# Cassell's Illustrated History of England/Volume 1/Chapter 44

CHAPTER XLIV.
While the life of Thomas à Becket was drawing to a close, events were taking place in Ireland which led to the submission of the whole of that country to the English crown. It does not fall within the scope of this history to relate in detail the various internal quarrels and disturbances which ultimately placed the island at the mercy of a small invading force; it is sufficient to glance briefly at the condition of the people, and the position of affairs at the time to which we are now referring.
The inhabitants of the island, called in ancient tongues ​Ierna, Invernia, Ibernia, or Ireland, were undoubtedly of Celtic origin, as the language still spoken by a majority of the people serves to prove. They were of the same race with the mountaineers of Scotland, and, like them, were originally known by the name of Scoti, or Scots. Descended from a people who in former times had inhabited Britain, Gaul, and a large portion of Spain, they bore the characteristics of a southern origin. The Irish were distinguished from the northern races by their dark hair and complexion, their strong passions—either of love or hate—and their enthusiastic temper. Previous to the introduction of Christianity their condition appears to have been entirely uncivilised; those old fragments of Irish history which would lead us to a different conclusion being little else than fables and bardic traditions. When Christianity was carried into the country, the people embraced it readily. Poetry and literature were cultivated to a greater extent than in any other part of western Europe, and remained in a flourishing condition while the learning of the Continent was on a decline. This advance of civilisation is to be referred to the labours of the celebrated St. Patrick, who was born at Enon, in the district of Tabernia (near the modern town of Boulogne-sur-Mer). He entered upon his apostolic mission in 432, and died at an advanced age, A.D. 472. The immediate results of his teaching were seen in the erection of many churches and monasteries, in which literature was cultivated with so much success, that students repaired to the Irish schools from all parts of Europe. This state of things endured for several centuries, until a permanent check was given to the progress of learning by the incursions of the Northmen, who, from the year 748 to the middle of the tenth century, continually visited the country.
At the period of the English invasion, the people of Ireland are described as being of tall and elegant forms, and having a ruddy complexion. Their clothing was of the simplest kind, and was spun from the wool of their sheep. The art of war had made little progress among them; and their arms consisted of a short lance, or javelin, a sword about fifteen inches in length, and a hatchet of steel. Their houses were built of wood, interlaced with wicker-work, in a manner which displayed considerable ingenuity. They were extremely fond of music, and in the use of their favourite instrument, the harp, they excelled the neighbouring nations. Giraldus Cambreusis, who has left us au account of the conquest of Ireland, admits their superiority in this respect.
When Henry Plantagenet ascended the English throne, he entertained the project of taking possession of Ireland; and, following the example of the Conqueror, he first took measures to obtain the sanction and assistance of the Pope to his enterprise. The papal chair was at that time occupied by Nicholas Breakespeare, called Adrian IV., the only Englishman who ever wore the tiara. He was a man of obscure birth, but of considerable intelligence, who had quitted his native land at an early age, and travelled through France to Italy, where he entered an abbey as secretary. Unaided by wealth or connections, his abilities gradually raised him to the dignity of abbot, from which he rose to be bishop, and ultimately Pope. Adrian assented to the request of Henry, and issued a bull, authorising him to undertake the conquest of Ireland. The king, however, was deterred, by the advice of his counsellors, and by the urgency of other affairs, from entering upon the expedition at that time; and the papal bull was deposited in the royal treasury at Winchester, without being promulgated.
Fourteen years later, some Norman and Flemish adventurers, who had previously settled in Wales, were invited to Ireland by one of the native princes. Dervorgilla, a lady of remarkable beauty, wife of Tiernan O'Ruarc, a powerful chief, was carried off by Dermot MacMurrogh, King of Leinster. Dermot, who was a man of cruel and arrogant temper, had many enemies, and he now found himself attacked on different sides by O'Ruarc, and those who supported his cause. Ultimately a general combination was formed against the King of Leinster, and he was compelled to quit the country.
He proceeded to ask the support of King Henry, who was then in Aquitaine. Henry, occupied at that time with other affairs of importance, received him graciously, and gave him letters, authorising the subjects of the English crown to take up arms in his favour. Furnished with these, Dermot returned to England, and, after some delay, he obtained the assistance of Richard de Clare, surnamed Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, to whom he promised his daughter Eva in marriage. Subsequently he made arrangements with Robert Fitz-Stephen and Maurice Fitz-Gerald, to whom he agreed to give the town of Wexford, with other rewards, in return for the services they were to render him.
In the year 1169, Fitz-Stephen, with his companions, accompanied by 140 knights and 300 men-at-arms, crossed over to Ireland, and landed at Bannock Bay. MacMurrogh, who had previously returned to the country, and had remained in concealment, advanced to meet his friends. The combined forces having attacked and reduced Wexford, advanced against the Prince of Ossory, whom they defeated with great slaughter. The Normans slew their adversaries, who possessed no defensive armour, and cut off their heads with their battle-axes. It is related that three hundred bleeding heads were brought and laid before MacMurrogh, and that he turned them over to see which of his enemies had been slain. On coming to the head of one against whom he had a mortal hatred, he took it up by the hair, and, "horribly and cruelly, tore away the nose and lips with his teeth." This savage chieftain, however, had a regard for his plighted word, and he fulfilled his promise of placing Fitz-Stephen in possession of Wexford, while districts on the coast between Waterford and Wexford were given to other of his allies. These gifts of territory to foreigners called forth the utmost indignation among the Irish confederate chiefs, who, at a council held at the royal seat of Tara, in Meath, declared the King of Leinster to be a national enemy, and prepared to make common cause against him.
Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, did not set sail for Ireland until the autumn of the same year (1169). He landed near to Waterford, with a force of two hundred knights and two thousand men, and was immediately joined by the Normans who had preceded him. The combined forces, having been arranged in battle array, and with banners flying, advanced to attack the city. The citizens made a gallant resistance, ​and were probably excited to desperation by the ruthless character of MacMurrogh, and the fate which they expected would await those who might fall into his hands Earl of Pembroke, who was well skilled in the art of war had command of the forces, and led the assault A little, house of timber, standing half upon posts, was observed without the walk, and the assailants having hewn down the posts, the house fell, together with a piece of the wall The troops poured through the breach thus made, and captured the city, killing the inhabitants without mercy.
Leaving a strong garrison, the Normans marched to Dubiln, which town,as well as that of Waterford had been founded by the Danes. Supported by reinforcements raised by MacMurrogh, the invaders took the city of Dublin with little resistance, and, elated by a course of uninterrupted successes, made incursions upon the surrounding country. King Henry, however, received the news of these events, and his jealousy being excited at such an important conquest being attained by his vassals he issued a proclamation, forbidding any vessel to leave his dominions for Ireland, and ordered all his subjects in that country to return to England by the next Easter, on pain of the forfeiture of all their estates and of perpetual banishment from the realm. A consultation was held among the Normans, and Raymond Fitz-William, surnamed Le Gros nephew of Fitz-Gerald and Fitz-Stephen, was dispatched on a mission to Henry, to prevail upon him to recall the proclamation, and to remind him of the letter he had given to MacMurrough, authorising Englishmen to take up arms in his cause. Henry received the message without returning any answer, or, according to some of the chroniclers, he replied by confiscating the estates of Strongbow in Wales.
While the earl thus found himself cut off from all reinforcements of men and arms, the Normans in Leinster were suddenly attacked by the men of Danish race who were settled on the north-east coast of Ireland, and who now allied themselves with the natives against the new invaders they attacked Dublin, but without success. The Normans however, dreading the formidable league against them made a second application to Henry through Hervey Fitz-Maurice. Strongbow himself was then ordered to proceed to the court, and after some delay he obtained an audience The earl agreed to surrender to the king the town of Dublin, with the larger of the other towns on the coast in return, Strongbow was permitted to retain his other acquisitions in Ireland, and was restored to the possession of his estates in Wales.
MacMurrogh having died previously to this interview, Strongbow had assumed the title of King of Leinster, in right of his wife Eva; and he now found himself reduced from the condition of a sovereign prince to that of steward of the English crown. In the year 1171, Henry set sail from Milford to take possession of bis new territories. The royal force consisted of 400 vessels, containing about 5,000 men, among whom were 500 knights. Henry landed at the Crook, near Waterford, October 18th, and was received by the Norman chiefs, who tendered him their homage The army commenced its march, by way of Cashel, to Dublin meeting with no resistance. The inhabitants, overawed by the numbers and the martial equipment of their enemies, fled in dismay before the advancing troops, and the native lungs of the south had no other alternative than to surrender at the summons of the conqueror, and offer their allegiances to him.
Having established his court at Dublin, Henry styled himself King of all Hibernia, and summoned all the Irish chiefs to his presence. Many of them obeyed; but the Kings of Connaught and Ulster, entrenched in their native mountains, refused to acknowledge his authority, and the soverignty of Henry was limited by a line drawn across the island, from the mouth of the Shannon to that of the Boyne. All the pomp which distinguished the Plantagenet court was displayed in Dublim, and the Irish People—lively, impressible, and fond of novelty—derived pleasure from contemplating the splendid appearance of the Norman arms, horses, and accoutrements of war. The majority of the clergy also gave their support yo the invader, and welcomed him as one bearing the authority of the Church. Henry promulgated the bull of Pope Adiran; and various reforms and observances in canonical discipline were introduced into the Irish Church.
Henry's former haughtiness towards the clergy, and his resistance to the enroachments of the papal see upon the right of the crown, had now disappeared. Not only did he require the support of the bishops to secure his new conquest, but the popular feeling excited throughout his dominions by the death of Beckett rendered it necessary for him to conciliate where he had formerly threatened. This course of action met with temporary success, and the Pope Alexander III. issued a bull confirming that of his predecessor, Adrian, and ratifying the king's title to the possession of Ireland.
After he had remained in the country for a few months longer, Henry received news which compelled his immediate return to England. Having appointed officers to the chief places of power in the island, he sailed from Wexford on the 17th of April, 1172, and landed at Portfinnan, in Wales.
At this time the king had four legitimate sons living—Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John, of whom Henry, the eldest, was eighteen years of age. An equitable provision had been made for each of them, it being intended that Henry should succeed to the English throne, as well as to the territories of Normandy, Anjou, and Maine. Richard who was the favourite of his mother, was to receive her estates of Aquitaine and Poitou; Geoffrey, who had married the daughter of the Duke of Brittany, was to succeed to that province; and John was to be made King of Ireland.
It will be remembered that during the archbishopric of Thomas à Becket, the king had taken measures to abolish the primacy, by causing his eldest son to be crowned king by the Archbishop of York. The political enemies of Henry exerted themselves to turn this impolitic measure to their own advantage, by exciting the son to rebellion against the father, who was now called the elder king. In these attempts they were seconded by Queen Eleanor, whose affections had been alienated from the king by his numerous infidelities. She was a woman of strong passions, and determined to make her children the instruments of her vengeance. Through her efforts the people of Aquitaine and Poitou attached themselves to the cause of the younger king, and many of the nobles of those provinces became his counsellors and confidants. They spared no pains to excite the ambition of the youth, and persuaded him that his father had abdicated the throne in ​his favour, and was no longer entitled to hold the sovereign authority. At the coronation of Prince Henry, his wife Margaret, the daughter of Louis of France, was not permitted to receive the crown with her husband, and this omission was resented by the French king, to whom it afforded a pretext for embracing the cause of his son-in-law. A peace having been concluded by the intervention of the Pope, the wrong was repaired, and Margaret was crowned Queen. Henry then permitted the young couple to visit the French court, and during their stay, Louis continued to foment the dissatisfaction of the son, and to excite him to rebellion against his father.
Spoon of the Twelfth Century, used at the Coronation of the Kings and Queens.
On his return to England, the younger king did not hesitate to demand that his father would resign to him either the throne of England or one of the two duchies of Normandy and Anjou. Henry advised him to have patience until the time when all these possessions would become his. The son quitted his father's presence in anger, and from that day, in the language of an old historian, no word of peace ever more passed between them.
Henry II., determined to watch the conduct of his rebellious heir, caused him to travel with him through the duchy of Aquitaine. When the court was at Limoges, Raymond, Earl of Toulouse, who had quarrelled with the King of France, came to offer his allegiance to Henry; and having done so, he warned him to look well to the proceedings of his wife and son, and to place the fortresses of Aquitaine and Poiton in a state of defence. The king profited by the warning, and without making his suspicions known, he contrived to visit the fortresses, and to assure himself of the fidelity of the commanders. On the return from their visit to Aquitaine, the king and his son stopped to sleep at the town of Chinon; and during the night young Henry quitted the place and fled to Alençon. A pursuit was instituted, but without success; and the young man reached Argenton, whence he escaped by night into the territories of the King of France.
On the news of this escape being brought to the old king, ho displayed all the energy of former years, and, mounting on horseback, he proceeded along the frontier of Normandy, inspecting the defences, and preparing against attacks. Messengers, with a similar object, were also dispatched to the captains of the royal garrisons in Anjou, Aquitaine, and Brittany. Meanwhile the two princes, Richard and Geoffrey, followed their brother to the French court, and Queen Eleanor also endeavoured to make her escape, dressed m man's clothes. She was, however, taken prisoner by those sent in pursuit of her, and was placed in an imprisonment, in which she remained, with very slight intermission, during sixteen years. Henry now sent envoys to the French court, demanding his son, and also requiring to know the intentions of the King of France. The ambassadors were received in full court, in the presence of young Henry and his brothers. When, according to the usual form, they commenced their message by enumerating the titles of their royal master, they were interrupted by Louis, who declared that there was but one King of England—namely, the young prince now standing before them.
Young Henry was recognised by a general assembly of the barons and bishops of France as having the only lawful right to the English throne. Louis VII. made oath to this effect, and after him the brothers of Henry and the barons of the kingdom. A great seal was made with the arms of the King of England, in order that Henry might affix that sign of royalty to his documents of state.
His first acts were grants of land and estates to the barons of France and the enemies of his father who were willing to join the confederacy. Among these were William. King of Scotland, who was to receive the territories of Northumberland and Cumberland, conquered by his predecessors; Philip, Earl of Flanders, to whom was promised the earldom of Kent, and the castles of Dover and Rochester; and the Earl of Blois, who was to have Amboise, Château-Reynault, and five hundred pounds of silver from the revenues of Anjou. Other donations were made of a similar kind, and the young king sent messengers to Rome to obtain the sanction of the Pope. It is remarkable that he demanded the assistance of the papal see on the ground that he could not submit to see the murder of his foster-father, Thomas à Becket, remain unpunished, and the murderers still living in security and affluence. He also promised large concessions to the Church and an extension of its privileges. The court of Rome, however, accustomed to act with caution, was in no hurry to reply to this despatch, and waited the course of events.
Meanwhile the cause of the rebellious son was embraced by many powerful chiefs, even among the vassals of the English king. Not a few recalled former acts of arrogance or oppression for which the present occasion offered the prospect of vengeance; others, who were young in arms, and of turbulent and adventurous spirit, were easily induced to take up arms in favour of the gay young prince. In England the Earls of Leicester and Chester were the principal supporters of his cause.
Henry, who was then in Normandy, saw himself deserted by many of the lords of his court, and it is said that even the guards of his chamber, those who were entrusted with the care of his person and his life, went over to his enemies. In circumstances such as these, with dangers thickening around him, the indomitable character and powerful mind of the king were displayed to their full extent. He possessed in a high degree those political and military talents which were hereditary in the family of the Conqueror, and although the loss of his followers was to him a cause of the greatest grief and despair, yet he preserved a calm and cheerful countenance, pursuing his usual amusements of hunting and hawking, and showing himself more than usually gay and affable towards those who came into his presence.
The king placed his chief reliance upon his command of ​money, with which he hired into his service a number of foreign mercenaries, including 20,000 Brabançons. He also exercised all the arts of diplomacy to detach the neighbouring princes from the cause of his son, and sent messengers to Rome, acknowledging himself as the Pope's vassal, and entreating his assistance. The terms used by the king in his letter, in which the kingdom of England was called the patrimony of St. Peter, probably tended in some degree to excite and justify those pretensions of the see of Rome, which in subsequent reigns produced such important results. The Pope admitted the justice of the king's claims in opposition to those of his son, and confirmed the sentences of excommunication which the Norman bishops of Henry had issued against the adherents of the princes. He also sent a special legate across the Alps, commissioned to arrange terms of peace; but before the messenger arrived, the war had already commenced on the frontier of Normandy.
Allusion has already been made to the animosities existing between the different races inhabiting the continental territories of Henry II. The rebellion of the princes fomented this national hatred, and opposing nations took part in the contest, and having once drawn the sword, were not easily induced to lay it aside. While the King of France and Henry the younger were marching an army into Normandy, Richard had gone to Poitou, where most of the barons entered the field in his cause. Geoffrey met with similar success among the people of Brittany, who, with their former readiness for revolt, entered into a confederation for the purpose of securing their own interests, while ostensibly supporting the cause of their duke. The old king thus found himself attacked at several points simultaneously, while the troops whom he had at command were chiefly the Brabançon mercenaries, who, though valiant men-at-arms, were in fact little better than banditti. With a division of these troops Henry opposed the advance of the King of France, and ultimately compelled him to make a rapid retreat. Another division, which had been sent into Brittany, met with equal success against the insurgents, and the adherents of the princes were defeated wherever they showed themselves. King Louis, who possessed little persistence of character, soon grew weary of this war, as he had done on former occasions, and advised the rebellious sons to seek a reconciliation with their father. Henry consented to a conference, and the two kings met in a wide plain near to Gisors, where there was a venerable elm, whose branches descended to the ground. In this spot, from time immemorial, all conferences had been held between the dukes of Normandy and the kings of France.
The conference was attended by the two princes, accompanied by the archbishops, bishops, and nobles of both countries. The king offered to his eldest son half of the royal revenues of England, with the same portion of the incomes of Normandy and Anjou. To the other princes he also offered estates and revenues. The King of France, however, was alarmed by these conciliatory proposals, and threw difficulties in the way of a pacification, encouraging the enemies of Henry to take measures for breaking off the negotiations. One of these men was Robert, Earl of Leicester, who insulted Henry with open abuse, and even laid his hand upon his sword, as though he would have violated the truce by slaying his sovereign. He was, however, forcibly restrained by those who surrounded him. The tumult which arose was followed by a renewal of hostilities: and a desultory war, in which no engagement of importance took place, was continued during the rest of the year.
Robert of Leicester had returned to England for the purpose of joining Hugh Bigod, a powerful noble who adhered to the cause of the princes. The Scots, who had begun to make forays upon the lands in their neighbourhood, were also assuming a dangerous attitude; but were rebuked by Richard de Lucy, the king's high justiciary, who burnt their town of Berwick, and drove them back with considerable slaughter. On his return to the south he defeated the Earl of Leicester, and took him prisoner. The Saxon peasantry of England appear to have been entirely indifferent to these disputes, and, therefore, remained quiet. The people of Normandy, also, were generally faithful to their sovereign, and it was among the recent conquests of Henry—in the provinces of Poitou and Aquitaine, Maine and Anjou—that the rebellion gained ground. Two of the natural sons of the king, who were at that time in England, exerted themselves strenuously in the cause of their father, and one of these—Geoffrey, Bishop of Lincoln—distinguished himself by various successes against the insurgent barons.
Meanwhile, Richard, having fortified a number of castles of Poitou and Aquitaine, headed a general insurrection of the people of those provinces. Against him, in the year 1174, the king marched his Brabançon troops, having placed garrisons in Normandy to repel the attacks of the King of France. Henry took possession of the town of Saintes, and also of the fortress of Taillebourg, and in his return from Anjou, devastated the frontier of Poitou, destroying the growing crops as well as the dwellings of the people. On his arrival in Normandy he received news that his eldest son, with Philip, Earl of Flanders, had prepared a great armament, with which they were about to make a descent upon the English coast. The king, whose movements on such occasions were unsurpassed for rapidity and energy, immediately took horse, and proceeded to the nearest seaport. A storm was raying as he reached the coast, but Henry immediately embarked; carrying with him as prisoners his wife Eleanor, and Margaret, the wife of his eldest son, who had not succeeded in following her husband to the court of her father.
Henry landed at Southampton, whence he proceeded to Canterbury, for the purpose of undergoing that extraordinary penance, to which some allusion has already been made. It is related that he rode all night, without resting by the way, and that when, at the dawn of day, he came in sight of Canterbury cathedral, he immediately dismounted from his horse, threw from him his shoes and royal robes, and walked the rest of the way barefoot, along a stony road. On arriving at the cathedral, the king, accompanied by a great number of bishops, abbots, and monks, including all those of Canterbury, descended to the crypt in which the corpse of Thomas à Becket was laid. Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, addressed the people, and said: "Be it known to all who are here present, that Henry, King of England, invoking for his soul's salvation God and the holy martyrs, protests before you all that he never commanded nor desired the death of the saint; but, as it is possible that the murderers availed themselves of some words spoken imprudently, he implores his penance from the bishops now assembled, and is ​willing to submit his naked flesh to the discipline of the rods."
Meeting of Henry and Louis on the Plain near Gisors.
The king knelt upon the stone of the tomb, and, stripping off part of his clothes, exposed his back to the scourge. Each of the bishops then took one of the whips with several lashes, used in the monasteries for penance, and each, in turn, struck the king several times on the shoulders, saying, "As Christ was scourged for our sins, so be thou for thine own." The rest of the monks present, to the number of about eighty, then took the whips, and it is said that many of these, who were of Saxon descent, gave their blows with vigour, so that the penance endured by the king was not merely nominal. The scourging did not end the acts of humiliation. Henry remained a day and a night prostrate before the tomb, during which time he took no food, and did not quit the place. The fatigue which he thus underwent brought on a fever, which continued him during several days to his chamber. The display of repentance, whether real or assumed, produced a reaction in the king's favour among the people, and he at once recovered the popularity he had lost. It happened that on the day when Henry was thus humbling himself before the tomb of Becket, one of his most powerful enemies had been taken prisoner. William the Lion, of Scotland, had made a hostile incursion into the lands of the English; and on the 12th of July, when he was amusing himself by tilting in a meadow with some of his nobles, he was surprised by Ranulph de Glanville, and captured, together with those who were with him. The English people, ​deeply imbued with the superstition of the time, attributed this success to the favour of the martyred archbishop, and they flocked to the standard of the king. Henry was not long in recovering hie strength; and, taking the field once more, he advanced against the rebellious barons, who gave way and fled at the sound of his approach. Many of their castles were carried by storm, and many were surprised before the inmates had time to escape. So many prisoners were taken that, according to Giraldus Cambrensis, there were hardly cords enough to bind them, or prisons enough to hold them.
Penance of Henry before the Shrine of Thomas à Becket. — From an ancient painting on glass, engraved in Carter's Specimens of Ancient Sculpture and Painting.
Having effectually repressed the revolt in England, Henry passed over with his army into Normandy. The inhabitants of Poitou and Brittany were not influenced by any veneration for St. Thomas à Becket, nor by the humiliations endured by the king at his shrine; they were not disheartened by their first defeat, and they rose again in rebellion. Meanwhile the Earl of Flanders had resigned his project of invading England as soon as Henry's return thither, and the various successes which attended him, were made known. The earl turned his forces in another direction, and having been joined by Henry, the younger king, and by Louis of France, laid siege to the town of Rouen. The attacking forces had scarcely sat down before the place, when Henry, who had returned in haste to the Continent, appeared on the scene of action, and obtained possession of the stores of the French army. Louis and his allies made but a brief resistance, and in a few days raised the siege. Their numerous army retreated hastily before the forces of the English king, who pursued his advantage, and compelled his adversaries once more to come to terms. Louis was again the first to withdraw from the contest, and proposed a conference for arranging terms of peace, to which the princes Henry and Geoffrey reluctantly assented.
Richard was supported in his rebellion by Bertrand de Born, lord of Haute-Fort, a distinguished warrior and poet, under whose teaching the natural daring of the prince was fostered, and he received a thorough training in the art of war. Richard at first refused to be included in the truce, but receiving no succour from his allies, he was unable to maintain a defence, and after the loss of many fortresses, he was compelled to return to his father, and implore his pardon. The king, stern and unrelenting towards ordinary offenders, acted with remarkable indulgence towards his rebellious children. An act of reconciliation was agreed upon, by which estates and revenues were assigned to each of the princes; and Henry made peace with the French king and the Earl of Flanders, on condition that they restored the territories which they had occupied since the commencement of the war. On the other hand, Henry agreed to give up those lands which he had conquered, and to liberate all his prisoners, with the exception of the King of Scotland, who had been confined in the castle of Falaise. In the following month of December (a.d. 1174), the Scottish king ​obtained liis freedom by doing homage to Henry, and acknowledging himself as his vassal—thus sacrificing nominally the indepeudeuce of his kingdom.
The three princes assented to the terms offered by their father, and promised future honour and obedience to him, the two youuger taking the oath of fealty. In the year 1175 Henry returned to England with his eldest son, and the reconciliation between them was now so complete, that it is related that they ate at the same table and slept in the same bed.
At length the country enjoyed a short period of tranquillity, and eight years elapsed, during which there was peace at home and abroad, and the energies of the king were engaged in promoting reforms in the internal government of the kingdom. His reputation for wisdom and power at this time stood so high, that the Kings of Navarre and Castile, who had been engaged in a prolonged warfare upon a question of territory, agreed to refer their dispute to the decision of the English monarch, and it is related that he delivered a wise and impartial judgment between them.
The government of Henry appears to have been in the main a just one, while it was firm, uncompromising, and well calculated to keep in check the unruly tempers of the Norman barons. During his reign the commerce of the country recovered from the depressed condition into which it had previously fallen. From remote parts of the East as well as from the Continent and from Ireland, trading vessels of foreign merchants brought articles of convenience and luxury to London. The wines of France, the furs of Normandy, the spices of Arabia, were among the merchandise imported at this time into England, and were employed to minister to that taste for pomp and magnificence which prevailed in the court of Henry II. London was already a populous city, noted for the wealth and luxury of its citizens, and in this reign it first became generally recognised as the capital of the kingdom. In the city and suburbs there were then about thirteen monasteries, and more than a hundred churches, with a fixed population of about 40,000 inhabitants. Industry and the arts were making rapid progress, and labourers and artificers of many different kinds were to be found in the city. Ludgate was at this time the western extremity of London, and where the Strand now pours east or west its stream of busy life, the ground was then divided into fields and orchards, which extended to Westminster. According to Fitz-Stephen, the biographer of Becket, the citizens of London received the title of barons—a statement which, to say the least of it, is improbable; but there can be no doubt that their wealth and intelligence at this period placed them in a higher position than is generally supposed. Other cities had attained to a high degree of importance, either as depots for home produce or manufactures, as seats of learning, or at seaports where the foreign commerce of the country was carried on. Exeter was a fine city, whither merchants resorted to trade for the mineral produce of the country, the mines of Cornwall and Devonshire already yielding a large annual revenue to the crown. Bristol conducted an extensive trade with Ireland and the north of Europe. Chester received ships from different countries with various kinds of merchandise. Lincoln was the seat of extensive home and foreign trade. Winchester and Gloucester were famous for their wines, the vine being then cultivated in the neighbourhood with considerable success. Among other cities mentioned by contemporary writers as being wealthy and populous, were York, Norwich, Lynn, Dunwich in Suffolk, Grimsby, Berwick, and Perth. Dublin is described as a splendid city, worthy to be placed in comparison with London. It is not known with certainty of what the exports of the country at this time consisted; but it is probable that they were confined to provisions, metals, and wool, or woollen goods. According to William of Malmesbury, England was the granary of Europe, where, in times of scarcity, other nations were sure of obtaining corn at a moderate price.
In the year 1182 fresh disputes arose between Henry and his sons. Richard having been called upon to do homage to his elder brother Henry for the provinces of Aquitaine and Poitou, positively refused, and immediately proceeded to put his fortresses in a condition of defence. In the beginning of the following year, Henry the younger and Geoffrey marched an army, part of which was composed of the Brabançon troops, against their brother, and several furious engagements took place between them. The king, alarmed at the grave appearance of the quarrel, recalled his two sons, and on their refusal took up arms in support of Richard. The family war was thus renewed under a new aspect, one of the sons fighting with his father against his two brothers. Contemporary historians speak with a fitting horror of these unnatural contests, and attribute their recurrence to an evil destiny which hung over the race of Plantagenet, as the result of some great crime which remained unexpiated. Revolting stories were related of the origin of the family, and of the deeds of its descendants—stories, of which some are evidently fabulous, and others, probably, had little or no foundation in fact. One of these, which is found in the chronicles of Johannes Bromton, may be given as an instance:—An ancient countess of Aujou, from whom King Henry was descended, was observed by her husband to evince great reluctance to entering a church, and when she did visit one, invariably to quit the edifice before the celebration of the sacrament. The husband, whose suspicions were excited, caused her one day to be forcibly detained by four esquires; but, at the moment of the consecration, the countess threw off the cloak by which she was held, flew out of the church window, and was never seen afterwards. It is related that Prince Richard was accustomed to refer to this anecdote, and to say it was no matter of surprise that he and his family, who had sprung from such a stock, should be on bad terms with each other.
In those days poetry played an important part in the political events of the south of France. All transactions of war, and often those of peace, were proclaimed, made known, and commented upon in rhyme. The songs of the Troubadours circulating through the country, and repeated from mouth to mouth, occupied in a great measure the same place in the twelfth century that our newspapers do in the present day. Among the people of Aquitaine the Queen Eleanor was held in great affection, as having been born among them, and the offences of which she was commonly reported to have been guilty were little regarded by a people whose own standard of morality was low. The long imprisonment with which she had been visited by her husband excited their chivalrous feelings, and her wrongs were a favourite theme with the poets of her native province. The people rejoiced at an ​opportunity of punishing her husband by any means at their command, and they therefore welcomed the new quarrels which had arisen between the sons and their father.
Henry and his son Richard marched against Limoges, which was in the possession of Henry the younger and Geoffrey. Within a few weeks the eldest brother deserted the cause of the men of Aquitaine, and gave in his submission once more to his father. Geoffrey, however, remained firm, and, supported by the people, continued his possession. Prince Henry communicated with his brother through Bertrand de Born, and arranged that a meeting should take place between his father and Geoffrey, for the purpose of arranging terms of peace. When the king arrived at Limoges to attend this conference, he was surprised to find the gates of the town shut against him; and on presenting himself with a small escort before the walls, and demanding admittance, he was answered by a flight of arrows, one of which pierced his armour. An explanation ensued, when this occurrence was declared to be a mistake, and the king entered the town, and was met by Geoffrey in an open place, where they began the conference. During the interview a second flight of arrows were discharged from the walls of the castle adjoining, one of which struck the king's horse on the head. Henry ordered one of his esquires to pick up the arrow, and, taking it in his hand, he presented it to Geoffrey, with words of sorrow and reproach.
These attempts at assassination, as revolting in themselves as they were in defiance of the laws of chivalry, have been attributed by some historians to Geoffrey himself; but there is no sufficient reason for supposing that they occurred by the son's command. The hot-tempered soldiers of the south, probably, were little pleased at the prospect of a reconciliation between Geoffrey and his father, which would be made without regard to their interests; and it is not improbable that of their own accord they took this means of putting an end to the conference. It is stated that the archers who made the attack upon the king were not hired soldiers, but volunteers, who had recently joined the army of Geoffrey.
Henry the younger, finding his attempts at mediation frustrated, declared that the men of Aquitaine were obstinate rebels, with whom he would never more make peace or truce, but that he would remain true to his father at all times. And yet a month had scarcely elapsed before he again quitted his father, and entered into a league with his adversaries. The Pope now interposed, and by his command the Norman clergy excommunicated the disobedient son—a penalty which the perjuries of the prince had once before called down upon him. It seems improbable that Henry the younger was in the least disturbed by being under the ban of the Church; but he was induced by some cause to return to his father, who received him once more with forgiveness. The prince promised, in the name of the insurgents, to surrender the town of Limoges; but if he had their warranty for doing so, they soon repented of their determination. The envoys of the king, who were sent to take possession of the town, were butchered within the walls, and the people, whose national spirit was thoroughly aroused, showed themselves resolved to put down all measures of reconciliation.
Not long after these events, the king received a message that his son, having fallen dangerously ill at Chateau-Martel, near Limoges, was anxious to see him. The king, who remembered the former attempts upon his own life, as well as the recent assassination of his soldiers, feared to trust himself again among these conspirators. He took a ring from his finger, and giving it to the Archbishop of Bordeaux, desired him to convey it immediately to the prince, with the assurance of his father's love. The arch-bishop executed his mission, and Prince Henry died with the ring pressed to his lips, confessing his undutiful conduct, and showing every sign of contrition. The younger king was twenty-seven years of age at the time of his death, which took place June 11th, 1183.
The stern Plantagenet is said to have been struck with, grief at his son's death; but he was not of a nature to waste time in brooding over the irrevocable past. With his sorrow were associated feelings of anger against the rebels of Aquitaine, whose hostile attitude had prevented him from attending the deathbed of the prince. The king immediately collected an army, and on the day after the funeral of his son, he took the town of Limoges by assault, and followed up this success by seizing many castles of the insurgents, which he razed to the ground. Above all the confederates he pursued Bertrand de Born, to whose evil counsel he attributed the numerous acts of rebellion on the part of the princes. Henry besieged the castle of Haute-Fort, and within a short time it fell into his hands; and the chief, Bertrand, was conducted as a prisoner to the royal tent.
Bertrand, as has been already related, was not only a warrior, but a troubadour of renown, as eminent for gaiety and wit as for valour. He had made satirical poems upon the great King Henry, whom he had boasted that he held neither in respect nor fear. Henry now called him into his presence, to see how this gallant song-maker would comport himself in the face of death. "Bertrand," he said, "thou hast been heard to declare that thou newer requiredst to use more than half thy wit, but now the time has come when thou wilt need it all." "My lord," the troubadour calmly replied, "I did, indeed, say so; and I said the truth." "And yet I think that thy sense has deserted thee," rejoined the king. "You are right, sire," Bertrand said, in slow and grave tones. "I lost it on the day that the valiant youth thy son expired; then, indeed, I lost all sense and reason." At the mention of his son, the king gave way to a passion of grief; and, to the astonishment of the court, the judge fainted away at the words of the prisoner. When Henry recovered, all thoughts of vengeance had passed away: the man who stood before him, whatever might be his crimes, had been his son's old friend, and for this cause the king spared his life. "Sir Bertrand, Sir Bertrand!" said he, "thou didst well to lose thy senses for my son's sake, for he loved thee better than any man in the world; and I, for love of him, give thee thy life, thy wealth, and thy castle."
The death of the younger king caused a reconciliation between the several members of this dissevered family. Even the Queen Eleanor was once more taken for a while into favour; and in her presence, the Princes Geoffrey and Richard, as well as their younger brother, Prince John, swore to a solemn bond of final peace and concord (A.D. 1184). The king, distrusting the untamed disposition of ​his elder sons, appears to have extended his chief favour and affection towards John. In a few months more the peace of the family was again disturbed by Geoffrey, who demanded the earldom of Anjou, and, on being refused, he went over to the French court. Here he passed his time in amusements and dissipations, waiting an opportunity for pursuing his schemes of ambition. One day, when engaged in a tournament, his horse was thrown down, and the prince himself was trampled to death by the horses of the combatants (A.D. 1186).
Six years before the death of Geoffrey, Louis VII. of France had died, and the throne became occupied by his son, Philip II., a young and warlike prince. He it was who had welcomed Geoffrey to the French court, and who now invited his brother Richard to enjoy the same honours. The invitation was accepted, and a great friendship—which, however, was not destined to endure in after years—sprung up between the two princes. This state of things displeased Henry, who sent repeated messages to his son, desiring him to return to England. After various excuses and delays, Richard set out, apparently for that purpose; but on reaching Chinon, where one of the royal treasuries was placed, he carried off the contents by force. The money thus obtained was spent in fortifying castles in Aquitaine, whither he immediately proceeded. The people of that province, disgusted with the result of their previous rebellion, offered him no support, and after a short time he was compelled to return to his father. Henry, who had learnt to distrust the efficacy of the most solemn oaths, collected a great assembly of the clergy and the barons to bear witness to his sou's new vows of good faith and duty.
In the following year (1187) the state of affairs in the Holy Land again attracted the attention of the princes of the west. Jerusalem, with its sacred treasures and relics, had again fallen into the hands of the Mahometans, who were headed by a young and warlike prince, Salah-ed-Deen, commonly called Saladin. The Christian conquerors of the Holy Land were suffering repeated defeats and misfortunes, and the Pope sent messages to the princes of Europe, calling upon them to arouse themselves, and take up arms in the cause of the cross. Henry of England at once responded to the call, and Philip having determined on a similar course of action, a conference was determined upon between the two kings for the purpose of arranging a permanent peace. The meeting took place as before, in the field beside the elm-tree, between Trie and Gisors. Several envoys of the Pope were present, among whom was the celebrated William, Archbishop of Tyre. The eloquence of this man is said to have tended greatly to the success of the negotiations. Suspending the settlement of their differences, the two kings swore to take up arms as brothers in the holy cause, and, in token of their pledge, each received from the archbishop a cross, which he attached to his dress, the cross of the King of England being white, and that of the King of France red.
Having held a council at Mans to deliberate upon the measures to be pursued for taking the field, Henry returned to England; and a similar council, composed of the barons of the whole kingdom, was held at Gidington, in Northamptonshire. The lords determined that a tenth of all the property in the kingdom should be levied to meet the expenses of the crusade. The men of landed property who accompanied the royal army were to receive the sum levied on their lands, to enable them to take the field, the impost upon the other parts of the country being applied to the use of the Crown. The sum of £70,000, which was raised by this means, proving insufficient, Henry extorted large sums of money from the Jewd and the people of that unhappy race were compelled, by imprisonment and other severe measures, to yield up their hoards. One-fourth of their whole property was thus extorted from the Jews, and probably, in many cases, a much larger sum
Notwithstanding all these preparations, and the solemn oath of the two kings, the money thus obtained was not applied to the conquest of Jerusalem. A quarrel took place between Prince Richard and Raymond of St. Gilles, and the people of Aquitaine, once more roused to rebellion, profited by the dispute to form new leagues against the Plantagenet government. The King of France joined the insurgents, and attacked various castles and towns in the occupation of Henry. At length, after a profitless contest of several months, the two kings met once more under the old elm-tree, resolved to arrange a peace. No mockery of solemn engagements took place on this occasion, and Henry and Philip separated in anger, without having been able to come to an agreement. The young King of France, enraged at the failure of the conference, cut down the elm-tree, swearing by the saints that never more should a parley be held under it.
This latter revolt on the part of Richard, however unjustifiable it might be, was not without some pretext. According to an agreement, made in former years, between Henry II. and Louis VII., it had been determined that Richard should marry Alix, or Alice, King Louis's daughter, and the young princess was placed in the hands of Henry until she should arrive at a marriageable age. The war having broken out afresh, and the princes of England being separated from their father, the marriage was deferred, and it was currently reported that Henry had grown enamoured of her, and even that she had become his mistress. It is related that, at the time when his sons were at war against him, the king had determined to make Alice his wife, and that an attempt which he made to procure a divorce from the Queen Eleanor was to be attributed to this partiality. The court of Rome, however, rejected his entreaties and presents, and refused the application.
What degree of truth may have existed in these reports cannot now be determined, but it is certain that Henry detained the princess for a number of years, resisting the demands of Philip, and even the order of the Pope, that the marriage between her and Richard should take place. Another plea urged by Richard in justification of his rebellion, was his belief that his brother John was intended to succeed to the English throne. No circumstances, however, are related by the historians giving reasonable grounds for such an opinion. In November, A.D. 1188, another conference took place, and this time at Bonmoulins, in Normandy. Philip demanded that his sister should be immediately delivered up to her affianced husband, and that Richard should be declared heir to the English throne in the presence of all the barons of the two countries. Henry, remembering the events which had followed the recognition of the claims of his eldest son, refused to repeat an act which might be attended with similar disturbances. Richard, enraged at this refusal, turned from his father, and, placing his hands in those of the King of France, declared ​himself his vassal, and said that he committed the protection of his hereditary rights into his hands. Philip accepted his oath of fealty, and, in return, presented him with some towns conquered by the French troops from his father. Henry quitted the spot in violent agitation, and, mounting his horse, he rode to Saumur, there to make his preparations for continuing the war.
At this news of this new rupture, the Bretons, who had been quiet for two years, rose once more in revolt, and the men of Poitou declared for Richard so soon as they perceived him to be finally separated from his father. Many of the nobles and knights of Henry began to desert him, as they had done before, and the party of his son, supported by the King of France, increased in strength daily. On the other hand, the greater part of the Normans remained faithful to their sovereign, and the Pope granted Henry his assistance, causing sentence of excommunication to be declared against all the adherents of the rebellious son. But Henry was no longer young. The repeated vexations and misfortunes he had undergone—the wounds he had received from the disobedience of his children—at length produced their effect, and he resigned himself to sorrow, leaving to the legate of the Pope and to the priests the care of his defence. They sent repeated messages to Richard and to the King of France, whom they threatened with excommunication, and, at length, Philip was induced to consent to another conference, at which peace was to be arranged.
Effigy of Eleanor, Queen of Henry II. From the Tomb at Fontevrault.
At this meeting, which took place in the year 1189, there were present, besides the two kings, Richard, John of Anagni the cardinal-legate of the Pope, and the Archbishops of Canterbury, Rheims, Bourges, and Rouen. Philip proposed the same conditions as before, and Henry again rejected them, but offered to marry Alice to John, the only one of his sons who had remained obedient to him, proposing, at the same time, to make John heir to the continental dominions of the English Crown. Richard indignantly refused these terms, and the King of France having supported him in this opposition, John of Anagni declared that his mission was to place the whole of the territories of Philip under an interdict. The young king boldly defied the legate, and Richard even drew his sword against the Pope's envoy, and would have killed him on the spot but for the interposition of those who surrounded him.
Henry was compelled to relinquish these unavailing negotiations, and to summon his troops to take the field. The French king attacked his territories in Anjou, while the Poitevins and Bretons, headed by Richard, seized the royal towns and castles in the south. The old king, whom grief and failing health had rest of all his former energy, was compelled once more to sue for peace, and offered to grant whatever terms might be demanded. Philip and Henry met, for the last time, in a plain between Tours and Azay-sur-Cher, Richard remaining at a distance, waiting the result of the interview. Philip demanded that the English king should give in his allegiance to him, and place himself at his mercy; that Alice should be committed to the care of persons appointed by Richard, until his return from the Holy Land, whither he intended to proceed immediately; that Henry should give his son the kiss of peace, in token of entire forgiveness of the past; and should pay to the King of France twenty thousand marks of silver, for the restitution of the provinces which he had conquered.
According to a contemporary historian, the two kings were talking together in the open field, when suddenly, although the sky was without a cloud, a loud clap of thunder was heard overhead, and a flash of lightning descended between them. They immediately separated in affright, and when, after a short interval, they met again a second clap, louder than the first, was heard almost; on the instant. The conference was broken off, and Henry, whose weak state of health rendered him liable to be seriously affected by any violent emotion, retired to his quarters, where the articles of the treaty reduced to writing were sent to him. Thus the historian would have us believe that Heaven itself interposed to present the dishonour of the English king, and his submission to the crown of France.
The envoys of Philip found the old king in bed, and while he lay there they began to read out to him the articles of the treaty. When they came to the part which referred to the persons engaged secretly or avowedly in the cause of Richard, the king desired to know their names, that he might at least learn who they were who had been his enemies. The first name read to him was that of his youngest son, John, whom he had so long believed to be loyal and dutiful. On hearing this name the old man was seized with a violent agitation or convulsion of the whole frame. Raising himself half up, he exclaimed, "Is it, then, true that John, the joy of my heart, the son of my love, he whom I have cherished more than all the rest, and for love of whom I have brought upon myself these troubles, has also deserted me?" Then falling back on the bed, and turning his face to the wall, he said, in words of despair, "So be it, then; let everything go as it will. I care no more for myself, nor for the world!"
Feeling that he grew rapidly worse, Henry caused himself to be conveyed to Chinon, where he arrived in a dying state. In his last moments he was heard to utter maledictions on himself as a conquered king, and to curse also the sons he was leaving behind him. The bishops and lords who surrounded him exerted themselves in ​vain to induce him to retract these words, and he continued repeating them until death laid its finger on his lips (July 6, A.D. 1189).
Richard Coeur de Lion drawing his Sword upon the Cardinal-Legate of the Pope.
No sooner had this great king breathed his last, than his servants and attendants, one and all, deserted his corpse, as had happened a century before to that of his ancestor, William the Conqueror.
It is related that these hirelings stripped the body of their royal master of the very clothes which covered him, and carried off everything of value from the chamber. King Henry had desired to be buried at the abbey of Fontevrault, a few leagues to the south of Chinon; but it was not until after considerable delay that people could be ​found to wrap the body in a shroud, and convey it thither with horses. The corpse was lying in the great church of the abbey, waiting the time of sepulture, when Richard, who had received the news of his father's death, arrived at Fontevrault. Entering the church, he commanded the face of the dead king to be uncovered, that he might look upon it for the last time.
Richard Coeur-de-Lion beside the Dead Body of his Father.
The features were still contracted, and bore upon them the impress of prolonged agony. The son gazed upon the sight in silence, and with a sadden impulse, he knelt down for a few moments before the altar; then, rising up, he quitted the church, not to return. An old superstition of Scandinavia, which had descended alike to Normans and Saxons, was to the effect that the body of a murdered man would bleed in the presence of the ​murderer; and some of the chronicles relate that from the moment when Richard entered the church, until he had again passed the threshold, blood flowed without ceasing from the nostrils of the dead king. Thus it is evident that contemporary writers regarded the conduct of the sons as having accelerated, if not caused, the death of their father.
Henry II. died on the 6th of July, a d. 1189, at the age of fifty-six, having reigned nearly thirty-five years. Of the king's personal character, very different estimates have been formed by different historians. Those who look at a many-sided character from their own narrow stand-point, will, necessarily, paint that side only which is presented to them, leaving the rest in shadow; and thus we find Henry II. described on the one hand as a man almost without blemish, and, on the other, as utterly destitute of public or private virtue. It appears probable that he had little abstract regard for the welfare of the people, but he was fully alive to his own interests, and he perceived those interests to be bound up in the national prosperity. He therefore laboured to promote the well-being of his subjects, as absolute monarchs, in later times, have done from a similar motive. He was inordinately ambitious, and was heard to say, in moments of triumph, that the whole world was a portion little enough for a great man. He was skilled in the arts of diplomacy, and accustomed to use dissimulation and falsehood whenever an advantage was to be gained thereby.
Instances have been given of the ungovernable fits of passion to which Henry in his younger days was subject; these appear to have been much less frequent as he grew past middle age. Without any self-control in moments of anger, he was at other times remarkable for acting with calm judgment and calculation. In his relations with women he was extremely licentious. Among his mistresses was one who has been celebrated in various romantic tales, most of which are without any foundation in truth. "Fair Rosamond" was the daughter of Walter Clifford, a baron of Herefordshire, whose castle was situated on one of the heights overlooking the valley of the Wye, between the Welsh Hay and Hereford. Henry fell in love with her before ho ascended the throne, and she bore to him two sons, who have been already mentioned as aiding their father at the time of the partial rebellion in England. One of these was William, called Longsword, from the size of the weapon which he carried, who married the daughter of the Earl of Salisbury, and succeeded to his estates; the other was Geoffrey, Bishop of Lincoln, and subsequently Archbishop of York. "While Henry was still a young man, Rosamond retired to the convent of Godestow, near to Oxford, where, after a few years, she died. During her residence there, Henry bestowed many valuable presents upon the convent for her sake, and the nuns, who seem to have been actuated by a personal regard for her, as well as by a recollection of the benefits she had conferred upon them, buried her in their choir, burning tapers round her tomb, and showing to her remains other marks of honour. Henry, Bishop of Lincoln, disapproved of these proceedings, and gave the nuns to understand that one who had led an impure life, even though the mistress of a king, was not worthy to lie in the sacred edifice. The repentance of Rosamond, which appears to have been sincere, was not permitted to wipe away the shame of the past, and her body was removed and buried in the common cemetery. The nuns, however, feared no contamination from the poor remains of their frail sister, and they secretly collected her bones, strewed perfumes over them, and buried them once more in the church. The story of the bower of Rosamond and of the poisoned bowl forced upon her by the jealousy of Eleanor, cannot be traced to any contemporary source and must be rejected as devoid of truth.
Whatever may be the view we take of the character of Henry as a man, there can be no doubt that, as a king, he deserves a high place in English history. In the stormy times of the Middle Ages, better were the wrongs inflicted by an ambitious monarch, than the national corruption and decay which attended the reign of a weak one. Under the rule of Henry Plantagenet, the country made rapid strides in power and influence, and reached that high position among the nations of Europe, which it was destined to maintain in later times.
* ↑ Gerald de Barri, commonly known as Giraldus Cambrensis (or Gerald the Welshman), was the grandson of a Norman and a Welshman, and was born in Wales. He was present in Ireland during the time of many of the events about to be related.
* ↑ Giraldus Cambrenais.
* ↑ Matthew Paris.
* ↑ Matthew Paris.
* ↑ "Poesises des Troubadours."
* ↑ Roger of Hovedon.