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diff --git a/40371-0.txt b/40371-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8836b4a --- /dev/null +++ b/40371-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3476 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40371 *** + +BRITAIN IN THE MIDDLE AGES + +A HISTORY FOR BEGINNERS + + +CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS + +C. F. CLAY, Manager + +LONDON: FETTER LANE, E. C. 4 + + +NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + +BOMBAY } +CALCUTTA } MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. +MADRAS } + +TORONTO: J. M. DENT AND SONS, LTD. +TOKYO: MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA + +All Rights Reserved + + + [Illustration: THE ARMING OF A KNIGHT] + + + + +BRITAIN IN THE MIDDLE AGES + +A HISTORY FOR BEGINNERS + + +BY + +FLORENCE L. BOWMAN, M.Ed. + +FINAL HONOUR SCHOOL OF MODERN HISTORY, OXFORD +LECTURER IN EDUCATION, HOMERTON COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE + + +CAMBRIDGE +AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS +1920 + +_First Edition_ 1919 +_Second Edition_ 1920 + + + + +PREFACE + + +Since, in the early stages of school work, it is more important to +present, as vividly as possible, some of the fundamental historic ideas +than to give any outline of events, it is hoped that this collection of +stories, told from the chronicles, may provoke readers to discussion +and further inquiry. + +Questions have been included in the appendix, some suggesting handwork, +both as a means of presentation in lessons and for illustrative +purposes. + +Considerable use has been made of literature as historic evidence. +Stories like those of the Knights of the Round Table often leave us +with a clearer impression of the spirit of the times than any historic +record. Many books of the kind are now easily accessible and could be +read side by side with the text. Collections of pictures, such as the +Bayeux Tapestry, published by the Victoria and Albert Museum, and +Foucquet's _Chroniques de France_, offer valuable opportunities +for some research on the child's part. + + F. L. BOWMAN. + + HOMERTON COLLEGE + _December_, 1918 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + + I. BEFORE THE COMING OF THE ROMANS 1 + + II. THE ROMANS 3 + + III. THE SAXONS 6 + + IV. THE SAXON VILLAGE 9 + + V. THE COMING OF CHRISTIANITY 15 + + VI. ALFRED AND THE DANES 20 + + VII. THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 27 + + VIII. NORMAN KINGS 31 + + IX. NORMAN BARONS 34 + + X. NORMAN PRELATES 39 + + XI. NORMAN BUILDERS 44 + + XII. KNIGHTHOOD 47 + + XIII. THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE 52 + + XIV. THE CONQUEST OF IRELAND 57 + + XV. THE COMING OF THE FRIARS 61 + + XVI. THE THIRD CRUSADE 64 + + XVII. THE LOSS OF NORMANDY. THE SIGNING OF + THE GREAT CHARTER 69 + +XVIII. THE FIRST PARLIAMENT 71 + + XIX. THE CONQUEST OF WALES 74 + + XX. THE WAR WITH SCOTLAND 76 + + XXI. THE WAR WITH FRANCE 79 + + XXII. THE WAR WITH FRANCE (_continued_) 83 + +XXIII. THE BLACK DEATH AND THE PEASANTS' REVOLT 85 + + XXIV. THE WAR WITH FRANCE (_continued_) 89 + + XXV. NEW WORLDS 95 + +SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 100 + +BIBLIOGRAPHY 102 + +DATES 103 + +TIME CHART 104 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +THE ARMING OF A KNIGHT FRONTISPIECE + +From John Duke of Bedford's _Book of Hours_ +(15th century). In the British Museum + + + TO FACE PAGE + +THE ABBEY OF CITEAUX 18 + +From Viollet-le-duc, D_ictionnaire raisonné de +l'architecture française_ + + +A SERVICE IN THE CHAPEL 19 + +From the _Miracles de Notre Dame_, collected +by Miélot, Canon of S. Peter's at Lille, and +finished on 10 April, 1456. In the Bibliothèque +Nationale, Paris + +By arrangement with MM. Catala Frères, Paris + + +HAROLD DEFEATS AND KILLS TOSTIG AND THE KING +OF NORWAY AT STAMFORD BRIDGE 30 + +From the _Life of Edward the Confessor_ +(about 1260). In the University Library, Cambridge + + +A BATTLE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 31 + +By Jean Foucquet, from the _Grandes chroniques +de France_ (middle of the 15th century). In the +Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris + +By arrangement with MM. Catala Frères, Paris + + +ARCHITECT AND BUILDERS 44 + +From a Bible written at Lille, about 1270. In the +library of Mr S. C. Cockerell + + +BUILDING A CHURCH IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 44 + +By Jean Foucquet, from the _Grandes chroniques +de France_ (middle of the 15th century). In the +Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris + +By arrangement with MM. Catala Frères, Paris + + +THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM 45 + +From the _Antiquités Judaïques_, by Jean +Foucquet (middle of the 15th century) + +By kind permission of MM. Plon-Nourrit et Cie, +Paris + + +A SIEGE 46 + +From Viollet-le-duc, _Dictionnaire raisonné de +l'architecture française_ + + +GATEWAY AND DRAWBRIDGE 47 + +From Viollet-le-duc, _Dictionnaire raisonné de +l'architecture française_ + + +A COURT OF JUSTICE, 1458. DUKE OF ALENÇON CONDEMNED +FOR TREASON BY CHARLES VII, KING OF FRANCE 72 + +By Jean Foucquet. From _Le Boccace de Munich_. In +the Royal Library at Munich. + +The King is seated on his throne, and below him +the princes, and on his right the Chancellor of +France with bands of gold on his shoulder. +Sentence is being read by one of the officers of +the law. On the King's left the lords of the +Church are seated and below are the chief officers +of the realm. Outside the barrier is the royal +guard + + +THE PARLIAMENT OF EDWARD I 73 + +The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are seated +just below Alexander King of Scotland, and +Llewelyn Prince of Wales. The two behind are +supposed to be the Pope's ambassadors. There are +19 mitred Abbots, 8 Bishops and 20 Peers present. +The Chancellor and Judges are seated on the +woolsacks. + +From Pinkerton, _Iconographia Scotica_. Probably +drawn in the 16th century + + +PREPARING THE FEAST 88 + +From the _Luttrell Psalter_ (14th century). +In the British Museum + + +THE FEAST 89 + +From the _Luttrell Psalter_ (14th century). +In the British Museum + + +A CHRISTIAN OF CONSTANTINOPLE BORROWING MONEY +FROM A JEW AND PLEDGING HIS CRUCIFIX 96 + +From the _Miracles de Notre Dame_, collected +by Jean Miélot, and finished on 10 April, 1456. +In the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris + +By arrangement with MM. Catala Frères, Paris + + +MIÉLOT IN HIS STUDY 97 + +From the _Miracles de Notre Dame_, collected +by Jean Miélot, and finished on 10 April, 1456. +In the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris + +By arrangement with MM. Catala Frères, Paris + + +A PRINTING PRESS 97 + +A mark of Josse Badius Ascensius. From _De +Sacramentis_ of Thomas Waldensis, 1521. In +the University Library, Cambridge + + +THE TWELVE MONTHS AT END + +From _Les très riches heures de Jean de France, +Duc le Berry_, chiefly the work of Pol de +Limbourg, painted between 1412 and 1416 and now +in the Musée Condé, Chantilly + +By kind permission of MM. Plon-Nourrit et Cie, Paris + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BEFORE THE COMING OF THE ROMANS + + +The world is very old, and it has taken a long time to discover much of +the ancient story of Britain. Scholars have found out many things +because they are able now to read the signs on the rocks and under the +soil. From the tools left behind, from the remains of dwellings and +from treasures found in graves, we have learned about the ways of men +in times before history was written down. + +Once, it seems, Britain was a hot land. Great forests grew up +everywhere. Strange wild creatures roamed about, and there were +monsters in the waters. + +Once, too, it was a very cold land, and the snow lay in the valleys and +ice-glaciers came sliding down the mountains, making great river beds +as they passed. + +As it grew warmer, the ice melted and disappeared. The ice fields left +pools of water behind them, the lakes that you find in the country +still. The rivers, too, brimming over, flowed swiftly to the sea. +Mighty rivers they must have been, broader and deeper than they are +now. + +When men came, they made their homes in the caves and in underground +dwellings, and later they built mud huts. They hunted for their food, +learned to weave clothes from the grasses, to make weapons from stone +and to strike fire from the rocks. This is a very long story and we +know little about it. + +Of the Britons who dwelt here, we know something from those who had +heard of them and wrote about them. Round about their villages, they +made wattle-fences to keep away their enemies and the wild beasts that +came out of the forests in winter nights. + +They were shepherds and had many herds of sheep and cattle, and they +grew a little corn. Sometimes, travellers from far-off lands came to +visit them, to exchange their eastern coins for grain and skins. + +The Britons loved beautiful things. They made cunning designs on their +shields and helmets and with dainty tracings they ornamented their pots +and jugs. They wove linen in fine patterns and knew how to make dyes. +They were fond of music and told stories to one another of dragons and +heroes and the great dreams of men. + +When their chief died, they raised a mound over his grave; sometimes, +too, great pillars of stone. They carried presents of corn and meat and +fruit to put upon the grave, because they thought he might need them on +his long journey. In some parts of the country, there are pillars of +stone set up in circles. It is thought that perhaps the Britons used +these as temples, praying and making their offerings under the sky, in +sunshine and starshine. + +The Romans said that the Britons loved riding wild horses, which they +had tamed, and they were so skilful that however fast they galloped, +the rider could make the horse stand quite still at any moment. They +sometimes rode in chariots and drove furiously. When they went into +battle they armed their chariots with sharp knives and cut the enemy +down on both sides. But they did not use their chariots often, for they +would rather tend flocks in the fields than go to war. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE ROMANS + + +The best soldiers in the world were the Romans, who came from the great +city of Rome, far away in Italy. Everybody had heard of their mighty +deeds, for they had conquered nearly every land except Britain, and to +them Britain seemed to be in the farthest corner of the world, just on +the edge, a land, no doubt, of dragons and strange wild people. Now the +Romans had heard that there was meat and corn in plenty in the land, +that there were tin mines, and tin was very useful for mixing with +copper to make armour. So they invaded Britain. + +The great Roman army moved very slowly through the land, for there were +few roads. Sometimes the soldiers had to cut down trees to make their +way through the forests, sometimes they had to cross the dismal +fenlands, sometimes to make a bridge over a flooded river, or to wade +knee-deep through the swamps. As they marched, they had to fight with +the Britons. + +The Scots had heard of their coming and were safely hiding in their +fastnesses when the Romans reached the Borderland. Then the Romans +built a great wall from sea to sea between the two countries, Scotland +and Britain, a wall that must have taken several years to build even if +they had thousands of men to build it. It was made of the finest stone, +which they seem to have carried many miles across the country. It was +nine feet wide and eighteen feet high and the turrets were placed so +near together that the sentinels could call to one another and so send +a message quickly. Below the wall, on the enemy's side, they dug a deep +ditch, often having to make it through the hard limestone rock. Every +mile, they built a spacious fort for the soldiers to rest in, well +defended and quite close to the wall. Every four miles, there was a +station, sometimes a small town, surrounded by a wide wall, too, where +perhaps the chief officers lived. From station to station, from east to +west, ran the great road, for the traffic of the army. Up to the gates +of the stations, too, came the new Roman roads from the south, for the +army sometimes had to call for help from other places and needed food +and many things from the south. It must have been a stern duty to keep +watch in the bleak winter months, and the soldiers seem to have had few +comforts. The remains of this great wall still lie from Wallsend to the +west coast. + +At the cross-roads, by the great rivers, the Romans built their towns +and camps all over Britain, just like those they had known in Italy. +Every town was surrounded by a great wall, whence the soldiers could +keep a look-out for the enemy, and nobody could enter the place except +through the gates between sunrise and sunset. Outside the town, they +sometimes built an amphitheatre, where games and wild beast fights were +held on holidays. + +The houses of the chief officers were built like those in sunny Italy. +The most interesting room in the house was the bath-room, with a large +tank, like a swimming bath, in the floor and a furnace to keep a good +supply of hot water. The floor was paved with beautiful coloured tiles +and scenes were painted on the walls. This room was very important, +because the Roman often received his guests there and sometimes invited +them to share in the ceremony of the bath. The garden was often lovely, +there were orchards and smooth lawns and closely clipped hedges of box +and yew, sometimes cut into fantastic shapes like birds and beasts. +There were brightly coloured flowers, which had been brought from +Italy--geraniums, roses and orchids. Then, there was the summer house, +whose walls were made of tall trees growing close together, and inside +were couches and rugs and sometimes even a little lake in the centre, +where jellies and fruits were to be seen floating in beautiful dishes, +to keep them cool and fresh, as though the summer in Britain were very +hot. + +There was much work to be done. The Roman officer had to visit the +camps, driving in his chariot or carried in his litter by his slaves. +He had to see that the road-making went on well, for the Romans made +fine roads through Britain from north to south, to the east and to the +west. He had to look after the building of the factories, where the +wool was made into cloth and dyed in the famous purple dye, and if he +lived in the south west, the tin mines in Cornwall had to be +supervised. Sometimes, he had even to take the long and difficult +journey to Rome. The Britons looked on at this new life with great fear +and wonder, and soon they learned to make better houses, to raise +better crops and to live in the towns. + +When, three hundred years later, all the Romans were called to their +own land to protect it against a strong enemy, the Britons were worse +off than ever they had been before. Not only did the Scots come over +the wall to burn and steal, but a new and a stronger enemy came over +the seas from Denmark and Germany to seize the treasure that the Romans +had left unguarded. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE SAXONS + + +These sea robbers were the Angles and the Saxons, and Britain became +Angleland or England. They were fine men, tall and strong, with long +fair hair and blue eyes. The Britons gazed in wonder as boat after boat +glided into the bays. Graceful, brightly coloured boats they were, with +forty oars on each side and a magnificent sail, sometimes made of silk, +embroidered with a dragon or a serpent, the gift of a great prince may +be. Every sailor, as he stepped ashore, became a soldier, armed himself +with his shield which he took from the vessel's side, and a sword, the +best in the world, dearer to him than all other treasures, made by the +chief, or by a famous blacksmith. + +The Britons marked the chief long before he landed, for he stood at the +prow or gave orders. His corselet was of beaten gold or bronze, his +helmet too. If indeed he were a great champion, he carried on his +helmet a pair of eagle's wings, or a cock's comb, as the reward of his +bravery and skill in battle. All these men had been soldiers since they +were twelve years old. They had learned "to run, to ride, to swim, to +wrestle and to leap," so it is no wonder that the Britons fled before +them in terror. Some fell into the hands of these stern warriors and +became their servants, but those who lived in peace in the mountains of +the west were called "Welsh," i.e. "foreigners," by all who heard of +them afterwards. The Scots vanished into their fastnesses and the +Saxons became lords of Britain. + +The Saxons loved fighting and hunting, but when the hunt and the fight +were over they came back to their spacious halls, where they hung up +their swords and trophies and gathered round the banquet table or sat +by the fire, making rhymes and listening to the tales and songs of the +gleemen. While the mead cup was being passed round, they heard the +songs about the gods and the great heroes of old, and sometimes they +liked to think that Odin took a seat amongst them and told his tale. +Odin, the one-eyed father of all the gods, crept in with a scarlet +cloak wrapped round him, feasted with them, and, at dawn, the doors of +the hall opened mysteriously, a great wind blew, and he was gone. + +They had many stories about the gods and Valhalla, the home of the +spirits, whither every good soldier hoped to journey at the end of his +life. Thor was the great god of thunder; you could see his red beard, +when the Northern light shone in the winter sky. Sometimes he drove by +in his chariot with the sound of a storm, the lightning was the flash +of his eye, and the thunder his mighty hammer striking the rocks as he +passed. + +The most beloved of the gods of the northmen was Baldur, the god of +Spring. Once, he had a dream that a great cloud passed over him, and +his mother, in sorrow, summoned all the things upon the earth to +promise never to hurt her son. Everything promised, the mountains and +the trees and the rocks and the rivers, everything except the little +mistletoe, which grew at the palace gate and was so small that nobody +thought it could do any harm. But Loki, the god of mischief, Baldur's +brother, guided the hand of blind Hödur and so killed Baldur with an +arrow made from the mistletoe. + +Odin was very angry when he heard the news and mounted his war horse to +ride to Valhalla, to fetch Baldur from the home of the spirits. But the +old witch, who sat at the gates, would not let Baldur return to the +earth until she heard that everything on the earth was weeping for him. +Everything did weep, except Loki and the little mistletoe. So the witch +allows Baldur to come back for three months every year, and then the +earth puts on her freshest green, the flowers blossom, the corn ripens, +and gods and men rejoice. Thus, the Saxons showed how much they loved +the sunshine and the warmth and the south winds that come in the summer +time. + +When a hero died, the Saxons sent him on his journey to Valhalla, with +food enough to last a week and with all his treasures, his sword and +helmet, his hunting trophies and his most loved things. They liked best +of all to send him on his boat across the unknown seas. They towed it +to the harbour mouth, set fire to it, when the sun was going down, +shouting as they watched it drift away, "Odin, receive thy Champion." +They fancied Odin sat in the far North with all the gods waiting to +welcome a brave man and to give him a seat of honour in his hall. For +the Saxons thought a brave soldier the noblest of all men. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SAXON VILLAGE + + +Though the Saxons loved fighting, they soon learned to love peace and +to rule their kingdoms well. They divided the spoil amongst themselves +and the chiefs rewarded their soldiers with lands. They built their +villages as near the streams as they could, so that they might get +water easily. They built them near the woods, if possible, so that they +could get timber to build their houses and fuel for the winter; but not +so near that an enemy could spring on them suddenly without a warning, +or the packs of hungry wolves come prowling round in the long, dark +nights. Any stranger who came in sight of the village must blow his +horn three times loudly, else the Saxons killed him, for they feared +anyone they did not know. + +The soldiers who settled in the village were freemen, and they shared +in the harvest of the soil. Only half the land was ploughed for seed +and the other half was left fallow or idle for a year. In the ploughed +land, they planted wheat or rye one year and barley next time, after a +year's rest. Sometimes they divided the land and planted wheat in one +half in October and barley in the other in March. When the ploughing +was done, they were all very careful to throw up a little heap of earth +to make a ridge between the strips in each field, so that each freeman +might know his own strip in the wheat field and in the barley field +too. He made bread from the wheat or rye and a drink from the barley, +and if there were any to spare he would exchange it for some of the +things he wanted very much, honey perhaps, for everybody needed that +when there was no sugar. + +Beyond the ploughed lands, there was a piece of common ground, where +all the freemen turned out their geese and cows and sheep and pigs, +though the pigs liked the woods better, for there they could find +acorns and hazel nuts. + +There was a hayfield, too, and, when spring came, a fence was put all +round it and it was carefully divided into strips, so that everyone had +a share of the hay. The "hayward" was a busy man, for it was his duty +to keep the woods, corn and meadows. In haytime, he looked after the +mowers. In August, he was to be seen, rod in hand, in the cornfields, +watching early and late, so that no beasts strayed and trampled down +the corn. + +When Lammastide came, all the freemen kept holiday for joy that harvest +time had come. + +Now, there was sure to be one man who had more treasure than the +others, and oxen perhaps for the plough. It was very hard work trying +to plough the fields with less than eight, so the other freemen were +glad to borrow the oxen sometimes. But the chief, the rich man, made a +bargain, that those who borrowed his oxen should pay him by doing three +days' work a week for him in his fields, for they had no money. So, in +time, he became lord over them. + +Then he made a mill where all the corn should be ground into flour and +every man who brought a sackful must pay so many handfuls of flour to +the miller for his trouble. Not every village had a mill, so it +sometimes happened that men travelled far to make a bargain with the +miller, for they found it slow work to grind their own corn between the +grindstones at home. + +From an old writing[1] that we have still, we can find out many things +about the peasants, for they tell how they spend their time. The +ploughman says: "I work hard. I go out at daybreak driving the oxen to +the field and I yoke them to the plough. Be it never so stark winter I +dare not linger at home for awe of my lord, but having yoked my oxen +and fastened share and coulter, every day I must plough a full acre or +more. I have a boy driving the oxen with a goad-iron, who is hoarse +with cold and shouting. And I do more also. I have to fill the bins of +the oxen with hay, and water them and take out their litter. Mighty +hard work it is, for I am not free." The shepherd says: "In the first +morning I drive my sheep to their pasture and stand over them in heat +and in cold, with my dogs, lest the wolves swallow them up; and I lead +them back to their folds and milk them twice a day, and their folds I +move, and I make cheese and butter and I am true to my lord." + + [1] Ælfric's _Dialogues_. + +The oxherd says: "When the ploughman unyokes the oxen, I lead them to +pasture and all night I stand over them waking against thieves; and +then again in the early morning I betake them, well-filled and watered, +to the ploughman." + +The King's hunter says: "I braid me nets and set them in fit places and +set my hounds to follow up the wild game, till they come unsuspecting +to the net and are caught therein, and I slay them in the net. With +swift hounds I hunt down wild game. I take harts and boars and bucks +and roes and sometimes wild hares. I give the King what I take because +I am his hunter. He clothes me well and feeds me and sometimes gives me +a horse or an arm-ring that I may pursue my craft merrily." + +The fisherman says: "I go on board my boat and cast my net into the +river and cast my angle and baits and what they catch I take. I cast +the unclean fish away and take the clean for meat. The citizens buy my +fish. I cannot catch as many as I could sell, eels and pike, minnows +and trout and lampreys. Sometimes I fish in the sea, but seldom, for it +is a far row for me to the sea. I catch there herring and salmon, +porpoises and sturgeon and crabs, mussels, periwinkles, sea-cockles, +plaice and fluke and lobsters and many of the like. It is a perilous +thing to catch a whale. It is pleasanter for me to go to the river with +my boat than to go with many boats whale-hunting." + +The fowler says: "In many ways I trick the birds--sometimes with nets, +with snares, with lime, with whistling, with a hawk, with traps. My +hawks feed themselves and me in winter, and in Lent I let them fly off +to the woods and I catch me young birds in harvest and tame them. But +many feed the tamed ones the summer over, that they have them ready +again." + +The merchant says: "I go aboard my ships with my goods, and go over sea +and sell my things and buy precious things which are not produced in +this country and bring them hither to you, brocade and silk, precious +gems and gold, various raiment and dye-stuffs, wine and oil, ivory, and +brass and bronze, copper and tin, sulphur and glass and the like. And I +wish to sell them dearer here than I buy them there, that I may get +some profit wherewith I may feed myself and my wife and my sons." + +While all the village people were busy at their work in the fields, +they must have peace and order in the land. Every week, the lord and +the freemen met together under the great oak tree to talk about +business. If they heard of any evil deed done near their village, the +lord rode out at the head of all the men who could ride or run, to find +the evil doer, and they searched for miles, shouting "Hi! Hi!" and if +they passed through any village, they summoned every freeman to follow +in the chase. When the thief was found, he was brought back to his own +village, and if he could not find any who would stand by him as "oath +helpers," then none would listen to his tale. They said that only the +great god could judge, so they prayed that Odin would send a sign. +Sometimes, they bound the prisoner hand and foot and threw him into the +village pond; if he floated they said, "He is not guilty." Sometimes, +they burned the prisoner with hot irons or made him thrust his hand +into boiling water; then the wounds were bound up; and if, after three +days, they were healed and there was no scar, they said, "He is not +guilty." But this did not happen often. + +Sometimes, if the man had a bad character, they branded him on the +forehead with the sign of a wolf's head and took him to the forest, +where he had to live all the rest of his life, for no one would have an +outlaw in a village. If a man were afraid of being made an outlaw, he +must find a great lord and ask him to protect him. If the man promised +to work for a lord or gave him a present of fish or corn or honey every +year he could find a lord. If it should happen that he were caught by +the Hue and Cry, on that day the word of his lord in his favour was +worth more than the words of six freemen against him. So most people +worked for a lord. + +As time went on, the King began to call the lords and freemen together +to ask them about a great war, or to make some new laws. They did not +like going very much, for travelling was troublesome and dangerous. So +the King usually asked only his cup-bearer and chamberlain and the +great men of his court for advice. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE COMING OF CHRISTIANITY + + +Some there were who had heard of Christ in the old days, but a band of +monks landing on the coast of Kent brought the news again to this +country. Pope Gregory had sent Augustine from Rome to tell the Saxons +about Christ, for he was sorry that they loved Odin and Thor, and did +not know any other god. Ethelbert, the King of Kent, had a Christian +wife, and he was very anxious to know what these strangers had to say +about the new God. But he was afraid that they might know how to work +charms and to call out wicked spirits, so he let Augustine and his +monks preach to the people out of doors, for he thought that they could +not harm any one in the open air. When the Roman monks preached, many +people became Christians, but the old Saxon poets sang sorrowful +stories of Odin's anger, and how the gods had left the world for ever +because the people were not faithful. Bede tells a story of how the old +wise men of Northumbria met together to decide whether they would give +up the old gods for Christ or not, and as they sat in solemn silence, +thinking of this great thing, an old man rose and said, "The present +life of man, O King, seems to me like the swift flight of a sparrow, +who on a wintry night darts into the hall, as we sit at supper. He +flies from the storms of wind and rain outside, and for a brief space +abides in the warmth and light, and then vanishes again into the +darkness whence he came. So is the life of man, for we know not whence +we came nor whither we go. Therefore if this stranger can tell us +anything more certain, we should hearken gladly to him." Thus, they +became Christians. They built churches in their villages; first of +wood, then of stone. + +Many Christian teachers then came to England and built homes or +monasteries, wherever they went, first of rough timber, then of stone. +They made clearings in the forests and drained the fenlands, and the +people followed and built houses for themselves near the monasteries, +for they found that they could learn many things from the monks. The +sick, the poor, the tired and the old were always welcome, and +travellers too were glad to rest there, for there were no inns in those +days. + +The monks were ruled by an abbot, and the nuns, who lived in other +houses, by an abbess. They took a vow of poverty and thought that they +served God best by giving their time to prayer and praise. + +They loved their monastery, and, as the centuries went by, they made it +more and more beautiful. The people gave rich offerings and builders +came from foreign lands, skilled in stonework and other arts. Carvings +were made for the church, pictures were painted on the walls, and +flowers and trees were brought from the Holy Land to plant in the +gardens. In this way came the cedar trees and the juniper, and certain +plants that now grow wild in parts of the country like the poisonous +hellebore, the grape hyacinth and the little fritillary or snake's +head. Great men brought gifts of frankincense and myrrh, to be burned +in the church on holy days, or jewels for the altar, and silk from the +east for hangings, but the greatest treasure of all was the "relic." +People would travel many miles to see this, for those who saw it could +be healed of their sickness or forgiven for their sins. There were many +curious relics. There were little bits of wood, that men believed +belonged to the real cross, on which Christ was crucified, and thorns, +which were said to have come from His crown. S. Louis, King of France, +built the beautiful Sainte Chapelle in Paris, where he might keep the +crown of thorns, which the Crusaders brought from Palestine. + +The monastery was usually built round a square garden or lawn. On one +side was the church, on another the hall and large kitchens and +pantries, for there were often visitors, some of high estate, and they +must be royally feasted. In the Rule of S. Benedict it was written, +"Let all guests who come to the monastery be entertained like Christ +Himself; because He will say, 'I was a stranger and ye took me in'." +The guest-house must stand apart "so that the guests, who are never +wanting in a monastery, may not disquiet the brethren by their untimely +arrivals." Anyone could claim a lodging for two nights, and in a few +monasteries there was stabling provided for as many as three hundred +horses. + +There was a long dormitory where the monks slept. It was the custom for +them to get up at midnight to make a procession into the church by the +night stairs. There they said matins and lauds (the last three psalms), +and then returned to the dormitory to sleep if it were winter until +daybreak, if summer till sunrise. Only those who had worked hard in the +fields all day were excused. They dressed by the light of the wicks set +in oil in little bowls at either end of the dormitory. + +In the cloisters were troughs for washing before meals, filled with +water by taps; and above were little cupboards for towels. + +Some monasteries had a library, for they were quite rich in books. Then +there was a writing room, where the scribes were busy making beautiful +copies of the precious books, some skilled in writing, others in +painting and illuminating. When the writing was done, the artist +brought his colours to make the capital letters and the little pictures +in the text. There was music to be copied too, and the accounts of the +Abbey must be kept neatly. Sometimes a chronicle was made of great +events that happened. It is from such books as these that we have +learned much about the story of the country. + + [Illustration: THE ABBEY OF CITEAUX + + A. Round this court, stables and barns. H. Guest houses and abbot's + quarters. N. The Church. I. The kitchen. K. The dining hall. M. The + dormitories. P. Cells of the scribes. R. The hospital.] + + [Illustration: A SERVICE IN THE CHAPEL] + +The monks led peaceful lives in days when most men were busy about war. + +The monks divided the hours between sunrise and sunset into twelve +equal parts, so it happened that the hour in winter was twenty minutes +shorter than in summer. Every three hours, there was a service in +church, prime at the first, terce at the third, sext at the sixth and +none at the ninth. After prime, on summer mornings, the monks were +summoned by the Abbot to the chapter house and there each man received +his task. The latest business was talked about and plans were made for +the coming guests. Then each monk went to his business, some to the +gate to give food to the poor and help to the sick, some to work in the +orchard and garden, to spin or to weave, though in some monasteries +this kind of work was done for the brethren. They had their first meal +at midday in the hall in silence. While they ate, one of their number, +who had already had his meal, would read to them from a book of sermons +or the Lives of the Saints. After grace, the Miserere (Psalm 51) was +sung through the cloister. In summer, they would rest in the afternoon, +in the dormitory or perhaps in the cloister, on the sunny south side, +where they could read or think or pray. In winter, they worked at this +time, because their nights were long. Vespers was read at sunset, then +came supper. Compline ended the day, but it sometimes happened that +they lingered in the warming-house to chat with one another, but this +was against rules. + +Kings and princes found out what wise counsellors these men were and +brought them to the courts to help them govern, though this was against +the rules of the monastic orders. + +Then, in those days, Abbots began to ride forth like princes, +monasteries were full of treasure and monks forsook the humbler ways of +life they had once followed. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ALFRED AND THE DANES + + +After the Saxons had been in England many years, when their weapons had +grown rusty and they had almost forgotten how to fight, bands of Danes +came sailing over the North Sea to plunder the land. "God Almighty sent +forth these fierce and cruel people like swarms of bees," says the +chronicler. First, they carried away the beautiful things from the +monasteries and churches, and then they came to live here. They drove +the Saxons from their houses or built new villages by the side of the +old ones. We know that they must have settled in Yorkshire and +Lincolnshire, in Westmorland and Cumberland, because they gave Danish +names to many places, such as Grimsby (Grim's town), Whitby, Appleby. +In those days, the Danes grew very bold. "Ships came from the west +ready for war with grinning heads and carven beaks," runs the legend, +"the golden war banner" shining in the bows. They tried to conquer the +west and south, as well as the north and east. In the land of the West +Saxons, many battles were fought, and still the little band of hungry, +worn-out soldiers stood at bay. + +It was at this time that Alfred was made King and, like his father and +brothers, was soon defeated and driven into Athelney, a little island +in the west in the midst of a great swamp. There, he spent the winter +drilling his soldiers and making plans to drive away the Danes in the +spring time. A story is told of how he went into the Danish camp as a +bard. He carried a harp, and while the mead cup was handed round, he +sang the old sagas. When the feast was done and the chess board was +brought out, the captains talked about the war, as they played their +favourite game. So Alfred heard their plans. + +The Danes were surprised when the spring came, for Alfred drove them +out of his kingdom and made them promise never to come into the land of +the West Saxons again. + +But he did not try to drive them out of England, for he knew that it +would be many years before his people would be strong enough, perhaps +not until his own children were grown up. So he worked hard all his +life to make his people good soldiers and thoughtful men, in order +that, when the time came, they could drive the enemy across the seas +and rule over the whole land in their stead. + +"Formerly," said the King, "foreigners sought wisdom and learning in +this land, now we should have to get them from abroad if we would have +them." Alfred found his nobles careless and idle, they loved hunting +and feasting and thought very little about ruling a kingdom or leading +an army. They were too old to learn, but the king made up his mind that +their children should grow up good soldiers and wise rulers. So he made +a school at his court for these boys. There they learned the art of war +and many other things too. + +They read the history of their own country from Bede's Book, that had +been kept at York. This book was written in Latin, so the King had to +have it translated for them. He had heard of the fame of a great +writer, Asser, who lived in South Wales. Messages were sent to him to +ask him to come to Alfred's court to write the history of the reign. +Asser did not wish to leave his beautiful home, but in the end, he +promised to stay for six months every year; that is why we know so much +about this great King. + +Alfred turned into English some beautiful old Latin books that taught +men how to rule well, and in the margins he himself wrote what he +thought wise counsel. Two of these books had been written by Pope +Gregory who sent Augustine to England, and at the beginning of one of +them there are these words, "Alfred, King, turned each word of me into +English and sent me to his writers, north and south, and bade them make +more such copies that he might send them to the bishops." + +Alfred loved reading and he wrote down all the wise sayings that he +found. Asser tells the story of how the King came to do this. + +"When we were one day sitting together in the royal chamber and were +holding converse upon divers topics, as our wont was, it chanced that I +repeated to him a quotation from a certain book. And when he had +listened attentively to this with all his ears, and had carefully +pondered it in the deep of his mind, suddenly he showed me a little +book which he carried constantly in the fold of his cloak. In it were +written the Daily Course and certain psalms and some prayers, which he +had read in his youth, and he commanded that I should write that +quotation in the same little book. And when he urged me to write that +as quickly as possible, I said to him, 'Are you willing that I should +write the quotation apart by itself on a small leaf? For we know not +that at some time we shall not find some other such quotation or more +than one, which will please you: and if it should so turn out +unexpectedly we shall rejoice that we have kept this apart from the +rest.' + +"And when he heard this, he said 'Your counsel is good.' And I, hearing +this and being glad, made ready a book of several leaves, in haste, and +at the beginning of it I wrote that quotation according to his command. +And on the same day, by his order, I wrote in the same book no less +than three other quotations pleasing to him, as I had foretold." + +"This book he used to call his handbook, because with the utmost care +he kept it at his hand day and night and in it he found, as he said, no +small comfort." + +Alfred desired to hear of other lands, but there were hardly any maps +in those days and no books of geography. Great travellers were welcomed +at his court, for, when he was very young, he had paid a visit to Rome +and had seen a little of foreign lands. Othere, the famous seaman, who +had sailed in the Arctic regions, came to tell his stories of the +frozen seas that men could walk upon and of the strange midnights when +the sun shone as bright as by day. Othere spoke of whales and walruses +and he brought their tusks of fine ivory to show the King. Wulfstan +came, too, and he had travelled in Prussia and brought stories of a +land rich in honey and fish. + +Travellers came from the hot lands, from India and the far east. They +brought presents of tiger skins and spices, of rich silks and jewels. +They told stories of wonderful deserts, of the high snowy mountains and +thick jungles, that they had passed on their long journey. The King +delighted to read of elephants and lions and of "the beast we call +lynx" that men said could see through trees and even stones. + +"Or what shall I say," says the chronicler, "concerning the daily +intercourse with the nations which dwell from the shores of Italy unto +the uttermost bounds of Ireland? for I have seen and read letters and +gifts sent to Alfred by Elias, patriarch of Jerusalem." + +In this way the West Saxon folk heard of great, unknown countries and +peoples, and the sons of the nobles learned not only "to run, to ride, +to swim and to make runes or rhymes," but to be great rulers and +adventurers as their forefathers had been. + +Alfred was a very busy King, for not only had he to receive ambassadors +and counsellors, but he had to ride through the land, seeing justice +done, and restoring the ruined churches and monasteries. He taught the +workers in gold and artificers of all kinds, "to build houses majestic +and good, beyond all that had been built before. What shall I say of +the cities and towns which he restored, and of the others which he +built, where before there had never been any? Or of the work in gold +and silver, incomparably made under his directions? Or of the halls and +royal chambers wonderfully made of stone and wood by his command? Or of +the royal residences built of stone, moved from their former positions +and most beautifully set up in more fitting places by the King's +command?" + +The King gave many gifts to the craftsmen whom he had gathered from all +lands, men skilled "in every earthly work," and he gave a portion "to +the wayfaring men who came to him from every nation, lying near and +far, and who sought from him wealth, and even to those who sought it +not." + +There were no clocks in those days and the King was much troubled, "for +he had promised to give up to God half his services." "He could not +equally distinguish the length of the hours by night, on account of the +darkness: and oftentimes of the day, on account of storms and clouds." +"After long reflection on these things he at length, by a useful and +shrewd invention, commanded his chaplain to supply wax in sufficient +quantities." "He caused the chaplain to make six candles of equal +length, so that each candle might have twelve divisions marked upon it. +These candles burned for twenty-four hours, a night and a day. But +sometimes, from the violence of the wind, which blew through the doors +and windows of the chambers or the canvas of the tents, they burned out +before their time. The King then considered by what means he might shut +out the wind; and so he ordered a lantern which was closed up, by the +King's command, by a door made of horn. By this means, six candles +lasted twenty-four hours, and when they went out others were lighted." + +Thus the King left behind him as he wished "a memory in good works," +and, after him, his son and daughter drove the Danes eastward beyond +Watling Street. + +The northmen came back with the strong King Cnut, who conquered the +whole country. Now Cnut was a great king before he took England, for he +ruled Sweden and Denmark and was lord over Norway. When he was crowned +King of England, he began to love this kingdom more than all his lands, +and he made his home in London. He wanted to be a real English King, so +he looked for the old laws of Alfred the Great and told the English +people that he would rule as Alfred had done. + +The King had a fine army of tall, strong soldiers, but he sent nearly +all of them back to their own land and kept only three thousand +house-companions for a body guard. The English people knew that he +trusted them, for he could not have kept the land in order with so few +soldiers, if the people had hated him. For seventeen years, there was a +great peace in the land and ships could pass to and fro, carrying +"skins, silks, costly gems and gold, besides garments, wine, oil, +ivory, with brass and copper, and tin and silver and glass and such +like." + +When Cnut's two sons had reigned in the land, then the Saxons once more +had a Saxon King. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS + + +Edward the Confessor, the Saxon prince, had taken refuge in Normandy in +the days when the Danish Kings ruled in England. There he learned to +speak Norman French and to love Norman ways. When the Saxons chose him +to be king, he brought some of his Norman friends to court with him. He +was a man "full of grace and devoted to the service of God." He left +the rule of his kingdom to three Saxon Earls, Siward the Stout, a man +who struck terror to the hearts of the Scots, Leofric of the Marsh +land, "wise in the things of God and men," and Godwin of Wessex. + +There was much trouble because there were no heirs to the throne, and +the Norman chroniclers say that the King promised his crown to William, +Duke of Normandy. The Saxons did not know this, and if they had they +would not have crowned him; so they chose Harold, son of Godwin and +brother of the Queen, to rule after Edward the Confessor. They chose +Harold for he was a man after their own heart, strong and fearless, +like the heroes of old. Harold had two elder brothers, but they were +cruel and lawless and the people feared them. + +The Normans told a story of how Harold had been wrecked on the coast of +Normandy, two years before this, and was taken before the Duke as a +prisoner. The Duke would not let him go until he had sworn, with his +hand upon the holy relics, that he would never claim the Saxon crown. + +When Edward died, Harold forgot this oath and the people crowned him +with much rejoicing. When the news reached the Duke of Normandy "he was +in his park of Quévilly, near Rouen, with many knights and squires, +going forth to the chase." He had in his hand the bow, ready strung and +bent for the arrow. The messenger greeted him and took him aside to +tell him. Then the Duke was very angry. "Oft he tied his mantle and oft +he untied it again and he spoke to no man, neither dare any man speak +to him." Then he bade his men cut down the trees in the great forests +and build him ships to take his soldiers to England. When they were +ready, there arose a great storm and for many weeks he waited by the +sea shore for a fair wind and a good tide. Tostig, too, Harold's +brother, became very jealous and asked for a half of the kingdom. And +because Harold would not listen, Tostig went to Norway, to beg the +great King Hadrada to call out his men and ships and sail for England. +So the Northmen sailed up the river Humber and took York. Then, Harold +and his soldiers marched to the North to fight against Tostig. When he +had pitched his camp, he sent word to Tostig, "King Harold, thy +brother, sends thee greeting, saying that thou shalt have the whole of +Northumbria or even the third of his kingdom, if thou wilt make peace +with him." "But," said Tostig, "what shall be given to the King of +Norway for his trouble?" + +"Seven feet of English ground," was the answer, "or as much more as is +needful, seeing that he is taller than other men." Then said the Earl, +"Go now and tell King Harold to get ready for battle, for never shall +the Northmen say that Tostig left Hadrada, King of Norway, to join the +enemy." And when Harold departed, the King of Norway asked who it was +that had spoken so well. "That," said Tostig, "was my brother Harold." +When Hadrada heard this he said, "That English king was a little man, +but he stood strong in his stirrups." A great fight there was, and +Hadrada fought fiercely, but he was killed by an arrow. When the sun +set, the Northmen turned and fled, for Tostig, too, lay dead upon the +field. That night there was a great feast in the Saxon camp. + +As they held wassail, a messenger came riding into the camp, breathless +with haste, for he had rested not day nor night in the long ride to the +North. He shouted to those who stood by, "The Normans--the Normans are +come--they have landed at Hastings--Thy land, O King, they will wrest +from thee, if thou canst not defend it well." That night, the Saxons +broke up their camp and hurried towards London. The wise men begged +Harold to burn the land, that the enemy might starve, but Harold would +not, for he said, "How can I do harm to my own people?" So they rode +off to meet the Duke near Hastings. + +Now Harold chose his battle-field very wisely, a rising ground, for +most of his soldiers were on foot and many of the Normans were on +horse-back and the King knew that it was hard riding up hill. So Harold +stood under the Golden Dragon of Wessex watching the enemy below. In +the front of the Normans rode their minstrel, throwing his sword into +the air and catching it again, as he sang of the brave deeds of those +knights of old, Roland and Oliver. Fierce was the onslaught, and soon +the Normans turned to flee. Then were the Saxons so eager for the spoil +that they came down from their high ground to chase the enemy. When the +Duke saw this, he wheeled his men in battle array and the fight began +again fiercer than ever. Then the Duke ordered a great shower of arrows +to be shot up into the air, so that when they fell, they pierced many a +good soldier. And Harold fell, shot through the eye by an arrow. Still, +the Saxons fought on, for they held it shame to escape alive from the +fields whereon their leader lay slain. That night, William pitched his +tent where the King's banner had waved. Then came Gyda the mother of +Harold to beg Harold's body from the Duke. But he gave orders that it +should be buried by the seashore, "Harold guarded the cliffs when he +was alive, let him guard them, now that he is dead," said William. + +So the King's mother and his brothers hid in the rocky west, in +Tintagel, for fear of the Duke's anger. + +Then did William march slowly to London, burning and harrying the land, +and all men feared him. + + [Illustration: HAROLD DEFEATS AND KILLS TOSTIG AND THE KING OF NORWAY + AT STAMFORD BRIDGE] + + [Illustration: A BATTLE IN THE 15TH CENTURY] + +There is a piece of "tapestry" still kept at Bayeux in France, showing +how England was conquered. It was probably made later than the reign of +William and perhaps was intended to go round the walls of the choir of +Bayeux Cathedral, for it has been measured and found to be of the right +length. Though it is old and torn and faded, we have been able to learn +many things from it[2]. + + [2] There is a copy in Reading Museum. See _Guide to Bayeux + Tapestry_, published by Textile Department, Victoria and + Albert Museum. + +There were few histories written in those days, for the Normans were +too busy fighting for their new lands and the English were too +sorrowful to tell their story. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE NORMAN KINGS + + +The strong men of the north had not bowed to William the Conqueror on +the field of Hastings, and when they heard that he was crowned, they +armed themselves against him. The King marched towards the north +slowly, burning and harrying the land as he passed, and his path was +marked by flaming villages and hayricks. + +When he came into Yorkshire, he laid waste the land, and for nine years +not an acre was tilled beyond the Humber, and "dens of wild beasts and +of robbers, to the great terror of the traveller, alone were to be +seen." + +The Saxons fled; some died of hunger by the wayside, some sold +themselves as slaves, and a few hid themselves in the Fens, a great +stretch of water and marsh land, in the east, dotted here and there +with islands and sometimes crossed in winter on sledges. There Hereward +the Wake built his camp in the swamps of Ely and there all true men +gathered round him. He was bold and hardy and even William said of him, +"if there had been in England three such men as he, they would have +driven out the Normans." + +The King gave orders that a causeway should be built across the Fens +and he besieged the Saxons in Ely, and some said that Hereward was +betrayed. But William pardoned him and sent him to Normandy to command +his army. Many stories are told of his adventures. It was said that he +was slain one day as he slept in an orchard, for there were many in the +King's court who envied him. + +The Conqueror was a wise king, and he desired to know what manner of +kingdom he had conquered. "He held a great council and very deep speech +with his wise men about this land, how it was peopled and by what men." + +So he sent his clerks to every shire and commanded them to write down +on a great roll all that they could find out about the country. They +were to ask of the lord and of the freemen in the villages and of the +monks in the monasteries these questions: How much land have you? Who +gave you that land? What services do you owe the King for it? Have you +paid them? How many people dwell upon your land? How many soldiers must +you lend to the King if need be? How many cattle have you? Have you a +mill? (if they had, they owed every third penny to the King). Have you +a fish pond? (fish was a great luxury). + +The lords and the monks were unwilling to answer, for they knew they +must pay to the King all that was due. "So narrowly did the King make +them seek out all this that there was not a single yard of land +(shameful it is to tell, though he thought it no shame to do) nor one +ox, nor one cow, nor one swine left out, that was not set down in his +rolls, and all these rolls were afterwards brought to him." These +records are called Domesday Book. The Kings, when they desired to get +money or soldiers from the great lords and monks, turned to the +Domesday Book. + +When the book was brought to the King, he summoned the lords and +freemen to come to do him "homage." These men came and they placed +their hands between the King's hands and, kneeling before him, they +promised to be the King's men and to follow him in time of need. "Hear, +my lord," said the baron, "I become liege man of yours for life and +limb ... and I will keep faith and loyalty to you for life and death, +God help me." + +William I made great peace in the land, and, as he was dying, he called +his three sons to him, and to Robert, the eldest, he gave Normandy and +to William Rufus, England. Then Henry turned sorrowfully to his father, +"And what, my father, do you give to me?" The King replied, "I bequeath +£500 to you from my treasury." Then said Henry, "What shall I do with +this money, having no corner of the earth I can call my own?" But his +father replied, "My son, be content with your lot and trust heaven, +Robert will have Normandy and William England. But you also in your +turn will rule over the lands which are mine and you will be greater +and richer than either of your brothers." + +Rufus ruled over England thirteen years, and he was hated by the +people. Robert gave Normandy to his brother for a sum of money; and +thus Henry, when Rufus was dead, became Duke of Normandy and King of +England. He married a Saxon lady and "there was great awe of him in the +land, he made peace for man and beast." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE NORMAN BARONS + + +The Norman barons who came to England with William the Conqueror were +much disappointed, for they had hoped to share the kingdom with him and +to be great lords. But William had not given them as much land as they +desired, and he had made Domesday Book so that they should render to +him due service and payment in return for his gifts. The barons had not +always paid that which they owed; and Henry I made a rule that all +should come to his Court three times a year, to Winchester at the feast +of Easter, to Westminster at Whitsuntide and to Gloucester at +Mid-winter, when he wore his crown, and then they should do homage and +pay their taxes. + +To this court came the officers of the household, and the King +appointed a Bishop to receive the money and priests to keep the +accounts, since there were few among the nobles or citizens who could +read, write and add figures. The money was counted out on a chequered +table, and so the court came to be called the Exchequer. + +The barons could not easily cheat the King; for, when their money had +been counted out upon the table, some of it was melted on the furnace, +lest it should contain base metal, and it was weighed in the balances, +lest the coins should have been clipped. Then Domesday Book was +searched and the priests read out what sum was due to the King from +this lord. + +When the Chancellor was satisfied, a tally was handed to the baron. +This was a willow or hazel stick, shaped something like the blade of a +knife, about an inch thick. Notches were cut in it to show the amount +paid and the halfpennies were marked by small holes. The tally was then +split down the middle through the notches, and the baron took one half +so that he might show it to the Chancellor when he came to court to pay +again, and the Chancellor kept the other half to prove that the baron +was not cheating. Thus the King kept his barons in order and there was +peace in the land. + +Now Henry I had an only son, and to him he gave a ship, "a better one +than which there did not seem to be in the fleet," but as he was +sailing from Normandy to England, it struck upon a rock and all +perished, save only a butcher, who was found in the morning clinging to +a plank. + +When the King heard the news, he was in great distress; for no woman +had yet ruled in England and his daughter Matilda was married to a +French Count, whom all the Normans hated for his fierce temper and +overbearing ways. The King, nevertheless, made them swear to put her on +the throne, but, when he died, the barons chose her cousin, Stephen, +for "he was a mild man, soft and good, and did no justice." + +Stephen quarrelled with the Chancellor and closed the Court of +Exchequer where the barons had paid their dues, and he let the barons +build castles and coin their own money. When he was in need of +soldiers, he hired foreign ruffians, and because he could not pay them, +he let them loose upon the land to plunder: thus he "undid all his +cousins had done." + +"The barons forswore themselves and broke their troth, for every +nobleman made him a castle and held it against the King and filled the +land full of castles. They put the wretched country folk to sore toil +with their castle-building; and, when the castles were made, they +filled them with devils and evil men. Then they took all those that +they deemed had any goods, both by night and day, men and women alike, +and put them in prison to get their gold and silver, and tortured them +with tortures unspeakable. Many thousands they slew with hunger. I +cannot nor may not tell all the horrors and all the tortures that they +laid on wretched men in the land. And this lasted nineteen winters, +while Stephen was King, and ever it was worse and worse. + +"They laid taxes on the villages continually, and, when the wretched +folk had no more to give them, they robbed and burned all the villages, +so that thou mightest easily fare a whole day's journey and shouldst +never find a man living in a village nor a land tilled. Then was corn +dear, and flesh and cheese, and there was none in the land. + +"If two or three men came riding to a village, all the village folk +fled before them, deeming them to be robbers. Wheresoever men tilled, +the earth bore no corn, for the land was fordone with such deeds, and +they said openly that Christ and His Saints slept. Such, and more than +we can say, we suffered nineteen winters for our sins." Then Stephen +made a treaty with Matilda's son Henry and promised him the crown of +England; for Henry was already a great prince, holding more lands than +the monarch of France. Moreover, he was valiant in battle, strong in +the Council chamber and never weary. The French King said of him, +"Henry is now in England, now in Ireland, now in Normandy, he may be +rather said to fly than go by horse or boat." + +Henry II could ride all night and, if need were, sleep in the saddle. +"His legs were bruised and livid with riding." "He was given beyond +measure to the pleasures of hunting; and he would start off the first +thing in the morning on a fleet horse and now traversing the woodland +glades, now plunging into the forest itself, now crossing the ridges of +the hills, would in this manner pass day after day in unwearied +exertion; and when, in the evening, he reached home, he was rarely seen +to sit down whether before or after supper. In spite of all the fatigue +he had undergone, he would keep the whole court standing." + +This tireless ruler, before he became King, had restored order in +England, for he commanded the hired soldiers to be gone immediately, +and they went as they had come like a flight of locusts. He destroyed +more than a thousand castles, and those that were well built he kept +for himself. "All folk loved him, for he did good justice." + +He opened the Court of Exchequer, so that the Barons were forced to pay +all they owed Stephen for the nineteen years of his reign. He visited +all the courts of justice in the land, and no man durst do evil, for +none knew where the King might be. He appointed judges to travel round +the country and to sit at Westminster and hear complaints, for many had +sought the King in vain, so swiftly did he travel from place to place. +Thus the barons were made to fear the King and rule justly. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +NORMAN PRELATES + + +There came one day, to the Abbey of Bec in Normandy, a great scholar +named Lanfranc. The Abbot was building an oven, "working at it with his +own hands. Lanfranc came up and said, 'God save you.' 'God bless you,' +said the Abbot Herlwin. 'Are you a Lombard?' 'I am,' said Lanfranc. +'What do you want?' 'I want to become a monk.' Then the Abbot bade a +monk named Roger, who was doing his work apart, to show Lanfranc the +book of S. Benedict's Rule; which he read and answered that, with God's +help, he would gladly observe it. Then the Abbot, hearing this and +knowing who he was and from whence he came, granted him what he +desired. And he, falling down at the mouth of the oven, kissed +Herlwin's feet." + +The fame of the Abbey of Bec spread far and wide. "Under Lanfranc," +said the chronicler, "the Normans first fathomed the art of letters; +for under the six dukes of Normandy, scarce anyone among the Normans +had applied to studies, nor was there any teacher found, till God, the +Provider of all things, brought Lanfranc to Normandy." + +He was William the Conqueror's friend and counsellor and brought the +Church into much honour when he became Archbishop of Canterbury. + +Among the strangers, who came to Bec, was Anselm. He had long desired +to be a monk and had travelled over the Alps from Italy to join the +order. When he was young, he used "to listen gladly to his mother, and +having heard from her that there is one God in Heaven above, ruling all +things, he imagined that Heaven rested on the mountains, that the +palace of God was there and that the way to it was up the mountains." +Before he was fifteen, he had written to a certain Abbot asking him to +make him a monk, but he would not, when he heard that Anselm had not +spoken to his father about it. + +Anselm was a scholar, too, and men counted it a great thing to have +been taught by him. "He behaved so that all men loved him as their dear +father." If any were sick, he nursed them; if any angry, he sought them +out. It was said that even the King, Rufus, so harsh and terrible to +all others, in his presence became gentle and gracious. + +When he was Abbot of Bec, he gave so much to the poor that the monks +were often in need of bread themselves. Many came to seek his advice, +"whole days he would spend in giving counsel" and his nights in +correcting the books that had been copied out. + +When Lanfranc died, William Rufus brought the kingdom into much trouble +and sorrow, by closing churches, taking their money and refusing to +choose an Archbishop. It happened that the King fell ill and messengers +were sent to Anselm begging him to see the King and show him the way to +health. Anselm was stern and bade the King confess his sins, and those +who stood round urged him to make Anselm Archbishop. When the King's +choice was told him, Anselm trembled and turned pale. "Consider I am +old and unfit for work, how can I bear the charge of all this church? I +am a monk and I can honestly say I have shunned all worldly business. +Do not entangle me in what I have never loved and am not fit for." The +Archbishop of Canterbury was a great officer, for he anointed the King +when he was crowned, he held many lands and must protect the Church +against the King if need be, for the Church was rich and the King poor. + +The bishops and barons would not listen and they dragged him back to +the King, shouting, "A pastoral staff, a pastoral staff." When they had +found one, the King pressed it into his hand, though he held his fist +clenched, and the crowd shouted, "Long live the Bishop." The Archbishop +soon after asked for a council, for the King was still robbing the +Church and "the Christian religion had well-nigh perished in many men." +Rufus was angry, "What good would come of this matter for you?" + +"If not for me, at least, I hope, for God and for you." + +"Enough, talk no more of it to me." + +The Archbishop begged the King not to rob the Abbeys and the King +answered, "What are the abbeys to you? Are they not mine? Go to! you do +what you like with your farms and am I not to do what I like with my +Abbeys?" + +"They are not yours to waste and destroy and use for your wars." + +The King said, "Your predecessor would not have dared to speak thus to +my father. I will do nothing for you." + +Then Anselm departed with speed and left him to his will. + +"Yesterday," said the King, "I hated him much, to-day still more; +to-morrow and ever after, he may be sure I shall hate him with more +bitter hatred. As Father and Archbishop I will never hold him more; his +blessing and prayers I utterly abhor and refuse." + +Anselm asked leave to go to Rome, for the Archbishop must wear the +white stole, woven from the wool of the sheep of S. Agnes in Rome and +blessed by the Pope "the Father of all Christian people." + +"From which Pope?" said the King, for there were two at this time. + +"From Urban." + +"Urban," said the King, "I have not acknowledged. By my customs, and by +the customs of my father, no man may acknowledge a Pope in England +without my leave. To challenge my power in this is as much as to +deprive me of my crown." + +Anselm, seeing that in no way could he bring the King to have respect +for the Church, went to Rome to seek the Pope's help. He said to the +bishops and barons, "Since you, the Shepherds of the Christian people, +and you, who are called chiefs of the nation, refuse your counsel to +me, your chief, except according to the will of one man, I will go to +the chief shepherd and prince of all." + +The Pope honoured Anselm by giving him the chief seat among the +Cardinals, but he kept him waiting at the Court, for he feared to +offend all other kings and tyrants. + +It was the custom to read the laws of the Church once a year in S. +Peter's Church in Rome, and there was gathered there a great crowd of +pilgrims from many countries. The Bishop of Lucca, a man of great +stature and loud voice, was chosen to read the laws. When he had got a +little way, his eyes kindled and he called out, "One is sitting among +us from the ends of the earth in modest silence, still and meek. But +his silence is a loud cry. The deeper and gentler his humility and +patience, the higher it rises before God, the more it should kindle us. +This one man, this one man, I say, has come here in his cruel +afflictions and wrongs to ask for your judgment. And this is his second +year and what help has he found? If you do not all know whom I mean, it +is Anselm, Archbishop of England," and he broke his staff and threw it +on the ground. + +"Brother, enough, enough," said the Pope, "good order shall be taken +about this." + +"There is good need, for otherwise the thing will not pass with Him who +judges justly." + +Anselm left Rome, for he knew the Pope could not help. With much +patience and meekness, Anselm contended yet again with Henry I for the +rights of the Church. Becket, too, Archbishop of Canterbury, the King's +friend and servant, defended it once again in the days of Henry +II--even with his life. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +NORMAN BUILDERS + + +The Normans were soldiers and rulers and great builders too. With the +white stone, which they found in their own land, they built magnificent +cathedrals, abbeys and churches, for they were cunning craftsmen and +dreamers. + +The Cathedral was vast and grand, with its stately pillars and roof so +lofty that it was lost in dim shadows. The master mason, who planned +it, took great joy in building and often travelled far to see the works +of other men. There are pictures of him with his cap on his head, the +sign that he was a master, and his compass in his hand. + +All the years of his life, the ironmaster laboured to cast a beautiful +peal of bells. One old man died of joy on the day that his bells were +first rung, for they were almost perfect. + +The Normans, who came to England, did not forget their art. They built +Ely Cathedral in the midst of the Fens, and Durham, overlooking the +river. "You might see churches rise in every village and monasteries in +the towns and cities, built after a style unknown before," says William +of Malmesbury. + +At first, they built of the rough stone found in the quarries worked by +the Romans in other days. Woods were cut down to give fuel for the +lime-kilns, and machines were devised for lifting blocks of stone, +roads and even waterways were made for this great traffic. + + [Illustration: ARCHITECT AND BUILDERS] + + [Illustration: BUILDING A CHURCH IN THE 15TH CENTURY] + + [Illustration: IMAGINARY PICTURE OF THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE OF + JERUSALEM, SHOWING GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE] + +So much work was there for the masons that there were not skilled +craftsmen enough in the land to do all that was needed. As the years +went by and the people gave to the Church of their riches, more new +buildings were made and yet more decoration was used. Organs were built +and stained glass of lovely hues was put in the windows, orange and +blue and red, colours so rich they seemed almost to have caught and +held the sunlight. + +A monk, who was also an artist, wrote "Man's eye knoweth not whereon to +gaze; if he look up at the vaults, they are as mantles embroidered with +spring flowers; if he regard the walls, there is a manner of paradise; +if he consider the light streaming through the windows, he marvelleth +at the priceless beauty of the glass and at the variety of this most +precious work." + +So full of riches were these buildings that S. Bernard, and other +preachers too, called to the monks to remember their vows of poverty +and to return to humbler dwellings like those they had once built where +they might worship God. + +Round the Saxon earthworks, the Normans built strong walls that they +might hold them against foreign foe or angry neighbour. By the rivers +and on high rocks, they made great keeps or towers, first of timber, +later of stone, where they could withdraw if pressed by foes. The stone +walls were often 13 feet thick and round about there was a deep moat. +The doorway was of stout oak barred with iron. Over this, they would +drop the portcullis, a single grate of iron, worked from a chamber +above by cords and chains round a windlass. Across the moat, they flung +a drawbridge, which could be raised at pleasure. There were only a few +rooms in the keep, storerooms below and chambers in the two stories +above, for the Norman lord only sought shelter there in times of siege. +In such a tower, he was safe enough if he had plenty of food and a +well, secure from the enemy. + +Sometimes the Normans built strong walls and another moat round about +the keep, and towers where they kept watch by night and day, looking +towards the four quarters of heaven lest an enemy should surprise them. + +Much later, when the lord brought his family and soldiers to live in +the castle, they made it still larger. Storerooms and stables were +built round the courtyard and above these were the chambers of the lord +and his followers. Here was a fine larder and a kitchen where the ox +and wild boar were roasted whole and the mead was brewed and brown +bread baked. + +There was a great hall where everyone dined and where the servants +slept at night. The floor was strewn with rushes, for there were no +carpets until the days of Queen Eleanor, and then they were hung on the +damp cold walls or put on the tables. Down the centre of the room ran a +long table, sometimes fixed to the floor, sometimes on trestles, with +wooden benches on either side, covered with osier matting. Under the +table, the dogs gathered to gnaw the bones that were flung to them. For +the meat was carried round on a spit and each man helped himself with a +knife from his girdle. + + [Illustration: A SIEGE] + + [Illustration: GATEWAY AND DRAWBRIDGE] + +So strong were these castles that, though the enemy used a ram, it was +almost impossible to make a breach in the walls. If they brought +scaling ladders, it was difficult to climb when the moat ran below and +the archers shot from the ramparts. If they mined beneath the rock, the +defenders could make a counter-mine. The besiegers could bring +catapults to hurl heavy stones upon the walls, and siege towers to +shoot their arrows high. These attacks were usually in vain, for the +garrison of a castle only surrendered when there was famine. + +These were days of great strife and turmoil, and strong was the King in +whose reign it was said that "a man might travel through his realm with +his bosom full of gold, unhurt." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +KNIGHTHOOD + + +In such troublous times when there was great fear abroad, when men +feared the King, feared their neighbours and feared all foreigners, it +seemed to them necessary that every lord should be trained to war. Yet +they learned, too, to honour the courteous, gentle, generous knight, +sworn to help the weak, and if need be to fight for the faith of +Christ. + +Every knight served his lord for many years before he was deemed worthy +of knighthood. At seven years old he became a page, attending his lord +and lady in hall and bower. From the chaplain and the ladies he heard +of gentleness and courtesy and love. In the field, he was taught by the +squires to cast a spear, bear a shield, and march with measured tread. +With falconer and huntsman, he sought the mysteries of wood and river. + +Then he became a squire, carving and serving in hall, offering the +first cup of mead to his lord and the guests, carrying ewer and basin +for them to wash after the meal. Upon him fell the duty of clearing the +hall for dancing and minstrelsy and setting the tables for chess and +draughts. + +In the field, he learned to ride a war-horse and to practise warlike +exercises. Armed with a lance he tilted at the quintain, a shield bound +to a pole or spear fastened in the ground. After the Crusades, the +figure of a Saracen, armed at all points and brandishing a wooden +sabre, was set up instead of the shield. If the squire could not strike +it in the centre of face or breast, it revolved rapidly and struck him +in the back. Then there was the pel, a post or tree stump, six feet +high. This he struck at certain points, marked as face and breast and +legs, covering himself at the same time with a shield. He must learn +also to scale walls, to swim, to bear heat, cold, hunger and fatigue. + +If he were a "squire of the body" he bore the shield and armour of his +lord in battle, cased and secured him in it and assisted him to mount +his war-horse. To him fell the honour of defending the banner and +securing the prisoners. If his lord were unhorsed, he must raise him +and give him a new mount; if wounded, he must bear him to a place of +safety. Froissart tells the story of a knight who fought as long as his +breath served him and "at last at the end of the battle, his four +squires took him and brought him out of the field and laid him under a +hedgeside for to refresh him, and they unarmed him and bound up his +wounds as well as they could." + +The squire did not fight unless his lord was sore pressed, but he kept +a careful watch, as did the son of the King of France, at Poitiers, +standing by his father in the mêlée, though he was but fifteen, +shouting "Guard thyself on thy right, father. Guard thyself on thy +left, father," till he was taken prisoner. + +A squire might be dubbed a knight on the battle-field in reward for +bravery, or at the age of twenty-one he became a knight if he so +desired, and this was the manner of his knighting, though often some of +these ceremonies were left out. In the evening, he was placed in the +care of "two squires of honour, grave and well seen in courtship and +nurture and also in the feats of chivalry." A barber then attended and +shaved him and cut his hair. After this he was led by the squires into +his chamber where a bath was prepared, hung within and without with +linen, and covered with rich cloths. While he was in the bath, "two +ancient and grave knights attended on him, to instruct and counsel him +touching the order and feats of chivalry." When this had been done, +they poured some of the water of the bath over his shoulders, signing +the left shoulder with the Cross. He was then taken from the bath and +put into a plain bed without hangings, and there he remained until his +body was dry. Then the two squires arrayed him in linen and a white +shirt, and over that "a robe of russet with long sleeves, having a hood +thereto like unto that of a hermit." In this way, knights of the order +of the Bath were made. + +Then the "two ancient and grave knights" returned and led him to the +chapel, the squires going before them "sporting and dancing, the +minstrels making melody." And when they had been served with wines and +spices they went away, leaving only the young squire, his companions, +the priest, the chandler and the watch who kept the vigil of arms till +sunrise. At daybreak he confessed to the priest, heard matins, took +part in the service of the Mass, offering a taper and a piece of money +stuck in the taper as near the lighted end as possible, the taper to +the honour of God, the money to the honour of the person who made him a +knight. + +Afterwards he was taken back to his chamber and remained in bed until +the knights, squires and minstrels went to him and roused him. The +knights then dressed him, mounted their horses and rode to the hall or +the church where the new knight was to receive knighthood. His future +squire rode before him, bareheaded, carrying his sword by the point of +the scabbard with his spurs hanging from the hilt. If they rode to the +hall, the lord there delivered the right spur "to the most noble and +gentle knight" present and directed him to fasten it on the squire's +right heel. The knight, kneeling, placed the squire's foot on his knee, +fixed the spur and signed him with the Cross. In the same way, the left +spur was fixed by another knight. And he, who was to create the new +knight, took the sword and girded him with it, and then embracing him, +lifted his right hand and smote him on the neck or shoulder, saying "Be +thou a good knight." + +When this was done they all went to the chapel with much music, and +there the sword was sprinkled with holy water by the priest who gave it +to the knight, saying "Receive thy sword and use it in thine own +defence and that of the Holy Church of God and to the confusion of the +enemies of the Cross of Christ and for the Christian faith." + +"Be thou a knight who lovest peace, firm, faithful and a true servant +of God." Then girt with his sword the new knight arose, drew it from +its sheath and waved it twice mightily over his left arm and put it +back in the scabbard. Sometimes it happened as he came from the chapel, +that the master cook awaited him at the door, and claimed his spurs as +a fee, saying, "If thou do anything contrary to the order of chivalry +(which God forbid) I shall hack the spurs from thy heels." + +Some rode forth to protect "the good peace of the Lord their God" and +some to break it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE + + +If we want to know about the ways of men in those days, we must read +some of their tales. Many stories were sung and told of knightly deeds +and adventures. There are a number that have come down to us about a +great king, Arthur, and his knights, called the Knights of the Round +Table. These are recorded in that "noble and joyous book" _Le Morte +Darthur_, which Caxton printed. + +We do not know where this King lived nor are we sure where his kingdom +lay. The English story-teller says he lived in Wales, but the French +people say he lived in their land. When he was crowned King, those who +loved him took a vow to follow him wherever he went. He chose twelve +knights who promised to help the weak and suffering and to release men +from their enemies. These were the Knights of the Round Table and they +rode out into all the world to seek adventure. + +There was the good knight Sir Tristram, "the best chaser of the world +and the noblest blower of an horn of all manner of measures, for, as +books report, of Sir Tristram came all the good terms of hunting and +all the sizes and measures of blowing of an horn; and of him we had +first all the terms of hawking and which were beast of chase and which +were vermins and all the blasts that belonged to all manner of games." + +There, too, was the beloved Knight Launcelot, "the courteoust Knight +that ever bare shield, the kindest man that ever struck with sword, the +goodliest person that ever came among press of knights, the meekest man +and the gentlest that ever ate in hall among ladies, the sternest +knight to mortal foe that ever put spear in rest." + +King Arthur had a beautiful sword and he came by it in this way. +Merlin, the magician, led him down to the shores of a great lake, and +as they gazed upon the dark waters an arm "clothed in white samite" +came forth, holding the sword Excalibur. "With that they saw a damsel +going upon the lake. What damosel is that? said Arthur. That is the +Lady of the Lake, said Merlin; and within that lake is a rock and +therein is as fair a place as any on earth, and richly beseen; and this +damosel will come to you anon and then speak ye fair to her that she +will give you that sword. Anon withal came the damosel unto Arthur and +saluted him and he her again. Damosel, said Arthur, what sword is that, +that yonder the arm holdeth above the water? I would it were mine for I +have no sword. Sir Arthur, King, said the damosel, that sword is mine, +and if ye will give me a gift when I ask it you, ye shall have it. By +my faith, said Arthur, I will give you what gift ye will ask. Well! +said the damosel, go ye into yonder barge and row yourself to the sword +and take it and the scabbard with you and I will ask my gift in time. +So Sir Arthur and Merlin alit and tied their horses to two trees, and +so they went into the ship, and when they came to the sword that the +hand held, Sir Arthur took it up by the handles and took it with him, +and the arm and the hand went under water." + +Then Merlin built the King a beautiful palace at Camelot and there they +brought the Queen Guinevere. Now some of Arthur's knights went in +search of the Holy Grail, a mysterious cup, that had disappeared +because men were evil. They thought that if they could find it and +bring it back to the earth again, there would be no more sorrow nor +pain. + +One day, there came in to the court an old man, clothed all in white, +and there was no Knight that knew from whence he came. And with him, +both on foot, he brought a young Knight, in red arms, without a sword +or shield, save a scabbard hanging by his side. "Sir," said the old man +to King Arthur, "I bring you here a young Knight." Then the old man +made the young man un-arm him, and he was in a coat of red sandal and +bare a mantle upon his shoulders that was furred with fine ermine, and +put that upon him, and the old man said unto the young Knight, "Sir, +follow after." And so he brought him unto the Siege Perilous. Now this +was a seat at the Round Table, covered with a cloth, and no man durst +sit in it, for Merlin had said that only he who should see the Holy +Grail might sit therein without harm. "The old man removed the cloth +and found letters written 'This is the siege of Sir Galahad the Good +Knight'." "Sir," said the old man, "wit ye well, this place is yours." +Then all the Knights of the Round Table marvelled greatly of Sir +Galahad that he durst sit in that Siege Perilous." + +Then Sir Galahad took his seat in the Siege Perilous. "Then anon they +heard cracking and crying of thunder, that they thought the place +should fall. In the midst of this blast entered a sunbeam more clearer +by seven times than ever they saw day and all they were alighted of the +grace of the Holy Ghost. Then began every knight to behold other and +either saw other, by their seeming, fairer than ever they saw afore. +There was no Knight might speak one word a great while and so they +looked every man on other as they had been dumb. Then there entered +into the hall the Holy Grail covered with white samite, but there was +none might see it, nor who bare it. And there was all the hall +fulfilled with good odours and every knight had such meats and drinks +as he best loved in this world. And when the Holy Grail had been borne +through the hall, then the Holy Vessel departed suddenly that they wist +not where it became; then had they all breath to speak." + +Then all the Knights of the Round Table arose and set forth in search +of the Holy Grail, and through the world they wandered doing deeds of +might and valour as they passed. But the Holy Grail never came back to +the earth again, for not all the Knights were pure. Then King Arthur +grew old and weary and was wounded unto death in battle. "Therefore, +said Arthur unto Sir Bedivere, take thou Excalibur, my good sword, and +go with it to yonder water side, and when thou comest there I charge +thee throw my sword in that water and come again and tell me what thou +there seest. My lord, said Bedivere, your commandment shall be done, +and lightly bring you word again. So Sir Bedivere departed and by the +way he beheld that noble sword, that the pommel and the haft was all of +precious stones; and then he said to himself: if I throw this rich +sword in the water, thereof shall never come good but harm and loss. +And then Sir Bedivere hid Excalibur under a tree. And so, as soon as +might, he came again unto the King and said he had been at the water +and had thrown the sword in the water. What saw thou there? said the +King. Sir, he said, I saw nothing but waves and winds. That is untruly +said of thee, said the King, therefore go thou lightly again and do my +commandment, as thou art to me dear, spare not, but throw it in. Then +Sir Bedivere returned again and took the sword in his hand, and then +him thought sin and shame to throw away that noble sword and so again +he hid the sword and returned again and told to the King that he had +been in at the water and done his commandment. What saw thou there? +said the King. Sir, he said, I saw nothing but the waters wappe (lap) +and waves wanne (ebb). Ah traitor untrue, said King Arthur, now hast +thou betrayed me twice. Who would have weened that, thou that hast been +to me so dear? and thou that art named a noble Knight would betray me +for the richness of the sword. But now go again lightly, for thy long +tarrying putteth me in great jeopardy of my life, for I have taken +cold. And but if thou do now as I bid thee, if ever I may see thee, I +shall slay thee with mine own hands; for thou wouldst for my rich sword +see me dead. Then Sir Bedivere departed, and went to the sword and +lightly took it up and went to the water side; and there he bound the +girdle about the hilts and then threw the sword as far into the water, +as he might; and there came an arm and an hand above the water and met +it and caught it and so shook it thrice and brandished and then +vanished away the hand with the sword in the water. So Bedivere came +again to the King and told him what he saw." + +Then came the three Queens and took Arthur in their hands and bore him +to the barge. They floated out across the seas towards the west and +there was the sound as of a city rejoicing at the return of a hero. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE CONQUEST OF IRELAND + + +Away to the west lay the beautiful country of Ireland. It was known in +all the world for its riches, and the ships of many lands were seen in +its havens. For the rivers and seas were full of fish, the pastures +gave abundant food to the flocks and herds. "Dark was the shadow of the +corn in their fields" of which "great plenty was sent over-seas," and +rich was the harvest of their orchards. Merchants came laden with +spices, figs, pepper and ginger, with wine and carpets and many things +from the east to offer in exchange for their wealth. + +It was the home of craftsmen, skilful in all manner of handiwork. They +made the beautiful book of Kells, "the great Gospel of Columkill, the +chief relic of the western world on account of its unequalled cover." +So wonderful was their work in illuminating and lettering that an +English writer who saw one of their books in 1185 said that it must +have been done by angels, not men. + +Gold and silver were found in the land, and of these their goldsmiths +wrought delicate ornaments. Their blacksmiths too were famed for fine +armour and good weapons. + +They were weavers, and their cloth was sold in England; "white and +green, and russet and red," for they had the secret of making lovely +dyes. Of the reign of a good King it was said, "In his time, there was +abundance of dye-stuff." Kings and Queens in far-off lands were anxious +to buy their cloth for trimming mantles and gowns. The Irish made linen +too, both fine and coarse, and leather gloves, shoes and belts. + +The people of Ireland were given to hospitality and were courteous in +their ways. They loved rich clothes and beautiful things, and in their +stories and songs you may still read of the fine golden goblets and +beakers of horn from which they quaffed their ale, of the dress of +cloth of gold that the lady donned when she entertained the poets, of +the crimson velvet mantle bordered with black velvet that the chieftain +wore on feast-days. Of their wide hanging linen sleeves, an Englishman +wrote "30 yards are little enough for one of them." + +They were singers and makers of song like the Saxon people. They loved +the harp and delighted in the old stories, such as you may still read, +of the hero Cuculain and Deirdri of the Sorrows, of Patrick and the +saints. + +William Rufus looking towards this rich country had said: "For the +conquest of that land, I will gather together all the ships of my +kingdom and will make them a bridge to cross over." But the King had no +leisure to set sail for Ireland. + +In the days of Henry II, it befell that Dermot, King of Leinster, +carried off the wife of O'Ruarc, the one-eyed, Prince of Meath, who was +"heart-struck both by his shame and by his loss." Then he gathered his +men together and marched against Dermot, "a man tall of stature and +stout of frame, a soldier whose heart was in the fray and held valiant +among his own nation. From often shouting his battle-cry, his voice had +become hoarse. A man who liked better to be feared by all than loved by +any." So his followers left him and Dermot sought refuge in Bristol. + +One of his men, who was sorry at his departure, wrote in the margin of +the Book of Leinster, where you may still see them, these words: "O +Mary! It is a great deed that has been done in Erin on this day; +Dermot, King of Leinster and of the Foreigners, to have been banished +by the men of Erin over the sea East-wards! Uch, Uch, O Lord! What +shall I do?" + +Now Dermot asked help of the Normans in England, saying: + + Whoever shall wish for land or pence, + Horses, trappings or chargers, + Gold or silver, I shall give them + A very ample pay. + Whoever may wish for soil or sod + Richly shall I enfeoff them. + +The Normans were glad of the promises of gold and of land and willingly +set sail for Ireland. Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, was their leader, "a +man with reddish hair, freckled skin, grey eyes and tall of stature," +strong in battle and of much wisdom. + +The King of Leinster gave him Eva, his daughter, in marriage. Then did +the Kings submit to Dermot, for there was much bloodshed and he "made +Ireland a trembling sod." When the King died, Strongbow succeeded him, +and Henry II, when he heard the news, was not willing that his barons +should be lords in a new land. Therefore, he too set sail for Ireland +that they might do him homage. And all the lords and chiefs came, for +they feared him. + +Then the Norman barons built castles and married Irish ladies, and they +no more desired to return to England, for Ireland was a country +abounding in treasure. + +"The old chieftains of Erin prospered under these princely English +lords, who were the chief rulers and who had given up their surliness +for good manners, their stubbornness for sweet-mildness and their +perverseness for hospitality." + +So Ireland prospered, but it is not easy to find out its ancient +history, for many of the old books have been lost or burnt and some +have been used as though they were of no account. "By long lying shut +and unused," says one writer, hundreds of years ago, "I could hardly +read," and "by taylors being suffered to cut the leaves of the books in +long pieces to make their measure" many pages are missing. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE COMING OF THE FRIARS + + +About this time, Francis, the son of a merchant, was born in Italy in +the town of Assisi. When he grew up his parents were very proud of him +and gave him much money, for he dressed gaily, feasted often and led +the young men of fashion. + +Then it chanced that he fell ill and, as he lay upon his bed, he +thought of the sick and the poor, of the rich monks and the idle +priests, and he made up his mind when he grew well to live as Christ +lived among men. + +He left his father and mother, to their great sorrow. He gave all he +had to the poor and dwelt near a ruined chapel beyond the city gates. +There he busied himself in rebuilding the chapel, and when he came +amongst men it was with a cheerful countenance and a merry heart to do +them service. + +Though many laughed at him, some desired to become his followers, "and +those who took upon themselves that life gave away to the poor all that +they chanced to have. And they were content with one tunic patched as +they required, within and without, together with a girdle and +breeches." + +In the heat of the day, on the dusty roads, S. Francis and his +companions trudged along, singing songs of joy and cheering those whom +they chanced to meet. At night, they sometimes lay out-of-doors, +singing praises all the while of "Sister moon and the stars bright and +precious and comely" and watching for the rising of the sun, "that doth +illumine us with the dawning of day." + +For food, they laboured or begged, and of that which was left they gave +to the poor. One day, when they had done their begging, they met +together to eat in a place without the city, where was a fine fountain +and hard by a fine broad stone, upon which each set the alms that he +had begged. + +And S. Francis, seeing that Brother Masseo's pieces of bread were more +and finer and larger than his own, rejoiced with great joy and said, +"Brother Masseo, we are not worthy of such vast treasures," and when he +repeated many times these words, Brother Masseo made answer, + +"Father, how can one speak of treasure, where is such poverty and lack +of all things whereof we are in need? Here is not cloth, nor knife, nor +plate, nor porringer, nor house, nor table, nor man-servant nor +maid-servant." + +Quoth S. Francis, "And this it is that I account vast treasure, wherein +is no thing at all prepared by human hands but whatsoever we have is +given by God, as doth appear in the bread that we have broken, in the +table of stone so fine and in the fount so clear; wherefore I will that +we pray unto God that He make us love with all our heart the treasure +of holy poverty, which is so noble that thereunto did God Himself +become a servitor." + +Of his courtesy and love towards all creatures on the earth, many +stories are told. "And as with great fervour, he was going on the way, +he lifted up his eyes and beheld some trees hard by the road, whereon +sat a great company of birds well-nigh without number, whereat S. +Francis marvelled and said to his companions, 'Ye shall wait for me +here upon the way and I will go to preach unto my little sisters the +birds.'" + +"And he went into the field and began to preach unto the birds that +were on the ground and immediately those that were on the trees flew +down to him and they all of them remained still and quiet together +until S. Francis made an end of preaching." + +It was a great surprise even to his followers that so many should seek +him. Quoth Brother Masseo, "I say, why doth all the world come after +thee and why is it seen that all men long to see thee and hear thee and +obey thee? Thou art not a man comely of form, thou art not of much +wisdom, thou art not noble of birth, whence comes it then that it is +after thee the whole world doth run?" + +And as his companions increased in number, he made a journey to Rome to +desire the Pope to bless their Order. There is a story which may not be +true that when the Pope saw his untrimmed hair and beard and read the +rules, which seemed too hard for any man to keep, he made answer, "Go, +brother, go to the pigs, for you are more like them than men, and read +to them the rules you have drawn up." + +Then Francis humbly bowed his head and went away and coming to a field +where there were pigs, he rolled in the mud with them. Then he returned +to the Pope and said, "My lord, I have done as you commanded, grant me +now, I beseech you, my petition." The Pope was astonished at his +humility and, repenting of his own harshness, he granted the prayer. + +Thus was the order of the Grey Brothers or Friars[3] founded. Soon the +little Brothers of S. Francis were scattered over the world and many +joined them in England. They had no possessions, and they travelled +from place to place preaching to the people and tending the sick and +the lepers, of whom there were many in sore need. + + [3] French _Frères_, Latin _Fratres_. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE THIRD CRUSADE + + +In the time of William Rufus, Peter the Hermit travelled from country +to country calling all Christian men to follow him to Palestine; for +the holy places where Christ and His disciples had lived had fallen +into the hands of fierce men, the Mohammedans. The pilgrims had been +tortured and forbidden to enter Jerusalem, and their number was great, +for men of all nations went sometimes in sorrow and carrying rich gifts +to make their prayers at the tomb of Christ where, it was said, many +wonders were done. Those who had sinned much sought forgiveness, those +who were sick desired health and others came to pray for friends and +patrons. + +Therefore the preacher asked of the rich that they should give all that +they had, and of the strong and valiant that they should fight for the +banner of the Cross. + +And many set out for the war--peasants and princes, French, Italian, +English and Austrian--to rescue the land that some held dearer than +their own. In that great company was Robert of Normandy, who had sold +his dominions to his brother that he might go. + +The way was long and perilous, through forests, over mountains, by +strange towns and across the treacherous sea, and many died of hunger +or of fever on the journey. Twice did the Christian armies march to +Jerusalem, yet though they took the city, they could not keep it. Then +Richard of the Lion-heart, son of Henry II, planned to join the Third +Crusade, for he was a great soldier and loved war. + +The King begged money from everyone for his journey. He invited his +barons to join him and bring their best men, and from those who would +not come he asked large sums of money, promising to pray for them when +he reached Jerusalem. + +He seized the treasure of the Jews, for they were a people who worked +hard and spent little. The Jews were much hated, and when the news went +abroad that the King had taken their money, the English thought to do +him service by killing them; but the King was angry, for he had only +wanted their money. + +Then Richard sold the chief offices in his court to those who could pay +well, caring little how they ruled while he was away. When he had +gathered treasure enough, he set out with the boldest of his barons, +and John, his brother, was left to govern England. + +After many adventures, he arrived at Acre, and there he found the +French King and the Austrians and others surrounding the city. Then +Richard besieged it and took it and the great army made him their +leader, for they admired his prowess. The French King was much angered +and returned home, and the Austrian Duke was envious and led his troops +back to their own land. But Richard marched towards Jerusalem. Over the +burning desert went the soldiers in their armour, so heavy that if a +man fell from his horse, he would be stifled to death unless a comrade +were near to raise him; and the horses found it heavy work in the +shifting sand. At the rear of the army rode the Knights Hospitallers, +who had made vows to succour the wounded and those who fell by the way, +and for this service they were held in high esteem. + +The enemy watched in hiding to cut off the stragglers by the way. +Mounted on swift Arab steeds and clothed in light garments, they moved +rapidly, and the poisoned arrow was a deadly weapon. When the tired +soldiers came in sight of Jaffa, it was the season of oranges and the +time of vintage was at hand, so there they made a camp. + +Much refreshed they marched within twelve miles of Jerusalem, but the +weather was bad and their tents were torn up and whirled away. The +horses perished of cold and the stores were spoiled and their armour +grew rusty and many fell ill from long sojourn in this land. There, +too, Richard received a letter telling him that his brother John was +plotting to take away his inheritance and that the King of France +intended to make war on Normandy. + +Reluctantly he turned his back upon the Holy City, for he had desired +above measure to take it. When one of the knights would have pointed it +out to him in the camp, he snapped the switch he held in his hand and +cast his surcoat over his head, praying with tears, "O Lord God, suffer +not mine eyes to behold Thy Holy City, since Thou wilt not suffer me to +deliver it out of the hands of Thine enemies." + +Now the Mohammedans held Richard in great awe. When the officers +returned to their master after a battle, he asked them mockingly +whether they were bringing Richard in chains and they answered, "Know, +O King, for a surety that this Richard of whom you inquire is not like +other men. In all time, no such soldier has been seen or heard of; no +warrior so stout, so valiant or so skilled; his onset is terrible, it +is death to encounter him, his deeds are more than human." + +Then Richard made a truce with the valiant Saladin, the ruler of the +Mohammedans, and this was to last three years and three months and +three days and three hours, and once again pilgrims were allowed to +visit the tomb of Christ. Now the King dared not return through France +for fear of the French monarch, therefore he pretended he was a rich +merchant, and hiring two ships he sailed for Austria, hoping to make +his way through that land in disguise. But the Duke of Austria hated +him almost as much as did the French King. + +One evening, Richard sent his page into a city for food, and by mistake +he carried the King's gloves in his belt and on them was embroidered +the golden lion of England. And the lord of the castle happening to be +in the market place saw these and gave orders to follow. Then Richard +was captured and cast into a donjon to await the Duke's pleasure. The +Duke demanded a ransom for the King so large that he thought the +English could not pay it. But Eleanor, the King's mother, rested not +till she had raised the money, and the English paid gladly. + +When the Crusaders returned to their own lands they spoke of the +strange things they had seen and of the courage of Christian soldiers +of many nations. Then also the people began to desire spices and silks +from the East more than ever before, and they must often have longed +for oranges, figs, grapes and dates, such as these adventurers +described. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE LOSS OF NORMANDY. THE SIGNING OF THE CHARTER + + +By the river Seine, on a high rock, Richard built a fine castle to +guard Normandy. When the King of France heard of its building, he said, +"If its walls were of iron I would take it," and Richard replied, "If +its walls were of butter I would hold it," and he named it Château +Gaillard, Saucy Castle. When Richard died, his brother John did not +trouble to keep many soldiers there, and the King of France was glad, +for he desired it greatly. + +Eleanor, the King's mother, gathered soldiers for her son, and though +she was very old she did her best to save Normandy. Yet Saucy Castle +fell and the Norman barons would not fight for John. So Normandy was +lost and the barons had to choose between their French lands and their +English lands. Many, who were fierce and turbulent, went to live in +Normandy, and those who had learned to love their new country stayed in +England. Though they still spoke French they served England well and +tried to make the King rule more justly. + +Now the people of England had been proud of Normandy and they were +angry with John because he had lost it. In his days, too, there was a +great quarrel between the King and the Pope, and the priests were +forbidden to hold any services in England, and for five years the +churches and monasteries were closed, the dead were buried without +prayer in the ditches and highways, and no one could marry in church. + +"The images of saints were taken down and veiled; the frequent tinkle +of the convent bell no longer told the serf at the plough how the weary +hours were passing or guided the traveller through the forest to a +shelter for the night." The people grew afraid, and they hated the +King, who was the cause of much evil. + +Yet John did not care, and he would not receive the new Archbishop whom +the Pope had sent. Then the Pope banished the King from the Church and +declared him an outlaw, whose life any man might take, and still the +King had no fear. At last, the Pope offered the English crown to the +French King and John knew that the French King was a dangerous enemy, +therefore he promised to do whatever the Pope wished. + +So the new Archbishop, Stephen Langton, was received by the King. Soon +he began to talk with the barons of the wrongs that the King did daily +in the land, and they searched for the old charter that Henry I had +given his people. Then they drew up the Great Charter, asking the King +to grant them justice. + +John met the barons and the Archbishop in a meadow near Windsor, called +Runnymede. When he saw the charter he said, "These articles are pure +foolishness! Why do they not ask me for the Kingdom at once? I will +never give them such freedom as would make me a slave." But looking +round at the fierce barons there, unwillingly he set his seal to it. + +Thus the King promised that no freeman should be imprisoned without a +trial by his equals, that no one should be fined so heavily that he +could not pay or that he had to give up the tools by which he earned +his daily bread. He promised too that he would not take money from his +people without asking the advice of his council and that he would let +the merchants come and go freely in the land. + +In London, you may still see the old charter signed by the barons who +were present, and bearing the King's seal, and when you are able to +read it, you can find out what other promises the King made that day. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE LAWS OF EDWARD I AND THE FIRST PARLIAMENT + + +IN the days of Henry III, the barons had become powerful, and his son +Edward I remembered the days of Stephen and how the great lords had +destroyed "the good peace" of the realm, and he wisely framed the laws +against them. + +Now the King had grown poor and the barons had grown rich. They did not +care to pay their taxes, so they pretended to give their lands to the +Church. These lands were then "in the dead hand" because the Church +held them for ever and owed nothing to the King. Yet all the time, the +priests took their share and the lands were still held by the barons, +free of all dues to the King. So the King forbade any man to give lands +to the Church without his permission. + +Again, many had taken lands which did not belong to them and seized the +King's dues in the courts and no one had made inquiries since Domesday +Book was written. The King sent round his messengers to ask by what +right they held their lands and courts, and the barons were angry. One +man drew out his sword and defied the King, saying, "My ancestors came +over with William and won the lands with their sword, and with the +sword I will keep them." The King made other laws and the barons feared +him. + +Edward desired that the people in the towns should prosper, for he +hoped to get money from the traders. Much complaint was made that the +roads were in danger from lurking bands of robbers and the cities too +were unguarded. The merchants suffered most, for their mule packs, +carrying merchandise, had to be strongly guarded. So the King gave +orders concerning the watch and ward and bade the townsmen search out +the evil doers or pay heavy fines for every crime done in their +boundaries. + +The gates of the towns were to be shut from sunset to sunrise and the +trees and undergrowth were to be cut down for a distance of 200 feet on +either side of the highway, lest they gave shelter to men with evil +intent. + + [Illustration: A COURT OF JUSTICE IN THE 15TH CENTURY + + Duke of Alençon condemned for treason by Charles VII, King of + France, 1458 + + The figure of the artist is to be seen inside the barrier, turning + from the scene as though he were not interested] + + [Illustration: THE PARLIAMENT OF EDWARD I + + This picture probably dates from the 16th century] + +Then the King planned to take not only from the richest of the nobles +and the priests but also from the treasure chests of the citizens. When +he was about to make war and desired money, he sent out a letter asking +not only the bishops and barons to meet him but two knights from every +shire and two citizens from every city and two burgesses from every +borough. + +The new comers were at first flattered to sit with the great barons, +but soon they found it very troublesome, for the King asked for much +money, the journey to the meeting place was often long and dangerous +and the King would take no excuses for absence. Then the members began +to find fault with the King and to ask how he spent the money, and they +made even the strong man Edward sign again the Great Charter. + +There is an old picture of one of these parliaments and in it the +artist has drawn, not only the two Archbishops seated on either side of +the King but also the King of Scotland and the Prince of Wales, but +this no doubt he did to show the power of Edward I over these princes, +for they never really were in Parliament. The judges sat on the four +woolsacks which faced one another. On the right of the King sat the +Archbishops, Bishops and Abbots; on the left, the great lords; and +opposite him the Commons stood. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE CONQUEST OF WALES + + +In the old days, the Britons had fled before the Northmen, who came +conquering from the east-ward; but those who dwelt in the mountain +fastnesses of the west had been secure from Saxon and Norman foes. +Their country was called Wales or the land of the foreigner, by all who +heard of it. Between England and Wales lay the borderland or Marches as +the Normans named it, and there the troublesome Norman barons had been +given lands by the King to keep them far from the court and busy with +their wild neighbours. + +When Edward ruled in England, Llewelyn, "towering above the rest of +men, with his long red lance, and red helmet of battle, crested with a +fierce wolf," was Prince of Snowdon. The bards sang of his fame and +prophesied that he should rule from sea to sea. "Men spoke of the +return of King Arthur, they whispered that the Northmen should be +driven back to their fatherland" and the nation waited in expectation. + +Llewelyn desired to marry the daughter of one of the Lords of the +Marches and to find friends among those barons. Edward, fearing this, +captured the bride on her way to Wales and summoned the prince to +London to do homage for his lands; but he would not come. + +"We dare not submit to Edward," said the Welsh, "nor will we suffer our +prince to do so, nor do homage to strangers whose tongue, ways and laws +we know nought of." + +So the King raised an army and marched into their country by way of the +old Roman road along the north coast. His army marched untroubled with +heavy stores and baggage, for Edward was a great soldier and had +planned that his fleet should attend him, sailing in sight of the +coast, till they reached the island of Anglesey, the granary of the +Welsh. + +As he marched, he gave orders to build strong castles. Builders and +architects were as busy as soldiers and there was great rivalry amongst +them. Some boasted of the number of towers, some of their size, some of +the speed at which they were able to build. The fine castle of Conway +was made from the stones of a stronghold close by. Carnarvon and +Beaumaris were built to guard the island of Anglesey, and Caerphilly +looked towards the lands of the South Welsh. + +Llewelyn, hidden in the wilds of Snowdon, hoped ever that the King +would risk a march into these unknown paths, but he waited in vain. +Then Llewelyn fought on the coast road, but with dismay he saw himself +cut off on all sides but one, and, looking towards the south, he knew +it to be his only way of escape, and that was the land of his enemies. +There, it is said, he died, by the treachery of the South Welsh, as he +stood upon the bank of a river, but the South Welsh say that he was +slain in battle by his enemies, the English. + +Then Edward summoned the Welsh to meet him at Carnarvon Castle, where +he promised they should do homage to a new Welsh Prince, whom he would +choose. When the day came, he showed to them his eldest son, who had +just been born at Carnarvon, and they paid homage. + +Among the laws which he made, he bade the Welsh speak English, but to +this day they can speak in their own tongue. "My people," said the +Welsh chieftain, "may be weakened by your might and even in great part +destroyed, but unless the wrath of God be on the side of its foe it +will not perish utterly, nor deem I that other race or other tongue +will answer for this corner of the world before the Judge of all at the +last day save this people and the tongue of Wales." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE WAR WITH SCOTLAND + + +The old King of Scotland, dying, left his kingdom to his little +granddaughter, the Maid of Norway, who was only seven years old. Edward +planned to marry her to his son the Prince of Wales and so make England +and Scotland one kingdom. He sent a ship to bring her from Norway in +the winter and he stored it with good things, with toys and sweetmeats +for the voyage. + +The weather was stormy and Margaret died on the voyage. There was much +woe in Scotland and trouble in the English King's mind. Many Scottish +nobles claimed the crown and they asked Edward to choose amongst them. +It was a difficult matter but Edward was trusted, for all men praised +him as the Lion of Justice. + +He chose Balliol to rule over them, but this man proved himself of no +wisdom and little counsel and his rivals Bruce and the Red Comyn were +more powerful than he. + +Balliol thought to win favour of the Scots by defying the English King. +Edward then harried the land and carried off the Stone of Destiny from +Scone. This stone was said to be Jacob's Pillow and had been brought to +Ireland long ago and thence into Scotland. On it, all the Kings of +Scotland had sat to be crowned and it was put in Westminster Abbey, +where it still lies underneath the coronation chair. English barons +were sent to rule Scotland but they were not so wise as Edward and +there was bitterness among the people. + +In their distress, they found a leader in William Wallace, who drilled +them to fight on foot against the foreigner, for they were too poor to +buy horses and ride into battle in costly armour. On the field, they +stood close together, shoulder to shoulder, awaiting the onslaught of +the knights, and then they fought with spear and battle-axe. + +The English soldiers were taken by surprise, for they had never heard +of such a strange army nor seen such steady ranks of men. Edward, +however, was a thoughtful general, and he soon learned to use his Welsh +archers to trouble the Scots and break their lines. Yet when they were +driven from the field, he found he could not rule in Scotland as he had +done in Wales, for it was a barren land and the Scots were a hardy +people. + +Now there was a great feud between Bruce and the Red Comyn. One day +when the two met, they entered a church to talk and Bruce killed his +foe on the steps of the high altar and, rushing out, he cried to his +men, "I doubt I have slain the Red Comyn." "Ye doubt? I make certain," +cried one of his followers as he pushed his way into the church. + +The people of Scotland were angry for this sin in their hero, but they +could not do without him, for Wallace had been caught and hanged as a +traitor. So they crowned the Bruce in the old city of Scone, and the +golden circlet was placed upon his head by the Countess of Buchan, +whose husband was with the invader. + +Many stories are told of these times and of the high courage of the +Scots, for there were great perils in this strife and there was hunger +and cold and faithlessness. + +Hearing of the deeds of this man, who had once paid vows to him, +Edward, now an old man, led his armies northward again. There on the +Borderland he died, leaving this charge to his son, that he should rest +neither day nor night till he was prince of Scotland also. + +Yet the young King turned his face towards London to make ready for his +coronation and wedding. Then the Bruce became indeed King of Scotland, +and seven years afterwards, when it was too late, the English King +marched with his men to the field of Bannockburn. There he was defeated +and from the shame of that day he could never escape. + +The Scots harried the north of England for many a year. They rode on +swift ponies, carrying only a tin platter and a bag of oatmeal for +food, drinking from the streams and eating flesh when they could catch +wild deer or mountain sheep or the fat oxen in the pastures. It was a +hard matter to find this army, for they rode hither and thither +silently, surely and swiftly. Thus was Scotland separated from England +for many a generation. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE WAR WITH FRANCE + + +In the days of "the courteous knight" and King, Edward III, a great war +was waged with France, for the English merchants complained bitterly +that the French had troubled them as they passed bearing wool to the +great markets. So bold had the French become that they had harried the +Isle of Wight and burned many villages along the southern shore. + +As the King passed over seas to make war, he came in sight of the +harbour of Sluys, "and when he saw so great a number of ships that +their masts seemed to be like a great wood, he demanded of the master +of his ship what people he thought they were." + +He answered and said, "Sir, I think they be men laid here by the French +King, and they have done great displeasure in England, burnt your town +of South Hampton and taken your great ship, Christopher." "Ah," quoth +the King, "I have long desired to fight with the Frenchmen, and now +shall I fight with some of them by the grace of God and S. George." + +The battle began with the sound of trumpets and drums and other kinds +of music and "it endured from the morning till noon, for their enemies +were four to one and all good men of the sea." But the English fought +so valiantly that they obtained the victory and Edward received the +title of Lord of the Seas. + +Some years later, Edward led his men into France to take Paris, but he +found that a great army was drawn up to defend the city and that the +bridges over the rivers had been destroyed. Many of his soldiers fell +sick, so he hastened towards Calais. Then the French King gave chase. + +On the hill of Crécy, Edward III drew up his men to await the enemy. +While they were waiting, a great thunderstorm burst over the land, and +the King gave orders that the archers should cover their bows with +their cloaks lest the heavy rain should spoil them. But the French +King, in his haste, urged his men forward, and, wet and weary, they +came in sight of their foe. + +When the French King saw the hosts on the hill, "he hated them" and +bade the Italian crossbowmen, whom he had hired, begin the attack. They +said their strings were slack and they could not fight that day, but he +called them cowards and bade them fall on. + +As they advanced into battle, the sun shone in their faces, and when +they drew near "the Italians made a great leap and cry to abash the +English but they stood still and stirred not for all that. And a second +time, they made another leap and a dreadful cry and stepped forward a +little but the Englishmen removed not one foot. Again they leapt and +cried and went forward till they came within shot, then the English +archers stepped forward one pace and let fly their arrows so hotly and +so thick that it seemed snow. When the Italians felt the arrows +piercing through their heads, arms and breasts, many of them cast down +their cross-bows and cut their strings and ran back discomfited." + +When the French King saw them fleeing, he said, "Slay those rascals, +for they will hinder us and block up our path for nothing." Then the +men-at-arms dashed in among them and killed a great number and still +"the English kept shooting wherever they saw the thickest press and the +sharp arrows ran into the men-at-arms and into their horses and many +fell among the Italians and when they were down they could not get up +again, for the press was so thick that one overthrew the other." + +It was in this battle that gunpowder was first used, but the cannon was +only fired once an hour, and then it frightened those who stood by more +than the enemy. + +The Prince of Wales, who was but sixteen years old, was hard-pressed by +the horsemen of France, and the Knights under his banner sent a +messenger to his father, the King, who was watching the battle from a +windmill on the hill. + +"Is my son dead or hurt or felled to the ground?" asked Edward. + +"No sir, but hardly pressed." + +"Then go back to them that sent you and tell them to send to me no more +whatever betide as long as my son is alive, and bid them let him win +his spurs, for, please God, I wish this day and the honour thereof to +be his and those that are with him." And they that heard it were +greatly encouraged. + +The old King of Bohemia, fighting for the French, was led into battle +by four of his comrades, for he was dim of sight. There he fell +fighting, and his crest of three black feathers, with the motto, "Ich +Dien," "I serve," was taken by the Prince and has been worn by his +successors ever since. + +The French King was wounded and his soldiers scattered in dismay. Then +the English made great fires and lighted up torches and candles, for it +was very dark. And the King came down to the field and said to his son: + +"Fair son, God give you good perseverance, ye are my good son, thus ye +have acquitted you nobly; ye are worthy to keep a realm." The prince +inclined himself to the earth, honouring his father. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE WAR WITH FRANCE (_continued_) + + +Calais was the great port of Northern France. It was a strong town and +the King besieged it. For eleven months it held out against him. The +King was sore displeased that he should tarry so long before its gates, +and when the citizens desired to make peace he demanded that six +burgesses, bare headed, bare footed, in their shirts, with halters +about their necks and with the keys of the castle and town in their +hands, should give themselves as a ransom for the inhabitants. + +The bell in the market place was sounded and the people assembled. When +they heard this "they began to weep and make much sorrow." At last the +richest burgess of all the town, called Eustace of Saint Pierre, rose +up and said openly, "Sirs, great and small, great mischief it should be +to suffer such people as be in this town to die by famine or otherwise, +wherefore to save them, I will be the first to put my life in +jeopardy." + +Then another honest burgess rose and said: "I will keep company with my +gossip Eustace," and so the six offered themselves and went and +apparelled them as the King desired. + +When they were brought into the camp, they begged for mercy, "then all +the earls and barons and others that were there wept for pity. The King +looked felly (cruelly) on them, for greatly he hated the people of +Calais for the great damages and displeasures they had done him on the +sea before." + +Then he commanded their heads to be stricken off. Every man requested +the King for mercy but he would hear no one on their behalf. + +"They of Calais have caused many of my men to be slain, wherefore shall +they die like-wise." + +Then the Queen kneeled down and sore weeping said, "Ah, gentle sir, +since I passed the sea in great peril, I have desired nothing of you, +therefore now I humbly require you in honour of the Son of the Virgin +Mary, and for the love of me, that ye will take mercy on these six +burgesses." + +The King beheld the Queen and stood still in a study a space and then +said: "Ah dame, I would ye had been now in some other place, ye make +such request to me that I cannot deny you. Wherefore I give them to you +and do your pleasure with them." + +"Then the Queen caused them to be brought into her chamber and made +their halters to be taken from their necks and caused them to be new +clothed and gave them dinner at their leisure and then gave them each +some gold and made them to be brought out of the host in safeguard and +set at their liberty." + +This is the story told by Froissart, who attended on the Queen, and +thus did Calais fall into the hands of the English, and over its +portals the conquerors inscribed the proud boast, + + Then shall the Frenchmen Calais win + When iron and lead like cork shall swim. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE BLACK DEATH, AND THE PEASANTS' REVOLT + + +In those days, the great men of the land were rich and they dressed +gaily in silk and fur, gorgeous were their jewels, and their scabbards +were decked with beauteous workmanship. From their bridles jangled the +merry bells, as they followed their hounds to the hunt. + +The court too was magnificent. The King gave bounteous feasts and there +were many dishes set before the guests. + +"There came in at the first course, before the King's self, + + Boars' heads on broad dishes of burnished silver, + Flesh of fat harts with noble furmenty, + And peacocks and plovers on platters of gold, + Herons and swans in chargers of silver, + And tarts of Turkey full pleasant to taste. + Next hams of wild-boar with brawn beglazed, + Barnacle-geese and bitterns in embossed dishes, + Venison in pasties, so comely to view, + Jellies that glittered and gladdened the eye. + Then cranes and curlews craftily roasted, + Conies in clear sauce coloured so bright, + Pheasants in their feathers on the flashing silver, + With gay galantines and dainties galore. + There were claret and Crete wine in clear silver fountains + Rhenish wine and Rochelle and wine from Mount Rose + All in flagons of fine gold; and on the fair cupboard + Stood store of gilt goblets glorious of hue, + Sixty of one set, with jewels on their sides. + +When the banquet was over the guests washed their hands in rosewater +and partook of wine and spices in another chamber. + +But the poor were much oppressed. Their fare was very simple, a loaf of +beans and bran, an oaten cake with cheese or curds and cream, and +sometimes perhaps parsley and leeks or cherries and apples in their +season. + +Of the poor ploughman, the poet sang, + + His coat of the cloth that is named carry-marry, + His hood full of holes, with the hair sticking through them; + His clumsy knobbed shoes cobbled over so thickly, + Though his toes started out as he trod on the ground, + His hose hanging over each side of his hoggers, + All plashed in the puddles as he followed the plough; + Two miserable mittens made out of old rags, + The fingers worn out and the filth clotted on them, + He, wading in mud, almost up to his ankles, + And before him four oxen, so weary and feeble, + One could reckon their ribs, so rueful were they. + His wife walked beside him, with a long ox goad, + In a clouted coat cut short to the knee, + Wrapped in a winnowing sheet to keep out the weather, + Her bare feet on the bleak ice bled as she went. + At one end of the acre, in a crumb-bowl so small, + A little babe lay, lapped up in rags, + And twins two years old tumbled beside it, + All singing one song that was sorrowful hearing, + For they all cried one cry, a sad note of care. + +A year after the siege of Calais, a great sorrow befell all men, for a +little ship coming out of the east brought a terrible plague, called +the Black Death. And the wind blew the plague from the south to the +north, and as it passed, the towns were left desolate, for the rich +escaped into the woods and many of the poor died. In Bristol, "the +living were scarce able to bury the dead and the grass grew several +inches high in Broad Street and High Street." + +When the wind reached the border of Scotland, it changed and blew from +the north-west and down the eastern coast of England it sped, slaying +thousands by the way. When it was gone, the lords could find but few to +gather in the harvest and those that were left demanded high wages. +Many landowners turned their fields into pastureland. For one shepherd +and his dog could look after many sheep and there were merchants in +Calais ready to buy English wool. + +In vain did the lords beg the King to forbid the labourer to ask for +hire. If a man fled from his lord's land, whereon he was born, he +should be branded with the letter F for fugitive, but still the +peasants got away and offered themselves for hire in other places and +those for whom they laboured were glad to have them. + +The peasants had many grievances. The wars with France had cost much +money and the taxes were heavy. There were few who gave thought to the +labourer and his troubles, for the monks had become idle and rich, and +the friars had forgotten their vows and the priests their duties. + +Among the people, there was a band of sturdy men, who had learned to +read and who took ideas of freedom from the Bible. They preached that +the peasants should take up arms against the King and his lords, for +they said, "they are clothed in velvet and warm in their furs and their +ermine, while we are covered with rags. They have wine and spices and +fine bread and we oat cake and straw and water to drink. They have +leisure and fine houses, we have pain and labour, the wind and the rain +in the fields. Yet it is of us and our toil that these men hold their +state," and the people said + + When Adam delved and Eve span + Who was then the gentleman? + +So the peasants planned to march to London to seek the new King, the +boy Richard II, who was but fifteen years old, and "armed with clubs, +rusty swords and axes, with old bows, reddened by the smoke of the +chimney corner and old arrows with only one feather," they came to the +city, only to find that the gates were shut. + +Then they threatened to burn and slay, and the citizens in their fear +said, "Why do we not let these good people enter into the city? They +are our fellows and what they do is for us." So the gates of the city +were opened and the peasants sat down in the houses to eat and drink +and afterwards they burned the dwellings of foreigners and great lords +and slew many. + +The King was left alone in the Tower, for the courtiers had fled, and +desiring to speak with the rebels, he rode out to an open space beyond +the city where they were gathered, and there he entered in among them +and said to them sweetly, "Ah, ye good people, I am your King. What +lack ye? What will ye say?" + +Such as understood him answered, "We will that ye make us free for +ever, ourselves, our heirs and our lands." + + [Illustration: PREPARING THE FEAST] + + [Illustration: THE FEAST] + +"Sirs," said the King, "I am well agreed thereto; withdraw you home +into your houses and into such villages as ye came from and leave +behind you of every village two or three and I shall cause writings to +be made and seal them with my seal, the which they shall have with +them, containing everything that ye demand." They said, "It is well +said, we desire no better," and so they returned to their own homes. + +The King could not keep his promise to the peasants, for the lords were +stronger than he, yet not long after this time we find the peasants +more free and labouring for hire. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE WAR WITH FRANCE (_continued_) + + +When Henry V was crowned King, he desired much to revive the glories of +Crécy and so he summoned his nobles to war. Then he built a great fleet +to carry them to France, cutting down the oak trees in the Forest of +Epping for that purpose. + +He was much loved by all his soldiers, "for in wrestling, leaping and +running, no man could compare with him. In casting of great iron bars +and heavy stones, he excelled all men, never shrinking at cold, nor +slothful for heat; and when he most laboured, his head commonly +uncovered; no more weariness of light armour than a light coat, very +valiantly abiding at need both hunger and thirst, so manful of mind as +never to seem to quinch at a wound or to smart at the pain." + +When he came into the realm of France, he laid siege to the strong city +of Harfleur. It was summer time and many of the soldiers fell sick. +Though the town was captured, Henry could but turn his back on Paris +and march homeward on the old road to Calais, as his great-grandfather +Edward III had done in like case. + +"The English were brought into some distress in this journey, by reason +of their victuals in manner spent and no hope to get more: for the +enemies had destroyed all the corn before they came. Rest could they +none take, for their enemies with alarms did ever so infest them; daily +it rained and nightly it freezed; of fuel there was great scarcity; +money enough, but wares for their relief to bestow it on had they none. +Yet, in this great necessity, the poor people of the country were not +spoiled nor anything taken of them without payment, nor any offence +done by Englishmen." + +In the French camp, there was much strife and discontent, yet when the +news of the English King's distress reached them, and they sent after +him their herald to demand ransom, the King answered with scorn. So +Mountjoy, King-at-arms, was sent to the King of England to defy him as +the enemy of France and to tell him that he should shortly have battle. +King Henry advisedly answered, "Mine intent is to do as it pleaseth +God. I will not seek your master at this time, but if he or his seek me +I will meet them, God willing." When he had thus answered the herald, +he gave him a princely reward and licence to depart. + +Then the French, coming to the field of Agincourt, and seeing how small +an army stood before them, sent the herald once again to seek a ransom. +Henry answered that he would never pay such ransom. "When the messenger +was come back to the French host, the men of war put on their helmets +and caused their trumpets to blow to the battle." + +As the English soldiers looked at the great host before them, there +were some who sighed for the thousands lying idle in England. Henry, +hearing them, answered, "I would not have a single man more. If God +give us the victory it will be plain that we owe it to His grace. If +not, the fewer we are, the less the loss for England." "What time is it +now?" he asked. "The bells are ringing prime [six o'clock], my lord," +answered the Bishop. "Now it is good time," said the King. "England +prayeth for us, let us be of good cheer. Banners advance!" + +Then these Frenchmen came pricking down, as they would have over-ridden +all our company. But God and our archers made them soon to stumble, for +our archers shot never arrow amiss that did not pierce and bring to +ground horse and man. And our King fought like a man, with his own +hands. So were the French put to rout, though they indeed had been +strong in their pride. + +Then the King passed into England and "in this passage the seas were so +rough and troublous" that two ships were driven ashore, and the French +prisoners said they would rather fight in another battle than cross the +seas again. As they came in sight of the shore, the townsmen of Dover +came out to meet them, wading waist-deep in the water, so great was +their joy at the news. Bonfires were lit and bells were rung and money +was freely given to the soldier King. + +"The mayor of London and aldermen, apparelled in orient grained +scarlet, and four hundred commoners, clad in beautiful mulberry cloth, +well-mounted and trimly horsed, with rich collars and great chains met +the King on Blackheath, rejoicing at his return, and the clergy of +London, with rich crosses, sumptuous copes and massy censors, received +him at S. Thomas of Waterways [on the Old Kent Road] with solemn +procession." + +It was not long before he set out again to win back Normandy, lost by +John long ago. He laid siege to its chief city, where there was much +suffering, of which the King had pity. + + Of the people to tell the truth + It was a sight of mickle ruth; + Much of the folk that was therein + They were but bones and the bare skin + With hollow eyes and face a-peak, + They scarce had strength to breathe or speak. + +When the city surrendered, the King, "clothed in black damask, mounted +on a black horse, with a squire behind him, bearing a fox-brush on a +spear, for a banner, rode to the minster to give thanks for his +victory." + +Then Henry marched on towards Paris, for "he had such knowledge in +ordering and guiding an army with such a gift to encourage his people +that the Frenchmen had constant opinion he would never be vanquished in +battle." The Dauphin of France was idle and the old French King ill, so +it befell that Henry married the French Princess and ruled Northern +France. + +To the sorrow of all men he died soon after, and his son when he grew +up had many troubles; for in those days, a soldier was held more in +honour than a poet and a dreamer. + +Some years after Henry's death, Joan of Arc appeared to rescue her land +from the enemy, for there was no hope either in the Dauphin who should +have been its King or among the French lords who had lost their honour. + +Joan described how it happened to her in these words, "At the age of +thirteen, I had a voice from God to guide me, and the first time I was +very frightened; this voice came at the hour of noon in summer time, in +my father's garden; it was on a fast day, I heard the voice on the +right side where the church is. I saw at the time a great light." + +Then the Archangel Michael addressed her desiring that she should "have +pity on the fair realm of France." She answered him, "Messire, I am but +a poor maiden; I know not how to ride to the wars or to lead +men-at-arms." But the voices were ever in her ear. + +When her friends desired her not to go, she answered them, "I had far +rather rest and spin by my mother's side; for this is no work of my +choosing, but I must go and do it, for my Lord wills it." "And who is +your Lord?" they asked. "He is God," she said. + +When she had come with much danger and trouble to the place where the +Dauphin lay, she desired to see him, but those that stood round mocked +her. + +Coming into the presence, she said, "Gentle Dauphin, my name is Jeanne +the Maid. The Heavenly King sends me to tell you that you shall be +anointed and crowned in the town of Reims and you shall be lieutenant +of the Heavenly King, who is the King of France." + +After many weary days, the Dauphin considered her message and he gave +to her some of his armed men that she might prove that God was on her +side. He bade her go to get back the good city of Orleans, which was in +dire need by reason of the great armies of the English encamped round +about it. + +Then was the might of the maid proved, for no sooner had her standard +touched the walls of the city than the town was saved. Soldiers, who +had scoffed or stood aside, now joined her. Thus was she able to march +through the land in triumph to the city of Reims, where it was the +custom to crown the Kings of France, and in the host there marched the +Dauphin. + +In that city, she crowned the King, and the English fell back at the +terror of her name. Then kneeling before the King, she said, "O gentle +King, the pleasure of God is done, would it were His pleasure that I +might go and keep sheep once more with my sisters and my brothers. They +would be rejoiced to see me again." + +The King dared not let her go, yet she had many enemies, for the lords +of France did not care to think that she had led their armies. To their +bitter shame, they made little effort to save her from the English and +she was burnt as a witch. From that day, the English gradually lost all +France save Calais. + +So the victories of Henry V were of no avail and there was much poverty +in England and murmuring against the rulers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +NEW WORLDS + + +The barons came back from France. They were practised in the art of war +and they turned their homes into strong forts and their servants into +soldiers. Of these, they found many who were well versed in arms and +ready to fight. They gave them food and lodging for their services and +liveries to distinguish them from the followers of their neighbours and +they no longer fought for the King but each for his own gain. + +The squires in the manors and the merchants in the towns stood in awe +of these unruly subjects of the realm, but against them there was no +remedy, and every man was forced to choose out a lord to protect him. + +Of the long wars which these men waged, fighting for the rival princes +of York and Lancaster, for the white and the red rose, and of the havoc +that they wrought in the land, there are many stories. + +Though the barons made war on one another, the citizens held their +markets and fairs and worked with skill in their trades. Foreigners +desired to buy, and they were anxious for peace with a country that +could give them the finest wool. More ships were built to cross the +narrow seas, and they were free to come and go, since England watched +them from her two eyes, Calais and Dover. + +The merchants began to use more of their own good wool and many skilled +craftsmen were needed for cloth making. First the wool was sorted and +the coarse taken from the fine, then it was dyed, orange, red, green, +russet made from madder, or blue from woad, a flower, which grew +abundantly in France. The carder came next and the spinster spun it +into long threads on her distaff. + + The weaver next doth warp and weave the chain, + Whilst Puss, his cat, stands mewing for a skein. + +The cloth was cleaned and thickened by the walkers, who trampled it in +a trough of water and stretched it upon tenters to dry. Then came the +rower who beat it with teazles to find out all the loose fibres and the +shearman stood by with shears to cut off the knots and ends when they +appeared. Before it was sold, the drawer must mend any holes or bad +places in it: + + The drawer last that many faults doth hide, + (Whom merchant nor the weaver can abide) + Yet is he one in most clothes, stops more holes + Than there be stairs to the top of S. Paul's. + + [Illustration: A CHRISTIAN OF CONSTANTINOPLE BORROWING MONEY FROM A + JEW AND PLEDGING HIS CRUCIFIX] + + [Illustration: MIÉLOT IN HIS STUDY] + + [Illustration: A PRINTING PRESS] + +They worked as a rule from five in the morning till seven at night in +summer and from dawn till dusk in winter, with half an hour for +breakfast, and an hour and a half for dinner and a sleep on hot days. +There was a holiday for every festival of the Church. + +Of Jack of Newbury's workshop we read, + + Within one room being large and long + There stood two hundred looms full strong; + Two hundred men, the truth is so, + Wrought in these looms all in a row. + By every one a pretty boy + Sate making quils with mickle joy, + And in another place hard by + An hundred women merrily + Were carding hard, with joyful cheer, + Who singing sate with voices clear. + And in a chamber close beside + Two hundred maidens did abide, + In petticoats of stammel red, + And milk-white kerchers on their head. + +Those who worked in one trade bound themselves together into a gild, +and often lived in one quarter of the city to protect one another; +those who desired to become members must serve seven years' +apprenticeship. To guard their honour, the masters made a strict rule +that no work should be sent to market until it had been inspected and +found well done. + +If a man fell ill, he received help from the gild. When the feast days +came round and all made holiday, the elders of the gild provided a +banquet and pastimes, and sometimes they welcomed the players who acted +stories from the Bible and old legends. There was dancing and feasting +and much merriment. + +So the citizens became more important than great barons and soldiers, +for they brought trade to the country and riches to the King's +Exchequer. + +A new world, too, was opening to the people, the world of books. With +care the monks had copied down the old stories and histories, but there +were few who could procure them to read. + +The printing press was brought to England by Caxton. He was an English +merchant, trading in the city of Bruges. It was his custom to spend his +spare time in reading Latin and French stories. He translated the story +of Troy into English, and the Duchess of Burgundy and her courtiers +liked it so much that they asked him to write several copies. He says +that his pen was so much worn, his hand so weary and his eyes so dim +that he thought it worth while to learn the art of printing from those +who could teach him. + +Then he brought a press to London, and out of his shop he hung a sign +"Books bought here good cheap." Only the rich could buy, for books were +very dear. He printed the stories of King Arthur and also the Golden +Legend, or Lives of the Saints, Reynard the Fox and many another tale. +That the poorer folk might also read, he printed a few sheets of poems +and fables. Among them was a book of good teachings for children. In +this he bade them, + + Arise early + Serve God devoutly + The world busily + Go thy way sadly [seriously] + Answer demurely + Go to thy meat appetently + And arise temperately. + + And to thy soup [suppers] soberly + And to thy bed merrily + And be there jocundly + And sleep soundly. + +It was at this time that scholars were beginning to read the old +writings of the Greeks, and there were many other books, too, that they +desired to have printed. + +Then also men were moved to seek what lay beyond the ocean in the far +west. They were in search of a new way to India, for India seemed to +them the treasure house of the world. Out of the east came gold and +silver and spices and silk, but the way was by mountain and desert and +many a dangerous place. Few had ventured far across the uncharted seas +that stretched away towards the setting sun, for their ships were small +and much at the mercy of the winds. It was necessary, too, to put into +shore to get fresh stores of water when rain failed. A sailor wrote of +their sufferings from thirst on one of these voyages, "The hail-stones +we gathered up and ate more pleasantly than if they had been the +sweetest comfits in the world. The rain-drops were so carefully saved, +that, as near as we could manage it, not one was lost in all our ship. +Some hung up sheets, tied with cords by the four corners and a weight +in the middle, that the water might run down thither, and so be +received into some vessel set or hung underneath.... Some lapped with +their tongues the boards under their feet, the sides, rails and masts +of the ship. He who obtained a can of water by these means was spoken +of, sued to, and envied as a rich man." + +It was with a good compass and stout heart that Columbus and his men +set sail to find India, and to their great joy they saw, after many +months, "a little stick loaded with dog roses" floating in the sea, a +sign that they were near land. + +The natives, pointing to the setting sun, told them to seek gold in the +great lands that lay beyond. Columbus thought he had found India, but +it was America. To these lands adventurers came to seek for treasure +and soon to find a new home. + + + + +SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY + + + 1. Find out from the pictures in the Saxon Calendar: + + (_a_) the occupations of the Saxons, + (_b_) the instruments they used in farming, + (_c_) the kind of dress they wore. + + (See Traill and Mann, _Social England_.) + + 2. Plan and build a Saxon village (in a sand tray or with clay, etc.). + + 3. Write down what you think the miller and the goose boy would say in +the dialogue. + + 4. Describe a Saxon Hall. (Read descriptions in Beowulf and Ivanhoe.) + + 5. Look at some old manuscripts, if you can, and make some illuminated +letters. + + 6. Build a monastery in cardboard, paper or clay. + + 7. Cut out in paper some figures of Saxons and make a procession on +their way to Church to keep a festival. + + 8. Write the story of Alfred's messenger arriving at the monastery to +borrow the chronicle for the King's use. + + 9. Make a piece of tapestry showing a scene from the history of the +Normans. + +10. What can you discover about the Normans from the pictures of the +Bayeux Tapestry? + +11. Find out about Hereward the Wake. + +12. Build a castle and defend it. + +13. Find out some more stories of S. Francis of Assisi. + +14. Find out as many Norman French words in English as you can. + +15. Read the tales of Robin Hood. + +16. Cut out of paper some figures of soldiers and make a picture by +pasting them on a large sheet, showing them landing in England after +the victory at Crécy. + +17. Find out about a tournament and make the lists. (See Scott's +_Ivanhoe_.) + +18. If there are any old buildings where you live, find out when they +were built and who used them. + +19. Make a subject-index to the book and arrange it in alphabetical +order. + +20. Make a date chart and illustrate it with pictures. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +_Social England_ (illustrated). Vols. I. and II. Ed. Traill and Mann +(Cassell). + +_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle._ (_Everyman's Library._ Dent.) + +_The Chronicles of Froissart._ (Globe Edition. Macmillan.) + +_Grandes Chroniques de France._ Foucquet. Bibliothèque Nationale, +Berthaud Frères. 5 fr. + +_Alfred the Great._ B. A. Lees. (_Heroes of the Nations._ Putnam.) + +_St Anselm._ R. W. Church. (Macmillan.) + +_English Monasteries._ A. H. Thompson. (_Cambridge Manuals._) + +_English Monastic Life._ F. A. Gasquet. (_Antiquary's Books._ Methuen.) + +_The Chronicle of Jocelind of Brakelond._ (_King's Classics._ Chatto +and Windus.) + +_Chivalry._ F. W. Cornish. (Fisher Unwin.) + +_The Making of Ireland and its Undoing, 1200-1600._ Mrs J. R. Green. +(Macmillan.) + +_Mediaeval Art._ W. R. Lethaby. (Duckworth.) + +_Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages._ J. J. Jusserand. (Fisher Unwin.) + +_Mediaeval England._ M. Bateson. (_The Story of the Nations._ Fisher +Unwin.) + +_Social Life in England from the Conquest to the Reformation._ G. G. +Coulton. (Cambridge University Press.) + +_Bibliography of Mediaeval History, 400-1500._ Leaflet 44. Historical +Association. + +* _A Picture Book of British History._ Vol. I, to 1485. 190 +illustrations. Ed. S. C. Roberts. (Cambridge University Press.) + +* _Guide to Bayeux Tapestry._ Victoria and Albert Museum. Department +of Textiles. 6_d._ + +* _Oxford Supplementary Histories._ (Source books. Henry Frowde and +Hodder & Stoughton.) + +* _Old Stories from British History._ York Powell. (Longmans.) + +* _Heroes of Asgard._ Keary. (_Everyman's Library._) + +* _Beowulf._ C. Thomson. (Marshall.) + +* _The little flowers of S. Francis._ (_Everyman's Library._) + +* _The Knights of the Round Table._ Malory. (Blackie.) + +* _Stories of Robin Hood._ (_Told to the Children_ Series. Jack.) + +* _A History of Everyday Things in England._ Vol. I. M. and C. H. B. +Quennell. (Batsford.) + + * _Suitable for Children._ + + + + +DATES + + + B.C. 55 The Romans first landed in Britain. + A.D. 410 Saxons began to settle in Britain. + 410 Romans left Britain. + 597 S. Augustine landed. + 787 Danes invaded England. + 871-901 Alfred reigned. + 1017-1035 Cnut reigned. + 1066 Battle of Hastings. + 1070 Lanfranc became Archbishop of Canterbury. + 1086 Domesday Book. + 1093 Anselm became Archbishop of Canterbury. + 1096 The First Crusade. + 1107 The Exchequer was founded. + 1162 Becket became Archbishop of Canterbury. + 1169 Strongbow landed in Ireland. + 1147 The Second Crusade. + 1189 The Third Crusade. + 1204 The Loss of Normandy. + 1215 The Great Charter. + 1283 Conquest of Wales. + 1295 The Model Parliament. + 1295 War with Scotland began. + 1346 Battle of Crécy. + 1346 The Siege of Calais. + 1347 The Black Death. + 1381 The Peasants' Revolt. + 1415 The Battle of Agincourt. + 1429 Joan of Arc took Orleans. + 1476 Caxton set up a printing-press. + 1455-1485 The Wars of the Roses. + 1492 Columbus discovered America. + + + + +_Time Chart_ + + B.C. | | B.C. | + _4000_| _Egyptian Calendar fixed_ |_1000_| (_as below_) + -- | | -- | + -- | | _900_| + -- | | -- | + -- | | _800_| + -- | | -- | + -- | | _700_| + -- | | -- | + -- | | _600_| + -- | | -- | + -- | | _500_| + -- | | -- | + -- | | _400_| + -- | | -- | + -- | | _300_| + -- | | -- | + -- | | _200_| + -- | | -- | + -- | | _100_| + -- | | -- | _Romans landed in Britain_ + _3000_| _Babylon founded_ | .....| BIRTH OF CHRIST + -- | | A.D.| + -- | | 100 | + -- | | -- | + -- | | 200 | + -- | | -- | + -- | | 300 | + -- | | -- | + -- | | 400 | + -- | | -- |Saxons invaded Britain + -- | _Hebrews enter Palestine_ | 500 | + -- | | -- |Augustine landed in + | | | Britain + -- | | 600 | + -- | | -- | + -- | | 700 | + -- | | -- | + -- | | 800 | + -- | | -- | + -- | | 900 | + -- | | -- | + _2000_| | 1000 | + -- | | -- | William the Norman invaded + | | | Britain + -- | | 1100 | + -- | | -- | + -- | | 1200 | + -- | | -- | + -- | | 1300 | + -- | | -- | + -- | | 1400 | + -- | | -- | Columbus discovered + | | | America + -- | | 1500 | + -- | | -- | + -- | | -- | + -- | | -- | + -- | | -- | + -- | | -- | + -- | | -- | + -- | | -- | + -- | | 1900 | + -- | | -- | + _1000_| | -- | + +[Scale 1 inch to 500 years] + + + + +THE TWELVE MONTHS + + +In the following pages twelve pictures are reproduced from a _Book of +Hours_ of the 15th century. All except "Feeding pigs in November" +were painted by Pol de Limbourg for the Duke of Berri. + +Each of them shows a typical occupation of the season and most of them +have a famous castle in the background. + + A FEAST IN JANUARY + A FARM IN FEBRUARY + PLOUGHING AND VINE-LOPPING IN MARCH + A BETROTHAL IN APRIL + THE FIRST OF MAY + HAYMAKING IN JUNE + HARVESTING AND SHEEP-SHEARING IN JULY + HAWKING AND SWIMMING IN AUGUST + THE VINTAGE IN SEPTEMBER + SOWING SEEDS IN OCTOBER + FEEDING PIGS IN NOVEMBER + HUNTING BOAR IN DECEMBER + + [Illustration: A FEAST IN JANUARY + + Showing the Duke of Berri seated at table, with a tapestry in the + background] + + [Illustration: A FARM IN FEBRUARY] + + [Illustration: PLOUGHING AND VINE-LOPPING IN MARCH + + In the background, the castle of Lusignan on the Vienne, the + favourite residence of the Duke of Berri] + + [Illustration: A BETROTHAL IN APRIL + + In the background, the Castle of Dourdan, belonging to the Duke of + Berri] + + [Illustration: THE FIRST OF MAY + + In the background, the Towers of Riom, the capital of the Duchy of + Auvergne, belonging to the Duke of Berri] + + [Illustration: HAYMAKING IN JUNE + + In the background, the Towers of Paris, showing the Sainte + Chapelle, the Conciergerie and the postern gate on the Seine] + + [Illustration: HARVESTING AND SHEEP-SHEARING IN JULY + + In the background, the Castle of Poitiers, rebuilt by the Duke of + Berri] + + [Illustration: HAWKING AND SWIMMING IN AUGUST + + In the background, the Castle of Étampes, acquired by the Duke of + Berri] + + [Illustration: THE VINTAGE IN SEPTEMBER + + In the background, the Castle of Saumur, in a district noted for + its vineyards] + + [Illustration: SOWING SEEDS IN OCTOBER + + In the background, the River Seine and the old Louvre + + Note the scarecrow with a bow in his hands] + + [Illustration: FEEDING PIGS IN NOVEMBER + + This picture is by another artist at the end of the 15th century] + + [Illustration: HUNTING BOARS IN DECEMBER + + In the background, the Castle of Vincennes + + This picture was borrowed from an Italian artist] + + + CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY + J.B. PEACE, M.A., + AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Britain in the Middle Ages, by Florence L. Bowman + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40371 *** |