GENEROUS CONDUCT OF THE BLACK PRINCE.

149

10. Having ordered a magnificent supper to be prepared, he himself served at table, as if he had been one of the retinue. He stood behind the king's chair, declining to sit down in his presence, saying, "he knew too well the difference of rank between a subject and a sovereign prince."

11. The king, much affected by this generous treatment, so little to be expected from so youthful a conqueror, burst into tears, and declared that though it was his fate to be a captive, he rejoiced that he had fallen into the hands of the most generous and valiant prince alive.

12. The prince, after returning thanks to God for his victory, praised his troops for their conduct, and gave rewards and dignities to those who had particularly distinguished themselves. On the 24th of the following April, he sailed with his royal prisoners to England. On their approach to London, they were met by a train of a thousand citizens, in their best array, who conducted them with great state to Westminster.

13. The Black Prince, in a plain dress, and on a little palfrey, rode by the side of the King of France, who was clad in royal robes, and mounted on a stately war-horse. When they arrived at Westminster, King Edward met them, and embraced the captive king with every mark of respect and affection. He and his son were sumptuously lodged, and treated more like visitors than prisoners, during the three years they remained in England.

eceived and treated by the prince? 11. How was the king affe ted by this treatment! 12. When did the prince return to England? 13. What is said or the reception of him and his prisoners there?

13*

150

RANSOM OF KING JOHN.-1360.

CHAPTER LXXXIV.

Honorable Conduct of John, King of France.-Edward the Black Prince, and his Wife, the Fair Maid of Kent, hold their Court at Bordeaux.-The Prince becomes ill, and returns to England, and dies.-Death of Edward III.-The English Language adopted.How the King erected his Buildings.

1. EDWARD had now two captive monarchs in his kingdom; but he soon after released David Bruce, who had remained a prisoner eleven years, upon payment of a large ransom. After the lapse of three years, and many tedious negotiations, a treaty for the release of John was at length concluded. His ransom was fixed at three millions of gold crowns.

2. Edward accompanied John to Calais, and the two kings, with many expressions of affection and regard, parted on the 24th of October, 1360. One of the hostages who had been given for the payment of John's ransom having escaped, that monarch, who felt that by this breach of faith his own honor was impeached, returned to England, where he died in the year 1364.

3. The government of the provinces conquered in France was given to the Black Prince, who, with his wife, called the Fair Maid of Kent, established his court at Bordeaux. He soon afterwards engaged in a war to replace Pedro on the throne of Spain, in which he was at the time successful.

LXXXIV.-1. What kings did Edward hold as prisoners? 2. When was John re leased? Why did he return to England? When did he die? 3. In what new expedi

DEATH OF THE BLACK PRINCE.—1376.

151

4. After his return from Spain, the Black Prince became subject to such continued ill health, that it was believed he had been poisoned. His illness had a most unhappy effect on his temper; from being the most benevolent and generous of men, he became cruel and morose. After some months of constant suffering, he became unable from weakness to mount his horse, and was obliged to give up the command of the army.

5. From this time the glory of England declined; every expe dition was unsuccessful. These mortifications, and his continued illness, increased the irritability of his mind. He returned to England, as a last hope, for the recovery of his health; but, after lingering some time, he died on the 8th of June, 1376, in the fortyseventh year of his age.

6. His loss was felt throughout England, as a private as well as a public loss. The Captal de Bucke, one of his brave companions, was so much afflicted by his death, that he refused to take food, and thus soon followed his lamented master.

7. The loss of his son broke the heart of the poor old king, who did not long survive him, and died at his palace, June 1st, 1877, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, and the fifty-first of his reign.

8. Edward's war with France produced one important_effect. Hitherto, the king and nobility had never forgotten their French extraction, and the French language had been the language in common use by them. But they had now acquired such an antipathy to the French, that the use of the French language was abolished, and it was ordered by law that none but the English should be employed in the courts of law, and in the public deeds.

9. The condition of the laboring classes in this reign may be best understood from the manner in which Edward conducted the building of the magnificent castle of Windsor. Instead of engaging workmen by contracts and wages, he ordered every county in England to send him a certain number of masons, carpenters, and other artificers, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants, just as if he had been levying an army; and this command was promptly obeyed.

TABLE OF THE FAMILY OF EDWARD III.

WIFE.

Philippa, daughter of the Earl of Hainault.

SONS.

Edward, the Black Prince, who died before his father.

Lionel, Duke of Clarence, who died before his father, leaving a daughter, who married Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March.

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

Edmund, Duke of York.

Thomas, Duke of Gloucester.

tion did the Black Prince engage? 4, 5. What change took place in the Black Prince? When did he die? 6. What was a consequence of his death? 7. When did Edward III. die? What was his age? How long had he reigned? 8. What change was effected in consequence of the wars with the French? 9. What circumstance is given as a specimen of the condition of the people?

152 RICHARD II. SUCCEEDS TO THE THRONE.-1377.

DAUGHTERS.

Isabel, married to the Earl of Bedford.

Joan, married to the King of Castile.
Mary, married to the Duke of Brittany.
Margaret, married to the Earl of Pembroke.

GRANDSONS.

Richard, son of the Black Prince, who succeeded to the throne.

Henry, son of John of Gaunt, afterwards king, by the name of Henry IV. John Beaufort, son of John of Gaunt, from whom was descended King Henry VII.

Henry Beaufort, son of John of Gaunt, who was Cardinal of Winchester. Richard, son of Edmund of York.

CHAPTER LXXXV.

Richard II. succeeds to the Throne.-Character of his three Uncles.Insurrection of the People under Wat Tyler and Jack Straw.— About the Templars and the Temple.

1. IMMEDIATELY after the death of his grandfather, the son of the Black Prince was proclaimed king, by the title of Richard II. He was only eleven years old. No regency was expressly appointed, but the king's uncles, the Dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, governed in the king's name.

2. John of Gaunt, the eldest of these, had a high spirit and great ambition, and even during his father's lifetime had exercised great

LXXXV.-1. Who succeeded Edward III.? Who governed in his name? 2. What was the character of the king's uncles? 3. What measure was adopted to raise money!

WAT TYLER'S INSURRECTION.—1381

153

authority in the state. The Duke of York was well mear ing, but indolent and of little ability. The Duke of Gloucester was turbulent, bold, and meddling; but John, being the oldest, had the chief sway in their councils.

3. Edward left his grandson involved in wars both with France and Scotland, to maintain which, a tax was imposed, in 1381, upon every person above fifteen years of age. This tax excited great discontents among the people, which were raised to the highest pitch by the insolent conduct of the collectors.

4. One of these having insulted the daughter of a tyler at Deptford, named Walter, the father knocked down the ruffian with his hammer. The mob applauded the action, and, exclaiming that it was full time to throw off the yoke of servitude, and to take vengeance on their tyrants, flew to arms. Wat Tyler, as he is called, took upon himself the command of the insurgents, and sent messages into all the neighboring counties, inviting the laboring classes to join them. 5. The summons was joyfully obeyed, and quitting their employments, the people hastened to Blackheath, the appointed place of meeting, burning the houses and plundering the estates of the nobility as they passed. The frenzy of the people was encouraged by the declamations of a crazy priest, named John Ball, who went about preaching to them from such texts as this:

"When Adam delved, and Eve span,

Who was then the gentleman ?"

6. The mob, when assembled at Blackheath, amounted to at least 100,000 men. Wat Tyler and another man, called, from his business as a thresher, Jack Straw, were appointed leaders, and they all set off like hounds in full cry towards London. Rushing into the city, they spread themselves over it, killing every gentleman who came in their way, and filling every part with terror.

7. They were particularly furious against the Lombards and Flemings; and those who could not pronounce the words "bread and cheese," with a proper English accent, were judged to be foreigners, and had their heads cut off on the spot.

8. Their rage was also directed against the lawyers, and the Temple, with all the records that were kept in it, was destroyed. This is the name of a building that was once the residence of the Knights Templars, an order of monkish knights, who took upon themselves the vow of never marrying, and observed other monastic rules.

9. Instead of living in monasteries, and wearing cowls, they put on armor, and devoted themselves to the protection of those who went on pilgrimages to the Holy Land. About the year 1310 the order was dissolved, and Edward III. granted their house, which from them was called the Temple, to the students of law, by whom it is still inhabited.

How was it received by the people? 4. What act led immediately to the insurrection? Who was made the leader? 5. What is said of John Ball? 6. Where did the mob assemble? Who were appointed leaders? What did the mob proceed to do? 7. What is said of their treatment of foreigners? 8. What is the Temple? What is said of the Templars? 9. By whom is the Temple now occupied'