Commons grew, until they are now much greater than those of the House of Lords. But we must not think of these early Parliaments as having the great powers which Parliaments have today. The King was still much more powerful than Parliament the Parliament, though since the granting of not yet the Great Charter it was recognized that the supreme. King was below the law, and not above it. In making new laws, and in laying new taxes, he needed the consent of Parliament; but in carrying on the general business of the government-in making war, and in concluding peace-he. could act without Parliament. Often he consulted Parliament about such matters, but he could act as he pleased. The ministers who carried on the government were still the King's ministers, and responsible to him only. It was to be several centuries yet― and a great civil war must be fought, and one King beheaded and another deposed-before Parliament was recognized as the chief power in the government. Nevertheless, by the time that Edward III. came to the throne, the framework of Parliament-though not its powers—was complete. TOPICS FOR THOUGHT AND SEARCH 1. Rule three columns on the blackboard, head one "Witenagemot," the next "Great Council," and the third "Parliament," ," and write down the chief facts concerning each body. 2. Show how the representative principle enabled the people to use the rights of self-government which they forced the Kings to grant. 3. Find out what you can about the Parliament called by Simon de Montfort in 1265. 4. Do the same for the Model Parliament of 1295. XV EDWARD III. AND THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR POINTS TO BE NOTICED When Edward III. was King; his character; the most important thing in his reign. Causes of the Hundred Years' War; dates when it began and ended; grounds on which Edward III. claimed the French throne. The Battle of Crecy; to what the English victory was due; English gain from the victory; the Scots defeated by Edward; Neville's Cross. The Battle of Poitiers; mistakes made by the French; gains of the English. Date and terms of the Peace of Bretigny; renewal of the war; why the English successes were then checked. The Black Death; its origin; how it came to Europe; date when it broke out in France; other European countries which suffered from it; its effects on the number of the people in Europe as a whole; in England; its effect on agriculture and the organization of society. EDWARD III. reigned for fifty years from 1327 to 1377. During the first four years, the government was in the hands of those who had deposed Reign of Edward III. Edward II.; but when Edward III. was (1327-1377). eighteen years old, he took the power into his own hands. He was handsome, brave, and energetic. In the greater part of his reign, the people gladly supported him, for the wars which he carried on were popular, and he let Parliament have much power. But, in his old age, he grew selfish and extravagant, and troubles arose. The most important thing in the reign of Edward III. was the beginning of a long war—or rather a series of wars-with France. We call this the Hun- Hundred dred Years' War, because it lasted for more with France than a century, from 1337 to 1453. Years' War begun (1337). Many causes combined to produce this long war. The English Kings could not forget that they had once held Normandy, and no King of France could be content so long as another King was his vassal for so large a part of the kingdom as the English King still held in Gascony. When Edward III. renewed the English war with Scotland, the French King aided the Scots; and when troubles broke out in Flanders, in northern France, Edward III. supported the Flemish people against their count, who was supported by his overlord, the King of France. In this last quarrel, the English people were strongly on the side of their King; for the industrious cloth manufacturers of the Flemish cities were the chief customers for England's wool. French When war had been decided upon, Edward III. made matters worse by claiming that he was the rightful King of France. His mother was the sister Edward of the last preceding French King; and when claims the this King died without sons, Edward said throne. that the French crown should have gone to him, as that King's nephew. But the French had a rule that no woman could reign over France, and they had decided (as they had a perfect right to do) that this also shut out those who claimed through a woman, as Edward did. They therefore had given the crown to the nearest male member of their royal house, whose right came entirely through males. Even when the Hundred Years' War finally ended, the English Kings did not cease styling themselves "Kings of France"; and it was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that this claim was finally abandoned. Two very famous battles-the battles of Crecy and Poitiers were fought in this war, while Edward III. was King; and later, as we shall see, a third great battle— that of Agincourt-was fought by Henry V. In all three of these battles, the victory was chiefly due to the strength and skill of the English archers, with their "long bows" and "cloth-yard shafts," which could shoot true for two hundred yards, and pierce through coats of mail. Battle of Crecy (1346). The battle of Crecy was fought in northern France, in 1346. Edward III. had landed in Normandy, and marched up the valley of the river Seine, until the flames of the villages burned by the English could be seen from the walls of Paris. Then he turned northward, with the French in hot pursuit. He awaited their attack on a little hill at Crecy. The French force was five times as great as that of the English, and included a body of hired crossbowmen from Italy. The crossbowmen were no match for the English longbowmen. The English arrows fell among them "so thick that it seemed as if it snowed," and they broke ranks and fled. "Slay these rascals," angrily cried the French King, pointing to the crossbowmen, "for they trouble us without reason." "But ever still," says the chronicler Froissart, who wrote about these wars, "the Englishmen shot wherever the crowd was thickest. The sharp arrows pierced the knights, and their horses, and many fell, both horse and men; and when they were down they could not rise again, for the press was so thick that one overthrew another.” Edward III. had given the command of one division of his knights (who fought on foot in this battle) to his sixteen year old son, Edward the Black Prince. The King himself guided the whole battle from the tower of a little windmill on the battlefield. Presently a messenger came to him in haste, and said: BATTLE OF CRECY "Sire, those about the Prince are fiercely fought and sore handled, wherefore they desire that you and your division come and aid them." "Is my son dead, or hurt, or felled to earth?" inquired the King. "No, sire," replied the messenger, "but he is overmatched, and has need of your aid." |