reign had not been in general somewhat arbitrary, and if the great charter had not been frequently violated, the parliament would never have applied for those frequent confirmations, which could add no force to a deed regularly observed, and which could serve no other purpose than to prevent the contrary precedents from turning into a rule, and acquiring authority."*

+

The Prince of Wales had left a son of eleven years of age, who succeeded to the throne of his grandfather, by the name of Richard II. Charles VI. some time after became king of France at the age of twelve, and both these minorities were unhappy for their countries. In England, the three uncles of the king, th dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, ruled the kingdom with no good understanding between them, and consequently with much disturbance to the nation. Yet Richard himself, when he assumed the reins of government, gave some indications of a vigorous and a happy administration. But this fair prospect was of short continuance. Though a prince of some spirit, he was possessed of a very weak understanding, abandoned to his pleasures, and a slave to unworthy favorites. By their persuasion, and to gratify his revenge as well as his avarice, he confiscated, on a specious pretence of treason, the estate of his uncle, Henry of Lancaster, duke of Hereford, a prince of great resolution and ability, and, by descent from Henry III., of no remote pretensions to the throne of England. While the king was employed in quelling an insurrection in Ireland, Henry of Lancester, who was in high favor with the people, found means to levy a very formidable army he engaged the earl of Northumberland in his interest, and prevailed on York, then viceroy in the king's absence, to give him no opposition; while, as he pretended, all that he had in view was the recovery of his estate. Richard, on his return from Ireland, found Lancaster at the head of his troops, determined to wrest from him the possession of the crown; his numbers were inconsiderable, and diminished by desertion to his rival. Resistance he saw was vain while the body of the people were his enemies. Lancaster told him he was a novice in the art of government, and that he would teach him how to rule the people of England; to which the submissive monarch is said to have replied, "Fair cousin, since it pleases you, it pleases us likewise." Richard, confined in the Tower, was accused of mal-administration, and condemned by parliament, who solemnly deposed him from the throne; he was confined a prisoner in the castle of

*The magnificent castle of Windsor was built by Edward III., and Hume justly remarks, that the method of conducting that work affords a criterion of the condition of the people in that age. Instead of engaging workmen by con tract, or for stipulated wages, Edward assessed every county in England to send him a certain number of masons, tilers. and carpenters, as if he had been levying an army.-Ashmole's Hist. of the Garter, p. 129.

The parlia

Pontefract, and afterwards privately assassinated.* ment conferred the crown on Henry of Lancaster, by the title of Henry IV. Thus began the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster, which for several years after involved the kingdom in misery and bloodshed; yet, in the end, contributed to establish and fix the constitution of England.

ENGLAND and

CHAPTER XIII.

ac

FRANCE in the FIFTEENTH CENTURY:-England under Henry V.-France under Charles VI.-Battle of Agincourt-Henry V. quires the Crown of France-Charles VII.-Maid of Orleans-France recovered from the English-The Eastern Empire invaded by the Turks-By the Tartars under Tamerlane-Scanderbeg-Turks under Mahomet the Great take Constantinople-Greek Empire extinguished-Constitution of Turkey--France about the end of the Fifteenth Century-Lewis II.-Charles VIII.-Italy.

A BRANCH of the house of York was yet alive in the heir of the family of Mortimer, a boy of seven years of age. Percy, earl of Northumberland, who had contributed to raise Henry of Lancaster to the crown, had met with some acts of injustice from him, which changed him from a friend into a most implacable enemy. He, with his son Henry Percy, surnamed Hotspur, together with Owen Glendower, a formidable chieftain of Wales, and a large party of the Scots, united their forces with the resolution to elevate Mortimer, as true heir to the crown of England. Henry

*[Such is the account generally given by English historians, who, though they differ as to the manner of his death, give no credit to the rumors which disquieted the mind of Henry IV., of the escape of Richard into Scotland; and the specific account given by the contemporary Scots historians to this effect, has been wholly discredited by English writers. Recent researches, however, confirm the narrative of Bowyer, that Richard II. escaped from Pontefract castle, was discovered in the Western Isles, was honorably treated by Robert III., and, after his death, by the Regent Albany, during a period of no less than eighteen years, and died in Stirling castle, 1419. A Dissertation annexed to the third volume of the History of Scotland, by Mr. Fraser Tytler, not only produces the most unexceptionable testimony to these facts from original public documents, but gives the most probable grounds for believing that Henry IV., notwithstanding the pains which he took to convince his subjects of the death of Richard, was not only well aware of his existence in Scotland, but deeply interested that he should be kept there; in fact, that Richard II. was an hostage in the hands of the ambitious and unnatural Albany, for the secure detention of his sovereign James I., in England; and James, in like manner, an hostage in the hands of Henry IV. and V., for the detention in Scotland of so dangerous a rival to the reigning monarch of England.-See Tytler's History of Scotland vol. iii.-E. 1834.]

met the rebels and their allies at Shrewsbury. Northumberland was detained by sickness, but his place was well supplied by the intrepid Hotspur. He again found a formidable antagonist and rival in prowess in young Henry of Monmouth, the son of the king, who was afterwards the great Henry V. The death of Hotspur, by an unknown hand, decided the fate of the day, and Henry was victorious. Northumberland, commiserated for his age and misfortunes, obtained his pardon. The kingdom regained for a while its quiet, till it was again embroiled by a confederacy, at the head of which was the archbishop of York. This was quelled by the death of its author, who was the first prelate who had been capitally punished in England. This period has been distinguished as the dawn of the Reformation, and Wickliffe as its morning-star. The efforts of this eminent reformer and his followers to disseminate true religion, and thereby dispel the darkness of popery which prevailed extensively throughout the land, exposed them to many trying conflicts both with the ecclesiastical and secular authorities, and many of his zealous followers suffered an extreme degree of rigor. This reign saw, likewise, the first capital punishments in England on account of religious opinions. Henry died at the early age of forty-six, and left the throne to his gallant son, Henry V., who, in the humiliation of France, brought the kingdom of England to a very high pitch of glory.

The care which Charles V., surnamed the Wise, had taken to retrieve the misfortunes of France, was in a great measure the cause of the ruin of that monarchy. The duke of Anjou, one of the uncles of Charles VI., who governed as regent in the minority of his nephew, not satisfied with embezzling the treasures of the crown, oppressed the people with the most intolerable exactions. Paris, and many other of the principal towns, rose openly in arms, and the king himself set out for Brittany, with the purpose of depriving their oppressor of his power and authority. At this critical period the young monarch was unfortunately seized with a deprivation of his intellects, which broke out in the most dreadful fits of madness. The ignorance of men in those ages attributed this fatal, but natural calamity, to the effects of witchcraft. An Italian lady, the wife of his brother, the duke of Orleans, was accused as the author of his misfortunes, and the suspicion was increased by a very strange accident. In a .masquerade at court the king appeared in the garb of a wild man, covered with leaves, which were stuck with pitch upon a close habit of linen, and he led in chains four other satyrs, dressed in the same manner. The duke of Orleans, who held a burning torch, approached accidentally too near these combustible knights; one of the habits took fire, and the four satyrs, who were four of the principal nobility, were burnt to death. The king escaped with life, but was seized with a dreadful fit of frenzy. To relieve nim, they sent for a magician from Montpellier, and he became

somewhat better. The fact was, his disease had lucid intervals, and in these he sometimes resumed the management of his kingdom-which was of the worst consequence to France, for no measure was ever pursued to an end or with stability. The duke of Burgundy, who hated Orleans, and wanted to secure to himself the whole authority of the kingdom, caused this nobleman, his own nephew, to be assassinated. A party rose in favor of his children, to revenge themselves on Burgundy. The queen, who aimed likewise at the chief administration, had a party who espoused her interest. All France was in commotion, and Henry V. of England could not have chosen a more favorable opportunity for the execution of his ambitious designs.

On pretence of recovering the ancient patrimony of the crown of England, Henry made a descent on Normandy, with an army of 50,000 men. He took the tower of Harfleur, and carried devastation into the country. A contagious distemper arrested his progress, and destroyed three-fourths of his army, and in this deplorable condition, with about 9000 effective troops, he was met by the Constable D'Albret, at the head of 60,000 men. In this situation a retreat was attempted by the English, but they were harassed by the enemy, and compelled to come to an engagement on the plain of Agincourt. On that day the English arms obtained a signal triumph. The French were so confident of success, that they made a proposal to the English about surrendering, and began to treat for the ransom of their prisoners. Henry observed in their immense army the remissness and relaxation which commonly attend a great superiority of numbers. He led on his little band to meet them in order of battle. The French stood for a considerable space of time, and beheld this feeble foe with indignation and contempt. Come on, my

friends," said Henry; "since they scorn to attack us, it is ours to show them the example. Come on, and the blessed Trinity be our protection." The English archers, as usual, began the co fct. Their arrows were a yard in length, and falling as thick as hail upon the main body of the enemy, threw them to great confusion. After the first discharge, the archers seized the sword, and rushing on a body of horse, which were advanced beyond the line, dispersed and drove them back upon the ranks of infantry. A body of English cavalry, in the meantime, sprung from an ambush, and attacked one flank of the army, which was assailed by the foot on the other. Henry, dismounting from his horse, threw himself into the hottest of the engagement, and singly maintained for awhile a combat against several French knights. He was felled to the ground, but owed his life to the intrepidity of a gallant Welshman, who despatched, with his own hand, several of his assailants. Recovering his senses, he was attacked by the duke of Alençon, who cleft with his sword a part of the king's helmet. Alençon, however, was

killed in that attempt, and the French were broken, dispersed, and entirely cut to pieces. The number of the slain amounted to 10,000, and 14,000 were taken prisoners. The loss of the English in the victory of Agincourt is said not to have exceeded forty men-a fact bordering upon the incredible.

The court,

France was now in the most deplorable situation, but Henry was obliged to return to England for a supply both of men and money. He landed, however, soon after on the continent with an army of 25,000 men, and prepared to strike a decisive blow for the crown of France. The duke of Orleans, as we have mentioned, had been assassinated by the duke of Burgundy. He, in his turn, fell by the treachery of the Dauphin, who was afterwards Charles VII. But his son, to revenge the death of his father, concluded a league at Arras with the monarch of England. With this assistance Henry proceeded in his conquests, was soon master of all Normandy, and advanced to Paris. with their insane monarch, fled to the city of Troye, where Henry, still pursuing, forced on a treaty with the queen-mother and the duke of Burgundy, by which it was stipulated that he should marry Catharine, the daughter of Charles VI., and receive all France as her dowry. It was agreed that the insane monarch should retain, for life, the title of king, while Henry enjoyed the government, to which he was to succeed without dispute upon his death. Such was the tenor of a treaty very glorious for England, but too repugnant to the interests of both kingdoms to be of any long continuance.

In the meantime the Dauphin, aided by a body of 8000 Scots, took advantage of the king's return to England to vindicate his hereditary dominions, which had been thus conferred on a stranger, by those who had no power to dispose of them. He attacked the English army under the duke of Clarence, and gained a complete victory; but the return of Henry changed the face of affairs, and all was submission to this victorious monarch. This, however, was the last term of his glories; an incurable disease attacked his vitals, and he died in the thirty-fourth year of his age, one of the most heroic princes that ever swayed the sceptre of England. The duke of Bedford, brother of Henry V., was declared regent of France, and Henry VI., a child of nine months old, was proclaimed king at Paris and at London.

On this fact of the conquest of France by Henry V., Voltaire. makes an observation which deserves attention, as developing the springs of popular opinion:-"If this revolution," says he, "like some others, had been of long duration, and the successors of Henry had maintained what he had won, and been at this day monarchs of France, where would have been the historian who would not have judged their title good? We should not then have been told by Mezerai, that the painful disease, and death of this prince, was a punishment of God, inflicted for his usurpation