110 XII. 1272. CHAP. than to ravage it by open force and violence. During this reign the papal power was at its summit, and was even beginning insensibly to decline, by reason of the immeasurable avarice and extortions of the court of Rome, which disgusted the clergy as well as laity, in every kingdom of Europe. England itself, though sunk in the deepest abyss of ignorance and superstition, had seriously entertained thoughts of shaking off the papal yoke;2 and the Roman pontiff was obliged to think of new expedients for rivetting it faster upon the Christian world. For this purpose Gregory IX. published his decretals;a which are a collection of forgeries, favourable to the court of Rome, and consist of the supposed decrees of popes in the first centuries. But these forgeries are so gross, and confound so palpably all language, history, chronology, and antiquities; matters more stubborn than any speculative truths whatsoever; that even that church, which is not startled at the most monstrous contradictions and absurdities, has been obliged to abandon them to the critics. But in the dark period of the thirteenth century they passed for undisputed and authentic; and men, entangled in the mazes of this false literature, joined to the philosophy, equally false, of the times, had nothing wherewithal to defend themselves, but some small remains of common sense, which passed for profaneness and impiety, and the indelible regard to self-interest, which, as it was the sole motive in the priests for framing these impostures, served also in some degree, to protect the laity against them. ANOTHER expedient, devised by the church of Rome, in this period, for securing her power, was the institution of new religious orders, chiefly the Dominicans and Franciscans, who proceeded with all the zeal and success that attend novelties; were better qualified to gain the populace than the old orders, now become rich and indolent; maintained a perpetual rivalship with each other in promoting their gainful superstitions; and acquired a great dominion over the minds, and consequently over the purses of men, by pretending a desire of poverty and a contempt for riches. The quarrels which arose between XII. 1272 these orders, lying still under the control of the sove- CHAP. reign pontiff, never disturbed the peace of the church, and served only as a spur to their industry in promoting the common cause; and though the Dominicans lost some popularity by their denial of the immaculate conception, a point in which they unwarily engaged too far to be able to recede with honour, they counterbalanced this disadvantage by acquiring more solid establishments, by gaining the confidence of kings and princes, and by exercising the jurisdiction assigned them, of ultimate judges and punishers of heresy. Thus, the several orders of monks became a kind of regular troops or garrisons of the Romish church; and though the temporal interests of society, still more the cause of true piety, were hurt, by their various devices to captivate the populace, they proved the chief supports of that mighty fabric of superstition, and, till the revival of true learning, secured it from any dangerous invasion. THE trial by ordeal was abolished in this reign by order of council: A faint mark of improvement in the age.b HENRY granted a charter to the town of New-castle, in which he gave the inhabitants a licence to dig coal. This is the first mention of coal in England. We learn from Madox," that this king gave at one time 100 shillings to master Henry, his poet: Also the same year he orders this poet ten pounds. IT appears from Selden, that in the 47th of this reign, a hundred and fifty temporal, and fifty spiritual barons were summoned to perform the service due by their tenures. In the 35th of the subsequent reign, eightysix temporal barons, twenty bishops, and forty-eight abbots, were summoned to a parliament convened at Carlisle. b Rymer, vol. i. p. 228. Spelman, p. 326. c Page 268. d Titles of Honour, par. 2. chap. 3. e Parliamentary Hist. vol. i. p. 151. CHAP. XIII. EDWARD I. CHAP. 1272. Civil administration of the king-Conquest of Wales-Affairs of Scotland-Competitors for the crown of Scotland -Reference to Edward-Homage of Scotland-Award of Edward in favour of Baliol-War with France-Digressions concerning the constitution of parliament-War with Scotland Scotland subdued-War with France·Dissensions with the clergy-Arbitrary measuresPeace with France-Revolt of Scotland-That kingdom again subdued-again revolts-is again subdued-Robert Bruce-Third revolt of Scotland-Death and character of the king-Miscellaneous transactions of this reign. THE English were as yet so little inured to obedience under a regular government, that the death of almost every king, since the Conquest, had been attended with disorders; and the council reflecting on the recent civil wars, and on the animosities which naturally remain after these great convulsions, had reason to apprehend dangerous consequences from the absence of the son and successor of Henry. They therefore hastened to proclaim prince Edward, to swear allegiance to him, and to summon the states of the kingdom, in order to provide for the public peace in this important conjuncture. Walter Gifford archbishop of York, the earl of Cornwal, son of Richard king of the Romans, and the earl of Glocester, were appointed guardians of the realm, and proceeded peaceably to the exercise of their authority, without either meeting with opposition from any of the people, or being f Rymer, vol. ii. p. 1. Walsing. p. 43. Trivet, p. 239 f XIII. 1272. disturbed with emulation and faction among themselves. CHAP. The high character acquired by Edward during the late commotions, his military genius, his success in subduing the rebels, his moderation in settling the kingdom, had procured him great esteem, mixed with affection, among all orders of men; and no one could reasonably entertain hopes of making any advantage of his absence, or of raising disturbance in the nation. The earl of Glocester himself, whose power and turbulent spirit had excited most jealousy, was forward to give proofs of his allegiance; and the other malcontents, being destitute of a leader, were obliged to remain in submission to the government. PRINCE Edward had reached Sicily in his return from the Holy Land, when he received intelligence of the death of his father; and he discovered a deep concern on the occasion. At the same time he learned the death of an infant son, John, whom his princess, Eleanor of Castile, had born him at Acre in Palestine; and as he appeared much less affected with that misfortune, the king of Sicily expressed a surprise at this difference of sentiment: But was told by Edward, that the death of a son was a loss which he might hope to repair; the death of a father was a loss irreparable. EDWARD proceeded homeward; but as he soon learned the quiet settlement of the kingdom, he was in no hurry to take possession of the throne, but spent near a year in France, before he made his appearance in England. his passage by Chalons in Burgundy, he was challenged by the prince of the country at a tournament which he was preparing; and as Edward excelled in those martial and dangerous exercises, the true image of war, he declined. not the opportunity of acquiring honour in that great assembly of the neighbouring nobles. But the image of war was here unfortunately turned into the thing itself. Edward and his retinue were so successful in the jousts, that the French knights, provoked at their superiority, made a serious attack upon them, which was repulsed, XIII. CHAP. and much blood was idly shed in the quarrel.b This rencounter received the name of the petty battle of Chalons. 1273. 1274. EDWARD went from Chalons to Paris, and did homage to Philip for the dominions which he held in France. He thence returned to Guienne, and settled that province, which was in some confusion. He made his journey to London through France; in his passage he accommodated at Montreuil a difference with Margaret countess August 19. of Flanders, heiress of that territory; he was received with joyful acclamations by his people, and was solemnly crowned at Westminster by Robert archbishop of Canterbury. Civil ad ministra tion of the king. 1275. 16th Feb. THE king immediately applied himself to the reestablishment of his kingdom, and to the correcting of those disorders which the civil commotions and the loose administration of his father had introduced into every part of government. The plan of his policy was equally generous and prudent. He considered the great barons both as the immediate rivals of the crown, and oppressors of the people; and he purposed, by an exact distribution of justice, and a rigid execution of the laws, to give at once protection to the inferior orders of the state, and to diminish the arbitrary power of the great, on which their dangerous authority was chiefly founded. Making it a rule in his own conduct to observe, except on extraordinary occasions, the privileges secured to them by the Great Charter, he acquired a right to insist upon their observance of the same charter towards their vassals and inferiors; and he made the crown be regarded by all the gentry and commonalty of the kingdom, as the fountain of justice, and the general asylum against oppression. Besides enacting several useful statutes, in a parliament which he summoned at Westminster, he took care to inspect the conduct of all his magistrates and judges, to displace such as were either negligent or corrupt, to provide them with sufficient force for the execution of justice, to extirpate all bands and confederacies of robbers, and to repress those more silent robberies which |