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
To recover this inheritance, Henry of Bolingbroke landed in England with sixty followers. The sixty soon became sixty thousand, for all classes of people were offended by Richard's rule. At this time, Richard was in Ireland, carrying on war; so his enemies were free to gather their forces. When Richard hastily returned, he found himself deserted by everyone, and soon fell into Henry's hands.
"Your people, my lord," said Henry, "complain that for twenty years you have ruled them harshly. However, if it pleases God, I will help you to rule them better."
Soon this pretense was thrown off, and Richard was given to understand that he must resign his crown; and to this he weakly consented. The poet, Shakespeare, makes Richard speak these words:
"What must the King do now? Must he submit?
The King shall do it: must he be depos'd?
The King shall be contented: must he lose
The name of King? God's name, let it go:
I'll give my jewels for a set of beads,
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
My gay apparel for an alms-man's gown,
My figured goblets for a dish of wood,
My scepter for a palmer's walking-staff,
My subjects for a pair of carved saints,
And my large kingdom, for a little grave!"
A Parliament was called, and the King's abdication was read to it. Then Henry of Bolingbroke stepped forward, by the vacant throne, and said:
"I, Henry of Lancaster, claim this realm and the crown, since I am descended by right line of blood from the good King Henry III., and since God had sent me with help of my kin and my friends to receive it, when the realm was on a point of being undone by lack of government and the undoing of good laws."
The whole Parliament accepted this claim, and he was seated upon the throne, as Henry IV.—the first of the Lancastrian Kings. By right of descent, he was not the nearest heir to the throne after Richard II., for he was descended from the third son of Edward III., and a descendant from the second son existed in the person of the young Earl of March. But the Earl of March was only six years old, and Parliament passed over his claims in favor of those of the house of Lancaster.
The Houses of Lancaster and York
Later, as we shall see, the claim through the Earl of March became one factor in the great Wars of the Roses, which in turn brought the rule of the Lancastrians to an end, just as the revolution of 1399 brought to an end the rule of the direct line of the Plantagenet Kings.
Topics for Thought and Search
Find out what you can about Wyclif and his teachings.
Imagine yourself a peasant boy or girl, and tell the story of the Peasants' Revolt.
What was the nature of the rebellions in England before this time? What does the Peasants' Revolt show with reference to the power of the people?
Find out what you can about Henry of Bolingbroke, and tell the story of his rise to be King.
Why did Richard II. lose his throne? Compare him with King John, Henry III., and Edward II.
The Lancastrian Kings, and the Close of the Hundred Years' War
Henry IV., Henry V., and Henry VI.—father, son, and grandson—were the Kings of the House of Lancaster. The first reigned fourteen years, the second nine, and the last thirty-nine; the first had difficulty in keeping the kingdom he had won, the second added to it by conquering the kingdom of France, and the third lost all through weakness and insanity.
It was only in the last five years of his reign that Henry IV. was free from rebellions against his rule.
In the first year there was a revolt which was intended to restore Richard II. to the throne. This was easily put down, and a few months later Richard died suddenly in his prison—put to death by order of the new King.
A more serious rebellion was the one led by Owen Glendower, a Welshman, under whom the Welsh people made an effort to recover their independence. Again and again the Welsh came down from their mountain valleys, attacked the border counties of England, and the returned to their mountain retreats, whither the English army could hardly follow them.
The most serious rebellion of all followed, in England, as a result of one of these raids in which the Welsh took prisoner an English lord, named Mortimer. King Henry feared Mortimer because he was the uncle of the young Earl of March, the rightful heir to the throne; and so he took no steps to ransom him. This conduct of the King angered the powerful family of the Percies, who had aided Henry to gain the throne, and had just won a great victory over the Scots; for Mortimer was related to them also. Accordingly, Sir Harry Percy, who was called "Hotspur" because of his quick temper, went to the King and said:
"Shall a man spend his goods, and put himself in peril for you and your realm, and you will not help him in his need?"
At this the King, in turn, grew angry, and said:
"Thou art a traitor! Wilt thou that I should aid mine enemies and the enemies of the realm?"
"Traitor am I none," Hotspur replied, "but as a true man I speak." And when the King drew his dagger upon him, and would have attacked him, Hotspur cried:
"Not here, but in the field!"
And with this, he left the King, and hurried home to raise his forces.
The Percies, with the Scots whom they had taken prisoners, then marched southward to join Glendower. At Shrewsbury, on the borders of Wales, they met King Henry, with his army.
"Then there was a strong and hard battle," says a chronicler, "and many were slain on both sides. And when Harry Percy saw his men fast slain, he pressed into battle, with thirty men, and made a lane in the middle of the King's host, till he came to the King's banner. And at last he was beset about and slain, and soon his host was scattered and fled. And Sir Harry Percy's head was smitten off, and set up at York, lest his men would have said that he had been alive."
Battle of Shrewsbury
Percy's uncle was taken prisoner and beheaded. His father was pardoned for a time; but next year he rebelled again, and when at last he was captured, after three years of wandering, he, too, was put to death. Glendower was never captured, but was no longer dangerous to England.
One reason for the King's success, in putting down rebellions, was that the people were prosperous during his reign; and another was, that he kept on good terms with Parliament. King Henry's title to the throne came from Parliament, and his need of money made it necessary to please them. The result was, that he appointed officers whom he knew to be satisfactory to the members of Parliament; he permitted them to examine into the uses made of the money raised by taxes; he chose his Council from among them; and he acknowledged that grants of money should always be made first by the House of Commons.
In the year 1413, Henry IV. died—of leprosy, it is said. Many people believed that his disease was a punishment upon him because he had executed an archbishop who rebelled with the Percies. The poet, Shakespeare, makes him speak these words, on his death-bed, to his son and successor, Henry V.:
"Heaven knows, my son,
By what by-paths, and indirect crook'd ways,
I met this crown; and I myself know well,
How troublesome it sat upon my head:
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation;
For all the soil of the achievement goes