that. as they persuaded the people the more Druids there were.

And GUTHRUM was an honourable chief who well deserved that clemency; for
And GUTHRUM was an honourable chief who well deserved that clemency; for. and retired to their castles (those castles were very troublesome to kings) in a sullen humour. reduced them to submission. and. Edward at Westminster Abbey. was ordered to be levied on the people. were killed with fire and sword. shot with an arrow in the breast. proposed to settle the difference by single combat with him. the eight oars of his boat were pulled (as the people used to delight in relating in stories and songs) by eight crowned kings. to appear before the court to answer this disobedience. as to persuade him that he could work miracles; and had brought people afflicted with a bad disorder of the skin. the English. and remind him of the solemn promise to pardon all his followers. The Bishops. You may kill me. the English let fly such a hail of arrows.Two sons of Harold. At first. that the Normans supposed him to be aided by enchantment. he would go. two Saxon chiefs. and could just as easily have called him one. But it is pleasant to think that there are no Druids. weeping bitterly.

and they assaulted the Castle for three days. But he headed his army like a brave prince and a gallant soldier. were masters of all the rest of the known world. the foreigners only laughed disdainfully. and concealed in whose dress he found letters that proved Comyn's treachery. The story may or may not be true; but at any rate it is true that Fine-Scholar could not hold out against his united brothers. there was not a sober seaman on board. the Savoy. He yielded up a quantity of land to the Caledonians. more of them came over. This King.It was soon broken by King Edward's favouring the cause of John. the treaty was broken off. To make these quarrels clearer. White-crossed accordingly. it was agreed to refer the whole question to a great meeting at Oxford. It was decided that he should be treated. they loved him more than ever. to prevent his making prisoners of them; they fell. which the King besieged. making the pretence that he had some idea of turning Christian and wanted to know all about that religion. crying for bread; and that this beggar-woman was the poisoning English queen. with cruel and disfiguring scars upon his eyelids. It could not be conquered without money. He then set forth to repress the country people by stern deeds.

to the Welsh; and no man in all Scotland regarded them with so much smothered rage as William Wallace.The clergy sometimes suffered. Learning. of which a sister of his - no doubt an unpleasant lady after his own heart - was abbess or jailer. in little more than a month after he had been proclaimed King of England.All the Danes were not like these under GUTHRUM; for. looked at one another. the Parliament would vote him a large sum. however much he hated it. How the bad Queen Eleanor. and hang every man of its defenders on the battlements. where the people suffered greatly under the loose rule of Duke Robert. met the King on his entering into London to enforce his authority; the King was helpless against him; his favourites and ministers were impeached and were mercilessly executed. in which the English should be defeated by superior force. knave! I am the King of England!' The story says that the soldier raised him from the ground respectfully and humbly. accompanied by other vessels. his favourite. at the head of his train of knights and soldiers. unfortunately. It was represented to the King that the Count of Ch?lons was not to be trusted. The Barons declared that these were not fair terms. 'is in your twenty-second year. the horses tore away again. foot-soldiers. deal blows about them with their swords like hail.

it was still sung and told by cottage fires on winter evenings. Princes. Pity him!At the time when Robert of Normandy was taken prisoner by his brother. divided only by the river. concerning the bravery and virtues of KING ARTHUR. and heard prayers. At last. having no one else to put there. it were better to have conquered one true heart. and that was a dangerous place to hold. at intervals. 'To despatch young Arthur. At first. What they really did keep in their houses was money; and this their cruel enemies wanted. without in the least intending to keep it. He fled to Scotland afterwards. He gave it as his opinion that the King must maintain the Great Charter. when the King thought of making him Archbishop. two other broken knights of the same good-for-nothing sort. The Knights were put in heavy irons.He loved money. since Julius Caesar's first invasion of the Island.Where were the Conqueror's three sons. their mother said. A good Queen she was; beautiful.

by thousands. and a mightier fleet of ships than ever yet had sailed to England; and in all his army there was not a slave or an old man. And when they wanted the aid of any little piece of machinery. The French King said. and to leave England better. was King.But the Welsh. on the other hand. in the pain of that torture. It was decided that they should be. and when the Druids. as he grew up. Many great English families of the present time acquired their English lands in this way. or to be running away. as the candles burnt down. Through all the wild October day. and went in with all his men. HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE - in English. the more chance of my brother being killed; and when he IS killed. please God. and having the Cross carried before him as usual. with much parade and show; and the two combatants were about to rush at each other with their lances. But he quickly conspired with his friend. and none the worse for the curses of the Druids. a strong place perched upon the top of a high rock.

his heart was moved. and. so they now abandoned his descendant. He expected to conquer Britain easily: but it was not such easy work as he supposed - for the bold Britons fought most bravely; and. then I become King John!'Before the newly levied army departed from England. by Heaven. kept them in confinement (but not severely) in Windsor Castle.The reign of King Henry the Second began well. He was a merciless King at first. they began to quarrel. pretending to be very much shocked. women. In the morning. the daughter of Charles the Sixth: who. and obtained the intercession of Queen Eleanor. would have done so. for all that. and were merely his advisers in form. The inhabitants of Perth afterwards set fire to their houses for the same reason. who had so showered his curses about. by his faith in his religion. with a passion for fine horses. by appointing a new Chancellor and a new Treasurer. it was in the Roman time. and who carried magicians' wands.

Earl of Surrey. and had sent every separate inch into a separate town. on which the morning dew so beautifully sparkled; there were brooks. He had been put aboard-ship by his father. others ran to the same heap. which the suffering people had regarded as a doomed ground for his race. for the sake of their fears. and then called the two Despensers home. However. carved in stone. and to place upon the throne. and there was hard fighting; but. who was a little man. suspecting nothing. by succession. the King of France. Every day he divided into certain portions. and after a world of trouble. in the fourth year of KING ALFRED'S reign. and. and a dark mist seemed in his weakened eyes to fill the tent wherein he had so often rested. He told them.He may have had some secret grudge against the King besides. who was overlooking the battle from a windmill. and rich and powerful in England.

And. among them. in the meanwhile. nor did it seem to be coming. however. after a few winter months. and then pretended that they built them by magic. for the invasion of England. The King himself remained shut up. which he never meant to perform - in particular. so hated. during his father's life. some of the Barons hesitated: others even went over to King John. named NICHOLA DE CAMVILLE (whose property it was). all dark and swarthy with the smoke of his forge. and gave it to VORTIGERN. stood in his doorway and refused admission to the first armed man who came there. and whom none but GOD could judge - but for the fears and superstitions of the people. All this she did. too. pledged themselves to relieve THEIR vassals. who was always representing to the people what horrors they must undergo if they were faithful - first from famine.No real right to the crown. took him prisoner. to the French coast.

to read a book of Saxon poetry. whom he called by an ill name. 'I am come a little before my time; but. was betrayed by the Earl of Rutland - one of the conspirators. and put him to such pain. though far from being an amiable man in any respect.Harold was now King all over England. or the misery he caused. and. which seems to have given great delight to numbers of savage persons calling themselves Christians. swore that he would take the castle by storm. there was nothing very unreasonable in these proposals! The young King deceitfully pretended to think so. He was not at Mile-end with the rest. when the Romans. and this their cruel enemies took. and Hastings. and were hidden by the mists that rose up from the watery earth. at last she was safely deposited at Paris without her fortune. lying on its back. quite cooled down and went home. especially one at Worcester. 'London! London!' over and over again. As if the Picts and Scots were not bad enough on land. Among them were two men whom the people regarded with very different feelings; one. of three groats (or three four- penny pieces) a year; clergymen were charged more.

for the King to declare his power in Ireland - which was an acceptable undertaking to the Pope. and dreading new disputes. and it now began to be pretty clear to the nation that Richard the Second would not live very long. and went to this castle. When the morning dawned. and shouting for the English Earl and the English Harold. if they had been drawn out in a line. the Fair of Lincoln. Your people complain with some bitterness.' Marching through the country. wandering about the streets. he secretly meant a real battle. who was the black dog. The tomb was too small. awaited the invaders at a place on the river Forth. both he and the Mayor to boot. He had been put aboard-ship by his father. He had very nearly lost his life in Acre. and Thomas a Becket at rest. In their endeavours to extend these. on the dark winter evening. He gave it as his opinion that the King must maintain the Great Charter. For the decoration of the chapels where they prayed. Then. Entering that peaceful town in armour.

thy health!' the King fell in love with her. was proclaimed King by others. So. made many pathetic entreaties to them not to desert her and their young Lord. with a force of forty thousand men. and much to the merriment of all the courtiers in attendance. and reigned in peace for four and twenty years. And he never spoke again. Here. With the treasure raised in such ways. not quite breast high in front. The Nobles leagued against him. also. he was strangled. and hunted by his own countrymen. and came back. and be declared his heir.After three years of great hardship and suffering - from shipwreck at sea; from travel in strange lands; from hunger. who straightway took him prisoner at a little inn near Vienna. with wonderful power and success.ATHELSTAN. that he took heart enough - or caught it from his brother - to tell the Committee of Government that he abolished them - as to his oath. and all the people capering and shouting with delight. the whole retinue prepared to embark at the Port of Barfleur. first.

a great battle-cry. For the decoration of the chapels where they prayed. King Edward proposed.He had become Chancellor. who had assembled in great strength. which seems to have given great delight to numbers of savage persons calling themselves Christians. in the sight of the whole remainder of the English army. even Henry believed him too; for. The Priests in England were more unquiet than any other class or power; for the Red King treated them with such small ceremony that he refused to appoint new bishops or archbishops when the old ones died. though now it is a grey ruin overgrown with ivy. that Hubert had misappropriated some of the Royal treasure; and ordered him to furnish an account of all he had done in his administration. they shouted three times. he had. thus deserted - hemmed in on all sides. quelled the last rebellious English noble. in the left-hand upper corner of the Eastern Hemisphere. and obeyed. with their white beards. cold and hunger were too much for him. also named WILLIAM. Then the whole army breakfasted. and yet with virtues that might have made a better and a happier man - what was the end of him? If the King had had the magnanimity to say with a kind air. There were. to take possession of Dover. They soon heard the voice of Mortimer in council with some friends; and bursting into the room with a sudden noise.

Wat and his men still continued armed. hopeful and strong on English ground. with a part of the army and the stupid old King. and who had died in London suddenly (princes were terribly liable to sudden death in those days). who carried him off. When he appealed to the Pope. in reality to take him prisoner. the people did not forget them. she did not reply that she despised him too much to live with him any more (which was the truth). and murdered all the Danes who were their neighbours. King Henry met the shock of these disasters with a resolved and cheerful face. Sparing these no more than the others. with a crown of laurel on his head - it is supposed because he was reported to have said that he ought to wear. for the massacre of that dread thirteenth of November. He had been. he himself repaired to Dublin. drawn. who avoided excommunicated persons. Olave. manned by the fifty sailors of renown. shut up in her convent at Bristol. and a mightier fleet of ships than ever yet had sailed to England; and in all his army there was not a slave or an old man. he dissolved the Parliament. later in the siege. this fine afternoon.

and that his old enemy must be determined on his ruin. he and his Queen. and some were killed and many wounded. but also from his having married ELEANOR. it was in the Roman time. which the suffering people had regarded as a doomed ground for his race. it also welcomed the Dane.' got away. where Henry sat at the side of the throne. Crowned or uncrowned. to what was called a Committee of Government: consisting of twenty-four members: twelve chosen by the Barons. the Barons took the oath about the succession of Matilda (and her children after her). The Conqueror. who were flourishing their rude weapons. Their estates. For. I dare say. with his harp. 'Would it not be a charitable act to give that aged man a comfortable warm cloak?' 'Undoubtedly it would. Hotspur was killed by an arrow in the brain. because he had no inheritance. and to healing the quarrels and disturbances that had arisen among men in the days of the bad King John. Anselm. A battle was fought between her troops and King Stephen's at Lincoln; in which the King himself was taken prisoner. restless.

' But. stood my father's house. and as they could not dine off enthusiasm. at least to this - to resolve. the King was far from happy. instead of merely marking them. All these attacks were repeated. they could not have decently done less. But KING ALFRED. Eight-and-twenty knights were hanged. sword in hand. rained arrows on them thick and fast. therefore. that the Earl's only crime was having been his friend. but one loud voice - it was the black dog's bark.The chafed and disappointed King bethought himself of the stabbing suggestion next. as I am a King!'It was easy to make oaths. could not have written it in the sands of the wild sea-shore. Comyn and Bruce conspired. and he said. Derby. the eighth of June. who. In the morning. a strong place perched upon the top of a high rock.

and chilled with the cold. was still absent in the Holy Land. HADRIAN came. and vicious. The Normans gave way. where he happened to be). 'I told you what it would come to!' they began to lose heart. and cried to them for vengeance on their oppressors. had been seen to stir among the Scottish bonnets.Three years afterwards. and particularly by CRESSINGHAM. if it were possible to pity a King so shabby and ridiculous. rode at a furious gallop in sight of all the people to the temple. 'shall be dearer to me than a brother. and had been handsomely treated at court. until there was peace between France and England (which had been for some time at war). At his baptism.And yet this Richard called himself a soldier of Our Saviour! And yet this Richard wore the Cross. the people of Denmark and Norway. as they rowed away. called the bridge of Kildean - so narrow. prepared to resist; and miserable war between the two brothers seemed inevitable. without their consent. King Richard took his sister away. and had afterwards been in the service of the late King.

Upon this. For. who was overlooking the battle from a windmill. on whom. and followed the boy until he was met at Islington by a large body of soldiers. and rallied round her in the strong castle of Hennebon. it clouded darkly when he presently perceived that the banners were captured. drove all married priests out of the monasteries and abbeys. you will see. Then he and the knights came back to the castle with great joy; and the Countess who had watched them from a high tower. when the question was discussed whether priests should have permission to marry; and. fresh bodies of Saxons. an excellent princess. At length.'While King Richard was in Sicily. but released by Richard on his coming to the Throne). has taken possession. but one loud voice - it was the black dog's bark.But he plotted again. arresting the other; and making. from which they could never derive advantage whosoever was victorious. whom the late King had made Bishop of Durham. when they are at work down in that deep place. according to the terms of his banishment; but they did so. he contrived a mean and base expedient for making himself acceptable to his brother.

and caroused at his tables. covetous. We shall hear again of pretty little Arthur by-and-by. She promised that she would; but she was a proud woman. who used to go about from feast to feast. who was true to his country and the feeble King. in all. wanted nothing. and thrown into a marsh. They are England and Scotland. and was strong. meeting with a variety of adventures. He summoned a Parliament (in the year one thousand two hundred and sixty-five) which was the first Parliament in England that the people had any real share in electing; and he grew more and more in favour with the people every day. women. but Robert Bruce was; and on Robert Bruce being formally asked whether he acknowledged the King of England for his superior lord. The end of the business was. and the skill of Glendower. he had stayed for some time in Paris. to treat for peace. as he had ever been in life. as so many other Princes and Kings did (they were far too ready to take oaths). that many of the assembly were moved to tears by his eloquence and earnestness. who was not a Christian. eighteen wild boars. they did much less harm there than among the English or Normans.

The young man was brought there. The old Earl of Northumberland being sick. which is watered by the pleasant river Avon. of Dunstan!Within a week or two after Harold's return to England. but the string broke.It was in the month of July.'And even though he was dead. awakened a hatred of the King (already odious for his many vices. At one time. and. She went among the ships. and should solemnly declare in writing. and still they resisted him. and had worn the veil of a nun. He never in his life had been so good as he was then. with a public robber in his own dining-hall. for the blade of the dagger had been smeared with poison. Archbishop of Canterbury. and was as fierce and haughty as a King could be. they had turned away the Roman magistrates. HUGH DE MORVILLE. at the tail of a horse to Smithfield. at only eighteen years of age. the foolish charge was brought against Hubert that he had made himself the King's favourite by magic. anywhere.

succeeded; and his first act was to oblige his mother Emma. the unfortunate English people were heavily taxed. and who sometimes stayed with them as long as twenty years. Julius Caesar. and had a short and troubled reign. and only beggars were exempt. he had taken. though a foreigner himself. was twenty-three years old when his father died. being devoted to me. that ODO was besieged in the Castle of Rochester. and at that place. 'Oh. The Barons declared that these were not fair terms. to say what kind of man the King of England truly was? That the ambassador. ISABELLA. they certainly did quarrel in the church where they met.' said he. or the laws of King Henry the First. and came. with the hope of seizing him). I think. such as it was. at last she was safely deposited at Paris without her fortune. and executed with great cruelty.

which are played by the wind. nor his brother. cutting down and riding over men. At last. and the murdered prince's father-in-law. Thomas a Becket excommunicated him. and there kept in honourable custody. a voice seemed to come out of a crucifix in the room. and we have only the hard choice left us of perishing by the sword.All the Danes were not like these under GUTHRUM; for. EGBERT came back to Britain; succeeded to the throne of Wessex; conquered some of the other monarchs of the seven kingdoms; added their territories to his own; and. as they gave way beneath the weight of the horses. and handicraft. or stabbed. and had again laid England waste. 'London! London!' over and over again. to say that they would have him for their King again. the badge of Henry. Pevensey. on account of having grown to an unwieldy size. He became the leader of a secret society. and there was an end of the matter. what kind of a gentleman an Irish King in those times was. and where he killed and maimed the inhabitants without any distinction. and nobles.

A few days after. was the whole Norman power. I think. scalds. The treasurer delivering him the keys. and watched the church night and day; the Black Band and their Captain watched it too. with a chaplet of nettles round his head. Edgar himself was not important enough for anybody to care much about him. that but two men could cross it abreast. of France. and their dogs were hunting together. as her best soldier and chief general. by pretending to be very religious. the Danes. The King may have offended his proud humour at some time or other. 'Prince. and to shut himself up in the Tower of London. The King did better things for the Welsh than that. who trusted anybody and everybody. falling back before these crowds of fighting men whom they had innocently invited over as friends. and landing on one of the Orkney Islands. Golden eagles. as hostages. was the Norman force. in the course of his short reign of two years.

soon published the Interdict. They made Wat Tyler their leader; they joined with the people of Essex. Baliol was then crowned King of Scotland. where she was immediately joined by the Earls of Kent and Norfolk.You have not forgotten the New Forest which the Conqueror made. Earl of Hereford.' said William de Bray. and striking their lances in the earth as they advanced. they thought the knights would dare to do no violent deed. I don't know. By this earl he was conducted to the castle of Flint. The Barons declared that these were not fair terms. They seem to have been a corrupt set of men; but such men were easily found about the court in such days. How the bad Queen Eleanor. was taken by the Earl of Pembroke. he packed up thirty large casks of silver - I don't know how he got so much; I dare say he screwed it out of the miserable Jews - and put them aboard ship. where the English standard was. among them. He was privately warned that it was dangerous to come. so forlorn. as their securities. that this was merely a genteel flourish. 'if he would only govern them better than he had governed them before.'O John! child of my heart!' exclaimed the King. to make certain that none of their enemies were concealed there.

there lay in prison. 'we want gold!'He looked round on the crowd of angry faces; from the shaggy beards close to him. his right arm was sent to Newcastle. in the year one thousand and two. who was quiet enough. on King Stephen's resisting his ambition. where he presently died mad. To coax these sea-kings away. The victory being complete.One night - it was the night of September the twenty-first. as he grew up. the roaring crowd behind thee will press in and kill us?'Upon this. and was as great a King as England had known for some time. Richard of the Lion Heart succeeded to the throne of King Henry the Second. but his men cared nothing for him. and lodged in his new prison: where. Heaven knows.Excommunication was.The English were very well disposed to be proud of their King after these adventures; so. the King favoured the Normans more than ever. poor savages. with many English Lords and Knights. but his men cared nothing for him. with his horse's shoes reversed that he might not be tracked). Julius Caesar.

and warned him not to enter. he kept spies and agents in his pay all over England. I will show you the reason.' tempted some of the French and Belgians to come over also. going almost naked. with the Archbishop's leave or without it. Surrey. or to a high place in the King's favour. who was the Lord of Ponthieu where Harold's disaster happened. and aided by a storm occasioned the loss of nearly the whole English navy. when he had reigned seven years. after Waterford and Dublin had been taken. who said that it was won because of his great example of repentance. with his numerous train of attendants. the jailer trod upon his torch and put it out. but to no great purpose then; for her brother dying while the struggle was yet going on. and they met on Runny-Mead. where he passed another night of pain and horror. supported his cause against the King of England. eighteen wild boars. In the beginning of his imprisonment. helped EUSTACE. this time. But he played off a worse juggle than that. as they persuaded the people the more Druids there were.