Chapter X: And Y (2)

[1] In the Register of the Convent of the Friars Minors in Poictiers, there appear the names of the knights and great men buried there after this battle. Among these we find, the Constable of France, the Bishop of Chalons, the Viscount of Chauvigny, the Lords of Mailly, of Rademonde, of Rochecheruire, of Chaumont, of Hes, of Corbon, and a great number of knights. In the church of the Frères Prescheurs there were buried the Duke of Bourbon, the Marshal de Clermont, the Viscount de Rochechouart, the Lord de la Fayette, the Viscount d’Aumale, the Lord St. Gildart, and more than fifty knights.

[2] The rocket consisted of an iron tube, about two foot long, and three inches in diameter, attached to a bamboo cane of fifteen or twenty feet in length. The tube is filled with combustible matter; and this dreadful missile entering the head of a column, passes through a man’s body, and instantly resumes its original force; thus destroying or wounding twenty men, independent of innumerable lacerations caused by the serpentine motion of the long bamboo, which in its irresistible progress, splinters to atoms, when the iron tube assumes a rapid rotary motion, and buries itself in the earth.

[3] It is a curious and interesting literary fact, that Campbell wrote this in a foreign land, viz., at Ratisbon, on hearing of war being declared against Denmark. Some portion of it is said to have been previously roughly sketched out, owing to his admiration of the music of “Ye Gentlemen of England.” His splendid lyric, “The battle of the Baltic,” soon followed.

[4] Herod. 1. vii. c. 175, 177.

[5] Herod. 1. vii. c. 103, 132.

[6] Ibid. 1. viii. c. 116.

[7] Paus. 1. x. p. 645.

[8] Herod. 1. vii c. 207-231. Diod. 1. xi. p. 5-10.

[9] Plut. in Lacon. Apoph. p. 225.

[10] Ἀντεγραψε, μολων λαβε.

[11] Οτι πολλοι μεν ανθρωποι ειεν, ολιγοι δε ανδρες. Quod multi homines essent, pauci autem viri.

[12] When the Gauls 200 years after this, came to invade Greece, they possessed themselves of the Straits of Thermopylæ by means of the same by-path, which the Grecians had still neglected to secure. Pausan. 1. i. p. 7. et 8.

[13] Polyb. 1. iii. p. 231-238.

[14] Apparebat ferociter omnia ac præpropere acturum. Quoque pronior esset in sua vitia, agitare eum atque irritare Pœnus parat. Liv. 1. xxii. n. 3.

[15] Napier, vol. v. p. 132.

[16] A French writer tells us, that when he had dictated, at Paris, the bulletin of this battle, he finished, by exclaiming with a groan, “It was lost, and _my glory_ with it!”

[17] Hist. Memoirs, book ix, p. 209.

[18] “Information which might be depended upon had made known the position of the Allies in all particulars.--_Fleury_, vol. ii, p. 161.

“To anticipate the Allies, and to commence hostilities _before they were ready_, it was necessary to take the field on the 15th June.”--_Hist. Memoir_, Book ix, p. 59.

“The period of the arrival of the English army from America was known. The Allied armies could not be in readiness to act simultaneously until July.”--_Gourgaud’s Campaign_, p. 29.

[19] Hist. Memoir, Book ix, p. 127.

[20] Gourgaud, p. 38; Fleury, vol. ii, p. 167.

[21] Junot, at Rolica and Vimiera; Victor at Talavera; Massena at Busaco; Ney, after Torres Vedras; Marmont at Salamanca; Jourdan at Vittoria; and Soult in the Pyrenees, Toulouse, &c. &c.

[22] History of the Restoration, vol. ii, p. 377, 388.

[23] Despatches, vol. viii, p. 168.

[24] O’Meara, vol. i, p. 464.

[25] Brialmont’s Wellington, vol. ii, p. 440.

[26] Gourgaud’s Waterloo, p. 96.

[27] The first French attack was repulsed about two o’clock: but Bonaparte renewed it five or six times, until about seven o’clock in the evening.--_Austrian Account._

[28] Hist. Memoir, book ix, p. 143.

[29] Lamartine, b. xxv, § 34.

[30] Gourgaud’s Campaign of Waterloo, p. 97.

[31] Page 151. This attack on the centre was made at one o’clock, and La Haye Sainte was not evacuated by the English till six in the evening. Of what occurred in the five hours which intervened the French accounts are ominously silent.

[32] Fleury, vol. ii, p. 217.

[33] At St. Helena, he told O’Meara, “When the English advanced, I had not a single corps of cavalry in reserve to resist them. Hence the English attack succeeded, and all was lost,”--_O’Meara_, vol. i, p. 465.

[34] “It was _noon_, the troops of General Bulow were stationary beyond the extreme right: they appeared to form and wait for their artillery.”--_Hist. Mem._ b. ix, p. 150.

[35] The Austrian account says “About five o’clock, the first cannon-shot of the Prussian army was fired from the heights of Aguiers.”

[36] Gourgaud’s Campaign of 1815, p. 113.

[37] They are described, both in Count Drouet’s speech and in “Book ix,” as “sixteen battalions.” If the battalions consisted of 600 men, this would give a total of 9600.

[38] Vol. ii, p. 192.

[39] Colonel Lemonnier de Lafosse: Memoirs, p. 385.

[40] Reille had commanded the second corps, D’Erlon the first--each of which had consisted of about 20,000 men! Can there be a more striking proof of the utter dissolution of the French army, than this fact, narrated by a French officer?

[41] Fleury de Chaboulon, vol. ii, pp. 203, 206, 218.

[42] The modesty,--the singular abstinence from a boast or a vaunt,--which is perceptible in this exclamation, is wonderfully characteristic of the man. The same quietness of manner distinguished him through life; and it contrasts strongly with the constant strut and proud assumption of Napoleon.

[43] Hist. Memoir, book ix, p. 203.

[44] I cannot conclude this article on Waterloo without inserting the following: Many years ago a prize poem on the Duke of Wellington was announced at one of the English Universities, I forget which. The gainer took for his subject the life of Napoleon, and finished an elaborate description of that great commander, in the following couplet, which gained him the prize:

“So great a man, the world scarce ever knew,
Bent to THY GENIUS, CHIEF OF WATERLOO.”
J. D. B.

[45] “Mitraille,” grape shot, with scraps of metal, and all sorts of small missiles.

CHRONOLOGY.

Chronology is the science of computing and adjusting the periods of time. It ascertains when events occurred, and assigns to each its correct date. Thus we learn from it that the world was created 4004 years before Christ, and that the flood took place 1656 years after the creation; and so of all other known and ascertained events, each one is placed in connection with its proper period or year. Of the transactions between the Creation and the Flood, we know nothing except from Scripture, and of many of those which occurred after the flood, and before the time of Christ, we know nothing with certainty, except from the same source; but about 800 or 900 years before our Saviour’s time, a succession of profane historians arose, from whom, especially those of Greece and Rome, numerous facts in Chronology have been obtained. Various Eras, Epochs, or methods of Chronology, have been adopted by different nations. The Greeks reckoned time by Olympiads of four years each, commencing from the year 776 before Christ. In marking a date by this method, the year and Olympiad were both given; for example, the year 1845 is the first of 656th Olympiad. The Romans reckoned time from the founding of Rome, 753 years before Christ. Dates reckoned from this Era are designated by the initials A. U. C. (ab urbe condita; that is, from the building of the city). The year 1845 is the 2598th year of the Roman Era. The Christian Era, now in use amongst all Christian nations, was first introduced in the sixth century, but was not very generally adopted for some centuries after. This begins 4004 years after the creation of the world, and four years after the birth of our Saviour. Dates reckoned backwards are usually marked B.C., or before Christ, but those reckoned forward are distinguished by the prefix A.D., signifying Anno Domini, or in the year of our Lord. The Mahomedans reckon time from the Hegira, or flight of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina, in the year 622 after Christ; but they use the lunar year of 354 days; so that thirty-two of our years make thirty-three of theirs. The year 1845 is the 1260th year of the Hegira. Many other epochs or eras have been used in different countries, and at different periods. The Jews, Egyptians, Tyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and other ancient nations, have each had their eras. The Hindoos and Chinese of the present day have modes of reckoning time which differ from each other, as well as from our method. In the United States, public documents, proclamations, &c. have often, besides the date in common use, the year of the national independence attached to them. This is computed from July 4th, 1776, and hence may be reckoned a national era or chronological period.

ANCIENT CHRONOLOGY

B.C.
From the Creation 4004 to the Deluge
1656 yrs elapsed.--Antediluvian P.*
From the Deluge 2348 to the Call of Abraham
427 yrs elapsed.--Dispersion P.
From the Call of Abraham 1921 to the Exode from Egypt
430 yrs elapsed.--Patriarchal P.
From the Exode 1491 to the Kingdom of Saul
396 yrs elapsed.--Theocratic P.
From Saul 1092 to the Captivity of Israel
507 yrs elapsed.--Monarchical P.
From the Captivity 588 to Alexander the Great
258 yrs elapsed.--Persian P.
From Alexander the Great 330 to Subjugation of Greece
184 yrs elapsed.--Grecian P.
From Subjugation of Greece 146 to the birth of Christ
146 yrs elapsed.--Roman P.
* P = Period.

MODERN CHRONOLOGY.

A.D.
From the Birth of Christ
to the Reign of Constantine the Great 306 years elapsed
to the Extinction of the Western Empire 476 “ “
to the flight of Mahomet 622 “ “
to the Crowning of Charlemagne at Rome 800 “ “
to the Battle of Hastings 1066 “ “
to the Founding of the Turkish Empire 1299 “ “
to the Taking of Constantinople 1453 “ “
to the Edict of Nantes 1598 “ “
to the Death of Charles XII of Sweden 1718 “ “
to the Battle of Waterloo 1815 “ “
to the Present time 1866 “ “

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

B.C.

4004 CREATION OF THE WORLD.

2944 Birth of Noah.

2348 The _Flood_ or _Deluge_ covers the whole earth--lasts about
a year.

2347 Noah quits the Ark; offers sacrifices of thanksgiving; God
appoints the rainbow as a pledge that he will never again destroy
the earth by the waters of a flood. (Gen. ix. 11.)

2300 The Tower of Babel built; confusion of languages; dispersion
of mankind.

2233 Babylon founded by Nimrod; Nineveh founded by Asshur;
commencement of the Assyrian monarchy.

2188 The Egyptian monarchy founded by Mizraim; continues 1663
years.

2059 Age of Ninus and Semiramis, Assyrian monarchs.

2000 Sicyon founded--the earliest town in Greece; Sidon founded.

1996 Birth of Abram, in Ur of the Chaldees; 1998 Noah dies.

1921 CALL OF ABRAM; he leaves Ur; comes to Haran, where his
father, Terah, dies, aged 205 years; emigrates to Canaan, with
Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and dwells at Shechem.

1920 Abram removes to Egypt; returns the same year.

1912 Abram defeats Chedorlaomer and the confederate kings;
rescues Lot.

1910 Birth of Ishmael, the son of Abram and Hagar. (Gen. xvi. 16.)

1897 Destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, &c.; Lot retires to Zoar;
Abram’s name changed to Abraham; Sarai’s changed to Sarah.

1896 Isaac born at Beersheba; 1871 Offered up as a sacrifice by
his father.

1836 Birth of Esau and Jacob; 1821 Abraham dies.

1800 Argos founded by the Pelasgians, under Inachus.

1759 Jacob retires to his uncle, Laban, in Padan Aram; 1745
Joseph born.

1739 Jacob returns to Canaan; resides at Shechem.

1728 Joseph sold by his brethren; 1716 Isaac dies.

1706 Jacob removes to Egypt; 1689 his death.

1705 Joseph raised to distinction in Egypt; 1635 Joseph dies.

1600 Hyksos or shepherd kings conquer Egypt; they oppress the
Israelites.

1577 Age of Job; 1575, Birth of Aaron; 1571, Birth of Moses.

1550 Athens founded by Cecrops; 1531 Moses leaves Egypt.

1500 Tyre founded; Gades founded; 1493 Thebes founded by Cadmus.

1491 Moses returns to Egypt; _Exodus_ or _departure_ of the
Israelites from Egypt cross the Red Sea; law given on Mount Sinai.

1452 Death of Aaron, aged 123 years; buried on Mount Hor.

1451 Sihon defeated at Jahaz; Death of Moses, aged 120 years; Og
defeated at Edrei; the Israelites cross Jordan; capture Jericho;
sun and moon stand still at the command of Joshua; 1445, 1444 the
_Land of Canaan_ divided among the Twelve Tribes.

1443 Death of Joshua, aged 110 years; 1423 Tribe of Benjamin
destroyed.

1406 Age of Minos, the Cretan lawgiver; 1405 Othniel first judge
of Israel.

1400 Troy founded; Pelasgians expelled from Greece by the
Hellenes.

1365 Age of Sesostris, king of Egypt; a great conqueror; built
magnificent cities in his dominions.

1329 Amphictyonic council established.

1300 Voyage of the Argonauts from Aphetæ, in Thessaly, to
Colchis, under the command of Jason; Hercules, Theseus, and his
other companions were called Argonauts.

1290 Age of Mœris, king of Egypt; he causes lake Mœris to be dug,
to receive the surplus waters of the Nile.

1285 Barak and Deborah defeat Jabin.

1245 Age of Gideon; defeats the Midianites and Moabites.

1187 Jephtha, the tenth judge of Israel, sacrifices his daughter.

1184 Troy captured, after a siege of ten years; Age of Agamemnon,
Achilles, Diomedes, Nestor, Ulysses, Helen, Priam, Hector, Æneas,
Andromache, &c.; Æneas sails for Italy.

1156 Age of Eli; 1155 Birth of Samuel; 1150 Utica, in Africa,
founded.

1124 Æolian colonies established in Asia Minor.

1107 Age of Samson; judged Israel twenty years; betrayed to the
Philistines by Delilah; buries himself under the ruins of the
temple of Dagon, with a great number of his enemies.

1100 Salamis founded by Teucer.

1095 Saul first king of Israel; 1085 Birth of David; 1062 slays
Goliath.

1055 Death of Saul; succession of David; 1048 crowned king of all
Israel; 1047 takes Jerusalem from the Jebusites.

1044 Settlement of the Ionian colonies in Asia Minor; Age of
Homer; the cities of Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodes,
Argos and Athens afterwards contend for the honour of his birth.

1037 The Moabites and Ammonites conquered by David.

1035 Rabbath Ammon taken by Joab; Uriah killed at the siege.

1033 Birth of Solomon; Age of Hiram king of Tyre.

1014 Death of David; succeeded by Solomon; Most flourishing
period of the kingdom of Israel.

1003 Temple at Jerusalem built and dedicated by Solomon.

994 Dorians establish colonies in Asia Minor.

975 _Death of Solomon_; Rehoboam succeeds him; his tyranny causes
a division of the realm into the kingdom of Judah and Israel;
Jeroboam king of Israel; Rehoboam king of Judah.

971 Shishak, king of Egypt, plunders the temple at Jerusalem.

907 Age of the poet Hesiod; 900 Pygmalion, brother of Dido.

897 Ahab, king of Israel, slain; Ahaziah, king of Judah; Elisha
taken up to heaven; 884 Jehu king of Israel.

880 Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver.

878 Carthage founded by Dido, a Tyrian Princess.

827 Ethiopians conquer Egypt; 825 Jonah visits Nineveh; the
people repent.

820 Death of Sardanapalus; First Assyrian empire destroyed;
Median empire founded; Kingdom of Macedonia founded.

810 Uzziah, king of Judah, takes the cities of the Philistines.

800 Persepolis built; 776 Era of the Olympiads begins.

772 Pul invades Israel.

753 Rome founded, April 20; 743 First Messenian war lasts 19
years.

740 Damascus taken by Tiglath-pileser.

732 Syracuse founded; 730 Tarentum founded.

729 Samaria taken by Shalmanezer; End of the Kingdom of Israel;
Captivity of the Ten Tribes.

713 Sennacherib threatens Hezekiah; his army miraculously
destroyed.

685 Second Messenian war; lasts fourteen years; Ira besieged
eleven years; its capture ends the war.

657 Holofernes slain by Judith, near Bethulia.

650 Naval battle between the Corcyreans and Corinthians--the
first sea-fight on record.

641 Josiah king of Judah reforms abuses; restores the worship of
God.

630 Cyrene founded; 627 Nabopolazzar king of Babylon.

616 Age of Pharaoh Necho; Tyrians in his service sail round
Africa.

607 Nineveh taken by the Medes and Babylonians.

604 Age of Pittacus (general of Mitylene); Sappho (Greek poetess).

594 Age of Ezekiel.

591 Pythian Games begin; Age of Thales (philosopher); Æsop
(fabulist).

588 Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem; End of the kingdom of Judah;
Beginning of the Babylonish captivity; 572 Nebuchadnezzar takes
Tyre after a siege of thirteen years.

570 Voyage of Hanno along the west coast of Africa; about the
same time Himilco sails to Britain.

560 Union of the Medes and Persians; Cyaxares king of the Medes.

559 Persian empire founded by Cyrus; Age of Anaximander, inventor
of globes and charts.

548 Cyrus defeats Crœsus at Thymbra; Takes Sardis; Conquers Lydia.

539 Massilia founded; Age of Pythagoras (philosopher); Anacreon
(poet).

538 Cyrus takes Babylon; Age of Daniel; 525 Cambyses conquers
Egypt.

521 Age of Darius Hystaspes; 518 End of the Babylonish captivity.

516 Age of Artaxerxes Longimanus or Ahasuerus; Queen Esther.

515 The Temple of Jerusalem rebuilt; 510 Sybaris, in Italy,
destroyed.

509 Consular government established in Rome.

504 Athenians burn Sardis; Age of Heraclitus (naturalist);
Democedes (physician); 500 Milesians emigrate from Spain to
Ireland.

500 First Persian war against Greece; 490 Battle of Marathon; the
Greeks commanded by Miltiades, defeat the Persians, under Dates
and Artaphanes; 480 Xerxes crosses the Hellespont at Abydos;
invades Greece; Battle of Thermopylæ; Naval battles of Artemisium
and Salamis; Age of Themistocles (Athenian statesman); Anaxagoras
(philosopher); Pindar (poet); Æschylus (tragic writer); Corinna
(poetess).

479 Battles of Platæa and Mycale on the same day.

470 The Athenians, under Cimon defeat the Persians, on the
Eurymedon river, twice in one day, first on water and then on
land.

465 Third Messenian war; lasts ten years.

457 Battle of Tanagra; Age of Pericles (Athenian statesman).

445 Age of Herodotus (historian); Phidias (sculptor).

431 First Peloponnesian war commences; continues twenty-seven
years; Age of Hippocrates (physician); Democrates (philosopher,
&c.)

424 Bœotians defeat the Athenians at Delium.

406 Naval battle of Ægos Potamos; Athenian fleet defeated by the
Spartans; Age of Protagoras (philosopher); Parrhasius (painter).

401 Battle of Cunaxa; Death of Cyrus the younger; Retreat of the
ten thousand under Xenophon.

400 Death of Socrates; 396 Age of Zeuxis (painter); Aristippus
(philosopher).

395 Veii besieged by the Romans for ten years.

394 Spartans defeat the Thebans at Coronæa; Falerii taken by
Camillus; Age of the Cyrenaic philosophers.

389 Battle of the Allia; Gauls defeat the Romans; burn Rome;
inhabitants fly to Cære or Agylla; Gauls defeated near Cabii by
Camillus.

379 Age of Plato (philosopher); Conon (Athenian commander);
Epaminondas and Pelopidas (Theban generals); Diogenes (Stoic).

371 Epaminondas defeats the Spartans at Leuctra; 370 builds
Messene in eighty-five days; Founds Megalopolis; Age of Eudoxius
(astronomer).

362 Battle at Mantinea; death of Epaminondas.

360 Methone captured; Philip of Macedon loses his right eye.

357 Phocian war begins; lasts ten years; 355 Alexander born.

351 Capture of Sidon by Artaxerxes Ochus.

343 Age of Aristotle (philosopher), Demosthenes (orator), Phocion
(Athenian general).

338 Battle of Chæronea; Philip defeats the Athenians and their
allies.

336 Philip assassinated; Archidamus, King of Sparta, killed in
battle at Manduriæ.

335 Alexander the Great destroys Thebes; 334 conquers Greece;
begins his Persian expedition; battle of the Granicus; 333 battle
of Issus; siege of Tyre; 332 conquers Egypt; founds the city of
Alexandria; visits the temple of Jupiter Ammon; 331 crosses the
Euphrates at Thapsacus; battle of Arbela; fall of the Persian
Empire; death of Darius Codomanus; 326 Defeat of Porus by
Alexander; the latter afterwards descends the Indus to the sea;
his Admiral, Nearchus, navigates a fleet from the Indus to the
Tigris; Age of Apelles (painter); Antipater (Macedonian General,
&c.)

323 Death of Alexander, May 21; his empire divided between
Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysimachus and Seleucus.

320 Samnites defeat the Romans near Caudium; their army pass
under the Caudine Forks; Age of Praxiteles (sculptor); Demetrius
(orator); Phalerius Theopompus (historian); Apollodorus (poet.)

312 Seleucus takes Babylon; dynasty of the Selucidæ begins.

310 Pytheas, the navigator, sails from Gades to Thule.

301 Battle of Ipsus, between Antigonus and Ptolemy, Seleucus,
Lysimachus and Cassander; Age of Zeno (philosopher).

292 The Sabines conquered by Curius Dentatus; Age of Euclid
(mathematician).

284 The Pharos, or light-house of Alexandria, built.

281 The Achæan League formed, by the chief cities of the
Peloponnesus, for mutual defence.

280 The Romans defeated at Pandosia by Pyrrhus King of Epirus;
Age of Antiochus 1st, surnamed Soter, King of Syria.

274 Romans defeat Pyrrhus; 272, conquer Samnium, after a seventy
years’ war.

262 First Punic war begins; continues twenty-six years; 260
Duillius obtains the first naval victory gained over the
Carthaginians by the Romans; 256 Regulus defeated by Xantippus;
Age of Diodatus.

251 Age of Eratosthenes (mathematician); Callimachus (poet).

249 Asdrubal defeated at Panormus, in Sicily, by Metellus.

246 Arsaces founds the Parthian empire; Age of Hamilcar, a noted
Carthaginian General, and father of Hannibal.

242 The Romans defeat the Carthaginians at sea, near the Ægades
islands; ends the first Punic war.

231 The Romans take Corsica and Sardinia.

224 The Spartan king Cleomenes III defeated by Antigonus Doson;
Colossus, at Rhodes, overthrown by an earthquake; Age of
Apollonius (poet), Philopæmen (Achæan General.)

219 Hannibal takes Saguntum; originates the second Punic war,
which lasts seventeen years; 218 Crosses the Alps; defeats the
Romans, first on the river Ticinus, then on the Trebia; 217
Battle of Thrasimene--his third victory; 216 Battle of Cannæ--his
fourth victory; 50,000 Romans slain; Capua declares in his favour.

212 Marcellus takes Syracuse, after a three years’ siege; death
of Archimedes, the noted geometrician.

206 Asdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, defeated and slain by
the Romans; Age of Syphax (Latin poet); Ennius (Latin poet);
Masinissa, King of Numidia.

202 Sicily becomes a Roman province.

201 Battle of Zama; Hannibal defeated by Scipio Africanus; End of
the second Punic war.

200 Romans conquer Illyricum; 197, defeat the Macedonians at
Cynoscephalæ; 196 Hannibal banished from Carthage.

190 Antiochus defeated by the Consul Acilius at Thermopylæ; Age
of Cato the elder.

187 Scipio Asiaticus defeats Antiochus I at Magnesia and Sipylum.

186 Scipio Africanus banished to Liturnum.

183 Death of Hannibal in Bithynia, by poison, aged sixty-five.

168 Insurrection of the Maccabees against Antiochus, King of
Syria.

168 Paulus Æmilius defeats Perseus at Pydna; Macedonia becomes
a Roman province; Age of Hipparchus (philosopher); Polybius
(historian), &c.

167 Epirus conquered by the Romans; 165 Age of Judas Maccabæus.

149 Third Punic war begins; 146 Scipio destroys Carthage, Mummius
destroys Corinth; Agatharchides (Greek geographer).

137 Demetrius Nicator defeated at Damascus by Alexander Zebina.

133 Numantia destroyed by the inhabitants; Spain becomes a Roman
province; The kingdom of Pergamus bequeathed to the Romans by
Attalus, its last king.

131 Tiberius Gracchus treacherously slain at Potentia.

109 Jugurthine war begins; lasts five years; 106 Jugurtha
betrayed by Bocchus to the Romans; Armenia Major becomes a Roman
province.

105 Aristobulus crowned king of the Jews; 106 Pompey born at Rome.

102 Marius defeats the Cimbri and Teutones at Aquæ Sextæ; 101
defeats the Cimbri on the Raudian Plains.

100 Birth of Julius Cæsar, July 12; this month was named after
him.

92 Bocchus sends Sylla a present of 100 lions from Africa.

89 The Mithridatic war begins; lasts twenty-six years; 86 Sylla
defeats the consuls Carbo and Cinna; Metellus (consul); Sertorius
(Roman General); 78 death of Sylla; 76 Calaguris besieged by
Pompey; the inhabitants, reduced to extremity, feed on their
wives and children.

75 Bithynia bequeathed to the Romans by Nicomedes.

73 Sertorius assassinated by Perpenna and others at Osca.

73 Servile war begins; Roman slaves revolt against their masters,
under Spartacus; defeated, two years afterwards, by Pompey and
Crassus.

72 Lucullus defeats Mithridates the Great at Cabira; 69 defeats
Tigranes; captures Tigranocerta; 68 defeats Mithridates at Zela;
66 again at Nicopolis.

67 Pompey takes Coracesium; 65 dethrones Antiochus Asiaticus.

64 Pontus annexed to Rome; Death of Mithridates the Great.

63 Palestine conquered by Pompey; Cataline defeated and killed at
Pistoria.

60 First triumvirate of Cæsar, Pompey and Crassus; Age of
Catullus (poet); Cicero (orator); Sallust (historian); Roscius
(actor), &c.

57 Gaul becomes a Roman province; 55 Cæsar invades Britain.

53 Crassus plunders the Temple of Venus at Hierapolis; his defeat
and death, by the Parthians, near Carrhæ.

51 Siege and capture of Pindenissus by Cicero.

50 Civil war between Cæsar and Pompey; 49 Cæsar crosses the
Rubicon; takes Ariminum; 48 defeats Pompey at Pharsalia, July
30th, death of Pompey.

47 Cæsar defeats Pharnaces at Zela; writes from thence his famous
letter of three words, “Veni, vidi, vici;” I came, I saw, I
conquered; 46 Victorious at Thapsus; Death of Cato; 45 Battle of
Munda; the last in which Cæsar commanded.

44 Cæsar killed in the Senate-house, March 15th, by Brutus,
Cassius, &c.

43 Antony defeats the Consul Pansa, and is defeated the same day
by Hirtius; Cicero murdered by order of Antony; Age of Varro
(historian and philosopher); Diodorus Siculus and Pompeius
(historians).

42 Antony and Octavius defeat Brutus and Cassius at Philippi.

37 Herod, an Idumean, placed on the Jewish throne.

31 Naval battle at Actium; Octavius defeats Antony; _Ends the
Commonwealth of Rome_.

30 Death of Antony and Cleopatra; Egypt becomes a Roman province.

28 _Roman Empire begins_.

27 Title of Augustus given to Octavius; Augustin age; Virgil,
Livy, Ovid, Propertius (poets); Horace (historian); Dionysius
Halicarnassus (antiquarian).

20 Roman standards taken from Crassus restored to Augustus, by
Phraates, king of Parthia; death of Virgil.

19 Noricum and Pannonia conquered by the Romans; Candace, queen
of Meroe, in Ethiopia, blind of an eye, invades Egypt, but is
repelled.

15 Rhætia and Vindelicia conquered by Drusus.

6 Archelaus, surnamed Herod, banished to Vienna, in Gaul.

4 JESUS CHRIST, our SAVIOUR, born four years before the vulgar
era, December 25th.

2 Massacre of the Innocents at Bethlehem, by order of Herod; his
death; Archelaus succeeds him.

_A.D. First year of the Christian Era, 4004 years after the Creation._

2 Silk first introduced into Rome.

6 Procurators or governors appointed over Judea.

8 Christ, at twelve years of age, is three days in the temple.

9 Arminius or Herman, a German chief, destroys the army of Varus;
this defeat causes a great sensation at Rome; Ovid banished to
Tomi.

14 Augustus dies at Nola, after a reign of forty-five years;
succeeded by Tiberius; Age of Germanicus (Roman general).

20 Jews expelled from Italy by Tiberius; 28 Age of Strabo
(geographer).

29 John the Baptist commences preaching: 30 Baptizes our Saviour.

31 Our Saviour delivers the Sermon on the Mount.

32 Feeds the 5000: his transfiguration; John the Baptist beheaded.

33 Our Saviour’s death; First Christian Church at Jerusalem.

37 Conversion of St. Paul; Death of Tiberius; succeeded by
Caligula; 40 Caligula assassinated.

41 Seneca banished to Corsica; is recalled eight years
afterwards; Age of Pomponius Mela (geographer).

43 Expedition of Claudius into Britain; 51 Caractacus, British
king, taken as a prisoner to Rome.

52 Paul visits Athens; 54 preaches the Gospel at Ephesus; Age of
Persius (satirist); Age of Lucan the poet.

60 St. Paul arrested; 62 voyage to Rome; 63 arrives in that city.

61 Boadicea defeated by Suetonius Paulinus at Camulodunum.

68 Nero dies: Josephus (historian); Pliny (naturalist); Petronius
(poet).

69 Galba slain; Suicide of Otho; Vitellius slain.

70 Jerusalem taken and destroyed by Titus, September 8th;
Agricola’s fleet sails around Britain; Agricola promotes useful
arts among the Britons.

76 Agricola defeats Galgacus at the foot of the Grampian Hills.

79 Herculaneum, Pompeii, and other cities, overwhelmed by an
eruption of Mount Vesuvius; Death of the elder Pliny.

81 Titus dies, aged 40; Age of Martial (poet); Quintilian
(rhetorician).

96 Domitian slain; Age of Tacitus (historian); Juvenal (satirist).

103 Dacia conquered by Trajan; 106 Age of Pliny the younger;
Plutarch.

117 Death of Trajan, at Selinus, in Cilicia; succeeded by Adrian.

120 Wall built by Adrian across Britain.

139 Death of Adrian, aged 71; Antoninus (emperor); Ptolemy
(geographer).

140 Wall built by Antoninus across Britain.

169 Death of Polycarp the Martyr; Age of Galen (physician).

180 Marcus Aurelius (emperor) dies at Sirmium.

192 The Emperor Commodus slain; Pertinax succeeds him.

194 Severus defeats Niger at Issus; becomes emperor.

210 Wall built across Britain by Severus; 218 Heliogabalus
emperor.

226 Artaxerxes founds second Persian empire; Dynasty of the
Sassanides begins.

238 Maximinus killed by his own soldiers before the walls of
Aquileia. This emperor was a monster of cruelty, and of gigantic
size and strength, being eight feet high.

259 Sapor I captures the emperor Valerian, and flays him alive;
Odenatus king of Palmyra; Gallienus succeeds Valerian.

267 Odenatus dies; Zenobia, his wife, assumes the title of Queen
of the East.

270 Death of Claudius; Aurelian succeeds; regards Zenobia as
a usurper; 272 defeats her at Antioch and Emesa; 273 captures
Palmyra; takes Zenobia prisoner; puts Longinus, her secretary to
death.

275 Emperor Tacitus; 282 Emperor Probus killed, near Sirmium.

286 Age of the emperors Diocletian and Maximianus.

305 Both resign their authority to enjoy private life; the first
retires to Salona in Illyricum, and the other to Lucania.

306 Constantine the Great proclaimed emperor; 313 establishes
Christianity as the religion of the empire; 315 defeats Licinius
at Cibalis; 324 again at Adrianopolis; 328 removes the government
from Rome to Byzantium.

338 Death of Constantine; succeeded by his sons Constantinus,
Constantius and Constans.

348 Sapor defeats Constantius at Singara; 350 Constantius sole
emperor; 351 defeats Magnentius at Mursa; 353, again at Mons
Seleucus.

360 Julian the Apostate (emperor); 363 dies; next year Jovian
dies.

367 Age of Ausonius (poet); 375 Emporor Gratian.

378 Valens defeated by the Goths at Adrianopolis. This was the
most disastrous defeat experienced by the Romans since the battle
of Cannæ.

380 Age of St. Augustine, one of the fathers of the Church.

395 Theodosius, emperor, divides the Roman empire between his
sons Arcadius and Honorius, into Eastern and Western.

403 Stilicho defeated by the Goths at Pollentia.

407 The Alans, Vandals and Sueves invade Gaul and Spain.

408 Alaric takes Rome first time; 409, second time; 410, third
time; the city given up to plunder for six days; Death of Alaric;
Kingdom of Burgundy founded.

441 Age of St. Patrick; 448 Romans leave Britain; next year
Angles and Saxons land under Hengist and Horsa.

451 Attila defeated at Durocatalaunum; 452 destroys Aquileia; 453
Dies.

455 Rome captured by Genseric, king of the Vandals; Heptarchy
established in Britain.

474 Romulus Augustulus, last emperor of the west.

476 _End of the Roman Empire_.

489 Odoacer, chief of the Heruli, becomes king of Italy;
Ostrogoths invade Italy and defeat Odoacer.

496 Clovis the Great, king of France; Feudal system begins.

529 Age of Justinian; Belisarius (Roman general).

622 Mahomet, aged 53, flies from Mecca to Medina, which forms the
first year of the Hegira or Mahometan Era.

632 Death of Mahomet; Abubeker, his successor or first Caliph.

636 Saracens conquer Egypt; destroy the Alexandrian Library.

712 The Moors invade Spain; 713 conquer the Visigoths.

742 Charlemagne, son of Pepin the Short, born; 768 crowned king
of the Franks; 774 crowned king of Italy; 800 crowned emperor of
the West, by Pope Leo III; 814 Charlemagne dies. Charlemagne was
the most powerful Christian monarch of the middle ages; he was a
renowned warrior, he also encouraged learning and religion, and
collected around him the most noted scholars of his time.

827 The Heptarchy united under Egbert, king of England.

843 Kenneth Macalpine first king of Scotland.

849 Alfred, King of England, born; 872 ascends the throne; 901
dies. This monarch rescued his country from the power of the
Danes; encouraged learning and religion; enacted wise laws, and
laid the foundation of the naval power of Britain.

853 Tithes of all England granted to the church.

856 The English crown first disposed of by will.

862 Winchester burnt by the Danes.

867 The monasteries ravaged by the Danes.

886 Ships first built to secure the coasts. Learning restored at
Oxford, by Alfred the Great.

890 Brick and stone first used in building. Time calculated by
wax candles marked.

897 A plague happened which caused great desolation among the
inhabitants.

900 Athelstan created knight, and the first who enjoyed this
title in England.

937 A severe frost, which continued 120 days. The Bible
translated into the Saxon. Colebrand, the Danish giant, killed by
Guy, Earl of Warwick.

944 A storm blew down 1500 houses in London.

945 The first tuneable bells in England were this year hung in
Croyland Abbey.

946 Stealing first punished with death.

955 Edred enjoyed the honor of being the first who was styled
King of Great Britain.

960 Laws to prevent excessive drinking. Wolves’ heads made a
tribute. Eight princes rowed Edgar over the river Dee.

979 Juries instituted.

982 A fire destroyed the King’s palace and a great part of London.

991 The land-tax first levied.

999 Danegelt first levied, to bribe the Danes to leave the
kingdom.

1002 November 13, a general massacre of the Danes began at Welwin
in Hertfordshire.

1012 The priests first inhibited from marrying.

1014 Selling English children and kindred to Ireland, prohibited.

1017 Canute caused the assassins of Edmund, and the traitor Edric
who by a plot of regicide had advanced him to the throne, to be
hanged.

1040 Macbeth murders Duncan king of Scotland.

1058 Edward the Confessor began to cure the King’s evil. Godiva
relieved Coventry from some heavy taxes by riding naked through
the town.

1060 The cross of Waltham erected.

1065 The Saxon laws written in Latin.

1066 William Fitzosborne created earl of Hereford, being the
first Earl created in this kingdom.

1068 The tax of Danegelt was re-established; and the curfew-bell
ordered to be rung at eight every evening, when the people were
obliged, on pain of death, to extinguish their fire and candle.

1072 Surnames first used in England.

1075 William was reconciled with his son Robert, who had rebelled
against him. Waltheof, earl of Northumberland, was beheaded for
rebellion, and was the first English nobleman thus executed.

1076 William refused to pay homage to the see of Rome for the
possession of England, and forbade his bishops to attend the
council that Gregory had summoned. He however sent to Rome the
tribute of Peter-pence. A great earthquake in England, and a
frost from November to the end of April.

1078 William laid the foundation of London.

1079 The Norman laws and language introduced.

1085 Thirty-six parishes, containing a circuit of sixty miles
in Hampshire, were depopulated and destroyed without any
compensation to the inhabitants, in order to make New-Forest for
William’s diversion of hunting. The tyrannical laws of the Forest
were made.

1087 A dreadful famine in England. William went to France and
destroyed the country with fire and sword. He died at Rouen by a
fall from his horse, and was buried at Caen, in Normandy, in the
monastery he had himself founded, but was denied interment by the
proprietor till the fees were paid.

1088 An earthquake in London. A great scarcity this year, and
corn not ripe till the end of November. William II embarked
for Normandy, and made war against his brother Robert. William
returned to England; and Henry his brother, was forced to wander
without a residence.

1091 A tempest which destroyed 500 houses. Great part of London
consumed by fire.

1092 Malcolm, king of Scotland, killed at Alnwick, by the Earl of
Northumberland.

1094 Man and beast destroyed by a great mortality.

1095 Peter the hermit preached up a crusade to the Holy Land.

1096 The Christian princes raised 700,000 men, and began the holy
war. The first single combat for deciding disputes between the
nobility.

1097 The Voyage for the Holy War, was first undertaken. Being
a contrivance of Pope Urban, to compose the divisions of the
church, the whole Christian world being then at discord among
themselves. This war lasted almost three hundred years.

1098 Tower surrounded with a wall. Westminster Hall built. Its
dimensions are 224 feet by 74.

1099 Jerusalem taken by storm, and forty thousand Saracens put to
the sword.

1100 Godwin-Sands, the property of Earl Godwin, first overflowed
by the sea, destroying four thousand acres of land. King Henry
married the lady Maud, daughter of Margaret, late queen of Scots,
and niece to Edgar Atheling, descended from Edmund Ironside. The
use of fire and candle, after eight o’clock at night restored to
the English.

1106 King Henry subdues Normandy, takes Robert prisoner, and
orders his eyes to be put out.

1109 Three shillings levied on every hide of land, which tax
produced £824,000.

1110 Arts and sciences taught again at Cambridge.

1112 A plague in London.

1114 The Thames dry for three days.

1116 A council called of the nobility, which is supposed by some
to be the first parliament.

1122 The order of the Knights Templars founded.

1123 The first park (Woodstock) made in England.

1129 The revenue of the royal demesne altered from kind to specie.

1132 London mostly destroyed by fire.

1134 Duke Robert, having been imprisoned and blinded twenty-eight
years, ended his miserable existence. Wheat sufficient to subsist
100 men one day, sold at one shilling--a sheep 4d.

1136 The distance from Aldgate to St. Paul’s (included),
destroyed by fire in London.

1136 The Empress Maud besieged in Oxford, and made her escape
from thence on foot, being disguised in white, on a snowy night,
to Abingdon. The tax of Danegelt entirely abolished. No less than
fifteen hundred strong castles in the kingdom.

1139 The Empress Matilda lands at Arundel, and claims the crown.
Makes her natural brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, her
general.

1141 Stephen taken prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, and
confined in chains by Maud, in Gloucester gaol. Stephen released.

1148 A new Crusade undertaken.

1151 Gratian of Bologna, the monk, collects the canon laws after
twenty-four year’s labour.

1153 Agreed, between Henry and Stephen, that eleven hundred of
the castles, erected by permission of the latter, should be
abolished. Appeals were first made to the Pope, and canon laws
instituted. There was no regular mode of taxation. Contending
parties supported themselves by plundering each other’s tenants.
There were more abbeys built, than in the hundred years preceding.

1155 The castles demolished, agreeably to the treaty of 1153.

1157 The Welsh, subdued, do homage, and swear allegiance. A sect,
called Publicans, rejecting baptism and marriage, came into
England from Germany. The bishops pronounced them heretics; they
were branded in the forehead and whipped.

1174 Henry scourged for the supposed murder of Becket. The
bishops and abbots of Scotland swore fealty to England and its
church. The earls and barons of Scotland swore allegiance to
Henry and his son.

1176 London bridge begun by Peter Colmar, a priest. It was
thirty-three years in building.

1177 Glass windows in private houses first used. Debasers of coin
first severely punished. A new coinage.

1185 A total eclipse of the sun; and, at the same time, an
earthquake, which destroyed Lincoln and other churches.

1186 Near Oxford in Suffolk, was a sort of wild-man caught in
a fisherman’s net. Trial by jury established, or the verdict
of twelve men, to punish offenders with the loss of a leg or
banishment. Henry secreted his concubine (Rosamond, daughter of
Walter, lord Clifford) in a labyrinth at his palace at Woodstock,
who being discovered by his queen Eleanor, was poisoned by her,
and buried at Godstow nunnery near Oxford.

1189 The castles of Berwick and Roxburgh delivered up to William,
king of Scotland, who was, at the same time relieved from
subjection to England. Richard began, with Philip of France, his
expedition to the Holy Land. About this time were those famous
robbers and outlaws, Robin Hood, and Little John. Upon Richard’s
coronation-day, (3rd September,) was a great slaughter of the
Jews in London, who coming to offer their presents to the new
king, were set upon by the mob, to the loss of their lives and
estates; and the example of London was followed by other towns,
as Norwich, St. Edmunds-Bury, Lincoln, Stamford and Lynn.

1190 King Richard marries the Lady Berengaria, daughter to the
king of Navarre, and goes to the Holy Land, having sold some of
the crown lands to raise the money for that expedition. In which
voyage he took the Island of Sicily and Cyprus.

1191 Richard obtained a great victory over Saladin, at Jerusalem,
September 3. He soon after defeated a Turkish troop of 10,000,
who were guarding a caravan to Jerusalem. He took, on this
occasion, 3,000 loaded camels, 4,000 mules, and an inestimable
booty which he gave to his troops.

1192 Multitudes destroyed by a raging fever, which lasted five
months. Two suns appeared on Whitsunday, so resembling each
other, that astronomers could scarcely distinguish which was the
centre of our system, according to Copernicus.

1194 Richard having been absent four years, returned to England,
March 20. He made war with France, and having obtained a great
victory over the French at Gysors “Not we” says he, “but _Dieu et
mon Droit_,” i.e. God and my Right, has obtained this victory.
Ever since, the kings of England have made it their motto.
The king of Scotland carried the sword of state at the second
coronation of Richard.

1197 Robin Hood, being indisposed, and desiring to be blooded,
was purposely and treacherously bled to death. In this reign,
companies and societies were first established in London. Three
lions passant first borne in the king’s shield.

1199 Surnames first used.

1200 The king of Scotland performed public homage to John, at the
parliament held in Lincoln. Assize of bread first appointed.

1204 The Inquisition established by Pope Innocent III. The most
ancient writ of parliament directed to the bishop of Salisbury.
Five moons seen at one time in Yorkshire.

1205 A fish resembling a man taken on the coast of Suffolk, and
kept alive six months.

1207 The first annual mayor and common council of London chosen.

1208 Divine service throughout the kingdom suspended by the
Pope’s interdict.

1209 John excommunicated.

1210 Twenty Irish princes do homage to John at Dublin. The clergy
taxed to the amount of £100,000.

1211 England absolved by the Pope from its allegiance to John.

1212 Great part of London burnt down by a fire which began in
Southwark in Middlesex, and consumed the Church of St. Mary
Overy, went on to the bridge; and whilst some were quenching the
flames, the houses at the other end took fire, so that numbers
were inclosed; many were forced to leap into the Thames, whilst
others, crowding into boats that came to their relief, were the
cause of nearly 3,000 people perishing, partly by water, and
partly by fire.

1213 John resigned his dominions to the Pope, and was absolved.
In this reign, sterling money was first coined.

1216 Wheat was sold for twelve-pence a quarter, and beans and
oats for four-pence a quarter.

1222 The ward-ship of heirs and their lands was granted to king
Henry.

1226 The Pope demanded a sum annually from every cathedral church
and monastery in Christendom. This demand was refused. Thomas à
Becket’s bones were enshrined in gold and precious stones. Two
imposters executed, the one for pretending to be the Virgin Mary,
the other Mary Magdalen.

1228 The Jews obliged to pay a third part of their property to
the king.

1236 Water first conveyed to London with utility. The Pope’s
ambassador going to Oxford, was set upon by the students, and
his brother slain, himself hardly escaping; whereupon the Pope
excommunicated the University, and made all the bishops who
interceded in the University’s behalf, and the students, go
without their gowns, and barefooted from St. Paul’s church to his
house, being about a mile, before he would revoke the sentence.

1246 Titles first used.

1251 Wales entirely subdued and subjected to English laws.

1253 Fine linen first made in England.

1255 All possessing £15 per annum, obliged to be knighted, or pay
a fine. Tapestry introduced by Eleanor, wife of prince Edward.

1264 There were 700 Jews slain in London, because one of them
would have forced a Christian to have paid more than two-pence,
for the use of twenty shillings a week.

1269 About this time, Roger Bacon, a divine of Merton College in
Oxford, was imprisoned by the Pope, for preaching against the
Romish church.

1273 The Scots swear fealty to Edward, June 12.

1275 Jews obliged to wear a badge; usury restrained by the same
act of parliament, October 6.

1279 The first statute of Mortmain. 280 Jews hung for clipping
and coining.

1282 The Rolls in Chancery-lane given to the Jews. Wales reduced,
after having preserved her liberties 800 years.

1284 Edward II born at Caernarvon, and created first prince of
Wales, April 25.

1285 The abbey Church of Westminster finished, being sixty years
in building.

1286 The Jews seized, and £12,000 extorted from them by order of
the king. He likewise laid great fines upon his judges, and other
ministers, for their corruption; the sum imposed upon eleven of
them was 236,000 marks.

1289 15,000 Jews banished.

1291 Charing, Waltham, St. Albans, and Dunstable crosses erected,
where the corpse of queen Eleanor was rested on its way from
Lincoln to Westminster for interment.

1295 The Scots confederate with the French against the English.

1296 Baliol, king of Scotland, brought prisoner to London.

1298 40,000 Scots killed by the English at the battle of Falkirk.
Sir William Wallace defeated at Falkirk. Baliol released.
Spectacles invented.

1301 Parliament declared Scotland subject to England.

1302 The treasury robbed of property to the amount of £100,000.
Magnetic needle first used.

1308 Crockery ware invented.

1314 The king defeated at Bannockburn, in Scotland.

1319 Dublin University founded.

1322 Knights templar order abolished. Under the accusation of
heresy and other vices, all the knights templar were seized by
order of the king, in one day. The knights templar were an order
instituted by Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, for the defence of the
Holy City, and of the pilgrims that travelled thither, and were
afterwards dispersed through all the kingdoms in Christendom.
They were so enriched by the superstitious world, that they
possessed no less than 14,000 lordships, besides other valuable
lands.

1325 The queen and her adherents declared enemies to the kingdom.

1326 The nobility renounce all fealty to Edward. The king resigns
his crown to his son Edward III.

1327 The first general pardon granted at a coronation, which was
afterwards imitated by succeeding kings.

1330 Gunpowder invented. The use of guns by Berthold Swartz of
Cologne in Germany, a monk, who being addicted to the study
of Chemistry, and making up a preparation of Nitre, and other
things, a spark of fire fell into it and caused a quick and
violent explosion; whereupon he made a composition of powder,
and inclosing it in an instrument of brass, found it answer his
intention, and by this accident came the invention of Guns.

1331 The art of weaving cloth brought from Flanders.

1340 Copper money first used in Scotland and Ireland. Thomas
Blanket and some other inhabitants of Bristol, set up looms for
weaving those woollen cloths that yet bear that name.

1341 Gold first coined in England.

1346 Cannon first used by the English at Cressy.

1347 So great a plague in England, that in one year there was
buried in London 50,000; and there succeeded a famine and
murrain. August 3rd, king Edward took the City of Calais, which
he filled with English inhabitants; and it remained in the
possession of the Crown of England 210 years after.

1348 The Order of the Garter instituted by Edward the Black
Prince, April 3. The plague destroyed one-half of the people.

1352 The largest silver coin in England was groats.

1357 Coals first imported into London.

1362 Council obliged to plead in English.

1364 Four kings entertained at one time, by Sir Henry Picard,
lord mayor of London.

1377 The first champion at coronation. Orders to arm the clergy.

1378 The plague in the north of England. In this year Greenland
was discovered.

1379 Every person in the kingdom taxed, April 25.

1381 Bills of Exchange first used. Wat Tyler’s rebellion begun
May 3. 1506 rebels hung, July 2.

1385 The French land in Scotland, in order to invade England,
whereupon king Richard went to fight them, and put Edinburgh into
flames, but they refusing to fight, he returns.

1386 Linen-weavers company first settled.

1387 The first high-admiral of England appointed. William of
Wickham, bishop of Winchester, and lord treasurer, and chancellor
of England, laid the foundation of the college in Winchester, as
a nursery for his college in Oxford.

1388 Bombs invented.

1391 A great plague and famine. Cards invented for the King of
France. Charles VI.

1392 Thirteen counties charged with treason, and obliged to
purchase their pardons. Provision seized, without payment, for
the army. Duke of Lancaster landed, and declared his pretensions
to the crown, July 4. Richard confined in the tower, August 20.
Resigned his crown, September 29. In this reign piked shoes were
worn tied with ribands and chains of silver to the knees. Ladies
began to ride on side saddles, before which time they used to
ride astride like men.

1399 Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet, died. A conspiracy formed to
restore Richard.

1400 Richard II murdered in Pontefract Castle. Emperor of
Constantinople visited England.

1403 The battle of Shrewsbury, July 22, gained by Henry and the
valour of his sons.

1405 Great guns first used in England, at the siege of Berwick.

1407 A plague destroyed 30,000 persons in London.

1409 Wickliffe’s doctrine condemned.

1414 King Henry sends his brother, the Duke of Bedford, &c.,
with 200 sail of ships, who fell upon the French fleet, sunk 500
French vessels, and took three great Carricks of Genoa; relieved
Harfleur, and so forced the French to raise the siege. In this
action many thousands of the French were killed.

1415 The battle of Agincourt gained by Henry, with a loss of
10,000 men to the French, killed, and 14,000 prisoners, October
25th. Henry sent David Gam, a Welsh captain, to view the strength
of the enemy, who reported, “There were enough to be killed,
enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away.”

1418 Sir John Oldcastle burnt for heresy in St. Giles’s fields.

1419 Vines and sugar-cane first planted in Madeira.

1420 Henry assumes the title of King of France, on a new coin,
April 18th. Kings of France and England make a magnificent entry
into Paris.

1421 The Duke of Clarence, making an inroad into Anjou, in an
unhappy engagement with the French, he and about 2,000 English
were slain.

1422 The two Courts of England and France held at Paris, on
Whitsunday: the two Kings and Queens dined together in public,
May 21st. In this reign it was enacted that knights, citizens,
and burgesses, should be resident in the place for which they
were chosen. The crown and jewels were pawned to raise money for
maintaining the war with France.

1422 The French King enlisted 15,000 Scots.

1424 The King of Scotland ransomed.

1430 Every person possessed of £40 per annum, obliged to be
knighted.

1436 Paris taken by the English.

1437 James, King of Scotland, murdered, February 19th. So great
a dearth, that bread was made of fern roots and ivy berries.

1447 The Bodleian library at Oxford founded.

1448 Duke of York asserts his title to the crown.

1449 A rebellion in Ireland.

1450 The King and his forces defeated at Seven-oaks, by Jack
Cade, in May. Cade killed, and his followers dispersed, in June.

1453 The first Lord Mayor’s show. Richard Plantagenet, Duke of
York, encounters the Queen’s army, near Wakefield in Yorkshire,
in which he was killed, and his army routed. Edward Plantagenet,
Earl of March, hearing of his father’s death, took upon him the
title of Duke of York, and in a battle, at Mortimer’s-cross, near
Ludlow, overthrew the Earls of Pembroke, Ormond, and Wiltshire,
and beheaded Owen Tudor, the King’s father-in-law. And in another
battle with the Queen, he killed the Earls of Northumberland, and
Westmoreland; the Lords Dacres, Wells, Clifford, Beaumont, and
Grey. This was the bloodiest battle that England ever knew, for
there were killed that day 36,776 men.

1454 The king defeated by the Duke of York, at Barnet.

1459 Engravings and etchings invented.

1460 The King taken prisoner at the battle of Northampton.

1461 Edward, the Duke of York, proclaimed King. Richard
Plantagenet, brother to Edward IV, created Duke of Gloucester.
Henry, Margaret, their sons, and adherents, attained by
parliament, November 6th.

1463 Woollens, laces, ribands, and other English manufactures,
prohibited exportation.

1464 Henry, in disguise, taken prisoner, and conveyed to the
Tower.

1469 5,000 Welsh slain at the battle of Branbury.

1470 Warwick, being offended at the marriage of Edward IV, landed
September 13th, with 60,000 men from France. Edward IV flies to
the Duke of Burgundy, his brother-in-law, in Holland.

1471 King Edward, endeavouring to re-obtain the crown, encounters
King Henry in a bloody battle, upon Gladmore heath, near Barnet,
and King Henry taken prisoner a second time. On both sides were
slain 10,000 men. King Henry’s Queen, in a battle with King
Edward, was taken prisoner, 3,000 on her side were slain, and
her son Edward killed; and soon after, King Henry himself was
murdered by the hand of the crook-back’d Duke of Gloucester.

1472 A plague in England destroyed more than preceding fifteen
year’s war.

1475 Margaret of Anjou, ransomed for £12,500.