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their parole, had returned to France; some of the territory stipulated had never been ceded; the sovereign title to the whole had been withheld by Charles, who had watched with a sharp eye the decaying vigour of King Edward, now an old man, and the shattered health of the Black Prince, who, melancholy and spirit-broken, was evidently sinking to a premature grave. The expedition for Don Pedro proved a curse in more ways than one-it so embarrassed the prince that he was obliged to impose additional taxes upon his subjects of Guienne, in order to obtain the means of paying his army. Upon this the Count of Armagnac, and other Gascon lords, already in | the interest of France, went to Paris, and appealed to the King of France, as the lord paramount. Charles had waited patiently for years, but he now thought that circumstances, and, above all, the deplorable state of the prince's health, would allow him to declare himself. He summoned Edward, as Prince of Aquitaine and his vassal (which he was not since the treaty of Bretigny), to appear in his court at Paris. The prince replied that he would go, indeed, to Paris, but it should be at the head of 60,000 men. His father, however, was less violent; and, lowering his claims, the elder Edward, setting aside some territory which had been included in the treaty of Bretigny, said he would content himself with the separate sovereignty of Guienne and Poictou. But Charles took this moderation as a certain proof of weakness, and, declaring the Prince of Aquitaine to be contumacious, he poured his troops into his territories.

Edward now re-assumed his title of King of France, and offered lands and honours in that kingdom to any soldier of fortune that could conquer them with his good sword. He sent reinforcements to the Black Prince in the south; and at the same time despatched his other brave son, the Duke of Lancaster, with a gallant army from Calais. The duke marched through the north-western provinces, but the French would not risk an engagement with him; and while he laid waste the open country, Charles gradually extended his conquests in the south. The Black Prince was sick almost to death, but when he heard that the Dukes of Anjou and Berri were marching against him from opposite points, he roused himself and took the field. The royal dukes had not heart to meet him-they both retreated with precipitation; and, after garrisoning the places they had acquire 1, they disbanded their army. Limoges, the capital of the Limousin, had been betrayed to the dukes by the bishop and the inhabitants; and the prince was the more sensible to this treachery, as it was a place upon which he had conferred many honours and benefits. He swore by the soul of his father,

that he would have the town back again-that he would not move or attend to any other thing until he got it-and that then he would make the traitors pay dearly for their perfidy. He was now so ill that he could not mount his horse, but he caused himself to be carried on a litter from post to post. After a month's siege Limoges was breached and stormed. Men, women, and children threw themselves on their knees before the prince, crying, "Mercy! mercy!" but he would not hear them. They were all murdered upwards of 3000. John de Villemur, Hugh de la Roche, and the other knights whom the dukes had thrown into Limoges, retreated to one of the squares, placed themselves with their backs to an old wall, and resolved to sell their lives dearly. The English knights, as soon as they saw them thus, dismounted, and attacked them on foot. The French fought with the courage of despair against very superior numbers. The prince, who came up in his litter, looked on with admiration at their feats, and he became mild and merciful at the sight. Some of the French knights, looking at their swords, said, "We are yours—you have conquered-treat us according to the laws of arms." Edward relented; and, instead of being massacred, they were received as prisoners. But no mercy was shown to any of the meaner sort; the whole city of Limoges was ransacked, and then burned to the ground. The massacre of Limoges was the last military exploit of the Black Prince. Hoping that the air of his native country might benefit his ruined constitution, he returned to England, leaving the command in the south to his brother John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

Soon after his departure the Duke of Lancaster, 'having now married the Lady Constance, eldest daughter of Don Pedro, assumed in her right the arms and title of King of Castile and Leon," an imprudent step, which complicated the difficulties of the English. In the month of June, 1372, when the Earl of Pembroke came off Rochelle with a fleet carrying reinforcements to the duke, he found a Spanish fleet, consisting of ships far larger than his own, and furnished with engines

probably cannons-lying between La Rochelle and the Isle of Rhé. Pembroke either could not or would not avoid a battle: he fought desperately the whole day, and renewed the unequal combat on the morrow; but at last, his ship was grappled by four Spanish ships at once, and boarded on every side: he was made prisoner,

The Bishop of Limoges, the real offender, escaped death through the management of the Duke of Lancaster.

2 The daughters of Don Pedro were illegitimate; but after the death of their mother, the celebrated Maria Padilla, he took an oath that he had been married to her, and he declared her daughters his heirs.

and not a single sail of his fleet escaped. Many truce was concluded for one year only; but this was subsequently renewed, and lasted till the death of Edward. At this time all that the English king retained of his continental dominions was Bordeaux, Bayonne, a few towas on the Dordogne, and his own important conquest of Calais, with a strip of territory round it.

of them went down with their flags flying; and a
ship carrying the military chest, with
£20,000 in it, sank with the rest.
From this time, one ill success follow-
ed another with amazing rapidity.
Charles V., who not without reason
was called "the Wise," had deter-
mined not to hazard a general bat-
tle with the English.

Sir Robert

Knowles swept the whole of France
from Calais to the walls of Paris,
which he insulted; and the Duke of
Lancaster marched through France
from one end to the other without
meeting any opposition; but they
found all the important fortresses
and great towns well guarded, and
they both lost many men from want
of provisions, while every straggler
from their armies was cut to pieces.
The Duke of Lancaster marched
and counter-marched, but could
never bring the French to a battle.
He concluded a truce with the Duke
of Anjou, and departed for Eng-
'and; but as soon as he had gone
Charles broke the armistice.

The pope had
never ceased his

A.D. 1374. endeavours to secure a lasting peace; his legates had followed the army of the Duke of Lancaster in all his last campaign, and other envoys were constantly about the court of Charles. When the French had gained almost all they could hope to get, and when Edward's confidence in

BLACK PRINCE,1

On his return to England, the Black Prince embraced a course of popular opposition in parliament; and if he irritated his old father thereby, he had the good fortune to please the nation, whose idol he had ever been. But the state of his health obliged him to seek quiet and retirement; and then the Duke of Lancaster monopolized all the authority of government; for the king had become indolent and reckless, and, like other heroes in their old age, a slave to a young and beautiful woman. Philippa, Edward's excellent wife, had died seven

years before, and the fortunes of her husband were overcast from the day of her death. Alice Perrers, a married woman, whose wit is said to have equalled her beauty, and who had been a lady of the bed-chamber to the queen, so captivated Edward that he could refuse her nothing, and was never happy except when he was in her company. Among other presents he gave her the late queen's jewels, and these Alice was vain enough

his own resources was broken MILITARY ACCOUTREMENTS OF EDWARD THE to show in public. She soon by long disappointment, the ar

rangement for a treaty was commenced at the town of Bruges. After months of negotiation, a

became an object of popular outcry, as well as parliamentary censure, which, however, she little regarded; and she continued

1 The military accoutrements of the Black Prince, which are in narrow longitudinal portions, and lined with linen. It is suspended by an iron rod above his tomb in Canterbury Cathe- remarkable that there is no file either on this surcoat or the dral, are extremely curious. They are, perhaps, the most shield. The helmet is of iron, and has been lined within with ancient remains of the kind existing; and, as might be expected, leather; besides the sights for the eyes, it has on the right side convey information on points which, but for such evidence, can in front a number of holes drilled in the form of a coronet, be gained only by inference. The shield fastened to the column for the purpose of giving air to the wearer. The chapeau and at the head of the tomb is of wood, entirely covered with leopard upon it appear to be formed with cloth, covered with a leather, wrought in such a manner that the fleur de lis and white composition. The leopard is gilt, and the cap painted lions stand forth with a boldness of relief and finish that, when red, the facing white, with ermine spots, the inside lined with we consider the material employed, is truly wonderful, at the velvet. The gauntlets are brass, and remarkable for their simisame time possessing even to this day a nature so firm and larity to those represented on the hands of the effigy, with tough, that it must have been an excellent substitute for metal. this exception, that they have, in addition, leopards standing This is, beyond doubt, the celebrated cuir boulli so often spoken erect on the knuckles. The leather which appears on the inner of by the writers of the time. The surcoat, till closely examined, side is ornamentally worked up the sides of the fingers with silk. gives but little idea of its original splendour, as the whole is The sword is said to have been taken away by Oliver Cromwell. now in colour a dusky brown; it has short sleeves, and is made The sheath which contained it yet remains; it appears to be to lace up the centre of the back; its outward surface is velvet, leather, has been painted red, and ornamented on the outer side upon which is richly embroidered with silk and gold the lions with gilt studs. There is yet a portion of the belt with the buckle and fleurs de lis. The whole of the surcoat is quilted or gam-attached; this belt is not of leather, but of cloth, the eighth of based with cotton, to the thickness of three quarters of an inch, an inch thick. Stothard's Monumental Effigies of Great Britain

to retain her ascendancy over the old king to young prince to the two Houses as "the fair and the last.'

But the nation lost all thoughts of Alice Perrers in the great event which now took place. The Black Prince died on Trinity Sunday, the 8th day of June, 1376. It will appear, from our narrative, that this extraordinary man, though generally both merciful and generous, was not wholly exempt from the vices and barbarity of his times; but it is clear, from the universal popularity which he enjoyed at home, and from the frequent praises extorted from his bitterest enemies abroad, that he had endearing qualities, and many virtues beside those of gallantry and courage, in which he was probably never surpassed by a mortal being. So entirely had the nation been accustomed to look up to him, that though the melancholy event had long been expected, his death seemed to toll the knell of the country's glory.

The nation seemed well inclined to transfer all their affection to Prince Edward's only surviving legitimate son, Richard of Bordeaux, who was only in his tenth year; and a few days after the funeral, parliament petitioned the king to introduce the young prince among them, that he might receive the honours due to him as heir to the crown. The dislike of Prince Richard's uncle, the Duke of Lancaster, who was suspected of aiming at the throne, no doubt hastened this With the full consent of the old king, the Archbishop of Canterbury presented the

measure.

"It will be remembered by every one who has read our history, that in the latter years of Edward's life, his fame was tarnished by the ascendancy of the Duke of Lancaster and Alice Perrers. The former, a man of more ambition than his capacity seems to have warranted, even incurred the suspicion of meditating to set aside the heir of the crown when the Black Prince should have sunk into the grave. Whether he were wronged or not by these conjectures, they certainly appear to have operated on those most concerned to take alarm at them. A parliament met in April, 1376, wherein the general unpopularity of the king's administration, or the influence of the Prince of Wales, led to very remarkable consequences. After granting a subsidy, the commons, considering the evils of the country, through so many wars and other causes, and that the officers now in the king's service are insufficient, without farther assistance, for so great a charge, pray that the council be strengthened by the addition of ten or twelve bishops, lords, and others, to be constantly at hand, so that no business of weight should be despatched without the consent of all; nor smaller matters without that of four or six. The king pretended to come with alacrity into this measure, which was followed by a strict restraint on them and all other officers from taking presents in the course of their duty."-Hallam, State of Europe during the Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 80. After relating some farther measures of this popular parliament, Mr. Hallam remarks that no House of Commons would have gone such lengths on the mere support of popular opinion unless instigated and encouraged by higher authority, which authority was in this case that of the Prince of Wales-the Black Prince. Consequently, on the premature death of that il of the people, Lancaster recovered his influence, and the favourites whom the Commons had specially attacked returned to court. Nay, a parliament met next year which overthrew the

perfect image of his father,” and the successor to all his rights. Lancaster, however, resumed all his former power; and as soon as the Black Prince was dead, the whole efficacy of the parliamentary opposition which he had directed ceased. Sir Peter de la Mare, the speaker of the Commons, was arrested, and William of Wyekham, the celebrated Bishop of Winchester, was deprived of his temporalities without trial, and dismissed the court. In the next parliament, which met on the 27th of January, 1377, the duke had a strong majority. Although forming a very weak minority, there still existed an opposition with spirit enough to speak and remonstrate; and while the Commons demanded, in right of the Great Charter, that Sir Peter de la Mare should be liberated or put upon his trial, the bishops demanded the same thing in behalf of their brother of Winchester. Wycliffe, a poor parish priest, the precursor of Huss, Luther, Calvin, and the great men who effected the Reformation, had long been preaching and writing against the abuses of the Catholic clergy; and his party, though small, already included some persons of the highest rank in England. It is generally stated that the Duke of Lancaster took up the cause of Wycliffe, who was lying under a dangerous prosecution, merely to spite the bench of bishops. On the day of trial, when the English reformer stood up to plead in the great church of St. Paul's, before Courtenay, Bishop of Lon

work of its predecessor, restored those who had been impeached, and repealed the ordinance against Alice Perrers. "So little security," says Mr. Hallam, "will popular assemblies ever afford against arbitrary power, when deprived of regular leaders and the consciousness of mutual fidelity." But parliamentary corruption seemed to be so common at elections, that with the rise or fall of parties at court, one might reckon on the most rapid changes in the proceedings of parliament. Still something was gained even by the House of Commons being employed as an engine for the subversion of an obnoxious party by attacking it on just grounds, and here Mr. Hallam judiciously remarks:"The policy adopted by the Prince of Wales and Earl of March in employing the House of Commons as an engine of attack against an obnoxious ministry, was perfectly novel, and indicates a sensible change in the character of our constitution. In the reign of Edward II., parliament had little share in resisting the government; much more was effected by the barons through risings of their feudal tenantry. Fifty years of authority better respected-of law better enforced-had rendered these more perilous, and of a more violent appearance than formerly. A surer resource presented itself in the increased weight of the Lower House in parliament. And this indirect aristocratical influence gave a surprising influence to that assembly, and particularly tended to establish beyond question its control over public abuses. Is it less just to remark that it also tended to preserve the relation and harmony between each part and the other, and to prevent that jarring of emulation and jealousy, which, though generally found in the division of power between a noble and a popular estate, has scarcely ever caused a dissension, except in cases of little moment, between our two Houses of Parliament."-Hallam, State of Burope dur ing the Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 84.

don, he was accompanied and supported by the duke, and by his friend, the Lord Percy, marshal of England. These two great laymen were so ardent, that a violent altercation ensued in the church between them and the bishop: Lancaster, it is said, even threatened to drag the prelate out of the church by the hair of his head. The Londoners hotly resented the insult offered to their bishop. On the next morning a mob broke open the lordmarshal's house, and killed an unlucky priest whom they mistook for Earl Percy in disguise. They then proceeded to the Savoy, the duke's palace, and gutted it. The riot was so terrible that it interrupted the debates in parliament; and one of the last audiences of the great Edward was given at Shene (now Richmond) to the lord-mayor and aldermen of the city of London, who were brought there to submit themselves to the duke, and crave pardon for their grievous offence.

When parliament resumed

1 Walsingham; Rot. Parl.; Rym.; Stow. 2 "A silent alteration had been wrought on the condition and character of the lower classes during the reign of Edward III. This was the effect of increased knowledge and refinement, which had been making a considerable progress for fully half a century, though they did not readily permeate the cold region of poverty and ignorance. It was natural that the country people, or outlandish folk, as they were called, should

business, they took into consideration the circumstance that the truce with France was on the

EFFIGY OF EDWARD III. IN OLD AGE, From his tomb in Westminster Abbey.

repine at the exclusion from that enjoyment of competence and security for the fruits of their labour which the inhabitants of towns so fully possessed. The fourteenth century was, in many parts of Europe, the age when a sense of political servitude was most keenly felt. Thus the insurrection of the Jacquerie in France, about the year 1358, had the same character, and resulted in a great measure from the same causes as that of the English peasants in 1382. And we may account in a similar manner for the democratical tone of the French and Flemish cities, and for the prevalence of a spirit of liberty in Germany and Switzerland. "I do not know whether we should attribute part of this revolutionary concussion to the preaching of Wycliffe's disciples, or look upon both the one and the other as phenomena belonging to that particular epoch in the progress of society. New principles, both as to civil rule and religion, broke suddenly upon the uneducated mind, to render it bold, presumptuous, and turbulent. But at least I make little doubt that the dislike of ecclesiastical power, which spread so rapidly among the people

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point of expiring; and to provide for a renewal of the war, which seemed probable, they granted an aid in the shape of a poll-tax -a disastrous precedent. In the month of February the king had completed the fiftieth year of his reign, and he published a general amnesty for all minor offences. This was Edward's last public act. He spent the remaining four months of his life between Eltham Palace and the beautiful manor of Shene. Decay had fallen alike on body and spirit The ministers and courtiers crowded round the Duke of Lan X caster or round Prince Richard and his mother. The old man was left alone with his mistress and even she, it is said, after drawing his valuable ring from: his finger, abandoned him in his dving moments. Edward died at Shene, on the 21st of June, 1377. in the sixty-fifth year of his life,' and the fifty-first of his reign.

at this season, connected itself with a spent of insubordination, and an intolerance of political subjection. Both were nourished by the same teachers-the lower cular clergy; and, however distinct we may think a religious reformation from a civil anarchy, there was a good deal common in the language by which the poplace were inflamed to either one or the other. Even the Scripture moralities, which were then exhibited, and which became the foundation of our theatre, afforded fuel to the spirit of sedition. The common original and common destination of mankind, with every other lesson of equality which religion supplies to humble or to console, were displayed in coarse and glaring features in these representations. The familiarity of such ideas has deadened their effect upon our minds; but when a rude peasant, surprisingly destitute of religions instruction during that corrupt age of the church, was led at once to these impressive truths, we cannot be surprised at the intoxication of mind they produced."—Hallam's Middle Ages, vol ib. p. 265.

3 The effigy is of copper, gilt; it is in a grand simple style. The hair flows over the neck, and the beard is forked, as thes worn. The mantle is fastened to the shoulder by a broad band, which extends across the breast. The dalmatica is under neath, gathered in a few broad and beautifully disposed folris He has had a sceptre in either hand, denoting his double do minion.

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CHAPTER VII.-CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY.

RICHARD II., SURNAMED OF BORDEAUX.-ACCESSION, A.D. 1377-ABDICATED AND DEPOSED, A.D. 1399.

Richard II., son of the Black Prince, succeeds Edward III.-Duke of Lancaster suspected of aiming at the throne -The English coast invaded by the French-Lancaster's unsuccessful attempt to retaliate-Naval encounter between the English and Scots-Unsuccessful expedition to France-Discontent of the English commons at the capitation tax-The Wat Tyler insurrection-Its progress-Lawless proceedings of the insurgents-Their proposed terms-Interview of the king with their leader - Wat Tyler killed-Marriage of Richard II.-Condition of Flanders, and its civil wars-Flanders invaded by the Bishop of Norwich-Dissensions among the royal family of England-Castile invaded by the Duke of Lancaster-The Duke of Gloucester usurps the control of government-His tyrannical proceedings-Battle of Otterbourne-Richard II. suddenly asserts his right to rule-He visits Ireland-The Duke of Gloucester's mysterious imprisonment His unexplained death --Obsequiousness of parliament-Quarrel between the Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk-Both banished-The Duke of Hereford returns during Richard's absence-Richard at his return to England is forsaken and taken captive-He is deposed-Henry, Duke of Hereford, claims the crown-He is elected king.

HE funeral obsequies of the late | gravely of the intuitive wisdom, and of the heroking occupied some time, but onism of a child not yet eleven years old. These

July 16th,

1377, Ric

hard was
crowned

in Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was unusually splendid, but the fatigue and excitement were too much for the royal boy, who, after being anointed and crowned, was so completely exhausted that they were obliged to carry him in a litter to his apartment. After some rest he was summoned to the great hall, where he created four

earls and nine knights,

and partook of a mag

nificent banquet, which was followed by a ball, minstrelsy, and other somewhat turbulent festivities of the time.' Considerable pains were taken to spoil this young king from the first; such adulation and prostrations had not been seen before in England; and if the bishops and courtiers did not preach to the boy the "Divine right,"

they seem to have made

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men were indisputably answerable for much of the mischief that followed; but now the

beauty of the young king's person, and the memory of his father, endeared him to his people, and a long time passed before they would think any ill of the son of their idol, the Black Prince. The Duke of Lancaster, the titular King of Castile, more popularly known under the name of "John of Gaunt," had long been suspected of

the project of supplanting his nephew; but

his unpopularity was great, and he yielded with tolerably good grace to the force of circumstances. As if on purpose to exclude the duke, no regular regency was appointed; but the morning after the coronation the prelates and barons chose, "in aid of the chancellor and treasurer," twelve permanent councillors, among whom not one of the king's John of Gaunt withdrew to

PORTRAIT OF RICHARD II.-From the Jerusalem Chamber,

Westminster Abbey.

a near approach to that doctrine; and they spoke | uncles was named.

1 Walsingham. He gives an elaborate account of the coronation.

VOL. I.

He was so called from the town of Ghent or Gand (then pronounced Gaunt), the place of his birth.

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