of Wales, were but ill able to sustain the impetuosity of young Edward's attack, who bore down upon them with incredible fury. During this terrible day, Leicester behaved with astonishing intrepidity; and kept up the spirit of the action from two o'clock in the afternoon, till nine at night. At last, his horse being killed under him, he was compelled to fight on foot, and though he demanded quarter, the adverse party refused it, with a barbarity common enough in the times we are describing. The old king, who was placed in the front of the battle, was soon wounded in the shoulder; and not being known by his friends, he was on the point of being killed by a soldier; but crying out, I am Henry of Winchester the king, he was saved by a knight of the royal army. Prince Edward hearing the voice of his father, instantly ran to the spot where he lay, and had him conducted to a place of safety. The body of Leicester being found among the dead, was barbarously mangled by one Roger Mortimer; and then, with an accumulation of inhumanity, sent to the wretched widow as a testimony of the royal party's success. This victory proved decisive; and those who were formerly persecuted, now became oppressors in their turn. The king, who was grown vindictive from his sufferings, was now resolved to take a signal vengeance on the citizens of London, who had ever forwarded the interests of his opponents. In this exigence, submission was their only resource; and Henry was hardly prevailed upon from totally destroying the city. He was at last contented to deprive it of its military ensigns and fortifications, and to levy upon the inhabitants a very heavy contribution. Fitz-Richard, the A. D. seditious mayor, was imprisoned, and 1265. purchased his pardon with the loss of his substance. The rebels every where sub- Aug. 5. mitted, or were pursued with rigour. Their cas des were taken and demolished; and scarce any were found that disputed the king's authority. Among the few who still continued refractory, was one Adam Gordon, formerly governor of Dunster castle, and very much celebrated for his prodigious strength and great bravery. This courageous baron maintained himself for some time in the forests of Hampshire and ravaged the countries of Berks and Surry. Prince Edward was, at length, obliged to lead a body of troops into that part of the country to force him from thence, and attacked his camp with great bravery. Being transported with the natural impetuosity of youth, and the ardour of the action, he leapt over the trench by which it was defended, attended by a few followers; and thus found himself unexpectedly cut off from the rest of his army. Gordon soon distinguished him from the rest of his attendants; and a single combat began between those two valiant men, which for a long time, continued doubtful. But the prince's fortune at last prevailed: Adam's foot happening to slip he received a wound, which disabled him from continuing the action, and he remained at the mercy of the conqueror. Edward was as merciful as he was brave; he not only granted him his life, but introduced him that very night to his consort at Guildford; procured him his pardon and estate, and received him into favour. Gordon was not ungrate ful for such mercy; he ever after followed the prince; and was often found combating by his side in the most dangerous shock of battle. In this manner, the generosity of the prince tempered the insolence of victory; and strength was gradually restored to the different members of the constitution, that had been so long weakened by the continuance of civil discord. Edward having thus restored peace of the kingdom, found his affairs now so firmly established, that it was not in the power of any slight disgust taken by the licentious barons to shake them. The earl of Gloucester, indeed, who had been so instrumental in restoring the king to the crown, thought that no recompense could equal his merits. He therefore engaged once more in open rebellion, but was soon brought to submission by the prince, who obliged him to enter into a bond of twenty thousand marks, never to enter into similar schemes for the future. The kingdom being thus tolerably composed, that spirit of adventure and ardour for military glory, which shone forth in all this prince's actions, now impelled him to undertake the expedition against the infidels in the Holy Land. The crusade was at that time the great object of ambition; all other wars were considered as trifling, and all other successes as mean, in comparison of those gained over the enemies of Christ and his religion. To that renowned field of blood flocked all the brave, the pious, the ambitious, and the powerful. Inpursuance of this resolution, which though succeeding fashions of thinking have condemned, yet certainly then was prosecuted upon the noblest motives, Edward sailed from England with a large army, and arrived at the camp of Lewis, the king of France, which lay before Tunis; and where he had the misfortune to hear of that good monarch's death before his arrival. The prince, however, no way discouraged by this event, continued his voyage, and arrived in the Holy Land in safety. He was scarce departed upon this pious expelition, when the health of the old king began to decline; and he found not only his own constitution, but also that of the state, in such a dangerous situation, that he wrote letters to his son, pressing him to return with all dispatch. The former calamities began to threaten the kingdom again; and the barons, taking advantage of the king's weakness, oppressed the people with impunity. Bands of robbers infested various parts of the nation; and the popu VOL. I M lace of London once more resumed their accustomed licentiousness. To add to the king's uneasiness, his brother Richard died, who had long assisted him with his advice in all emergencies. He, therefore, ardently wished for the return of his gallant son, who had placed the seeptre in hands that were too feeble to hold it. At last, overcome by the cares of government, and the infirmities of age, he ordered himself to be removed, by easy journies, from St. Edmund's to Westminster, where, sending for the earl of Gloucester, he obliged him to swear that he would preserve the peace of the kingdom; and, to the utmost of his power, maintain the interests of his son. That same night he expired, and the next morning the great seal was delivered to the archbishop of York, and the lords of the privy-council. Thus died Henry in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and the fifty-sixth of his reign, the longest to be met with in the English annals. He was a prince more adapted for private than public life; his ease, simplicity, and good nature, would have secured him that happiness in a lower station, of which they deprived him upon a throne. However, from his calamities, the people afterwards derived the most permanent blessings; that liberty which they extorted from his weakness they continued to preserve under bolder princes, who succeeded him. The flame of freedom had now diffused itself from the incorporated towns through the whole mass of the people, and ever afterwards blazed forth at convenient seasons; so that in proportion as the upper orders lost, the people were sure to be gainers. In this contest, though they often laid down their lives, and suffered all the calamities of civil war, yet those calamities were considered as nothing, when weighed against the advantages of freedom and security. INDEX. A ELLA, founds the kingdom of the South Saxons, 36. Agricola, sent into Britain, 23-defeats the Caledonians, Alfred, account of, 56-succeeds to the crown, 57- Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, declares for Urban, Arthur, king of England, an account of, 37. Arthur, nephew to John claims the throne, 210-sub- 213. Arts and sciences, transplanted into England, 50. Atheling, Edgar, retreats into Scotland, 107-returas 1 |