Henry III.,

us king was extorting money for his ambitious designs and extravagant pleasures, and struggling to get back the

into England. Along with his hoarded gold came knowledge and culture, which he had obtained from the Saracen. Now, these germs had been revived by direct contact with the sources of ancient knowledge in

rd in the Thirt

of roystering, revelling youths, English, Welsh, and

astical or political measure, by fighting it out on the streets of their town, so t

tuous atmosphere; and while the democratic spirit of the University threa

th, which threw the old into contemptuous disuse. A spirit of doubt, scepticism, and denial, was engendered. They comprehended now why Abelard had claimed the "supremacy of reason over faith," and why Italian po

er Bacon Write

matizing all existing knowledge. His "Opus Majus" was intended to bring these riches to the unlearned. But he died uncomprehended, an

he Charter, Henry III. spent his entire reign in conflict with the barons and the people, who were closely drawn to

Commons, 1265. First true Parlia

ds and bishops-but two citizens from every city, and two burghers from every borough. A Rubicon was passed when the merchant, and the shopkeeper, sat for the first time with the noble and the bishops in the great council. It was thirty years before the change was fully effecte

ously confirmed the Great Charter, but added to its privileges

Conquered, 1213. Conq

had always maintained a separate existence; and as a recompense for their woun

s a romantic tradition, also belongs to this period, which saw too, the conquest of Scotland; and the magic stone supposed to have been Jacob's pillow at Bethel, and which w

est as had been the Irish. The Scots would not be slave

, Bannockburn, 1314. Ed

II., 132

to the succeeding reign, and Bruce's name was covered

was followed soon after by his murder; and then by a disgraceful regency, during which the Queen's favorite, Mortimer, was virtually king. But King Edward III. commenc

Westminster Abbey, and gunpowder, and cloth-weaving, is the England we all know to-day. Vicious kings and greed of territory, and lust of power, will keep the road from

Battle of C

rritory and conquest. The victory over the French at Crecy, 1346, (and later of Poitiers,) covered the warlike king and his son, Edward the "Black Prince," with imperis

sive reckonings since. He introduced a new and higher dignity into nobility by the title of Duke, which he bestowed upon his sons; the great landholders or barons, having until that time consti

decimated by protracted wars. The valiant old King, after a life of brilliant triumphs, carried

I.,1377-1399. Wat Ty

her, were a troublesome legacy to his feeble grandson. Enormous taxes unjustly levied to pay for past glories, do not improve the temper of a people. A shifting of the burden from one class to another arr

e began to be a new sentiment in the air. Men were asking why the few should dress in velvet and the many in rags

delved an

hen the g

n the king and the people. In those earlier times the people unresistingly lapsed into decadence, but the

ohn Wickliff

e. There was a spirit of inquiry, having its centre at Oxford, looking into the title-deeds of the great ecclesiastical despotism. Wickliffe heretically claimed that the Bible

ch from which all spiritual life had departed, and which in its decay tightened its grasp upon the very things

polite society, and English among the people. Chaucer's genius selected the language of the people for its expression, as also of course, did Wickliffe in h

on of Richard II. House

of popular discontents was besides only the groundwork for the personal strifes and ambitions which raged about the throne. The wretched King, embroiled with every class and every par