Sussex, assisted by Robert earl of Gloucester, natural son of the late king. The whole of Matilda's retinue, upon this occasion, amounted to no more than one hundred and forty knights, who immediately took possession of Arundel castle; but the nature of her claim soon increased the num ber of her partisans, and her forces every day seemed to gain ground upon those of her antagonist. 5. Mean time Stephen being assured of her arrival, flew to besiege Arundel, where she had taken refuge, and where she was protected by the queen dowager, who secretly favoured her pretensions. This fortress was too feeble to promise a long defence; and would have soon been taken had it not been represented to the king that, as it was a castle belonging to the queen dowager, it would be an infringement on the re spect due to her to attempt taking it by force 6. There was a spirit of generosity mixed with the rudeness of the times that unaccountably prevailed in many transactions. Stephen permitted Matilda to come forth in safety, and had her conveyed with security to Bristol. another fortress equally strong with that from which he permitted her to retire. 7. It would be tedious to relate the various skirmishes on either side, in pursuance of their re spective pretensions; it will suffice to say that Matilda's forces increased every day, while her antagonist seemed every hour to become weaker: and a victory gained by the queen threw Stephen from the throne into a prison, and exalted Matilda in his room. Matilda was crowned at Winchester with all imaginable solemnity. 8. Matilda, however, was unfit for government. She affected to treat the nobility with a degree of disdain to which they had long been unaccustomed; so that the fickle nation once more began to pity their deposed king, and repent the steps they had taken in her favour. The bishop of Winchester was not remiss in fomenting these discontents; and when he found the people ripe for a tumult. detached a party of his friends and vassals to block up the city of London, where the queen then resided. 9. At the same time measures were taken to instigate the Londoners o a revolt, and to seize her person. Matilda, having timely notice of this conspiracy, fled to Winchester, whither the bishop, still her secret enemy, followed her, watching ar opportunity to ruin her cause. His party was soon suf ficiently strong to bid the queen open defiance, and to be siege her in the very place where she first received his benediction. 10. There she continued for some time; but the town being pressed by a famine, she was obliged to escape; while her brother, the earl of Gloucester, endea vouring to follow, was taken prisoner, and exchanged for Stephen, who still continued a captive. Thus a sudden revolution once more took place; Matilda was deposed, and obliged to seek for safety in Oxford. Stephen was again recognized as the king, and taken from his dungeon to be replaced on the throne. 11. But he was now to enter the lists with a new opposer, who was every day coming to maturity, and growing more formidable. This was Henry, the son of Matilda, who had now reached his sixteenth year; and gave the greatest hopes of being one day a valiant leader and a consummate politician. 12. With the wishes of the people in his favour, young Henry was resolved to claim his hereditary kingdom, and to dispute once more Stephen's usurped pretensions; he accordingly made an invasion on England, where he was immediately joined by almost all the barons of the kingdom. 13. In the mean time, Stephen, alarmed at the power and popularity of his young rival, tried every method to anticipate the purpose of an invasion; but finding it impossible to turn the torrent, he was obliged to have recourse to treaty. It was, therefore, agreed, by all parties, that Stephen should reign during his life; and that justice should be administered in his name: that Henry should, on Ste phen's death, succeed to the kingdom; and William, Stephen's son, should inherit Boulogne and his patrimonial estate. 14. After all the barons had sworn to this treaty, which filled the whole kingdom with joy, Henry evacuated England; and Stephen returned to the peaceful enjoyment of his throne. His reign, however, was soon after terminated by his death, which happened about a year after the treaty, at Canterbury, where he was interred. Questions for Examination. 1 Who succeeded Henry the first? 2. What measures were taken to secure the throne? 3. What were the first acts of Stephen? 4. Was there no opposition to Stephen? 6. What was Stephen's conduct towards Matilda? 7. Did Matilda succeed in recovering the throne? 8. Had Matilda's conduct any serious consequences? 10 Whither did Matilda flee for safety? In what manner did she escape? 11. Had Stephen any new opposer? 12. Who joined Henry when he invaded England? CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS. ....... Popes. A.D. Celestine II............... 1143 Man. Comnenus... 1143 Lucius II... 1144 Eugenius III...... 1145 A.D. Emperors of the West. Louis VII........ 1137 Anastasius IV..... 1153 John Comnenus.... 1118 Frederic I........ 1152 David I......... 1124 EMINENT PERSONS. John of Salisbury, Henry of Huntingdon, Roger de Hoveden, Geoffrey of Monmouth, (historians.) Curboil and Theobald, archhishops of Canterbury Thurston, archbishop of York, and lieutenant to the king who appointed Ralph, bishop of Durham, his general against the Scots. Robert, Earl of Gloucester, Ranulph, earl of Chester. CHAPTER VIII. HENRY II Born 1132 Died July 6th 1189. Began to reign Dec. 8th, 1154.* Reignod 34 years. SECTION I. With thee, Plantagenet, from civil broils Then Becket rose, and impotent of mind, Bid murd'rous priests the sov'reign frown contemn, And, with unhallow'd Crozier, bruised the crown. Shenstone. 1. (A. 1). 1155.) THE first act of Henry's government gave the people a happy omen of his future wise administration. Conscious of his power, he began to correct those abuses, and to resume those privileges, which had been extorted from the weakness or the credulity of his predecessors. He immediately dismissed those mercenary soldiers who committed infinite disorders in the nation 2. He resumed many of those benefactions which had been made to churches and monasteries in the former reigns. He gave charters to several towns, by which the citizens claimed their freedom and privileges, independent of any superior but himself. These charters were the groundwork of English liberty. The struggles which had before this time been, whether the king, or the barons, or the clergy, should be despotic over the people, now began to assume a new aspect; and a fourth order, namely, that of the more opulent of the people, began to claim a share in administration. Thus was the feudal government first impaired; and liberty began to be more equally diffused throughout the nation. 4. Ílenry being thus become the most powerful prince of his age, the undisputed monarch of England, possessed of more than a third of France, and having humbled the barons that would circumscribe his power, he might naturally be expected to reign with very little opposition for the future. But it happened otherwise. He found the severest mortifications from a quarter where he least ex' pected resistance. 5 The famous Thomas à Becket, the first man of Eng lish extraction who had, since the Norman conquest, risen to any share of power, was the son of a citizen of London. *He was on the continent at the time of Stephen's death, and the commencement of his reign is dated from the day of his landing in England Having received his early education in the schools of that metropolis, he resided some time at Paris; and, on his return, became clerk in the sheriff's office. Front that numble station he rose, through the gradations of office, until at last he was made archbishop of Canterbury-a dignity second only to that of the king.* 6. No sooner was he fixed in this high station, which rendered him for life the second person in the kingdom, than he endeavoured to retrieve the character of sanctity which his former levities might have appeared to oppose He was in his person the most mortified man that could be seen. He wore sackcloth next his skin. He changed it so seldom, that it was filled with dirt and vermin. His usual diet was bread; his drink water, which he rendered farther urpalatable, by the mixture of unsavory herbs. 7. His back was mangled with frequent discipline. He every day washed on his knees the feet of thirteen beggars. Thus pretending to sanctity, he set up for being a defender of the privileges of the clergy, which had for a long time been enormous, and which it was Henry's aim to abridge. 8. An opportunity soon offered, and gave him a popular pretext for beginning his intended reformation. A man in holy orders had debauched the daughter of a gentleman in Worcestershire; and then murdered the father to prevent * The parentage of this extraordinary man was truly romantic. His father, Gilbert Beck, or Becket, while serving as a private soldier in Palestine, was taken prisoner by a Saracen chief. He had the good fortune to engage the affections of his master's daughter, and by her aid made his escape. She soon after took the desperate resolution of quitting her home and country in search of the object of her love, and though the only two words of any western language which she knew were London and Gilbert, set out for Europe. By the aid of the former word she secured a passage on board an English vessel; and when she was landed on the banks of the Thames, she ran from street to street, calling out the latter name, until chance brought her into the presence of Gilbert himself. The strangeness of the event excited universal attention, and the young Saracen, after being baptized by the Christian name of Matilda, became the wife of Gilbert Becket. Thomas was their eldest son, and was educated in all the learning and accomplish ments of the age. He was in early life taken under the patronage of Thibaut, or Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, and by the favour of that prelate was permitted to enjoy indulgences which the Norman conquerors had pro hibited to all of Saxon descent. During the reign of Stephen, Becket and his patron were warm supporters of Henry's claim to the English crown, and in consequence he was rewarded at the commencement of the new reign with the high office of chancellor of England. In this situation he was distin guished by his zeal in defence of the royal prerogative, and by the extrava gant pomp and luxury of his establishment. Henry believing that the companion of his games, his wars, and even his debaucheries, would be subservient to his desires of limiting the power of the church, elevated Becket to the see of Canterbury, but found too late that he had only given to the holy see a zealous champion, and to himself a dangerous antagonist |