rades. The English broke and fled in terrible confusion; in the rout 30,000 men were killed.

Bannockburn decided the question once for all. England could not conquer Scotland. But Edward II., too feeble to conduct a war properly, was too obstinate to yield. Through his reign the war went on. It was now the turn of the Scots. Bruce led his armies over the border, and pillaged the north of England. Edward could do little to check him. Indeed he could not keep his own barons in order; it was vain for him to hope to subdue the Scots.

He

Tired of him and his favourites, the English barons rebelled; Parliament declared him deposed, and Edward III. was put on the throne. Edward III. began to make war against the Scots with vigour, but he could gain no advantage over the invading Scottish army. He encamped opposite it, but its position was so strong that he dared not attack, and he himself was nearly slain. James Douglas led a night raid into the English camp, and actually got as far as the royal tent before he was driven back. Then the Scotch retreated in the night, leaving their camp-fires burning, so that the English did not perceive their going, and Edward was left with no enemy to fight.

He saw that it was useless to go on. In 1328 peace was made between the two nations, in which Bruce was recognized as lawful King of Scotland, and the King of England gave up all his claims. Scotland had triumphed.

Peace, 1328.

Robert Bruce's reign ended in 1329. For Scotland it was a memorable reign. Before its close he had obtained a mastery over all his foes at home and abroad. He had established the alliance between Scotland and France which was to lead to so much,

He had freed Scotland from the foreign invader. He had united it as it had never been united before. All alike were ready to obey him. The barons, Norman in descent and hitherto half-Norman in feeling, had become good Scotsmen and good patriots. In the fire of national trouble there had been welded a nation, firm, self-reliant, confident, proud of its race and of its king.

XII. THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. THE WORTH OF THE ENGLISH ARCHER.

The Hundred Years' War is the name given to the long struggle between England and France, from 1338 to 1453-roughly speaking, a hundred years. War indeed did not go on all the time. There were truces now and again. But, speaking generally, for a hundred years England and France were enemies. In following this long period of history, which covers the reign of five English kings, we shall find it convenient to fix in our minds some landmarks.

Divisions in

The war may be divided into two periods of great success and two periods of failure. The first period of success lies in the early part of Edward III.'s reign. We have the battles the Hundred of Cressy and Poitiers, and the Treaty of Years' War. Bretigny, in which the French king admits the English claim to the south-west of France; this is followed by a time of failure in the latter part of Edward III.'s reign and that of Richard II. The second period of success begins with Henry V. He outdoes the glory of Cressy and Poitiers by his victory of Agincourt; he marries the King of France's daughter and is called his heir; his infant son, Henry VI., is crowned King of France.

But

then comes the second period of failure. By degrees all was lost that had been won, till in 1453 nothing was left to England save Calais.

Edward III. and Henry V. are both victorious in their battles; they both claim the title of King of France, though neither had any right to it; they both rule large possessions in France; in both cases these dominions are at last recaptured by the French.

Our first task is to see why the English win the

great battles. It seems very strange, that at Cressy the French were four to one, at Poitiers seven to one, at Agincourt five to one, and yet they were hopelessly beaten in all three battles. Let us look more closely

at the story of these battles.

Cressy was fought in 1346. Edward III. was re

Cressy, 1346.

treating towards Calais after an unsuccessful march on Paris. He was caught up by the French, who numbered 70,000 men to his 20,000. He drew up his army with the archers in front and his knights, dismounted, behind. The shower of arrows first destroyed the crossbowmen in the French force; no wonder, for the English. archer could shoot six arrows to his opponent's one. We are told "they shot so fast and so thick that it seemed as if it were snowing". Then the French knights charged, but men and horse went down under the English arrows so fast that only a very few reached the English line, and they were easily beaten off. And when this had gone on for

most of the day the remains of the French army fled. Edward III., who commanded the English reserve, had not struck a blow.

The hero of Poitiers was the Black Prince.

He

had been raiding in France, but found his return cut off by 40,000 French soldiers under King Poitiers, 1356. John. He had only 7000 men with him, 3000 of whom were archers. He drew up his small force behind a hedge and awaited the French onset. This time most of the French attacked on foot, but met no better success than at Cressy. The archers kept up a steady discharge; the French ranks were broken ere they reached the hedge; they came on bravely, but the English slew each man as he came through a gap. One division of the French army retreating threw the next into disorder. Meanwhile the arrows poured down like hail, and the English