The Leading Facts of English History Part 20

The King's wife, Isabelle of France, now turned against him. She had formerly acted as a peacemaker, but from this time she did all in her power to make trouble. Roger Mortimer, one of the leaders of the barons, was the sworn enemy of the Despensers. The Queen had formed a guilty attachment for him. The reign of Mortimer and Isabelle was "a reign of terror." Together they plotted the ruin of Edward and his favorites. They raised a force, seized and executed the Despensers (1326), and then took the King prisoner.

233. Deposition and Murder of the King (1327).

Having locked up Edward in Kenilworth Castle, Warwicks.h.i.+re, the barons now resolved ot remove him from the throne. Parliament drew up articles of deposition against him, and appointed commissioners to demand his resignation of the throne.

When they went to the castle, Edward appeared before them clad in deep mourning. Presently he sank fainting to the floor. On his recovery he burst into a fit of weeping. But, checking himself, he thanked Parliament through the commissioners for having chosen his eldest son Edward, a boy of fourteen, to rule over the nation.

Sir William Trussel then stepped forward and said: "Unto thee, O King, I, William Trussel, in the name of all men of this land of England and Speaker of this Parliament, renounce to you, Edward, the homage [oath of allegiance] that was made to you some time; and from this time forth I defy thee and deprive thee of all royal power, and I shall never be attendant on thee as King from this time."

Then Sir Thomas Blount, steward of the King's household; advanced, broke his staff of office before the King's face, and proclaimed the royal household dissolved.

Edward was soon after committed to Berkeley Castle,[1] in Gloucesters.h.i.+re. There, by the order of Mortimer, with the connivance of Queen Isabelle, the "she-wolf of France," who acted as his companion in iniquity (S232), the King was secretly and horribly murdered.

[1] Berkeley Castle is considered one of the finest examples of feudal architecture now remaining in England. Over the stately structure still floats the standard borne in the Crusades by an ancestor of the present Lord Berkeley.

234. Summary.

The lesson of Edward II's career is found in its culmination. Other sovereigns had been guilty of misgovernment, others had put unworthy and grasping favorites in power, but he was the first King whom Parliament had deposed.

By that act it became evident that great as was the power of the King, there had now come into existence a greater still, which could not only make but unmake him who sat on the throne.

Edward III--1327-1377

235. Edward's Accession; Execution of Mortimer.

Edward III, son of Edward II, was crowned at fourteen. Until he became of age, the government was nominally in the hands of a council, but really in the control of Queen Isabelle and her "gentle Mortimer,"

the two murderers of his father (S233).

Early in his reign Edward attempted to reconquer Scotland (S219), but failing in his efforts, made a peace acknowledging the independence of that country. At home, however, he now gained a victory which compensated him for his disappointment in not subduing the Scots.

Mortimer was staying with Queen Isabelle at Nottingham Castle. Edward obtained entrance by a secret pa.s.sage, carried him off captive, and soon after brought him to the gallows. He next seized his mother, the Queen, and kept her in confinement for the rest of her life in Castle Rising, Norfolk.

236. The Rise of English Commerce; Wool Manufacture, 1336.

The reign of Edward III is directly connected with the rise of a flouris.h.i.+ng commerce with the Continent. In the early ages of its history England was almost wholly an agricultural country. At length the farmers in the eastern counties began to turn their attention to wool growing. They exported the fleeces, which were considered the finest in the world, to the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. There they were woven into cloth and returned to be sold in the English market; for, as an old writer quaintly remarks, "The English people at that time knew no more what to do with the wool than the sheep on whose backs it grew."[1]

[1] Thomas Fuller. This remark applies to the production of fine woolens only. The English had long manufactured common grades of woolen cloth to some extent.

Edward's wife, Queen Philippa, was a native of a French province adjoining Flanders, which was also engaged in the production of cloth. (See map facing p. 128.) She used her influence in behalf of the establishment of woolen factories at Norwich, and other towns in the east of England, in 1336. Skilled Flemish workmen were induced to come over, and by their help England successfully laid the foundation of one of her greatest and most lucrative industries.

From that time wool was considered a chief source of the national wealth. Later, that the fact might be kept constantly in mind, a square crimson bag filled with it--the "Woolsack"--became, and still continues to be, the seat of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords.

237. The Beginning of the Hundred Years' War, 1338.

Indirectly, this trade between England and Flanders helped to bring on a war of such duration that it received the name of the Hundred Years'

War.

Flanders was at that time a dependency of France (see map facing p. 128), but its great commercial towns were rapidly rising in power, and were restive and rebellious under the exactions and extortion of their feudal master, Count Louis. Their business interests bound them strongly to England; and they were anxious to form an alliance with Edward against Philip VI of France, who was determined to bring the Flemish cities into absolute subjection.

Philip was by no means unwilling to begin hostilities with England.

He had long looked with a greedy eye on the tract of country south of the Loire,[2] which remained in possession of the English kings, and only wanted a pretext for annexing. Through his alliance with Scotland, he threatened to attack Edward's kingdom on the north.

Again, Philip's war vessels had been seizing English s.h.i.+ps laden with wool, so that intercourse with Flanders was maintained with difficulty and peril.

[2] Names Aquitaine (with the exception of Poitou). At a later period the province got the name of Guienne, which was a part of it. (See map facing p. 128.)

Edward remonstrated in vain against these outrages. At length, having concluded an alliance with Ghent, the chief Flemish city, he boldly claimed the crown of France as his lawful right,[1] and followed the demand with a declaration of war. Edward based his claim on the fact that through his mother Isabelle he was nephew to the late French King, Charles IV, whereas the reigning monarch was only cousin of that monarch. To this the French replied that since their law excluded women from the throne, Edward's claim was worthless, because he could not inherit the crown of France from one who could not herself have worn it.

[1] Claim of Edward III to the French Crown

Philip III (of France)*

(1270-1285) H =============H------------------ H | Philip IV Charles, Count of (1285-1314) Valois, d. 1325 H H ==========================------ Philip VI H H H | (of Valois) Louis X Philip V Charles IV Isabelle (1328-1350) (1314-1316) (1316-1322) (1322-1328) m. Edward II H H of England H John I | John II (15 No.-19 Nov. 1316) Edward III (1350-1364) of England, 1327

*The heavy lines indicate the direct succession.

238. Battle of Cr'ecy; the "Black Prince," 1346.

For the next eight years, fighting between the two countries was going on pretty constantly on both land and sea, but without decisive results. Edward was pressed for money and had to resort to all sorts of expedients to get it, even to p.a.w.ning his own and the Queen's crown, to raise enough to pay his troops. At last he succeeded in equipping a strong force, and with his son, Prince Edward, a lad of fifteen, invaded Normandy.

His plan seems to have been to attack the French army in the south of France; but after landing he changed his mind, and determined to ravage Normandy, and then march north to meet his Flemish allies, who were advancing to join him. King Edward halted on a little rise of ground not far from Cr'ecy (or Cressy), near the coast, on the way to Calais. There a desperate battle took place. (See map facing p. 128.)

The French had the larger force, but Edward the better position.

Philip's army included a number of hired Genoese crossbowmen, on whom he placed great dependence; but a thunderstorm had wet their bowstrings, which rendered them nearly useless, and, as they advanced toward the English, the afternoon sun shone so brightly in their eyes that they could not take accurate aim. The English archers, on the other hand, had kept their long bows in their cases, so that the strings were dry and ready for action (S270).

In the midst of the fight, the Earl of Warwick, who was hard pressed by the enemy, became alarmed for the safety of young King Edward. He sent to the King, asking reenforcements.

"Is my son killed?" asked the King. "No, sire, please G.o.d!" "Is he wounded?" "No, sire." "Is he thrown to the ground?" "No, sire; but he is in great danger." "Then," said the King, "I shall send no aid.

Let the boy win his spurs[1]; for I wish, if G.o.d so order it, that the honor of victory shall be his." The father's wish was gratified.

From that time the "Black Prince," as the French called Prince Edward, from the color of his armor, became a name renowned throughout Europe.

[1] Spurs were the especial badge of knighthood. It was expected of every one who attained that honor that he should do some deed of valor; this was called "winning his spurs."

The battle, however, was gained, not by his bravery, or that of the n.o.bles who supported him, but by the st.u.r.dy English yeomen armed with their long bows. With these weapons they shot their keen white arrows so thick and fast, and with such deadly aim, that a writer who was present on the field compared them to a shower of snow. It was that fatal snowstorm which won the day.[2] We shall see presently (S240) that the great importance of this victory to the English turned on the fact that by it King Edward was able to move on Calais and secure possession of that port.

[2] The English yeomen, or country people, excelled in the use of the long bow. They probably learned its value from their Norman conquerors, who empoyed it with great effect at the battle of Hastings. Writing at a much later period, Bishop Latimer said: "In my tyme my poore father was as diligent to teach me to shote as to learne anye other thynge....He taught me how to drawe, how to laye my bodye in my bowe, and not to drawe wyth strength of armes as other nacions do, but wyth strength of the bodye. I had bowes broughte me accordyng to my age and strength; as I encreased in them, so my bowes were made bigger, and bigger, for men shal neuer shot well, excepte they be broughte up in it." The advantage of this weapon over the steel crossbow (used by the Genoese) lay in the fact that it could be discharged much more rapidly, the latter being a c.u.mbrous affair, which had to be wound up with a crank for each shot. Hence the English long bow was to that age what the revolver is to ours. It sent an arrow with such force that only the best armor could withstand it. The French peasantry at that period had no skill with this weapon, and about the only part they took in a battle was to stab horses and despatch wounded men.

Scott, in the Archery Contest in "Ivanhoe" (Chapter XIII), has given an excellent picture of the English bowman.

239. Use of Cannon, 1346; Chivalry.

At Cre'cy (S238) small cannon appear to have been used for the first time in field warfare, though gunpowder was probably known to the English friar, Roger Bacon (S208), a hundred years before. The object of the cannon was to frighten and annoy the horses of the French cavalry. They were laughed at as ingenious toys; but in the course of the next two centuries those toys revolutionized warfare (S270) and made the steel-clad knight little more than a tradition and a name.

In its day, however, knighthood (S153) did the world a good service.

Chivalry aimed to make the profession of arms a n.o.ble instead of a brutal calling. It gave it somewhat of a religious character.

It taught the warrior the worth of honor, truthfulness, and courtesy, as well as valor,--qualities which still survive in the best type of the modern gentleman. We owe, therefore, no small debt to that military brotherhood of the past, and may join the English poet in his epitaph on the order:

"The Knights are dust, Their good swords rust; Their souls are with the saints, we trust."[1]

[1] Coleridge; see Scott's "Ivanhoe."