ENGLAND ■when, in 1227, Henry assumed the reins of government he showed himself in- capable of managing them. The Charter was three times reissued in a modified form, and new privileges were added to it, but the king took no pains to observe its provisions. The struggle, long main- tained in the great council (hencefor- ward called Parliament), reached an acute stage in 1263, when civil war broke out. Simon de Montfort, who had laid the foundations of the House of Com- mons by summoning representatives of the shire communities to the Mad Parlia- ment of 1258, had by this time engrossed the sole power. He defeated the king and his son Edward at Lewes in 1264, and in his famous Parliament of 1265 still further widened the privileges of the people by summoning to it burgesses as well as knights of the shire. The escape of Prince Edward, however, was followed by the battle of Evesham (1265), at which Earl Simon was defeated and slain, and the rest of the reign was un- disturbed. On the death of Henry III., in 1272, Edward I. succeeded without opposition. From 1276 to 1284 he was largely oc- cupied in the conquest and annexation of Wales. When, in 1294, war broke out with France, Scotland also declared war. The Scots were defeated at Dunbar (1296), and the country placed under an English regent; but the revolt under Wallace (1297), was followed by that of Bruce (1306), and the Scots remained unsubdued. The reign of Edward was distinguished by many legal and legisla- tive reforms, such as the separation of the old King's Court into the Court of Exchequer, Court of King's Bench, and Court of Common Pleas, the passage of the Statute of Mortmain, etc. In 1295 the first perfect Parliament was sum- moned. Two years later the imposition of taxation without consent of Parlia- ment was forbidden by special act. The great aim of Edward, however, to in- clude England, Scotland, and Wales in one kingdom proved a failure, and he died in 1307 marching against Robert Bruce. The reign of his son Edward II. was un- fortunate to himself and to his kingdom. At Bannockburn (1314), the English re- ceived a defeat from Robert Bruce which insured the independence of Scotland. The king soon proved incapable of regu- lating the lawless conduct of his barons; and his wife, a woman of bold, intriguing disposition, joined in the confederacy against him, which resulted in his im- prisonment and death in 1327. The reign of Edward III. was as bril- liant as that of his father had been the reverse. The main projects of the third 18 ENGLAND Edward were directed against France, the crown of which he claimed in 1328, in virtue of his mother, the daughter of King Philip. The victory won by the Black Prince at Crecy (1346), the cap- ture of Calais (1347), and the victory of Poitiers (1356), ultimately led to the Peace of Bretigny in 1360, by which Ed- ward III. received all the W. of France en condition of renouncing his claim to the French throne. Before the close of his reign, however, these advantages were all lost again, save a few principal towns on the coast. Edward III. was succeeded in 1377 by his grandson Richard II., son of Edward the Black Prince. In 1380 an unjust and oppressive poll-tax brought their popular grievances to a head, and 100,- 000 men under Wat Tyler, marched to- ward London (1381). Wat Tyler was killed while conferring with the king, and the prudence and courage of Richard appeased the insurgents. In 1398 he ban- ished his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke ; and on the death of the latter's father, the Duke of Lancaster, unjustly appropri- ated his cousin's patrimony. To avenge the injustice Bolingbroke landed in Eng- land during the king's absence in Ireland, and at the head of 60,000 malcontents compelled Richard to surrender. He was confined in the Tower, and despite the superior claims of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, Henry was appointed king (1399), the first of the House of Lancaster. Richard was, in all prob- ability, murdered early in 1400. The manner in which the Duke of Lan- caster, now Henry IV., acquired the crown rendered his reign extremely tur- bulent, but the vigor of his administra- tion quelled every insurrection. The most important — that of the Percies of North- umberland, Owen Glendower, and Doug- las of Scotland — was crushe.d by the battle of Shrewsbury (1403). During the reign of Henry IV. the clergy of Eng- land first began the practice of burning heretics. The act under which this was done was directed chiefly against the Lol- lards, as the followers of Wyclif now came to be called. Henry died in 1413, leaving his crown to his son, Henry V., who revived the claim of Edward III. to the throne of France in 1415, and in- vaded that country at the head of 30,000 men. The disjointed councils of the French rendered their country an easy prey; the victory of Agincourt was gained in 1415; and after a second cam- paign a peace was concluded at Troyes in 1420, by which Henry received the hand of Catherine, daughter of Charles VI., was appointed regent of France during the reign of his father-in-law, and declared heir to the throne on his death.
