CHAPTER XIV.

ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD III. TO THE DEATH OF RICHARD II., A. D. 1327--1399.

Edward III.-Execution of Mortimer-Battle of Halidon Hill-Disputes on the Succession to the French Crown-James von Artaveldt and the Flemish Revolt-Victories of Crecy and of Neville's Cross-The Black Prince-Victory of Poitiers-Reforms-Purveyance-Constitution of Parliament-Exactions of the Papal See-Wickliffe-The Black Plague -State of Society-Sumptuary Laws-Richard II.-Capitation Tax— Wat Tiler's Insurrection-War with Scotland-The Wonderful Parlia ment-Battle of Otterburn-State of Ireland-Deposition of the KingParliamentary Resistance against the Pope-Statute of Præmunire.

Edward III., A. D. 1327—1377.

1. WHEN the youthful Edward was proclaimed king, a council of regency was appointed, the Earl of Lancaster being named guardian and protector of the king's person; but the whole power of the government was really in the hands of his mother Isabella and her paramour Mortimer.

Edward very early displayed his martial character, and placed himself at the head of an army sent against the Scots, who had invaded the northern counties. A war, in which each party seemed afraid of the other, was soon terminated by a treaty acknowledging the independence of Scotland, and recognising Robert Bruce as its lawful king. This treaty, in which Mortimer was the principal agent, disgusted the English nation, and a party was formed against him, headed by the princes of the royal family. He was, however, skilful enough to detach the Duke of Kent from the side of his enemies by a story that Edward II. was still alive, and by producing forged letters purporting to be sent by the pope, urging Kent to release his captive brother. The weak-minded duke fell into the snare, and was tried and convicted of high treason. When he was conducted to the place of execution outside the town of Winchester, no one could be found to perform the office of headsman to the son of the great Edward, till, after a delay of four hours, a convicted felon, on condition of receiving a free pardon, agreed to strike the fatal blow. Others of the nobility also felt the weight of Mortimer's power, who began

to affect almost sovereign state. But the king, who was now eighteen years old and a father, could ill brook the imperious airs of his minister, and during the sitting of parliament at A. D. Nottingham, Mortimer was seized by stratagem in the } 1330. castle of that city, where he lodged with the queenmother, and met with the just reward of his crimes on a gibbet. The guilty Isabella was deprived of her jointure, and confined to her house at Castle Risings, where she passed the remaining twenty-seven years of her life in obscurity.

Edward now assumed the reins of government, and turned his thoughts towards Scotland, with a determination to reduce it under his sway. Regardless of the treaty concluded by Mortimer, he declared war against David Bruce, and recognised as king of Scotland his competitor Edward Baliol. David was driven from his throne, and the victory of Halidon hill (1333) for a brief space delivered the lowlands into the power of his rival, who was solemnly crowned at Scone. The war, however, still continued between the regents and the new king, whom three expeditions of his protector could not maintain in his sovereignty.

2. But a wider field now lay open to Edward's ambition. At the death of Charles IV. of France, his nearest heirs were his sister Isabella, mother of Edward III., and his cousingerman Philip of Valois. From policy, as well as by long established precedent, the crown was conferred upon Philip, for it was contrary to the principle of succession which had been established in France, and which is known by the name of "the Salic law," that a female should succeed to the crown. To hold their fiefs "under the distaff" was considered humiliating to men whose chief pursuit was war, and whose king was their military leader. The exclusion of the mother seems to have cut off the son's claims; but Edward was unwilling to resign them without a struggle. His pretensions were condemned by the French barons, and he appeared resigned to his failure, consenting to do homage to Philip for Guienne.

The cruelties of the Count of Flanders having offended his subjects, a revolt broke out at Ghent, and soon spread over the whole territory. James von Artaveldt, a brewer of that city, put himself at the head of this movement, and advised Edward to assume the title of King of France, so that the Flemings might be able to join his banner without violating the feudal laws. Somewhat prior to this, Robert of Artois, proscribed by the King of France, had taken refuge in Eng

land, and given a similar counsel. Hostilities now became inevitable; and Edward, having obtained subsidies, and seized the tin in Cornwall and Devonshire, besides all the wool in the kingdom, and having even pawned the crown jewels to raise money, sailed for the continent in 1338. The first operations were unfavourable to the English king, who, notwithstanding the defeat of the French fleet in the harbour of Sluys, was unable to take Tournay, and saw a numerous body of his troops routed at Saint Omer by the Duke of Burgundy. A truce for a year was then agreed upon, and the cessation of hostilities on the continent permitted Edward to march against the Scots, who had expelled Baliol (1340).

3. A disputed succession to the ducal crown of Brittany again led Edward into a war with Philip. Montfort, the rejected competitor for the dukedom, having sought the assistance of the English king, a treaty was entered into between them, and when the duke fell into the hands of his enemies, he sent succours to the countess, who, with "the courage of a man and the heart of a lion," was heroically supporting her husband's interests. Edward himself landed with an army in Brittany in 1342, and laid siege to Vannes; but before he could take it, the Duke of Normandy, Philip's son, arrived with a superior force, and Edward willingly agreed to a truce for three years and eight months.

Never was a truce less observed; the English parliament and people were eager for war, and an army was sent into Guienne under the command of the Earl of Derby, Edward's cousin. Not long after, the king in person landed a body of troops in Normandy, whence he marched towards Paris, spreading_terror and desolation in his path. An army of 100,000 French was soon collected against him, and while retreating towards Flanders, before this overwhelming force, he halted on the banks of the Somme near Crecy, where with very inferior numbers he defeated his pursuers with dreadful slaughter (1346). Besides 30,000 common soldiers, two kings, eleven princes, eighty bannerets, and 1200 knights perished on the field of battle. The most important result of this signal victory was the capture of Calais, which facilitated the entrance of the English into France during more than two centuries. Subsequent researches have thrown great discredit, to use the mildest term, on Froissart's account of the siege of this town, with the story of the devotion of Eustace

de Saint Pierre and his five fellow-citizens, and their rescue from an ignominious death by the intercession of the English queen.

While Edward was thus triumphing in France, his wife Philippa defeated the Scots at the decisive battle of Neville's Cross, where David Bruce was made prisoner. Pope Clement VI., pitying the misery of the afflicted people, whom famine and pestilence were carrying off by thousands, interposed between the contending monarchs of England and France, and brought about a cessation of hostilities, which lasted until 1355. During the war we have been describing, the plague swept over Europe, depopulating numerous towns and cities. Beginning in China, it crossed the deserts of Asia, and passing through the Levant, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Germany, and France, it appeared in London towards the close of 1348, where it committed the most fearful ravages.

4. BATTLE OF POITIERS.-The war with France was renewed on the expiration of the truce, when the Prince of Wales, better known as the Black Prince, from the colour of his armour, landed at Bordeaux and overran Aquitaine. Edward himself marched from Calais and ravaged Picardy, but was compelled to return from want of provisions ere he had reached Amiens. In the following year, John the Good, aided by the votes of the States-general, assumed the offensive, and obtained some advantages in Normandy; but the progress of the Black Prince called him beyond the Loire. With an army numerically superior in the proportion of six to one, John approached the English position near Poitiers. The papal legate, Cardinal Talleyrand, spent a whole day in endeavours to prevent bloodshed. The French, however, were confident in their superiority, and would agree to no terms that the honour of Prince Edward would allow him to accept; and on the morrow the fight began, when the English gained a victory more disastrous to France than even that of Crecy. John fell into the hands of the English, and was brought to A.D. London, where he shared the captivity of David of Scotland. The latter was soon after restored to liberty; and the influence of his wife, Edward's sister, prevented any further disturbance to England from that quarter. The peace A.D.} of Bretigny put an end to the French war. By this 1360. humiliating treaty the English became the acknowledged masters of Calais, Ponthieu, and all the provinces belonging to the ancient duchy of Aquitaine, besides which

1356.

King John was to be ransomed by the enormous sum of three million crowns of gold.

The conquered provinces did not bear the English yoke without murmuring. The treaty of Bretigny had not been fulfilled; John's ransom was never paid; some of the stipulated territory was never ceded; and the expedition of the Black Prince into Spain, to the support of Pedro the Cruel, so embarrassed his finances that he was compelled to impose heavy taxes upon his subjects of Guienne. This made the cup overflow; and Charles V., encouraged by the reviving prosperity of his country, no less than by the declining health of Edward III. and his son, lent a favourable ear to the complaints of the Gascon nobles, and regardless of the treaty of Bretigny, which conferred sovereign rights upon the Black Prince, summoned him to appear as a vassal at the court of Paris. Edward replied haughtily that he would go there A. D. accompanied by 60,000 men. War immediately broke 1369. out, and although the English twice traversed France from Calais to Bordeaux, they were unable to maintain their conquests. During a truce, concluded by the intervention of Pope Gregory XI., the Prince of Wales and his father both died, within a year of each other. The reverses suffered by Edward's troops, the misery of his kingdom, the scandalous weaknesses of his old age (for he had fallen under the management of an artful woman named Alice Perrers), all contributed to imbitter the recollection of past prosperity. He had seen Scotland, notwithstanding his victories, re-established in its independence under the house of Stewart; the fruits of Crecy and Poitiers were irrecoverably lost; and most of the continental possessions of his ancestors had passed under the laws of France. He breathed his last at a moment when, under a juvenile king, hostilities were about to commence from which England was to reap nothing but fresh misfor

tunes.

5. The reign of Edward III. might as well be treated of in a history of France as of England. Most of those great events which historians delight to narrate passed on the continent. But while this warlike monarch was covering himself with military glory, his subjects obtained many advantageous concessions, and the enactment of several equitable laws, in return for their supplies.

The most revolting corruptions had existed in the courts for the administration of justice. The judges did not scruple