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his age. He left no other issue behind him than a natural son, called Philip.

This gallant prince, passionately fond of military glory, displayed the most shining talents in that career, and deserved by his personal courage and intrepidity, the appellation of Coeur de Lion, which was given him. These qualities, which make always great impression on the people, acquired him such a popularity, that though he passed no more than four months in his kingdom, he was much beloved by his English subjects, and would have been one of their best kings, had he promoted their happiness as much as he exerted himself for the glory of their name. But his reign was very oppressive and even arbitrary, from the high taxes which he levied, and often without the consent of the states or great council. In the ninth year of his reign, he levied five shillings on each hyde of land (about a hundred and twenty acres), and because the clergy refused to contribute their share, he put them out of the protection of the law, and ordered the civil courts to give them no sentence for any debts which they might claim. There were two hundred and fortythree thousand six hundred hydes in England; and at that time a hyde was commonly let at twenty shillings a year; the general and stated price of an ox, was four shillings; of a labouring horse, the same; of a sow, one shilling; of a sheep with fine wool, ten-pence; of coarse wool, six-pence. Richard never could bear any contradiction. Of an impetuous and vehement spirit, he was distinguished by all the good as well as the bad qualities, incident to that character. He was open, frank, generous, sincere, brave; but he was also revengeful, ambiticus, haughty, and committed acts of cruelty which threw an indelible stain on his glory. When Saladin refused to ratify the capitulation of Acre, Richard ordered all his prisoners, to the number of five

thousand, to be butchered; and the Saracens found themselves obliged to retaliate upon the Christians by a like cruelty.

Richard, upon his taking the cross, had declared heir to the throne Arthur, the son of his late brother Geoffrey, duke of Britanny. But on his return, Richard took no step towards securing what he had established according to the order of primogeniture and representation. He even declared, by his last will, his brother John heir to all his dominions, and was succeeded by him.

JOHN, Seventh King from the Conquest.

Ann. 1199 to 1202.

[Fourth son of Henry II.; born at Oxford, 1166; married his cousin Avisa, daughter of the earl of Glocester, 1189; crowned May 27, 1199; divorced Avisa on the plea of being too near of kin; and married Isabella, daughter of the count of Angoulême, contracted to the count of La Marche, 1200; crowned again with his new queen at London, 1200, and again at Canterbury, 1201; died at Newark castle, "October 28, 1216, aged 50; was buried in Worcester cathedral.]

The barons of the provinces of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine, declare in favour of Arthur's title, and apply for assistance to the king of France, who embraces the cause of the young duke of Britanny, and sends him to Paris to be educated along with his own son Lewis. John hastens to Rouen, and having secured the duchy of Normandy, passes over to England, takes possession of the throne with the acquiescence of the barons, and returns to France to conduct the war against Philip, and re

cover the revolted provinces from his nephew Arthur.

The Pope's legate claims the liberty of the bishop of Cambray, taken prisoner by the French in an action against the Flemings. Philip, instead of complying, reproaches the legate with his weak efforts in favour of the bishop of Beauvais, who was in a like condition. The legate shows his impartiality in laying at the same time the kingdom of France and the duchy of Normandy under an interdict, and thus obliges the two kings to make an exchange of their military prelates. Edict of Hastings, published in 1200, by which the king asserts in the strongest terms his dominion over the British seas, and commands his captains to seize all ships which will not strike their topsails to them, to confiscate their cargoes, and imprison their crews, even though subjects of a power in friendship with England.

Constantia, the dowager duchess of Britanny, seized with a violent jealousy that Philip intended to usurp the provinces that had declared for Arthur, finds means to carry off her son secretly from Paris, puts him into the hands of his uncle, to whom she restores the provinces which had adhered to Arthur, and makes the young prince do homage to John for the duchy of Britanny as a rear-fief of Normandy. Philip seeing that he could make no progress against John, becomes desirous of concluding a peace with England; the terms are agreed on, and the limits of all the respective territories finally adjusted. To render the union more durable, John gives his niece Blanche of Castile to prince Lewis, Philip's eldest son, and with her the baronies of Issoudun and Graçai, and other fiefs in Berry.

John, now secure on the side of France, indulges his passion for Isabella, the daughter of the count of Angoulême, married to the count de la Marche ; and his queen, the heiress of the family of Gloucester being still alive, he procures a divorce from

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her on some pretence or other, and marries Isabella. The injured husband and his brother, count d'Eu, excite commotions in Poitou and Normandy, and oblige the king to have recourse to arms. He summonses the English barons to join his standard, but they unanimously reply, that they would not attend him unless he would promise to restore and preserve their privileges. John intimidates them by menaces, engages many of them to follow him, and obliges the rest to pay him a rentage of two marks on each knight's fee as the price of their exemption from the service.

As the jurisprudence of the times required, that the causes in the lord's court should chiefly be decided by duel, John carries along with him a set of hired bravoes whom he retained as champions to fight his cause whenever any of the nobility opposed his encroachments, The nobles regarding it as an insult, declare that they would never fight against such contemptible opponents. The king menaces them with vengeance, but to no purpose. They appeal to the king of France, and complain of the denial of justice in John's court. Philip interposes in their behalf, and begins to talk in a high and menacing style to the king of England. John replies, that it belongs to himself to grant them a trial by their peers in his own court, and that it was not till he failed in this duty, that he was answerable to his peers in the supreme court of the French king.

Ann. 1203.

The young duke of Britanny who was now rising to man's estate, sensible of the dangerous character of his uncle, resolves to seek his security by an union with Philip and the malcontent barons, and joins the French army which had began hostilities

against the king of England. He is received with great marks of distinction, and knighted by Philip; marries his daughter Mary, and is invested not only in the duchy of Britanny, but in the counties of Anjou and Maine, which he had formerly resigned to his uncle. Every attempt succeeded with the allies; many towns fell into their hands almost without resistance; and in answer to every advance which the king made towards peace, Philip insisted that he should resign all his transmarine dominions to his nephew, and rest contented with England; when an event happened which deprived the coalition of its most interesting support. Young Arthur had broken into Poitou at the head of a small army, and besieged the fortress of Mirabeau, where his grandmother Eleanor, who had always opposed his interests, had retreated under the protection of a weak garrison and ruinous fortifications. But John, roused from his indolence by so pressing an occasion, advanced with hasty marches at the head of his army, fell on Arthur's camp before that prince was aware of the danger, dispersed his army, took him prisoner, together with the count de la Marche and the most considerable of the revolted barons, and returned in triumph to Normandy. The greater part of the prisoners were sent over to England, but Arthur was shut up in the castle of Falaise. The king represented to him the folly of his pretensions, and required him to renounce the French alliance; but the brave, though imprudent youth, maintained the justice of his cause; asserted his claim not only to the French provinces, but to the crown of England. John, sensible that the young prince, though now a prisoner, might hereafter prove a dangerous eneiny, determined to prevent all future peril by dispatching his nephew, and that gallant and amiable prince was never more heard of. The circumstances which attended this

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