Page images
PDF
EPUB

80

GRIEF OF THE KING.

The corpse of the younger Henry was carried, by his own order, into Normandy, although the inhabitants of Mans endeavoured to stop it by the way, not so much, perhaps, out of regard for his person, as because they looked upon him as more immediately one of their own princes. The people of Rouen claimed the body; and on this curious subject of dissension a civil war would have broken out had it not been quieted by the decision of Henry II.

That monarch was deeply afflicted by the death of his eldest son, who had certainly been his favourite child. He fainted three times on the intelligence being communicated to him, and showed the most immoderate and excessive grief during many days. Richard, however, to whom his brother had sent no message on his death-bed, no sooner heard that the army of the rebels was dispersing, on the death of their royal leader, than he sprang into the saddle, and pursuing the various bands in all directions with a choice troop of men-at-arms, cut to pieces many small bodies, and prevented the rest from reassembling. He then returned to his father. The rebellion at Aquitaine was at an end; and a new scene opened before the prince as heir-apparent to the crown of England.

BOOK X.

SOME of the transactions which ensued after the death of Henry the younger, must be passed over rapidly, as their effect on the reign and history of Richard was not important. Henry II., as soon as he had recovered from the stupor of grief, urged forward the siege of Limoges furiously,

Henrici Secundi, Henricus Tertius Anglorum Rex, junior immatura morte decessit. Plane immatura, si ætem respicias, sed multum sera, si actus attendas. Fœdaverat enim adolescentiam suam nævo inexpiabili similitudine scelestissimi Absalonis, ut superius expositum est. Juventutem quoque ingressus, eandem adolescentiæ suæ noluit esse dissimilem, et prævaricator, non tantum naturæ (ut prius) verum etiam solemnium pactorum, rebellavit iterum contra patrem." The description of the younger Henry by Gervaise is as follows:-" Amabilis enim erat omnibus et pulcher aspectu, et præcipue gloriæ militaris insignis, udeo ut nulli videretur esse secundus; humilis, docilis erat, et affabilis, unde cum et prope positi et longe remoti affectuose diligebant."

HARMONY BETWEEN THE KING AND RICHARD.

81

and speedily reduced the garrison to capitulate. He then, with the aid of his son Richard, besieged and took several other places in Poictou; some of which he retained in his own hand, some of which he levelled with the ground. Between himself and the young duke there seems not to have been the slightest opposition at this time. Richard, the heir of the whole monarchy, and certain, if he survived his father, of holding the duchy of Aquitaine as a fief from the crown of France, was perfectly willing to gratify Henry by doing homage to him for the territory, although he had once refused to perform that act towards his own brother.* A vast difference, indeed, existed between the two cases, not only in point of feeling, but also in point of policy. By doing homage to his father, he only did that which could never be exacted from him by any other English sovereign, while by doing it to a brother he acknowledged a dependence of Aquitaine upon another crown, which might pass to remote relations, with whom the kindred ties might be greatly weakened. In the next place, he had once already done homage to his father for the duchy of Aquitaine, and had he also performed that act to his brother, he would have rendered himself one of the fourth-rate vassals of the crown of France; he being the man of the younger Henry, that prince the vavasour of the King of England, and the King of England the vassal, for Aquitaine, of the French sovereign. To be vavasour of his own father, whose heir he was, and who had originally bestowed the fief, was quite a different position; and that he was quite willing to hold himself as such, Richard had shown at Mans, in 1175.

We must now turn to the young Duke of Britanny. His

* Lord Lyttleton, in speaking of the conduct of Richard in regard to Aquitaine, forgets entirely or if that term be not applicable to such an historian-overlooks entirely the fact that Richard having once done homage to his father, Henry, for the duchy of Aquitaine, was entirely free and independent of him, except in so much as feudal suit and service was implied, as one prince could be of another. Henry, by his paternal authority, could say, thou shalt do so or so, and Richard, from his filial piety, might obey the commands of his father; but Henry, according to the strict tenor of the feudal law, had no right to dictate any sort of conduct to Richard whatsoever, or to set foot in his territory, unless one of three conditions existed-namely, that judgment had been pronounced against the vassal in the king's sovereign court; that the vassal was in arms against his sovereign; or that the fief was without an heir in the king's court. This law was often violated, but such was the law.

[blocks in formation]

82

CLAIMS OF PHILIP AGAINST ENGLAND.

colleague in rebellion being dead, his forces dispersed, his Brabançois plundering the country round, his dauntless brother and his offended father at the head of a large force, ready to strip him of his territories, and punish him for his crimes, Geoffrey of Britanny had no resource but to throw himself at Henry's feet, and implore pardon for his offences. He accordingly appeared at the court of the king, and was reconciled to his father and his brother. I find no proof that he ever showed the slightest remorse, that he ever even expressed penitence, or promised amendment; but, to use the expression of a contemporary writer, "he remained hanging about and fluctuating round his father, till he found that Henry would not grant the boons which he sought to exact, and then he went over to the enemies of his country."

Before we detail the events connected with that transaction, however, we must treat of other matters prior in point of time, and notice the claims by which Philip, commonly called Augustus, King of France, commenced that series of exactions from the monarchs of England, which he carried on so successfully through his long and splendid reign.

On the marriage of Prince Henry with a daughter of the King of France, a befitting portion had been given by her father; and Henry II. had induced a weak sovereign to renounce all title to the town of Gisors and to the Norman Vexin, which was yielded to England at the time of her union with the heir-apparent of that kingdom. It is necessary to remark and remember, however, that with the treaties concerning the marriage settlement of Margaret of France were mixed many other points of discussion between the King of England and the King of France, and that the cession of the Norman Vexin was not made without a dispute as to whether that territory belonged of right to France or to Normandy. It was ceded at the time that the marriage was agreed upon; but the question was left open whether it was yielded to the just claim of the King of England, or given as a portion to the princess of France. It became the interest of Henry now to maintain that the former was the case, as in fact he had always asserted; and it suited the purposes of Philip to declare that the latter was the true interpretation of the act of cession.

Numerous treaties and conventions, however, had been

HOMAGE OF HENRY TO PHILIP,

83

entered into since the marriage, which so strongly confirmed Henry's claim, that in a conference which took place between Gisors and Trie, Philip did not venture to urge his demand vigorously, and consented to receive an annuity for his widowed sister's support of one thousand seven hundred and fifty Angevin pounds, to be paid in Paris, without any deduction.* Although this was a very splendid sum, considering the relative value of money at that period, Henry was induced afterwards to increase it, in consequence of a letter from the Pope, exhorting the King of England to be more munificent in his dealings with his daughter-in-law, for the sake of his own salvation.† At this same meeting between Gisors and Trie, the King of England did homage to Philip for all his transmarine territories, and the two sovereigns parted apparently good friends..

It must be recollected, however, that a double claim had been put in by the French sovereign on the death of Prince Henry: first, for the restitution of the Vexin, and, secondly, for the transfer of certain lands which had been settled upon his sister by her husband at the time of her marriage. Now, whether the composition entered into by Henry could be considered as satisfying both these demands, or whether, in regard to the Vexin, he rested upon his absolute right to that territory, and granted the annuity solely as an equivalent for the estates which the younger Henry had settled upon his wife, but which he now showed had been previously settled upon Queen Eleanor,§ may be doubted. The latter suppo

The gentleman of whom I have before spoken, and who has written a history of Philip Augustus, has stated that Henry agreed to give Margaret seven hundred and fifty livres; as his authority for which he cites Hoveden, who, on the contrary, says, at page 621, that Henry agreed to give her as an annuity, "mille et septingentas et quinquaginta libras Andegavensis monetæ:" otherwise, one thousand seven hundred and fifty Angevin pounds. How Monsieur Capefigue has contrived to reduce this sum I cannot tell; but brought into sous Tournois, by the calculation of Le Blanc (page 153), it amounts to twenty-six thousand two hundred sous Tournois, at fifty-three sous four deniers to the mark.

+Monsieur Capefigue seems not to have understood, and has certainly misplaced, this letter of the Pope. The conference at which the dowry of Margaret was settled took place in the year 1183; the letter of Pope Lucius was written in 1184. Diceto, col. 624.

It is not very clear whether one or two meetings took place this year between the two kings; but if there were two, it was at the last, on the XIII. calends October, that Henry did homage.

§ We must candidly acknowledge that this transaction, as well as various

84

ATTEMPT TO INTIMIDATE RICHARD.

sition, however, is the most probable, as we find that the claim upon Gisors was never abandoned for any length of time, although it is distinctly stated by one English writer of high authority that Philip and the young queen agreed to give up all title whatsoever to the Vexin, provided their sister Adelais should be married either to Richard or John; which statement, together with another event which we shall have to notice very soon, proves the singular fact that, although the princess had been placed in the hands of Henry to be united to his son Richard, she had never, properly speaking, been affianced to that prince.*

It is probable that this extraordinary proposal was connected with one little less so, made by Henry to his son Richard towards the end of 1183-namely, that he should give up Aquitaine to John, merely receiving homage for the duchy from his brother. Richard seems to have been taken by surprise, for John had already the prospect of inheriting Ireland, and every consideration of policy required that their father should keep his continental dominions undivided; but many of the arguments used in his own favour, during his brother Henry's life, now told against Richard, and, before he made any reply, he asked a few days to consider and consult with his friends. This was granted to him; and Richard, retiring from his father's presence, went into Poictou, from which place he sent a message, stating his resolution never to give up the duchy of Aquitaine to any one.

Though the only accounts of this transaction which we possess are scanty and confused, it would appear that Henry pressed Richard vehemently to yield to his wishes, but that Richard resisted firmly, and the king, becoming angry, ordered Geoffrey and John to ravage their brother's territories.† The attempt to intimidate Richard, however, was vain, and turning upon his assailants, he entered Britanny at the head of a considerable force, and more than repaid Geoffrey for all the evils he had committed in Poictou. The king, howother acts of Henry towards the monarchs of France, bears a somewhat fraudulent appearance.

*The fact alluded to, as proving that Richard and Adelais had never been contracted to each other by any binding tie, is the treaty for an alliance between that prince and the daughter of the emperor, which is mentioned a few pages further on.

+ Benedict Abbas.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »