nated his earthly career, either by the hands of assassins or by the slower course of starvation, A. D. 1400. 18. During this reign the discussions on the papal provisions on vacant benefices were brought to a close. Several popes granted these provisions to mere agents of the clergy, to bishops, and to cardinals. The power of these princes of the church proved a serious obstacle to the execution of the statutes of Edward III.; and they exercised so overbearing an influence that parliament authorized the king to grant dispensations to those who rendered particular service to the crown. From cardinals the dispensations rapidly descended to the lower orders, and the abuse soon became so notorious that in 1390 parliament abrogated the provisions granted since the beginning of that year, and denounced the penalty of death against all who should dare bring or send into England any excommunication from the pope relative to the execution of the statutes of the realm. Against this the spiritual peers protested, and the matter was referred to the pope. Boniface IX., who had but recently ascended the pontifical throne, declared the statutes null and void; and to show his power, he forthwith delivered fresh provisions to his cardinals. The Commons resisted the pontiff's pretensions; the Lords approved of and adopted their declaration; and even the prelates agreed that these acts were an encroachment on the rights of the crown. Upon this the famous statute of A.D.2 Præmunire was passed, which for ever put out of the 1393. king's protection all persons who should purchase bulls, provisions, or excommunications. After almost interminable discussions with the apostolic council, a compromise was arranged in favour of all foreigners, except cardinals; and it was agreed that whenever the pope desired to confer an English benefice on a native, the latter should previously procure the king's license. EXERCISES. 1. Who was named Edward the Third's guardian? What treaty was formed by Mortimer? Describe his career and fate. What measures did the king take against Scotland? 2. How did Edward stand in regard to the succession to the French throne? How did the Salic law act? What was the effect of the revolt of the Flemings on the conduct of the king? What was the result of the first operations in France? 3. What occasioned Edward's landing in Brittany? Give the name of the first great victory over the French. What was its effect? Who was made prisoner at the battle of Neville's Cross? 4. What name was given to a warlike Prince of Wales? What was the result of the battle of Poitiers? What stipulations were made in the peace of Bretigny? How was it kept? What was Edward's personal character? 5. What kind of corruptions had affected the administration of justice? Describe the reforms made in Edward the Third's reign. What was the nature and effect of the right of purveyance? What restrictions on the monarch's power were secured during this reign? Describe the constitution of parliament at this time. 6. In what shape did the Roman see and the Italian priests derive money from England? Give an account of the exaction of first fruits, and of its history. What encroachments got the name of "Provisions"? What was the effect of the practice? What measures were taken to suppress it? 7. How did Wickliffe come into notice? Describe the influence of the mendicant orders. Give an account of Wickliffe's career. Who got the name of "poor priests"? 8. What calamities afflicted England and the continent during the reign of Edward III.? From what quarter did the plague approach Britain? Describe its effect in England. 9. Describe the state of things which the plague left behind it. How did the king think the evils might be remedied? Give an account of the sumptuary laws of this reign, and the practices they were intended to amend. What effects did they produce? 10. Who was Richard II.? What troubles and conflicts took place at the beginning of his reign? What was the nature of the capitation-tax? Describe the oppressions under which the peasantry suffered. 11. What was the immediate cause of the were the circumstances under which Wat Describe the progress of the insurrection. marching to London? rising of the people? What Tiler slew the tax-collector? What was the effect of their Who rejected the 12. What were the demands conceded by Richard? concessions? Describe the circumstances of Tiler's death. subsequent conduct of the king and parliament ? 13. How did a dispute arise as to the popedom, and which side did England take? Describe the warlike proceedings of the Bishop of Norwich. What charges were made against the Duke of Lancaster ? 14. What allies did the Scots obtain? Mention the chief events of the war with Scotland. What English nobleman founded a dynasty of Spanish kings? How were the powers of government disposed of by the reluctant assent of the king? 15. How was the validity of the commission questioned? What were the proceedings of the "wonderful parliament"? Who fought the battle of Otterburn, and what was it popularly called? Describe the circumstances under which the king resumed the royal authority. 16. In what parts of Ireland did the native chiefs remain independent? How were the descendants of the first conquerors distinguished from those who afterwards went from England? What laws were passed invidious to the Irish? Who was made governor of Ireland? 17. Whom did Richard marry? What were the consequences of the marriage? Mention a method in which charges of guilt were decided at that period. How did Richard acquire an arbitrary authority? What was his fate? 18. How was the statute against papal provisions nullified? Describe the resistance offered by parliament to the pope. What was the statute of Præmunire? CHAPTER XV. THE DYNASTY OF Lancaster, a. D. 1399—1461. Henry IV.-Origin of the House of York-War with Scotland-Revolt of the Percys-War with France-Parliament-The Lollards-Martyrdom of Sawtre and Thorpe-Henry V.-Lord Cobham-Invasion of FranceBattle of Agincourt-Treaty of Troyes-Ecclesiastical History-Peculiar Religious Observances-Description of the English Clergy-Henry VI. -Battle of Crevant-Siege of Orleans-Joan of Arc-Jack Cade-Duke of York made Protector-Wars of the Roses-Battle of St Alban'sWarwick the Kingmaker-Battles of Wakefield and Barnet. Henry IV. (Bolingbroke), a. D. 1399-1413. 1. HENRY's first care was to summon a parliament; but as only six days were allowed for completing the returns, when the new parliament met on the 6th of October, the Commons consisted of nearly the same individuals as those who had been summoned six weeks before in the reign of Richard II. Many of the obnoxious acts passed under the late king were repealed. The sentences against Arundel and Warwick were annulled; and Henry's eldest son was created Prince of Wales, Duke of Guienne, Lancaster, and Cornwall, and Earl of Chester. The youthful Earl of March did not find a single person to intercede in his favour; but no cruelty was exercised upon him or his brother, beyond an honourable captivity in Windsor Castle. This young earl, named Edmund, whom Richard had declared to be his lawful heir, was decended from Lionel, duke of Clarence, elder brother of John of Gaunt, Henry's father. As Lionel died without male issue, his pretensions fell to his daughter Philippa, who married Roger Mortimer, earl of March, the representative of the paramour of Isabella of France, and the murderer of Edward II., Philippa's greatgrandfather. From the marriage of Philippa of Clarence proceeded another Roger Mortimer, who left two sons, the elder of whom, Edmund, at this time only eight or nine years of age, would have been, according to the modern rules of hereditary descent, indisputably heir to the crown. When this claim was revived subsequently, it was through Anne, Edmund's sister, who by her marriage with Richard, earl of Cambridge, second son of Edmund, duke of York, gave rise to the pretensions of the house of York, and was the innocent cause of the wars of the Roses. These were so styled from the badges of the two factions-that of York being a white rose, and of Lancaster a red one. The very commencement of Henry's reign was disturbed by a conspiracy to dethrone him, and restore the unfortunate Richard. The great barons who had assisted in placing him on the throne, fancying themselves neglected, proclaimed a tournament to be held at Oxford, and the Earl of Huntingdon, Henry's brother-in-law, invited the king to be present. The invitation was accepted, and it was planned that in the midst of the sports a desperate band should rush upon Henry and slay him and his son. The appointed day arrived, but the king, forewarned, was absent. Hoping to retrieve themselves by a rapid movement, the conspirators set out for Windsor with 500 horse; but the monarch had hastened to London, and warrants were already issued for their apprehension as traitors. Hearing that the king was advancing against them at the head of a large army, which he had collected in London, they separated and fled in different directions; but the feeling of the country was roused against them, and they all fell victims to the popular fury, except a few individuals of inferior rank, who, being tried in the common courts, were condemned and executed. 2. To divert the minds of his subjects from internal affairs, Henry determined upon a war with Scotland; but that he night have some show of justice on his side, he first summoned King Robert and the great Scottish barons to meet him at Edinburgh, and there do homage to him as lord paramount. Henry marched to Leith and summoned the capital to surrender, but the brave Duke of Rothesay, who commanded in the castle, rejected his proposals, and famine soon compelled the English army to retreat to the borders. The Scots retaliated in the following year by an incursion into England; but fortune proved adverse to them in two encounters at Nesbit Moor and at Homildon Hill. The latter victory was 1402. owing to the superiority of the English bowmen, whose shafts no armour could resist. Many noblemen of the highest rank fell or were taken prisoners on this fatal field. A.D. The English were less fortunate in Wales, where Owen Glendower, having raised the standard of rebellion, and been acknowledged by his fellow-countrymen as their legitimate sovereign, defeated Henry's forces in two battles. At the same time, the Percys of Northumberland were conspiring tc dethrone the very man whom they had contributed to raise to his present dignity, and that they might be enabled to carry out their designs, they formed a close league with Glendower, and solicited the support of the kings of France and Scotland. Hotspur, aided by a considerable force under Douglas, marched towards Wales, whither Henry also hastened, and threw himself between the Welsh and the army from the north. On the 21st of July 1403, the two parties met at Shrewsbury, and after a struggle, in which the slaughter was prodigious, the king's troops were victorious. Hotspur fell by a random arrow in the thickest of the fight; Douglas, the Earl of Worcester, Baron Kinderton, and Sir Richard Vernon were made prisoners; the last three, as rebels, being beheaded on the field of battle. The Welsh war continued some time longer; but these brave mountaineers, although strongly supported by a French auxiliary force, could not resist the English arms. Prince Henry drove them from their fortresses, and Glendower was compelled to seek safety in disguise. But his resolute spirit was not subdued: he several times took up arms, and died at last a free man among his native mountains, several years after Henry V. had ascended the throne. 3. The reign of Henry IV. was seldom free from conspiracies. On several occasions it was asserted that Richard was alive and in Scotland, whence he would return to reclaim his throne; and, indeed, as a means of annoyance to the English king, an individual was received and entertained at the court of Scotland, who was represented to be the exiled king of England. But the Percys were his most formidable enemies. The old Earl of Northumberland, who had escaped from the consequences of Hotspur's rebellion, took the field in 1405. Their first armies were defeated by Prince John, Henry's third son; and the Earl of Nottingham and the Archbishop of York, who were made prisoners, were beheaded. The city of York was also severely fined, and its charters were temporarily suspended. Northumberland escaped punishment by fleeing into Scotland, but the king destroyed his castles and confiscated his estates. The heir-apparent to the Scottish throne also fell into Henry's power, by whom he was detained |