The History of England Part 26

When we consider such powerful and martial monarchs inflamed with personal animosity against each other, enraged by mutual injuries, excited by rivals.h.i.+p, impelled by opposite interests, and instigated by the pride and violence of their own temper; our curiosity is naturally raised, and we expect an obstinate and furious war, distinguished by the greatest events, and concluded by some remarkable catastrophe. Yet are the incidents which attend those hostilities so frivolous that scarce any historian can entertain such a pa.s.sion for military descriptions as to venture on a detail of them: a certain proof of the extreme weakness of princes in those ages, and of the little authority they possessed over their refractory va.s.sals! The whole amount of the exploits on both sides is, the taking of a castle, the surprise of a straggling party, a rencounter of horse, which resembles more a rout than a battle. Richard obliged Philip to raise the siege of Verneuil; he took Loches, a small town in Anjou: he made himself master of Beaumont, and some other places of little consequence; and after these trivial exploits, the two kings began already to hold conferences for an accommodation. Philip insisted that, if a general peace were concluded, the barons on each side should, for the future, be prohibited from carrying on private wars against each other: but Richard replied, that this was a right claimed by his va.s.sals, and he could not debar them from it. After this fruitless negotiation, there ensued an action between the French and English cavalry at Fretteval, in which the former were routed, and the King of France's cartulary and records, which commonly at that time attended his person, were taken. But this victory leading to no important advantages, a truce for a year was at last, from mutual weakness, concluded between the two monarchs.

During this war, Prince John deserted from Philip, threw himself at his brother's feet, craved pardon for his offences, and by the intercession of Queen Eleanor was received into favour. I FORGIVE HIM, said the king, AND HOPE I SHALL AS EASILY FORGET HIS INJURIES AS HE WILL MY PARDON. John was incapable even of returning to his duty, without committing a baseness. Before he left Philip's party, he invited to dinner all the officers of the garrison, which that prince had placed in the citadel of Evreux: he ma.s.sacred them during the entertainment: fell, with the a.s.sistance of the townsmen, on the garrison, whom he put to the sword; and then delivered up the place to his brother.

The King of France was the great object of Richard's resentment and animosity: the conduct of John, as well as that of the emperor and Duke of Austria, had been so base, and was exposed to such general odium and reproach, that the king deemed himself sufficiently revenged for their injuries; and he seems never to have entertained any project of vengeance against any of them. The Duke of Austria, about this time, having crushed his leg by the fall of his horse at a tournament, was thrown into a fever; and being struck, on the approaches of death, with remorse for his injustice to Richard, he ordered, by will, all the English hostages in his hands to be set at liberty, and the remainder of the debt due to him to be remitted: his son, who seemed inclined to disobey these orders, was constrained by his ecclesiastics to execute them [b]. [MN 1195.] The emperor also made advances for Richard's friends.h.i.+p, and offered to give him a discharge of all the debt not yet paid to him provided he would enter into an offensive alliance against the King of France; a proposal which was very acceptable to Richard, and was greedily embraced by him. The treaty with the emperor took no effect; but it served to rekindle the war between France and England before the expiration of the truce. This war was not distinguished by any more remarkable instances than the foregoing. After mutually ravaging the open country, and taking a few insignificant castles, the two kings concluded a peace at Louviers, and made an exchange of some territories with each other [c]. [MN 1196.] Their inability to wage war occasioned the peace: their mutual antipathy engaged them again in war before two months expired.

Richard imagined that he had now found an opportunity of gaining great advantages over his rival, by forming an alliance with the Counts of Flanders, Toulouse, Boulogne, Champagne, and other considerable va.s.sals of the crown of France [d]. But he soon experienced the insincerity of those princes, and was not able to make any impression on that kingdom, while governed by a monarch of so much vigour and activity as Philip. The most remarkable incident of this war was the taking prisoner in battle the Bishop of Beauvais, a martial prelate, who was of the family of Dreux, and a near relation of the French king's. Richard, who hated that bishop, threw him into prison and loaded him with irons; and when the pope demanded his liberty, and claimed him as his son, the king sent to his holiness the coat of mail which the prelate had worn in battle, and which was all besmeared with blood; and he replied to him, in the terms employed by Jacob's sons to that patriarch, THIS HAVE WE FOUND: KNOW NOW WHETHER IT BE THY SON'S COAT OR NO [e]. This new war between England and France, though carried out with such animosity that both kings frequently put out the eyes of their prisoners, was soon finished by a truce of five years; and immediately after signing this treaty, the kings were ready, on some new offence, to break out again into hostilities; when the mediation of the Cardinal of St. Mary, the pope's legate, accommodated the difference [f]. This prelate even engaged the princes to commence a treaty for a more durable peace; but the death of Richard put an end to the negotiation.

[FN [b] Rymer, vol i. p. 88, 102. [c] Ibid. p. 91. [d] W. Heming, p.

549. Brompton, p. 1273. Rymer, vol. i. p. 94. [e] Genesis, chap.

x.x.xvii. ver. 32. M. Paris, p. 128. Brompton, p. 1273. [f] Rymer, vol. i. p. 109, 110.]

[MN 1199.] Vidomar, Viscount of Limoges, a va.s.sal of the king's, had found a treasure, of which he sent part to that prince as a present.

Richard, as superior lord, claimed the whole; and at the head of some Brabancons, besieged the viscount in the castle of Chalons, near Limoges, in order to make him comply with his demand [g]. The garrison offered to surrender; but the king replied, that, since he had taken the pains to come thither and besiege the place in person, he would take it by force, and would hang every one of them. The same day, Richard, accompanied by Marcadee, leader of his Brabancons, approached the castle in order to survey it; when one Bertrand de Gourdon, an archer, took aim at him, and pierced his shoulder with an arrow. [MN 28th March.] The king, however, gave orders for the a.s.sault, took the place, and hanged all the garrison, except Gourdon, who had wounded him, and whom he reserved for a more deliberate and more cruel execution [h].

[FN [g] Hoveden, p. 791. Knyghton, p. 2413. [h] Ibid.]

The wound was not in itself dangerous; but the unskilfulness of the surgeon made it mortal: he so rankled Richard's shoulder in pulling out the arrow, that a gangrene ensued; and that prince was now sensible that his life was drawing towards a period. He sent for Gourdon, and asked him, WRETCH, WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO YOU, TO OBLIGE YOU TO SEEK MY LIFE?--WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME? replied coolly the prisoner: YOU KILLED WITH YOUR OWN HANDS MY FATHER AND MY TWO BROTHERS; AND YOU INTENDED TO HAVE HANGED MYSELF: I AM NOW IN YOUR POWER, AND YOU MAY TAKE REVENGE, BY INFLICTING ON ME THE MOST SEVERE TORMENTS: BUT I SHALL ENDURE THEM ALL WITH PLEASURE, PROVIDED I CAN THINK THAT I HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY AS TO RID THE WORLD OF SUCH A NUISANCE [i]. Richard, struck with the reasonableness of this reply, and humbled by the near approach of death, ordered Gourdon to be set at liberty, and a sum of money to be given him: but Marcadee, unknown to him, seized the unhappy man, flayed him alive, and then hanged him.

[MN 6th April. Death,] Richard died in the tenth year of his reign, and the forty-second of his age; and he left no issue behind him.

[FN [i] Hoveden, p. 791. Brompton, p. 1277. Knyghton, p. 2413.]

[MN and character of the king.]

The most s.h.i.+ning parts of this prince's character are his military talents. No man, even in that romantic age, carried personal courage and intrepidity to a greater height; and this quality gained him the appellation of the lion-hearted, COEUR DE LION. He pa.s.sionately loved glory, chiefly military glory; and as his conduct in the field was not inferior to his valour, he seems to have possessed every talent necessary for acquiring it. His resentments also were high; his pride unconquerable; and his subjects, as well as his neighbours, had therefore reason to apprehend, from the continuance of his reign, a perpetual scene of blood and violence. Of an impetuous and vehement spirit, he was distinguished by all the good as well as the bad qualities incident to that character: he was open, frank, generous, sincere, and brave; he was revengeful, domineering, ambitious, haughty, and cruel; and was thus better calculated to dazzle men by the splendour of his enterprises, than either to promote their happiness or his own grandeur by a sound and well-regulated policy.

As military talents made great impression on the people, he seems to have been much beloved by his English subjects; and he is remarked to have been the first prince of the Norman line that bore any sincere regard to them. He pa.s.sed however only four months of his reign in that kingdom: the crusade employed him near three years; he was detained about fourteen months in captivity; the rest of his reign was spent either in war, or preparations for war, against France; and he was so pleased with the fame which he had acquired in the East, that he determined, notwithstanding his past misfortunes, to have farther exhausted his kingdom, and to have exposed himself to new hazards, by conducting another expedition against the infidels.

[MN Miscellaneous transactions of this reign.]

Though the English pleased themselves with the glory which the king's martial genius procured them, his reign was very oppressive and somewhat arbitrary, by the high taxes which he levied on them, and often without consent of the states or great council. In the ninth year of his reign, he levied five s.h.i.+llings on each hide of land; and because the clergy refused to contribute their share, he put them out of the protection of law, and ordered the civil courts to give them no sentence for any debts which they might claim [k]. Twice in his reign he ordered all his charters to be sealed anew, and the parties to pay fees for the renewal [l]. It is said that Hubert, his justiciary, sent him over to France, in the s.p.a.ce of two years, no less a sum than one million one hundred thousand marks, besides bearing all the charges of the government in England. But this account is quite incredible, unless we suppose that Richard made a thorough dilapidation of the demesnes of the crown, which it is not likely he could do with any advantage after his former resumption of all grants.

A king who possessed such a revenue could never have endured fourteen months' captivity for not paying a hundred and fifty thousand marks to the emperor, and be obliged at last to leave hostages for a third of the sum. The prices of commodities in this reign are also a certain proof that no such enormous sum could be levied on the people. A hide of land, or about a hundred and twenty acres, was commonly let at twenty s.h.i.+llings a year, money of that time. As there were two hundred and forty-three thousand six hundred hides in England, it is easy to compute the amount of all the landed rents of the kingdom.

The general and stated price of an ox was four s.h.i.+llings; of a labouring horse the same; of a sow, one s.h.i.+lling; of a sheep with fine wool, tenpence; with coa.r.s.e wool, sixpence [m]. These commodities seem not to have advanced in their prices since the conquest [n], and to have still been ten times cheaper than at present.

[FN [k] Hoveden, p. 743. Tyrrel, vol. ii. p. 563. [l] Prynne's Chronol. Vindic. tom. i. p. 1133. [m] Hoveden, p. 745. [n] See note [S], at the end of the volume.]

Richard renewed the severe laws against transgressors in his forests, whom he punished by castration and putting out their eyes, as in the reign of his great-grandfather. He established by law one weight and measure throughout his kingdom [o]: a useful inst.i.tution, which the mercenary disposition and necessities of his successor engaged him to dispense with for money.

[FN [o] M. Paris, p. 109, 134. Trivet, p. 127. Ann. Waverl. p. 165.

Hoveden, p. 774.]

The disorders in London, derived from its bad police, had risen to a great height during this reign; and in the year 1196, there seemed to be formed so regular a conspiracy among the numerous malefactors, as threatened the city with destruction. There was one William Fitz-Osbert, commonly called LONGBEARD, a lawyer, who had rendered himself extremely popular among the lower rank of citizens; and, by defending them on all occasions, had acquired the appellation of the advocate or saviour of the poor. He exerted his authority, by injuring and insulting the more substantial citizens, with whom he lived in a state of hostility, and who were every moment exposed to the most outrageous violences from him and his licentious emissaries.

Murders were daily committed in the streets; houses were broken open and pillaged in daylight; and it is pretended that no less than fifty- two thousand persons had entered into an a.s.sociation, by which they bound themselves to obey all the orders of this dangerous ruffian.

Archbishop Hubert, who was then chief justiciary, summoned him before the council to answer for his conduct; but he came so well attended, that no one durst accuse him, or give evidence against him; and the primate, finding the impotence of law, contented himself with exacting from the citizens hostages for their good behaviour. He kept, however, a watchful eye on Fitz-Osbert; and seizing a favourable opportunity, attempted to commit him to custody; but the criminal, murdering one of the public officers, escaped with his concubine to the church of St. Mary le Bow, where he defended himself by force of arms. He was at last forced from his retreat, condemned, and executed, amidst the regrets of the populace, who were so devoted to his memory, that they stole his gibbet, paid the same veneration to it as to the cross, and were equally zealous in propagating and attesting reports of the miracles wrought by it [p]. But though the sectaries of this superst.i.tion were punished by the justiciary [q], it received so little encouragement from the established clergy, whose property was endangered by such seditious practices, that it suddenly sunk and vanished.

[FN [p] Hoveden, p 765. Diceto, p. 691. Neubrig. p. 492, 493. [q]

Gervase, p. 1551.]

It was during the crusades that the custom of using coats of arms was first introduced into Europe. The knights, cased up in armour, had no way to make themselves be known and distinguished in battle but by the devices on their s.h.i.+elds; and these were gradually adopted by their posterity and families, who were proud of the pious and military enterprises of their ancestors.

King Richard was a pa.s.sionate lover of poetry; there even remain some poetical works of his composition; and he bears a rank among the Provencal poets or TROBADORES, who were the first of the modern Europeans that distinguished themselves by attempts of that nature.

CHAPTER XI.

JOHN.

ACCESSION OF THE KING.--HIS MARRIAGE.--WAR WITH FRANCE.?MURDER OF ARTHUR, DUKE OF BRITANY.--THE KING EXPELLED THE FRENCH PROVINCES.--THE KING'S QUARREL WITH THE COURT OF ROME.?CARDINAL LANGTON APPOINTED ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.--INTERDICT OF THE KINGDOM.--EXCOMMUNICATION OF THE KING.--THE KING'S SUBMISSION TO THE POPE.--DISCONTENTS OF THE BARONS.--INSURRECTION OF THE BARONS.--MAGNA CHARTA.--RENEWAL OF THE CIVIL WARS.?PRINCE LEWIS CALLED OVER.--DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THE KING.

[MN 1199. Accession of the king.]

The n.o.ble and free genius of the ancients, which made the government of a single person be always regarded as a species of tyranny and usurpation, and kept them from forming any conception of a legal and regular monarchy, had rendered them entirely ignorant both of the rights of PRIMOGENITURE, and a REPRESENTATION in succession; inventions so necessary for preserving order in the lines of princes, for obviating the evils of civil discord and of usurpation, and for begetting moderation in that species of government, by giving security to the ruling sovereign. These innovations arose from the feudal law, which, first introducing the right of primogeniture, made such a distinction between the families of the elder and younger brothers, that the son of the former was thought ent.i.tled to succeed to his grandfather, preferably to his uncles, though nearer allied to the deceased monarch. But though this progress of ideas was natural, it was gradual. In the age of which we treat, the practice of representation was indeed introduced, but not thoroughly established; and the minds of men fluctuated between opposite principles. Richard, when he entered on the holy war, declared his nephew, Arthur, Duke of Britany, his successor; and by a formal deed he set aside, in his favour, the t.i.tle of his brother John, who was younger than Geoffrey, the father of that prince [a]. But John so little acquiesced in that destination, that when he gained the ascendant in the English ministry, by expelling Longchamp, the chancellor and great justiciary, he engaged all the English barons to swear that they would maintain his right of succession; and Richard, on his return, took no steps towards restoring or securing the order which he had at first established. He was even careful, by his last will, to declare his brother John heir to all his dominions [b]; whether that he now thought Arthur, who was only twelve years of age, incapable of a.s.serting his claim against John's faction, or was influenced by Eleanor, the queen-mother, who hated Constantia, mother of the young duke, and who dreaded the credit which that princess would naturally acquire if her son should mount the throne. The authority of a testament was great in that age, even where the succession of a kingdom was concerned; and John had reason to hope that this t.i.tle, joined to his plausible right in other respects, would ensure him the succession. But the idea of representation seems to have made, at this time, greater progress in France than in England: the barons of the transmarine provinces, Anjou, Maine, and Touraine, immediately declared in favour of Arthur's t.i.tle, and applied for a.s.sistance to the French monarch as their superior lord. Philip, who desired only an occasion to embarra.s.s John, and dismember his dominions, embraced the cause of the young Duke of Britany, took him under his protection, and sent him to Paris to be educated, along with his own son Lewis [c]. In this emergence, John hastened to establish his authority in the chief members of the monarchy; and after sending Eleanor into Poictou and Guienne, where her right was incontestable, and was readily acknowledged, he hurried to Rouen, and having secured the duchy of Normandy, he pa.s.sed over, without loss of time, to England.

Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, William Mareschal, Earl of Strigul, who also pa.s.ses by the name of Earl of Pembroke, and Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, the justiciary, the three most favoured ministers of the late king, were already engaged on his side [d]; and the submission or acquiescence of all the other barons put him, without opposition, in possession of the throne.

[FN [a] Hoveden, p. 677. M Paris, p. 112. Chron. de Dunst. p. 43.

Rymer, vol i p. 66, 68. Bened. Abb. p. 619. [b] Hoveden, p. 791.

Trivet, p. 138. [c] Hoveden, p. 792. M. Paris, p. 137. M. West. p.

263. Knyghton, p. 2414. [d] Hoveden, p. 793. M. Paris, p. 137.]

The king soon returned to France, in order to conduct the war against Philip, and to recover the revolted provinces from his nephew Arthur.

The alliances which Richard had formed with the Earl of Flanders [e], and other potent French princes, though they had not been very effectual, still subsisted, and enabled John to defend himself against all the efforts of his enemy. In an action between the French and Flemings, the elect Bishop of Cambray was taken prisoner by the former; and when the Cardinal of Capua claimed his liberty, Philip, instead of complying, reproached him with the weak efforts which he had employed in favour of the Bishop of Beauvais, who was in a like condition. The legate, to show his impartiality, laid, at the same time, the kingdom of France and the duchy of Normandy under an interdict; and the two kings found themselves obliged to make an exchange of these military prelates.

[FN [e] Rymer, vol. i. p. 114. Hoveden, p. 794. M. Paris, p. 138.]

[MN 1200.] Nothing enabled the king to bring this war to a happy issue so much as the selfish intriguing character of Philip, who acted in the provinces that had declared for Arthur, without any regard to the interests of that prince. Constantia, seized with a violent jealousy that he intended to usurp the entire dominion of them [f], found means to carry off her son secretly from Paris: she put him into the hands of his uncle; restored the provinces which had adhered to the young prince; and made him do homage for the duchy of Britany, which was regarded as a rerefief of Normandy. From this incident, Philip saw that he could not hope to make any progress against John; and being threatened with an interdict on account of his irregular divorce from Ingelburga, the Danish princess whom he had espoused, he became desirous of concluding a peace with England. After some fruitless conferences, the terms were at last adjusted; and the two monarchs seemed in this treaty to have an intention, besides ending the present quarrel, of preventing all future causes of discord, and of obviating every controversy which could thereafter arise between them. They adjusted the limits of all their territories, mutually secured the interests of their va.s.sals; and, to render the union more durable, John gave his niece, Blanche of Castile, in marriage to Prince Lewis, Philip's eldest son, and with her the baronies of Issoudun and Gracai, and other fiefs in Berri. Nine barons of the King of England, and as many of the King of France, were guarantees of this treaty; and all of them swore that if their sovereign violated any article of it, they would declare themselves against him, and embrace the cause of the injured monarch [g].

[FN [f] Hoveden, p.795. [g] Norman d.u.c.h.esnii, p. 1055. Rymer, vol.

i. p. 117, 118, 119. Hoveden, p. 814. Chron. Dunst. vol. i. p. 47.]

John, now secure, as he imagined, on the side of France, indulged his pa.s.sion for Isabella, the daughter and heir of Aymar Tailleffer, Count of Angouleme, a lady with whom he had become much enamoured. His queen, the heiress of the family of Gloucester, was still alive: Isabella was married to the Count de la Marche, and was already consigned to the care of that n.o.bleman; though, by reason of her tender years, the marriage had not been consummated. The pa.s.sion of John made him overlook all these obstacles: he persuaded the Count of Angouleme to carry off his daughter from her husband; and having, on some pretence or other, procured a divorce from his own wife, he espoused Isabella; [MN The king?s marriage.] regardless both of the menaces of the pope, who exclaimed against these irregular proceedings, and of the resentment of the injured count, who soon found means of punis.h.i.+ng his powerful and insolent rival.

[MN 1201.] John had not the art of attaching his barons either by affection or by fear. The Count de la Marche, and his brother, the Count d'Eu, taking advantage of the general discontent against him, excited commotions in Poictou and Normandy, and obliged the king to have recourse to arms, in order to suppress the insurrection of his va.s.sals. He summoned together the barons of England, and required them to pa.s.s the sea under his standard, and to quell the rebels: he found that he possessed as little authority in that kingdom as in his transmarine provinces. The English barons unanimously replied, that they would not attend him on this expedition, unless he would promise to restore and preserve their privileges [h]: the first symptom of a regular a.s.sociation and plan of liberty among those n.o.blemen! but affairs were not yet fully ripe for the revolution projected. John, by menacing the barons, broke the concert; and both engaged many of them to follow him into Normandy, and obliged the rest who stayed behind to pay him a scutage of two marks on each knight's fee, as the price of their exemption from the service.

[FN [h] Annal. Burton, p. 262.]

The force which John carried abroad with him, and that which joined him in Normandy, rendered him much superior to his malecontent barons; and so much the more as Philip did not publicly give them any countenance, and seemed as yet determined to persevere steadily in the alliance which he had contracted with England. But the king, elated with his superiority, advanced claims which gave an universal alarm to his va.s.sals, and diffused still wider the general discontent. As the jurisprudence of those times required that the causes in the lords'

court should chiefly be decided by duel, he carried along with him certain bravos, whom he retained as champions, and whom he destined to fight with his barons, in order to determine any controversy which he might raise against them [i]. The Count de la Marche, and other n.o.blemen, regarded this proceeding as an affront, as well as an injury; and declared that they would never draw their swords against men of such inferior quality. The king menaced them with vengeance; but he had not vigour to employ against them the force in his hands, or to prosecute the injustice, by crus.h.i.+ng entirely the n.o.bles who opposed it.

[FN [i] Ibid.]

[MN War with France.]

This government, equally feeble and violent, gave the injured barons courage, as well as inclination, to carry farther their opposition; they appealed to the King of France; complained of the denial of justice in John?s court; demanded redress from him as their superior lord; and entreated him to employ his authority, and prevent their final ruin and oppression. [MN 1202.] Philip perceived his advantage, opened his mind to great projects, interposed in behalf of the French barons, and began to talk in a high and menacing style to the King of England. John, who could not disavow Philip's authority, replied, that it belonged to himself first to grant them a trial by their peers in his own court; it was not till he failed in this duty that he was answerable to his peers in the supreme court of the French king [k]; and he promised, by a fair and equitable judicature, to give satisfaction to his barons. When the n.o.bles, in consequence of this engagement, demanded a safe conduct, that they might attend his court, he at first refused it; upon the renewal of Philip's menaces, he promised to grant their demand; he violated this promise; fresh menaces extorted from him a promise to surrender to Philip the fortresses of Tillieres and Boutavant, as a security for performance; he again violated his engagement; his enemies, sensible both of his weakness and want of faith, combined still closer in the resolution of pus.h.i.+ng him to extremities; and a new and powerful ally soon appeared to encourage them in their invasion of this odious and despicable government.

[FN [k] Philipp. lib. vi.]

[MN 1203.] The young Duke of Britany, who was now rising to man?s estate, sensible of the dangerous character of his uncle, determined to seek both his security and elevation by a union with Philip and the malecontent barons. He joined the French army, which had begun hostilities against the King of England: he was received with great marks of distinction by Philip; was knighted by him; espoused his daughter Mary; and was invested not only in the duchy of Britany, but in the counties of Anjou and Maine, which he had formerly resigned to his uncle [l]. Every attempt succeeded with the allies. Tillieres and Boutavant were taken by Philip, after making a feeble defence: Mortimar and Lyons fell into his hands almost without resistance.

That prince next invested Gournai; and opening the sluices of a lake which lay in the neighbourhood, poured such a torrent of water into the place, that the garrison deserted it, and the French monarch, without striking a blow, made himself master of that important fortress. The progress of the French arms was rapid, and promised more considerable success than usually in that age attended military enterprises. In answer to every advance which the king made towards peace, Philip still insisted that he should resign all his transmarine dominions to his nephew, and rest contented with the kingdom of England; when an event happened which seemed to turn the scales in favour of John, and to give him a decisive superiority over his enemies.

[FN [l] Trivet, p. 142.]

Young Arthur, fond of military renown, had broken into Poictou at the head of a small army; and pa.s.sing near Mirebeau, he heard that his grandmother, Queen Eleanor, who had always opposed his interests, was lodged in that place, and was protected by a weak garrison and ruinous fortifications [m]. He immediately determined to lay siege to the fortress, and make himself master of her person: but John, roused from his indolence by so pressing an occasion, collected an army of English and Brabancons, and advanced from Normandy with hasty marches to the relief of the queen-mother. He fell on Arthur's camp before that prince was aware of the danger; dispersed his army; took him prisoner, together with the Count de la Marche, Geoffrey de Lusignan, and the most considerable of the revolted barons; and returned in triumph to Normandy [n]. [MN 1st Aug.] Philip, who was lying before Arques in that duchy, raised the siege, and retired upon his approach [o]. The greater part of the prisoners were sent over to England; but Arthur was shut up in the castle of Falaise.

[FN [m] Ann. Waverl. p. 167. M. West. p. 264. [n] Ann. Marg. p. 213.

M. West. p. 264. [o] M. West. p. 264.]

The king had here a conference with his nephew; represented to him the folly of his pretensions; and required him to renounce the French alliance, which had encouraged him to live in a state of enmity with all his family: but the brave, though imprudent youth, rendered more haughty from misfortunes, maintained the justice of his cause; a.s.serted his claim not only to the French provinces, but to the crown of England; and in his turn, required the king to restore the son of his elder brother to the possession of his inheritance [p]. John, sensible from these symptoms of spirit that the young prince, though now a prisoner, might hereafter prove a dangerous enemy, determined to prevent all future peril by despatching his nephew; and Arthur was never more heard of. [MN 1203. Murder of Arthur, Duke of Britany.]

The circ.u.mstances which attended this deed of darkness were, no doubt, carefully concealed by the actors, and are variously related by historians: but the most probable account is as follows: the king, it is said, first proposed to William de la Bray, one of his servants, to despatch Arthur; but William replied that he was a gentleman, not a hangman; and he positively refused compliance. Another instrument of murder was found, and was despatched with proper orders to Falaise; but Hubert de Bourg, chamberlain to the king, and constable of the castle, feigning that he himself would execute the king's mandate, sent back the a.s.sa.s.sin, spread the report that the young prince was dead, and publicly performed all the ceremonies of his interment; but finding that the Bretons vowed revenge for the murder, and that all the revolted barons persevered more obstinately in their rebellion, he thought it prudent to reveal the secret, and to inform the world that the Duke of Britany was still alive, and in his custody. This discovery proved fatal to the young prince: John first removed him to the castle of Rouen; and coming in a boat, during the night-time, to that place, commanded Arthur to be brought forth to him. The young prince, aware of his danger, and now more subdued by the continuance of his misfortunes, and by the approach of death, threw himself on his knees before his uncle, and begged for mercy: but the barbarous tyrant, making no reply, stabbed him with his own hands; and fastening a stone to the dead body, threw it into the Seine.

[FN [p] Ibid. p. 264.]

All men were struck with horror at this inhuman deed; and from that moment the king, detested by his subjects, retained a very precarious authority over both the people and the barons in his dominions. The Bretons, enraged at this disappointment in their fond hopes, waged implacable war against him; and fixing the succession of their government, put themselves in a posture to revenge the murder of their sovereign. John had got into his power his niece, Eleanor, sister to Arthur, commonly called THE DAMSEL OF BRITANY; and carrying her over to England, detained her ever after in captivity [q]; but the Bretons, in despair of recovering this princess, chose Alice for their sovereign; a younger daughter of Constantia, by her second marriage with Guy de Thouars; and they intrusted the government of the duchy to that n.o.bleman. The states of Britany, meanwhile, carried their complaints before Philip, as their liege lord, and demanded justice for the violence committed by John on the person of Arthur, so near a relation, who, notwithstanding the homage which he did to Normandy, was always regarded as one of the chief va.s.sals of the crown. Philip received their application with pleasure; summoned John to stand a trial before him, and on his non-appearance pa.s.sed sentence, with the concurrence of the peers, upon that prince; declared him guilty of felony and parricide; and adjudged him to forfeit to his superior lord all his seignories and fiefs in France [r].

[FN [q] Trivet, p. 145. T. Wykes, p. 36. Ypod. Neust. p. 459. [r]

W. Heming, p. 455. M. West. p. 264. Knyghton, p. 2420.]

[MN The King expelled from the French provinces.]

The King of France, whose ambitious and active spirit had been hitherto confined, either by the sound policy of Henry, or the martial genius of Richard, seeing now the opportunity favourable against this base and odious prince, embraced the project of expelling the English, or rather the English king, from France, and of annexing to the crown so many considerable fiefs, which, during several ages, had been dismembered from it. Many of the other great va.s.sals, whose jealousy might have interposed, and have obstructed the execution of this project, were not at present in a situation to oppose it; and the rest either looked on with indifference, or gave their a.s.sistance to this dangerous aggrandizement of their superior lord. The Earls of Flanders and Blois were engaged in the holy war: the Count of Champagne was an infant, and under the guardians.h.i.+p of Philip: the duchy of Britany, enraged at the murder of their prince, vigorously promoted all his measures: and the general defection of John's va.s.sals made every enterprise easy and successful against him. Philip, after taking several castles and fortresses beyond the Loire, which he either garrisoned or dismantled, received the submissions of the Count of Alencon, who deserted John, and delivered up all the places under his command to the French: upon which Philip broke up his camp, in order to give the troops some repose after the fatigues of the campaign. John, suddenly recollecting some forces, laid siege to Alencon; and Philip, whose dispersed army could not be brought together in time to succour it, saw himself exposed to the disgrace of suffering the oppression of his friend and confederate. But his active and fertile genius found an expedient against this evil. There was held at that very time a tournament at Moret, in the Gatinois; whither all the chief n.o.bility of France and the neighbouring countries had resorted, in order to signalize their prowess and address. Philip presented himself before them; craved their a.s.sistance in his distress; and pointed out the plains of Alencon, as the most honourable field in which they could display their generosity and martial spirit. Those valorous knights vowed that they would take vengeance on the base parricide, the stain of arms and of chivalry; and putting themselves, with all their retinue, under the command of Philip, instantly marched to raise the siege of Alencon. John, hearing of their approach, fled from before the place; and, in the hurry, abandoned all his tents, machines, and baggage, to the enemy.