward’s brothers; how
King Henry and the Duke of
Clarence were put to death 122
CHAPTER XXXIV.
EDWARD V.
Only ten weeks of 1483.
How Richard Duke of Gloucester
was guardian to the young King
Edward the Fifth; how he put
Lord Hastings to death, and made
himself King; and how the little
King Edward and his brother
were murdered in the Tower 127
CHAPTER XXXV.
RICHARD III.—1483 to 1485.
How Richard the Third tried to
make the people his friends; how
the Duke of Buckingham rebelled
and was put to death; how Richard
was killed at Bosworth, fighting
against the Earl of Richmond,
who was made King 130
CHAPTER XXXVI.
HENRY VII.—1485 to 1509.
How Henry the Seventh united the
Parties of the White and the Red
Roses; how Lambert Simnel, and
afterwards Perkin Warbeck, rebelled
against him, but were subdued;
how the people began to
improve themselves in learning;
how America was discovered;
how King Henry did many useful
things, but was not beloved
by the people 133
CHAPTER XXXVII.
HENRY VIII.—1509 to 1547.
How Henry the Eighth made war
upon Scotland and France, and
gained the battle of Flodden and
the battle of the Spurs; how he
met the King of France in the
Field of the Cloth of Gold; how
Cardinal Wolsey fell into disgrace
and died 138
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
HENRY VIII.—_continued._
How King Henry married six
times; and how he got rid of his
wives when he was tired of
them 142
CHAPTER XXXIX.
HENRY VIII.—_continued._
How the Pope and the friars imposed
upon the people; how disputes
arose in England about religion;
how King Henry seized
the convents and turned out the
monks and nuns; how he called
himself Supreme Head of the
Church, and put many people to
death who did not agree with
him in all things 147
CHAPTER XL.
How Sir Thomas More studied law
and became an orator; the wise
and good men who visited him;
how he was for some time in the
King’s favor, but was afterwards
imprisoned and put to death, because
he would not do everything
the King wished 153
CHAPTER XLI.
EDWARD VI.—1547 to 1553.
How Edward the Sixth was taught
to be a Protestant; how the Protector
Somerset went to war in
Scotland; how he caused his
brother to be beheaded, and was
afterwards beheaded himself;
how the Duke of Northumberland
persuaded the King to leave
the kingdom to Lady Jane Grey, 157
CHAPTER XLII.
THE STORY OF LADY JANE GREY.
How Lady Jane Grey was called
Queen for ten days, and was
afterwards imprisoned; how she
was fond of learning; how she
was persuaded to become Queen
against her will; and how she
and her husband were put to
death by Queen Mary 163
CHAPTER XLIII.
MARY.—1553 to 1558.
How Sir Thomas Wyat rebelled
against Queen Mary, but was
overcome, and he and many others
were put to death; how she offended
the people by marrying
the King or Spain; and how a
great many people were burnt for
being Protestants 167
CHAPTER XLIV.
ELIZABETH.—1558 to 1603.
How Queen Elizabeth allowed the
people to be Protestants; how
they learned many useful things
from foreigners who had been
persecuted in their own country;
how Mary Queen of Scots was
driven from her kingdom, and
was imprisoned, and at last beheaded,
by Elizabeth 171
CHAPTER XLV.
ELIZABETH.—_continued._
How Queen Elizabeth refused to
marry; how the ships and the
sailors were improved in her
reign; how some great admirals
made many voyages and discoveries;
how the King of Spain
sent a great fleet and army to
conquer England, but could not
succeed; and how the English did
much harm to Spain 177
CHAPTER XLVI.
ELIZABETH.—_continued._
How Ireland was in an evil condition
from the conquest; how Elizabeth
tried to improve it by sending
it wise governors; how the
Earl of Desmond’s and the Earl
of Tyrone’s rebellions were subdued;
how the Earl of Essex behaved
ill, and was put to death;
and how Sir Philip Sidney was
killed in battle 185
CHAPTER XLVII.
JAMES I.—1603 to 1625.
How the King of Scotland became
King of England also; how he
and the Queen behaved very unwisely;
how he ill-treated the
Papists and the Puritans; how
the Papists intended to destroy
the King and the Parliament, but
were prevented; how Prince
Charles and the Duke of Buckingham
visited France and Spain;
how King James did many foolish
things, and left his subjects
discontented 189
CHAPTER XLVIII.
CHARLES I.—1625 to 1649.
How Charles the First was governed
by ill advisers; how he
made the people pay taxes without
the consent of Parliament;
how the Earl of Strafford behaved
very cruelly, and was
beheaded; and how the King’s
evil government caused a Civil
War 196
CHAPTER XLIX.
CHARLES I.—_continued._
How, after many battles had been
fought, King Charles went to
Scotland; how the Scots sold him
to the English Parliament; how
the army got the King into their
power, and appointed judges to
try him, who condemned him to
death; how, after a sad parting
from two of his children, he was
beheaded 202
CHAPTER L.
THE COMMONWEALTH.
1649 to 1660.
How the Scotch chose Prince
Charles to be their King; how
Oliver Cromwell quieted Ireland;
how the Scotch put the Marquis
of Montrose to death; how Prince
Charles’s army was beaten by
Cromwell at Worcester; how the
Prince escaped to France after
many dangers; how the English
went to war with the Dutch, and
beat them; how Cromwell turned
out the Parliament, and was made
Protector: and how be governed
wisely till his death 208
CHAPTER LI.
CHARLES II.—1660 to 1685.
How Richard Cromwell was Protector
for a short time; how the
people chose to have a king again;
how General Monk brought home
Charles the Second; how there
was again a war with the Dutch;
how the great Plague was stopped
by the great Fire; how the King
chose evil counsellors; how the
Scotch and Irish were treated
with great cruelty; how the King
caused Lord Russell and many
more to be put to death 214
CHAPTER LII.
JAMES II.—1685 to 1688.
How the Duke of Monmouth rebelled
against James the Second,
and was beheaded; how Colonel
Kirke and Judge Jeffries committed
great cruelties; how the
people wished to get rid of James
on account of his tyranny; how
the Prince of Orange came over
to England, and was made King;
and how James escaped to
France 223
CHAPTER LIII.
WILLIAM III.—MARY II.
1688 to 1702.
How there were troubles in Scotland
and in Ireland; how William
the Third won the battle of the
Boyne; how he fought against
the French, till they were glad
to make peace; how Queen Mary
was regretted at her death; how
the East India Company was
established; and how King William
did many good things for
England 226
CHAPTER LIV.
QUEEN ANNE.—1702 to 1714.
How Princess Anne became Queen
because she was a Protestant;
how the union of Scotland with
England was brought about; how
the Duke of Marlborough gained
the battle of Blenheim; how
Admiral Rooke took Gibraltar;
how the Queen was governed by
her ladies 232
CHAPTER LV.
GEORGE I.—1714 to 1727.
How the Elector of Hanover became
George the First of England;
how the Pretender tried
to make himself King, but was
defeated; how Lady Nithisdale
saved her husband’s life;
and how the Spaniards were
beaten at sea 237
CHAPTER LVI.
GEORGE II.—1727 to 1760.
How George the Second went to
war with Spain, and with the
French and Bavarians; how the
French were beaten by Lord
Clive in India, and by General
Wolfe in America; how the
young Pretender landed in Scotland,
and proclaimed his father
King; how he was beaten, and
after many dangers escaped to
Italy 240
CHAPTER LVII.
GEORGE III.—1760 to 1820.
How George the Third, after making
a general peace, went to war
with the Americans; how General
Washington beat the English
armies, and procured peace;
why the King went to war with
France; how Napoleon Buonaparte
conquered many countries;
how our admirals and generals
won many battles; and how there
were many useful things found out
in George the Third’s reign, 246
CHAPTER LVIII.
GEORGE IV.—1820 to 1830.
How it was this King ruled the
kingdom before his father died;
how some bad men planned to
kill the King’s ministers; how
the Princess Charlotte died; how
the Turkish fleet was destroyed
at Navarino; how the Roman
Catholics were admitted into Parliament;
and what useful things
were done in this reign, 252
CHAPTER LIX.
WILLIAM IV.—1830 to 1837.
How the Reform Bill was passed;
how slavery in our colonies was
abolished; how there were revolutions
in France and Belgium;
how the cholera broke out; how
railways were established; and
how the Houses of Parliament
were burned down 255
CHAPTER LX.
QUEEN VICTORIA.—1837.
How Hanover was separated from
England; how the Queen married
her cousin, Prince Albert; how a
fresh revolution broke out in
Paris, and how Louis Philippe
escaped to England; how the
Chartists held meetings; how we
went to war with Russia; how
the Sepoys mutinied in India;
how the young men in Great Britain
became volunteers; how
Parliament was reformed the
second time, and means taken to
educate the people; how there
were a great many discoveries
and improvements made 259
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
TOWER OF LONDON _Frontispiece._
GREGORY AND ANGLES Page 17
KING ETHELBERT DECLARES HIMSELF A CHRISTIAN 19
ALFRED LEARNING TO READ 25
ALFRED IN NEATHERD’S COTTAGE 27
KING ALFRED BUILDING HIS NAVY 30
KING EDWARD STABBED BY ORDER OF ELFRIDA 37
WILLIAM RALLIES THE NORMANS AT HASTINGS 46
BATTLE OF HASTINGS 47
DERMOT, KING OF LEINSTER, DOING HOMAGE TO
HENRY II. 61
KING RICHARD I. MADE PRISONER BY THE DUKE OF
AUSTRIA 71
PRINCE ARTHUR AND HUBERT 74
KING JOHN GRANTING MAGNA CHARTA 77
DEATH OF LLEWELLYN, LAST OF THE WELSH PRINCES 86
EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE WAITING ON JOHN, KING
OF FRANCE 100
DEATH OF WAT TYLER 103
HENRY OF HEREFORD CLAIMING THE CROWN OF ENGLAND 106
ESCAPE OF QUEEN MARGARET 123
DEATH OF THE LITTLE PRINCES IN THE TOWER 129
MARRIAGE OF HENRY VII. AND ELIZABETH OF YORK 134
HENRY VIII. EMBARKING FOR FRANCE 140
WOLSEY ENTERING LEICESTER ABBEY 143
THE PROTECTOR SOMERSET ACCUSING HIS BROTHER
BEFORE KING EDWARD VI. 160
LADY JANE GREY REFUSING THE CROWN 165
THE SPANISH ARMADA 182
QUEEN ELIZABETH REVIEWING HER ARMY AT TILBURY 183
KING JAMES I. WITH STEENIE AND BABY CHARLES 193
STRAFFORD GOING TO EXECUTION 200
PARTING OF KING CHARLES AND HIS CHILDREN 206
KING CHARLES I. ON THE SCAFFOLD 207
CROMWELL TURNS OUT THE PARLIAMENT 213
KING CHARLES II. ENTERS LONDON AT HIS RESTORATION 217
MARLBOROUGH AT BLENHEIM 235
THE PRETENDER AT HOLYROOD HOUSE 244
FARMHOUSE OF HOUGOUMONT ON THE FIELD OF
WATERLOO 250
THE MARRIAGE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 261
LITTLE ARTHUR’S
HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER I.
The ancient Britons: their houses—clothes—and food.
You know, my dear little Arthur, that the country you live in is
called ENGLAND. It is joined to another country called SCOTLAND, and
the two together are called GREAT BRITAIN.
Now, a very long time ago, Britain was so full of trees, that there
was very little room for houses, and still less for corn-fields, and
there were no gardens.
The houses were made of wicker-work; that is, of sticks put together
like baskets, and plastered over with mud, to keep out the wind and
rain; and the people, who were called Britons, used to build a good
many together, and make a fence round them, to keep the bears, and
the wolves, and the foxes, which lived in their woods, from coming in
the night to steal their sheep, or perhaps to kill their children,
while they were asleep.
These fences were made of great piles of wood and trunks of trees,
laid one upon another till they were as high as a wall; for at that
time the Britons did not know how to build walls of stone or bricks
with mortar.
Several houses, with a fence round them, made a town; and the Britons
had their towns either in the middle of the woods, where they could
hardly be found out, or else on the tops of high hills, from which
they could see everything and everybody that was coming near them.
I do not think the insides of their houses could have been very
comfortable. They had possibly wooden stools to sit on, and wooden
benches for bedsteads, and their beds were made of skins of wild
beasts, spread over dry grass and leaves. In some places they used
the pretty heath that grows upon the commons for beds, and, in
others, nothing but dry leaves spread upon the ground. They had great
wooden bowls to hold their meat, and wooden cups to drink out of; and
in some parts of the country they had coarse earthern, earthen bowls
and pitchers, some of which you may now see in museums.
They had very few tools to make the things they wanted; and yet, by
taking great pains, they made them very neatly. Their boats were very
curious; they were nicely made, of basket-work covered over with
leather; they were called coracles.
You may think that, as the Britons had such poor houses and beds,
they were not much better off for clothes.
In the winter they used to wrap themselves up in the skins of the
beasts they could shoot with their bows and arrows. In the summer
they were naked, and instead of clothes they put paint upon their
bodies. They were very fond of a fine blue color, made out of a
plant, called Woad, which they found in their woods. They squeezed
out the juice of the Woad, and then stained themselves all over with
it, so that in summer they looked as if they were dressed in tight
blue clothes.
They were as ill off for eating as for clothes. Only a few of the
very richest Britons could get bread; the rest of the people ate
acorns and berries, which they found in the woods, instead of bread.
They had beef, mutton, and deer, and hares, and wild birds. They
drank milk, and knew how to make cheese; but most of them were forced
to spend a good deal of time in hunting for wild animals in the
woods, and often went without their dinners when they could not get
near enough to a beast or bird to shoot it with their arrows.
In time, however, the Britons in the south learned how to grow corn,
to work in metal, and other useful things. They traded with the
nearest part of Europe, which is now called France, but was then
named Gaul. They were very brave in war, and fought from chariots,
with blades like scythes sticking out to cut down their enemies.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER II.
Religion of the ancient Britons—the Druids—the misletoe—the Druids’
songs.
I am sorry to say that the old Britons had no churches; and they did
not know anything about the true God. Their oldest and cleverest
men only thought God must be somewhere, and because they saw that
oaks were the largest, and oldest, and best trees in the woods, they
told the people that God must be where the oaks grew; but they were
mistaken, you know, for God is in heaven, and He made the oaks, and
everything else that you can see, and everything that you can think
of. But as these poor people did not know any better, they chose
some of the oldest and wisest men to be their priests, and to say
prayers for them, under the shade of the oaks. These priests they
call DRUIDS. They had long white beards, and wore better clothes than
the other people, for they had white linen robes. They knew how to
cure sick people, by giving them different parts of the plants that
grew in the woods; and if they were burnt, or cut, they made salves
to heal them; and they would not teach the common people how to use
these things of themselves, so everybody was obliged to go to them
for help. And the people gave the Druids a part of what they had,
whether it was corn, or warm skins to make beds of, or paint, or tin,
or copper, or silver, that they found among the mountains, for curing
them.
One of the things they used to cure the sick people with, was a plant
called misletoe. It does not grow on the ground, but on the branches
of trees; sometimes, but rarely, on the oak. The Druids knew the time
of year when its berries were ripe, and made a great feast, and all
the people came to it; and the oldest Druid, dressed in white, and
with a white band round his head, used to take a golden sickle, and
go up into the trees where the misletoe grew, and cut it while the
others sang songs, and said some prayers to their false gods, because
they did not know the true God.
These Druids used to advise the kings what to do, and what rules
to give the people; and because nobody in England could write, the
Druids made songs and verses about everything that happened, and
taught them to the young people, that they might teach them again to
their children. Those who made these songs were called BARDS.
Now you know that, though it is a very good thing to be able to
repeat fine verses about things that happened long ago, it is much
better to have them written down; because people might forget some of
the verses, and then their children would not know what had happened
in their country before they lived themselves.
And so it was with the Druids. People began to forget the oldest
verses, when something happened that I will tell you about in the
next chapter, by means of which the Britons learned not only to write
and read, but to know the true God.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CHAPTER III.
How the Romans came and conquered the Britons, and made them work.
There is a city called ROME, a good way from England, and the people
belonging to it are called ROMANS.
Now, at the time I told you of, when the poor Britons were so ill
off for almost everything, the Romans were the cleverest and bravest
people in the world. By their bravery they had conquered all the
countries between Rome and England, which you know was then called
Britain; and by being able to write better than any other people at
that time, they made books, in which they set down everything that
happened to them and to the people they conquered.
One of their bravest and cleverest men, called JULIUS CÆSAR, wrote
what I have told you about Britain, and some more that I am going to
tell you. When the Romans had found out that there was such a country
as Britain, some sailors and merchants came here to see what the
country and the people were like.
And they saw that the people were very strong and well made, and
found that they were clever, and good tempered, and they wished to
have some of them for servants, and some for soldiers. And they saw
too that the country was very pretty, and that if anybody who knew
how to build nice houses, and to make proper fields, were to live
here, it would be a very pleasant place indeed.
Besides all this, they found that some of the best tin and copper in
the world was found in one part of England, and sometimes the people
found gold and silver too. Then they saw among the shells by the
sea-side, and in some of the rivers, some of those beautiful round
white things called pearls, which ladies have always been fond of
stringing and making necklaces of.
So when they went to Rome, they told everybody of all the good things
they had seen in Britain; and the great men in Rome determined to go
and conquer the whole country, that they might make servants of the
people, and take their land, and make corn-fields for themselves, and
get all the tin, and copper, and silver, and gold, and pearls, and
take them to Rome.
The Romans had sent some very brave soldiers, with their great
captain, the same Julius Cæsar who wrote down these things, to
conquer Gaul; and they crossed the sea in order to conquer Britain;
but they did not find it so easy to do as they had hoped it would be.
Although the poor Britons were almost naked, and had very bad swords,
and very weak spears and bows and arrows, and small shields, made
of basket work covered with leather, they were so brave, that they
fought a great many battles against the Romans, who had everything
they could want to fight with, before they would give up any part of
their country to them.
At last, when the Romans had gotten a part of Britain, they were
obliged to build very strong walls all about their houses. And their
houses and walls were made of good stone and brick, instead of the
trunks and branches of trees such as the Britons used. And the Roman
soldiers were obliged to keep watch always, because the Britons were
trying every day to drive them away; and they kept good swords and
spears, and great shields, covered with plates of iron; and they put
pieces of iron on their backs and their breasts, and their arms and
legs, and called it armour, so the bad swords of the Britons could
hardly ever hurt a Roman; but their bows and arrows, which they
managed very well, killed a good many.
However, the Romans remained masters at last, and they made the
Britons cut down many of their woods, and turn the ground into
corn-fields and gardens for them; and they forced them to dig the tin
and copper out of the earth for them, and to fish in the seas and
rivers, to find pearls for the Roman ladies; and the poor Britons
were very unhappy, because they had lost their freedom, and could
never do as they liked.
But I must end this long chapter. In the next I will tell you how God
turned the unhappiness of the poor Britons into everything good for
them.
CHAPTER IV.
How the Romans taught the Britons many things, and how some of them
became Christians.
You remember, I hope, what you read in the first chapter, about the
uncomfortable houses of the Britons, how badly they were dressed, and
how often they were obliged to be hungry when they could not catch
the birds or beasts in the woods.
Now when God allowed the Romans to come and take part of the country
of the Britons, and to make servants of the people, He put it into
the hearts of the Romans to teach the Britons most of the things they
knew themselves; and the Romans who came to Britain wrote books, from
which we learn the way in which these things were done.
By employing the Britons to help them to build their houses and
walls, of stone or brick, they taught them how to make good ones for
themselves; then by making them learn to spin and weave the wool that
grew upon their sheep, they gave them means to make better clothes,
both for winter and summer, than they had thought of before; and they
left off staining their skins with the juice of plants, and began
to wash themselves, and to keep their hair neat, and even to put on
ornaments like the Romans.
When they saw how the Romans ploughed the fields, and made corn
enough grow to make bread for everybody, as well as for the rich
people, they began to do the same; and they began to like to have
gardens for cabbages and onions, and apples and roses, all four of
which the Romans taught them to plant, besides some other useful
things which I have forgotten.
But, what was much better than all the rest, the Romans built some
schools, and had school-masters to teach their children to read and
write, and the little Britons were allowed to go to these schools as
well as the little Romans; and, as the Britons were very clever, you
may think how soon they learned to read and write, and how glad their
fathers and mothers were to see them so improved.
You see, therefore, that when God allowed the Romans to conquer the
Britons, He made them the means of teaching them a great many useful
things; above all, how to read.
Many years after the Romans first took the country for themselves,
there came some very good men, who brought the Bible with them, and
began to teach both the Romans and the Britons, who could read, all
about the true God, and how they ought to serve Him and love Him.
And they told them to love one another, instead of fighting. And
by degrees, they made the Britons forget the Druids, and leave off
praying under the oaks. And they built several churches, and a great
many Britons became Christians, and learned to thank God for sending
the Romans to their country to teach them to be wiser and better and
happier than they were before.
You may suppose that all these things took a good deal of time to do;
indeed, they took a great many years, and in that time there were
many different Roman governors. And when you are a little older, and
know more about England, you will read something about them in the
large History of England, and in some other books.
CHAPTER V.
How the Romans made a market in London, and used money, and built a
wall; and how they improved Bath, and many other towns.
I told you what poor and small places the British towns were, before
the Romans came here. They soon taught the Britons to make them
better. London was one of their towns; it was so hid among trees that
it could hardly be seen; but the Romans soon cut down a good many of
the trees round it, and built large houses there to live in. And they
made a market, which you know is a place where people go to sell what
they do not want themselves, and to buy other things. At first they
only changed one thing for another; I mean, that if one man wanted
a pair of shoes, he went to the shoemaker, and said, Give me a pair
of shoes and I will give you a shirt, or some chickens, or something
that I have and do not want myself, if you will give me the shoes.
But this was troublesome, because people could not easily carry
enough things about to make exchanges with. So, when the Romans came,
they began to use money to buy the things they wanted, and the money
was made of the silver and copper found in England.
Well, besides the good houses and the market the Romans made in
London, they built a good wall round it, made of stone and brick
mixed, and a tower. Now a tower is a very high and strong building;
and it was used long ago to put money and other things into to
keep them safe. And if any enemies came to fight the people of the
country, they used to put the women and children into their towers,
while the strong men went to fight their enemies and drive them away.
Towers have not these uses now-a-days, when by God’s blessing we
enjoy peace and safety in our open houses and the police protect us
from thieves; while towers and castles fall into ruin and are looked
at as curiosities. Another sort of tower, you know, is built by the
side, or at the end, of a church, to hang the bells in, that people
may know it is time to go to prayers, when they hear the bells ring.
Though the Romans took so much pains with London, they did not forget
the other towns of the Britons, but made them all much better. I
will tell you the names of some they did most good to. First there
was Bath, where the Britons showed them some springs of warm water,
which were used to cure sick people. Drinking the water was good
for some, and bathing in it for others. Now, Bath was a very pretty
place, and the Romans made it prettier, by building beautiful houses
to bathe in, and making fine gardens to their own houses; and many of
the great men, and some Roman ladies, loved to live there. And the
Britons followed their example, and began to have fine houses, and
to plant beautiful gardens, and some of them went to Rome to learn
more than they could learn in Britain; and, when they came back, they
taught others what they had learned.
Then there was York, the largest town next to London, of those that
the Romans took the trouble to make much better than the old Britons
had done.
Besides houses, and towers, and walls, the Romans built some good
schools in York, and I have even heard that there was a _library_ in
York, in the time of the Romans; but I am not quite sure of this.
But I should never finish my chapter, and you would be very tired, if
I were to try to tell you every one of the names of the British towns
that the Romans improved; in all, I dare say, they are more than a
hundred.
They also made good roads throughout the country, some of which
remain in use to this day.
CHAPTER VI.
How the Romans left Britain; and how the Angles and Saxons came and
conquered the country, and behaved cruelly to the people.
Everything seemed to be going on well with the Britons and Romans,
when a great misfortune happened, which I must tell you about.
Most of the great men in Rome had grown very idle and careless,
because they had become so rich and strong that they could do what
they pleased, and make everybody else obey them. And they let the
soldiers in Rome be quite idle, instead of keeping them busy about
useful things. So they forgot how to fight properly, and when a great
many enemies came to fight against Rome, the soldiers there could
not drive them away, and they sent, in a hurry, to Britain, for all
the good Roman soldiers that were there, as well as the strongest
and best Britons, to go and defend them; so Britain was left without
enough men to take care of the towns, and the old men, and the women,
and the children.
It happened that very soon after the best Britons had gone away to
Rome, a number of people, called ANGLES and SAXONS, came in ships to
Britain, and landed. You will remember the Angles, because these were
the people who changed the name of half of Britain into Englaland,
which we now call England.
At first they took all the gold and silver and clothes and food they
could find, and even some of the little children to make servants of,
and carried them off in their ships to their own country.
Afterwards the Britons sent to ask their help against some fierce
enemies, called the PICTS and SCOTS, who had invaded South Britain
from the northern part, which we now call Scotland. So two brothers
came over first, who were called HENGIST and HORSA; Horsa was slain
in battle at Aylesford in Kent, but Hengist made himself king over a
part of Britain.
And when the other Saxons and Angles saw what good and useful things
were to be had in Britain, they determined to go there too. Some of
them said they would only rob the Britons, and some said they would
try to conquer the whole country, and take it for their own; and so,
after a great deal of fighting, they did. But although a great many
of the bravest Britons had been taken to Rome, some of the others
joined together, to try and defend their country.
One of the first of them was King Arthur, who was one of the bravest
men in the world, and he had some friends who were called his
knights. They helped him to fight the Saxons, but the Saxons were
too strong for them; so after fighting a long time, King Arthur was
obliged to give up a good deal of his land to them. Yet he beat them
at last in a great battle, and was able to keep the rest of his
kingdom from them for many years. You will read many pretty stories
about King Arthur and his knights, when you are older.
I have heard that they were all so good and so brave that nobody
could tell who was the best, and the king himself did not know which
to like best, so he had a large round table made, that they might all
sit at it and be equal; because you know that at a round table the
places are all alike, but at a long table one place may seem better
than another. But I cannot tell you more about the knights now, for
we must think about the Angles and Saxons.
By little and little, the Saxons and Angles drove the natives out of
almost all Britain. The greatest number of those who remained went
into that part called WALES, where there were high mountains and
thick woods, where they could hide themselves. You will read in some
books that some went with King Arthur to a part of France, which was
called Brittany because Britons were living there already. But we
cannot be sure of this.
Now the Angles and Saxons were fierce and cruel, for they had not
yet learned anything about the true God; but instead of loving and
serving Him, they made a great many figures of stone and wood, in the
shape of men and women, and called them by different names, such as
Woden, and Thor, and fancied they could help them and bless them, if
they prayed to them; but you know this was both foolish and wicked.
It was foolish, because stones and wood cannot hear or understand;
and wicked, because we ought to pray to the true God only.
The Britons, who had all become Christians before the Angles and
Saxons came to Britain, were very ill treated by their new masters,
because they would not leave off loving and serving the true God.
Their churches were pulled down, and the clergymen either killed or
driven away. And the people of England (as Britain now began to be
called) were almost in as bad a state as before the Romans came; for
although the Angles and Saxons were glad enough to make them build
houses, and plough the corn-fields, and take care of sheep for them,
they would not let them read—they spoilt their schools, and burnt the
books, besides pulling down the churches, as I told you before.
At length, however, these bad times ended, and the conquerors
themselves left off being cruel, and did more good to the country
than ever the Romans did, as I will tell you in another chapter.
CHAPTER VII.
How there were seven chief kingdoms in England; how Augustine and his
friends came from Rome and made the people Christians; and how some
of the young men went to Rome to be taught.
I told you, in the last chapter, that Hengist made himself king over
part of Britain. His kingdom was Kent.
Soon afterwards other brave captains of the Angles and Saxons made
themselves kings. So there were seven chief kingdoms in England,
besides many petty kings. As soon as they were settled, they and
their people began to like the houses and gardens and bathing places
the Romans had left in the country, though they destroyed the most
of them. But there were few, if any, of the Christian clergymen left
among them, to teach them to know the true God. The Angles and
Saxons lived as heathens in their new country for more than a hundred
years. And now I will tell you how God gave them the word of life,
and turned them from their false gods to the faith of Jesus Christ.
Soon after the Anglian and Saxon kings had settled themselves quietly
in Britain, a good many boys were taken from Britain to be made
servants at Rome. Most of these were Angles, and it happened that as
they were standing together an Abbot named GREGORY saw them, and he
thought they were very beautiful, and asked where they came from and
who they were. He was told they were Angles from Britain, but that
they were not Christians. He was sorry for this, and said if they
were Christians they would be _Angels_, not _Angles_.
Now Gregory did not go away and forget this; but, when he was made
Bishop of Rome, he sent for a good man named AUGUSTINE, and asked him
if he would go to Britain and teach these people to be Christians;
and Augustine said he would, and he chose some other good men to help
him to teach them.
[Illustration: Gregory and Angles.]
When Augustine and his friends got to England, they went to
ETHELBERT, the king of the part they reached first, and asked leave
to teach the people; and the king gave them leave, and gave them a
church in the town of Canterbury, and learned a great deal from them
himself. But some of the other kings did not like to be Christians,
nor to let their people learn, and were very angry with those who
listened to Augustine, and killed some of his friends. But at last,
when they saw that the Christians behaved better than those who
served the wooden and stone false gods they brought with them from
their own country, they allowed their people to learn, and so by
degrees they all became Christians.
[Illustration: King Ethelbert declares himself a Christian.]
Ina, who was one of the kings of that part of England which was then
called Wessex (but now contains Berkshire, Hampshire, and other
counties) was very fond of learning, and old books tell us that he
collected a penny from every house where the master could spare it,
and sent all these pennies to Rome to pay for a school that he might
send the young men to, because they could get better masters in Rome
than in England at that time. These pennies were called PETER’S
PENCE, and were sent to Rome for a great many years; but learned men
now think that it was not Ina, but a later English king, called Offa,
who first began to send them.
Now I must tell you what the young men at that time learned in the
school. First of all to read, and to write, and to count; then to
paint pictures in books, and to build beautiful churches, and to
plant gardens, and to take care of fruit trees, and to sing well in
church. And they taught all these things to their friends when they
came back to England.
I should have told you that it was only the clergymen who went to
school in Rome; and when they came home, though some of them lived in
houses of their own, yet most went and lived in large houses, called
convents, big enough to hold a great many of them, besides having
schools in them for teaching children, and rooms where they allowed
poor people, who were travelling, to sleep; and they were very good
to the poor and took great care of people who were sick.
And because these clergymen did so much good, the kings and the
people gave them money, and some land fit for corn-fields and
gardens, that they might have plenty for themselves, and the
schoolboys, and the poor.
CHAPTER VIII.
How the Angles and Saxons loved freedom, but made laws to punish
those who did wrong.
I am sure you wish to hear something more about the Angles and
Saxons, now that I have told you that they had become Christians like
the Britons, and had left off fighting with them.
There was one thing that, they loved above all others, and that was
freedom; that is, they liked that every man should do what he pleased
as long as he did not hurt any body else. And they liked that when
a man went into his own house and shut the door he should be safe,
and that nobody should go into his house without his leave. Besides
that, they liked wicked people to be punished; but if a man killed
another, on purpose, they did not always kill him too, as we do, for
fear he should do more mischief; they only made him give money to the
relations of the man he had killed, or perhaps they put him in prison
for a little while, to teach him to be more careful. And the Saxons
and Angles liked that when a thief stole anything, he should be made
to give it back, and that he should be punished.
Rules like these are called laws, and they are needful, to keep men
from doing wrong. All laws are meant to do good; and the Saxons and
Angles would not let anybody be punished without taking time to find
out what was right, as it would not be right to let anybody who saw
a man killed go and kill the man who had done it directly, because
he would not have time to ask whether it was done on purpose; and he
would be very sorry afterwards if he found out that he had punished
another person when he ought not to have done so.
So there were noblemen set over different parts of each
kingdom—called _Aldermen_ (which means the same as _Elder_)—to hold
courts with the bishop and the lesser nobles, who were called the
king’s _Thanes_ (that is, servants). These courts tried to find out
the truth in all disputes, and also before any one was punished for
any crime. When the crime was not made out clearly, the man was let
off, if he could bring his neighbours to bear witness to his good
character. And, in deciding disputes, the judge sometimes took the
opinion of twelve men who knew the facts. This was not quite like our
trial by jury; but you see that the people had a share in judging one
another.
Sometimes the kings wanted to change their old laws, or to make new
ones. But the free people said it was not right or fair to make laws
for them without telling them first what they were to be. So when
the king wanted to make a new law, he called together his Aldermen
and Bishops and Thanes to hear what the new law was to be, and if
they liked it they said so, and it was made into a law, and then the
people obeyed it, and the judges punished those who did not; but if
they did not like what the king wished, they all said so, and then it
was not made into a law. And, besides the Noblemen and Bishops, the
people of the towns were called by the king, to hear what the new law
was to be.
But it would have been very troublesome for all the men to go to the
king every time he wanted to make a new law, or to change an old one,
so the men in one town said, It will be better to send three or four
of the cleverest of our neighbours to the king, and they can let us
know about the new law, and we will tell them what to say for us, and
we will stay at home, and plough the fields, and mind our shops; and
so they did; and the men that were sent by their neighbours went to
the king, but they had no share in making the laws.
And when the king, and the nobles and bishops, and the men who were
sent by their neighbours, met all together in one place to talk about
the laws, they called it a Witena-gemot, which means, in the old
English of those times, a Meeting of Wise Men. It was something like
what we call a Parliament, which means a _talking place_, because
they talk about the best way of making laws before they make them.
By these means you see the Angles and Saxons were ruled by laws that
they helped to make themselves. And when they did wrong, they were
not punished till some of their own wisest men found out that they
really deserved punishment; and this is what I mean when I tell you
that they were a free people, and that they loved freedom.
CHAPTER IX.
How Egbert became the first king over all England; how the Danes did
great mischief to the people; how Alfred after much trouble drove
them away, and how he built ships and did many other good things.
You have not forgotten, I hope, that there were seven chief kingdoms
of the Angles and Saxons in England. Now, there were many and long
wars between these kingdoms; and also with the Britons who were left
in the land. Sometimes one king, and sometimes another, made himself
more powerful than all the rest. He was then called _Bretwalda_,
which means “Ruler over Britain”; for the English still called the
whole island _Britain_. At last, 827 years after our Saviour’s birth,
the king of _Wessex_ (that is, of the West Saxons) got himself the
power over all the other kings. He was called EGBERT. He was very
wise, and very brave, and very handsome; so the people loved him very
much, and were very sorry when he died. His son and then three of his
grandsons reigned after him, whose names you will learn another time.
While these men were kings, some very strong and cruel heathens,
called DANES, came to England, in larger and better ships than the
first Saxons came in, and they robbed the people, and burnt the
towns, and did more mischief than I can tell you.
I do not know what would have become of England, if a very wise and
good king had not begun to rule England about that time. His name was
ALFRED. He was the grandson of King Egbert, and was as handsome and
as brave as Egbert.
But I must tell you a great deal about King Alfred, which I am sure
you will like to hear.
When he was a very little boy, his mother wished him to learn to
read, and she used to show him beautiful pictures in a book of Saxon
poems, and to tell him what the pictures were about. Little Alfred
was always pleased when the time came for seeing the book; and one
day, when his mother was talking to him, she said that she would
give him the book for his own, to keep, as soon as he could read it.
Then he went to his teacher, and very soon learned to read the book,
and his mother gave him the beautiful book. When he grew bigger he
learned the old Saxon songs by heart, and sang them to his mother,
who loved to hear Alfred sing, and play the harp.
But when Alfred grew up he had other things to do than reading and
singing, for a long time. I told you that the Danes had done a great
deal of mischief before Alfred was king; and indeed at the beginning
of his reign they went on doing quite as much, and he had more than
fifty battles to fight, before he could drive them away from his
kingdom.
[Illustration: Alfred learning to read.]
For some years after he was made king he had not one town where the
people dared to obey him, for fear of the Danes; and he was obliged
to disguise himself in poor clothes, and to live with one of his own
neatherds, whose wife did not know the king.
This neatherd lived in a part of Somersetshire, called the Isle of
Athelney. While Alfred was there, some of his best friends used to go
and tell him how the country was going on, and take messages to him
from other friends; and they all begged him to stay where he was till
they could collect English soldiers enough to fight the Danes in that
neighbourhood.
While he was staying at the neatherd’s house, I have heard that the
man’s wife scolded him one day very heartily. I will tell you how it
happened.
She had just made some very nice cakes for supper, and laid them on
the hearth to toast, and seeing Alfred sitting in the house doing
something to his bow and arrows, she desired him to look after her
cakes, and to turn them when they were toasted enough on one side,
that they might not be burnt. But Alfred could think of nothing
but making ready his bow and arrows to fight against the Danes; he
forgot all about the cakes, and they became very much burnt. When the
neatherd’s wife came into the house again, she soon saw the cakes on
the hearth, quite black and burnt, and began scolding Alfred very
severely.
Just then her husband came in with some of Alfred’s friends, who told
him that they had beaten the Danes, and driven them out of that part
of the country, and the people were asking for him, and it was time
to appear as their king. You may think how surprised the neatherd’s
wife was, and how she asked the king’s pardon for scolding him.
[Illustration: people sitting around a table]
He only smiled, and said, if she forgave him for burning her cakes,
he would forgive her for the scolding. Then he thanked her and the
neatherd heartily for letting him live so quietly with them, and
went with his friends to find the Danes, with whom he had a great
deal of trouble before he could drive them away. Their king Guthorm
agreed to be a Christian; and Alfred divided England with him.
At last, when Alfred had overcome the Danes, and when England was
at peace, he thought of the great pleasure he had in reading, and
he determined to encourage all the young people in England to love
learning. So he inquired for what learned men there were in England,
and sent for more to come from other countries, and paid them for
teaching the young men; and he built several schools.
That he might encourage all his subjects to read, he took the trouble
to translate several books for them out of Latin into English; and,
besides that, he wrote several himself for their instruction.
Alfred was never idle. One part of every day was spent in praying,
reading, and writing; one part in seeing that justice was done to
his subjects, in making good laws, and in teaching the English how
to keep away the Danes from their country. He allowed himself very
little time indeed for sleeping, eating, and walking about.
One of the very best things King Alfred did for England, was to build
a great many ships. He wisely thought that the best means of keeping
away the Danes, or any other enemy that could reach England by sea,
was to have ships as good as theirs, and go and meet them on the
water, and fight them there, instead of allowing them to land and do
mischief, and carry away the goods, and sometimes even the children
of the people on the sea-coast; so he built more than a hundred
vessels, and he was the first king of England who had good ships of
his own.
[Illustration: King Alfred building his navy.]
Besides fighting the Danes, Alfred made other good uses of his ships.
He sent some to Italy and France, to get books, and many things that
the English did not then know how to make at home. And other vessels
he sent to distant countries, even as far as Russia, to see what the
people were like, and if they had anything in their country that it
would be useful to England to buy. I have read an account of one
of the voyages made by a friend of Alfred’s, which the king wrote
himself, after his friend had told him what he had seen, and when you
are old enough to read it, I dare say it will please you as much as
it pleased me.
Alfred died when he had been king twenty-nine years. He was ill for a
long time before he died, but he was very patient and bore great pain
without complaining.
Just before he died he spoke to his son Edward, and gave him good
advice about taking care of the people when he came to be king.
But besides the words he spoke, Alfred wrote many good and true
words. I will tell you some of them. Pray, remember these now; when
you are a man you will love to think of them, and to recollect that
they were the very words of the best and wisest king we have ever
had. They are about the Supreme Good. “This blessedness is then GOD.
He is the beginning and end of every good, and He is the highest
happiness.”
CHAPTER X.
King Edward—King Athelstane: how he beat the Danes in battle, and
took some prisoners; how he invited his prisoners to supper, and
afterwards let them go free.
As soon as King Alfred died, his son Edward was made king; and he had
soon a great deal to do, for the Danes thought they could conquer all
England, now Alfred was dead, and that there would be nobody to fight
them.
But they were mistaken, for King Edward was a brave man and a wise
king, although he was not so clever and good as his father, and he
kept down the Danes while he was king. He had a sister who helped him
in everything. Her husband was dead, and she had no son, so she lived
with her brother, and gave him good advice, and took care of one part
of the country while he was fighting the Danes in another. You may
think how sorry the king was when she died, and how sorry the people
were too, for she was very good and kind to everybody; but they were
still more sorry when King Edward died soon after, for they were
afraid the Danes would get the upper hand again.
The next king was called Athelstane; he was Edward’s eldest son: he
was very clever and very brave. He knew that it was good for England
to have a great many ships, both to keep away the Danes and to fetch
cloth and silk from other countries, for the English did not make
any of these things then. So he made a law that every man who built
a ship and went to sea three times should be a _Thane_, which means
that he would be in the same rank and be shown the same respect as
one of the landed gentry.
Once I was reading a very old book, and I found something in it about
this Athelstane that I will tell you. A king of the Danes and three
other kings, who all lived in very cold poor countries, agreed that
they would come to England, which was a much better country than
their own, and take part of it for themselves; and they got a great
many soldiers to come with them in their ships; and they watched till
King Athelstane’s ships were gone out of sight, and then landed, and
began to take a part of the country. But Athelstane soon heard of
their coming, and called his soldiers together, and went to meet
these kings at a place called Brunanburgh, and fought with them, and
conquered them, and took some of them prisoners.
One of the prisoners was called Egill, and he told the man who wrote
the old book I mentioned to you, that King Athelstane behaved very
kindly to all the people after the battle, and would not let even the
enemies that were beaten be killed or vexed in any manner, and that
he invited him and some of the other prisoners to supper at a large
house which he had near the place where the battle was fought.
When they went to supper, they found that the house was very long and
very broad, but not high, for it had no rooms up stairs, and there
was no fire anywhere but in the kitchen and the great hall.
In the other rooms they had no carpets, but the floors were strewed
over with rushes, and there were only wooden benches and high stools
to sit upon.
The supper was in the great hall. I do not know what they had to eat,
but after supper the king asked the company to go and sit round the
fire, and drink ale and mead. Now they had no fireplace like ours at
the side of the hall; but there was a great stone hearth in the very
middle of the floor, and a large fire was made on it of logs of wood
bigger than one man could lift, and there was no chimney, but the
smoke went out at a hole in the roof of the hall.
When the company came to the fire, King Athelstane made King Egill
sit on a high stool face to face with him, and King Athelstane had
a very long and broad sword, and he laid it across his knees, that
if any of the company behaved ill he might punish them. And they all
drank a great deal of ale, and while they drank there were several
men, called minstrels, singing to them about the great battles they
had fought, and the great men who were dead; and the kings sang in
their turn, and so they passed the evening very pleasantly.
The next morning, when Egill and his friends expected to be sent to
prison, King Athelstane went to them, and told them he liked such
brave and clever men as they were, and that if they would promise
not to come to England to plague the people any more, they might go
home unharmed. They promised they would not come any more, and then
Athelstane let them go home, and gave them some handsome presents.
CHAPTER XI.
How King Edmund was killed by a robber; how Bishop Dunstan ill-used
King Edwy; how Archbishop Odo murdered the Queen; what Dunstan did to
please the people; how King Edgar caused the wolves to be destroyed;
and how his son, King Edward, was murdered by Queen Elfrida.
King Athelstane died soon after the battle of Brunanburgh.
His brother Edmund began his reign very well, and the English people
were in hopes that they should be at peace, and have time enough
to keep their fields in order, and improve their houses, and make
themselves as comfortable as they were when Alfred was king. But
Edmund was killed by a robber before he had been king quite six
years; and his brother Edred, who was made king when he died, was
neither so brave nor so wise as Edmund or Athelstane, and did not
manage the people nearly so well.
I am very sorry for the next king, whose name was Edwy. He was young
and good-natured, and so was his beautiful wife, whom he loved very
much; but they could not agree with a bishop called Dunstan, who was
a very clever and a very bold man, and wanted everybody in England,
even the king, to follow his advice in everything. Now the king and
queen did not like this, and would not do everything Dunstan wished,
and banished him from the country. But the friends whom he had left
behind him rose up against the poor king, and, in order to punish
him for not obeying Dunstan, one of them, the Archbishop Odo, was so
very wicked as to take the beautiful young queen, and beat her, and
burned her face all over with hot irons, to make her look ugly, and
then sent her away to Ireland. When she came back, she was so cruelly
treated that she died in great agony. The men who did this even took
away a part of his kingdom from Edwy, and gave it to his brother,
Edgar. Soon afterwards Edwy died, and Edgar became king of the whole
of England.
When Edgar grew up, he was a good king; but he was obliged to make
friends with Dunstan, who was very clever, and used to please and
amuse the people when he wanted them to do anything for him. He could
play on the harp very well; and he used to make a great many things
of iron and brass, which the people wanted very much, and gave them
to them; and as there were no bells to the churches before this time,
Dunstan had a great many made, and hung up in the church-steeples.
And the people began to forget how cruel he had been to King Edwy,
when he did so many things to please them.
I must tell you a little about King Edgar now. He went to every part
of the country to see if the people were taken care of. He saw that
all the ships that King Alfred and King Athelstane had built were
properly repaired, and built a great many new ones. There was so
little fighting in his time that he was called “The Peaceful”; yet
he made the kings of Scotland and the kings of Wales obey him; but
instead of taking money from them, as other kings used to do at that
time, he ordered them to send hunters into the woods, to catch and
kill the wolves and other wild beasts, which, as I told you before,
used to do a great deal of mischief in England. I have heard that he
made these kings send him three hundred wolves’ heads every year; so
at last all the wolves in England were killed, and the farmers could
sleep comfortably in the country, without being afraid that wild
beasts would come and kill them or their children in the night.
This was a very good thing; and Edgar did many other useful things
for England, but I am sorry to say, he did not always do what was
right, as you will know when you are old enough to read the large
History of England.
[Illustration: King Edward stabbed by order of Elfrida.]
When Edgar died, his eldest son, Edward, became king. Now the queen,
who was Edward’s stepmother, hated him, because she wanted her own
little son to be king. She therefore determined to have Edward
killed; and I will tell you how the wicked woman did it. Edward
was very fond of hunting; one day he was returning alone from the
chase, and being very hot and thirsty, he rode up to the gate of his
stepmother’s house at Corfe, and asked for some wine. The queen,
whose name was Elfrida, brought him some herself; and while he was
drinking it, she made a sign to one of her servants who stabbed
Edward in the back, so that he died almost directly. This cruel
murder of the young king, when he was off his guard, drinking his
wine, is said to have given rise to the custom among noblemen and
gentlemen of “pledging” each other, while drinking at feasts. One
about to drink would call on the guest next him, or on some friend
at the table, to pledge himself to protect him while in the act of
drinking, and he in turn would pledge himself to protect his friend
when the cup came to him. I need not tell you, I am sure, that after
such a wicked action Elfrida was very unhappy all her life, and
everybody hated her. The murdered young king was called Edward the
Martyr.
CHAPTER XII.
Why King Ethelred was called the Unready; how the Danes drove away
the English princes, and made Canute king; how Canute rebuked his
courtiers and improved the people, and how the Danes and Saxons made
slaves of their prisoners and of the poor.
The son of the wicked Elfrida was king after his brother Edward. His
name was Ethelred, and he was king a great many years, but never did
anything wise or good. The Danes came again to England, when they
found out how foolish King Ethelred was, and that he was never ready,
either with his ships or his soldiers, or with good counsel; for
which reason he was called ETHELRED THE UNREADY. I should be quite
tired if I were to tell you all the foolish and wicked things that
were done, either by this king, or by the great lords who were his
friends.
He allowed the Danes to get the better of the English everywhere, so
they robbed them of their gold and silver, and sheep and cattle, and
took their houses to live in, and turned them out. They burnt some
of the English towns, and altered the names of others; they killed
the people, even the little children; till at last you would have
thought the whole country belonged to them, and that there was no
king of England at all. You may think how unhappy the people were
then, the cruel Danes robbing and murdering them when they pleased.
The king was so idle, that he did nothing to save his people. There
was no punishment for bad men, and nobody obeyed the laws.
When Ethelred died, the English hoped they would be happier; for his
son, Edmund Ironsides, was a brave and wise prince, and was made king
after his father; but I am sorry to tell you that he died in a very
short time, and then the Danes drove all the princes of England away,
and made one of their own princes king of England.
The princes of Alfred’s family were forced to go into foreign
countries; some went to a part of France called Normandy, and some to
a very distant country indeed, called Hungary.
It is well for England that the Danish king was good and wise. His
name was Canute. When he saw how unhappy the people of England were,
and how ill the Danes treated them, he was very sorry, and made laws
to prevent the Danes from doing any more mischief in England, and to
help the English to make themselves comfortable again. And because
some of King Alfred’s good laws had been forgotten, while the wars
were going on, he inquired of the old judges and the wise men how
he could establish those laws again, and he made the people use
them. Besides this, he restored some of the schools which had been
destroyed in the wars, and even sent young men to the English College
at Rome to study. So that he did more good to England than any king
since Athelstane’s time, except King Edgar.
Have you ever heard the pretty story about Canute and his
flatterers?—I will tell it you; but first you must remember that
flattering is praising anybody more than he deserves, or even when
he does not deserve it at all. One day, when Canute was walking with
the lords of the court by the sea side, some of them, thinking to
please him by flattery, began to praise him very much indeed, and to
call him great, and wise, and good, and then foolishly talked of his
power, and said they were sure he could do everything he chose, and
that even the waves of the sea would do what he bade them.
Canute did not answer these foolish men for some time. At last he
said, “I am tired, bring me a chair.” And they brought him one; and
he made them set it close to the water: and he said to the sea, “I
command you not to let your waves wet my feet!” The flattering lords
looked at one another, and thought King Canute must be mad, to think
the sea would really obey him, although they had been so wicked as to
tell him it would, the moment before. Of course the sea rose as it
does every day, and Canute sat still, till it wetted him, and all the
lords who had flattered him so foolishly. Then he rose up, and said
to them, “Learn from what you see now, that there is no being really
great and powerful but GOD! He only, who made the sea, can tell it
where and when to stop.” The flatterers were ashamed, and saw that
King Canute was too good and wise to believe their false praise.
Canute was King of Denmark and Norway as well as England; and he was
one of the richest and most powerful kings, as well as the best, that
lived at that time. He reigned in England for nineteen years; and
all that time there was peace, and the people improved very much.
They built better houses, and wore better clothes, and ate better
food. Besides they had more schools, and were much better brought up.
Canute was very kind to learned men, and encouraged the English in
everything good and useful.
I am sorry to say, however, that they still had many slaves instead
of servants to wait upon them and to help to till the ground for them.
By slaves, I mean men and women who are the property of others, who
buy and sell them, as they would horses.
Formerly there were white slaves in almost every country: afterwards,
when white slaves were not allowed by law, people went and stole
black men, from their homes and families, and carried them to places
so far from their homes, that they could never get back again, and
made them work for them. And it is very lately that a law has been
made that there shall be no more slavery.
The reason I tell you about slavery in this place is, that the Danes
had a great many English slaves, and the rich English had a great
many Britons, and even poor English, for their slaves; for, although
the Danes and English loved to be free themselves, they thought there
was no harm in making slaves of the prisoners they took in battle,
or even of the poor people of their own country, whom they forced to
sell themselves or their children for slaves, before they would give
them clothes or food to keep them from starving. By degrees, however,
these wicked customs were left off, and now we are all free.
After wise King Canute’s death, there were two more Danish kings in
England, one called Harold Harefoot, and the other Hardicanute; but
they reigned a very short time, and did little worth remembering:
so I shall say nothing more about them. In the next chapter we shall
have a good deal to learn.
CHAPTER XIII.
How King Edward the Confessor suffered his courtiers to rule him and
the kingdom, and promised that the Duke of Normandy should be king;
how some of his wise men made a book of laws; how Harold, the son
of Earl Godwin, was made king; how he was killed in the battle of
Hastings, and the Duke of Normandy became king.
I told you that when the Danes got so much the better of the English
as to make one of their own princes king, they drove away the princes
of Alfred’s family; and I told you, at the same time, that some of
these princes went to Normandy, which was governed by a duke instead
of a king. The duke at that time was brave and generous, and was kind
to the princes, and protected them from their enemies, and allowed
them to live at his court. One of the English princes was called
Edward; and, after the three Danish kings were dead, this Edward was
made king of England.
The people were all delighted to have a prince of Alfred’s family
once more to reign over them, for although Canute had been good to
them, they could not forget that he was one of the cruel Danes who
had so long oppressed the English; and, as to his sons, they never
did anything good, as I told you before; and the people suspected
them of having murdered a favorite young prince, called Alfred.
King Edward was very much liked at first; but he was idle, and
allowed sometimes one great man, and sometimes another, to govern him
and the kingdom, while he was saying his prayers, or looking over the
workmen while they were building new churches.
Now it is very right in everybody to say prayers; but when God
appoints us other duties to do, we should do them carefully. A king’s
duty is to govern his people well; he must not only see that good
laws are made, but he must also take care that everybody obeys them.
A bishop’s duty is to pray and preach, and see that all the clergymen
who are under him do their duty, and instruct the people properly.
A soldier’s duty is to fight the enemies of his country in war, and
to obey the king, and to live quietly in peace. A judge’s duty is to
tell what the law is, to order the punishment of bad people, and to
prevent wickedness. A physician’s duty is to cure sick people; and
it is everybody’s duty to take care of their own families, and teach
them what is right and set them good examples.
It has pleased God to make all these things duties, and He requires
us to do them; and He has given us all quite time enough to pray
rightly, if we really and truly love God enough to do our duties to
please Him. So King Edward, if he had loved God the right way, would
have attended to his kingdom himself, instead of letting other people
rule it.
However, in King Edward’s time, people thought that everybody who
prayed so much must be very holy, and therefore after his death he
received the name of Edward the Confessor, or Saint.
One of the great men who ruled England in Edward’s time was Godwin
Earl of Wessex. He was very clever, and very powerful. After his
death, his son Harold became Earl of Wessex, and did all the king
ought to have done himself, and tried to keep strangers out of the
country.
But King Edward, who had been kindly treated in Normandy, when the
Danes drove him out of England, had brought a great many Normans home
with him; and when they saw how pleasant England was, and what plenty
of corn, and cattle, and deer there was in it, and how healthy and
strong the people grew, they determined to try and get the kingdom
for their duke as soon as Edward was dead. And they told the duke
what they thought of, and he came from Normandy to see King Edward,
and to get him to promise that he should be king of England, as King
Edward had no son.
Now I think this was not right, because Edward had a relation who
ought to have been king, and his name was Edgar, and he was called
the Atheling, which means the Prince.
Perhaps if Edward the Confessor had taken pains to get the great
men in England to promise to take care of Edgar Atheling, and make
him king, they would have done so; but as they found he wanted to
give England to the Duke of Normandy, a great many of them thought
it would be better to have an English earl for a king, because the
English earl would be glad to protect his own countrymen, but that a
Duke of Normandy would most likely take their houses and lands and
give them to the Normans. So they were willing that Harold, the son
of Earl Godwin, who already acted as if he were under-king, should be
the real king after Edward’s death.
In the meantime King Edward was busy in building Westminster Abbey,
and encouraging Norman bishops and soldiers to come to England, where
he gave them some of the best places to live in.
I must tell you, however, of one very useful thing that was done in
the reign of Edward. He found that some part of England was ruled by
laws made by King Alfred or other English kings, before his time,
and some parts by laws made by the Danes, and that the people could
not agree about these laws; so he ordered some wise men to collect
all these laws together, and to read them over, and to take the best
English laws, and the best Danish laws, and put them into one book,
that all the people might be governed by the same law.
King Edward died after he had reigned twenty-two years in England,
and the English gave the kingdom to Harold the under-king. But he had
a very short reign. As soon as it was known in the North of England
that Edward was dead, Harold’s brother, Tostig, who had been driven
out of his earldom over that part of the country, came back with
the King of Norway to fight against Harold. But the other English
people joined Harold, and went to battle against Tostig, who was soon
killed, and Harold might have been king of all England.
But while Harold was in the North the Duke of Normandy came over to
England with a great number of ships full of soldiers, and landed
in Sussex. As soon as Harold heard of this, he went with his army
to drive the Normans away; but he was too late; they had got into
the country, and in a great battle fought near Hastings, Harold, the
English king, was killed, and the Duke of Normandy made himself king
of England.
I do not think the English would have allowed Duke William to be king
so easily, if he had not told them that Edward the Confessor had
promised that he should be king, and persuaded them that the prince
Edgar Atheling, who, as I told you, ought to have been king after
Edward, was too silly ever to govern the kingdom well.
[Illustration: William rallies the Normans at Hastings.]
But after the English Harold was killed, and Edgar Atheling, with his
sister, had gone to Scotland, to escape from the Normans, the English
thought it better to submit to William, who had ruled his own country
so wisely, that they hoped he would be a good king in England.
[Illustration: Battle of Hastings.]
CHAPTER XIV.
WILLIAM I.—1066 to 1087.
How William the First made cruel and oppressive laws; how he took the
land from the English and gave it to the Norman barons, and how he
caused Domesday Book to be written.
A great change was made in England after the Duke of Normandy became
king.
All the Normans spoke French, and the English spoke their own
language; so at first they could not understand one another. By
degrees the Normans learnt English; and some of their French words
got into our language; but the old English was for the most part the
same as that which you and I speak and write now.
The Normans were used to live in finer and larger houses than the
English. So when they came to England they laughed at the long
low wooden houses they found, and built high castles of stone for
themselves, and made chimneys in their rooms, with the hearth on
one side, instead of in the middle of the floor, as I told you the
English had it in King Athelstane’s time.
There was one law the Normans made, which vexed the English very much.
In the old times, anybody who found a wild animal, such as a deer,
or a hare, or a partridge, or pheasant, in his fields or garden, or
even in the woods, might kill it, and bring it home for his family
to eat. But when the Normans came, they would not allow anybody but
themselves, or some of the English noblemen, to hunt and kill wild
animals; and if they found a poor person doing so, they used either
to put out his eyes, to cut off his hand, or to make him pay a great
deal of money; and this they called “The Forest Law.” I must say I
think the new King William behaved very cruelly about this.
He was so fond of hunting himself, although he would not let the poor
Saxons hunt, that he turned the people out of a great many villages
in Hampshire, and pulled down their houses, and spoilt their gardens,
to make a great forest for himself and the Norman barons to hunt in,
and that part of the country is still called “The New Forest.”
There was another rule which William made, and which the English did
not like, but I am not sure whether it was wrong; and as he made the
Normans obey it, as well as the English, it was fair at least.
I must tell you what it was; he made everybody put out their fires at
eight o’clock at night, at the ringing of a church bell, which was
called the Curfew Bell. Now, though it might have been of use to some
people to keep a fire later, yet, as almost all the houses, both in
the towns and the country, were built of wood, it was much safer for
everybody to put out the fire early.
I should never have done, if I were to tell you all the changes that
were made in dear old England by the Normans. But there is one I must
try to explain to you, because it will help you to understand the
rest of our history. When William was quite settled in England, which
was not till after seven years, when the poor English were tired of
trying to drive him and his Normans away, he took the houses and
lands from the English thanes and earls, and gave them to the Norman
noblemen, who were called barons.
This was unjust. But as the Normans had conquered the English, they
were obliged to submit even to this. But William made an agreement
with the barons to whom he gave the lands of the old thanes, that
when he went to war they should go with him; that they should have
those lands for themselves and their children, instead of being paid
for fighting, as soldiers and their officers are now, and that they
should bring with them horses and arms for themselves, and common men
to fight also.
Some of the barons who had very large shares of land given to them,
were bound to take a hundred men or more to the wars; some, who
had less land, took fifty, or even twenty. The greatest barons had
sometimes so much land, that it would have been troublesome to them
to manage it all themselves; so they divided it among gentlemen
whom they knew, and made them promise to go with them to the wars,
and bring their servants, in the same manner as the great barons
themselves did to the king.
Now these lands were called feuds, and the king was called the feudal
lord of the barons, because they received the _feud_ or piece of
land from him, and they in return promised to serve him; and the
great barons were called the feudal lords of the small barons, or
gentlemen, for the same reason. And when these feuds were given by
the king to the great baron, or by a great baron to another, the
person to whom it was given knelt down before his feudal lord, and
kissed his hand, and promised to serve him. This was called _homage_.
There is only one more thing that I shall tell you about William. He
sent people to all parts of England, to see what towns and villages
there were, and how many houses and people in them; and he had all
the names written in a book called “Domesday Book.” Domesday means
the day of judging, and this book enabled him to judge how much land
he had, and how many men he could raise to fight for him.
At last King William died. He received a hurt from his horse being
startled at the flames of a small town in France, which his soldiers
had set on fire, and was carried to the Abbey of St. Gervase, near
Rouen, where he died. He was Duke of Normandy and afterwards King
of England, and is sometimes called William the Conqueror, because
he conquered English Harold at the battle of Hastings. He was very
cruel and very passionate; he took money and land from every one who
offended him; and, as I have told you, vexed the English, and indeed
all the poor, very much. And this is being a tyrant, rather than a
king.
He had a very good wife, whose name was Matilda, but his sons were
more like him than like their mother; however, you shall read about
the two youngest of them, who came to be kings of England.
CHAPTER XV.
WILLIAM II.—1087 to 1100.
How William the Second and Robert of Normandy besieged their brother
Henry in his castle; how William was killed in the New Forest, and
how London Bridge and Westminster Hall were built in his reign.
As soon as William the Conqueror’s death was known in England, his
second son, William, who was called Rufus, which means the Red,
persuaded the noblemen in England to make him king, instead of his
elder brother, Robert. I dare say the noblemen were soon sorry they
did so; for although none of William the Conqueror’s sons were very
good, this William Rufus was the worst of all. Robert became Duke of
Normandy, but his brother William gave him a great deal of money,
to let him govern the dukedom, while he went to fight in the Holy
Land, where a great many warriors went to rescue Jerusalem from the
Mahometans. These were called _Crusaders_, which means “soldiers of
the Cross,” and their wars were called the Crusades.
King William Rufus then ruled over Normandy and England too, and
behaved as a much worse tyrant than his father.
I must tell you a story about William and his two brothers, Robert
and Henry. Robert, the eldest, as I told you, became Duke of
Normandy, when William made himself King of England, but they neither
of them thought of giving anything to Henry; so he got a good many
soldiers together, and went to live in a castle on the top of a high
rock, called St. Michael’s Mount, close to the sea-shore of Normandy,
and he and his soldiers used to come out and plunder the fields of
both Robert and William, whenever they had an opportunity. This
was wrong in Henry in every way, but chiefly because he robbed and
frightened people who had never done him any harm, and had nothing to
do with the unkindness of his brothers.
Well, Robert and William collected an army, and went to his castle,
to drive him out, and they contrived to keep him so closely confined,
that neither he nor his people could get out to fetch water. Robert
and William heard of this, and that the people in the castle were
dying of thirst. William was very glad, because he said they would
soon get the castle; but Robert, who was much more generous,
immediately gave his brother Henry leave to send and get as much
water as he wanted; and besides that, Robert sent him some of the
best of his own wine. Henry soon after gave up the castle.
This story shows you how cruel William was to his own brother; so you
may think he did not behave better to his subjects, and that they
were not very sorry when he was killed by accident. Some tell the
story of his death in this manner:—One day when he was hunting in
the New Forest, made by his father, which you read about in the last
chapter, he had a gentleman named Walter Tyrrel with him, who was
reckoned skilful in shooting with a bow and arrow. This gentleman,
seeing a fine deer run by, wished to show the king how well he could
shoot; but he was a little too eager, and his arrow, instead of going
straight to the deer, touched a tree, which turned it aside, and it
killed the king, who was standing near the tree. But the truth is
that it was never known who shot the arrow that killed the wicked
king.
Some poor men found William’s body lying in the forest, and carried
it to Winchester, where it was buried.
William Rufus does not deserve to be remembered for many things, yet
we must not forget that he built a good bridge over the river Thames,
just where the old London bridge stood, till it was taken down, when
the fine new bridge was finished; besides that, he built Westminster
Hall, very near the Abbey, and when you walk to Westminster you will
see part of the very wall raised by him. But its large and beautiful
roof was built three hundred years later by Richard II.
CHAPTER XVI.
HENRY I.—1100 to 1135.
How Henry the First married the English Princess Maude; how his son
William was drowned, and how he desired that his daughter Maude
should be Queen after his own death.
As soon as the nobles and bishops knew that William Rufus was dead,
they determined that his younger brother, Henry, should be king,
because Robert, the eldest, was too busy about the wars in the Holy
Land, which I mentioned before.
Now Henry was brave and clever, like his father, but he was not quite
so cruel.
He was very fond of books, and encouraged learned men, and his
subjects gave him the name of Beauclerk, which means fine scholar. He
married Matilda, whose uncle was Edgar Atheling, who ought to have
been King of England after Edward the Confessor. The English people
were pleased to have her for their queen, because they hoped she
would make Henry more kind to them than his brother and father had
been; and they called her “the good queen Maude” (which is short for
Matilda). She had two children, William and Maude; but William was
not at all like his good and kind mother, who died when he was a boy.
He loved to drink wine, and was very quarrelsome; and he used to say
that, if ever he became king, he would treat the English worse than
they had ever been treated before: so nobody but the Normans cared
for him. But he never came to be king, as I will tell you.
He had been with his father into Normandy, and when they were to
return, instead of coming in the same ship with his father, he chose
to come in one called the White Ship, where there were a number
of foolish young people like himself. They amused themselves so
long ashore, drinking before they set off, that they were a great
way behind the king, who got safe to England. The prince and his
companions had drunk so much wine, that they did not know what they
were about, so that the White Ship ran on a rock, and, not being
able to manage the vessel properly, they were all drowned. I have
read that Prince William might have been saved, but he tried to save
a lady who was his near relation, and in trying to save her he was
drowned himself; and this is the only good thing I know about Prince
William. You may think how sorry King Henry was to hear that his only
son was drowned.
Indeed, I have read that nobody ever saw him smile afterwards. He had
lost his good wife, and his only son, and now he had nobody to love
but his daughter Maude.
When Maude was very young, she was married to the German Emperor,
Henry the Fifth; but he died very soon; however, people always called
her the Empress Maude. And then her father made her marry a nobleman,
named Geoffrey, who was Count or Earl of Anjou; and she had three
sons, the eldest of whom came to be one of the greatest of our kings.
Now I told you King Henry Beauclerk was very fond of his daughter.
Her eldest son was named Henry after him; and he meant that his
daughter Maude should be Queen of England after he died, and that her
little Henry should be the next king.
But he was afraid that the Norman barons would not like to obey
either a woman or a little child, and that they would make some
grown-up man of the royal line king instead; and he did everything
in his power to make all the barons promise to make Maude queen
after his death. But they would not all promise; and I am sorry to
say that some of those who did forgot their promise as soon as he was
dead, and took the part of Stephen, as I will tell you by and by.
While Henry was busy, doing all he could to make his daughter queen,
he died.
I must tell you the cause of his death; for I think it is a good
lesson to all of us. He had been told by the physicians that he ought
not to eat too much, but one day a favorite dish was brought to his
table (I have read that it was potted lampreys), and he ate such a
quantity that it made him ill, and so he died, after he had been king
thirty-five years.
CHAPTER XVII.
STEPHEN.—1135 to 1154.
How Stephen was made king; and of the civil wars in his reign.
As soon as King Henry was dead, his nephew Stephen, who was very
handsome, and brave, and good-natured, was made king. A great many
Norman barons, and English lords and bishops, went with him to
Westminster Abbey, and there the Archbishop of Canterbury put a crown
upon his head, and they all promised to obey him as their king. But
the other barons, and lords, and bishops, who, as I told you before,
had promised to obey the Empress Maude as Queen of England, and to
keep the kingdom for her young son Henry, sent to fetch them from
Anjou, which was their own country, and tried to make her queen. I am
sorry to say that the friends of Stephen and the friends of Maude
began to fight, and never ceased for fifteen years.
This fighting was very mischievous to the country; whole towns were
destroyed by it; and while the war between Stephen and Maude lasted,
the corn-fields were laid waste, so that many people died for want of
bread; the flocks of sheep and herds of cattle were killed, or died
for want of care; the trees were cut down, and nobody planted young
ones; and there was nothing but misery from one end of the kingdom to
the other. This sort of war between two parties of the people of the
same country is called civil war, and it is the most dreadful of all
warfare.
If strangers come to fight, and all the people of a country join to
drive them away, the mischief they may have done is soon repaired;
and the people of a country love one another the better because they
have been defending one another.
But in a civil war, when people in the same country fight, it is not
so. The very next door neighbours may take different sides, and then
the mischief they may do one another will be always remembered, and
they will dislike one another even after peace is made.
I have heard things so dreadful about civil wars, you would hardly
believe them. It is said even that two brothers have taken different
sides in a civil war, and that when there was a battle it has
happened that one brother has killed the other, and when he found out
what he had done, he was ready to kill himself with grief. Only think
how dreadful such a thing is, and how sorry the father and mother of
those brothers must have been!
These sad wars lasted more than fifteen years: at last everybody got
tired of them, and it was settled by some of the wisest of the barons
and bishops that Stephen should be king as long as he lived; that
Maude should live in Anjou; and that when Stephen died, her son Henry
should be king of England.
Stephen did not live very long after this agreement was made. He had
some very good qualities, but the wars, which troubled all England
while he reigned, prevented their being of much use. He was King of
England for nineteen years.
CHAPTER XVIII.
HENRY II.—1154 to 1189.
How Henry the Second did many good things for England; how the gentry
went hawking; how Strongbow conquered a great part of Ireland; and
how the kings of Scotland became under-kings to the kings of England.
We have so much to learn about King Henry the Second, that I think I
must divide the account of his reign into two chapters.
In the first, I will write all the best things I remember; and in the
second, all the bad. Some things that are middling will be at the end
of the first, and some at the end of the second chapter.
It was a glad day for England when young Henry, the son of Maude, was
made king. He was wise and learned, and brave and handsome, besides
being the richest king of his time, and having the largest estates.
The first thing he did when he was king was to send away all Norman
and French soldiers, who had been brought to England to fight either
for Stephen or for Maude. He paid them their wages, and sent them
to their own homes, along with their captains, because he thought
English soldiers were best to defend England, and that foreign
soldiers were not likely to be kind to the poor English people.
He next made the barons, whether Norman or English, pull down a great
many of their castles, because robbers used to live in them, and,
after they had robbed the farmers of their cattle or corn, they used
to hide themselves in these castles, and the judges could not get at
them to punish them.
Then King Henry built up the towns that had been burnt in the wars of
Stephen, and sent judges to do justice all through the land, and the
people began to feel safe, and to build their cottages, and plough
the fields; and the country was once more fit to be called dear merry
England.
Instead of fighting and quarrelling with one another, the young men
used to make parties together, and ride out with their dogs, to hunt
the foxes and deer in the forests, and sometimes the ladies went with
them, to see a kind of sport that was very pretty, but it is not used
now. Instead of dogs, to catch wild animals, they used a bird called
a hawk to catch partridges and pigeons for them. It took a great deal
of trouble to teach the hawks, and the man who taught them and took
care of them was called a Falconer, because the best kind of hawk is
the falcon.
When the ladies and gentlemen went hawking the falcons used to sit
upon their left wrists while they held a little chain in their hands;
and there was a hood over the falcon’s heads, that their eyes might
be kept clear. As soon as the party got into the fields they took
the hood off the birds’ eyes, and as soon as they saw any game they
loosed the little chain they held in their hands, and then the
falcons flew after the game; and the ladies and gentlemen rode up
after them to receive the game when the falcon had caught it.
King Henry loved hunting very well, but he was too wise to hunt much.
He spent most of his time in going about to see what wanted mending
after the sad civil war we read of in the last chapter; and he
employed the cleverest men he could find to put everything in order,
and made the wisest men judges; and he got some learned men to seek
out all the best laws that had ever been made in England; and, as the
long wars had made the people forget the laws, he ordered the judges
to go to all the towns by turns several times a year, and do justice
among all the English.
King Henry was very fond of learning, and gave money to learned men
and to those who made verses, or as we call them poets; and by and
by I dare say you will read about one that Henry was kind to, named
Wace, who wrote a poem about the ancient Britons, and another about
the ancient Normans.
Before I can tell you of a thing that was partly good and partly bad
for England in this King Henry’s reign, I must put you in mind that I
have told you nothing yet about IRELAND, the sister-island of Great
Britain. It was never conquered by the Romans; and the people were
as ignorant as the Britons before the Romans came, with just the
same sort of houses and clothes. They might have been in the same
state for many years if a very good man, whom the Irish called Saint
Patrick, had not gone from Britain to Ireland and taught the people
to be Christians; and he and some of his companions also taught them
to read; and the Irish people began to be a little more like those in
other parts of the world.
[Illustration: Dermot, King of Leinster, doing homage to Henry II.]
Ireland was divided into several kingdoms; and, in King Henry’s
time, their kings quarrelled sadly with one another. And one of them
came to Henry, and begged him to go to help him against his enemies.
But Henry had too much to do at home. However, he said that, if any
of his barons liked to go and help the Irish king, they might. And
the Irish king, whose name was Dermot, promised that if they could
punish or kill his enemies, he would call the King of England Lord
over Ireland, and that he and the rest of the Irish kings should be
his servants.
Then the Earl of Strigul, who was called Strongbow, and some other
noblemen, gathered all their followers together, and went to Ireland
to help Dermot; and, after a great deal of fighting, they conquered
that part of Ireland opposite to England, and drove the people over
to the other side; just as the English had driven the Britons to
Wales. From that time Ireland has always been under the same king
with England.
You remember, I am sure, that one part of Britain is called Scotland.
Now, at the time I am writing about, Scotland had kings of its own,
and was more like England than any other country; but it was much
poorer, and the people were ruder and wilder.
The king of Scotland, named William the Lion, having heard that King
Henry was in Normandy, thought it would be a good opportunity to take
an army into England, to rob the towns and carry away the corn and
cattle; and so he did. But several of the noblemen and bishops got
together a number of English soldiers and marched to the North, and
fought King William and took him prisoner.
William was sent to London, and King Henry would not set him free
till he had promised that, for the future, the kings of Scotland
should be only under-kings to the kings of England; and from that
time the kings of England always said Scotland was theirs; but it was
long before England and Scotland became one kingdom.
I do not think this was quite good for England, though the English
drove the Scots home again, because it made many quarrels and wars
between England and Scotland. As I have now mentioned the best part
of Henry the Second’s reign, we must end our long chapter.
CHAPTER XIX.
How the Popes wanted to be masters in England; how that led to the
murder of Becket; how Queen Eleanor made her sons rebel against their
father; why Henry the Second was called Plantagenet.
It is a pity that we must think of the bad things belonging to
Henry’s reign.
I dare say you remember the chapter in which I told you how the
Angles and Saxons became Christians, and that a bishop of Rome sent
Augustine and some companions to teach the people. Now the bishops
of Rome called themselves popes, to distinguish themselves from
other bishops; and, as most of the good men who taught the different
nations to be Christians had been sent from Rome, the popes said they
ought to be chief of all the bishops and clergymen in every country.
This might have been right, perhaps, if they had only wanted to know
that everybody was well taught. But they said that the clergymen were
their servants, and that neither the kings nor judges of any country
should punish them, or do them good, without the pope’s leave. This
was foolish and wrong. Although clergymen are in general good men,
because they are always reading and studying what is good, yet some
of them are as wicked as other men, and ought to be judged and
punished for their wickedness in the same manner.
And so King Henry thought.
But the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose name was Thomas Becket,
thought differently.
This Becket wanted to be as great a man as the king, and tried to
prevent the proper judges from punishing wicked clergymen, and wanted
to be their judge himself. And there were sad quarrels between the
king and Becket on that account.
At last, one day, after a very great dispute, Henry fell into a
violent passion, and said he wished Becket was dead. Four of his
servants, who heard him, and wished to please him, went directly to
Canterbury, and, finding Archbishop Becket in church, they killed him
with great cruelty.
You may think how sorry King Henry was that he had been in such a
passion; for, if he had not, his servants would never have thought of
killing Becket. It gave the king a great deal of trouble before he
could make the people forgive the murder of the archbishop. And this
was one of the very bad things in Henry’s life.
There was another bad thing, which perhaps caused the king more pain
than the killing of Becket. It was owing, mostly, to something wrong
which the king had been persuaded to do when he was very young.
You shall hear. I told you how very rich King Henry was; the thing
that first made him so was his early marriage to one of the richest
ladies in the world, although she was very ill-tempered, and in all
ways a bad woman. It is said that she was handsome; but I am sure she
must have been wicked, for she was once married to a French king, who
found her out in such wicked actions, that he sent her away, and gave
her back all her money and estates, as he did not choose to have so
bad a wife.
Now Henry, instead of choosing a good wife, when only nineteen years
old married this bad woman for her riches.
Her name was Eleanor of Aquitaine, and she had four sons, Henry,
Richard, Geoffrey, and John. She brought up these children very
badly, and, instead of teaching them to love their father, who was
very kind to them, she encouraged them to disobey him in everything.
When her son Henry was only sixteen, she told him he would make a
good king, and never rested till his good-natured father caused him
to be crowned king, and trusted a great deal more to him than was
right; till at last young Henry became so conceited that he wanted to
be king altogether, and, by the help of this wicked mother, and of
the King of France, he got an army and made war against his father.
However, he did not gain anything by his bad behaviour, and soon
afterwards he became very ill, and died without seeing his father;
and, when he was dying, he begged his servants to go and say to the
king his father that he was very sorry indeed for his wickedness, and
very unhappy to think of his undutiful behaviour. The king was even
more unhappy than the prince had been, for he loved his son dearly.
I am sorry to say the other three sons of Henry and Eleanor did not
behave much better. Richard was as violent in temper as his mother,
but he had some good qualities, which made his father hope he might
become a good king when he himself was dead. But Queen Eleanor, with
the help of the King of France, contrived to make Richard and his
brother Geoffrey fight against their father. As for John, though he
was too young to do much harm himself while King Henry lived, yet
he became as wicked as the rest when he grew up. Geoffrey married
Constance, Princess of Brittany, but he died soon after. He had only
one son, named Arthur about whom I will tell you more in a short time.
Now Henry’s great fault, in marrying a bad woman because she was
rich, brought the greatest punishment with it, for she taught her
children to be wicked, and to rebel against their father. And there
is nothing in the world so unhappy as a family where the children
behave ill to their parents.
I beg now, my dear little Arthur, that you will take notice, that
all the good belonging to Henry’s reign concerns the country. While
he was doing his duty, being kind to his subjects, repairing the
mischief done in the civil wars, and taking care that justice was
done, and that learning and learned men were encouraged, he was happy.
His bad actions always hurt himself. If he had not given way to his
passion, Thomas à Becket would not have been killed by his servants,
and he would not have suffered so much sorrow and vexation.
And if he had not married a woman whom he knew to be wicked, his
children might have been comforts to him instead of making war upon
him; and they might have been better kings for England after his
death.
Henry the Second has often been called Henry Plantagenet. His father
was the first person in his family to whom that name was given, and I
will tell you why.
When people went to battle long ago, to keep their heads from being
wounded, they covered them with iron caps, called helmets; and there
were bars like cages over their faces, so that their best friends did
not always know them with their helmets on. Therefore, they used to
stick something into their caps, by which they might be known; and
Henry’s father used to wear in his helmet a branch of broom, called
planta genista, or shortly Plantagenet; and so he got his name from
it.
CHAPTER XX.
RICHARD I.—1189 to 1199.
How Richard the First went to fight in foreign countries, and
the evil things that happened in his absence; how the Jews were
ill-treated; how King Richard was taken prisoner; how he was
discovered and set at liberty, and how he was killed in battle.
You remember that Henry the Second’s eldest son, Henry, died before
his father; his second son, Richard, therefore, became king of
England. He was called Richard of the Lion’s Heart, because he was
very brave.
Now, in the time when King Richard lived, people thought a great deal
more of kings who fought and conquered large kingdoms, than of those
who tried to make their own people happy at home in a small kingdom.
And so it was in England. People really began to forget all the
good their late wise king, Henry Plantagenet, had done, and to like
Richard Plantagenet better, because he told them he would go to war,
and do great feats of arms at a great distance, and that he would not
only make his own name famous, but that their dear England should
be heard of all over the world; and that, when he, and the English
gentlemen and soldiers who would go with him, came back, they would
bring great riches, as well as a great deal of fame. By fame, I mean
that sort of praise which is given to men for bravery, or wisdom, or
learning, or goodness, when they are a great deal braver, or wiser,
or more learned, or better than other people.
Now, of all these qualities, bravery is the least useful for kings;
yet I believe that their people as well as themselves often like it
the best—at least it was so with Richard. He had no sooner invited
the English to go to the wars with him, than the nobles who had
the large feuds, or fiefs, that I told you of in the chapter about
William the Conqueror, and the gentlemen who had the small fiefs
under the nobles, and all their servants, made ready to go.
And they went to the same wars that William the Conqueror’s son,
Robert, went to; for those wars, which were called Crusades, lasted
a long time, but I cannot give you an account of them now. So I will
tell you what happened in England when Richard and the best noblemen
and soldiers were gone.
First of all, many of the wise rules of King Henry were broken, as
soon as the people found there was no king in England to watch over
them. Then, as the barons had taken away not only all their own
money, but also that of the farmers and townspeople, from whom they
could borrow any, everybody was poor, and some people were really
starved. Many of those who could not find any employment turned
robbers, and plundered the people; and the judges were not able to
punish them, because the king had taken all the good soldiers with
him, and there was nobody to catch the robbers and bring them before
the judges.
There was a very famous robber in those times, called Robin Hood. He
had his hiding-place in the great forest of Sherwood, in the very
middle of England. He only robbed rich lords or bishops, and was kind
to the common people, who liked him, and made merry songs about him,
and his three friends, Friar Tuck, Little John, and Allan-a-Dale.
Then there was another bad thing owing to Richard’s being in the
wars so far off. He was often wanting money to pay his soldiers,
and the English, who were proud of their brave king, in spite of
all they suffered from his being so far away, used to sell anything
they had for the sake of sending the king what he wanted. This was
very right, while they only sent their own money. But there happened
at that time to be a great many Jews in England: these unfortunate
people, who have no country of their own, lived at least in peace
while wise Henry was king. They were very industrious, and taught
the English many useful things. They were the best physicians and
the best merchants in the country. But the people were jealous of
them for their riches, and they did not like their strange dress, nor
their strange language. So now, when there was no king in England
to protect these poor Jews, they fell upon them, and robbed them of
their money and goods, which they pretended they meant to send to
Richard. But most of the money was kept by Prince John and some of
the worst of the barons, who had stayed at home; and they encouraged
the people to treat the Jews very cruelly, besides robbing them, and
they killed a great many. I am sure that, when you are old enough to
read of the bad treatment of the Jews at York, you will be ashamed to
think such cruel things could have been done in England.
There was one person less to blame for the bad things done at this
time than anybody else; I mean Queen Eleanor.
She behaved as well to her son Richard as she had behaved ill to her
husband, and while he was at the wars she tried hard to persuade her
youngest son, John, not to rebel against Richard, as he was striving
to do. All the foolish and all the wicked barons, both Norman and
English, followed Prince John; but there were enough good barons to
defend Richard, though he was so far off; and a good many bishops
joined them, and prevented John from making himself king.
When Richard of the Lion’s heart, as he was called on account of his
great courage, heard how much the people of England were suffering,
he resolved to come home; but as he was coming the shortest way, one
of his enemies contrived to take him prisoner, and to shut him up in
a castle, so that it was a long time before anybody knew what had
become of the King of England.
That enemy was Leopold, Duke of Austria, with whom Richard had
quarrelled when they were at the Crusade. Now Richard, who was really
good-natured, although he quarrelled now and then, had forgotten all
about it; but Leopold was of a revengeful temper, and as soon as he
had an opportunity he took him, as I have told you, to a castle in
his country; but he had soon to give him up to his lord, the Emperor,
who imprisoned him in a strong tower.
[Illustration: King Richard I. made prisoner by the Duke of Austria.]
In old times a beautiful story was told about the way the English
found out where Richard was. It was this. Richard had a servant
called Blondel, who loved his master much. When Richard did not come
home, Blondel became very anxious, and went in search of him. He
travelled from one castle to another for some time, without finding
his master. At last one evening, when he was very tired, he sat down
near the castle of Trifels to rest, and while he was there he heard
somebody singing, and fancied the voice was like the king’s. After
listening a little longer, he felt sure it was, and then he began to
sing himself, to let the king know he was there; and the song he sang
was one the king loved. Some say the king made it. Then Richard was
glad, for he found he could send to England, and let his people know
where he was.
This is the old story. But it was in another way that the people in
England heard of the captivity of their king. The moment they did so,
they determined to do everything they could to get him home. They
sent to the Emperor to beg him to set Richard at liberty; but he
said that the English should not have their king until they gave him
a great deal of money; and when they heard that, they all gave what
they could; the ladies even gave their gold necklaces, and ornaments
of all kinds, to send to the Emperor that he might set Richard free.
At length the king came home; but he found that while he was away,
Philip, King of France, had been making war on his subjects in
Normandy; and, besides that, helping his brother John to disturb the
peace in England; so he went to Normandy to punish Philip very soon
afterwards, and was killed by an arrow shot from a castle called
Chaluz, when he had only been king ten years.
Many people praise and admire Richard of the Lion’s heart, because
he was so brave and hardy in war. For my part, I should have liked
him better if he had thought a little more about taking care of his
country; and if he had stayed in it and done justice to his people,
and encouraged them to be good and industrious, as his wise father
did.
CHAPTER XXI.
JOHN.—1199 to 1216.
Why King John was called Lackland; how he killed his nephew Arthur,
and how the barons rebelled against him, and made him sign the Great
Charter.
John, the youngest son of Henry Plantagenet, became king after the
death of his brother Richard.
His reign was a bad one for England, for John was neither so wise as
his father, nor so brave as his brother. Besides, he was very cruel.
At first he had been called John Lackland, because his father had
died before he was old enough to get possession of the lands that
his father wished to give him. And not long after he became king he
lost Normandy and all the lands that had belonged to his grandfather,
Geoffrey of Anjou. He did not know how to govern England so as to
repair the ill it had suffered while Richard was absent at the wars,
so that the Pope called upon the King of France to go to England,
and drive John away and make himself king instead; and then John was
so base that he went to a priest called a Nuncio, or Ambassador,
who came from Rome, and really gave him the crown of England, and
promised that England should belong to the Pope, if the Pope would
only keep him safe.
You cannot wonder that John was disliked; but when I have told you
how he treated a nephew of his, called Prince Arthur, you will, I
am sure, dislike him as much as I do. Some people thought that this
Prince Arthur ought to have been King of England, because he was the
son of John’s elder brother, Geoffrey. And John was afraid that the
barons and other great men would choose Arthur to be king, so he
contrived to get Arthur into his power.
[Illustration: Prince Arthur and Hubert.]
He wished very much to kill him at once; but then he was afraid
lest Arthur’s mother should persuade the King of France and the
other princes to make war upon him to avenge Arthur’s death. Then
he thought that, if he put out his eyes, he would be so unfit for a
king, that he should be allowed to keep him a prisoner all his life;
and he actually gave orders to a man named Hubert de Burgh to put his
eyes out, and Hubert hired two wicked men to do it.
But when they came with their hot irons to burn his eyes out, Arthur
knelt down and begged hard that they would do anything but blind him;
he hung about Hubert’s neck, and kissed and fondled him so much, and
cried so bitterly, that neither Hubert nor the men hired to do it
could think any more of putting out his eyes, and so they left him.
But his cruel uncle, John, was determined Arthur should not escape.
He took him away from Hubert, and carried him to a tower at Rouen,
the chief town of Normandy, and shut him up there.
One night, soon afterwards, it is said that Arthur heard a knocking
at the gate; and when it was opened, you may think how frightened he
was to see his cruel uncle standing there, with a servant as bad as
himself, whose name was Maluc; and he was frightened with reason: for
the wicked Maluc seized him by the arm, and stabbed him in the breast
with his dagger, and then threw his body into the river Seine, which
was close to the tower, while King John stood by to see it done.
It was for this wicked action that his grandfather’s estates in
France, as well as the Dukedom of Normandy, were taken away from King
John.
For his faults in governing England so badly, he had a different
punishment. All his subjects agreed that, as he was so cruel as to
put some people in prison, and to kill others, without any reason,
instead of letting the proper judges find out whether they deserved
punishment or not, they must try to force him to govern better. And
for this purpose the great barons and the bishops, and gentlemen,
from all parts of England, joined together, and they sent word to
John, that, if he wished to be king any longer, he must promise to do
justice, and to let the English people be free, as the English kings
had made them before the Conquest.
At first, John would not listen to the message sent by the barons,
and would have made a civil war in the country; but he found that
only seven of the barons were his friends, and there were more than
a hundred against him. Then he said, that if the greatest barons and
bishops would meet him at a place called Runnymede, near Windsor,
he would do what they wished for the good of England. And they met
the king there; and, after some disputing, they showed him a sheet
of parchment, on which they had written down a great many good laws,
to prevent the kings of England from being cruel and unjust, and to
oblige them to let the people be free.[1] King John was very much
vexed when he read what they had written; but as he could not prevail
upon them to let him be their king, if he did not agree to do what
they wished, he put his seal at the end of the writing, and so he was
obliged to do as the barons desired him to do.
This parchment is called the Great Charter, in English. Most people
call it by its Latin name, which is Magna Charta. Now you must
remember this name, and that King John put his seal upon it at
Runnymede—because it is of great consequence, even to us who live
now, that our king should keep the promises John made to the English
people at Runnymede.
A good king would have been glad to promise these things to his
people, and would have liked to keep his word. But as John was
passionate and greedy, it vexed him very much not to be allowed to
put people in prison, or to rob them of their money or their houses,
when he pleased.
[Illustration: King John granting Magna Charta.]
If John had been honest, and had tried to keep his word, he might
have lived happily in England, although he had lost Normandy. But he
was always trying to cheat the people and the barons, and did not
keep the promises he made in Magna Charta; and he made everybody
in England so angry, that they allowed the King of France’s son to
come to England, and make war upon John. So that all the rest of his
reign was very unhappy; for although many of the barons helped him to
defend himself from the French prince, when the Pope, who now thought
that England belonged to him, ordered them to do so, they never could
trust him, and he died very miserable, knowing that he was disliked
by everybody.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] If little Arthur has forgotten what I mean by the people being
free, let him read the eighth chapter over again.
CHAPTER XXII.
HENRY III.—1216 to 1272.
Why taxes are paid; how Henry the Third robbed the people; how Simon
de Montfort fought against King Henry, and made him agree not to tax
the people without the consent of the parliament.
The reign of John’s son, who was called Henry the Third, was very
long and very miserable. He was made king when he was only nine years
old, and there were civil wars for almost fifty years while he lived.
You must think that such a little boy as Henry was, when he was made
king, could not do much for himself, or anything at all for his
subjects. But he had a wise guardian, called the Earl of Pembroke,
who did many things to repair the mischief done by King John.
However, that wise man died very soon, and then the king behaved
so ill that there was nothing but quarrelling and fighting for the
greater part of his life.
I think you do not know what TAXES are; I must tell you, that you
may understand some things you must read about in History.
TAXES are the money which subjects pay to the king, or to those
persons who govern his kingdom for him.
I must now tell you why taxes are paid. Every man likes to live
safely in his own house; he likes to know that he and his wife,
and his children, may stay there without being disturbed, and that
they may go to sleep safely, and not be afraid that wild beasts, or
wicked men, or enemies like the old Danes, may come and kill them
while they are asleep. Next to his life and the lives of his wife and
children, a man likes to know that his money and his furniture are
safe in his house, and that his horses and cows, and his trees and
his corn-fields, are safe out of doors.
Now he could never have time to watch all these things himself, and
perhaps he might not be strong enough to fight and drive away the
wicked men who might try to rob or kill him; so he gives money, which
he calls taxes, to the king, who pays soldiers and sailors to keep
foreign enemies away, and policemen to watch the streets and houses,
to keep away thieves and robbers: besides he pays the judges to
punish men who are found doing anything wrong.
So you see that whoever wishes to live safely and comfortably ought
to pay some taxes.
Sometimes it happens that a king spends his money foolishly, instead
of putting it to the good uses I have mentioned, and then wishes to
get more, even by unjust means. And this is what King Henry and his
father, King John, were always trying to do. And they were so wicked
as to rob their subjects, many of whom they put into prison, or
threatened to kill, if they did not give them all they asked for, and
that was the beginning of the miserable civil wars in the time of
Henry the Third.
The whole story of these wars would be too long for us now. So I will
only tell you that one of the bravest men that fought against the
king was Simon de Montfort, who was a very wise man; and although he
was killed in a great battle, he had forced the king and parliament,
before he died, to observe a custom which is most useful even to us
who live now.
It is this: No king can make his subjects pay a tax without their own
consent or that of the parliament. Now, though several kings tried,
after this time, to get money by some other means than these, the
people would never allow them to do so, and their only trying to do
it always did themselves a great deal of mischief, as you will read
by and by.
And I want you to remember that Simon de Montfort was the first man
in England that called the people in the towns to send members to
parliament. This was in the year 1265. The common people loved him so
much that, when he was dead, they called him Sir Simon the Righteous.
I am afraid this is a very dull chapter, but you see it is very
short.
CHAPTER XXIII.
EDWARD I.—1272 to 1307.
How Edward the First learnt many good things abroad, and did many
more to make the people happy; how he caused the burgesses to come to
Parliament; how he made good laws; why he was called Longshanks.
When the unhappy King Henry the Third died, his eldest son Edward was
abroad, fighting in the same country where I told you William the
Conqueror’s eldest son Robert went, and where Richard of the Lion’s
heart spent the greatest part of his reign. When he heard his father
was dead he came home, and brought with him his very good wife,
Eleanor of Castile, who had saved his life in Syria, by taking great
care of him when he was wounded.
Edward was crowned king as soon as he came to England; he was as wise
as Henry the Second, and as brave as King Richard of the Lion’s heart.
His wisdom was shown in the manner in which he governed his people.
His bravery everybody had seen before he was king, and he showed it
afterwards in fighting against the Welsh and the Scotch, which I will
tell you about by and by.
While Edward was a young man, he travelled a great deal into
different countries, and whenever he saw anything done that he
thought good and right, he remembered it, that he might have the same
thing done in England when he was king.
When he was in Spain he married his good wife Eleanor; and as her
father and brother were wise kings, he learned a great many useful
things from them.
One thing was, how to take care of cows and horses much better than
the English had done before; and another thing was, to improve the
gardens and fields with many kinds of vegetables for eating, and with
new sorts of grass for the cattle. In return for what he learned in
Spain he sent some good sheep from England to that country, because
the sheep they had before were small, and had not such fine wool as
our sheep; but since the English sheep went to feed among the Spanish
hills, their wool has been the best in the world.
When King Edward came home to England, he determined to do everything
he could to make the people happy: he knew they could not be happy if
the laws were not obeyed; so he was determined that no wicked person
should escape without punishment, and that all good people might live
quietly, and do what they liked best.
I told you before that wise Simon de Montfort, who was killed in
Henry the Third’s reign, had got the king to observe the custom
of not taking money from the people without the consent of the
parliament or of the people themselves. This law King Edward improved
very much, and he improved the parliament too.
Edward, who was very wise, thought that, as there were a great many
more towns than there used to be in the olden times, and a great many
more people in all the towns, it would be a good thing if some of the
best men belonging to the largest towns came to the parliament. The
largest towns in England were then called burghs, and the richest
men who lived in them were called burgesses, and King Edward settled
that one or two burgesses out of almost every burgh should come along
with the great noblemen, and the bishops, and the gentlemen to the
parliament. I told you in the last chapter that Simon de Montfort did
this once; but Edward first made it the rule.
These burgesses made the parliament complete. In the first place,
there was the king to answer for himself; in the second place, the
great lords and bishops to answer for themselves; and, thirdly, the
gentlemen and burgesses to answer for the country gentlemen and the
farmers and the merchants and the shopkeepers. For a time the clergy
also sent persons to act for them; but they soon gave up doing so.
So King Edward the First made good rules about the parliament, which
were not much changed for a very long time. Besides that, he improved
the laws, so as to punish the wicked more certainly, and to protect
the lives and goods of everybody. And in these things Edward was one
of the best kings that ever reigned in England.
We will end this chapter here, while we can praise King Edward the
First,—who was, as I told you, wise and brave, and very handsome; but
people used to call him Longshanks, because his legs were rather too
long.
CHAPTER XXIV.
EDWARD I.—Continued.
How King Edward went to war with the Welsh; how Prince Llewellyn and
his brother David were put to death for defending their country; how
he made war upon Scotland, and put Sir William Wallace to death; and
how ambition was the cause of his cruelty.
I am afraid I must not praise King Edward so much, now we are come to
his wars, for he was twice very cruel indeed.
You remember that the old Britons were driven by the Angles and
Saxons out of England into different countries, and that most of them
went to live among the mountains in Wales, where the conquerors could
not easily get to them.
These Britons chose princes of their own: one to reign over them in
North Wales, one in South Wales, and one in Powys, which was between
the two. Many of these princes were very good rulers of the country,
and protected it from all enemies, and improved the people very much,
by making good laws.
I am sorry to say, however, that the princes of the different parts
of Wales sometimes quarrelled with one another, and very often
quarrelled with the English who lived nearest to Wales. They did so
while Edward was King of England, and he went to war with them, as
he said only to make their prince come to him and do him the homage
that the Welsh princes had done in former times. But, finding that he
could very easily conquer the first of them with whom he fought, he
determined to get all Wales for himself, by degrees, and to join it
forever with England.
Llewellyn was the last real Prince of Wales before it was taken by
the English kings. He loved a young lady called Elinor de Montfort
very much, for she was good and beautiful, and he intended to marry
her. She was the daughter of the brave Simon de Montfort who fought
against Henry the Third. She had been staying a little while in
France, and was coming to Wales in a ship, and was to be married
to Llewellyn as soon as she arrived. Unhappily, King Edward heard
of this, and sent a stronger ship to sea, and took the young lady
prisoner, and shut her up in one of his castles for more than two
years, and would not let the prince see her until he should do him
homage.
Llewellyn fought a great many battles to defend his native land. At
last he had no part of Wales left but Snowdon and the country round
it. Then he yielded to Edward, who gave him Elinor de Montfort to
wife. But he soon began to fight again, hoping that he might by
degrees get the better of the English, but at the last he was killed
by a soldier, who cut off his head and took it to King Edward, who
was then at Shrewsbury.
Edward was so glad to find that Llewellyn was dead, that he forgot
how unbecoming it is for really a brave man to be revengeful,
especially after an enemy as brave as himself is dead; and I am sorry
and ashamed to say that, instead of sending the head of Llewellyn to
his relations, to be buried with his body, he sent it to London, and
had it stuck up over one of the gates of the city with a wreath of
willow on it, because the Welsh people used to love to crown their
princes with willow.
Soon after the death of Llewellyn, his brother David was made
prisoner by the English. Edward treated him with still greater
cruelty than he had treated Llewellyn, and, after his head was cut
off, set it up over the same gate with his brother’s.
[Illustration: Death of Llewellyn, last of the Welsh Princes.]
It has been said, that because the _bards_ or poets of Wales used to
make verses, and sing them to their harps, to encourage the Welshmen
to defend their country and their own princes from Edward, he was so
cruel as to order them all to be put to death. I hope it is not true.
For two hundred years Wales was in a sad state. The English kings
did not rule it wisely; for they did not treat the Welsh so well as
they did the English. The Welsh, therefore, feeling this to be very
unjust, were often trying to set up princes for themselves. But at
last, a king of Welsh descent, named Henry the Eighth, thought it
right to make the Welsh and English equal: and from that time they
have lived happily together.
We must now speak of King Edward’s wars in Scotland.
I told you that, while Henry the Second was king, William, King of
Scotland, had made war in England; and after being taken prisoner and
brought to London, Henry had set him free, on his promising that the
kings of England should be lords over the kings of Scotland.
Now, it happened that while Edward the First was King of England,
Alexander, King of Scotland, died, and left no sons. The Scotch sent
to fetch Alexander’s granddaughter from Norway, where she was living
with her father, King Eric, that she might be their queen. But the
poor young princess died.
Two of her cousins, John Baliol and Robert Bruce, now wanted to be
king; but as they could not both be so, they agreed to ask King
Edward to judge between them; and King Edward was very glad, because
their asking him showed the people that they owned he was Lord of
Scotland, and he chose John Baliol to be king of Scotland.
You will read the story of all that John Baliol did in the history of
Scotland.
Edward watched Scotland very narrowly, and when any Scotsman thought
that King John had treated him unjustly, he would appeal for justice
to Edward, who said that, as he was Lord of Scotland, he would take
care that Scotland was governed properly; till at last John Baliol
went to war with Edward; but he was beaten, and the richest and best
part of Scotland was taken by Edward. He was very severe, nay, cruel,
to the Scots.
At last a gentleman named Sir William Wallace could not bear to have
the Scots so ill treated as they were by the English governors that
Edward sent into the country. So he went himself, or sent messengers
to all the barons and gentlemen he knew to beg them to join him, and
drive the English out of Scotland; and they did so, and might have
made their own country free, if Sir William Wallace had not been
taken prisoner and carried to London, where King Edward ordered his
head to be cut off; which was as wicked and cruel as his cutting off
the heads of the two Welsh princes.
This did not end the war in Scotland; for another Robert Bruce, who
had come to be king after Baliol, determined to do what Sir William
Wallace had begun; I mean, to drive the English out of Scotland; and
he made ready for a long and troublesome war, and King Edward did
the same; but when Edward had got to the border of Scotland with his
great army, to fight King Robert, he died.
If King Edward I. had been content to rule over his own subjects,
and to mend their laws, and encourage them to trade and to study, he
would have made them happier; and we who live now should have said he
deserved better to be loved.
Indeed, he did so much that was right and wise, that I am sorry we
cannot praise him in everything.
His greatest fault was ambition,—I mean, a wish to be above
everybody else, by any means. Now, ambition is good when it only
makes us try to be wiser and better than other people, by taking
pains with ourselves, and being good to the very persons we should
wish to get the better of.
But when ambition makes us try to get things that belong to others,
by all means, bad or good, it is wrong.
Ambition caused wise King Edward to forget himself, after conquering
the Prince of Wales, and to take Wales as if it were his own country,
that there might never be greater men in Wales than the kings of
England.
The ambition to be King of Scotland made Edward go to war with the
Scots, and made him so cruel as to cut off the head of Sir William
Wallace, because he wanted to save his country from being conquered
by Edward.
So you see ambition led Edward to do the two most cruel actions he
was ever guilty of.
CHAPTER XXV.
EDWARD II.—1307 to 1327.
Why Edward the Second was called Prince of Wales; how his idleness
and evil companions caused a civil war; how he was beaten by Robert
Bruce at Bannockburn; how the Queen fought against the King and
took him prisoner, and how her favorite, Mortimer, had King Edward
murdered.
Edward the Second was made king after his father’s death. He is often
called Edward of Caernarvon, because he was born at a town of that
name in Wales. He was the first English prince who was called Prince
of Wales.
Since his reign the eldest son of the King of England has almost
always been called so.
Edward of Caernarvon was the most unhappy man that ever was King of
England.
And this was in great part his own fault.
He was very fond of all kinds of amusements, and instead of taking
the trouble, while he was young, to learn what was good and useful
for his people, so as to make them happy, he spent all his time in
the company of young men as idle and as foolish as he was. One of the
first of these was called Pierce Gaveston. Edward the First had sent
that young man away, and on his death-bed begged his son not to take
him back again, for he would be sure to lead him into evil ways. But
the prince was obstinate, and chose to have him with him.
After Edward of Caernarvon became king, this same Gaveston caused him
a great deal of trouble. He made the king quarrel with his nobles,
who were very haughty and fierce, and did not like to see the king
always in the company of foolish young men.
Moreover, the queen, Isabella of France, was very proud and
hot-tempered, and did not strive to make the king better, as she
might have done had she been gentle and amiable.
The nobles were greatly vexed because Edward spent all the money they
had given to his father in making presents to Gaveston and his other
companions, so they joined together and made war upon the king. There
was civil war for many years; and so many wicked things were done in
that war, that I am sure you would not wish me to tell them. It ended
by Gaveston being killed by order of the barons.
This civil war was hardly over before the king made war against
Robert Bruce, the King of Scotland, and went with a large army into
Scotland; but he was beaten at the battle of Bannockburn in such a
manner that he was glad to get back to England, and to promise that
neither he nor any of the kings of England would call themselves
kings of Scotland again.
You would think that Edward would now have been wise enough neither
to vex the barons and the people by foolishly spending the money
trusted to him, nor to make himself disliked by choosing bad
companions. But I am sorry to say he did not grow wiser as he grew
older, and the queen behaved very foolishly and wickedly. The king
chose a favourite of the name of Spenser; the queen’s chief friend
was a baron named Mortimer.
Very soon there was another civil war: the queen kept her eldest
son Edward, the Prince of Wales, with her, and said she only fought
against the king for his sake; and that if she did not, the king
would give so much to Spenser that he would leave nothing for the
prince.
At last the queen and her friends took the king prisoner. They shut
him up in a castle called Berkeley Castle. They gave him bad food to
eat, and dirty water to drink and to wash himself with. They never
let him go into the open air to see any of his friends. This poor
king was very soon murdered. The queen’s favourite, Mortimer, being
afraid the people would be sorry for poor Edward, when they heard
how ill he had been used, and might perhaps take him out of prison
and make him king again, sent some wicked men secretly to Berkeley
Castle, and they killed the king in such a cruel way that his cries
and shrieks were heard all over the castle.
He had been king twenty years, but had not been happy one single year.
CHAPTER XXVI.
EDWARD III.—1327 to 1377.
How Queen Isabella was put in prison, and her favourite hanged; how
Queen Philippa did much good for the people; and how Edward the Third
went to war to conquer France.
When poor Edward of Caernarvon was murdered, his son Edward, who had
been made king in his place, was only fourteen years old.
Queen Isabella and her wicked friend Mortimer ruled the kingdom, as
they said, only for the good of young king Edward. But, in reality,
they cared for nothing but their own pleasure and amusement, and
behaved so ill to the people, that the young king’s uncles and some
other barons joined together against Mortimer. But he was too strong
for them, and beheaded one of the king’s uncles.
At last the young king had the spirit to seize Mortimer, and he was
hanged for a traitor. Queen Isabella was put in prison: but as she
was the king’s mother, he would not have her killed, although she was
so wicked, but gave her a good house to live in, instead of a prison,
and paid her a visit every year as long as she lived. Thus, the young
King Edward the Third, at eighteen years old, took the kingdom into
his own hands, and governed it wisely and happily.
In many things he was like his grandfather, Edward the First. He was
wise and just to his own subjects. He was fond of war, and sometimes
he was cruel.
I must tell you a little about his wife and children, before we speak
of his great wars.
His wife’s name was Philippa of Hainault. She was one of the best and
cleverest and most beautiful women in the world.
She was very fond of England, and did a great deal of good to the
people. A great many beautiful churches were built in Edward’s reign,
but it was Queen Philippa who encouraged the men who built them.
She paid for building a college and new schools in Oxford and other
places. She invited a French clergyman, named Sir John Froissart, to
England, that he might see everything, and write about it in the book
he called his Chronicles, which is the most amusing book of history I
ever read. Queen Philippa and her son, John of Gaunt, who was called
the Duke of Lancaster, loved and encouraged Chaucer, the first great
English poet. By and by, when you are a little older, you will like
to read the stories he wrote. Besides all this, there were some good
men who wished to translate the Bible into English, so that all the
people might read and understand it. The leader of these good men was
John Wiclif, the first great reformer of religion in England. In this
reign the great people began to leave off talking Norman French and
to talk English, almost like our English now. And the king ordered
the lawyers to conduct their business in English instead of French.
Queen Philippa had a great many children, all of whom she brought
up wisely and carefully. Her eldest son Edward was called the Black
Prince, it is said because he used to wear black armour. He was the
bravest and politest prince at that time in the world; and Queen
Philippa’s other sons and her daughters were all thought better than
any family of princes at that time.
We must now speak of the king and his wars. These wars made him leave
England, and go to foreign countries very often; but as he left Queen
Philippa to take care of the country while he was away, everything
went on as well as if he had been at home.
Soon after Edward became King of England, Charles, King of France,
who was Edward’s uncle, died. And as Charles had no children, Edward
thought he had a right to be King of France, rather than his cousin
Philip, who had made himself king on Charles’s death. The two cousins
disputed a good while as to who should be king. At last, as they
could not agree, they went to war, and this was the beginning of the
long wars which lasted for many kings’ reigns between France and
England.
In that time, a great many kings and princes, and barons, or, as they
began to be commonly called, nobles, did many brave and generous
deeds, and gained a great deal of honour for themselves, and glory
for their country; but the poor people, both in England and France,
suffered a great deal. The English parliament was so pleased that
our kings should overcome the French, that they allowed the king
to have such great taxes to pay the soldiers with, that the people
could hardly keep enough to live upon. And the French people suffered
more, because, besides paying taxes, the armies used to fight in
their land, and the soldiers trampled down the corn in the fields,
and burned their towns and villages, and often robbed the people
themselves. And so it must always be in a country where there is war.
If the captains and officers are ever so kind, and the soldiers ever
so good, they cannot help doing mischief where they fight.
In the next chapter I will tell you of two or three of the chief
things that happened while King Edward was at war with France.
CHAPTER XXVII.
EDWARD III.—Continued.
How the English gained a sea-fight; how King Edward and his son the
Black Prince won the battle of Crecy; how Calais was taken, and
how Queen Philippa saved the lives of six of the citizens; how the
Black Prince won the battle of Poitiers, and took the King of France
prisoner, and brought him to London.
You have heard, I am sure, that the English are famous for being the
best sailors in the world, and for gaining the greatest victories
when they fight at sea. At the beginning of Edward’s French war he
gained the first very great battle that had been fought at sea by the
English, since the times when they had to drive away the Danes: it
was fought very near a town called Sluys, on the coast of Flanders.
Instead of guns to fire from the ships, they had great stones for the
men to throw at one another when they were near enough, and bows and
arrows to shoot with from a distance. This was indeed a very great
battle; the English and the French never before fought by sea with so
many men and so many and such big ships; and so I have told you of
it.
Besides this sea-fight, there were two great victories won by King
Edward on land, which are among the most glorious that ever have been
gained by the English. The first was the battle of Crecy.
The French had three times as many men as the English at Crecy, so
King Edward knew he must be careful how he placed his army, that it
might not be beaten. And he took care that the soldiers should have a
good night’s rest, and a good breakfast before they began the battle;
so they were fresh, and ready to fight well.
Then the king sent forward his dear son, Edward the Black Prince, who
was only sixteen years old, to begin the fight. It was about three
o’clock in the afternoon, on a hot summer’s day, when the battle
began, and they fought till dark. At one time, some of the gentlemen
near the prince were afraid he would be overcome, and sent to his
father to beg him to come and help him. The king asked if his son
was killed or hurt. “No,” said the messenger. “Then,” said the king,
“he will do well, and I choose him to have the honour of the day
himself.” Soon after this the French began to run away, and it is
dreadful to think how many of them were killed.
Two kings who had come to help the King of France, one of the king’s
brothers, and more French barons, gentlemen, and common soldiers than
I can tell you, were killed. But very few English indeed were slain.
When the King of England met his son at night, after the great battle
of Crecy was won, he took him in his arms and cried, “My brave son!
Go on as you have begun! You are indeed my son, for you have behaved
bravely to-day! You have shown that you are worthy to be a king.”
And I believe that it made King Edward happier to see his son behave
so bravely in the battle, and so modestly afterwards, than even the
winning of that great victory.
A year after the battle of Crecy, the city of Calais, which you know
is in France, on the coast just opposite to Dover, in England, was
taken by Edward.
The people of Calais, who did not wish their town to belong to the
King of England, had defended it almost a year, and would not have
given it up to him at last, if they could have got anything to eat.
But Edward’s soldiers prevented the market people from carrying
bread, or meat, or vegetables, into the city, and many people died of
hunger before the captain would give it up.
I am sorry to tell you that Edward, instead of admiring the citizens
for defending their town so well, was so enraged at them, that he
wanted to have them all hanged; and when his chief officers begged
him not to be cruel to those who had been so faithful to their own
king, he said he would only spare them on condition that six of their
best men should bring him the keys of the city gates, that they must
come bare-headed and bare-footed, with nothing but their shirts on,
and with ropes round their necks, as he meant to hang them at least.
When the people of Calais heard this, the men and women, and even the
children, thought it would almost be better to die of hunger, than
to give up the brave men who had been their companions in all their
misery. Nobody could speak.
At last Eustace de St. Pierre, one of the chief gentlemen in Calais,
offered to be one of the six; then another of the richest citizens,
and then four other gentlemen came forward, and said they would
willingly die to save the rest of the people in Calais. And they took
the keys, and went out of the town in their shirts, bare-headed and
bare-footed, to King Edward’s tent, which was a little way from the
city gates.
Then King Edward called for the headsman, and wanted him to cut off
the heads of those gentlemen directly; but Queen Philippa, who was in
the tent, hearing what the king had ordered, came out suddenly, and
fell upon her knees, and would not get up till the king promised to
spare the lives of the six brave men of Calais. At last Edward, who
loved her very dearly, said, “Dame, I can deny you nothing”; and so
he ordered his soldiers to let the good Eustace de St. Pierre and his
companions go where they pleased, and entirely forgave the citizens
of Calais.
The second great victory which made King Edward’s name so glorious
was that of Poitiers. It was gained about ten years after the battle
of Crecy.
King Philip of France, with whom Edward had quarrelled, was dead, and
his son John, who was called the Good, had become King of France.
Edward went to war again with him, to try to get the kingdom for
himself, and at first he thought he might succeed.
The Black Prince was in France with a small army, and reached a place
near Poitiers before he met the King of France, who had a great army,
with at least five men for every one that was with Edward.
But Prince Edward followed the example his father had set him at the
battle of Crecy: he placed his soldiers very skilfully, and he took
care that they should have rest and food. The battle began early in
the morning, and ended as the battle of Crecy did, by the greater
number of the French running away, and a great many of their best
gentlemen and soldiers being killed.
But the chief thing that happened was, that King John of France and
his youngest son were taken prisoners, and brought to the Black
Prince’s tent, where he was resting himself after the fight. Prince
Edward received King John as kindly as if he had come to pay him a
visit of his own accord. He seated him in his own place, ordered the
best supper he could get to be made ready for him, and waited on the
king at table as carefully as if he had not been his prisoner. Then
he said everything he could to comfort him; and all the time he was
with him he behaved with the greatest kindness and respect.
When Prince Edward brought his prisoner, the King of France, to
London, as there were no carriages then, they rode on horseback into
the city. King John was well dressed, and mounted on a beautiful
white horse which belonged to the prince; while Edward himself rode
by his side upon a black pony to wait upon him and do anything he
might want. And in that manner he went with King John to the palace
belonging to the King of England called the Savoy. King John was set
free when peace was made; but the French never could afford money
enough to pay the English what they asked for letting him go back
to his people. So the good King John came back, to keep his word of
honour, and died in England.
This goodness and gentleness of the Black Prince made everybody love
him. And his bravery in battle, and his wisdom in governing those
parts of France which his father and he had conquered, gave the
English hopes that when he became king he would be as good a king as
his father, and that England would be still happier.
[Illustration: Edward the Black Prince waiting on John, King of
France.]
But the Black Prince died at the age of forty-six, just one year
before his father. His good mother Philippa, had died some years
before. And all the people of England grieved very much. Their good
queen, their favourite prince, and their wise and brave King Edward
the Third, all died while the Black Prince’s son was quite a child.
And though some of the prince’s brothers were brave and clever men,
the people knew, by what had happened in former times, that the
country is never well ruled while the king is too young to govern for
himself.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
RICHARD II.—1377 to 1399.
How Richard the Second sent men round the country to gather the
taxes; how Wat Tyler killed one of them and collected an army; how
he met the King in Smithfield, and was killed by the Mayor; how King
Richard behaved cruelly to his uncles; how he was forced to give up
the crown to his cousin Henry of Hereford, and died at Pomfret.
Richard the Second was only eleven years old when his grandfather,
King Edward the Third, died. He was made king immediately. The
people, who loved him for the sake of his good and brave father,
the Black Prince, were very peaceable and quiet in the beginning of
his reign. But his uncles, who were clever men, and wanted to be
powerful, did not agree very well with one another.
When Richard was about sixteen, a civil war had very nearly taken
place. I will tell you how it happened.
The king was not so well brought up as he ought to have been, and
he loved eating and drinking and fine clothes, and he made a great
many feasts, and gave fine presents to his favourites, so that he
often wanted money before it was the right time to pay the taxes. It
happened, as I said, when the king was about sixteen, that he wanted
money, and so did his uncles, who were in France, where the French
and English still continued to fight now and then. The great lords
sent the men who gathered the king’s taxes round the country, and one
of them, whose business was to get the poll-tax, that is, a tax on
everybody’s head, was so cruel, and so rude to the daughter of a poor
man named Wat Tyler, that Wat, who could not bear to see his child
ill-used, struck him on the head with his hammer and killed him.
Wat Tyler’s neighbours, hearing the noise, all came round, and,
finding how much the taxgatherer had vexed Wat, they took his part,
and got their friends to do the same, and a great many thousands of
them collected together at Blackheath, and sent to the king, who
then lived in the Tower of London, to beg him to listen to their
complaints, and not to allow the noblemen to oppress them, nor to
send to gather taxes in a cruel manner. The king did not go to them,
but he read the paper of complaints they sent, and promised to do his
people justice. A few days afterwards, the king, with his officers,
met Wat Tyler, and a great many of the people who had joined him,
in Smithfield, and spoke to him about the complaints the people had
made. The Mayor of London, who was near them, fancied Wat Tyler was
going to stab the king, so he rode up to him and killed him.
Wat Tyler’s friends now thought it best to make peace with the king;
so for this time the civil war was stopped.
[Illustration: Death of Wat Tyler.]
I have told you this story, to show you what mischief is done by
cruelty and injustice. It was unjust to collect the taxes at a wrong
time, and for a bad purpose. It was cruel in the taxgatherer to
behave ill to Tyler’s daughter. That injustice and cruelty brought
about the death of the tax-man, and that of Wat Tyler, who seems to
have been a bold, brave man, wishing to do what was right.
Soon after this disturbance, the king was married to a princess of
Bohemia, who was so gentle and kind to the people, that they called
her the good Queen Anne, and they hoped that she would persuade the
king to send away his bad companions; but they were disappointed, for
Richard II. was too ill-tempered to take her advice, and the people,
who had loved him when he was a child for his father’s sake, now
began to hate him.
In the meantime he was at war with Scotland, and with Ireland, and
with France; and instead of gaining battles, and making the name of
our dear England glorious, he lost, by degrees, all credit, and was
laughed at by foreigners, as well as by his own subjects.
I have told you that the king had several uncles, who took care of
the kingdom while he was a child. Instead of being grateful for this,
he ordered one to be put to death, and ill-used another; and when
his third uncle, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, died, he took all
his money and lands away from John’s son, whose name was Henry of
Hereford, and made use of his riches to spend in eating, drinking,
and riot of all kinds.
The good Queen Anne died soon, and she had no son, and the people all
began to wish they had another king instead of this Richard, who was
a disgrace to his good father the Black Prince.
Now Henry of Hereford, who was the king’s cousin, was very clever;
and the people knew he was very brave, for he had fought in the
armies of some foreign princes at one time. Besides, he behaved
kindly and good-naturedly to the people, so a good many of them began
to wish him to be king. Then Richard grew afraid of him, and sent him
out of the country.
[Illustration: Henry of Hereford claiming the Crown of England.]
Soon word was sent to Henry that King Richard was gone to Ireland
to quiet some disturbance there, and that, if he pleased to come to
England and make himself king, he would find many persons ready to
take his part.
Henry came accordingly, and, on King Richard’s return from Ireland,
he forced him to call the parliament to meet him in London. Now
the lords and the gentlemen, or, as they began to be called, the
commons of the parliament, all agreed that Richard was too cruel,
and revengeful, and extravagant to be king any longer, and that his
cousin, Henry of Hereford, son of the great Duke of Lancaster, should
be king.
Richard was forced to give up the crown; and of all the people who
had lived with him, and to whom he had shown kindness, there was only
one, the Bishop of Carlisle, who took his part, or said a word in his
favour; so he was put into prison at Pomfret Castle, and some time
afterwards he died there. Some people say he was killed by a bad man
called Exton; others say he was starved to death.
CHAPTER XXIX.
HENRY IV.—1399 to 1413.
How Henry the Fourth had a dispute with Earl Percy and his son
Hotspur about their Scotch prisoners; how the Percys went to war with
the King, and were joined by Owen Glendower; how Hotspur was killed
in the battle of Shrewsbury; why some men are made nobles, and how
they are useful to their country; how King Henry punished people on
account of their religion.
I think that Henry of Hereford did not act rightly in taking the
kingdom from his cousin Richard, but he became a good king for
England. He was the first king of the family of Lancaster, and is
sometimes called Henry of Lancaster.
During the fourteen years Henry was king he was chiefly busy in
making or improving laws for the people.
He had little foreign war to disturb him; but the Welsh and Scotch
several times made war upon the English who lived nearest to them.
There was in Henry’s days a very famous Scotch earl called James of
Douglas, and he came into the north of England and began to burn the
villages, and rob the people, until the Earl of Northumberland, whose
name was Percy, and his son, Henry Hotspur, gathered their soldiers
together, and went to fight Douglas, at a place called Holmedon, and
they beat him, and took a great many prisoners.
In those days it was the custom for everybody to do as they pleased
with the prisoners they took. A cruel man might kill them, another
might make slaves of them; one, a little kinder, might say, “If your
friends will send me some money, I will let you go;” but the kindest
of all would let them go home again without paying for it.
Now King Henry had a dispute with Earl Percy about those Scotch
prisoners, and Percy and his son were so affronted, that they
determined to make a civil war, and they were joined by several
English lords; but the person who helped them most was a Welsh
gentleman, named Owen Glendower, who was related to the old princes
of Wales.
He was very angry with King Henry the Fourth, because he thought he
behaved ill to Wales, which was his own country; besides, he had been
a friend of poor Richard the Second; and though he might have thought
it right to keep him in prison, he could not bear to think of his
having been put to death.
These reasons made him join the Percys, and they collected a very
large army to fight against King Henry. The Earl Percy’s son was
called Harry Hotspur, because he was very impatient, as well as very
brave. Indeed, he and the young Prince of Wales, who was called
Henry of Monmouth, were the two bravest young men in England. The
king’s army met the army that Percy and Owen Glendower had raised
against him near Shrewsbury, and then everybody thought a great deal
about the two young Harrys, who were both so brave and handsome.
The battle was fought, and the king gained the victory. Henry of
Monmouth behaved as bravely as the Black Prince used to do, and he
was not hurt in the battle. Harry Hotspur was equally brave, but he
was killed. Oh! civil war is a sad thing. There was one of the finest
young noblemen in England killed among Englishmen, who ought to have
agreed, and helped, and loved one another, instead of fighting.
Perhaps you will wonder why I mention the young noblemen
particularly, when so many other Englishmen were killed; and you will
wonder if it is of any use that there should be noblemen.
I think it is, and I will tell you why. The first noblemen were those
men who had been either very good in all things, or who had found out
something useful for everybody, or who had been very brave in battle,
or very wise in giving good advice.
These their companions called Nobles, and paid them great respect,
and gave them more lands, and goods, and money, than other people.
And in the Bible you read that the names of those men who do rightly
shall be remembered. Now when a man has been made a noble, and his
name is remembered because he is good, or manly, or clever, or
brave, or wise, his sons will say to themselves, “Our dear father
has been made a noble, because he was good or brave; we must be
good or brave, or useful too, that people may see that he taught us
well, and that we know how to love and honour him, by following his
good example.” Then their children will think of how good both their
father and grandfather were, and that they will not do anything that
they would not have liked, and so they will try to keep the good and
noble name one after another, as it was given to the first of their
grandfathers. If the young nobles do this properly, you know they
will always be ready to do good to their country, by helping to make
good laws, and to do justice in time of peace, and to fight for the
safety and glory of their own land in time of war, as their fathers
did. Then they will say to themselves, “I am noble and rich, and
other people will look up to me; I must, therefore, try to be better
than others, that I may set a good example to the young, and that
those who are old enough to remember my father and grandfather may
think I have done as well as they did.”
The nobles of England are useful to the country. As they are rich
enough to live without working for themselves and their families,
they have time to be always ready when the king wants advice; or when
there is a parliament to make laws; or when the king wishes to send
messages to other kings. And as their forefathers were made noble
because of their goodness, wisdom, or bravery, they have in general
followed their example; and they have always, next after the king,
been the people we have loved best, and who have done us the most
good.
The noblemen made King John do justice to the people, and give them
the good laws written in the Great Charter. The noblemen prevented
the foolish Kings Henry the Third and Richard the Second from doing
a great deal of mischief, and they helped our good Kings Henry the
Second, Edward the First, and Edward the Third to do all the good and
useful things I have told you of. So you see that noblemen have been
of great use in England.
When you are older you will understand this better, and you will find
out many more reasons to be glad that we have noblemen in our own
dear country.
Henry the Fourth died at Westminster, when he had been king only
fourteen years. He was wise and just, except in one thing; and that
was, that he punished persons who did not agree with the bishops
about the proper way to worship God. Some good men, called Lollards,
who loved to read the Bible in English, were put in prison, and
otherwise ill-used, on that account.
CHAPTER XXX.
HENRY V.—1413 to 1422.
How Henry the Fifth was very gay and thoughtless when he was Prince
of Wales, but became a great and wise King; how he went to war with
France, and gained the battle of Agincourt, and how the people
lamented at his death.
I think you would have liked King Henry the Fifth who was often
called Harry of Monmouth.
He was very good-natured and very gay; yet, when it was right to be
grave and wise, he could be so, and we never had a braver king in
England.
I must tell you a little about his behaviour while he was a young
man, and only Prince of Wales, before I say anything about the time
when he was king.
It is said that he was very merry and fond of playing wild pranks
with gay and reckless young men of low birth; but all the stories
told about his conduct at this time can hardly be true. I will tell
you some of them.
Once, when he had been doing something wrong, his father, who was ill
at Windsor, sent for him, and he went directly in a very droll dress,
that he had had made for some frolic; it was of light blue satin,
and it had a great many odd puckers in the sleeves, and at every
pucker he made the tailor leave a bit of blue thread and a tag like a
needle. When the king saw such a strange coat, he was a little vexed
that he should dare to come to him, while he was so ill, in it. But
Prince Harry said he was in such a hurry to see his father, and to do
whatever he wished for, that he could not spare time to take off the
coat, and so he came in it just as he was; and his father forgave him
because of his obedience.
Another time he was strolling about in London with some idle merry
companions, when he heard that one of his servants had behaved ill,
and had been carried before the chief judge, whose name was Sir
William Gascoyne. He went directly to the court where the judge was,
and desired him to let his servant go because he was the king’s son.
But the judge refused, and said he was sitting there for the king
himself, to do justice to everybody alike, and he would not let
the man go till he had been punished. The prince was in too great
a passion to think rightly at that moment, and he struck the chief
justice. That wise and good man instantly ordered the officers to
take the bold young prince to prison, and it was not till he had made
very humble excuses that he forgave him, and set him free. He said
that such an act was worse in the king’s son than in anybody else;
because, as he was sitting in the court for the king, other people,
if they offended, were only subjects doing wrong, but the prince,
being the king’s son, as well as his subject, was offending both king
and father. Harry had the sense to understand this; and when his
passion was over he thanked the judge, promised never to behave so
ill again, and kept his word.
The king, you may be sure, was pleased with the judge, who was not
afraid to do justice on his son; and he praised his son for getting
the better of his passion, and submitting to the judge without
complaining. I must tell you, however, that Gascoyne was removed
from being chief justice soon after Henry became king, but that was
because he had grown very old and was no longer fit to do the duty of
a judge.
When King Henry the Fourth died, the people may have been a little
afraid lest Harry should not make a good king, though he might be a
merry one. If they were they soon saw they were mistaken.
None of our kings was ever more wise, or clever, or brave, or fonder
of doing justice; and even now nobody in England ever thinks of Henry
the Fifth without loving him.
In the very beginning of his reign there was a war with France. The
poor King of France was mad. His queen was a very wicked woman,
and his son very young. All the noblemen were quarrelling with one
another, and the whole together with the King of England.
So Henry made ready his army, and sailed over to France, and, after
having taken a town called Harfleur, met a very large French army at
a place called Agincourt.
The English soldiers were tired with a long march; they had had very
bad weather to march in, which made many of them ill, and they had
not enough to eat. But they loved the king; they knew he was as badly
off as they were, and he was so kind and good-humoured, and talked
so cheerfully to them, that in spite of hunger, and weariness, and
sickness, they went to battle in good spirits. The English bowmen
shot their long arrows all at once with such force, that the French
soldiers, especially those on horseback, were obliged to give way;
and in a very short time King Henry won as great a victory at
Agincourt, as Edward the Third and the Black Prince did at Crecy
and Poitiers. One day, when you are older, you will read a most
delightful play written by the poet Shakspeare about this battle, and
some other parts of King Henry the Fifth’s life.
Not long after the battle, Henry went to Paris, and there the
princes and nobles told him that, if he would let the poor mad King
Charles be called king while he lived, Henry and his children should
be always Kings of France. And so peace was made, and Henry governed
France for a little while, and he married the French Princess
Catherine, and they had a little son born at Windsor, who was called
Henry of Windsor, Prince of Wales, and was afterwards King Henry the
Sixth.
Very soon afterwards, King Henry the Fifth was taken very ill at
Paris. He knew he was going to die, so he sent for his brothers and
the other English lords who were in France, and gave them a great
deal of good advice about ruling England and France, and begged them
to take care of his little son. He then told his chaplain to chant
some of the psalms to him, and died very quietly.
The English people wept and lamented bitterly, when they found that
they had lost their king.
He was kind to them, and so true and honest, that even his enemies
trusted entirely to him. He was very handsome, and so good-humoured,
that everybody who knew him liked his company; so good and just,
that wicked men were afraid of him; so wise, that his laws were the
fittest for his people that could have been made at the time; so
brave, that the very name of Henry, King of England, kept his enemies
in fear. And above all this, he was most pious towards God.
CHAPTER XXXI.
HENRY VI.—1422 to 1461.
How Henry the Sixth became King while he was an infant; how the Duke
of Bedford governed in France; how Joan of Arc persuaded the Dauphin
and the French soldiers to take courage; how they nearly drove the
English out of France; how Joan was taken prisoner and put to death.
Henry of Windsor, the poor little Prince of Wales, was not a year
old when his father died. He was made King of England directly, and
became King of France soon after.
The parliament that his wise father left gave good guardians and
protectors to the little king, and to England and to France.
The war in France began again, for the mad king having died, his
son, who was almost as good for France as our Henry of Monmouth had
been for England, began to try to get back all his father’s kingdom.
However, the Duke of Bedford, uncle to the little King of England,
managed so well for the English, that it really seemed as if France
was always to be subject to the King of England.
It was fortunate, for the good of both countries, that it was not to
be so.
When the people of France were so tired of war that they were not
able to fight longer, and the king himself had lost all hope of
getting back his kingdom, one of the strangest things happened that I
ever read about.
A young woman called Joan of Arc, who was servant at a country inn
at Domremy in France, had heard a great many people talk about the
sad state of all the country, and the great unhappiness of the young
French Prince Charles. She thought about this so much, that at last
she fancied that God had sent her to help the Prince to get back his
kingdom, and to drive the English out of France.
So she dressed herself like a young man, and got a sword and spear,
and went to Chinon, a castle where the prince was, and there she told
him, and the few French nobles who were with him, that, if they would
only follow her when they were next attacked, she would teach them
how to conquer the English.
I should tell you, that the eldest son of the King of France was
called the Dauphin, as the eldest son of the King of England is
called Prince of Wales.
Well, at first the dauphin and his friends thought that Joan was mad;
but she began to talk to them so wisely, that they listened to her.
She cheered the dauphin, who seemed quite without hope of saving his
kingdom; she said that he ought to call himself king directly, and go
to Rheims, where all the kings of France used to be crowned, and have
the crown put upon his head; that the people might know he was king.
She told the nobles that the English, if they conquered France, would
take away their estates and make them beggars; that it was shameful
to let the poor young dauphin be driven from the kingdom of his
forefathers; and that they deserved to lose the name of nobles if
they were afraid to fight for their own country and king.
Then she went among the common soldiers and the poor people. She
said, God would have pity on them, if they would fight bravely
against the English, who were strangers, and who only came to France
to take all that was good from them, and spoil their towns, and
trample down their corn, and kill their king, and make beggars of
them all.
So by the time the French and English met again in battle, the French
had recovered their spirits. And when the king, and the nobles, and
the people saw that young woman go in front of the army, and into
every dangerous place, and fight better than any of the bravest
soldiers, they would have been ashamed not to follow her; so that her
bravery and her good advice did really begin to save her country.
The French drove the English army away from Orleans, and Joan of Arc
has been called the Maid of Orleans ever since.
The Maid of Orleans next persuaded the dauphin to go and have the
crown set on his head, and so make himself king; and as soon as that
was done, a great many people came to him, and he very soon had a
large army, with which he drove the English out of the greater part
of France.
It was a grand sight when Charles the Dauphin went to Rheims, and was
crowned, while all the nobles stood by, and the Maid of Orleans close
to him, holding the white flag of France in her hand.
I am sorry to tell you the end of the brave Maid of Orleans. She was
taken prisoner by the English, and kept in prison for some time. At
last, they were so cruel as to burn her alive, because they could not
forgive her for saving her country and her king. But they pretended
she was a witch.
Soon after this cruel murder the Duke of Bedford died, and by degrees
the English lost everything in France but a very little corner of the
country, out of all that Henry the Fifth had conquered.
I shall end this chapter here, because we have nothing more to say
about France for a long while; but we shall have to read of some sad
civil wars in England, which began at this time.
CHAPTER XXXII.
HENRY VI.—Continued.
How Queen Margaret and Cardinal Beaufort are said to have caused
Duke Humphrey to be murdered; how the wars of the White and the Red
Roses were brought about; how Edward of York was chosen King by the
Londoners.
Henry the Sixth grew up to be a very good but very weak man. He was
married to a beautiful lady called Margaret of Anjou, who was very
fierce and cruel, and who behaved more like a man than a woman. She
wanted to govern the kingdom entirely herself; and as the only person
she was afraid of was the king’s uncle, Humphrey, the good Duke of
Gloucester, it is supposed that she agreed with Cardinal Beaufort and
another person, who hated Duke Humphrey, and that they had him put to
death very cruelly.
Soon after this, as the queen and her friends behaved so ill, several
of the noblemen, most of the gentlemen in Parliament, and the people
in London, began to think it would be better to take away the crown
from the poor king, who was too silly to govern for himself, and was
often so ill that he could not speak for days together.
The person they wished to make king was his cousin the Duke of York.
I have read, that some gentlemen were walking together in the Temple
garden after dinner, and disputing about the king and the Duke of
York; one of them took the king’s part, and said, that, though he was
silly, his little son Edward, who was just born, might be wise; and
he was determined to defend King Henry and his family, and desired
all who agreed with him to do as he did, and pluck a red rose, and
wear it in their caps, as a sign that they would defend the family of
Lancaster.
The gentlemen who thought it would be best to have the Duke of York
for their king turned to a white-rose bush, and each took a white
rose, and put it in his cap, as a sign he loved the Duke of York; and
for more than thirty years afterwards the civil wars in England were
called the Wars of the Roses.
At first, the party of York only wished Richard, Duke of York, to be
the king’s guardian, and govern for him; and as Duke Richard was wise
and good, it might have been well for England if he had been allowed
to do so.
But Queen Margaret raised an army to keep away the Duke of York, and
the first battle between the people of the Red Rose and the people of
the White Rose was fought at St. Alban’s.
The Yorkists gained the victory, and there was quiet for a few years.
Then another battle was fought, and the queen, with the little
prince, went to Scotland, and for some time the Duke of York ruled
the kingdom with the king’s consent.
However, the queen found means to come back to England, and to gather
another great army, with which she fought the Duke of York’s army
several times, and at last beat them, at a place called Wakefield
Green. She cut off the Duke of York’s head, and stuck a paper crown
upon it, and put it over one of the gates of York.
Could you have thought a woman would be so cruel?
One of her friends, called Clifford, did something still worse. He
saw a handsome youth of seventeen, along with an old clergyman,
who was his tutor, trying to get away to some safe place after the
battle: he asked who he was, and when the child said he was Rutland,
the Duke of York’s son, the fierce Clifford stabbed him to the heart
with his dagger, although the poor youth and his good tutor fell upon
their knees and begged for mercy.
When the people knew of these two cruel things, they began to hate
Queen Margaret, and a great many went to the Duke of York’s eldest
son, Edward, and desired he would make himself king.
Now this Edward was brave and handsome, and loved laughing and
merriment, but he was very cruel and too fond of pleasure. However,
he was better than Margaret, and the people in London chose him to be
king; and so there were two kings in England for ten years: one, the
King of the White Rose, that was Edward; and one, the King of the Red
Rose, that was poor Henry.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
EDWARD IV. of YORK.—1461 to 1483.
How the Yorkists beat Queen Margaret at Hexham; how the Queen and
Prince escaped to Flanders; why the Earl of Warwick was called the
King-maker; how Prince Edward was murdered by King Edward’s brothers;
how King Henry and the Duke of Clarence were put to death.
In those years, while there were two kings, nobody knew which king to
obey. Few people minded the laws, and the armies of the Lancastrians
and the Yorkists did a great deal of mischief in every part of the
country. A great many battles were fought, and many thousands of
Englishmen were killed.
After one of these battles, which was fought at Towton, in Yorkshire,
King Henry was obliged to hide himself for a long time in Scotland,
and the parts of England close to it. He sometimes slept in the
woods, and sometimes in caves, and was near dying of hunger.
At last Queen Margaret contrived to gather another army; but the
Yorkists beat her at Hexham, and King Henry was taken prisoner, and
sent to the Tower. Queen Margaret and the young prince escaped into a
wild forest. There they were met by some robbers, who took away the
queen’s necklace and her rings, and then began to quarrel about who
should have the most.
[Illustration: Escape of Queen Margaret.]
Queen Margaret took the opportunity of their quarrelling, and,
holding her little son by the hand, she began running through the
forest, in hopes of meeting some of her friends; but she only met
with another robber. She was afraid he would kill her and the little
prince, because they had nothing to give him. Margaret then fell
upon her knees, and owned she was the queen, and begged the robber to
protect his king’s son. The robber was surprised, indeed, to see the
queen and prince by themselves, half-starved, and weary with running
in that wild place. But he was a good-natured man, and took them
under his care; he got them some food, and took them to a cottage to
rest; after which he contrived to take them safely to the seaside,
where they got on board ship and went to Flanders.
Now that King Henry was safe in the Tower of London, and Queen
Margaret was gone abroad, everybody in England hoped there would be
an end to the civil wars, and King Edward of York married a beautiful
lady called Elizabeth Woodville, and he had many children, and there
was nothing but feasting and rejoicing.
But the king had two brothers, George Duke of Clarence, who was
rather foolish, and Richard, who was young, brave, and clever, but
deformed and wicked. The Duke of Clarence had married a daughter of
the Earl of Warwick, who had been very useful to the Yorkists. But he
was vexed with the king for marrying without asking his advice, so he
determined to begin the civil war again.
This Earl of Warwick was a very brave man, but he was very
changeable; at one time he fought for Edward of York, at another for
Margaret and Henry of Lancaster; so, as he chose to call first one
of them king, and then the other, he was nicknamed the King-maker.
Once Warwick forced King Edward to flee from England, and put Henry
on the throne again. But Edward came back, and Warwick was killed in
a battle at Barnet, near London, and poor Henry was sent back to the
Tower.
About three weeks after that battle of Barnet, there was another at
Tewkesbury, where Edward of York took Queen Margaret and her son
Edward prisoners; for they had come to England again, in hopes the
Earl of Warwick would get the kingdom back for the Lancastrians.
When they were brought before King Edward, he asked the boy how he
dared to come to England. The brave lad answered, that he came to try
to get back his father’s crown; upon which Edward cruelly struck him
on the face, and his brothers Clarence and Gloucester, and two other
lords, stabbed the poor prince till he died.
This was even more cruel than anything Margaret had ever done.
That miserable queen was sent to prison in the Tower immediately
afterwards, where her poor husband was a prisoner. But a very few
days after the battle of Tewkesbury, Henry was found dead in his
prison, and he was most likely murdered. The King of France paid
Edward a large sum of money to set Queen Margaret free.
Now, all Edward of York’s enemies being either dead or overcome,
he feasted and enjoyed himself, and was very wicked and cruel. His
foolish brother, the Duke of Clarence, quarrelled with the queen and
her relations, and also with the Duke of Gloucester. So Edward had
Clarence sent to the Tower, where he was put to death. Many people
thought that the Duke of Gloucester murdered King Henry the Sixth,
and caused the Duke of Clarence to be drowned in a cask of Malmsey
wine; but I am not sure of this.
About four years after this, King Edward the Fourth died, and left
two little sons and five daughters.
I can say very little good of him, except that he was brave and
handsome, and good-humoured in company; but then he was cruel and
revengeful, and, when the wars were over, he loved his own pleasure
and amusement too well to do anything good or useful for the people,
and he did them much wrong.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
EDWARD V.—Only ten weeks of 1483.
How Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was guardian to the young King
Edward the Fifth; how he put Lord Hastings to death, and made himself
King; and how the little King Edward and his brother were murdered in
the Tower.
When Edward the Fourth died, his son Edward, Prince of Wales, was
only thirteen years old; and his younger son, Richard, Duke of York,
only ten.
The Prince of Wales was with some of his relations at Ludlow, and the
little duke with his mother in London.
Their guardian was their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, whose
wicked and cruel deeds you read about in the last chapter.
Now the Duke of Gloucester, whom the people called Crook-back,
because he was deformed, wished to be king himself; but there were
several noblemen who determined to try to prevent his depriving his
little nephew of the kingdom; and when the boy was brought to London,
and lodged in the palace in the Tower, to keep him safe, as his uncle
said, they tried to watch over him, and prevent any wrong from being
done to him. But Richard of Gloucester was too cunning and too cruel
for them. He contrived, in the first place, to get the little Duke
of York out of his mother’s hands, and to lodge him in the Tower, as
well as his brother. He next pretended that he wanted to talk with
the little king’s friends about the proper day for setting the crown
on his head, and letting the people see him as their king. So the
lords who wished well to the young princes all came to the Tower, and
were sitting together waiting for the Duke of Gloucester.
At last he came, and said, very angrily, that he had found out
several persons who were making plans to put him to death, and had
bribed some persons to poison him; and then turning to Lord Hastings,
who was one of young Edward’s best friends, asked him fiercely
what the persons deserved who had done so? “They deserve severe
punishment,” said Lord Hastings, “IF they have done so.”—“IF! dost
thou answer me with IFS?” roared out Gloucester; “by St. Paul, I will
not dine till thy head is off!”
The moment he had said this he struck his hand upon the table, and
some soldiers came into the room. He made a sign to them to take away
Lord Hastings, and they took him directly to the court before the
windows. There they laid him down with his neck on a log of wood, and
cut off his head, and the cruel Gloucester went to his dinner.
After this, nobody was surprised to hear that Richard had put to
death several more of the king’s friends; and that the next thing he
did was to get the people to make him king, and to say that the young
prince was not fit to be king.
After this, he ordered both the princes to be murdered in the Tower;
and I will tell you how it was done.
[Illustration: Death of the little Princes in the Tower.]
The governor of the Tower at that time was Sir Robert Brackenbury,
and Richard found that he was so honest, that while he was there he
would not let anybody hurt the little princes, so that he sent away
Brackenbury upon some business that was to take him two or three
days, and gave the keys to a wicked servant of his own to keep till
Brackenbury came back. The bad man’s name was Tyrrell; and he had
no sooner got the charge of the little king and his brother, than
he sent for two persons more wicked even than himself, and promised
them a great deal of money, if they would go into the children’s room
while they were asleep and murder them.
These two men’s names were Dighton and Forrest. They went into the
room where the princes were both on the same bed. Their little
arms were round each other’s necks, and their little cheeks close
together. Then the wicked murderers took some cushions, and laid them
over the poor children as they lay asleep, and smothered them.
Then they took them on their shoulders, and carried them to a little
back-staircase, near their room in the Tower, and buried them in a
great hole under the stairs, and threw a heap of stones over them;
and a long time afterwards, some workmen, who were employed to repair
that part of the Tower, found their bones in that place.
And this was the end of our little King Edward the Fifth, and his
brother York.
You will read something about their sister Elizabeth very soon.
CHAPTER XXXV.
RICHARD III.—1483 to 1485.
How Richard the Third tried to make the people his friends; how the
Duke of Buckingham rebelled and was put to death; how Richard was
killed at Bosworth fighting against the Earl of Richmond, who was
made King.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, had got himself made king, as I told
you, before he murdered his young nephews in the Tower. The people
were told that the young princes had died suddenly.
He tried to make the people forget the wicked way in which he came
to be king by making some good laws; but he could not succeed. The
English could not love so base and cruel a man, and Richard had but
a short and troublesome reign.
The first vexation he had was caused by a cousin of his, the Duke
of Buckingham, almost as bad a man as himself, who had helped him
in most of his bad deeds, but who did not mean to let him kill the
little princes. So the Duke got an army together, and hoped by
beginning a civil war to punish Richard; but he was taken prisoner,
and Richard treated him as he had done Lord Hastings, that is, he cut
off his head directly.
But there was another cousin of Richard’s, and a much better man,
about whom I must tell you a great deal more. His name was Henry
Tudor, Earl of Richmond. Now his father, Edmund Tudor, Earl of
Richmond, was related to the old princes of Wales, who you must
remember were Britons, and his mother, the Countess of Richmond, was
a lady of the family of Lancaster, or the Red Rose. Richard the Third
hated the Earl of Richmond, because he knew that many people thought
Henry ought to be king, and he did everything he could to injure him
and his family. But Richmond himself was abroad, where Richard could
not hurt him.
But after a little while Richmond wrote to his friends in England,
that, if they would be ready to help him when he came, he would bring
with him from abroad money and men, and then England might get rid of
the wicked King Richard of the White Rose, and take him instead for
their king.
The best gentlemen in England immediately got ready to receive
Richmond; all the relations of the persons Richard had put to death
were glad to join with him to punish that bad man. The people in
Wales were delighted to think of having one belonging to their
ancient princes to be their king, and, not long after Richmond had
landed at Milford Haven, he found several thousand men ready to
follow him.
Richard, who was brave, although he was cruel, got ready an army also
to fight Richmond, and he met him at a place called Bosworth, in
Leicestershire, where they fought a great battle.
I have read that King Richard, when he was lying in his tent the
night before the battle, could not help thinking of all the cruel
things he had done. Besides those he had killed in battle, he
remembered the young prince Edward of Lancaster, whom he stabbed at
Tewkesbury, and poor Henry the Sixth, whom he had murdered in prison,
and his own brother Clarence, whom he had caused to be killed. Then
he began to think of Lord Hastings, and all his friends, six or
seven, I think, whom he had beheaded, and his little nephews, who
were smothered in the Tower, and his cousin Buckingham, and, last of
all, his wife, Queen Anne, whom he had used so ill that she died.
And so when he got up in the morning he was tired and unhappy, and
did not fight so well as he might have done.
However that might be, he was killed in the battle of Bosworth Field.
His crown was found upon the field of battle, and Lord Stanley put it
upon the Earl of Richmond’s head, upon which the whole army shouted
“Long live King Henry the Seventh!” and so from that day the British
prince, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, and heir of Lancaster, was
king of England.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
HENRY VII.—1485 to 1509.
How Henry the Seventh united the parties of the White and the Red
Roses; how Lambert Simnel, and afterwards Perkin Warbeck, rebelled
against him, but were subdued; how the people began to improve
themselves in learning; how America was discovered; how King Henry
did many useful things, but was not beloved by the people.
When the Earl of Richmond was made king, and was called Henry the
Seventh, many persons began to be afraid that the wars of the Roses
would begin again. But Henry was a wise man, and he had made friends
of the party of York, by promising to marry his cousin Elizabeth, the
sister of the little princes who were smothered in the Tower. So,
as soon as he was crowned himself, and the people had owned him for
their king, he married Elizabeth; and as Henry was King of the Red
Rose party, and she was Queen of the White Rose party, the people
agreed better than they had done for more than thirty years, and
England began to be quiet and happy.
However, there were two disturbances in the beginning of Henry’s
reign that I must tell you of. There was a very good-looking young
man, called Lambert Simnel, that some people thought was very like
the Earl of Warwick, a son of that Duke of Clarence who was killed in
the Tower; and some persons, who wished to annoy Henry the Seventh,
persuaded Lambert to say he was Warwick, and that he had run away
from the Tower, and had hidden himself till after his uncle Richard’s
death; but that now, as Richard and his little cousins were all dead,
he had a right to be king. Some few Englishmen joined him, and a
good many Irish. But in a battle at Stoke, in the North of England,
they were all driven away, and Lambert was taken prisoner.
[Illustration: Marriage of King Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York.]
The king, who knew the poor young man had been forced to do what
he did by other people, did not send him to prison, but made him a
turnspit in his kitchen; and, as he behaved very well there, he
afterwards gave him the care of his hawks.
The second disturbance was of more consequence. A young man, called
Perkin Warbeck, was taught by one of King Henry’s enemies, the
Duchess of Burgundy, to call himself Richard Duke of York.
He said that he was the brother to the little king killed by Richard
in the Tower, and that Dighton and Forrest could not bear to kill
them both, and that he had hidden himself till he could get to the
duchess, who, as he said, was his aunt.
Now King Henry knew this story was not true, yet it vexed him very
much. For Perkin Warbeck prevailed on several noblemen in Ireland to
take his part, and he went to Scotland, and got the king to believe
him, and to let him marry a beautiful young lady, named Catharine
Gordon, the king’s own cousin, and to march into England with an
army, where he did a great deal of mischief before King Henry’s army
could drive him away. Then Perkin sailed to Cornwall, and collected
a small army; but after doing just enough mischief to make everybody
fear him and his people, he was taken prisoner by King Henry, who
kept him some time in the Tower: at last he was hanged at Tyburn, and
nobody was sorry for him but his poor wife Lady Catharine.
King Henry sent for that unfortunate lady, and took her to the queen,
who treated her very kindly, and made her live with her, and did all
she could to make her happy again.
England was quite quiet for the rest of King Henry’s reign; and
Wales, which had been ill-treated by the Kings of England ever since
Edward the First conquered it, was better treated by Henry.
As there was no fighting, the young men began to try to improve
themselves in learning. Some years before that time, some clever men
in Germany had found out how to print books instead of copying them
in writing, so there were a great many more books, and more people
could learn to read. The young men in Cambridge and Oxford began to
read the good books that had been forgotten in the wars of the Roses,
and they were ashamed to find that there were not half a dozen men in
England who knew anything at all about Greek. I think one of those
few was Grocyn, a teacher at Oxford.
But the English had soon a very good Greek teacher. A young man born
at Canterbury, called Thomas Linacre, after learning all he could
at the school in his own town, and at Oxford, went to travel in
Italy, where the most learned men in the world lived at that time.
These learned men soon found out that Thomas Linacre was very clever
indeed, and so they helped him to learn everything that he desired,
for the sake of improving his own country when he came back. He
studied everything so carefully, that on his return to Oxford the
greatest and wisest men went to him to be taught Greek, besides many
other things he had learned in his travels. He was chosen to be tutor
to the king’s eldest son, Prince Arthur, and he was afterwards tutor
to some of the next king’s children. He was the greatest physician in
England, and before he died he founded the same College of Physicians
that we have now.
In the next chapter we shall have a great deal to read about several
of Linacre’s scholars; but I tell you about him now that you may know
that it was in this king’s time that the gentlemen of England began
to think of reading and studying, instead of doing nothing but fight.
About this time, sailors from Europe first found their way to
America. Christopher Columbus went from Spain, Americo Vespucci from
Italy, and Sebastian Cabot from England. They all arrived safe at the
other side of the wide ocean, and then it was first known for certain
that there was such a place as America. How surprised all their
friends must have been, when they came home, and told of the strange
things they had seen! The trees and the flowers were all different
from ours. The birds were larger, and had more beautiful feathers;
the butterflies had gayer colours than we had ever seen. Then they
brought home turkeys, which their found in the woods, and potatoes,
which they had eaten for the first time, to plant in our fields and
gardens. But I should fill a whole book if I tried to tell you of
all the things that were brought from the new countries found out in
Henry the Seventh’s time.
We must now speak of the king himself. His wife, Elizabeth of York,
was dead. She had four children, Arthur and Henry, Mary and Margaret.
Mary became Queen of France, and Margaret Queen of Scotland. Arthur,
who was the eldest, was good and clever, but very sickly, and he died
before his father; so Henry was the next king.
Henry the Seventh was a very wise man, and a severe king. His
greatest fault was loving money, so that he took unjust ways to get
it from his subjects. He was very unwilling to spend anything upon
himself or other people. But yet he laid out a great deal of money in
building a great palace at Richmond, and in adding a beautiful chapel
to Westminster Abbey, and in other fine buildings. He sent to Italy
for painters and sculptors, to make pictures and statues; and he was
fond of encouraging learning and trade.
But though he did many good and useful things, nobody loved him; and
when he died there were very few persons indeed sorry for him.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
HENRY VIII.—1509 to 1547.
How Henry the Eighth made war upon Scotland and France, and gained
the battle of Flodden and the battle of the Spurs; how he met the
King of France in the Field of the Cloth of Gold; how Cardinal Wolsey
fell into disgrace and died.
I have so many things to tell you about Henry the Eighth, that I dare
say I shall fill three chapters.
When he first became king, everybody liked him. He was very handsome,
and generous, and good-humoured. Besides all that, he was very
clever, and very learned; he liked the company of wise men, and
treated them all very kindly. One of his great amusements after
dinner was to invite the greatest scholars and the cleverest men,
such as clergymen, lawyers, physicians, and painters, to go and talk
with him. And so he learned a great deal from hearing what they said.
But as Henry grew older, I am sorry to say that he changed very much,
and became cruel and hard-hearted, as you will read by-and-by.
The wise old king, Henry the Seventh, had been very careful to keep
peace with the French and Scotch all his life, but the young king
liked the thoughts of gaining a little glory by fighting; so very
soon after he became king, he had a war with France, and another with
Scotland.
The war with Scotland ended sadly for the Scotch. The English army
was commanded by a very brave and clever nobleman, named the Earl
of Surrey, and he had with him several brave lords and knights. The
Scotch army was almost all made up of the boldest and best men in
Scotland, with their own king, James the Fourth, to command them.
The two armies met at a place called Flodden Field. They fought all
day; sometimes one side got the better and sometimes the other; so
when night came, nobody knew which had beaten the other. But in the
morning the Scots found that they had lost their king, whom they
all loved very much, and that with him the best and bravest of the
Scottish nobles had been killed.
After this there was peace between Scotland and England.
As to King Henry’s war in France, it did not last very long. I told
you Henry was young, and wished for the kind of glory that princes
gain by fighting. But he forgot that, besides the glory, there must
be a great deal of fatigue and suffering; so, after one battle, he
was persuaded to make peace. That one battle was called the BATTLE OF
THE SPURS, because the French made more use of their spurs, to make
their horses run away, than of their swords to fight with.
Not long after this battle, the old French king died. The new king
was called Francis the First. He was almost as young as Henry the
Eighth. He was handsome, too, and very fond of gaiety, and dancing,
and riding, and feasting, and playing at fighting, which is called
jousting. So the two young kings agreed that they would meet
together, and have some merry days. And so they did.
[Illustration: Henry VIII. embarking for France.]
They met near a place called Ardres, in France. The richest noblemen,
both of France and England, and their wives and daughters, were
there. The tents they feasted in were made of silk, with gold
flowers; their dresses were covered over with gold and jewels; even
their very horses were dressed up with silk and golden fringes; and
there was feasting, and dancing, and jousting, and music every day.
The two kings amused themselves with dancing, and all sorts of games,
till at last they found it was time to go home, and mind the affairs
of their own kingdoms.
This meeting was called THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD, because there
was so much gold in the dresses and tents, and the ornaments used by
the kings and their lords and ladies.
Besides the two kings who were at the Field of the Cloth of Gold,
there was a great man there, whom you must know something about. His
name was Wolsey. He was a clergyman, and in the time of King Henry
the Seventh he was known to be very clever indeed. But Henry the
Eighth first made him a bishop, and then the Pope (who you know is
the Bishop of Rome) gave him the rank of Cardinal.
In those days a cardinal was thought to be almost as great a man as
a king. He dressed in long fine silk robes, trimmed with fur, and
when he went out he wore a scarlet hat with a broad brim and fine red
cords and tassels.
This Cardinal Wolsey was very clever, as I told you, and very
learned; he was one of the scholars at Oxford when Thomas Linacre
taught Greek there; and with a part of the great riches that he got
from the king he built the great college, called Christ Church, at
Oxford, and a school at Ipswich, the town where he was born. He also
built the great palace of Hampton Court, and made a present of it to
the king. And these you know were all useful things.
But Cardinal Wolsey was proud towards the nobles, and had to tax
the people heavily to pay for the king’s wars; so he was greatly
disliked. And some persons told the king that the cardinal spoke ill
of him, and that he boasted of being richer and more powerful than
the king. So Henry, who was very passionate, ordered all his riches
to be taken away from him suddenly, and sent for him to London, where
I am almost sure he intended to order his head to be cut off. But the
cardinal fell ill and died on the road. His last words were—“If I had
served God as diligently as I have served the king, He would not have
given me over in my grey hairs.”
Now I must end this chapter. In the next I shall tell you about King
Henry’s six wives.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
HENRY VIII.—Continued.
How King Henry married six times; and how he got rid of his wives
when he was tired of them.
Henry the Eighth’s first wife was Catherine of Arragon. She was a
princess from Spain, who came to England to be married to Prince
Arthur, King Henry’s brother. But as you read in the chapter before
the last, Prince Arthur died when he was very young; and Catherine
was married to Henry.
They had only one daughter, the Princess Mary, who came to be Queen
of England, as you will read. Now, though Henry was very fond of
his wife for a great many years, he grew tired of her at last, and
wished very much to marry a beautiful young lady who lived with Queen
Catherine.
[Illustration: Wolsey entering Leicester Abbey.]
He determined to get some of those people who are always willing to
do as their king pleases, instead of being honest and doing only what
is right, to find out some excuses for sending away good Queen
Catherine, for indeed she was very good, and loved the king very
dearly. So at last they found some, which you could not understand
if I told you; and they divorced Queen Catherine, that is, they sent
her away from the king, and said he might marry anybody else that he
pleased.
The good queen lived about three years afterwards, sometimes at
Ampthill, sometimes at other country places, and died at Kimbolton.
The second wife of Henry was the beautiful young lady, Anne Boleyn,
whose daughter, Elizabeth, became Queen of England after her sister
Mary. But now King Henry, who had found out that he could make
excuses for sending away one wife, began to wish for another change.
I told you Anne Boleyn was young and beautiful. She was also clever
and pleasant and I believe really good. But the king and some of his
wicked friends pretended that she had done several bad things; and,
as Henry had become very cruel as well as changeable, he ordered poor
Anne’s head to be cut off.
On the day she was to suffer death she sent to beg the king to be
kind to her little daughter Elizabeth. She said to the last moment
that she was innocent; she prayed God to bless the king and the
people, and then she knelt down, and her head was cut off.
I ought to have told you, that, before she was brought out of her
room to be beheaded, she said to the gentleman who went to call her,
“I hear the executioner is very skilful; my neck is very small;” and
she put her hands round it and smiled, and made ready to die.
The cruel king married another very pretty young woman the very
next day. Her name was Jane Seymour, and she had a son, who was
afterwards King Edward the Sixth. She died twelve days after the
little prince was born, or perhaps Henry might have used her as ill
as he did poor Anne Boleyn.
The king’s fourth wife was found for him by his minister, Thomas
Cromwell. She was the Princess Anne of Cleves, a German lady. But
Henry took a dislike to her looks, so he put her away as he did Queen
Catherine, and gave her a house to live in, and a good deal of money
to spend, and thought no more about her.
Next he married the Lady Catherine Howard; but a very few months
afterwards he accused her of some bad actions; and he had her
beheaded. So he had put away two of his wives, he had cut off the
heads of two others, and only one had died a natural death.
Yet he found a lady, named Catherine Parr, who was a widow; and she
married him very willingly, for she was ready to run the risk for the
sake of being a queen. She was very clever, and contrived to keep the
passionate and cruel king in good humour till he died, when I dare
say she was not sorry to find herself alive and safe, for he had once
intended to put her to death like Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.
Now we will end this chapter about Henry’s wives. You will find that
as he grew old he grew more and more passionate and cruel; and in
what I have to tell you about some other parts of his reign, in the
next chapter, you will see that he grew wicked in almost everything.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
HENRY VIII.—Continued.
How the Pope and the friars imposed upon the people; how disputes
arose in England about religion; how King Henry seized the convents
and turned out the monks and nuns; how he called himself Supreme Head
of the Church, and put many people to death who did not agree with
him in all things.
In several parts of our history we have read of the Pope, that is,
the Bishop of Rome. When Thomas à Becket was murdered in the reign of
Henry the Second, I told you it was done after a quarrel between the
king and Thomas, because Thomas wanted the Pope to have the power to
punish clergymen in England, or to let them go without punishment,
when they did wrong, without caring at all what the law of the
country might be.
Now more than three hundred years had passed, and the Popes still
pretended to have great power. And a great many new kinds of
clergymen, especially the FRIARS, had begun to go about the country,
doing nothing themselves, and pretending that the people ought to
give them meat, and drink, and lodging, because they could read and
say prayers. Besides that, they used to pretend to cure diseases, by
making people kiss old bones, or bits of rag, and other trash, which
they said had once belonged to some holy person or another, which was
as wicked as it was foolish. It was wicked to tell such lies. It was
foolish, because the cures that God has appointed for diseases are
only to be learned by care and patience, and have nothing to do with
such things as old bones and rags.
However, almost everybody believed these things for a long time.
But at last, people began to read more books, as I told you in the
chapter about Henry the Seventh; and they learned how foolish it was
to believe all the friars had said.
One of the first books they began to read was the Bible, in which
they found the commands of God; and they saw that all men ought to
obey the laws of the countries they live in. And they found that
clergymen might marry, and that, though they ought to be paid for
teaching the people, they had no business to live idle.
It was not only in England that the people began to think of these
things, but in other countries, especially in Germany, where a
learned man, named Martin Luther, was the first who dared to tell the
clergymen how ill he thought they behaved, and to try to persuade
all kings and princes to forbid the Pope’s messengers and priests to
meddle with the proper laws of the country. There were many other
things he found fault with very justly, which I cannot tell you now,
as we must speak of what was done in England.
You have not forgotten that I told you that gentlemen began to study
a great deal in the reign of Henry the Seventh, and I promised to
tell you something about Thomas Linacre’s scholars.
One of these was a gentleman of Rotterdam, in Holland, who came to
England on purpose to learn Greek. His name was Erasmus, and he was
famous for writing better Latin than anybody had done since the time
of the old Romans.
Another was Sir Thomas More, who was Lord Chancellor of England
during part of Henry the Eighth’s reign; he was very learned and
wise, and besides that, very good-humoured and cheerful.
Erasmus and Sir Thomas More were very great friends, especially
when Sir Thomas was young; and they used to write pleasant letters
and books, to show how wrong those persons were who believed in
the foolish stories told by the friars, and how wicked many of the
clergymen were, who lived idle lives, and passed their time in eating
and drinking, and in doing many bad things, instead of teaching the
people, as it was their duty to do.
Besides these two great friends, there were several others,
especially Tonstall and Latimer, who both were taught by Linacre, and
are remembered to our time for being learned and good.
By degrees, the English heard all that Martin Luther said in Germany
about the Pope and his messengers, and the bad part of the clergymen;
and many disputes arose among the people. Some said that we had no
business to obey the Pope at all in anything, and that many of the
things the clergymen of Rome taught were wicked and false, and that
God would punish those who believed them, now that they could read
the Bible, and learn for themselves what was right.
Others said that those things were not false, and that we ought to
believe them; and as to the Pope, we ought to obey him in everything
about our churches and our prayers, and the way of worshipping God.
But the thing that made the people, who took the opposite side in
the dispute most angry, was the quantity of land and money that the
clergymen had persuaded different people to give them. Those who were
against the Pope said that the clergymen had deceived the people and
had pretended that they could prevail upon God to forgive their worst
sins, if they would only give their lands and money to the churches
and convents, that the monks and friars might live in idleness.
The others, who were for the Pope, pretended that clergymen were
better and wiser than others, and therefore they ought to live in
comfort, and grandeur, and leisure, and to have more power and money
than other men.
Now I believe the truth is, that in those days the clergymen were a
great deal too rich and powerful, and that they oppressed the people
in every country, and that they tried to keep them from learning to
read, that they might not find out the truth from the Bible and other
good books.
However, in England there were a great many good men on both sides.
At first, the king took the part of the Pope, and as he was very fond
of showing his learning, he wrote a book to defend him against Martin
Luther; in return for which the Pope called Henry the DEFENDER OF THE
FAITH.
But soon afterwards King Henry began to change his mind. He thought
the English clergymen would be better governed if the King of England
were at their head instead of the Pope. Then he thought that, if
all the convents were pulled down, and the monks and nuns made to
live like other people, instead of idly, without doing anything, he
might take their lands and money and give to his servants, or spend
himself, just as he liked.
As soon as Henry thought of these things, he set about doing what he
wished. He would not listen even to the old men and women, who had
lived in the convents till they were too old to work; he turned them
all out. He would not listen to some good advice about leaving a few
convents for those who took care of the strangers and sick people,
but, like a cruel and passionate man as he was, he turned them all
out: many of them actually died of hunger and distress, and many more
ended their lives as beggars.
Yet, although Henry was so cruel to the monks and priests, he would
not allow the people to change many of the things that the followers
of the Pope were most to blame for. He was glad enough to be master,
or, as he called it, SUPREME HEAD of the English church and clergy,
and to take the lands and money from the convents and abbeys. But he
would not let everybody read the Bible, and would insist upon their
worshipping God as he pleased, not in the way they believed to be
right.
I have already told you that many very good men wished a great many
changes to be made in the manner of worship, in teaching the people,
and letting them read; besides taking some of the lands and money
of the convents, and forcing the clergymen to use the rest of their
riches properly. Besides, they wished the clergymen to be allowed to
marry.
The chief persons who wished for these changes were—Cranmer,
Archbishop of Canterbury; Latimer, Bishop of Worcester; Shaxton,
Bishop of Salisbury; all very learned men; and they had most of the
gentlemen and many of the people with them.
Those who followed after these wise men were called PROTESTANTS.
But there were many great and good men who thought that the clergymen
might alter some small things for the better, but they would not
consent to pulling down the convents, nor taking their lands and
money, nor to changing the way of worshipping God, nor to the king’s
being at the head of the Church of England, instead of the Pope.
These men were called Papists.
At the head of them were—Sir Thomas More; Tonstall, Bishop of Durham;
Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury; and most of the lords in the
kingdom.
Now King Henry, although he chose to change the way of worship a
little, and liked very well, as I said before, to get all the lands
and money into his hands, still wanted to go on with some of the
worst customs of the old clergymen, and, according to his cruel
temper, he made some very hard laws, and threatened to burn people
alive who would not believe what he believed, and worship God in the
way he chose.
Many people, who could hardly understand what the king meant, were
really burnt alive, according to that wicked law: but the thing that
showed Henry’s badness more than any other, was his ordering Sir
Thomas More’s head to be cut off, because he would not do as the king
wished, nor say what he did not think was true. But I will write a
chapter about that good man on purpose, after we have done with this
wicked King Henry.
Besides putting Sir Thomas More to death, the king cut off the heads
of Bishop Fisher, the Marquis of Exeter, Lord Montague, Sir Edward
Nevil, and, most shocking of all, the head of an old lady with grey
hairs, named Margaret Plantagenet, only because her son, Reginald
Pole, afterwards called Cardinal Pole, would not come to England when
Henry invited him.
I dare say you are tired of reading of so much wickedness. I am sure
I am tired of writing it, and I will only mention one thing more. A
few days before Henry died he ordered the Earl of Surrey’s head to be
cut off.
This Earl of Surrey was the most polite and pleasant, and clever
young gentleman in England. But Henry was afraid that he would give
trouble to his little son after his death. He was also going to cut
off the head of Surrey’s father, the old Duke of Norfolk, but the
king died that night, before that was to have been done, and so the
Duke was saved. I do not believe that there was one person in England
who could be sorry when Henry died. Even now, whenever his name is
mentioned, we think of everything that is wicked.
CHAPTER XL.
How Sir Thomas More studied law, and became an orator; the wise and
good men who visited him; how he was for some time in the King’s
favor, but was afterwards imprisoned and put to death because he
would not do everything the King wished.
Well, my dear little Arthur, we have done with the cruel King Henry
the Eighth, and I am going to keep my promise, and write a little
chapter about Sir Thomas More.
We read in the chapter about Henry the Seventh, that in his reign the
young gentlemen of England began to study and read, and even to write
books, instead of spending all their time in fighting or hunting. And
I told you that Thomas Linacre, the great physician, taught a great
many gentlemen at Oxford to read and write Greek, and that Sir Thomas
More was one of his scholars.
Sir Thomas More’s father wished him to be a lawyer, and, though he
did not like it himself, he left his other learning and studied law
to please his father, and he became a great lawyer.
He was handsome and good-natured, very cheerful, and fond of
laughing. He had a pleasant voice, and it is said that he was the
first Englishman who could be called an ORATOR, that is, a man who
can speak well before a great number of others (as a clergyman
does when he preaches in a large church), and either teach them or
persuade them to think or do as he wishes.
But what you will like best to hear is, how good he was to his little
son and his daughters: he used to laugh with them and talk with them,
and as he had a pretty garden round his house at Chelsea, he used to
walk and play with them there.
Besides this, he was so kind to them, that he had the best masters in
England to teach them different languages, and music; and they used
to have very pleasant concerts, when his wife and daughters used to
play on different instruments, and sing to him. He was very fond of
painting, and had the famous painter, Hans Holbein, in his house a
long time.
Sometimes he and his children read pleasant books together, and he
was particularly careful to instruct his little girls, and they read
and wrote Latin very well, besides being very good workwomen with
their needles, and understanding how to take care of a house.
You may think what a happy family this was, and how much all the
children and the parents loved one another. All the best men that
were then alive used to come now and then and see Sir Thomas More
and family. There was the famous Erasmus, whom I mentioned before;
and Bishop Tonstall, who often contrived to save people from the
cruel Henry, when he had ordered them to be burnt; and Dean Colet,
who began that good school at St. Paul’s in London, for boys whose
parents were too poor to have them properly taught. You may think how
happy Sir Thomas More was at Chelsea, loving his wife and children,
who were all good, and most of them clever, and seeing his good and
wise friends every day.
But you know that God gives men duties to do for the country they
live in, as well as for themselves; and as Sir Thomas More was a
lawyer, he was obliged to attend to his business, and when he became
a judge, it took up so much of his time that he could not be so much
at his house at Chelsea as he wished. It was still worse when Henry
the Eighth made him Lord Chancellor of England, and required most of
his spare time to talk with him, instead of letting him go home.
For some time King Henry liked him very much, and everybody was in
hopes that he might make the king a better man.
But Henry was too bad and too cruel to take advice. The first dislike
he showed to Sir Thomas More was because that honest man did not
wish him to send away his good wife, Catherine of Arragon, and marry
another woman while she was alive. Afterwards he was angry with him
because he would not leave off thinking that the Pope was head of the
Christian Church, and say what Henry pleased, though he tried every
means to persuade him to do so.
At last the king sent him to prison on that account, and kept him
there a whole year, and sent all sorts of people to him, to try and
get him to say the king was in the right, whatever he might say or
do, and particularly that it was right for him to be called the
Supreme Head of the Church of England.
But More would not tell a lie. He knew his duty to God required him
to speak the truth; and as he thought the king wrong, he said so
boldly. This so enraged the cruel tyrant, that he determined to put
him to death; but he made believe to be sorry, and said he should
have a fair trial, and sent for him out of prison, and made a number
of noblemen and gentlemen ask him the same things over again that
he had been asked in prison before. And as he still gave the same
answers, the king ordered his head to be cut off.
In all the whole year he had been in prison he had only been allowed
to see his wife once; and his eldest daughter Margaret, who was
married to a Mr. Roper, once also. The cruel king now ordered that
he should be kept in prison, without seeing any of his family again
before his death; but Margaret Roper waited in the street, and knelt
down near where he must pass, that he might give her his blessing.
Then she determined to try to kiss her own dear father before he
died; so, without minding the soldiers who were carrying him to
prison, or the crowd which were standing round, she ran past them
all and caught her father in her arms, and kissed him over and over
again, and cried so bitterly that even the soldiers could not help
crying too.
The only thing More begged of the king on the day he was beheaded
was, that his dear daughter might be allowed to go to his funeral;
and he felt happy when they told him all his family might go.
After Sir Thomas More’s head was cut off, the cruel king ordered it
to be stuck up on a pole on London bridge; but Margaret Roper soon
contrived to get it down. She kept it carefully till she died, and
then it was buried with her.
As long as there are any good people in the world, Sir Thomas More
and his daughter will be loved whenever their names are heard.
CHAPTER XLI.
EDWARD VI.—1547 to 1553.
How Edward the Sixth was taught to be a Protestant; how the Protector
Somerset went to war in Scotland; how he caused his brother to be
beheaded, and was afterwards beheaded himself; how the Duke of
Northumberland persuaded the King to leave the kingdom to Lady Jane
Grey.
When King Henry the Eighth died, his only son, who was but nine years
old, was made king under the name of Edward the Sixth.
Of course the little prince could not do much of a king’s proper
business himself; but his guardians, and especially his mother’s
brother, managed the kingdom tolerably well for him at first.
The little boy was very gentle and fond of learning. He was serious
and clever too: he wrote down in a book every day what he had been
about, and seemed to wish to do what was right; so the people thought
they might have a really good king.
I told you, when I mentioned the alteration in religion in Henry the
Eighth’s reign, that though nearly all the nobles continued Papists,
yet many of the gentlemen and the people were Protestants. Now King
Edward’s uncles and teachers were Protestants, and they taught the
young king to be one also, and laws were made by which all the people
in England were ordered to be Protestants too.
The Bible was allowed to be read by everybody who chose it, in
English, and the clergymen were ordered to say the prayers in
English instead of Latin, which very few could understand. The king
was declared to be the head of the Church; clergymen were allowed to
marry; and those persons whom Henry the Eighth had put in prison were
set free.
These things were not only good for the people then, but they have
been of use ever since. As the English clergymen, and schools, and
colleges, have had no foreign Pope to interfere with them, they have
been able to teach such things as are good and useful to England.
Clergymen who are married, and have families living in the country
among the farmers and cottagers, may set good examples and teach
useful things, by the help of their wives and children, which the
clergy who were not married could never do.
And as for reading the Bible, and saying prayers in English, it must
be better for us all to learn our duties, and speak of our wants to
God, in the language we understand best.
For these reasons the reign of Edward the Sixth is always reckoned a
very good one for England.
There were, however, some very wrong things done in it, and some
unhappy ones, owing to the king’s being so very young.
I told you he was only nine years old when he came to be king. Those
in whose care his father had placed him and the kingdom, allowed
one of the king’s uncles, the Duke of Somerset, to become his chief
guardian and adviser, and he is always called the Lord Protector
Somerset.
A quarrel which Henry the Eighth had begun with Scotland was carried
on by Somerset, who went himself to Scotland with an army, and beat
the Scots at the battle of Pinkie; but the war did no good, and was
not even honourable to England. Somerset offered to make peace if the
Scottish lords would allow their young Queen Mary to marry our young
King Edward, when the children were old enough, and then England and
Scotland might have been one kingdom from that time.
I should tell you that the last king of Scotland, James the Fifth,
was dead, and that his widow was a French lady, and ruled the
kingdom, with the help of the Scottish nobles, for her little
daughter, who was five years old. She and the nobles at that time
were Papists, and would not allow Mary to marry the Protestant King
Edward of England, but sent her to France, where she married a French
prince, and was Queen of France for a little while.
When the Protector Somerset came back from Scotland, the great Lords
at first seemed glad to see him; but by degrees they made the young
king think very ill of him. Besides, many hated Somerset for his
pride. He pulled down several churches and bishops’ palaces, to make
room for his own palace in the Strand. The great building that now
stands in the same place is still called _Somerset House_.
I am sorry to tell you that one of the Protector’s enemies was his
own brother, Lord Seymour of Sudely, a very brave but bad man, who
was the High Admiral of England.
Now the Admiral wished to be the king’s guardian instead of Somerset;
and he was trying to do this by force. So he was seized and tried;
and his own brother, the Protector, signed the order for him to be
beheaded.
Somerset did this to save his own life; but soon after this his
enemies grew too strong for him, and Lord Warwick, who had become
the chief ruler, got the king to sign an order to behead Somerset.
Although he was a king, the poor boy must have been very unhappy. He
had been persuaded to order his own two uncles to be beheaded; and
although he had two sisters, he could not make friends with them,
because they were brought up to think all he did was wrong.
[Illustration: The Protector Somerset accusing his Brother before
King Edward VI.]
The eldest was the daughter of Henry the Eighth’s first wife,
Catherine of Arragon. She was twenty-one years older than the king,
and she was a Papist, and hated all the Protestants, and the king
most of all.
The king’s second sister was the daughter of poor Queen Anne Boleyn.
Her name was Elizabeth; she was a Protestant, and was only four years
older than her brother, who loved her, and used to call her his
“sweet sister Temperance.”
He had one cousin, whom he saw often, and who was very beautiful and
good, and loved learning; her name was Lady Jane Grey. I shall have a
good deal to tell you about her, and how she used to read and learn
as well as the little king.
But I must now tell you what happened when the Protector was
beheaded. Although he had offended the great lords, and they had
persuaded the king that he deserved to die, the people loved him.
He had always been kind to them, and the laws made while he was
Protector were all good for England. On the day when his head was
cut off on Tower-Hill—it was early in the morning—a great many
people were collected to see him die. Suddenly one of the king’s
messengers rode up to the scaffold where Somerset stood ready for
the executioner; the people hoped the king had sent a pardon for his
uncle, and shouted out, “A pardon! a pardon! God save the king!” But
it was not true; there was no pardon. Somerset was a little moved
when the people shouted, but soon became quite quiet. He spoke kindly
and thankfully to some of his friends who were shedding tears near
him, and then laid his head upon the block, and was beheaded.
After this time the Earl of Warwick managed the country for the
king. But the poor young prince did not live long. Soon after his
uncle’s death he began to cough and look very ill, and everybody saw
that he was likely to die.
Now the person who was to reign over England after Edward’s death was
his eldest sister, the Princess Mary, and, as I told you, she was a
Papist, or, as we now call it, a Roman Catholic.
The Earl of Warwick, who had been made Duke of Northumberland, had
a son named Lord Guildford Dudley, who married the king’s good and
beautiful cousin, Lady Jane Grey. These young people were both
Protestants, and Northumberland hoped that the people would like to
have Lady Jane for their queen, in case the young king should die,
better than the Roman Catholic Princess Mary; and then he thought
that, as he was the father of Jane’s husband, he might rule the
kingdom in her name, and get all the power for himself.
Poor King Edward now grew weaker and weaker: he was taken to
Greenwich for change of air, and seemed at first a little better, so
that the people, who really loved their gentle and sweet-tempered
young king, began to hope he might live.
But Northumberland knew that Edward was dying, and he never left him,
that he might persuade him to make a will, leaving the kingdom to his
dear cousin, Lady Jane Grey, after his death.
This was very wrong, because the king is only placed at the head
of the kingdom, to do justice and to exercise mercy. He cannot buy
or sell the kingdom, or any part of it. He cannot change the owner
of the smallest bit of land without the authority of the whole
parliament, made up of the king himself, and the lords and gentlemen
of the commons along with him. Of course, therefore, Northumberland
was wrong, in persuading the young king to make such a will without
the advice of parliament. You will read presently how Northumberland
was punished.
Soon after this will was made poor Edward the Sixth died. He was not
quite sixteen years old. He was so mild and gentle, that everybody
loved him. He took such pains to learn, and do what was right, that
the people were in hopes of having a really good and wise king. But
it pleased God that he should die. His last prayer as he lay a dying
was, “O Lord, save thy chosen people of England. Defend this realm
from papistry, and maintain thy true religion.”
CHAPTER XLII.
THE STORY OF LADY JANE GREY.
How Lady Jane Grey was called Queen for ten days, and was afterwards
imprisoned; how she was fond of learning; how she was persuaded to
become Queen against her will; and how she and her husband were put
to death by Queen Mary.
Two days after King Edward died, Northumberland had Lady Jane Grey
proclaimed, or called queen in London.
On the same day the Lady Mary’s friends had her proclaimed at Norwich.
Some people would have liked Lady Jane best, first, because their
dear young King Edward had wished her to be queen; and next, because
she was beautiful, virtuous, and wise, and, above all, a Protestant.
But then they feared and hated her father-in-law, Northumberland.
They remembered that he had persuaded King Edward to order the
Protector Somerset to be beheaded. They knew that he was cruel, and
jealous, and revengeful; they thought that he only pretended to be a
Protestant, and because he was such a bad man, they were afraid to
let his son’s wife be queen.
One by one all Northumberland’s friends left him and joined the Lady
Mary, who was the rightful queen; and after Lady Jane Grey had been
called queen for ten days, she went to her private home at Sion
House, a great deal happier than the day when they took her away to
make her a queen.
It would have been well if Queen Mary had left her cousin there.
But she was of a cruel and revengeful temper, and not content with
sending Northumberland to prison in the Tower of London, for setting
up her cousin as queen, she sent Lady Jane and her husband, Lord
Guildford Dudley, also to the Tower.
But I must tell you a great deal more about Lady Jane Grey, and I
will begin her story at the time when she was very young indeed.
As she was only a few months older than her cousin Edward the Sixth,
she had the same teachers in everything, and she was like him in
gentleness, goodness, and kindness. Her masters found that she was
still cleverer than the little king, and that she learned Latin and
Greek too more readily than he did. She knew French, and Spanish, and
Italian perfectly, and loved music and painting. She used to thank
God that she had strict parents and a kind and gentle schoolmaster.
She was married when very young to Lord Guildford Dudley, only a few
weeks before King Edward died; and she was very sorry when she found
out that her husband wanted to be king.
When King Edward died, Lady Jane’s father, the Duke of Suffolk, and
her husband’s father, the Duke of Northumberland, went to Lady Jane,
and fell upon their knees before her, and offered her the crown of
England, at the same time telling her that her cousin the king, whom
she loved very much, was dead. On hearing this she fainted, and then
refused the crown, saying, that while the ladies Mary and Elizabeth
were alive, nobody else could have a right to it.
[Illustration: Lady Jane Grey refusing the Crown.]
At last, however, though the two dukes could not prevail upon her
to allow herself to be called Queen of England, her husband and her
mother begged her so hard to be queen, that she consented.
I have already told you that she was only called queen for ten days,
and that Queen Mary sent her and her husband to the Tower.
They were not allowed to see one another in their prison. However,
as they were not beheaded immediately, people hoped that Mary would
spare them. But she was too cruel. After she had kept them closely
shut up for nearly eight months, she ordered both their heads to be
cut off. Dudley was to be executed on Tower-Hill, in sight of all
the people; Lady Jane in a court within the Tower, with only a few
persons round her.
When Lady Jane knew this, she had no wish to do anything but prepare
for her own death next day. She wrote a letter to her father, to take
leave of him, in which she said, “My guiltless blood may cry before
the Lord, mercy to the innocent!” She left her Greek Testament to her
sister Catherine, with a Greek letter written on a blank leaf in it.
Early in the morning of the 12th day of February Lady Jane stood by
the iron-barred window of her prison, and saw her dear husband led
through the Tower gate to be beheaded. Not long afterwards she was
praying near the same spot, and saw a common cart coming from the
gate, and in it her husband’s body, all covered with blood.
When she was taken from prison to be beheaded, she spoke kindly and
gently to everybody near her. As Sir John Brydges, the keeper of the
Tower, led her from her room to the scaffold, he asked her for a
keepsake, and she gave him a little book, in which she had written
three sentences, one in Greek, one in Latin, and one in English.
She spoke to the officers and servants before she was beheaded,
saying that she had never intended to do wrong, that she only obeyed
her parents in being queen, and that she trusted to be forgiven.
Her maidens then took off some part of her dress; she knelt down and
laid her head upon the block, and her beautiful head was cut off
before she was seventeen years old.
The people now were sorry they had allowed Mary to be queen, for
they thought that if she could order these two good and innocent
young people to be put to death she would not spare anybody whom she
might happen to hate. And so it proved, as you will read in the next
chapter.
CHAPTER XLIII.
MARY.—1553 to 1558.
How Sir Thomas Wyat rebelled against Queen Mary, but was overcome,
and he and many others were put to death; how she offended the people
by marrying the King of Spain; and how a great many people were burnt
for being Protestants.
Mary, the daughter of Henry the Eighth, and of Catherine of Arragon,
his first wife, was so cruel that she is always called BLOODY MARY.
She was at Hunsdon when her brother died; but instead of going
directly to London to be made queen, she went first to Norwich, for
fear of the Duke of Northumberland, and afterwards to London, as you
read in the last chapter.
One of the very first things she did was to order the heads of
the Duke of Northumberland and several other gentlemen to be cut
off. She then offended the people by forbidding them to say their
public prayers or to read the Bible in English: she ordered all the
clergymen to send away their wives, and she determined to restore
the Roman Catholic worship again.
Many now began to be sorry that Mary was queen, and a number of
people collected under the command of Sir Thomas Wyat and the Duke
of Suffolk, to try to drive Mary out, and release Lady Jane, for
this was before she was put to death. At one time Mary was in great
danger, but Wyat’s men fell away from him, and he was taken and put
to death.
The hard-hearted queen determined to be revenged on those who had
been with Sir Thomas Wyat. Besides beheading Lady Jane, as I have
told you, she ordered the heads of the Duke of Suffolk and of many
more gentlemen to be cut off, and stuck up the heads on poles all
about the streets. She had fifty-two gentlemen hanged, all on the
same day, and the people called the day Black Monday. She soon sent
to fetch her sister Elizabeth from her house at Ashbridge, and on
her coming to London sent her to the Tower. For two months Elizabeth
was kept close in prison, whilst her enemies strove hard to have her
beheaded. At last her friends prevailed, and she went to live at
Hatfield.
The next thing Mary did to offend the people of England was to marry
the Spanish prince, who was soon after Philip the Second, King
of Spain. He was as ill-tempered and as cruel as the queen, and
encouraged her in hating the Protestants, and in trying to make all
the English people Roman Catholics again.
The queen’s cousin, Cardinal Pole, was soon sent from Rome by the
Pope. And one day Queen Mary and King Philip, with the nobles and
commons, knelt before the Cardinal, and confessed the wickedness of
England in casting off the power of the Pope. So the Cardinal forgave
them, and received England back to the Romish Church.
The persons who helped Mary most in her cruelty were Gardiner, Bishop
of Winchester, and Bishop Bonner. These two men were the most cruel I
ever heard of, and determined to burn everybody who would not agree
with the queen in her religion.
The first person Gardiner ordered to be burnt alive was one of the
clergymen belonging to the great church of St. Paul in London; his
name was Rogers. That good man would not do what he thought wrong
towards God to please either Gardiner or the queen, so they sent him
to the great square called Smithfield, and there had him tied to a
stake, and a fire lighted all around him, so as to kill him. As he
was going along to be burnt, his wife and his ten little children met
him, and kissed him, and took leave of him, for Gardiner would not
let them go to him while he kept him in prison before his death.
The next was Dr. Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester. He died saying
prayers, and preaching to the people round about him, and thanking
God for giving him strength to speak the truth, and keep His
commandments.
Altogether, there were nearly three hundred men and women burnt by
Queen Mary’s orders; but I will only tell you the names of three
more, for I hate to write about such wicked doings.
You remember I mentioned Bishop Latimer among the good men who were
Protestants. He had come to be a very old man in Mary’s reign; but
she would not spare him, but sent him with another bishop, a friend
of his, as good and learned as himself, named Ridley, to Oxford,
where they were burned together, only because they were Protestants.
At last Mary determined to order the death of the wise and good
Archbishop Cranmer. He had always been very gentle and rather
fearful, and he wrote to Mary, and tried by every means to get her to
allow him to live. They made him hope to be spared if he would give
up his religion, and promise to be a Papist. As soon as he had been
so weak as to do this, she ordered him to be burned at Oxford. When
he was taken to be tied to the stake, he stretched out his right hand
that it might burn first, because it had written through fear what he
did not mean. He took off all his clothes but his shirt, and with a
very cheerful countenance he began to praise God aloud, and to pray
for pardon for the faults he might have committed during a long life.
His patience in bearing the torment of burning, and his courage in
dying, made all the people love him as much as it made them hate the
queen and Bonner.
Nothing did well in this cruel queen’s reign. She went to war with
France to please her husband the king of Spain, and in that war the
French took Calais from the English, who had kept it ever since
Edward the Third’s reign.[2]
Queen Mary died the same year in which she lost Calais, after being
queen only five years.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Little Arthur should look back, and read the story of the taking
of Calais, and of the good Eustace de St. Pierre.
CHAPTER XLIV.
ELIZABETH.—1558 to 1603.
How Queen Elizabeth allowed the people to be Protestants; how they
learned many useful things from foreigners who had been persecuted
in their own country; how Mary Queen of Scots was driven from her
kingdom, and was imprisoned, and at last beheaded by Elizabeth.
Queen Elizabeth’s reign was so very long, and there are so many
things in it to tell you about, that I am sure we must have three
chapters about her, and you will find both good and bad in them; but
after all you will think that her being queen was a very good thing
for England.
When Queen Mary died, Elizabeth was at Hatfield, where she stayed a
little while, till some of the great and wise men belonging to the
country went to her to advise her what she had best do for the good
of England, and how she should begin. At the end of a week she went
to London.
She was twenty-five years old, and very pleasant looking. She was a
good scholar in Latin, Greek, Italian, and some other languages; but
she loved English above all.
The first thing Elizabeth and her wise counsellors did was to set
free all the poor Protestants whom Queen Mary and Bishop Bonner had
put in prison, and intended to burn. Then she allowed the Bible and
prayers to be read in English.
When Elizabeth rode through London to be crowned in Westminster
Abbey, the citizens made all sorts of fine shows to do honour to a
queen who had already been so good to the poor Protestants. They hung
beautiful silks and satins out at the windows like flags; they built
fine wooden arches across the streets, which they dressed up with
branches of trees and flowers; and just as the queen was riding under
one of them, a boy beautifully dressed was let down by cords from
the top, who gave the queen a beautiful Bible, and then he was drawn
up again. Elizabeth took the Bible and kissed it, and pressed it to
her bosom, and said it was a present she liked best of all the fine
things the people had given her that day.
Afterwards she appointed Protestant bishops, and made a very good and
learned man, named Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Queen Elizabeth did not find it very easy to undo all the mischief
that Queen Mary had done; but at last, with the help of her good
counsellors, England was at peace, and the people were settled, some
on their lands, where they were beginning to sow more corn and make
more gardens than they had done before, and some in different trades;
for the English learned to make a great many things at this time from
strangers that came to live here.
I will tell you why they came. That cruel Philip the Second, King of
Spain, who had been married to Queen Mary, was King over Flanders
and Holland, as well as Spain. A great many of the people in those
countries were Protestants: but Philip wanted to make them Papists by
force, and would have burnt them as Queen Mary did the Protestants
in England. But they got away from him, and, hearing that Queen
Elizabeth was a friend to the Protestants, they came here. And as
some of them were spinners and weavers, and others dyers, and so on,
they began to work at their trades, and taught them to the English.
Since that time we have always been able to make woollen and linen
cloths ourselves.
So you see that King Philip, by being cruel, drove away useful people
from his country, and Queen Elizabeth, by being kind and just, got
those useful people to do good to our own dear England.
I must tell you a sad story of the worst thing that happened in Queen
Elizabeth’s time, in this chapter, because it has a great deal to do
with the Protestants and Papists.
In the chapter about Edward the Sixth you read that there was a
beautiful young Queen of Scotland, and that the English wished King
Edward to marry her; but that she went to France, and married the
young French king instead.
She was so very young when she first went, that her husband’s mother
kept her to teach along with her own little girls till she was old
enough to be married; and I am sorry to say that she taught her to be
cunning, and deceitful, and cruel.
Her name was Mary, and she was the most beautiful young queen in the
world; and the old French queen, whose name was Catherine, taught her
to love dress, and shows, and dancing, more than anything, although
she was so clever that she might have learned all the good things
that the beautiful Lady Jane Grey had learned.
The young King of France died very soon, and then Mary, who is always
called Queen of Scots, went home to Scotland. If she had been wise,
she might have done as much good as her cousin Queen Elizabeth did in
England.
But she had been too long living in gaiety and amusement in France,
to know what was best for her people; and instead of listening to
wise counsellors, as Elizabeth did, she would take advice from nobody
but Frenchmen, or others who would dance and sing instead of minding
serious things.
When she went away from Scotland all the people were Papists; but
long before she got back, not only the people, but most of the great
lords, were Protestants; and Mary was very much vexed, and tried to
make them all turn Papists again.
At last, there was a civil war in Scotland, between the Papists
and Protestants, which did much mischief: at the end of it, the
Protestants promised Mary to let her be a Papist and have Papist
clergymen for herself and the lords and ladies belonging to her
house; and she promised that her children should be brought up as
Protestants, and that the people should be allowed to worship God in
the way they liked best.
Just before this war Mary had married her cousin, Henry Stuart,
called Lord Darnley, who was very handsome; and she liked him very
much indeed for a little time, and they had a son called James. But
soon afterwards Mary was very much offended with Darnley, and showed
great favour to Lord Bothwell. Not long afterwards Lord Bothwell
murdered Darnley at the very time when Mary was giving a ball in her
palace and was dancing merrily; and most people then thought that
Mary had planned the wicked deed with Bothwell that she might be able
to marry him.
And it turned out just as everybody expected; so you cannot wonder
that most of those who were good were very angry indeed when they
found that she chose to marry that wicked man three months after he
had killed her poor husband.
Then there was another civil war, and Mary was put into prison in
Loch-Leven Castle, which stands on a little island in the middle of
a lake. However, by the help of one of her friends she got out, and
once more got her Papist advisers round her, who tried to make her
queen again.
But the Scots would not allow it, and they made her little infant
James their king, and made the lords Murray and Morton, and some
others, guardians for the little king and the kingdom.
It would have been well for Queen Mary if she would have lived in
Scotland quietly, and taken care of her little son herself. But
her bad husband, Bothwell, had run away to save his own life, and
Mary Queen of Scots chose to come to England, in hopes that Queen
Elizabeth, her cousin, would help her to get the kingdom of Scotland
again.
I cannot tell you all the things that happened to Mary Queen of Scots
in England. But I must say that I wish she had never come. She first
of all seemed to want to make friends with Elizabeth, but all the
time she was sending letters to the kings of France and Spain, to ask
them to help her to get not only Scotland, but England for herself,
and she promised one of the great English lords she would marry him,
and make him king, if he would help her too.
She also sent to get the Pope’s help, and promised that all the
people in England and Scotland too should be Papists, and obey the
Pope again, and send him a great deal of money every year, if she
could only kill or drive away Queen Elizabeth.
Now, Elizabeth’s faithful friends and wise counsellors found out
all these letters to the Pope and the kings of France and Spain,
and they were so afraid lest any harm should happen to their good,
useful Queen Elizabeth, that they kept Mary Queen of Scots in prison,
sometimes in one great castle, sometimes in another.
They allowed her to walk, and ride, and to have her ladies and other
friends with her, and many people visited her at first. But when it
was known that she really wished to make the English all Papists
again, she was not allowed to see so many people.
At last—I could almost cry when I tell you of it—the beautiful, and
clever, and very unhappy Queen of Scots was ordered to be beheaded!
She was in prison at Fotheringay Castle when Queen Elizabeth’s cruel
order to cut off her head was sent to her. The next day her steward
and her ladies led her into the great hall of the castle, which was
hung all round with black cloth. In the middle of the hall there was
a place raised above the floor, also covered with black. There her
maids took off her veil, and she knelt down and laid her beautiful
head on the block. It was cut off, and her servants took it and her
body to bury.
Mary had done many wicked things: she had tried to do much mischief
in England. But as she was not born in England, but was the queen
of another country, neither Elizabeth nor her counsellors had any
business either to keep her in prison, or to put her to death. They
ought to have sent her, at the very first, safely to some other
country, if they were really afraid she would do mischief in England.
This is a very bad thing: and I cannot make any excuse for Elizabeth.
I will only say that her old counsellors were so afraid lest Mary
should prevail on the kings of France and Spain to help her to kill
Elizabeth, and make the English all Papists again, that they wished
Elizabeth to have ordered Mary’s head to be taken off long before she
really did so.
CHAPTER XLV.
ELIZABETH.—Continued.
How Queen Elizabeth refused to marry; how the ships and the sailors
were improved in her reign; how some great admirals made many voyages
and discoveries; how the King of Spain sent a great fleet and army to
conquer England, but could not succeed; and how the English did much
harm to Spain.
It is quite pleasant, my little friend, to have to write a chapter
for you, where I can tell you of all things going well for England,
that dear country where God allows us to live, which he has given us
to love, and to do all we can for.
When first Elizabeth became queen, her counsellors and the
Parliament, and the people, all asked her to marry, and promised
to receive kindly anybody she should choose. And the King of Spain
asked her to marry him, but she told him she would not marry him,
because he had been her sister’s husband; and she did not believe the
Pope had power to allow her to marry one who had been her sister’s
husband. Then the old Queen of France, Catherine of Medicis, who had
taught poor Mary Queen of Scots to be so foolish and cruel, wanted
Queen Elizabeth to marry one of her sons. But Elizabeth did not like
them any better than she did Philip, yet more than once she pretended
she was going to marry one of them, for she wanted to be friends with
France, and so make England strong and able to fight successfully
against Spain. Then some of the great English lords wanted to marry
her. But she knew that if she married one of them the others would
be jealous, and, may be, would make a civil war in England; so she
thanked the counsellors, and the Parliament, and the people, for
their kindness, but said she would rather live single, as she had
quite enough to do to govern the kingdom well, without being troubled
with marrying. And she kept her word, and never married, and is
always called the Maiden Queen.
I told you long ago, that the first great sea-fight in which the
English beat the French was in the reign of Edward the Third. Since
that time the English ships had been very much improved; instead of
only one mast, the largest had three, and instead of stones for the
sailors to throw at one another, there were large and small guns to
fight with. Then the sailors were as much improved as the ships.
Instead of only sailing along by the land, and only going to sea in
good weather, they made long voyages.
You know, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather, I told
you that some bold sailors had sailed as far as America. Now Queen
Elizabeth, who knew very well that the kings of France and Spain
wanted to make war upon England, and drive her away, and oppress the
Protestants, thought, like wise King Alfred, that the best way to
defend England was to have plenty of ships and good seamen, and brave
admirals and captains to command them: and so meet her enemies on the
sea, and keep them from ever landing in England.
I must tell you something about one or two of Queen Elizabeth’s great
admirals.
Sir Francis Drake, the first man who ever sailed his ship round the
whole world, was born in Devonshire, and went to sea at first with
some other brave gentlemen, to carry on a war against some towns
which the Spaniards had built in South America. This was very wrong,
because private persons have no business to make war, and take towns,
and make prisoners of the townspeople. Such things should only be
done when there is a lawful war between two countries. Then, indeed,
every man must do his duty, and fight as well as he can for his own
country and king. If private gentlemen were to go and take towns
belonging to other countries, now, they would be called PIRATES, and
they would be hanged.
However, as Sir Francis Drake grew older, he left off making private
war, became one of the queen’s best admirals, and you will read more
about him near the end of this chapter.
When he made his grand voyage round the world, he sailed always from
the East to the West. He first went round Cape Horn, at the very
South end of South America, where he saw great islands of ice as high
as a large hill, and penguins and albatrosses swimming about them.
Then he sailed to the Spice Islands, where he saw cloves and nutmegs
grow, and birds of Paradise flying about in the air, and peacocks in
the fields, and monkeys skipping from tree to tree in the woods. Then
he passed by the Cape of Good Hope, which is in the South part of
Africa, where all the beautiful geraniums and heaths come from.
Queen Elizabeth spoke to him kindly when he set out, and when he came
back, after being three years at sea, she went and dined with him on
board his own ship, and saw all the beautiful and curious things he
had brought home with him.
Another great Admiral was Sir Martin Frobisher, who had been to the
furthest parts of North America, and first saw all the land about
Hudson’s Bay, and those countries to the south of that bay, where the
English not long afterwards built towns, and settled a great many
free states, that you will read a great deal about some day.
In many things, the next admiral I will tell you about was a greater
man than any of the rest. His name was Sir Walter Raleigh; he was
both a sailor and a soldier: sometimes he commanded a ship, and
sometimes he fought along with the army on shore.
The first time the queen took notice of him was one day that she was
walking in London, and came to a splashy place just as Sir Walter was
going by. As she was thinking how she could best step through the
mud, Sir Walter took off a nice new cloak that he had on, and spread
it on the dirt, so that the queen might walk over without wetting her
shoes. She was very much pleased, and desired him to go to see her at
her palace; and as she found that he was very clever and very brave,
she made him one of her chief admirals.
Queen Elizabeth used to behave to her brave admirals and generals,
and her wise counsellors, and even to her great merchants, like
a friend. She visited them in their houses, and talked to them
cheerfully of her affairs. She took notice of even the poorest
people, and she used to walk and ride about, so that all her subjects
knew her and loved her. And now I am going to tell you a part of her
history, which will show you how happy it was for her and for England
that the people did love their good queen.
The King of Spain had never loved Elizabeth; and he hated England,
because the people were Protestants: and I am sure you remember how
cruel he and his wife Queen Mary were to the English.
He made war against England, and thought that if he could land a
great army on the coast, he might conquer all the country and drive
away Elizabeth, and make the English all Papists again. He hoped this
would be easy, because he was the richest king in the world, and had
more ships and sailors and soldiers than any other. And he began to
build more ships and to collect more sailors and soldiers; and he
made so sure he should conquer England, that I have heard he even had
chains put on board the ships, to chain the English admirals when his
people should take them.
This fleet, that King Philip made ready to conquer England, was the
largest that any king had ever sent to sea, and he called it the
“Invincible Armada,”[3] because, he said, nobody could conquer it.
But Queen Elizabeth heard in time that Philip was making ready
this great navy, to bring as great an army to attack England. She
immediately told the Parliament and people of her danger. She rode
out herself to see her soldiers and her ships, and she said she
trusted herself entirely to her good people. The people soon showed
her they might be trusted: they came willingly to be sailors and
soldiers; and the great lords gave money to pay the soldiers; and
many gentlemen built ships, and bought guns, and gave them to the
queen. And she had soon a good fleet. It was not so large as King
Philip’s indeed, and the ships were quite small compared with his;
but the sailors belonging to it remembered that they were to fight
for their own dear England, and for a queen whom they loved.
[Illustration: The Spanish Armada.]
The chief admiral was Lord Howard of Effingham; under him were Lord
Seymour, Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Martin Frobisher,
Sir Walter Raleigh, and several other lords and gentlemen.
[Illustration: Queen Elizabeth reviewing her army at Tilbury.]
The queen got herself ready to march to whatever place the Spaniards
might land at. She had a good army a little way from London, at
Tilbury Fort, and she went there on horseback, and spoke to the
soldiers, to give them courage.
Oh, how anxious everybody in England was, when the news came that the
great Armada was at sea, and sailing very near them! but it pleased
God to save England. Soon after the Spanish fleet set sail a great
storm arose, and many of the ships were so damaged that they could
not come to England at all.
When the others did come, Queen Elizabeth’s fleet sailed out and
followed them for a week up the English Channel, fighting and beating
them all the way. At last, in the Straits of Dover, the English
admirals sent fire ships into the middle of the Armada, and the
Spaniards sailed away in a fright; and not one ship got to England to
land Spanish soldiers. Twelve of them were taken or destroyed; and
another storm, greater than the first, sank a great many and wrecked
others, so that of all Philip’s great fleet and army, only one-third
could get back to Spain; and they were so tired and so hurt that he
never could get them together again to attack England.
Philip must have been very sorry that he began to make war against
England, for the war lasted as long as he lived, and every year the
English admirals used to take a good many of his ships; and one year
Lord Essex, who was a great favorite of Queen Elizabeth’s, landed in
Spain, and took Cadiz, one of Philip’s best towns, and burnt a great
many ships that were in its harbour.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] Armada is the Spanish word for Navy.
CHAPTER XLVI.
ELIZABETH.—Continued.
How Ireland was in an evil condition from the conquest; how Elizabeth
tried to improve it by sending it wise governors; how the Earl of
Desmond’s and the Earl of Tyrone’s rebellions were subdued; how the
Earl of Essex behaved ill, and was put to death; and how Sir Philip
Sidney was killed in battle.
It is a long time since I mentioned Ireland to you. You know that in
the reign of King Henry the Second the English took a great part of
it, and drove the old Irish away to the west side of the island.
Now the English, who settled in Ireland at that time, soon grew
more like Irish than Englishmen, and they were as ready to quarrel
with any new English that went to settle there as the old Irish had
been to quarrel with them; so poor Ireland had never been quiet.
The different lords of the new Irish, and the kings of the old were
always fighting, and then they sent to England sometimes to ask for
help, and often to complain of one another. Then the kings of England
used to send soldiers, with private captains, who very often fought
whoever they met, instead of helping one side or the other; and these
soldiers generally treated the unhappy Irish as ill as the Danes used
to treat the English.
In Queen Elizabeth’s time the miserable people in Ireland were never
a day without some sad quarrel or fight in which many of them were
killed; and though Ireland is a good country for corn and cattle,
and all things useful, yet there was nothing to be had there but
oatmeal; the people lived like wild savages, and even a good many of
the English that had settled there wore the coarse Irish dress, used
bows and arrows, and let their hair grow filthy and matted, more
like the wild old Britons you read of in the first chapter, than like
Christian gentlemen.
Ireland was strangely divided then; there was the part where the old
Irish lived in huts among bogs and mountains; then the part with
a few old castles that the first English settlers had built; and
then that where fresh captains, who had come from time to time, had
fixed themselves in forts and towns; and all these three parts were
constantly at war.
Elizabeth, when she found how very ill Ireland was governed, wished
to make it a little more like England, and to try to bring the people
to live in peace. She sent a wise Governor there, called Sir Henry
Sydney, and then another called Arthur Lord Grey de Wilton; but all
that these good men could do was to keep the new English a little in
order, and to try to do justice to the other people. By the queen’s
orders they set up schools, and a college in Dublin, in hopes that
the young Irishmen would learn to become more like the men of other
countries.
But the bad way of governing Ireland had gone on too long to allow it
to be changed all at once; and Elizabeth found she must send an army
there to keep the different English and Irish chiefs in order, if she
wished to have peace in the country.
Now these chiefs were all Roman Catholics, for I believe there were
no Protestants in Ireland but the very newest of the English; and
when the King of Spain made war against Queen Elizabeth, he sent some
Spanish soldiers to Ireland to help the Irish chiefs to make war upon
the English.
The story of these wars is long and very sad, and belongs rightly to
the history of Ireland; but I must tell you what happened to one or
two of the chief men of Ireland at this time.
The Earl of Desmond was one who joined the King of Spain’s people,
and when Lord Grey drove the Spaniards out of Ireland, Desmond tried
to hide himself among the woods and bogs in the wildest part of the
country. But the English soldiers hunted him from place to place,
so that he had no rest. One night he and his wife had just gone to
bed in a house close by the side of a river; the English soldiers
came, and the old Lord and Lady Desmond had just time to get up and
run into the water, in which they stood up to their necks, till the
English were gone. At last some soldiers, who were seeking for them,
saw a very old man sitting by himself in a poor hut; they found out
it was the Earl of Desmond, and they cut off his head directly, and
sent it to queen Elizabeth.
But the most famous Irishman at this time was Hugh O’Neil, Earl
of Tyrone. His uncle, Shane O’Neil, tried to make himself King of
Ulster, and hated the English so that he killed some of his own
family because they wanted to teach the Irish to eat bread like the
English, instead of oat cakes.
This Hugh, Earl of Tyrone, had a large army of Irish, and fought all
the queen’s officers for many years, though she sent many of the
best and bravest there. Sir Henry Bagenal was one, and her greatest
favourite, the Earl of Essex, was another. Two or three times, when
Tyrone was near being conquered, he pretended to submit, and promised
that if the queen would forgive him, he would keep his Irish friends
quiet. He broke his word, however, and kept a civil war up in Ireland
till very near the queen’s death, when, after being almost starved
for want of food in the bogs near his own home, he made peace in
earnest, and Ireland was quiet for a few years.
We are come now to the end of Queen Elizabeth’s long and famous
reign. She died when she had been queen forty-five years, and was
very unhappy at her death. Her favourite Lord Essex behaved so ill
after he came from Ireland, that the queen’s counsellors ordered him
to be put to death. Now, the queen had once given him a ring, when he
was her greatest favourite, and told him, that if he would send it to
her whenever he was in danger, she would save his life and forgive
any of his faults. She thought he would send this ring to her, when
he knew he was condemned to have his head cut off; and so he did; but
a cruel woman to whom he trusted it, to give the queen, never did
so till long after Essex was dead; and then Elizabeth, who was old
and ill herself, was so vexed, that she hardly ever spoke to anybody
again, and died in a few days afterwards at Richmond.
It would make our little history too long, if I tried to tell you of
all the wise and good things done by Elizabeth, or if I told you the
names of half the famous men who lived in her time.
Besides Essex, there was her other favourite, Leicester, a clever bad
man.
Her god-son, Harrington, belonged to the learned men and poets of her
time; but neither he nor any of the rest, though there were many,
were to be compared to Shakespeare, whose plays everybody reads and
loves, nor even to Spenser, who lived and died in Elizabeth’s reign.
Then there were her wise counsellors Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord
Burleigh, and Walsingham, and, all the generals and admirals I have
told you about. I must just mention one more, because you will wish
to be like him when you grow up. He was Sir Philip Sidney, the best
and wisest, and most learned, and bravest. He was killed in battle.
When he was lying on the ground, very hot and thirsty, and bleeding
to death, a friend was bringing him a cup of water; but he happened
to look round, and saw a poor dying soldier who had no friends near
him, looking eagerly towards the cup. Sir Philip did not touch it,
but sent to be given to that soldier, who blessed him as he was
dying. And that act of self-denial and mercy makes all who hear the
name of Philip Sidney bless him even now.
CHAPTER XLVII.
JAMES I.—1603 to 1625.
How the King of Scotland became King of England also; how he and
the Queen behaved very unwisely; how he ill-treated the Papists and
the Puritans; how the Papists intended to destroy the King and the
Parliament, but were prevented; how Prince Charles and the Duke of
Buckingham visited France and Spain: how King James did many foolish
things, and left his subjects discontented.
James Stuart, the first King James of England, but the sixth of
Scotland, was one of the most foolish and the most mischievous kings
we ever had in England. He was the son of the unhappy Mary Queen of
Scots, and after she was put in prison the first time, the Scotch
lords made James king, though he was quite an infant. The lords gave
him the best masters they could find to teach him, and he learned
what was in books very well, but nobody could ever teach him how to
behave wisely.
When Queen Elizabeth died, James, king of Scotland, became king
of England, because he was Elizabeth’s cousin, and from that time
England and Scotland have been under one king, and are called Great
Britain.
As soon as James heard the queen was dead, he set out from Scotland
to come to London; for as Scotland was then a very poor country, he
and a great number of Scotchmen who came with him thought they had
nothing to do but to come to England, and get all the money they
could by all sorts of ways. Then he made so many lords and knights
that people began to laugh at him and his new nobles. But, worst
of all, he fancied that parliaments had no business to prevent
kings from doing whatever they pleased, and taking money from their
subjects whenever they liked.
You may think how vexed the English were when they found that they
had a king so unfit for them, after their wise Queen Elizabeth.
The queen of James was Anne, the daughter of the King of Denmark. She
was very extravagant, and loved feasts and balls, and acted plays
herself, and filled the court with rioting, instead of the ladylike
music and dancing, and poetry and needlework, that Queen Elizabeth
and her ladies loved.
Instead of riding about among the people, and depending on their love
and good will, James was always hiding himself; the only thing he
seemed to love was hunting, and for the sake of that he neglected his
people and his business.
The favourites he had were far from being useful, or wise, or brave.
He chose them for their good looks and rosy cheeks, without inquiring
anything about their behaviour.
He dealt severely with the Roman Catholics, whom he put in prison,
and from whom he took a great deal of money. Then he disliked those
Protestants who did not wish to have bishops as well as parish
clergymen, and who are mostly called Presbyterians; but some were
then named Puritans, and he would not let them alter the Prayer-book.
The Roman Catholics being tired of the ill usage they got from King
James, some of them thought that, if they could kill him, they might
take one of his young children to bring up themselves, and have a
Roman Catholic king or queen, and get all England and Scotland for
themselves. They thought besides, that they had better kill all the
lords and all the gentlemen of the House of Commons too, and so get
rid of the whole Protestant parliament.
From thinking wickedly they went on to do wickedly. They found there
were some cellars under the houses of parliament, and they filled
these cellars with gunpowder; and as they expected the parliament
would meet in the house all together, with the king, on the fifth day
of November, they hired a man called Guy Fawkes to set fire to the
gunpowder, and so to blow it up, and kill everybody there at once.
Now, it happened that one of the lords, whose name was Mounteagle,
had a friend among the Roman Catholics, and that friend wrote him
a letter, without signing his name, to beg him not to go to the
parliament that day, for that a sudden blow would be struck which
would destroy them all. Lord Mounteagle took this letter to the
king’s council. Some of the councillors laughed at it, and said it
was only sent to frighten Lord Mounteagle. But the king took it, and
after thinking a little, he said, the sudden blow must mean something
to be done with gunpowder, and he set people to watch who went in and
out of the vaults under the parliament-house; till at last, on the
very night before the Roman Catholics hoped to kill the king and all
those belonging to parliament, they caught Guy Fawkes with his dark
lantern, waiting till the time should come for him to set fire to the
gunpowder.
The king was very proud of having found out what the letter meant,
and used to boast of it as long as he lived; but the truth is that
the king’s clever minister, Sir Robert Cecil, had found out all about
the plot, and managed to let James have all the credit.
So far I have only told you of the foolish behaviour of King James. I
must now write about his mischievous actions.
His eldest son, Prince Henry, died very young; he was a sensible lad,
and the people were sorry when he died, especially as his brother
Charles was a sickly little boy.
Now, little Charles was a clever child, and had very good
dispositions; and if he had been properly brought up, he would have
been a good king, and a happy man. Instead of that, you will read
that he was a bad king, and I daresay you will cry when you find how
very unhappy he was at last.
James taught him that no power on earth had any right to find fault
with the king, that the king’s power was given to him by God, and
that it was a great sin to say that anything the king did was wrong.
Thus he taught him to think that the people were made for nothing
but to obey kings, and to labour and get money for kings to spend
as they pleased, and that even the nobles were nothing but servants
for kings; in short, he filled his poor little son’s mind with wrong
thoughts, and never taught him that it was a king’s duty to do all
the good he could, and to set an example of what is right.
Yet Charles had many good qualities, as you will read by-and-by. He
was a good scholar, and loved books and clever men, and music, and
pictures; and if he had only been taught his duty as a king properly,
he would have done a great deal of good to England.
[Illustration: King James I. with Steenie and Baby Charles.]
I have told you that James used to make favourites of people, without
caring much about their goodness. One of his greatest favourites
was George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and he gave his son Charles
to the Duke to take care of, just when he was grown up. The silly
king used to call Buckingham, Steenie, and the prince, Baby Charles,
although he was almost as big and as old as a man.
When the prince was old enough to be married, his father wished him
to marry the Infanta of Spain. (In Spain the princes are called
Infants, and the princesses Infantas.) Now the Duke of Buckingham
wanted very much to go abroad, and show himself to all the princes
and nobles in France and Spain, for he was very vain of his beauty
and his fine clothes; so he put it into the prince’s head, to tell
his father he would not marry, unless he would let him go to Spain
with the Duke of Buckingham, and see the Infanta before he married
her.
The poor foolish king began crying like a child, and begged his dear
Steenie and Baby Charles not to go and leave him; but they laughed
at him, and went and borrowed all his fine diamonds and pearls, to
wear in their hats and round their necks, and took all the money they
could get, and set off to go to Spain. They called themselves John
Smith and Thomas Smith, and first they went to France.
Prince Charles found the ladies in the French court very pleasant and
entertaining. It is true that several of them were not very good, but
then they amused Charles, and he was particularly pleased with the
Princess Henrietta Maria, who was pretty and merry, and appeared to
like Charles very much.
They quickly pursued their journey through France to go to Spain,
and when Charles and Buckingham first got there everything seemed
very pleasant. The Infanta was handsome, but very different from
Henrietta Maria, for she was very grave and steady, and seemed as if
she would be a fit wife for the prince, who was naturally grave and
steady too.
But the Duke of Buckingham quarrelled with some of the great men of
the court, and was so much affronted at not being treated rather
like a king than only a plain English nobleman, that he made the
prince believe that the King of Spain meant to offend him, and did
not really intend his daughter to marry him; and, in short, he
contrived to make Charles so angry, that he left Spain in a rage, and
afterwards married that very French princess, Henrietta Maria, whom
he had seen at Paris.
The bad education King James gave his son Charles, though it was the
most mischievous of all his bad acts, was not the only one.
The King of Spain had taken a dislike to Sir Walter Raleigh, who had
been so great a favourite of Queen Elizabeth, because Raleigh had
beaten his sailors at sea, and his soldiers ashore. But Sir Walter’s
men happened to kill some Spaniards when they were looking for a
gold mine in South America; so the King of Spain demanded that James
should put Raleigh to death, and James shamefully yielded to Spain,
and ordered that great and wise man’s head to be cut off.
As to Scotland, King James’s own country, he behaved as ill in all
things belonging to it as he did in England. But the thing that
turned out worst for the country and his poor son Charles was his
insisting on the Scotch people kneeling at the communion, keeping
certain holy days, and having bishops, although the Scotch religion
is presbyterian. This vexed the Scotch people very much indeed. And
the Irish were not better pleased, because the Roman Catholics were
ill-treated by James, and most of the Irish were Roman Catholics.
When James died, all the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and
Ireland were discontented. Poor Ireland was even worse off than
ever. Scotland had been neglected, and the people affronted about
their religion; and, in England, James had taken money unlawfully,
and behaved so ill, both to parliament and people, that everybody
disliked him as a king, and he was so silly in his private behaviour,
that everybody laughed at him as a gentleman.
In short, I can praise him for nothing but a little book-learning;
but as he made no good use of it, he might as well have been without
it. He reigned twenty-two years in England, during which there was no
great war. But James had begun one against the Emperor of Germany and
the King of Spain, just before his death.
I must tell you of one very great man who lived in his reign: Lord
Bacon. He was one of the wisest men that ever lived, though not
without his faults; but when you grow up you will read his books if
you wish to be truly wise.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
CHARLES I.—1625 to 1649.
How Charles the First was governed by ill advisers; how he made the
people pay taxes without the consent of Parliament; how the Earl of
Strafford behaved very cruelly, and was beheaded; and how the King’s
evil government caused a Civil War.
When Charles the First came to be king, all the people were in hopes
that he would be a better king than his father, as they believed he
was a better man, and so he really was.
He was young and pleasant-looking; he was fond of learning, and
seemed inclined to show kindness to all clever men, whether they
were poets or good writers in any way, or musicians, or painters, or
architects.
Besides, the people hoped that he would manage his money better than
James, and not waste it in clothes, and jewels, and drinking, and
hunting, and giving it to favourites.
But, unhappily, Charles still allowed the Duke of Buckingham to
advise him in everything; indeed, he was a greater favourite than
before James’s death, for he had managed to get the French princess
Henrietta Maria for a wife for Charles, who was so fond of her, that
he thought he never could thank Buckingham enough for bringing her to
England.
But the parliament, particularly the Commons, did not like the
marriage so much. The new queen was a Roman Catholic, and she brought
a number of Roman Catholic ladies and priests to be her servants, and
she soon showed that she was greedy and extravagant.
Charles, who, as I told you, had been very badly taught by his
father, desired the parliament to give him money in a very haughty
manner. The parliament said the people should pay some taxes, but
that they could not afford a great deal at that time, for James had
been so extravagant that they had not much left to give. Charles, by
the advice of Buckingham, sent away the parliament, and tried to get
money without its leave, and sent officers about the country to beg
for money in the king’s name. Most people were afraid to refuse, and
so Charles and Buckingham got a good deal to do as they pleased with.
Buckingham persuaded King Charles to make war against France, because
one of the great men in France had affronted him. King James had
begun a war with Spain.
The people were now more and more angry, for though they might like
to fight for the glory of England, or for the good of the king, they
could not bear to think of fighting for a proud, cruel, and selfish
man like Buckingham.
I do not know what might have happened at that very time, perhaps a
civil war, if a desperate man named Felton had not killed the Duke of
Buckingham at Portsmouth, when he was on the way to France to renew
the war.
The people were again in hopes that the king would do what was
right, and consult the parliament before he attempted to make war,
or take money for his subjects, or put any man in prison, now that
his bad adviser, Buckingham, was dead. But they were much mistaken.
Charles found new advisers, and governed for eleven years without a
parliament. The king wanted money, and tried to compel all who had
land to pay a tax called Ship Money; but some gentlemen, one of whom
was Mr. John Hampden, refused to pay it, and said it was unlawful for
the king to take money without the consent of parliament. But the
judges declared that the king could take Ship Money, and that the
people must pay it. Two of them, however, felt compelled to say that
Charles had broken the laws, and the promises made by the English
kings in agreement with the Great Charter.
This made the people very angry. They said the worst times were come
again, when the kings fancied they might rob their subjects, and put
them in prison when they pleased.
Charles was a very affectionate man, and he could not help loving
and trusting others instead of making use of his own sense and
trusting his people, as Queen Elizabeth had done. So he allowed the
queen to advise him in most things, and Laud, Bishop of London, in
others; particularly in matters of religion. So he began to oppress
the Puritans in England. In poor Ireland, a harsh man, the Earl of
Strafford, a great friend and favourite of King Charles, governed in
such a cruel manner that everybody complained.
He sent English clergymen to preach in those parts of Ireland where
the poor people could only understand Irish, and punished the people
for not listening: and when some of the bishops (particularly good
Bishop Bedel) begged him to have mercy upon the Irish, he threatened
to punish them most severely for speaking in their favour.
All this time the king and queen and their friends were going on
taking money by unlawful means from the people, till he was obliged
to call a parliament. Then the gentlemen of the Commons insisted on
Lord Strafford and Archbishop Laud being punished. Indeed, they would
not be satisfied until Charles consented that Strafford’s head should
be cut off.
Now, though Strafford well deserved some punishment, he had done
nothing which by law deserved death; and therefore Charles ought to
have refused his consent. The king had often quarrelled with the
parliament, and acted contrary to its advice when he was in the
wrong; but now that it would have been right to resist he gave way,
and Strafford, who loved Charles, and whose very faults were owing to
the king’s own wishes and commands, was beheaded by his order.
[Illustration: Strafford going to Execution.]
This was a sad thing for Charles. His friends found that he could not
defend them, and many went away from England. The king still wanted
to take money, and govern in all things, without the parliament; he
even went so far as to send some of the Commons to prison. And the
parliament became so angry at last that a dreadful civil war began.
The king put himself at the head of one army, and he sent to Germany
for his nephew, Prince Rupert, a cruel and harsh man, to assist him.
The queen went to France and Holland, to try to get foreign soldiers
to fight in the king’s army against the parliament. The king’s people
were called Cavaliers.
The parliament soon gathered another army together to fight the king,
and made Lord Essex general; and the navy also joined the parliament:
and all the parliament people were called Roundheads.
Now we will end this chapter. And I beg you will think of what I said
about James the First, that he was a mischievous king. If he had not
begun to behave ill to the people and parliament, and taught his son
Charles that there was no occasion for kings to keep the laws, these
quarrels with the parliament need not have happened, and there would
not have been a Civil War.
CHAPTER XLIX.
CHARLES I.—Continued.
How, after many battles had been fought, King Charles went to
Scotland; how the Scots sold him to the English parliament; how the
army got the King into their power, and appointed judges to try him,
who condemned him to death; how, after a sad parting from two of his
children, he was beheaded.
A book twice as big as our little History would not hold all the
story of the Civil Wars. England, Scotland, and Ireland were all
engaged in them; and many dreadful battles were fought, where
Englishmen killed one another, and a great deal of blood was shed.
The first great battle was fought at Edgehill, where many of the
king’s officers were killed: then, at a less fight at Chalgrove, the
parliament lost that great and good man Mr. Hampden. The battles of
Newbury, of Marston Moor, and of Naseby, are all sadly famous for the
number of brave and good Englishmen that were killed.
During this civil war, the parliament sent often to the king, in
hopes of persuading him to make peace: and I believe that the
parliament, and the king, and the real English lords and gentlemen on
both sides, truly desired to have peace, and several times the king
had promised the parliament to do what they lawfully might ask of him.
But, unhappily, the queen had come back to England, and the king
trusted her and took her advice, when he had much better have
followed his own good thoughts. Now, the queen and Prince Rupert, the
king’s nephew, and some of the lords, were of James the First’s way
of thinking, and would not allow that subjects had any right even
to their own lives, or lands, or money, if the king chose to take
them: and so they persuaded the king to break his word so often with
the people and parliament, that at last they could not trust him any
longer.
When the king found that the parliament would not trust him again,
he determined to go to the Scottish army that had come to England
to help the parliament, and he hoped that the Scots would take his
part and defend him. But he had offended the Scots by meddling
more than they liked with their religion, and some other things,
and the leaders of their army agreed to give him up to the English
parliament. You will hardly believe, however, that those mean Scots
actually sold the king to the English parliament: but they did so.
The unhappy king was sent back to England, and was now obliged to
agree to what the parliament wished, and there seemed to be an end of
the Civil War.
It was not long, however, before it began again; and this second time
it ended in Cromwell and the other generals of the army becoming the
most powerful men in England. These men now drove away almost all
the lords and gentlemen from parliament, so there was nobody but the
generals who had any power.
The wisest of the generals, Lord Essex, was dead. The next, General
Fairfax, was a good man, but neither so clever nor so cunning as some
of the others, particularly one whose name was Oliver Cromwell.
This Cromwell was a Puritan, or Roundhead. He was brave, and very
sagacious, and very strictly religious, according to his own
notions, though some men thought him a hypocrite; at all events he
was always thinking how he could make himself the greatest man in
England.
He may have thought that, though the army had got King Charles in its
power, the people would never allow him to be put in prison for his
lifetime, and that, if he were sent away to another country, he might
come back sometime and make war again. So he said that the king had
behaved so ill that he ought to be tried before judges. And he and
the other generals named a great many judges to examine into all the
king’s actions and words.
In the meantime King Charles had been moved from one prison to
another, till at last he was brought to London to be tried.
I cannot explain to you, my dear, all the hard and cruel things that
were done to this poor king, whose greatest faults were owing to the
bad education given him by his father, and the bad advice he got from
his wife, and those men whom he thought his best friends.
When his misfortunes came, his wife escaped to France with a few of
her own favourites; and her eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales,
also escaped. Soon after his second son, James, Duke of York, also
escaped to his mother; but the king’s daughter, Princess Elizabeth,
and the little Henry, Duke of Gloucester, remained in England.
When King Charles was brought to London, only two of his own friends
could see him every day: one of these was Dr. Juxon, Bishop of
London, and the other was Mr. Herbert, his valet, who had been with
him ever since the army had made him prisoner.
Shortly after the king was brought to London the judges appointed by
the army condemned him to death, and three days afterwards his head
was cut off.
But those three days were the best and greatest of Charles’s life.
In those he showed that, if he had been mistaken as a king, he was
a good man and a right high-minded gentleman. One of these days you
will read and know more about him. I will only tell you now about his
taking leave of his children; and I will copy the very words of his
valet, Mr. Herbert, who wrote down all that happened to his dear king
and master, during the last part of his life.
The day after the king was condemned to die, “Princess Elizabeth
and the Duke of Gloucester, her brother, came to take their sad
farewell of the king their father, and to ask his blessing. This
was the twenty-ninth of January. The Princess, being the elder, was
the most sensible of her royal father’s condition, as appeared by
her sorrowful look and excessive weeping; and her little brother
seeing his sister weep, he took the like impression, though, by
reason of his tender age, he could not have the like apprehensions.
The king raised them both from off their knees; he kissed them,
gave them his blessing, and setting them on his knees, admonished
them concerning their duty and loyal observance to the queen their
mother, the prince that was his successor, love to the Duke of York
and his other relations. The king then gave them all his jewels,
save the George he wore, which was cut out in an onyx with great
curiosity, and set about with twenty-one fair diamonds, and the
reverse set with the like number; and again kissing his children, had
such pretty and pertinent answers from them both, as drew tears of
joy and love from his eyes; and then, praying God Almighty to bless
them, he turned about, expressing a tender and fatherly affection.
Most sorrowful was this parting, the young princess shedding tears
and crying lamentably, so as moved others to pity that formerly were
hard-hearted; and at opening the chamber-door, the king returned
hastily from the window and kissed them and blessed them.” So this
poor little prince and princess never saw their father again.
[Illustration: Parting of King Charles and his children.]
The next morning very early, the king called Mr. Herbert to help him
to dress, and said it was like a second marriage-day, and he wished
to be well dressed, for before night he hoped to be in heaven.
While he was dressing, he said, “Death is not terrible to me! I bless
God that I am prepared.” Good Bishop Juxon then came and prayed with
Charles, till Colonel Hacker, who had the care of the king, came to
call them.
[Illustration: King Charles I. on the Scaffold.]
Then the king walked to Whitehall, and as he went one soldier prayed
“God bless” him. And so he passed to the banqueting house, in front
of which a scaffold was built. King Charles was brought out upon it;
and, after speaking a short time to his friends, and to good Bishop
Juxon, he knelt down and laid his head upon the block, and a man in a
mask cut off his head with one stroke.
The bishop and Mr. Herbert then took their master’s body and head,
and laid them in a coffin, and buried them in St. George’s Chapel at
Windsor, where several kings had been buried before.
CHAPTER L.
THE COMMONWEALTH.—1649 to 1660.
How the Scotch chose Prince Charles to be their King; how Oliver
Cromwell quieted Ireland; how the Scotch put the Marquis of Montrose
to death; how Prince Charles’s army was beaten by Cromwell at
Worcester; how the Prince escaped to France after many dangers; how
the English went to war with the Dutch, and beat them; how Cromwell
turned out the parliament, and was made Protector; and how he
governed wisely till his death.
As none of the people either in England, Scotland, or Ireland, had
expected King Charles would be put to death, you may suppose, my dear
little Arthur, how angry many of them were when they heard what had
happened.
In Ireland the Roman Catholics knew they should be treated worse by
the Puritans than they had been by the king’s governors; and the
English settlers expected to be no better used than the old Irish;
so they all made ready to fight against the army of the English
parliament, if it should be sent to Ireland.
In Scotland, those who had sold King Charles to the English
parliament were so angry with the English Roundheads for killing the
king, that they chose Prince Charles, the son of the poor dead king,
for their king; and they got an army together to defend him and his
friends.
As for England, the parliament (or rather the part of it that
remained after the king’s death) chose a number of persons to govern
the kingdom, and called them a council of state; and this council
began to try to settle all those things quietly that had been
disturbed by the sad civil war.
But the civil war in Ireland became so violent that the Council
sent Oliver Cromwell, who was the best general in England, to that
country; and he soon won a good many battles, and made great part of
the country submit to the English. And he put his own soldiers into
the towns, to keep them. As to the Irish who would have taken young
King Charles’ part, and were Roman Catholics, he sent many of them
abroad, and treated others so hardly that they were glad to get out
of the country. So Cromwell made Ireland quiet by force, and left
General Ireton to take care of it.
While Cromwell was in Ireland, a very brave Scotchman, whose name was
James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, had gone to Scotland with soldiers
from Germany and France, partly, as he said, to punish those who had
allowed Charles the First to be beheaded, and partly to try to make
Prince Charles king. This brave gentleman, whose story you will love
to read some day, was taken prisoner by the Scotch army. The officers
behaved very ill, for they forgot his bravery, and the kindness he
had always shown to everybody when he was powerful. They forgot that
he thought he was doing his duty in fighting for his king, and they
put him to death very cruelly. They tied him to a cart, and dragged
him disgracefully to prison. They hanged him on a tall gallows, with
a book, in which his life was written, tied to his neck; then they
cut off his head and stuck it up over his prison-door.
About a month after the Scotch had disgraced themselves by that cruel
action, young Prince Charles, whom they called Charles the Second,
arrived in Scotland. But he found that he was treated more like a
prisoner than a king. The lords and generals of the Scotch army
wanted him to be a presbyterian like them; but he liked better to go
with the Scotch army into England, to try and persuade the English to
fight for him, and to make him king.
But Cromwell, who had returned from Ireland, collected a large army
in England, with which he marched into Scotland; and, finding that
Charles meant to make war in England, he followed him back again with
part of the army, and left General Monk in Scotland with the rest.
Cromwell found King Charles and his army at Worcester, and there he
fought and won a great battle, in which a great many Scotch noblemen
were killed, as well as several English gentlemen. Charles was
obliged to run away and hide himself, and for this time he gave up
all hopes of being really King of England.
You would like, I daresay, to hear how he contrived to escape from
Cromwell, who would certainly have shut him up in prison if he had
caught him.
I must tell you that the English generals had promised a great deal
of money to anybody who would catch Charles and bring him to them;
and they threatened to hang anybody who helped the poor young prince
in any way; but there were some brave men and women too, who had
pity on him, as you shall hear.
After the battle of Worcester, the first place he got to was a
farm called Boscobel, where some poor wood-cutters, of the name of
Penderell, took care of him, and gave him some of their own clothes
to wear, that the soldiers might not find out that he was the prince.
One evening he was obliged to climb up into an oak tree, and sit all
night among the branches; it was well for him that the leaves were
thick, for he heard some soldiers who were looking for him, say, as
they passed under the tree, that they were sure he was somewhere
thereabouts.
At that time his poor feet were so hurt with going without shoes,
that he was obliged to get on horseback to move to another place,
where the good wood-cutters still went with him. This time he was
hidden by a lady, who called him her servant, and made him ride
with her, in woman’s dress, to Bristol, where she was in hopes that
she should find a ship to take him to France. But there was no ship
ready to sail. Then he went to a Colonel Windham’s house, where the
colonel, his mother, his wife, and four servants, all knew him; but
not one told he was there. At last he got a vessel to take him at
Shoreham, in Sussex, after he had been in more danger several times
than I can tell you. He got safely to France, and did not come back
to England for many years.
While Cromwell was following Charles to England, General Monk
conquered the Scotch army, so that England, Scotland, and Ireland
were all made obedient to the parliament about the time when the
young king was driven out of the country.
But the parliament was obliged to attend to a war with the Dutch, who
had behaved so very cruelly to some English people in India, that all
England was eager to have them punished.
Accordingly the English and Dutch went to war, but they fought
entirely on the sea. The Dutch had a very famous admiral named Tromp.
The best English admiral was Blake; and these two brave men fought a
great many battles. Tromp gained one or two victories; but Blake beat
him often; and at last, on Tromp being killed, the Dutch were glad to
make peace, and promised to punish all those persons who had behaved
ill to the English in India, and to pay a great deal of money for the
mischief they had done.
About four years after the death of King Charles I., the officers
of the army thought themselves strong enough to govern the kingdom
without the parliament; so one day Cromwell took a party of soldiers
into the parliament-house, and turned everybody out, after abusing
them heartily, and then locked up the doors. After this unlawful
act, he soon contrived to get the people to call him the Protector
of England, which was only another name for king; and from that time
till his death he governed England as if he had been a lawful king.
Cromwell was very clever, and always chose the best generals and
admirals, whenever he sent armies or fleets to fight. He knew how
to find out the very best judges to take care of the laws, and the
wisest and properest men to send to foreign countries, when messages
for the good or the honour of England were required. He rewarded
those who served the country well, but he spent very little money
on himself or his family. He treated the children of Charles that
had not fled away to France with kindness. The little Princess
Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester were allowed to live together
at Carisbrook; and a tutor and attendants were appointed to teach
them and watch over them. The little princess soon died; and then the
young Duke was sent to France to his mother, and money was given him
to pay the expenses of his journey.
[Illustration: Cromwell turns out the Parliament.]
After such a dreadful civil war as had made England unhappy during
the reign of Charles I., the peace which was in the land, after
Cromwell was made Protector, gave the people time to recover.
Scotland was better governed than it had ever been before. Only
turbulent Ireland was kept quiet by such means as made everything
worse than before.
In foreign countries the name of England was feared more in
Cromwell’s time than it had ever been since the days of Henry V. And
I must say of him that he used his power well.
He died when he had been Protector hardly five years.
There were a number of very great men in the times of the civil wars.
But I will only tell you of one, whom I have not named yet. He was
secretary to the Council of State, and to Cromwell. But what we best
know him by, and love him for now, is his poetry. His name was John
Milton; and every Englishman must be proud that he was born in the
same land, and that he speaks the same tongue with JOHN MILTON.
CHAPTER LI.
CHARLES II.—1660 to 1685.
How Richard Cromwell was Protector for a short time; how the
people chose to have a king again; how General Monk brought home
Charles the Second; how there was again a war with the Dutch; how
the great Plague was stopped by the great Fire; how the King chose
evil counsellors; how the Scotch and Irish were treated with great
cruelty; how the King caused Lord Russell and many more to be put to
death.
After Cromwell’s death his friends wished his son, Richard Cromwell,
to be Protector of England. But Richard, who was a shy, quiet man,
did not like it, and after a very short trial went home to his house
in the country, and left the people to do as they pleased about a
Protector.
But the people were tired of being governed by the army, even under
such a wise and clever man as Cromwell, and they chose to have a king
and real parliament again.
Most men were glad to have bishops again, and to be allowed to
have their own prayer-books and their own music in church, instead
of being forced to listen for hours together to sermons from the
Puritans, who called all pleasant things sin, and grudged even little
children their play-hours.
But the really wise people of all kinds, the English Protestants, the
Puritans, and the Roman Catholics, had another reason for being glad
the king was come home. I will try to explain this reason. You have
read that whenever there was any dispute about who should be king,
there was always a war of some kind, and generally the worst of all,
a civil war. Now, if the people had to choose who should be their new
king every time an old one dies, so many men would wish to be king,
that there would be disputes, and then perhaps war; and while the war
was going on there would be nobody to see that the laws were obeyed,
and all the mischief would happen that comes in civil wars.
Now in England, it is settled that when a king dies his eldest son
shall be king next; or if he has no son, that his nearest relation
shall be king or queen. You remember that after Edward the Sixth,
his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, were queens, and then their cousin,
James Stuart, was king. This rule prevents all disputes, and keeps
the kingdom quiet.
After Oliver Cromwell died, the wisest people were afraid there would
be war before another protector could be chosen, so they agreed to
have Charles, the son of Charles the First for their king, and to get
him to promise not to break the laws, or to oppress the people; and
they thought they would watch him, to prevent his doing wrong to the
country, and they hoped he might have a son to be king quietly after
him.
General Monk, who had the care of all Scotland in Cromwell’s time,
was the person who contrived all the plans for bringing Charles the
Second to England. It was done very quietly. An English fleet went
to Scheveling, in Holland, where Charles got on board, and landed at
Dover: in a very short time he arrived in London, along with General
Monk, on his birth-day, the 29th of May, and England has never been
without a king or queen since.
Charles was a merry, cheerful man, and very good natured. He was fond
of balls, and plays, and masques, and nobody could have thought that
England was the same place, who had seen it in Cromwell’s time. Then,
people wore plain black or brown clothes, stiff starched cravats or
small collars, their hair combed straight down, and they all looked
as grave as if they were walking to a funeral.
But when Charles came, the ladies and gentlemen put on gay-coloured
silk and satin coats; they wore ribbons and feathers, and long curly
wigs, and danced and sang as if they were at a wedding.
However, while Charles and the young men were so gay, there were a
few old wise lawyers, and clergymen, and admirals, and generals, who
managed the laws and other business very well, although there were a
good many people who were sadly vexed to see a king again in England.
[Illustration: King Charles II. enters London at his Restoration.]
The king soon married the Princess Catherine of Portugal, and her
father gave her the island of Bombay, in the East Indies, as a
wedding gift. It was almost the first place the English had in India,
and now we have gained nearly all that large country, which is
larger than England, and France, and Portugal, all put together.
While Charles the Second was king, there was a war with Holland, and
another short one with France. Our battles with Holland were chiefly
fought at sea: one of our best admirals was James, Duke of York, the
king’s brother, who beat the Dutch admirals, Opdam, and the son of
the famous Tromp. In another great battle, which lasted four days,
General Monk, whom the king had made Duke of Albemarle, beat the
great Admiral de Ruyter, and other English officers took several good
towns which the Dutch had built in North America, especially New York.
Pleased with these victories, the king grew careless, and forgot to
have the Dutch fleets properly watched, so one of them sailed into
the river Medway, and burnt a number of English ships at Chatham, and
did more mischief by landing at different places, and burning ships
and houses, than had ever been done in the same way since the days of
the old Danes.
This was near the end of the war. The English, Dutch, and French were
equally glad to make peace.
The plague now broke out, first in Holland, then in England. Hundreds
of people died every day, and it seemed shocking to be killing more
men when so many were dying of that dreadful disorder.
Often when people did not know they had the plague they dropped down
dead in the streets. Sometimes a friend would be talking to another
and seem quite well and merry, and in a minute he would feel sick,
and die before he could get home. Sometimes everybody in a house
would die, and then the grave diggers had to go and get the dead
out of the house, and put them in a cart at night, and carry them to
a place near London, where a great grave was dug, so big that many
hundred people were buried there together. Sometimes a poor mother
would follow the dead-cart crying because all her children were in
it, and she had nobody left alive to love. And often little children
were found almost starved, because their fathers and mothers were
dead and there was nobody to feed them. There was one lady whose
name was North, who had a very little baby; that baby caught the
plague. The mother sent all her other children, and her servants, and
everybody else into the country, and stayed by herself with the baby
and nursed him, and would not fear the plague while she was watching
her sick child; and it pleased God to save her and the child too. I
have read what he says of his dear mother’s love to him, in a book he
wrote when he was an oldish man; and I think that the love he always
kept for his mother, and the remembrance of her kindness, made him a
good man all his life.
This sad plague was put an end to by a dreadful fire, which burnt
down a great part of London. It lasted for four days; and though
everybody tried to put an end to it, it still burned on, for there
was a strong wind, which blew the flames from one house to another.
At that time the streets were very narrow, and most of the houses
were built of wood, so no wonder they burned fiercely.
But good arose from this evil: when London was built again the
streets were made wider, and the houses were built of brick and
stone, so they were not so apt to burn, and they could be kept
cleaner; and as the plague seldom comes to clean places, it has
never been in London since the fire.
But now we must think about the king. Though he was a very merry man,
he was far from being a good one. In the first part of his reign
he listened to good advice, especially that given to him by Lord
Clarendon, who had stayed with him all the time he was unhappy and
poor, and while he was forced to live out of England. But it was not
long before he neglected all the good and old friends of his father
or of the people, and began to keep company with a number of gay men,
who were always laughing and making jokes when they were seen; but
they gave the king bad advice in secret, and when they were trusted
by him they behaved so ill to the people, that if it had not been for
fear of another civil war, they would have tried to send Charles out
of England again.
The Duke of Lauderdale, one of Charles’s greatest friends, was sent
to Scotland to govern it for Charles. Perhaps there never was so
cruel and wicked a governor anywhere before. He ordered everybody
to use the English prayer-book, and to leave off their own ways of
worshipping God, and to change their prayers. And when he found any
persons who did not, he had them shot or hanged at their own doors;
and what was worse, if anybody would not tell where the people he
wanted to shoot or to hang were to be found, he would put them in
prison, or torture them by putting their legs in wooden cases, and
then hammering them so tight that the bones were broken; and this he
did to children for saving their fathers and mothers, or to grown
people for saving their children, or brothers, or sisters. I am sorry
to say that another Scotchman, John Graham of Claverhouse, was his
helper in all this wickedness.
Scotland was therefore very miserable under Charles, and you will
read in larger histories that the Scotch rebelled, and fought against
the king.
Ireland was treated, if possible, worse; and as to England, several
parts were ready to rebel, especially when it came to be known that
Charles and his four chief friends were so mean as to take money from
the King of France to pay Charles for letting him conquer several
other countries that England ought to have saved from him.
The king’s brother, James, Duke of York, was known to approve of
all the king’s cruel and wicked actions; so that the English people
found, after all they had suffered in hopes of getting back their
freedom, that Charles the Second wished as much to take it away as
his father and grandfather did.
I do not wonder, therefore, that some wise, and good, and clever
men, who loved our dear England as they ought to do, met together
to talk about the best means of having proper parliaments again,
and preventing the cruel king from treating England, Scotland, and
Ireland, so harshly.
One of these good men was William Lord Russell; and another was
Algernon Sidney. The king and his wicked friends found out that they
were considering how to save the country from the bad government of
Charles and James. They took Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney, and
put them in prison, and shortly after condemned them to have their
heads cut off.
Lord Russell’s wife was one of the best women I ever read about.
She went and knelt down at Charles’s feet to beg him to spare her
husband. She even tried to save him by offering a great deal of
money to the greedy king; but he would not save Lord Russell, and
when Lady Russell found her dear husband must die, she attended him
like a servant, she wrote for him like a clerk, she comforted him
as none but a good wife can comfort a great man in his misfortunes;
and after his death she brought up his children to know his goodness
and try to be like him. The man who attended most to Lord and Lady
Russell at that time was Bishop Burnet, who has written a true
history of those things. He tells us that after Lord Russell had
taken leave of his wife, he said, “The bitterness of death is past.”
Lord Cavendish, a friend of Lord Russell’s, offered to save him by
changing clothes with him, but Lord Russell refused, lest his friend
should be punished for saving him. He behaved as an Englishman ought
to do at his death, with courage, with gentleness to those people who
were with him, even to the man who was to cut off his head, and with
meekness and piety to God.
Algernon Sidney, who, though he wished for freedom, took money from
the King of France, was the next man put to death by King Charles,
and after him a great many who were either his friends or Lord
Russell’s.
These were almost the last crimes Charles had time to commit. He died
suddenly, disliked by most of his people, and that by his own fault.
As I told you, they were ready to love him when he first came to be
king; but his extravagance and harshness soon changed their love into
dislike.
CHAPTER LII.
JAMES II.—1685 to 1688.
How the Duke of Monmouth rebelled against James the Second, and
was beheaded; how Colonel Kirke and Judge Jeffries committed great
cruelties; how the people wished to get rid of James on account of
his tyranny; how the Prince of Orange came over to England, and was
made King; and how James escaped to France.
The reign of James the Second was a very short one, but many things
were done in it which we must remember. You know that he was son
of King Charles the First, who sent him to his mother in France to
be taken care of during the civil war. This was bad for James, who
was taught in France to be a Roman Catholic, to hate the English
parliaments, and to think that kings might do as they chose, and
change the religion of the country they governed, or take money, or
put men in prison, without thinking whether it was just or unjust.
James married, first, a daughter of that Lord Clarendon who would
have given good advice to Charles the Second, as I told you; but
neither Charles nor James would listen to him. James had two
daughters when he came to be king; they were both married; the eldest
to William, Prince of Orange, who was the king’s nephew, and the
second to Prince George of Denmark. You will hear more of both these
ladies by-and-by. King James’s second wife was an Italian lady, a
princess of Modena, a Roman Catholic, proud and haughty, and disliked
by the English.
Before James had been king a year, the Duke of Monmouth, a young
prince, who was his nephew, landed in England with a small army,
in hopes the people would make him king instead of James. But King
James’s soldiers soon put an end to Monmouth’s army, and the young
prince was sent to London, where his head was cut off.
The king sent two men to punish the rebels in the parts where
Monmouth’s army was destroyed, Colonel Kirke and Judge Jeffries.
These two men, by the king’s orders, committed the greatest
cruelties; they hung some men on different church steeples; some they
cut to pieces before they were quite dead. A kind and charitable old
woman, Mrs. Gaunt, was burnt alive because she had once given shelter
to a conspirator against King Charles; and Lady Lisle was put to
death for the same reason. In short, King James soon showed that he
was as cruel and wicked as any king that ever reigned in any country,
and the people began to hate him.
The next things that made the English people wish to get rid of James
as a king, were his trying to govern without a parliament; his trying
to give all power in Church and State to the Roman Catholics; and
his putting seven English bishops in prison because they entreated
him not to make the clergy read in church during divine service an
unlawful proclamation.
The king ordered the bishops to be tried, in hopes that the judges
would condemn them to be punished; but the jury (which is, you know,
made up of twelve or more men, appointed to help the judge to find
out the TRUTH) said that the bishops were not guilty of anything for
which the king could punish them; and as soon as the people heard
this, all those who were in the street waiting to hear what the
judges would say, and even the king’s own soldiers, set up such a
shout for joy that the king heard it.
Instead of beginning a civil war, however, a number of the wisest and
best English noblemen sent messages to William, Prince of Orange, who
had married King James’s eldest daughter, Mary, and invited him to
come and help them to put an end to James’s misrule and tyranny.
They asked William to come because he was a good Protestant, and the
nearest relation to the king, next to his little son who was just
born. Besides, William was a very brave prince, and had defended his
own country against that grasping man, Louis the Fourteenth, King of
France, who called himself Great because his army had won a great
many battles and killed thousands of people.
William and Mary agreed to govern always by means of the parliament;
to do equal justice to all their subjects; to listen to their
complaints; and never to let the Pope have anything to do with the
government of England.
When these things were agreed to, William came over to England with a
great many ships, and a large army, and began to march from Torbay,
where he landed, to London. In a few days the gentlemen and people,
and most of the noblemen of England joined him. Even the king’s
second daughter, the Princess Anne, with her husband, Prince George
of Denmark, left King James, who found that he had hardly one friend
in the world, no, not even his own children. The queen was hated even
more than the king, so she made haste to run away, and the king put
her, and a little baby boy that they had, into the care of a kind
French nobleman, named Lauzun, who carried them to France, where King
Louis received them kindly.
King James stayed a few days longer in England, in hopes to find
some friends. But he had behaved too ill; no Englishman would take
his part. So in less than four years from the time he became King of
England he was obliged to leave it for ever, and William, Prince of
Orange, was made king by the whole people. And Mary was made queen,
to reign with him, not like a queen who is only called so because she
is the king’s wife.
CHAPTER LIII.
WILLIAM III.—MARY II.—1688 to 1702.
How there were troubles in Scotland and in Ireland; how William the
Third won the battle of the Boyne; how he fought against the French,
till they were glad to make peace; how Queen Mary was regretted at
her death; how the East India Company was established; and how King
William did many good things for England.
The beginning of King William and Queen Mary’s reign was very full of
trouble.
It was some time before the parliament could put right many of the
things that had been so wrong while James the Second was king; and
before everybody would agree how much money to give the king to spend
upon the soldiers and sailors he might want in war, as well as upon
judges and other persons whose duty it was to help the king to govern
in peace as well as war.
Besides this, a great many people in Scotland liked James well
enough to wish him to be their king still, because his grandfather
came from Scotland; and there were great disputes about allowing
William to be king there. Lord Dundee, that Claverhouse who behaved
so cruelly to the people in the time of Charles the Second, began a
civil war against the new king; but he was killed at the battle of
Killicrankie, in the Highlands of Scotland; and, after a great deal
of difficulty, William ruled as King of Scotland.
But William had more trouble with Ireland, as you shall read. When
King James ran away from England he went to France, where his queen
and little son were already. Louis, King of France, who hated King
William because he had always defended the countries and the people
that Louis wanted to oppress, gave King James a good deal of money,
and many soldiers, and ships to carry them to Ireland where he landed
with them, and where most of the Irish under Lord Tyrconnel joined
him, as well as many of the old English settlers, who were all Roman
Catholics, and who did not wish for a Protestant king.
As soon as King William had settled the government in England he went
to Ireland, where he found all the country distressed with civil
war. King James with his army, made up of French, Irish, and English
was on one side of a river called the Boyne; and there King William
attacked his army, and beat it; James stayed on the field watching
the battle and giving advice until he saw the battle was lost; and
then, taking the advice of his general, Lauzun, he fled away with the
French guards, and went back to France.
After this King James had no hope of gaining anything by fighting in
Ireland; but Ireland itself was much worse for a long while, for long
years of quarrel began there at that time.
To the Protestants, who wished to have King William for their king,
was given all the power in the country. They called themselves
Orangemen because William was Prince of Orange; and made many cruel
laws against the Roman Catholics. For many years after this they
tried very hard to get the rest of the Irish to turn Protestants; and
even now the Irish have not done disputing; but I hope by the time
my little friend, Arthur, is grown up, that all the Irish will be
friends, and live in peace. It is dreadful to think that, though it
is nearly two hundred years since the battle of the Boyne, Ireland
has been unhappy all that time. Sometimes one side, sometimes the
other, has been cruel and revengeful; and unhappily, till the present
century, it was hardly possible to make things better, because there
were two separate parliaments, one in Ireland, the other in England;
so what one did the other undid, and the quarrels were made worse.
But now there is one parliament for both countries, the people in
England begin to understand Ireland, and to love the Irish people
for many good qualities, and to be sorry for the wrong things that
have been done there. The Irish now enjoy the same freedom as the
English, and we must hope in future they will listen to reason and
wise advice, and obey the laws as the English do.
While King William was busy in Ireland, Queen Mary governed in
England, and, by her gentle and kind behaviour to everybody, gained
the love of the people; so that they were glad to have her to
govern, whenever William was obliged to go to Holland, to carry
on the war which had been begun by several countries, as well as
England, against that proud and ambitious king, Louis the Fourteenth
of France. Louis was one of those strange men who fancy that they
are born better than others, and that people have nothing to do but
obey them, and that every man and every country must be wicked that
does not do exactly as they choose in everything, even in the way of
worshipping God.
Now King William knew that kings are only to be better loved and
obeyed than other men when they obey God themselves, and love
mercy, and do right and justice to their subjects; and that men and
countries have a right to be free, and to worship God as they please:
and it was because King William knew this that the English chose him
to be king when they sent away James the Second, because he wished to
be like Louis the Fourteenth in most things.
The war the French king had begun went on for a good many years.
Twice people made a plot to murder King William, but they were found
out and punished, and the people in England were so angry at such
wicked plans, that they gave William more money to pay soldiers and
sailors for the war than they had ever given to any king before.
Our king used to go every spring, as long as the war lasted, to fight
the French on the borders of France, and he came home in the autumn
to see what had been done in England while he was away.
The bravest admiral in these times was Admiral Russell, who beat
the French ships whenever he could find them, and who fought a very
famous battle against the French Admiral Tourville, about which the
English sailors sing some fine songs even now.
King William himself was so brave and skilful in war that he baffled
the best French generals, and kept King Louis’s large armies from
getting any decisive advantage for many years, till at last Louis was
tired of war, and was glad to make peace. So he sent his ambassadors
to a place called Ryswick, in Holland, where King William had a
country-house and promised to give back all the places he had taken
from his neighbours during the war, provided he might have peace.
But in the midst of the war, when everything seemed to be going on
well, a great misfortune happened to both the king and people of
England. Good Queen Mary died of the small-pox when she had been
queen only six years. She was a very good and clever woman. She was
not only a good wife to the king, but his best friend; and he trusted
her, and took her advice in everything. She was a true Protestant,
and very religious, which made her particularly fit to be Queen of
England. She was a cheerful, good-tempered woman, which made the
people love her; and the ladies who lived at her court were good
wives and mothers, and spent part of their time in useful work and
reading, like the queen, instead of being always at plays, or gaming,
or dressing, as they used to be in the time of Charles and James.
King William lived seven years after the queen died. He was killed by
a fall from his horse near Hampton Court.
He was not near so pleasant and cheerful as Queen Mary. But he was
the very best king for England that we could have found at that time.
He was a very religious man, and he knew his duty, and loved to do
it, both in England, where the people chose him for their king, and
in Holland, his own country.
I must write down a few of the things that he did for England:
perhaps you will not quite understand how right they were till you
are older, but it is proper that you should remember them.
A law was made that no man or woman should ever be king or queen of
England but a Protestant.
It was settled that there should be a new parliament very often, and
that no year should pass without the meeting of a parliament.
The old money that had been used in England was so worn out, and
there was so much bad among it, that the king ordered it to be
coined, or made over again, of a proper size and weight, so that
people might buy and sell with it conveniently.
A number of merchants agreed to call themselves the East India
Company, and to pay a tax to the king and parliament, if the king
would protect them, and not allow any nation with which England was
at war to hurt or destroy the towns in India where they had their
trade, or their ships when they were carrying goods from place to
place. There was a small company of this kind in Queen Elizabeth’s
reign, but the new one in William’s time, was of more use to the
country as well as to the merchants.
We call the East India trade, not only the trade in things from India
itself, such as pepper, cotton, muslin, diamonds, and other things
that come from that country, but the trade in tea, and silk, and
nankeen, and ivory, from China; and in spice of many kinds from the
Spice Islands; and cinnamon, and gold, and precious stones, and many
kinds of medicine from Ceylon. And all this trade came to be very
great in King William’s reign.
The reign of King William will always be thought of gratefully
by good Englishmen; because then the best things were done for
the government, the religion, the laws, and the trade of our dear
England.
CHAPTER LIV.
QUEEN ANNE.—1702 to 1714.
How Princess Anne became Queen because she was a Protestant; how the
union of Scotland with England was brought about; how the Duke of
Marlborough gained the battle of Blenheim; how Admiral Rooke took
Gibraltar; how the Queen was governed by her ladies.
The Princess Anne, who was the second daughter of King James the
Second, and sister to King William’s wife Mary, became Queen of
England when King William died, because she had been brought up
a Protestant; while her little brother was taught to be a Roman
Catholic; so that by law he could never be king of England. He is
commonly called the Pretender, and he and his son often gave trouble
in England, as you will read by and by.
The first ten years of Queen Anne’s reign were very glorious; but
the last part of her life was much troubled by the quarrels of some
of the great men who wished to be her favourites, and to direct her
affairs.
We will begin her history, however, with the most useful thing that
was done in her reign; and that is, the union of Scotland with
England.
You know that when Queen Elizabeth died, her cousin, James, king of
Scotland, became king of England, so both countries had one king;
but, as they had separate parliaments, and different ministers, and
a different form of religion, they were always quarrelling, and many
disputes, and even battles, took place, which were as bad as civil
wars. These disputes were often on account of religion, because the
king and his counsellors in England wanted to force the Scots to
worship God in the same way, using the same words with the English.
This was very unjust; so a great many Scotchmen joined together and
made a COVENANT, or agreement, to preserve their own way of worship,
even if they should be obliged to fight for it.
I told you that in William’s reign it was wisely settled by law that
the Scotch should do as they chose about their religion; and that
wise king saw that it would be better for both nations if they could
be so united as to have but one parliament; and if he had lived
longer, he meant to make this union. After his death Queen Anne and
her friends were wise enough to desire the same thing; but it was
several years before the Scotch and English people would agree to
it. At last, however, it was settled; and now the Scotch must wonder
that they ever thought it a bad thing. Since that time they have been
equal in everything with England. They keep their own religion and
laws, as well as the English; and when new laws are made, they are
contrived to be fit for both countries; or, if they will only suit
one, then they are made on purpose for the people in that one. As
there are plenty of Scotch lords and gentlemen, as well as English,
in the parliament, they are always ready to take care of their own
country, which is right.
Although Queen Anne and her ministers were busy about this union
of Scotland with England, they were obliged to attend to what the
French, under their ambitious king, Louis the Fourteenth, were about.
They had begun to attack the Protestants again, in so many ways,
before King William died, that there was likely to be a war; and now
he was dead, Louis thought there was no country in Europe strong
enough, or with a good soldier enough, to fight him, or prevent his
conquering as many countries as he pleased. But he was mistaken.
The English were as much determined in Queen Anne’s time as in King
William’s to prevent Louis from forcing upon them a Popish king and
from oppressing the Protestants; and Queen Anne possessed in the
Great Duke of Marlborough a far more skilful general than William had
ever been. Indeed King William in the last year of his life intended
to give him the command of the whole army, for he thought he should
be too ill to command it himself. The English had a great many fine
ships too, and Queen Anne’s husband, Prince George of Denmark, was
admiral. So England was quite ready for war against King Louis, and
the people and parliament were ready to give the queen all the money
she wanted to pay the soldiers and sailors.
Besides this, the Dutch were glad to fight on our side, as well as
some of the princes in Germany; and another firm ally of the English
was Prince Eugene of Savoy, who was Queen Anne’s cousin, and was
almost as good a general as the Duke of Marlborough.
When Anne had been queen about two years, the greatest battle that
had ever been heard of was fought at a place called Blenheim, near
the village of Hochstet, in Germany, between the English and French.
The English had the Dutch and an army of Germans on their side; their
generals were Marlborough and Prince Eugene. The French had a good
many Germans and Spaniards and Italians with them; their generals
were Marshals Marsin and Tallard, and the Elector of Bavaria.
[Illustration: Marlborough at Blenheim.]
The English had to march through a little brook to attack the French,
who stood very steady for a little while; but so many were killed,
that the rest began to run away. Some were drowned in the great
river Danube, which was very near them, and a great many were taken
prisoners, with their general, Tallard amongst them. The fighting
lasted six hours on a very hot day. A cannon-ball very nearly hit
the Duke of Marlborough just as the fight began: it struck the earth
so close to him that the cloud of dust it sent up hid him for some
minutes from the sight of the people about him. The English and Dutch
and Germans took all the guns, and money, and food of the French
army, besides a very great number of prisoners. There were more than
twelve thousand French killed, and a great many wounded; and about
half as many English and Dutch and Germans.
So you see that, whichever side wins in a great battle, there is sure
to be misery for a great many families on both, who have to grieve
for their fathers, and sons, and brothers, killed or hurt.
This was a good battle, however, for it saved many countries from
the cruel government which Louis the Fourteenth set up wherever he
conquered.
Nearly at the same time with the battle of Blenheim, a place called
Gibraltar was taken by the English Admiral Rooke, which is of great
use to England.
If you look at the map of Europe, you will see that where the
Mediterranean Sea joins the great Atlantic Ocean Gibraltar is placed.
Now all captains of ships who want to go into the Mediterranean must
pass that way. You would be surprised if you could see the number of
ships of all sizes that pass there every day. They fetch figs, and
currants, and silk, and fine wool, and shawls, and velvets, and wine,
and oil, and a great many other useful things from the Mediterranean;
and whoever Gibraltar belongs to can stop the ships going in and out.
So the English were very glad that Admiral Rooke took Gibraltar for
Queen Anne.
At last, after Marlborough had gained several other battles, peace
was made with the French at a place called Utrecht, and Queen Anne
died the very next year.
Queen Anne was kind and good-natured, but not very clever. She was
rather lazy, and allowed the Duchess of Marlborough to govern her
for several years. Afterwards she quarrelled with her, and then some
other ladies governed her.
In the reign of Queen Anne there were a great many clever men in
England, some poets, and many writers of other things. Pope was the
great poet, and Addison wrote the most beautiful prose. But our
little history would not hold an account of half of them.
Queen Anne’s husband and all her children died before her, and though
she did not love any of her Protestant cousins, it was settled by law
that the son of her cousin Sophia, who was married to the Elector of
Hanover should be king after her.
CHAPTER LV.
GEORGE I.—1714 to 1727.
How the Elector of Hanover became George the First of England; how
the Pretender tried to make himself King, but was defeated; how Lady
Nithisdale saved her husband’s life; and how the Spaniards were
beaten at sea.
George the First was Elector of Hanover, in Germany; and as it was
settled in King William’s reign that nobody but a Protestant should
be king of England, he was sent for and made king of England, rather
than the son of James II., who was a Roman Catholic.
But a great many people in Scotland still wished to have a king of
the old Scotch family of Stuart again; so they encouraged young James
Stuart, that is the Pretender, whom they called King James, to come
to Scotland, and promised they would collect men and money enough
to make an army, and buy guns and everything fit for soldiers, and
march into England, and make him king instead of George I. From this
time all those who took the part of the Pretender against George were
called Jacobites, from Jacobus, the Latin for the Pretender’s name,
James.
James’s chief friend in Scotland was Lord Mar, and he was in hopes
that a great many English gentlemen would join him, and send money
from England, and get another army ready there to help him.
But the Pretender and his friends were disappointed. They lost a
great many men in battle at the Sheriffmuir, near Dunblane, in
Perthshire. Their English army was beaten at Preston in Lancashire,
and the Pretender was obliged to get away as fast as he could to
France again.
I wish King George had forgiven both the Jacobite officers and
men, who thought they were doing right in fighting for the son of
their old king: but he would not; and besides putting to death a
few common soldiers and gentlemen, he ordered six lords to have
their heads cut off. One of them escaped, however, and three were
afterwards pardoned. Lord Nithisdale, who escaped, was saved by the
devotion and courage of his wife. She had tried by every means to
prevail upon the king to pardon him, but he would not; however, she
had leave to visit him in prison. She went, you may be sure, often,
and she took a friend with her, whom she called her maid, till she
had used the jailers to see two people go in and out. Then she made
her friend put on double clothes one day, and as soon as she got
into Lord Nithisdale’s room half those clothes were taken off, and
he was dressed in them, and so they managed that he should go out
with one of the ladies, who pretended that her companion had so bad
a toothache that she could not speak. Lady Nithisdale had a coach
waiting at the prison-door, and they went to a safe place where her
husband was hidden till he could get to France. And this was the
end of the first civil war begun in Scotland for the sake of the
Pretender. Although his friends often tried to begin another, they
always failed, while George the First was king.
The King of Spain also tried to assist the Pretender, but he could
only make war with England by sea, and his ships were always beaten;
and so he made peace.
George the First died while he was visiting his own country of
Hanover, after he had been King of England thirteen years. He was a
brave and prudent man, but he was too old, when he came to be King
of England, to learn English, or to behave quite like an Englishman;
however, upon the whole, he was a useful king.
CHAPTER LVI.
GEORGE II.—1727 to 1760.
How George the Second went to war with Spain, and with the French and
Bavarians; how the French were beaten by Lord Clive in India, and by
General Wolfe in America; how the young Pretender landed in Scotland,
and proclaimed his father King; how he was beaten, and after many
dangers escaped to France.
The reign of George the Second was disturbed both by foreign and
civil war, and by some disputes in his family at home. His eldest
son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, married a German princess, and they
both lived in London, but they were discontented with the money
the king gave them to spend, so they quarrelled with him, and he
ordered them to go and live at Kew, and would not do anything kind or
good-natured for them. Two children were born to them, one of whom
was afterwards King George the Third, but the Prince of Wales died
before his father.
I will now tell you about King George’s foreign wars, and keep the
story of the civil war to the last for you, because you will like it
best, I think.
The Spaniards had built a great many towns in South America; and
after they had got possession of the country, and killed many of the
people, they took all the gold and silver that was found in the earth
there for themselves. They were therefore obliged to have a great
many ships to fetch it, and brave soldiers and sailors to guard it as
it crossed the seas, and so Spain got more gold and silver than any
other country.
But other countries wished for some of the useful things from South
America too; and some English merchants wished very much to have
several kinds of wood which are useful for dyeing cloth and wool and
other things of different colours; but the Spaniards attacked them
and ill-used them for trying to cut the wood, and behaved in other
respects very ill, so England went to war with Spain.
The war was mostly by sea, and in the course of it the Spaniards were
beaten, first by Admiral Vernon, and then by Admirals Hawke, Rowley,
Warren, and particularly Anson, though they none of them did all they
hoped to do.
Another admiral was very unfortunate. He had to fight a great many
ships in the Mediterranean Sea, and because he did not do all that
the people of England desired him to do, he was shot when he came to
England. His name was Byng. I do not admire this admiral, but I think
he was not justly treated.
Besides the Spaniards, George the Second was at war with the French
and Bavarians. The Prince of Bavaria had been made Emperor, and tried
to make himself King of Bohemia, in the room of the lawful queen,
Maria Theresa, and her son, who was an infant. The English and Dutch
took Maria Theresa’s part, the French took that of the Prince of
Bavaria, and there was a very fierce war on that account, in which
the English gained some battles, and lost some others, an account of
which would be very tiresome to you, I am sure.
Though upon the whole the French had rather the best of the war in
Europe, Lord Clive, who had an army of English in the East Indies,
to take care of our merchants and our towns there, beat the French
generals, and almost drove the French from India altogether. Some
time afterwards the French sent an army under Count Lally to win back
their power in India; but Lally was so beaten that the French have
never had more than one or two small towns in that part of the world
since.
If you look at the map of the world in this place, my dear little
Arthur, you will wonder that two countries in Europe, so close
together as England and France, should think or sending their
soldiers and sailors so far off as India to fight their battles; but
you will wonder still more when you learn that, not content with
this, they sent other fleets and armies to North America, where
they fought till the English conquered the greatest part of all the
country that the French ever had in that part of the world. But the
greatest victory we gained there was the battle of Quebec, where our
brave and good General Wolfe was killed. Some day you will read his
life, and then you will wish that all English soldiers could be like
him.
We will now think about the civil war in King George the Second’s
reign. You remember that in his father’s time the Pretender, whom
the Scotch call James the Eighth, came from France to Scotland and
thought he could get the kingdom for himself, but he was soon obliged
to go back again.
After that he went and lived in Italy, and married a Princess of
Poland, and had two sons. The eldest of these was a fine brave
young man: the youngest became a clergyman, and the Pope made him a
Cardinal; his name was Henry. The eldest, Charles Edward, who was
called the Young Chevalier in Scotland and in England the Young
Pretender, thought he would try once more to get the kingdom of Great
Britain from the Protestant king; so, in spite of the good advice of
his true friends, he would go from Italy first to France, and then to
Scotland, to make war against King George.
The King of France lent him a ship and a few men and officers, and
gave him a little money, for this purpose; and the young prince
landed in Scotland, among the highlands, where the people were still
fond of his family. In a very short time the highland chiefs, who
had a great power over the poor people, gathered a great army, and
marched to Edinburgh, which you know is the capital of Scotland.
There he had his father proclaimed King of England, Scotland, and
Ireland, and gave titles of dukes and lords to the gentlemen who
came to fight for him, and pretended to be the real Prince of Wales.
And he lived in the old palace of the Scotch kings, called Holyrood
House, and there he gave balls and concerts to the Scotch ladies, and
they all fancied themselves sure that Charles Edward would be their
king instead of George.
At first he gained two or three victories, the chief of which was
at Preston Pans, near Edinburgh; and then he marched into England,
where but few English gentlemen joined him; and when he got as far
as Derby he found that he had better go back to Scotland, for the
English would have nothing to do with him. On his way, the English
army, commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, who was King George’s son,
caught and beat part of his army, and took many prisoners.
From this time the French and Scotch officers of the Pretender
quarrelled constantly, and the highland chiefs became jealous of
the other generals, and everything began to be unfortunate for that
unhappy prince, till at the battle of Culloden his whole army was
destroyed, many officers were taken prisoners, and he was obliged to
make his escape and hide himself till he could get back to France.
[Illustration: The Pretender at Holyrood House.]
Sometimes the young prince was obliged to go many days without any
food but wild berries in the woods, and to sleep in caves, or on
the open ground. Sometimes he lay in bed, pretending to be a sick
man, while the Duke of Cumberland’s soldiers were hunting for him,
and he could hear them talking of him. Once he escaped from a great
danger by being dressed in woman’s clothes, and seeming to be the
maid-servant of a very kind and handsome young lady, called Flora
MacDonald, who saved his life. At last he got safe away; and though
he and his friends often threatened to make war in England again,
they never could do any real mischief; and as he and his brother
Henry both died without children, we have had no more Pretenders.
I am sorry to say that the Duke of Cumberland was very cruel to
Prince Charles’s friends when the war was over. Three Scotch lords,
a good many gentlemen, and a number of soldiers, were executed for
having joined the Pretender.
There is nothing else to tell you about the reign of George the
Second; he was a very old man when he died at Kensington. He had
fought many battles in Germany, and was a brave soldier, and not a
bad king; but having been brought up in Germany, like his father, he
never either looked or talked like an English king.
CHAPTER LVII.
GEORGE III.—1760 to 1820.
How George the Third, after making a general peace, went to war with
the Americans; how General Washington beat the English armies, and
procured peace; why the King went to war with France; how Napoleon
Buonaparte conquered many countries; how our Admirals and Generals
won many battles; and how there were many useful things found out in
George the Third’s reign.
The people of England were very glad when George the Third became
king after his grandfather. You read in the last chapter that his
father, Frederick, Prince of Wales, died in the life-time of George
the Second.
George the Third was born in England, and brought up like an English
gentleman. I think he was one of the best men that ever was a king;
but I do not think that everything he did was wise or right. He
reigned longer than any king ever reigned in England, and unhappily
before he died he became blind, and he lost his senses.
He married a German princess named Charlotte, and they had a great
many sons and daughters, and one of their grandchildren is our good
Queen Victoria.
You must not expect me to tell you everything that happened in this
long reign, which lasted sixty years, but you shall read of one or
two things of most consequence, and that you can understand best.
When George had been king a little more than two years he made peace
with all the world, but his reign was very far from being a peaceable
one.
There were two wars in particular of great consequence; the first was
the American war, and the second the French war. I will tell you a
little about each of them.
You will remember that in Raleigh’s time the English built some towns
in North America. Afterwards, during the civil wars in the time
of Charles the First, many more English went there and took their
families there to live, and by degrees they had taken possession of
a very large country, and had got towns and villages and fields.
These English states in America were called _Colonies_; but they were
still governed by the King and Parliament of England. The English
wanted the Americans to pay taxes. But the Americans said that, by
Magna Charta and our old laws, no Englishman might be taxed without
their own consent given in parliament. Now the American Colonies had
no members in the British parliament; so they said the Parliament
had no right to tax them. Then the king called them rebels, and
threatened to punish them; and so, after many disputes, war broke
out between the Americans and the King of England’s soldiers who
were in America to guard the towns and collect the taxes. Then the
Americans said they would have a government of their own. This war
was thought little of at first, but it soon grew to be one of the
greatest wars England had ever had. The French and Spaniards, who
had not forgotten how the English had beaten them by sea and land in
the last wars, joined the Americans; and although the English gained
several victories by sea over the French and Spaniards, yet by land
the Americans beat the English.
The chief man in America was General George Washington, one of the
greatest men that ever lived. He commanded the American army, and as
he and his soldiers were fighting in their own land for their own
freedom, and for their own wives and children, it was not wonderful
that at last they beat out the English soldiers, who did not like
to be sent so far from home to fight against men who spoke the same
language with themselves.
At last, when the King of England found the people were tired of this
long war, he agreed to make peace with America, and since that time
the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA have had a government of their own,
and have become a great and powerful nation. They have a President
instead of a king, and they call their parliament a Congress. You
will understand these things in a few years.
The French war lasted even longer than the American war. This was
the cause: for a long time the French kings had governed France
very badly, and the French nobles oppressed the poor people, and
the clergymen did not do their duty rightly, but left the people
ignorant. At last the people could bear these bad things no longer,
and King Louis the Sixteenth, who was a good king, would have made
them better if he could. But the princes and nobles would not let
him. Then a number of bad people collected in Paris, and they put the
king and queen and all their family in prison, and they cut off the
heads of the king and queen and the king’s sister, and of a great
many lords and ladies, and after that of every clergyman they could
find, and then of everybody who tried to save the life of another; in
short, I believe the French people did more wicked things in about
three years than any other nation had ever done in a hundred. The
name of the most wicked of all was Robespierre. He was killed at
last by some of those he meant to kill.
England and several other countries then went to war with the French
because they had sent armies to attack the neighbouring countries,
and had conquered many of them, and that war lasted about twenty-four
years.
France would have been mastered, I think, if it had not been for a
brave and clever but wicked man, called Napoleon Buonaparte, who,
from being a simple lieutenant, rose to be Emperor of the French.
He chose clever men for judges and generals. He conquered many
countries, and used to threaten to come and conquer England. But we
had brave sailors, and clever captains and admirals, who never let
any of his ships come near us. Lord Howe won the first sea victory
in the war; then we had Lord St. Vincent, Admirals Duncan, Hood,
Collingwood, Cornwallis, Cochrane, Pellew, and many more, who gained
battles at sea, besides more captains than I can tell you, who took
parts of fleets or single ships. But the man that will be remembered
for ever as the greatest English sailor was Admiral Lord NELSON. He
gained three great victories,—at Aboukir in Egypt, at Copenhagen, and
at TRAFALGAR near the coast of Spain. In that battle he was killed,
but he knew his own fleet had conquered before he died. When he went
into battle, the words he gave, to tell all the ships when to begin
to fight, were, ENGLAND EXPECTS EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY.
These words must never be forgotten by any Englishman.
[Illustration: Farmhouse of Hougoumont on the Field of Waterloo.]
There were no more great sea-fights after Trafalgar, but many on
land, where we had good generals and brave soldiers. The wise and
good General Abercromby was killed just as he gained a victory in
Egypt. His friend, the good and brave General Moore, was killed at
Corunna in Spain, and many other brave officers and men died for the
sake of England, but many lived to fight and to conquer. The greatest
general in our time was the Duke of WELLINGTON, who put an end to
the sad long war by his great victory over the French, commanded by
Napoleon himself, at WATERLOO. I cannot tell you in this little book
how many other battles he won, or how skilfully he fought them, or
how well he knew how to choose the officers to help him. But he will
have always a name as great as Nelson, by whose side he was buried in
St. Paul’s.
After the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Buonaparte was kept a prisoner
in the island of St. Helena till he died, and the brother of Louis
the Sixteenth was King of France, under the title of Louis the
Eighteenth.
Our good king, George the Third, died soon after. I have told you
what kind of a man he was at the beginning of this chapter.
In his reign more things, useful to all men, were found out than in
hundreds of years before. New countries were visited, new plants
and new animals were brought to England. All the sciences received
great encouragement. The arts that are needful in common life were
improved. Steam engines were first made useful. The beautiful light
given by gas was found out, and all sorts of machines to assist men
in their labour were invented. Those arts called the fine arts, I
mean such as sculpture, painting, and music, were encouraged by
George the Third. But what is of more consequence, the science of
medicine and the art of surgery were so improved in his time, that
the sufferings of mankind from pain and sickness are much lessened.[4]
CHAPTER LVIII.
GEORGE IV.—1820 to 1830.
How it was this King ruled the kingdom before his father died; how
some bad men planned to kill the King’s ministers; how the Princess
Charlotte died; how the Turkish fleet was destroyed at Navarino; how
the Roman Catholics were admitted into Parliament; and what useful
things were done in this reign.
When George the Fourth came to the throne, he was fifty-eight years
old, but he had been governing the kingdom for eight years before he
was king, during which time he had been called the Prince Regent. The
reason of this was, that the old king, who, as you read in the last
chapter, had the misfortune to go out of his mind, never recovered
his reason from the time his youngest daughter, the Princess Amelia,
died, at least not sufficiently to be able to govern; so George,
Prince of Wales, being the heir to the throne, governed for his
father all that time.
George the Fourth had no sooner begun his reign than a dreadful plot
was formed to kill all the cabinet ministers. The wicked men—about
thirty, I believe—who contrived this plot, used to meet at a house
in an out-of-the-way place called Cato Street, in the Edgware Road;
and there they agreed to carry out their plan on a certain day, when
the ministers were all expected to meet together and dine at Lord
Harrowby’s house. Fortunately the plot was betrayed by one of the
men, in time to prevent the murder: most of the conspirators were
seized, and Thistlewood and four other ringleaders were hanged. This
plot afterwards went by the name of the “Cato Street Conspiracy.”
About twenty-five years before George the Fourth came to the throne,
he had married his cousin, the Princess Caroline of Brunswick. The
marriage was not a happy one, and the Prince and Princess of Wales
separated soon after the birth of their first and only child, the
Princess Charlotte. This led to a sad quarrel, which I think it is no
use for us to remember.
The Princess Charlotte, who would have succeeded her father on
the throne if she had survived him, had married Prince Leopold of
Saxe-Coburg, but died the year after her marriage, to the great grief
of the people. This happened before her father became king.
It was towards the middle of King George’s reign that a war broke
out between the Greeks and Turks. A great many English gentlemen,
amongst whom was the poet, Lord Byron, went to Greece to take the
part of the Greeks. The struggle lasted several years, and was ended
at length by a battle fought in the harbour of Navarino, where all
the Turkish ships were sunk by the British fleet.—Navarino is at
the south-west corner of the Morea in Greece.—The commander of the
Turkish fleet was named Ibrahim Pacha, and the commander of the
English fleet was Sir Edward Codrington. After this battle, Greece,
which had been subject to Turkey, was made into an independent
kingdom, and three German princes were invited in turn to be king;
Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg (the same who had married our Princess
Charlotte) declined the honour, but Prince Otho of Bavaria accepted
the invitation, and became Otho the First, King of Greece. Lord Byron
died in Greece three years before the war ended. Otho was afterwards
sent away because he governed badly, and the crown was given to
Prince George of Denmark, brother to our Princess of Wales.
A law was passed in this reign to allow Roman Catholics to sit in
Parliament and help to make laws for the country. There was much
talking and considering before this was done, for many people thought
that if the Roman Catholics helped to make laws, they would try to
change the religion of the country, and to bring back popery, which
had in former times kept the people in darkness, and caused a great
deal of misery and cruel persecution, as you have read in the former
part of this History. Others, believing that the Roman Catholics of
the present day were wiser, and that they would continue loyal to the
Sovereigns and faithful to the laws of the land, consented to admit
them to equal privileges with their Protestant fellow-countrymen.
So at last this law was passed; and now Roman Catholics sit in
Parliament, and are made Judges in courts of law.
About the same time the severe laws against Protestant Dissenters,
which were made under Charles the Second, were done away with.
The king died at Windsor at the age of sixty-eight, after a reign of
ten years.
George the Fourth was a very accomplished man, but he cared so much
more for pleasing himself than for doing his duty and thinking of
others, that he was not a favourite with his people.
Many new buildings were erected, and various improvements made in
this reign. The New London Bridge and the Thames Tunnel were begun;
the Menai Suspension Bridge, joining the Isle of Anglesey to North
Wales, was completed; the Regent’s Park was laid out; the Zoological
Gardens were opened; and Regent Street and other handsome streets
were built.
One very great improvement was made by Sir Robert Peel in causing the
streets and roads to be guarded night and day by active, well-drilled
policemen, instead of by watchmen, who used to be on duty only at
night, and who were very frequently feeble old men scarcely able to
take care of themselves.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] This is the end of little Arthur’s History, as first written by
Lady Callcott; but for the benefit of the children of the present day
who read this little History, a few more chapters are added.
CHAPTER LIX.
WILLIAM IV.—1830 to 1837.
How the Reform Bill was passed; how Slavery in our colonies was
abolished; how there were Revolutions in France and Belgium; how the
cholera broke out; how railways were established; and how the Houses
of Parliament were burned down.
As King George the Fourth left no child to succeed him, his brothers
were the next heirs to the throne. The Duke of York, the second son
of George the Third, died three years before George the Fourth, and
left no child; so William Henry, Duke of Clarence, the third son of
George the Third, now mounted the throne. William the Fourth, who had
been brought up as a sailor, was at this time sixty-four years old;
he was married to an excellent German Princess, named Adelaide of
Saxe Meiningen, and he had had two daughters, but they both died in
early infancy.
This reign was a short one, but several important changes took place
in it, one of which was the passing of the Bill for a reform in
the House of Commons. You know how it was settled by King Edward
the First that all the large towns, which in his reign were called
burghs, should choose one or two persons to go to Parliament and help
to make the law. This was nearly six hundred years ago; and since
that time a great many little hamlets and villages had grown into
large towns, and a great many of the old burghs had dwindled away
until only a few houses were left in them, or even none. The people,
who were now living in the towns that had grown so large, thought
it very hard not to be able to send members to Parliament to tell
what was wanted in their towns; and they also thought it was useless
for the little burghs, where only a few people lived, to continue
sending members. So it was proposed that the large towns or boroughs
should be allowed to send members to the House of Commons, according
to the number of people in each town, and that the little decayed
towns should leave off sending members. This new plan was called the
“Reform Bill.” It was talked over a long time in Parliament before
it was agreed to; for, although there were a great many people who
wished for the change, there were many others who thought it would be
dangerous to the welfare of Old England, and both sides had to tell
all their reasons for what they thought. At last it was put to the
vote whether the Bill should pass or not; and as the greatest number
were for making the change, the Bill became law. But I shall have to
tell you of another Reform of Parliament under Queen Victoria.
Nearly the next thing that was done was to put an end to slavery in
all the colonies belonging to England. A good man, named William
Wilberforce, had tried to do this many years ago, in George the
Third’s reign; but it was not an easy thing to do, because all those
persons who had large estates in the colonies, and who had bought
slaves to cultivate the land, had paid a great deal of money for
their slaves; and the masters were afraid they should be ruined if
the slaves were set free, as there would be no one to sow and dig
their fields.
There is no doubt the Parliament and people of England acted wisely
in wiping away so great a disgrace as _slavery_ is; and in order
to do this with justice they paid a very large sum of money—twenty
millions of pounds. When this was at last done, the slaves were made
free.
There was a very sudden revolution in France at the beginning of this
reign. It only lasted three days, and was called the “Three Days’
Revolution.” Charles the Tenth, the King of France, was expelled, and
came over to this country; his cousin Louis Philippe was then chosen
by the French people to be their king, and was called the King of the
French.
The example of France was followed in Belgium, a country which had
been joined to Holland, so as to make but one kingdom, over which
the Dutch king reigned. The Belgians fought hard, and succeeded in
completely driving away the Dutch; after which they invited Prince
Leopold of Saxe Coburg to be their king. Although Prince Leopold
would not be King of Greece, he accepted the kingdom of Belgium;
and he afterwards married the Princess Louise, daughter of Louis
Philippe, the new King of the French. He reigned a long time and
wisely, and was succeeded by his son, Leopold the Second.
I will now tell you of some improvements that were made in this
reign, the principal of which is perhaps the forming of railways.
The first that was opened in England was one between Liverpool and
Manchester; and it was a very useful one. You know that the people
at Manchester weave great quantities of cotton; so much, indeed,
that the town is full of factories, where thousands of spinners
and weavers are constantly at work. After the railway was opened,
the work went on faster than ever, for as soon as the raw cotton
arrived in bales from America to Liverpool, it was sent off by rail
to Manchester; and as fast as it was spun and woven at Manchester, a
great deal was sent back by rail to Liverpool, to be shipped off to
America and other parts of the world. This kept a great many people
at work, and as this railway seemed to do so much good, railways were
very soon carried from one end of Britain to the other.
Amongst the sad events of this reign, may be mentioned the appearance
of the cholera in England, and a great fire which destroyed the
Houses of Parliament at Westminster.
William the Fourth died, after a reign of seven years, at the age of
seventy-one; and his widowed queen, who then became Queen Dowager,
survived him about twelve years, when she died, much loved and
respected by the English people.
CHAPTER LX.
QUEEN VICTORIA.—1837.
How Hanover was separated from England; how the Queen married her
cousin, Prince Albert; how a fresh Revolution broke out in Paris,
and how Louis Philippe escaped to England; how the Chartists held
meetings; how we went to war with Russia; how the Sepoys mutinied
in India; how the young men in Great Britain became Volunteers; how
Parliament was reformed the second time, and means taken to educate
the people; how there were a great many discoveries and improvements
made.
The Princess Victoria, niece of William the Fourth, succeeded him on
the throne. She was the daughter of Edward Duke of Kent, the next
brother of the late king. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, was sister
to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, King of the Belgians.
A princess is of age to reign at eighteen; the Princess Victoria had
happily attained that age a few weeks before she was called to be
Queen of England.
Since the reign of George the First, who was Elector of Hanover, the
kings of England had also ruled over that kingdom; but in Hanover
there is a law which prevents females from reigning there; so that,
when William the Fourth died, Hanover was separated from England;
and at the same time that the Princess Victoria ascended the English
throne, Ernest Duke of Cumberland, the fifth son of George the Third
(and the Queen’s eldest surviving uncle), became King of Hanover. But
Hanover has since been made part of the German Empire.
The reign of Victoria, the happiest and best that ever was for
England, has yet been marked by a great deal of fighting in all parts
of the world.
First, there were riots in Canada, and it was three years before they
were entirely put down; then a number of people who called themselves
Chartists created some uneasiness at home, but their meetings were
soon stopped, and their ringleaders were transported; next, a war
broke out in China and another in India, and it was eight years
before all these disturbances were settled.
Meanwhile the people were glad to turn their minds from these
troubles to an event that gave every one pleasure, namely,
the marriage of the Queen with her cousin, Prince Albert of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, nephew of Leopold, the wise King of the Belgians.
There were great rejoicings on this occasion, and with reason, for it
proved one of the happiest events, not only for the Queen, but for
her people.
The French had for some time been growing more and more dissatisfied
with the government of Louis Philippe, whom they had chosen, in
1830, to be their king; and every now and then they had shown their
discontent by insurrections, which led to fighting in the streets
of Paris. At length their displeasure vented itself in a complete
revolution, and Louis Philippe, in terror for his life, made his
escape and came for refuge to England.
[Illustration: The Marriage of Queen Victoria.]
The Chartists, misled by some designing persons who fancied they
might make a similar revolution in Old England, thought this would be
a good time to try and frighten the Queen and Government of England
into granting their foolish and dangerous wishes; so they collected
a very large multitude, intending to go in a body to the House of
Commons and demand what they wanted. But the people of England loved
the Queen too well, and were too well satisfied with the government
of their country, to let the Chartists do any mischief; so, at the
command of the Duke of Wellington, soldiers were placed in various
parts of London, to be in readiness if wanted; and the principal
citizens undertook to guard the City, while they spared all the
policemen to go and keep the bridges which cross the Thames. The
Chartists, when they saw that they could not gain their ends, and
that they would only bring harm to themselves if they resorted to
violence, agreed that the best thing they could do, was to disperse
and go quietly home. Thus, whereas there had been fighting between
the people and the soldiers in almost all the other great cities of
Europe, peace was maintained in London on that memorable and peaceful
day, the Tenth of April, 1848, without a single soldier being seen.
A short while after, the great Duke of Wellington, who had served
his country so long and so well, died. By the victories he had won
he had procured peace for Europe which lasted more than forty years.
The English had cause to lament his loss, not many years after, when
they engaged in a terrible war with Russia. The Russians, whose
country, you know, is the largest in Europe, tried to get possession
of Turkey, and of the mouths of the River Danube, and the rich corn
countries on its banks. Several of the other European countries
thought it was not fair for Russia to tyrannize over Turkey, and
they also thought it would not be safe for the rest of Europe, that
the Emperor of Russia should rule from the Baltic to the Black Sea
and Mediterranean, as he certainly would do if he succeeded in
overpowering the Turks. So the English and French, and afterwards
the Sardinians, joined in helping the Turks to drive back the
Russians into their own country. This war lasted two years, and half
a million of lives were lost in it, far the greater number on the
side of Russia. The allied armies, as those who joined the Turks were
called, fought hard, and suffered a great deal from cold, illness,
and fatigue, but they succeeded at last in freeing the Turks from
their Russian enemies. The fighting took place chiefly in the Crimea,
where the Russians had a very strong fortress and a large harbour
for their ships of war, at a place called Sevastopol. The Russians
strove with all their might to defend the fortress; but, after it had
been besieged for twelve months, it was taken at last, with great
difficulty, by the Allies, and was destroyed.
This war was scarcely over when a dreadful mutiny broke out in
India amongst the Sepoys. The Sepoys are Indians whom the English
have trained to be soldiers. They make very good soldiers, and are
sometimes very faithful; but their religion makes them see some
things in a very different light from that in which Christians look
at the same things; and one of the supposed grievances of the Sepoys
was that their cartridges were greased with the fat of cows—animals
which are sacred amongst the Indians. The Sepoys turned upon the
English, who were few in number compared with themselves, and killed
numbers of them, with their wives and children, without mercy. The
massacre was dreadful, but the English were not daunted, and they
everywhere showed the greatest courage and presence of mind in the
midst of these scenes of horror, until at length the officers and
soldiers, sent from England to relieve and defend them, entirely
put down the rebellion. The chieftain of the mutineers was one Nana
Sahib, who disappeared, and is supposed to have been slain; and
amongst the brave men who subdued the mutiny were General Havelock,
Sir Henry Lawrence, and Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord Clyde.
The year after this mutiny the rule of the East India Company was
entirely done away with, and an Act of Parliament declared that all
those parts of India which had been conquered by the English should
in future be governed by the Queen.
I am afraid I should never finish if I tried to tell you all that was
done in this reign; but I cannot leave off without speaking of one
thing which shows how much the British people love their Queen and
their country, and how determined they are to defend them. It was
thought at one time that the Emperor Napoleon, who ruled in France
after Louis Philippe, had some intention of invading England. As soon
as ever this was thought possible, nearly all the young gentlemen,
and men of every class throughout the country, came forward of their
own accord to be trained as soldiers, and drilled, and they continued
steadily practising until they made themselves good soldiers. The
invasion did not take place, but such resolution and unity of feeling
on the part of Great Britain must make all foreigners see what
reception they would meet with, if they came to our land as enemies.
I might tell you long stories of the wonderful wars and changes that
have happened all over the world since this time; but they hardly
belong to the History of England. And the reason for this is one to
make us very thankful. You have seen all through this little book
how British freedom has been always growing; so that the people are
governed according to their own wishes, and all needful changes can
be made without violence. And we have been able to have nothing to
do with the great wars abroad, except to send help to the wounded
soldiers and the starving people.
In our good Queen’s long reign many new laws have been made; but
I need only tell you now of one or two. There was another Reform
of the House of Commons, giving a vote to nearly all people who
live in houses and lodgings and pay their share of the expenses
of government. And, as people cannot be good citizens, or good at
all, without being well taught, Parliament has provided for the
_education_ of all the children in the country.
The discoveries and improvements of this reign have been greater and
more numerous than have ever been made in the same space of time
since the world began; so I can only tell you some of the chief of
them.
For two hundred years and more, English sailors have been striving to
find a shorter way of going to India and China, than by going either
round the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. They hoped to be able to
do so, by sailing through the seas at the North Pole, along the
north coast of America. But these seas are filled with ice, which is
quite fast in winter, and breaks up only a little in summer; so that
the brave men, who sought a passage through them, nearly always got
blocked up in the ice, and had to spend the winter in the dark. One
of the bravest of those who tried to find this passage was Sir John
Franklin, who, unhappily, never returned; and after many years it was
found by those who went to seek him, that he and all his companions
had died of cold and starvation. Before his death, however, he had
pushed through the ice far enough to prove that the ocean extends
all along the north coast of America, from Baffin’s Bay to Behring
Straits; though he could not take a ship through. So the North-West
Passage was at last discovered, and it shows how daring English
sailors are, and what difficulties they will overcome.
Dr. Livingstone made great discoveries in Africa, where he found
rivers and great lakes, whose names were before unknown; and other
travellers have traced nearly to its source the celebrated river of
Egypt, the Nile.
In the part of the globe opposite to us, the great _Australian_
colonies have grown up—greater than those we lost in America under
George the Third. And an immense quantity of gold has been discovered
there. But you must know that _gold_ is only useful to help people in
exchanging one useful thing for another; and times of abundant gold
have always been times of great prosperity for the world. And now
_meat_ is brought all the way from Australia for us to eat. And we
have colonies in the two great islands of _New Zealand_, which are
almost the _Antipodes_ to us. This word means that the people there
stand right on the other side of the round world, with their feet
pointing to our feet. In North America, too, the colonies that we won
from the French under George the Second have been formed into a great
united state, called the Dominion of Canada. It would take me much
too long to tell you how rich Great Britain has grown during this
reign by its trade with all the world.
The postage of letters was made so cheap, that all people can
write to their friends as often as they like. Railroads were made
everywhere, even, as you know, under the streets of London. Electric
telegraphs were invented, and made to carry messages to almost every
part of the world, not only overland, but even across the bed of the
seas. Most ships are now made of iron instead of wood, and by the
help of steam are able to cross the seas to America and to go round
the world; and railways have been made in almost every country upon
the earth.
The Thames Tunnel was finished and opened; the Royal Exchange, which
had been burnt down, was re-built, and opened by the Queen; the Great
Exhibition, a vast house of glass half a mile long, was built at the
suggestion of the Queen’s husband, the Prince Consort, and all the
people of the world were invited to bring all the best things their
countries could produce, and display them in it. The new Houses
of Parliament, one of the grandest buildings in the world, have
arisen; many new streets of splendid houses for the rich, and many
new lodging-houses for working people have been made; and instead of
burying dead people in churchyards in the middle of towns, cemeteries
(that is, “sleeping places”) have been formed outside the towns for
all people to be buried in.
But what I think the most useful of all are the improvements made in
_printing_ books and newspapers. Great machines have been invented to
print several thousand of sheets of paper in an hour. New materials
have been used for making paper. Besides this, the taxes have been
taken off paper and newspapers; so that I can now buy a newspaper
for one penny, for which I used to pay seven-pence half-penny when
I was little Arthur’s age. I might tell you a great deal more about
the taxes that have been taken off all manner of necessary and
useful things, and how we have now bread and tea and coffee and
sugar and salt and spice and wine, and bricks and timber and glass,
and gloves and boots and silks and ribands, and even toys, and many
other things, much cheaper because they are not taxed. And yet the
Government has plenty of money, because the people can better afford
to pay other taxes.
This work of lightening the burdens of the people was begun after
the battle of Waterloo, when the great Duke of Wellington was Prime
Minister to George the Fourth. Indeed, more taxes were taken off in
the ten years before the Reform Bill than in the twenty years after
it.
I must now tell you a few sad things which have happened in this
reign.
There was a terrible famine in Ireland, caused by a disease, before
unknown, which destroyed the potato crop. The potato is the chief
food of the poor people in Ireland, and, when the potato rotted in
the ground, there was nothing for them to live upon. The rich people
of England did all they could to help the poor creatures, and a great
deal of money was sent from this country to buy food and clothes for
them; but, notwithstanding all that was done, thousands and thousands
died of disease and starvation. This was a dreadful visitation; but
it has providentially led to some good; for more care has been taken
since then to cultivate land in Ireland, and everything done to try
and keep off such a misfortune in future.
And there have been rebellions in Ireland, because many of the people
want to have a separate government of their own. But this would do
them more harm than good, for they have a full share in making laws
for the United Kingdom; and the Irish have equal liberty with the
English and the Scotch. All three countries help one another; and
there have been natives of all three among the great and good men who
have raised the united BRITISH ISLES to power and prosperity. So it
is foolish and wicked to want to divide them again.
Another sad thing was the return of the cholera, which carried off
great numbers of people; but this misfortune has also led to some
good, for, although it is not known what brings the cholera, it has
always been found that fewer people die of it where towns are kept
clean, and houses are airy, and where people live on good food and
wholesome water. So more care has since been taken of these things,
and it may be that not only cholera, but fevers and other illnesses,
may have been kept off by the care that is taken. But a great deal
more has to be done to keep the air pure and provide plenty of pure
water for our towns.
There was very great distress for some time in Lancashire, where
so many thousands of people live by weaving cotton. The reason of
this was, that a civil war broke out in America, where the cotton
was grown. As long as there was fighting in America, no cotton came
from that country to this; and there was no work for the weavers
to do, so that they were in the greatest distress. They bore their
troubles patiently and well, and nearly every one in the country, and
even some of the Americans themselves, sent money and clothes for
the suffering workpeople, and did everything possible to help them
until they could go to work again. And since then, a rich American
merchant, Mr. Peabody, has given hundreds of thousands of pounds to
build proper houses for workmen and poor people in London.
But of all the sad events of this reign, the one which has been
longest and most deeply felt is the death of the Prince Consort, the
good and beloved husband of the Queen. Until he died, the people
themselves did not know how needful he was to her in relieving her of
the cares of governing, how much good he had otherwise done them, and
how truly he loved them. Many of the improvements made in this reign
were owing to him: he planned better houses for the poor to live in;
he encouraged farmers to cultivate their land more carefully and to
rear good cattle; he patronised and encouraged Arts and Sciences; in
short, I cannot tell you how wise and prudent he was, and how many
good things he did, nor how much and how sincerely he is regretted.
Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort had nine children; the eldest
of whom, the Princess Royal, is married to the Crown Prince of
Prussia; the second, the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne,
is married to the Princess Alexandra of Denmark; and the third,
the Princess Alice, who was married to Prince Louis of Hesse, died
in 1878; the Princess Helena is married to Prince Christian; the
Princess Louise, to the Marquis of Lorne, son of the Duke of Argyle;
the Duke of Edinburgh is married to the only daughter of the Emperor
of Russia, and the Duke of Connaught to the daughter of Prince
Charles of Prussia; Prince Leopold, and Princess Beatrice.
And now, dear Arthur, before I end the story of what has happened
thus far in our beloved Queen’s reign, I have to add something that
seemed likely to be one of its saddest events, but I trust may prove,
by God’s blessing, one of the happiest. Just ten years after the
death of the good Prince Consort, the Prince of Wales was seized
with the same sort of fever, at the age of thirty. He was so ill
that prayer was made for him in all the churches; but three days
afterwards he began to get better. The love shown by the Queen and
all the Royal family in watching round his bed made them dearer than
ever to the nation; and the deep anxiety of all the people for their
Prince gave such a proof of their loyalty as I scarcely remember.
I want my dear Arthur to learn well the great lesson of _loyalty_
as well as _liberty_. It is our happiness always to enjoy a settled
government, not subject to change, under a royal family, kept quietly
and regularly at the head of the state; so that we may show love and
honour to our country by loving and honouring _them_; and especially
when we have a Queen and royal family whose virtues deserve all our
love and loyalty.
But it is time to finish our little History, which I hope you will
remember; and I also hope that it will help you to understand larger
and better histories by-and-by.
THE END.
Transcriber’s Notes
pg 2 Changed: they had coarse earthern bowls and pitchers
to: they had coarse earthen bowls and pitchers
pg 51 Changed: WILLIAM III.—1087 to 1100.
to: WILLIAM II.—1087 to 1100.
pg 142 Changed: CHAPTER XXXVII.
to: CHAPTER XXXVIII.
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