|
+---------------+--------------+
| |
Edward I. Edmund = Blanche, daughter of Robert
Proposed King of Sicilies. | of Artois, third son of
was Earl of Chester, 1246, | Louis VIII., widow of King
was given the land of | of Navarre.
Simon de Montfort. Made |
Earl of Leicester. Fought |
in Scotland, Wales, |
Gascony. Crusade, |
1270-1272. Died 1295. |
|
+----------------------------+---------------+
| |
Thomas = Alice, daughter Henry = Maud, daughter
Earl of Lancaster, of de Lacy, Earl of Leicester, | and heiress of
Lincoln, Earl of 1324. Helped to | Sir Patrick
Salisbury, Lincoln depose Edward II. | Chaworth.
Leicester, and and Guardian to Edward |
Derby. Fought Salisbury. III. Restored to his |
in Scotland. brother’s Earldoms, |
Headed the 1327. Captain-General|
party against in Scotland. Died |
both Gaveston 1345. |
and the |
Despensers. |
Taken prisoner |
at Boroughbridge. |
Beheaded at |
Pontefract, 1321. +--------------------+
|
+----------------------+----------+
| |
Henry = Isabel, d. 2. Ralph = Maud = 1. William de Burgh,
Captain-General | of Lord de Ufford | | Earl of Ulster.
in Scotland. Earl | Beaumont. | |
of Derby, 1338. | Thomas = Maud. Elizabeth = Lionel,
Fought in Flanders | de Vere, | Duke of
and Sluys. Earl | 8th Earl | Clarence.
of Lancaster and | of Oxford. |
Leicester, 1345. | Died 1371. Philippa = Edmund
Steward of | Mortimer
England. Duke of | (see
Lancaster and Earl | Mortimer).
of Lincoln, 1350. |
Died 1360. |
|
+--------------+-----------+
| |
Maud = Lord Stafford. Blanche = John of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond,
= Duke of Zeeland. | who thus became Duke of Lancaster,
No children. | Earl of Derby, Lincoln and
| Leicester.
|
Henry IV. (Earl of Hereford, Derby,
Lincoln and Leicester,
and Duke of Lancaster.)
DE LA POLES.
William de la Pole = Catherine, daughter of
Great Merchant at Kingston, | Sir John Norwich.
advanced £1000 to Edward |
III., for which he was |
made a Banneret. |
|
Michael de la Pole = Katherine Wingfield.
Earl of Suffolk 1385. |
Impeached and exiled. |
Died at Paris 1388. |
|
Sir Michael = Katherine, daughter of
Restored to his Earldom | the Earl of Stafford.
1399. In the French |
wars. Died at Harfleur |
1415. |
|
+-----------------------+----+
| |
Michael William, 4th Earl = Alice, grand-
3rd Earl of Suffolk. Commanded at Verneuil and | daughter of
Died at Agincourt Orleans. Brought Margaret | Chaucer.
1415. of Anjou over. Duke of |
Suffolk 1448. Impeached, |
banished, murdered in the |
boat, 1450. |
|
+-------------------+
|
John de la Pole = Elizabeth, sister
Duke of Suffolk 1463. | of Edward IV.
Died 1491. |
|
+---------------------------+------------+------------+
| | |
John, Earl of Lincoln. Edmund. Fought at Richard. Fought
Lord Lieutenant of first for Henry VII. for the French.
Ireland. Declared heir- Subsequently took Died at Pavia 1525.
apparent by Richard III. offence and withdrew His dukedom of
Joined Lambert Simnel. to his aunt Margaret Suffolk given to
Died at Battle of of Burgundy. Was given Charles Brandon.
Stoke 1487. up. Imprisoned in the
Tower. Executed as
a Yorkist 1513.
BEAUFORT (SOMERSETS), AND STAFFORD (BUCKINGHAMS).
John of Gaunt = Catherine Swinford.
|
1 | 2
+--------------------------------+------------------+-----------+
| | |
John, Earl of Somerset = Margaret, daughter of Henry Beaufort, |
One of the accusers | Sir Thomas Holland, Cardinal Bishop |
of Gloucester, 1397. | Earl of Kent. of Winchester. |
Died 1410. | |
| |
+--------------------+ |
| 3 4 |
| +------------------+--------------------+
| | |
| Thomas = Margaret Joan = Sir Ralph Neville,
| Earl of Dorset and Neville. first Earl of
| Exeter. Admiral 1404. Westmoreland.
| Chancellor. Fought at
| Agincourt. Died 1426.
|
|
+---------------------------------+
|
|
1 2 |
+-----------------+-------+------------------------+
| | |
Henry. John = Margaret, daughter of |
Died Lieut.-Gen. in | Sir John Beauchamp. |
young. France. Killed | |
himself, 1444. | |
| |
Margaret = 1. Edmund Tudor, |
| Earl of Richmond. |
| 2. Sir Henry Stafford, |
| son of 1st Duke |
| of Buckingham. |
| 3. Thomas, Lord |
| Stanley. |
| |
Henry VII. |
|
+--------------------+
|
3 | 4
+------------------------------+
| |
Edmund, = Eleanor Beauchamp, Jane = James I. of
1st Duke, 4th Earl | daughter of 5th Scotland.
of Somerset, fought | Earl of Warwick.
under Duke of Bedford. |
Beseiged Harfleur. |
Regent of France, |
1445. Killed at St. |
Albans, 1455. |
|
+----------------+--------+------------+
| | | |
Henry, Duke of Edmund John, Margaret = Humphrey, Earl of
Somerset, Beaufort, killed at | Stafford (son of 1st
beheaded after beheaded Tewkesbury. | Duke of Buckingham,
Hexham, 1464. after | who died at battle
Tewkesbury, | of Northampton).
1471. | Killed at St. Albans
| 1455. [See genealogy
| of Edward III.]
|
+--------------------------------------------+
|
Henry, 2nd Duke of Buckingham = Catherine Woodville.
Helped Richard III. Joined |
Richmond. Beheaded 1483. |
|
+-------------+
|
Edward, Duke of Buckingham = Eleanor, daughter of Percy,
Restored by Henry VII. High | Earl of Northumberland.
Constable. Offended Wolsey. |
Beheaded 1521. |
|
+----------------------+
|
Henry, Lord Stafford = Ursula, daughter of
restored in blood by | Sir Richard Pole
Edward VI., 1547. | and Margaret
Died 1562. | Plantagenet.
|
+-----------------------------+
| |
Edward, Baron Stafford. Richard, whose grandson
became a cobbler.
WOODVILLES
(COURTENAYS. GREYS.)
Richard de Widvile = Jacquetta of Luxembourg,
Seneschal of Normandy. | widow of Duke of Bedford.
Earl Rivers 1466. |
Beheaded 1469. |
|
+-----------------------+-----------+-----------+----------+
| | | | |
Anthony = Elizabeth, John, Lionel, Richard, |
Lord heiress of Beheaded Bishop of 2nd Earl |
Scales. Lord Scales. 1469. Salisbury. Rivers. |
Earl Rivers. |
Guardian |
of Edward V. |
Beheaded |
1483. |
|
+-----------------------------------+
|
+----------+------------+----------------------+
| | |
2. Edward IV. = Elizabeth = 1. Sir John Margaret = Fitz-Alan, |
| | Grey a Earl of |
| | Lancastrian. Arundel. |
| | Died at St. |
+----------------+ | Albans 1455. |
| | |
| +-----------------------+ |
| + +--------------------------+
| | |
| | |
| | +---------------------+--------+------------+
| | | | |
| | Mary = Earl of Katherine = 2d Duke of Anne = Lord Bouchier.
| | Huntingdon. Buckingham. = Earl of Kent.
| | = Jaspar Tudor. = Sir Anthony
| | = Sir Richard Wingfield.
| | Wingfield.
| |
| +----------------------------+
| |
| +------------+--------------+
| | |
| Thomas, 1st = Cecily Sir Richard Grey
| Marquis of | Bonvile. Beheaded 1483.
| Dorset, |
| escaped to |
| Brittany |
| 1483. Restored |
| by Henry VII. |
| Died 1501. |
| |
| |
| Thomas Grey = Margaret Wotton.
| 2nd Marquis of Dorset. |
| A great General under |
| Henry VIII. Died 1530. |
| |
| Henry Grey = Lady Frances Brandon,
| 3rd Marquis of | daughter of Henry
| Dorset. Duke | VII.’s daughter Mary.
| of Suffolk. |
| Beheaded 1554. |
| |
| +--------------------+-------+
| | |
| Lady Jane Grey = Guildford Katherine = Edward
| Dudley. Seymour.
|
+----------------------------+
|
|
+------+-----+----------+-------+----------------------+
| | | | |
Edward V. | Elizabeth = Henry VII. | |
| | |
| Katherine = Sir William Anne = Duke of
Richard, | Courteney, Norfolk.
Duke of | Earl of Devon.
York. | Suspected of
| treasonable
| intercourse with
| Edmund de la Pole.
| Imprisoned till
| 1509. Died 1512.
|
Edward Courtenay. Marquis = Gertrude Blount,
of Exeter. Involved in | daughter of
Henry Pole’s conspiracy. | Lord Mountjoy.
Beheaded 1539. |
|
Edward Courtenay,
Imprisoned from 1539 to 1553.
Proposed as a husband for
Elizabeth, 1554. In Wyatt’s
rebellion. Died at Padua 1566.
ENGLAND BEFORE THE CONQUEST.
[Sidenote: Departure of the Romans.]
The dominion of the Romans in Britain had been complete. The
country, as far as the Frith of Forth, had been brought under Roman
civilization. But in England, as elsewhere, the continuance of that
form of civilization had produced weakness; and the unconquered
Britons of the North, known by the name of Picts, broke into the
Romanized districts, and pushed their incursions far into the
centre of the country. On all sides, the nations outside the Empire
were breaking through its limits and threatening its existence.
The danger which threatened the very heart of the Empire, from the
advance of the Goths into Italy, compelled the Romans in 411 to
withdraw their legions from Britain, and leave the inhabitants of
the island to fight their own battles with the Picts. When these
enemies formed an alliance with the pirates of Ireland, known by
the name of the Scots, and with the German pirates of the North
Sea, known as English or Saxons, the civilized Britons were unable
to make head against them, and found it necessary to seek for aid
among the invaders themselves They therefore made an arrangement
with two Jutish chiefs or Ealdormen, Hengist and Horsa, to come to
their assistance. The German rovers consisted of three nations--the
Saxons, the inhabitants of Holstein, who had advanced along the
coast of Friesland; to the north of them the Angles or English, who
inhabited Sleswig; and still further to the north, the Jutes, whose
name is still perpetuated in the promontory of Jutland.
[Sidenote: The Jutish settlement in Kent. 449.]
[Sidenote: The Saxons in Sussex. 477-495.]
[Sidenote: The Angles in East Anglia. 520.]
The first landing-place of the Jutish allies of the Britons was in
the Isle of Thanet, separated at that time by a considerable inlet
from the British mainland. Their aid enabled the Britons to drive
back the Pictish invaders. But their success, and the settlement
they had formed, enticed many of their brethren to join them,
and their numbers were constantly increasing. Increase of numbers
implied increased demand in the way of payment and provisions.
Quarrels arose between the new-comers and their British allies.
War was determined on. The inlet which divided Thanet from the
mainland was passed, and at Aylesford, on the Medway, a battle was
fought, which, though it cost Horsa his life, put the conquering
Barbarians into possession of much of the east of Kent. The victory
was followed by the extermination of the inhabitants; against the
clergy especially the anger of the conquerors was directed. The
country was thus cleared of the inhabitants, and the new-comers
settled down, bringing with them their goods and families and
national institutions. This process was repeated at every stage of
the conquest of the country, which thus became not only a conquest
but a re-settlement. The Jutish conquest of Kent was followed,
in 477, by an invasion of the Saxons, who, under Ella, overran
the south of Sussex, and captured the fortress of Anderida near
Pevensey; and in 495, by a fresh Saxon invasion under Cerdic and
Cymric, who passed up the Southampton water and established the
kingdom of the West Saxons. A momentary check was given to the
advance of the conquerors, in 520, at the battle of Mount Badon.
But almost immediately fresh hordes of Angles began conquering
and settling the East of England, where they established the East
Anglian kingdom, with its two great divisions of Northfolk and
Southfolk. Between that time and 577, the date of a victory at
Deorham, in Gloucestershire, the West Saxons had overrun what
are now Hampshire and Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and the
valley of the Severn, reaching almost as far as Chester; while the
Angles, entering the Humber and working up the rivers, established
themselves on the Trent, where they were known as Mercians or
Border men, and formed two Northern kingdoms, that of Deira in
Yorkshire, and that of Bernicia, extending as far as the Forth. The
capital of this last-named kingdom was Bamborough, founded by Ida,
and called after his wife Bebba, Bebbanburgh, or Bamborough.
The junction of these two kingdoms under Æthelfrith, about 600,
established the Kingdom of Northumbria; thus was begun the process
of consolidating the several divided English kingdoms. This
tendency to consolidation is marked by the title of Bretwalda,
which is given to the chief of the nation dominant for the time
being. The name had been applied to Ella of Sussex, to Ceawlin
of Wessex, and was held at the time of the establishment of the
Northumbrian power by Æthelberht of Kent. There were thus two
pre-eminent powers among the English--Northumbria, under its
king Æthelfrith, claiming supremacy over the middle districts of
England, including the Mercians and Middle English; and Kent, under
Æthelberht, paramount over Middlesex, Essex, and East Anglia;
while a third kingdom, that of Wessex, though large in extent and
destined to become the dominant power, was as yet occupied chiefly
in improving its position towards the west. Beyond these lay the
district still in the possession of the Britons. The possessions of
this people were now divided by the conquest of the English into
three--West Wales, or Cornwall; North Wales, which we now call
Wales; and Strathclyde, a district stretching from the Clyde along
the west of the Pennine chain, and separated from Wales by Chester,
in the hands of the Mercians, and a piece of Lancashire in the
hands of the Northumbrians.
[Sidenote: Conversion of the English. 597.]
It was while the kingdoms of Northumbria and Kent were thus in
the balance that the conversion of the English to the Christian
faith began. Æthelberht of Kent had married Bercta, the daughter
of the Frankish King of Paris. She was a Christian; and Gregory
the Great at that time occupying the Roman See, which was rapidly
rising to the position of supremacy in the Christian Church, took
advantage of the opening thus afforded, and despatched a band of
missionaries under a monk named Augustine to convert the people.
In 597 they landed in Thanet. By the influence of the Queen they
were well received, and established themselves at Canterbury,
which has ever since retained its position as the seat of the
Primacy. The Kings of Essex and East Anglia followed the example
of their superior Lord, and became Christians. The Northern
kingdom was still heathen. But Eadwine, who succeeded Æthelfrith
on the Northumbrian throne, surpassed his predecessor in power.
On Æthelberht’s death, he received the submission of the East
Anglians and men of Essex, and conquered even the West Saxons.
Kent alone remained independent, but was compelled to purchase
security by a close alliance with Eadwine, who married a Kentish
princess. With her went a priest, Paulinus; and priest and Queen
together succeeded in converting Eadwine, and bringing the Northern
kingdom to Christianity. Heathenism was however not extinct. It
found a champion, Penda, King of the Mercians. In alliance with
the Welsh king he attacked and defeated Eadwine, in 633, at the
battle of Heathfield, and united under his power those who were
properly called Mercians and the other English tribes south of
the Humber. He also conquered the West Saxon districts along
the Severn, and thus established what is generally known as the
Kingdom of Mercia. Paulinus had fled from York after the battle
of Heathfield. But the contest between heathen and Christian was
renewed by Oswald, Eadwine’s successor; for Paulinus’ place was
taken by Bishop Aidan, a missionary from Columba’s Irish monastery
in Iona, who had established an Episcopal See in the Island of
Lindisfarne. From thence missionaries issued, who continued the
work of conversion, to which Oswald chiefly devoted his life.
Birinus, sent from Rome, with the support of Oswald, succeeded
in converting even Wessex, and establishing a Christian church
at Dorchester. Penda still continued in the centre of England to
uphold the cause of heathendom. At the battle of Maserfield he
conquered and slew Oswald, and re-established his religion for
a time in Wessex. But at length, in 655, he succumbed to Oswi,
Oswald’s successor, and with him fell the power of heathendom. It
seemed as though Irish Christianity, and not Roman, would thus be
the religion of England. But Rome did not suffer her conquests
to slip from her hand. A struggle arose between the adherents of
the two Churches. The matter was brought to an issue in 664 at a
Council at Whitby. The Roman Church there proved predominant. And
this victory was followed by the appointment of Theodore of Tarsus,
an Eastern divine, to the See of Canterbury. Under him the English
Church was organized. Fresh sees were added to the old ones, which
had usually followed the limits of the old English kingdoms.
Canterbury was established as the centre of Church authority.
Theodore’s ecclesiastical work tended much both to the growth of
national unity and to the close connection of Church and State
which existed during the Saxon period. The unity of the people was
expressed in the single archiepiscopal See of Canterbury and in the
Synods; while the arrangement of bishoprics and parishes according
to existing territorial divisions connected them closely with the
State.
[Sidenote: Supremacy of Mercia. 716-819.]
The contest for supremacy between Mercia and Northumbria still
continued. After the fall of Penda, the supremacy of the Northern
kingdom was for some time unquestioned. But sixty years later,
during the reign of three Christian kings, Ethelbald, Offa, and
Cenwulf (716-819), Mercia again rose to great power. Offa indeed
came nearer to consolidating an empire than any of the preceding
kings, although he is not mentioned among the Bretwaldas. It is
said that he corresponded on terms of something like equality
with Charlemagne; and the great dyke between the Severn and the
Wye which bears his name is supposed to mark the limits of his
conquests over the Britons.
[Sidenote: Ecgberht. 800-836.]
[Sidenote: Consolidation under the West Saxons.]
With these princes the supremacy of Mercia closed, for a great
king had in the year 800 ascended the throne of Wessex. Ecgberht
had lived as an exile in his youth at the court of Charlemagne,
and there probably imbibed imperial notions. During his reign of
thirty-six years he gradually brought under his power all the
kingdoms of the English, whether Anglian or Saxon. In 823, at the
great battle of Ellandune, he defeated the Mercians so completely
that their subject kingdoms passed into his power. Four years later
Mercia owned his overlordship, and Northumbria immediately after
yielded without a struggle. These great kingdoms retained their
own line of sovereigns as subordinate kings. Ecgberht continued
the hereditary struggle against the British populations, with the
West Welsh or Cornish, and the North Welsh or Welsh, and in each
instance succeeded in establishing his supremacy over them. North
of the Dee, however, his power over the British population did
not spread. Thus the kingdom of the West Saxons absorbed all its
rivals, and established a permanent superiority in England.
[Sidenote: Period of Danish invasion. 790-1013.]
Already, however, a new enemy, before which the rising kingdom
was finally to succumb, had made its appearance; a year before
his death, Ecgberht was called upon to defend his country from
the Danes. This people, issuing from the Scandinavian kingdoms in
the North of Europe, had begun to land in England, to harry the
country, and to carry off their spoil. At first as robbers, then
as settlers, and finally as conquerors, for two centuries they
occupy English history. Their first appearance in this reign was
at Charmouth in Dorsetshire. Subsequently, in junction with the
British, they advanced westward from Cornwall. This led to the
great battle of Hengestesdun, or Hengston, where the invaders were
defeated (835). It seems not unnatural to trace the appearance
of the Northern rovers in England to the state of the Continent.
Driven from their own country by want of room, obliged to seek new
settlements, they found themselves checked by the organized power
of Charlemagne’s empire. They were thus compelled to find their new
home in countries they had not yet visited. The reign closed with
the capture of Chester, the capital of Gwynedd, the British kingdom
of North Wales.
[Sidenote: Æthelwulf. 836-857.]
The reign of Æthelwulf, the successor of Ecgberht, was chiefly
occupied in constant war with the Danes. Various success attended
his efforts. The great battle at Ockley (851), where they were
heavily defeated, for a time kept them in check; but, on the whole,
the invaders constantly gained ground, and at last, in 855, for
the first time so far changed their predatory habits as to winter
in the Isle of Thanet. Another characteristic of Æthelwulf’s
reign is the connection with Rome which he established. When his
youngest son Alfred was still a child, he sent him to Rome, where
the young prince was anointed; and two years afterwards he himself
took the same journey, was received on the road by Charles the
Bald, King of France, and spent a whole year in Italy. He there
re-established the Saxon College, and by his engagement to supply
funds for its support seems to have originated the well-known
Peter’s Pence. His connection with Charles the Bald was further
cemented by his marriage with Judith, daughter of that king. After
Æthelwulf’s death she married her stepson Æthelbald, was divorced
by him, returned to France, married Baldwin of Flanders, and was
the ancestress of Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror. These
connections show the rising importance of England, and the entrance
of the country into the general politics of Europe. Something in
Æthelwulf’s government, perhaps his lengthened absence abroad,
or the step he had taken in getting Alfred anointed, excited
discontent. His eldest surviving son, Æthelbald, conspired with
other nobles to exclude him from the country, and he was forced to
consent to a compromise, accepting as his own kingdom, Kent and the
Eastern dependencies of Wessex, while his son ruled over the rest
of the kingdom.
[Sidenote: Æthelbald. 858-860.]
[Sidenote: Æthelberht. 860-866.]
On his death he bequeathed his own dominions to Æthelberht, his
second son, while Wessex was, upon the death of Æthelbald, to pass
in succession to his two sons, Æthelred and Alfred. In spite of
this will, on the death of Æthelbald five years later, Æthelberht
of Kent succeeded in making good his claims to Wessex also, and
upon Æthelberht’s death, after a reign of five years, marked only
by renewed attacks of the Danes, both kingdoms passed without
question to Æthelred.
[Sidenote: Æthelred. 866-871.]
[Sidenote: Danish conquest of East Anglia. 870.]
It was during the reign of Æthelred that the Danes first
established themselves permanently in the country. In 867 Ingvar
and Hubba, said to be the sons of Ragner Lodbrog, a great
Scandinavian hero, invaded England. Legend says that this invasion
was intended to exact vengeance for the death of their father,
who had been cruelly put to death by Ella of Northumberland.
There are chronological difficulties in the way of accepting this
story, which are increased by the fact that the Danish landing
was really in East Anglia. Thence, in 867, they advanced into
Northumbria and took York. The anarchy in which Northumbria lay,
caused by the rival claims of Osberht and Ella to the throne,
rendered its conquest easy. In 868, they marched towards Mercia,
and took Nottingham. Burhred, the King of Mercia, then implored
the aid of Æthelred and his brother Alfred, who so far succeeded
that they drove the Danes back to Northumbria. From thence, in
870, an invasion, under many leaders, whose connection is not very
clear, was directed against East Anglia. They were there joined by
Guthrum, another Danish leader, and their combined forces pressed
victoriously onwards through Croyland, to Peterborough, Huntingdon,
and Ely. After defeating the English at Thetford, they took Edmund,
the Saxon King of East Anglia, prisoner, and, upon his refusal to
accept the pagan religion, put him to death. For his constancy he
was honoured with the title of Saint Edmund. East Anglia was thus
completely in possession of the Danes, and Guthrum took to himself
the title of king. East Anglia became henceforward for some time
the principal point of Danish settlement in England. From thence
the invaders passed into Wessex, under the command of Bagsecg
and Halfdene. They were vigorously met by Æthelred. They pushed
on, however, as far up the Thames as Reading, near which town a
series of battles was fought,--at Englefield, where the Danes were
beaten; at Reading, where the fortune of the day was changed; and
subsequently at the great battle of Ashdown, where the victory of
the English was regarded as being due to Alfred, who, being in
command of half the army, attacked and defeated the enemy, while
his brother was losing the precious moments in prayer for success.
Though the victory of Ashdown was complete, it did not close the
war. Almost immediately afterwards we hear of battles at Basing and
at Merton, in which the Danes were again successful. These battles
took place just before the death of Æthelred.
[Sidenote: Alfred. 871-901.]
[Sidenote: Treaty of Wedmore.]