HISTORY 



47 



he should be succeeded by Henry, son of Matilda 

 and the Count of Anjou. Stephen died in 



and Henry Plant. o -net u-f-nded the throne 

 with tlie title ot Henry II.. being the first of tho 

 Plant agenet or Angevin kings. A larger domin- 

 ion was united under his .-way than' had been 

 . any previous sovereign of England, for 

 at the time wnen he became King of England he 

 was already in the possession of Anjou. Nor- 

 mandy. and A.mitaine. 



y II. found far less difficulty in restrain- 



* license of his barons than in abridging 

 the exorbitant privileges of the clergy, who 

 claimed exemption not only from the taxea of 

 ite, but also from its penal enactments, 

 and who were supported in their demands by the 

 nrimate IVrket. The king's wishes were formu- 

 lated in the Constitutions of Clarendon (1164), 

 which were first accepted and then repudiated 

 by the primate. The assassination of Berket. 

 however, placed the king at a disadvantage in 



igi:le. and after his conquest of Ireland 



1171' he submitted to the Church, and did pen- 



ance at 1'ecket's tomb. Henry was the first who 



the common people of England in a situ- 

 ation which led to their having a share in the 

 government. The system of frank-pledge was 

 revived, trial by jury was instituted by the Assize 

 of Clarendon, and the Eyre courts were made 

 jK>rmanent by the Assize of Nottingham. To 

 curb the power of the nobles he granted charters 



clared null and void by the pope, and war broke 

 out between John and the barons, who were aided 

 by the French king. In 1'2 16, however, John 

 died, and his turbulent reign was succeeded by 

 the almost equally turbulent reign of Henry III. 

 During the first years of the reign of Henry 

 III. the abilities of the Earl of Pembroke, who 

 was regent until 12H. retained the kingdom in 



06, 



<?for- 



tranquillity; but when, in li'-T. Henry a 

 the reins of government he showctl himself 

 incapable of managing them. The Chan 

 three times reissued in a modified form, and new 

 privileges were added to it. but the king took no 

 pains to observe its provisions. The M 

 long maintained in the great council (!: 

 ward called Parliament) over money grants and 

 other grievances reached an acute stage i; 

 when civil war broke out. Simon de Mont fort 

 who had laid the foundations of the house of 

 Commons by summoning representatives of the 

 shire communities to the Mad Parliament of 

 1258, had by this time engrossed the sole power. 

 He defeated the king and his son Edward at 

 Lewes in 1264, and in his famous parliament of 

 1265 still further widened the privileges of the 

 people by summoning to it burgesses as well as 

 knights of the shire. The escape of Prince 

 Edward, however, was followed by the battle of 

 Evesham (1265), at which Earl Simon was de- 

 feated and slain, and the rest of the reign was 

 undisturbed. 



to town.-, treeing them from all subjection to any On the death of Henry III., in IL'TJ. Edward I. 

 but himself, t hi i- laying the foundation of a new succeeded without opposition. From 1276 to 

 order in society. 1284 he was largely occupied in tli- ' and 



Richard I., railed Co3ur de Lion, who in 1189 annexation of Wales, which had become practi- 

 -filed to hi- lather. Henry II., spent most of j cally independent during the bar In 



reign away from England. Having gone to ' 1292 Balliol, whom Edward had decided to be 



join in the third crusade he proved 

 him-elf an intrepid soldier. Returning homewards 

 in disguise through (icrmany. he was made pris- 

 oner by Leopold, duke of Austria, but was ran- 

 .-omed by hi- -ubjeets. In the meantime John, 

 In- l>rother. had a -pi red to the crown, and hoped, 

 by the assistance of the French, to exclude Rich- 

 ard from hi- right. Richard's presence for a 

 time restored matters to some appearance of 

 but having undertaken an expedition 

 nee, he received a mortal wound at 

 ire of Chalons, in 1199. 



rightful heir to the Scottish throne, did homage 

 for the fief to the English kins: but when, in 

 1294, war broke out with 1 'ranee. Scotland also 

 declared war. The Scots were defeated at Dun- 

 bar ( 12 ( .Mi). and the country placed under BJ 

 lish regent ; but the revolt under Wallace (1297) 

 was followed by that of Bruce (130T)). and the 

 Scots remained unsubdued. The rHi:n f 

 Edward was distinguish by many legal and leg- 

 islative reforms, such as the separation of the 



old king's court into the Court of Exchequer, 



Court of Kind's Bench, and Court of Common 

 John was at once recogni/ed a- King of Eng- Pleas, the passage of the Statute o( 



; red possession of Normandy ; but etc. In 1- >U ."> the iirst jn-rfect parliament was 

 Anjou. Maine, and Toiiraine acknowledged the summoned, the clergy and baron- I 



\rthur, son of Goeffrey, second son of writ, the common- by writ to the 

 ry II. On the death of Arthur, while in ing the elect ion of two knights from each - 



these four French provi: two uti/en- from each city. t\\o - 



at once 1 .land. John's oj.po-.it ion to each borough 



''ing a successor to the See of Can- of taxation with.*. of parliament was 



tcrbury in IJH."> led to the kingdom beini; placed forbidden by a -p. , , mi.. IHUI < 



interdict; -md the nation benm in a -at aim >' 



iition.he was at last Compelled to to includ i land, and \N ales in one 



received Stephen Langton as archbishop, and to kingdom proved a failure, and he died in 

 pt hi- kingdom as a lief of the papa. 



.ment had' equally I 



oie him with the noble*. In IJi:; they tunate to him-elf and to his kingdom. l : 

 ed to follow hit tie attempt 



r own privileges and abridge t hi land, but the Eni:lM> wn- aln 



g and bai my- unfortun > 



iLM.~>. the ( ireat Charter 'hey reo 



i- speedily de- Bruce \\hich ei^un-d the mde|enden' 



