father for a partner in the undertaking. He therefore entered into a confederacy with the king of France, which obliged Henry to give up all thoughts of the crusade, to defend his own dominions. The event of the war proved very unfortunate for Henry, who lost several towns, and narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the enemy. At last a treaty was concluded at the intercession of the duke of Burgundy, the count of Flanders, and the archbishop of Rheims, but upon terms very humiliating to the king of England. It was agreed, that Richard should marry the princess Adelais, and be crowned king of England during the lifetime of his father; that Henry should pay 20,000 merks to the king of France, as a compensation for the charges of the war; that his own barons should engage to make him observe this treaty, and, in case of his violating it, join Philip and Richard against him; and that all his vassals who had espoused the cause of Richard should receive an indemnity. These terms, mortifying as they were, Henry bore with patience; but when, upon receiving a list of the barons that were to be pardoned, he found his own son John, who was his favorite, among them, he could no longer support his grief. He broke out into the most lamentable expressions of despair, cursed the day in which he received his miserable being; and bestowed on his ungrateful children a malediction which he could never afterwards be prevailed upon to retract. Soon after he fell into a lingering fever occasioned by his grief; of which he died on the sixth of July, 1189, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and thirty-fifth of his reign. His natural son, Geoffrey, who alone had behaved dutifully towards him, attended his corpse to the nunnery of Fontevrault, where it lay in state in the abbey church. Next day Richard, who came to visit the dead body of his father, was struck with remorse at the sight; and some writers state, that at his approach, the blood gushed out at the mouth and nostrils of the corpse.

Richard I. succeeded his father without opposition, and, on his accession, set his mother Eleanor (who had been again confined) at liberty. A romantic desire for adventures, and an immoderate zeal for the external rites of religion, were the ruling passions of the time. By the first of these Richard was inflamed to the highest degree, and therefore behaved as if the whole design of his government had been to attempt the recovery of the Holy Land from the infidels. The superstition of the people showed itself in a most violent and tragical manner, on the very day of the king's coronation. The Jews were the objects of universal hatred, so that Richard had issued orders forbidding any of them from appearing at that ceremony. But some of them, bringing him large presents from their nation, presumed, notwithstanding these orders, to approach the hall in which he dined. Being discovered, they were exposed to the insults and injuries of the bystanders; in consequence of which they fled, and were pursued by the peoA report was spread that 'the king had given orders to massacre all the Jews. This supposed command was executed in the most cruel manner. Multitudes were slaughtered in

ple.

the city of London, and this example was followed in most of the chief towns in England. Five hundred Jews had retired into York castle for safety; but, finding themselves unable to defend the place, they murdered their wives and children-threw the dead bodies over the wall against their enemies, who attempted to scale it-and then, setting fire to the houses, perished in the flames. The gentry in the neighbourhood, who were all indebted to the Jews, ran to the cathedral, where their bonds were kept, and made a solemn bonfire of them before the altar.

Richard immediately began to take measures for his expedition into Palestine. His father had left him 100,000 merks; and this sum he augmented by every possible expedient, however pernicious to the public or dangerous to his own authority. He made sale of the revenues and manors of the crown, and several offices of the greatest trust and power. Liberties, charters, castles, were given to the best bidders. His friends warned him of the danger attending his venality; but he told them he would sell the city of London itself, if he could find a purchaser. A zealous preacher of those times, being emboldened to remonstrate against the king's conduct, advised him to part with his three daughters, pride, avarice, and sensuality. To this Richard readily replied, 'You counsel right, my friend: and I have already provided husbands for them all. I will dispose of my pride to the templars; my avarice to the monks; and as for my sensu ality, the clergy shall share that among them.' At length the king, having collected together a sufficient supply, and even sold his superiority over Scotland for a moderate sum, set out for the Holy Land; whither he was impelled by repeated messages from the king of France, who was ready to embark in the same enterprise. An account of his exploits in this expedition is given under the articles ACRE, CYPRUS, and EGYPT. Having at last concluded a truce with Saladin, he set out on his return for England. He was, however, at a loss how to proceed. He durst not return by the way he came, as this would have put him in the power of the king of France, between whom and himself an irreconcileable enmity had taken place. He, therefore, decided upon a more northern course, and took shipping for Italy, but was wrecked near Aquileia. Thence he travelled towards Ragusa, and resolved to make his way through Germany in the habit of a pilgrim. But his expenses and liberalities having betrayed his rank, he was arrested by Leopold duke of Austria, who actually loaded him with chains. This prince had served under Richard at the siege of Acre, where having received some disgust, he took this base method of revenge. Henry VI., emperor of Germany, was then also an enemy to Richard, on account of his having married Berengaria, the daughter of Tancred king of Sicily. He, therefore, offereu a large sum of money to Leopold to deliver his captive up to him. Meantime England was in great confusion. Richard had left it under the direction of Hugh bishop_o. Durham, and Longchamp bishop of Fy. tempers of these prelates being very different,

The

great animosity arose between them. Longchamp at last arrested his colleague, and obliged him to resign his power. The king, by many letters, commanded Longchamp to replace his coadjutor, but to no purpose. When the situation of the king became uncertain, Longchamp tyrannised to such a degree, that John, the king's brother, thought proper to oppose him. He then left the kingdom; and upon this the archbishop of Rouen was made justiciary in his room. The king of France, informed of these dissensions, strove to increase them as much as possible; and had even almost prevailed upon John to throw off his allegiance, by promising to put him in possession of all Richard's continental dominions. But when the English received the news of Richard's captivity, a general indignation was excited against his enemies, among whom the greatest and most artful was his own brother John. On the very first invitation from the court of France, he went abroad, and held a consultation with Philip, the object of which was the perpetual captivity of his brother. He promised to deliver into Philip's hands a great part of Normandy; and, in return, he received the investiture of all Richard's transmarine dominions: it is even said, that he did homage to the French king for the crown of England. In consequence of this treaty, Philip invaded Normandy, and made considerable progress in the conquest of it. He was, however, at last repulsed by the earl of Leicester, who was now returned from the Holy Land, and a truce was concluded on condition of the French king receiving 20,000 merks, and the English putting four castles into his hands as security for the payment.

John, who had come over to England, met with still less success in his enterprises. He was only able to make himself master of the castles of Windsor and Wallingford; but when he came to London, and demanded the kingdom as heir to his brother, of whose death he pretended to have received certain intelligence, he was rejected by all the barons, and measures were taken to oppose and subdue him. The defence of the kingdom was so well provided for, that John, after some fruitless efforts, was obliged to conclude a truce with his opponents; and, before the termination of it, he thought proper to retire to France, where he openly acknowledged his alliance with Philip. At last the efforts of Richard's enemies proved ineffectual to detain him in captivity. He was brought before the diet of the empire at Worms, where the emperor Henry charged him with many crimes and misdemeanors; but the king replied with so much spirit and eloquence, that the German princes exclaimed loudly against the conduct of the emperor; the pope threatened him with excommunication; and Henry, who had hearkened to the proposals of the king of France and prince John, found that it would be impossible for him to execute their base purposes, or detain the king of England any longer. He therefore concluded a treaty with him for his ransom, at the price of 150,000 merks (about £300,000 of our money), of which 100,000 merks were to be paid immediately, and sixty-seven hostages delivered for the remainder. The money for the king's

ransom was most cheerfully raised by the English and the churchmen were in this instance most liberal to their sovereign. The churches and monasteries melted down their plate to the amount of 30,000 merks; the bishops, abbots, and monks, paid a fourth part of their yearly rent; the parochial clergy contributed a tenth part of their tithes; and, the requisite sum being collected, queen Eleanor and Walter archbishop of Rouen set out with it for Germany-paid the money to the emperor and duke of Austria, at Mentz-and, delivering them hostages for the remainder, freed Richard from his captivity. His escape was very critical. Henry had been detected in the assassination of the bishop of Liege, and in an attempt of the same nature on the duke of Louvaine; and finding himself extremely obnoxious to the German princes, on account of these practices, he had determined to seek the alliance of the French king, and to detain Richard in prison notwithstanding the sum he had received. He therefore gave orders that the king of England should be pursued and arrested; but he had, happily, already embarked at the mouth of the Scheldt, and was out of sight of land when the emperor's messengers reached Antwerp. The king of France no sooner heard of Richard's deliverance than he wrote to John, his confederate: Take care of yourself: the devil 13 broke loose.'

King Richard returned from captivity on the 20th of March 1194, and was received with the utmost joy by his subjects. He had been but one day landed, when his treacherous brother John came to make his submission. At the intercession of queen Eleanor he was received into favor. 'I forgive him,' said the king, and hope I shall as easily forget his offences as he will my pardon.' Richard was impatient to revenge himself on the king of France, and therefore instantly made war upon him. But, though both kings were inflamed with the most violent resentment,they found it impossible to engage their powerful barons heartily in their cause. The war, therefore, produced no remarkable event; and, in 1195, was concluded by a truce for five years. On some slight occasion it was ready to break out anew, when the pope's legate interposed, and a treaty was about to be concluded. King Richard, in the mean time, was wounded by an arrow at the siege of Chalus, a castle of Limoges. wound was not in itself dangerous; but, being unskilfully treated, a mortification ensued, and the king expired on the 9th April 1199, in the tenth year of his reign and forty-second of his age. By his will he left the kingdom to his brother John, but distributed a fourth part of his treasure among his servants.

The

John succeeded to the crown of England without opposition, but soon found his affairs embarrassed on the continent. The king of France, who, during the life of Richard, had always supported the pretensions of his brother, now afforded similar support to the claims of prince Arthur, the son of Geoffrey, then about twelve years of age. There was in this, however, so evident a regard to his own interest, that Constantia, the mother of the young prince, submitted herself and her son at once to John,

who detained them in Mans. The new king was weak, tyrannical, cruel, and treacherous. He is represented as exhibiting almost every bad quality of a prince; and his conduct soon rendered him universally odious. Imagining himself secure on the side of France, he indulged his passion for Isabella, the daughter and heiress of the count of Angouleme, although his queen, the heiress of the family of Gloucester, was still living, and Isabella was contracted to the count de la Marche. John persuaded the count de Angouleme to carry off his daughter from her husband, at the same time that he procured a divorce from the queen. Thus he at once incurred the displeasure of the pope, and of the count de la Marche, and a powerful confederacy was formed against him. John had neither courage nor policy sufficient to keep his barons in awe : he now, therefore, hired a number of ruffians, whom he called his champions, to fight duels with them on the slightest pretences: but they in general declined to meet their opponents, as far below their rank, and dangerous combinations were formed against the king's authority. The murder of prince Arthur rendered John still more generally detested. The young prince with his mother had fled to the court of France, where they were received with the greatest kindness, and the enterprises of the French forces on their behalf were attended with considerable success; when Arthur himself had 'the misfortune to be taken prisoner: all the other captives were sent to England, but the prince was shut up in the castle of Falaise, and from that time was never heard of. It was universally believed that John had murdered him with his own hand; and this inflamed the general resentment against him to such a degree, that he soon after lost all his French provinces. In 1205 the duchy of Normandy itself was conquered by Philip, and John was forced to fly with disgrace to England. The king now resolved to wreak his vengeance upon the barons, who, he pretended, had deserted his standard in Normandy. For this reason he levied large sums on their estates, in order, as he said, to undertake an expedition to the continent. This expedition, however, he se veral times capriciously deferred; and, having once ventured out to sea, returned again without making the smallest attempt. At last he landed at Rochelle, and burnt the city of Angiers; but, hearing that the enemy were preparing to oppose him, he returned without attempting any thing further. Such irresolute and cowardly behaviour increased the disgust of all ranks of his English subjects; but the Norman princes had so far extended the prerogatives of the crown, that the barons, however discontented, durst not yet attempt to change the form of government. By entering into controversy with the church John completed his ruin. The clergy, who had for some time acted independently of the crown, and obtained in general a confirmation from the pope of their elections of each other, were still not unanimous among themselves. The election of the archbishops had been a subject of continual dispute between the suffragan bishops and the Augustine monks. At this time the see of Canterbury

became vacant, and ine Augustine monks, in a private manner, elected Reginald, their superior, to this high office. The bishops in vain exclaimed against the election, as a manifest innovation of their privileges: a furious theological contest was the only result: but John now very imprudently espoused the cause of the suffragan bishops; in consequence of which De Grey, bishop of Norwich, was also chosen archbishop of Canterbury. The cause was appealed to Rome; and pope Innocent III., seizing with avidity an opportunity of extending his power, commanded the monks to choose a third archbishop, in the person of cardinal Stephen Langton, an Englishman, then at the court of Rome. The power of nominating an archbishop of Canterbury (a person at this period of almost equal authority with the king) was an acquisition to the papal authority not to be slighted. John, however, was resolved not to submit to this; but he had not judgment sufficient to conduct his opposition. He violently expelled the monks from their convents, and seized upon their revenues. The pope threatened in return to put the whole kingdom under an interdict. The prelates therefore now threw themselves on their knees before the king, and in the most earnest manner entreated him to avoid the resentment of the holy tribunal, by receiving the primate of the pope, and restoring the monks to their convents. John, on this, broke out into the most violent invectives. He swore by God's teeth (his usual oath), that if the kingdom was put under an interdict he would banish the whole body of the clergy, and confiscate all their possessions. The pope at last, finding he might do it with safety, issued forth his threatened sentence. The consequences that ensued are at this period of the world almost incredible. A stop was immediately put to divine service; and the administration of all the sacraments, except baptism. Throughout England the church doors were shut, and the images of the saints laid on the ground. The dead were refused Christian burial, and were thrown into ditches and on the highways; while marriage was celebrated in the church-yards, and the people prohibited the use of meat and their ordinary amusements, as in times of public penance. The clergy affected to deplore the unhappy state of the nation, of which they were so largely the cause; while John, in revenge, imprisoned all their concubines, and treated the adherents of Langton with the utmost rigor. His furious and misguided efforts proved, however, totally ineffectual. He had scarcely a friend in the whole nation; and in 1209, therefore, the pope denounced a sentence of personal excommunication against him. This was soon followed by another, absolving all his subjects from their allegiance, and declaring every one to be excommunicated who had any commerce with him at his table, council, or even in private conversation. The king, exasperated by these indignities, wreaked his vengeance on his unhappy subjects, whose affections he ought rather to have attempted to conciliate. pope, therefore, further proceeded to execute the full measure of his wrath on this prince, by bestowing his kingdom on Philip of France. He

The

even published a crusade all over Europe against the king of England, exhorting the nobility, knights, and men of every condition to take up arms against him as an usurper, and to enlist under the French banner. Philip was not less active on his part: he summoned all the vassals of the crown to attend him at Rouen; and having collected a fleet of 1700 vessels, was ready, in 1213, to invade England. But the pope had now in his turn overstretched his power; and had the nation been governed by a prince of any common prudence or resolution, the domineering influence of the clergy would have been for ever broken. The people, however superstitious, were not disposed to submit tamely to be given away by the pope from one master to another, and this, added to the natural antipathy subsisting between the French and English, brought around John, in spite of his previous tyranny, an army of 60,000 men. But the pope was too good a politician to suffer matters to be carried to extremities. He promised himself more advantages from the submission of John than from an alliance with Philip; and therefore sent over his legate to England, under pretence of conferring with the barons, but in reality to hold a conference with the English monarch. He represented to this forlorn prince the numbers of the enemy, the hatred of his. own subjects, and the secret confederacy there was every where against him; intimating that there was but one way to secure himself from the impending danger-namely, to put himself under the protection of the pope, who was a merciful father, and ever willing to receive a penitent. The abject and irresolute spirit of John submitted to this piece of arrogance he took an oath to obey whatever the pope should command; and in consequence of this added another, the most extraordinary perhaps in the annals of history. It was expressed in the following words: I, John, by the grace of God king of England, and lord of Ireland, in order to expiate my sins, from my own free will, and the advice of my barons, give to the church of Rome, to pope Innocent, and his successors, the kingdom of England, and all other prerogatives in my crown. I will hereafter hold them as the pope's vassal. I will be faithful to God, to the church of Rome, to the pope my master, and his successors legitimately elected. I promise to pay him a tribute of 1000 merks; to wit, 700 for the kingdom of England, and 300 for the kingdom of Ireland.' This oath was taken by the king before all the people kneeling, and with his hands held up between those of the legate. Having then agreed to re-instate Langton in the primacy, he received the crown, which he had been supposed to have forfeited; while the legate, to add to his former insolence, trampled under his feet the tribute which John had consented to pay. The king of France, enraged at this behaviour of the pope, now resolved to execute his project of conquering England, in spite of him and all his censures. His fleet, however, was attacked in their harbours by the English, who took 300 vessels, and destroyed about 100 more; while Philip, finding it impossible to prevent the rest from falling into

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the hands of the enemy, set fire to them himself, and was thus obliged to give up all hopes of

success.

John, thus freed from immediate danger, recommenced the cruel and tyrannical measures which had before rendered him odious to his subjects. His scandalous subjection to the clergy now gave the barons an opportunity of exerting themselves to reduce the enormous prerogatives of the crown. Their designs were also facilitated by the concurrence of Langton, the primate, who seems to have shown a sincere and remarkable regard for the interests of the kingdom. At a synod of his prelates and clergy, convened in St. Paul's, on pretence of examining into the losses of some bishops who had been exiled by John, he privately conferred with a number of barons, to whom he expatiated upon the vice and injustice of their prince. He showed them a copy of Henry the First's charter, the only one in the kingdom, which had been buried in the rubbish of an obscure monastery, and exhorted the barons to insist on a renewal of it. This they solemnly swore to do. The same agreement was afterwards renewed at a more numerous meeting of barons summoned by Langton at St. Edmondsbury. Here it was resolved, that at Christmas they would prefer their common petition in a body; and in the mean time they separated with a design to put themselves in a posture of defence, and enlist men. In the beginning of January, 1215, they repaired to London, accoutred in their military garb and equipage, and presented their petition to the king, alleging that he had promised to grant a confirmation of the laws of Edward the Confessor, at the time he was absolved from his excommunication. John resented their presumption; and required a promise under their hands and seals, that they would never demand, or attempt to extort, such privileges for the future. This they refused with such unanimity and resolution, that the king desired time to consider their demands. He promised, that, at the festival of Easter, he would give a positive answer to their petition; and offered them the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of Ely, and the earl mareschal, as sureties for fulfilling his engagements. The barons accepted of his securities, and departed peaceably; but John had no design of complying with their desires. He had recourse to the clergy, whose power he had seen and felt in so many instances, and basely courted their favor, by granting them a charter, establishing those rights of which they were already in the possession. To ingratiate himself still farther with this body, he took the cross, and appealed to the pope against the usurpation of the barons. The pope wrote letters to England, reproaching the primate and bishops with favoring these dissensions; and commanded them to promote peace between the parties. He exhorted the barons to conciliate the king, not with menaces, but with humble entreaties; and promised, upon their obedience, to interpose his own authority in favor of such of their petitions as he should find to be just. At the same time he annulled their association, and forbade them to enter into any confederacy for the future. To these romon

strances the barons paid no regard, knowing that the fulminations of the court of Rome would be of little avail, unless they were seconded by the clergy. After waiting till Easter, when the king promised to return them an answer, they met by agreement at Stamford. Here they assembled a force of above 2000 knights, and a prodigious number of foot soldiers, and then marched to Brackley, about fifteen miles from Oxford, where the court then resided. John, on hearing of their approach, sent the archbishop of Canterbury, the earl of Pembroke, and others of his council, to know the particulars of their application. The barons delivered a schedule containing the chief articles of their demands, founded on the charters of Henry and Edward; but which were in the highest degree displeasing to the king. He burst into a furious passion, asked the barons why they did not also demand his kingdom, and swore that he would never comply with such exorbitant requisitions. The confederates then chose Robert Fitzwalter for their general; whom they dignified with the title of Mareschal of the army of God and of the holy church. They laid siege to Northampton, took Bedford, and were joyfully received in London. They wrote letters to all the nobility and gentry who had not yet declared in their favor, threatening their estates with devastation in case of refusal or delay. In the mean time the king was left at Odiham in Surry, attended only by seven knights. He vainly endeavoured to avert the storm by the mediation of his bishops and ministers. He appealed to Langton against the barons, not suspecting that he was engaged in the confederacy; and desired him to fulminate the church censures against those who had made war upon their lawful prince. Langton declared that he would pass no censure where he found no delinquent; but said, that much might be done, if the king would dismiss some foreign auxiliaries which he had lately brought over. Upon this, John disbanded a body of Germans and Flemings, whom he had hitherto retained in his service, and Langton refused to excommunicate a single baron. The king, being now defence less, was obliged to comply with the demands of his subjects. A conference was accordingly appointed, and all things were adjusted for this most important treaty. The king's commissioners met the barons at a place called Runnymead, between Staines and Windsor; a spot which is yet held in reverence as that on which the standard of freedom was first erected in England. Here the king signed Magna Charta; the maxims of which continue in force to this day, and are regarded as the great bulwark of British liberty. See MAGNA CHARTA.

This charter, however, at the time that it was made, secured liberty to the clergy, barons, and gentlemen, much more than to the bulk of the people, who did not for a long time obtain any privileges of importance. Freedom of elections was secured to the clergy; and it was determined, that fines on them for any offence, should be laid on in proportion to the estates, and not the value of their benefices. The privileges secured to the barons were, either abatements in the rigor of the feudal laws, or relief from

arbitrary and ambiguous decisions before the courts. It was also decreed, that barons should recover the lands of their vassals, even though forfeited by felony, after having been in possession of the crown for a year and a day; and no tax was to be imposed without consent of the great council of the nation, excepting in case of the captivity of the king, the knighting of his eldest son, or marrying his eldest daughter. No land belonging to any baron was to be seized for a crown debt, unless the possessor had not personal property enough to pay it; neither was any vassal to be allowed to sell so much of his land as to incapacitate him from performing the necessary service to his lord. It was also determined that, when the great council of the nation was called, the prelates, earls, and barons, should be summoned by a particular writ, and the lesser barons should receive a summons from the sheriff. In favor of the people it was stipulated, that they should have from the barons all the immunities and privileges granted by the king to the former. Merchants were to be allowed to carry on their business without any arbitrary tolls or impositions, and to go out of the kingdom and return at pleasure. The goods of every freeman were to be disposed of according to his will; or, if he died intestate, the nearest heir should succeed him. No carts, horses, or wood, were to be taken by the crown officers without the consent of the owner. The king's courts were to be stationary, and no delay to be made in doing justice to every one; no freeman should be taken or imprisoned, dispossessed of his free tenement, outlawed, or banished, unless by the legal judgment of his peers, &c. It was likewise stipulated, that London should remain in the hands of the barons, and the tower be consigned to the primate, till the 15th of August following; or till the articles of the charter should be fulfilled. To give the more security for this, the king allowed them to choose twenty-five of their own number, tó whose authority no limits were set either in extent or duration. If any complaint were made of a violation of the charter, either by the king or his officers, any four of the barons might admonish the king to redress the grievance; and, if satisfaction were not obtained, they might assemble the whole council of twenty-five; and they, in conjunction with the great council, were empowered to compel him to fulfil the charter. In case of his resistance, they had liberty to levy war against him, attack his castles, and use every kind of violence, except against his person, or those of the queen or children. All men throughout the kingdom were bound, under the penalty of confiscation, to swear obedience to the twentyfive barons; and the freeholders of each county were to choose twelve knights, whose business it was to report such evil customs as ought to be redressed in terms of Magna Charta. But although John had thus obliged himself by writing, to allow liberty to his subjects, he had no disposition to suffer them to enjoy it. The sense of subjection to his own vassals sunk deep in his mind. He became sullen, silent, and reserved. He shunned the society of his former friends; and retired to the Isle of Wight, as if