With the aeeession of Henry Il. (I 154-891, the first Plantagenet king. England entered upon a new phase of its history. llis possessions in !"ranee wore far more extensive than England. from Lis father he inherited Anjou. Maine. and Touraine; from his mother. Normandy and a (+din to the overlordship of Brittany. By his marriage with Eleanor, the divorced wife of Louis VII of France. In' had seen red Aquitaine. For a there was danger that England would twosome merely a provinee dependent upon the French lands of Henry. There was also a great loos ibility that Henry might wrest from tho• French King, whose to rritories were insignifi cant in c.0..111 by the side of Henry's. the lord hip of all France. Henry spent most of his reboil on the Continent, his territories: %et he found time to the royal au thority in rnulninl. lie maintained order, se . ored ere 'ter loom' r fir the royal judges. who Ie n I in nil.. gate nnilmrily to the grand juries to examine into criminal eases, enrolled all the freeholders, and compelled them to bear arms in his service by the Assize of Arms. in attempting to reform the Church and restrict its authority, by the Constitutions of Clarendon (1164). he came into conflict with Thomas Becket. (See BECKET, THOMAS ; CLAP.ENDON, CONSTITU TIONS or.) The murder of Becket compelled Henry to abandon for a time a part of his claims to control the Church; but on the whole he was able to assert his authority effectively later in his reign. lie also became overlord of Scotland and Wales, whose rulers submitted to him. In 1171 he invaded Ireland, and was recognized as ruler by most of the Irish kings. The real conquest of Ireland (q.v.), however, did not take place for some centuries. Henry's autocratic administra tion made many rebels. Chief among these were his own sons, who successively rose in insurrec tion and were aided by the French kings. Two of his sons—Henry, the heir to the throne, and Geoffrey—died during their father's lifetime. Finally, the coalition of Philip Augustus of France and Richard the Lion-Hearted, Henry's third son, who were joined soon after by John Lackland, the Ring's youngest, son, defeated Henry, in 11S9. Ilis death followed almost im mediately. Richard (11S9-99) spent less than a year in all in England. The first half of his reign was spent on his crusade; the second in an indecisive war with France. At his acces sion a great massacre of Jews took place at York, greatly to Richard's anger. The excessive taxation necessitated by Richard's foreign expedi tions aroused great discontent. His brother John (1199 - 1216) was extremely tyrannical and cruel. Ills evil rule caused a general revolt, which resulted to the great advantage of the whole nation. Philip Angustns stripped him, in 1202-05, of a great part of his French possessions, under a decree of confiscation, because John refused to go to the court of leis overlord. Philip, to answer crimes charged against him and to do homage for his fiefs. A dispute about the election of an archbishop of Canterbury caused a quarrel be tween Pope innocent HI. and John, who refused to receive Stephen Langton (q.v.), the nominee of the Pope. In 1208 Innocent placed England under an interdict, and the following year ex communicated .John. The latter attempted re sistance, but when he was deposed by the Pope in 1213, and realized that he could expect no aid from his disaffected subjects, he submitted and beeame the vassal of the Pope. accepting Eng land as a Papal fief and agreeing to pay 1000 marks each year in recognition of his vassalage. lie had felt. obliged to surrender to the Pope be cause he was threatened with a revolt of his own sulojects, and hoped to lorenk their resistance by Ilse Pope's aid. When, however, his attempt to reconquer his French territories was defeated by the victory of Philip Augustus over Otho IV. of Germany, the ally of John at Bouvines (1214), his subjects determined to revolt. The barons met in January, 1215, and demanded the redress of their grievances. As John procrastinated, they ma•ched in arms against him and compelled him, in June, to sign the Magna Charta. This con tained no new principles, hilt it. was a written acknowledgment of the rights of the subjects. It established firmly two great English princi ples—that no one should suffer arbitrary im prisonment, and that no tax should be imposed without the consent of the council of the nation. All classes were protected by its provisions, and no distinction was made between Norman and Saxon. Twenty-five barons were constituted a committee to see that the provisions of the char ter were observed. John, however, had no inten tion of keeping his agreement, and the Pope an nulled the charter and the lead ers in the revolt. The barons then offered the crown to Louis, son of Philip Augustus, who landed in England. Before a decisive combat took place John died, October 19, 1216. Sec MAGNA CIIARTA.
His son, Henry III. (121(1-72), who was a mere boy, was crowned, and the English barons rallied to his support. Louis was driven from the king dom, through the efforts of the Jnsticiar Hubert de Burgh (q.v.), and England was saved for the English by the Treaty of Lambeth (1217). For eleven years the country was well governed by William, Earl of Pembroke, and Hubert de Burgh. Then ensued a period of misgovernment under Henry's personal rule. He confirmed the charter repeatedly, but never kept his promises. lle favored foreign nobles, allowed English liv ings to be given to Italians, and was wholly sub servient to the Pope. In 1258 the barons, exas perated by his conduct, met in the so-called `?ad Parliament.' They were led by Simon de Mont fort, the King's brother-in-law. They demanded a better government and the observance of the charter. By the Provisions of Oxford (q.v.), which they enacted, the government was trans ferred from the King to a council of barons. Their rule was not successful, however, and in 1264 Louis TX. of France, who had been asked to be the arbitrator between the King and the barons, gave his opinion in the so-called Vise of Amiens that the provisions were illegal. Civil war ensued. Henry was defeated at Lewes (1264), and by the `Mise of Lewes' the King was compelled to agree to the demands of the barons. The fol lowing year Simon de Montfort, who was the real inler„ called a Parliament, to which burgh ers were summoned, as well as the barons, clergy, and knights of the shire. This precedent was followed later by Edward I. In the same year Simon was killed in the battle of Evesham, in which the baronial forces were overthrown by the King's troops, under the command of Prince Ed ward. Simon's son and some of the barons con
tinued the struggle for about a year longer, but all parties were weary of the strife and longed for peace. Under the 'Dictum of Kenilworth' they all surrendered, and in 1267 Henry, by the `Statutes of Marlborough,' granted almost all their demands. Peace followed, and Edward I. (1272-1307) inherited a united kingdom. He ruled justly, in accordance with the charter and with the aid of Parliament. In 129S, by the Confirmatio Cartarum, he agreed that no tax should ever be levied except by common consent. From this time the government was to be man aged conjointly by the sovereign and Parliament. The latter Edward had strengthened by summon ing, in 1295, the `Model Parliament,' which was composed of the tenants-in-chief, representatives of all classes of the clergy, knights of the shires, and two citizens from each city or borough. By his other laws Edward attempted to restrict the power of the clergy and of the barons. The most noted were the Quo Warranto (12781, intended to lessen the local power and privileges of the barons; the 'Statute of Winchester' (1285), which renewed the 'Assize of Arms'; the Quia Emplores (1290), which restricted subinfetniation; and the 'Statute of MD/111min' (1279), which forbnde the acquisition of land in 'mortnia in' by the Church. Edward is frequently called 'the English Jus tinian.' lie 'subdinld Wales between 1277 and 1283, and Edward II., born in Ca rnarvon Castle (1284), received the title of Prince of Wales, which has been borne by the heir apparent ever since. In 1290 the Jews were expelled from Eng land. In the following year Edward claimed the overlord ship of Scotland as a preliminary to his acting as arbitrator between the various claimants to the throne, and received the homage of Baliol, to whom the crown was awarded. The Scotch, however, rose in resistance under great leaders like Wallace and Bruce, and Edward's incompetent son and successor, Edward I I. (1307 27), proved unequal to the task of retaining his father's conquests. After various wars (see SCOTLAND ) , the principal event of which was the battle of Bannockburn (1314), by the Treaty of in 1328, the independence of Scotland was acknowledged. Edward II. was a weak ruler. who spent his reign in a continuous struggle with the barons. The general result was a weakening of the royal authority. 11 is wife, Isabella, and her lover, Mortimer, head ed a rebellion against him, and were joined by Prince Edward. The unfortunate King was de posed by Parliament in 1327. and was soon after wards mu rdered. Edward III. ( 13'27-77 ) at tempted unsuccessfully to regain authority °ter Scotland, which was aided in the contest by France. The attitude of France was one of the causes which led to the Hundred Years' War (q.v.). In addition, Edward feared that he might lose Gascony, the most important French pos session which England had, and that Flanders, the great wool market for England, might be seized by the French King. Be therefore laid claim to the French crown, as the grandson of Philip IV. As his descent was through the fe male line (see SALIC LAW), and as there were more direct heirs, his claim was not legally good; but it was sufficient as a cause for war. The first period of the war was distinguished by the great English victories of Crky (1346) and Poitiers (1356), and ended with the Treaty of Bretigny (1360). By this treaty Aquitaine was ceded to England, and Edward abandoned his claim to the French crown. His wars compelled him to seek aid constantly from Parliament, and to grant to it more extensive powers. In the midst of the war England was visited. in 1348 and 1349, by the terrible scourge of the Black Death, which is said to have destroyed one-third of the population. Labor became scarce, and the 'Statute of Labourers' was enacted. for the benefit of the in 1349, to prevent the peasants from demanding higher wages and to compel them to perform their services as villeins. This caused great discontent, which was fomented by the preaching of the Lollards (q.v.), the follow ers of John \Viclif. Edward 111. was succeeded in 1377 by Richard II. The collection of a poll-tax in 1381 led to the Peasants' Revolt. in •which \Vat Tiler was one of the leaders. The revolt was suppressed with great cruelty by the nobles. Richard 11. was under the control of the except for brief periods of personal rule through favorites. until 1389. The barons were determined to wrest all authority from the King, and in the 'Wonderful' or 'Merciless Par liament' impeached the Kings advisers. But the following year Richard secured tull au thority. and ruled in accordance with the Consti tution until 1397. In the meantime the Hundred Years' War had been dragging on. having been re newed in 1369, and the French had reconquered Aquitaine. Richard was bent upon a French alliance, not a war, and in 1396 married Isa bella. the eight-year-old daughter of King Charles Vl. of France. This marriage, and his surrender of Brest and Cherbourg to the French, incensed his subjects. The surrender was just. as these cities had been pledged to him as security far a debt. and the debt had been paid; but his sub jects did not understand this, and thought that he was sacrificing English interests. Moreover, his revenge, in 1397, on the leading members of the baronial party. for which he had been biding his time. raised up many enemies. While Rich ard was absent in Ireland, in 1399, Henry Boling broke, Earl of Hereford. the son of John of 1Iaunt (Duke of Lancaster, fourth son of Edward Ill.), landed in England and was joined by many of the leadiug nobles. Richard was compelled to abdicate in 1399, and Hereford was chosen King by the Parliament as Henry IV. Thus Parlia ment asserted the right to regulate the succes sion. and the House of Lancaster obtained the crown. Before leaving the reigns of Edward and Richard 11.. it is necessary to notice their long series of laws directed against the pre tensions of the Papal curia. By the 'Statutes of Provisoes' (1351 and 1390), the Pope was prevented from disposing of English livings. By the 'Statutes of Praentinire' (1353. 1365, and 1393). the powers of the curia were greatly re stricted. and Englishmen were subjected to severe penalties if they appealed to the curia or ob tained bulls from Rome. The 'Statute of :Mort »min' was also in 1391.