Edward III, who soon after assumed full power, was destined to make
good the remark prevalent at this time, that the kings of England were
alternately able and imbecile. He was a warlike and sagacious monarch,
and inspired by all his grandfather’s desire of conquest. In 1329,
Robert Bruce died, and was succeeded by his infant son DAVID II, to
whom a young sister of the English king was married, in terms of the
late treaty. Notwithstanding this connection, Edward aided a son of
John Baliol in an attempt to gain the Scottish crown. Edward Baliol
overthrew the Regent of Scotland at Duplin, September 1332, and for
two months reigned as King of Scots, while David and his wife took
refuge in France. Though now expelled, Baliol afterwards returned to
renew his claims, and for many years the country was harassed by
unceasing wars, in which the English took a leading part.
But for his attention being diverted to France, Edward III would have
made a more formidable effort to subdue Scotland, and might have
succeeded. He was led into a long course of warfare with France, in
consequence of an absurd pretension which he had made to its crown. In
the victories which he had gained at Cressy (August 26, 1346) and
Poitiers (September 17, 1356), the national valor, his own, and that
of his celebrated son, the Black Prince, were shown conspicuously; but
this lavish expenditure of the resources of his kingdom, in which he
was supported by his parliament, was of no permanent benefit, even to
himself, for whom alone it was made. In those days, almost all men
fought well, but very few had the art to improve their victories.
John, king of France, who had been made captive at Poitiers, and
David, king of Scotland, who had been taken in 1346, while conducting
an invasion of England, were at one time prisoners in England; but no
permanent advantage was ever gained over either of the states thus
deprived of their sovereigns. In 1361, after about twenty years of
active fighting, the English king left France with little more
territory than he had previously enjoyed. Edward had invaded Scotland
with a powerful army in 1356, but without making any impression. The
Scots, under David’s nephew, Robert Stuart, effectually protected
themselves, not only from his arms, but from a proposal which David
himself basely undertook to make, that Lionel, the third son of the
English king, should be acknowledged as his successor. Edward died in
1377, a year after the decease of his son the Black Prince; and
notwithstanding all their brilliant exploits, the English territories
in France were less than at the beginning of the reign.
England was at this time affected more than at any other by the
fashions of chivalry. This was a military enthusiasm, which for some
centuries pervaded all Christian Europe. It prompted, as one of its
first principles, a heedless bravery in encountering all kinds of
danger. Its votaries were expected to be particularly bold in behalf
of the fair sex, insomuch that a young knight would sometimes
challenge to mortal combat any one who denied his mistress to be the
loveliest in the world. Tournaments were held, at which knights clad
in complete armor would ride against each other at full speed with
leveled lances, merely to try which had the greatest strength and
skill; and many were killed on these occasions. It was a system full
of extravagance, and tending to bloodshed; but nevertheless it
maintained a certain courtesy towards females, and a romantic
principle of honor, which we may be glad to admire, considering how
rude was almost every other feature of the age.
Edward III was succeeded by his grandson, RICHARD II, then a boy of
eleven years of age, and who proved to be a person of weak and
profligate character. The Commons took advantage of the irregularity
of his government to strengthen their privileges, which they had with
difficulty sustained during the more powerful rule of his predecessor.
Early in this reign they assumed the right, not only of taxing the
country, but of seeing how the money was spent. Indignant at the
severity of a tax imposed upon all grown-up persons, the peasantry of
the eastern parts of England rose, in 1381, under a person of their
own order, named Wat Tyler, and advanced, to the number of 60,000, to
London, where they put to death the chancellor and primate, as evil
counselors of their sovereign. They demanded the abolition of bondage,
the liberty of buying and selling in fairs and markets, a general
pardon, and the reduction of the rent of land to an equal rate. The
king came to confer with them at Smithfield, where, on some slight
pretense, Walworth, mayor of London, stabbed Wat Tyler with a
dagger――a weapon which has since figured in the armorial bearings of
the metropolis. The peasants were dismayed, and submitted, and no
fewer than fifteen hundred of them were hanged. Wat Tyler’s
insurrection certainly proceeded upon a glimmering sense of those
equal rights of mankind which have since been generally acknowledged;
and it is remarkable, that at the same time the doctrines of the
reformer Wickliffe were first heard of. This learned ecclesiastic
wrote against the power of the Pope, and some of the most important
points of the Romish faith, and also executed a translation of the
Bible into English. His writings are acknowledged to have been of
material, though not immediate effect, in bringing about the
reformation of religion.
The country was misgoverned by Richard II till 1399, when he was
deposed by his subjects under the leading of his cousin, Henry, Duke
of Lancaster. This person, though some nearer the throne were alive,
was crowned as HENRY IV, and his predecessor, Richard, was soon after
murdered. In the meantime, David of Scotland died in 1371, and was
succeeded by ROBERT STUART, who was the first monarch of that family.
ROBERT I, dying in 1389, was succeeded by his son ROBERT II, who was a
good and gentle prince. He had two sons, David and James; the former
was starved to death by his uncle, the Duke of Albany; and the latter,
when on his way to France for his education, was seized by Henry IV of
England, and kept captive in that country for eighteen years. Robert
II then died of a broken heart (1406), and the kingdom fell into the
hands of the Duke of Albany, at whose death, in 1419, it was governed
by his son Duke Murdoch, a very imbecile personage.