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Henry III.

now de

At length the land was once more tranquil, and the A.D. 1267. King directed his attention to the improvement of the The King country. Bridges were thrown across rivers, roads were made, and at a Parliament held at Marlborough at the end of 1267, some of the most useful among the provisions of the barons were confirmed.

votes him

self to the improvement of

his kingdom.

The Pope

exhorts the

King to be

A.D. 1269.

tries to per

suade the

prince to undertake

Pope Clement the Fourth, who, as Cardinal Guido,
had excommunicated the barons after the Battle of
Lewes, was well pleased at the king's victory at
Evesham, and sent over Cardinal Ottoboni to congra-
tulate him on his success. He seems, however, to

have felt the necessity of curbing the severe spirit of
Henry and his son; for he instructed the cardinal to
express his disapprobation of the harsh measures of
the Parliament at Winchester, and he earnestly ex-
horted them to use with moderation the power they
had obtained by victory. Ottoboni then turned his
attention to ecclesiastical matters, and many of the
regulations he made relative to the plurality of
livings and other matters, remain in force to this
day.

Before the cardinal left England he called together The Pope a great meeting at Northampton, on April 25th, 1269, to persuade the Prince and the barons to undertake a crusade against the Saracens, who had recovered posa new cru- session of the greater part of the Holy Land. He gave the cross to the King, to the Princes Edward and Edmund, to twenty-two bannerets, and to more than one hundred knights. Edward consented to undertake the expedition.

sade.

He consents,

It is singular that while the kingdom was still in an unsettled state, and his father in his sixty-fourth year, he should have absented himself from the kingdom. But it was no doubt attractive to his bold and warlike

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spirit to engage in such an adventurous expedition, Henry III. and it was considered a duty to defend the Holy Land A.D. 1269. against the infidels. Antioch had fallen; the Christians were in dire distress; the French King, Louis the Ninth, was on his way; and, finally, the Prince doubtless thought he could get rid of some of the most dangerous of the barons by taking them with him to Palestine. Among these was the Earl of Gloucester; but stipuand the Prince expressly stipulated that he should ac- the Earl of company him. Edward set out immediately, and took Gloucester with him his wife Eleanor, sister to Alphonso, King with him. of Castile. Before he left England, the King, at his instance, restored their liberties to the citizens of London.

lates that

shall go

Prince

Holy Land,

great suc

rowly es

tion.

Edward did not reach Palestine till the following A.D. 1270. year, A.D. 1270, having been detained by the absence Ed and subsequent death of Louis, whose son Philip reaches the abandoned the crusade. In the next year he took and has Nazareth, and gained several victories; but, in the cess, year after, he had a narrow escape from assassina- but nartion. He was struck with a poisoned dagger, but, capes asaccording to a popular legend, his queen, Eleanor, sassinasaved his life by sucking the poison from the wound. In 1272 he set out on his return home; but before A.D. 1272. he reached England his father died, after a long reign of fifty-six years, the longest in our history except that of George the Third. This event took place on November 16, 1272. The King was buried in Westminster Abbey, which he had rebuilt from its foundation; and his body was deposited in the very tomb, out of which he had removed the bones of WestminEdward the Confessor into a golden shrine.

He sets out on his return home.

Death of
Henry.

Nov. 16.

Buried in

ster Abbey.

Henry III.

His cha

racter.

Summary of the Character of Henry the Third.

Thus ends the history of a King who left behind him no love for his virtues, nor hatred for his crimes. He was an amiable, religious, man; of elegant tastes; but weak, vacillating, and indolent. In order to be left to the quiet enjoyment of his favourite tastes, and occupations, he was only too willing to make promises, which were no sooner inade, than he found reason to break them. He had not sufficient strength of mind to remain firm to his plighted word. His reign will, however, remain memorable, so long as our constitutional government stands, as having been the time when its foundations were first securely laid.

In narrating the events of this reign, I have been constantly obliged to remark on the weak and blamable points in the king's character; but, it would be unjust to his memory, were I not also to point out his redeeming good qualities. Unfortunately, however, these were more suited to the adornment of a private station, than to shed lustre on the character of a king. He was pure in his domestic life, and of strong religious feelings; and he had a great love for, and was a great patron of, art. "Henry did more to advance the progress of art than any English sovereign anterior to Edward the Third." 54 He rebuilt Westminster Abbey from his foundation; he decorated and ornamented Windsor Castle, which was said, by a contemporary writer, to be the most. magnificent palace in Europe; and he "repaired, or rebuilt, most of the numerous manor-houses belonging to the crown; besides contributing largely to the improvement of parish churches in all parts of the kingdom."54 He brought to England many

Italian artists; and his taste for the fine arts must Henry III have been one of the sources of that profuse ex- His chapenditure, which often involved him in difficulties. racter. His social qualities were also great; and he displayed them, not only in his liberal entertainments to his great men at home, but in his splendid festivities abroad when he visited France.

Remarkable Persons in Henry's Reign.

able persons in

reign.

In Henry's reign, the English language was still Remarkconfined to the daily intercourse of life, and was not adopted in written books. But there were several Henry's writers, who, although they used the Latin tongue, have shed a lustre on this reign. The name of Roger Roger Bacon is the first that presents itself. His learn- Bacon. ing extended over almost every branch of human knowledge. He is called an astrologer and an alchemist; but he was really a deep student of nature, whose mysteries he skilfully unravelled. He not only understood the laws of light, but he conceived the idea of a telescope, and made some advances towards an explanation of the phenomenon of the rainbow. He knew the effects and composition of gunpowder, and was well acquainted with many branches of what is now called Natural Philosophy. The historians of the time next claim our notice, and the chief of these were monks. There was Matthew Paris, a Benedic- Matthew tine monk of the monastery of St. Alban's, William Paris. Rishanger, another monk of the same abbey, and Rishanger. Roger of Wendover, who was originally a monk of Roger of St. Alban's.

These are the principal writers whose names deserve mention; but there is another well known Englishman, to whom I have already referred, and without

R

Wendover.

Henry III. an account of whom the history of this reign would be very imperfect. I refer to Robin Hood.

Robin
Hood

was a

Saxon yeo

man.

A Scotch historian says he

"took to

after the battle of

Robin Hood.

Robin Hood may be looked on as a representative of the popular or Anglo-Saxon party, which had never ceased to exist from the time of the conquest. By some persons, he is looked on, almost as an imaginary personage; by others, as a criminal outlaw; by others, as a ruined nobleman, who took to the woods. to retrieve his fortunes by robbery. But, according to the most trustworthy accounts, he was a Saxon yeoman*, whom oppression had driven, to a life of warfare, with all oppressors and plunderers of the people.

Of his actual existence there can be no doubt. A Scotch historian, John of Fordun, who lived in the folthe woods" lowing century, alludes to him by name. "Then," he says, "arose, from among the dispossessed and Evesham. banished, that most famous cut-throat Robert Hood, and Little John, with their accomplices, whom the foolish multitude are so extravagantly fond of celebrating in tragedy and comedy, and the ballads concerning whom, sung by the jesters and minstrels, delight them beyond all others;" but he adds, "of whom, however, some praiseworthy facts are nar

* Chaucer thus describes a yeoman of the following century:

"And he was clad in coat and hood of green.
A sheaf of peacock arrows bright and keen
Under his belt he bare full thriftily.
Well could he dress his tackle yeomanly;
His arrows drooped not with feathers low,
And in his hand he bare a mighty bow."

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