The Leading Facts of English History Part 18

But, as nothing could check the religious fervor of his mendicant brothers, so no hards.h.i.+p or suffering could daunt the intellectual enthusiasm of Bacon. When he emerged from captivity he issued his great book ent.i.tled an "Inquiry into the Roots of Knowledge."[1] It was especially devoted to mathematics and the sciences, and deserves the name of the encyclopedia fo the thirteenth century.

[1] Bacon designated this book by the name of "Opus Majus," or "Greater Work," to distinguish it from a later summary which he alled his "Opus Minus," or "Smaller Work."

209. The "Mad Parliament"; the Provisions of Oxford (1258).

But the prodigal expenditure and mismanagement of Henry kept on increasing. At last the burden of taxation became too great to bear.

Bad harvests had caused a famine, and mult.i.tudes perished even in London. Confronted by these evils, Parliament (S205) met in the Great Hall at Westminster. Many of the barons were in complete armor. As the King entered there was an ominous clatter of swords. Henry, looking around, asked timidly, "Am I a prisoner?"

"No, sire," answered Earl BiG.o.d (S172); "but we must have reform."

The King agreed to summon a Parliament to meet at Oxford and consider what should be done. The enemies of this a.s.sembly nicknamed it the "Mad Parliament" (1258); but there was method and determination in its madness, for which the country was grateful.

With Simon de Montfort, the King's brother-in-law, at their head, they drew up a set of articles, called the Provisions of Oxford, to which Henry gave an unwilling a.s.sent. These Provisions practically took the government out of the King's inefficient hand and vested it in the control of three committees, or councils. (See Summary of Const.i.tutional History in the Appendix, p. x, S11.)

210. Renewal of the Great Charter (1253).

Meanwhile the King had been compelled to reaffirm that Great Charter which his father had unwillingly granted at Runnymede (S198).

Standing in St. Catherine's Chapel within the partially finished church of Westminster Abbey (S207), Henry, holding a lighted taper in his hand, in company with the chief men of the realm, swore to observe the provisions of the covenant.

At the close he exclaimed, as he dashed the taper on the pavement, while all present repeated the words and the action, "So go out with smoke and stench the accursed souls of those who break or pervert this charter."

There is no evidence that the King was insincere in his oath; but unfortunately his piety was that of impulse, not of principle. The compact was soon broken, and the lnd was again compelled to bear the burden of exorbitant taxes. These were extorted by violence, partly to cover Henry's own extravagance, but also to swell the coffers of the Pope, who had promised to make Henry's son, Prince Edward, ruler over Sicily.

211. Growing Feeling of Discontent.

During this time the barons were daily growing more mutinous and defiant, saying that they would rather die than be ruined by the "Romans," as they called the papal power. To a fresh demand for money Earl BiG.o.d (S209) gave a flat refusal. "Then I will send reapers and reap your field for you," cried the King to him. "And I will send you back the heads of your reapers," retorted the angry Earl.

It was evident that the n.o.bles would make no concession. The same spirit was abroad which, at an earlier date (1236), made the Parliament of Merton declare, when asked to alter the customs or laws of the country to suit the ordinances of the Church of Rome, "We will not change the laws of England." So now the were equally resolved not to pay the Pope money in bahalf of the King's son.

212. Civil War; Battle of Lewes (1264).

The crisis was soon reached. War broke out between the King and his brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester (S209), better known by his popular name of Sir Simon the Righteous.

With fifteen thousand Londoners and a number of the barons, he met Henry, who had a stronger force, on the heights above the town of Lewes, in Suss.e.x. (See map facing p. 436.) The result of the great battle fought there was as decisive as that fought two centuries before by William the Conqueror (S74), not many miles distant on the same coast.

213. De Montfort's Parliament; the House of Commons, 1265.

Bracton, the foremost jurist of that day, said in his comments on the dangerous state of the times, "If the King were without a bridle, --that is, the law,--his subjects ought to put a bridle on him."

Earl Simon (S209) had that "bridle" ready, or rather he saw clearly where to get it. The battle of Lewes had gone against Henry, who had fallen captive to De Montfort. By virtue of the power he now possessed, the Earl summoned a Parliament. It differed from all previous Parliaments in the fact that now, for the first time, representatives of the boroughs or princ.i.p.al towns (S103) were called to London to join the earls, barons, and clergy in their deliberations.

Thus, in the winter of 1265, that House of Commons, or legislative a.s.sembly of the people, as distinguished from the House of Lords, originated. After it was fully and finally established in the next reign (S217), it sat for more than three hundred years in the chapter house[1] of Westmister Abbey. It showed that at last those who had neither land nor rank, but who paid taxes on personal property only, had obtained at least temporary representation in Parliament.

[1] The building where the governing body of an abbey transacts business.

When that principle should be fully recognized, the King would have a "bridle" which he could not shake off. Henceforth Magna Carta (S199) would be no longer a dead parchment promise of reform, rolled up and hidden away, but would become a living, ever-present, effective truth. (See SS261, 262, and Const.i.tutional Summary in the Appendix, p. x, S11.)

From this date the Great Council or Parliament of England (S144) commenced to lose its exclusive character of a single House consisting of the upper cla.s.ses only. Now, it gave promise of becoming a true representative body standing for the whole nation. Thus De Montfort began--or at least tried to begin--what President Lincoln called "government of the people, by the people, for the people." But it should be distinctly understood that his work had the defects of a first attempt, and that it did not last. For, in the first place, De Montfort failed to summon all who were ent.i.tled to have seats in such a body; and secondly, he summoned only those who favored his policy.

We shall see that the honor of calling the first full and free Parliament was reserved for Edward I. Thirty years later, he summoned that body, which became the final model of every such a.s.sembly which now meets, whether in the Old World or the New (S217).

214. Earl Simon's Death (1265).

But De Montfort's great effort soon met with a fatal reaction. The barons, jeolous of his power, fell away from him. Prince Edward, the King's eldest son, gathered them round the royal standard to attack and crush the man who had humiliated his father. De Montfort was at Evesham, Worcesters.h.i.+re (see map facing p. 436); from the top of the Bell Tower of the Abbey he saw the Prince approaching. "Commend you souls to G.o.d," he said to the faithful few who stood by him; "for our bodies are the foes'!" There he fell. He was buried in Evesham Abbey, but no trace of his grave exists.

In the north aisle of Westminster Abbey, not far from Henry III's tomb, may be seen the emblazoned arms of the brave Earl Simon. But England, so rich in effigies of her great men, so faithful, too, in her remembrance of them, has not yet set up in the vestibule of the House of Commons, among the statues of her statesmen, the image of him who took the first actual step toward founding that House in its present form.

215. Summary.

Henry III's reign lasted over half a century. During that period England, as we have seen, was not standing still. It was an age of reform. In religion the "Begging Friars" were exhorting men to better lives. In education Roger Bacon and other devoted scholars were laboring to broaden knowledge and deepen thought.

In political affairs the people now first obtained a place in Parliament. Their victory was not permanent then, but it was the precursor of the establishment of a permanent House of Commons which was to come in the next reign.

Edward I--1272-1307

216. Edward I and the Crusades.

Henry's son, Prince Edward, was in the East, fighting the battles of the Crusades (S182), at the time of his father's death. According to an account given in an old Spanish chronicle, an enemy attacked him with a poisoned dagger. His wife, Eleanor, saved his life by heroically sucking the poison from the wound (S223).

217. Edward's First "Complete or Model Parliament," 1295.

Many years after his return to England, Edward convened a Parliament, 1295, to which representatives of all cla.s.ses of freemen were summoned, and from this time they regularly met (S213). Parliament henceforth consisted of two Houses.[1] This first included the Lords and Clergy. The second comprised the Commons (or representation of the common people). It thus became "a complete image of the nation,"

"a.s.sembled for the purposes of taxation, legislation, and united political action."[2] This body declared that all previous laws should be impartially executed, and that there should be no interference with elections.[2] By this action King Edward showed that he had the wisdom to adopt and perfect the example his father's conqueror had left him (S213). Thus it will be seen that though Earl Simon the Righteous (SS212, 213, 214) was dead, his reform went on.

It was an ill.u.s.tration of the truth that while "G.o.d buries his workers, he carries on his work."

[1] But during that period of the Commonwealth and Protectorate (1648-1660) the House of Lords did not meet (S450) [2] Stubb's "Early Plantagenets" (Edward I). See also the Summary of Const.i.tutional History in the Appendix, p. xi, S12.

[3] The First Statute of Westminster.

218. Conquest of Wales, 1282; Birth of the First Prince of Wales.

Henry II had labored to secure unity of law for England. Edward I's aim was to bring the whole island of Britain under one ruler. On the west, Wales only half acknowledged the power of the English King, while on the north, Scotland was practically an independent sovereignty. The new King determined to begin by annexing Wales to the Crown.

He accordingly led an army thither, and after several victorious battles, considered that he had gained his end. To make sure of his new possessions, he erected along the coast the magnificent castles of Conway, Beaumaris, Harlech, and Carnarvon, all of which he garrisoned with bodies of troops ready to check revolt.

In the last-named stronghold, tradition still points out a little dark chamber in the Eagle Tower, more like a state-prison cell than a royla apartment, where Edward's second son was born (1284). Years afterward the King created him the first Prince of Wales (1301). The Welsh had vowed that they would never accept an Englishman as King; but the young Prince was a native of the soil, and certainly in his cradle, at least, spoke as good Welsh as their own children of the same age. No objection, therefore, could be made to him; by this happy compromise, it is said, Wales became a princ.i.p.ality joined to the English Crown.[4]

[4] Wales was not wholly incorporated with England until more than two centuries later, namely in 1536, in the reign of Henry VIII. It then obtained local self-government and representation in Parliament.

219. Conquest of Scotland (1290-1296); the Stone of Scone.

An opportunity now presented itself for Edward to a.s.sert his power in Scotland. Two claimants, both of Norman descent, had come forward demanding the crown.[1] One was John Baliol; the other, Robert Bruce, an ancestor of the famous Scottish King and general of that name, who will come prominently forward in the next reign. He decided in Baliol's favor, but insisted, before doing so, that the latter should acknowledge the overlords.h.i.+p of England, as the King of Scotland had done to William I.

[1] Scotland: At the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, Scotland was inhabited by a Celtic race nearly akin to the primitive Irish, and more distantly so to the Britons. In time, the Saxons from the Continent invaded the country, and settled on the lowlands of the east, driving back the Celts to the western highlands. Later, many English emigrated to Scotland, especially at the time of the Norman Conquest, where they found a hearty welcome.

In 1072 William the Conqueror compelled the Scottish King to acknowledge him as Overlord, and eventually so many Norman n.o.bles established themselves in Scotland that they const.i.tuted the chief landed aristocracy of the country. The modern Scottish nation, though it keeps its Celtic name (Scotland), is made up in great measure of inhabitants of English descent, the pure Scotch being confined mostly to the Highlands, and ranking in population only as about one to three of the former.

Baliol made a virtue of necessity, and agreed to the terms; but shortly after formed a secret alliance with France against Edward, which was renewed from time to time, and kept up between the two countries for three hundred years. It is the key to most of the wars in which England was involved during that period. Having made this treaty, Baliol now openly renounced his allegiance to the English King. Edward at once organized a force, attacked Baliol, and at the battle of Dunbar (1296) compelled the Scottish n.o.bleman to acknowledge him as ruler.

At the Abbey of Scone, near Perth, the English seized the famous "Stone of Destiny," the palladium of Scotland, on which her Kings were crowned. (See map facing p. 120.) Carrying the trophy to Westminster Abbey, Edward enclosed it in that ancient coronation chair which has been used by every sovereign since, from his son's accession (1307) down to the present day.

220. Confirmation of the Charters, 1297.