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Title: The Child's Pictorial History of England
Author: Corner, Miss (Julia)
Language: English
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THE
CHILD’S PICTORIAL
HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
[Illustration: DEATH OF LLEWELLYN.]
[Illustration: DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.]
THE CHILD’S
PICTORIAL
HISTORY OF ENGLAND;
FROM THE
EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME.
BY MISS CORNER,
AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, GREECE, ROME, FRANCE,
SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL.
From the Thirteenth London Edition.
PHILADELPHIA:
HENRY F. ANNER’S,
48 NORTH FOURTH STREET
1853.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
H. F. ANNERS.
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States,
in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
PHILADELPHIA:
STEREOTYPED BY GEORGE CHARLES,
No. 9 Sansom Street.
PREFACE
TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
A juvenile history of England has long been needed in our primary
schools.
Those already prepared, and in use, are written in a style entirely
beyond the capacities of young children, and too comprehensive in
detail.
“History for children ought to be told in their own simple language,
or it fails to interest them; while all that is unfitted for childish
ears, or unsuited to a childish understanding, should be carefully
omitted; at the same time, it is essential to avoid making false or
imperfect impressions by an injudicious brevity.”
_Philadelphia_, 1853.
The Publisher invites the attention of those engaged in tuition, to
the following reviews, selected from a large number, recommendatory
of Miss Corner, as an historian for the school-room:
“Miss Corner is an excellent historian for the school-room; she
narrates with fluency and clearness, and in a concise and lively
manner.”--_London Spectator._
“It is written with clearness and simplicity, the principal events
are accurately and briefly described, and the whole is well adapted
to the comprehension of young persons.”--_London Atlas._
“Miss Corner is concise in matter, yet perspicuous in style, delicate
in narration, yet accurate in record, comprehensive in reference, yet
simple in arrangement.”--_Devonport Independent._
“Miss Corner writes intelligently and fluently, with much ease and
winning grace.”--_London Magazine of Arts and Sciences._
“The beauty of composition throughout the writings of Miss Corner is
singular and fascinating.”--_London Sun._
“This meritorious work is written in a very easy and agreeable style,
perfectly adapted to the capacities of the young persons for whom it
is intended.”--_London Times._
“Miss Corner has acquired a deserved celebrity for the
singularly-attractive and intelligible manner she has in narrating
history.”--_London Critic._
Contents.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
THE ANCIENT BRITONS, 9
CHAPTER II.
THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN, 16
CHAPTER III.
THE SAXON HEPTARCHY, 24
CHAPTER IV.
MANNERS OF THE SAXONS, 33
CHAPTER V.
THE DANES AND ALFRED THE GREAT, 41
CHAPTER VI.
FROM THE DEATH OF ALFRED TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST, 50
CHAPTER VII.
THE NORMAN CONQUEST, 59
CHAPTER VIII.
THE NORMAN PERIOD--1087 TO 1154, 68
CHAPTER IX.
HENRY THE SECOND, RICHARD THE FIRST, AND JOHN--1154
TO 1216, 82
CHAPTER X.
FROM THE DEATH OF KING JOHN TO THE ACCESSION OF
RICHARD THE SECOND--1216 TO 1377, 95
CHAPTER XI.
FROM THE ACCESSION OF RICHARD THE SECOND TO THE
WAR OF THE ROSES--1377 TO 1422, 110
CHAPTER XII.
THE WARS OF THE ROSES--1422 TO 1461, 119
CHAPTER XIII.
FROM THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH, TO QUEEN ELIZABETH--1461
TO 1558, 128
CHAPTER XIV.
QUEEN ELIZABETH--1558 TO 1603, 140
CHAPTER XV.
THE STUARTS. FROM THE UNION TO THE REVOLUTION--1603
TO 1689, 150
CHAPTER XVI.
THE REVOLUTION--1689 TO 1714, 168
CHAPTER XVII.
HOUSE OF HANOVER--1714 TO 1830, 175
CHAPTER XVIII.
FROM THE DEATH OF GEORGE THE THIRD, 1830, TO THE
PRESENT TIME, 190
CHAPTER I.
THE ANCIENT BRITONS.
[Illustration: ANCIENT BRITONS.]
1. Would you not like to read about your own country, and to know
what sort of people lived in it a long while ago, and whether they
were any thing like us? Indeed, they were not; neither was England,
in ancient times, such as it is now.
2. There were no great cities, no fine buildings, no pleasant
gardens, parks, or nice roads to go from one place to another; but
the people lived in caves, or in the woods, in clusters of huts,
which they called towns.
3. The country was not then called England, but Britain; and its
inhabitants were called Britons. They were divided into many tribes;
and each tribe had a king or chief, like the North American Indians;
and these chiefs often went to war with one another.
4. Some of the tribes lived like savages, for they had no clothes but
skins, and did not know how to cultivate the land: so they had no
bread, but got food to eat by hunting animals in the forests, fishing
in the rivers, and some of them by keeping herds of small hardy
cattle, and gathering wild roots and acorns, which they roasted and
eat.
5. But all the Britons were not equally uncivilized, for those who
dwelt on the south coasts of the island, had learned many useful
things from the Gauls, a people then living in the country now called
France, who used to come over to trade with them, and with many
families of Gauls who had at various times settled amongst them.
6. They grew corn, brewed ale, made butter and cheese, and a coarse
woollen cloth for their clothing. And they knew how to dye the wool
of several colors, for they wore plaid trowsers and tunics, and dark
colored woollen mantles, in shape like a large open shawl.
7. Perhaps you would like to know what they had to sell to the Gauls;
so I will tell you. Britain was famous for large dogs; and there
was plenty of tin; and the South Britons sold also corn and cattle,
and the prisoners which had been taken in war, who were bought for
slaves; and you will be sorry to hear that many of the ancient
Britons sold their children into slavery.
8. They carried these goods in carts, drawn by oxen, to the coast of
Hampshire, then crossed over to the Isle of Wight, in light boats,
made of wicker, and covered with hides or skins, in shape something
like half a walnut shell.
9. The merchants from Gaul met them in the Isle of Wight; and as they
brought different kinds of merchandise to dispose of, they managed
their business almost entirely without money, by exchanging one thing
for another.
10. The Britons were very clever in making things of wicker work, in
the form of baskets, shields, coated with hides, boats, and chariots,
with flat wooden wheels.
11. These chariots were used in war, and sharp scythes were fixed
to the axles of the wheels, which made terrible havoc when driven
through a body of enemies.
12. But I shall not say much about the wars of the ancient Britons,
or their mode of fighting; as there are many things far more pleasant
to read of, and more useful to know.
13. At that time, which is about one thousand nine hundred years ago,
the country was almost covered with forests; and when the people
wanted to build a town, they cleared a space for it by cutting down
the trees, and then built a number of round huts of branches and
clay, with high pointed roofs, like an extinguisher, covered with
rushes or reeds.
14. This was called a town; and around it they made a bank of earth,
and a fence of the trees they had felled; outside the fence, they
also dug a ditch, to protect themselves and their cattle from the
sudden attacks of hostile tribes.
15. As to furniture, a few stools or blocks of wood to sit upon,
some wooden bowls and wicker baskets to hold their food, with a few
jars and pans of coarse earthenware, were all the things they used;
for they slept on the ground on skins, spread upon dried leaves, and
fern, or heath. Their bows and arrows, shields, spears, and other
weapons, were hung round the insides of their huts.
16. The Britons were not quite ignorant of the art of working in
metals; for there was a class of men living among them who understood
many useful arts, and were learned, too, for those times, although
they did not communicate their learning to the rest of the people.
17. These men were the Druids, or priests, who had much more
authority than the chiefs, because they were so much cleverer;
therefore the people minded what they said.
18. They made all the laws, and held courts of justice in the open
air, when they must have made a very venerable appearance, seated in
a circle on stones, dressed in long white woollen robes, with wands
in their hands, and long beards descending below their girdles.
19. The ignorant people believed they were magicians, for they knew
something of astronomy, and of the medicinal qualities of plants and
herbs, with which they made medicines to give the sick, who always
thought they were cured by magic.
20. Some of the Druids were bards, that is poets, and musicians;
others taught young men to become Druids; and some of them made a
great many useful things out of the metals that were found in the
mines.
21. You will perhaps wonder where the Druids gained all their
knowledge. I cannot tell you; but many learned men think that the
first Druids came from India or Persia, as the religion they taught
was very similar to that of the Persians and Hindoos.
22. They did not believe in the true God, but told the people there
were many gods, and that they were in trees and rivers, and fire,
which they worshipped for that reason.
23. They had no churches, but made temples, by forming circles of
large stones, of such immense size that nobody can guess how they
were carried to the places where they stood, for there are some of
them still remaining.
24. They used to hold several religious festivals in the course of
the year, when all the people made holiday, and the bards played on
their harps and sang, and there was plenty of feasting, and merry
making; and they used to light bonfires, and make an illumination by
running about with torches in their hands, for they believed that a
display of fire was pleasing to their gods; and so you see that our
custom of having fireworks, and illuminations, and bonfires, on days
of public rejoicing, is as old as the time of the ancient Britons.
25. The Druids had a great deal to do on those days; for they used
to go to their temples and say prayers, and sacrifice animals for
offerings to their false gods; and on New Year’s Day, they walked in
procession to some old oak tree to cut the mistletoe that grew upon
it, for this was one of their religious ceremonies; and the oldest
Druid went up into the tree to cut the plant, while the rest stood
below singing sacred songs, and holding their robes to catch the
boughs as they fell; and crowds of men and women stood round to see
them.
26. But I must make an end of this chapter about the ancient Britons,
and tell you how the Romans came and conquered the country, and made
quite a different place of it.
QUESTIONS.
3. What was England called in ancient times?
4. How did the Britons resemble the American Indians?
5. Describe the tribes that were most civilized.
7. With whom did they trade, and in what commodities?
8. How and where was their trade carried on?
10. For what manufacture were the Britons famous?
13. How did they build a town?
15. Describe the furniture of their habitations.
17. Who were the Druids?
18. Tell me what you know about them.
19. Mention the different employments of the Druids.
21. Where is it supposed the first Druids came from?
25. Describe their temples.
CHAPTER II.
THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN.
[Illustration: LANDING OF JULIUS CÆSAR.]
1. The Romans, about the time of the birth of Christ, were the
richest, the most powerful, and the cleverest people in the world.
Rome was a grand city, and there were many other fine cities in Italy
belonging to the Romans, who knew how to build handsome houses, and
make beautiful gardens, besides being excellent farmers.
2. They had elegant furniture, and pictures, and marble statues; and
they were well educated, and wrote a great number of books in Latin,
for that was their language, and many of those books are used in our
schools to this day.
3. They had large armies, and had conquered a great many countries,
when Julius Cæsar, a great Roman General, brought an army to Britain,
about fifty years before the birth of our Saviour, to try to conquer
the Britons also; but thousands of British warriors went down to
the sea shore, by Dover cliffs, to fight the Romans as soon as they
landed; and they took a great many war chariots with them, and fought
so bravely, that after two or three battles, Cæsar offered to make
peace with them, and go away, if their princes would pay tribute to
the Roman government; which they consented to do.
4. However, the Romans thought no more about Britain for nearly a
hundred years, when they came again, and went to war in earnest
with the natives, who at length were obliged to submit to them; and
Britain became a part of the Roman Empire, just as India is at this
time a part of the British Empire.
5. Now this was a good thing for the Britons, although they did not
then think so; for as soon as they left off fighting, the Romans
began to teach them all they knew, and to make a much better place
of Britain than it had ever been before.
6. As soon as a part of the country was conquered, some great man was
sent from Rome to govern it, and to make the people obey the Roman
laws.
7. Then other great men came to live here, and brought their families
and furniture and plate from Rome; and built fine houses, and planted
gardens, with flowers and fruit trees, and vegetables, that were
never seen here before, for they brought the roots and seeds and
young trees with them.
8. At first, the Roman governors made the Britons pay very heavy
taxes; not in money, for they had none; but they were obliged to give
a part of their cattle, and corn, and metals, or any thing else they
had; and to work with the Roman soldiers at building, making roads,
draining the watery lands, and cutting down trees, to make room for
houses and gardens.
9. They did not like this, and one of the tribes, named the Iceni,
who lived in that part of Britain which is now called Norfolk and
Suffolk, determined to make another effort to drive the Romans out of
the country.
10. You will be surprised to hear that they were headed by a woman;
but there were queens among the Britons as well as kings; and the
king of the Iceni being dead, his widow Boadicea governed in his
stead.
11. She encouraged her people to rebel against their new rulers, and
led them to battle herself, mounted in a chariot, and armed like a
warrior; but the Romans won the battle, and the brave but unfortunate
queen put an end to her own life.
12. After this, there was another long war, which lasted till all
the South British tribes were subdued, and the Roman government
established all over the country, except the north part of Scotland.
13. It was lucky for the Britons that a very good Roman, named
Agricola, was made governor about this time, for he behaved so kindly
that they began to like the Romans, and to wish to live as they did,
and to know how to do all the clever things they could do.
14. I should tell you that all the Roman soldiers were educated as
engineers and builders, surveyors, and cultivators of land, and when
not actually engaged in fighting, they were employed daily for four
hours in some such out-of-door labour or occupation; so, when the
war was over, they were set to work to improve the country, and the
Britons had to help them.
15. They made good hard broad roads, paved with stones firmly
cemented together, and set up mile stones upon them.
16. The Romans had built London during the war, and given it the name
of Augusta, but the houses were almost all barracks for the soldiers
and their families, so that it was not nearly so handsome as York
and Bath, and many other cities that they built in place of the old
British towns.
17. The Britons, who had never seen any thing better than their
own clay huts, must have been quite astonished at the fine houses
constructed by the Romans; who also built, in every city, temples,
theatres, and public baths, with large rooms for people to meet in,
like a coffee house.
18. Then, in each town, was a market place for people to buy and sell
goods, and the Romans taught the Britons generally to use money,
which was more convenient than taking things in exchange.
19. The Romans were excellent farmers, as I said before; so they
shewed the natives how to manage their land better than they had
done, and how to make many useful implements of husbandry.
20. By cutting down the forest trees, which they used in building,
they obtained more land for cultivation, and grew so much corn that
there was more than enough for the people in Britain, so that a great
deal was sent every year to the Roman colonies in Germany.
21. By degrees, the Britons left off their old habits, and those
above the lowest rank wore the Roman dress, spoke the Roman language,
and adopted the manners and customs of their conquerors, who treated
them as friends and equals.
22. There were schools opened in all the towns, where British and
Roman boys were instructed together, and the former were all brought
up to serve in the Roman armies; for there were no more wars among
the British princes; who held the same rank as before, but paid
tribute to the Roman governor, and were under his authority, as many
of the princes of India are now under the authority of the English
Governor General in India.
23. The Britons had to pay a great many taxes, but they likewise
enjoyed many rights, for the Roman laws were much better laws than
those of the Druids, which were made for barbarians, and not for
civilized people, such as the Britons had now become.
24. You will, perhaps, wonder what the Druids were about all this
time. The Romans did not approve of their religion, so they put an
end to it very soon, after they came here; but what became of the
Druids, is not exactly known.
25. It is supposed that many of them were killed by the Romans in the
isle of Anglesea, where the chief Druid always resided; and that all
the rest fled to Scotland, or the Isle of Man.
26. The Romans, however, were themselves heathens, when they first
settled in Britain, and worshipped a number of false gods; but their
gods were different from those of the Druids, and the rites and
ceremonies of their religion were different too.
27. But, in course of time, many of the Romans became Christians, and
Christianity was taught in Britain, where the heathen temples were
converted into Christian churches, and the Britons, as well as the
Romans, at length learned to worship the one true God.
28. The Romans had kept possession of Britain for more than three
hundred years, when it happened that great armies of barbarians went
to fight against Rome, and all the soldiers were sent for, to try to
drive them away again; so that this country was left unprotected, for
it was the Roman soldiers who had kept enemies from coming here.
29. The Britons hoped they would come back again, as they did more
than once; but affairs got worse and worse at Rome, so the rulers
there sent word to the British princes, that they did not wish to
keep the island any longer, therefore the Britons might consider
themselves a free people. But was freedom a blessing to them? I think
we shall find it was not.
QUESTIONS.
3. By whom was Britain first invaded?
4. When did the Romans again appear?
5. Was this conquest a good or bad thing for the Britons, and why?
8. What occasioned the revolt of the Iceni?
10. Who headed the insurrection, and what were its consequences?
13. Who was Agricola?
14. How were the Roman soldiers employed in time of peace?
15. Tell me of the improvements made in Britain by the Romans.
25. What became of the Druids?
28. When and why did the Romans leave Britain?
CHAPTER III.
THE SAXON HEPTARCHY.
[Illustration: A SAXON SHIP.]
1. It is now time to tell you something about the Picts and Scots.
They were the people of Scotland, and were called by the Romans
Caledonians, which meant men of the woods, because they were very
rude and fierce, and lived among woods and wilds.
2. They had always been sad enemies to the Britons; but the Romans
had kept them away, and the good governor Agricola built a row of
strong forts, all across their country, and placed soldiers in them,
to make the Caledonians keep on the other side.
3. However, they sometimes managed to break through; so the Emperor
Severus, who was here from the year 207 to 211, had a stone wall
built across that narrow part, where Northumberland joins Cumberland,
and it was so strong, that parts of the banks and forts are still
remaining.
4. But when all the Roman soldiers were gone, the Picts and Scots
began to come again, and robbed the people of their corn and cattle,
and stole their children for slaves, and did a great deal of mischief.
5. Now, if the British princes had agreed among themselves, and
joined together to drive out these terrible foes, things might have
gone on very well; but they were foolish enough to quarrel, and go to
war with one another; while some of the captains, who wanted to be
princes, got a number of soldiers to help them, and took possession
of different places, where they called themselves kings, and made the
people obey them.
6. They did not continue the good Roman laws; nor elect magistrates
to keep order in the cities, as used to be done while the Romans were
here; and tillage was neglected, because the farmers were afraid
their crops would be destroyed, so that numbers of people died of
famine.
7. There were still many Romans in Britain, who were not soldiers but
were settled here, most of them having married into British families;
and there were a great number of people who were Britons by birth,
but whose ancestors had been Romans; and all these were desirous that
the country should still be governed by the Roman laws, and formed
what was called the Roman party.
8. But there was a British party also, that wanted to do away with
the Roman laws altogether, and not to let the Romans have any thing
to do with ruling the country; so each of these parties elected a
king.
9. The Britons chose a prince named Vortigern; and the Romans chose
one called Aurelius Ambrosius; and there was war between them.
10. Then Vortigern, the British king, thought it would be a good
thing to get some other brave people to join his party, that he might
be able to overcome his rival, as well as to drive away the Picts and
Scots; so he proposed to some of the British chiefs that they should
ask the Saxons to come and help them, and they thought it would be
a good plan.
11. The Saxons inhabited the north of Germany, and parts of Holland
and Denmark, which were then poor and barren countries.
12. Many of their chiefs were pirates, that is, they lived by going
out on the seas to fight and plunder; nor did they think it wicked so
to do; but, on the contrary, imagined it was brave and noble.
13. Two of them, Hengist and Horsa, happened to be cruising near
the British coast, when they received a message from Vortigern; who
made a bargain with them, and offered to give them the little island
of Thanet, if they would come with all their men, to assist him in
driving out the Picts and Scots.
14. Thanet is that part of Kent where Margate is now situated, but
was then separated by an arm of the sea, so that it was a small
island, standing alone, nearly a mile from the coast.
15. The Saxons were very ready to come, for they knew that Britain
was a pleasant, fertile country, and hoped to get some of it for
themselves; but they did not let the Britons know they thought of
doing so.
16. Hengist and Horsa were very brave, and their men were well armed,
so they soon forced the Picts and Scots to retreat to their own
country; and shortly afterwards they went to the Isle of Thanet,
which they fortified, and many more Saxons came there to them.
17. I cannot tell you how the affairs of the Britons went on, or what
became of Vortigern; but this I can tell you, that the Saxons soon
began to quarrel with the people of Kent, and fought with them, and
having driven most of them away, took the land for themselves, and
began to live there.
18. The chief who made this conquest, was Esca, the son of Hengist,
who called himself king of Kent, which, from that time, was a small
Saxon kingdom, for the Britons never won it back again.
13. Then other chiefs, hearing how Esca had succeeded, got together
bands of soldiers, and landed in different parts of the country, to
try to gain kingdoms also; but they did not all come at once, and
their conquests were made by such slow degrees, that the wars lasted
more than one hundred and fifty years; so you may guess how hard the
Britons fought in defence of their liberty.
20. We can learn but very little about those unhappy times, for the
few histories that were then written were mostly destroyed in these
long wars; and though songs were composed by the bards or poets,
which the people used to learn and teach to their children, these
songs were not all true.
21. They were mostly about the wars, and the brave British chiefs who
defended the country against the Saxons; and if you should ever hear
anybody speak of king Arthur, and the knights of the Round Table, you
may remember that he is said to have been one of those chiefs; and,
if we may believe the tale, killed four hundred Saxons with his own
hand in one battle.
22. Those who made the story about him, say that the nobles of his
court were all so equal in bravery and goodness, that he had a large
round table made for them to feast at, that no one might sit above
another; so they were called knights of the Round Table. But let us
return to our history.
23. The Saxons went on making one conquest after another, till, at
last, they were in possession of the whole country; where very few
of the natives were left, for most of those who had not been killed
in the wars, had fled into Gaul, or taken refuge among the Welsh
mountains; so from this time we shall hear no more of the Britons,
but must look upon the Saxons as the people of England.
24. I told you how Esca had established the little kingdom of Kent.
Well, in the course of the wars, six more kingdoms had been formed
in the same manner, by different Saxon chiefs, so that, by the time
the conquest was completed, there were seven kingdoms in Britain,
namely, Kent, Sussex, Essex, and East Anglia, Northumbria, Wessex,
and Mercia; and this division of the country among seven kings, was
called the Saxon Heptarchy.
25. The Saxons were not clever people, like the Romans, but were
rough and ignorant, and cared for nothing but fighting; so while the
wars were going on, they ruined and destroyed all the beautiful and
useful works that had been done in the Roman times; for they did
not understand their value, and only thought it was a fine thing to
destroy all that belonged to their enemies.
26. But the works of the Romans were very strong; for even now, when
workmen are digging in London, and different parts of the country,
they sometimes find Roman walls, and pavements, and foundations of
houses, that show what good architects the Romans were.
27. When the Saxons had got possession of the whole country, you
may perhaps suppose they would be quiet and contented, but this
was not the case; for as long as there were separate kingdoms, they
were continually at war with each other, and the principal cause of
disagreement was, that, among the kings, there was always one called
the Bretwalda, or ruler of Britain, who had some degree of authority
over the rest; but as any one of them might be raised to this
dignity, it was a constant source of quarrels and warfare, until, at
length, the weaker kingdoms were overcome by the more powerful ones,
and there was but one king over the whole country, which then took
the name of Angleland or England, from a particular tribe of people
called the Angles, who came here in great numbers with the Saxons.
28. I dare say you did not know before how Britain came to be called
England; and you would be very much amused to hear how many of the
places in it, came by their present names.
29. We will take for example Norfolk and Suffolk, which, with
Cambridge, formed the kingdom of East Anglia, and was conquered by
the Angles. Now these Angles consisted of two tribes, who divided
their conquest between them, one tribe settling in the north part,
the other in the south; so that they were called North folk, and
South folk, and thus came the names of the two counties.
QUESTIONS.
1. Who were the Caledonians?
4. How did they molest the Britons?
6. What was the state of the country at this time?
7. What was the Roman party?
8. What was the British party?
10. Who was Vortigern, and what did he do?
11. Tell me something about the Saxons.
16. Who were Hengist and Horsa, and how did they assist the Britons?
23. What did the Saxons do after this?
24. What was the Heptarchy?
25. How was the country changed by the wars?
27. How was the Heptarchy destroyed?
CHAPTER IV.
MANNERS OF THE SAXONS.
[Illustration: ANCIENT SAXONS.]
1. I am now going to tell you what sort of people the Saxons were,
and how they lived after they were quite settled in England; for you
ought to know all about them, as they were our own ancestors, and
made a great many of our laws; and their language was English too,
although it has so much altered that you would hardly know it for the
same.
2. The Saxons were not Christians when they first came here; but
their religion was different from that of both the Druids and heathen
Romans; for they worshipped great images of stone or wood, that they
made themselves, and called gods; and from the names of their gods
and goddesses, our names of the days of the week are derived.
3. At length, the bishop of Rome, who was called the Pope, sent some
good men to persuade the Saxons to leave off praying to wooden idols,
and to worship the true God.
4. These missionaries first went to Ethelbert, king of Kent, who
was then Bretwalda, and reasoned with him, so that he saw how wrong
he had been, and not only became a Christian himself, but let the
missionaries go and preach among the people, who were baptized in
great numbers, and taught to believe in God and Jesus Christ.
5. The missionaries were all priests or monks; and some of them lived
together in great houses called monasteries, which they built upon
lands given them by the kings and nobles, on which they also raised
corn, and fed sheep and cattle.
6. They had brought from Rome the knowledge of many useful arts,
which they taught to the people, who thus learned to be smiths and
carpenters, and to make a variety of things out of metal, wood and
leather, which the Saxons did not know how to make before.
7. Then the priests could read and write, which was more than the
nobles, or even the kings could do; and they used to write books, and
ornament the pages with beautiful borders, and miniature paintings;
and the books, thus adorned, are called illuminated manuscripts.
8. Still the Saxons, or English, as I shall henceforth call them,
were very rough and ignorant as compared with the Romans.
9. Their churches and houses, and even the palaces of the kings, were
rude wooden buildings, and the cottages of the poor people were no
better than the huts of the ancient Britons.
10. The common people were almost all employed in cultivating the
land, and lived in villages on the different estates to which they
belonged; for the Saxon landlords were not only the owners of the
land, but of the people also; who were not at liberty, as they are
now, to go where they pleased; neither could they buy land for
themselves, nor have any property but what their lords chose. I will
tell you how it was.
11. The Saxon lords had divided all the land amongst themselves, and
had brought from their own countries thousands of ceorls, or poor
people, dependent on them, to be their labourers.
12. Each family of ceorls was allowed to have a cottage, with a few
acres of land, and to let their cattle or sheep graze on the commons,
for which, instead of paying rent, they worked a certain number of
days in each year for their lord, and, besides, gave him a stated
portion of those things their little farms produced; so that whenever
they killed a pig, they carried some of it to the great house; and
the same with their fowls, eggs, honey, milk and butter; and thus the
chief’s family was well supplied with provisions by his tenants, some
of whom took care of his sheep and herds, cultivated his fields, and
got in his harvests.
13. Then there were always some among them who had learned useful
trades, and thus they did all the kinds of work their masters wanted.
14. Yet, with all this, the poor ceorls generally had enough for
themselves, and some to spare, which they sold at the markets, and
thus were able to save a little money.
15. Their cottages were round huts, made of the rough branches of
trees, coated with clay, and thatched with straw. They had neither
windows nor chimneys; but a hole was made in the roof to let out the
smoke from the wood fire, kindled on a hearth in the middle of the
room; and they used to bake their barley-cakes, which served them for
bread, on these hearths, without any oven.
16. They made a coarse kind of cloth for clothing from the wool of
their sheep, a part of which was also given to their lord, and was
used to clothe the servants of his household, for the rich people got
a finer cloth for themselves, which was brought from other countries.
17. Great men usually wore white cloth tunics that reached to the
knee, with broad coloured borders, and belts round the waist. They
had short cloaks, linen drawers and black leather shoes, with
coloured bands crossed on their legs, instead of stockings. The
common people wore tunics of coarse dark cloth, and shoes, but no
covering on the legs.
18. But I must tell you something more about these country folks,
who, at the time, formed the great mass of the English population.
They were, strictly speaking, in bondage, for they could not leave
the place where they were born, nor the master they belonged to,
unless he gave them their freedom; they were obliged to serve as
soldiers in war time, and when the land was transferred to a new
lord, the people were transferred with it.
19. All they had might at any time be taken from them, and their sons
and daughters could not marry, without consent of their lord.
20. Yet these people considered themselves free, because they could
not be sold like the slaves; for I ought to tell you there was a
lower class of bondmen, called thralls, and there were regular slave
markets where they were bought and sold.
21. A landowner could sell a thrall just as he could sell an ox;
but he could not sell a vassal tenant, or, as they were called in
the Saxon times, a ceorl, or churl, without the estate to which he
belonged. The thralls were employed to do the hardest and meanest
work, and had nothing of their own.
22. The houses of the great men were very like large barns, and each
house stood on an open space of ground, enclosed by a wall of earth
and a ditch, within which there were stacks of corn, sheds for the
horses and cattle, and huts for the thralls to sleep in.
23. The principal room was a great hall, strewed with rushes, and
furnished with long oak tables and benches.
24. The windows were square holes crossed with thin laths, called
lattices, and the fire-place was a stone hearth in the middle of the
earthen floor, on which they used to burn great logs of wood, and let
the smoke go out at a hole in the door.
25. But the great people often had merry doings in these halls,
for they were fond of feasting, and used to sit at the long wooden
tables, without table cloths, and eat out of wooden platters or
trenchers with their fingers.
26. Boiled meats and fish, usually salted, were put on the table in
great wooden dishes, but roast meats were brought in on the spits
on which they were cooked, and handed round by the thralls, to the
company, who helped themselves with knives which they carried at
their girdles.
27. There was plenty of ale, and among the richest, wine also, which
they drank out of horn cups; and when the meats were taken away, they
used to drink and sing, and play on the harp, and often had tumblers,
jugglers, and minstrels to amuse them.
28. Then the visitors used to lie down on the floor to sleep, covered
with their cloaks; for very few people had bedsteads, and the only
beds were a kind of large bags, or bed-ticks, filled with straw, and
blocks of wood for pillows.
29. Such were the rough manners of our Saxon forefathers, who were,
however, in some respects a good sort of people, and you will be
sorry for them by and by, when you read how the Normans came, and
took away their lands, and made slaves of them. But I must first tell
you what happened in the Saxon times, after the Heptarchy was broken
up, and there was only one king of England.
QUESTIONS.
4. How were the Saxons converted to Christianity?
6. By what means did they learn many useful arts?
8. What was the condition of the common people?
15. Describe the cottages of the poor.
16. How did the Saxons dress?
21. What were ceorls? and what were thralls?
22. Describe the house of a Saxon chief.
CHAPTER V.
THE DANES AND ALFRED THE GREAT.
[Illustration: ALFRED THE GREAT.]
1. It was nearly 380 years after the first Saxons came here with
their two pirate chiefs, Hengist and Horsa, that England began to
have only one king.
2. There were still some other princes, who bore that title, but they
had so little power, that they could hardly be called kings; so that
a brave prince, named Egbert, who conquered the last kingdom of the
Heptarchy, is usually called the first king of England.
3. The civil wars were thus, for a time, ended; but it seemed as if
the English were never to be long at peace, for they now had some
terrible enemies to contend with, who kept the country in constant
alarm.
4. These were the Danes who came from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden,
and were almost the same people as the Saxons; for they spoke the
same language, followed the same customs, and lived by piracy, as the
Saxons did in former times.
5. I have not room to tell you of half the mischief they did in
England. Sometimes they would land suddenly from their boats in the
night, when the affrighted people were awakened by a cry of, “the
Danes! the Danes!” and, starting up, perhaps, beheld their villages
in flames; and, as they ran in terror from their cottages, were
either killed or dragged away to the pirate vessels, with the cattle
and any thing else that could be found, and made slaves.
6. Egbert had fought a battle with them in Cornwall, and forced them
to depart; but, during the reign of Ethelwulf, the next king, and
three of his sons, they not only attacked the towns and villages
on the sea-coast, but used to seize the horses and ride about the
country in search of plunder.
7. They broke into the monasteries, where the people often put their
money and jewels for safety; and if the inmates made any resistance
they would set the building on fire.
8. Then they set up fortified camps, in many places; that is, a
number of tents, arranged together, like a town surrounded with
a wall and ditch; and thus a great many of the Danes established
themselves in the country, and conquered all the northern part of it.
This was the sad state of affairs when Alfred the Great came to the
throne.
9. I dare say you have heard of this good prince, who was the
youngest and favorite son of king Ethelwulf, for he was the cleverest
and best. His mother, being an accomplished lady, tried to teach all
her sons to read; but none of them would learn except Alfred, who
afterwards went to Rome to study Latin, and learn to write, so that
he was a good scholar for those times.
10. His three brothers had all reigned in turn, and were all dead
by the time he was twenty-two years old, therefore he was then heir
to the crown; but, instead of being able to think about the best
way of governing the country, he was obliged to get together as many
soldiers as he could, and go out with them to fight the Danes.
11. There was no regular army then, as there is now; but, when the
king wanted soldiers, he sent to all the noblemen and landholders
in the kingdom, who were obliged to come themselves and bring so
many men with them, according to the size of their estates, some on
horseback, some on foot, and all well armed.
12. You must remember that people could not buy land then for money,
nor have it for paying rent; but large estates were given to the
thanes and nobles by the king, on condition that they should perform
certain services for him; and you have already seen how the vassals
of the nobles held their little farms on similar terms.
13. This was called the feudal system, which means, holding land for
services instead of rent; and the person holding the land was called
the vassal of him to whom it belonged, whether rich or poor; so the
nobles were the vassals of the king, and the ceorls were the vassals
of the nobles.
14. I think you now understand what the feudal system was, therefore
I shall proceed with the history of Alfred the Great.
15. The war had gone on for several years, and the king was so
unfortunate that, at last, he was obliged to hide himself in a woody
marsh in Somersetshire, called the Isle of Athelney, because it was
surrounded by bogs and rivers.
16. The Danes were then in pursuit of him; and, one time, fearing to
be taken prisoner, he got some man to let him keep his cows, or pigs,
I do not know which; so that, if the Danes happened to see him, they
might not guess who he was.
17. I dare say, you have heard the story of this peasant’s wife
scolding Alfred one day, for letting some cakes burn, which she had
left to bake on the hearth, whilst she was out; but she did not know
that he was the king, or, of course, she would not have taken that
liberty.
18. At last, Alfred heard there were many chiefs and noblemen, with
their vassals, ready to join him again; so he determined to try
another battle, but thought it would be prudent first to learn what
was the real strength of the enemy.
19. Now the Danes, like the Saxons, were fond of good cheer, and
liked to have songs and music to make them merry while they were
feasting; and this put it into Alfred’s head to go into their camp
disguised as a harper, for he could play the harp and sing very well.
20. So away he went, with his harp at his back, and, when he came
there, the Danish chiefs had him called into their tents, and made
him sit down and play to them, and gave him plenty to eat and drink.
21. Then he heard them talking about king Alfred, and saying, they
supposed he was dead, as he did not come to fight them, so they need
think of nothing but enjoying themselves; and thus he discovered they
were not prepared for a battle, and were almost sure to be defeated,
if taken by surprise.
22. He, therefore, left the camp as soon as he could, and sent
a message to his friends to meet him in Selwood Forest, also in
Somersetshire, with all the men they could muster; and, when they
were all come, he put himself at their head, and, marching suddenly
down upon the Danes, fought and won a great battle at Ethandune, a
place in Gloucestershire, now called Woeful Danes’ Bottom, from the
terrible slaughter of the Danes there.
23. But there were a great many Danes in England who had not been
engaged in this battle, and who had possession of almost all the
northern part of the country; so the king wisely considered that
it would be much better to induce them to settle peaceably in the
country as friends, rather than prolong those dreadful wars, which
had already caused so much misery.
24. He therefore proposed to the Danish chief that, if he would
promise to keep at peace, he should have a wide tract of country,
which had been desolated by these wars, all along the east coast,
from the river Tweed to the river Thames, for himself and his people,
to be called the Dane land; so Guthrun, the Danish chief, accepted
the offer, and parcelled the land out amongst his followers, who
settled there with their vassals, and lived the same manner as the
Saxons.
25. You may think how glad the people were that the wars were over,
and the king was very glad too, for he now had time to do what was
more pleasant to him than fighting, which was, to do all the good he
could for the country. He thought the best way to defend it against
its enemies was to have good ships to keep them from landing; but,
as the English did not know much about ship-building, he sent for
men from Italy to teach them, and also had models of ships brought
that they might see how they were constructed, and men were taught to
manage them, so that England, for the first time, had a navy.
26. These ships were called galleys, and were worked both with oars
and sails; they were twice as long as those of the Danes, and stood
higher out of the water.
27. While some workmen were making ships, others were employed in
rebuilding of the towns and villages that had been burned down by
the Danes; and the king ordained that there should be schools in
different parts of the kingdom, where noblemen’s sons might be
educated, for he had found the benefit of learning himself, and
thought it a sad thing that all the great men should be so ignorant
as they were.
28. You may, perhaps, wonder why so good a man as Alfred should only
think of having the great people taught to read; but reading would
have been of no use to the common people, as the art of printing was
unknown, and there were no books but those written by the monks or
nuns, which were so expensive that none but very rich people could
afford to have even two or three of them.
29. The principal school founded by king Alfred was at Oxford, which
was then a small, poor place, with a monastery, and a few mean wooden
houses for the scholars to live in, very different from the present
grand university, and the masters, who were all churchmen, and called
learned clerks, resided in the monastery.
30. Alfred, with the help of some good and clever men, whom he
consulted in every thing, made some very wise laws, and obliged
the people to obey them, by having courts of justice held in the
principal cities, regularly once a month; for nobody had thought much
about law or justice either, while the wars were going on, so that
there was need of some very strict regulations to restore good order,
without which there can be neither happiness nor comfort any where.
31. Under the good government of Alfred the Great, England enjoyed
more peace and prosperity than it had known since the days of the
Romans; and as his son and grandson both endeavoured to follow his
example, the influence of his wisdom was felt long after his death,
which happened when he was about fifty years old, in the year 900.
QUESTIONS.
2. Who was called the first king of England?
4. Who were the Danes?
8. How did they establish themselves in the country?
10. Who went to war with them?
11. How was an army raised in those times?
12. What was the feudal system?
15. What happened to Alfred?
22. What was the battle of Ethandune?
24. How did Alfred make friends of the Danes?
26. How was a navy first formed?
29. Which of our universities was founded by Alfred the Great?
CHAPTER VI.
FROM THE DEATH OF ALFRED TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST.
[Illustration: CANUTE AND HIS COURTIERS.]
1. Alfred was succeeded by his son Edward, who was a very good king,
though not so clever as his father. He built walls round a great
many of the towns, to defend them in case the Danes should come
again; for, although so many of them were living quietly in the
country, those who did not live here were still enemies, and the
resident Danes were always ready to join their countrymen.
2. But they could not do much mischief while Edward was king, or
in the reign of his brave son Athelstan, who was almost as great a
prince as Alfred himself.
3. He knew that commerce was one of the best things in the world for
any country, so he had more ships built, and sent them to trade with
foreign countries; and he said that, when any man had made three
voyages in a vessel of his own, he should be made a Thane; which was
the same as knighting a gentleman in these days.
4. There were no stores in England at this time, but the people
bought every thing they wanted at markets and fairs; and they used to
salt a great deal of their meat and fish, that it might keep a long
time.
5. In buying and selling, they sometimes used slaves and cattle,
instead of money, a man slave being worth a pound of silver, and an
ox worth a quarter of a pound, which was called five shillings, as a
shilling was the twentieth part of a pound in weight.
6. If a nobleman, therefore, wanted to buy any thing of two pounds
value, he could pay for it with two of his thralls, or eight oxen,
and the seller was obliged to take them; but he could sell them again
directly; for I am sorry to say there were slave markets in England
till some time after the Norman Conquest.
7. Athelstan had a good deal of fighting to do, for the people of
the Daneland revolted, and he was obliged to lead his soldiers into
their territory, to bring them to order; and then he had to march
against Howel, the Prince of Wales, who was defeated in battle, when
Athelstan nobly gave him back his dominions, saying, “There was more
glory in making a king than in dethroning one.”
8. I shall not mention all the kings that reigned after Athelstan,
because there were many of them who did nothing that is worth telling
about; but I must speak of a great churchman, named Dunstan, who was
Archbishop of Canterbury, and, for several reigns, ruled the whole
country, for the kings and nobles were obliged to do just as he
pleased.
9. He was a very clever man, and so good a worker in metals that he
made jewellery and bells, and gave them to some of the churches,
which was considered an act of piety; for it was about this time
that bells began to be used in England, and they were highly valued.
10. Dunstan persuaded the kings and rich noblemen, to rebuild the
monasteries that had been plundered and destroyed by the Danes, and
endow them with lands; so that, at last, nearly one-third of all the
landed property in the kingdom belonged to the clergy.
11. There was a king named Edgar, the fourth after Athelstan, who did
many useful things for the country; and, among others, he thought
of a plan to destroy the wolves, which were so numerous in all the
forests, that the people were in constant alarm for the safety of
their sheep, and even of their little children.
12. Edgar, therefore, ordered that each of the princes of Wales, who
had to pay tribute to the kings of England, should send, instead of
money, three hundred wolves’ heads every year; so they were obliged
to employ huntsmen to go into the woods to kill those dangerous
animals, which were so generally destroyed in a few years that they
have seldom been found in England ever since.
13. Then Edgar kept the Danes away by having as many as three hundred
and sixty vessels always ready for service; but, when he and Dunstan
were dead the navy was neglected; and the country was again overrun
with those terrible enemies, who fought with the English every where,
robbed them of their property, took their houses for themselves, and
acted just as if they were the conquerors and lords of the land.
14. At last, the Danish king, Sweyn, landed with a great army, and
began a dreadful war with Ethelred, who was then king of England,
that lasted about four years, in the course of which he and Ethelred
both died; but the war was continued by Canute, the son of Sweyn, and
with such success, that, in the end, he was crowned king of England.
15. It was lucky for the English that Canute happened to be a wise
and good prince; for he said to himself, “As I am now king of these
people, I will behave kindly to them, that they may love me, and
then we shall go on comfortably together.” So he began to repair the
mischief that had been done in the late wars, by setting people to
work to rebuild the towns that had been destroyed; which was soon
done in those days, when the houses were so roughly built, and only
of wood.
16. He also made a law that the Danes should not rob and insult the
English, as they had been in the habit of doing; and ordered that
they should obey the other laws of the country; which he did not
alter in the least; neither did he interfere with the estates of the
nobles, nor with their rights over their vassals; and he consulted
with the Witanagemote, or Parliament, in all affairs of importance.
17. This Parliament was composed of the great nobles and the bishops,
so that it was like our House of Lords; and, when the king made a
new law, the people were not obliged to obey it, until it had been
approved by the Witanagemote.
18. As long as Canute reigned, which was nineteen years, there were
peace and plenty, and the poor people were much happier than they
had been for a long time, for they could stay at home and mind their
farms, or work at their trades, without being called away continually
to fight the Danes.
19. The king, it is true, kept a large army of Danish soldiers, and
the people had to pay heavy taxes to support them; but this was
better than seeing them come as enemies into the towns and villages
to destroy or take every thing.
20. After the death of Canute, his two sons reigned in succession,
but they were neither very good nor very clever, and both died
within six years.
21. All this while there was a Saxon prince, named Edward, son of
king Ethelred, living at the court of the Duke of Normandy, who was
his uncle, and had afforded him shelter and protection whilst his
enemies were ruling in England.
22. He was now restored to the throne, and the English people thought
themselves happy in having again a king of their own nation; but they
little foresaw the terrible consequences of placing over them one who
had formed so close a connection with the Normans.
23. Edward was attached to the Normans, for they had been kind to
him in his misfortunes; but it was neither wise nor just to bring
a great number of them to his court, and set them up above his
own countrymen, by giving them the highest appointments in the
government, which, of course, gave offence to the English noblemen.
24. Edward was called the Confessor, because he spent much of his
time in devotion. He rebuilt Westminster Abbey, which was founded
during the Heptarchy; but this building was pulled down about 160
years afterwards, by Henry the Third, who erected the present edifice
in its place.
25. But I was going to tell you what happened in consequence of the
king’s attachment to the Normans. His uncle was dead, and his cousin
William, a bold spirited prince, who was now Duke of Normandy, came
over to England to visit the king, and see what sort of a place it
was.
26. He brought a great many noblemen with him, and it seems they all
liked the country so much that the Duke thought he should like to
be its king, and his friends thought they should like to get good
estates here; so king Edward was persuaded to make a will, or give
his promise, that, when he died, his cousin William, who was more
than twenty years younger than himself, should be his successor.
The English lords knew nothing about this at the time, but they had
reason enough to know it afterwards, as you will presently find.
27. Edward the Confessor died at the beginning of the year 1066,
when Harold, his wife’s brother, a brave and popular nobleman, took
possession of the throne, with the consent of the chief nobles and
clergy.
QUESTIONS.
1. Who succeeded Alfred?
2. Who was the next king?
3. How was trade encouraged by him?
5. Tell me the way of making purchases at this period.
7. Were there any wars in the reign of Athelstan?
8. Who was Dunstan?
14. Who was Canute, and how did he obtain the throne?
16. What were the chief acts of Canute?
18. How long did Canute reign?
19. What was the general state of the country under his government?
20. Who succeeded Canute?
21. How was the Saxon government restored?
23. How did the king displease his subjects?
24. Why was Edward called the Confessor?
27. When did Edward die, and who succeeded him?
CHAPTER VII.
THE NORMAN CONQUEST.
[Illustration: DEATH OF HAROLD.]
1. As soon as the Duke of Normandy knew that Edward the Confessor
was dead, and Harold made king, he called his friends together, and
promised to bestow lands and honors in England on all who would
assist him to win the crown; which, he said, was his by right, and
that Harold was an usurper.
2. Now this is a doubtful question; for, although the king could
appoint a successor, if he thought proper; yet it was necessary
that his choice should have the approval of the Witenagemote,
which had not been given in this case; so the English said that,
notwithstanding king Edward’s will, the Duke of Normandy had no right
to the throne.
3. I cannot pretend to say which was right; but, as it is of more
consequence to know how the dispute ended, we will proceed to the
history of the conquest.
4. The Normans were great warriors; so that even many of the clergy
would sometimes put on armour under their robes, and lead their own
vassals to battle; and they had as much interest in the dispute as
the nobles, for they expected to come into possession of some of the
Bishops’ sees and rich abbey lands, provided Duke William should
succeed in his enterprise.
5. While all this was going on in Normandy, Harold’s brother, Tosti,
had raised a rebellion in the north of England, and was joined by the
king of Norway, who landed with an army in Yorkshire: so Harold had
to go and fight with them, and there was a great battle at Stamford
Bridge, where the king gained a complete victory.
6. Two or three days after this he was enjoying himself at a great
feast, at York, when news was brought to him that the Normans had
landed in Sussex, where they were doing all manner of mischief,
driving the people away from the towns and villages, and taking every
thing they could lay their hands on.
7. The king made all the haste he could to get his soldiers together,
and began his march to oppose the invaders, but it took nearly a
fortnight to get to where they were; and all that time the invaders
were making dreadful havoc for miles round their camp, so that the
terrified people fled to the woods, or shut themselves up in the
churches, for fear of being killed.
8. At last, Harold came, and a battle was fought near Hastings, on
the 14th of October, 1066, where the king and two of his brothers,
with a great many of the English nobles, were slain, and the
conqueror from that day looked upon himself as the master of the
country.
9. But the English had seen enough of the Normans to know that
they should be very badly treated if they once suffered a Norman
government to be established, so they resolved to do their utmost to
prevent it, and thus the Normans had to fight for every town, and
castle, before it was given up to them.
10. William had marched to London, and laid siege to it, soon after
the battle of Hastings, and the people having submitted to him, he
was crowned in Westminster Abbey, on Christmas day.
11. A few of the English nobles went to offer their submission, that
is, they agreed to obey him as their king, since he had promised that
all who did so should be permitted to enjoy their rank and property
undisturbed.
12. But it was only a few who trusted to these promises, and they
were deceived in the end, for it is almost certain that the Conqueror
intended, from the first, to take every thing from the English to
give to the Normans.
13. I mean the English lords; for he meant to make the common people
remain on the estates to which they belonged, that the new masters
might have vassals and slaves to cultivate their lands.
14. Now the poor people did not like this any more than the nobles
themselves, so they fought bravely for their masters in many places;
but it was all to no purpose; for, at the end of seven years, the
Normans were in possession of all the land in the country, and most
of its former lords had either been killed, or were reduced to such
a state of poverty and wretchedness that it is melancholy to think of.
15. I will not attempt to describe the sufferings of the people
during that long period, but you may imagine how very miserable they
must have been, for the Normans got the better of them all over the
country, and took delight in robbing and insulting their unhappy
victims.
16. I told you that the design of the Conqueror was to take all the
land, and divide it among his followers, except what he chose to keep
for himself, as crown lands.
17. Now there were many Saxon ladies who possessed estates, in
consequence of their fathers or brothers having been killed at the
battle of Hastings; and most of these heiresses were compelled,
against their will, to marry Norman lords, who thus gained lands as
well as brides.
18. Then the estates of all those who had not submitted to the king
were declared to be forfeited, and William gave them to the Normans,
or, more properly speaking, he gave the Barons leave to take them by
force; so the English lords had to fight for their houses and lands,
and many were killed, and many fled to other countries.
19. The rustics, on these forfeited estates, would fight for their
lord to the last; but, when he was forced to yield, they had no
choice but to submit to the new lord, or to see their cottages set
on fire, and their wives and children perhaps murdered before their
eyes.
20. Some of the English nobles hid in the forests with their
families, and as many of their vassals as would go with them, where
they made habitations, and supported themselves by robbery and
hunting; and this was the origin of the numerous bands of robbers
that, in after times, were the terror of the country.
21. The famous Robin Hood, who lived in the reign of Richard the
First, is supposed to have been a descendant of one of these
unfortunate English nobles.
22. The Bishops’ sees and abbey lands were seized in the same violent
manner, as the estates of the nobles, and given to the Norman clergy;
and many of the monasteries, after being broken open and plundered,
were taken for the abode of monks who came over from Normandy in
great numbers.
23. The Normans built a great many castles in different parts of
the country; and, if they wanted to build one on a spot where there
happened to be houses, they thought nothing of turning out the
inhabitants, and pulling down the houses, to make room: and they
pressed the poor people, both men and women, to do all the labour,
without pay, and treated them very cruelly besides; for, if they did
not work hard enough, these unfeeling taskmasters would urge them on
with blows.
24. Then wherever the Norman soldiers stayed, they went and lived in
the houses of the people, took what they pleased, and made the family
wait upon them.
25. The king, himself, cruelly laid waste different parts of the
country in revenge for the opposition made to his progress by some of
the English earls, especially in the north, where, about three years
after the battle of Hastings, such a scene of desolation was made by
fire and sword, that, from York to Durham, the houses, the people,
and all signs of cultivation, were utterly destroyed.
26. The last stand made against the Normans was in a little island,
formed by bogs and lakes, in Cambridgeshire, and still called the
Isle of Ely. There, a brave chief, named Hereward, set up a fortified
camp, and was joined by other noblemen, and many of their dependents,
who, with the ceorls, or tenants, belonging to the Abbey of Ely, made
quite an army.
27. It was a secure place of refuge, because the only safe paths into
the island were unknown to the Normans, who would most likely have
been lost in the bogs, if they had ventured to approach.
28. But they had built a castle close by, at Cam Bridge, and they
brought boats and tried to make causeways by which they might get
into the camp of refuge; but the English would go out in bands
at night and destroy all that their enemies had done, and kept
constantly on the watch for straggling parties, who were often
attacked unawares, and many of them killed, while the English could
always retreat to their camp, where they were safe from pursuit.
29. At last the Normans established a blockade of boats round the
island, and provisions began to get scarce within it; so two or three
bad selfish men, who lived in the abbey, went to the Normans at Cam
Bridge, and said, they would show them the way into the island, if
they would promise not to meddle with the abbey.
30. These men led the Normans secretly into the island, and a
terrible battle was fought, in which almost all the English were
killed.
31. When Hereward saw it was useless to fight any longer, he made his
escape, and went to his own castle of Bourn, in Lincolnshire; where I
believe, he afterwards made peace with the king, and was allowed to
keep his estate.
32. I have given you a long history of the Conquest, because it
was the most important event that ever occurred in the history of
England, and was the last sudden and violent change made in this
country by foreign invasion.
QUESTIONS.
1. Explain the cause of the Norman invasion.
8. What was the battle of Hastings, and where was it fought?
9. Did the English make any further resistance?
14. How long was it before the conquest was completed?
18. How did many of the Norman lords obtain their estates?
20. What became of the English nobles?
23. How were the English treated by the Norman soldiers?
26. What was the Camp of Refuge, and by whom established?
31. What became of Hereward?
CHAPTER VIII.
THE NORMAN PERIOD.--1087 TO 1154.
[Illustration: DEATH OF WILLIAM RUFUS.]
1. The Normans were a cleverer people than the English, and lived
in a superior manner. They were better acquainted with the arts of
agriculture and architecture, and they knew a great deal more about
useful gardening; for all the convents in Normandy had good gardens,
planted with vegetables and herbs; and the monks brought over plenty
of seeds and roots to sow or plant in gardens here.
2. The Normans built stone castles, and strong houses of timber,
with upper stories, so that their dwellings, in general, were
higher and more substantial than those of the Saxons; and one great
improvement was that they had chimneys; but their furniture was as
rough and clumsy as the furniture used in the Saxon times, and their
way of living was almost the same, except that they did not care so
much about feasting, but preferred spending their time in hunting,
hawking, and fighting in sport, for pastime.
3. I should here tell you that William the Conqueror made the first
game laws, and very severe they were, and very hard upon the poor
people, who used to be at liberty to kill game in the forests; but,
after these new laws, they dared not so much as take even a hare or
partridge in their own fields.
4. It was not only the English, who were forbidden to hunt on the
royal domains, but the Normans also, unless they had special leave to
do so; and, if any one was bold enough to kill a deer in the king’s
forests, he was punished in the most cruel manner, by having his eyes
put out, or his hands cut off.
5. The king’s palace was at Winchester, and he wanted to have a
forest close by for hunting, so he ordered that all the towns and
villages should be pulled down for about thirty miles, and the land
planted with trees; and, what was worse, he gave nothing to the poor
people for turning them out of their homes; and this is still called
the New Forest.
6. In imitation of this bad example, many of the nobles began to make
large parks, enclosed with walls to keep deer, and they cared no more
than William had done about taking away the fields and pasture lands
of the poor cottagers, who dared not complain, and were even obliged
to run to their doors with refreshments to offer to the Norman lords
and their followers when they were out hunting, although they often
saw them riding over their corn, and breaking through their hedges.
7. It was not till after several reigns that the descendants of the
Norman Conquerors began to consider themselves Englishmen, and to
treat their vassals more like fellow countrymen.
8. The first hundred years after the conquest is therefore usually
called the Norman period, and includes the reigns of William the
Conqueror, William Rufus, Henry the First, and Stephen.
9. I have already told you that the Feudal system was brought into
England by the Saxons, and I explained what it was; but I must now
mention that this system was carried much farther by the Normans,
that is, their feudal laws were stricter, and the nobles themselves
were bound by them as well as the common people.
10. I should wish you to understand this as clearly as possible,
because the manners and customs of the age were governed entirely by
those laws.
11. First, then, the king was lord of the land, and kept a great
portion of it for himself, which made what were called crown lands;
and all the people, who lived on the crown lands, whether in burgh,
town, or country, were his tenants, and paid him rent, or taxes,
both in money and produce, besides being obliged to furnish him with
soldiers at their own expense.
12. For example, if a town had to find two or more horse-soldiers,
the inhabitants were, besides, obliged to pay the expenses of their
arms, horses and maintenance, for the time they were on service.
13. The Manors and Abbey lands were held of the king on the same
conditions; and every man, who had a certain quantity of land, was
bound either to serve as a soldier himself, or send a substitute.
14. The rest of the country was divided by the king amongst the great
barons, who agreed, in return, that whenever he went to war they
would go with him, and take with them so many men, properly armed
and trained for warfare, perhaps fifty or a hundred, or even more,
according to the extent of lands they held.
15. These great Baronies were called Feods, and the king was the
feodal or feudal lord of the barons, who were called crowned vassals;
and, when any one of them died, the king took the lands again until
the heir paid him a large sum of money to redeem them.
16. Some of the kings behaved very ill in this, in making the heirs
pay a great deal more than was just; and, if a baron died, and left
a daughter only, she was obliged to marry any one the king chose, or
he would not let her have her inheritance at all.
17. The feudal laws were therefore very bad, because they gave men
the power of being tyrants to each other; for the nobles had the same
power of oppressing their vassals that the king had of oppressing
them.
18. You must understand that the great Barons, who held very
extensive domains, gave small estates out of them to men who were
not so high in rank as themselves, on the same conditions as the king
had given the large baronies to them, so that the lesser nobles were
the vassals of the great ones, and were bound to aid them with men
and money when required.
19. Then all the nobles, from the highest to the lowest degree, were
the absolute lords of all the common people that dwelt on their
lands, and could make them do just whatever they pleased, as I told
you they could in the Saxon times; but then the Norman lords treated
them, at first, a great deal more harshly than the Saxon lords did,
and took a great deal more from them.
20. After the Norman conquest they were called villeins, which meant
villagers, and they lived in the same manner, and had the same kind
of duties to perform for their lords, as in the Saxon times; but
there were many new feudal customs brought here by the Normans; as
for example, a mill was set up on every estate, to which all the
poor people were obliged to take their corn to be ground, instead of
grinding it at home with hand-mills, as they used to do; and, out of
each measure, a part was taken for the baron, which was a very hard
tax upon them, especially if they had large families.
21. Another feudal custom was this; a duty was laid on every thing
sold at the fairs and markets; that is, if a man went to the market
to buy a sheep, he must pay so much for the sheep, and so much for
duty, the duty being for the baron, or lord of the manor.
22. There were a great many other customs which I have not room to
mention, but I think I have said enough to show you what the feudal
system was in the first ages after the Norman conquest; so now I will
tell you something about the first Norman sovereigns.
23. William the Conqueror died in 1087, and was succeeded by his
eldest son, Robert, in Normandy, and by his second son, William
Rufus, in England; but after a time Duke Robert wanted money to
go to the Holy Wars, which I will tell you about presently, so he
mortgaged his duchy of Normandy to his brother William, who thus
became sovereign of both countries, as his father had been. He was a
sad tyrant, and so rude in his manners that nobody liked him.
24. I told you what strict game laws were made by the Conqueror,
but William Rufus made them more severe still, and so displeased
the noblemen, by forbidding them to hunt without his leave, that
some of them formed a conspiracy to dethrone him; but the plot was
discovered, and the Earl of Northumberland, who was at the head of
it, was taken prisoner, and confined in Windsor Castle all the rest
of his life.
25. There was another great lord, the Count d’Eu, who was accused
of being engaged in this plot, by a knight called Geoffrey Bainard,
so the king had him arrested. The Count, however, denied having any
thing to do with it, and said he defied his accuser, and was ready to
fight with him, and that God would give the victory to whichever of
them was in the right.
26. So they fought with swords, in the presence of the king and
court, when Bainard was victorious, and the Count being thus
convicted, was condemned to have his eyes torn out.
27. This was a strange way for a man to prove his innocence of any
crime, but it became a common custom in England, and was called
“Wager of battle.” Even law-suits, respecting right of property, were
often thus decided; and, if a lady had a quarrel or a lawsuit, she
might get a man to do battle for her, and he was called her champion.
28. It was the fashion for many ages, not only in England, but all
over Europe, for young men of noble birth to roam about the world in
search of adventures; and, as they were generally poor and depended
chiefly on their swords for subsistence, they would engage in
anybody’s quarrels; fight in the cause of women or children who were
either injured or oppressed, and enlist in the service of princes and
barons who were at war.
29. This was called chivalry, and these knights errant, or wandering
knights, were made welcome wherever they went, and treated with
hospitality at the castles of the great.
30. Numbers of them went to the Holy Wars, but, as I suppose you do
not know what the Holy Wars were, I will tell you about them.
31. Many pious Christians in those days thought it a duty to make a
journey, or pilgrimage as it was called, to Jerusalem, once in their
lives, to say their prayers at our Saviour’s tomb; but Jerusalem
had been conquered by the Mahomedans, who hated the Christians, and
behaved very cruelly to the pilgrims; so the Pope, who you know is
the great Bishop of Rome, and at that time had more authority over
all the countries of Europe than the kings had, said that it was the
duty of all Christian warriors to go to Palestine, or the Holy Land,
to fight against the Saracens, and try to drive them from Jerusalem.
32. Then a religious man, called Peter the Hermit, went about
preaching a crusade, that is, exhorting the princes and nobles in
France, Germany, and Italy, to undertake this war, which was called
a crusade, or _croisade_, because the ensign on their banners was to
be the Cross.
33. Robert, Duke of Normandy, was among the first crusaders, and, as
he wanted money to keep himself and all the fighting men he took with
him, he pledged his duchy to his brother, William Rufus, for a very
large sum.
34. The English did not join in these wars, at first, but after a
time there was scarcely a knight or noble in the land that did not
go to the Crusades, for they were continued, in all, more than two
hundred years; and, during two hundred years; and, during that time,
great numbers of the lower order of people in England were freed from
bondage, in consequence of being allowed to purchase their liberty to
supply their lords with money for these wars.
35. William Rufus, who was killed by accident as he was hunting
in the New Forest, was succeeded by his brother, Henry the First,
surnamed Beauclerk, because he was a learned man, who behaved much
better to the Saxon English than the two former kings had done,
and restored to some of the old families a part of their ancient
possessions.
36. He likewise altered the forest laws, which had given so much
discontent, and gave the citizens of London leave to hunt in Epping
Forest, which then reached very nearly to the walls of the city.
37. Winchester was then the capital of England, but London was one
of the best cities and the richest, as many of its inhabitants were
merchants who traded with foreign countries; yet the houses were only
mean wooden buildings, with no glass in the windows, and thatched
with straw.
38. Westminster was quite a separate city, and divided from London
by country houses, fields and a village. The king had a palace at
Westminster, and William Rufus built Westminster hall adjoining it,
for his Christmas feasts.
39. A curious privilege was granted by Henry the First to the
citizens of London, which will serve to show you what grievances the
people were subject to in those times.
40. There were a great number of persons who were employed in various
ways about the court, and who followed the king wherever he went; for
great men, when they travelled, were obliged to take every thing they
wanted with them, there being no public accommodation to be had any
where; so they carried with them waggon loads of furniture, plate,
wine, cooking utensils, and I do not know what besides; with their
domestics and retainers of all descriptions, who formed a numerous
retinue.
41. Now, the inhabitants of any city, where the king happened to be
holding his court, were obliged to give board and lodging, at free
cost, to all these people, who generally behaved very ill; for they
would insist upon having the best rooms, order whatever they chose,
and treat the family just as if they were their servants.
42. It was, therefore, a very good thing for the Londoners when king
Henry released them from this heavy burthen, but all other towns had
to bear it for a very long period.
43. In this reign the first manufactory for woollen cloth was
established in this country, by some weavers from Flanders, where the
best cloth was made from English wool, which was the staple commodity
of England at that period; I mean, the thing of which they had most
to sell; for quantities of sheep were reared on every estate.
44. England had no manufactures then, so there were no employments
for the lower classes but agriculture, and the few useful arts, that
were but very imperfectly understood.
45. Henry the First died in the year 1135. He left the crown to his
daughter Matilda, who had been twice married; first, to the Emperor
of Germany, and again to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou, who was
dead also, therefore she was again a widow.
46. But there was a nephew of the late king, named Stephen, who was
rather a favorite among the Barons, and was quite willing to take
advantage of their good will; so, before Matilda could reach England,
her cousin Stephen had mounted the throne.
47. Then there was a civil war in this country, which was carried on,
at times, for fifteen years, for a great many French noblemen came
here with Matilda to fight for her; and some of the English Barons,
who had become dissatisfied with Stephen, because he had not done
all they expected he would do, joined the other party, and there was
fighting all over the country.
48. Wherever there is civil war, there is sure to be famine and
misery of all kinds, and there never was more misery in England than
during the reign of king Stephen; for, in order to keep as many of
the Barons on his side as he could, he let them do just as they
pleased; and he gave titles and estates to a great many bold and bad
men, who built castles and kept bands of ruffians, who went at night
to rob and plunder the towns and villages; so that the people, when
they shut up their houses at night, used to kneel down and pray that
God would protect them from robbers and murderers.
49. At last, it was settled that Stephen should keep the crown as
long as he lived; but that Matilda’s son, Henry Plantagenet, should
succeed him; and, soon after this arrangement, he died, having
reigned nineteen years.
QUESTIONS.
1. How did the Normans improve the country?
3. What is the origin of the game laws?
5. How was the New Forest made?
8. Which reigns are called the Norman period?
15. When a baron died, how were his lands disposed of?
18. How did the lesser barons become vassals of the great ones?
21. What new feudal customs were brought here by the Normans?
23. Who succeeded William the Conqueror?
28. What was chivalry?
31. Give some account of the Crusades.
35. Who succeeded William Rufus?
36. How did he gain popularity?
43. What was the first manufacture in England?
45. To whom did Henry leave the crown?
46. Who usurped the throne?
CHAPTER IX.
HENRY THE SECOND, RICHARD THE FIRST, AND JOHN.--1154 TO 1216.
[Illustration: JOHN SIGNING THE MAGNA CHARTA.]
1. As soon as Henry the Second came to the throne, he began to set
things to rights again. He had all the new castles pulled down, and
made the bad men who had lived in them, leave the country; then
he set people to work to rebuild the towns that had been burned
down in the late wars; and ordered that the judges should go on
circuits; that is, travel to all the cities, and hold assizes, two or
three times a year, as they do now, to see that justice is done to
everybody.
2. But it was not quite so easy to do justice then; for, as long as
the feudal laws lasted, the rich could always oppress the poor, and
every great man had an army of his own vassals, who would do any
thing he bade them, whether it was lawful or not.
3. Now the king wisely thought that the best thing in the world for
the country would be to give more freedom to the people, so that the
Barons might not have quite so much power.
4. He, therefore, granted charters to some of the cities, which made
them a little more independent; but it was by very slow degrees that
the people of England became free, although this happy change was
beginning to take place.
5. Another thing the king wanted to do, was to make the clergy
answerable to the judges for any bad acts they might commit, instead
of having particular laws and judges for themselves; and, I am sorry
to say, they sometimes did very wicked things, for which they were
not punished half so severely as other people would have been for
similar offences, which certainly was unjust.
6. But the bishops were unwilling to let the king have any thing to
do with church affairs, and the Pope encouraged them to oppose him,
in this respect; for the Pope, in those days, had more power over all
Europe than the kings themselves, who seldom dared to disobey him.
7. The person who quarrelled most with Henry about these things was
Thomas à Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, a very proud man, who
wanted to rule both king and state his own way.
8. The king was so much annoyed at the opposition he constantly met
with from the archbishop, that one day, in a fit of passion, he said
he wished that troublesome priest was dead; on which some persons,
who heard these incautious words thinking to get into favor, rode off
to Canterbury, and killed the archbishop in his Cathedral.
9. But they gained nothing by this wicked deed; for the king was
shocked when he heard of it, and sorry for what he had said; which
shows how wrong it is for people to use violent expressions when they
feel angry.
10. One very remarkable event which occurred in this reign, was the
conquest of Ireland. That country had been, for many years, divided
into several small kingdoms, and the disputes of the chiefs had often
given rise to warfare among themselves; but it now happened that the
king of Leinster, having been deposed by another prince, went direct
to the king of England, to beg his assistance, which Henry readily
promised, on condition that, if he were restored, he should hold his
kingdom as a vassal of the English crown.
11. Dermot, that was the name of the Irish prince, agreed to these
terms, and several English knights and noblemen undertook the
enterprise. After a great many interesting adventures, which are told
in the history of Ireland, Dermot was replaced on his throne; but
other quarrels arising among the chiefs, the English continued the
war, and, after some time, the Irish chiefs acknowledged the king of
England as a lord and master of Ireland, which has been under the
authority of the English government ever since.
12. Henry the Second died in 1189, and was succeeded by his son
Richard, who was called Cœur-de-lion, because he was very brave, so
that everybody said he had the heart of a lion.
13. Now it is a very good thing for men to be brave, for I do not
know what we should do without brave men for soldiers and sailors,
to fight for us; but it is not the most useful quality a king can
possess; and I think you will agree with me, when I tell you that
Richard the First, instead of staying at home to make good laws, and
take care of his subjects, went away to fight, or gain glory, as
fighting was then called, in the Holy Land, while all things were
going wrong in England, for the want of somebody to keep order.
14. But there was some excuse for him, as everybody in those days
thought that the most praiseworthy act princes and nobles could do,
was to fight for their religion against all persons who believed
differently from themselves; so Richard was very much admired by his
people, although he did nothing for their real benefit; but, on the
contrary, caused them very much misery, and great distress.
15. Another evil was that the Barons, who went with him to the
Crusades, took all their own money as well as all they could get from
their tenants, to support themselves and their fighting men abroad,
so that the generality of the people were left very poor.
16. A great number, indeed, obtained their freedom, by giving up
all they had to their lords; but then they were left without money
or employment, and many turned robbers, to save themselves from
starving; therefore, you see, it was not always a good thing, at
first, for the bondmen to be set at liberty; but it was good in the
end, for their children were born free, and, as times got better, the
free middle classes began to be of some consequence, and have gone
on gradually increasing in wealth and importance, till they have now
become the best safeguard and support of the country.
17. While Richard was gone to the wars, his brother John, who was a
very bad man, wanted to make himself king in England, and there were
some of the nobles who encouraged him, while others defended the
rights of the absent monarch; so that there was great confusion, and
the laws were sadly disregarded.
18. At last, Richard heard of all these bad doings, and left the Holy
Land, intending to come home as fast as he could; but, unfortunately,
he was made prisoner, on his way, by the Duke of Austria, and
confined in a castle in Germany for some time before the English
people knew what had become of him.
19. Richard knew this duke was his enemy, because he had affronted
him when in the Holy Land, so he had taken the precaution of
disguising himself in passing through his dominions, and took with
him only a single page; but, one day, being tired and hungry, he
stopped to rest at a village near Vienna, and sent his page into that
city to buy some provisions.
20. The youth, foolishly, hung a pair of handsome gloves in his
belt, and as gloves were, in those days, only worn by persons of
the highest rank, this circumstance excited suspicion, and he was
arrested, and obliged to confess the truth.
21. The duke immediately sent a band of soldiers to seize the king,
whom they found busy turning some meat that was roasting at the fire.
22. He started up, drew his sword, and fought valiantly, but was
captured, and sent to a strong fortress, where he had remained a
prisoner some months, when he was discovered, it has been stated, by
a wandering minstrel, who heard him singing in his prison, and knew
his voice. But this is a fabulous tale.
23. A large sum was raised in England, by taxes, for his ransom,
and he came back; but he did not stay long at home; for he had
quarrelled, while in the Holy Land, with the king of France, and went
over to Normandy for the purpose of going to war with him, where he
was killed by a poisoned arrow, aimed at him from the walls of a
castle he was besieging, in the year 1199, having reigned ten years.
24. Prince John was now made king of England, but he had no lawful
right to the throne, as prince Arthur, the orphan son of an elder
brother, was living, and was the true heir, according to the rules of
succession.
25. But this unfortunate prince was made prisoner, in Normandy, by
his wicked uncle, and most people believe he met with a violent death.
26. It was a very serious misfortune for the country when the king
happened to be a bad man, because the government was, at that time,
despotic; that is, the king made the laws himself, and had the power
of doing whatever he pleased; whereas, now, the laws are made by the
parliament; so that, before any new act can be passed, a great many
good and clever men must agree to it, which is a great protection to
the people.
27. However, king John was compelled much against his will, to make
some very good laws, and the reason of this was, that his tyranny
was felt by the nobles even more than the common people, for their
estates were often unjustly seized, and they were obliged to give
him large sums of money to get them back again; then he would not
let them marry unless they paid him for leave to do so; and if any
person wanted to go out of the country, they were obliged to buy
his permission. In short, no one was free to do any thing till the
consent of the king was obtained by a handsome present.
28. At length, his tyranny was carried to such a height that the
chief nobles resolved to make him act more justly, or dethrone him;
so they wrote down, on parchment, all the things they wished to have
done, or altered, and agreed with each other that, if he refused to
sign it, they would go to war with him, and they took care to have
all their vassals armed, and in readiness.
29. John was very much frightened when he found the barons were in
earnest, and agreed to meet them at a place called Runnymede, between
Staines and Windsor, where, after a great deal of disputing, he was
obliged to sign his name to what they had written, which thus became
the law of the land. An ancient copy of this parchment is now in the
British Museum.
30. It is called Magna Charta, which is the Latin name for ‘the Great
Charter;’ and it was framed with a view to take from the king the
power of doing unjust things, and to make him govern according to the
laws, and not to be able to make new laws, or impose new taxes, at
his pleasure.
31. This famous act is generally regarded as the beginning of the
liberty which all Englishmen are so justly proud of; but the laws it
contained were, in many respects often broken by the sovereigns of
England, for a very long period.
32. The Barons of England still lived in their castles, on their own
estates, in the midst of their vassals and serfs. Their castle-halls
were crowded with knights, squires, pages, and military dependents,
for it was their pride to have as many of such retainers as they
could possibly maintain. The pages were boys of high rank, generally
the younger sons of noblemen, whose profession was to be knight
errantry.
33. Now, in order to obtain the honour of knighthood, they were
obliged to serve some great baron, first as pages, then as esquires,
for several years, and to be very obedient and respectful in their
conduct, and do all that was required of them readily and cheerfully.
34. While pages, they had to wait upon their lords and his guests at
dinner and supper, to carry messages, and perform little services for
the ladies of the family; but they were themselves waited upon by the
domestic slaves, and, when they had finished their day’s duties,
were allowed to mix with the company.
35. They were taught to use the sword and lance, and to manage a
horse skilfully, and were instructed in religious duties by the
priests of their lord’s household.
36. When old enough, they were made esquires, and then their duties
were to take care of the horses and armour, and to attend their lords
on all occasions; which services he usually rewarded by making them
knights, when they were free to go wherever they pleased; and you
have already been told what their mode of life was afterwards.
37. The great people were very fond of hunting and hawking, and
fighting at tournaments; but, perhaps, you do not know what a
tournament was, so I will tell you.
38. There was a place built up, something like a large theatre,
with galleries for the ladies and gentlemen, to sit and see the
combats in the open space below, and this was called the lists.
Then the gentlemen, who wished to exhibit their valour, used to
come in armour, and fight with each other on horseback till one was
conquered, when the victor received a prize from the greatest lady
present.
39. When only two knights fought, it was called a tilt; but if there
were several on each side, it was a tournament; and, although these
combats were held for sport, the combatants were often dangerously
wounded, and sometimes killed.
40. When John had signed Magna Charta, the Barons went home to
their castles, to enjoy their usual pleasures; but the king had no
intention of behaving any better than before, and secretly sent
agents to Flanders, to raise troops of foreigners, promising that
they should be allowed to plunder the estates of the Barons, if they
would enlist in his service.
41. Thus he soon appeared at the head of an army, and went to war
with the nobles, who, in revenge, did a very wrong and foolish thing,
which was, to offer the crown to Louis, the son of the king of France.
42. Louis soon came over with a French army, and, after having in
vain tried to take Dover Castle, he entered London in triumph, whilst
John was obliged to retreat; but the Barons began to think they
had done wrong, and, as John died suddenly, in the midst of this
confusion, they turned their arms against Louis, and forced him to
leave the country.
QUESTIONS.
1. What were the first acts of Henry the Second?
7. Who was Thomas à Becket?
8. How was the death of Becket caused?
10. What conquest was made in this reign?
12. When did Henry die, and who succeeded him?
13. How did Richard employ the chief part of his reign?
17. What occurred in England during his absence?
22. What happened to the king on his way home?
23. State the date and manner of his death.
24. Who was the next king?
27. How did the king act towards the nobles?
30. What was Magna Charta?
40. What did the king do after he had signed that Charter?
CHAPTER X.
FROM THE DEATH OF KING JOHN TO THE ACCESSION OF RICHARD THE
SECOND.--1216 TO 1377.
[Illustration: DEATH OF LLEWELLYN.]
1. The reign of Henry the Third, who was only nine years of age when
he succeeded his father, was a very long and a very unhappy one.
2. At first, things went on very well, because the king had a good
guardian, the Earl of Pembroke, who managed the government wisely;
but he, in a few years, died, and others came into power who did
not act so well, and the king was too young to know what was right
himself.
3. It was a pity the good earl died, for, if Henry had been fortunate
enough to have had a wise instructer, he might have been a better
sovereign, but, as it was, he was a very bad one.
4. The great mischief was this. He married a French princess, who had
no more wisdom than himself; and they were both so extravagant that
they spent a great deal more money than they could afford; and, then,
to get fresh supplies, the king ordered the people to pay more taxes,
and began to do all the unjust things that had caused so much misery
in the time of his father.
5. Sometimes the Barons assembled and obliged him to promise he would
abide by the terms of Magna Charta; but he soon forgot his promises,
and went on the same as before, so that the people were worse and
worse off every year, and many men became robbers on the highways,
because they could not support their families by honest industry.
6. This was the state of affairs for many years, till at last, there
was a civil war again, and, after a great deal of fighting and
bloodshed, the king and his eldest son, Edward, were made prisoners
in a battle, fought at Lewes, in Sussex, in 1264, and the Earl of
Leicester, the king’s brother-in-law, took the government upon
himself.
7. This was an important event, because the earl summoned a
parliament to consult as to what it would be best to do under these
circumstances; and he desired that, besides the nobles and bishops,
there should come to this parliament knights, or gentlemen from
every county, and citizens and burghers, from every city and burgh
to state what the condition of the people really was, and to help
to advise what could be done for them; so that the commoners were
now, probably, for the first time, admitted to some share in the
government of the country, which was a great step gained by the
people, who, before this, had no representatives in the national
council, or parliament, to take their part; and this was the
beginning of our House of Commons, so it is worth remembering.
8. Prince Edward, after this, escaped from Hereford, where he had
been kept a prisoner, and gained a great victory over the Barons, and
replaced his father Henry on the throne; after which, he went on a
crusade to the Holy Land.
9. He had married a Spanish princess, named Eleanor, who was the
first person, in England, that had a carpet, which she brought from
Spain, for the floors of the best apartments in the palace were
strewed with rushes; and, in houses, where they could not get rushes,
they used straw.
10. Henry the Third died about seven years after his restoration,
in the year 1272, having reigned fifty-seven years; and, although
the news was sent to his son as soon as possible, it was nearly two
years before he returned to England; such was the difference between
travelling then and now; for the journey to and from the Holy Land
may now be accomplished in a few weeks.
11. Edward the First was a much wiser and better prince than his
father, but he was too fond of war, and too anxious to be renowned as
a conqueror, which was the cause of the long wars in Scotland, for
his great ambition was to conquer that country.
12. But, the first thing he thought of, when he came home, was to
make such regulations as were most likely to protect the people from
robbery; so he had watchmen and patrols appointed in all the cities,
and ordered that nobody should be abroad in the streets of London,
nor any taverns kept open, after the curfew bell had tolled.
13. The curfew was instituted by William the Conqueror, to prevent
fires, which were very frequent, when houses were in general built
of wood, and thatched; so, when this bell tolled at eight o’clock,
the people, for a long time after the conquest, were obliged to put
out their fires and candles; but the custom of tolling the bell was
continued after that of putting out fire and candle was done away
with, and even to this day, in many places.
14. Edward the First took care that the magistrates should do their
duty, and punished those who broke the laws, which the kings had been
afraid to do in the last two reigns, because their lives would have
been in danger if they had.
15. I must also tell you that this wise monarch did not alter what
the Earl of Leicester had done about the parliament; but he made it
a rule that the people should continue to send their members, and
every freeholder of land in the counties, and, in general, all men,
in the cities and burghs, who paid taxes, had a right to vote at the
election of members of parliament.
16. I should be glad to have nothing to say about warfare in this
reign; but the Scottish wars form so large a portion of the history
of the times, that you ought to know something about them.
17. First, however, the king invaded the northern part of Wales,
which had never been conquered by the English, and was then governed
by a prince, named Llewellyn.
18. This chief made a gallant resistance, but he was killed, and the
whole country was then united to England, and afterwards, in the
reign of Henry the Eighth, divided into shires.
19. The queen, Eleanor, of Castile, Edward’s first wife, went to
visit Wales soon afterwards, and her son Edward was born there, so
the king said he should be called prince of Wales, and that is the
reason why the eldest son of the English sovereign has since had that
title.
20. After this, there were a few years of peace, before the wars with
Scotland were begun; so I will fill up the time by saying a little
about the manners and customs of the English at this period.
21. The nobles lived in, what we should think, a very rough way
indeed. Their large comfortless rooms, and floors without carpets,
unglazed windows, and clumsy furniture, would not suit our modern
notions, either of comfort or convenience.
22. They had their dinner at ten o’clock in the morning, in the
great hall of the castle; lords, ladies, knights, esquires, priests,
dependents, and strangers, all together; for, when there were
no inns, it was usual for travellers to stop at any castle, or
monastery, on the road, where they were never refused lodging and
entertainment.
23. There were no table cloths, and the dishes and cups were mostly
of wood, but they were well filled with meat, game, fish, or poultry,
which, with bread and ale, constituted the rude, but substantial fare.
24. The Baron, with his friends, sat at an upper table, which was
served with wine; and, sometimes he would have his hounds lying at
his feet, and his favorite hawk, upon a perch, beside him.
25. The supper, at five o’clock, was just like the dinner, and these
were the only regular meals at that period.
26. I said there were no inns in those days, which reminds me to
speak of the difficulty and danger of travelling. The roads were very
bad and lonely, often running through forests and across wide heaths,
infested with robbers.
27. Then there were no public conveyances of any kind, nor any way of
making a journey, but on horseback, or on foot; and, as to stopping
at the country towns, there was very little accommodation to be had
there, for they were poor places, the houses in them being very
little better than wooden sheds.
28. There were no shops, so that every thing was bought, as formerly,
at the markets and fairs.
29. A great many merchants, from London, France, and Flanders, used
to bring goods to the fairs for sale, and they were obliged to pay
tolls and duties to the lord of the manor, which came to a great deal
of money, because they brought a quantity of valuable merchandise,
as the nobles themselves purchased their wearing apparel, jewellery,
spices, and many other commodities, at the fairs, which sometimes
lasted fifteen days.
30. The dress of the great nobility, in the fourteenth century, was
very handsome, for they wore mantles of satin or velvet, with borders
worked in gold, over jackets highly embroidered; and their velvet
caps were often adorned with jewels.
31. The middle classes wore close coats of cloth, with leather belts
round the waist, such as the Blue-Coat Boys now wear, and they had
tight pantaloons, short boots, and cloth caps.
32. The clothing of the working people was made of very coarse wool,
sometimes undyed, and all spun and woven at home by the women, who
had nothing else for their own wearing, as there were no cottons or
stuffs made in England then, nor any of the nice comfortable things
that the poor people can get so cheap now.
33. The country towns were at this period inhabited chiefly by free
artisans, such as blacksmiths, carpenters, and others, of different
trades; but there were still a great many villeins and serfs, on all
the cultivated lands, for slavery was never abolished in England by
any act of parliament, but gradually died away with the feudal laws.
34. The armies were not raised then as they were at an earlier
period, by feudal service, but soldiers were hired and paid by the
day; but there was no standing army, as there is at present; for, as
soon as the wars were over, the men were all discharged, which was a
bad thing, as it often happened they had no homes or employment to
return to, and so formed themselves into bands of robbers.
35. However, fighting men had plenty of occupation during the reign
of Edward the First, of whose wars in Scotland I am now about to
speak.
36. The king of Scotland died about this time, and as he left no
son, and his grand-daughter and heiress, Margaret, died soon after,
unmarried, there were two princes, who each thought he had a right
to succeed to the throne; so they agreed to let the king of England
decide the dispute, which he readily took upon himself to do. One
prince was named Robert Bruce, the other, John Baliol.
37. Edward said Baliol ought to be king, and he was crowned
accordingly; but the English monarch soon began to find fault with
him, and at last went to war, for he made up his mind to try to unite
England and Scotland into one kingdom, and to be the king of both
countries himself; but he did not succeed, although he dethroned
Baliol, and was at war with Scotland for nearly eleven years.
38. I dare say you have heard of a renowned Scottish chief, called
Sir William Wallace. He fought bravely for his country in these wars,
but he was taken prisoner at the battle of Falkirk; and, I am sorry
to say, king Edward was so cruel and unjust as to have his head cut
off.
39. But this did not put an end to the war, for another chief, Robert
Bruce, grandson of him before-mentioned, took the place of Wallace,
gained several victories, and was crowned king.
40. The two sovereigns then prepared for a long war, and Edward was
on his way to Scotland, with his army, when he was taken ill, and
died in the year 1307, having reigned thirty-four years.
41. His son, Edward the Second, was so careless of every thing but
his own pleasure, that he neglected the affairs of both England and
Scotland, so that the Scots recovered all they had lost; and when,
at last, the king was persuaded to renew the war, he met with such
a terrible defeat at the battle of Bannockburn, that the Scots are
proud of it to this very day.
42. There is nothing more worth telling about the reign of Edward
the Second, whose misconduct caused many of the barons to rebel, and
he was, at last, made prisoner by them, and cruelly murdered, in
Berkeley castle, in 1327, having reigned about twenty years.
43. His son, Edward the Third, was scarcely fifteen, at the time of
his father’s death; but he was a very clever prince, and soon began
to manage the affairs of the country himself.
44. He married a Flemish princess, named Philippa, who was much
beloved by the English people, as, indeed, she deserved to be, for
she was both good and beautiful, as well as one of the cleverest
ladies of her time, and she employed her talents in doing all the
good she could for England.
45. She knew that the people of her own country, which was Flanders,
had grown rich by their trade and manufactures, so she did all in
her power to increase the trade of England, and paid a number of
Flemish weavers to come over here and settle at Norwich, that they
might improve the people there, in the art of making woollen cloth
and stuffs, for which a manufactory had been established by Edward
the First.
46. She also founded several schools, and was a friend to those who
distinguished themselves by their learning.
47. I must not forget to tell you that Chaucer, the first great poet
that wrote in English, lived at this time, and received much kindness
from the king and queen.
48. The English language was now beginning to be spoken by the higher
classes, instead of French, and was not very unlike the English
spoken now, as you might see, if you were to look at the poems
written by Chaucer.
49. Edward the Third was, unfortunately, as fond of war as his
grandfather. He renewed the war with Scotland, but his great wars
were in France, for his ambition was to be king of that country, and
he pretended he had a right to the throne, because his mother was
the sister of the late king.
50. But the French thought otherwise, and chose another prince for
their king, so Edward invaded France, where he commenced a long and
destructive war, which lasted nearly forty years, and was carried on,
for a great part of that time, by his eldest son, who was called the
Black Prince, because he wore black armour.
51. He made great conquests in the south of France, and, at the
celebrated battle of Poictiers, took the French king prisoner, and
brought him to England, where he remained a captive for the rest of
his life, but was treated with so much kindness and respect, that he
had little to complain of but the loss of his liberty.
52. The Black Prince was not only a brave warrior, but was a good and
clever man; therefore, his death, which happened a few months before
that of his father, was a great grief to the English people.
53. Edward the Third died in 1377, after a long reign of fifty years.
He had been a pretty good king, had made the people obey the laws,
and, in general, observed them himself.
54. When he wanted money for the French wars, he had allowed the
villeins and serfs, on his manors, or crown lands, to buy their
freedom, so that there were now, comparatively, but few of the lower
orders remaining in bondage; and the agricultural labourers were paid
for their labour, as well as the artisans and mechanics.
55. Their wages were, in general, from twopence to threepence a
day, but you must remember that twopence, at that time, was equal,
in purchasing the necessaries of life, to about one shilling and
eightpence of our money, and would buy much more than sufficient food
for a whole family.
56. They lived chiefly on meat, brown bread, and ale; for there were
no vegetables for the table, cultivated by the people in England,
till the time of Henry the Eighth; nor any potatoes, till that of
queen Elizabeth; and then they were considered a dainty dish, and
only seen at the tables of very rich people.
57. However, there were gardens, orchards, and vineyards, belonging
to the monasteries, and to persons of high rank and fortune.
QUESTIONS.
1. Who succeeded king John?
2. What were the consequences of the king’s misconduct?
7. What great change was made in parliament, and how?
9. Who first brought a carpet into England?
10. How long did Henry the Third reign? and by whom was he
succeeded?
11. What was the character of Edward the First?
12. Mention some of his first acts.
15. How did he regulate the parliament?
18. How was Wales united to England?
37. What gave rise to the Scottish wars?
38. Who was the great Scottish chief and patriot; and what was his
fate?
39. Who was made king of Scotland?
40. When did Edward die? and who succeeded him?
41. What became of Edward the Second?
43. Who was the next king?
44. Whom did he marry?
47. Who was the first great English poet?
49. Why did Edward the Third invade France?
53. When did the death of Edward take place?
54. How did Edward the Third raise money for the wars?
CHAPTER XI.
FROM THE ACCESSION OF RICHARD THE SECOND TO THE WAR OF THE
ROSES.--1377 TO 1422.
[Illustration: ABDICATION OF RICHARD.]
1. Richard the Second, the son of Edward, the Black Prince, was
but eleven years old when, by the death of his grandfather, he
became king of England. His uncles governed the country till he was
old enough to act for himself; but they did not teach him to be a
wise, nor a just man, and this injustice was the cause of all his
misfortunes.
2. One of the first things he did on his own account, was to break a
promise he made to the people; and this was how it happened. A new
tax had caused great discontent among the labouring classes, and
their unwillingness to pay it was increased by the insolence of the
collectors, who, one day, in the house of a man called Walter, or
Wat Tiler, behaved so ill to his daughter, that he gave one of them
a blow on the head with his hammer, which unluckily killed him.
3. Now the neighbours knew that if Walter should be taken, he
would be put to death for the offence, and as they all had cause
to complain of the tax-gatherers, they assembled in front of his
cottage, and declared they would protect him.
4. This was at Deptford, and they all proceeded to London, being
joined by thousands of men from different towns, and a dreadful riot
there was; so that it was thought necessary for the king to take some
means of pacifying the rebels.
5. Accordingly he went, with the lord mayor and some nobles and
gentlemen, to meet them in Smithfield, and whilst Tiler, their
leader, was talking with the king, the mayor came behind him, and
struck him on the head with his mace, and stunned him, and he was
killed by Richard’s party; and then the king, fearing the rioters
would kill him in return, asked them what they wanted, saying, he was
ready to do any thing that was right and just.
6. They said they desired that the poll tax should be taken off;
slavery and villeinage abolished by law; so that all who were still
in bondage should be made free; and that the old feudal custom of
paying duties on goods, at all the markets and fairs, should be done
away with.
7. All this Richard promised to do; but no sooner had the men
dispersed and gone back to their homes, than he sent out a military
force to seize all who had been concerned in the rebellion; and I
grieve to say that, although he had given his word that they should
all be pardoned, he ordered the judges to have every one of them
executed.
8. After such conduct as this, you will not expect to hear much good
of Richard the Second, whose selfish extravagance led him to do all
kinds of unjust things, for the purpose of raising money to spend
on his own pleasures; so that it might truly be said that he was
constantly robbing his subjects; as, for instance, he once wanted
to borrow a large sum of the citizens of London, which they would
not lend him, because they knew very well he would never return it;
so he took away their charter, that is, the grant which gives them
the right to elect a lord mayor, and to manage the affairs of the
city independently of the king; and they were obliged to give him ten
times as much to get it back again, as they had refused to lend.
9. The citizens of London were very rich at this period, many of
them being great merchants, and it was in this reign that the famous
Whittington was Lord Mayor.
10. He had made a large fortune in the coal trade, which was then a
new branch of commerce, for coals were very little used for firing
till the time of Edward the Third.
11. King Richard had unjustly banished his cousin Henry, Earl of
Hereford, and on the death of Henry’s father, the Duke of Lancaster,
had taken possession of his estates.
12. This nobleman was a grandson of Edward the Third, and was much
liked by the English, who would rather have had him for their king
than the unworthy sovereign they had got, although he would have had
no right to the throne, even if Richard had been dead.
13. However, he came back to England, and finding most of the nobles
as well as the people willing to make him king, Richard was obliged
to resign the crown, and was imprisoned in Pomfret castle, where
it is supposed he died by unfair means; but as this is not quite
certain, we will hope it was not so. He had reigned twenty-two years,
when he was deposed, in 1399.
14. This usurpation of Henry the Fourth was the cause of the long
civil wars in England, called the Wars of the Roses, which began in
the time of Henry the Sixth, whose right to the throne was disputed,
although his father and grandfather had been suffered to reign
without opposition.
15. Henry the Fourth was, on the whole, a popular monarch, and under
his government things went on pretty well with the generality of the
people.
16. There was an insurrection in Wales, headed by a gentleman, named
Owen Glendower, who wished to restore the Welsh to their former
independence, and to be their prince, as he was of the ancient royal
family; and he was joined by the powerful Earl of Northumberland, and
his son Henry Percy, better known by the name of Hotspur, who was
one of the bravest knights of the age.
17. These noblemen had a quarrel with the king, and wanted to depose
him; but he gained a victory over them in a battle fought near
Shrewsbury, where Hotspur was killed. These events are not of much
importance, but I tell them because when you hear any celebrated
characters spoken of, you ought to know who they were, and when they
lived.
18. The prince of Wales, afterwards Henry the Fifth, was also
celebrated for his valour, but not for his good behaviour in his
youth; for his conduct was sometimes so disgraceful that his father
was quite ashamed of him, and nobody would have supposed he was the
son of a king.
19. One thing he used to do was to go out at night, with some idle
companions, and rob people on the highway, for amusement; yet he had
not a bad disposition, for once one of the judges sent him to prison
for trying to rescue one of his wicked companions; and he not only
submitted to the punishment, but when he came to be king, he treated
that judge with great respect and attention, because he knew he was a
just man, and would punish the rich as well as the poor, if they did
wrong. King Henry the Fourth died in 1413, in the fourteenth year of
his reign.
20. Henry the Fifth is famed as the conqueror of France. He went to
war with that country, on the same pretext that Edward the Third did
before; and with better success, for the French king was at last glad
to make peace by agreeing that Henry should be king of France after
his death.
21. The greatest victory gained by the English, was at the battle of
Agincourt. King Henry married the French king’s daughter, but he died
soon afterwards, in 1422, having reigned nine years; and leaving an
infant son; and in a little while the king of France died too, and he
also left a son.
22. Then there was a dispute which of these princes should be king of
France, and a new war was begun which lasted many years, during which
the English lost all that the armies of Henry the Fifth had won.
23. In the mean time the young king, Henry the Sixth, grew up so
weak in mind and sickly in body, that he was not able to govern the
country; therefore, his ministers and the queen, a French princess,
named Margaret of Anjou, had to manage every thing for him.
24. But many people did not like the queen, and began to say that
her husband had no right to the throne as his grandfather was a
usurper; but that Richard, Duke of York, ought to be king of England;
while others said that, as the Parliament had consented to let the
family of the Duke of Lancaster reign, it was lawful for them to keep
the crown; and that although king Henry was not fit for a ruler, the
rights of his son, prince Edward, ought to be protected.
25. The Duke of York was then governor of Ireland, but when he heard
of these disputes, he came back, and was placed at the head of the
government here, instead of the queen.
26. I think you will now quite understand why there was a civil war
in England. Every nobleman in the country took one side or the other,
and the friends of the Duke of York wore a white rose or ribbon
rosette; while those who supported the king, or House of Lancaster,
wore a crimson one; as people now wear different colored ribbons at
an election, to show which party they belong to; and this is why
these wars are called the Wars of the Roses.
QUESTIONS.
1. Who succeeded Edward the Third?
2. Who was Wat Tiler, and how was his rebellion occasioned?
4. How did the rebels proceed?
5. What means were taken to quell the insurrection?
6. What were the demands of the rebels?
7. What was the conduct of Richard on this occasion?
12. Who was the Earl of Hereford?
13. How was Richard dethroned, and what became of him?
16. What battle was fought in this reign, and why?
17. Who was killed in this battle?
18. Who succeeded Henry the Fourth?
20. How did Henry the Fifth distinguish himself?
23. What was the character of Henry the Sixth?
24. What gave rise to the Wars of the Roses?
CHAPTER XII.
THE WARS OF THE ROSES.--1422 TO 1461.
[Illustration: EDWARD IV.]
1. The civil wars may be said to have lasted thirty years, from the
first battle at St. Alban’s, in 1455, to the battle of Bosworth,
in 1485; for although there were intervals of peace, the quarrel
between the house of York and Lancaster was not finally settled
till the two families were united by the marriage of Henry the
Seventh, who was heir of the House of Lancaster, with Elizabeth, the
grand-daughter of Richard, Duke of York, and heiress of that family.
2. During that thirty years, the country was, as you may suppose, in
a very unhappy condition. Every Baron wanted to collect as many men
around him as he could, to defend his castle in case of siege; so the
countrymen left their rural labors and went to enlist in the service
of this or that nobleman, because they were sure of getting plenty to
eat and drink.
3. Thus the castle halls were crowded, but the fields were left
without sufficient laborers to plough and sow them, consequently the
crops were generally bad, and bread was at times, so dear, that many
poor families could get none at all, but were obliged to eat herbs
and berries that they found in the woods, which did not nourish them,
so that numbers died of want.
4. Many battles were fought in different parts of England, and the
queen was present at some of them, for it was she who conducted the
war, as the king was incapable of so much exertion, and Margaret
could not bear to see her young son Edward deprived of his birthright.
5. Three victories had been gained by the Duke of York, when he was
killed at the battle of Wakefield; but this event did not put an
end to the contest, for his son Edward, who succeeded to his title,
continued the war and, in the end, became king of England, while poor
king Henry was kept a prisoner in the Tower, where he died in 1471.
6. Edward owed his success chiefly to the Earl of Warwick, the
richest and most powerful nobleman in England, and considered as the
last of the great feudal Barons, for it is said that he maintained no
less than thirty thousand people at his own expense, who were ready
to devote their lives to his service.
7. He had a great many castles in different parts of England, and a
noble mansion in Warwick lane, London, which still bears that name,
although it presents a very different appearance from what it did
when this mighty Earl lived there like a sovereign prince, and the
place was crowded with his armed retainers.
8. Edward had been very well received by the citizens of London, and
crowned, with their consent, long before the death of king Henry.
9. Two battles were fought soon after his accession to the throne,
one at Towton the other at Hexham; and it was after the latter,
that a story is told how queen Margaret wandered about in a forest
with her little boy, till they were both half dead with hunger and
fatigue, when she met with a robber, and instead of trying to avoid
him, told him who she was, and begged he would protect her child.
10. The man took them to a cave, and gave them food and shelter,
until he found an opportunity of getting them on board a vessel that
was going to Scotland.
11. People were now in hopes there would be peace; but the new
sovereign was so unwise as to quarrel with the Earl of Warwick, who
became his enemy, and resolved to deprive him of the crown he had
helped him to win.
12. Then the war was begun again, and went on for several years
longer, till Warwick was killed at the battle of Barnet, on Easter
Sunday, 1471, just ten years after the battle of Towton.
13. On the day of this battle, queen Margaret, and her son, prince
Edward, then a youth of eighteen, landed in England, for they had
lived in France some years, and were sadly grieved at the news of
Warwick’s defeat and death; but as they had a great many friends,
the queen determined upon trying another battle, which was a great
pity, for both herself and her son were made prisoners, and the young
prince was killed in king Edward’s tent, for making a spirited answer
to some insulting question put to him by the haughty monarch.
14. The miserable mother was sent to the Tower, where her husband
had just died; but she was afterwards released, and ransomed by her
father; and she returned to live with him in France, her native
country.
15. And now, that we have done with the wars, we may begin to think
of something more pleasant. Have you ever heard it was in the reign
of Edward the Fourth that books were first printed in England?
16. The art of printing, which enables us to have so many nice books
to instruct and amuse us, had lately been invented in Germany, and
was brought here by an English merchant, named William Caxton, who
went to Cologne, on purpose to learn how to print, and when he came
back, he set up a printing-press in Westminster Abbey, which, at that
time, was a monastery.
17. We ought to be very much obliged to the clever person that
invented printing; for only think how very ignorant we should be,
and how much pleasure we should lose, if there were no books to tell
us any thing.
18. There were books, certainly, before that time; but they were
all written, and it took so long to copy them, that they were very
expensive, so that none but very rich people could have even a few
volumes.
19. Printed books were also, for a long time, much too dear to be in
general use, but people of rank soon began to be much better educated
than in former times, and their habits and manners became much
improved in consequence.
20. Then a great many of the old Norman castles had been destroyed
in the wars, which put an end, after a time, to the customs of
chivalry; and the nobles, instead of sending their sons to be brought
up for warlike knights, sent them to Oxford, or Cambridge, to become
scholars; or to Eton College, which had been founded by Henry the
Sixth.
21. King Edward died in 1483, when his eldest son, who is called
Edward the Fifth, although he never was really king, was only
thirteen years old; and he, and his younger brother, the Duke of
York, were under the guardianship of their uncle Richard, Duke of
Gloucester, who was a very bad man.
22. Instead of protecting the fatherless children entrusted to his
care, he only thought how he might take advantage of their youth to
obtain the crown himself; so he sent them both to the Tower, but not
as prisoners, for it was then used occasionally as a royal residence,
especially in times of public disturbances; so Richard told the
people the boys would be safe there; but in a little while it was
reported that they were dead, and it was thought he had caused them
to be murdered, which was most likely the truth, although some people
think they were not put to death, but were kept there as prisoners
for some years.
23. Richard the Third was not a very bad king, for he made some
laws that were very useful to the merchants who traded with foreign
countries, and he was the first who thought of having postmen, or
couriers, to carry letters, so that, wicked as he was, we cannot say
he did no good as a sovereign.
24. The post was, at first, only for government letters, and it was
a long time before any arrangements were made for private persons to
correspond by the same means; but this was done by degrees, and in
the time of Oliver Cromwell, the General Post Office was established,
when everybody had the benefit of this excellent institution, which
adds so much to people’s happiness; for who could possibly be happy
now, if they could not hear from their absent friends?
25. Richard the Third reigned only two years, for he was disliked by
the nobility, and a conspiracy was formed against him by the friends
of the House of Lancaster, who were desirous of placing on the throne
the heir of that family, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond.
26. This young nobleman was living in exile, at the time, in France.
But he was soon informed of what was going on, and told the French
king, who lent him forty ships, and about five thousand soldiers,
with which he sailed directly for England, where he found friends
ready to join him with more troops.
27. The battle of Bosworth was fought on the 22nd of August, 1485,
when Richard was killed, and the conqueror proclaimed king on the
field; and thus ended the Wars of the Roses.
QUESTIONS.
1. What was the duration of the civil wars?
2. Describe the general state of the country.
4. Who conducted the war for the king?
5. How did the Duke of York lose his life?
6. To whom did Edward owe his success?
9. Name the battles that were fought after Edward became king.
11. Why was the contest renewed?
12. Where was the Earl of Warwick killed, and when?
13. What happened after this battle?
14. When were books first printed in England?
16. Where was the art of printing invented?
20. Who founded Eton College?
21. Who obtained the crown on the death of Edward the Fourth?
22. Relate the circumstances.
23. What was the origin and progress of the Post Office?
25. How was the reign of Richard soon terminated?
27. Name the date of the battle of Bosworth.
CHAPTER XIII.
FROM THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH, TO QUEEN ELIZABETH.--1461 TO 1558.
[Illustration: LADY JANE GREY REFUSING THE CROWN.]
1. Henry the Seventh was not an amiable man, but he had many
qualities that were good and useful in a sovereign, and the country
prospered greatly under his government.
2. One of the conditions on which he succeeded to the throne, was
that he should marry the princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward
the Fourth, and thus secure peace by uniting the families of York
and Lancaster:--the princess Elizabeth was a lady much beloved by
every body, and her many acts of benevolence were long remembered in
England, so that she was generally called the good queen Bess.
3. The king wished to increase the wealth and prosperity of the
nation, and he took the best means of doing so by promoting commerce.
He made commercial treaties, that is, agreements about trade, with
foreign princes, by which he obtained many advantages for the English
merchants, just as our government has lately made a treaty with the
emperor of China, about our trade in his country.
4. No English ship had ever been to China then, nor even to India;
and America had not yet been discovered; but in the time of Henry
the Seventh, the Spaniards and Portuguese made longer voyages than
had ever been made before, and the celebrated Christopher Columbus,
whom I dare say you have often heard of, found out by study, that
there was an unknown land on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean,
and although people laughed at him, he at last persuaded the king
and queen of Spain to let him have ships, and sailors, and money, to
go in search of it, so he was the first that found out the way to
America, which, for a long time, was called the New World.
5. Soon after this, the Portuguese found out the way to India by sea;
and then the English began to make voyages of discovery also, and
to find that the world had more countries in it than they had ever
dreamed of before.
6. Maps and charts, which had been known to the Greeks and Romans,
now began to be much improved, though they were still incorrect, as
you may suppose.
7. However, all these new discoveries, together with the invention
of printing, made people think more about learning, and less about
fighting than they used to do; especially as the nobility were
beginning to live more in the way they do now, and to have handsome
houses in London, instead of living always in their gloomy old
castles.
8. Their domestics were no longer slaves, but hired servants; their
tenants were not villeins, but free farmers, who paid rent for their
land; and the poor peasantry, no longer in bondage, were at liberty
to go where they pleased, and were paid for their daily labour.
9. You remember that in the feudal times all the land in the country
belonged to the king, the nobles, the knights, and the bishops, and
abbots.
10. But Edward the First made a law in favour of the sale and
purchase of all lands except those held immediately of the king; and
Edward the Third gave his own vassals leave to sell their estates.
11. Other laws were afterwards made, by which landed property was
made liable to seizure for debt, and might be given by will, or sold
at the pleasure of the owner. And Henry the Seventh, by another law,
further encouraged the sale of land, and the consequent division of
large estates.
12. Then many of the nobles, who had more land than they wanted, sold
some of it to wealthy merchants and others, who built large mansions,
to which they often gave their own family name, as for instance, if
the name of the proprietor happened to be Burton, he would probably
call his residence Burton Hall.
13. These country gentlemen formed quite a new class of people in
England, and they have ever since that time continued to increase in
wealth, rank, and importance.
14. A strange thing happened in the reign of Henry the Seventh, which
has made some people think the sons of Edward the Fourth were not
put to death in the Tower, as is generally believed, but you shall
hear the story.
15. A young man, called Perkin Warbeck, came to Ireland from
Flanders, and declared he was the younger of those two princes, and
the lawful heir to the throne, as his brother was dead.
16. He told a wonderful tale, how he had escaped from the Tower,
and related many adventures which he said had befallen him; so the
Irish people said they would fight for him, and try to take the crown
from king Henry; but as they could not raise a sufficient force by
themselves, Warbeck applied to the king of France, who also promised
to help him, and then he went to the Duchess of Burgundy, who was
Edward the Fourth’s sister, and, strange to say, that lady declared
she believed the young man was her brother’s son, and persuaded the
Flemings to lend him their aid.
17. But the king of France changed his mind; and made a treaty of
peace with king Henry, who ordered the English merchants not to carry
on any trade with Flanders while the Flemings continued to favour the
cause of Perkin Warbeck, so they deserted him too.
18. I have not the room to tell you the rest of his adventures, but
they ended in his being taken prisoner by the king, who had him put
to death as a traitor. Henry the Seventh reigned twenty-four years,
and was succeeded in 1509 by his son, Henry the Eighth.
19. The young king was married to Catharine of Arragon, the daughter
of the king of Spain, a beautiful and talented woman, who deserved a
better husband, for Henry was a sad tyrant in his family, as well as
over the nation.
20. The greatest man in the kingdom next to the king, was his
minister, Cardinal Wolsey, who governed the country for many years,
and was so rich, that he not only lived in as much splendour as the
king, but he built the palaces of Hampton-court and Whitehall, and
founded the College of Christ Church at Oxford.
21. A Cardinal is a priest of high dignity in the Catholic Church,
being next in rank to the Pope.
22. Wolsey was clever and learned; but he was very proud, so he had
many enemies, and at last fell into disgrace with the king, and died
of grief.
23. Soon after this Henry chose to be separated from his good wife,
Catharine, because he had seen a young lady named Anna Boleyn, whom
he thought he should like to marry; so he sent the queen and his
daughter Mary, away from court, and made Anna Boleyn queen; but he
soon began to dislike her, and said she had done some very wicked
things, as an excuse for sending her to the Tower, where he had her
head cut off; and then he married another young lady, named Jane
Seymour, who soon died. She left a little baby, who was king Edward
the Sixth; and Anna Boleyn also had a baby, who was queen Elizabeth.
24. I must now tell you of a great change made by Henry the Eighth,
with regard to religion, and called the Reformation.
25. The church of England had, till this period, been the same as
that of Rome, and the people were Roman Catholics; but there were a
good many people in Germany, and in England also, who thought that
some of the forms of the Catholic religion were not right, and ought
to be altered, and these persons were called reformers, and all who
adopted their opinions took the name of Protestants, because they
protested against certain things.
26. Now Henry the Eighth had a disagreement with the Pope, about his
second marriage; so he determined to abolish the Catholic religion,
to seize on and destroy the monasteries and nunneries, and to have
Protestant clergymen to preach and read the prayers in the churches.
27. It would be too long a story to tell you how he accomplished all
this; but it was done. There were nearly a thousand religious houses,
that is, convents, abbeys, and priories, in England, inhabited by
monks and nuns, clerks and friars, of different orders, who had no
other homes, nor any means of living, but on the property of the
establishments to which they belonged; and these were all suppressed,
together with many colleges and hospitals, which also supported a
great many poor people.
28. The poor were very sorry the convents were broken up, for they
had been accustomed to go there when they were in distress, for food,
clothing, or medicine; and now they did not know where to get relief,
as there were no workhouses; the hospitals, and all other charitable
institutions, except some alms-houses, having been destroyed; nor was
it till almost the middle of the reign of queen Elizabeth that any
provision was made by law for the destitute poor.
29. The manufactures of England were now fast increasing.
Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield, were beginning to be known
as manufacturing towns; the first, for woollens and cottons; the
others, for cutlery and hardware.
30. Pewter plates and dishes were made in large quantities, for they
were now used in the most respectable families instead of wood; hats
were also made in England in this reign; and a clock, the first ever
manufactured in this country.
31. But nothing was more useful than the improvements made in
gardening, for which we are indebted to the Flemings and Dutch, who
were the best gardeners in Europe, and who brought here many kinds of
vegetables for the table, such as cabbages, lettuces, &c., and many
fruits that had not been cultivated in England since the time of the
Romans, particularly cherries and currants.
32. Potatoes were not known until the reign of queen Elizabeth, when
Sir Walter Raleigh brought some from America, and planted them, first
in Ireland, little thinking, perhaps, that this root would, at a
future time, be almost the only food of the Irish people.
33. Henry the Eighth had three more wives, Anne of Cleves, whom he
divorced; Catherine Howard, whom he had beheaded, like poor Anna
Boleyn; and Catherine Parr, who outlived him.
34. He reigned thirty-eight years, and was succeeded by his son,
Edward the Sixth, who was only nine years old, and died before he
was sixteen; so that he can scarcely be reckoned among the kings of
England.
35. He was a pious and amiable prince, fond of learning, and
extremely charitable. He founded St. Thomas’s Hospital, for the sick
poor; and Christ’s Hospital and School, for the education of boys who
had lost their fathers.
36. He had a cousin, Lady Jane Grey, whom he was very fond of, for
she was about his own age, gentle and beautiful, and being fond of
study, was educated with him; so that it was no wonder he liked her.
37. They were both Protestants; but Edward’s eldest sister, Mary, was
a Catholic; and as some of the great noblemen were Protestants, they
did not like to have a Catholic queen; so when the young king was
dying, they persuaded him to make a will, leaving the crown to Lady
Jane Grey, which was not right, because his father had ordered, and
the parliament confirmed his will, that, if he died, Mary was to be
queen. Edward the Sixth died in the seventh year of his reign.
38. Lady Jane was married to young Lord Guildford Dudley, and knew
nothing about king Edward’s will till after he was dead, when her
husband’s father told her she was to be queen.
39. At first she refused, but was, at length, persuaded or compelled
to allow herself to be proclaimed; and very unhappy it made her, so
that she was very glad, at the end of ten days, to give up the title
of queen to her who had a better right to it.
40. Now Mary was a woman of a morose temper; and, unfortunately, at
that time, and long afterwards, people who differed in religious
opinions were very cruel to each other; so she would not forgive poor
Lady Jane Grey, but sent her and her husband to the Tower, where they
were both beheaded.
41. The reign of queen Mary lasted only five years, and there is
little to tell about it, except that she did all she could to
restore the Roman Catholic religion, and re-established some of the
monasteries; but they were suppressed again, after her death, by her
sister Elizabeth, who had been brought up in the Protestant faith.
QUESTIONS.
2. How did Henry the Seventh secure peace?
3. How was the prosperity of the country increased?
4. What great discoveries were made in his reign?
7. What changes may be noticed in the mode of living?
8. How was a new class of people formed?
15. Who was Perkin Warbeck?
18. Who succeeded Henry the Seventh?
19. To whom was he married?
20. Who was Cardinal Wolsey?
23. Why did the king put away his first queen?
25. What was the Reformation?
26. How was this change accomplished?
29. Which towns had become famous for their manufacture?
33. How many wives had Henry the Eighth?
34. How long did he reign, and who succeeded him?
36. Who was Lady Jane Grey?
37. What is chiefly remarkable of queen Mary?
41. By whom was she succeeded?
CHAPTER XIV.
QUEEN ELIZABETH.--1558 TO 1603.
[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH REVIEWING HER TROOPS.]
1. Elizabeth is one of the most celebrated of our sovereigns, for she
was a remarkably clever woman, although, like her father, she was
harsh and tyrannical.
2. It was a merry day in England when she was crowned, for great
numbers of the people had not liked queen Mary. The citizens of
London testified their joy by decorating the outsides of their houses
with draperies of silk and satin; and by having shows and pageants in
the streets, as was customary, at that time, on all joyful occasions.
3. In one place, a fountain ran with wine; in another, a boy, dressed
to represent an angel with wings, descended from the top of an arch,
as the queen’s chariot was passing under, and presented her with a
bible; then was drawn up again by a cord, to look as if he flew away;
and there were many other things of the same kind, which I have not
room to tell of.
4. The ladies and gentlemen who attended the queeen rode on
horseback, for coaches were not used in England till some years
afterwards, when a gentleman, from Holland, brought a carriage over
here, and then the English soon began to build coaches, and ladies
of rank left off riding on horses, as they used to do, seated on a
pillion, behind their husbands.
5. Elizabeth was a good queen in many respects, for she was a friend
to learning, commerce, and all useful arts; and she chose able
ministers, who ruled the country with wisdom and prudence; but she
behaved very cruelly about religion, for although numbers of the
people were still Catholics, she made a law that everybody should go
to Protestant churches; and those who did not were put in prison, or
made to pay such large sums of money, that they were quite ruined.
6. In other countries, particularly the Netherlands, the Protestants
were as ill-treated as the Catholics were here, so that a great many
of them came to England, and were very useful in teaching the English
several arts and manufactures they did not know before.
7. Pins, needles, and paper, were now first made in England, and the
cotton and other factories were greatly improved, so that there was
more employment for the working classes.
8. Then workhouses were established for the destitute, and all
householders, for the first time, were obliged to pay a tax, called
the poor rate, to support and find the poor in food and clothes, so
that they might not be driven, by want, to beg or steal.
9. The middle classes became more wealthy, and lived in better style
than at any former period, especially the citizens of London, many
of whom were rich merchants, living like noblemen, and among these
was Sir Thomas Gresham, who built the first Royal Exchange, at his
own expense, and gave a grand dinner there to the queen, in the year
1570.
10. English merchants now began to think of trading to the East
Indies: but as it required a great deal of money to fit out ships,
to make so long a voyage, for it took about four times as long then
as it does now, a number of rich merchants joined together, and for
a sum of money, obtained a charter from the queen, which made it
unlawful for any other persons to carry on any trade with that part
of the world.
11. It is very interesting to read how this East India Company first
were only permitted just to land in India, and buy and sell a few
goods; then, how they obtained permission of the emperor, for there
was an emperor of India then, to build some warehouses on the sea
coast, and form a little settlement, called a factory; then how they
gradually established more factories, and took soldiers to protect
them, and gained possession of lands, where they built towns, so that
many English families went to live there.
12. Such was the beginning of the British empire in India; and, I
dare say, that if the emperor could have foreseen the consequences,
he would not have consented to have an English factory built on his
coast.
13. In the reign of Elizabeth, Captain Francis Drake made a voyage
all round the world, though he was not the first navigator who did
so, but he was the first English one.
14. This was a grand exploit, as few people had believed, then, that
it was possible, or that the world was really a round body; so you
see how these voyages tended to increase knowledge, as well as to
improve commerce.
15. When Drake returned, the queen went to dine with him on board his
ship, and made him a knight, after which he was called Sir Francis
Drake, and he soon became an admiral.
16. In the mean time, several voyages had been made to America, and
Sir Walter Raleigh, who was one of the great men of the time, had
taken possession of a tract of land for the queen of England, which
he called Virginia, and it still bears that name.
17. The Europeans behaved very unjustly about America, for although
the natives were savages, they had no right to take away their lands.
18. But they did so in every place they went to; and if they were
Spaniards, they set up the Spanish flag, and the commander of the
ship said, “I take this country for the king of Spain;” and then
would fight with the poor natives, and kill them or drive them away;
and, I am sorry to say, the English used to act much in the same
manner.
19. The Spaniards who had taken some of the West India Islands, and
settled colonies in South America, wanted slaves to work in the gold
mines, and their sugar plantations; so an English captain took out
some ships to Africa, and carried off a great many negroes, whom
he sold in the West Indies, for a large price; and from that time
this trade was carried on to a great extent, and was permitted, by
government, until the beginning of the present century.
20. But we must now think of what was going on in England. Elizabeth
had a cousin, named Mary, who was queen of Scotland, and was next
heir to the English crown.
21. She was young and beautiful, and had been married to the king of
France, who was now dead; so she had returned to Scotland, and, after
a time, married lord Darnley, and had a son, who was our king James
the First.
22. Lord Darnley was murdered, and Mary married another lord, who was
disliked by the Scots, so that there was a civil war, and she was
obliged to resign the crown, and after much ill-treatment, escaped to
England, and begged the protection of queen Elizabeth.
23. Now the queen had always been jealous of her, and she was now
cruel enough to shut her up in a castle, and, after keeping her a
prisoner for eighteen years, in different places, gave orders for
her execution, and the unfortunate queen of Scots was beheaded in
Fotheringay castle.
24. Soon after this event, news arrived that a large fleet was
coming to invade England. The king of Spain, Philip the Second, had
been married to our queen Mary; and had offered his hand to queen
Elizabeth, but she had resolved not to marry at all, and at any rate,
she would not have had Philip, for she did not like him.
25. He was, therefore, offended; and was also angry because the queen
had been kind to the Protestants who had fled to England from the
Netherlands, for he was king of those countries as well as of Spain;
and her admirals having attacked some of his settlements in America,
he determined to invade England, and make himself king there too, if
he could.
26. He got ready the largest fleet that was ever known, and called
it the Invincible Armada; but it did not prove to be invincible,
although the English had but a very small navy at that time, not more
than fifteen ships of war; but the merchants lent their ships, and
manned them at their own expense; and people of all classes gave
money to pay soldiers, to defend the country, in case the Spaniards
should effect a landing.
27. But they never did land; for the English vessels, though so much
smaller than Spanish ships, were lighter, and more manageable, and
kept them from coming near the shore; and when they anchored off
Calais, the English admiral sent fire ships among them, and burnt
some of them, which created such terror, that they sailed away as
fast as they could, some one way and some another, and the English
ships chased them and disabled a great many; while others were
wrecked by a violent storm; and thus the Armada was nearly destroyed.
28. Small handbills were printed and sent about the country, to let
the people know that the danger was over.
29. Many more books were now published, and there were many clever
authors in this reign, especially Shakespeare, who wrote a number of
beautiful plays.
30. The queen was a great admirer of Shakespeare’s plays, and used
to go to see them acted; but the theatres were then not much better
than the shows at a country fair, and the performance was in the day
time.
31. People of fashion, in those days, dined at eleven o’clock; the
merchants and tradespeople, at twelve; and laborers, at one; and all
public amusements were between dinner and supper, which was taken
about six.
32. These amusements did not show very good taste, for gentlemen and
ladies of rank used to go and see cock fighting, and bull and bear
baiting, which are cruel disgusting exhibitions, and I only mention
them to show you the difference between the manners at that time and
this.
33. I will now give you an idea what kind of dress people used to
wear in the time of queen Elizabeth. The gowns were open before,
with a stiff bodice, just like a pair of stays, laced in front, and
a large ruff round the neck.
34. In the street, most ladies used to wear a little black velvet
mask, and shoes with such high heels they could scarcely walk in
them. Gentlemen wore short jackets, reaching a little below the
waist, with a belt and sword, a cloak, and a high-crowned hat.
35. One great improvement was made in dress in this reign, by the
invention of stockings, which, for a long time, were all knitted;
but they were found much more convenient than the cloth hose, that
everybody used to wear, till then.
36. Queen Elizabeth died, after a long, prosperous and peaceful
reign, of forty-five years, in 1603, having named for her successor,
her cousin, James Stuart, king of Scotland: and thus the two kingdoms
of England and Scotland came to be united, and took the name of Great
Britain.
QUESTIONS.
1. What was the character of queen Elizabeth?
4. What was the fashion of riding at this period?
5. Mention the good and bad features of Elizabeth’s government.
6. How were new manufactures brought into England, and what were
they?
8. What provision was made for the poor?
9. When was the Royal Exchange built, and by whom?
10. What was the origin of the East India Company?
13. Who was the first English captain that sailed round the world?
15. What honors were bestowed on him on his return?
19. How was the slave trade begun?
26. What was the Spanish Armada?
29. What celebrated author lived in this reign?
36. When did Elizabeth die?
CHAPTER XV.
THE STUARTS. FROM THE UNION TO THE REVOLUTION.--1603 TO 1689.
[Illustration: CROMWELL EXPELLING THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.]
1. The people of Scotland did not like the union of the two kingdoms,
at first, because the king and many of the nobility went away to
live in London, which, as there was little trade, left Scotland in
a very poor condition; and it was a long time, indeed, not before
the people had experienced the great benefits of British trade and
commerce, that they began to feel as a part of the English nation;
but now that the English and Scots have become like one people, it is
certainly much happier and better for both.
2. James had not been king two years, when a conspiracy was formed
against the government, called the Gunpowder Plot. I cannot tell you
for certain by whom it was contrived, but it was a wicked scheme
to blow up the houses of parliament, when the king, and most of
the lords and commons were there assembled; but, happily, it was
discovered a short time before the meeting of parliament, and all the
greatest men in the country were saved from a dreadful death.
3. James the First was not a good king, for he had a mistaken
notion that a king ought to do whatever he liked; and that, if he
wanted money he had a right to make new taxes, without the consent
of parliament, and, in fact, he thought it unnecessary to have any
parliament at all, and he taught his son Charles to be of the same
opinion, which was the cause of that monarch’s untimely fate, and
the civil wars that you will presently read about.
4. In the reign of James the First, there were such severe laws
against those who did not conform to the church of England, that
hundreds of people emigrated to America, and settled themselves
in colonies in a wild country, where at first they suffered many
hardships and privations; but these colonies, and others, afterwards
formed, gradually improved, till they became large flourishing
states, now called the United States of America.
5. James the First reigned twenty-two years, and was succeeded, in
the year 1625, by his son Charles, whose bad education led to all the
miseries of a long civil war, and to misfortunes that fell upon his
own head.
6. The quarrels between Charles and the parliament, arose from his
taking upon himself the power of raising money by taxes, without the
consent of the House of Commons; and in other things he chose to act
by his own will, although it might be quite contrary to the laws of
the country.
7. Many people were put in prison because they would not lend him
money when he desired it; and, at last, he dissolved the parliament
altogether, and said he would govern without one, and then the
people had no protection from his tyranny.
8. Those who were treated the worst were the Puritans, a religious
sect, whose form of worship was very similar to that of the present
Scottish Church, which is different from the English, as they have
no bishops, do not use prayer books, and have particular rules about
choosing their own clergymen.
9. The Scots who hold these opinions are called Presbyterians. The
Puritans dressed very plainly, like quakers, and had their hair cut
close, and on that account they obtained the name of Roundheads; and
those who took part against the king in the civil war, generally
adopted that fashion, and were distinguished by that name.
10. After a time, the king began to find that, if he continued to
govern by himself, there would certainly be a serious rebellion; so
he consented to have a new parliament, and there was an election
directly, and as many of the new members were Puritans, they perhaps
wanted the king to yield too much, and thus provoked him not to give
up so much as he ought.
11. I cannot tell how this might be; but a great many people at
length began to think it would be better to have a Republic, that is,
a government without a king, and many of the Puritans were of that
opinion.
12. Charles had undoubtedly brought all his troubles upon himself,
but it was now evident he must either give up his authority as
a sovereign, or fight to maintain it; so he chose the latter
alternative, and a war was commenced between the king and the
parliament. Each party raised a large army.
13. The queen, who was sister to the French king, went to France, to
raise money to pay soldiers to fight for her husband, and to bring
arms for them. He was supported by most of the English nobility,
while the principal commoners sided with the parliament.
14. The first general for the parliament was the Earl of Essex, who
resigned in favor of general Fairfax, but the greatest general of the
parliamentary army was a country gentleman named Oliver Cromwell, who
was very clever, both as a military officer and a statesman; and,
after the death of Charles, he became the ruler of England.
15. The war caused a great deal of unhappiness in private families;
for, although it was principally the soldiers who fought, everybody
was interested in the question whether there should be a king, or
not; and such violent quarrels arose, that the nearest relatives,
even fathers and sons, and brothers often became enemies, and many
young men went to join one army, or the other; so that sometimes two
brothers might be on different sides; and then think how dreadful it
was, when a battle took place, that they should be fighting against
each other.
16. The Royalists, who were called Cavaliers, were known from the
Roundheads by their handsome style of dress, for they wore colored
doublets made of silk or satin, with lace collars falling over them,
and a short cloak over one shoulder. Their hair was curled in long
ringlets, and their broad hats adorned with long feathers.
17. There was as much difference in dress between the ladies as the
gentlemen, for the female Roundheads were very plain and prim in
their attire, while the Royalists were dressed in the gayest fashion.
18. I shall not enter into the particulars of the war. It is enough
to say that after it had gone on three years, the king was totally
defeated, at the battle of Naseby, in Northamptonshire, and soon
afterwards was made prisoner.
19. The Republicans then had it all their own way. The king was
brought to trial on a charge of having broken the laws of the
country; was condemned to death, and beheaded at Whitehall, January
30th, 1649.
20. But the civil war did not end with the death of Charles the
First, for his son, prince Charles, who was in Holland at the time,
went to Scotland, where the generality of the people were not
disposed to have a republican government, so they made the prince
promise not to interfere with their religion, but to join the
Presbyterians, and then they proclaimed him king, and soon raising an
army, he marched into England.
21. A battle was fought at Worcester, where Cromwell gained a great
victory, and the young king had to make his escape, in disguise,
with a few friends, who were anxious to get him safely out of the
country; and many curious adventures they met with, for parties of
the republican soldiers were sent off in all directions in pursuit of
the fugitive prince, who was several times very nearly caught.
22. His escape was chiefly owing to the fidelity of five brothers,
named Penderel, farmers and woodmen, who were tenants of a gentleman
that was warmly attached to the Royal family. They lent him a
woodman’s dress, called him Will Jones; and rode about with him,
to show him what houses he might safely go to for shelter and
entertainment.
23. On the third day after the battle, he was obliged to hide in a
wood, in Boscobel, on the borders of Staffordshire, where he met with
a friend, Major Carlis, who was hiding himself.
24. They heard soldiers about the wood, so they both got up into an
old oak tree, with some bread and cheese and beer, that one of the
Penderels had brought to Charles, and while they were there, they
heard the soldiers talking close under the tree, and saying how glad
they should be to find the king, and that they were sure he must be
somewhere thereabouts.
25. The tree was afterwards called the Royal Oak; and there is a tree
now on the same spot, raised from an acorn of the original one, which
is still distinguished by that name.
26. One time he travelled with a lady, as her groom, and when they
stopped at an inn, he went into the kitchen, where the cook told him
to wind up the jack, which he did so awkwardly, that she scolded him.
27. He made an excuse, saying that where he came from, they did not
have roast meat very often, and never used a jack; but I dare say, he
laughed heartily afterwards, for he was always merry in the midst of
his troubles.
28. At last, after being at hide and seek for nearly two months, he
embarked at Shoreham, and reached the continent in safety.
29. Great Britain was now not a kingdom, for there was no king, but
it was a Republic, or Commonwealth, which is a government managed by
the people, or their representatives in parliament.
30. But Oliver Cromwell was an ambitious man, and wanted to have all
the power in his own hands; so he got the soldiers on his side, and
then told the members of parliament that it was time for them to
go out of office, that there might be a new election; and on their
refusal, he went to the House of Commons with a regiment of soldiers,
turned out the members, locked the doors, and took away the keys.
31. He soon formed a new Parliament of men who were devoted to his
interest, and he was made chief ruler of the state, under the name of
Protector of the Commonwealth; but he might as well have been called
king, for he was almost as absolute a sovereign as any that had yet
reigned.
32. However, he made a good use of his power by promoting trade, and
foreign commerce, besides which, he had an excellent army, and a good
navy, so that England was considered of more importance, by other
nations, than it had ever been before.
33. The English Admiral, Blake, gained some great victories over
the Dutch at sea; and some conquests were made both in the East and
West Indies, particularly that of Jamaica, which was taken from the
Spaniards.
34. The English people obeyed Cromwell more from fear than love,
yet he had so many great qualities that he was respected, as well
as feared. Milton, the poet, was one of his secretaries, and was
much attached to him, as I believe most people were, who belonged to
his domestic circle, for Cromwell was kind and mild in his family,
although severe and determined in his public character.
35. There was not much merriment in England, while he was its ruler,
for the Puritans thought it sinful to dance, or feast, or sing, or
play at any games; so all the theatres and other places of public
amusement were ordered to be shut up, even at Christmas, which had
previously been a very gay time, when everybody, rich or poor, used
to make holiday for twelve days; and in every country mansion, there
was a good Christmas dinner, and plenty of fun afterwards, old and
young playing at forfeits, blindman’s buff, and other Christmas
gambols, in the great hall.
36. But these frolics were forbidden in Cromwell’s time, and if any
merry-hearted folks indulged in such doings, it was by stealth, and
they kept it secret.
37. The prim dress, and hats with high crowns, were worn by both
sexes; for if any persons had dressed in a gayer fashion, they would
have been taken for Royalists. Cromwell died six years after he was
made Protector, and ten from the death of Charles the First.
38. A great many improvements were made during the Commonwealth; for
instance, coffee, sugar, and India muslins, were first brought to
this country.
39. When Oliver Cromwell was dead, his son Richard was made
Protector; but he liked a quiet life, and soon gave up the
troublesome task of ruling the country; and as most people were now
of opinion it was better to have a king than not, the parliament
resolved to recall Charles, who was residing in Holland, and
messengers were sent to tell him that he would be restored to the
throne, on condition that all persons should have liberty to follow
their religious belief, and that no one should be punished for
having taken part against him, or his father, before.
40. He returned to England, and entered London in great state, on the
29th of May, 1660, on which day, every year, you may always hear the
bells ringing, to commemorate the restoration of Charles the Second.
41. But the rejoicing is because the old form of government was
restored; for Charles was not, by any means, a good sovereign, nor
had he one quality to be admired, except that he was good natured to
those about him, and liked to make fun of every thing. However, I
must not forget to say that he rewarded the Penderels, who had been
so kind to him in his misfortunes.
42. England was now quite a different place from what it had been.
Every body might be as merry as they chose; the theatres were
re-opened; holidays kept; the villagers danced round their may-poles
as they used to do, and were not afraid to laugh and sing; while
the towns-people had their pleasant social meetings, and the London
citizens their grand feasts, and fine shows, as in the days of
Elizabeth.
43. During the Commonwealth, there were no bishops, nor any music
allowed in the churches; but now, the bishops were restored to their
former dignity, and beautiful church music was again heard.
43. But, I am sorry to say, the king did not keep his promise to let
all persons enjoy their own religion, which caused a great deal of
unhappiness, for numbers of families, to escape being put in prison,
or having their property taken from them, left their comfortable
homes, and went to settle in the new American colonies, where they
had to endure many hardships, for it is a long time before the people
in new settlements can obtain the means of living in any degree of
comfort.
44. About five years after the return of king Charles, the plague
broke out in London, and continued to rage for many months with
fearful violence.
45. The streets were, at that time, narrow and dirty; the houses
mostly of wood, and not airy; nor was the city so well paved
or cleansed, nor so well supplied with water, as at present,
consequently it was not so healthy; and then, the doctors were not
so clever as they are now, so that many died, who perhaps might have
been saved.
46. It was a melancholy time. The houses were all shut up; no
business was transacted, and scarcely anybody was to be seen in the
streets, which were sad and silent, for death was in almost every
house.
47. The king and queen, and most of the great people, went out of
town, but some of the clergymen and other benevolent persons, stayed
to do what good they could, and some of them caught the infection,
and died.
48. At last, when the heat of the summer was over, the plague began
to abate, and those who had survived it, returned to their usual
occupations; but with sorrowful hearts, for most of them had to mourn
the loss of their dearest friends.
49. The plague had often raged in London before, but had never been
so bad; and perhaps the great fire that followed it, tended greatly
to remove the cause of this dreadful distemper.
50. The memorable fire of London happened September, 1666. It began
at a baker’s shop, near London-bridge, and spread rapidly from street
to street, till almost all the town was in flames.
51. It continued to burn for three days, and destroyed nearly the
whole city, with most of the churches and public buildings; but there
were very few lives lost, as the people fled from their houses when
they saw the fire approaching the street in which they lived.
52. Many, however, were ruined by the loss of their property, and all
were left houseless, so that they had to set up tents in the fields,
to shelter themselves till they could find some place to go to; and
subscriptions were made for the relief of those who were most in
need, for generally the respectable citizens had saved their plate,
jewels, and money.
53. The fire put an end to the pestilence, and so far proved a
benefit, in the end; for the city was rebuilt with wider streets; the
houses were built of brick or stone, and altogether it was handsomer
and more healthy; one proof of which is, that the plague has not been
known in London since.
54. The visitation of the cholera, in 1829-30, although partaking
somewhat of the character of a plague, was a different disease, and
yielded to cleanliness and medical treatment.
55. It was about this time, that tea was first brought to England,
from China, by the East India Company; but it was so very dear, that
a pound of tea was thought a handsome present, and it was a very long
while before people drank it as they do now.
56. Except in London, Liverpool, and some of the principal towns,
nobody had ever heard of such a thing as tea; for there was but
little intercourse between London and the country towns at that
time, as the roads were still bad, and there were no stage coaches
till a few years after the death of Charles the Second, and then only
on three or four of the principal roads.
57. The rich country gentlefolks lived in a plain homely way, and
their daughters were brought up to assist in domestic duties, such as
washing, ironing, cooking, knitting, and many other useful things;
but they seldom had any other accomplishments, and very few could
read or write.
58. Charles the Second died in 1685, twenty-five years after his
restoration, and was succeeded by his brother James, who was a
Catholic, and tried to restore the Catholic religion, although he had
promised not to do so.
59. The people soon began to feel that he did not mind breaking the
laws to accomplish this object; so a great many Protestant noblemen
and gentlemen agreed that it would be better to take the crown from
him, and to place on the throne a prince of another family, for
they said, the laws would never be rightly observed so long as the
Stuarts, or a Catholic king, reigned; so they sent to William, prince
of Orange, who was married to the king’s daughter, Mary, and asked
him to become king of England, and he consented.
60. He came, with a large army, to Torbay, in Devonshire; but there
was no fighting, for king James, with his wife and infant son, fled
to France, where he was kindly received by the French king, Louis the
Fourteenth, who promised to try and replace him on the throne; but
the attempt was unsuccessful, as you will presently see.
61. James the Second had only reigned in England three years, and
during that time the Protestants were so cruelly treated in France,
that thousands of industrious artisans came over here, chiefly silk
weavers, but also watchmakers, cutlers, and manufacturers of glass,
writing paper and many other things; from whom the English learned to
make all these things as well as the French.
62. The middle classes were much better off than at any former time,
on account of the increase of trade; but the lower orders were not so
well off, for wages were less, in proportion to the prices of bread
and meat, than they were at earlier periods of our history.
QUESTIONS.
2. What was the gunpowder plot?
3. What was the opinion of the new king with regard to sovereignty?
4. How were the American States first colonized?
5. Who succeeded James the first?
6. What gave rise to quarrels between the king and parliament?
9. Who were the Roundheads?
11. What sort of government was desired by the people?
14. Who was Oliver Cromwell?
16. What were the Cavaliers?
17. What was the ultimate fate of king Charles?
19. Name the date of his death.
20. Did this event put an end to the war?
21. What was the battle of Worcester?
30. How did Cromwell obtain sovereign power?
31. What was his title?
33. What conquests were made in his time?
37. How long did Cromwell rule?
38. What improvements were made in his time?
39. What followed the death of Cromwell?
40. Name the date of the restoration.
44. What calamities befel London in this reign?
60. In what year was the fire of London?
63. Why did it eventually prove a benefit?
65. When was tea first brought to England?
58. How long did Charles the Second reign?
59. Why was James disliked by many of the people?
61. How were the useful arts improved in England, about this time?
CHAPTER XVI.
THE REVOLUTION.--1689 TO 1714.
[Illustration: DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.]
1. The changes made in the government by taking the crown from James
the Second, and giving it to William the Third, was called the
Revolution, and was a good thing for England, as it was then settled
that no sovereign, in the future, should follow his own will, or act
contrary to the laws of the country; that all new laws should be
proposed by the parliament, and not by the king; who was only to
have the power of giving or refusing his consent to them; which is
very different from being able to make laws without asking any one,
as the kings and queens of England had hitherto often done.
2. The way, now, is this:--when a gentleman of the House of Commons,
or a nobleman of the House of Lords, thinks of any thing that will be
good for the nation, he mentions it to the rest and they all consult
about it, every one giving his opinion whether he thinks it good or
not; and if the greater number think it will be good, it is settled
that it shall be done, if both Houses of Parliament and the sovereign
agree to it; for whichever House of Parliament begins and agrees to a
measure, it is sent to the other House for approval:--this is called
passing the bill.
3. When both Houses have done what they consider good and necessary,
it is submitted to the queen or king, who generally approves of it
also; and then it becomes a law.
4. Another rule made at the Revolution was, that the parliament
should meet every year, and that there should be a new election at
least once in three years, to give the people an opportunity of
choosing other members, if they had not approved the votes of the old
ones; but, in the reign of George the First, this arrangement was
altered to seven years, and so it has continued ever since.
5. It was also agreed that none but a Protestant should ever be king
or queen of England; and all these, with many other regulations, were
written down, and signed by king William, and this is called the Bill
of Rights.
6. No one was to be persecuted on account of his or her religion;
but the Catholics were not allowed to hold landed property, or to
be members of parliament; and it was not till the reign of George
the Fourth that people of the Catholic faith were restored to their
ancient rights and privileges.
7. Soon after William was made king, he had to go to Ireland, to
fight against James the Second, who had landed there with a French
army, thinking the Irish would assist him to recover the throne. But
he was defeated in a battle fought on the banks of the river Boyne,
and obliged to go back to France, where he lived in retirement for
the rest of his life.
8. His daughter, Mary, the wife of king William, was a very amiable
woman, and much beloved by the English. It was she who induced the
government to convert the palace at Greenwich into an asylum for
poor old sailors; and the king gave money for the purpose.
9. The East Indian trade was very much increased during this reign,
so that all things that came from China and India, such as tea, silk,
cotton, spices, porcelain or china ware, and many other beautiful and
useful things, became more easy to be procured in this country.
10. I must also tell you that the Bank of England was now first
established, for the purpose of raising money for the government to
carry on war against Louis the Fourteenth, of France; and this was
the beginning of what you will sometimes hear called the National
Debt; for when people put money into the bank, it is the same as
lending it to the king or the government; and as long as they choose
to lend it, they are paid so much a year for doing so, and this is
called their dividend, which they go to the Bank twice a year to
receive.
11. The war in which king William was engaged, had nothing whatever
to do with the English, but was only for the sake of helping the
Archduke of Austria, to fight out his quarrels with the king of
France; yet, after William’s death, these wars were carried on during
the whole reign of queen Anne, who succeeded William the Third, in
the year 1702, after he had reigned thirteen years.
12. These wars caused great distress in England, where the taxes were
increased, to pay the expenses of the soldiers, and trade was much
injured, as we were at war with both France and Spain.
13. There was a duty, for the first time, laid upon many things that
people have to use every day, such as soap, starch, and paper, so
that all these articles became much dearer.
14. The meaning of a duty is this:--The parliament says, no person
may make any paper, unless he give to the government so much money
for every ream he makes; so the paper-makers pay the money, and
charge more for their paper to the shopkeepers, who buy it of them;
then you and I, and everybody who uses paper, must pay more for it
than if there was no duty; and the same with all things on which
there are duties. So you see the expenses of war fall upon every one,
in some way or other.
15. Queen Anne was a daughter of James the Second, but as she was
a Protestant, no objection was made to her accession, although her
brother was excluded from the throne, as being a Catholic.
16. The most important event that took place in the reign of queen
Anne, was the complete union of England and Scotland, for although
they had been governed by one king, since the time of James the
First, they had separate parliaments, and different laws; but it was
now settled that a certain number of the Scottish lords and commons
should sit in the English houses of parliament, and that all the laws
about trade, and every thing that did not interfere with the habits
or religion of Scotland, should be the same.
17. This union of the parliaments took place in 1707, from which time
England and Scotland have been one country, called Great Britain.
18. There was a celebrated General, the Duke of Marlborough, who
won some famous battles in Germany in the reign of queen Anne; and
there was a brave Admiral, Sir George Rooke, who took the fortress
of Gibraltar, which was a conquest of some importance to England,
because it stands at the entrance of the Mediterranean sea, and may
be said to command the passage taken by ships trading to the Grecian
islands, Egypt, Turkey, &c. Queen Anne died in the year 1714, having
reigned twelve years.
QUESTIONS.
1. What was meant by the Revolution?
2. What were the changes made in the government?
4. How was the duration of parliaments settled?
5. What was the Bill of Rights?
7. What was the battle of the Boyne?
8. Who was the wife of William the Third?
10. When was the Bank of England established, and why?
11. What was the object of the wars, and how long did they last?
16. What union was effected at this time?
17. When did it take place?
18. When did queen Anne die?
CHAPTER XVII.
HOUSE OF HANOVER.--1714 TO 1830.
[Illustration: DEATH OF GENERAL WOLFE.]
1. When queen Anne died, the crown of England went to a German
prince, named George, the elector or sovereign of Hanover, whose
mother was grand-daughter of James the First.
2. He was rather advanced in age, and being a stranger to the manners
of the people, and to the language and laws of the country, was not
likely to become a popular monarch; yet it was thought better that he
should succeed to the throne, than to let the son of James II., who
was now about six-and-twenty, be king of Great Britain.
3. But there were a great many people in Scotland who wished to see
the family of their ancient kings restored, and some of the great
men, there, raised an army, and invited prince James Stuart, who is
usually called the Pretender, to place himself at the head of it, and
go to war with George the First.
4. The Pretender went to Scotland, and two battles were fought, one
near Dumblane, and the other near Preston, in Lancashire; but the
English troops gained the victory at both places, and the prince was
glad to get back to France again.
5. A great many English had joined in this rebellion, for, as I said
before, the new king was not very generally liked; and it was mostly
the English party that fought for the Pretender at Preston, and, I am
sorry to say, all who were made prisoners were very cruelly treated.
The leaders were put to death, and those who had fought under their
command, were mostly sent to America, and sold for slaves.
6. You remember how the American colonies were first settled. Well,
they had now become large populous places, and cities had been built
there; but the people were cultivators, and had no manufactures
of any kind, for they were obliged to have all they wanted of
manufactured goods, either for clothing, or any other purpose, from
England, which was a great advantage to this country, by furnishing
employment for English manufactures.
7. Perhaps you will say, why could they not have things from other
countries, as well as from England?--but you must bear in mind that
the American states were then under British government, and remained
so till the reign of George the Third, when the Americans established
a government of their own, and went to war with Great Britain, as
you will presently read, and with the assistance of France, made
themselves independent of this country.
8. George the First died in 1727, having reigned nearly thirteen
years, and he was succeeded by his son, George the Second.
9. There had been a great change in the mode of dress since the
time of the Stuarts, for queen Anne had introduced a fashion of
setting out the gowns with hoops; and gentlemen wore coats with broad
square-cut tails, waistcoats with long flaps, colored stockings
drawn up over the knee, lace ruffles, large shoe buckles, wigs with
rows of stiff curls, three-cornered hats bound with gold-lace, and
swords.
10. Towards the close of the eighteenth century this formal
inconvenient style of dress was altered gradually; swords were left
off; the hair which, in the early part of the reign of George the
Third, was frizzed out, pomatumed and powdered, was dressed in a more
natural manner; round hats came into fashion, and people began to
look something like what they do now.
11. The reign of George the Second, which lasted thirty-three years,
was on the whole rather a prosperous one, the greater part of it
being spent in peace. There was no war for about twelve years, and
during that time improvements were going on all over the country.
12. Most of the great towns were made larger, and new manufactories
built, for the trade of England was increasing every year, and great
quantities of manufactured goods were sent out to foreign countries;
besides which, new roads were opened, waste lands cultivated, canals
formed, and new harbors made for shipping, so that there was plenty
of employment for the laboring people.
13. We had a good navy at this time, and the first war that broke
out was carried on entirely at sea. It was with the Spaniards, who
had taken possession of a great part of South America, and, as they
chose to keep all the trade to themselves, they had ships constantly
sailing about, to prevent the ships of other nations coming there,
which was all very fair; but not content with guarding their own
possessions, they interfered with British merchants, who were going
to or from other places, plundered some of their vessels, and behaved
so ill, that the British government was obliged to declare war, and
sent out a great many ships to fight the Spaniards.
14. I dare say you have heard stories about press-gangs taking away
poor men against their will, to make sailors of them. This cruel
expedient for getting plenty of sailors, was resorted to in all the
wars during the reigns of George the Second and George the Third,
when many a poor fellow, in going to or returning from his daily
labor, was met by a party of armed men, called a press-gang, and
carried off, by force, to a ship, without being allowed to go home,
or take leave of his family. Such things ought not to be done in a
free country, and I hope they never will be done again, even if we
should have the misfortune to be at war.
15. At this time, the French had large possessions in India, as well
as the English, and it seemed doubtful which of the two nations
would, in the end, be masters of the country; but this question was
decided in the reign of George the Second, for, while the war with
Spain was going on, a war broke out between France and England, about
the affairs of Germany, where our king himself commanded the army,
and fought at the battle of Dettingen; but the fighting between the
French and English in India, was of more consequence, as several
great victories were gained by a brave commander, named Clive, by
which the superiority of the English in India was quite established,
and ever since that time, we have gained one place after another, in
that extensive and rich country, until a large portion of India has
become a province of the British empire.
16. While these wars were going on abroad, there was another great
rebellion in Scotland; for prince Charles Edward Stuart, the son of
the old Pretender, being now a man, had come there to make another
attempt to recover the throne for his father; and being joined by
some of the Highland chiefs, and numbers of Scotch people, as well as
by many English who were discontented with the government, he went
to Holyrood house, the old palace of his ancestors, at Edinburgh,
where he held a court, and behaved as if he had been sovereign of the
country.
17. Of course, an army was sent from England, to put down this
rebellion, which caused a great deal of misery; for, besides the
numbers of brave men that were killed in the several battles which
took place, many were afterwards executed as traitors, which must
have been more dreadful for their families than if they had fallen in
battle.
18. If Charles Edward had any good feeling, I think he must have been
very sorry for the mischief he caused. He was finally defeated at the
battle of Culloden, and obliged to escape, like Charles the Second,
after the battle of Worcester, and his adventures are very similar,
but more full of suffering, than those of the merry monarch. This is
usually called the Rebellion of ’45, because it was in the year 1745.
19. There is only one thing more of importance to mention in the
reign of George the Second, and that is the conquest of the large
country of Canada, in North America, which had belonged to the
French, who had settled there as the English had in the United
States, and built several good towns, one of which was Quebec.
20. There had frequently been quarrels between the French and
English in America, respecting their possessions, which, at length,
occasioned a war there, and soldiers were sent out both from France
and England, the French wanting to conquer the British states, the
English to gain possession of Canada.
21. This war had lasted about five years, when the renowned General
Wolfe gained a great victory at the battle of Quebec; after which,
the French gave up Canada, which has belonged to England ever since,
and is a very useful possession, supplying abundance of fine corn,
and timber for building.
22. General Wolfe was killed on the field of battle, just as the
victory was won, and his death was much lamented in England, where
the news of the conquest arrived a few days before the death of
the king, which happened in October, 1760, after he had reigned
thirty-three years.
23. The eldest son of George the Second was dead, but he had
left a son, named George, who succeeded his grandfather, and was
about twenty-two years old. He was a very good man and was highly
respected, although many people say he was more fitted for a country
gentleman than a king.
24. He married a German princess, whose name was Charlotte, and they
had many children, some of whom are yet living. Our queen is the
grand-daughter of George the Third.
25. About two years after the new king came to the throne, peace was
made with France and Spain, and there were no more wars for thirteen
years, when the Americans became dissatisfied with the English
government, and resolved to have a government of their own.
26. But let us see what useful things were done in England during
that thirteen years of peace. First of all, the manufacture of China
ware was begun in Staffordshire, by a gentleman, named Wedgewood, who
built large factories and employed a great number of people in this
new branch of art. Then a machine was invented for spinning cotton,
by which we were enabled to manufacture cotton goods in much larger
quantities than before, and as they could be sold abroad, this was a
great benefit.
27. It was also discovered how very useful steam engines might be
made; but I fancy nobody then imagined that we should ever travel by
steam, or print by steam, or do many other wonderful things, that are
now done by that means.
28. Turnpike roads were established all over the kingdom, and
travelling thus rendered safer and more expeditious. People were in
general much better educated than in the preceding century, and all
arts and sciences were greatly improved.
29. And now I will tell you something about the American war. The
quarrel began about some taxes which the British government imposed
on the Americans, to help to pay the expenses of the wars with France
and Spain, which the Americans thought they had nothing to do with;
and considered it unjust that they should have to find money towards
paying for them.
30. British troops were sent out, to force them to obey the orders of
the government; but instead of complying, all the colonies agreed to
join together and fight for their liberty; and a very brave and good
man, named General Washington, took the command of the American army.
31. This war lasted many years, and the French and Dutch assisted the
Americans with troops, ships, and money.
32. There were many gentlemen in the English parliament who wanted to
put an end to the war, by giving up all control over the Americans;
but others would not consent, the king was unwilling to do so, till,
at last, finding there was little chance of success, the English
government gave up the contest, and the American colonies became
independent of England, and took the name of the United States.
33. This event took place in 1783, after which, there were a few more
years of peace, and then the long wars with France were begun, which
lasted above twenty years, and were ended by the famous battle of
Waterloo.
34. The cause of the war was this. There had been a great revolution
in France. The people rose up against king Louis the Sixteenth,
who was made prisoner, and beheaded; just as Charles the First was
treated here, and for much the same cause. Then a number of persons
took the government into their own hands, and governed without a
king, and declared war against the king of Great Britain, and also
against the stadtholder of Holland, and the king of Spain, for
disapproving of what the French people had done.
35. The Spaniards and Dutch were afterwards obliged to join the
French, and many battles were fought both on land and at sea, and
some naval victories were gained by the British Admirals Duncan,
Howe, and Nelson, and other officers.
36. The greatest man in France at this time was Napoleon Bonaparte,
an artillery officer, who raised himself to the head of the state,
just as Cromwell did here, by getting the soldiers to side with him.
He was called consul, at first, but afterwards he was made emperor,
and he conquered a great part of Europe, and he made the governments
of those countries which he did not conquer do just as he pleased,
except England, for he had the largest armies of any sovereign in the
world.
37. The most celebrated of our generals in the war against Bonaparte,
were Abercrombie, Sir John Moore, and the Duke of Wellington, the
last of whom won a great many battles in Spain, and at last, with the
assistance of the Prussians, gained the great victory at Waterloo,
near Brussels, on the 18th of June, 1815, after which, Bonaparte
surrendered to the English, and was banished to a small island,
called St. Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean, where he died in a
few years. The fall of Bonaparte was followed by a general peace.
38. George the Third was still living, but he had been out of his
mind, and blind, for some time, so that his son George, prince of
Wales, had been made regent in the year 1810, and conducted the
government with that title, till his father’s death, which happened
in the year 1820, he having reigned above fifty-nine years, when
George the Fourth became king, instead of regent.
39. But I must now go back some years to tell you of something that
was done at the beginning of this century. You have been told that
Ireland had been subject to England, ever since the time of Henry the
Second; but there had constantly been quarrels and warfare between
the native Irish, and the new Irish, who were the descendants of the
English, who had settled there, after the conquest.
40. Then the new Irish were just as ready to quarrel with new English
settlers, as the old Irish were with them; and, till the last fifty
years, little had been done to make the people of Ireland a better or
a happier race. They had a parliament of their own, but it did not
encourage the people to be industrious, so they were, of course, very
poor.
41. A few years after the war with France began, there was a great
rebellion in Ireland, and soldiers were sent from England, to put a
stop to it, which I am afraid was not done without a great deal of
cruelty; but it was in consequence of this rebellion that the English
government resolved that the parliament and country of Ireland should
be united to that of England; as the parliament and country of
Scotland had been, and this union took place on the first of January,
1801, which you will easily remember, because it was the first day of
the nineteenth century.
42. Many good laws have been made since then, for the benefit of
Ireland, and much been done to improve the country; but numbers of
the Irish people still remain in a very distressed condition, and
some of them wanted to have a separate Parliament again; and this is
what is meant by Repeal of the Union; but this feeling is now fast
dying away.
43. In the reign of George the Third, there were National and Sunday
schools established in almost every part of England, so that the poor
people might be able to have their children taught to read and write,
which was a great blessing to them; for although there had long been
charity schools in London, there were few in the country, and many of
the shopkeepers in country towns, who had become quite respectable
people by their industry, were so ignorant that they could not even
make out their own bills, or keep their own accounts.
44. There were two more great improvements before the death of George
the Third; the one was the invention of gas lights, which make the
streets much lighter at night than the dim oil lamps that were
formerly used; and the other was the introduction of steam boats,
which had lately been invented in America.
QUESTIONS.
1. Who succeeded queen Anne?
3. Who was the Pretender?
4. What was the Rebellion?
5. How did it end?
6. What was the state of the American colonies at this period?
8. Who succeeded George the First?
12. How was the country improved in this reign?
13. With whom did the English go to war, and why?
14. How were sailors forcibly obtained?
15. Were there any other wars in this reign?
16. What was the Rebellion of ’45?
18. Where was the final battle fought?
19. What great conquest was made in this reign?
20. What gave rise to the war?
21. What battle decided the contest?
22. Which of our Generals was killed in the moment of victory?
23. Who succeeded George the Second?
29. What was the cause of the American war?
30. Who was the leader of the Americans?
32. How did the war terminate?
34. What gave rise to the last war with France?
36. Who was Bonaparte?
37. What victory put an end to the war?
38. Who ruled in England at this time?
41. When did the Union with Ireland take place?
42. What other improvements took place during the reign of George
III.?
CHAPTER XVIII.
FROM THE DEATH OF GEORGE THE THIRD, 1830, TO THE PRESENT TIME.
[Illustration: QUEEN VICTORIA’S VISIT TO THE CITY OF LONDON.]
1. George the Fourth, who had been regent ten years, reigned as a
king from 1820, to 1830. During that time, every improvement that
had been begun was carried to a greater extent. The education of
all classes of people was conducted on a better system, and greater
numbers of cheap books were published for the instruction of the
working classes.
2. London was greatly improved by the building, in some parts,
of wide handsome streets, in the place of narrow, dirty, crowded
ones, and the manners of the English were improved also, by their
intercourse with foreign nations; for after the peace, people began
to visit France, Italy, and other parts of Europe, while a great
number of foreigners came here, and we adopted such of their customs
as were superior to our own; for people may always improve from each
other.
3. The French, German, and Italian languages began to be more
generally studied in England: and the arts and sciences, especially
painting and music, were more highly cultivated.
4. But I am sorry to say that, amid all these benefits, there was a
great deal of distress among the laboring people, for the expenses
of the war had been so heavy that it was some years before the
blessings of peace could be felt; and thus all the necessaries of
life continued to be very dear, and wages, in proportion, very low,
which occasioned riots in many parts of the kingdom; for the poor
people had expected that, as soon as there was peace, most of the
taxes pressing on them would be taken off.
5. But the government thought it right first to take off the
property tax, and then found they could not do without the money
the other taxes produced. Then the people, not getting relief from
the taxation, thought some alterations in the laws might remedy
their distress, and sent petitions to parliament praying that these
alterations might be made. The principal thing they wanted was, what
you have perhaps heard called the Reform Bill.
6. This was a law to give the right of voting for members of
parliament to a greater number of people, and also to make
alterations with regard to the places that were allowed to send
members to parliament; for there were many old boroughs that were
formerly important places, but now had scarcely a house left
standing, yet still were represented by two members in parliament;
which was ridiculous, because the object of sending a member to
parliament is, that he may do all the good he can for the people of
the place he represents, as well as for the nation; then there were
many large towns, such as Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, &c., that
had grown into importance since the time when it was settled what
places should have representatives, and these had none at all.
7. Another thing desired by the people, was an alteration in the
Corn Laws, so that bread might be cheaper; and this alteration was to
be made by letting corn be brought from abroad without paying duty.
Neither of these points were gained while George the Fourth was king;
but the Reform Bill was passed during the reign of his successor,
William the Fourth; and, in the year 1846, some important alterations
were made in the corn and provision laws.
8. William the Fourth was the brother of George the Fourth, and on
the death of that monarch, in 1830, succeeded to the throne.
9. That same year is memorable for the opening of the first Railway
for travelling, which was that between Manchester and Liverpool; a
circumstance that may be mentioned as the commencement of one of the
greatest changes of modern times, and when we consider the number and
extent of the railways now in use, we cannot but admire the immense
works of the kind that have been performed in so short a space of
time.
10. The speed with which we can now travel, both by sea and land,
would astonish our good old ancestors, who used to think it a great
and dangerous undertaking to set out on a journey of twenty or thirty
miles.
11. In the time of Charles the Second, the poet Cowley, who had
a country house at Chertsey, which is only twenty-two miles from
London, invited a friend in town to pay him a visit, saying in his
letter, that as he could not perform the whole journey in one day, he
might sleep at Hampton.
12. I think he would have been glad of a railway, which would have
taken him all the way before breakfast. In 1706, the stage coach
from York was four days coming to London; and so late as 1763, there
was only a coach once a month from Edinburgh to London; and it was a
whole fortnight on the road; so I think you will see the advantages
of our present mode of travelling.
13. The custom of buying and selling negroes had been abolished by
parliament during the reign of George the Third, but there were many
thousands of slaves in the West India islands, belonging to the
British planters there.
14. During the reign of William the Fourth, the British government
gave twenty millions of money to buy all the slaves of their masters
and then set them free. The day when the negroes became free people
was the first of August, 1838.
15. I told you that the Reform Bill was passed in this reign. One
consequence of this measure was, the lessening of the duties, or
taxes, on many articles of necessity, thereby reducing their prices,
so that the poor people could live much better than they had formerly.
16. The harvests were also plentiful for several years, so that bread
was very cheap, and the prices of all kinds of clothing were less
than in previous years.
17. Upon the whole, there had never been a better time in England
than the seven years that William the Fourth occupied the throne.
He died in 1837, and was succeeded by her present Majesty, queen
Victoria, who was the daughter of his deceased brother, the Duke of
Kent.
18. In 1840, she married her cousin, Prince Albert, of Saxe Coburg
and Gotha. Their family now consists of eight children, four princes,
and four princesses.
19. The most remarkable events that have yet happened in the reign of
queen Victoria, are the wars in China and India: but I ought to have
mentioned an alteration made in the last reign, with regard to the
East India trade, which you, perhaps, remember was carried on solely
by the East India Company, according to a charter granted by queen
Elizabeth, and renewed, from time to time, by other sovereigns.
20. In 1813, however, it was made lawful for private merchants to
trade to India; but this right was not extended to the trade with
China, which was still confined to the Company till 1833, when a new
law was made with regard to that also, and any person then was at
liberty to go to China for tea, silk, and other commodities, which
have since been much cheaper in consequence. Tea is little more than
half the price it used to be, which is a great benefit and comfort to
the poor.
21. But this had nothing to do with the war in China, which arose
from a dispute about the British merchants selling opium to the
Chinese, who were forbidden by their emperor to buy it, because it
injures the health of those who take it, like drinking spirits.
22. Still the merchants continued to carry opium to China, and the
people to buy it; so the governor at Canton, the only Chinese town
in which foreigners were allowed to trade, seized and burnt some
ship-loads of opium, for which he would not pay the owners; and this
was the cause of the war.
23. There were several battles fought, in which the Chinese were
always defeated, for they were not much acquainted with the present
art of war; but, at last, after three years of warfare, peace was
made with the British; and the Chinese emperor agreed to pay a sum
of money, and to cede, or give up, to the British government, the
Island of Hong Kong; besides agreeing that English ships might land
goods for sale, at five ports, instead of one only, and that British
merchants might have warehouses, and reside at those places. A treaty
to this effect was signed in August, 1842.
24. The war in India, was much more serious, and lasted a great deal
longer. It was begun for the purpose of restoring to his throne an
Indian prince, the king of Caboul, who had been deprived of his
kingdom by another prince.
25. The wars occasioned by this usurpation being likely to endanger
the safety of the British possessions, the Governor General thought
it necessary to interfere; and from the year 1839 to that of 1846,
the British armies in India were engaged in terrible and destructive
wars with the Affghans, and other nations in the north and west of
India.
26. These calamitous strifes were happily ended by two great
victories gained on the banks of the Sutlej, at the beginning of
1846, the one by General Sir Harry Smith, the other, by General Sir
Hugh Gough. By the conquests made during these wars, the British
empire is extended over the greater part of India.
27. Among the important inventions of this reign, may be mentioned
that of the Electric Telegraph, by means of which communications can
be made between places a hundred miles apart in one moment, or indeed
to any imaginable distances.
28. I have already mentioned the distressed condition of great
numbers of the Irish people; and am sorry to have now to say that
their misery has been greatly increased in the last three years, by
the failure of the potato crops, on which the lower orders in Ireland
depend for their subsistence.
29. This food they can, with two or three months labor in the year,
grow for themselves; and as they are, unfortunately, contented with
such poor living, it is a very sad thing for them when a bad season
occurs, and the potatoes are spoiled; which happens generally once in
six or seven years.
30. But there have now been three bad seasons following each other;
and this calamity has caused so much distress, that thousands have
died of fevers and other diseases, occasioned by want of wholesome
and sufficient food.
31. The Parliament expended several millions of money in relieving
their distresses, and providing them employment. Large sums of
money were also subscribed by individuals in England, Scotland, and
America, for the relief of the people in Ireland; and charitable
committees were formed in many parts of that country to receive the
money, and distribute the food and clothing purchased with it.
32. New poor laws have also been made by the government, to afford
greater relief to the destitute; and every thing has been done, that
humanity could suggest, to better their condition and relieve their
wants.
33. The year 1848 will ever be memorable for the revolutions that
have taken place in France and other parts of the continent. Louis
Philippe, the French king, was dethroned on the 24th of February,
1848, and fled with his family, to England.
34. At Berlin, the capital of Prussia, there was also an insurrection
in March, 1848, when a frightful battle was fought in the streets,
between the soldiers and the people.
35. Great numbers of persons were killed on both sides, and many
houses were destroyed; and although peace was restored by the king
granting the demands of his subjects, yet that could not bring back
happiness to those who had lost their fathers, husbands, or brothers,
in the fatal conflict.
36. Besides those already named, revolutions, attended with great
loss of life and destruction of property, have taken place at Vienna,
the capital of Austria, and other parts of Germany. Italy, too, has
shared in the spread of revolution; Naples, Milan, and Venice, having
been scenes of fearful tumult and destruction of life.
37. In most of the places I have mentioned, the people having been
fighting for a constitutional form of government, similar to that of
our own happy united kingdom; conveying the strongest proof that we
ought not to wish for a change. Yet there have been some attempts
made to disturb the peace of this country, by ill-informed or
worthless persons.
38. Perhaps the desire for some increase in the number of the
electors, and in the places represented in parliament, by uniting the
adjacent towns to the small boroughs, is not unreasonable.
39. But when we think of the dreadful state of things in France,
Italy and Germany, where so many thousands of people have lost their
lives, where trade is ruined, where the middle classes are reduced to
poverty, and the working people, in consequence, starving, for want
of employment, we cannot be too thankful for the peace, the liberty,
and prosperity, we enjoy in this more favored and happier country.
QUESTIONS.
1. Who succeeded George the Third?
6. What was the Reform Bill?
8. Who succeeded George the Fourth, and in what year?
9. When was the first Railway opened?
13. When was slavery abolished in the West Indies?
17. When did William the Fourth die?
17. When did Victoria ascend the throne?
18. Who did Victoria marry?
19. Name the principal events of her reign.
22. What gave rise to the war in China?
23. How did it end?
24. Why was the war in India commenced?
26. What has been the result?
28. What has caused great misery in Ireland?
31. What has been done for the relief of the Irish people?
33. What has taken place in France?
36. Where have other Revolutions taken place?
THE END.
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THE RUINED GAMESTER;
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“Mr. Arthur’s moral stories have justly received high commendation.
Their object is to improve, refine, and elevate the mind and the
manners.”--_Alexandria Gazette._
“They are all of thrilling interest, and high moral tendencies, and
should be in every family.”--_Fredricksburg, Va. News._
Moral Popular Tales.
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Three Eras in the Life of Woman.
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Little Mill Dam, &c.
Select and Original Tales.
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The Little Gardener.
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Perseverance under Difficulties.
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Henry of Eichenfels,
AND OTHER SELECT STORIES,
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FRANK FAIRFIELD,
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interesting.”--_Godey’s Lady’s Book._
STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE,
BY MISS ELIZA LESLIE.
CONTAINING
The Tell Tale.
The Boarding School Feast.
The Week of Idleness.
Madeline Malcom.
_18mo., Muslin, Gilt Back. Price 38 Cents._
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ANNALS AND OCCURRENCES
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_From the Days of the Founders_:
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With Pictorial Illustrations.
“Oh! dear is a tale of olden time.”
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POETICAL WORKS
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L. E. LANDON’S
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2.
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32mo. 384 PAGES.
VARIOUS STYLES OF BINDING.
POETICAL WORKS
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Muslin, Gilt Back, Side and Edges, $1 25.
ALSO,
MINIATURE EDITION OF THE SAME.
ONE VOLUME, 32mo.
VARIOUS STYLES OF BINDING.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Occurrences of ‘every body’, ‘any body’ and ‘no body’ have been
changed to ‘everybody’, ‘anybody’ and ‘nobody’.
For consistency, a few occurrences of ‘King’ and ‘Queen’ have been
changed to ‘king’ and ‘queen’.
Table of Contents:
Pg 8 Chapter X: ‘1216 to 1399’ replaced by ‘1216 to 1377’.
Pg 8 Chapter XI: ‘1392 to 1422’ replaced by ‘1377 to 1422’.
Pg 8 Chapter XIV: ‘1558 to 1613’ replaced by ‘1558 to 1603’.
Main text:
Pg 75: ‘te whichever of’ replaced by ‘to whichever of’.
Pg 81: ‘that the peeple’ replaced by ‘that the people’.
Pg 93: ‘was obiged to’ replaced by ‘was obliged to’.
Pg 95: ‘1216 TO 1399’ replaced by ‘1216 TO 1377’.
Pg 98: ‘was to conquor’ replaced by ‘was to conquer’.
Pg 107: ‘there. fore, his’ replaced by ‘therefore, his’.
Pg 110: ‘1392 TO 1429’ replaced by ‘1377 TO 1422’.
Pg 122: ‘youth of oighteen’ replaced by ‘youth of eighteen’.
Pg 123: ‘to bo very much’ replaced by ‘to be very much’.
Pg 130: ‘the poor pesantry’ replaced by ‘the poor peasantry’.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Child's Pictorial History of England" ***
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