the produce of taxes, called scutages, levied on the feudal tenants in lieu of personal service. To Henry II. belongs the credit of having, not indeed created, but improved and extended the system out of which trial by jury grew. In cases of disputed possession of land, the possessor was allowed his choice between trial by battle, and the verdict of twelve knights of the neighbourhood, who had to declare on oath which of the litigants had the right to the land. These jurors were witnesses rather than judges; they swore to facts within their own knowledge; but in later days they gradually became, as now, judges of the fact, giving their verdict only after hearing evidence. The system was extended to criminal matters; a jury was employed to present reputed criminals to undergo the ordeal the origin of our grand juries. After a while a petty jury was allowed to disprove the truth of the presentment; and upon the abolition of ordeal in the thirteenth century, that expedient came into general

use.

5. Conquest of Ireland.--Early in his reign Henry had obtained authority to invade Ireland from Pope Hadrian IV., or Nicholas Brakespere, noted as the only Englishman who has ever filled the Papal See. Nothing was done till 1169, when Diarmaid of Leinster, a fugitive Irish King, had obtained Henry's permission to enlist adventurers in his service. A ruined nobleman, Richard of Clare, Earl of Pembroke, surnamed "Strongbow," and two Norman gentlemen from Wales, Robert Fitz-Stephen and Maurice Fitz-Gerald, accepted Diarmaid's offers, and, raising an army, at first carried everything before them in Ireland. On Diarmaid's death, Strongbow, who had married his daughter Eva, assumed the royal authority in Leinster; but finding that he was not strong enough to make a lasting conquest, and that Henry grew jealous, he thought it best to agree to give up Dublin and the other fortified places of

Leinster to him, and hold his Irish lands as a vassal of the English Crown. Henry himself went over to Ireland in 1171; his sovereignty was generally acknowledged; and four years later a treaty was made by which Roderick, King of Connaught, the head King of Ireland, became his liegeman; but he could not keep any hold upon the country. Ireland, though supposed to be under English rule, remained for centuries in utter disorder, the battle-ground of Irish chiefs and Norman-English lords, who became as savage and lawless as those whom they had conquered.

CHAPTER XIV.

RICHARD I.

Richard Cœur de Lion; the Crusade (1)-deposition of William Longchamp; treachery of John (2)-Richard taken by Leopold of Austria; transferred to the Emperor; ransomed (3)-death of Richard; Bertrand de Gurdon (4)—legendary reputation of Richard (5).

1. Richard I., surnamed Cœur de Lion, or Lion-Heart, 1189-1199.-Richard, though born in England, had been educated to be Duke of Aquitaine, and it is doubtful whether he could speak a sentence in English. Having spent his youth in Southern Gaul, then the school of music and poetry, he had acquired its tastes, and had some skill in composing verses in its language. But his passion was for military glory, which his strength, valour, and talents well fitted him to win. He was a tall stout man, ruddy and brown-haired, and given to splendour and show in dress. Fierce and passionate, he yet was not without generous impulses; and after the fashion

of a Crusader, he was zealous for religion. For the English he cared little, except as they supplied him with money, and during his whole reign he was only twice in the country, for a few months at a time. After his coronation, Richard at once made ready for a Crusade in company with his friend Philip Augustus of France. About two years before his accession, Jerusalem, where the first Crusaders had founded a Christian kingdom, had been taken by Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and the princes of Western Christendom for a moment laid aside their quarrels to go to its rescue. To raise money Richard sold honours, offices, Church lands, and to the King of Scots, release from all that Henry II. had imposed upon him :"I would sell London if I could find a buyer," he said. At Midsummer 1190, Richard and Philip set out together for the Holy Land; but before they got there, their friendship had cooled. Jealousies and quarrels ruined the Crusade; Philip soon went home to lay plans for possessing himself of Richard's continental dominions; the other crusading princes were disgusted with Richard's arrogance, and he with their lack of zeal. After many brilliant exploits, the King, weakened by fever, and knowing that his presence was needed at home, ended by making a truce with Saladin. His ill success had been great grief to him. The Crusaders had not ventured to attack Jerusalem, the object of their enterprise; and when—so ran a tale long repeated among the warriors of the Cross-Richard had come within sight of it, he had covered his eyes with his garment, praying God with tears not to let him look upon the Holy City, since he could not deliver it. Yet the Crusade had checked the progress of the great Saladin, and thus was not an utter failure.

2. Deposition of the Chancellor Longchamp. During this reign, England was really ruled by the King's Justiciars. Of these, the Chancellor

William of Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, though a faithful servant to Richard, was disliked by the nobles, and filled with contempt for the English, whose language he would not or could not speak-for, upstart as the nobles called him, he prided himself upon his Norman blood. He was before long removed from the Justiciarship by a meeting of earls, barons, and London citizens; Walter of Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen, was appointed in his stead, and the King's brother John, who had put himself at the head of the movement against the Chancellor, was declared Regent and heir to the Crown. But the new Justiciar and the Queen-mother Eleanor, with good reason mistrusting John, prevented him from getting any real power; and in his vexation John began to give ear to the plots of Philip of France against the absent Richard, who set out for home in October, 1192. The next news of him was that he was a prisoner in Austria, and John, declaring that he was dead, laid claim to the crown.

3. Captivity of Richard.-The King, in his hurry to get home, had left his fleet, and gone on as a private traveller. Having been wrecked on the coast of the Hadriatic Sea, he made his way, in disguise, into Austria, where he was seized by Leopold, Duke of that country, who had been insulted by Richard during the Crusade. The Duke sold his captive to the Emperor Henry VI., who, wishing to do Philip of France a pleasure, kept Richard closely guarded, and at one time, it is said, loaded with fetters. He was brought before a meeting of princes of the Empire, on various accusations, among them, that of having procured the assassination of a fellow Crusader, Conrad, Marquess of Montferrat; and although he cleared himself, the Emperor still insisted on so heavy a ransom that to raise it every Englishman had to give a fourth of his goods; even the church plate and jewels were taken to make up the sum. After more than a year's captivity, Richard was freed, in February 1194.

"Take care of yourself, for the devil is let loose," so Philip wrote to John, when he heard that the King and the Emperor were coming to terms; but Richard inflicted on the brother who had tried to bribe the Emperor to detain him in prison, no punishment beyond depriving him of his lands and castles. Even this penalty he soon so far remitted as to restore some of his estates, though he would not again trust him with castles.

4. Death of Richard.—The rest of Richard's life was chiefly spent in war against Philip Augustus. In April, 1199, the King perished in a petty quarrel with the Viscount of Limoges, one of his foreign barons, about a treasure which had been discovered on the estate of the latter. The Viscount yielded a part of the gold to his lord the King, but would not give up the whole. While besieging the Viscount's castle of Chalus-Chabrol, Richard was wounded in the shoulder by an arrow. The castle being stormed and taken, the King ordered all the garrison to be at once hanged, reserving only Bertrand de Gurdon, the crossbowman who had given him what proved to be his death-wound. Finding his end drawing near, he had Bertrand brought before him. "What harm have I done to thee, that thou hast killed me?" The young archer, answering that his father and two brothers had fallen by Richard's hand, bade the King take what revenge he would. "I forgive thee my death," said Richard, and he ordered his release. Nevertheless, when the King was no more, Marcadeus, the captain of his mercenaries, had the crossbowman put to a cruel death. Early in his reign Richard had married Berengaria of Navarre, but had no children.

5. Legendary reputation of Richard.-Legends soon gathered round the striking figure of Coeur de Lion, and he became a hero of romance. His surname probably suggested the tale of his having while in prison torn out with his hands the heart of a