LECTURE XXVIII.-GLORY AND SORROW. The Battle of Poitiers. The Black Death. The serfs. Loss of Aquitaine. The Black Prince and the parliament. Death of the prince. 1. As we saw, the French and the Scotch had become friends and allies at the time when England was against them both; so now that the war with France was going on, and Edward and his son were abroad, the Scotch took the opportunity of invading England in the north. This time, however, they got the worst of it; they were defeated in battle near a place called Nevil's Cross, and their king, David, was made prisoner and kept in England for nine years. Froissart says that Queen Philippa headed the English army, but this is not believed now, for no old English writer says anything about it. Per 1356. Battle of Poitiers. 2. The English now began to feel quite unconquerable. haps it was at this time they first took up the idea, which we may have often heard old men repeat, that " one Englishman could beat ten Frenchmen." They grew more and more fond of fighting, and of the rich plunder they brought home: "the gold and silver plate, fair jewels, and trunks stuffed full of valuables." Ten years after the battle of Crecy there was another great battle, as famous as that one, fought near Poitiers, in the more southern part of France. The Black Prince, who, though still young, was a grown man now, was at the head of the English; and the French king, John, at the head of his own troops. This time the army of the Black Prince consisted of only 8000 men, while the French king had more than 60,000. The prince encouraged his men with brave but not boastful words. Now, sirs," he said, though we be but a small company, in regard to the puissance of our enemies, let us not be abashed therefore; for the victory lieth not in the multitude of people, but where God will send it. If it fortune that the day be ours, we shall be the most honoured people in the world; and if we die in our right quarrel, I have the king, my father, and brethren, and also ye have good friends 66 66 Therefore, sirs, for God's and kinsmen; these shall revenge us. sake, I require you to do your duties this day; for if God be pleased, and St. George, this day ye shall see me a good knight.” 3. The small English force was so skilfully posted, and so well managed, that once more the French were utterly defeated, and their king, who had fought very valiantly, was made prisoner. It was now that the Black Prince showed his generous spirit, his courtesy and modesty. "When evening was come," writes Froissart, the Prince of Wales gave a supper in his pavilion to the King of France, and to the greater part of the princes and barons who were prisoners. . . . The prince himself served the king's table, as well as the others, with every mark of humility, and would not sit down at it, in spite of all his entreaties for him so to do, saying that 'he was not worthy of such an honour, nor did it appertain to him to seat himself at the table of so great a king, or of so valiant a man as he had shown himself by his actions that day.' He added also with a noble air, 'Dear sir, do not make a poor meal because the Almighty God has not gratified your wishes in the event of this day; for be assured that my lord and father will show you every honour and friendship in his power, and will arrange your ransom so reasonably that you will henceforward always remain friends. In my opinion you have cause to be glad that the success of this battle did not turn out as you desired, for you have this day acquired such high renown for prowess that you have surpassed all the best knights on your side. I do not, dear sir, say this to flatter you, for all those of our side who have seen and observed the actions of each party have unanimously allowed this to be your due, and decree you the prize and garland for it.' At the end of this speech there were murmurs of praise heard from every one, and the French said the prince had spoken nobly and truly, and that he would be one of the most gallant princes in Christendom if God should grant him life to pursue his career of glory." 4. Three or four years after this, when both countries were quite worn out with fighting, and France was almost ruined by her own armies, and the English armies for ever ravaging and devouring everything, a peace was made. The French promised 3,000,000 of gold crowns as a ransom for their king, who was then allowed to go back to his country; but as he could not collect the promised sum, he afterwards honestly returned to England. He died in the Savoy Palace in London, which had been fixed upon as his residence while in captivity. Edward gave up his claim to be King of France; but he kept the duchy of Aquitaine, and the town of Calais; and it was agreed that he was no longer to be a vassal under the King of France for these French possessions, as he and his fathers had always been before, but to be an independent sovereign over them. The Black Prince took up his abode in Bordeaux, to rule over these French provinces. 5. Everybody is very much interested about the battles of Crecy and Poitiers, but very few histories tell us much about what happened in the ten years which came between them; just as if the history of England was the history of kings, princes, and soldiers, and not of any other people. But it was during that time that the first of those terrible pestilences came, which were in reality far more important than either of those famous fights. A few thousand men were killed in the battles; but without any fighting at all there were killed by this awful disease more than 2,000,000 people in England alone. The Black Death. If 6. Though we know very little about it, we can imagine a great deal a great deal of the terror, and misery, and pain, and the long sorrow afterwards. The sickness was so virulent that few who were attacked by it lived more than three days; it was called by the dreadful name of the Black Death. It is so awful that we can hardly realize it. Let us try to think what it would be if in every house only one person died; what wailing and woe there would arise. But it was worse than that. there were six people in a family, three of those would have died. If there were 200 people living in a village, 100 of them would have died. Of course it was not literally that half the people in every house died; it is more likely that in one house none might die, and in another all; but, taking all together, there seems hardly any doubt that half the people of England died of this frightful plague; in some places more, and in some less. 7. More than two thirds of the clergymen in Norfolk and in Yorkshire died, so that it was almost impossible to get any one to read the service; and the bishops were obliged to make quite young boys rectors of parishes, or the churches must have been shut up. In the town of Yarmouth, which was a flourishing fishing town then, as it is now, more than 7000 people were buried in one year, so that most of the houses were left empty and desolate, and gradually fell into decay. Nearly 200 years afterwards there were still gardens and bare spaces where there had formerly been houses full of happy people. 8. At the other side of England it was just as bad. In Bristol so many people died that there were hardly enough left alive to bury them. The principal streets were so forlorn and deserted that the grass grew several inches high in them. In smaller places, villages and hamlets, sometimes every house was left empty, all those who dwelt in them being dead. 9. It was most terrible of all in London. One of the knights whom Froissart tells us about, Sir Walter Manny, gave a large piece of land near to Smithfield on purpose to bury those who died, and in one year 50,000 people were buried there. But this new cemetery was not used till all the other churchyards were overflowing, and most likely more than 100,000 people died of this plague in London, small as it was then compared with what it is now. That cemetery of Sir Walter Manny's, with the chapel that stood in it, was afterwards given by him as a place for the monks of the Charterhouse, and it is there that the school and college (or alms-house) of the Charterhouse now stand. 10. The Black Death was perhaps the most fearful plague that ever came to England, or to Europe, for it raged in Italy, Germany, and France quite as fiercely as it did here; but there have been other very terrible ones since, of which we shall have to hear. How is it that we never hear of such plagues now? for even the worst visitations of cholera which have come in modern times have been nothing at all like this. A plague which carried off half the people of a country is now quite unheard of. In those days people knew nothing at all about the laws of health. Their towns were dirty, crowded, and undrained. They did not know how to prevent infection from coming, nor how to check it when it came. They cared little or nothing for pure air or pure water. The windows were small, the houses dark, and the streets narrow. The doctors would often try to cure their patients by consulting the stars, or by making magical images. The clergy thought that the pestilence was sent as a judgment for sins, and led the miserable people about singing woeful litanies, and barefooted, "Pressing the stones with feet unused and soft, And bearing images of saints aloft," in hopes of winning pardon from an angry God. It was not until quite lately that people began to find out that care and cleanliness-clean houses, clean water, clean streets, clean air, and clean bodies--are the means for keeping off these awful scourges. When every body knows and believes that, then, most likely, many other diseases, as fevers and cholera, will die away, and we, or rather those who come after us, will know no more about them than we know about the plague. 11. After the pestilence had passed away there was, of course, a great difference in the state of the country, and above all in the condition of the labouring men. A change had The labourers. villeins and Though it man to sell indeed been going on for some time, and a change which, in a certain way, was much for the better. This was, that a good many of the lowest class, the the serfs, had been gradually rising into freemen. had long ceased to be a common practice for a rich his serfs, still most of the poor up till about this time were looked on as part of the estate, and were obliged to live and work always on the land where they were born; they could not wander about and change their masters and occupations as they chose. Magna Charta, which had done so much for all the other people of the land, had been of very little help to these poor labourers. The landlords even strongly objected to their serfs putting their children to school. If they did that, and a little serf boy proved to be clever, and got on with his learning, he might in time become a clergyman, and then he would be free. That was almost the only chance he would have of getting on in the world, and some, perhaps many, did really rise in this way. 12. But all this was changing now. More and more of the serfs were buying their liberty and being set free. Edward III. and his lords and knights wanted a good deal of money for their war, and some of it they got in this way. Now, too, it was gradually becoming customary, instead of a landlord giving a poor man a piece of land and a cottage, on condition of his doing work for him, for the peasant to pay rent in money for his house and land, and the master to hire labourers to work on his own home-farm. This is how owners of land do now, and it gives more liberty and is perhaps better for both parties. England had 13. Moreover, there was a new sort of work now to be done in which these poor workmen could be very useful, and which was a great help to them in gaining their liberty. This was the manufacture of cloth. long been noted for its fine wool, but it used to be all exported out of the country, principally to the Netherlands, because the English, as Fuller tells us, "knew no more what to Cloth weaving. |