Preface
|~N tins work the reader will not find everything he -*^ would expect to find in a publication bearing the title of a History of England. But it is intended that these pages shall include so much of the past as will suffice to give Ml presentation and prominence to .the great changes in. the history of this country, showing whence they have come, what they have been, and whither they have tended. My narrative, accordingly, while not described as a History of England, is designed to serve the ^ purpose for which all such histories have been profess- •* edly written. English history embraces much in com- - mon with the history of Europe, together with much that has been characteristic of itself; and it is reasonable that Englishmen should be more interested in what has been special to their country, than in details which might have had their place in the history of any one among a large family of states. The question to which this work is designed to present an answer is — What is it that has
IV PKEFACE.
made England to be England ? My object is to conduct the reader to satisfactory conclusions in relation to this question, by a road much more direct and simple than is compatible with the laws to which the historian usually conforms himself when writing the general history of a nation. Our busy age needs some assistance of this nature.
But while the spirit of our times is sufficiently disposed to appreciate directness and compression in authorship, it is, I am aware, by no means disposed to accept superficiality in the place of thoroughness. I do not affect to be unacquainted with what modern writers have published on English history ; but it is only due to myself to state, that on no point of importance in relation to my object, have I allowed myself to be dependent on such authorities. In many instances, when I have contented myself with citing a modern author, it has not been until after an examination of the sources adduced in support of his statements. It has been my earnest wish that this work should be the result throughout of a fair measure of independent research and of independent thought.
The sense in which I use the term ' Revolution ' scarcely needs explanation. The word is meant to comprehend the great phases of change in our history, clue place being assigned to the great cause in regard to each of them. Down to the close of the fourteenth century, change among us comes mainly from the conflicts of race. Under the Tudors, the great principle of revolu-
PREFACE.
tion is religion ; under the Stuarts, that principle gives place considerably to the principles of government. The first question to be settled was the question of race ; the next concerned the national faith ; and the next the future of the English Constitution. Many causes contributed to the strength of these leading causes of action, but through their respective periods these are felt to be leading causes, and the effects which flow from them are all more or less impressed by them. In the progress of Great Britain since 1688, no single cause has acquired the prominence of the causes above mentioned.
In taking up such a theme as the Revolutions in English History, it is probable that no two writers would be agreed as to the best method of dealing with it — or as to the principle that should determine the selection of material, and where to stop. On these points, and on many beside, I have to throw myself on the candour of the reader. The course I have taken has been chosen after the best thought I could bestow on the subject. In the further prosecution of my object, I hope to avail myself freely of the rich material in the State Paper Office, still in manuscript, and which, thanks to the present Master of the Rolls, is becoming more accessible every day for the purposes of history.
Heath Lodge, Uxbeidge, 1859.
Chapter I. The Early Inhabitants Of Britain
PAGE
Prehistoric period, ... 1
Phoenicia,
Phoenician history,
Greek testimony,
Voyage of Hiinilco,
Polybius,
Diodorus — Strabo,
Britain as described by the
Ancient British states, .
Paces of ancient Britain, .
Caledonians — Picts and
Scots,
Question of a Pre-Celtic
race,
Physical features of the an
cient Britons, .
9 10 11 11
Chapter II. Revolution By The Sword
Rome in the time of Ctesar,
Caractacus in Rome, .
. 31
Cajsar's policy in invading
The Britons not subdued,
Britain, ....
Suetonius, ....
News-vending in ancienl
Slaughter of tbe Druids, .
Roman oppression, .
Caesar's preparations,
Revolt under Boadicea, .
The landing,
Massacre of the Romans,
Submission and revolt,
Slaughter of tbe Britons,
Second submission, .
Julius Agricola, .
Second invasion,
The Caledonians,
Military operations, .
Battle of Ardoch,
Cassivelaunus, .
Conquest completed,
Departure of Caesar, .
Adrian and Antoninus, .
British resistance,
Commodus — disorder,
Subsequent progress,
Campaign — wall of Severus,
Caligula's expedition,
The Scots — Carausius, .
Plautius and Claudius,
Tbeodosius — Maximus, .
Plautius and Ostorius,
Departure of tbe Romans,
Defeat of the Icenians,
"Work of the sword in Brit-
Caractacus and the Silur
Vlll
CONTENTS.
Chapter III. Effect Of The Ascendency Of The Romans In Britain On Government
Celtic popular assemblies, Kings — Eevenue — The
Druids,
Roman government, .
Roman colonization, .
Provinces in Britain,
PAGE
52 53 53 54
Colonies — Municipia — Latian
towns, 55
The prefect and procurator, .' 56
Roman force in Britain, . . 59
Chapter IV. Revolution In Religion
British Druidism, ... 60
Doctrine of the Druids, . . 61
Sacred groves, .... 62
Religious rites, .... 63 The Romans intolerant of
Druidism, .... 63
Christianity, .... 64
Fictions and misconceptions, 65
Legend of King Lucius, .
The probable truth, .
Persecution under Diocletian, Council of Aries, Pelagius and Celestius, .
Lupus and Germanicus,
67 69
70 71 72 73
Summary, 73
Chapter V. Effect Of The Roman Ascendency On Social Life
Agriculture, Clothing — Art, .
Impediments to British civi
lization, .
British earthworks, .
Roman civilization, .
Mines — Coals — Metals, Roman roads, Educated life,
75 76
78 78 80 81
si 82
End of Druidism — Fine arts
— General culture, Roman cities in Britain, .
Influence of Roman cities, Revolution in manners, .
Cassar on British morals, Summary, ....
Distribution of race, .
83 84 85 86 87 89 93
Chapter I. Sources Of Anglo-saxon History
British authorities, ... 95 Gildas — Nennius, ... 97 Scandinavian poetry and tradition, 98
Anglo-Saxon writers — Bode, 99
Saxon Chronicle, . . . 99 Ancient laws, . . . .100 Anglo-Norman writers, . . 101 Authority of the Anglo- Norman writers, . . . 102
CONTENTS.
IX
Chapter II. The Migration
PAGE
Britain as Je^t by the Romans, 104 Picts and Scots, .... 104 Repulsed by the Britons, . 105 Final departure of the Romans, 10G
Picture of Britain by Gildas, 106
The Saxons, ....
Hengist and Horsa, .
Saxon and British accounts, Rise'of the Octarchy, British resistance, Summary, ....
PAGH
107 109 110 111 112 112
Chapter III. Rise Of Tiie English Monarchy — Egbert
Anglo-Saxon wars, .
Design of the Saxon invaders, Office of Bretwalda, .
The Heptarchy, .
Northumbria, Mercia, ....
Offa and Charlemagne,
Murder of Ethelbert, Progress of Wessex, .
Cedwalla — Ina, .
Egbert, ....
Elective monarchy, .
"Why .continued, .
Tendencies towards unity,
CHAPTER IV. RISE OF THE ENGLISH MONARCHY — ATnELSTAN
"Wessex, Mercia, and Nor-
thumbria, 128
Danger from the Danes, . .129 Descent of the Danes, . . 129 Causes of the movement, . 130 Intentions of the Danes, . . 131 Ragnar Lodbrog, . . .133 Inguar and Ubbo, . . . 134 Check at Nottingham, . .135 Battle of Kesteven, . . .135 Danish ravages, .... 136 King Edmund, .... 137
Danes in "Wessex, . . .137 Alfred at Reading, . . .138
Ashdune, 138
Progress of the Danes, . . 140 Alfred's retreat, .... 142 Battle of Ethadune, . . .143 Treaty with Guthorm, . . 143 Invasion under Hastings, . 145 Edward and Athelstan, . . 146 Battle of Brunanburgh, . . 146 Athelstan king of England. . 147
Chapter V. Rise Of The Danish Monarchy
Edmund succeeds Athelstan, 148 Insurrection, . . . .149 Edwy— Edgar, .... 149 Edward the Martyr — Ethelred the Unready, . . . 150
Massacre of the Danes, . . 151
Edmund Ironside, . . . 154
Canute becomes king, . . 156
Retrospect, 156
Ancient and modern England, 157
CONTENTS.
Chapter VI. Effect Of The Saxon And Danish Conquests On The Distributions
OF RACE.
PAGE
Diversities of race, . . . 159 Location of the Britons, . . 161 The Angles in Northunibria, 1G3
PAGE
Location of the Danes, . .164 Norwegians in Cumberland, . 165
Chapter VII. Revolution In Religion In Anglo-saxon Britain
Religion — its potency, .
Saxon heathendom, .
Odin "worship — Other deities,
Story of Balder, ....
Evil deities — Fates, .
Worship,
Summary on Saxon heathendom,
Christianity, ....
Augustine,
The British bishops, .
Iona and its missionaries,
Aidan,
Work of Scottish missionaries in England, .
Progress of Christianity,
The new faith not pure, .
The old faith and the new, .
Results from this revolution in religion, ....
Priestly power, ....
Policv of the clergv,
Life of Wilfrid, ....
Odo and St. Dunstan,
Edwy and Elgiva, .
Better effects of Christianity, .
Bede, Biscop, and Aidan,
Chapter VIII. Revolution In Government In Anglo-saxon Britain
Feudal relations, Landholding, ....
Confederations of settlers, .
Local government, .
Free and the Not-free, .
Noble by birth and by service,
The family,
The tithing and hundred, .
The wergild,
The Witanagemote, .
Shires and people, .
Different holdings of land,
Rise of towns, .
Government in towns, .
The king, ....
The king's household,
Jurors and compurgators,
Trial by ordeal, .
Summary of the revolution
L in government,
Chapter IX. Revolution In Social Life In Anglo-saxon Britain
Agriculture, . . . . 241
Draining and embankments, 242
Handicraft and foreign trade, 243
Intellectual life, .... 244
Music and poetry, . . . 245
Prose literature, .... 247 Culture of the Danes, . . 248 Science in Anglo-Saxon Britain, 250
Chapter I. The Normans In Normandy
PAGE
The Normans, . . . 256
Northmen in France, . . 257
Rollo, first duke of Normandy, 258
William I., Richard I. and II. 259
Richard III., Rohertthe Devil, 260
"William the Conqueror, . . 260
Society in Normandy, . . 261 Christianity, . . . .262 Defective civilization of the
Normans, 263
Norman legislation and government, 265
Origin of chivalry, .
Character of the Normans, Story of Harold's pledgo to
William, ....
Death of the Confessor, .
Landing of William, .
Tostig and Hardrada, Battle of Stamford Bridge Harold's limited resources, William's proposal, .
Harold's reply, .
Battle of Hastings, .
Chapter II. The Conquest In Its Relation To Property
Submission of the English, . 279
William's coronation, . . 279
His pretensions, .... 280
Displacement of the Saxons 281
Distribution of manors, . . 281
PAGE
265 265
Opinion of Selden and Hale, 283
Feudal tenures, .... 284
Knight service and soccage, . 284 Military power — State of
towns, 285
Chapter III. Ttie Conquest In Its Relation To The People
Why the battle of Hastings was so decisive, .
Subsequent resistance, .
Siege of Exeter,
State of the north, .
William's devastation,
Removal of the Saxon clergy, ....
Anglo-Norman clergy, .
Agricultural population, .
Serfs and free tenants, .
Confederation at Ely,
286 287 287 288 289
291 292 293
294 295
Fate of the Alfgars, .
Here ward, .
Death of Waltheof, .
Anglo-Saxon women, Last form of resistance, Change in English feeling, Cumberland outlaws, Robin Hood, Retrospect, .
Rise of towns, .
Lord Macaulay and Normans, .
the
Chapter IV. The Conquest In Its Relation To Government
Common law and statute
Feudalism in England, . . 310
Feudal incidents, . . 310
Meeting at Salisbury, . . 311 Rule of the Conqueror, . . 312,
XII
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Laws of tlie Confessor, . . 312
Trial by jury — its origin, . 314
Jurors and taxation, . . . 316
Jurors and parliament, . . 317
King's court — and council, . 318
Judicial power of the council, 319
King's relation to the law, . 320
Itinerant judges, . . . 323
Growth of popular power, . 323
Two great principles, . . 325 Source of authority among
the Germans, .... 325 fif-
Judicial corruption, .
"Wealth of the Crown, Subsidies — tenths and
teenths,
Imports and exports, Good from the Conquest, Distinctions of race much
effaced,
Popular liberty, ....
King John and the barons, .
Magna Charta, ....
CHAPTER V. TnE CONQUEST IX ITS RELATION TO THE CIIURCn
Spiritual courts,
Transubstantiation, .
Celibacy of the clergy,
Lanfranc,
The married clergy, .
Anselm,
His dispute with Rufus,
Henry I. — Investitures,
Exemption of monasteries,
Thomas :\ Becket, Constitutions of Clarendon, .
Policy of the crown, Progress of the dispute, .
Becket's violence and death, Popular feeling, ....
Result of the controversy, .
Religion,
Religious persecution,
CHAPTER VI. TnE CONQUEST IN ITS RELATION TO SOCIAL LIFE
The Conquest injurious to
industry, 366
Improvement — imports, . . 367
The Cinque ports — the Jews, 368
Regulations concerning trade, 370
History of Longbeard, . . 371
Patronage of learning, . . 376
Lay schools, .... 377
Universities, .... 377
Arab literature, .
Aristotle, ....
Anglo-Norman historians, Civil and canon law, Romance literature, .
Geoffrey of Monmouth, .
Norman architecture, Retrospect, ....
PAGB
326 328
329 329 330
331 331
332 335
Chapter I
INFLUENCE OF THE WARS OF ENGLAND ON TnE ENGLISH NATIONALITY.
Edward III.— -Effect of his
Henry III. — nis wars, . . 394
Edward I. — A naval victory, 395
Invasion of France, . . . 397
Wars of Edward I., . . . 398 wars, 400
Henry V. — Issue of wars with France, .... 403
CONTENTS.
Xlll
Chapter II
INDUSTRIAL LIFE IN ENGLAND FROM THE DEATH OF KING JOHN TO THE ACCESSION OF IIEXRY IV.
Progress of industrial power,
Impeded by piracy, .
Middle Age navy,
Naval triumphs, ....
Trade impeded by legislation,
Prejudice against foreign merchants, ....
Introduction of weavers,
Merchants of the Staple,
PAGE
PAGE
Companies,
The English engage in foreign trade, ....
Agriculture, . .
Free labour, ....
Parliament regulates wages, .
Value of labour in the fourteenth century,
Chapter III
INTELLECTUAL LIFE IN ENGLAND FROM TIIE DEATH OF KING JOHN TO TnE ACCESSION OF HENRY IV.
The English language, . . 422
French metrical romance, . 424
British traditions, . . . 425
Vision of Piers Plowman, . 427
Chaucer, 428
English prose — Maundeville
Occleve and Lydgate, . . 433 Progress of art, . . . 434 Comparative rudeness of Middle-age life, . . . .436 The universities, . . . 437 City life, 437
Chapter IV
POLITICAL LIFE IN ENGLAND FROM THE DEATn OF KING JOHN TO THE ACCESSION OF HENRY IV.
Trade and freedom, . . .439 The king's council, . . . 439 Representative principle, . 440 The Great Charter, . . .441 Its immediate effects, . . 441 First House of Commons, . 444 Rising influence of towns, . 445 Parliaments under Edward I., 446
Hereford and Norfolk, . . 449 The statute Be Tallagio non
Concedendo, . . «. . 451 Political life under Edward!, 455
Edward as a legislator, . . 457 Parliaments under Edward II., 458
Civil war, 462
Galveston, 463 of form
The Spencers — Battle Boroughbridge,
Deposition of the king,
Edward III.— settled of parliament,
Power of the Commons, .
Tonnage and poundage, .
Law of treason, ....
Liberties gained,
Historical significance of parliamentary history,
Condition of the people,
Free and skilled labour, .
The English aristocracy not a privileged noolcsse, .
Growth of independence,
Condition of the suffrage,
Purveyance grievances, .
Popular discontent,
464 465
466 468 470 471
475 475 476
477 477 478 479
Wat Tyler, 480
X]V
CONTENTS.
Chapter V
RELIGIOUS LIFE IN ENGLAND FROM THE DEATH OF KING JOHN TO THE ACCESSION OF IIENEY IV.
PAGE
Papal power — Its culminating point, 483
The papacy versus the national churches, . . . 484 Peter's pence, .... 485 King John's tribute, . . . 485 The custom of provisors, . 486 Commendams, .... 488 General Corruptness, . . 488 Ecclesiastical diplomacy, . 488 Grostete, . . . " . .490 The pope's collectors, . . 490 Resistance, under Edward
The popes at Avignon, . . 493
Papal schism, .... 494
Retrospect, 495
Laws in revolutions, . . . 495
Social life in the counties, Population of towns, The Franciscans, Become city missionaries, Their benevolence and sue
cess,
Become learned, Rapid deterioration, .
Chaucer's pictures of society Wycliffe, . . . .
Proceedings against him, Opposes the doctrine of
transubstantiation, His opinions, Remonstrance of the Wye
Unites, ....
Impolicy of the clergy, .
Retrospect, ....
PAGE
497 497 498 499
500 501 503 504 506 509
511 511
514 515 516
Chapter I. Tue Reaction
Accession of Henry IV., . 518
His policy, 519
Persecution, . . . .519 Sawtree and Badby, . . 520 Reforming spirit of the Commons, 521
Arundel's constitutions, . . 523
Lord Cobham, .... 525
Persecutions under Chicheley,
Excesses of the reformers,
Clergy at fault, .
Reaction in Oxford, .
Decline of learning, .
The aristocracy during the Civil war, . . . .
525 527 527 528 531
Chapter II. The Dawn
English constitution, . . 536
Friars and the Clergy, . . 537 The new opinions embraced
by clergymen, . . . 540
The people, 541
Some encouragement of
learning, 542
The duke cf Gloucester, . . 543
CONTENTS.
XV
PAGE
Earl of Worcester, . . . 543
Earl Eivers, .... 544
Lord Littleton, . . . . 545
Sir John Fortescue, . . . 545
State of science, .... 547
Printing, 549
Probabilities of the future, . 550 Historical function of the
papal power, .... 550 Decline of the papal supremacy, 551
Policy of the pontiffs, . . 552
PAGE
Corruption general, . . . 554 Revival of literature and
Leo X. — Scepticism in Italy, 557 Prospects of society on the
opening of the fifteenth
century, 558
Richard III., . . . .560 Accession of the house of
Tudor, 560
Rule of Henry VII., . . . 561 His ecclesiastical policy, . .562
Book I. Celts And Romans
CHAPTER I.
THE EAELY INHABITANTS OF BEITAIN.
fTVHE man who treads the greensward of Dover Cliff for book i
-*- the first time, will feel that before him is the passage which must have been made by some of the earliest settlers in Britain. The white coast of Gaul stretches along in the distance, and the track of voyagers in the unknown past seems to be still upon those waters. On those waters, too ? the dark sides and the floating sails of the multitude of ships under the command of Caesar seem to be still visible. But in the age of Caesar many centuries must have passed since the first rude wicker-boat grazed its oxhide covering on our shore and landed the first man. Some hundreds of winters must then have come and gone since the first attempt was made to penetrate our primeval forests, or to compass our stagnant marshes. Far back, even then, must the day have been when the eye of man — that probably half-naked and wondering new-comer — fell for the first time on the waters of the Thames and the Humber, the Severn and the Mersey. But man comes in his season : and now the day will come when the borders of the Thames shall be Ho longer a wilderness, and when from the banks of the Vol. I.— 1
Chap.
book i. Mersey other sounds shall be heard than those of untamed animals in search ot prey.
But how soon change by the hand of man began to make its appearance in Britain is a point on which we cannot speak with exactness. Rude nations do not write histories, and it is not until they begin to cast off their rudeness that civilized nations begin to write history for them. "We know, however, that the merchants of Phoenicia were the people to open the first communication between this island and distant countries. It is the commercial spirit that gives to Britain her place for the first time in history. So we were called from our obscurity by the kind of enterprise which was to be the source of our ultimate greatness. Phoenicia. The s trip of the coast of Syria known to the ancients as
Phoenicia, did not measure much more than a hundred miles in length, and scarcely twenty in breadth. Along the inland border of Phoenicia rose the snow-covered mountains of Lebanon, with their slopes and ravines darkened here and there by their ancient cedars. From those highlands roots were sent off as rocky promontories into the sea. The coast was thus broken up into a succession of bays, which became harbours, and fitting places for fortresses and walled cities. The Phoenicians knew well how to use such advantages. As the mariner spread his sail in front of the city of Aradus, and with a favouring breeze from the land, turned the high prow of his vessel towards Egypt, every few miles placed him abreast with a new city. Tripolis, Berytus, Sidon, Tyre — all rose thus in succession from the sea. The land between those cities was studded with cities of less importance, and with villages. Everywhere the signs of industry were visible, in the culture of the field, of the vine, and of the olive. The relation of this chain of cities to the countries eastward of them, and westward, was for many centuries the same with that of the great cities of Italy in the Middle Ages. Phoenicia and Italy had their place at about the middle of the civilized world ; and both were the means, in their time, of enabling the one half of the human family to interchange commodities with the other half.
The greatness of the Phoenician power dates from a book i. thousand years before the age of Augustus. Its prosperity -^4- continued unabated during the first half of that interval, history. Its ships visited every shore of the known world, and often penetrated into the unknown. In those remote times, Phoenician navigators made their way to Cape Finistere, and learnt to strike across the open sea to Britain. In such adventures the Cynosure, the last light in the Little Bear, was their chosen polestar. The Cynosure beams upon us as brightly as ever, but the Phoenician mariner is gone. Great military monarchies are bad neighbours to small commercial states. It is in the nature, also, of such states, that they should rely too much on the aid of mercenaries — a dangerous weapon. The tendency of their wealth, too, is ever towards concentration and oligarchy. In time, the few who govern become divided by feuds between their rival houses, and the many who are governed become lost to patriotism. So weakness within is all that remains to be opposed to strength from without. From these causes the soldier power prevailed at length in the history of Phoenicia over the merchant power. The glory of the past became wholly of the past. In modern Tyre the fisherman dries his nets on the ruins of ancient palaces.*
But if Phoenicia was the first to discover the island of Greek testi Britain, it is to Greece we owe the first literary notices concerning it. When Paul preached to the men of Athens on Mars Hill, four centuries and a half had passed since Herodotus had read his History to the ancestors of the same people. That number of years in our own history
* Xenophon's description of a Phoenician vessel shows that the Phoenicians greatly excelled the Greeks as seamen. ' The best and most accurate arrangement of things I ever saw, was when I went to look at the great Phoenician ship. For I saw the greatest quantity of tackling separately disposed in the smallest stowage. You know that a ship comes to anchor or gets under way by means of many wooden instruments and many ropes, and sails by means of many sails, and is armed with many machines against hostile vessels, and carries about with it many cooks for the crew, and all the apparatus which men use in a dwelling-house for each mess. Beside all this the vessel is filled with cargo, which the owner carries for his own profit. And all that I have mentioned lay in not much greater space than will be found in a chamber large enough conveniently to hold ten beds. All this too lay in such a way that they did not obstruct one another, so that they needed no one to seek them, and there were no knots to untie and cause delay, if they were suddenly wanted for use.' — (Economicus. Kenrick's Phoenicia, c. vii.
mony.
CELTS AND ROMANS.
BOOK I.
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