on the coast of Palestine, he found the Christians besieging Saint Jean d'Acre. They were in the second year of the siege, and it had already cost them 300,000 men. Richard's arrival inspired the assailants with new energy and vigour, and the Saracen garrison soon surrendered. After performing prodigies of valour at Joppa to rescue the Christians there besieged by Saladin, Richard concluded a truce of three years with that distinguished monarch, who engaged that Christians making pilgrimages to the Holy Sepulchre should pass unmolested. Richard regarding this as a satisfactory termination of the war, bestowed the island of Cyprus on the exking of Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, and set out for Europe. Hearing that danger threatened his own kingdom from the Continent, Richard, to insure personal safety on his way home, assumed the dress of a pilgrim, but in passing on his way through Germany he was recognised and made prisoner by Leopold, duke of Austria. At Acre, he had unfortunately insulted this prince, by trampling on the German banner; and a second source of enmity had been the dethronement of Isaac, king of Cyprus, who was Leopold's brother-in-law. Leopold was not a man to let slip this opportunity of revenge, and making the English king his prisoner, he sold him to the Emperor Henry Sixth, a man noted for avarice and cruelty. By him Richard was confined in the castle of Trifels for fourteen months, till he was delivered by the exertions of his mother Eleanor, the Pope, and the English people, who generously made up the large sum demanded for their sovereign's ransom. On his arrival in England, Richard confiscated the possessions he had formerly bestowed on his brother John-a punishment which John well deserved in consequence of the efforts he had made, and the money he had offered, to have his brother's captivity rendered perpetual. Having then raised as much money as he could from his already exhausted country, he sailed off to Normandy to punish Philip's perfidy. The rest of his reign was passed in petty warfare with that prince, till at last he fell in an ignoble cause. Having disputed with one of his vassals the possession of a treasure which had been found in Limoges, he besieged the castle of Chalus in A.D. 1199.] DISPUTE WITH THE POPE. 43 prosecution of the quarrel. The garrison, unable to prolong resistance, offered to surrender, but Richard refused all terms, declaring his determination to take the castle by force, and hang all within it. One day as he was reconnoitering, with a view to an assault, he received a wound from an arrow. The wound gangrened, and he died (1199), having first pardoned the man, Bertram de Gourdon, by whom the missile had been discharged. Of Richard's reign of ten years, only four months were passed in England. The country suffered much in consequence of the sums of money which had been exacted for the king's foreign expeditions and for his ransom. Nor did the people bear this without protest : London was disturbed by formidable riots, under a leader named Fitzosbert, who pleaded the right of the poor to be exempted from heavy taxation, which ought, as he contended, to be laid on the rich and powerful. Fitzosbert was hanged. The grateful people stole his gibbet, and for a time held it almost as sacred as the cross. Cotemporary Sovereigns and Events.-France: Philip 11. Scotland: William 1. Questions.-1. How did Richard, cœur-de-lion, spend the first years of his reign? 2 Relate the manner of his death. 3. What was the state of England during his prolonged absence from his kingdom? 7. John. A.D. 1199-1216. MURDER OF YOUNG ARTHUR-LOSS OF THE FRENCH PROVINCES-DISPUTE WITH THE POPE-MAGNA CHARTA. Henry II. Richard I. Geoffrey John The principle of primogeniture was again violated by the accession of John, the youngest son of Henry Second, to the exclusion of his nephew Arthur, son of Geoffrey, duke of Brittany. In this the English acquiesced; but the French king, who was ambitious of recovering Normandy and the other French provinces still possessed by the kings of England, seized this pretext of quarrel, and came forward to uphold Arthur's title. After a few years' hostilities, Arthur was made prisoner by his uncle, who, as some believe, murdered him with his own hand. Upon this the States of Brittany appealed to Philip Second, who, as liege lord, owed protection and redress to his vassal. Philip thereupon cited John, also his vassal, to answer for his conduct before the French Court of Peers. John not presenting himself, the French fiefs, Normandy, Brittany, Maine, Anjou, and Poitou, were confiscated, Guyenne only remaining in his hands. A serious difference next occurred between John and Pope Innocent the Third, about the nomination of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, whom John for years refused to recognise. During this dispute, in which was involved the question of the papal supremacy over England, the kingdom was put under an interdict,2 which lasted several years, and the king was excommunicated. John still persisting in his resistance, the Pope pronounced his deposition, and offered the crown of England to Philip, who prepared to assert his claim. John finally extricated himself from his difficulty by an abject offer to hold the kingdom as fief of the see of Rome, with payment of an annual tribute. He secretly hoped that, under the Pope's protection, and with the aid of his allies, the Emperor Otho IV. and the Count of Flanders, he would recover the French provinces; but by his capricious and tyrannical conduct, as well as by his abject submission to the demands of the Pope, he had alienated his barons and people, and did not meet with that national support which he expected. His allies were signally defeated by Philip at the battle of Bouveries, 1214. The incorporation of Normandy with France, which was now effected, though regretted at the time, removed from England a source of weakness. 1 See Shakspere's "King John;" many parts of which may be profitably read in connexion with this reign. 2 A papal interdict closed the churches, and forbade the performance of religious ceremonies and the administration of the sacraments except to infants and the dying. A.D. 1216.] THE POPE ANNULS MAGNA CHARTA. 45 The Norman barons had become incorporated with the English people through a community of interests, both having suffered equally from the tyranny and rapacity of John. They accordingly resolved to vindicate their rights against the crown, and under the guidance of Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, drew up a series of articles known as Magna Charta, embodying the ancient laws and customs of England, which they compelled John reluctantly to ratify at Runnymede,2 near Windsor, 1215. The provisions of Magna Charta may be regarded as the foundation of English freedom, inasmuch as they established the limitation of the monarchy, and asserted the hereditary rights of freemen. It limited the regal practice of exacting arbitrary sums under the name of reliefs; prescribed a uniformity of weights and measures, protected merchant strangers, and confirmed the privileges of the citizens of London. Though the villeins and serfs did not directly benefit by these provisions, or by the remedy of many other abuses, the whole class of "freemen" were directly interested in the success of the movement; for it was agreed "that every liberty or custom which the king had granted to his servants (that is, the feudal chiefs), as far as concerned him, should be observed by the clergy and laity towards their servants, so far as concerned them." Moreover, it was decreed that no man should be imprisoned or punished except through the operation of the law (thus securing freedom from arbitrary incarceration, and laying the foundation of the Habeas Corpus Act); and the courts of justice were purified. John persuaded the Pope to annul this great Charter; and, in order to strike terror into his subjects, he procured bands of mercenaries from the Continent, and traversed the kingdom, laying it waste with fire and sword. To the bull of the Pope, excommunicating the barons and annulling the charter, England replied, that in temporal concerns the Pope had no authority; and in Stephen Langton, the primate, the country found at this important crisis a zealous patriot. The barons, in their extremity, offered the crown to Louis, son of Philip, who immediately came over, but soon 1 On the Thames. The word means the "Meadow of Council." disgusted the English by his preference for his French followers. John's death, in 1216, relieved the nation from an odious tyrant. Cotemporary Events.--Scotland: William 1. (the Lion). Alexander II. France: Philip 11. Inquisition established by Innocent 111. (1204). Crusade against the Albigenses (1208). Mohammedan power overthrown in Spain (1212). Questions.-1. What were the three great events of John's reign? 2. Write out the general provisions of Magna Charta. 3. What was John's character; and what was there in his government which led to his being required to grant Magna Charta? 8. Henry III. A. D. 1216-1272. WEAKNESS AND RAPACITY OF HENRY-DISREGARD OF THE CHARTER-REBELLION OF THE BARONS-BURGESSES-SIMON DE MONTFORT-THE FIRST PARLIAMENT -THE STATUTES OF OXFORD-BATTLE OF LEWES-BATTLE OF EVESHAM -CHARTER TO MINE FOR COAL. John married Isabella Henry, son of John and Isabella of AnHenry III. goulême, being minor at his father's death, the Earl of Pembroke was made Protector of the kingdom. Louis was still endeavouring to establish himself in England, but Pembroke, by his wise and conciliatory conduct, won over to the young king's cause many of the barons who had taken arms against his father. He then, at the head of the English, whose fears and jealousy of Louis and his French followers had increased, fought and defeated the latter at Lincoln (1217), and compelled him to evacuate the kingdom. On the death of the Earl of Pembroke, Hubert de Burgh succeeded to the regency. It required all his ability and vigour to curb the turbulence of the barons, who, like all the other great vassals in Europe, were jealous of the royal authority, and aimed at rendering themselves independent. Henry, weak and irresolute |