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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24725-h.zip b/24725-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f19c4e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/24725-h.zip diff --git a/24725-h/24725-h.htm b/24725-h/24725-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc94a9d --- /dev/null +++ b/24725-h/24725-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4673 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Stories from English History, by Hilda T. Skae</title> +<style type="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 5%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: medium; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.salutation {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.closing {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.index {font-size: small ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.dedication {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 15%; + text-align: justify } + +P.published {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 15% } + +P.quote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.report2 {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +H3.h3left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H3.h3center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H4.h4center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5left { margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 1%; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: left ; + clear: left ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5right { margin-left: 1%; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: right ; + clear: right ; + text-align: center } + +H5.h5center { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgleft { float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 1%; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgright {float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1%; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +.pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: 95%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + +.sidenote { left: 0%; + font-size: 65%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0%; + width: 17%; + float: left; + clear: left; + padding-left: 0%; + padding-right: 2%; + padding-top: 2%; + padding-bottom: 2%; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none; } + a:hover {color:#ff0000; + text-decoration: underline; } + pre {font-size: 85%; } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 align="center">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stories from English History, by Hilda T. +Skae, Illustrated by Frank Dadd</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Stories from English History</p> +<p>Author: Hilda T. Skae</p> +<p>Release Date: March 1, 2008 [eBook #24725]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER="2" WIDTH="301" HEIGHT="373"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 301px"> +Cover art +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="Caradoc betrayed to the Romans" BORDER="2" WIDTH="399" HEIGHT="515"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 399px"> +Caradoc betrayed to the Romans +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +STORIES FROM +</H2> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +ENGLISH HISTORY +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +HILDA T. SKAE +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WITH PICTURES BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +FRANK DADD +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK +<BR> +NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. +<BR><BR> +1907 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO +<BR> +MY DEAR NEPHEW +<BR> +CHARLES VAUGHAN +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO CHARLIE +<BR><BR> +AND ALL THE OTHER LITTLE +<BR> +BOYS AND GIRLS +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +My dear Charlie,— +</P> + +<P> +Yon are very fond of stories; and so, I think, are all the other little +boys and girls that I have ever known, and most of the grown-up people +too. When you grow older, if you still like them—and I think you +will—you will find that there are stories everywhere if only you are +able to see them. +</P> + +<P> +In this little book they are not quite the same kind as those that your +Auntie used to tell you. I think they are nicer, for they are about +things that have really happened; and the boys and girls and grown-up +people that you read about in them were real people. +</P> + +<P> +Some of those stories were so interesting, and some of them so +beautiful, that they were written down for other people to read; and +that is how history-books came to be made. +</P> + +<P> +I hope that you will like to read about the people who lived long ago, +and that these little tales may show you that history is made up of +stories about people just like ourselves. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +HILDA T. SKAE. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LIST OF STORIES +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">Chap.</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">A Hero of Ancient Britain</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">The Boy Captives</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">English and Norman</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">The Boy who would be a King</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">The Black Prince</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">Singeing the King of Spain's Beard</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LIST OF PICTURES +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +Caradoc betrayed to the Romans . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-022"> +The children carried off by the Bernician Raiders +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-048"> +Harold taking the Oath +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-074"> +The Death of Harold +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-084"> +Arthur in prison visited by King John +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-096"> +Warwick's messenger asking for aid to be sent to the Black Prince +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-106"> +The French King brought prisoner to the Black Prince after Poitiers +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-112"> +Drake making his request of the Queen +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A HERO OF ANCIENT BRITAIN +</H3> + +<P> +There was a time, many years ago, when this England of ours was a +savage country. +</P> + +<P> +The oldest stories that we read about our island happened so long ago, +that the English had not yet come to the land where we live. In those +days, the country was not called England but Britain; and the people +were the ancient Britons. +</P> + +<P> +In the time of the Britons, the greater part of the country was covered +with moors and swamps, and with great forests, where dangerous wild +animals lived: wolves and bears and wild cats; where herds of deer +wandered, and droves of wild cattle. +</P> + +<P> +The ancient Britons lived in huts built of branches of trees plastered +with mud, very low in the roof, and dark, having no windows; and there +were no chimneys to let out the smoke. Their villages were only +collections of huts surrounded by a fence or stockade, and a ditch to +keep out the wild animals, as well as other Britons who were enemies of +the tribe, for these wild people were always fighting among themselves. +</P> + +<P> +The Britons had blue eyes, and yellow or reddish hair, which both men +and women wore long, and hanging over their shoulders. In summer they +went about with their chests and shoulders almost bare, and in winter +they clothed themselves in the skins of animals killed in the chase. +</P> + +<P> +They were a wild people, but so brave that we like to hear stories +about them. +</P> + +<P> +About two thousand years ago, when the Britons were living their savage +life, there lived in the country which is now Italy another people +called the Romans. These Romans were one of the greatest and wisest +nations that have ever lived. +</P> + +<P> +It seems strange that they should have left their own beautiful country +to come to Britain, with its cold climate and savage inhabitants, but +they were a very ambitious people, who would not be content until they +had subdued every other nation of the earth. +</P> + +<P> +The Romans had already conquered all the nations round about their own +country when the Emperor Claudius became their chief; but Claudius +wished to win glory by making fresh conquests, and he determined to +subdue the wild northern island of Britain. +</P> + +<P> +Knowing that the Britons were a very fierce and brave people, he sent +against them an army of forty thousand men under the command of two +skilful generals. +</P> + +<P> +When the inhabitants of southern Britain saw the sea about their coasts +covered with Roman vessels, while more vessels were always appearing +above the horizon, their anger and dismay knew no bounds. They knew +that the Romans were the bravest and most skilful soldiers in the +world, and that they had come to conquer them if they could, and to +take their country away from them. +</P> + +<P> +As the soldiers, wearing their glittering breast-plates and helmets of +polished steel, and with the sun flashing upon the gold and silver +eagles which they carried for standards, landed from their vessels and +marched on their way to the place where they were going to make their +camp, the Britons watched them from their hiding-places with both rage +and terror. +</P> + +<P> +Still they did not despair. Old men among them were able to tell them +how their ancestors had withstood the Romans who had come to their +shores a hundred years before, and how the great Julius Caesar had been +glad to make peace with the Britons and sail away to his own country. +</P> + +<P> +Messengers were sent far and near to summon the chiefs and their +followers, and they resolved to fight to the last. +</P> + +<P> +The Britons proved to be some of the most determined foes that the +Romans had ever met. Battle after battle was fought, and the country +still remained unsubdued. Sometimes the Romans won, and sometimes the +Britons were masters of the day. The Romans were trained soldiers, +while their opponents were wild and undisciplined savages, but the +Britons were fighting for their homes and freedom, and that made them +very brave. +</P> + +<P> +Among the British leaders the noblest was a chieftain of the name of +Caradoc, or as the Romans called him, Caractacus. When some of the +other chiefs, having been defeated many times, were forced to make +peace with the invaders, Caradoc refused to yield. Fighting +stubbornly, he contested every inch of southern Britain, but was slowly +driven backwards to the mountains of Wales. +</P> + +<P> +Here he gathered around him a band of Britons as brave and determined +as himself, and for nearly nine years he held the Romans in check. The +invaders, who did not know the country, were unable to penetrate far +among these valleys, where thick forests hemmed in the view, and where +every hillside might harbour a band of their savage foes. +</P> + +<P> +It was impossible to reach Caradoc in this wild retreat. Accompanied +by his followers, he would leave the mountains and sweep suddenly down +upon a Roman camp in some distant part of the country. At a time when +the Romans were least expecting it, a band of these wild, red-headed +warriors would appear, yelling their war-cries as they let fly a shower +of darts and arrows; then, after killing and wounding a number of the +enemy, they would vanish among their mountains before the Romans had +time to follow them up. +</P> + +<P> +As years went on, a large number of Britons found their way to Caradoc +in his Welsh retreat. The mountains became full of desperate men who +had been driven from their homes, but were still determined to fight +for freedom, and the example of their leader gave his followers fresh +courage. +</P> + +<P> +After many years of fighting, the Romans saw that the country would +never be subdued so long as Caradoc should remain at liberty. +</P> + +<P> +A great army was marched towards the stronghold of the daring chief. +Caradoc mustered his retainers, and found himself at the head of a body +of men almost as numerous as the Roman army. For nine years these +Britons had remained unconquered; and the brave band hoped that the day +had now come when they might gain a victory which would end in the +invaders being driven out of the country. +</P> + +<P> +Romans and Britons met on the borders of Wales. +</P> + +<P> +The Britons, looking down from their mountains, saw the Romans on the +plain far below. Between the armies there flowed a river, which was +joined by a torrent rushing down by the side of a steep hill. Caradoc +ordered his men to take up their station upon this hill, and all night +long the Britons worked to strengthen their defences by building up +barricades of loose stones. +</P> + +<P> +When morning dawned the Britons could see the Roman legions forming in +position. The sunbeams were glancing upon the crests of the soldiers' +helmets and upon the points of their spears, and the Britons almost +seemed to hear the voice of the general who was riding his prancing +war-horse round the ranks of his army. +</P> + +<P> +The Britons were eager to attack, but before a man left his post +Caradoc came forward and spoke to his followers. +</P> + +<P> +'Men of Britain,' he said; 'this day decides the fate of your country. +Your liberty, or your eternal slavery, dates from this hour. Remember +your brave ancestors, who drove the great Julius himself across the +sea!' +</P> + +<P> +The Britons were so stirred by these words that they replied by a great +shout; then rushing down the hill, they let fly a hail of darts and +arrows upon the Roman army. +</P> + +<P> +For a long time the battle raged, and neither side appeared to gain the +advantage. +</P> + +<P> +In order to meet the Britons hand to hand, the Romans had to cross the +river under a storm of darts. Many fell and were swept away by the +current. Others struggled onward, to be received by savage cries from +the Britons, who tore stones from the barricade to hurl at their +advancing foes. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of the fury of the defenders, the Romans swept steadily up the +slope. Soon the foremost had reached the barriers. They stumbled and +fell among the loose stones, but recovered themselves and pressed +onwards, holding up their shields to ward off the blows rained down +upon them. The hillside became a seething mass of combatants; the +wild, active Britons flying hither and thither to repel the advance of +the steel-clad host. From the thick of the fight, Caradoc himself +shouted encouragement to his soldiers, who replied by shrill cries and +by redoubled exertions. +</P> + +<P> +The stone barriers were passed; Romans and Britons were mingled in a +life-and-death struggle. +</P> + +<P> +Soon it became apparent that the day belonged to the better-armed +combatants; the soft copper swords of the Britons had been blunted upon +the steel breast-plates of the Romans, while their own wooden shields +were hacked to pieces by the Roman swords. +</P> + +<P> +In a short time the Britons were flying in all directions, unable any +longer to resist the Romans. Caradoc's two brothers were taken +prisoners, and his wife and daughter fell into the hands of the +conquerers. +</P> + +<P> +The British leader himself, weary, wounded and disheartened, found his +way to the hut of his mother-in-law, and asked her for shelter. She +gave him a wolf-skin to lie upon by the fire and soon he was fast +asleep, worn out by fatigue and loss of blood. +</P> + +<P> +For a time the old woman sat and watched him. +</P> + +<P> +It had needed no words from the wounded, half-fainting chieftain to +tell her that the day was lost. +</P> + +<P> +She thought of the proud Romans who were now masters of the country; of +the villages which would be burned, and of their inhabitants who would +be carried away into slavery. +</P> + +<P> +Being a selfish old woman, she soon began to think less of other +people's troubles than of her own. +</P> + +<P> +What would happen to her, she wondered, were the Romans to come this +way and find out that she was giving shelter to the vanquished +chieftain? +</P> + +<P> +She trembled as she thought that soon this poor hut might shelter her +no longer; that her few belongings might be taken away from her, and +she herself be driven out to perish upon the cold hill-side. +</P> + +<P> +As she looked at her guest, lying asleep in a corner, and frowning a +little with the pain of his wound, she felt as though she hated him. +</P> + +<P> +An ugly look came into her face as she realised her helplessness. +</P> + +<P> +Presently she heard cries echoing in the valley, and peeping from the +door of the hut she saw some flying Britons, closely pursued by two +Roman soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +The Britons disappeared in a thicket and were lost, and as the woman +watched the soldiers beating the bushes and brambles with their swords +in a vain search for the fugitives, a very evil thought came into her +mind. +</P> + +<P> +She left the hut, and crept along in the shelter of the rocks and +trees, so that the soldiers might not see where she had come from. +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers were very much surprised when a little wild-looking, +wrinkled old woman stood before them, trying to tell them something in +the language that the Britons spoke. +</P> + +<P> +They soon understood that she was offering to show them the +hiding-place of a captive far more important than the poor British +warriors whom they had been pursuing. +</P> + +<P> +'Come along then, old woman,' said one of the soldiers; 'show us the +way.' +</P> + +<P> +A sly look came into the woman's small twinkling eyes. 'Wait a +little,' she said; 'what are you going to give me for delivering this +great captive into your hands?' +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers looked at each other; and then one of them offered her a +gold coin. +</P> + +<P> +The old woman shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +'No,' she said; 'this is a very, very great man, and the Romans would +like very much to catch him. You must give me far more than that if I +show you the way to his hiding-place.' +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers consulted together for a moment. From the old woman's +manner, she evidently had a noted chief or leader in her power. +</P> + +<P> +'Here, old dame,' they said, 'if your prisoner is of such importance, +you must come with us to the general.' +</P> + +<P> +The old woman was delighted. The Roman general was of course a very +rich man, and no doubt he would give her a great deal of money for the +captive. +</P> + +<P> +'Let us be quick,' she said; 'my prisoner may wake up and go away +before we come back.' +</P> + +<P> +The soldiers were astonished at the nimble way in which the old +creature skipped over the stones and heather, her little short steps +covering the ground as quickly as their long, steady strides. They +were almost inclined to think that she must be one of the witches about +whom the Britons told such strange stories. +</P> + +<P> +The general was not far away; and soon the old woman's little greedy +eyes were looking up into his grave stern face. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, my good woman,' he said, 'who is this prisoner?' +</P> + +<P> +The old woman grinned, showing a few tusklike teeth. 'He is a very +great man,' she said, 'and I can only give him up for a large sum of +money.' +</P> + +<P> +'Tell me first who he is,' said the general; 'we can talk about the +reward afterwards.' +</P> + +<P> +There was no one that the Romans despised so much as a traitor, and the +general thought this old woman was the most mean and base person he had +ever met. +</P> + +<P> +'The prisoner,' said the woman, with a still wider grin, 'is Caradoc +himself. He came to my hut after the battle; and you should have seen +how pale and weary he was! He thought I would shelter him, because he +is my son-in-law, but after he had fallen asleep I said to myself, "The +Romans are good folk, and they will be grateful to an old woman who +hands over a wicked rebel——"' +</P> + +<P> +'That will do, my good woman,' said the general, cutting her short. +'Here is a bag of gold; it is your fee for delivering the British +leader into our hands. Come and show us where he is to be found; or if +you are playing us false it will be the worse for you.' +</P> + +<P> +The old woman's fingers closed round the gold, and her delight at +getting so much money prevented her from feeling the contempt in the +general's voice and eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the tiny hut was surrounded by Roman soldiers. Bending his +tall form at the doorway, the general entered, followed by two soldiers +leading between them the old woman, whose skinny fingers were tightly +clutching the bag of gold. +</P> + +<P> +Caradoc stirred in his sleep, then he sat up and looked at the Romans. +</P> + +<P> +His eyes fell upon his mother-in-law; and he understood. +</P> + +<P> +He had to stand up and submit to having his hands bound behind his back +by the Roman soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +The old woman left the hut and disappeared with her ill-gotten gains. +</P> + +<P> +For once in her life she felt ashamed of herself. +</P> + +<P> +She had betrayed her country, and although she was now one of the +richest women in Britain she was never really happy again. +</P> + +<P> +When the wounded chieftain joined the other prisoners in the Roman +camp, his wife and daughter fell into his arms, weeping. +</P> + +<P> +Caradoc tried his best to comfort them, and he begged all the prisoners +to have courage, and to bear their misfortunes like brave men and women. +</P> + +<P> +After this victory the Roman general returned to his own country. +Caradoc and the other prisoners were carried on board the vessels of +the conquerors; and after a voyage of many days they landed upon the +strange, unknown shores of Italy. +</P> + +<P> +The Roman people were delighted to hear that the wild, savage island of +Britain had at last been subdued, and when the victorious general +reached the city they resolved to give him a public triumph. +</P> + +<P> +The emperor and empress sat on thrones in front of their palace while +the general was drawn through the streets in a chariot decked with +flowers and garlands. All the citizens came out to see him, and the +balconies and even the roofs of the houses were crowded with people who +shouted and hurrahed and threw up their caps as the conqueror passed by. +</P> + +<P> +Behind the chariot came the troops who had taken part in the victory. +The soldiers marched past in fighting array; their helmets and spears +garlanded with flowers and with wreaths of laurel, and they looked +round them proudly in response to the shouts of their countrymen. +</P> + +<P> +But these were not the only people who took part in the procession. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately behind the general followed the captives whom he had taken +in the war; Caradoc with his wife and daughter and the other prisoners +who had helped him in his nine years' struggle with the Romans. +</P> + +<P> +As these poor captives passed, loaded with chains, the people in the +streets jeered at them and shouted out unkind speeches. Most of the +prisoners walked with downcast eyes and sad faces, but Caradoc marched +along with so proud a bearing that the spectators wondered at the +courage shown by this savage chief. He did not seem to feel the dust +and glare, or to be abashed by the hard, unfeeling gaze of the +thousands of people who had come out to stare at him. +</P> + +<P> +As he passed he looked at the fine buildings, at the triumphal arches, +and the marble palaces, and at the gaily dressed people who thronged +the streets. Sometimes he looked up into the sunny Italian sky; and he +was evidently thinking deeply. Some one asked him what he was thinking +about. +</P> + +<P> +'I was wondering,' said Caradoc, 'how these people could envy me my mud +cottage and my few fields so far away in our poor, cold, northern +Britain?' +</P> + +<P> +The spectators, who had flocked from all parts of Italy to see the +famous chief, began to think it was a pity that so brave a man should +be put to death. +</P> + +<P> +After the triumph, the emperor wished to meet this gallant savage face +to face. +</P> + +<P> +Caradoc and his wife were brought before Claudius, who, in royal +garments of purple and gold, was seated upon an ivory throne. +</P> + +<P> +Caradoc looked at the emperor with his calm, brave eyes, and did not +appear to be in the least dismayed. +</P> + +<P> +Claudius said to himself that this British chief was a truly great man. +He asked his prisoner what he thought of Rome. +</P> + +<P> +'I think it is a very great and wonderful city,' replied Caradoc, 'and +that its people are a very great people.' +</P> + +<P> +'Do you know what this great people do to those who have been bold +enough to resist their will?' asked the emperor. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' replied Caradoc simply; 'I am told that you put their leaders to +death when you have captured them; and I wonder that a wise and great +people like the Romans should have such a custom. After having +defeated a man, what greater glory is to be won by putting him to +death? It seems to me that it would be more worthy of the Roman people +to spare him in order to show that they are generous as well as brave.' +</P> + +<P> +Claudius was so pleased with his captive's wise and fearless reply that +he had him restored to liberty, with his wife and family. +</P> + +<P> +The Roman who has told us the story of Caradoc in one of his books does +not say whether the brave chief was allowed to return to Britain, or +whether he had to spend the rest of his life in the land of his +conquerors. +</P> + +<P> +I hope his captors sent him back to Britain, for I am sure that he +loved his native land the best, and that he would have liked to end his +days among the brave countrymen who had helped him to withstand the +great and powerful nation of Rome. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BOY CAPTIVES +</H3> + +<P> +Five hundred years had passed. +</P> + +<P> +Long ago the Romans had left Britain; and another people had come from +across the sea to conquer the country and drive its inhabitants to take +refuge in Wales and Cornwall. +</P> + +<P> +Britain had now become England. The English in these days were very +fierce heathens, who loved fighting, and were never at peace. The +country was divided into a number of little kingdoms, which were always +at war with one another, for each king wanted to be more powerful than +any other in the land. +</P> + +<P> +While England was in this state of continual warfare, the kingdom of +Deira in the north was invaded by a band of raiders from a neighbouring +kingdom called Bernicia. Not finding any one at hand to resist them, +the Bernicians began to lay waste the country as they passed. All the +men of that neighbourhood seemed to be absent that day; and there was +no one to give the alarm as the invaders destroyed the young crops and +killed or drove away the cattle which were grazing upon the waste land. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the party came upon a little village, lying peacefully +nestled on the hillside. It was evening, and the smoke was rising +tranquilly into the air, while the men and boys were driving the cows +home for the evening milking. +</P> + +<P> +Little did the raiders care about the quiet beauty of the scene. With +a shout they bore down upon the village. The inhabitants did their +best to defend themselves; but being unprepared and armed for the most +part only with clubs and ploughshares, they were quickly overpowered. +Some escaped to the woods, while those who were not active enough to +run away were either slain or made prisoners. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-022"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-022.jpg" ALT="The children carried off by the Bernician Raiders." BORDER="2" WIDTH="393" HEIGHT="513"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 393px"> +The children carried off by the Bernician Raiders. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Soon flames were bursting from the walls and roofs of the cottages, +which their destroyers had set on fire after removing everything that +was worth carrying away. +</P> + +<P> +When the captives were brought in, they were found to be mostly old +people, together with some trembling children, whose parents were lost +or slain. +</P> + +<P> +'Those,' said the leader, pointing to the white-haired men and woman, +'are no good. What do we want with old folk?—But these,' he added, +pointing to the children, 'you may keep. They will grow into fine +strong men by and by.' +</P> + +<P> +The children were bound hand and foot to prevent them from running +away; and after posting sentries to keep a look-out, the raiders sat +down to feast upon some of the slaughtered cattle, which they had +roasted before the flames of the burning houses. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly one of the outposts called out to say there was something in +the distance which looked like a band of armed men. +</P> + +<P> +'Ay, ay,' said the leader; 'time we made the best of our way homeward. +Our big bonfire is bright enough to bring the whole countryside upon +us.' +</P> + +<P> +Hastily collecting their spoil, the raiders looked about for their +horses. Each prisoner was made to mount beside one of his captors, and +soon the whole band was trotting away in the gathering darkness. +</P> + +<P> +It was in vain that the boys strained their eyes to look behind. +Either they had not yet been missed, or else their rescuers had not +found out the direction which the spoilers had taken. +</P> + +<P> +The few people whom they passed, wood-cutters or cow-herds on their way +home from the day's work, only looked on helplessly as the troop swept +by, and were unable to do anything. Once, seeing a man whom he knew, +one of the boys cried out for help, but his captor roughly bade him be +silent. +</P> + +<P> +In a little while they were in the land of the Bernicians, and the +children were handed over to the families of their captors, to work in +the house and in the fields. +</P> + +<P> +They were not unkindly treated, and after a while they began to feel +less unhappy. Often when they met together in the evening, after the +day's work was done, they would make plans for running away as soon as +they should be grown up, and returning to their own old home in Deira. +</P> + +<P> +But they were never to see their native village again. +</P> + +<P> +One day a rich merchant came to Bernicia, a man who traded with the +far-away countries of Gaul and Italy, and the children were brought for +him to see. +</P> + +<P> +The merchant looked at the rosy faces and strong limbs of the boys. +</P> + +<P> +'They'll do,' he said; 'I'll take the lot. One of my ships is just +starting for Italy, and they can go on board. The Roman ladies like +fine boys like these to wait upon them. It is waste to keep such lads +to work in our rough homesteads when we can get gold for them from the +Romans.' +</P> + +<P> +A large sum of money was handed over to the owners of the children; and +then the boys had to follow their new master to the seashore, where a +vessel was in waiting. +</P> + +<P> +No kind parents or friends were near, to bid good-bye to these poor +children as they embarked. They were led on board and given into the +charge of the captain and seamen of the vessel. Presently the sails +were unfurled, and the vessel left the shore, the men singing as they +worked. No one paid any attention to the poor children as they stood +on deck and sorrowfully watched the shores of England grow farther and +farther away, until they became lost in the distance. +</P> + +<P> +The little captives felt very sad indeed. Had they known that they +were about to become the means of bringing happiness and peace to their +native land, perhaps they might not have felt so desolate as they did. +</P> + +<P> +After what seemed to them a very long voyage, they were taken to the +great slave-market in Rome. +</P> + +<P> +The children clung together in confusion and fear as they looked around +at the bewildering scene. +</P> + +<P> +Groups of buyers and sellers were there, talking in an unknown +language. There were many other slaves for sale; men, women, and +children; white, black, and brown; brought together from many parts of +the world. People in strange bright dresses were always passing; some +coming to buy slaves, some to meet their friends, and others out of +mere curiosity. In all the careless, chattering crowd there was not +one face that seemed friendly towards the poor strangers from across +the sea. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the boys remarked among the gay throng an old man who seemed +quite different from the rest. He wore a plain dark gown, with sandals +on his feet. A long silvery beard flowed nearly to his girdle; and the +boys liked his face, with its kind, benevolent expression. +</P> + +<P> +This was the monk Gregory, who was loved by all the people of Rome for +his simple goodness of heart. +</P> + +<P> +As the old man passed through the hall he looked pityingly at the poor +people who were waiting to be sold. When he came to the English boys +he paused, struck by their beautiful rosy faces, fair hair, and rounded +limbs. +</P> + +<P> +'Who are these children?' he asked the trader who was standing beside +them. +</P> + +<P> +'They are Angles,' replied the trader. +</P> + +<P> +'Surely not Angles, but angels,' said Gregory; 'for they have the faces +of angels.' +</P> + +<P> +He looked at them again very thoughtfully, and asked the trader whether +these children were Christians. +</P> + +<P> +'No, sir,' replied the merchant; 'the Angles are heathens, and have a +very cruel religion.' +</P> + +<P> +'What a pity, what a pity!' said the good monk. 'What is the name of +their country?' +</P> + +<P> +'They come from a place called Deira,' said the trader. +</P> + +<P> +'Ira' is the Latin word for wrath; and Gregory seemed to find a meaning +in all the names connected with these angel-faced children. +</P> + +<P> +'De ira,' he said; 'ay, from the wrath of God they shall be called to +Christ's mercy.—And what is the name of their King?' he inquired. +</P> + +<P> +'Ella,' replied the merchant. +</P> + +<P> +'Ella!' cried the monk; 'Alleluia shall be sung in Ella's land'; and he +passed on his way with a silent vow that one day he would find a means +of teaching the English people to become Christians. +</P> + +<P> +Here the history of these children ends, so far as we know it. The old +writer who tells us of the meeting of the monk Gregory with the captive +children does not say what became of them after this. Surely they +found good masters and happy homes; for it was through them that the +Good News was brought to their native land, and that the people learned +to live peaceably in a united country. +</P> + +<P> +After he left the slave-market the thought of these fair-faced boys +followed Gregory wherever he went. He thought of many plans, and at +last he resolved, old as he was, to undertake the long journey to the +savage country of England and to teach the true religion to its +inhabitants. But when the Roman people found that he was going to +leave them, they begged Gregory so hard to stay that he made up his +mind that he could not go away into a heathen country while he was so +badly needed by his own people at home. +</P> + +<P> +Still he had no rest when he thought that the English were living and +dying as heathens. About four years after the meeting with the boys, +he was made Pope, and then he saw that his opportunity was come. +</P> + +<P> +A band of forty monks, with an Abbot of the name of Augustine at their +head, was chosen by Pope Gregory for the conversion of England. +</P> + +<P> +In those days the journey from Rome to England was a long and perilous +one. Slowly the monks made their way through Italy and Switzerland, +staying sometimes at the monasteries on their way. At last they were +in Gaul, and were able to gain some information about the fierce and +warlike people whom they had been sent to convert. +</P> + +<P> +In an abbey near Paris they were kindly received by the monks, who were +glad to meet the brave missionaries who had been sent to bring +Christianity to the heathen inhabitants of England. +</P> + +<P> +'Perhaps your task will be easier than you expect,' said a monk who had +been listening very attentively while the travellers told their tale. +</P> + +<P> +All turned to look at the speaker. +</P> + +<P> +'Do you not remember,' he said, 'that Ethelbert, King of Kent, married +Bertha, the daughter of our good King? Bertha is a Christian, and +surely her husband will not harden his heart towards those who are of +the religion of his good wife.' +</P> + +<P> +The monks were greatly cheered at this news. Messengers were sent to +Ethelbert to prepare him for the coming of Augustine, and a few days +later the leader and his party landed on the island of Thanet in Kent. +</P> + +<P> +When Ethelbert heard that the missionaries had actually set foot in his +dominions, he felt uneasy. +</P> + +<P> +'The Christians are very good folk,' he said; 'my wife is one, and I've +given her a little church of her own to do as she likes in; still, I'm +not very sure about them; I think some of them are too fond of meddling +with magic.' +</P> + +<P> +Still, after consulting with his wise men, he consented to meet the +Romans and to hear what they had to say, provided that the meeting +should take place out of doors, for he believed that the magic spells +would have less power in the open air. +</P> + +<P> +Thrones were placed for him and Bertha on the hillside, and the band of +monks approached, bearing a silver cross, and chanting a hymn, with +Augustine at their head. +</P> + +<P> +Ethelbert listened attentively as Augustine told him about the +Christian religion, and invited him to forsake the cruel bloodthirsty +gods of the English. +</P> + +<P> +'Your words,' he said, when the abbot had finished, 'are fair; but what +you tell me is new and strange. I cannot leave all at once what I and +my English folk have believed for so long. But let me think over what +you say; and if any of my folk will believe what you believe, I will +not hinder them.' +</P> + +<P> +The monks were overjoyed at the King's answer. Bearing their silver +cross in front of them, they entered the town of Canterbury. +</P> + +<P> +'Turn from this city, O Lord,' they sang, 'Thy wrath and anger.' +</P> + +<P> +Then in joy and thankfulness they sang 'Alleluia' in the streets, while +the people looked on and wondered. +</P> + +<P> +Ethelbert gave the missionaries a church to preach in, and he and his +people often came to listen to them. So well did the good monks speak +that after a little while the king consented to become a Christian, and +was baptized, and many of his men with him; and Kent thus became the +first Christian kingdom of England. +</P> + +<P> +Many years afterwards, Ethelbert's daughter was given in marriage to +Edwin, King of Northumbria. Edwin was a good and wise man; but he was +a heathen. Among the people who accompanied the young queen to her +northern home was her chaplain Paulinus, and it was the great wish both +of Paulinus and of the queen that through their means Edwin might +become converted to Christianity. +</P> + +<P> +All that winter Edwin listened to the words of his queen and of +Paulinus, and pondered them very deeply. +</P> + +<P> +In the spring he called his wise men together, and asked them to advise +him. +</P> + +<P> +Paulinus, the Roman chaplain, tall, thin and stooping, with black hair +falling round his dark, eager face, spoke to the stout, ruddy English, +and told them about his religion. +</P> + +<P> +The wise men listened very thoughtfully; and they asked Paulinus many +questions. +</P> + +<P> +After a while an old man rose up. +</P> + +<P> +'So seems the life of man, O king,' he said, 'as a sparrow's flight +through the hall when one is sitting at meat in the winter-tide. The +warm fire is lighted on the hearth; the torches are blazing; and the +hall is bright and warm. +</P> + +<P> +'But without the snow is falling, and the winds are howling. +</P> + +<P> +'Then comes a sparrow and flies into the hall, and passes out by the +other door. She comes in at one door and goes out by the other; and +passes from winter to winter. For a moment she has rest; for a moment +she is in the light and warmth, she feels not the storm nor the +cheerless winter weather. +</P> + +<P> +'But the moment is brief. +</P> + +<P> +'The short time of rest and warmth is soon over, and she is out in the +storm again and has passed from our sight. +</P> + +<P> +'So it is with the life of man; it, too, is but for a moment, what has +gone before, and what will come after it, we do not know, and no man +has yet told us. +</P> + +<P> +'If, then, these strangers can tell us aught of what is beyond the +grave—if they can tell us whence man comes and whither he goes, let us +give ear to them and think over what they say.' +</P> + +<P> +A murmur went round the hall as the old man showed them by this story +that the new religion told them of a life beyond this world, while +their own did not. +</P> + +<P> +Then up started Coifi, the chief priest of the heathen gods whom the +king and his people had worshipped. +</P> + +<P> +'O king,' cried the priest, 'there is no man in this hall has served +the gods more faithfully than I, but they have never done anything for +me.' +</P> + +<P> +When the wise men had made an end of speaking, the king rose up and +said, 'Let us worship the God of Paulinus, and follow his ways.' +</P> + +<P> +Then he called aloud and said, 'Who will be the first to throw down the +altar of these false gods and destroy their temple.' +</P> + +<P> +'I will be the first, O king,' shouted Coifi the priest. 'Give me a +horse and weapons, and I will overthrow the temple of the false gods. +Follow me, O thanes, and let us see if the gods can defend their own +altars.' +</P> + +<P> +Then, snatching a sword, the high priest rushed from the hall and +sprang upon the king's war-horse. +</P> + +<P> +The king and his wise men followed; and on their way they were joined +by a number of people who left their work or the cattle they were +tending, and followed, shouting as they ran, 'Coifi the high priest is +mad!' +</P> + +<P> +Soon they arrived at the temple. Here the people hung back, afraid to +enter, but the priest burst open the door with a blow of his spear, and +rode into the wooden building. +</P> + +<P> +The king and his wise men followed, but the others remained outside, +wondering what dreadful thing would happen to the mad priest. +</P> + +<P> +Before them was the dark interior of the temple with the altar at the +farther end, and the great wooden figure of the god rising above it; a +monstrous thing painted in gaudy colours, with a fierce, cruel grin on +its ugly face; and the madman was riding his war-horse in the building. +</P> + +<P> +Surely the god was about to take some terrible vengeance! +</P> + +<P> +A great crash resounded through the temple as the priest hurled his +sword at the wooden figure. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the people ran away; others remained huddled at the door, too +terrified to move. +</P> + +<P> +But nothing happened. +</P> + +<P> +There was the figure of the god still grinning down upon the people as +before, without a change in its face. No thunder came down from heaven +to destroy the rash priest and his followers who had insulted the +temple. +</P> + +<P> +'The gods are not able to defend themselves,' shouted the wise men. +'The gods of the English are false gods'; then rushing into the temple, +they pulled the idol from its place and dragged it out of doors, while +the people threw themselves upon the temple and pulled it to pieces. +After that they tore up the hedge that surrounded the temple; and with +the hedge and the ruins of the temple they made a bonfire whose flames +rose high in the air and were seen far and wide, while in the middle of +the fire the idol was burned to ashes. +</P> + +<P> +Then the people went home, and were baptized by Paulinus. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ENGLISH AND NORMAN +</H3> + +<P> +In England there was an old King called Edward; a gentle pious man who +disliked the trouble of governing, and who left his brother-in-law to +rule the country while he himself spent his time in praying and in +reading good books and going to church. +</P> + +<P> +Harold, Earl of Wessex, the king's brother-in-law, was one of the most +able men then living; a true Englishman, wise and honourable. The +people of England loved and trusted Harold; and as Edward had no +children to succeed to the throne, they hoped that after his death +Harold would become their king. +</P> + +<P> +On the other side of the strip of sea which divides England from +France, there lived at this time a very proud and ambitious man, +William, Duke of Normandy. +</P> + +<P> +William was descended from a great pirate who had come from the North, +many years before, and had compelled the King of France to give him +part of his dominions for himself and his followers to settle in. Ever +since then, this part of France has been called Normandy; and the +descendants of these Northmen are living there to this day. +</P> + +<P> +The pirate was made a duke; but his great grandson William of Normandy +wanted to become a king. +</P> + +<P> +William's father had been a friend of King Edward of England, and when +he was a young man William came from Normandy to spend some weeks at +the Court of England. In after years William declared that during this +visit Edward had promised that he, and not Harold, should be the next +King of England. +</P> + +<P> +If Edward really made this promise he must have known that he was +undertaking what he had no power to fulfil, for the English people had +the right of choosing their own king, and they did not wish to have a +proud Norman rule over them. +</P> + +<P> +But William had made up his mind to be a king; and he was a man who +never let anything stand in the way of what he wanted. +</P> + +<P> +One day Earl Harold went sailing in the English Channel, when a storm +arose and drove his vessel out of her course. +</P> + +<P> +Night came down, thick and foggy, and the captain did not know where +they were. All remained on deck, keeping an anxious look-out; and in +the darkness the vessel suddenly struck. +</P> + +<P> +Before them they could see some masses of rock; and the men had just +time to scramble out before the little ship filled with water and sank. +</P> + +<P> +The unlucky pleasure-seekers found themselves clinging to a little +rocky islet which would scarcely afford them foothold; and all night +they remained there drenched with rain and spray. +</P> + +<P> +At daybreak they were able to make out the coast of France, not very +far away from them. By the side of the reef lay their little vessel, +half in, half out of the water, with a large hole in her side. There +was nothing that they could do but wait until some one should see them +from the shore, and come off with a boat to rescue them. +</P> + +<P> +In a little while Harold and his men saw a stir upon the coast. Men +were coming and going; looking towards the rock and then running to +fetch other men. After a while a party came down to the beach, +launched a boat and rowed towards the wreck. +</P> + +<P> +How thankful were the hungry, shivering castaways to get into the boat +and be rowed ashore by these sturdy Norman-French fishermen! +</P> + +<P> +They entered one of the cottages; and as they were warming themselves +before a blazing fire the door was suddenly burst open, and a man in a +shining coat of mail stood in the doorway. Behind him were grouped a +dozen or so of stout men-at-arms. +</P> + +<P> +'Aha,' said the mail-clad knight, looking around him with restless, +glittering black eyes; 'if I am not mistaken it is a great man whom the +wind and waves have done me the honour to waft to my shores.—I am Guy, +Count of Ponthieu; and you, if I am not mistaken,' he said to Harold, +'are Earl Harold, brother-in-law to the King of England.' +</P> + +<P> +'I thought so,' muttered Harold as he gravely inclined his head in +answer to the count; 'our troubles are only beginning.' +</P> + +<P> +'This is not a fitting spot in which to receive the kinsman of King +Edward of England,' said Guy in mock courtesy. 'I must trouble you, +Sir, to come to my poor dwelling, where I hope a short stay may be +rendered as pleasant as possible to yourself and your followers.' +</P> + +<P> +Harold groaned in spirit as he realised that the count was going to +keep him in prison in the hope of getting a ransom for him from King +Edward. With these sturdy men-at-arms in the doorway it was no use for +the unarmed Englishmen to try to resist. +</P> + +<P> +'My poor countrymen,' said Harold to himself; 'I wonder how much money +he will force them to hand over before he consents to give me up? It +grieves me to think of the good English gold which will go to the +enriching of this greedy hawk.—And how is the kingdom going to be +governed in my absence?—Alack the day!' +</P> + +<P> +The count's dark mocking face was all aglow with triumph as he led his +prisoner where some horses were ready waiting for them. +</P> + +<P> +After a short ride they were in the courtyard of the grim frowning +castle of Ponthieu, with the drawbridge raised behind them. +</P> + +<P> +'You will allow some of my men to go to England and tell King Edward +that I am here?' said Harold to the count. +</P> + +<P> +Once more Guy smiled his mocking smile. +</P> + +<P> +'I was going to ask the whole party to accept my hospitality for a few +weeks,' he said. 'His majesty of England will be the more pleased to +welcome his brother-in-law after he has lacked tidings of him for a +space.' +</P> + +<P> +Harold fumed with anger and indignation. He saw that Guy meant to keep +the king and his own family in ignorance of his fate in order that they +might be more eager to ransom him once they heard that he was still +living. +</P> + +<P> +But one day Guy, Count of Ponthieu, was in a very bad humour. He +strode up and down the courtyard with an angry scowl upon his handsome, +haughty face; muttering to himself and reading a letter which had been +brought to the castle by a mounted messenger. His mailed boots made a +noisy clattering upon the pavement, and the men-at-arms felt that it +would be safe to keep at a respectful distance that morning. +</P> + +<P> +'Ha!' shouted Guy; 'I am grossly insulted!—What traitor has dared to +carry to the duke news of my prisoner? Had I that man, he should hang +by the heels for his presumption!—Here is a letter from William of +Normandy to say that if I do not instantly release Earl Harold, he will +send an army against me and raze my castle to the ground. What right +has the duke to interfere, I should like to know? The Earl was wrecked +upon my land, not upon his; and if a man may not do as he likes with a +prisoner whom the wind and waves have brought to his very door, things +have come to a pretty pass!' +</P> + +<P> +The count thought of the large sum of money which he had made so sure +of getting; and rage and defiance swelled in his heart. Then he +recollected the great power of William, and reflected that there was +nothing for it but to make the best of things. +</P> + +<P> +'Hey, Giles!' he called to his seneschal, who with a somewhat faltering +step was venturing to cross the courtyard; 'ask Earl Harold to have the +goodness to speak with me.' +</P> + +<P> +'Raze my castle to the ground!' stormed the count as he paced the +flagstones; 'ay, and he would do it too; the tanner's grandson!' +</P> + +<P> +Duke William's mother had been the daughter of a tanner; and his +enemies were never tired of reproaching him with this circumstance when +they thought they could do so without fear of punishment. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the Englishman stood before the angry count; and with a very +bad grace, Guy told him that he was a free man, and that he owed his +release to the Duke of Normandy. +</P> + +<P> +Harold was very glad to find himself at liberty; and he felt that it +would not be courteous for him to return to his own country until he +had thanked the Duke for his generous help. Some of his men were sent +to England to tell King Edward of his safety; and with only a few +followers he set out for the court of Duke William. +</P> + +<P> +Soon the earl and the duke met; Harold short and strong, with his good +honest English face and steadfast blue eyes; William almost a giant in +height, stern and proud, with steely eyes, and a face that had never +yet shown pity to any that opposed him. +</P> + +<P> +The two men had been friends of old; and they liked and admired each +other. +</P> + +<P> +William gave Harold a warm welcome to his dominions. At the court of +the duke Harold found his youngest brother Wulfnoth, who had been sent +to Normandy as a hostage many years before. Each day was made a +festival; the duke held tournaments in honour of his guest, and went +hunting and hawking with him; and the Englishman showed such skill in +all manly exercises that William learned to respect him more and more. +</P> + +<P> +One day something happened which made him feel more than ever what a +pity it was that this man must one day become his enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Harold was walking on the sea-shore with his brother and the duke and a +train of nobles, when several of the knights became caught in a +quicksand and would have been lost had not Harold rushed forward, and +with his unaided strength dragged each one of them into safety upon +firm ground. +</P> + +<P> +The duke said to himself that the short, sturdy Englishman was the +bravest knight he had ever seen, and the one best fitted to become a +king. Yet all the time that he was outwardly showing the greatest +friendship for his guest he was secretly making plans by which he might +compel Harold to help him to become King of England. +</P> + +<P> +One day he asked Harold whether he knew that King Edward had promised +that he should succeed him on the throne. +</P> + +<P> +'No,' replied Harold quietly; 'I did not know that.' +</P> + +<P> +The duke put his band upon the Englishman's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +'It is an old promise,' he said, 'and for many years I have looked upon +myself as the future King of England.' +</P> + +<P> +'Listen to me,' he added hastily, as he saw that Harold was about to +speak: 'I like you, and you are the man of all the English whom I most +wish to have on my side. If you will give me your word of honour that +you will help me to the crown, I promise that you shall be the greatest +man in the kingdom next to myself; and not only that, but you shall be +my son-in-law; I will give you my daughter Adela for your wife.—Now is +it a bargain, son-in-law Harold?' +</P> + +<P> +'No,' said Harold quietly and firmly; 'it cannot be. I cannot marry +your daughter, because I already love a lady in England, Edith, a ward +of the king; and you will never with my consent become King of England, +because the English people have the right of choosing their own king; +and we will never willingly have a Norman to rule over us. If King +Edward made you any such promise he did very wrongly, for the crown of +England is not his to give away.' +</P> + +<P> +Duke William was silent, and his eyes blazed with anger, as they always +did when his will was crossed. +</P> + +<P> +'So be it,' he said, when he had regained sufficient mastery over +himself to be able to speak; 'I do not require help that is not freely +given.' +</P> + +<P> +Harold knew that the duke was very angry; and he began to see what an +imprudent action he had committed when he had put himself in the power +of this ambitious man. +</P> + +<P> +One of the Norman knights, whom he had rescued, came to Harold that +evening. +</P> + +<P> +'Do not anger the duke,' he begged. 'You little know his determined +will. You are alone, it is useless to resist; and he will find a means +of putting you to silence if you oppose him.' +</P> + +<P> +Harold's young brother, Wulfnoth, came to him next +</P> + +<P> +'Do not refuse to give the duke the promise he asks of you,' implored +the boy with a pale face. 'I have seen their dungeons and the +oubliettes—those dreadful underground cells where a man can scarcely +stand upright, where he may spend years without ever seeing the light +of day.—O Harold, the duke has sworn to imprison both you and me if +you refuse to help him! Promise, Harold, promise; and when you are +safe in England no one can make you hold to a promise which has been +forced from you.' +</P> + +<P> +Harold passed the night in great perplexity. +</P> + +<P> +Should he refuse to make a promise which he knew that he could not keep? +</P> + +<P> +Then he and his young brother would be cast into these dreadful +hiding-places; and they would never be heard of again. In years to +come Englishmen might walk over the very turf under which they lay, and +not know that beneath their feet the lost earls were still living, +buried deep from the blessed sunshine, and the song of the birds, and +the faces of their fellow-men. +</P> + +<P> +Would it be right of him to bring such a fate upon his brother? +</P> + +<P> +Then his native land; what would become of England while Harold lay in +his dungeon? +</P> + +<P> +He knew that without his help the weak, gentle king was unable to +govern. +</P> + +<P> +Then when Duke William came to demand the crown, and the English +resisted him, as they were sure to do, there was no one save Harold to +lead them to battle. +</P> + +<P> +He knew that he was the one man whom England needed at that time. +Already he had been absent too long. +</P> + +<P> +Yet it was a terrible thing to make a promise which he did not intend +to keep. +</P> + +<P> +Morning found Harold with his mind not made up. +</P> + +<P> +That day, William asked his guest to meet him in the great hall of the +castle. +</P> + +<P> +An unexpected sight met the Englishman as he entered. The hall was +filled with knights and barons, all waiting in silence. Beneath the +great stained-glass window was the duke in his state robes, seated upon +a throne, with a bishop on either side of him. In front of the throne +stood a chest covered with cloth of gold, and upon the cover lay an +open Bible. +</P> + +<P> +William was wearing his most grave and stony-hearted expression. +</P> + +<P> +'Yesterday I told you that King Edward of England had left his crown to +me,' he said. 'I ask you now, in presence of the barons and knights of +my dukedom, to swear to support my just claim.' +</P> + +<P> +Harold looked at the Duke with a dark and angry face. William was +taking a dishonourable advantage of him. +</P> + +<P> +'Swear,' said the Norman knight, his friend, in his ear. 'If you do +not, you will never see England again.' +</P> + +<P> +'Swear, Harold,' whispered Wulfnoth; 'the oubliettes!' +</P> + +<P> +Harold was completely in the power of the Normans. +</P> + +<P> +With downcast eyes he laid his hand upon the Bible and repeated the +words of the oath after the duke. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-048"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-048.jpg" ALT="Harold taking the Oath" BORDER="2" WIDTH="400" HEIGHT="522"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 400px"> +Harold taking the Oath +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Then the bishops came forward and raised the cloth of gold, showing +that the chest was full of the bones of Norman saints. +</P> + +<P> +Harold started back in horror; for an oath sworn upon the bones of +saints was held to be the most sacred and binding oath that a man could +take. +</P> + +<P> +Instead of friendship, his heart now became filled with a fierce hatred +towards the duke, whose ambition had led him to take an unfair +advantage of his guest. +</P> + +<P> +If he kept his oath, he would be a traitor to his country; while, if he +broke it, he feared that a curse would rest upon himself. +</P> + +<P> +When Harold had to make the choice, he remained true to his native land +and braved the consequences; but he was never again the happy, fearless +man that he had been before he had been compelled by the duke to swear +a false oath. +</P> + +<P> +Two years later, King Edward felt his end approaching, and he sent for +Harold. +</P> + +<P> +The earl found the old, white-haired king lying upon a couch, his kind +blue eyes dim with age and sickness. His wife, Harold's sister, was +sitting on a low seat by her husband's side, and the two archbishops of +the realm were with the king. +</P> + +<P> +Edward told Harold that he must soon die, and that he wished him, +Harold, Earl of Wessex, to become king after him. He said that long +ago he had repented of the promise made to William of Normandy, as he +knew that his subjects would never consent to have any but an +Englishman for their king. +</P> + +<P> +In presence of the archbishops Harold promised to govern faithfully if +the people of England should choose him for their king, and to fight +against William of Normandy if need be. +</P> + +<P> +Then King Edward told him that he had something to ask of him. +</P> + +<P> +'If England is to be strong enough to resist the Normans,' he said, +'she must be a united country. The two earls in the north, Edwin and +Morcar, are enemies of your house. Make them your friends by marrying +their sister, Aldwyth.' +</P> + +<P> +Harold was silent. +</P> + +<P> +'Ah, my son,' said the old king, 'I know that you have long hoped to +marry my ward, the Lady Edith; but you must sacrifice yourself for +England. We have both weakened our dear country, you and I; I by +unduly favouring the Norman, and you by allowing a false oath to be +extorted from you. We can only make her strong again by your marriage.' +</P> + +<P> +Harold struggled hard, but was unable to make up his mind to the +sacrifice. +</P> + +<P> +Then in came Edith, Harold's betrothed bride, fair and graceful as a +lily: Edith of the Swan's Neck, as people called her. Her face was +pale and sorrowful, but she had resolved to do her duty. +</P> + +<P> +'Harold,' she implored him, 'for the sake of England; that our country +may be free! I will never, never marry any one else; but you are a +king! Marry Aldwyth! +</P> + +<P> +With a sore heart Harold yielded to her entreaty, and promised the old +king that he would do as he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Then Harold and Edith parted, Harold to marry the daughter of his enemy +and Edith to enter a convent, where she might pray for England and for +Harold. +</P> + +<P> +A few days later the old king passed away, muttering sorrowful things +about war and trouble which he feared would come upon England. He had +been a good, kind old man, and his people grieved for him very much; +but through his want of firmness he had prepared the way for some of +the worst troubles that England was ever to know. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately after King Edward was dead, the wise men chose Harold for +their king, and on the following day the old king was buried and the +new one crowned in the church which is now a part of Westminster Abbey. +</P> + +<P> +The news was not slow in reaching Normandy. Duke William was just +leaving his castle with a hunting-party when a messenger came to tell +him that Harold had been crowned King of England. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately the duke dismounted from his horse, went into his own room, +closed the door, and remained there until nightfall. No one dared to +enter that room or speak to the duke. When he left it, it was with the +resolve to take a terrible vengeance upon the man who, he said, had +broken his oath. +</P> + +<P> +He sent for armourers, and sword-smiths, and carpenters, and +ship-builders. Then he sent all over Normandy, and all over France, +for soldiers to help him to fight against Harold. +</P> + +<P> +For six months the people of Normandy worked with a will. The soldiers +having been brought together, weapons had to be provided for them, +horses found, and ships built to carry them over to England. William +wrote to the Pope and told him the story of the broken oath, and the +Pope sent his blessing and a sacred banner, and cursed Harold for +having sworn falsely by the saints. +</P> + +<P> +At last everything was ready; and in the ports and harbours of Normandy +William's ships were only waiting for a fair wind to carry his forces +to what they believed to be a holy war. +</P> + +<P> +In the meanwhile Harold had been finding plenty of troubles at home. +His own brother, Tostig, whom he had made Earl of Northumbria, had so +offended his subjects by his cruelty and injustice that they had +rebelled against him and driven him from the country. Tostig sent to +ask Harold to restore him to his earldom, but Harold refused either to +aid him or to allow him to return to a country where his misrule had +caused him to be hated by every one. +</P> + +<P> +Then Tostig went to one king after another asking for help; but they +all refused to aid him. At last he found his way to King Harold +Hardrada of Norway; and this warlike king gave him a fleet and an army +and came himself to strike a blow against England. +</P> + +<P> +The Norwegians landed on the shores of Northumbria, and began to ravage +the country and burn the dwellings of the people. +</P> + +<P> +Messengers were sent on swift horses to Harold. It was September, and +all the fighting-men were away in the fields, gathering in the harvest, +but at their country's need they left their work and flocked around +their king. +</P> + +<P> +In a short time Harold had collected an army; and he led his men +northward by a road which had been made by the Romans hundreds of years +before. +</P> + +<P> +There was little time for rest on the long march from London to +Northumbria. As they trudged steadily onwards the men talked of the +enemy whom they were soon to meet; the world-renowned Harold King of +Norway, who had led his sea-kings to battle in many lands. +</P> + +<P> +'Ay,' said one, 'I've heard that he fought black heathen folk in an +outlandish place called Egypt. Be there such a place?' +</P> + +<P> +'Egypt?' said another; 'that's the land parson preaches of in the +church; there were Pharaohs there, and plagues.' +</P> + +<P> +'Ay,' said the first; 'when King Hardrada was in that land he met +something worse far than Pharaohs.' +</P> + +<P> +'What was that?' asked the others. +</P> + +<P> +'A fearsome beast that wore armour like a man. They call it a +crocodile; and the country there is swarming with its like. Ten rows +of teeth it had; and it came out of the river on its hind legs, and +clawed at the king with iron gloves. They fought till sundown, they +say, man and beast; and hard work had the king to slay the awesome +creature.—He's a great fighter, is King Harold Hardrada.' +</P> + +<P> +The others marched in silence for a time, thinking about this fearful +adventure of the Norwegian king. It was night, and the harvest moon +was lighting up the long lines of men, with the king and his nobles on +their tired horses at the head; the sleeping cottages, and the yellow +shocks of corn standing ready cut in the fields on either side of the +way. +</P> + +<P> +'They do say,' began another man after a time, 'that the next enemy we +shall have to fight will be the Duke of Normandy.' +</P> + +<P> +Weary as they were, all the hearers drew themselves up and squared +their shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +'Let him come,' they said. 'We will have no Norman for our king!' +</P> + +<P> +'Ay,' another voice was saying, 'they do tell that the Pope has sent +him a sacred banner, and calls it a holy war because our good king has +broken an oath which he swore long ago, to help Duke William to be King +of England.' +</P> + +<P> +'We will have no foreigner to be our king,' repeated the men. 'Neither +Pope nor earl can give away the crown of England.' +</P> + +<P> +They marched resolutely onward; and for a time nothing was heard save +the steady tramp of feet and the breathing of the tired horses. +</P> + +<P> +Presently a halt was called, and the weary army lay down to snatch a +few hours' sleep beneath the moon. +</P> + +<P> +They were on foot again by daybreak; and at length they came face to +face with their foes. +</P> + +<P> +Near Stamford Bridge on the river Derwent, the Norwegian army was drawn +up in a great circle, with the sunbeams glinting upon helmets and +spear-points. High overhead floated the royal standard, a raven with +outstretched wings, called by the Norwegians the land-waster. +</P> + +<P> +Riding at a short distance from the army was a knight in a bright blue +mantle and a shining helmet. +</P> + +<P> +'Who is that man?' asked Harold of one of his captains. +</P> + +<P> +'It is the King of Norway,' replied the captain. +</P> + +<P> +Harold looked at the rider again. +</P> + +<P> +'He is a tall and stately king,' he said; 'but his end is near.' +</P> + +<P> +Then he looked again at the Norwegians, all drawn up in battle array; +and he thought of his brother, somewhere among their ranks; and he +wondered whether it was too late to try to make peace. +</P> + +<P> +He rode out from his army until he was half-way between the two forces; +and then he shouted, 'Is Tostig the son of Godwin here?' +</P> + +<P> +Tostig rode forward and said, 'Behold, Tostig is here!' +</P> + +<P> +Then Harold cried, 'Harold of England offers Tostig peace and one-third +of the kingdom of England that he may rule over it; for he would not +that brother should fight against brother.' +</P> + +<P> +'Last winter,' answered Tostig, 'my brother had nought for me but words +of scorn and high disdain; but now I am glad that he speaks both kindly +and fairly. But what will my brother King Harold of England give to +King Harold of Norway for his trouble in coming here?' +</P> + +<P> +'Seven feet of English ground,' replied Harold; 'or perhaps a foot +over, seeing he is taller than most other men.' +</P> + +<P> +'Go thy way!' shouted the Earl; 'Tostig will not desert his friends and +go over to his foes. He and his friends will die on this spot like +men, or will win England with their arms.' +</P> + +<P> +Riding back to his army, Tostig was met by King Harold Hardrada. +</P> + +<P> +'Who is that man who spake with thee?' asked the King of Norway. +</P> + +<P> +Tostig replied, 'That is my brother Harold, the son of Godwin, and King +of the English.' +</P> + +<P> +'He is but a little man,' said Hardrada; 'but he sits well in his +stirrups.' +</P> + +<P> +Then the battle began. +</P> + +<P> +Both sides fought well, but the English pressed the Northmen hard, and +drove them backward until they came to the river Derwent. Then they +pressed them harder than ever; and the Northmen might have been forced +into the river and drowned but for the bravery of one of their number, +who kept the bridge with uplifted sword while the other soldiers passed +over. At last an Englishman got under the bridge, and thrust upward +with his spear through the planks; and wounded the brave Northman so +that he died. +</P> + +<P> +After this the Northmen fell into confusion. Hardrada and Tostig were +both slain; and the remnant of their army fled in a panic to their +ships. +</P> + +<P> +The English marched towards York, where the king gave a great feast in +honour of the victory. +</P> + +<P> +The guests were seated round the board, drinking healths and singing, +and Harold was thinking sorrowfully of the brother who had fallen, a +traitor to his country, when of a sudden there was a loud knocking at +the door. +</P> + +<P> +'What is that?' inquired the startled guests. +</P> + +<P> +The door was thrown open, and a weary, white-faced man appeared, all +splashed and caked with mud. +</P> + +<P> +'What ill news have you come to bring me?' asked Harold, while the +others all left the board and crowded round to hear. +</P> + +<P> +'My lord the king,' said the messenger, 'I am from Pevensey—the +Normans have landed—Duke William—sixty thousand men—laying waste the +country—ships, horses, men-at-arms——' +</P> + +<P> +'Ha!' said Harold; 'he has chosen a time when the men who guard the +coast are at their harvest; scattered over the country; and there is no +one save myself to gather them together. How long is it since you +left?' +</P> + +<P> +'I hardly know,' replied the messenger; 'I took no count of time. I +have galloped all the way—ridden day and night, changing horses where +I could.' +</P> + +<P> +'Thanks, brave messenger,' said the king; 'by your speed you may have +saved your country. We must set off without delay,' he said, turning +to his guests; 'there is no more time for rest—who is ready to start +for Sussex?' +</P> + +<P> +'I—and I—and I,' said the nobles, hurrying to fetch their followers; +and soon the hall was deserted. +</P> + +<P> +In an hour's time the army was once more upon the march. The two +earls, Edwin and Morcar, whose sister Harold had married, remained in +the north, promising to collect their forces and to follow the king +with all speed. +</P> + +<P> +As Harold approached the south of England, he was joined by hundreds of +men who had fled from the invaders, and were eager to avenge the +destruction of their homesteads. +</P> + +<P> +'The English,' reported Duke William's outposts to their master, 'rush +onward through their pillaged country with the fury of madmen.' +</P> + +<P> +'Let them come, and come soon!' was the duke's reply. +</P> + +<P> +At Senlac, near the town of Hastings in Sussex, the English came in +sight of their foes. The Normans lay encamped upon the plain, while +Harold posted his army on a hill, with a little wood behind, and an old +mossy apple-tree a little to one side. +</P> + +<P> +Night came on, clear and cold; and the two armies lay in sight of one +another's camp-fires, where they could hear the clinking of the +armourer's hammers, and the rough voices of the men on the other side. +</P> + +<P> +When all was ready, the Normans lay down quietly to sleep, and awoke in +the morning refreshed and eager for the fray. +</P> + +<P> +The English sat around their watch-fires, passing the horns of ale and +mead from hand to hand, and singing glees and war-songs. Over all +brooded the thought of the broken oath, and of the curse which had been +pronounced against England; but they knew that the curse was unjust, +and were resolved to fight to the last against the invader. +</P> + +<P> +Harold rode round the camp to speak a last word of encouragement to his +men before they slept. He still hoped that the northern earls, Edwin +and Morcar, would come up before the battle; but Edwin and Morcar were +traitors. They had said to themselves, 'If Harold falls, we shall +divide England with Duke William, and be kings of our share of the +country instead of earls.' So they remained in the north; and the +sacrifice that Harold had made in marrying their sister proved to be in +vain. +</P> + +<P> +Morning dawned, and the two armies drew themselves up in order of +battle. The English numbered only twenty thousand men, while William +had brought against them sixty thousand; but the English had the +advantage of a stronger position. +</P> + +<P> +Harold drew up his bodyguard on the crest of the hill, where he had +planted his standard, the Golden Dragon of Wessex. Close by were the +men of London, who had the right of fighting by the side of their king. +These men were all clad in coats of mail, and carried battle-axes, and +javelins for throwing. On the sides of the hill were posted the other +soldiers and the country people, many of whom were armed only with +darts, knives, and pitchforks, for they had come in very hastily from +the fields. Round the hill the men had dug a trench, and fortified it +with a stockade; and behind the stockade Harold posted a line of +soldiers, standing close together, shield touching shield. +</P> + +<P> +Then Harold and his two brothers rode through the army, saying, 'Keep +your ranks, men! Stand shoulder to shoulder, and we shall win the day. +But if you leave your line, or allow the Normans to break it, we are +lost. Stand firm!' +</P> + +<P> +After having passed from rank to rank, and spoken to all the men, +Harold and his brothers rode back to the royal standard and dismounted, +for they were resolved to fight on foot and take what came like the +meanest of their soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile Duke William had drawn up his men in three divisions, with a +long line of archers in front. In the centre were posted the Norman +knights with William at their head; and the sacred banner, the three +lions of Normandy, floating above them. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly there burst from the Norman lines their battle-cry of 'God aid +us!' and the vast army began to move across the plain. At the head +rode a minstrel-knight, singing an old battle-song, and whirling up his +sword in the air and catching it again as it fell. +</P> + +<P> +Now the battle began in real earnest. +</P> + +<P> +A flight of arrows was let loose upon the English host, then the +Normans charged up to the palisade. +</P> + +<P> +As well might they have flung themselves against a stone wall. +Standing shoulder to shoulder, the English swung their huge +battle-axes, which clove their way through armour and shirts of mail. +Again and again the Normans charged against the barricade, the duke +himself at their head, his eyes shining like balls of living fire and +his voice like a trumpet; but they were driven back like waves breaking +around the base of a cliff. +</P> + +<P> +On all sides the battle raged. Lances clashed, sword rang upon sword, +arrows whizzed through the air, and battle-axes crashed through steel +armour; while the cries of the wounded mingled with the blasts of the +war-horn and English cries of 'Out, out!' answered the Norman shouts of +'God aid us!' +</P> + +<P> +Stoutest of the English was Harold, whose heavy battle-axe would cut +down horse and rider at a blow. Among the Normans there arose a cry +that the duke was slain. +</P> + +<P> +'Here am I,' shouted William, tearing off his helmet, 'and by God's aid +will yet win the day!' +</P> + +<P> +Maddened with war fury, he spurred up the hill, broke single-handed +through the barrier, and rode straight to Harold. The brother of the +king stepped before him, and was hewn down by a blow from William +before the duke himself was unhorsed and fell to the ground. Mounting +again quickly, William cut his way through his foes and was back again +in the Norman lines before any one could harm him. +</P> + +<P> +A body of Normans having given way, the Kentish men in their eagerness +overleaped the barricade and gave chase to their flying foes. +Instantly William saw his advantage. The Normans turned, galloped up +the hill, and poured by thousands into the gap thus left undefended. +</P> + +<P> +This proved the turning point of the day. +</P> + +<P> +'Slowly and surely,' says an old writer, 'the Norman horse pressed +along the crest of the hill, strewing the height with corpses as the +hay is strewn in swaths before the mower.' +</P> + +<P> +Still the ring round the standard remained unbroken, and in the centre +Harold and his bodyguard held their ground, dealing blows around them +with their great battle-axes. Beyond the ring the dead lay piled up in +heaps, English and Norman together. +</P> + +<P> +'Shoot upward,' cried the duke to his archers, 'that your arrows may +fall like bolts from heaven.' +</P> + +<P> +A shower of arrows fell upon the heads and shoulders of the English, +killing and wounding many a brave fighter. +</P> + +<P> +The battle had lasted since early morning; and just as the sun went +down an arrow pierced Harold's right eye. +</P> + +<P> +The king dropped his battle-axe, and fell forward with a short, sharp +cry of pain. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-074"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-074.jpg" ALT="The Death of Harold." BORDER="2" WIDTH="392" HEIGHT="510"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 392px"> +The Death of Harold. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Twenty Norman knights rushed forward, seized the standard, and dealt +Harold a mortal blow as he lay beside the dead bodies of his two +brothers. +</P> + +<P> +The English, having lost their leader, left the field fighting to the +last, and then scattered over the country to carry far and wide the +ill-tidings that King Harold was slain and the Norman master of England. +</P> + +<P> +All was quiet when the moon rose over the hill where the Golden Dragon +had been hauled down and the sacred banner of the Normans raised in its +stead. The ground having been hastily cleared, William's tent was +pitched upon the spot where Harold and his brothers had made their last +stand, and the duke slept there all night. +</P> + +<P> +The next day was a Sunday, and as the bells tinkled mournfully in the +churches, Englishwomen came flocking to the field of battle, with pale +faces and eyes red with weeping, to beg leave to look for their +husbands and brothers and sons among the slain. Among them was the +mother of Harold, offering William its weight in gold for the body of +her son. +</P> + +<P> +The conqueror gave her leave to search, and for a long time the noble +English lady wandered over the battle-field, seeking vainly among the +dead. +</P> + +<P> +Then came Aldwyth, Harold's wife; but she too, was unable to find the +body of her husband. +</P> + +<P> +Last of all came Edith of the Swan's Neck, whom Harold had loved; and +she sought long for the body. +</P> + +<P> +At last she came to a corpse that was lying upon a heap of dead, +disfigured with so many wounds that only she could have known it. +</P> + +<P> +'That is Harold,' she said. +</P> + +<P> +William gave orders that the last of the English kings should be buried +upon the cliffs that guard the shores of England, and a heap of stones +raised upon it. +</P> + +<P> +'Let him lie there,' he said; 'he kept the shore manfully while he +lived; let him stay and guard it ever, now he is dead.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BOY WHO WOULD BE A KING +</H3> + +<P> +The Norman King of England, a descendant of William the Conqueror, +having died without leaving any children, his brother John made himself +king. +</P> + +<P> +John was a very bad man; and he was both mean and cowardly. Although +he was King of England and Duke of Normandy he was never happy or at +rest, for he knew that his nephew Arthur, the son of his elder brother, +had a better right than himself to the crown. As time went on he +became more and more uneasy, for he found that his subjects did not +like him, and he was afraid that they might learn to like the fine, +handsome lad whom many of them believed to be their rightful sovereign. +</P> + +<P> +At the time when John made himself king, young Arthur was only twelve +years old, and he was living safely in his own dukedom of Brittany. +His father having died when Arthur was only a baby, the young prince +had been Duke of Brittany all his life; and he had grown up among his +people, who loved their young duke very much. +</P> + +<P> +King Philip of France was an enemy of John; and when he heard that the +man whom he despised had taken the crown which should have been +Arthur's, he invited the young duke to his court, made him a knight, +boy although he was, and promised him his daughter in marriage when he +should be a man. +</P> + +<P> +Alas! Poor Arthur never lived to marry the Princess of France. +</P> + +<P> +One day the French king said to the young prince, 'Arthur, you know +your rights, and that your uncle John is not the true King of England. +Would you not like to be a king?' +</P> + +<P> +The boy looked at King Philip with his large, bright blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'Truly,' he said, 'I should greatly like to be a king.' +</P> + +<P> +'Then win back your inheritance,' said the King of France. 'I will +give you two hundred of my knights, and you shall come with me and make +war upon your uncle in Normandy, which is yours by right. Once we have +taken Normandy from the usurper, it will be easy to drive him from +England. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Arthur flushed with joy and pride; and his eyes sparkled more +brightly than ever. The King of France gave him a beautiful horse, and +Arthur had a fine suit of armour made for himself; and then he was +unable to rest or sleep for joy at the thought that he would soon be a +king, and marry the beautiful princess who had been promised to him as +his wife. +</P> + +<P> +When the people of Brittany heard that their gallant young duke was +going to fight for his inheritance, they gathered together five hundred +knights and five thousand foot soldiers and sent them to Arthur in +France. +</P> + +<P> +Arthur was very proud of his little army, and he felt sure that with +the help of his followers he would soon win back England and Normandy. +Seeing him upon his fine horse, and wearing his rich suit of armour, +the knights and soldiers were delighted with the fine, spirited lad, +and set off gaily under his leadership to besiege a town which was in +the possession of King John. +</P> + +<P> +Upon hearing the news, the King of England came himself to fight +against his nephew. He did not bring a large army; he knew that King +Philip of France was in another part of the country, and he did not +think it would be very difficult to overcome Prince Arthur. +</P> + +<P> +One night the prince's troops were surprised by treachery. A number of +King John's soldiers stole into the camp, made prisoners of some of +Arthur's knights, and stabbed others in the dark. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Arthur was sleeping in his tent when he was rudely awakened by +some armed men, who seized him by the wrists, and bade him come with +them and not make any noise. +</P> + +<P> +His captors hurried the lad through the streets of the little town, +which were full of King John's soldiers, running to and fro with +lighted torches, and some of them leading Prince Arthur's brave French +and Breton soldiers as prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +Presently they reached a lighted hall, and when his eyes became +accustomed to the glare Arthur saw before him his uncle John, a look of +triumph upon his mean face and in his shifty eyes. In a corner was a +group of Arthur's knights, with fetters on their wrists and ankles. +</P> + +<P> +'Do you know me, boy?' said King John, trying to look his nephew in the +face. +</P> + +<P> +The prince stood up boldly and looked at his uncle with his honest, +fearless eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' he said, 'I know you; you are my uncle, the usurping King of +England.' +</P> + +<P> +John's mean face became white with anger, and he was unable to speak. +</P> + +<P> +'I command you,' continued the boy, 'to restore to me my rightful +inheritance, of which you have unjustly deprived me, and to set my +knights instantly at liberty.' +</P> + +<P> +Some of the bystanders were looking at the lad with pity, mingled with +admiration for his courage; but the boy's fearlessness only filled the +king with a desire to lower his pride. +</P> + +<P> +By the time he had found his voice, John's eyes were glittering with a +cruel determination. +</P> + +<P> +'To Falaise with him!' he said. 'Take him away; and in the dungeon +there he will learn to rebel against his uncle and lawful king.' +</P> + +<P> +Arthur was not frightened yet. He remembered that King Philip had +promised to make him King of England; and he saw nothing to be afraid +of in the mean, cowardly face of the man before him. +</P> + +<P> +'No king of mine,' he said; 'you may put me in a dungeon, but you +cannot keep me there. The King of France is on my side and against +you, base usurper; and he will send an army and deliver me from the +strongest fortress of those that you have stolen from me.' +</P> + +<P> +King John made a sign; and the boy was hurried away, still defying his +uncle. A horse was waiting for him, and he was made to ride, strongly +guarded, all the long distance to the castle of Falaise, which was +reached early one fine sunny morning. +</P> + +<P> +Standing beneath the grim walls of the castle, the chief of Arthur's +guards blew a horn. +</P> + +<P> +Some men-at-arms stirred upon the battlements; then the drawbridge was +lowered, the iron grating raised which guarded the entrance; and the +party clattered under the entrance tower and into the courtyard. +</P> + +<P> +Arthur descended from his horse; and weary as he was, he was led along +a passage and down a stone staircase to a great iron door which one of +his guides opened with a large key. +</P> + +<P> +Arthur's spirits sank when he saw before him a dreary stone dungeon +lighted only by a window high up in the wall, and furnished with a +narrow bed, a stool, and a heap of straw. +</P> + +<P> +Still, he said to himself, it was only for a few days. To-morrow, or +the next day, or the day after that at farthest, the King of France was +sure to come, and then Arthur would mount his gallant horse again, put +himself at the head of his devoted little army, and set forth once more +to make himself King of England. +</P> + +<P> +To-morrow came, and the next day, and the day after that; and Arthur +was still in his dungeon. Weeks passed; and the King of France had not +arrived to rescue the prince who was to be his son-in-law. +</P> + +<P> +Spring came, and sometimes the sun shone brightly through the small +window, and made a brilliant patch of light on the opposite wall of +Prince Arthur's dungeon.—When the breezes blew, branches with young +unfolding leaves would appear for a minute at the opening and then +vanish. Balmy air stole in at the unglazed window and breathed softly +upon the face of the prisoner; and Arthur would hear the song-birds and +the voices of other boys at their games beneath the castle walls, and +all the pleasant sounds of a world where every one save himself +appeared to be at liberty. Sometimes Arthur would sit for hours, +gazing upwards at the tiny square of light, his heart swelling with +impatience as he thought of the spring pastimes that he was losing; and +he wondered when the King of France would come and set him free. +</P> + +<P> +One day the bolts were withdrawn at an unusual hour. +</P> + +<P> +Here, then, was King Philip at last! +</P> + +<P> +Arthur turned quickly; and in the archway of the door, he saw the white +face of his uncle. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-084"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-084.jpg" ALT="Arthur in prison visited by King John." BORDER="2" WIDTH="384" HEIGHT="514"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 384px"> +Arthur in prison visited by King John. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +'Arthur,' said King John, trying to meet his nephew's eyes, 'will you +not trust to your loving uncle?' +</P> + +<P> +'I will trust my loving uncle,' replied the boy, 'when he does me +right. Restore to me my kingdom of England, and then come and ask me +that question.' +</P> + +<P> +The king looked at his nephew, whose high-spirited young face had +become so much paler by confinement; then he turned away without a word +and left the prison. +</P> + +<P> +After this King John took counsel with his advisers. +</P> + +<P> +'What shall I do with this boy,' he said, 'who defies me and thinks +that he is to become King of England?' +</P> + +<P> +'Behead him,' said one. 'Have him poisoned,' said another. +</P> + +<P> +'Put his eyes out,' suggested a hard-faced nobleman who had not spoken +before; 'the people will not care to have a blind man for their king.' +</P> + +<P> +'Put out his eyes,' mused the king; 'put out his eyes; those eyes which +look with unseemly boldness at his uncle and true sovereign.' +</P> + +<P> +The longer he dwelt upon the idea the more attractive did it become to +him. +</P> + +<P> +The boy who could not be made to fear him; who persisted in believing +that he would one day force his uncle to yield up the crown—it would +be gratifying to know that he had been deprived of his frank, fearless +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +John sent to the prison a man called Hubert de Burgh, whom he believed +to be devoted to himself; and gave him charge of Prince Arthur. +</P> + +<P> +Hubert had a stern face but a kind heart, and he soon grew so much +attached to the bright boy who was his prisoner, that he felt towards +him almost as a father. He took the prince out of the dungeon, and +gave him bright sunny rooms in another part of the castle; and often he +spent hours with his young charge, enjoying his cheerful boyish +conversation. +</P> + +<P> +What was Hubert's dismay when one day he received a letter from the +king, commanding that his prisoner's eyes should be burned out with hot +irons. Not only that, but he had sent two executioners to see that it +was done. +</P> + +<P> +Hubert was hardly able to bear the pain which such an order gave him; +but he was unable to see any way of escape for the prince. +</P> + +<P> +He entered Arthur's room that morning with so sad a face that the +prince asked what ailed him. +</P> + +<P> +'May one not be sad at times, prince?' said Hubert, whose sorrow made +him gruff. +</P> + +<P> +'Indeed there may be many things that make people sad,' replied Prince +Arthur, 'although I was nearly forgetting that any one could be unhappy +who is out of prison.—Indeed, Hubert, I am beginning to think that if +only I were free and kept sheep I could be as merry as the day is long. +Perhaps I should not trouble any longer about being a king if only I +had the blue sky above my head once more, and no prison bars.—I wish I +were your son, Hubert; and then I should not have to spend my time in +prison.' +</P> + +<P> +Poor Hubert, it was necessary that he should tell the prince what was +going to happen; and yet the longer he waited the more impossible it +seemed for him to begin. He moved uneasily about the room, and looked +so gloomy, that Arthur felt sure that something was the matter. +</P> + +<P> +'Here, prince, read this letter,' said Hubert abruptly at last, feeling +it impossible that he could utter the dreadful news. +</P> + +<P> +Arthur took the letter; and then he became deadly pale. +</P> + +<P> +'Hubert, is this true?' he said. +</P> + +<P> +'Prince, these are your uncle's orders!' said Hubert with a shaking +voice. +</P> + +<P> +'Have you the heart to do it?' said Arthur piteously. 'Will you indeed +burn out my eyes?' +</P> + +<P> +'I must,' said Hubert; 'your uncle has sent two men to see that it is +done.' +</P> + +<P> +'O Hubert!' was all that Arthur could say. +</P> + +<P> +'Better get it over quickly,' muttered Hubert to himself, and he called +the executioners, who had been waiting outside the door. +</P> + +<P> +'Send these men away, Hubert!' cried the boy. 'I will stay quite +still, Hubert, I will not move if you will do it yourself; but I cannot +bear the sight of these men.' +</P> + +<P> +'You may go,' said Hubert to the executioners; 'I will call when I am +ready for you.' +</P> + +<P> +'Indeed,' said one of the men, who had pitied the boy, 'I am best +pleased to be away from such a deed.' +</P> + +<P> +But it was impossible for Hubert to burn out the eyes of his dear young +prisoner; and it was impossible for Arthur not to beg for mercy. +</P> + +<P> +'I cannot do it,' said Hubert more to himself than to the prince, 'and +I will not; I shall have to take the consequences.' He opened the +door, and called in the two men. +</P> + +<P> +They came in unwilling, each hoping that he would not have to do the +deed. +</P> + +<P> +'I have not burned out the prince's eyes,' said Hubert abruptly. 'What +is more, I am not going to allow you to do so. You can tell the king +if you like.' +</P> + +<P> +'Indeed, sir,' said one of the men, 'we won't tell his majesty anything +at all. And by your leave, sir, we would both rather be excused from +doing our duty if it's to be a young gentleman like this, who can't +have done anything to deserve it. And so we will wish you good-day, +sir.' +</P> + +<P> +The men shuffled out of the room, but Arthur's troubles were not over +yet. King John began to think that Arthur, even without his eyes, was +too dangerous a prisoner to keep on his hands; and he suggested to a +knight named William de Bray that he should stab the prince in prison. +</P> + +<P> +'I am a gentleman and not an executioner,' replied William de Bray; and +he turned from the king in disdain. +</P> + +<P> +Then John hired an assassin for a large sum of money, and sent him to +the castle to kill the prince. +</P> + +<P> +'Upon what errand dost thou come?' asked Hubert de Burgh, as the fellow +presented himself at the castle gates. +</P> + +<P> +'To despatch Prince Arthur,' said the man. +</P> + +<P> +'Go back to him that sent thee,' said Hubert, 'and say that I will do +it.' +</P> + +<P> +King John, knowing very well that Hubert was trying to save his +prisoner, separated Arthur from his kind gaoler, and had him imprisoned +in the strong castle of Rouen, which is washed on one side by the river +Seine. +</P> + +<P> +Then he came himself in a boat by night and waited outside the castle +walls. +</P> + +<P> +Arthur was awakened by his gaoler and made to follow him to a small +door by the river-side. When the door was unfastened, the gaoler threw +down his torch and trod upon it to put it out, and Arthur was only able +to distinguish two dark forms in the boat. From the voice he could +tell that one of them was his uncle. +</P> + +<P> +Arthur was dragged on board the boat, imploring the king to have mercy +upon him; and what happened after that has never been told. Some say +that John stunned his nephew with a large stone, and flung his body +into the Seine; at all events, neither the prince, nor his dead body, +was ever seen again. +</P> + +<P> +If John thought that his nephew's murder would make him undisputed King +of England he was much mistaken. The cruel deed aroused the greatest +indignation throughout England and France. Through it the dukedom of +Normandy was lost to the English crown, and some years later John died +a ruined man, with his subjects in open rebellion against him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BLACK PRINCE +</H3> + +<P> +Edward III., King of England, was a very warlike prince. When the King +of France died he was succeeded by his nephew Philip, but Edward +declared that he, being a grandson of the late king, had a better right +than a nephew; and he set off with a gallant army and many knights and +nobles to enforce his claim. +</P> + +<P> +The war proved a much longer one than Edward had expected. Six years +after the English king's first march into France the two nations were +still fighting. By this time King Edward's eldest son was fifteen +years of age, and he implored his father to let him accompany him to +the French war. +</P> + +<P> +This young prince was a fine spirited youth, and skilful at all manly +exercises. In appearance he was very fair, with light hair and +laughing blue eyes. Perhaps he was a little vain of his appearance, +because in order to show off the fairness of his complexion he always +wore dark-coloured armour, a habit which led to his being known in +after life as Edward the Black Prince. +</P> + +<P> +Seeing his boy's courage and warlike spirit, the king consented to his +accompanying him upon his next expedition into France. +</P> + +<P> +In the month of July, 1346, the king and the prince set sail with an +army of thirty thousand men, ten thousand of whom were archers. +</P> + +<P> +For seven weeks the English marched through the fair and smiling +country of France, meeting with very little opposition, and plundering +and burning wherever they went. +</P> + +<P> +At last, by the little village of Crecy on the banks of the river +Somme, the English came in view of the French army. +</P> + +<P> +It was not difficult to tell that the army of the King of France +numbered at least eight times as many men as were on the side of the +English; but King Edward decided that it would never do to betray fear. +</P> + +<P> +'We will go in,' he said calmly to his men, 'and beat, or be beaten.' +</P> + +<P> +It was too late to fight that day; and the English lay down within +sight of the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +Early in the morning the English king set his army in order of battle. +</P> + +<P> +King Edward himself was to command one division; two of his earls +another; and the eager young prince, assisted by the Earls of Warwick +and Oxford, was given the charge of a third. +</P> + +<P> +When the troops were all drawn up in fighting array, the king mounted +his horse and rode from rank to rank, cheering and encouraging the men +and their leaders. +</P> + +<P> +'He spoke so sweetly,' says an old writer, 'and with so good a +countenance and merry cheer, that all such as were discomfited took +courage in seeing and hearing him.' +</P> + +<P> +By the time King Edward had gone round the whole army it was about nine +o'clock, and the sun was shining warm and bright upon what was soon to +be the field of battle. The king sent orders that his men were to 'eat +at their ease and drink a cup'; and the whole army sat down upon the +grass and breakfasted. Then they returned to their ranks again and lay +down, each man in his place, with his bow and helmet beside him, +waiting until the enemy should be ready to begin the fight. +</P> + +<P> +In the meanwhile the French army was approaching. By the time the king +had brought his men within reach of the English lines, the bright +morning had clouded over. The day had become dark and threatening, and +soon the thunder began to growl, and the lightning to flash overhead. +The frightened birds flew screaming for shelter, and the clouds broke +and fell in a heavy shower upon the French king's army. +</P> + +<P> +One of his captains advised King Philip not to fight until the morrow. +The king gave the order to halt; but the men in the rear, not +understanding the message, pressed forward and forced the others to +advance, thus throwing the army into confusion. +</P> + +<P> +Finding that it was too late to put off the battle, King Philip ordered +to the front a great body of Genoese cross-bowmen, whom he had hired to +fight against the English. +</P> + +<P> +By this time the rain was over and the sun had come out; but it shone +full in the faces of the cross-bowmen, and prevented them from seeing +the enemy. Their bows, too, had become wetted with the rain, and the +strings were slackened. +</P> + +<P> +When they heard the king's order the Genoese moved forward; 'then,' +says the historian, 'they made a great cry to abash the English; but +they stood still and stirred not for all that. A second and a third +time the Genoese uttered a fell cry—very loud and clear, and a little +stept forward; but the English removed not one foot.' +</P> + +<P> +At last the Genoese sent a shower of arrows into the ranks of the calm, +silent English. +</P> + +<P> +The English received the shower quietly; then their reply was prompt. +A quick movement went along the line of archers; the ten thousand men +advanced one pace, and 'their arrows flew so wholly together and so +thick that it seemed as if it snowed.' +</P> + +<P> +The Genoese required time to wind up their cross-bows before they could +re-load; and in the meantime the English longbowmen shot so +continuously that the ranks of the Genoese broke in terror and fled. +</P> + +<P> +Still the archers sent their deadly hail upon the French army, while a +number of Welsh and Cornish soldiers, armed with long knives, crept in +under the horses and stabbed them, so that both horse and rider fell +heavily to the ground. The confusion was rendered still more dreadful +by means of a weapon which King Edward used for the first time in +battle; small 'bombards,' or cannon, as they were afterwards called, +'which with fire threw little iron balls to frighten the horses.' +</P> + +<P> +While the battle raged with great fury on both sides, King Edward was +sending out his orders from a windmill from which he could overlook the +progress of the fight. +</P> + +<P> +Presently a messenger came from the Earl of Warwick, beseeching the +king to send aid to his son, the Black Prince. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-096"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-096.jpg" ALT="Warwick's messenger asking for aid to be sent to the Black Prince." BORDER="2" WIDTH="394" HEIGHT="514"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 394px"> +Warwick's messenger asking for aid to be sent to the Black Prince. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +'Is my son killed?' asked the king. +</P> + +<P> +'No, Sire, please God,' replied the messenger. +</P> + +<P> +'Is he wounded?' +</P> + +<P> +'No, Sire.' +</P> + +<P> +'Is he thrown to the ground?' +</P> + +<P> +'No, Sire, not so; but he is very hard pressed.' +</P> + +<P> +'Then,' said the king, 'go back to those that sent you, and tell them +that he shall have no help from me. Let the boy win his spurs; for I +wish, if God so order it, that the day may be his.' +</P> + +<P> +The messenger carried back these words to the prince, who fought harder +than ever, and drove off his assailants. +</P> + +<P> +For hours the battle raged, both sides fighting with great fury and +determination. On the French side was the old blind King of Bohemia, +who remained somewhat apart, mounted upon his warhorse, listening to +the din and noise of the battle in which his son was engaged. +</P> + +<P> +After some time he heard a French knight approaching, and asked him how +the fight was going. +</P> + +<P> +'The Genoese have been routed,' was the reply; 'and your son is +wounded.' +</P> + +<P> +Then the king called to him two of his vassals and said to them, +'Lords, you are my vassals, my friends, and my companions; I pray you +of your goodness to lead me so far into the fight that I may at least +strike one blow with my sword.' +</P> + +<P> +Then the two knights drew up, one on each side of their aged king; and +all three fastened their bridle-reins together and rode into the fray. +</P> + +<P> +'The king,' says the old story-teller, 'struck one blow with his sword; +yea, and more than four; and fought right valiantly'; until he and his +knights disappeared under the heaving, struggling mass of men, never to +rise again. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime the King of France was fighting as hard as any man on +the field. Twice he was wounded, and once he had his horse shot under +him; but after having had his wounds bound up, he mounted again and +rode back into the fight. Many times he led his men in furious charges +against the English; but nothing could overcome the coolness and +determination of the English forces. +</P> + +<P> +At last the French were vanquished, and had to retire from the field. +Their sacred banner, the Oriflamme, or Flame of Gold, was nearly +captured, but a brave French knight broke his way through the crowd +which was struggling around it, cut the banner from its staff with his +sword, and winding it round his body, rode away with it in safety. +</P> + +<P> +The French king, refusing to leave the field, was dragged away, almost +by force, by some of his followers. +</P> + +<P> +After riding for some miles, they came to a castle and knocked at the +gate. +</P> + +<P> +'Who is there?' shouted the gate-keeper. +</P> + +<P> +'It is the Fortune of France,' was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +Then the lord of the castle came down himself and opened the gates, and +let in his weary, broken-hearted king. +</P> + +<P> +Night was closing in, and the English were lighting their watch-fires +upon the battlefield, when King Edward rode forward to meet the son who +had fought so bravely. Taking the lad in his arms, he kissed him, and +he told him that he had acted nobly, and worthy of the day and of his +high birth. +</P> + +<P> +Next morning the king and the prince went to look at the slain, and +found among them the old King of Bohemia, lying dead between his two +knights. Beside the king lay his shield and helmet, bearing his +device, three ostrich feathers, with the motto 'ich dien.' +</P> + +<P> +King Edward gave orders that the old hero should be borne from the +field and buried with royal honours; and then he and the prince moved +away in a very thoughtful mood. +</P> + +<P> +'Truly,' said Prince Edward, 'I think that was well said; "ich dien," +meaning that a king's duty is to serve his country.' +</P> + +<P> +'As thou hast served it well this day, my son,' replied his father, +'wilt thou take this device for thine own?' +</P> + +<P> +So the prince took for his crest the three ostrich feathers with the +motto, in remembrance of his gallant enemy, and the device is borne by +the Princes of Wales to this day. +</P> + +<P> +Ten years later, the Black Prince had become a man, and the war was not +yet at an end. King Philip was dead, and had been succeeded by his son +John, a brave and chivalrous king. +</P> + +<P> +Edward being engaged in fighting with the Scots, the Black Prince took +command of the army in France. Near the town of Poitiers he believed +that the French king lay somewhere in readiness to give battle; but the +English could not find out where he was. +</P> + +<P> +The prince gave orders that the French peasants were to be made to tell +him where their king lay encamped; but these poor people were so loyal +that neither money nor threats could make them give any information. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Edward was in great perplexity, for his army was now reduced to +about ten thousand men; and if the King of France had a larger force, +the prince felt that it might be more prudent for him to retire. +</P> + +<P> +One day, quite unexpectedly, the English came in view of the French +army, encamped near the town of Poitiers. The whole country, far and +near, seemed to be occupied by the force which was to oppose the +Prince's little body of ten thousand men. +</P> + +<P> +'There was all the flower of France,' says the historian, 'for there +was none durst abide at home without he were shamed for ever.' +</P> + +<P> +'God help us,' said the Black Prince; 'we must make the best of it.' +</P> + +<P> +He posted his army very strongly upon a hill, while the French king +marshalled his forces upon the plain below. +</P> + +<P> +That night the two armies lay, strongly guarded, within sight of each +other. +</P> + +<P> +In the morning the battle was about to begin when a cardinal came +riding in haste to the French king, and implored him to give him leave +to try to save the small body of English from rushing upon certain +destruction. +</P> + +<P> +'Sire,' he said, 'you have here all the flower of your realm against a +handful of people, for so the English are as compared to your company. +I pray you that you will allow me to ride to the prince and show him +what danger you have him in.' +</P> + +<P> +The king gave permission, and the cardinal came riding over to the +Black Prince, who received him courteously. +</P> + +<P> +'Save my honour,' he said, when the cardinal offered to try to arrange +terms for him, 'and the honour of my army, and I will make any +reasonable terms.' +</P> + +<P> +He offered to give up all the towns and castles he had taken, and to +make a truce with the French king for seven years; and the cardinal +rode back to his own side with this message. +</P> + +<P> +After an interval of suspense he came riding to the English camp again. +</P> + +<P> +'The King of France consents to make peace,' said the cardinal, 'on +condition that you will yield yourself up a prisoner, with a hundred of +your knights.' +</P> + +<P> +The prince's face darkened. +</P> + +<P> +Here would be shameful news to send to his father and the people of +England! +</P> + +<P> +As the King of France refused to make peace upon any other conditions, +Prince Edward broke off the treaty and turned to his army, saying +quietly, 'God defend the right; we shall fight to-morrow.' +</P> + +<P> +All that day the English worked hard to make their position more +secure. The sides of the hill were covered with woods and vineyards, +and the principal approach was by means of a lane with hedges on either +side, behind which a number of archers posted themselves. All the +weaker places were strengthened by means of palisades. +</P> + +<P> +On the following morning, when all was in order of battle, the prince +addressed his men. +</P> + +<P> +'Sirs,' he said, 'although we be but a small company compared with our +enemies, we must not lose courage. If it is to be our good fortune to +win the day, we shall be the most honoured people in all the world; and +if we die in our right quarrel, I have the king my father and my +brothers, and you have good friends and kinsmen, and they will avenge +our deaths. I beg that each of you will do your duty to-day, and if +God be pleased and St. George, this day you will see me a true knight.' +</P> + +<P> +After this the battle began. +</P> + +<P> +The French cavalry charged up the lane, hoping to break the lines of +archers, but the men who were posted behind the hedges received them +with such a volley of arrows that the horses refused to advance, and +some of them fell, blocking up the way. +</P> + +<P> +Then a body of English knights, galloping down the hill, threw the +foremost of the French lines into confusion. +</P> + +<P> +Lord James Audley, who during the first part of the battle had been by +the side of the prince, now said to him, 'Sir, I have always truly +served my lord your father and yourself also, and I shall do so as long +as I live. I once made a vow that in the first battle that your father +or any of his children should be in, I should be the first setter-on +and the best combatant, or else die; therefore I beg of you that you +will allow me to leave you in order that I may accomplish my vow.' +</P> + +<P> +The prince took him by the hand and said, 'Sir James, God give you this +day the grace to be the first knight of all'; and Lord James rode away +into the battle and fought until he had to be carried, sorely wounded, +from the field. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime the battle raged with great fury upon all sides, and +many French and English knights were engaged in deadly combat. +</P> + +<P> +An English knight, Sir John Chandos, who had never left the prince, +said to his master, 'Ride forward, noble prince, and the day is yours; +let us get to the French king, for truly he is so valiant a gentleman +that I think he will not fly, but may be taken prisoner; and, sir, I +heard you say that this day I should see you a good knight.' +</P> + +<P> +'John,' said the prince, 'let us go forth; you shall not see me turn +back this day, but I will ever be with the foremost'; then the prince +and his friend rode into the thickest of the fight. +</P> + +<P> +Where the battle raged most fiercely the French king, with his young +son Philip by his side, was laying about him with his battle-axe. When +the nobles around him were slain or had fled, the brave lad refused to +leave his father, who made his last stand with the blood streaming down +from a wound in the face. +</P> + +<P> +At last the king was forced to yield, and he gave his glove to a +banished French knight, Sir Denis de Marbeke, in token of surrender. +</P> + +<P> +When the French were fleeing from the field, the Black Prince had +become so exhausted with fighting that Sir John Chandos persuaded him +to retire to his tent and take some rest. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the news came to the royal tent that the king had been taken +prisoner, and was on his way to the English camp. The prince +immediately sent two of his lords to meet him, and had him brought to +his own tent, where he received his brave enemy with the greatest +respect. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-106"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-106.jpg" ALT="The French King brought prisoner to the Black Prince after Poitiers." BORDER="2" WIDTH="386" HEIGHT="524"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 386px"> +The French King brought prisoner to the Black Prince after Poitiers. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +After the king had rested and refreshed himself, the prince invited him +and the other captive nobles to a supper in his tent, and Prince Edward +himself waited upon King John, saying that he was not worthy to sit at +table with so great a prince and so valiant a man. +</P> + +<P> +Soon after this the English returned to their own country, bringing +with them the French king and many other prisoners. +</P> + +<P> +The victorious army was received with the greatest joy; and on the day +when the Black Prince entered London, the people crowded by thousands +into the streets to see him pass as he rode on a little pony by the +side of his prisoner, King John of France, whom he had mounted upon his +own magnificent cream-coloured charger. +</P> + +<P> +King John was kept, an honourable prisoner, until a peace was made with +France. Then he was allowed to return to his own country upon +condition that the French should pay, within six years, a sum of money +for his ransom. +</P> + +<P> +Until the ransom should be paid, the French king's three sons agreed to +remain as hostages in the town of Calais, which belonged to the +English. They were allowed to ride into French territory as often as +they pleased, provided that they gave their word of honour not to +remain away longer than four days at a time. King Edward and his son, +knowing how honourable their father was, trusted in the honour of these +young princes. +</P> + +<P> +One day, however, one of the princes yielded to temptation, rode away, +and never came back to Calais at all. Upon hearing the news the French +king was so shocked that he returned to England and yielded himself up +a prisoner once more. +</P> + +<P> +'If honour is to be found nowhere else,' he said, 'it should find a +refuge in the breast of kings.' +</P> + +<P> +King Edward gave him a palace to live in, and he and his people did all +they could to show the imprisoned king how much they loved and admired +him for his noble conduct. +</P> + +<P> +But King John never returned to his own country. Three months after +his arrival in England he died, his end hastened by sorrow at the base +and thoughtless conduct of his son. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SINGEING THE KING OF SPAIN'S BEARD +</H3> + +<P> +Queen Elizabeth was seated in her private apartment, her white forehead +puckered in anxious lines. +</P> + +<P> +The trouble between herself and her great rival the King of Spain had +reached its height. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout her reign English and Spaniards had been contending for the +mastery of the new countries which had been discovered on the other +side of the ocean, and for supremacy upon the seas. In South America +the Spanish king possessed rich mines of silver and precious stones: +and Queen Elizabeth's adventurers, half explorers, half pirates, +gloried in making descents upon the coast towns, waiting there until +the convoys came down from the mountains, and then seizing the +treasure, burning the town, and departing. +</P> + +<P> +Another frolicsome adventure of the English sailors was to hang about +the rear of the Spanish 'silver fleet' on its way from America to +Spain, and when any vessel became separated from her fellows, to fall +upon her, remove the precious cargo to their own vessel, and then set +fire to the Spanish ship and send her adrift upon the high seas. +</P> + +<P> +No wonder that after several years of these proceedings the Spanish +king had made up his mind that the pride of the audacious islanders +must be lowered, and a clean sweep made of the English pirates. +</P> + +<P> +And it was no wonder that Queen Elizabeth was uneasy, for she had +received tidings that even then the Spaniards had a great fleet in the +harbour of Cadiz, ready for the invasion of England. At that time the +Spanish navy was the greatest in the world, while the English only had +a few hundred small vessels. +</P> + +<P> +While the Queen was occupied with these gloomy thoughts, there was a +knock at the door, and a short, pleasant-looking man stood on the +threshold. +</P> + +<P> +The man bowed low, and the queen looked at him with an expression that +was half angry and half pleased. +</P> + +<P> +'Ha, Sir Francis Drake,' she said, 'what will you? +</P> + +<A NAME="img-112"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-112.jpg" ALT="Drake making his request of the Queen." BORDER="2" WIDTH="393" HEIGHT="513"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 393px"> +Drake making his request of the Queen. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The great sailor smiled; and in spite of herself the sternness began to +melt from the queen's face. +</P> + +<P> +Few people could have remained looking into that sunburnt countenance +and still have felt annoyed. There was such a breezy determination +about the man; and his large, clear bright eyes met the eyes of every +one else with a look which made them trust him. He had the appearance +of one to whom danger and adventure are sport, and who is strong enough +to carry out the wildest adventures with success. Through his daring +exploits he had been the cause of more trouble with the Spaniards than +any other man in Queen Elizabeth's dominions, and she knew it; but then +the queen dearly loved a brave man. +</P> + +<P> +'How now, Sir Francis,' said the Queen, smiling a little in spite of +herself, 'are you already weary of dry land?' +</P> + +<P> +The adventurer gravely bent his head, +</P> + +<P> +'Please your Majesty,' he said, 'I should be glad to have a commission.' +</P> + +<P> +'What do you want a commission for?' asked the queen. +</P> + +<P> +The explorer's eyes twinkled. +</P> + +<P> +'So please your Majesty, to singe the King of Spain's beard; it has +grown somewhat too long.' +</P> + +<P> +The queen understood what he meant, but she felt that she must try to +look forbidding. +</P> + +<P> +'Ha, Sir Francis,' she said, 'have you not already made me enough +trouble with the King of Spain? Know you not that for your plunderings +in the new lands yonder he has called you "the master thief of the +unknown world"?' +</P> + +<P> +'Your Majesty,' said Sir Francis, 'I am well aware of the King of +Spain's opinion, and I think it the more reason that I should show him +some good fighting nearer home.' +</P> + +<P> +Then, throwing off his jesting manner, he showed the queen his plans +for destroying the mighty preparations which were being made against +England. +</P> + +<P> +By the time the audience was over, the clouds had lifted from the +queen's brow, and the explorer had obtained leave to carry out his +daring project. +</P> + +<P> +A few weeks later, the harbour of Cadiz showed the same scene of +animation which it had presented for many months past. The huge +battle-ships, with their high prows and castellated turrets, rose +majestically out of the water, while among them little boats and sloops +flitted in and out, carrying arms and provisions for the great +galleons. The clanking of armourers and hammering of ship-wrights was +going on busily, and the swarthy sailors were singing at their toil as +they coiled the ropes, polished brasses, and put the finishing touches +to the preparations which were being made for the conquest of England. +</P> + +<P> +Of a sudden, into the busy harbour there sailed some half dozen small, +shabby vessels. Every head was turned to look at them, and the cry +arose among the Spaniards that these ships belonged to the English +pirates. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly the guns of all the forts were turned upon them, but despite +a perfect hail of shot the plucky little fleet made its way unharmed up +to the very water-lines of the great war-vessels and set each one of +them on fire; then in face of the helpless, astonished Spaniards the +English ships turned and sailed away again, to repeat the adventure in +every harbour into which they could obtain an entrance. +</P> + +<P> +So well had the singeing of the King of Spain's beard been done that it +was a year before the expedition was able to set sail for England; and +when at last it came, the English people were ready for it. +</P> + +<P> +By the time the 'most fortunate and invincible Armada' was on its way, +nearly every fighting man in England had volunteered for service. The +small navy had been increased by the gifts of the nobility and gentry, +who had built or hired vessels for the defence of their native land, +fitted them out and manned them at their own expense; while the cities +had collected money and sent it to the Treasury, to be used as the +queen and her ministers should find it best. Lord Howard of Effingham +had been made High Admiral of the Fleet; and with him were Sir Francis +Drake and other bold seafarers. +</P> + +<P> +The army was mustered at Tilbury Fort on the river Thames, and the +queen herself went down to review the men. +</P> + +<P> +'My loving people,' she said, 'I am come among you at this time, not +for sport or pleasure, but—in the midst and heat of battle—to live +and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, for my Kingdom, and my +people, my honour and my blood, if need be, even in the dust I know I +have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and +courage of a king, and of a King of England too. And I think foul +scorn that Spain, or any Prince of Europe, should dare to invade the +borders of my realm.' +</P> + +<P> +No wonder that these brave words were cheered to the echo, and that +every man felt himself inspired to do his best. +</P> + +<P> +The winds being light the Armada advanced only slowly. The English +fleet was lying at Plymouth, and the Admirals, Lord Howard of +Effingham, Sir Francis Drake and the others, were having a game of +bowls upon Plymouth Hoe when the news was brought that the topmasts of +the Spanish vessels had been sighted off Land's End, in Cornwall. Some +of the players were about to break up the game, but Sir Francis Drake +made them keep their places. +</P> + +<P> +'There's plenty of time,' he said, 'to end the game and thrash the +Spaniards too.' +</P> + +<P> +Then quietly, without any flurry, the English vessels were made ready. +</P> + +<P> +Some hours later, the foremost ships of the great Armada came in view, +and were soon followed by the rest of the fleet sailing majestically +along in the form of a crescent, seven miles long from tip to tip. +</P> + +<P> +The English watched her go by without interfering, then the little +fleet was put to sea and followed the Armada, harassing her in the rear +and cutting off a vessel here and there. +</P> + +<P> +For fully a week this running fight was kept up; then the two fleets +came face to face with each other off the town of Calais. The first +day's encounter was indecisive; the Spanish fired over the heads of the +English, while the little vessels, low down in the water, poured their +broadsides full into the huge bulk of the Spanish galleons; yet when +night came it was discovered that the English were running short of +powder, while comparatively little harm had been done to the enemy. +</P> + +<P> +During the night an unpleasant surprise was prepared for the Spaniards. +</P> + +<P> +Half a dozen of the oldest vessels in the English fleet filled with +pitch, resin, tarry ropes, and anything else that would burn well, were +taken by two gallant Devonshire sailors, Young and Prowse, into the +very heart of the Armada and set on fire. Then the men who had steered +the 'fire ships' took to their boats and rowed quickly back to safety, +while the burning vessels were left to drift about among the Spanish +fleet. +</P> + +<P> +In a panic the Spaniards cut their cables, hoisted sail, and made for +the open sea, each vessel getting in the way of her neighbours; and by +morning the entire fleet was in confusion. +</P> + +<P> +Now was the opportunity of the English; the gallant little vessels +darted in among the great galleons, and attacked them like little +game-cocks fighting huge unwieldy cochinchinas. +</P> + +<P> +From morning until sundown the battle raged; and it was the small +vessels which had the advantage. +</P> + +<P> +Many of the Spanish ships sank or ran aground—'the feathers of the +Armada were plucked one by one'; then the remainder of the fleet made +wildly for the northern seas, the little English ships in pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +When the English had followed the Spaniards sufficiently far, Drake +wrote from the deck of his vessel, 'We have driven the Spanish admirals +so far apart, that we hope they shall not shake hands these many days; +and whensoever they shall meet, I believe neither of them will rejoice +greatly at this day's service.' +</P> + +<P> +A great storm completed the destruction which the English had begun, +and of the hundred and thirty-two ships that had set out for the +invasion of England, only fifty-three returned to Spain. The others +lay beneath the waters of the English Channel or had been wrecked upon +the islands of Scotland and the coasts of Ireland and Devonshire. +</P> + +<P> +When the Spanish king heard the news, he said that he had sent his +fleet against men, and not against the wind and waves, and that he +could easily send another armament to the shores of England. +</P> + +<P> +But the King of Spain's beard had been too badly singed. +</P> + +<P> +Never again did England have to fear a foreign invasion. By the +destruction of the Armada she had proved herself worthy of the title +which she bears to this day: that of Queen and Mistress of the Seas. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 24725-h.txt or 24725-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/2/24725">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/2/24725</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Stories from English History + + +Author: Hilda T. Skae + + + +Release Date: March 1, 2008 [eBook #24725] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original lovely illustrations. + See 24725-h.htm or 24725-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/2/24725/24725-h/24725-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/2/24725/24725-h.zip) + + + + + +STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY + +by + +HILDA T. SKAE + +With Pictures by Frank Dadd + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + +[Frontispiece: Caradoc betrayed to the Romans] + + + + +London: T. C. & E. C. Jack +New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. +1907 + + + + +TO + +MY DEAR NEPHEW + +CHARLES VAUGHAN + + + + +TO CHARLIE + +AND ALL THE OTHER LITTLE + +BOYS AND GIRLS + + +My dear Charlie,-- + +Yon are very fond of stories; and so, I think, are all the other little +boys and girls that I have ever known, and most of the grown-up people +too. When you grow older, if you still like them--and I think you +will--you will find that there are stories everywhere if only you are +able to see them. + +In this little book they are not quite the same kind as those that your +Auntie used to tell you. I think they are nicer, for they are about +things that have really happened; and the boys and girls and grown-up +people that you read about in them were real people. + +Some of those stories were so interesting, and some of them so +beautiful, that they were written down for other people to read; and +that is how history-books came to be made. + +I hope that you will like to read about the people who lived long ago, +and that these little tales may show you that history is made up of +stories about people just like ourselves. + +HILDA T. SKAE. + + + + +LIST OF STORIES + + +Chap. + + I. A Hero of Ancient Britain + II. The Boy Captives + III. English and Norman + IV. The Boy who would be a King + V. The Black Prince + VI. Singeing the King of Spain's Beard + + + + +LIST OF PICTURES + + +Caradoc betrayed to the Romans . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +The children carried off by the Bernician Raiders + +Harold taking the Oath + +The Death of Harold + +Arthur in prison visited by King John + +Warwick's messenger asking for aid to be sent to the Black Prince + +The French King brought prisoner to the Black Prince after Poitiers + +Drake making his request of the Queen + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A HERO OF ANCIENT BRITAIN + +There was a time, many years ago, when this England of ours was a +savage country. + +The oldest stories that we read about our island happened so long ago, +that the English had not yet come to the land where we live. In those +days, the country was not called England but Britain; and the people +were the ancient Britons. + +In the time of the Britons, the greater part of the country was covered +with moors and swamps, and with great forests, where dangerous wild +animals lived: wolves and bears and wild cats; where herds of deer +wandered, and droves of wild cattle. + +The ancient Britons lived in huts built of branches of trees plastered +with mud, very low in the roof, and dark, having no windows; and there +were no chimneys to let out the smoke. Their villages were only +collections of huts surrounded by a fence or stockade, and a ditch to +keep out the wild animals, as well as other Britons who were enemies of +the tribe, for these wild people were always fighting among themselves. + +The Britons had blue eyes, and yellow or reddish hair, which both men +and women wore long, and hanging over their shoulders. In summer they +went about with their chests and shoulders almost bare, and in winter +they clothed themselves in the skins of animals killed in the chase. + +They were a wild people, but so brave that we like to hear stories +about them. + +About two thousand years ago, when the Britons were living their savage +life, there lived in the country which is now Italy another people +called the Romans. These Romans were one of the greatest and wisest +nations that have ever lived. + +It seems strange that they should have left their own beautiful country +to come to Britain, with its cold climate and savage inhabitants, but +they were a very ambitious people, who would not be content until they +had subdued every other nation of the earth. + +The Romans had already conquered all the nations round about their own +country when the Emperor Claudius became their chief; but Claudius +wished to win glory by making fresh conquests, and he determined to +subdue the wild northern island of Britain. + +Knowing that the Britons were a very fierce and brave people, he sent +against them an army of forty thousand men under the command of two +skilful generals. + +When the inhabitants of southern Britain saw the sea about their coasts +covered with Roman vessels, while more vessels were always appearing +above the horizon, their anger and dismay knew no bounds. They knew +that the Romans were the bravest and most skilful soldiers in the +world, and that they had come to conquer them if they could, and to +take their country away from them. + +As the soldiers, wearing their glittering breast-plates and helmets of +polished steel, and with the sun flashing upon the gold and silver +eagles which they carried for standards, landed from their vessels and +marched on their way to the place where they were going to make their +camp, the Britons watched them from their hiding-places with both rage +and terror. + +Still they did not despair. Old men among them were able to tell them +how their ancestors had withstood the Romans who had come to their +shores a hundred years before, and how the great Julius Caesar had been +glad to make peace with the Britons and sail away to his own country. + +Messengers were sent far and near to summon the chiefs and their +followers, and they resolved to fight to the last. + +The Britons proved to be some of the most determined foes that the +Romans had ever met. Battle after battle was fought, and the country +still remained unsubdued. Sometimes the Romans won, and sometimes the +Britons were masters of the day. The Romans were trained soldiers, +while their opponents were wild and undisciplined savages, but the +Britons were fighting for their homes and freedom, and that made them +very brave. + +Among the British leaders the noblest was a chieftain of the name of +Caradoc, or as the Romans called him, Caractacus. When some of the +other chiefs, having been defeated many times, were forced to make +peace with the invaders, Caradoc refused to yield. Fighting +stubbornly, he contested every inch of southern Britain, but was slowly +driven backwards to the mountains of Wales. + +Here he gathered around him a band of Britons as brave and determined +as himself, and for nearly nine years he held the Romans in check. The +invaders, who did not know the country, were unable to penetrate far +among these valleys, where thick forests hemmed in the view, and where +every hillside might harbour a band of their savage foes. + +It was impossible to reach Caradoc in this wild retreat. Accompanied +by his followers, he would leave the mountains and sweep suddenly down +upon a Roman camp in some distant part of the country. At a time when +the Romans were least expecting it, a band of these wild, red-headed +warriors would appear, yelling their war-cries as they let fly a shower +of darts and arrows; then, after killing and wounding a number of the +enemy, they would vanish among their mountains before the Romans had +time to follow them up. + +As years went on, a large number of Britons found their way to Caradoc +in his Welsh retreat. The mountains became full of desperate men who +had been driven from their homes, but were still determined to fight +for freedom, and the example of their leader gave his followers fresh +courage. + +After many years of fighting, the Romans saw that the country would +never be subdued so long as Caradoc should remain at liberty. + +A great army was marched towards the stronghold of the daring chief. +Caradoc mustered his retainers, and found himself at the head of a body +of men almost as numerous as the Roman army. For nine years these +Britons had remained unconquered; and the brave band hoped that the day +had now come when they might gain a victory which would end in the +invaders being driven out of the country. + +Romans and Britons met on the borders of Wales. + +The Britons, looking down from their mountains, saw the Romans on the +plain far below. Between the armies there flowed a river, which was +joined by a torrent rushing down by the side of a steep hill. Caradoc +ordered his men to take up their station upon this hill, and all night +long the Britons worked to strengthen their defences by building up +barricades of loose stones. + +When morning dawned the Britons could see the Roman legions forming in +position. The sunbeams were glancing upon the crests of the soldiers' +helmets and upon the points of their spears, and the Britons almost +seemed to hear the voice of the general who was riding his prancing +war-horse round the ranks of his army. + +The Britons were eager to attack, but before a man left his post +Caradoc came forward and spoke to his followers. + +'Men of Britain,' he said; 'this day decides the fate of your country. +Your liberty, or your eternal slavery, dates from this hour. Remember +your brave ancestors, who drove the great Julius himself across the +sea!' + +The Britons were so stirred by these words that they replied by a great +shout; then rushing down the hill, they let fly a hail of darts and +arrows upon the Roman army. + +For a long time the battle raged, and neither side appeared to gain the +advantage. + +In order to meet the Britons hand to hand, the Romans had to cross the +river under a storm of darts. Many fell and were swept away by the +current. Others struggled onward, to be received by savage cries from +the Britons, who tore stones from the barricade to hurl at their +advancing foes. + +In spite of the fury of the defenders, the Romans swept steadily up the +slope. Soon the foremost had reached the barriers. They stumbled and +fell among the loose stones, but recovered themselves and pressed +onwards, holding up their shields to ward off the blows rained down +upon them. The hillside became a seething mass of combatants; the +wild, active Britons flying hither and thither to repel the advance of +the steel-clad host. From the thick of the fight, Caradoc himself +shouted encouragement to his soldiers, who replied by shrill cries and +by redoubled exertions. + +The stone barriers were passed; Romans and Britons were mingled in a +life-and-death struggle. + +Soon it became apparent that the day belonged to the better-armed +combatants; the soft copper swords of the Britons had been blunted upon +the steel breast-plates of the Romans, while their own wooden shields +were hacked to pieces by the Roman swords. + +In a short time the Britons were flying in all directions, unable any +longer to resist the Romans. Caradoc's two brothers were taken +prisoners, and his wife and daughter fell into the hands of the +conquerers. + +The British leader himself, weary, wounded and disheartened, found his +way to the hut of his mother-in-law, and asked her for shelter. She +gave him a wolf-skin to lie upon by the fire and soon he was fast +asleep, worn out by fatigue and loss of blood. + +For a time the old woman sat and watched him. + +It had needed no words from the wounded, half-fainting chieftain to +tell her that the day was lost. + +She thought of the proud Romans who were now masters of the country; of +the villages which would be burned, and of their inhabitants who would +be carried away into slavery. + +Being a selfish old woman, she soon began to think less of other +people's troubles than of her own. + +What would happen to her, she wondered, were the Romans to come this +way and find out that she was giving shelter to the vanquished +chieftain? + +She trembled as she thought that soon this poor hut might shelter her +no longer; that her few belongings might be taken away from her, and +she herself be driven out to perish upon the cold hill-side. + +As she looked at her guest, lying asleep in a corner, and frowning a +little with the pain of his wound, she felt as though she hated him. + +An ugly look came into her face as she realised her helplessness. + +Presently she heard cries echoing in the valley, and peeping from the +door of the hut she saw some flying Britons, closely pursued by two +Roman soldiers. + +The Britons disappeared in a thicket and were lost, and as the woman +watched the soldiers beating the bushes and brambles with their swords +in a vain search for the fugitives, a very evil thought came into her +mind. + +She left the hut, and crept along in the shelter of the rocks and +trees, so that the soldiers might not see where she had come from. + +The soldiers were very much surprised when a little wild-looking, +wrinkled old woman stood before them, trying to tell them something in +the language that the Britons spoke. + +They soon understood that she was offering to show them the +hiding-place of a captive far more important than the poor British +warriors whom they had been pursuing. + +'Come along then, old woman,' said one of the soldiers; 'show us the +way.' + +A sly look came into the woman's small twinkling eyes. 'Wait a +little,' she said; 'what are you going to give me for delivering this +great captive into your hands?' + +The soldiers looked at each other; and then one of them offered her a +gold coin. + +The old woman shook her head. + +'No,' she said; 'this is a very, very great man, and the Romans would +like very much to catch him. You must give me far more than that if I +show you the way to his hiding-place.' + +The soldiers consulted together for a moment. From the old woman's +manner, she evidently had a noted chief or leader in her power. + +'Here, old dame,' they said, 'if your prisoner is of such importance, +you must come with us to the general.' + +The old woman was delighted. The Roman general was of course a very +rich man, and no doubt he would give her a great deal of money for the +captive. + +'Let us be quick,' she said; 'my prisoner may wake up and go away +before we come back.' + +The soldiers were astonished at the nimble way in which the old +creature skipped over the stones and heather, her little short steps +covering the ground as quickly as their long, steady strides. They +were almost inclined to think that she must be one of the witches about +whom the Britons told such strange stories. + +The general was not far away; and soon the old woman's little greedy +eyes were looking up into his grave stern face. + +'Well, my good woman,' he said, 'who is this prisoner?' + +The old woman grinned, showing a few tusklike teeth. 'He is a very +great man,' she said, 'and I can only give him up for a large sum of +money.' + +'Tell me first who he is,' said the general; 'we can talk about the +reward afterwards.' + +There was no one that the Romans despised so much as a traitor, and the +general thought this old woman was the most mean and base person he had +ever met. + +'The prisoner,' said the woman, with a still wider grin, 'is Caradoc +himself. He came to my hut after the battle; and you should have seen +how pale and weary he was! He thought I would shelter him, because he +is my son-in-law, but after he had fallen asleep I said to myself, "The +Romans are good folk, and they will be grateful to an old woman who +hands over a wicked rebel----"' + +'That will do, my good woman,' said the general, cutting her short. +'Here is a bag of gold; it is your fee for delivering the British +leader into our hands. Come and show us where he is to be found; or if +you are playing us false it will be the worse for you.' + +The old woman's fingers closed round the gold, and her delight at +getting so much money prevented her from feeling the contempt in the +general's voice and eyes. + +Presently the tiny hut was surrounded by Roman soldiers. Bending his +tall form at the doorway, the general entered, followed by two soldiers +leading between them the old woman, whose skinny fingers were tightly +clutching the bag of gold. + +Caradoc stirred in his sleep, then he sat up and looked at the Romans. + +His eyes fell upon his mother-in-law; and he understood. + +He had to stand up and submit to having his hands bound behind his back +by the Roman soldiers. + +The old woman left the hut and disappeared with her ill-gotten gains. + +For once in her life she felt ashamed of herself. + +She had betrayed her country, and although she was now one of the +richest women in Britain she was never really happy again. + +When the wounded chieftain joined the other prisoners in the Roman +camp, his wife and daughter fell into his arms, weeping. + +Caradoc tried his best to comfort them, and he begged all the prisoners +to have courage, and to bear their misfortunes like brave men and women. + +After this victory the Roman general returned to his own country. +Caradoc and the other prisoners were carried on board the vessels of +the conquerors; and after a voyage of many days they landed upon the +strange, unknown shores of Italy. + +The Roman people were delighted to hear that the wild, savage island of +Britain had at last been subdued, and when the victorious general +reached the city they resolved to give him a public triumph. + +The emperor and empress sat on thrones in front of their palace while +the general was drawn through the streets in a chariot decked with +flowers and garlands. All the citizens came out to see him, and the +balconies and even the roofs of the houses were crowded with people who +shouted and hurrahed and threw up their caps as the conqueror passed by. + +Behind the chariot came the troops who had taken part in the victory. +The soldiers marched past in fighting array; their helmets and spears +garlanded with flowers and with wreaths of laurel, and they looked +round them proudly in response to the shouts of their countrymen. + +But these were not the only people who took part in the procession. + +Immediately behind the general followed the captives whom he had taken +in the war; Caradoc with his wife and daughter and the other prisoners +who had helped him in his nine years' struggle with the Romans. + +As these poor captives passed, loaded with chains, the people in the +streets jeered at them and shouted out unkind speeches. Most of the +prisoners walked with downcast eyes and sad faces, but Caradoc marched +along with so proud a bearing that the spectators wondered at the +courage shown by this savage chief. He did not seem to feel the dust +and glare, or to be abashed by the hard, unfeeling gaze of the +thousands of people who had come out to stare at him. + +As he passed he looked at the fine buildings, at the triumphal arches, +and the marble palaces, and at the gaily dressed people who thronged +the streets. Sometimes he looked up into the sunny Italian sky; and he +was evidently thinking deeply. Some one asked him what he was thinking +about. + +'I was wondering,' said Caradoc, 'how these people could envy me my mud +cottage and my few fields so far away in our poor, cold, northern +Britain?' + +The spectators, who had flocked from all parts of Italy to see the +famous chief, began to think it was a pity that so brave a man should +be put to death. + +After the triumph, the emperor wished to meet this gallant savage face +to face. + +Caradoc and his wife were brought before Claudius, who, in royal +garments of purple and gold, was seated upon an ivory throne. + +Caradoc looked at the emperor with his calm, brave eyes, and did not +appear to be in the least dismayed. + +Claudius said to himself that this British chief was a truly great man. +He asked his prisoner what he thought of Rome. + +'I think it is a very great and wonderful city,' replied Caradoc, 'and +that its people are a very great people.' + +'Do you know what this great people do to those who have been bold +enough to resist their will?' asked the emperor. + +'Yes,' replied Caradoc simply; 'I am told that you put their leaders to +death when you have captured them; and I wonder that a wise and great +people like the Romans should have such a custom. After having +defeated a man, what greater glory is to be won by putting him to +death? It seems to me that it would be more worthy of the Roman people +to spare him in order to show that they are generous as well as brave.' + +Claudius was so pleased with his captive's wise and fearless reply that +he had him restored to liberty, with his wife and family. + +The Roman who has told us the story of Caradoc in one of his books does +not say whether the brave chief was allowed to return to Britain, or +whether he had to spend the rest of his life in the land of his +conquerors. + +I hope his captors sent him back to Britain, for I am sure that he +loved his native land the best, and that he would have liked to end his +days among the brave countrymen who had helped him to withstand the +great and powerful nation of Rome. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE BOY CAPTIVES + +Five hundred years had passed. + +Long ago the Romans had left Britain; and another people had come from +across the sea to conquer the country and drive its inhabitants to take +refuge in Wales and Cornwall. + +Britain had now become England. The English in these days were very +fierce heathens, who loved fighting, and were never at peace. The +country was divided into a number of little kingdoms, which were always +at war with one another, for each king wanted to be more powerful than +any other in the land. + +While England was in this state of continual warfare, the kingdom of +Deira in the north was invaded by a band of raiders from a neighbouring +kingdom called Bernicia. Not finding any one at hand to resist them, +the Bernicians began to lay waste the country as they passed. All the +men of that neighbourhood seemed to be absent that day; and there was +no one to give the alarm as the invaders destroyed the young crops and +killed or drove away the cattle which were grazing upon the waste land. + +Presently the party came upon a little village, lying peacefully +nestled on the hillside. It was evening, and the smoke was rising +tranquilly into the air, while the men and boys were driving the cows +home for the evening milking. + +Little did the raiders care about the quiet beauty of the scene. With +a shout they bore down upon the village. The inhabitants did their +best to defend themselves; but being unprepared and armed for the most +part only with clubs and ploughshares, they were quickly overpowered. +Some escaped to the woods, while those who were not active enough to +run away were either slain or made prisoners. + +[Illustration: The children carried off by the Bernician Raiders.] + +Soon flames were bursting from the walls and roofs of the cottages, +which their destroyers had set on fire after removing everything that +was worth carrying away. + +When the captives were brought in, they were found to be mostly old +people, together with some trembling children, whose parents were lost +or slain. + +'Those,' said the leader, pointing to the white-haired men and woman, +'are no good. What do we want with old folk?--But these,' he added, +pointing to the children, 'you may keep. They will grow into fine +strong men by and by.' + +The children were bound hand and foot to prevent them from running +away; and after posting sentries to keep a look-out, the raiders sat +down to feast upon some of the slaughtered cattle, which they had +roasted before the flames of the burning houses. + +Suddenly one of the outposts called out to say there was something in +the distance which looked like a band of armed men. + +'Ay, ay,' said the leader; 'time we made the best of our way homeward. +Our big bonfire is bright enough to bring the whole countryside upon +us.' + +Hastily collecting their spoil, the raiders looked about for their +horses. Each prisoner was made to mount beside one of his captors, and +soon the whole band was trotting away in the gathering darkness. + +It was in vain that the boys strained their eyes to look behind. +Either they had not yet been missed, or else their rescuers had not +found out the direction which the spoilers had taken. + +The few people whom they passed, wood-cutters or cow-herds on their way +home from the day's work, only looked on helplessly as the troop swept +by, and were unable to do anything. Once, seeing a man whom he knew, +one of the boys cried out for help, but his captor roughly bade him be +silent. + +In a little while they were in the land of the Bernicians, and the +children were handed over to the families of their captors, to work in +the house and in the fields. + +They were not unkindly treated, and after a while they began to feel +less unhappy. Often when they met together in the evening, after the +day's work was done, they would make plans for running away as soon as +they should be grown up, and returning to their own old home in Deira. + +But they were never to see their native village again. + +One day a rich merchant came to Bernicia, a man who traded with the +far-away countries of Gaul and Italy, and the children were brought for +him to see. + +The merchant looked at the rosy faces and strong limbs of the boys. + +'They'll do,' he said; 'I'll take the lot. One of my ships is just +starting for Italy, and they can go on board. The Roman ladies like +fine boys like these to wait upon them. It is waste to keep such lads +to work in our rough homesteads when we can get gold for them from the +Romans.' + +A large sum of money was handed over to the owners of the children; and +then the boys had to follow their new master to the seashore, where a +vessel was in waiting. + +No kind parents or friends were near, to bid good-bye to these poor +children as they embarked. They were led on board and given into the +charge of the captain and seamen of the vessel. Presently the sails +were unfurled, and the vessel left the shore, the men singing as they +worked. No one paid any attention to the poor children as they stood +on deck and sorrowfully watched the shores of England grow farther and +farther away, until they became lost in the distance. + +The little captives felt very sad indeed. Had they known that they +were about to become the means of bringing happiness and peace to their +native land, perhaps they might not have felt so desolate as they did. + +After what seemed to them a very long voyage, they were taken to the +great slave-market in Rome. + +The children clung together in confusion and fear as they looked around +at the bewildering scene. + +Groups of buyers and sellers were there, talking in an unknown +language. There were many other slaves for sale; men, women, and +children; white, black, and brown; brought together from many parts of +the world. People in strange bright dresses were always passing; some +coming to buy slaves, some to meet their friends, and others out of +mere curiosity. In all the careless, chattering crowd there was not +one face that seemed friendly towards the poor strangers from across +the sea. + +Presently the boys remarked among the gay throng an old man who seemed +quite different from the rest. He wore a plain dark gown, with sandals +on his feet. A long silvery beard flowed nearly to his girdle; and the +boys liked his face, with its kind, benevolent expression. + +This was the monk Gregory, who was loved by all the people of Rome for +his simple goodness of heart. + +As the old man passed through the hall he looked pityingly at the poor +people who were waiting to be sold. When he came to the English boys +he paused, struck by their beautiful rosy faces, fair hair, and rounded +limbs. + +'Who are these children?' he asked the trader who was standing beside +them. + +'They are Angles,' replied the trader. + +'Surely not Angles, but angels,' said Gregory; 'for they have the faces +of angels.' + +He looked at them again very thoughtfully, and asked the trader whether +these children were Christians. + +'No, sir,' replied the merchant; 'the Angles are heathens, and have a +very cruel religion.' + +'What a pity, what a pity!' said the good monk. 'What is the name of +their country?' + +'They come from a place called Deira,' said the trader. + +'Ira' is the Latin word for wrath; and Gregory seemed to find a meaning +in all the names connected with these angel-faced children. + +'De ira,' he said; 'ay, from the wrath of God they shall be called to +Christ's mercy.--And what is the name of their King?' he inquired. + +'Ella,' replied the merchant. + +'Ella!' cried the monk; 'Alleluia shall be sung in Ella's land'; and he +passed on his way with a silent vow that one day he would find a means +of teaching the English people to become Christians. + +Here the history of these children ends, so far as we know it. The old +writer who tells us of the meeting of the monk Gregory with the captive +children does not say what became of them after this. Surely they +found good masters and happy homes; for it was through them that the +Good News was brought to their native land, and that the people learned +to live peaceably in a united country. + +After he left the slave-market the thought of these fair-faced boys +followed Gregory wherever he went. He thought of many plans, and at +last he resolved, old as he was, to undertake the long journey to the +savage country of England and to teach the true religion to its +inhabitants. But when the Roman people found that he was going to +leave them, they begged Gregory so hard to stay that he made up his +mind that he could not go away into a heathen country while he was so +badly needed by his own people at home. + +Still he had no rest when he thought that the English were living and +dying as heathens. About four years after the meeting with the boys, +he was made Pope, and then he saw that his opportunity was come. + +A band of forty monks, with an Abbot of the name of Augustine at their +head, was chosen by Pope Gregory for the conversion of England. + +In those days the journey from Rome to England was a long and perilous +one. Slowly the monks made their way through Italy and Switzerland, +staying sometimes at the monasteries on their way. At last they were +in Gaul, and were able to gain some information about the fierce and +warlike people whom they had been sent to convert. + +In an abbey near Paris they were kindly received by the monks, who were +glad to meet the brave missionaries who had been sent to bring +Christianity to the heathen inhabitants of England. + +'Perhaps your task will be easier than you expect,' said a monk who had +been listening very attentively while the travellers told their tale. + +All turned to look at the speaker. + +'Do you not remember,' he said, 'that Ethelbert, King of Kent, married +Bertha, the daughter of our good King? Bertha is a Christian, and +surely her husband will not harden his heart towards those who are of +the religion of his good wife.' + +The monks were greatly cheered at this news. Messengers were sent to +Ethelbert to prepare him for the coming of Augustine, and a few days +later the leader and his party landed on the island of Thanet in Kent. + +When Ethelbert heard that the missionaries had actually set foot in his +dominions, he felt uneasy. + +'The Christians are very good folk,' he said; 'my wife is one, and I've +given her a little church of her own to do as she likes in; still, I'm +not very sure about them; I think some of them are too fond of meddling +with magic.' + +Still, after consulting with his wise men, he consented to meet the +Romans and to hear what they had to say, provided that the meeting +should take place out of doors, for he believed that the magic spells +would have less power in the open air. + +Thrones were placed for him and Bertha on the hillside, and the band of +monks approached, bearing a silver cross, and chanting a hymn, with +Augustine at their head. + +Ethelbert listened attentively as Augustine told him about the +Christian religion, and invited him to forsake the cruel bloodthirsty +gods of the English. + +'Your words,' he said, when the abbot had finished, 'are fair; but what +you tell me is new and strange. I cannot leave all at once what I and +my English folk have believed for so long. But let me think over what +you say; and if any of my folk will believe what you believe, I will +not hinder them.' + +The monks were overjoyed at the King's answer. Bearing their silver +cross in front of them, they entered the town of Canterbury. + +'Turn from this city, O Lord,' they sang, 'Thy wrath and anger.' + +Then in joy and thankfulness they sang 'Alleluia' in the streets, while +the people looked on and wondered. + +Ethelbert gave the missionaries a church to preach in, and he and his +people often came to listen to them. So well did the good monks speak +that after a little while the king consented to become a Christian, and +was baptized, and many of his men with him; and Kent thus became the +first Christian kingdom of England. + +Many years afterwards, Ethelbert's daughter was given in marriage to +Edwin, King of Northumbria. Edwin was a good and wise man; but he was +a heathen. Among the people who accompanied the young queen to her +northern home was her chaplain Paulinus, and it was the great wish both +of Paulinus and of the queen that through their means Edwin might +become converted to Christianity. + +All that winter Edwin listened to the words of his queen and of +Paulinus, and pondered them very deeply. + +In the spring he called his wise men together, and asked them to advise +him. + +Paulinus, the Roman chaplain, tall, thin and stooping, with black hair +falling round his dark, eager face, spoke to the stout, ruddy English, +and told them about his religion. + +The wise men listened very thoughtfully; and they asked Paulinus many +questions. + +After a while an old man rose up. + +'So seems the life of man, O king,' he said, 'as a sparrow's flight +through the hall when one is sitting at meat in the winter-tide. The +warm fire is lighted on the hearth; the torches are blazing; and the +hall is bright and warm. + +'But without the snow is falling, and the winds are howling. + +'Then comes a sparrow and flies into the hall, and passes out by the +other door. She comes in at one door and goes out by the other; and +passes from winter to winter. For a moment she has rest; for a moment +she is in the light and warmth, she feels not the storm nor the +cheerless winter weather. + +'But the moment is brief. + +'The short time of rest and warmth is soon over, and she is out in the +storm again and has passed from our sight. + +'So it is with the life of man; it, too, is but for a moment, what has +gone before, and what will come after it, we do not know, and no man +has yet told us. + +'If, then, these strangers can tell us aught of what is beyond the +grave--if they can tell us whence man comes and whither he goes, let us +give ear to them and think over what they say.' + +A murmur went round the hall as the old man showed them by this story +that the new religion told them of a life beyond this world, while +their own did not. + +Then up started Coifi, the chief priest of the heathen gods whom the +king and his people had worshipped. + +'O king,' cried the priest, 'there is no man in this hall has served +the gods more faithfully than I, but they have never done anything for +me.' + +When the wise men had made an end of speaking, the king rose up and +said, 'Let us worship the God of Paulinus, and follow his ways.' + +Then he called aloud and said, 'Who will be the first to throw down the +altar of these false gods and destroy their temple.' + +'I will be the first, O king,' shouted Coifi the priest. 'Give me a +horse and weapons, and I will overthrow the temple of the false gods. +Follow me, O thanes, and let us see if the gods can defend their own +altars.' + +Then, snatching a sword, the high priest rushed from the hall and +sprang upon the king's war-horse. + +The king and his wise men followed; and on their way they were joined +by a number of people who left their work or the cattle they were +tending, and followed, shouting as they ran, 'Coifi the high priest is +mad!' + +Soon they arrived at the temple. Here the people hung back, afraid to +enter, but the priest burst open the door with a blow of his spear, and +rode into the wooden building. + +The king and his wise men followed, but the others remained outside, +wondering what dreadful thing would happen to the mad priest. + +Before them was the dark interior of the temple with the altar at the +farther end, and the great wooden figure of the god rising above it; a +monstrous thing painted in gaudy colours, with a fierce, cruel grin on +its ugly face; and the madman was riding his war-horse in the building. + +Surely the god was about to take some terrible vengeance! + +A great crash resounded through the temple as the priest hurled his +sword at the wooden figure. + +Some of the people ran away; others remained huddled at the door, too +terrified to move. + +But nothing happened. + +There was the figure of the god still grinning down upon the people as +before, without a change in its face. No thunder came down from heaven +to destroy the rash priest and his followers who had insulted the +temple. + +'The gods are not able to defend themselves,' shouted the wise men. +'The gods of the English are false gods'; then rushing into the temple, +they pulled the idol from its place and dragged it out of doors, while +the people threw themselves upon the temple and pulled it to pieces. +After that they tore up the hedge that surrounded the temple; and with +the hedge and the ruins of the temple they made a bonfire whose flames +rose high in the air and were seen far and wide, while in the middle of +the fire the idol was burned to ashes. + +Then the people went home, and were baptized by Paulinus. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ENGLISH AND NORMAN + +In England there was an old King called Edward; a gentle pious man who +disliked the trouble of governing, and who left his brother-in-law to +rule the country while he himself spent his time in praying and in +reading good books and going to church. + +Harold, Earl of Wessex, the king's brother-in-law, was one of the most +able men then living; a true Englishman, wise and honourable. The +people of England loved and trusted Harold; and as Edward had no +children to succeed to the throne, they hoped that after his death +Harold would become their king. + +On the other side of the strip of sea which divides England from +France, there lived at this time a very proud and ambitious man, +William, Duke of Normandy. + +William was descended from a great pirate who had come from the North, +many years before, and had compelled the King of France to give him +part of his dominions for himself and his followers to settle in. Ever +since then, this part of France has been called Normandy; and the +descendants of these Northmen are living there to this day. + +The pirate was made a duke; but his great grandson William of Normandy +wanted to become a king. + +William's father had been a friend of King Edward of England, and when +he was a young man William came from Normandy to spend some weeks at +the Court of England. In after years William declared that during this +visit Edward had promised that he, and not Harold, should be the next +King of England. + +If Edward really made this promise he must have known that he was +undertaking what he had no power to fulfil, for the English people had +the right of choosing their own king, and they did not wish to have a +proud Norman rule over them. + +But William had made up his mind to be a king; and he was a man who +never let anything stand in the way of what he wanted. + +One day Earl Harold went sailing in the English Channel, when a storm +arose and drove his vessel out of her course. + +Night came down, thick and foggy, and the captain did not know where +they were. All remained on deck, keeping an anxious look-out; and in +the darkness the vessel suddenly struck. + +Before them they could see some masses of rock; and the men had just +time to scramble out before the little ship filled with water and sank. + +The unlucky pleasure-seekers found themselves clinging to a little +rocky islet which would scarcely afford them foothold; and all night +they remained there drenched with rain and spray. + +At daybreak they were able to make out the coast of France, not very +far away from them. By the side of the reef lay their little vessel, +half in, half out of the water, with a large hole in her side. There +was nothing that they could do but wait until some one should see them +from the shore, and come off with a boat to rescue them. + +In a little while Harold and his men saw a stir upon the coast. Men +were coming and going; looking towards the rock and then running to +fetch other men. After a while a party came down to the beach, +launched a boat and rowed towards the wreck. + +How thankful were the hungry, shivering castaways to get into the boat +and be rowed ashore by these sturdy Norman-French fishermen! + +They entered one of the cottages; and as they were warming themselves +before a blazing fire the door was suddenly burst open, and a man in a +shining coat of mail stood in the doorway. Behind him were grouped a +dozen or so of stout men-at-arms. + +'Aha,' said the mail-clad knight, looking around him with restless, +glittering black eyes; 'if I am not mistaken it is a great man whom the +wind and waves have done me the honour to waft to my shores.--I am Guy, +Count of Ponthieu; and you, if I am not mistaken,' he said to Harold, +'are Earl Harold, brother-in-law to the King of England.' + +'I thought so,' muttered Harold as he gravely inclined his head in +answer to the count; 'our troubles are only beginning.' + +'This is not a fitting spot in which to receive the kinsman of King +Edward of England,' said Guy in mock courtesy. 'I must trouble you, +Sir, to come to my poor dwelling, where I hope a short stay may be +rendered as pleasant as possible to yourself and your followers.' + +Harold groaned in spirit as he realised that the count was going to +keep him in prison in the hope of getting a ransom for him from King +Edward. With these sturdy men-at-arms in the doorway it was no use for +the unarmed Englishmen to try to resist. + +'My poor countrymen,' said Harold to himself; 'I wonder how much money +he will force them to hand over before he consents to give me up? It +grieves me to think of the good English gold which will go to the +enriching of this greedy hawk.--And how is the kingdom going to be +governed in my absence?--Alack the day!' + +The count's dark mocking face was all aglow with triumph as he led his +prisoner where some horses were ready waiting for them. + +After a short ride they were in the courtyard of the grim frowning +castle of Ponthieu, with the drawbridge raised behind them. + +'You will allow some of my men to go to England and tell King Edward +that I am here?' said Harold to the count. + +Once more Guy smiled his mocking smile. + +'I was going to ask the whole party to accept my hospitality for a few +weeks,' he said. 'His majesty of England will be the more pleased to +welcome his brother-in-law after he has lacked tidings of him for a +space.' + +Harold fumed with anger and indignation. He saw that Guy meant to keep +the king and his own family in ignorance of his fate in order that they +might be more eager to ransom him once they heard that he was still +living. + +But one day Guy, Count of Ponthieu, was in a very bad humour. He +strode up and down the courtyard with an angry scowl upon his handsome, +haughty face; muttering to himself and reading a letter which had been +brought to the castle by a mounted messenger. His mailed boots made a +noisy clattering upon the pavement, and the men-at-arms felt that it +would be safe to keep at a respectful distance that morning. + +'Ha!' shouted Guy; 'I am grossly insulted!--What traitor has dared to +carry to the duke news of my prisoner? Had I that man, he should hang +by the heels for his presumption!--Here is a letter from William of +Normandy to say that if I do not instantly release Earl Harold, he will +send an army against me and raze my castle to the ground. What right +has the duke to interfere, I should like to know? The Earl was wrecked +upon my land, not upon his; and if a man may not do as he likes with a +prisoner whom the wind and waves have brought to his very door, things +have come to a pretty pass!' + +The count thought of the large sum of money which he had made so sure +of getting; and rage and defiance swelled in his heart. Then he +recollected the great power of William, and reflected that there was +nothing for it but to make the best of things. + +'Hey, Giles!' he called to his seneschal, who with a somewhat faltering +step was venturing to cross the courtyard; 'ask Earl Harold to have the +goodness to speak with me.' + +'Raze my castle to the ground!' stormed the count as he paced the +flagstones; 'ay, and he would do it too; the tanner's grandson!' + +Duke William's mother had been the daughter of a tanner; and his +enemies were never tired of reproaching him with this circumstance when +they thought they could do so without fear of punishment. + +Presently the Englishman stood before the angry count; and with a very +bad grace, Guy told him that he was a free man, and that he owed his +release to the Duke of Normandy. + +Harold was very glad to find himself at liberty; and he felt that it +would not be courteous for him to return to his own country until he +had thanked the Duke for his generous help. Some of his men were sent +to England to tell King Edward of his safety; and with only a few +followers he set out for the court of Duke William. + +Soon the earl and the duke met; Harold short and strong, with his good +honest English face and steadfast blue eyes; William almost a giant in +height, stern and proud, with steely eyes, and a face that had never +yet shown pity to any that opposed him. + +The two men had been friends of old; and they liked and admired each +other. + +William gave Harold a warm welcome to his dominions. At the court of +the duke Harold found his youngest brother Wulfnoth, who had been sent +to Normandy as a hostage many years before. Each day was made a +festival; the duke held tournaments in honour of his guest, and went +hunting and hawking with him; and the Englishman showed such skill in +all manly exercises that William learned to respect him more and more. + +One day something happened which made him feel more than ever what a +pity it was that this man must one day become his enemy. + +Harold was walking on the sea-shore with his brother and the duke and a +train of nobles, when several of the knights became caught in a +quicksand and would have been lost had not Harold rushed forward, and +with his unaided strength dragged each one of them into safety upon +firm ground. + +The duke said to himself that the short, sturdy Englishman was the +bravest knight he had ever seen, and the one best fitted to become a +king. Yet all the time that he was outwardly showing the greatest +friendship for his guest he was secretly making plans by which he might +compel Harold to help him to become King of England. + +One day he asked Harold whether he knew that King Edward had promised +that he should succeed him on the throne. + +'No,' replied Harold quietly; 'I did not know that.' + +The duke put his band upon the Englishman's shoulder. + +'It is an old promise,' he said, 'and for many years I have looked upon +myself as the future King of England.' + +'Listen to me,' he added hastily, as he saw that Harold was about to +speak: 'I like you, and you are the man of all the English whom I most +wish to have on my side. If you will give me your word of honour that +you will help me to the crown, I promise that you shall be the greatest +man in the kingdom next to myself; and not only that, but you shall be +my son-in-law; I will give you my daughter Adela for your wife.--Now is +it a bargain, son-in-law Harold?' + +'No,' said Harold quietly and firmly; 'it cannot be. I cannot marry +your daughter, because I already love a lady in England, Edith, a ward +of the king; and you will never with my consent become King of England, +because the English people have the right of choosing their own king; +and we will never willingly have a Norman to rule over us. If King +Edward made you any such promise he did very wrongly, for the crown of +England is not his to give away.' + +Duke William was silent, and his eyes blazed with anger, as they always +did when his will was crossed. + +'So be it,' he said, when he had regained sufficient mastery over +himself to be able to speak; 'I do not require help that is not freely +given.' + +Harold knew that the duke was very angry; and he began to see what an +imprudent action he had committed when he had put himself in the power +of this ambitious man. + +One of the Norman knights, whom he had rescued, came to Harold that +evening. + +'Do not anger the duke,' he begged. 'You little know his determined +will. You are alone, it is useless to resist; and he will find a means +of putting you to silence if you oppose him.' + +Harold's young brother, Wulfnoth, came to him next + +'Do not refuse to give the duke the promise he asks of you,' implored +the boy with a pale face. 'I have seen their dungeons and the +oubliettes--those dreadful underground cells where a man can scarcely +stand upright, where he may spend years without ever seeing the light +of day.--O Harold, the duke has sworn to imprison both you and me if +you refuse to help him! Promise, Harold, promise; and when you are +safe in England no one can make you hold to a promise which has been +forced from you.' + +Harold passed the night in great perplexity. + +Should he refuse to make a promise which he knew that he could not keep? + +Then he and his young brother would be cast into these dreadful +hiding-places; and they would never be heard of again. In years to +come Englishmen might walk over the very turf under which they lay, and +not know that beneath their feet the lost earls were still living, +buried deep from the blessed sunshine, and the song of the birds, and +the faces of their fellow-men. + +Would it be right of him to bring such a fate upon his brother? + +Then his native land; what would become of England while Harold lay in +his dungeon? + +He knew that without his help the weak, gentle king was unable to +govern. + +Then when Duke William came to demand the crown, and the English +resisted him, as they were sure to do, there was no one save Harold to +lead them to battle. + +He knew that he was the one man whom England needed at that time. +Already he had been absent too long. + +Yet it was a terrible thing to make a promise which he did not intend +to keep. + +Morning found Harold with his mind not made up. + +That day, William asked his guest to meet him in the great hall of the +castle. + +An unexpected sight met the Englishman as he entered. The hall was +filled with knights and barons, all waiting in silence. Beneath the +great stained-glass window was the duke in his state robes, seated upon +a throne, with a bishop on either side of him. In front of the throne +stood a chest covered with cloth of gold, and upon the cover lay an +open Bible. + +William was wearing his most grave and stony-hearted expression. + +'Yesterday I told you that King Edward of England had left his crown to +me,' he said. 'I ask you now, in presence of the barons and knights of +my dukedom, to swear to support my just claim.' + +Harold looked at the Duke with a dark and angry face. William was +taking a dishonourable advantage of him. + +'Swear,' said the Norman knight, his friend, in his ear. 'If you do +not, you will never see England again.' + +'Swear, Harold,' whispered Wulfnoth; 'the oubliettes!' + +Harold was completely in the power of the Normans. + +With downcast eyes he laid his hand upon the Bible and repeated the +words of the oath after the duke. + +[Illustration: Harold taking the Oath] + +Then the bishops came forward and raised the cloth of gold, showing +that the chest was full of the bones of Norman saints. + +Harold started back in horror; for an oath sworn upon the bones of +saints was held to be the most sacred and binding oath that a man could +take. + +Instead of friendship, his heart now became filled with a fierce hatred +towards the duke, whose ambition had led him to take an unfair +advantage of his guest. + +If he kept his oath, he would be a traitor to his country; while, if he +broke it, he feared that a curse would rest upon himself. + +When Harold had to make the choice, he remained true to his native land +and braved the consequences; but he was never again the happy, fearless +man that he had been before he had been compelled by the duke to swear +a false oath. + +Two years later, King Edward felt his end approaching, and he sent for +Harold. + +The earl found the old, white-haired king lying upon a couch, his kind +blue eyes dim with age and sickness. His wife, Harold's sister, was +sitting on a low seat by her husband's side, and the two archbishops of +the realm were with the king. + +Edward told Harold that he must soon die, and that he wished him, +Harold, Earl of Wessex, to become king after him. He said that long +ago he had repented of the promise made to William of Normandy, as he +knew that his subjects would never consent to have any but an +Englishman for their king. + +In presence of the archbishops Harold promised to govern faithfully if +the people of England should choose him for their king, and to fight +against William of Normandy if need be. + +Then King Edward told him that he had something to ask of him. + +'If England is to be strong enough to resist the Normans,' he said, +'she must be a united country. The two earls in the north, Edwin and +Morcar, are enemies of your house. Make them your friends by marrying +their sister, Aldwyth.' + +Harold was silent. + +'Ah, my son,' said the old king, 'I know that you have long hoped to +marry my ward, the Lady Edith; but you must sacrifice yourself for +England. We have both weakened our dear country, you and I; I by +unduly favouring the Norman, and you by allowing a false oath to be +extorted from you. We can only make her strong again by your marriage.' + +Harold struggled hard, but was unable to make up his mind to the +sacrifice. + +Then in came Edith, Harold's betrothed bride, fair and graceful as a +lily: Edith of the Swan's Neck, as people called her. Her face was +pale and sorrowful, but she had resolved to do her duty. + +'Harold,' she implored him, 'for the sake of England; that our country +may be free! I will never, never marry any one else; but you are a +king! Marry Aldwyth! + +With a sore heart Harold yielded to her entreaty, and promised the old +king that he would do as he asked. + +Then Harold and Edith parted, Harold to marry the daughter of his enemy +and Edith to enter a convent, where she might pray for England and for +Harold. + +A few days later the old king passed away, muttering sorrowful things +about war and trouble which he feared would come upon England. He had +been a good, kind old man, and his people grieved for him very much; +but through his want of firmness he had prepared the way for some of +the worst troubles that England was ever to know. + +Immediately after King Edward was dead, the wise men chose Harold for +their king, and on the following day the old king was buried and the +new one crowned in the church which is now a part of Westminster Abbey. + +The news was not slow in reaching Normandy. Duke William was just +leaving his castle with a hunting-party when a messenger came to tell +him that Harold had been crowned King of England. + +Immediately the duke dismounted from his horse, went into his own room, +closed the door, and remained there until nightfall. No one dared to +enter that room or speak to the duke. When he left it, it was with the +resolve to take a terrible vengeance upon the man who, he said, had +broken his oath. + +He sent for armourers, and sword-smiths, and carpenters, and +ship-builders. Then he sent all over Normandy, and all over France, +for soldiers to help him to fight against Harold. + +For six months the people of Normandy worked with a will. The soldiers +having been brought together, weapons had to be provided for them, +horses found, and ships built to carry them over to England. William +wrote to the Pope and told him the story of the broken oath, and the +Pope sent his blessing and a sacred banner, and cursed Harold for +having sworn falsely by the saints. + +At last everything was ready; and in the ports and harbours of Normandy +William's ships were only waiting for a fair wind to carry his forces +to what they believed to be a holy war. + +In the meanwhile Harold had been finding plenty of troubles at home. +His own brother, Tostig, whom he had made Earl of Northumbria, had so +offended his subjects by his cruelty and injustice that they had +rebelled against him and driven him from the country. Tostig sent to +ask Harold to restore him to his earldom, but Harold refused either to +aid him or to allow him to return to a country where his misrule had +caused him to be hated by every one. + +Then Tostig went to one king after another asking for help; but they +all refused to aid him. At last he found his way to King Harold +Hardrada of Norway; and this warlike king gave him a fleet and an army +and came himself to strike a blow against England. + +The Norwegians landed on the shores of Northumbria, and began to ravage +the country and burn the dwellings of the people. + +Messengers were sent on swift horses to Harold. It was September, and +all the fighting-men were away in the fields, gathering in the harvest, +but at their country's need they left their work and flocked around +their king. + +In a short time Harold had collected an army; and he led his men +northward by a road which had been made by the Romans hundreds of years +before. + +There was little time for rest on the long march from London to +Northumbria. As they trudged steadily onwards the men talked of the +enemy whom they were soon to meet; the world-renowned Harold King of +Norway, who had led his sea-kings to battle in many lands. + +'Ay,' said one, 'I've heard that he fought black heathen folk in an +outlandish place called Egypt. Be there such a place?' + +'Egypt?' said another; 'that's the land parson preaches of in the +church; there were Pharaohs there, and plagues.' + +'Ay,' said the first; 'when King Hardrada was in that land he met +something worse far than Pharaohs.' + +'What was that?' asked the others. + +'A fearsome beast that wore armour like a man. They call it a +crocodile; and the country there is swarming with its like. Ten rows +of teeth it had; and it came out of the river on its hind legs, and +clawed at the king with iron gloves. They fought till sundown, they +say, man and beast; and hard work had the king to slay the awesome +creature.--He's a great fighter, is King Harold Hardrada.' + +The others marched in silence for a time, thinking about this fearful +adventure of the Norwegian king. It was night, and the harvest moon +was lighting up the long lines of men, with the king and his nobles on +their tired horses at the head; the sleeping cottages, and the yellow +shocks of corn standing ready cut in the fields on either side of the +way. + +'They do say,' began another man after a time, 'that the next enemy we +shall have to fight will be the Duke of Normandy.' + +Weary as they were, all the hearers drew themselves up and squared +their shoulders. + +'Let him come,' they said. 'We will have no Norman for our king!' + +'Ay,' another voice was saying, 'they do tell that the Pope has sent +him a sacred banner, and calls it a holy war because our good king has +broken an oath which he swore long ago, to help Duke William to be King +of England.' + +'We will have no foreigner to be our king,' repeated the men. 'Neither +Pope nor earl can give away the crown of England.' + +They marched resolutely onward; and for a time nothing was heard save +the steady tramp of feet and the breathing of the tired horses. + +Presently a halt was called, and the weary army lay down to snatch a +few hours' sleep beneath the moon. + +They were on foot again by daybreak; and at length they came face to +face with their foes. + +Near Stamford Bridge on the river Derwent, the Norwegian army was drawn +up in a great circle, with the sunbeams glinting upon helmets and +spear-points. High overhead floated the royal standard, a raven with +outstretched wings, called by the Norwegians the land-waster. + +Riding at a short distance from the army was a knight in a bright blue +mantle and a shining helmet. + +'Who is that man?' asked Harold of one of his captains. + +'It is the King of Norway,' replied the captain. + +Harold looked at the rider again. + +'He is a tall and stately king,' he said; 'but his end is near.' + +Then he looked again at the Norwegians, all drawn up in battle array; +and he thought of his brother, somewhere among their ranks; and he +wondered whether it was too late to try to make peace. + +He rode out from his army until he was half-way between the two forces; +and then he shouted, 'Is Tostig the son of Godwin here?' + +Tostig rode forward and said, 'Behold, Tostig is here!' + +Then Harold cried, 'Harold of England offers Tostig peace and one-third +of the kingdom of England that he may rule over it; for he would not +that brother should fight against brother.' + +'Last winter,' answered Tostig, 'my brother had nought for me but words +of scorn and high disdain; but now I am glad that he speaks both kindly +and fairly. But what will my brother King Harold of England give to +King Harold of Norway for his trouble in coming here?' + +'Seven feet of English ground,' replied Harold; 'or perhaps a foot +over, seeing he is taller than most other men.' + +'Go thy way!' shouted the Earl; 'Tostig will not desert his friends and +go over to his foes. He and his friends will die on this spot like +men, or will win England with their arms.' + +Riding back to his army, Tostig was met by King Harold Hardrada. + +'Who is that man who spake with thee?' asked the King of Norway. + +Tostig replied, 'That is my brother Harold, the son of Godwin, and King +of the English.' + +'He is but a little man,' said Hardrada; 'but he sits well in his +stirrups.' + +Then the battle began. + +Both sides fought well, but the English pressed the Northmen hard, and +drove them backward until they came to the river Derwent. Then they +pressed them harder than ever; and the Northmen might have been forced +into the river and drowned but for the bravery of one of their number, +who kept the bridge with uplifted sword while the other soldiers passed +over. At last an Englishman got under the bridge, and thrust upward +with his spear through the planks; and wounded the brave Northman so +that he died. + +After this the Northmen fell into confusion. Hardrada and Tostig were +both slain; and the remnant of their army fled in a panic to their +ships. + +The English marched towards York, where the king gave a great feast in +honour of the victory. + +The guests were seated round the board, drinking healths and singing, +and Harold was thinking sorrowfully of the brother who had fallen, a +traitor to his country, when of a sudden there was a loud knocking at +the door. + +'What is that?' inquired the startled guests. + +The door was thrown open, and a weary, white-faced man appeared, all +splashed and caked with mud. + +'What ill news have you come to bring me?' asked Harold, while the +others all left the board and crowded round to hear. + +'My lord the king,' said the messenger, 'I am from Pevensey--the +Normans have landed--Duke William--sixty thousand men--laying waste the +country--ships, horses, men-at-arms----' + +'Ha!' said Harold; 'he has chosen a time when the men who guard the +coast are at their harvest; scattered over the country; and there is no +one save myself to gather them together. How long is it since you +left?' + +'I hardly know,' replied the messenger; 'I took no count of time. I +have galloped all the way--ridden day and night, changing horses where +I could.' + +'Thanks, brave messenger,' said the king; 'by your speed you may have +saved your country. We must set off without delay,' he said, turning +to his guests; 'there is no more time for rest--who is ready to start +for Sussex?' + +'I--and I--and I,' said the nobles, hurrying to fetch their followers; +and soon the hall was deserted. + +In an hour's time the army was once more upon the march. The two +earls, Edwin and Morcar, whose sister Harold had married, remained in +the north, promising to collect their forces and to follow the king +with all speed. + +As Harold approached the south of England, he was joined by hundreds of +men who had fled from the invaders, and were eager to avenge the +destruction of their homesteads. + +'The English,' reported Duke William's outposts to their master, 'rush +onward through their pillaged country with the fury of madmen.' + +'Let them come, and come soon!' was the duke's reply. + +At Senlac, near the town of Hastings in Sussex, the English came in +sight of their foes. The Normans lay encamped upon the plain, while +Harold posted his army on a hill, with a little wood behind, and an old +mossy apple-tree a little to one side. + +Night came on, clear and cold; and the two armies lay in sight of one +another's camp-fires, where they could hear the clinking of the +armourer's hammers, and the rough voices of the men on the other side. + +When all was ready, the Normans lay down quietly to sleep, and awoke in +the morning refreshed and eager for the fray. + +The English sat around their watch-fires, passing the horns of ale and +mead from hand to hand, and singing glees and war-songs. Over all +brooded the thought of the broken oath, and of the curse which had been +pronounced against England; but they knew that the curse was unjust, +and were resolved to fight to the last against the invader. + +Harold rode round the camp to speak a last word of encouragement to his +men before they slept. He still hoped that the northern earls, Edwin +and Morcar, would come up before the battle; but Edwin and Morcar were +traitors. They had said to themselves, 'If Harold falls, we shall +divide England with Duke William, and be kings of our share of the +country instead of earls.' So they remained in the north; and the +sacrifice that Harold had made in marrying their sister proved to be in +vain. + +Morning dawned, and the two armies drew themselves up in order of +battle. The English numbered only twenty thousand men, while William +had brought against them sixty thousand; but the English had the +advantage of a stronger position. + +Harold drew up his bodyguard on the crest of the hill, where he had +planted his standard, the Golden Dragon of Wessex. Close by were the +men of London, who had the right of fighting by the side of their king. +These men were all clad in coats of mail, and carried battle-axes, and +javelins for throwing. On the sides of the hill were posted the other +soldiers and the country people, many of whom were armed only with +darts, knives, and pitchforks, for they had come in very hastily from +the fields. Round the hill the men had dug a trench, and fortified it +with a stockade; and behind the stockade Harold posted a line of +soldiers, standing close together, shield touching shield. + +Then Harold and his two brothers rode through the army, saying, 'Keep +your ranks, men! Stand shoulder to shoulder, and we shall win the day. +But if you leave your line, or allow the Normans to break it, we are +lost. Stand firm!' + +After having passed from rank to rank, and spoken to all the men, +Harold and his brothers rode back to the royal standard and dismounted, +for they were resolved to fight on foot and take what came like the +meanest of their soldiers. + +Meanwhile Duke William had drawn up his men in three divisions, with a +long line of archers in front. In the centre were posted the Norman +knights with William at their head; and the sacred banner, the three +lions of Normandy, floating above them. + +Suddenly there burst from the Norman lines their battle-cry of 'God aid +us!' and the vast army began to move across the plain. At the head +rode a minstrel-knight, singing an old battle-song, and whirling up his +sword in the air and catching it again as it fell. + +Now the battle began in real earnest. + +A flight of arrows was let loose upon the English host, then the +Normans charged up to the palisade. + +As well might they have flung themselves against a stone wall. +Standing shoulder to shoulder, the English swung their huge +battle-axes, which clove their way through armour and shirts of mail. +Again and again the Normans charged against the barricade, the duke +himself at their head, his eyes shining like balls of living fire and +his voice like a trumpet; but they were driven back like waves breaking +around the base of a cliff. + +On all sides the battle raged. Lances clashed, sword rang upon sword, +arrows whizzed through the air, and battle-axes crashed through steel +armour; while the cries of the wounded mingled with the blasts of the +war-horn and English cries of 'Out, out!' answered the Norman shouts of +'God aid us!' + +Stoutest of the English was Harold, whose heavy battle-axe would cut +down horse and rider at a blow. Among the Normans there arose a cry +that the duke was slain. + +'Here am I,' shouted William, tearing off his helmet, 'and by God's aid +will yet win the day!' + +Maddened with war fury, he spurred up the hill, broke single-handed +through the barrier, and rode straight to Harold. The brother of the +king stepped before him, and was hewn down by a blow from William +before the duke himself was unhorsed and fell to the ground. Mounting +again quickly, William cut his way through his foes and was back again +in the Norman lines before any one could harm him. + +A body of Normans having given way, the Kentish men in their eagerness +overleaped the barricade and gave chase to their flying foes. +Instantly William saw his advantage. The Normans turned, galloped up +the hill, and poured by thousands into the gap thus left undefended. + +This proved the turning point of the day. + +'Slowly and surely,' says an old writer, 'the Norman horse pressed +along the crest of the hill, strewing the height with corpses as the +hay is strewn in swaths before the mower.' + +Still the ring round the standard remained unbroken, and in the centre +Harold and his bodyguard held their ground, dealing blows around them +with their great battle-axes. Beyond the ring the dead lay piled up in +heaps, English and Norman together. + +'Shoot upward,' cried the duke to his archers, 'that your arrows may +fall like bolts from heaven.' + +A shower of arrows fell upon the heads and shoulders of the English, +killing and wounding many a brave fighter. + +The battle had lasted since early morning; and just as the sun went +down an arrow pierced Harold's right eye. + +The king dropped his battle-axe, and fell forward with a short, sharp +cry of pain. + +[Illustration: The Death of Harold.] + +Twenty Norman knights rushed forward, seized the standard, and dealt +Harold a mortal blow as he lay beside the dead bodies of his two +brothers. + +The English, having lost their leader, left the field fighting to the +last, and then scattered over the country to carry far and wide the +ill-tidings that King Harold was slain and the Norman master of England. + +All was quiet when the moon rose over the hill where the Golden Dragon +had been hauled down and the sacred banner of the Normans raised in its +stead. The ground having been hastily cleared, William's tent was +pitched upon the spot where Harold and his brothers had made their last +stand, and the duke slept there all night. + +The next day was a Sunday, and as the bells tinkled mournfully in the +churches, Englishwomen came flocking to the field of battle, with pale +faces and eyes red with weeping, to beg leave to look for their +husbands and brothers and sons among the slain. Among them was the +mother of Harold, offering William its weight in gold for the body of +her son. + +The conqueror gave her leave to search, and for a long time the noble +English lady wandered over the battle-field, seeking vainly among the +dead. + +Then came Aldwyth, Harold's wife; but she too, was unable to find the +body of her husband. + +Last of all came Edith of the Swan's Neck, whom Harold had loved; and +she sought long for the body. + +At last she came to a corpse that was lying upon a heap of dead, +disfigured with so many wounds that only she could have known it. + +'That is Harold,' she said. + +William gave orders that the last of the English kings should be buried +upon the cliffs that guard the shores of England, and a heap of stones +raised upon it. + +'Let him lie there,' he said; 'he kept the shore manfully while he +lived; let him stay and guard it ever, now he is dead.' + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE BOY WHO WOULD BE A KING + +The Norman King of England, a descendant of William the Conqueror, +having died without leaving any children, his brother John made himself +king. + +John was a very bad man; and he was both mean and cowardly. Although +he was King of England and Duke of Normandy he was never happy or at +rest, for he knew that his nephew Arthur, the son of his elder brother, +had a better right than himself to the crown. As time went on he +became more and more uneasy, for he found that his subjects did not +like him, and he was afraid that they might learn to like the fine, +handsome lad whom many of them believed to be their rightful sovereign. + +At the time when John made himself king, young Arthur was only twelve +years old, and he was living safely in his own dukedom of Brittany. +His father having died when Arthur was only a baby, the young prince +had been Duke of Brittany all his life; and he had grown up among his +people, who loved their young duke very much. + +King Philip of France was an enemy of John; and when he heard that the +man whom he despised had taken the crown which should have been +Arthur's, he invited the young duke to his court, made him a knight, +boy although he was, and promised him his daughter in marriage when he +should be a man. + +Alas! Poor Arthur never lived to marry the Princess of France. + +One day the French king said to the young prince, 'Arthur, you know +your rights, and that your uncle John is not the true King of England. +Would you not like to be a king?' + +The boy looked at King Philip with his large, bright blue eyes. + +'Truly,' he said, 'I should greatly like to be a king.' + +'Then win back your inheritance,' said the King of France. 'I will +give you two hundred of my knights, and you shall come with me and make +war upon your uncle in Normandy, which is yours by right. Once we have +taken Normandy from the usurper, it will be easy to drive him from +England. + +Prince Arthur flushed with joy and pride; and his eyes sparkled more +brightly than ever. The King of France gave him a beautiful horse, and +Arthur had a fine suit of armour made for himself; and then he was +unable to rest or sleep for joy at the thought that he would soon be a +king, and marry the beautiful princess who had been promised to him as +his wife. + +When the people of Brittany heard that their gallant young duke was +going to fight for his inheritance, they gathered together five hundred +knights and five thousand foot soldiers and sent them to Arthur in +France. + +Arthur was very proud of his little army, and he felt sure that with +the help of his followers he would soon win back England and Normandy. +Seeing him upon his fine horse, and wearing his rich suit of armour, +the knights and soldiers were delighted with the fine, spirited lad, +and set off gaily under his leadership to besiege a town which was in +the possession of King John. + +Upon hearing the news, the King of England came himself to fight +against his nephew. He did not bring a large army; he knew that King +Philip of France was in another part of the country, and he did not +think it would be very difficult to overcome Prince Arthur. + +One night the prince's troops were surprised by treachery. A number of +King John's soldiers stole into the camp, made prisoners of some of +Arthur's knights, and stabbed others in the dark. + +Prince Arthur was sleeping in his tent when he was rudely awakened by +some armed men, who seized him by the wrists, and bade him come with +them and not make any noise. + +His captors hurried the lad through the streets of the little town, +which were full of King John's soldiers, running to and fro with +lighted torches, and some of them leading Prince Arthur's brave French +and Breton soldiers as prisoners. + +Presently they reached a lighted hall, and when his eyes became +accustomed to the glare Arthur saw before him his uncle John, a look of +triumph upon his mean face and in his shifty eyes. In a corner was a +group of Arthur's knights, with fetters on their wrists and ankles. + +'Do you know me, boy?' said King John, trying to look his nephew in the +face. + +The prince stood up boldly and looked at his uncle with his honest, +fearless eyes. + +'Yes,' he said, 'I know you; you are my uncle, the usurping King of +England.' + +John's mean face became white with anger, and he was unable to speak. + +'I command you,' continued the boy, 'to restore to me my rightful +inheritance, of which you have unjustly deprived me, and to set my +knights instantly at liberty.' + +Some of the bystanders were looking at the lad with pity, mingled with +admiration for his courage; but the boy's fearlessness only filled the +king with a desire to lower his pride. + +By the time he had found his voice, John's eyes were glittering with a +cruel determination. + +'To Falaise with him!' he said. 'Take him away; and in the dungeon +there he will learn to rebel against his uncle and lawful king.' + +Arthur was not frightened yet. He remembered that King Philip had +promised to make him King of England; and he saw nothing to be afraid +of in the mean, cowardly face of the man before him. + +'No king of mine,' he said; 'you may put me in a dungeon, but you +cannot keep me there. The King of France is on my side and against +you, base usurper; and he will send an army and deliver me from the +strongest fortress of those that you have stolen from me.' + +King John made a sign; and the boy was hurried away, still defying his +uncle. A horse was waiting for him, and he was made to ride, strongly +guarded, all the long distance to the castle of Falaise, which was +reached early one fine sunny morning. + +Standing beneath the grim walls of the castle, the chief of Arthur's +guards blew a horn. + +Some men-at-arms stirred upon the battlements; then the drawbridge was +lowered, the iron grating raised which guarded the entrance; and the +party clattered under the entrance tower and into the courtyard. + +Arthur descended from his horse; and weary as he was, he was led along +a passage and down a stone staircase to a great iron door which one of +his guides opened with a large key. + +Arthur's spirits sank when he saw before him a dreary stone dungeon +lighted only by a window high up in the wall, and furnished with a +narrow bed, a stool, and a heap of straw. + +Still, he said to himself, it was only for a few days. To-morrow, or +the next day, or the day after that at farthest, the King of France was +sure to come, and then Arthur would mount his gallant horse again, put +himself at the head of his devoted little army, and set forth once more +to make himself King of England. + +To-morrow came, and the next day, and the day after that; and Arthur +was still in his dungeon. Weeks passed; and the King of France had not +arrived to rescue the prince who was to be his son-in-law. + +Spring came, and sometimes the sun shone brightly through the small +window, and made a brilliant patch of light on the opposite wall of +Prince Arthur's dungeon.--When the breezes blew, branches with young +unfolding leaves would appear for a minute at the opening and then +vanish. Balmy air stole in at the unglazed window and breathed softly +upon the face of the prisoner; and Arthur would hear the song-birds and +the voices of other boys at their games beneath the castle walls, and +all the pleasant sounds of a world where every one save himself +appeared to be at liberty. Sometimes Arthur would sit for hours, +gazing upwards at the tiny square of light, his heart swelling with +impatience as he thought of the spring pastimes that he was losing; and +he wondered when the King of France would come and set him free. + +One day the bolts were withdrawn at an unusual hour. + +Here, then, was King Philip at last! + +Arthur turned quickly; and in the archway of the door, he saw the white +face of his uncle. + +[Illustration: Arthur in prison visited by King John.] + +'Arthur,' said King John, trying to meet his nephew's eyes, 'will you +not trust to your loving uncle?' + +'I will trust my loving uncle,' replied the boy, 'when he does me +right. Restore to me my kingdom of England, and then come and ask me +that question.' + +The king looked at his nephew, whose high-spirited young face had +become so much paler by confinement; then he turned away without a word +and left the prison. + +After this King John took counsel with his advisers. + +'What shall I do with this boy,' he said, 'who defies me and thinks +that he is to become King of England?' + +'Behead him,' said one. 'Have him poisoned,' said another. + +'Put his eyes out,' suggested a hard-faced nobleman who had not spoken +before; 'the people will not care to have a blind man for their king.' + +'Put out his eyes,' mused the king; 'put out his eyes; those eyes which +look with unseemly boldness at his uncle and true sovereign.' + +The longer he dwelt upon the idea the more attractive did it become to +him. + +The boy who could not be made to fear him; who persisted in believing +that he would one day force his uncle to yield up the crown--it would +be gratifying to know that he had been deprived of his frank, fearless +eyes. + +John sent to the prison a man called Hubert de Burgh, whom he believed +to be devoted to himself; and gave him charge of Prince Arthur. + +Hubert had a stern face but a kind heart, and he soon grew so much +attached to the bright boy who was his prisoner, that he felt towards +him almost as a father. He took the prince out of the dungeon, and +gave him bright sunny rooms in another part of the castle; and often he +spent hours with his young charge, enjoying his cheerful boyish +conversation. + +What was Hubert's dismay when one day he received a letter from the +king, commanding that his prisoner's eyes should be burned out with hot +irons. Not only that, but he had sent two executioners to see that it +was done. + +Hubert was hardly able to bear the pain which such an order gave him; +but he was unable to see any way of escape for the prince. + +He entered Arthur's room that morning with so sad a face that the +prince asked what ailed him. + +'May one not be sad at times, prince?' said Hubert, whose sorrow made +him gruff. + +'Indeed there may be many things that make people sad,' replied Prince +Arthur, 'although I was nearly forgetting that any one could be unhappy +who is out of prison.--Indeed, Hubert, I am beginning to think that if +only I were free and kept sheep I could be as merry as the day is long. +Perhaps I should not trouble any longer about being a king if only I +had the blue sky above my head once more, and no prison bars.--I wish I +were your son, Hubert; and then I should not have to spend my time in +prison.' + +Poor Hubert, it was necessary that he should tell the prince what was +going to happen; and yet the longer he waited the more impossible it +seemed for him to begin. He moved uneasily about the room, and looked +so gloomy, that Arthur felt sure that something was the matter. + +'Here, prince, read this letter,' said Hubert abruptly at last, feeling +it impossible that he could utter the dreadful news. + +Arthur took the letter; and then he became deadly pale. + +'Hubert, is this true?' he said. + +'Prince, these are your uncle's orders!' said Hubert with a shaking +voice. + +'Have you the heart to do it?' said Arthur piteously. 'Will you indeed +burn out my eyes?' + +'I must,' said Hubert; 'your uncle has sent two men to see that it is +done.' + +'O Hubert!' was all that Arthur could say. + +'Better get it over quickly,' muttered Hubert to himself, and he called +the executioners, who had been waiting outside the door. + +'Send these men away, Hubert!' cried the boy. 'I will stay quite +still, Hubert, I will not move if you will do it yourself; but I cannot +bear the sight of these men.' + +'You may go,' said Hubert to the executioners; 'I will call when I am +ready for you.' + +'Indeed,' said one of the men, who had pitied the boy, 'I am best +pleased to be away from such a deed.' + +But it was impossible for Hubert to burn out the eyes of his dear young +prisoner; and it was impossible for Arthur not to beg for mercy. + +'I cannot do it,' said Hubert more to himself than to the prince, 'and +I will not; I shall have to take the consequences.' He opened the +door, and called in the two men. + +They came in unwilling, each hoping that he would not have to do the +deed. + +'I have not burned out the prince's eyes,' said Hubert abruptly. 'What +is more, I am not going to allow you to do so. You can tell the king +if you like.' + +'Indeed, sir,' said one of the men, 'we won't tell his majesty anything +at all. And by your leave, sir, we would both rather be excused from +doing our duty if it's to be a young gentleman like this, who can't +have done anything to deserve it. And so we will wish you good-day, +sir.' + +The men shuffled out of the room, but Arthur's troubles were not over +yet. King John began to think that Arthur, even without his eyes, was +too dangerous a prisoner to keep on his hands; and he suggested to a +knight named William de Bray that he should stab the prince in prison. + +'I am a gentleman and not an executioner,' replied William de Bray; and +he turned from the king in disdain. + +Then John hired an assassin for a large sum of money, and sent him to +the castle to kill the prince. + +'Upon what errand dost thou come?' asked Hubert de Burgh, as the fellow +presented himself at the castle gates. + +'To despatch Prince Arthur,' said the man. + +'Go back to him that sent thee,' said Hubert, 'and say that I will do +it.' + +King John, knowing very well that Hubert was trying to save his +prisoner, separated Arthur from his kind gaoler, and had him imprisoned +in the strong castle of Rouen, which is washed on one side by the river +Seine. + +Then he came himself in a boat by night and waited outside the castle +walls. + +Arthur was awakened by his gaoler and made to follow him to a small +door by the river-side. When the door was unfastened, the gaoler threw +down his torch and trod upon it to put it out, and Arthur was only able +to distinguish two dark forms in the boat. From the voice he could +tell that one of them was his uncle. + +Arthur was dragged on board the boat, imploring the king to have mercy +upon him; and what happened after that has never been told. Some say +that John stunned his nephew with a large stone, and flung his body +into the Seine; at all events, neither the prince, nor his dead body, +was ever seen again. + +If John thought that his nephew's murder would make him undisputed King +of England he was much mistaken. The cruel deed aroused the greatest +indignation throughout England and France. Through it the dukedom of +Normandy was lost to the English crown, and some years later John died +a ruined man, with his subjects in open rebellion against him. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE BLACK PRINCE + +Edward III., King of England, was a very warlike prince. When the King +of France died he was succeeded by his nephew Philip, but Edward +declared that he, being a grandson of the late king, had a better right +than a nephew; and he set off with a gallant army and many knights and +nobles to enforce his claim. + +The war proved a much longer one than Edward had expected. Six years +after the English king's first march into France the two nations were +still fighting. By this time King Edward's eldest son was fifteen +years of age, and he implored his father to let him accompany him to +the French war. + +This young prince was a fine spirited youth, and skilful at all manly +exercises. In appearance he was very fair, with light hair and +laughing blue eyes. Perhaps he was a little vain of his appearance, +because in order to show off the fairness of his complexion he always +wore dark-coloured armour, a habit which led to his being known in +after life as Edward the Black Prince. + +Seeing his boy's courage and warlike spirit, the king consented to his +accompanying him upon his next expedition into France. + +In the month of July, 1346, the king and the prince set sail with an +army of thirty thousand men, ten thousand of whom were archers. + +For seven weeks the English marched through the fair and smiling +country of France, meeting with very little opposition, and plundering +and burning wherever they went. + +At last, by the little village of Crecy on the banks of the river +Somme, the English came in view of the French army. + +It was not difficult to tell that the army of the King of France +numbered at least eight times as many men as were on the side of the +English; but King Edward decided that it would never do to betray fear. + +'We will go in,' he said calmly to his men, 'and beat, or be beaten.' + +It was too late to fight that day; and the English lay down within +sight of the enemy. + +Early in the morning the English king set his army in order of battle. + +King Edward himself was to command one division; two of his earls +another; and the eager young prince, assisted by the Earls of Warwick +and Oxford, was given the charge of a third. + +When the troops were all drawn up in fighting array, the king mounted +his horse and rode from rank to rank, cheering and encouraging the men +and their leaders. + +'He spoke so sweetly,' says an old writer, 'and with so good a +countenance and merry cheer, that all such as were discomfited took +courage in seeing and hearing him.' + +By the time King Edward had gone round the whole army it was about nine +o'clock, and the sun was shining warm and bright upon what was soon to +be the field of battle. The king sent orders that his men were to 'eat +at their ease and drink a cup'; and the whole army sat down upon the +grass and breakfasted. Then they returned to their ranks again and lay +down, each man in his place, with his bow and helmet beside him, +waiting until the enemy should be ready to begin the fight. + +In the meanwhile the French army was approaching. By the time the king +had brought his men within reach of the English lines, the bright +morning had clouded over. The day had become dark and threatening, and +soon the thunder began to growl, and the lightning to flash overhead. +The frightened birds flew screaming for shelter, and the clouds broke +and fell in a heavy shower upon the French king's army. + +One of his captains advised King Philip not to fight until the morrow. +The king gave the order to halt; but the men in the rear, not +understanding the message, pressed forward and forced the others to +advance, thus throwing the army into confusion. + +Finding that it was too late to put off the battle, King Philip ordered +to the front a great body of Genoese cross-bowmen, whom he had hired to +fight against the English. + +By this time the rain was over and the sun had come out; but it shone +full in the faces of the cross-bowmen, and prevented them from seeing +the enemy. Their bows, too, had become wetted with the rain, and the +strings were slackened. + +When they heard the king's order the Genoese moved forward; 'then,' +says the historian, 'they made a great cry to abash the English; but +they stood still and stirred not for all that. A second and a third +time the Genoese uttered a fell cry--very loud and clear, and a little +stept forward; but the English removed not one foot.' + +At last the Genoese sent a shower of arrows into the ranks of the calm, +silent English. + +The English received the shower quietly; then their reply was prompt. +A quick movement went along the line of archers; the ten thousand men +advanced one pace, and 'their arrows flew so wholly together and so +thick that it seemed as if it snowed.' + +The Genoese required time to wind up their cross-bows before they could +re-load; and in the meantime the English longbowmen shot so +continuously that the ranks of the Genoese broke in terror and fled. + +Still the archers sent their deadly hail upon the French army, while a +number of Welsh and Cornish soldiers, armed with long knives, crept in +under the horses and stabbed them, so that both horse and rider fell +heavily to the ground. The confusion was rendered still more dreadful +by means of a weapon which King Edward used for the first time in +battle; small 'bombards,' or cannon, as they were afterwards called, +'which with fire threw little iron balls to frighten the horses.' + +While the battle raged with great fury on both sides, King Edward was +sending out his orders from a windmill from which he could overlook the +progress of the fight. + +Presently a messenger came from the Earl of Warwick, beseeching the +king to send aid to his son, the Black Prince. + +[Illustration: Warwick's messenger asking for aid to be sent to the +Black Prince.] + +'Is my son killed?' asked the king. + +'No, Sire, please God,' replied the messenger. + +'Is he wounded?' + +'No, Sire.' + +'Is he thrown to the ground?' + +'No, Sire, not so; but he is very hard pressed.' + +'Then,' said the king, 'go back to those that sent you, and tell them +that he shall have no help from me. Let the boy win his spurs; for I +wish, if God so order it, that the day may be his.' + +The messenger carried back these words to the prince, who fought harder +than ever, and drove off his assailants. + +For hours the battle raged, both sides fighting with great fury and +determination. On the French side was the old blind King of Bohemia, +who remained somewhat apart, mounted upon his warhorse, listening to +the din and noise of the battle in which his son was engaged. + +After some time he heard a French knight approaching, and asked him how +the fight was going. + +'The Genoese have been routed,' was the reply; 'and your son is +wounded.' + +Then the king called to him two of his vassals and said to them, +'Lords, you are my vassals, my friends, and my companions; I pray you +of your goodness to lead me so far into the fight that I may at least +strike one blow with my sword.' + +Then the two knights drew up, one on each side of their aged king; and +all three fastened their bridle-reins together and rode into the fray. + +'The king,' says the old story-teller, 'struck one blow with his sword; +yea, and more than four; and fought right valiantly'; until he and his +knights disappeared under the heaving, struggling mass of men, never to +rise again. + +In the meantime the King of France was fighting as hard as any man on +the field. Twice he was wounded, and once he had his horse shot under +him; but after having had his wounds bound up, he mounted again and +rode back into the fight. Many times he led his men in furious charges +against the English; but nothing could overcome the coolness and +determination of the English forces. + +At last the French were vanquished, and had to retire from the field. +Their sacred banner, the Oriflamme, or Flame of Gold, was nearly +captured, but a brave French knight broke his way through the crowd +which was struggling around it, cut the banner from its staff with his +sword, and winding it round his body, rode away with it in safety. + +The French king, refusing to leave the field, was dragged away, almost +by force, by some of his followers. + +After riding for some miles, they came to a castle and knocked at the +gate. + +'Who is there?' shouted the gate-keeper. + +'It is the Fortune of France,' was the reply. + +Then the lord of the castle came down himself and opened the gates, and +let in his weary, broken-hearted king. + +Night was closing in, and the English were lighting their watch-fires +upon the battlefield, when King Edward rode forward to meet the son who +had fought so bravely. Taking the lad in his arms, he kissed him, and +he told him that he had acted nobly, and worthy of the day and of his +high birth. + +Next morning the king and the prince went to look at the slain, and +found among them the old King of Bohemia, lying dead between his two +knights. Beside the king lay his shield and helmet, bearing his +device, three ostrich feathers, with the motto 'ich dien.' + +King Edward gave orders that the old hero should be borne from the +field and buried with royal honours; and then he and the prince moved +away in a very thoughtful mood. + +'Truly,' said Prince Edward, 'I think that was well said; "ich dien," +meaning that a king's duty is to serve his country.' + +'As thou hast served it well this day, my son,' replied his father, +'wilt thou take this device for thine own?' + +So the prince took for his crest the three ostrich feathers with the +motto, in remembrance of his gallant enemy, and the device is borne by +the Princes of Wales to this day. + +Ten years later, the Black Prince had become a man, and the war was not +yet at an end. King Philip was dead, and had been succeeded by his son +John, a brave and chivalrous king. + +Edward being engaged in fighting with the Scots, the Black Prince took +command of the army in France. Near the town of Poitiers he believed +that the French king lay somewhere in readiness to give battle; but the +English could not find out where he was. + +The prince gave orders that the French peasants were to be made to tell +him where their king lay encamped; but these poor people were so loyal +that neither money nor threats could make them give any information. + +Prince Edward was in great perplexity, for his army was now reduced to +about ten thousand men; and if the King of France had a larger force, +the prince felt that it might be more prudent for him to retire. + +One day, quite unexpectedly, the English came in view of the French +army, encamped near the town of Poitiers. The whole country, far and +near, seemed to be occupied by the force which was to oppose the +Prince's little body of ten thousand men. + +'There was all the flower of France,' says the historian, 'for there +was none durst abide at home without he were shamed for ever.' + +'God help us,' said the Black Prince; 'we must make the best of it.' + +He posted his army very strongly upon a hill, while the French king +marshalled his forces upon the plain below. + +That night the two armies lay, strongly guarded, within sight of each +other. + +In the morning the battle was about to begin when a cardinal came +riding in haste to the French king, and implored him to give him leave +to try to save the small body of English from rushing upon certain +destruction. + +'Sire,' he said, 'you have here all the flower of your realm against a +handful of people, for so the English are as compared to your company. +I pray you that you will allow me to ride to the prince and show him +what danger you have him in.' + +The king gave permission, and the cardinal came riding over to the +Black Prince, who received him courteously. + +'Save my honour,' he said, when the cardinal offered to try to arrange +terms for him, 'and the honour of my army, and I will make any +reasonable terms.' + +He offered to give up all the towns and castles he had taken, and to +make a truce with the French king for seven years; and the cardinal +rode back to his own side with this message. + +After an interval of suspense he came riding to the English camp again. + +'The King of France consents to make peace,' said the cardinal, 'on +condition that you will yield yourself up a prisoner, with a hundred of +your knights.' + +The prince's face darkened. + +Here would be shameful news to send to his father and the people of +England! + +As the King of France refused to make peace upon any other conditions, +Prince Edward broke off the treaty and turned to his army, saying +quietly, 'God defend the right; we shall fight to-morrow.' + +All that day the English worked hard to make their position more +secure. The sides of the hill were covered with woods and vineyards, +and the principal approach was by means of a lane with hedges on either +side, behind which a number of archers posted themselves. All the +weaker places were strengthened by means of palisades. + +On the following morning, when all was in order of battle, the prince +addressed his men. + +'Sirs,' he said, 'although we be but a small company compared with our +enemies, we must not lose courage. If it is to be our good fortune to +win the day, we shall be the most honoured people in all the world; and +if we die in our right quarrel, I have the king my father and my +brothers, and you have good friends and kinsmen, and they will avenge +our deaths. I beg that each of you will do your duty to-day, and if +God be pleased and St. George, this day you will see me a true knight.' + +After this the battle began. + +The French cavalry charged up the lane, hoping to break the lines of +archers, but the men who were posted behind the hedges received them +with such a volley of arrows that the horses refused to advance, and +some of them fell, blocking up the way. + +Then a body of English knights, galloping down the hill, threw the +foremost of the French lines into confusion. + +Lord James Audley, who during the first part of the battle had been by +the side of the prince, now said to him, 'Sir, I have always truly +served my lord your father and yourself also, and I shall do so as long +as I live. I once made a vow that in the first battle that your father +or any of his children should be in, I should be the first setter-on +and the best combatant, or else die; therefore I beg of you that you +will allow me to leave you in order that I may accomplish my vow.' + +The prince took him by the hand and said, 'Sir James, God give you this +day the grace to be the first knight of all'; and Lord James rode away +into the battle and fought until he had to be carried, sorely wounded, +from the field. + +In the meantime the battle raged with great fury upon all sides, and +many French and English knights were engaged in deadly combat. + +An English knight, Sir John Chandos, who had never left the prince, +said to his master, 'Ride forward, noble prince, and the day is yours; +let us get to the French king, for truly he is so valiant a gentleman +that I think he will not fly, but may be taken prisoner; and, sir, I +heard you say that this day I should see you a good knight.' + +'John,' said the prince, 'let us go forth; you shall not see me turn +back this day, but I will ever be with the foremost'; then the prince +and his friend rode into the thickest of the fight. + +Where the battle raged most fiercely the French king, with his young +son Philip by his side, was laying about him with his battle-axe. When +the nobles around him were slain or had fled, the brave lad refused to +leave his father, who made his last stand with the blood streaming down +from a wound in the face. + +At last the king was forced to yield, and he gave his glove to a +banished French knight, Sir Denis de Marbeke, in token of surrender. + +When the French were fleeing from the field, the Black Prince had +become so exhausted with fighting that Sir John Chandos persuaded him +to retire to his tent and take some rest. + +Presently the news came to the royal tent that the king had been taken +prisoner, and was on his way to the English camp. The prince +immediately sent two of his lords to meet him, and had him brought to +his own tent, where he received his brave enemy with the greatest +respect. + +[Illustration: The French King brought prisoner to the Black Prince +after Poitiers.] + +After the king had rested and refreshed himself, the prince invited him +and the other captive nobles to a supper in his tent, and Prince Edward +himself waited upon King John, saying that he was not worthy to sit at +table with so great a prince and so valiant a man. + +Soon after this the English returned to their own country, bringing +with them the French king and many other prisoners. + +The victorious army was received with the greatest joy; and on the day +when the Black Prince entered London, the people crowded by thousands +into the streets to see him pass as he rode on a little pony by the +side of his prisoner, King John of France, whom he had mounted upon his +own magnificent cream-coloured charger. + +King John was kept, an honourable prisoner, until a peace was made with +France. Then he was allowed to return to his own country upon +condition that the French should pay, within six years, a sum of money +for his ransom. + +Until the ransom should be paid, the French king's three sons agreed to +remain as hostages in the town of Calais, which belonged to the +English. They were allowed to ride into French territory as often as +they pleased, provided that they gave their word of honour not to +remain away longer than four days at a time. King Edward and his son, +knowing how honourable their father was, trusted in the honour of these +young princes. + +One day, however, one of the princes yielded to temptation, rode away, +and never came back to Calais at all. Upon hearing the news the French +king was so shocked that he returned to England and yielded himself up +a prisoner once more. + +'If honour is to be found nowhere else,' he said, 'it should find a +refuge in the breast of kings.' + +King Edward gave him a palace to live in, and he and his people did all +they could to show the imprisoned king how much they loved and admired +him for his noble conduct. + +But King John never returned to his own country. Three months after +his arrival in England he died, his end hastened by sorrow at the base +and thoughtless conduct of his son. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SINGEING THE KING OF SPAIN'S BEARD + +Queen Elizabeth was seated in her private apartment, her white forehead +puckered in anxious lines. + +The trouble between herself and her great rival the King of Spain had +reached its height. + +Throughout her reign English and Spaniards had been contending for the +mastery of the new countries which had been discovered on the other +side of the ocean, and for supremacy upon the seas. In South America +the Spanish king possessed rich mines of silver and precious stones: +and Queen Elizabeth's adventurers, half explorers, half pirates, +gloried in making descents upon the coast towns, waiting there until +the convoys came down from the mountains, and then seizing the +treasure, burning the town, and departing. + +Another frolicsome adventure of the English sailors was to hang about +the rear of the Spanish 'silver fleet' on its way from America to +Spain, and when any vessel became separated from her fellows, to fall +upon her, remove the precious cargo to their own vessel, and then set +fire to the Spanish ship and send her adrift upon the high seas. + +No wonder that after several years of these proceedings the Spanish +king had made up his mind that the pride of the audacious islanders +must be lowered, and a clean sweep made of the English pirates. + +And it was no wonder that Queen Elizabeth was uneasy, for she had +received tidings that even then the Spaniards had a great fleet in the +harbour of Cadiz, ready for the invasion of England. At that time the +Spanish navy was the greatest in the world, while the English only had +a few hundred small vessels. + +While the Queen was occupied with these gloomy thoughts, there was a +knock at the door, and a short, pleasant-looking man stood on the +threshold. + +The man bowed low, and the queen looked at him with an expression that +was half angry and half pleased. + +'Ha, Sir Francis Drake,' she said, 'what will you? + +[Illustration: Drake making his request of the Queen.] + +The great sailor smiled; and in spite of herself the sternness began to +melt from the queen's face. + +Few people could have remained looking into that sunburnt countenance +and still have felt annoyed. There was such a breezy determination +about the man; and his large, clear bright eyes met the eyes of every +one else with a look which made them trust him. He had the appearance +of one to whom danger and adventure are sport, and who is strong enough +to carry out the wildest adventures with success. Through his daring +exploits he had been the cause of more trouble with the Spaniards than +any other man in Queen Elizabeth's dominions, and she knew it; but then +the queen dearly loved a brave man. + +'How now, Sir Francis,' said the Queen, smiling a little in spite of +herself, 'are you already weary of dry land?' + +The adventurer gravely bent his head, + +'Please your Majesty,' he said, 'I should be glad to have a commission.' + +'What do you want a commission for?' asked the queen. + +The explorer's eyes twinkled. + +'So please your Majesty, to singe the King of Spain's beard; it has +grown somewhat too long.' + +The queen understood what he meant, but she felt that she must try to +look forbidding. + +'Ha, Sir Francis,' she said, 'have you not already made me enough +trouble with the King of Spain? Know you not that for your plunderings +in the new lands yonder he has called you "the master thief of the +unknown world"?' + +'Your Majesty,' said Sir Francis, 'I am well aware of the King of +Spain's opinion, and I think it the more reason that I should show him +some good fighting nearer home.' + +Then, throwing off his jesting manner, he showed the queen his plans +for destroying the mighty preparations which were being made against +England. + +By the time the audience was over, the clouds had lifted from the +queen's brow, and the explorer had obtained leave to carry out his +daring project. + +A few weeks later, the harbour of Cadiz showed the same scene of +animation which it had presented for many months past. The huge +battle-ships, with their high prows and castellated turrets, rose +majestically out of the water, while among them little boats and sloops +flitted in and out, carrying arms and provisions for the great +galleons. The clanking of armourers and hammering of ship-wrights was +going on busily, and the swarthy sailors were singing at their toil as +they coiled the ropes, polished brasses, and put the finishing touches +to the preparations which were being made for the conquest of England. + +Of a sudden, into the busy harbour there sailed some half dozen small, +shabby vessels. Every head was turned to look at them, and the cry +arose among the Spaniards that these ships belonged to the English +pirates. + +Instantly the guns of all the forts were turned upon them, but despite +a perfect hail of shot the plucky little fleet made its way unharmed up +to the very water-lines of the great war-vessels and set each one of +them on fire; then in face of the helpless, astonished Spaniards the +English ships turned and sailed away again, to repeat the adventure in +every harbour into which they could obtain an entrance. + +So well had the singeing of the King of Spain's beard been done that it +was a year before the expedition was able to set sail for England; and +when at last it came, the English people were ready for it. + +By the time the 'most fortunate and invincible Armada' was on its way, +nearly every fighting man in England had volunteered for service. The +small navy had been increased by the gifts of the nobility and gentry, +who had built or hired vessels for the defence of their native land, +fitted them out and manned them at their own expense; while the cities +had collected money and sent it to the Treasury, to be used as the +queen and her ministers should find it best. Lord Howard of Effingham +had been made High Admiral of the Fleet; and with him were Sir Francis +Drake and other bold seafarers. + +The army was mustered at Tilbury Fort on the river Thames, and the +queen herself went down to review the men. + +'My loving people,' she said, 'I am come among you at this time, not +for sport or pleasure, but--in the midst and heat of battle--to live +and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, for my Kingdom, and my +people, my honour and my blood, if need be, even in the dust I know I +have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and +courage of a king, and of a King of England too. And I think foul +scorn that Spain, or any Prince of Europe, should dare to invade the +borders of my realm.' + +No wonder that these brave words were cheered to the echo, and that +every man felt himself inspired to do his best. + +The winds being light the Armada advanced only slowly. The English +fleet was lying at Plymouth, and the Admirals, Lord Howard of +Effingham, Sir Francis Drake and the others, were having a game of +bowls upon Plymouth Hoe when the news was brought that the topmasts of +the Spanish vessels had been sighted off Land's End, in Cornwall. Some +of the players were about to break up the game, but Sir Francis Drake +made them keep their places. + +'There's plenty of time,' he said, 'to end the game and thrash the +Spaniards too.' + +Then quietly, without any flurry, the English vessels were made ready. + +Some hours later, the foremost ships of the great Armada came in view, +and were soon followed by the rest of the fleet sailing majestically +along in the form of a crescent, seven miles long from tip to tip. + +The English watched her go by without interfering, then the little +fleet was put to sea and followed the Armada, harassing her in the rear +and cutting off a vessel here and there. + +For fully a week this running fight was kept up; then the two fleets +came face to face with each other off the town of Calais. The first +day's encounter was indecisive; the Spanish fired over the heads of the +English, while the little vessels, low down in the water, poured their +broadsides full into the huge bulk of the Spanish galleons; yet when +night came it was discovered that the English were running short of +powder, while comparatively little harm had been done to the enemy. + +During the night an unpleasant surprise was prepared for the Spaniards. + +Half a dozen of the oldest vessels in the English fleet filled with +pitch, resin, tarry ropes, and anything else that would burn well, were +taken by two gallant Devonshire sailors, Young and Prowse, into the +very heart of the Armada and set on fire. Then the men who had steered +the 'fire ships' took to their boats and rowed quickly back to safety, +while the burning vessels were left to drift about among the Spanish +fleet. + +In a panic the Spaniards cut their cables, hoisted sail, and made for +the open sea, each vessel getting in the way of her neighbours; and by +morning the entire fleet was in confusion. + +Now was the opportunity of the English; the gallant little vessels +darted in among the great galleons, and attacked them like little +game-cocks fighting huge unwieldy cochinchinas. + +From morning until sundown the battle raged; and it was the small +vessels which had the advantage. + +Many of the Spanish ships sank or ran aground--'the feathers of the +Armada were plucked one by one'; then the remainder of the fleet made +wildly for the northern seas, the little English ships in pursuit. + +When the English had followed the Spaniards sufficiently far, Drake +wrote from the deck of his vessel, 'We have driven the Spanish admirals +so far apart, that we hope they shall not shake hands these many days; +and whensoever they shall meet, I believe neither of them will rejoice +greatly at this day's service.' + +A great storm completed the destruction which the English had begun, +and of the hundred and thirty-two ships that had set out for the +invasion of England, only fifty-three returned to Spain. The others +lay beneath the waters of the English Channel or had been wrecked upon +the islands of Scotland and the coasts of Ireland and Devonshire. + +When the Spanish king heard the news, he said that he had sent his +fleet against men, and not against the wind and waves, and that he +could easily send another armament to the shores of England. + +But the King of Spain's beard had been too badly singed. + +Never again did England have to fear a foreign invasion. By the +destruction of the Armada she had proved herself worthy of the title +which she bears to this day: that of Queen and Mistress of the Seas. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY*** + + +******* This file should be named 24725.txt or 24725.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/2/24725 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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