the Commons had politically lost ground, the Wars of the Roses
did not produce that complete exhaustion and depopulation of the
country which might have been expected. The population appears to
have been little, if at all, decreased, the number of inhabitants
was still between three and four millions. In fact, it must be
remembered that the broken hostilities of these wars did not on
the whole amount to much more than three years of actual warfare;
that the armies were in the field only for short consecutive
periods, were usually few in number, and composed of untrained
men, who returned, immediately their short service was over, to
the cultivation of the fields. Thus the destruction and turbulence
seemed to pass over the head of the great bulk of the population.
Nor is this all. During the whole continuance of the war, the
ordinary apparatus of justice was uninterrupted; courts were held,
and judges went their circuit as usual. Indeed, it would seem to
have been a period of unusual litigation, attended no doubt often
with violence. For as property rapidly changed hands the titles
to it became insecure, and the process therefore by which a title
was questioned was frequently the violent dispossession of the
present holder. But still it was to the courts of law that the
ultimate appeal was made. Again, although the loss of France and
the exclusive attention to home politics greatly diminished the
national strength upon the sea, trade does not appear to have
been seriously damaged. At all events, it was so kept alive, that
upon the establishment of peace it revived with fresh vigour; and
we are told that Edward IV. himself engaged in the pursuit. This
trait is characteristic not only of the man but of the time. The
pursuit of trade had risen greatly in estimation; great traders
had become nobles, and Suffolk, the prime minister, was an example
of the height to which such families might rise. From the decay of
noble families, and other more permanent causes, land had been
necessarily brought into the market. Wealthy traders had purchased
it, set up for landowners, and aimed at the dignity of knighthood.
At the same time, the secondary gentry of the country, taking
advantage of the decline of the nobility, found means in the midst
of the disturbances to increase their property and influence. In
spite therefore of the apparent insignificance of Parliament, the
middle classes were in a vigorous and improving condition.
[Sidenote: Changes in the lower classes.]
Lower down in the social scale the case was somewhat different.
Serfdom had indeed almost disappeared, and existed only here and
there in isolated cases. Free labour for wages had become general,
and land was largely held by payment of money rents. Thus far
there was improvement. But the change from slavery to personal
freedom is always purchased at a somewhat heavy price--that
price is the existence of poverty; it is no longer incumbent
on employers to look after the wellbeing of free labourers; in
time of want they are thrown upon their own resources. The new
possessors of the soil too were inclined to work it to better
profit than their predecessors had done; grazing became more
common and employment proportionately scarcer. The unemployed
labourer had two courses open to him: he might betake himself to
the towns, or join the ranks of the rapidly increasing class of
beggars. He there found himself in company of numbers of idle
and needy men who took advantage of the disturbed state of the
country. Discharged soldiers and sailors, and vagabonds who called
themselves travelling scholars, were so plentiful, that as there
was as yet no poor law in existence, stringent enactments were
made against them. The number of those punished for crimes of
lawlessness and violence was enormous. Fortescue describes with
pride how the poor Englishman, seeing others possess what he
wanted, would never scruple to take it by violence rather than be
without it. Those of the unemployed labourers who preferred to
seek the towns went to increase the crowd of journeymen, whose
position could not have been very enviable. For the guild system
was breaking down and giving place to the more modern arrangements
of unlimited competition. The craft guilds, which in the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries had triumphed over the merchant guilds
and aristocratic citizens of the towns, had speedily begun to
deteriorate. The object for which they were founded was to secure
for all members of the craft a fair chance of livelihood, without
the danger of destructive competition. This object implied that the
guild was co-extensive with the trade, and that its members were
themselves craftsmen, carrying on their work with their own hands,
with the assistance of apprentices. But a crowd of enfranchised
villeins and unemployed labourers had gathered in the towns, and
formed a class of journeymen or day-labourers, and the guild,
originally a corporation of working men, changed gradually into
an exclusive body of capitalists. Moreover, even within their own
limits, their principles had failed as early as the reign of Edward
III. We hear, for instance, of certain pepperers, who, separating
themselves from their guild, became grocers [grossers] or general
dealers. In other words, as individuals accumulated capital, they
refused to have their enterprise limited by the guild laws; and
thus setting up as independent capitalists, began to introduce
the same relations between employer and employed which exist at
present. Under these circumstances the unincorporated journeymen
found the restrictions of the guild an obstacle in the way of
advance, and were exposed to all the evils of an eager competition.
[Sidenote: Influence of the Renaissance.]
While thus the political position of the different orders was
giving room for a temporary establishment of almost absolute
monarchy, but at the same time allowing the formation of that
middle class which was to overthrow it, and while the exclusive
system of the middle ages was giving way to the modern relations
of labour, the new culture, the existence of which more than
anything else separates the middle ages from modern times, was
beginning to make its way. As the leader in this direction Humphrey
of Gloucester may be mentioned. In spite of his turbulent and
disorderly character, he was a sincere lover of literature. He was
in communication with several of the greater Italian scholars. More
than one classical translation was dedicated to him. He carried
his love of inquiry so far that he is believed to have dabbled in
magical arts; and it is generally reported that his books, which
he left to Oxford, were the nucleus of the present great library
there. He did not stand alone in his literary tastes. Tiptoft the
Earl of Worcester was likewise impregnated with Italian learning,
and, among the newer nobles, Lord Rivers gave distinguished
patronage to the art of printing, which Caxton introduced into
England in the year 1469. Altogether, it would seem that among the
upper classes the rudiments of learning were beginning to be widely
spread, and that the laity were gradually becoming sufficiently
cultivated to rival the Churchmen, and to take their proper part in
the government of the country. It may be observed as an indication
of this that Henry VI.’s reign was marked by the foundation of
Eton, and that several considerable colleges were founded both in
Oxford and Cambridge during the century. It is probable that these
were chiefly intended as defences for orthodoxy, the teaching being
as yet confined to the worst form of scholasticism.
[Sidenote: Change in the military system.]
It is strange, immediately after the great civil war, and before
the outbreak of nautical energy under the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
to meet with constant complaints of the degeneracy of the English
as soldiers. But it seems as if changes in the military system, and
the love of money and luxury which accompanied the Renaissance,
were really producing their effects. Archery was giving way to
the use of gunpowder; and we meet with statutes fixing the price
of bows, and enacting general practice of archery, which clearly
show that the use of the national weapon had to be artificially
fostered. There was considerable difficulty in collecting a
sufficiency of troops before the Battle of Bosworth, and Caxton
writes to Richard III. a deplorable account of the decay of
knighthood, to be cured, as he thinks, by the reintroduction of
tournaments and the perusal of chivalrous romances. A change
in warfare was, in fact, going on in Europe, which called into
existence abroad standing armies, and the effect of which was
felt in England, though circumstances postponed the establishment
of a regular army some time longer. It was thus amid the general
weakness in all classes except the Crown, and during the
development of great social changes, that the Tudor sovereigns
found it possible to establish that peculiar personal monarchy
which occupies the transition period between mediæval and modern
times, and under the shadow of which the various classes regained
strength for the subsequent re-establishment of the Constitution.
[Illustration: SAXON ENGLAND.
ENGLAND UP TO
1066.
_Oxford & Cambridge._]
INDEX
Acre, siege of, 119;
taken by Richard I., 120
Adela, daughter of Robert of Flanders, marries Cnut, 54
Ælfgar, son of Leofric, given Harold’s earldom of the East Angles, 22;
succeeds his father as Earl of Mercia, 23
Ælfgyfu, wife of King Edwy, 12, 13
Ælfric, Ealdorman of the Mercians, deserts Wiltshire and Salisbury, 17
Æthelbald, son of Æthelwulf, marries Judith, 6;
conspires against his father, 6
Æthelberht, Bretwalda, King of Kent, first Christian king, 3
Æthelberht, King of Wessex and Kent, 6
Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred, Lady of the Mercians, 9;
her castles, 10
Æthelfrith, King of Northumbria, 2
Ætheling, legitimate son of the royal family, 34
Æthelmær, brother of Stigand, Bishop of the East Angles, 49
Æthelred, King of Wessex and Kent, repels the Danes, 7
Æthelred the Unready, his enmity to Dunstan, 15;
his weak rule, quarrels with Cumberland and Normandy, 16;
marries Emma, massacres the Danes, 17;
flies to Normandy, is recalled and restored, 18;
dies, 19
Æthelstan, son of Eadward, incorporates Bernicia, his supremacy
acknowledged by Scotland, 11
Æthelwine, Bishop of Durham, receives Robert de Comines, 46;
deprived and outlawed, 49;
at Hereward’s camp, 50;
made prisoner, 51
Æthelwulf, King of Wessex, fights against the Danes, forms a
connection with Rome, divides his kingdom, 6
Agriculture, the early system, 28;
ignorance of, causes famine, 72;
neglected, 87;
effect of the Black Death on, 229;
sheep farms, 256;
improvement in, 267
Aldan, missionary from Iona, 4
Alan Fergant of Brittany joins Philip of France against William I.,
marries William’s daughter Constance, 53;
his son joins Matilda, 82
Alexander II. of Scotland, swears fealty to John, 132
Alexander III. of Scotland, swears fealty to Edward 1., 172;
dies, 181
Alexander II., Pope, sends a ring and banner to William I., 25
Alexander III., Pope, acknowledged by France and England, lives at
Sens, 94;
anxious to secure Henry II.’s friendship, gives Becket slight
support, 96;
receives him on his flight from England, returns to Italy,
Frederick of Germany still refuses to acknowledge him,
intercourse forbidden by Henry II. between him and England, 98;
appoints legates to examine Becket’s case, 99;
removes the excommunications, 100;
he suspends Becket, 100;
sends a commission, 100;
after Becket’s death sends legates for a formal inquiry, 101;
Henry II. promises adhesion to, 103
Alfred the Great, anointed at Rome, 6;
conquers the Danes at Ashdown, 7;
makes peace, 7;
improves the fleet, 8;
flies from the Danes, 8;
defeats them at Edington, 8;
makes the Treaty of Wedmore, 8;
establishes supremacy over Northumbria, 9;
his character, 9
Alfred, son of Æthelred, retires to Normandy, 19;
returns to Essex and is murdered, 21
Alice, sister of Philip II., quarrel concerning, 112;
repudiated by Richard I., 118
Allodial proprietor, or freeman, 33
Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, killed by the Danes, 18;
reburied with honour by Cnut at Canterbury, 20
Amiens, award of, 162
Angles, come from Sleswig, 1;
settle in England, 2
Anjou [see Fulk and Geoffrey], Henry II. conquers, 91
Anselm, Fitz-Arthur, delays the funeral of William I., 55
Anselm, Abbot of Bec, made Archbishop of Canterbury, 61;
reforms the Church, opposes William II., William accuses him of
remissness in an expedition against Wales, 62;
he retires to Rome, 62;
recalled by Henry I., 63;
threatens to excommunicate Robert’s friends, 65;
swears fealty to Matilda, 69;
asserts the independence of the Church, goes to Rome, submits to a
compromise at Bec, holds a synod at Westminster, 71
Appellants, impeach the friends of Richard II., 248
Appellants against Gloucester promoted, 252;
deprived, 276;
conspire against Henry IV., 277
Armagnacs, quarrel with Burgundians, 284-290;
have charge of the war, 292
Army, house-carls, 20;
militia, 25;
javelins and axes the national weapons at Battle of Hastings, 26;
arrows at Battle of the Standard, 80;
change in character of, 225, 227;
raised by contract, 268
Arras, congress of, 314
Artevelt, alliance with Edward III., 219;
offers to make Prince of Wales Count of Flanders, murdered, 224
Arthur, son of Geoffrey of Brittany, guardianship claimed by
Philip II., 111;
supported by Longchamp, 121;
Richard I.’s recognition of, not renewed, supported by Philip, 126;
does homage to him, deserted by him, 127;
besieges Queen Eleanor, 128;
his death, 129
Arundel, Bishop of Ely, Chancellor, 247;
deposed, 249;
Archbishop of Canterbury, banished, 252;
supports Henry IV., 254;
deprived of his chancellorship, 288
Arundel, Lord, one of the Lords Appellants, 248;
arrested, 251;
executed, 252
Ascough, minister under Suffolk, 318;
executed, 320
Assize of Clarendon and of Northampton, 106, 108
Augustine, the Missionary, comes to England, 3
Auxerre, Treaty of, 284;
its effect, 290
Badby; burnt, 288
Bagsecg, a Danish leader, 7
Baldwin of Flanders takes Philip II. prisoner, 124
Baldwin of Redvers rebels against Stephen, 79
Balliol, John, claims the Scotch throne, 182;
decided by Edward I., 183;
his position, 183;
his rebellion, 185
Balliol, Edward, first invasion of Scotland, 216;
second invasion, 217
Bamborough, founded by Ida, 2;
Mowbray besieged in, 59
Banking-houses of Italy, 179;
of Bardi, 224
Bari, Council of, 62
Barons of the Exchequer, 75, 106;
assessed the taxes, 114
Battles--
Agincourt, 295
Arsouf, 120
Assandun, 19
Auray, 234
Aylesford, 2
Bannockburn, 203
Basing, 7
Beaugé, 301
Blore Heath, 325
Boroughbridge, 207
Bouvines, 136
Bramham, 282
Brenneville, 68
Brentford, 19
Brunanburh, 11
Châlons, 172
Cressy, 225, 227
Cricklade, 10
Deorham, 2
Dol, 104
Dunbar, 185
Edington, 8
Ellandune, 5
Englefield, 7
Evesham, 167
Ferrybridge, 328
Formigny, 319
Halidon Hill, 217
Hastings, 26
Heathfield, 3
Hedgeley Moor, 329
Hengestesdun, 5
Herrings, the, 308
Hettin, 111
Hexham, 329
Ipswich, 18
Lewes, 163
Lincoln, 83, 142
Maldon, 16
Maserfield, 4
Merton, 7
Mortimer’s Cross, 327
Mount Badon, 2
Navarette, 235
Neville’s Cross, 228
Northampton, 325
Ockley, 6
Orford, 19
Otterbourne, 249
Pataye, 310
Pen Selwood, 19
Poitiers, 231
Puysac, 67
Radcot, 248
Reading, 7
Rochelle, 236
Sherstone, 19
Shrewsbury, 280
Stamford Bridge, 26
Sluys, 220
St. Albans, 323, 327
St. Cloud, 284
Swanage, 8
Tenchebray, 66
Tewkesbury, 335
The Standard, 80
Thetford, 7
Towton, 328
Verneuil, 305
Wakefield, 327
Wilton, 7, 84
Basset, the Justiciary, hangs forty-four thieves at one Court, 74
Beauchamp, Guy, second Earl of Warwick, opposes Gaveston, 200;
beheads him, 202
Beauchamp, Thomas, fourth Earl, one of the Lords Appellant, 248;
arrested, 251;
exiled, 252
Beauchamp, Richard, fifth Earl, succeeds York in France, 315
Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, quarrels with Gloucester, 306;
lends troops to Bedford, 311;
legate, attacked by Gloucester, 312;
at Arras, 314;
visits Edinburgh, 315;
head of peace party, 316;
dies, 318
Beaumont, Robert, Count of Mellent, good adviser of William I.
and II., 62;
supports Henry I., his large property, 65;
dies, 68
Beaumont, Waleram, Count of Mellent (son of Robert), opposes the
Church, 81, 82;
offers the crown to Theobald, 83
Beaumont, Robert, Earl of Leicester (second son of Robert), offers
the crown to Theobald, 83;
joins Henry of Anjou, 85;
left in charge of England, 91;
ordered to pronounce sentence against Becket, 98;
joins the Great Rebellion, 104
Beaumont, Henry de (no relation to Counts of Mellent), favourite of
Edward II., 201, 204
Bec, compromise at, 71
Beck, Anthony, Bishop of Durham, agent of Edward I., 172;
sent to Scotland, 181
Becket, first employed by Archbishop Theobald, 91;
made Chancellor, 92;
his magnificence, arranges Prince Henry’s marriage, 92;
joins in Henry II.’s war with France, 93;
made Archbishop, 95;
changes his life, resigns his temporal offices, 95;
upholds the encroachments of the Church, case of Philip Brois, 95;
accepts the Constitutions of Clarendon, then retracts, 95;
his reason for objecting, summoned to a council at Northampton, 96;
charges against him, 97;
his courage, leaves the court before judgment is given, and escapes
to Gravelines, 98;
puts himself under the protection of Louis VII., 98;
favourably received by the Pope, 98;
he excommunicates his enemies, retires to Sens, 99;
meets the legates, but refuses to retract, suspended by the Pope,
repeats his excommunications, 100;
Henry yields, but refuses the kiss of peace, 100;
at Fretheval he receives the kiss and a safe-conduct to England,
returns, and continues his excommunications, his death, 101;
Henry does penance at his shrine, 105;
his bones removed to Canterbury Cathedral, 143
Bedford. [See John.]
Belesme, Robert de, son of Roger of Montgomery, opposes
William II., 57;
quarrels with Grantmesnil, 58;
succeeds his brother Hugh as Earl of Shrewsbury, 59;
constant opponent of Henry I., his great possessions, 65;
Henry takes four castles from him, 66;
he retires to Normandy, 66;
taken prisoner by Henry at Bonneville, 67;
his cruelties, 73
Benedictine rule, introduced into England by Dunstan, 15;
abbey established at Chester by Anselm, 61
Bercta, Christian wife of Æthelberht, 3
Berengaria, daughter of Raymond of Barcelona, betrothed to
Richard I., 93;
marries him, 118
Bernicia, a division of Northumbria, 2;
conquered by Æthelstan, 11;
made an earldom by Dunstan, 15
Bigod, Roger, supports Henry I. against Robert, 65
Bigod, Hugh (son of Roger), takes the Earldom of East Anglia
(Norfolk), 79;
declares for Henry II., 86;
surrenders castles, 91;
joins the Great Rebellion, 104
Bigod, Roger, fourth Earl of Norfolk, one of the council, 159
Bigod, Hugh (his brother), escapes, 164
Birinus, converts Wessex, 4
Black Death, 229;
its effect on labour, 267
Black Prince, at Cressy, 227;
his expedition, 229;
at Poitiers, 231;
in Aquitaine, 234, 285;
illness, 236;
his political party, 239;
dies, 240
Blanche of Castile, engaged to Louis, 127;
rules France, 145;
defeats Henry, 148
Blanchelande, Treaty of, 52
Blanchetaque, ford of, 225, 293
Bocland, explained, 31
Bohun, third Earl of Hereford, refuses to command the army for
Guienne, 187
Bohun, fourth Earl, marries daughter of Edward I., chief of the
baronial party, 202;
killed, 207
Boniface of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury, 151;
wastes his see, 154;
lives abroad, 158;
collects an army, 164
Borough, origin of, 32
Bouchier, Robt., 1st lay chancellor, 221, 239
Bouchier, Thomas, archbishop and chancellor, 322
Breakspear, the only English Pope, Adrian IV., 90;
grants Ireland to Henry I., 91
Brember, Sir Nicholas, impeached, 248;
executed, 249
Brétigny, Peace of, 233
Bretwalda, title of the dominant chief, 2
Brian Fitz-Count, grandson of William I., holds Wallingford for
Matilda, 82;
attests her oath, 83;
defends Wallingford against Stephen, 85
Brihtnoth, fights the Battle of Maldon, 16
Brihtric, brother of Eadric Streona, 17
Britons expel the Romans, 1;
invite the Saxons, 1;
their possessions in the West, 3;
independent north of the Dee, 5
Brittany, suzerainty of, given up by Louis VI. to Henry I., 67;
Henry II. gets a hold upon it by securing Nantes, 92;
Earl Conan grants it to Henry II, 99;
does homage to France, 127;
alliance with England, 145;
disputed succession in, 222;
war in, 243;
alliance with Henry V., 298;
with France, 307;
with England, 307;
with France, 313;
receives the Tudors; 336;
banishes them, 347
Bruce, claim to the Scotch throne, 182;
an English judge, 191
Bruce, Robert, grandson of the claimant, 191;
murders Comyn, crowned, 192;
reconquers Scotland, 199;
wins Battle of Bannockburn, 203;
his offer of peace rejected, 204;
excommunicated, 205;
truce with, 206;
promises help to the rebel barons, 207;
title acknowledged by Edward II., 208;
war with Edward III., marriage treaty, 214;
dies, 216;
his use of infantry, 227
Bruce, Edward, accepts the throne of Ireland, 204;
killed, 205
Buckingham. [See Stafford.]
Burgundy, Duke of (uncle of Charles VI.), disputes power with
Orleans, 280
Burgundy, John, murders Orleans, 282;
negotiates with Henry V., 291;
holds aloof from the war, 292;
joins the Queen’s party, 298;
deserts Rouen, 299;
murdered, 300
Burgundy, Philip, son of John, negotiates with Henry V., 300;
alliance with Bedford, 304;
alliance weakened by Gloucester, 305;
obtains the Netherlands, 306;
renewed alliance, 307;
quarrel with Bedford, 312;
alliance with France, 314
Burgundy, Charles the Bold, marries Margaret, sister of
Edward IV., 331;
alliance with Edward against France, 337;
death of, 336
Burgundy, Mary of, proposals of marriage for, 336;
marries Maximilian, dies, 339
Burhred, King of Mercia, 7, 8
Burnell, Chancellor, 172;
his advice, 179
Cade, Jack, his rebellion, 320
Calais, siege of, 228
Calne, Dunstan’s synod at, 15
Calverley, general of the Free Companies, 234
Castles, built by Eadward, the nucleus of towns, 10;
built by William I. as garrisons, 43, 45-47;
set up in Wales, 59;
Wales kept in subjection by, 70;
multiplied in Stephen’s reign, a sign of anarchy, 80;
tortures perpetrated in them, 87;
number of, 90;
put down by Henry II., 90
Catesby, favourite of Richard III., 345;
speaker of his Parliament, 346;
couplet on him, 347
Catherine of France, marries Henry V., 300
Caxton, introduces printing, 353
Ceawlin, a Bretwalda, 2
Cenwulf, Christian king of Mercia, 4
Ceolwulf, a Danish agent, king of Mercia, 8
Ceorl, or freeman, 29
Cerdic, a Saxon leader, 2
Chancellor of the Exchequer, his duties, 75;
head of the secretaries, 106
Chandos, English general in France, 234, 235
Charlemagne corresponds with Offa, 5;
checks the Danes, 5
Charles d’Albret, Constable of France, 292;
his character, 293
Charles IV. demands homage of Edward II., 209
Charles VI., accession, 234;
foments rebellion in Aquitaine, 235;
his daughter marries Richard II., 251;
his madness, 290;
dies, 302
Charles VII., becomes Dauphin, 298;
rescued by Duchâtel, 299;
succeeds to the throne, 302;
character of, 304:
crowned at Rheims, 310;
enters Paris, 315
Charter, the Great. [See Magna.]
Charter of Henry I., 64;
of Stephen, 78
Chartres, treaty of, 189
Chateau-Gaillard, taken by Philip, 129
Chaucer, 271, 273, 274
Chester, conquered by Ecgberht, 5;
a Danish burgh, 8;
taken by William, 48;
made a Palatine county, 51;
constant fighting with Wales, 58
Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, persecutes the Lollards, 289;
grants money for the French War, 291
Chinon, peace of, 136;
renewed, 143