1199.] DEATH OF RICHARD. 331 so long as you have met with your end, after having inflicted evils so many and so great upon the world.' On this the king ordered him to be released, and said, 'I forgive you my death."" This part of the dying man's wishthis last effort of a nature not altogether cruel-was disregarded. Marchades, the chief of the hireling soldiers called Routiers, after Richard's death flayed the youth alive, and then hanged him. Accession of John-Arthur of Brittany-War for the succession to England and the French provinces-Peace with Philip of France-Blanche of Castile-Insurrection in Poitou against John-Arthur taken prisoner-His death-The States of Brittany demand justice against John-Total loss of Normandy and other provinces-Pope Innocent III.-His quarrel with John-England placed under an Interdict-Ireland - Wales - London Bridge completed - Consequences of the Interdict-John excommunicated and deposed by the Pope Philip about to invade England-John swears fealty to the Pope The Barons resist John's demands Stephen Langton, the archbishop - League of the Churchmen and Barons-Runnymede-Magna Charta-Its provisions, and their effects upon the nation. HE first Richard died on the 6th of April, 1199. The reign of John commences from Ascension-day, the 27th of May, when he was crowned at Westminster. In this interval of fifty days the future destiny of England remained uncertain. It was the will of a beneficent Providence that the island should be separated from France; and that the interests of her ruling classes being concentrated under one monarchy, the people should rapidly advance in the attainment of just government. The crimes and weaknesses of the new king were the chief instruments of this important revolution. Had the crown of England descended by strict hereditary succession, Arthur, the son of Geoffrey, the third son of Henry II., would have been king in preference to John, the fifth son of Henry. But * 333 Arthur was a boy of twelve years; John was thirty-two. According to the speech of Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, at the coronation, the claims of Arthur were glanced at "as a more lawful descent of inheritance pretended by others." But to the assembled prelates and peers the Archbishop said, "You are come hither this day to choose you a king, and such a one as, if need shall require, may be able of himself to take such a charge upon him; and having undertaken the same, ready to execute that which he shall think to be expedient for the benefit of his subjects." Much controversy has arisen about the authenticity of this speech, as given in the chronicle of Roger of Wendover; for it assumes the monarchy to be elective, somewhat beyond the warrant of the constitution. John's claim, on the ground of hereditary right, was, that being the surviving brother of the late deceased king, he was nearer of kin to him than Arthur, the son of Richard's brother. The claims of Arthur had not been overlooked in England, in the interval between the death of Richard and the coronation of John. But the interests of the young prince had been overpowered by the promises which the Archbishop and the Justiciary had held out at a great council at Northampton, and by respect for the will of the deceased king. In Normandy, also, the pretensions of John were recognised without opposition, as well as in Aquitaine and Poitou. But in Maine, Touraine, and Anjou, the cause of the young Plantagenet was openly espoused. John, alarmed at the position of his continental authority, returned to Normandy before the end of June. Philip of France, the most politic of monarchs, saw clearly his position. There had been, since the conquest of England, two mighty sovereigns of France. The Plantagenet race, at one period, seemed not unlikely to swallow up the race of Capet, and to become the sole heads of the greatest empire of the world. The time was come for a real trial of strength. The battle had been fought, without any decisive results, with Richard, who had many of the qualities of a great warrior, however wanting in those of a sagacious king. Another had succeeded who was neither wise nor warlike. The rival claim of the young Arthur of Brittany was the weak point in the succession of John. Shakspere has put this with historical fidelity. The wilfulness of John, and, more than wilfulness, his licentious, cruel, and treacherous nature, precluded a compromise of this dispute, and converted it into a struggle for one-half of France with the king, to whom he owed fealty. Happy was it for England, and for Normandy and the other provinces, that the suzerain was the conqueror. Philip of France espoused the cause of Arthur, not from any regard to justice, or any sympathy for an injured youth. The boy was a tool in his * This Chronicle, which precedes that of Matthew Paris, was, until recently, assigned to that historian, who merely transcribed it. "Philip of France, in right and true behalf Of thy deceased brother Geoffrey's son, To Ireland, Poitiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine; King John, Act i. scene i. 334 WAR WITH PHILIP-SECOND WAR. [1200-1202. hands, to be taken up, or laid aside, as best suited the purposes of this wary politician. Constance, the mother of Arthur, was the reigning duchess of Brittany. There is one delineation of her character, as the impersonation of maternal love, which will always take the place of the historical belief that she was a weak and selfish woman. In Arthur's interest, Philip invaded Normandy, and placed garrisons in Anjou, Maine, and Touraine. There was war for eight months between the rival kings, and then an armistice. During the two months of this suspension of hostilities John was in England. In one of the most remarkable monuments of antiquarian industry, the movements of king John have been traced from the first day of his reign to the last, in a chronological Table, which shows at what places a vast number of official documents of this period were dated.* From this Itinerary we learn that in March, and the first part of April, of the year 1200, the king was at Winchester, Windsor, Westminster, Woodstock, Northampton, Clipstone, Tickhill, York, Bolsover, Derby, Burton-upon-Trent, Lichfield, Worcester, Farringdon. This is a considerable tour in the days of bad roads. In the latter half of April he is again at Windsor and Westminster, and then slowly journeys by Guildford, Alton, and Bishop's Waltham to Porchester. On the 2nd of May he is once more in Normandy. England does not see him again till October. On the 23rd of May the kings of France and England conclude a peace. The interests of Arthur are abandoned by Philip, and he is compelled to do homage to his uncle for Brittany. John has a niece, Blanche of Castile, whom he endows with money and fiefs as her marriage-portion; for the alliance is to be cemented by Lewis, the son of Philip, becoming the husband of Blanche. But John belongs to that order of minds who make for themselves great reverses. He had been married since 1189 to Hadwisa, the daughter of William, earl of Gloucester. He now finds it convenient to obtain a divorce on the usual plea of consanguinity; for he had fallen into that desperate state of passion miscalled love, which tyrants, whether Plantagenet or Tudor, have claimed the privilege to gratify at every cost of honour or decency. In his progress through Aquitaine he had seen the beautiful betrothed of Hugh, count of La Marche; and the lady, although she was privately espoused as some believe, was tempted to violate her faith and become the wife of John. He went to England in October, 1200, to be crowned with his new queen; but there were consequences of that unlawful marriage which the passionate king did not expect. The count of La Marche headed an insurrection against John in Poitou and Aquitaine. The force which the king of England brought into the field was too strong for him to resist. But the count had a secret ally in the crafty Philip, to whom he appealed to redress his wrongs. John, from the June of 1201 to the December of 1203, was away from England. During these two years and a half he lost Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Touraine. All that had been inherited from William of Normandy, and Fulk of Anjou, was gone. In 1202 Philip was again at war with John. The ostensible cause was the injury and insult to the count of La Marche, for the redress of whose wrongs there were many confederate barons and knights in arms. King 66 Description of the Patent Rolls, to which is added an Itinerary of King John," by Thomas Duffus Hardy Published by the Record Commission. |