The Leading Facts of English History Part 19

Edward next prepared to attack France. In great need of money, he demanded a large sum from the clergy, and seized a quant.i.ty of wool in the hands of the merchants. The barons, alarmed at these arbitrary measures, insisted on the King's confirming all previous charters of liberties, including the Great Charter (SS135, 160, 199). This confirmation expressly forbade that the Crown should take the people's money or goods except by the consent of Parliament. Thus out of the war England gained the one thing it needed to give the finishing touch to the building up of Parliamentary power (SS213, 217); namely, a solemn acknowledgement by the King that the nation alone had the right to levy taxes.[1] (See Summary of Const.i.tutional History in the Appendix, p. xi, S12.)

[1] Professor Stubbs says in his works (i.e. "Const.i.tutional History of England," and "Select Charters"), that the Confirmation of the Charters "established the principle that for all taxation, direct and indirect, the consent of the nation must be asked, and made it clear that all transgressions of that principle, whether within the latter of the law or beyond it, were evasions of the spirit of the Const.i.tution." See also J. Rowley's "Rise of the English People."

221. Revolt and Death of Wallace (1303).

A new revolt now broke out in Scotland (S219). The patriot, William Wallace, rose and led his countrymen against the English,--led them with that impetuous valor which breathes in Burns's lines:

"Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled."

Fate, however, was against him. After eight years of desperate fighting, the valiant soldier was captured, executed on Tower Hill in London as a traitor, and his head, crowned in mockery with a wreath of laurel, was set on a pike on London Bridge.

But though the hero who perished on the scaffold could not prevent his country from becoming one day a part of England, he did hinder its becoming so on unfair and tyrannical terms. "Scotland," says Carlyle, "is not Ireland. No; because brave men arose there, and said, `Behold, ye must not tread us down like slaves,--and ye shall not,--and ye cannot!'" But Ireland failed, not for any lack of brave men, but for lack of unity among them.

222. Expulsion of the Jews, 1290.

The darkest stain on Edward's reign was his treatment of the Jews (S119). Up to this period that unfortunate race had been protected by the Kings of England as men protect the cattle which they fatten for slaughter. So long as they acc.u.mulated money, and so long as the sovereign could extort from them whatever portion of their acc.u.mulations he saw fit to demand, they were worth guarding. A time had now come when the populace clamored for their expulsion from the island, on the ground that their usury and rapacity was ruining the country.

Edward yielded to the clamor, and first stripping the Jews of their possessions, he prepared to drive them into exile. It is said that even their books were taken from them and given to the libraries of Oxford. Thus pillaged, they were forced to leave the realm,--a miserable procession, numbering some sixteen thousand. Many perished on the way, and so few ventured to return that for three centuries and a half, until Cromwell came to power, they disappear from English history (S458).

223. Death of Queen Eleanor.

Shortly after this event, Queen Eleanor died (S216). The King showed the devoted love he bore her in the beautiful crosses of carved stone that he raised to her memory, three of which still stand.[1] These were erected at the places where her coffin was set down, in its transit from Grantham, in Lincolnshire, where she died, to the little village of Charing (now Charing Cross, the geographical center of London). This was the last station before her body reached its final resting place, in that abbey at Westminster which holds such wealth of historic dust. Around Queen Eleanor's tomb wax lights were kept constantly burning, until the Protestant Reformation extinguished them, nearly three hundred years later.

[1] Originally there were thirteen of these crosses. Of these, three remain: namely, at Northampton, at Geddington, near by, and at Waltham, about twelve miles northeast of London.

224. Edward's Reforms; Statute of Winchester (1285).

The condition of England when Edward came to the throne was far from settled. The country was overrun with marauders. To suppress these, the Statute of Winchester made the inhabitants of every district punishable by fines for crimes committed within their limits. Every walled town had to close its gates at sunset, and no stranger could be admitted during the night unless some citizen would be responsible for him.

In addition, both sides of the main roads were cleared of bushes in order that desperadoes might not lie in wait for travelers.

Furthermore, every citizen was required to keep arms and armor, according to his condition in life, and to join in the pursuit and arrest of criminals.

225. Land Legislation, 1285, 1290.

Two very important statutes were pa.s.sed during this reign, respecting the free sale or transfer of land.[1]

[1] These laws may be regarded as the foundation of the English system of landed property; they completed the feudal claim to the soil established by William the Conqueror. They are known as the Second Statute of Westminster (De Donis, or Entail, 1285) and the Third Statute of Westminster (Quia Emptores, 1290). See S264 and Summary of Const.i.tutional History in the Appendix, p. xi, S11.

The effect of these statutes was to confine the great estates to the hands of their owners and direct descendants, or, when land changed hands, to keep alive the claims of the great lords or the Crown upon it. These laws rendered it difficult for landholders to evade their feudal duties to the King (S150) by the sale or subletting of estates. Hence, while they often built up the strength of the great families, they also operated to increase the power of the Crown at the very time when the growing influence of Parliament and the people was beginning to act as a check upon the royal authority.

226. Legislation respecting the Church; Statute of Mortmain, 1279.

A third enactment checked the undue increase of Church property.

Through gifts and bequests the clergy had become owners of a very large part of the most fertile soil of the realm. No farms, herds of cattle, or flocks of sheep compared with theirs. These lands were said to be in mortmain, or "dead hands"; since the Church, being a corporation, never let go its hold, but kept its property with the tenacity of a dead man's grasp.

The clergy constantly strove to get these Church lands exempted from furnishing soldiers, or paying taxes to the King (S136). Instead of men or money they offered prayers. Practically, the Crown succeeded from time to time in compelling them to do considerably more than this, but seldom without a violent struggle, as in the case of Henry II and Becket (S165).

On account of these exemptions it had become the practice with many persons who wished to escape bearing their just share of the support of the King, to give their lands to the Church, and then receive them again as tenants of some abbot or bishop. In this way they evaded their military and pecuniary obligations to the Crown. To put a stop to this practice, and so make all landed proprietors do their part, the Statute of Mortmain was pa.s.sed, 1279. It required the donor of an estate to the Church to obtain a royal license, which, it is perhaps needless to say, was not readily granted.[1]

[1] See p. 76, note 1, on Clergy; and see Summary of Const.i.tutional History in the Appendix, p. xi, S11.

227. Death of Edward I.

Edward died while endeavoring to subdue a revolt in Scotland, in which Robert Bruce, grandson of the first of that name (S219), had seized the throne. His last request was that his son Edward should continue the war. "Carry my bones before you on your march," said the dying King, "for the rebels will not endure the sight of me, alive or dead!"

Not far from the beautiful effigy of Queen Eleanor in Westminster Abey (S223), "her husband rests in a severely simple tomb. Pa.s.s it not by for its simplicity; few tombs hold n.o.bler dust."[2]

[2] Goldwin Smith's "History of the United Kingdom."

228. Summary.

During Edward I's reign the following changes took place:

1. Wales and Scotland were conquered, and the first remained permanently a part of the English kingdom.

2. The landed proprietors of the whole country were made more directly responsible to the Crown.

3. The excessive growth of Church property was checked.

4. Laws for the better suppression of acts of violence were enacted and rigorously enforced.

5. The Great Charter, with additional articles for the protection of the people, was confirmed by the King, and the power of taxation expressly acknowledged to reside in Parliament only.

6. Parliament, a legislative body now representing all cla.s.ses of the nation, was permanently organized, and for the first time regularly and frequently summoned by the King.[1]

[1] It will be remembered that De Montfort's Parliament in 1265 (S213) was not regularly and legally summoned, since the King (Henry III) was at that time a captive. The first Parliament (consisting of a House of Commons and House of Lords, including the upper Clergy), convened by the Crown, was that called by Edward I in 1295 (S217).

Edward II--1307-1327

229. Accession and Character.

The son to whom Edward I left his power was in every respect his opposite. The old definition of the word "king" was "the man who CAN," or the able man. The modern explanation usually makes him "the chief or head of a people." Edward II would satisfy neither of these definitions. He lacked all disposition to do anything himself; he equally lacked power to incite others to do. By nature he was a jester, trifler, and waster of time.

Being such, it is hardly necessary to say that he did not push the war with Scotland. Robert Bruce (S227) did not expect that he would; that valiant fighter, indeed, held the new English sovereign in utter contempt, saying that he feared the dead father, Edward I, much more than the living son.

230. Piers Gaveston; the Lords Ordainers; Articles of Reform.

During his first five years of his reign, Edward II did little more than lavish wealth and honors on his chief favorite and adviser, Piers Gaveston, a Frenchman who had been his companion and playfellow from childhood. While Edward I was living, Parliament had with his sanction banished Gaveston from the kingdom, as a man of corrupt practices; but Edward II was no sooner crowned than he recalled him, and gave him the government of the realm during his absence in France, on the occasion of his marriage.

On Edward's return, the barons protested against the monopoly of privileges by a foreigner, and the King was obliged to consent to Gaveston's banishment. He soon came back, however, and matters went on from bad to worse. Finally, the indignation of the n.o.bles rose to such a pitch that at a council held at Westminster the government was virtually taken from the King's hands and vested in a body of barons and bishops.

The head of this committee was the King's cousin, the Earl of Lancaster; and from the Ordinances or Articles of Reform which the committee drew up for the management of affairs they got the name of the Lords Ordainers. Gaveston was now sent out of the country for a third time; but the King persuaded him to return, and gave him the office of Secretary of State. This last insult--for so the Lords Ordainers regareded it--was too much for the n.o.bility to bear.

They resolved to exile the hated favorite once more, but this time to send him to that "undiscovered country" from which "no traveler returns." Edward, taking alarm, placed Gaveston in Scarborough Castle, on the coast of Yorkshire, thinking that he would be safe there. The barons besieged the castle, starved Gaveston into surrender, and beheaded him forthwith. Thus ended the first favorite.

231. Scotland regains its Independence; Bannockburn, 1314.

Seeing Edward's lack of manly fiber, Robert Bruce (S229), who had been crowned King of the Scots, determined to make himself ruler in fact as well as in name. He had suffered many defeats; he had wandered a fugitive in forests and glens; he had been hunted with bloodhounds like a wild beast; but he had never lost courage or hope. On the field of Bannockburn, northwest of Edinburgh (1314), he once again met the English, and in a b.l.o.o.d.y and decisive battle drove them back like frightened sheep into their own country. (See map facing p. 120.) By this victory, Bruce reestablished the independence of Scotland,--an independence which continued until the rival kingdoms were peacefully united under one crown, by the accession of the Scottish King, James, to the English throne (1603).

232. The New Favorites; the King made Prisoner (1314-1326).

For the next seven years the Earl of Lancaster (S23) had his own way in England. During this time Edward, whose weak nature needed some one to lean on, had got two new favorites,--Hugh Despenser and his son. They were men of more character than Gaveston (S230), but as they cared chiefly for their own interests, they incurred the hatred of the baronage.