from Richard, perhaps as a recompense for his assistance, a part
of Aquitaine, to be given to his favourite son John. This Richard
refused to give, and consequently both John and Geoffrey of
Brittany attacked him. But though Geoffrey was thus ready enough to
quarrel with his elder brother, it was from no love of his father
that he did so. He, as well as Richard, was hurt by Henry’s evident
partiality for John. He took the opportunity of putting in his own
claim for Anjou. On Henry’s refusal, he at once fled to France,
where he was as usual well received. His death relieved his father
for the time from his opposition, but sowed the seed of further
difficulties; for on the one hand his province Brittany was at once
divided between the French and English faction, and on the other
King Philip II. raised claims as overlord to the guardianship of
his young son Arthur. There was a growing disinclination however
on all sides to plunge into war; for the Pope was constantly
urging a general peace, and the combination of Christian princes
for the great Eastern Crusade. A succession of weak princes, and
the unnatural and artificial character of the feudal kingdom of
Jerusalem, together with the rise of the new Mahomedan power of the
Saracens under Saladin, had reduced European power in the East to a
very low ebb; and in 1184, Heraclius, the Bishop of Jerusalem, had
found it necessary to come over, to attempt to persuade the Kings
of England and France to embark in a new crusade. But to Henry,
although under a pledge to join such an expedition, the idea of
leaving his European dominions in their present critical situation
was very distasteful, and he consequently postponed taking
action. The feeling however that a crusade was imminent rendered
hostilities more difficult; so that when, in 1187, the arbitrary
behaviour of Richard in Aquitaine had produced fresh difficulties
with France, which as usual terminated in the flight of Richard and
the junction of his interests with those of his father, the news of
the great battle of Hettin, in which the flower of the Christian
army of Jerusalem had been entirely destroyed, and the arrival
of William of Tyre for the purpose of exciting the enthusiasm
of the West, put a sudden end to the hostilities; and, in 1188,
the two kings met in perfect friendship under the old elm in the
neighbourhood of Gisors, which was their usual place of treaty,
and joined with apparent heartiness in taking the Cross. Upon this
occasion Henry imposed upon England the tax, known as the Saladin
tax, which was a tenth on all property, and in the collection of
which the King’s officers were to work hand in hand with the Church.
[Sidenote: Last war; with Richard and Philip. 1189.]
But nothing could keep the restless Richard in order; before the
year was over, he was engaged in fresh quarrels with Geoffrey of
Lusignan and Raymond of Toulouse. After mutual demands for the
ransom of some captives, Richard advanced in arms against Raymond,
who applied to his suzerain Philip for assistance. This open
attack on his dominions Philip could not put up with. At length he
declared himself the open enemy of the English. It was in vain that
his great feudatories reminded him that he was under the crusader’s
vow, in vain that a meeting was held at Gisors. The enmity of the
kings was only thereby inflamed, and, in token of his eternal
hostility, Philip had the old elm of reconciliation hewn down. One
would have supposed that Richard, the cause of the quarrel, would
have clung to his father; nor is the reason for his not doing so
very plain. Perhaps it may be traced to his father’s refusal to
give him up Alice, the French King’s sister, for his wife, wishing
it is said to make her his own; perhaps it was continued jealousy
of his brother John. Certainly he did betake himself to the French
court, and with him many others of Henry’s French feudatories fell
away. Henry thus found himself in a difficult situation; broken in
mind and body, his resources strained to the utmost by the late
heavy taxation of England, and his nobles rapidly deserting him.
[Sidenote: Henry’s disastrous peace and death.]
His health appears to have influenced his mind. He remained
inactive at Le Mans, while Philip overran Maine and threatened to
besiege Tours. At length Le Mans, where Henry was with his son
Geoffrey, was taken. The city where he had himself been born was
the particular object of Henry’s love. He felt its loss as a heavy
blow, and though he knew his weakness, could not bring himself to
retreat to Normandy, where his chief strength lay. With a sudden
accession of energy, he reappeared in Anjou. But his appearance had
no effect. One by one the fortresses of Maine were captured, and
Philip constantly approached Tours. When that town fell, Henry’s
spirit was quite broken. He agreed to an interview with Richard
and Philip on the plain of Colombières, to make his submission.
Almost fainting, and held upon his horse by his attendants, in the
midst of a violent thunderstorm, he met his undutiful son, and
brought himself to give him the kiss of peace, whispering as he
did so, however, “May God not let me die until I have taken me due
vengeance on thee.” The terms of his submission were complete. He
promised to give up the Princess Alice; he allowed his nobility to
swear fealty for their lands to his son Richard; he promised to
pay Philip 50,000 marks for the restoration of his conquests. He
had asked, in exchange, for a list of those nobles who had joined
Richard in rebellion. When he found at the head of the list the
name of his beloved son John, his heart was broken. “I care no
more for myself nor for the world,” he said. A day or two longer
he lingered, and was carried to Chinon, murmuring at intervals,
“Shame, shame, on a conquered king,” and there died, attended only
by his natural son and Chancellor Geoffrey.[29]
[Sidenote: Importance of the reign.]
It is scarcely possible to place the importance of this reign too
high, or to overvalue the work of Henry II. We find in his reign
the organization of almost all departments of the government
subsequently completed by Edward I. The arrangements of the Curia
Regis and the reforms in judicial procedure have been already
mentioned. The exchequer also was put on a new footing. It now
becomes possible to see with some clearness the sources and amount
of the royal revenue. To the revenues derived from the domain lands
and from the Danegelt, the Norman kings had added feudal dues. Both
the proceeds of the royal domain and of the Danegelt appear to
have been farmed. The farm of the counties amounted in Henry II.’s
reign, after the deductions caused by the grants both of Stephen
and of Henry, to about £8000 a year. The Danegelt, originally two
shillings on every hide, amounted in Henry I.’s reign to about
£2500. As this is about a tenth of what the tax would have produced
had it been fully exacted, it must probably also have been farmed
to the sheriff, who collected what he could of it, and paid a fixed
sum to the exchequer. This unsatisfactory tax came to an end in
Henry II.’s reign, perhaps through the agency of Becket. The other
source of revenue was the _Donum_ and _Auxilium_, contributions
paid by vassals to assist their lords. The first term applied to
the counties, the second to the towns. These names became the
general names of all irregular imposts, which are also sometimes
called hidage, scutage, or tallage, the tallage being the aid
raised from towns, the scutage the aid raised from knights’ fees,
the hidage the aid raised from tenants in socage. The importance
of the scutage as a commutation for military service has been
already dwelt upon. Recourse appears to have been had to these
scutages only three or four times during the reign. To these
sources of revenue are to be added the fees from the law courts,
and the incomes arising from feudal incidents, such as wardship,
marriage, and reliefs. The whole income of the country was perhaps
about £50,000. The taxes seem to have been assessed by Barons
of the Exchequer, aided by the declaration of the knights as to
their own holdings, by juries in the case of minor tenants. But it
was not only in details of administration that Henry showed his
character. He constantly summoned great councils, and as his power
was so great and centralized that he could certainly have acted
without them, this appears to show a fixed intention on his part
to assume the position of a national and constitutional king. The
general effect of his work at home was to form the nation. Normans
became English. The English no longer felt themselves a conquered
people. Their oppressors, the feudal nobility, were destroyed or
kept in restraint. The new nobles were chiefly ministers of the
crown, and all sections of the people looked to the King as the
national representative. The importance of Henry’s reign abroad was
scarcely less striking. His immense continental dominions made him
one of the great powers of Europe. His close contact with France,
and the difficulties which it produced, began the hereditary
policy of opposition to that country which has characterized the
whole of English history. On the other hand, though he may have
had no clear view of what he was doing, he set on foot also the
lasting friendships of the nation. The marriage of his daughter
with the Guelph Duke brought England into constant friendship
with Germany, and caused Otho, the son of Henry the Lion, to be
brought up in England, and to be regarded as an English prince.
The marriage of his other daughter with Spain set on foot that
connection which lasted even beyond the Reformation. His work as a
whole may be summed up in the words of Professor Stubbs: “He was
faithful to the letter of his engagements. He recovered the demesne
rights of the crown, so that his royal dignity did not depend
for maintenance on constant taxation. He restored the usurped
estates; he destroyed the illegal castles, and the system which
they typified; he maintained the royal hold on the lawful ones,
and the equality and uniformity of justice which their usurpers
had subverted; he restored internal peace, and with it plenty,
as the riches of England in the following reign amply testify.
He arranged the administration of justice by enacting good laws
and appointing faithful judges. He restored the currency; he
encouraged commerce, he maintained the privileges of the towns;
and, without encouraging an aggressive spirit, armed his people for
self-defence. He sustained the form, and somewhat of the spirit
of national representation. The clergy had grounds of complaint
against him for very important reasons; but their chief complaints
were caused by their preference for the immunities of their class
to the common safeguard of justice.”
RICHARD I.
1189-1199.
Born 1157 = Berengaria of Navarre.
CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.
_Scotland._ | _France._ | _Germany._ | _Spain._
| | |
William, 1165. | Philip Augustus, | Frederick | Alphonso IX.,
| 1180. | Barbarossa, 1155. | 1158.
| | Henry VI., 1191. |
| | Philip, 1198. |
POPES.--Clement III., 1187. Celestine III., 1191. Innocent III., 1198.
_Archbishops._ | _Chief-Justices._ | _Chancellors._
| |
Baldwin, 1185-1190. | Hugh of Durham, and | William Longchamp,
Reginald Fitz-Jocelin, | William Earl of Essex, | 1189.
1191. | 1189. | Eustace, Bishop of
Hubert Walter, 1193. | William Longchamp, 1190. | Ely, 1197.
| Walter of Rouen, 1191-1194. |
| Hubert Walter, 1194-1198. |
| Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, |
| 1198-1199. |
[Sidenote: Richard seems to begin well.]
[Sidenote: Persecution of the Jews.]
Richard began his reign with some show of penitence. He got
absolution for his disobedience to his father, and gave his
friendship to the existing ministers, with the exception of the
Seneschal of Anjou and Ranulf de Glanvill. It is possible that the
government of this great justiciary had been over arbitrary, for
in England, where his mother acted principally for him, Richard
is said to have freed all those prisoners who were confined by
the orders of his father or the justiciary, but demanded bail for
those who were legally imprisoned. He also seems to have punished
the severity of some of the sheriffs. His coronation pomp was
interrupted by a strange disturbance. The Jews had been ordered
to absent themselves from the ceremony. This strange people had
been admitted to England by the Conqueror; the only capitalists
of the time, their ability and willingness to lend money rendered
them invaluable both to the rising industry of the country and to
the crown; and to their knowledge is due much of the growth in
science which was beginning to be made in this century. So great
was their use, in spite of the heavy usury they demanded, that
they were allowed to establish themselves in various towns, in
districts known as Jewries, to build synagogues, and follow their
own customs. They were not however admitted to full citizenship.
The Jewries, like the forests, were not under the protection of
the common law of the country, but were entirely in the King’s
power. In spite of the evident advantages derived from their
presence in England, their wealth, their foreign manners, their
high usury, and their strange worship rendered them objects at
once of contempt and hatred to the people. Some of them, in spite
of the order forbidding their presence, showed themselves at the
ceremony of the consecration. They were assaulted by the soldiery.
This gave a signal to the the crowd who attacked the detested
people in all parts of the city. Nor was this all; the same feeling
spread throughout England. In some places the Jews gained safety
by conversion; but early in 1190, in Norwich, in Stamford, and in
York, many were put to death. In the last-mentioned place, the Jews
sought refuge in the castle, and being besieged there, determined
to die together. Firing the tower, they first killed their own
women and children, and then sprang with them into the flames.
[Sidenote: All offices put up for sale.]
In fact, the Crusades brought with them a passion for adventure
and licentiousness, as well as religious enthusiasm. This spirit
was now abroad in England, and the King, with his wild love of
adventure at any price, was its fitting representative. For the
sake of adventure, honesty, good government, and national honour,
were sacrificed. Thus there was scarcely an office which was
not openly put up up for sale; cities bought their charters,
judges their seats on the bench, bishops their sees. Thus too
Hugh de Pudsey bought the Earldom of Northumberland for £1000;
and Longchamp, the Bishopric of Ely for £3000; while the King
relinquished all the advantages his father had won over William the
Lion of Scotland for 10,000 marks; it was for Huntingdon alone that
the Northern King did fealty to Richard.
[Sidenote: Starts for the Crusade, leaving England to Longchamp.
1190.]
Having by such unjustifiable means procured money for his purposes,
entirely regardless of the misery he could scarcely fail to leave
behind him, Richard crossed over to France to join his forces with
those of Philip Augustus. Such precautions as he did take against
maladministration in England were not of the wisest. He put the
whole power into the hands of William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely,
whom he made at once Chancellor and Chief Justiciary, securing
for him also the authority of Papal Legate. But Longchamp was a
man who could not fail to have many enemies. Of low extraction,
and regarded as merely the favourite of Richard, he was fond of
exhibiting his grandeur in the most ostentatious manner; moreover,
in making him justiciary Richard supplanted Hugh de Pudsey, to whom
the office had already been given. Pudsey did not surrender without
some opposition. He obtained from the King letters patent, naming
him justiciary north of the Humber; when he exhibited these to
Longchamp, the Chancellor contrived indeed to entrap him to London,
and there made him surrender his claims, but he had made himself a
powerful enemy for life. Richard also, as a second precaution, made
his brother John, and his half-brother Geoffrey, who had got the
Archbishopric of York in exchange for the chancellorship, promise
not to enter England during his absence. But he afterwards unwisely
absolved John from his vow. He thus left behind him in England a
possible claimant to the succession, whose power as a baron was
very great, for he was the possessor of Derbyshire, the inheritance
of the Earl of Gloucester, which he had obtained by marriage, and
of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and Somerset, which Richard had himself
given him.
[Sidenote: Quarrels with Philip in Sicily.]
The death of William II. of Sicily, and of the French Queen
Isabella, delayed the Crusade till June 1190. But at the end of
that month, the Kings set out towards their first point, which was
Sicily, Philip by Genoa, Richard by Marseilles. At the same time,
a fleet of more than a hundred sail left the harbours of Brittany
and Guienne. On reaching Sicily the friendship of the two kings was
at first most edifying, but it was not long before various causes
of dispute arose between them. To the inhabitants of the island
the Crusaders seemed a horde of new invaders. The overbearing
character of Richard exasperated the feelings of jealousy thus
aroused. The conciliatory manners of Philip, on the other hand,
were such that he was known as the Lamb, in contradistinction to
Richard, who was called the Lion. The difference of feeling with
which they were regarded was plainly shown when, on the occasion of
some quarrel, the town of Messina was closed against Richard, while
Philip was admitted within its walls. The enemies of the French
King suggested indeed that his mildness was a proof of treasonable
lukewarmness towards his fellow Crusaders. These suspicions were
afterwards confirmed. On the death of William II.,[30] Tancred,
an illegitimate son of William’s brother Roger, had seized the
throne, despoiling of her rights Constance, the daughter of Roger
and the wife of Henry VI. of Germany, and keeping in some sort of
confinement Richard’s sister Joanna, the widow of William the Good,
and retaining the dowry secured her by her husband’s will. The
enmity thus excited in Richard’s mind gave way, after a lengthened
dispute, to the natural feeling of friendship between the two
Norman houses. Joanna and her dowry were given back to Richard; and
at one of the meetings between the two princes, Tancred informed
him of a plot on the part of the French to fall treacherously on
the English army. Philip does not seem to have denied the charge,
and it was perhaps the consciousness of his guilt which prevented
him from making any effectual opposition when Richard repudiated
his sister Alice. Contrary to the national feelings, and on purely
political grounds, Richard had been contracted to this princess by
his father. He now, throwing over this unnatural match, sought for
himself a wife from Spain, a country then and for long afterwards
connected by close friendship with England. This wife was
Berengaria, the daughter of Sancho I. of Navarre. Though unavenged,
the insult was felt. From that time onwards Philip and Richard were
enemies.
[Sidenote: Conquers Cyprus. 1191.]
[Sidenote: Jerusalem taken by Saladin. 1187.]
[Sidenote: Acre besieged. 1189.]
[Sidenote: Arrival of the Crusaders.]
[Sidenote: Richard saves Acre.]
[Sidenote: Philip goes home.]
At length the armies broke up from Sicily and sailed for Acre. With
the three leading ships of the English fleet were Berengaria and
the King’s sister Joanna. Richard brought up the rear. Two of the
Queen’s vessels were wrecked upon the Isle of Cyprus, and their
crew imprisoned by Isaac, the ruler of that island. This monarch, a
descendant of the Emperor John Comnenus, banished from Byzantium,
had established himself with the title of Emperor in the Isle of
Cyprus. He was an inhuman tyrant, the dread of pilgrims and of
shipwrecked sailors. He tried to entice the two queens to land,
but luckily Richard’s fleet arrived. The Cyprians were driven from
Lymesol, where the King established his court. He there received
Guy of Lusignan, the nominal King of Jerusalem, completed his
marriage with Berengaria, and made a treaty with Isaac. But when
the Emperor sought to evade his engagements, Richard conquered the
rest of the island, and organized it in the feudal fashion. On the
8th of July he reached Acre. The arrival of this warlike prince
raised the spirit of the besiegers, who were in a very depressed
condition. The siege had lasted since 1189, having been undertaken
by Guy of Lusignan, who saw the importance of the place, if he
was to continue to hold his kingdom. This was indeed a doubtful
question. The Christian fortunes had sunk very low. Among the
Mahomedans power after power had arisen with rapid success, and
sunk as rapidly under the attacks of its own slaves or vassals. As
the Abbassid Caliphs yielded to the Seljukian Turks, the Seljukians
in their turn yielded to the Atabeks. The power of this race was
brought to its height by Noureddin, who established his rule at
Damascus, and extended it even into Egypt. Saladin, the son of
Ayub, had attended his uncle Shiracouh, when he destroyed the rule
of the Fatimite Caliphs in Egypt, and brought that province under
the power of Noureddin. On Noureddin’s death, Saladin acquired
possession of Egypt, to which he subsequently added the provinces
of Damascus and Aleppo, and raised an empire which reached from
Tripoli in Africa to the Tigris. It was this new warlike power
which had overwhelmed the kingdom of Jerusalem. Baldwin IV.,[31]
King of Jerusalem, became a leper. His sister Sybilla married Guy
of Lusignan, a French prince of weak character, who succeeded
to the throne. His elevation excited the jealousy of Raymond,
Count of Tripoli, the greatest of his vassals. By his treacherous
advice, Saladin attacked Tiberias. To complete his treachery,
Raymond persuaded the Christians to take up a position in a camp
destitute of water, and withdrew with his forces at the moment of
attack. The destruction of the Christians was complete. In a few
months Jerusalem itself was taken, and Tyre and Tripoli the only
places left in Christian hands. Tyre was defended with success by
the bravery of Conrad of Montferrat, who, in consequence of this
success, was regarded as the great champion of the Christians.
He had married a young sister of Sybilla of Lusignan, and upon
the death of Sybilla, holding that the right went to the living
princess, his wife, rather than to Lusignan, the husband of the
dead princess, he demanded the throne. Meanwhile Guy besieged
Acre, thirty miles south of Tyre, and was there surrounded by an
army under the command of Saladin, and cut off from all assistance
except by sea. It was under these circumstances, in the midst of
the disputed succession to the throne, that the third crusade had
begun. Frederick Barbarossa, who had marched with the Germans by
land, perished on the road, and the Duke of Swabia reached the camp
with only five thousand wearied men. The arrival of the hosts of
England and France by sea changed the aspect of affairs; and the
kingdom might have regained had it not been for the bad feeling
which existed between Richard and Philip, which found new food
in the rivalry of the two claimants for the crown of Jerusalem.
Conrad of Montferrat at once allied himself with the French
monarch; Guy of Lusignan, whose family in Languedoc were English
vassals, attached himself to Richard. Directed by the enthusiasm
of Richard, who, whenever mere fighting was the question, came
prominently forward, the arms of the besiegers were successful, and
Acre fell. The superiority which Richard acquired in actual warfare
added fresh fuel to Philip’s anger. There were besides certain
circumstances in his own kingdom, where he had lately acquired
Flanders, which seemed to require his presence. He therefore
withdrew from the crusade, leaving the Duke of Burgundy with a part
of his army under Richard’s command. Had Richard been a general as
well as a soldier, he had still forces enough to have brought this
crusade to a successful issue. As it was, it consisted but of a
series of brilliant but useless skirmishes. Even the great battle
of Arsouf, which Richard won in September on his way to Joppa,
brought him no nearer his object.
[Sidenote: Richard quarrels with Austria.]
[Sidenote: Truce with Saladin. 1192.]