On the death of Henry III., in 1272, Edward I. succeeded without opposition. From 1276 to 1284 he was largely oc cupied in the conquest and annexation of Wales. When, in 1294, war broke out with France, Scotland also declared war. The Scots were defeated at Dunbar (1296), and the country placed under an English regent; but the revolt under Wallace (1297), was followed by that of Bruce (1306), and the Scots remained unsubdued. The reign of Edward was distinguished by many legal and legisla tive reforms, such as the separation of the old King,'s Court into the Court of Exchequer, Court of King's Bench, and Court of Common Pleas, the passage of the Statute of Mortmain, etc. In 1295 the first perfect Parliament was sum moned. Two years later the imposition of taxation without consent of Parlia ment was forbidden by special act. The great aim of Edward, however, to in clude England, Scotland, and Wales in one kingdom proved a failure, and he died in 1307 marching against Robert Bruce.
The reign of his son Edward II. was un fortunate to himself and to his kingdom. At Bannockburn (1314), the English re ceived a defeat from Robert Bruce which insured the independence of Scotland. The king soon proved incapable of regu lating the lawless conduct of his barons; and his wife, a woman of bold, intriguing disposition, joined in the confederacy against him, which resulted in his im prisonment and death in 1327.
The reign of Edward III. was as bril liant as that of his father had been the reverse. The main projects of the third Edward were directed against France, the crown of which he claimed in 1328, in virtue of his mother, the daughter of King Philip. The victory won by the Black Prince at Crecy (1346), the cap ture of Calais (1347), and the victory of Poitiers (1356), ultimately led to the Peace of Bretigny in 1360, by which Ed ward III. received all the W. of France on condition of renouncing his claim to the French throne. Before the close of his reign, however, these advantages were all lost again, save a few principal towns on the coast.
Edward III. was succeeded in 1377 by his grandson Richard II., son of Edward the Black Prince. In 1380 an unjust and oppressive poll-tax brought their popular grievances to a head, and 100, 000 men under Wat Tyler, marched to ward London (1381). Wat Tyler was killed while conferring with the king, and the prudence and courage of Richard appeased the insurgents. In 1398 he ban ished his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke; and on the death of the latter's father, the Duke of Lancaster, unjustly appropri ated his cousin's patrimony. To avenge the injustice Bolingbroke landed in Eng land during the king's absence in Ireland, and at the head of 60,000 malcontents compelled Richard to surrender. He was confined in the Tower, and despite the superior claims of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, Henry was appointed king (1399), the first of the House of Lancaster. Richard was, in all prob ability, murdered early in 1400.
The manner in which the Duke of Lan caster, now Henry IV., acquired the crown rendered his reign extremely tur bulent, but the vigor of his administra tion quelled every insurrection. The most
important—that of the Percies of North umberland, Owen Glendower, and Doug las of Scotland—was crushed by the battle of Shrewsbury (1403). During the reign of Henry IV. the clergy of Eng land first began the practice of burning heretics. The act under which this was done was directed chiefly against the Lol lards, as the followers of Wyclif now came to be called. Henry died in 1413, leaving his crown to his son, Henry V., who revived the claim of Edward III. to the throne of France in 1415, and in vaded that country at the head of 30,000 men. The disjointed councils of the French rendered their country an easy prey; the victory of Agincourt was gained in 1415; and after a second cam paign a peace was concluded at Troyes in 1420, by which Henry received the hand of Catherine, daughter of Charles VI., was appointed regent of France during the reign of his father-in-law, and declared heir to the throne on his death.
The two kings, however, died within a few weeks of each other in 1422, and the infant son of Henry thus became King of England (as Henry VI.) and France at the age of nine months.
England during the reign of Henry VI., was subjected to all the confusion in cident to a long minority, and afterward to a civil war. Henry allowed himself to be managed by anyone who had the courage to assume the conduct of his af fairs, and the influence of his wife Mar garet of Anjou, was of no advantage either to himself or the realm. In France (1422-1453) the English forces lost ground, and were finally expelled by the celebrated Joan of Arc, Calais alone being retained. The rebellion of Jack Cade in 1450 was suppressed, only to be succeeded by more serious trouble. In that year Richard, Duke of York, the father of Edward, afterward Edward IV., began to advance his pretensions to the throne. His claim was founded on his descent from the third son of Edward III., who was his great-great-grand father on the mother's side, while Henry was the great-grandson on the father's side of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lan caster, the fourth son of Edward III. Richard of York was also grandson on the father's side of Edmund, fifth son of Edward III. The wars which resulted, called the Wars of the Roses, from the fact that a red rose was the badge of the House of Lancaster and a white one that of the House of York, lasted for 30 years, from the first battle of St. Albans, May 22, 1455, to the battle of Bosworth, Aug. 22, 1485. Henry VI. was twice driven from the throne (in 1461 and 1471) by Edward of York, whose father had previously been killed in battle in 1460. Edward of York reigned as Ed ward IV. from 1461 till his death in 1483, with a brief interval in 1471; and was succeeded by two other sovereigns of the House of York, first his son Ed ward V., who reigned for 11 weeks in 1483; and then by his brother Richard Ill., who reigned from 1483 till 1485, when he was defeated and slain on Bos worth field by Henry Tudor, of the House of Lancaster, who then became Henry VII.