A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy

Chapter XXI: Introduction (20)

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Scotland, does fealty to Eadward the Elder, 10;
to Æthelstan, 11;
rebels, and defeated at Brunanburh, 11;
the Lothians added to it, 14;
submits to Cnut, 20;
does homage to William I., 46;
invades England, 51;
the Lowlands anglicized, 52;
war with William II., 58;
does homage for Huntingdon to Henry II., 90, 91;
does homage to Henry II., 105;
repurchases its independence from Richard I., 116;
does homage to John, 128, 132;
peace and marriage treaty with Henry III., 143;
its relations with England, 180;
extinction of the royal family, 181;
rival claimants, 182;
Balliol made king, 183;
conquered by Edward I., 186;
Wallace’s rebellion, 189, 190;
reconquered by Edward I., 191;
Bruce’s rebellion, 192;
invaded by Edward II., 198, 200;
battle of Bannockburn, 203;
truce with England, 206;
Bruce acknowledged king by Edward II., 208;
war with Edward III., 214;
Edward Balliol’s invasion, 216;
does fealty to Edward III., 217;
David Bruce’s invasion, 228;
Edward III.’s “Burnt Candlemas,” 231;
peace with England, 232;
war with Richard II., 246;
refuses homage to Henry IV., 278;
imprisonment of James II., 281;
released, 304;
murdered, 315;
truce with England, 316;
independent spirit of, 339;
truce with, 347

Scrope, William, made Earl of Wiltshire, 252

Scrope, Henry of Masham (nephew of the Earl), his conspiracy with
Cambridge, executed, 292

Scrope, Archbishop of York, his conspiracy with Mowbray, executed, 281

Scutage, first instance of, 91;
second, 93;
reason for, 109;
explained, 113;
demanded by John, 136;
restricted by Magna Charta, 138;
demanded by Henry III., 148

Sheriff, his duties, 32;
untrustworthy, 75;
court of, 76;
peculation of, 106;
restrained by Magna Charta, 139

Shire, origin of, 31, 32

Sibylla, wife of Robert of Normandy, 65

Sicily, Richard I. and Philip in, 117;
genealogy of the kings of, 125;
Papal efforts to drive the Hohenstaufen from, 156;
accepted by Edmund, son of Henry III., 157;
renounced by the council, 161;
given to Charles of Anjou, 168;
conquered by Aragon, 177

Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, succeeds Dunstan, 16

Sigismund, visit of, 297

Simon de Montfort, his ancestors, marriage, goes on a crusade, 152;
his government of Gascony, 156;
quarrel with Valence, 158;
surrenders his castles, 160;
quarrels with Gloucester, 161;
chief of the baronial party, 162;
wins the battle of Lewes, 163;
his rule, 164;
his parliament, 165;
killed at Evesham, his property confiscated, 167;
the people’s love for him, 169

Siward, Earl of Northumberland, assists Edward against Godwine, 22;
mentioned in Macbeth, 23

Slaves, causes of bondage, 29;
at the Conquest, 35;
English slaves in Scotland, 52;
forbidden by the Church, 71

Soken, meaning of, 33

Sokmen, 35

Somerset, John, Lieutenant-General in France, 316;
commits suicide, 319

Somerset, Edmund, succeeds him in France, 319;
returns, triumphs over York, 321;
killed at St. Albans, 323

Somerset, Henry, in power, 324;
flies to Scotland, joins Edward IV., rejoins Henry VI., killed at
Hexham, 329

Stafford, Henry, second Duke of Buckingham, marries Catherine
Woodville, 331;
head of the old nobility, 341;
supports Richard III., 342;
joins Henry Tudor, 345;
executed, 346

Stafford, Sir Humphrey, defeated by Jack Cade, 320, (distant relation
of the Duke’s)

Stafford, Humphrey (cousin of Sir Humphrey), Earl of Devonshire,
defeated, 332

Stafford, Sir Humphrey, prevents Buckingham from joining Henry
Tudor, 346

Stanley, one of the new nobility, 341;
apprehended, 343;
made constable, 344;
marries Margaret of Richmond, 347;
joins Henry Tudor, 348

St. Brice, massacre of, 17

Staple, Calais a staple town, 228;
origin of, 257;
rearranged by Edward IV., 330

Statutes--
Of Carlisle, 265
De Donis conditionalibus, 196
De Hæretico comburendo, 276, 285
Of Labourers, 267
De Mercatoribus, 258
Of Mortmain, 175, 196
Of Præmunire, 250, 266
Of Provisors, 250, 265
Quia Emptores, 194, 196, 264
Of Stamford, 200
De Tallagio, 188
Of Wales, 176
Of Westminster, 174, 193, 195, 200
Of Winchester, 177, 195

Stephen, second son of Stephen of Blois and Adela, daughter of
William I., swears fealty to Matilda, 69;
secures the throne, 77;
his character, 78;
goes to Normandy, purchases peace with Anjou, 79;
makes peace with Scotland, grants castles, and creates earldoms, 80;
by mercenaries defeats Gloucester’s insurrection, 81;
offends the Church, 81, 82;
taken prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, 83;
released in exchange for Gloucester, defeated at Wilton, 84;
deserted by many of his nobles and by the Pope, 85;
accepts Henry as his heir, dies, misery caused by his weakness, 86

Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, 23;
does not receive the Pallium from the Pope, 36, 49;
William I. will not be crowned by, seeks his ruin, 42;
is deposed, 48

Stratford, John of, made Chancellor, 216;
his quarrel with Edward III., 221

Strathclyde, its extent, 3;
peopled by Danes, 8;
does fealty to Eadward, 10;
Eadmund grants part of it to Scotland, 12

Suffolk. [See Pole.]

Swegen, or Swend, son of King of Denmark, invades England, 16;
his sister massacred, 17;
his great invasion, made King of England, 18

Swend, King of Denmark, nephew of Cnut, willing to help the
English, 44;
sends a fleet, 46, 47

Talbot, Sir John, defeated at Pataye, 310;
defeats Burgundians, 315;
dies, 321

Tallage, exacted by Matilda, 84;
explained, 113;
considered illegal after Edward I., 195

Tannegui Duchâtel, becomes Master of France, 296;
rescues the Dauphin, 299;
murders Burgundy, 300

Taxes, before the Conquest, 35;
whence derived, 38;
on land, 54;
no appeal against, 72;
Henry I.’s, 73;
in the hands of the King and Council, 76;
Henry II. introduces scutage, 93;
his revenue, 113;
Richard I.’s tax on land, 125;
John’s severe taxes, 128, 133;
restricted by Magna Charta, 138;
complaints against De Burgh’s, 144;
Henry III. demands scutage, 148;
tallages and aids, 155;
Edward I. establishes customs, 174;
his heavy taxes, 185, 186;
clergy outlawed for refusing to pay, 187;
complaints against, 188;
method of levying changed, 193, 194;
restricted by the Ordinances, 201;
Edward III.’s Maletolte, 219;
his subsidies, 223;
the poll tax, 240, 243;
Wat Tyler’s riots against, 244;
Richard II.’s, 252, 253;
sufferings of the poor under, 269;
consent of Parliament necessary for levying, 282;
Henry V.’s, 291;
Bedford’s, 313;
Wells’ insurrection against, 333;
Richard III.’s malevolences, 348

Templars, undertake a Crusade for Henry II., 103;
suppressed by Edward II., 199

Thegns, their rise, 13;
duties of, 30;
court of, 33;
become Barons, 35

Theobald of Blois, grandson of William I., defeats Louis VI. at
Puysac, 67;
urged to claim the crown after Henry I., 77;
again refuses it, 84

Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, joins Henry’s party, mediates a
compromise, 85;
employs Becket, 92;
dies, 95

Theodore of Tarsus, organizes the Church, 4

Theows, or slaves, 29

Thomas, Duke of Clarence, second son of Henry IV., invades France, 284;
killed at Beaugé, 301

Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, sixth son of Edward III.,
Governor during the war, 233;
succeeds John of Gaunt, 246, 247;
one of the Lords Appellant, 248;
constant opponent of Richard II., 251;
arrested, 251:
strangled, 252

Thurkill, or Thurcytel, invades England, 17;
joins the English, 18

Thurstan, Archbishop of York, opposes David of Scotland, 79

Tithing, explained, 35

Tostig, third son of Godwine, made Earl of Northumbria, 23;
deposed, 24;
invades the North, slain, 26

Trade of England, 256-258, 261, 262, 351

Trail-bâtons, 195

Tresilian, impeached, 248;
executed, 249

Trinoda necessitas, explained, 35;
retained by William I., 37;
reorganized, 109

Troyes, Treaty of, 300

Tudor, Edmund, son of Owen and Catherine of France, brought
forward, 321

Tudor, Jasper, brother of Edmund, brought forward, 321;
defeated by Hubert of Pembroke, 332;
almost the only Lancastrian left, 336

Tudor, Henry, son of Edmund, proposed marriage, 345;
first invasion, 346;
second invasion, 348

Twenge, his riots, 148

Valence, Aymer of, Bishop of Winchester, 155

Valence, William of, his possessions, 151;
quarrels with De Montfort, 158;
refuses to surrender his castles, 160;
escapes from Lewes, 164;
returns, 166

Valence, Earl of Pembroke, defeats Bruce, 192

Vere, Aubrey de, defends Stephen’s cause, 82

Vere, Robert de, ninth Earl of Oxford, Duke of Ireland, favourite of
Richard II., 247;
impeached, 248;
dies, 250

Vere, Aubrey de, succeeds his nephew Robert, 250

Vere, John de, thirteenth Earl of Oxford, almost the only Lancastrian
left, 336

Vexin, claimed by France, 55;
war on account of, 60;
Henry II. refuses to surrender it, 109;
John secures it, 127

Viaticum, extorted by William II., 59

Villeinage, position of, 36;
proposal to abolish it, 245;
disappearing, 267-269, 352

Wales, remains British, 3;
Wessex establishes supremacy over, 5;
southern part colonized by Danes, 8;
assist Eadric the Wild against William I., 44;
William I. establishes Palatine Counties to restrain it, 51;
constant wars against William II., 58;
land granted to Norman Earls, 59;
Henry I. establishes colonies of Flemings in, 70;
insurrections under Gryffith, 70;
under Gwynneth, 91;
under Llewellyn, 132;
under Llewellyn, 176;
annexation of, 177;
Meredith’s rebellion, 178;
rebellion against Edward II., 204;
quarrel with the Marchers, 206;
insurrection of Owen Glendower, 278, 282;
sympathy with the Lancastrians, 332, 335;
sympathy with the Tudors, 346, 348

Wallace, his insurrection, 189;
defeat and death, 190;
his use of infantry, 225

Walter, Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, opposes John, 123;
trained by Glanvill, 124;
withdraws from secular work, 125;
summoned to Rouen, 126;
persuades John to disband his troops, 129;
dies, 130

Waltheof, Earl of Nottingham, 44;
destroys the castles of York, 47;
conspires against William, 52;
executed, miracles at his tomb, 53

Ward of Trumpington, the false Richard II., 279, 292

Warrenne, William of, first Earl of Surrey, conquers Hereward, 50

Warrenne, William of, second Earl, supports Robert of Normandy, 65

Warrenne, William of, natural son of Stephen (married the heiress of
the third Earl), surrenders to Henry II., 91

Warrenne, John, seventh Earl, opposes Edward I., 174;
Commander in Scotland, 185;
Guardian of Scotland, 186;
defeated by Wallace, 189

Warwick (John of Plesseys), Henry III.’s Commissioner, 159

Warwick (William Maudit), one of the Barons’ Council, 159

Warwick. [See Beauchamp and Neville.]

Watling Street, Danish boundary, 8

Wat Tyler, his insurrection, 244

Wedmore, Treaty of, 8

Wells’ rebellion, 333

Weregild, explained, 29

Wessex, foundation of, 2, 3;
conversion of, 4;
supremacy of, 5;
invaded by Danes, 7;
repels them, 8;
retains the supremacy, 10;
overrun by Thurkill, conquered by Cnut, 18;
restored to Edmund Ironside, 19;
helps Harold against William, 26

Wicliffe, protected by John of Gaunt, 240;
deserted by him, recants, 245;
his preaching, 266, 267

William I., visits England, 22;
his claims to the throne, 24, 36;
prepares to invade England, 25;
lands at Pevensey, and fights the battle of Hastings, 26;
checks the growth of feudalism, 37;
establishes the Curia Regis, 38;
character of his government, 39;
marches to London, 41;
crowned, 42;
gradually transfers the land to Normans, 43;
limits earldoms, 37, 43;
leaves England, returns to suppress insurrections, 44;
takes Exeter, and completes the conquest of the West, suppresses
first Northern insurrection, 45;
suppresses the rebellion at York, 46;
lays waste Yorkshire, 47;
his legislation, 48;
his position with regard to the Church, 48, 49;
conquers Hereward, 50;
receives homage from Scotland, 52;
suppresses the conspiracy of Norman nobles, 52;
continues to reside in Normandy, quarrels with his sons, 53;
threatened invasion of England, 54;
Domesday survey and general oath allegiance, his death and
burial, 55;
his will, 56

William II., secures Lanfranc’s support, is crowned, pleases the
English by promises, 56;
defeats baronial rebellion, on Lanfranc’s death leaves England to
Ralph Flambard, 57;
intrigues in Normandy, makes treaty with Robert at Caen, receives
homage from Malcolm, renews war with him, 58;
leaves the conquest of Wales to the Marchers, extorts viaticum from
the host before going to Normandy, holds Normandy in pledge, 59;
his formidable position, killed in the New Forest, his general
success, 60;
his conduct towards the Church, 61, 62

William Clito, son of Robert of Normandy, pretender to the Duchy,
supported by Louis VII., deserted at treaty of Gisors, 67;
supported by Fulk of Anjou, and deserted, 68;
supported and again deserted by both Fulk and Louis, Louis tries to
put him on the throne of Flanders, his death, 69;
his marriage, 72

William, Earl of Boulogne, son of Stephen, promises homage to
Henry II., 86

William, son of Henry I., marries a daughter of Fulk of Anjou, 67;
the barons swear fealty to, drowned in the White Ship, 68

William of Albemarle, opposes invasion of David I., 79;
his power in Yorkshire, submits to Henry II., 90

William II., of Sicily, marries Joanna, 109;
his death delays the Crusade, 117

William the Lion, King of Scotland, joins the Great Rebellion against
Henry II., 104;
taken prisoner at Alnwick, does homage for Scotland, 105;
buys back his privileges from Richard, 116;
does personal homage to John, 128;
makes full submission, 132

Winchelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury, refuses grants to Edward I., 186;
appointed adviser to Prince Edward, 187;
excommunicates Gaveston, 202

Wishart, Bishop of St. Andrews, a member of the Regency, 181;
invites Edward I., 182;
trusted by Edward I., 191;
crowns Bruce, 192

Witan, described, 32, 34, 37, 38;
consents to the Danegelt, 16;
assembled by Eadric, 18;
elects Cnut King, 20;
Godwine’s quarrel referred to it, 22;
called on Harold’s death, elects Eadgar, 41;
offers the crown to William I., 42;
tries and condemns Waltheof, 53

Woodville, rise of the family, 330, 331;
Sir John, beheaded, 332;
Anthony, made Lord Scales, 331;
Lord Rivers, 341;
patronizes printing, 353;
beheaded, 342;
Elizabeth, marries Edward IV., 330

Wulstan, Archbishop of York, 13

Wykeham, William of, Chancellor, deposed 239;
restored, 240;
deposed, 240;
restored, 249

FOOTNOTES:

[1] French Chroniclers have made this sudden death a judgment of God. Godwine is described as wishing that the piece of bread he ate might choke him if he were guilty of the death of Alfred, whereupon the bread stuck in his throat.

[2] This is the Siward who occurs in the Macbeth of Shakspere. Though the events connected with his invasion of Scotland are very obscure, the poet seems on the whole to have changed the real history but slightly.

[3] As an illustration of this, Harold’s great Foundation of the Holy Rood at Waltham was occupied by secular canons, and had a school attached, while Stigand, one of his firmest supporters, was the uncanonical Archbishop of Canterbury.

[4] See p. 48

[5] It is not certain how old Eadgar was. His father died in 1057. He must have been therefore at least nine years old, and was probably some years older, as we hear of his executing several acts of kingly authority.

[6] Called also Count of Meulan.

[7] Her name was Nesta. She married Gerald of Windsor, who, as constable of Arnulf of Shrewsbury, commanded the castle of Pembroke. Their grandson was the historian Geraldus Cambrensis.

[8] Stubb’s Select Charters.

[9] Ordericus Vitalis.

[10] William of Malmesbury.

[11] Lappenberg, Thorpe’s translation, page 377. There were certainly several more at the time of the accession, as their names occur attesting the charter of Stephen.

[12] Fiscal earls.

[13] Adulterine Castles. Will. Malm. Hist. Nov. I. § 18.

[14] See the conduct of Fitz-Hubert and Fitz-Gilbert at Devizes and Marlborough, page 82.

[15] William of Malmesbury, Hist. Nov. II. § 34.

[16] The Bishop seems to have been appointed by Stephen as her escort. William of Malmesbury says that no gentleman could refuse an escort even to his enemy.

[17] Son of Count Alan Fergant of Brittany. Ang. Sax. Chron. ann. 1127.

[18] Bishop of Seéz, in Southern Normandy.

[19] Stubb’s Select Charters, page 21, from Matthew of Paris, 1153.

[20] While Eleanor had been his wife, Louis had systematically pressed her claim.

[21] Ramiro of Aragon, a monk, who, for the sake of continuing the succession, was taken from his monastery, and married. His only daughter was the wife of Raymond of Barcelona. Their son became King of Aragon.--Robert de Monte.

[22] The individual payment in Normandy was sixty shillings in Angevin money. The knights’ fees of England were popularly put at 60,000: at the same rate this would have amounted to £180,000. The scutage in England was, however, only two marks on a knight’s fee. The scutage was repeated two years afterwards. On the supposition that the sum mentioned applies to both those scutages, there would have been a payment of four marks, or £2, 13s. 4d., on a knight’s fee. This would give £160,000. The sum actually paid seems not to have been more than a fifth of that sum.

[23] This view rested chiefly on the False Decretals, a body of false edicts purporting to be the decisions of very early Popes, which was produced the ninth century.

[24] The Decretal of Gratian was produced about the end of Stephen’s reign. Gratian, a Tuscan Canonist, produced a collection of Papal decisions, known by his name, in 1151. The Decretals are collections of letters written by the early Popes in answers to questions addressed to them by the Bishops. The first collection was made at Rome by Dionysius in 550. In this collection, letters exaggerating Papal authority were subsequently introduced, known as the False Decretals. They received the Papal sanction from Nicholas I. about 860.

[25] These Constitutions will be found in full in Stubbs’ Charters, p. 132.

[26] He is said to have objected especially to Articles 1, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 12.

[27] Robert de Monte.

[28] So called from a table chequered like a chessboard, and used for reckoning.

[29] The details of the King’s last days are to be found in Giraldus Cambrensis, and in Hoveden. They are thrown together in an eloquent passage by Professor Stubbs in his Preface to Hoveden.

[30] See genealogy at the end of the chapter.

[31] See genealogy at the end of the chapter.

[32] A fanatical sect established in 1090 in the mountains of North Persia. They had two chief places, the one the fortress of Alamout in Persia, the other Masgat in the mountains of Libanus. Their name is derived from _Haschich_, an intoxicating drink with which they raised their enthusiasm.

[33] John de Grey belonged to this class.

[34] He had married Joanna, John’s natural daughter.

[35] By writ of _quo warranto_.

[36] 20,000 are said to have died in London alone.

[37] There were about 150 Baronies at this time, but several Barons had more than one.

[38] They were the Bishop of Worcester, the Earls of Leicester, Gloucester, Norfolk, Hereford, John Fitz-Geoffrey, Peter de Montfort, Richard de Grey, Roger Mortimer, and Albemarle. Of the King’s party, Boniface of Canterbury, Peter of Savoy, the Earl of Warwick, John Mansell, and James d’Audley: (in this signature he signed his name as James of Aldither, Fitz-Geoffrey as Geoffreyson.)

[39] Fifteen at least of the royal castles were in the hands of foreigners.

[40] Kenilworth and Odiham.

[41] Formal reference does not seem to have been made till 1263.

[42] Rishanger de Bell. Lew.

[43] Wykes is the most important.

[44] Stubbs.

[45] It is thus that the bankers’ street in London is called Lombard Street.

[46] “Homagium suum nobis debitum nobis absque conditione aliqua obtulit et detendit.”--RYMER.

[48] She was the widow of the King of Navarre.

[49] They are said even to have thrown little children into the air and caught them on their lances.

[50] There was probably no separate statute “De tallagio non concedendo,” though quoted as a statute in Charles I.’s reign. The articles given by Walter of Hemingburgh, which were regarded as that statute, omit the saving clause, but are now not considered authoritative.

[51] Sir Walter Scott.

[52] His sentence was: “That for the robberies and felony of which he had been guilty, he should be hanged by the neck; that as an outlaw, and not having come to the King’s peace, he should be cut down and beheaded as a traitor; that for sacrileges committed by him, he should be disembowelled, and his entrails burnt as a warning to others; that his head should be fixed to London Bridge, and his quarters to the towns of Berwick, Newcastle, Stirling, and Perth.”

[53] There were present at this Parliament seven Earls and forty-one Barons.

[54]

“Sire, si je voderoi mon garsoun chastier
De une buffe ou de deus, pur ly amender,
Sur moi betera bille, e me frad attachier,
E avant que isse de prisone raunsoun grant doner.”

_The Outlaw’s song of Traillebaston._
_Political Songs_, p. 231.

[55] A curious question was raised, whether a torturer could be fetched from the Continent, there being none in England.--Hemingburgh, 2287.

[56] He had lately received the Earldom of Norfolk, and the rank of Earl Marshall, by the death of Bigod without heirs.

[57] These are only the principal articles; there were many others, the arrangement of the law courts, the royal prerogative of justice, etc.

[59] Made Duke of Lancaster in 1350.

[60] He alleged as his reason that he was now on his own lawful ground, in right of his mother.

[61] See page 257.

[62] The revolted peasantry.

[63] Each piece of gold (a mark) was worth 13s. 4d., or two nobles.

[64] In 1385, during his Scotch expedition, his uncles, Cambridge and Buckingham, had been made Dukes of York and Gloucester; Lancaster’s son Henry, Earl of Derby; the Duke of York’s son George, Earl of Rutland; Robert de Vere, Marquis of Dublin; and De la Pole, Earl of Suffolk.

[65] Brother of Arundel, Bishop of Ely, subsequently Archbishop of York and of Canterbury.

[66] William of Wykeham again took the Seal.

[67] 38 Edward III.

[68] 16 Richard II.

[69] BERNER’s Froissart, IV., chap. 78.

[70] There is an account preserved in the exchequer of the exports and imports in the year 1354. The total value of the exports was £212,338. They consisted of 31,651 sacks of wool, at £6 a sack; 65 wool-fells, hides, to the value of £89; 4774 pieces of cloth; 8061 pieces of worsted stuff. The imports mentioned consist of a little fine cloth and wax; 1830 tuns of wine; and linens, mercery, and grocery to the value of £23,000. To show the severity of the wool tax, it is to be observed that on the above-named exports the duty was £81,846, or more than 40 per cent. Robert of Avesbury gives a somewhat different account. He put the exports at 100,000 sacks of wool. He is thought to have died about 1356.

[71] In 1250 a fair was held in Tothill Fields, and all the shops in London were shut.--Matthew of Paris.

[72] There were also great Italian merchants and bankers. Thus we hear that Edward III. ruined the Bardi, that the taxes at the end of Edward I. were pledged to and collected by the Frescobaldi. The extent of the German transactions may be seen by a complaint in 1348, that the Tidmans of Limburg had bought up all the Cornish tin.

[73] By the 14th Richard II. half the money they received was to be expended in the commodities of the land.

[74] For the history of guilds, see Dr Brentano’s Preface to the “Ordinance of British Guilds,” in the English Text Society.

[75] The goldsmith’s mark on all silver plate is a relic of this custom.

[76] Chaucer’s Prologue:--

“He knew well alle havans as they were,
Fro’ Gothlande to the Cape of Finnisterre.”

[77] “Quod progenitores nostri, Reges Angliæ, domini maris et transmarini passagii, totis præteritis temporibus extiterunt.”--Rymer, ii. 953.

[78] Rymer, ii. 823.

[79] Half a yard long.--Mon. Evesham.

[80] The Welsh infantry, who were largely employed after Edward I., had 2d. a day.

[81]
“To seche silver to the kyng y mi seed solde,
Forthi mi lond leye lith ant leorneth to slepe.
Seththe he mi feire feh fatte y my folde;
When y thenk o mi weole wel neh y wepe;
Thus bredeth monie beggares bolde.

* * * * *

Ther wakeneth in the world wondred ant woe,
Ase god is swynden anon as so for to swynke.”

_Political Songs_, p. 152.

[82] The historian of this chivalrous knighthood was Froissart.

[83] Maintainers seem to have been of two sorts. On the borders of the counties palatine, confederacies were formed, who made sudden irruptions into the neighbouring counties, and carried off young women, particularly heiresses. They then retired within the freedoms of the counties palatine, and held their captives to ransom. The bodies of retainers who gathered round individual nobles, and stood by one another in such illegal actions as forcible desiesin, or ejection of rightful owners from their property, also received the name.

[84] The priest had, however, been dead a month before.

[85] Walsingham, 379.

[86] Four years afterwards he was captured and put to death, not as a traitor, but as a heretic. This throws considerable doubt on the truth of his connection with the present insurrection, a charge which was very slightly supported by evidence.

[87] There were fifteen Prelates and twenty-eight Temporal Peers at this council.

[88] A duke, 13s. 4d. a day; an earl, 6s. 8d; a baron, 4s.; a knight, 2s.; a man-at-arms, 1s.; an archer, 6d.; a hundred marks to each who supplied thirty armed men.

[89] The close connection between Sigismund and England is illustrated by the fact that in the following reign, on one occasion, a magnificent table decoration was introduced, representing Henry VI. and Sigismund receiving at the hands of a kneeling priest ballads in derision of the Lollards.

[90] This Lord Salisbury was son of Sir John de Montacute, a zealous Lollard, the faithful adherent of Richard II., who was beheaded, 1400, at Cirencester. Henry IV. restored the Earldom to his son. Lord Salisbury’s daughter married Richard Neville, the Yorkist partisan, and father of the Kingmaker Warwick.

[91] This Beauchamp was the 5th Earl of Warwick, and it was his daughter who carried the title to Richard Neville the Kingmaker.

[92] This Prince was the second son of Louis II., Duke of Anjou, Count of Provence, and (as heir to his father, Louis I., who had been adopted by Joanna I. of Naples) titular King of Naples. All these titles Réné inherited, besides the duchy of Bar, from his uncle, and the duchy of Lorraine from his wife. He was, moreover, himself named heir by Joanna II. of Naples, but failed to obtain the crown. At the time of Margaret’s marriage, of all his territories Provence was the only one he retained.

[93] For a description of this disorder see a letter from “The chief persons in the county of Kildare to Richard Duke of York,” Ellis Letters, second series, vol. i. 117.

[94] The Staffords, the head of whom was the Duke of Buckingham, were descended from Anne Plantagenet, daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, son of Edward III.

[95] Cromwell had been a great friend of Bedford and his financial reformer, but dislike to the conduct of the Suffolk party had driven him to join York.

[96] William of Worcester, however, puts it at 9,000.

[97] Stafford, the young Duke of Buckingham; the heir of Bourchier, Earl of Essex; Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel; Lord Strange of Knokyn; and Lord Herbert. Thomas Grey, her son by her first marriage, was engaged to the daughter and heiress of the Duke of Exeter, the King’s niece.

[98] “Every tavern was full of his meat, for who that had any acquaintance in that house, he should have had as much sodden and roast as he might carry upon a long dagger.”--Stowe.

[99] Even ordinary observers saw this. “I cannot tell what will fall of the world, for the King verily is disposed to go into Lincolnshire, and my Lord of Warwick, as it is supposed, shall go with the King; some men say that his going shall do good, and some say that it doth harm.”--_Paston Letters._

[100] Wisdom iv. 5.

[101] She was the daughter of his sister Elizabeth and the Duke of Suffolk.

[102] The love of the Princess rests upon a doubtful letter abridged by Buck in Kennett I. 568.

MUIR AND PATERSON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.

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_HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHIES_

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_With Maps and Plans. Small 8vo._

The most important and the most difficult point in Historical Teaching is to awaken a real interest in the minds of Beginners. For this purpose concise handbooks are seldom useful. General sketches, however accurate in their outlines of political or constitutional development, and however well adapted to dispel false ideas, still do not make history a living thing to the _young_. They are most valuable as maps on which to trace the route beforehand and show its direction, but they will seldom allure any one to take a walk.

The object of this series of Historical Biographies is to try and select from English History a few men whose lives were lived in stirring times. The intention is to treat their lives and times in some little detail, and to group round them the most distinctive features of the periods before and after those in which they lived.

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By reading short Biographies a few clear ideas may be formed in the pupil’s mind, which may stimulate to further reading. A vivid impression of one period, however short, will carry the pupil onward and give more general histories an interest in their turn. Something, at least, will be gained if the pupil realizes that men in past times lived and moved in the same sort of way as they do at present.

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=2. THE BLACK PRINCE.= 2_s._ 6_d._
=3. SIR WALTER RALEGH.=

_In preparation._

=4. OLIVER CROMWELL.=
=5. THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.=
=6. THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.=

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EDITED BY FRANCIS STORR, B.A.,

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