1215 - At Runnymede, King John of England (1167-1216) signed the Magna Carta, a 63-part document of human rights that became the foundation of the English legal system.

1217- FRENCH DEFEATED AT LINCOLN & SANDWICH LEAVE ENGLAND.

1225- MAGNA CARTA REISSUED FOR THE THIRD TIME IN DEFINITIVE FORM.

1243- FIVE YEAR TRUCE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

1277 - Edward I embarks on the conquest of Wales

1327- EDWARD II DEPOSED BY PARLIAMENT AND MURDERED AT BERKLEY CASTLE.

1329 - Jun 7: Death of Robert the Bruce; succeeded by infant David II of Scots

1355- SCOTS DEFEAT ENGLISH AT NESBIT

1381- PEASANTS REVOLT

Henry II, 1154-1189:

Henry was just of age when the death of Stephen called him to

the throne From his father, Count Geoffrey of Anjou, a province of France, came

the title of Angevin. The name Plantagenet, by which the family came

to be known later, was derived from the count's habit of wearing a

sprig of the golden-blossomed broom plant, or Plante-gene^t, as the

French called it, in his helmet.

Henry received from his father the dukedoms of Anjou and Maine, from

his mother Normandy and the dependent province of Brittany, while

through his marriage with Eleanor, the divorced Queen of France, he

acquired the great southern dukedom of Aquitaine.

Thus on his accession he became ruler over all England, and over more

than half of France besides, his realms extending from the borders of

Scotland to the base of the Pyrenees.

To these extensive possessions Henry added the eastern half of

Ireland. The country was but partially conquered and never justly

ruled.

Richard I (Coeur de Lion)[1]--1189-1199:

Henry II was succeeded by his second son, Richard, his first having

died during the civil war (1183) in which he and his brother Geoffrey

had fought against Prince Richard and their father. Richard

was born at Oxford, but he spent his youth in France.

Richard Coeur de Lion: Richard the Lion-Hearted. An old

chronicler says that the King got the name from his adventure with a

lion. The beast attacked him, and as the King had no weapons, he

thrust his hand down his throat and "tore out his heart." This story

is not without value, since it illustrates how marvelous legends grow

up around the lives of remarkable men.

The only English sentence that he was ever known to speak was when he

was in a raging passion. He then vented his wrath against an

impertinent Frenchman, in some broken but decidedly strong expressions

of his native tongue. Richard has been called "a splendid savage,"

having most of the faults and most of the virtues of such a savage.

The King's bravery in battle and his daring exploits gained for him

the flattering surname of Coeur de Lion. He had a right to it, for he

certainly possessed the heart of a lion, and he never failed to get

the lion's share. He might, however, have been called, in equal

truth, Richard the Absentee, since out of a nominal reign of ten years

he spent but a few months in England, the remaining time being

consumed in wars abroad.

The Crusades (1190):

At that period all western Europe was engaged in the series of wars

known as the Crusades. The object of this long contest, which began

in 1096 and ended in 1270, was to compel the Saracens or Mohammedans

to give up possession of the Holy Land to the Christians.

Immediately after his coronation, Richard resolved to jion the King of

France and the Emperor of Germany in the Third Crusade. To get money

for the expedition, the King extorted loans from the Jews, who

were the creditors of half England and had almost complete control of

the capital and commerce of every country in Europe.

The English nobles who joined Richard also borrowed largely from the

same source; and then, suddenly turning on the hated lenders, they

tried to extinguish the debt by extinguishing the Jews. A pretext

against the unfortunate race was easily found. Riots broke out in

London, York, and elsewhere, and hundreds of Israelites were brutally

massacred.

Richard's next move to obtain funds was to impose a heavy tax; his

next, to dispose of titles of rank and offices in both Church and

State, to all who wished to buy them. Thus, to the aged and covetous

bishop of Durham he sold the earldom of Northumberland for life,

saying, as he concluded the bargain, "Out of an old bishop I have made

a new earl."

He sold, also, the office of chief justice to the same prelate for an

additional thousand marks, while the King of Scotland

purchased freedom from subjection to the English King for ten thousand

marks.

Last of all, Richard sold cities and town, and he also sold charters

to towns. One of his courtiers remonstrated with him for his greed

for gain. The King replied, "I would sell London itself could I find

a purchaser rich enough to buy it."

John--1199-1216:

When Henry II in dividing his realm left his youngest son, John,

dependent on the generosity of his brothers, he jestingly gave him

the surname of "Lackland". The nickname continued to cling to

him even after he had become King of England and had also secured

Normandy and several adjacent provinces in France.

The reign of the new King was taken up mainly with three momentous

quarrels: first, with France; next, with the Pope; lastly, with the

barons. By his quarrel with France he lost Normandy and the greater

part of the adjoining provinces, thus becoming in a new sense John

Lackland. By his quarrel with the Pope he was humbled to the earth.

By his quarrel with the barons he was forced to grant England the

Great Charter.

Henry III--1216-1272:

John's eldest son, Henry, was crowned at the age of nine. During his

long and feeble reign of fifty-six years England's motto might well

have been the warning words of Scripture, "Woe to thee, O land, when

thy king is a child!" since a child he remained to the last; for if

John's heart was of millstone, Henry's was of wax.

Dante in one of his poems, written perhaps not long after Henry's

death, represents him as he sees him in imagination just on the

borderland of purgatory. The King is not in suffering, for as he has

done no particular good, so he has done no great harm. He appears "as

a man of simple life, spending his time singing psalms in a narrow

valley."

That shows one side of his negative character; the other was his love

of extravagance, vain display, and instability of purpose. Much of

the time he drifted about like a ship without compass or rudder.

Henry III's reign lasted over half a century. During that period

England, as we have seen, was not standing still. It was an age of

reform. In religion the "Begging Friars" were exhorting men to better

lives. In education Roger Bacon and other devoted scholars were

laboring to broaden knowledge and deepen thought.

In political affairs the people now first obtained a place in

Parliament. Their victory was not permanent then, but it was the

precursor of the establishment of a permanent House of Commons which

was to come in the next reign.

Edward I--1272-1307:

Henry's son, Prince Edward, was in the East, fighting the battles of

the Crusades, at the time of his father's death. According to

an account given in an old Spanish chronicle, an enemy attacked him

with a poisoned dagger. His wife, Eleanor, saved his life by

heroically sucking the poison from the wound.

Edward died while endeavoring to subdue a revolt in Scotland, in which

Robert Bruce, grandson of the first of that name, had seized

the throne. His last request was that his son Edward should continue

the war. "Carry my bones before you on your march," said the dying

King, "for the rebels will not endure the sight of me, alive or dead!"

Not far from the beautiful effigy of Queen Eleanor in Westminster Abey, "her husband rests in a severely simple tomb. Pass it not by

for its simplicity; few tombs hold nobler dust.

During Edward I's reign the following changes took place:

1. Wales and Scotland were conquered, and the first remained

permanently a part of the English kingdom.

2. The landed proprietors of the whole country were made more directly

responsible to the Crown.

3. The excessive growth of Church property was checked.

4. Laws for the better suppression of acts of violence were enacted

and rigorously enforced.

5. The Great Charter, with additional articles for the protection of

the people, was confirmed by the King, and the power of taxation

expressly acknowledged to reside in Parliament only.

6. Parliament, a legislative body now representing all classes of the

nation, was permanently organized, and for the first time regularly

and frequently summoned by the King.

It will be remembered that De Montfort's Parliament in 1265 was not regularly and legally summoned, since the King (Henry III) was

at that time a captive. The first Parliament (consisting of a House

of Commons and House of Lords, including the upper Clergy), convened

by the Crown, was that called by Edward I in 1295.

Edward II--1307-1327:

The son to whom Edward I left his power was in every respect his

opposite. The old definition of the word "king" was "the man who

CAN," or the able man. The modern explanation usually makes him "the

chief or head of a people." Edward II would satisfy neither of these

definitions. He lacked all disposition to do anything himself; he

equally lacked power to incite others to do. By nature he was a

jester, trifler, and waster of time.

Being such, it is hardly necessary to say that he did not push the war

with Scotland. Robert Bruce did not expect that he would; that

valiant fighter, indeed, held the new English sovereign in utter

contempt, saying that he feared the dead father, Edward I, much more

than the living son.

The lesson of Edward II's career is found in its culmination. Other

sovereigns had been guilty of misgovernment, others had put unworthy

and grasping favorites in power, but he was the first King whom

Parliament had deposed.

By that act it became evident that great as was the power of the King,

there had now come into existence a greater still, which could not

only make but unmake him who sat on the throne.

Edward III--1327-1377:

Edward III, son of Edward II, was crowned at fourteen. Until he

became of age, the government was nominally in the hands of a council,

but really in the control of Queen Isabelle and her "gentle Mortimer,"

the two murderers of his father.

Early in his reign Edward attempted to reconquer Scotland, but

failing in his efforts, made a peace acknowledging the independence of

that country. At home, however, he now gained a victory which

compensated him for his disappointment in not subduing the Scots.

Mortimer was staying with Queen Isabelle at Nottingham Castle. Edward

obtained entrance by a secret passage, carried him off captive, and

soon after brought him to the gallows. He next seized his mother, the

Queen, and kept her in confinement for the rest of her life in Castle

Rising, Norfolk.

During this reign the following events deserve especial notice:

1. The acknowledgment of the independence of Scotland.

2. The establishment of the manufacture of fine woolens in England.

3. The beginning of the Hundred Years' War, with the victories of

Cre'cy and Poitiers, the Peace of Bre'tigny, and their social and

political results in England.

4. The Black Death and its results on labor.

5. Parliament enacts important laws for securing greater independence

to the English Church.

6. The rise of modern literature, represented by the works of

Mandeville, Langland, and the early writings of Wycliffe and Chaucer.

Richard II--1377-1399:

The death of the Black Prince left his son Richard

heir to the crown. As he was but eleven years old, Parliament

provided that the government during his minority should be carried on

by a council; but John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, speedily

got the control of affairs.

He was an unprincipled man, who wasted the nation's money, opposed

reform, and was especially hated by the laboring classes. The times

were critical. War had again broken out with both Scotland and

France, the French fleet was raiding the English coast, the national

treasury had no money to pay its troops, and the government debt was

rapidly accumulating.