given to understand that he must resign his crown; and to this he weakly consented. The poet, Shakespeare, makes Richard speak these words: "What must the King do now? Must he submit? A Parliament was called, and the King's abdication was read to it. Then Henry of Bolingbroke stepped forward, by the vacant throne, and said: "I, Henry of Lancaster, claim this realm and the crown, since I am descended by right line of blood from the good King Henry III., and since God has my Bolingbroke made King, as sent me with help of my kin and friends to receive it, when the realm was on the point of Henry IV. being undone by lack of government and the undoing of good laws." The whole Parliament accepted this claim, and he was seated upon the throne, as Henry IV.-the first of the Lancastrian Kings. By right of descent, he was not the nearest heir to the throne after Richard II., for he was descended from the third son of Edward III., and a descendant from the second son existed in the person of the young Earl of March. Earl of March. But the Earl of March was only six years old, and Parliament passed over his claims in favor of those of the house of Lancaster. Later, as we shall see, the claim through the Earl of March became one factor in the great Wars of the Roses, which in turn brought the rule of the Lancastrians to an end, just as the revolution of 1399 brought to an end the rule of the direct line of the Plantagenet Kings. TOPICS FOR THOUGHT AND SEARCH 1. Find out what you can about Wyclif and his teachings. 2. What was the nature of the rebellions in England before this time? What does the Peasant's Revolt show with reference to the power of the people? 3. Find out what you can about Henry of Bolingbroke, and tell the story of his rise to be King. 4. Why did Richard II. lose his throne? Edward II. Compare him with XVII THE LANCASTRIAN KINGS, AND THE CLOSE OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR POINTS TO BE NOTICED Names of the Lancastrian Kings; dates of their reigns; revolts against Henry IV.; "Hotspur"; why Henry was unwilling to ransom Mortimer; the Percies overcome; three reasors for the successes of Henry IV. Advice given by Henry IV. to his son; how Henry V. followed this; change in warfare shown by the siege of Harfleur. The Battle of Agincourt; cause of the English victory; conquests following this battle. Divisions among the French; the treaty of Troyes; the part of France in Henry's possession at the time of his death; rule of the Duke of Bedford. Joan of Arc; how she came to take part in the war; her successes; her fate; the work which she accomplished. Causes of the English loss of France; the end of the war; the English still held Calais. The Lancastrian Kings HENRY IV., Henry V., and Henry VI.-father, son, and grandson-were the Kings of the House of Lancaster. The first reigned fourteen years, the second nine, and the last thirty-nine; the first (1399-1461). had difficulty in keeping the kingdom he had won, the second added to it by conquering the kingdom of France, and the third lost all through weakness and insanity. It was only in the last five years of his reign that Henry IV. was free from rebellions against his rule. In the first year there was a revolt which was intended to restore Richard II. to the throne. This was easily put down, and a few months later Richard died suddenly in his prison-put to death by against order of the new King. Revolts Henry IV. A more serious rebellion was the one led by Owen Glendower, a Welshman, under whom the Welsh people made an effort to recover their independence. Again and again the Welsh came down from their mountain valleys, attacked the border counties of England, and then returned to their mountain retreats, whither the English army could hardly follow them. The most serious rebellion of all followed, in England, as a result of one of these raids in which the Welsh took prisoner an English lord, named Mortimer. King Henry feared Mortimer because he was the uncle of the young Earl of March, the rightful heir to the throne; and so he took no steps to ransom him. This conduct of the King angered the powerful family of the Percies, who had aided Henry to gain the throne, and had just won a great victory over the Scots; for Mortimer was related to them also. Accordingly, Sir Harry Percy, who was called "Hotspur" because of his quick temper, went to the King and said: "Shall a man spend his goods, and put himself in peril for you and your realm, and you will not help him in his need?" At this the King, in turn, grew angry, and said: "Thou art a traitor! Wilt thou that I should aid mine enemies and the enemies of the realm?" “Traitor am I none," Hotspur replied, “but as a true man I speak.' And when the King drew his dagger upon him, and would have attacked him, Hotspur cried: |