England under the Angevin Kings, Volume II

Transcriber’s Note


Words in italics are marked with _underscores_.

Words in small capitals are shown in UPPER CASE.

Please see the note at the end of the book.




  ENGLAND
  UNDER
  THE ANGEVIN KINGS




[Illustration: Publisher’s colophon]




  ENGLAND
  UNDER
  THE ANGEVIN KINGS

  BY
  KATE NORGATE

  IN TWO VOLUMES--VOL. II.

  WITH MAPS AND PLANS

  London
  MACMILLAN AND CO.
  AND NEW YORK
  1887

  _All rights reserved_




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER I

                                                              PAGE
  ARCHBISHOP THOMAS, 1162–1164                                   1
    Note A.--The Council of Woodstock                           43
    Note B.--The Council of Clarendon                           44


  CHAPTER II

  HENRY AND ROME, 1164–1172                                     46


  CHAPTER III

  THE CONQUEST OF IRELAND, 795–1172                             82


  CHAPTER IV

  HENRY AND THE BARONS, 1166–1175                              120


  CHAPTER V

  THE ANGEVIN EMPIRE, 1175–1183                                169


  CHAPTER VI

  THE LAST YEARS OF HENRY II., 1183–1189                       229


  CHAPTER VII

  RICHARD AND ENGLAND, 1189–1194                               273


  CHAPTER VIII

  THE LATER YEARS OF RICHARD, 1194–1199                        332


  CHAPTER IX

  THE FALL OF THE ANGEVINS, 1199–1206                          388
    Note.--The Death of Arthur                                 429


  CHAPTER X

  THE NEW ENGLAND, 1170–1206                                   431




LIST OF MAPS


  III. IRELAND, A.D. 1172                        _To face page_ 82

  IV. MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE REBELLION OF 1173–1174       ”     149

  V. FRANCE AND BURGUNDY _c._ 1180                       ”     185

  VI. EUROPE _c._ 1180                                   ”     189

  VII. FRANCE AND THE ANGEVIN DOMINIONS, 1194            ”     359




PLANS


  VII. LES ANDELYS AND CHÂTEAU-GAILLARD         _To face page_ 375

  VIII. CHÂTEAU-GAILLARD                                ”      378




CHAPTER I.

ARCHBISHOP THOMAS.

1162–1164.


Somewhat more than a year after the primate’s death, Thomas the
chancellor returned to England. He came, as we have seen, at the
king’s bidding, ostensibly for the purpose of securing the recognition
of little Henry as heir to the crown. But this was not the sole nor
even the chief object of his mission. On the eve of his departure--so
the story was told by his friends in later days--Thomas had gone to
take leave of the king at Falaise. Henry drew him aside: “You do not
yet know to what you are going. I will have you to be archbishop of
Canterbury.” The chancellor took, or tried to take, the words for a
jest. “A saintly figure indeed,” he exclaimed with a smiling glance at
his own gay attire, “you are choosing to sit in that holy seat and to
head that venerable convent! No, no,” he added with sudden earnestness,
“I warn you that if such a thing should be, our friendship would soon
turn to bitter hate. I know your plans concerning the Church; you will
assert claims which I as archbishop must needs oppose; and the breach
once made, jealous hands would take care that it should never be healed
again.” The words were prophetic; they sum up the whole history of
the pontificate of Thomas Becket. Henry, however, in his turn passed
them over as a mere jest, and at once proclaimed his intention to the
chancellor’s fellow-envoys, one of whom was the justiciar, Richard de
Lucy. “Richard,” said the king, “if I lay dead in my shroud, would
you earnestly strive to secure my first-born on my throne?” “Indeed I
would, my lord, with all my might.” “Then I charge you to strive no
less earnestly to place my chancellor on the metropolitan chair of
Canterbury.”[1]

        [1] Herb. Bosh. (Robertson, _Becket_, vol. iii.), pp. 180, 182.
        Cf. _Thomas Saga_ (Magnusson), vol. i. pp. 63–67.

Thomas was appalled. He could not be altogether taken by surprise;
he knew what had been Theobald’s wishes and hopes; he knew that from
the moment of Theobald’s death all eyes had turned instinctively upon
himself with the belief that the future of the Church rested wholly
in his all-powerful hands; he could not but suspect the king’s own
intentions,[2] although the very suspicion would keep him silent,
and all the more so because those intentions ran counter to his own
desires. For twelve months he had known that the primacy was within his
reach; he had counted the cost, and he had no mind to pay it. He was
incapable of undertaking any office without throwing his whole energies
into the fulfilment of its duties; his conception of the duties of the
primate of all Britain would involve the sacrifice not only of those
secular pursuits which he so keenly enjoyed, but also of that personal
friendship and political co-operation with the king which seemed almost
an indispensable part of the life of both; and neither sacrifice was
he disposed to make.