26. FOUR SONS AGAINST THEIR FATHER

Henry II had four sons: the eldest, Henry, his appointed heir, Richard, Geoffrey and John, his father's favourite. After Thomas a Becket's death King Henry had much trouble, fighting with France and Scotland; and his own sons began to rebel against their father. Queen Eleanor, the King's wife, supported them.

King Henry decided that he had all that misfortunes because of his guilt in Becket's death. He went straight to Canterbury; and there he dismounted from his horse, took off his shoes, and walked with bare and bleeding feet to a Becket's grave. There he lay down on the ground, lamenting in the presence of many people; then he went into the Chapter House, and, removing his clothes from his back and shoulders, made eighty Priests beat him with knotted cords, one after another. It happened so that on that very day a complete victory was obtained over the Scots.

After that Henry II very quickly went to Rouen and submitted his rebellious sons Henry and Geoffrey. Richard resisted for six weeks; but, being beaten out of castle after castle, he at last submitted too, and his father forgave him.

The forgiveness only gave the ungrateful princes time and possibility to gather new forces and to rebel again. Sometimes the brothers fought with one another, sometimes they united with one another to have a victory over the others.

At last Prince Henry died in 1183, at the age of twenty-seven years old, during his war against his brother Richard and their father the King. There was a short interval of peace, but in 1184 Geoffrey and John combined with their father's leave to make war upon Richard, now the heir of the English Crown. In 1186 Geoffrey died, and there were only two of them left. Prince John had solemnly sworn to be faithful to his father.

Sick at heart, wearied out by the falsehood of his sons, and almost ready to lie down and die, the unhappy King, who had so long stood firm, began to fail.

King Henry was sick in bed, when they brought him the list of the deserters from their allegiance, whom he was required to pardon. And he saw that Fate has prepared him one more heavy sorrow. The first name upon this list was John, his favourite son, in whom he had trusted to the last.

"O John! Child of my heart!" exclaimed the King. "O John, whom I have loved the best! Have you betrayed me too!" And then he lay down with a heavy groan and said; "Now let the world go as it will. I care for nothing more!"

The King told his attendants to take him to the French town of Chinon — a town he was fond of for many years. He wildly cursed the hour when he was born, and cursed the children whom he left behind him.

Comprehension questions

1.What penance did Henry II do for the murder of Thomas Becket?

2.Describe the strife of his sons and Eleanor against Henry.

3.What events resulted in Henry’s undoing?

27. KING HENRY'S DEATH

(After Charles Dickens)

As, one hundred years before, everybody left the Conqueror in the hour of his death, so now the attendants left his descendant.

Richard was said in after years, by way of flattery, to have the heart of a Lion. It would have been far better, I think, to have had the heart of a Man. His heart, whatever it was, had cause to beat remorsefully within his breast, as he came — as he did — into the solemn

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abbey, and looked on his dead father's uncovered face. His heart, whatever it was, had been a black heart.

There is a pretty story told of this reign, called the story of fair Rosamond. It relates how the King loved the Fair Rosamond, who was the loveliest girl in all the world; and how he had a beautiful bower built for her in the Park at Woodstock; and how it was in a labyrinth, and you could find it only by a clue of silk. How the bad Queen Eleanor, becoming jealous of Fair Rosamond, found out the secret of the clue, and one day, appeared before her, with a dagger and cup of poison, and proposed her to choose between those deaths. How Fair Rosamond, after shedding many piteous tears and offering many useless prayers to the cruel Queen, took the poison, and fell dead in the midst of the beautiful bower, while the birds sang gaily all around her.

Now, there was a fair Rosamond, and she was the loveliest girl in all the world, and the King was certainly very fond of her, and the bad Queen Eleanor was certainly made jealous. But I am afraid — I say afraid, because I like the story so much — that there was no bower, no labyrinth, no silken clue, no dagger, no poison. I am afraid fair Rosamond retired to a nunnery near Oxford, and died there, peaceably.

Comprehension questions

1.How did Henry II die?

2.What does the legend of Fair Rosamond say?

EXTRACTS FROM THE BALLAD “FAIR ROSAMOND” by Thomas Delone, 1612

When as King Henry ruled this land, The second of that name,

Besides the Queen, he dearly loved A fair and comely dame.

Fair Rosamond, fair Rosamond, Her name was calléd so,

To whom our Queen, dame Ellinor, Was known a deadly foe.

The king therefore, for her defence Against the furious Queen,

At Woodstock built such a bower, The like was never seen.

And when his grace had passed the seas And into France was gone;

With envious heart, queen Ellinor, To Woodstock came alone.

"Take pity on my youthful years", Fair Rosamond did cry,

And let me not with poison strong Enforcéd be to die"

But nothing could this furious queen Therewith appeaséd be;

The cup of deadly poison strong, As she knelt on her knee,

She gave the comely dame to drink, Who took it in her hand,

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And from her bended knee arose,

And on her feet did stand:

And casting up her eyes to heaven,

She did for mercy call;

And drinking up the poison strong,

Her life she lost withall.

Her body then they did entomb,

When life was fled away,

At Godstow, near the Oxford town,

As may be seen this day.

28. RICHARD THE CRUSADER

In 1189, after Henry's death, Richard became the King of England. There is a statue of him set up in front of the House of Lord at Westminster. It is a fine figure on the great strong horse, clothed in armour, made of little rings of metal, and holding aloft the long spear he used against enemies far away from England. During the ten years of his reign he was nearly always away, and his wife was the only queen of England who never entered the country.

A pitiable event occurred on the day of Richard's Coronation — the flagellation of Jews. When he was crowned, Richard barred all Jews and women from the ceremony, but some Jewish leaders arrived to present gifts for the new king. Richard's courtiers stripped and flogged the Jews, then flung them out of court. When a rumour spread that Richard had ordered all Jews to be killed, the people of London began a massacre. Many Jews were beaten to death, robbed, and burned alive. Many Jewish homes were burned down, and several Jews were forcibly baptised. Some sought sanctuary in the Tower of London, and others managed to escape. Realising that the assaults could destabilise his realm on the eve of his departure on crusade, Richard ordered the execution of those responsible for the most egregious murders and persecutions, including rioters who had accidentally burned down Christian homes. He distributed a royal writ demanding that the Jews be left alone. The edict was loosely enforced, however, and the following March there was further violence including a massacre at York. It is about these times that the Scottish writer Walter Scott wrote in his famous novel Ivanhoe.

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Of all things in the world Richard liked fighting and adventure best, and in his time the most exciting adventures were to be had during the Crusades to the Holy Land, at the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. King Richard, who was a strong restless man, was mightily impassioned to go on a Crusade to the Holy Land, leading a great army. As great armies could not be raised to go, even to the Holy Land, without a great deal of money, he sold the Crown

Domains, and even the high offices of State; recklessly appointing noblemen to rule over his subjects, not because they were fit to govern, but because they could pay high for the privilege. Money was squeezed out of everybody — barons, people and even the clergy — to pay for Richard's "holy" wars, and to get him out of prison, when afterwards Richard fell into the hands of enemies.

Richard then appointed two Bishops to take care of his kingdom during his absence, and gave great powers and possessions to his brother John, to secure his friendship. John was a sly man, no doubt, he said to himself: "The more fighting, the more chance for my brother to be killed; and when he is killed, then I become King John!"

King Richard and his troops went to Messina, in Sicily, which was appointed as a place of Richard's meeting with his old friend, French King Philip.

King Richard's sister had married the king of this place, but he was dead now, and his uncle Tancred had usurped the throne, cast the Royal Widow into the prison, and took possession of her estates. Richard fiercely demanded his sister's release, the restoration of her lands; as he was very powerful, Tancred yielded to his demands.

But Richard then had a quarrel with Philip — he had promised to marry Philip's sister, and now he did not want to fulfil his promise: he had fallen in love with a beautiful lady, Berengaria of Navarre. The peace was made when Richard satisfied Philip's injured pride by paying him a large sum of money.

In the spring of 1189 (the beginning of the third Crusade) Philip set out for Acre, which was strongly held by the Turks, but Richard stayed to keep Cyprus, whose emperor had captured part of his shipwrecked fleet, before rejoining him.

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The Christians had been besieging Acre for four years. Saladin2, the leader of infidels, thought the town so important that he had brought a great army to besiege the besiegers, who now included the Dukes of Austria and Burgundy as well as the kings of England and France. At the height of the summer, 1191, Acre surrendered, and Philip of France, on the plea of ill health, returned home.

Victorious at Acre, the Christians were much weakened by their own dissensions. Wherever the united army of Crusaders went, they agreed in few points except in gaming, drinking, and quarrelling in a most unholy manner; in indulging in debauches amidst the people, among whom they tarried, whether they were friends or foes; and carrying disturbance and ruin in quiet places.

The army at last came within sight of the Holy City of Jerusalem, but, being then a mere nest of jealousy, and quarrelling, and fighting, soon retired and agreed with the Saracens upon a truce for three years, three months, three days and three hours. Then the English Christians, protected by the noble Saladin from Saracen revenge, visited Our Saviour's tomb; and then King Richard embarked with a small force at Acre to return home, as he had been disquieted by the news from England, where John had stirred up a rising of the barons against the government.

But he was shipwrecked in the Adriatic Sea, and had to pass through Germany, because the French King now became his bitterest enemy and France was quite impossible as the way home. Richard also had quarrelled with Leopold of Austria and with Henry VI of Germany, so both those ways were as dangerous, but the quicker one lay through Germany, and Richard determined to make the attempt in disguise. In doing so, he fell into the hands of both his enemies. Leopold of Austria handed him over to Henry VI, now emperor.

Richard was put into prison. The King of France pretended that the English King had designed to poison him in the East, and charged Richard with some other crimes. So Richard was brought before the German Court. But he defended himself so well that many of the assembly were moved to tears by his eloquence. It was decided that he should be treated during the rest of his captivity in a manner more becoming his dignity than he had been and that he should be set free on a very high payment.

2 Saladin, the Western name for the ruler Salah al-Din ibn Ayyub, was the great Muslim general who confronted the Crusaders in the Near East.

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At last his mother, Queen Eleanor, took the ransom to Germany, and Richard was released. The King of France at once wrote to John: "Take care of thyself. The devil is unchained!"

Prince John had reason to fear his brother, for he had been a traitor to him during his captivity. He had secretly joined the French King, had vowed to the English people that his brother was dead, and had tried to seize the crown.

Prince John hastened to King Richard, fell on his knees before him and asked for pardon. "I forgive him", said the King, "and I hope I may forget the injury he has done me, as easily as I know he will forget my pardon".

As soon as King Richard was welcomed home by his enthusiastic subjects with great splendour, as soon as he had been crowned once more at Winchester, he resolved to show the French King that the devil was unchained indeed, and made war against him in great fury.

The French war was in progress when a certain Lord named Vidomar, Viscount of Limoges, chanced to find in his ground a treasure of ancient coins. As the King's vassal, he sent the King half of it; but the King claimed the whole. The King besieged the lord in his castle, swore that he would take the castle by storm and hang every man of its defenders on the battlements.

There was an old song in that part of the country, saying that an arrow, by which King Richard would die, would be made in Limoges. It may be that Bertrand de Gourdon, one of the young defenders of the castle, had often sung it or heard it sung and remembered the words, when he saw from his post upon the ramparts the King, attended only by his chief officer, riding below the walls. He drew an arrow, took steady aim and struck the King in the left shoulder.

Although the wound was not at first considered dangerous, it made the King retire to his tent. The castle was taken, its defenders were hanged — except Bertrand de Gourdon.

The wound became mortal because of the bad treatment; the King knew he was dying. He ordered to bring Bertrand to his tent. The young man was brought there, heavily chained. King Richard looked at him steadily. He looked as steadily at the King.

"Knave", said King Richard. "What have I done to thee that thou should take my life?" "Thou with thine own hands hast killed my father and my two brothers. And you will

certainly hang me. Let me die now, by any torture. Thou too must die; the world is free of thee, and I helped that!"

Again the King looked at the man steadily, again the young man looked steadily at him. Perhaps, some remembrance of his generous enemy Saladin, who was not a Christian, came into the mind of the dying King.

"Youth!" he said, "I forgive thee. Go unhurt!"

Then, turning to his chief officer, King Richard said: "Take off his chains, give him a hundred shillings, and let him depart".

He sank down on his bed and died. His age was forty-two, he had reigned ten years. His last command was not obeyed, for the chief officer hanged Bertrand de Gourdon.

There is an old tune yet known, by which this King is said to have been discovered in his captivity. Blondel, a favourite minstrel of King Richard, as the story relates, seeking his Royal master, went singing it outside the gloomy walls of many foreign fortresses and prisons; until at last he heard it echoed from within a dungeon, and knew the voice, and cried out: "O, Richard, о my King!" You may believe it, if you like. Richard was himself a Minstrel and a Poet. If he had not been a Prince too, he might have been a better man, perhaps, and might have gone out of the world with less bloodshed.

Comprehension questions

1.What happened during and after Richard’s coronation?

2.What were the Crusades?

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