Greek Gods- Rome- Middle Ages- England
- Автор: Harding Samuel B.
- Год: 1909
- Язык: английский
- Год: Heritage History
- Жанр: История
Электронная книга - «Greek Gods- Rome- Middle Ages- England». Краткое содержание книги:
Greek Gods and Heroes
City of the Seven Hills
The Story of the Middle Ages
The Story of England
At first, it was not certain whether the Commons should be admitted to a share in the law-making power, or whether they should be only allowed to vote taxes. But in his summons to the "Model Parliament" Edward I. laid down the principle that "what concerns all should be approved by all." And, twenty-seven years later, the rule was laid down that all matters which concerned the kingdom and the people, "shall be established in Parliament, by the King, and by the consent of the Lords and the Commons of the realm." From this time on the powers of the Commons grew, until they are now much greater than those of the House of Lords.
But we must not think of these early Parliaments as having the great powers which Parliaments have today. The King was still much more powerful than the Parliament, though since the granting of the Great Charter it was recognized that the King was below the law, and not above it. In making new laws, and in laying new taxes, he needed the consent of Parliament; but in carrying on the general business of the government—in making war, and in concluding peace—he could act without Parliament. Often he consulted Parliament about such matters, but he could act as he pleased. The ministers who carried on the government were still the King's ministers, and responsible to him only. It was to be several centuries yet—and a great civil war must be fought, and one King beheaded and another deposed—before Parliament was recognized as the chief power in the government.
Nevertheless, by the time that Edward III. came to the throne the framework of Parliament—though not its powers—was complete.
Topics for Thought and Search
Rule three columns on the blackboard, head one "Witenagemot," the next "Great Council," and the third "Parliament," and write down the chief facts concerning each body.
Show how the "representative principle" enables free governments in modern times to rule much greater territories than was possible for the little republics of Greece, when the representative principle was not yet developed.
Show how the representative principle enabled the people to use the rights of self-government which they forced the Kings to grant.
Find out what you can about the Parliament called by Simon de Montfort in 1265.
Do the same for the Model Parliament of 1295.
Edward III. and the Hundred Years' War
Edward III. reigned for fifty years—from 1327 to 1377. During the first four years, the government was in the hands of those who had deposed Edward II.; but when Edward III. was eighteen years old, he took the power into his own hands. He was handsome, brave, and energetic. In the greater part of his reign, the people gladly supported him, for the wars which he carried on were popular, and he let Parliament have much power. But, in his old age, he grew selfish and extravagant, and troubles arose.
The most important thing in the reign of Edward III. was the beginning of a long war—or rather a series of wars—with France. We call this the Hundred Years' War, because it lasted for more than a century, from 1327 to 1453.
Many causes combined to produce this long war. The English Kings could not forget that they had once held Normandy, and no King of France could be content so long as another King was his vassal for so large a part of the kingdom as the English King still held in Gascony. When Edward III. renewed the English war with Scotland, the French King aided the Scots; and when troubles broke out in Flanders, in northern France, Edward III. supported the Flemish people against their count, who was supported by his overlord, the King of France. In this last quarrel, the English people were strongly on the side of their King; for the industrious cloth manufacturers of the Flemish cities were the chief customers for England's wool.
When war had been decided upon, Edward III. made matters worse by claiming that he was the rightful King of France. His mother was the sister of the last preceding French King; and when this King died without sons, Edward said that the French crown should have gone to him, as that King's nephew. But the French had a rule that no woman could reign over France, and they decided (as they had a perfect right to do) that this also shut out those who claimed through a woman, as Edward did. They therefore had given the crown to the nearest male member of their royal house, whose right came entirely through males. Even when the Hundred Years' War finally ended, the English Kings did not cease styling themselves "Kings of France"; and it was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that this claim was finally abandoned.
Two very famous battles—the battle of Crecy and Poitiers—were fought in this war, while Edward III. was King; and later, as we shall see, a third battle—that of Agincourt—was fought by Henry V. In all three of these battles, the victory was chiefly due to the strength and skill of the English archers, with their "long bows" and "cloth-yard shafts," which could shoot true for two hundred yards, and pierce through coats of mail.
The battle of Crecy was fought in northern France, in 1346. Edward III. had landed in Normandy, and marched up the valley of the river Seine, until the flames of the villages burned by the English could be seen from the walls of Paris. Then he turned northward, with the French in hot pursuit. He awaited their attack on a little hill at Crecy. The French force was five times as great as that of the English, and included a body of hired crossbowmen from Italy.
The crossbowmen were no match for the English longbowmen. The English arrows fell among them "so thick that it seemed as if it snowed," and they broke ranks and fled.
"Slay these rascals," angrily cried the French King, pointing to the crossbowmen, "for they trouble us without reason."
Battle of Crecy
"But ever still," says the chronicler Froissart, who wrote about these wars, "the Englishmen shot wherever the crowd was thickest. The sharp arrows pierced the knights, and their horses, and many fell, both horse and men; and when they were down they could not rise again, for the press was so thick that one overthrew another."
Edward III. had given the command of one division of his knights (who fought on foot in this battle) to his sixteen year old son, Edward the Black Prince. The King himself guided the whole battle from the tower of a little windmill on the battle field. Presently a messenger came to him in haste, and said:
"Sire, those about the Prince are fiercely fought and sore handled, wherefore they desire that you and your division come and aid them."
"Is my son dead, or hurt, or felled to earth?" inquired the King.
"No, sire," replied the messenger, "but he is overmatched, and has need of your aid."
"Well," said the King, "return to them that sent you, and say to them that they need send no more to me, no matter what happens, as long as my son is alive. And also say to them that I wish that they let him this day win his spurs. For if God be pleased, I will that this day be his, and the honor thereof."
Night came, with the English lines still unbroken, while the French were in hopeless confusion. The French King fled wounded from the field, leaving behind him eleven princes of France among the slain, and thousands of lesser rank. It was one of the greatest victories in English history, and it was won by despised foot-soldiers, of low rank, against the nobly born nights of France.