A Student's History of England Volume I Part 13

23. =Earl Simon's Government. 1264-1265.=--Simon followed up his victory by an agreement called the Mise of Lewes, according to which all matters of dispute were again to be referred to arbitration. In the meantime there were to be three Electors, Earl Simon himself, the Earl of Gloucester, and the Bishop of Chichester. These were to elect nine councillors, who were to name the ministers of state. To keep these councillors within bounds a Parliament was called, in which with the barons, bishops, and abbots there sat not only chosen knights for each shire, but also for the first time two representatives of certain towns. This Parliament met in =1265=. It was not, indeed, a full parliament, as only Simon's partisans amongst the barons were summoned, but it was the fullest representation of England as a whole which had yet met, and not a merely baronial committee like that proposed in =1258=. The views of Simon were clearly indicated in an argumentative Latin poem written after the battle of Lewes by one of his supporters. In this poem the king's claim to do as he likes with his own is met by a demand that he shall rule according to law. Such a demand was made by others than the poet. "The king," a great lawyer of the day had said, "is not subject to any man, but to G.o.d and the law."

The difficulty still remained of ascertaining what the law was. The poet did not, indeed, antic.i.p.ate modern theories, and hold that the law was what the representatives of the people made it to be; but he held that the law consisted in the old customs, and that the people themselves must be appealed to as the witnesses of what those old customs were. "Therefore," he wrote, "let the community of the kingdom advise, and let it be known what the generality thinks, to whom their own laws are best known. Nor are all those of the country so ignorant that they do not know better than strangers the customs of their own kingdom which have been handed down to them by their ancestors."[14]

The poet, in short, regarded the Parliament as a national jury, whose duty it was to give evidence on the laws and customs of the nation, in the same way that a local jury gave evidence on local matters.

[Footnote 14:

"Igitur communitas regni consulatur; Et quid universitas sentiat, sciatur, Cui leges propriae maxime sunt notae.

Nec cuncti provinciae sic sunt idiotae, Quin sciant plus caeteris regni sui mores, Quos relinquunt posteris hii qui sunt priores."]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Effigy of a knight at Gosperton, showing armour worn from about 1250 to 1300. Date, about 1270.]

24. =The Battle of Evesham. 1265.=--Simon's const.i.tution was premature. Men wanted a patriotic king who could lead the nation instead of one who, like Henry, used it for his own ends. The new rulers were sure to quarrel with one another. If Simon was still Simon the Righteous, his sons acted tyrannically. The barons began again to distrust Simon himself, and the young Earl of Gloucester, like his father before him, put himself at the head of the dissatisfied barons, and went over to the king. Edward escaped from confinement, by urging his keepers to ride races with one another, and then galloping off when their horses were too tired to follow him. Edward and Gloucester combined forces, and, falling on Earl Simon at Evesham, defeated him utterly. Simon was slain in the fight and his body barbarously mutilated; but his memory was treasured, and he was counted as a saint by the people for whom he had worked. Verses have been preserved in which he is compared to Archbishop Thomas, who had given himself as a sacrifice for the Church, as Simon had given himself as a sacrifice for the nation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Building operations in the reign of Henry III., with the king giving directions to the architect.]

25. =The Last Years of Henry III. 1265--1272.=--The storm which had been raised was some time in calming down. Some of Earl Simon's followers continued to hold out against the king. When at last they submitted, they were treated leniently, and in =1267=, at a Parliament at Marlborough, a statute was enacted embodying most of the demands for the redress of grievances made by the earlier reformers. The kingdom settled down in peace, because Henry now allowed Edward to be the real head of the government. Edward, in short, carried on Earl Simon's work in ruling justly, with the advantage of being raised above jealousies by his position as heir to the throne. In =1270= England was so peaceful that Edward could embark on a crusade. At Acre he very nearly fell a victim to a fanatic belonging to a body which counted a.s.sa.s.sination a religious duty. His wife, Eleanor of Castile, who was tenderly attached to him, had to be led out of his tent, lest her bitter grief should distract him during an operation which the surgeons held to be necessary. In =1272= Henry III. died, and his son, though in a distant land, was quietly accepted as his successor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: East end of Westminster Abbey Church: begun by Henry III. in 1245.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Nave of Salisbury Cathedral Church, looking west. Date, between 1240 and 1250.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A king and labourers in the reign of Henry III.]

26. =General Progress of the Country.=--In spite of the turmoils of Henry's reign the country made progress in many ways. Men busied themselves with replacing the old round-arched churches by large and more beautiful ones, in that Early English style of which Lincoln Cathedral was the first example on a large scale. In =1220= it was followed by Beverley Minster (see p. 189). The nave of Salisbury Cathedral was begun in =1240= (see p. 206), and a new Westminster Abbey grew piecemeal under Henry's own supervision during the greater part of the reign (see p. 205). Mental activity accompanied material activity. At Oxford there were reckoned 15,000 scholars. Most remarkable was the new departure taken by Walter de Merton, Henry's Chancellor. Hitherto each scholar had shifted for himself, lived where he could, and been subjected to little or no discipline. In founding Merton College, the first college which existed in the University, Merton proposed not only to erect a building in which the lads who studied might be boarded and placed under supervision, but to train them with a view to learning for its own sake, and not to prepare them for the priesthood. The eagerness to learn things difficult was accompanied by a desire to increase popular knowledge. For the first time since the Chronicle came to an end, which was soon after the accession of Henry II., a book--Layamon's _Brut_--appeared in the reign of John in the English language, and one at least of the songs which witness to the interest of the people in the great struggle with Henry III. was also written in the same language. Yet the great achievement of the fifty-six years of Henry's reign was--to use the language of the smith who refused to put fetters on the limbs of Hubert de Burgh (see p. 188)--the giving of England back to the English. In =1216= it was possible for Englishmen to prefer a French-born Louis as their king to an Angevin John. In =1272= England was indeed divided by cla.s.s prejudices and conflicting interests, but it was nationally one. The greatest grievance suffered from Henry III.

was his preference of foreigners over his own countrymen. In resistance to foreigners Englishmen had been welded together into a nation, and in their new king Edward they found a leader who would not only prove a wise and thoughtful ruler, but who was every inch an Englishman.

_Genealogy of John's Sons and Grandsons._

JOHN, 1199-1216 | ---------------------------------------------- | | | HENRY III. = Eleanor of Richard, Eleanor = Simon de 1216-1272 | Provence Earl of Cornwall Montfort | and King of the Romans ------------- | | EDWARD I. Edmund, t.i.tular King of Sicily 1272-1307

CHAPTER XIV.

EDWARD I. AND EDWARD II.

EDWARD I., =1272--1307.= EDWARD II., =1307--1327.=

LEADING DATES

Accession of Edward I. 1272 Death of Alexander III. 1285 The Award of Norham 1292 The Model Parliament 1295 The First Conquest of Scotland 1296 Confirmatio Cartarum 1297 Completion of the Second Conquest of Scotland 1304 The Incorporation of Scotland with England 1305 The Third Conquest of Scotland 1306 Accession of Edward II. 1307 Execution of Gaveston 1312 Battle of Bannockburn 1314 Execution of Lancaster 1322 Deposition of Edward II. 1327

[Ill.u.s.tration: Great Seal of Edward I.]

1. =The First Years of Edward I. 1272--1279.=--Edward I., though he inherited the crown in =1272=, did not return to England till =1274=, being able to move in a leisurely fashion across Europe without fear of disturbances at home. He fully accepted those articles of John's Great Charter which had been set aside at the beginning of the reign of Henry III., and which required that the king should only take scutages and aids with the consent of the Great Council or Parliament.

The further requirement of the barons that they should name the ministers of the crown, was allowed to fall asleep. Edward was a capable ruler, and knew how to appoint better ministers than the barons were likely to choose for him. It was Edward's peculiar merit that he stood forward not only as a ruler but as a legislator. He succeeded in pa.s.sing one law after another, because he thoroughly understood that useful legislation is only possible when the legislator on the one hand has an intelligent perception of the remedies needed to meet existing evils, and on the other hand is willing to content himself with such remedies as those who are to be benefited by them are ready to accept. The first condition was fulfilled by Edward's own skill as a lawyer, and by the skill of the great lawyers whom he employed. The second condition was fulfilled by his determination to authorise no new legislation without the counsel and consent of those who were most affected by it. He did not, indeed, till late in his reign call a whole Parliament together, as Earl Simon had done. But he called the barons together in any matter which affected the barons, and he called the representatives of the townsmen together in any matter which affected the townsmen, and so on with the other cla.s.ses.

2. =Edward I. and Wales. 1276--1284.=--Outside England Edward's first difficulty was with the Welsh, who, though their Princes had long been regarded by the English Kings as va.s.sals, had practically maintained their independence in the mountainous region of North Wales of which Snowdon is the centre. Between them and the English Lords Marchers, who had been established to keep order in the marches, or border-land, there was nothing but hostility. The Welshmen made forays and plundered the English lands, and the English retorted by slaughtering Welshmen whenever they could come up with them amongst the hills.

Naturally the Welsh took the side of any enemy of the English kings with whom it was possible to ally themselves. Llewelyn, Prince of Wales, had joined Earl Simon against Henry III., and had only done homage to Henry after Simon had been defeated. After Henry's death he refused homage to Edward till =1276=. In =1282= he and his brother David renewed the war, and Edward, determined to put an end to the independence of such troublesome neighbours, marched against them.

Before the end of the year Llewelyn was slain, and David was captured and executed in =1283=. Wales then came fully under the dominion of the English kings. Edward's second son, afterwards King Edward II., was born at Carnarvon in =1284=, and soon afterwards, having become heir to the throne upon the death of his elder brother, was presented to the Welsh as Prince of Wales, a t.i.tle from that day usually bestowed upon the king's eldest son. At the same time, though Edward built strong castles at Conway and Carnarvon to hold the Welsh in awe, he made submission easier by enacting suitable laws for them, under the name of the Statute of Wales, and by establishing a separate body of local officials to govern them, as well as by confirming them in the possession of their lands and goods.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Group of armed knights, and a king in ordinary dress.

Date, _temp._ Edward I.]

3. =Customs Duties. 1275.=--Though Edward I. was by no means extravagant, he found it impossible to meet the expenses of government without an increase of taxation. In =1275= he obtained the consent of Parliament to the increase of the duties on exports and imports which had hitherto been levied without Parliamentary sanction. He was now to receive by a Parliamentary grant a fixed export duty of 6_s._ 8_d._ on every sack of wool sent out of the country, and of a corresponding duty on wool-fells and leather. Under ordinary circ.u.mstances it is useless for any government to attempt to gain a revenue by export duty, because such a duty only raises the price abroad of the products of its own country, and foreigners will therefore prefer to buy the articles which they need from some country which does not levy export duties, and where, therefore, the articles are to be had more cheaply.

England, however, was, in Edward's time, and for many years afterwards, an exception to the rule. On the Continent men could not produce much wool or leather for sale, because private wars were constantly occurring, and the fighting men were in the habit of driving off the sheep and the cattle. In England there were no private wars, and under the king's protection sheep and cattle could be bred in safety. There were now growing up manufactures of cloth in the fortified towns of Flanders, and the manufacturers there were obliged to come to England for the greater part of the wool which they used.

They could not help paying not only the price of the wool, but the king's export duty as well, because if they refused they could not get sufficient wool in any other country.

4. =Edward's Judicial Reforms. 1274--1290.=--Every king of England since the Norman Conquest had exercised authority in a twofold capacity. On one hand he was the head of the nation, on the other hand he was the feudal lord of his va.s.sals. Edward laid more stress than any former king upon his national headship. Early in his reign he organised the courts of law, completing the division of the _Curia Regis_ into the three courts which existed till recent times: the Court of King's Bench, to deal with criminal offences reserved for the king's judgment, and with suits in which he was himself concerned; the Court of Exchequer, to deal with all matters touching the king's revenue; and the Court of Common Pleas, to deal with suits between subject and subject. Edward took care that the justice administered in these courts should as far as possible be real justice, and in =1289= he dismissed two Chief Justices and many other officials for corruption. In =1285= he improved the a.s.size of Arms of Henry II. (see p. 154), so as to be more sure of securing a national support for his government in time of danger.

5. =Edward's Legislation. 1279--1290.=--It was in accordance with the national feeling that Edward, in =1290=, banished from England the Jews, whose presence was most profitable to himself, but who were regarded as cruel tyrants by their debtors. On the other hand, Edward took care to a.s.sert his rights as a feudal lord. In =1279=, by the statute _De religiosis_, commonly known as the Statute of Mortmain, he forbade the gift of land to the clergy, because in their hands land was no longer liable to the feudal dues. In =1290=, by another statute, _Quia emptores_, he forbade all new sub-infeudation. If from henceforth a va.s.sal wished to part with his land, the new tenant was to hold it, not under the va.s.sal who gave it up, but under that va.s.sal's lord, whether the lord was the king or anyone else. The object of this law was to increase the number of tenants-in-chief, and thus to bring a larger number of landowners into direct relations with the king.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Nave of Lichfield Cathedral, looking east. Built about 1280.]

6. =Edward as a National and as a Feudal Ruler.=--In his government of England Edward had sought chiefly to strengthen his position as the national king of the whole people, and to depress legally and without violence the power of the feudal n.o.bility. He was, however, ambitious, with the ambition of a man conscious of great and beneficent aims, and he was quite ready to enforce even unduly his personal claims to feudal obedience whenever it served his purpose to do so. His favourite motto, 'Keep troth' (_Pactum serva_), revealed his sense of the inviolability of a personal engagement given or received, but his legal mind often led him into construing in his own favour engagements in which only the letter of the law was on his side, whilst its spirit was against him. It was chiefly in his relations with foreign peoples that he fell into this error, as it was here that he was most strongly tempted to lay stress upon the feudal tie which made for him, and to ignore the importance of a national resistance which made against him. In dealing with Wales, for instance, he sent David to a cruel death, because he had broken the feudal tie which bound him to the king of England, feeling no sympathy with him as standing up for the independence of his own people.

7. =The Scottish Succession. 1285-1290.=--In the earlier part of Edward's reign Alexander III. was king of Scotland. Alexander's ancestors, indeed, had done homage to Edward's ancestors, but in =1189= William the Lion had purchased from Richard I. the abandonment of all the claim to homage for the crown of Scotland which Henry II.

had acquired by the treaty of Falaise (see pp. 154, 159). William's successors, however, held lands in England, and had done homage for them to the English kings. Edward would gladly have restored the old practice of homage for Scotland itself, but to this Alexander had never given way. To Edward there was something alluring in the prospect of being lord of the whole island, as it would not only strengthen his own personal position, but would bring two nations into peaceful union. Between the southern part of Scotland, indeed, and the northern part of England there was no great dissimilarity. On both sides of the border the bulk of the population was of the same Anglian stock, whilst, in consequence of the welcome offered by the Scottish kings to persons of Norman descent, the n.o.bility was as completely Norman in Scotland as it was in England, many of the n.o.bles indeed possessing lands on both sides of the border. A prospect of effecting a union by peaceful means offered itself to Edward in =1285=, when Alexander III. was killed by a fall from his horse near Kinghorn.

Alexander's only descendant was Margaret, a child of his daughter and of King Eric of Norway. In =1290= it was agreed that she should marry the Prince of Wales, but that the two kingdoms should remain absolutely independent of one another. Unfortunately, the Maid of Norway, as the child was called, died on her way to Scotland, and this plan for establishing friendly relations between the two countries came to naught. If it had succeeded three centuries of war and misery might possibly have been avoided.

8. =Death of Eleanor of Castile. 1290.=--Another death, which happened in the same year, brought sorrow into Edward's domestic life. His wife Eleanor died in November. The corpse was brought for burial from Lincoln to Westminster, and the bereaved husband ordered the erection of a memorial cross at each place where the body rested.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Effigy of Eleanor of Castile, queen of Edward I., in Westminster Abbey.]

9. =The Award of Norham. 1291--1292.=--Edward, sorrowing as he was, was unable to neglect the affairs of State. On the death of the Maid of Norway there was a large number of claimants to the Scottish crown.

The hereditary principle, which had long before been adopted in regard to the succession to landed property, was gradually being adopted in most kingdoms in regard to the succession to the crown. There were still, however, differences of opinion as to the manner in which hereditary succession ought to be reckoned, and there were now many claimants, of whom at least three could make out a plausible case.

David, Earl of Huntingdon, a brother of William the Lion, had left three daughters. The grandson of the eldest daughter was John Balliol; the son of the second was Robert Bruce; the grandson of the third was John Hastings. Balliol maintained that he ought to succeed as being descended from the eldest: Bruce urged that the son of a younger daughter was nearer to the common ancestor, David, than the grandson of the elder: whilst Hastings asked that Scotland should be divided into three parts--according to a custom which prevailed in feudal estates in which the holder left only daughters--amongst the representatives of David's three daughters.[15] Every one of these three claimants was an English baron, and Bruce held large estates in both countries. The only escape from a desolating civil war seemed to be to appeal to Edward's arbitration, and in =1291= Edward summoned the Scots to meet him at Norham. He then demanded as the price of his arbitration the acknowledgment of his position as lord paramount of Scotland, in virtue of which the Scottish king, when he had once been chosen, was to do homage to himself as king of England. Edward, who might fairly have held that, in spite of the abandonment of the treaty of Falaise by Richard, he had a right to the old vague over-lordship of earlier kings, appears to have thought it right to take the opportunity of Scotland's weakness to renew the stricter relationship of homage which had been given up by Richard. At all events, the Scottish n.o.bles and clergy accepted his demand, though the commonalty made some objection, the nature of which has not been recorded. Edward then investigated carefully the points at issue, and in =1292= decided in favour of Balliol. If he had been actuated by selfish motives he would certainly have adopted the suggestion of Hastings that Scotland ought to be divided into three kingdoms.

[Footnote 15: Genealogy of the claimants of the Scottish throne:--

DAVID I.

1124-1153 | Henry | ---------------------------------------------- | | | MALCOLM IV. WILLIAM David, Earl of Huntingdon 1153-1165 THE LION | 1165-1214 ------------------------------------- / | | | / | | | / Margaret Isabella Ada ALEXANDER II. _m._ Alan, Lord _m._ Robert Bruce _m._ Henry 1214-1249 of Galloway | Hastings | | | | ALEXANDER III. Devorguilla Robert Bruce Henry 1249-1285 _m._ John Balliol the Claimant Hastings | | | | | ---------------- | | Margaret | | | John _m._ Eric, king Margaret JOHN BALLIOL Robert Bruce Hastings, of Norway _m._ John, the 1292-1296 | the | Black Comyn | | Claimant | | | | Margaret, | Edward Balliol ROBERT BRUCE The Maid of John, the Red 1306-1329 Norway Comyn]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cross erected near Northampton by Edward I. in memory of Queen Eleanor built between 1291 and 1294.]

10. =Disputes with Scotland and France. 1293--1295.=--The new king of Scotland did homage to Edward for his whole kingdom. If Edward could have contented himself with enforcing the ordinary obligations of feudal superiority all might have gone well. Unfortunately for all parties, he attempted to stretch them by insisting in =1293= that appeals from the courts of the king of Scotland should lie to the courts of the king of England. Suitors found that their rights could not be ascertained till they had undertaken a long and costly journey to Westminster. A national feeling of resistance was roused amongst the Scots, and though Edward pressed his claims courteously, he continued to press them. A temper grew up in Scotland which might be dangerous to him if Scotland could find an ally, and an ally was not long in presenting himself. Philip IV. now king of France, was as wily and unscrupulous as Philip II. had been in the days of John. Edward was his va.s.sal in Guienne and Gascony, and Philip knew how to turn the feudal relationship to account in France as well as Edward knew how to turn it to account in Scotland. The Cinque Ports[16] along the south-eastern sh.o.r.e of England swarmed with hardy and practised mariners, and there had often been sea-fights between French and English sailors quite independently of the two kings. In =1293= there was a great battle in which the French were worsted. Though Edward was ready to punish the offenders, Philip summoned him to appear as a va.s.sal before his lord's court at Paris. In =1294=, however, an agreement was made between the two kings. Edward was for mere form's sake to surrender his French fortresses to Philip in token of submission, and Philip was then to return them. Philip, having thus got the fortresses into his hands, refused to return them. In =1295= a league was made between France and Scotland, which lasted for more than three hundred years. Its permanence was owing to the fact that it was a league between nations more than a league between kings.

[Footnote 16: Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, Romney, Hastings; to which were added Winchelsea and Rye as 'ancient towns,' besides several 'limbs' or dependencies.]

11. =The Model Parliament. 1295.=--Edward, attacked on two sides, threw himself for support on the English nation. Towards the end of =1295= he summoned a Parliament which was in most respects the model for all succeeding Parliaments. It was attended not only by bishops, abbots, earls, and barons, by two knights from every shire, and two burgesses from every borough, but also by representatives of the chapters of cathedrals and of the parochial clergy. It cannot be said with any approach to certainty, whether the Parliament thus collected met in one House or not. As, however, the barons and knights offered an eleventh of the value of their movable goods, the clergy a tenth, and the burgesses a seventh, it is not unlikely that there was a separation into what in modern times would be called three Houses, at least for purposes of taxation. At all events, the representatives of the clergy subsequently refused to sit in Parliament, preferring to vote money to the Crown in their own convocations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sir John d'Abernoun, died 1277: from his bra.s.s at Stoke Dabernon: showing armour worn from about 1250 to 1300.]

12. =The first Conquest of Scotland. 1296.=--In =1296= Edward turned first upon Scotland. After he crossed the border Balliol sent to him renouncing his homage. "Has the felon fool done such folly?" said Edward. "If he will not come to us, we will go to him." He won a decisive victory over the Scots at Dunbar. Balliol surrendered his crown, and was carried off, never to reappear in Scotland. Edward set up no more va.s.sal kings. He declared himself to be the immediate king of Scotland, Balliol having forfeited the crown by treason. The Scottish n.o.bles did homage to him. On his return to England he left behind him the Earl of Surrey and Sir Hugh Cressingham as guardians of the kingdom, and he carried off from Scone the stone of destiny on which the Scottish kings had been crowned, and concerning which there had been an old prophecy to the effect that wherever that stone was Scottish kings should rule. The stone was placed, where it still remains, under the coronation-chair of the English kings in Westminster Abbey, and there were those long afterwards who deemed the prophecy fulfilled when the Scottish King James VI. came to take his seat on that chair as James I. of England.

13. =The Resistance of Archbishop Winchelsey. 1296--1297.=--The dispute with France and the conquest of Scotland cost much money, and Edward, finding his ordinary revenue insufficient, had been driven to increase it by unusual means. He gathered a.s.semblies of the merchants, and persuaded them without the leave of Parliament to increase the export duties, and he also induced the clergy in the same way to grant him large sums. The clergy were the first to resist. In =1296= Boniface VIII., a Pope who pushed to the extreme the Papal claims to the independence of the Church, issued the Bull, _Clericis laicos_, in which he declared that the clergy were not to pay taxes without the Pope's consent; and when at the end of the year Edward called on his Parliament to grant him fresh sums, Winchelsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, refused, on the ground of this Bull, to allow a penny to be levied from the clergy. Edward, instead of arguing with him, directed the chief justice of the King's Bench to announce that, as the clergy would pay no taxes, they would no longer be protected by the king. The clergy now found themselves in evil case. Anyone who pleased could rob them or beat them, and no redress was to be had.