A Parallel History of France and England; Consisting of Outlines and Dates.
By Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge, 1823-1901.
London: Macmillan and Co., ca.1871.

FRANCE (GAUL).

ENGLAND (BRITAIN).

IN the earliest times of the history of the country then called Gaul, the inhabitants were Kelts. The Gael evidently were there first, and left their name to the country, but the Cymry were the staple of the inhabitants when they became known to civilized nations. Their religion was druidical, their government merely the clan system, but they were more civilized than the insular Cymry from contact with the Greek colonies of Massilia and its dependencies on the Mediterranean coast.

The Belgæ had effected a settlement in the marshy lands about the mouths of the Rhine and Scheldt.

B.C. 154.–The Greek colonies of Massilia called on Rome for assistance against the Gauls. The Romans, responding to the call, founded the colonies now called Aix and Narbonne, and gradually extended their territory so far as to own a region there called Provincia, now Provence.

B.C. 113.–The Cimbri and Teutones, a mixed mass of Kelts and Teutons, poured into Gaul from the west, and were eagerly welcomed by all the Gauls, who dreaded the advance of Roman aggression. They routed two consuls and overspread Provincia.

B.C. 103.–They were defeated at Aqua Sextiæ (Aix) by Caius Marius, pursued into Italy, and annihilated at Vercelli.

Provincia became thoroughly Romanized.

B.C. 61.–The Teuton tribe of Schwaben (Suevi, Swabians), under a prince or Heerfürst (Ariovistus), made their way across the Rhine. The Æduan chief Divitiacus came to implore the aid of Rome.

WHEN the history of Britain begins to become known, the island was occupied by Kelts. These seem to have consisted of two principal nations–the Gael, taller, ruder, wilder, inhabiting the north and far west; the Cymry, more cultivated, living under the Druid system of religion, and apparently trading for tin with the Phoenicians.

The Belgæ, probably a mixed race of Kelts and Teutons, were beginning to make settlements on the eastern coast. In all these the nation was divided into clans, with the chieftainship of each inherent in one family. They sometimes coalesced under some chief of superior influence or talant.

B.C. 58.–Julius Cæsar drove back a Keltic immigration from Helvetia, demolished the Schwaben invaders, and gradually extended the Roman dominion over the whole of Gaul, overcoming the gallant resist-

Julius Cæsar (B.C. 55) made his first landing in Britain, and the next year (B.C. 54) defeated the chief Caswallon, penetrated into the interior beyond

FRANCE (GAUL).

ENGLAND (BRITAIN).

ance of FEAR CEIN CE DO RIGH (Vercingetorex), the chieftain of the Arverni (Auvergne), and making him prisoner B.C. 55, to be exhibited in a triumph at Rome; and the whole of Gaul became a Roman province, the principal cities were colonized, the Latin language adopted, and many of the natives became thoroughly Romanized, B.C. 51.

the Thames, made a treaty, brought away hostages, and returned to Gaul.

The Emperor Claudius renewed the attempt to subdue Britain, A.D. 43. Colonies were established at Verulamum and Londinum; and the brave Silurian chief Caradog (Caractacus) was brought as a prisoner to Rome. The Isle of Mona was devastated by the Roman governor Suetonius in the endeavour to destroy Druidism, A.D. 59. In the meantime, Boddwy (Boadicea), widow of the chief of the Iceni, suffered insults from the Romans which roused her to revenge. The barbarous tribes under her massacred the colonists at Verulam and Camulodunum, but on Suetonius's arrival were defeated, and Boddwy committed suicide.

A.D. 69.–The first revolt against Roman power took place under Civilis, a Belgian trained in the Roman army. It was put down and punished with great severity.

A.D. 77.–Christians, apparently from Asia Minor, were planting the Church in Gaul, and making numerous converts at Lyons and Vienne.

Agricola became proconsul A.D. 77, and completed the subjection and civilization of southern Britain; after which he attempted (A.D. 84) the conquest of Caledonia, the northern part, but was bravely resisted by Galgacus, and could obtain no footing farther north than the Grampian Hills.

Gaul and Britain were formed into a single Roman province, which was placed under a governor, known as the Præfect of Gaul, and possessed of immense power. All the chief cities had the privileges of Roman colonies, and a municipal government; and all the inhabitants of any distinction were Roman citizens, and assimilated themselves to Roman customs. Latin was the prevailing tongue, though Greek was studied as an accomplishment. The old Keltic religion was proscribed, the Roman deities were adored as belonging to the State religion, but Christianity was making progress. The great host of Teutonic tribes in Germany were becoming more restless, and continually threatening the eastern border of the Kelto-Roman province of Gaul, both by land and sea.

The power of the Roman Empire rapidly decayed, and no efficient government reached the provinces,

The Caledonians, who appear to have been Cymry, were beset about this time (A.D. 272) by Scots

FRANCE (GAUL).

ENGLAND (BRITAIN).

A.D.272.–Dionysius is said to have been martyred by the Parisii on the Seine, at the place now called Montmartre. He is the St. Denys of France.

though they continued to be kept in order by the admirable machinery of the Roman constitution.

or Gael from Ireland. Many bloody wars ensued, known as those of the Scots and Picts (though who these last were is only conjectured, and there is no guidance from history.)

Carausius, either a Briton or Belgian by birth, was appointed A.D. 282 "Count of the Saxon shore," with a fleet to repress the attacks of the maritime Teutons. He became very powerful, and called himself Emperor of Gaul and Britain, till he was murdered by a confidant name Allectus, A.D. 297.

CONSTANTIUS Chlorus was appointed Cæsar A.D. 296, and ruled over the whole Keltic division of the empire, until his death, A.D. 306. His son, CONSTANTINE the Great, was chosen emperor by the legions defending the Rhine, became sole emperor, and professed Christianity, A.D. 325. On his death, A.D. 337, the empire was divided among his sons, and became weaker and less efficient under Constantius, the survivor.

Allectus reigned three years in Britain, but was killed at York, A.D. 300.

Magnentius, a soldier, was proclaimed emperor of Autun A.D. 350. Constantius asked the aid of the Teutons, who killed Magnentius in battle, but horribly devastated Gaul. Julian, the Emperor's nephew, became præfect, fixed his head-quarters at Paris, and ably repressed the Franks. Julian became emperor A.D. 360, left Gaul, and was killed in Persia A.D. 362. St. Martin of Tours was completing the conversion of Western Gaul.

Maximus, another soldier, obtained A.D. 381 the empire of Gaul and Britain, where he reigned till he was defeated and beheaded by THEODOSIUS the Great, A.D. 388. Under this able and excellent prince there was comparative order till his death, A.D. 393; when the incapacity of his son Honorius left the whole Western Empire a prey to the great Teutonic invasion, which was itself the effect of the pressure of Slavonic nations pouring in from Asia.

Britain suffered much from the invasions of the Picts and Scots from the north, and of the Saxons from the eastern coast.

Various pretenders to empire unworthy of record rose and fell, and there was no national resistance to either northern or eastern foes. The Picts and Scots, a reflex wave of Cymry and Gael, seem to have been more hated and dreaded by the Romanized Britons than were the Saxons.

A.D. 406.–The whole of Gaul was overrun, by the Franks in the north, and the Burgundians towards the east, as well as by other savage tribes, who plundered but did not occupy.

Aëtius, an able Roman general, drove back the Franks beyond the Rhine, A.D. 423. Wehrmund (Pharamond), called the first of the Frank kings, is said to have fought with him. Hloter was in alliance with him, A.D. 448. Meerwig (who gave his name to the dynasty) was adopted as a son by Aëtius, who

A.D. 400.–The great invasion of the Roman Empire struck Rome at the heart, and left little power of succouring more distant possessions, and the custom of taking one savage tribe as an ally to drive back another only served to give the first a footing. All the Kelts had become either helpless or unable to help themselves for want of discipline and union, and the only remaining vigour was in a few Romans, while the advancing Teutons were full of the fury and energy of a young nation.

FRANCE.

ENGLAND (BRITAIN).

used the Franks to fight the battles of the Roman Empire with the still ruder barbarians.

It is scarcely worth while to trace the various inroads of tribe after tribe who ravaged Gaul, and chased one another out again, without effecting a permanent settlement. The chief of these were the Burgundians, who were the first to establish themselves in burgs, in the country between the Alps and the Rhone, and were already Christians; and the Franks, who came over the Rhine, and whose royal line was properly called the Salic (from the river Yssel), but is also known as the Meerwings (sons of Meerwig), and as the Long-haired, because unshorn locks were a token of royal descent. Provence and the greater part of the south, being full of strong cities, served as a plundering ground for forays, and was never regularly conquered, and the old Cymric province of Armorica, or Brittany, which had scarcely been Romanized, remained free and Keltic.

In 458, HILPERIK I. was king of the Salian Franks. Syagrius was owned at Paris as king of the Romans, by the remnant of Latinized Gauls.

The Teutonic nations poured into the Empire in every direction, and gradually changed the whole face of it. They were, like the Kelts, in tribes, but each tribe had a royal family from which the king was always chosen. He decided only by the consent of his freemen, who had great power. The home possessions of each tribe were held in common, but the spoil of war (veh, fee, originally cattle), whether in gold or lands, was apportioned on condition of service to the king. Their language was Teuton, divided into the high and low German dialects; their character less fiery and more capable of steadiness and perseverance than the Keltic. Their religion owned Odin, Frey, and Thor as the chief deities, and was a good deal confused between the worship of nature and of ancestry, since Odin was the head of the "Asagods," or summer gods, and all the royal lines were traced to him. A state of retribution after death was acknowledged, in which courage had the highest reward and cowardice the worst doom.

to the Britons in Wales, terrified the Picts by the resolution and the shouts of the Welsh neophytes, and won the Hallelujah victory.

Aëtius summoned the last legions from Britain in 451. According to most uncertain history, a national spirit revived, and Vortigern was elected in 454 Pendragon of Britain, and asked the aid of Hengist the Jute to repel the Scots, rewarding him with the Isle of Thanet.

HLODWIG I. (Clovis) came to the chieftainship in 481, defeated Syagrius at Soissons, and obtained Paris in 486; married Hlodhild (Clotilda) of the Burgundian line, defeated the Alemanni at Tolbiac in 496, became a Christian, and founded the French monarchy; was created a patrician by the Eastern Emperor Anastasius, in 505. His sons, Theuderik, Hlodmir, Hildebert, HLOTER, divided his kingdom, and conquered the Burgundians, in 511. Deaths and murders left HLOTER sole king, in 553, till he died, in 561, and the kingdom was again divided between his sons; HILPERIK, king of Neus Oster-rik (Neustria); SIGEBERT, king of Auster-rik (Austrasia); and HARIBERT, king of Paris. The two first were noted for their wives–Fredegund, a slave, and Brynhild, a Gothic princess of Spain.

The Western Empire of Rome was overthrown in 476, but the machinery of Roman government continued in the municipal towns, which had walls strong enough to hold out against the barbarians. There being more of these towns in Gaul than in Britain, the Romano-Keltic element remained far more strong in the first.

In 476, Aurelius Ambrosius seems to have made a brave resistance to the continual advance of the Saxons, but to have been gradually overpowered and forced to give way before them, and the kingdom of Kent was established.

In 490 CERDIC brought a colony of Saxons, who formed the kingdom of Wessex, or of the West Saxons. Tradition and uncertain history declare him to have been opposed for many years by Arthur who fought for every foot of land, but was killed by his own revolted nephew, in 542.

Within this period the kingdoms of Essex (East Saxons), Sussex (South Saxons), Deerland (Deira), Bearland (Beornia), and Marchland (Mercia), were established by the Saxons, also called Angles; the Kelts were almost obliterated, except in Wales, Cornwall, and Strathclyde, where they continued independent. The Saxon population almost entirely displaced the Keltic.

The rule of St. Benedict was brought into France by St. Maur, in 543, and did much to reform the irregularities of the monkish clergy. Everywhere, except in the cities, and where some Roman civilization survived, there was gross and horrible barbarism,

This period is called in English History the Heptarchy, from there being usually an average of seven petty kingdoms. The most able prince was called Bretwalda, and ruled in some measure over the rest. ÆTHELBERHT, king of Kent, was

FRANCE.

ENGLAND (BRITAIN).

PERIK. There were furious wars between the two brothers til 575, when Sigebert was murdered by emissaries of FREDEGUND, who also killed all her husband's sons by other wives, and filled her kingdom with violence and murder. Her son, HLOTER II., was four months old when his father was stabbed, in 585.

BRYNHILD governed in Austrasia for her son HILDEBERT, and on his death, in 595, for her grandsons, THEUDEBERT and THEUDERIK. She was a high-spirited though fierce woman, and did all in her power to improve her people, and promote Christian learning and civilization. Her grandsons quarrelled, in 612. THEUDERIK was killed, in 617, by his brother, who died the same year, when about to make war on HLOTER, who fell on Austrasia, murdered THEUDEBERT's children, and caused the aged Brynhild to be dragged to death by a wild horse, in 621. DAGOBERT I. came to the throne in 628, and was the best of the Meerwings, merciful to his brother, a protector of the church, especially of SS. Eloi and Ouen, and a brave defender of his kingdom against the Slavonians. He was king of Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy, and was called King of the Franks and Prince of the Romans; but the Romans of Aquitaine were really independent. His sons, HLODWEH II. in Neustria and Sigebert in Austrasia, were feeble and helpless, and like all the rest of the dynasty are called Rois Fainéants (Do-nothings). The Maire du Palais ruled entirely, in 655. HLOTER III. reigned in name, in 656, under Ebroin, the maire, who on the king's death, in 670, raised another brother, THEUDERIK I., to the throne. The Austrasian kings had been set aside by their Maire du Palais, PEPPIN l'Héristal, a strong, able man, who went to war with Neustria, and taking Theuderik prisoner, united the kingdoms, and ruled both as maire, though there reigned in name Hlodweh II. (691), then his brother HILDEBERT II. (695), who left a son, DAGOBERT II. (711). He died in 714, in the same year as Peppin, whose authority was so established that he left as maitres to HLOTER III. his widow Plectrude and his grandson. The grandson died in 715. Karl, a son of Peppin, usually called Charles Martel, became maitre. The Neustrians set up another king, and during the war

licence, drunkenness, and cruelty; and among the kings and nobles, many wives were taken by the same man.

Pope Gregory the Great did his utmost to bring about improvement, and a strong missionary spirit prevailed in the Irish and Scottish colonies founded by the disciples of St. Patrick, where much of the old Latin learning survived, and whence priests and monks came southwards and did much to Christianize the rude nations of France, England, and Germany. Of these St. Columbanus and St. Gall are the most famous.

Bretwalda in 568. He married Bertha, the daughter of Haribert of Paris, in 575, who brought her own clergy with her, but they made no attempt at the conversion of the English, and the British Church hated the enemy too much to preach to them, until at length Gregory the Great prepared a mission for England, in 595. St. Augustine landed in Kent in 597, and converting the king (in 598), became first Archbishop of Canterbury; but the other kingdoms remained in heathenism, and the Welsh clergy disputed with Augustine, in 612.

RÆWALD, king of East Anglia, a lukewarm Christian, was Bretwalda in 617; but at his court, EADWINE, of Northumbria, met Paulinus, a disciple of Augustine. EADWINE became Bretwalda in 621. He was a zealous Christian and admirable king, but Cadwallader of Wales, and Penda, the heathen king of Mercia, combined, and at Heathfield, on the Trent, Eadwine was defeated and slain, in 634.

OSWALD, his nephew, was a brave Bretwalda; he defeated and slew Cadwallader at Hexham; and brought Aidan, an excellent Keltic bishop, from Scotland, in 638, to instruct his subjects; but he was slain, in 642, in battle with Penda, and only when that Mercian king died (in 655) in battle near York, was he Bretwalda. He was the last to bear that rank, and Northumberland fell in power, while Mercia increased. There was, in the meantime, an entire conversion of the country. Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, established dioceses and parishes, in 691, and many monasteries arose. Venerable Bæda wrote his history, in 711; St. Hilda ruled the Abbey of Holy Isle, in 714; and there was much culture and softening under the early monastic influence.

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ENGLAND.

ensuing, in 719, HLOTER died, whereupon Charles acknowledged HILPERIK II., the Neustrian, and ruled the three kingdoms, Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy. THEUDERIK II. succeeded, in 720. Charles bravely guarded the frontier against Saxons and Germans, but a more dangerous enemy was coming from the South: the Moors and Arabs, who had conquered Spain, were entering Aquitaine, and threatening to tread out Christianity. Eudes, duke of Aquitaine, implored the aid of Charles, who totally defeated them, and killed their leader, Abderrahman, at the battle of Tours, or Poitiers, in 732, which saved Europe from Mahometanism. Pope Gregory III. placed himself under Charles's protection, in 741, being in fear of the Lombard kings. The same year Charles died, and likewise the king.

In 742, HILPERIK III. reigned, under Peppin (son of Charles.) In the desire of obtaining Peppin's support against the Lombards, Pope Zacharias granted PEPPIN leave to assume the crown in 752, and place Hilperik in a convent. So ended the Meerwing or Salic dynasty, and the Karling began. Peppin saved Rome from the Lombards, in 756; and conquered Aquitaine, in 760. He died in 768, and was succeeded by his sons KARL and Karloman. The latter died in 771, and KARL, or Charles the Great, became one of the greatest of sovereigns. He subdued the Lombards in 774, and conquered the Spanish Moors as far south as the Ebro, in 778. After several years' war, he reduced the Saxons on the Elbe, in 784, and forced them into Christianity, established great prince-bishoprics on the Rhine, to tame the wild people, encouraged learning, befriended the Church, and was the great benefactor of the Franks. By choice of the Roman people, he was made Emperor of the West in 800, and was crowned by Pope Leo III., thus founding the German Empire. His favourite palace was at Aix-la-Chapelle, where he died in 814, and was succeeded by his son LODWIG I. (the Pious).

In 832, the sons of LODWIG rebelled against him, and after a long series of treacheries and wars, the empire was divided between them, in 839. LOTHAR was Emperor of the eastern portion, part of which is called Lotharingia (Lorraine); LODWIG, Bavaria; PEPPIN, Aquitaine; KARL, the western

The Teutonic nations who had taken up their abode in Scandinavia began to make inroads upon the more favoured lands to the south. Still heathens, they avenged the desertion of Odin on churches and abbeys; and they sought fame and plunder on all the coasts of Europe. Their chiefs, called Sea-kings, fitted out

In 837, ÆTHELWULF, son of Ecgberht, is said to have regulated payment of tithes. The famous Sea-king Ragnar was driven on the eastern coast and put to death. Scotland suffered dreadfully; all the Hebrides were taken by the Northmen, and the learning in the monasteries extinguished.

FRANCE.

ENGLAND.

kingdom. Upon the death of the gentle, weak, and pious LODWIG, in 840, the brothers fought for the supremacy, and the coasts were left undefended against the Northmen, in 843. KARL, or Charles II., called the Bald, by the Treaty of Verdun became king of France in 857. He could not save it from the Northmen, who ravaged it from end to end, and besieged Paris in 860, which had to be bought off from being plundered by them. He had a troublous reign, and was weak and incompetent, but, surviving his brothers, he became Emperor in 875, and died two years later. His son, LODWIG (or Louis) II., the Stammerer, reigned in France alone.

His sons, LOUIS III. and KARLOMAN, reigned together in 879. The one died in 882; the other, KARL (or Charles III., called the Fat), son to Lodwig of Bavaria, and Emperor, reigned over all the Franks, miserably and weakly, in 884. Paris was again beseiged by the Northmen and succoured by Eudes, count of Paris, in 885.

fleets in which they entered harbours and river mouths, and devastated all the country round. "From the fury of the Northmen" was a clause in the Litany.

Full revenge for Ragnar's death was preparing in Denmark, but did not descend on England till ÆTHELBALD (857), son to Æthelwulf, and his brother, ÆTHELBERHT (860), had both reigned, and ÆTHELRED was on the throne (866). He fought gallantly against the savage Northmen, but was mortally wounded in battle, and ALFRED the Great, the youngest brother, succeeded in 872. His first seven years were all defeat and reverse, but, gathering strength, he became victorious, and forced the Northmen to occupy the wasted counties as Christians; then regulated, tamed, and civilized the kingdom. He raised a fleet to defend the coasts, made himself loved and honoured everywhere, and from his time England had an honourable name. ALFRED and KARL the Great are the two greatest men of England and France.

EUDES was elected king of France in 888, when Charles had died of grief; but at his death, in 903, CHARLES IV. (the Simple), a posthumous son of LOUIS the Stammerer, was chosen king. He sunk into contempt, and was much inferior in power to ROBERT, son of Eudes, and HUGUES the Great, his son, who were more allied to the old Gallic race.

Charles was deposed in 929, and died in prison. RODOLF, count of Burgundy, was chosen king. On his death, in 936, HUGUES and William of Normandy restored LOUIS IV., son of Charles, who was a man of more ability and energy, but unscrupulous and violent, and spent a life of vain struggles against the advancing power of the Counts of Paris. His death, in 954, left his kingdom to his son LOTHAR, and two years later HUGUES Capet succeeded his father, while Lothar continued the struggle, which was not so much of men, as whether the old Frank blood, now separated from the Franks in Germany, could stand against the revival of the Gallo-Romans or true French backed by the Normans.

A great Sea-king, HROLF Gangr, was expelled from Norway, and profited by the weakness of the Karlings absolutely to conquer Neustria, and settle there. He obtained, in 911, investiture of the lands from Charles, and they took the name of Normandy. Hrolf retired into a monastery, and his son William Longsword reigned with general esteem.

In 942, William was murdered by the Count of Flanders, and Louis IV. tried to imprison his infant son Richard, and resume Normandy; but the Normans, assisted by fresh Northmen from Denmark, bravely defended their duchy, and finally entirely gained their independence of all but homage paid to the king. Duke Richard the Fearless was an able and much respected and devout prince.

EADWARD the Elder (901), his son, carried out his grand policy, defeating the Danes and ruling the whole island until his untimely death.

ÆTHELSTAN (924), his son, was brave, wise, and successful, kept England clear of Danes, and raised her power and intelligence, so that no European prince was so highly esteemed. He sheltered Louis, son of Charles the Simple, in his exile; and his sisters were married to all the chief princes of Europe.

EADMUND the Elder, the next brother, succeeded in 940, but was killed by a robber, in 947. ELDRED, the last brother, lame and weakly, left the government to Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury. On his death, in 955, Eadmund's son, EADWINE, opposed Dunstan and quarrelled with the clergy. EADGAR, his brother, was set up (in 957) against him, and prevailed. He made Dunstan archbishop, and, ruling by his advice, was famed for peace and prosperity. He was called Emperor of Britain, and received the submission of the whole island.

Eadgar the Peaceable died in 974, and his eldest son, EADWARD, called the Martyr, was murdered in 979 by his stepmother Ælfrida, to place on the throne her own son ÆTHELRED the Unready. When

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LOTHAR was killed by a fall from his horse in 986, and LODWIG V. succeeded him, but died in 987; and the nobles and clergy of Northern France elected HUGUES Capet, to the exclusion of CHARLES, brother to LOTHAR, who merely obtained the dukedom of Lorraine. Henceforth the kingdom became truly French.

In 996, ROBERT succeeded his father. He was exceedingly devout, but weak, and the great feudal vassals were enormously powerful, absolute princes in their fiefs, only following the king's banner in a general war, and having wars among themselves. Other vassals held under them; and were bound to follow them in war: the peasants were serfs. Nobles were trained to fight in their heavy armour, and bound over by oaths of piety, truth, honour, and forbearance, before they received knighthood.

HENRI I. came to the throne in 1030, a dull and feeble king; in fact the Counts of Paris were at first far less powerful as sovereigns than as vassals. The Abbey of Bec was founded in 1031, and became a great centre of spiritual life, leading to a great increase of vigour and holiness in monasticism.

In 1060, PHILIPPE I., a mere child, succeeded. His minority was of less consequence because his power was almost null. The castles which rose on every hill were almost impregnable, and each baron was a little lawless prince. The only check on their violence was in the strong force of their faith. They were often not withheld from great barbarity, but they usually owned their guilt, and tried to expiate it by penances, pilgrimages, and gifts to the Church.

after Dunstan's death, in 986, the defences were neglected, the Danes returned in 987, and were subsidized by the king. Resistance was only partial, and inroads were made everywhere. Brithnot, earl of Essex, was killed fighting bravely at Malden, in 998. But the Danegelt was usually paid to the Danes instead of being used to raise armies against them. In 1002 Æthelred married Emma, daughter of Richard I. of Normandy. A great massacre of the Danes in Wessex provoked vengeance. SWEND, king of Denmark, invaded in 1003, with a view to conquest, not only to plunder.

Archbishop Ælfhæg was slaughtered in 1008. Æthelred fled to Normandy, in 1012. SWEND was owned king of England, in 1013, but died the same year. His son KNUD and EADMUND Ironside, son to Æthelred, fought until a treaty was made, and was followed by EADMUND's murder, in 1017. KNUD married Emma, ruled well and beneficently, became a Christian and went on pilgrimage to Rome. He died in 1036, and HARALD Harefoot reigned like a savage Dane till his death, in 1039, when his half-brother HARTHAKNUD succeeded, but on his death, in 1041, EADWARD, son of Æthelred, was restored by the great Earl Godwine. Having been bred in a Norman convent, he was very pious, and devoted to the Normans. He brought many to England, and hence arose fierce quarrels with Godwine and the English party. Nor near kinsman remained to Eadward, and he longed to make William of Normandy his successor, but died, in 1065, undecided between him and Harald Godwineson. HARALD was elected in 1066 by the nation, but William of Normandy, invading England, defeated and killed him at Hastings, and was crowned WILLIAM I.

WILLIAM I. endeavoured to reign as a native hereditary king, but the violence and rapacity of his Norman followers, provoking the discontent of the English, drove him to severity, until all the chief English nobles had fallen. The remnant of the old royal line took refuge with Malcolm Cean Mohr in Scotland, and there were great English settlements in the Lothians; but though harsh to all, William repressed the Normans as much as the English, and made it his great object to prevent the nobles from fortifying their castles, and becoming as powerful as they were elsewhere.

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Philippe I. spent his life in petty strifes with his vassals, hating and fearing them, but unable to reduce their power. The "County of Paris" alone was under his immediate government. Provence belonged to the Empire, and Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, Maine, Poitou, Toulouse, Champagne, and Burgundy were all under dukes and counts of their own, perfectly independent, except for the nominal homage they paid to the king.

In 1073, Hildebrand was elected Pope by the name of Gregory VII., but had to undergo a fierce struggle with the Emperor Heinrich IV., in which he seemed to be defeated, but being strongly aided by the Normans in Apulia, he really conquered; and though he died in 1085, a fugitive from Rome, the superiority of the Papacy to the Empire was established in men's minds.

War broke out between Philippe and William respecting the county of Le Mans. William burnt the city of Mantes, but there received a hurt which caused his death in 1087. He left the fief of Normandy to its natural heir, Robert, his eldest son.

In 1070, Lanfranc, abbot of Bec, was made Archbishop of Canterbury.

In 1073, Robert, William's eldest son, demanded the dukedom of Normandy, and being refused, rebelled, was defeated, and went into exile. Domesday-book, a census of the kingdom, was drawn up by the king's orders, and he did all in his power to promote order and justice. The Church, hitherto slack and ill-disciplined, was brought into closer connection with Rome, and reformed by Lanfranc, the king assisting with real faith, devotion, and conscientiousness.

William I. died in 1087, leaving the crown of England to his second son, WILLIAM II. (Rufus), an able man, but impious, violent, savage, and tyrannical, and much hated both by Normans and English. After Lanfranc's death, in 1089, he kept the see of Canterbury four years vacant. At length, under terror of death from severe sickness, he appointed Anselm, abbot of Bec. MALCOLM CEAN MOHR invaded England, but was killed at Alnwick, and his kingdom fell back into its savage Keltic state.

In 1092, Philippe deserted his queen, and seduced the beautiful Bertrade de Montfort to leave her husband, the Count of Anjou. For this he was excommunicated by the Pope in 1094.

In 1092, the deliverance of the Holy Land from Mahometan power was preached by a pilgrim named Peter the Hermit, who stirred all Christendom to take the cross and march to the holy war, called a Crusade.

In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Peter preached enthusiastically; hosts assumed the cross in pledge that they would free Jerusalem. Robert of Normandy pledged his dukedom to William II. to equip himself for the Crusade.

In 1097, Godfrey, duke of Lorraine, was chosen leader of the crusading army. Bohemund and Tancred, Apulian Normans, were the chief heroes; and after a march overland, and severe warfare, Jerusalem was taken in 1099, and Godfrey elected king of the Latin kingdom there established.

In 1097, Eadgar, son of Malcolm Cean Mohr, obtained the crown of Scotland, and there was a period of close union with England, and much prosperity.

William's brutality drove Anselm out of the country.

In 1100, lest his excommunication should be followed by dethronement, Philippe I. crowned his son Louis, but then became jealous, and persecuted him so that he had to fly to England for shelter, but was reconciled at last to his father.

Philippe I. died in 1106, and LOUIS VI. reigned alone, and with much superior ability and vigour. He first began to obtain some influence for the French crown, and was assisted by the counsels of Suger,

In 1101, Robert returned home, and claimed the English crown, but was bought off. He was a miserable ruler, and the Normans summoned Henry to their aid. At the battle of Tenchebray, in 1105, Robert was defeated, and being taken, was kept in captivity for life, while Normandy was again united to England.

In 1100, William Rufus was accidentally killed while hunting. His brother HENRY I. became king, and married Margaret, daughter to Malcolm, and a princess of the English line. He was unscrupulous, but able, kept good order, and repressed the tyranny of the Norman barons, letting no one break the laws but himself. Much disputing having taken place on the right of the investiture of bishops, Anselm travelled to Rome, and it was decided that the king should invest with temporalities, the pope with spiritualities, the king granting the lands, but the spiritual power over the flock being given by the Church.

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abbot of St. Denys. Bernard, a monk of Clugny, was revered as a saint throughout Europe, and everywhere consulted for his holiness and wisdom.

In 1108, several cities in the rural fiefs were obtaining charters by which they were erected into communes, and obtained the right of self-government, and freedom from the interference of the court upon the payment of a fixed tax.

In 1116, a war on a trifling quarrel broke out between Louis VI. and Henry I., and Louis espoused the cause of William Clito, the son of Robert, who was come to man's estate, and took up arms to recover his inheritance. The Count of Anjou, Foulques V., likewise supported him, and gave him his daughter in marriage, in 1119; but Foulques was detached from the league by Henry's offer of his own son to another daughter, and Louis and William were totally defeated at Brenneville, August 20th, 1119, by Henry in person.

In 1120, Abelard, a Breton theologian of great ability and eloquence, became bewildered by metaphysical studies, and taught a doctrine savouring of heresy, which for many years was strongly combated by St. Bernard.

In 1120, William Atheling, only son of King Henry, was drowned, on his passage from Normandy to England, immediately after his marriage.

In 1125, Henry caused all his vassals to swear fealty to his daughter Maude, widow of the Emperor Henry V., and gave her in marriage to Geoffrey Plantagenet, son of Foulques of Anjou.

In 1129, Louis VI. crowned his eldest son, Philippe, to reign jointly with him, but the youth was killed in 1131, by a fall from his horse, and his brother Louis, called le jeune, was then crowned.

In 1135, Henry I. died in Normandy, and his sister's son, STEPHEN de Blois, obtained the crown of England from the nobles, who hoped to exercise under him the feudal licence that the previous kings had repressed. On his endeavour to restrain their violence they invited Maude to assert her claim. Her uncle David, king of Scotland, invaded England in her cause, but was defeated at Northallerton in 1138; but Maude landed in England the following year, and made Stephen prisoner at Lincoln in 1141. Her haughtiness alienated her supporters, and she was besieged at Oxford in 1142, whence she escaped by night; but her chief champion, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, was captured and exchanged for Stephen. She retained the western counties and Stephen the eastern. Her son Henry came to England in 1148,

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unsuccessfully, and the army became so diseased and diminished that the king returned home in 1149, shortly before the death of Abbot Suger.

In 1152, Alienor's conduct was so disgraceful that Louis divorced her, though he thus lost all her huge domains.

In 1158, his second wife brought him only daughters, and he was weak, depressed, and unable to assert his rights, being constantly overreached by Henry, and little regarded by his other vassals, so that he was losing all that his father had gained for the crown.

In 1165, Philippe, the son of Louis, was born.

Henry Plantagenet married Alienor of Aquitaine, thus acquiring the great southern duchy in addition to Normandy and Anjou. His cunning gained him continual advantages without war. His two infant sons were betrothed to the daughters of Louis, and the third to Constance, heiress of Brittany, and thus nearly all France was in his power. His second and third sons were brought up in Aquitaine, and imbued with its poetical spirit; and the House of Anjou entirely overshadowed that of Capet. Nevertheless, Louis granted an asylum to Becket in his exile.

and made a treaty with the king, by which he was to obtain the crown at Stephen's death, to the exclusion of that prince's children. England was in a horrible state of private warfare throughout the reign.

In 1154, Stephen died, and HENRY II. continued the Norman policy of repression of the barons, and strict observance of law, showing great vigour, resolution, and astuteness.

In 1161, Thomas à Becket was made primate, and resisted the demand of the king at the Council of Clarendon (in 1164), that the clergy should be subjected to secular law. Being driven into exile, he appealed to the Pope; and Henry, being in fear of excommunication, caused his eldest son, Henry, to be crowned in 1170, to reign jointly with himself. A partial reconciliation was effected, and Becket returned to England, but was immediately after murdered by four of Henry's knights.

Philippe, the young son of Louis, imbibed a bitter hatred to Henry II. as the oppressor of his father.

In 1179, Louis crowned his son PHILIPPE II. (Auguste), and soon after died (in 1180), leaving the throne to a successor of much greater abilities and stronger determination, resolute to recover the power of the crown.

Henry's queen and her three elder sons all rebelled, and fled to France. They were reduced to submission, but Alienor was kept in confinement, and her Aquitanian subjects continually incited her sons to assert her cause against their father, and they were in a perpetual state of rebellion in 1180, which, however, was chiefly confined to the French fiefs. Near Limoges, Henry, the eldest son, died childless, in 1183, in the midst of a rebellion; and three years later (in 1186), Geoffrey, the third son, was killed in a tournament, leaving a posthumous son, Arthur, duke of Brittany. On the tidings (in 1188) that Jerusalem had been retaken by the Saracens, Philippe II., with Henry II. and his son Richard, took the cross; but during the preparations, Richard, supported by Philippe, made demands which Henry II. resisted, but on their taking up arms against him, he yielded, being worn out and broken down with toil and sorrow; and on finding that his youngest son, John, had joined the league against him, he died of grief, in 1189, at Chinon in Normandy.

A treaty was made at Vezelay between Philippe and Richard.

In 1172, Henry did penance at the tomb of Becket.

In 1173, Ireland having been partially conquered by Richard, earl of Pembroke, and other Norman adventurers, was united to England, and Henry took the title of Lord of Ireland.

In 1190, Philippe II. sailed in the Genoese fleet to meet Richard at Messina.

In 1190, RICHARD I. (Coeur de Lion) was crowned, and immediately sailed in his own fleet from

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In 1191, Philippe sailed for Acre in the spring, and first arrived.

Acre was taken by the joint forces of the kings, but rivalries and disputes about the custody of the city broke out, and Philippe returned to France.

The winter was spent by the Crusaders in Sicily.

Marseilles for the Crusade, leaving England to be governed by his chancellor, William Longchamp.

In 1191, on his voyage to Acre, Richard conquered the isle of Cyprus.

In 1192, Richard won the battles of Ascalon and Joppa, but could not reach Jerusalem; and his health failing, he returned home, but was captured on the way by Leopold of Austria, and imprisoned (in 1193), and John's plots prolonged his captivity until he was ransomed by his mother, and joyously welcomed in England (in 1194).

In 1197, OTHO of Brunswick, nephew to Richard, was elected Emperor. Philippe opposed him, but the election was carried by INNOCENT III., one of the ablest of popes, whose object was to assert the power of the Church over all secular princes. Philippe supported Arthur's claim, as son of the elder brother, to the hereditary fiefs of Normandy and Anjou, till he was bought off by the marriage of John's niece and heiress, BLANCHE of Castile, with his son Louis.

In 1200, France was laid under an interdict to compel Philippe to take back his lawful wife.

On Agnes' death, in 1201, he took back Ingeborg, and the censure was removed. This anxiety ended, he again supported Arthur against John, giving him a small army, but Arthur, while attacking the castle of Mirabeau, in 1202, was surprised by John, made prisoner, and put to death secretly. Philippe summoned John, as his vassal, to answer for the murder, and on his non-appearance declared his fiefs forfeit to the crown, and seized Normandy, Anjou, and Poitou, in 1203, with little endeavour on John's part to defend them. Guienne and Brittany passed to Alix, a sister of Arthur, on the mother's side.

Heretical opinions having long prevailed among the people of the south of France, called Albigenses, a crusade was preached against them, and the army commited to the charge of Simon de Montfort, who committed horrible ravages, and the devastating warfare continued for so many years that Provence has never wholly recovered.

The order of Dominican friars was instituted by St. Dominic, to oppose heresy; the order of Franciscans, or Minorites, by St. Francis d'Assisi, to maintain devotion and poverty. Both orders sent brethren to preach throughout the country, and were subject only to the Pope.

A question arising on the election to the see of Canterbury, in 1207, Innocent III. was called on for a decision, and appointed a nominee of his own, named Stephen Langton. On John's refusal to receive him, England was laid under an interdict, which John resisted with reckless cruelty and violence; till, finding that Innocent was about to incite his enemies to depose him, he submitted, and, as the price of his absolution, made England a fief of the Papacy, and did homage to the legate Pandulf, in 1213.

A league was formed in 1214 against France by the Emperor Otho, and was joined by John, who sent troops to join the allied army in Flanders, and himself invaded Poitou, but was driven back by Louis the Lion, Philippe's son, while Philippe himself, supported by the burghers, gained a splendid victory over the confederates at Bouvines.

Philippe had thus made a great step in exalting the power of the crown. The great fiefs of Normany,

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Anjou, and Poitou were directly under himself, without any intermediate duke or count, and he had granted charters to the cities, and raised the power of the burghers so as to balance that of the nobles. The terrible war with the Albigenses occupied the more lawless spirits.

against him, and forced him to sign Magna Charta, a charter binding him to rule by the old English laws. He swore to it, but immediately broke away in fury, and collected mercenaries to put down the barons in 1215.

The barons invited Louis the Lion to their aid and he obtained possession of London, and of all the south of England. John's treasure was lost in crossing the Wash, and he died soon after (in 1216) at Newark. His son, HENRY III., a child of nine, was crowned, and most of the barons returned to their allegiance.

In 1217, the troops of Louis were defeated at Lincoln, by the barons, and his fleet bringing reinforcements by Hubert de Burgh, off Dover; whereupon he resigned his pretensions and left England. Young Henry was protected by the Pope as a Church vassal, and was under the guardianship of Hubert de Burgh, who governed well; but the country suffered much from papal exactions, and the wastefulness of the king and his court.

Philippe having won nearly three parts of France, and triumphed over the House of Anjou, died in 1223. LOUIS VIII. succeeded, and took the command in person against the Albigenses, but died in 1226 of a fever, leaving his young son, LOUIS IX., to the regency of Blanche of Castile.

In 1240, the four daughters of the Count of Provence married Louis IX., Henry III., and their two younger brothers, Charles, count of Anjou, and Richard, Earl of Cornwall.

In 1248, LOUIS IX., a most just, upright, beneficent monarch, and one of the most devout of men, undertook a crusade, and began by attacking Egypt, as the seat of the Saracen empire, but his army was wasted with sickness and defeated on the Nile; he himself was made prisoner, and nearly perished, but ransomed himself and the remnant of his followers, in 1254.

His reign was one of justice and mercy, and he was infinitely beloved by his subjects, and respected in all Europe.

Henry III. was devout, but weak, passionate, with no regard to his word, and no steady principle, even in Church patronage; he lavished wealth on his foreign relations and caused infinite discontent.

In 1256, Henry's second son, Edmund, was made by the Pope king of Sicily, but never even tried to gain the kingdom.

In 1257, Richard, earl of Cornwall, was elected King of the Romans by the Pope's influence in Germany. The knights of the shire and burgesses assembled in Parliament.

In 1258, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester (in right of his mother), organized an opposition of the barons to the king's illegal proceedings. All came armed to Oxford, to what was called the Mad Parliament. It was established that no grant of

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money should be made without the consent of the representatives of the people, and Henry was placed in the hands of a council to see that Magna Charta was observed.

In 1262, the disputes between Henry and the barons were submitted to Louis, by whom it was decided that the barons had no power to coerce the king, and that his oaths at Oxford were not binding.

In 1264, HENRY and his son EDWARD took up arms against the barons, but were defeated and made prisoners at Lewes. Edward escaped and in 1265 defeated and slew Montfort at Evesham; then by his good government pacified the kingdom.

In 1270, Louis, his son Philippe, and the two sons of Henry, took the cross; but Louis, halting at Tunis, there fell sick and died, just before the arrival of Charles of Anjou and the two English princes.

In 1271, PHILIPPE III. (le Hardi) returned home and was crowned. He was a good but not an able man, and his reign had few events.

In 1271, Edward proceeded to the Holy Land and rescued Acre from the Saracens, but nearly perished by the hand of an assassin.

HENRY III. died in his absence (in 1272).

It was a period of great beauty and grace in all forms of ornament, and of much cultivation of mind and thought among the more learned classes. Altogether this may be reckoned as the climax of the Gothic civilization.

In 1274, EDWARD I. returned home, and was crowned. He was the first to see his true strength as head of the English nation, and to heed home rather than foreign politics. He ruled well and wisely, and knew where to give way to his nobles. Good order and justice were established. After much treachery and violence from the native princes of Wales, he subdued them in 1277, and the Principality was given to his son, Edward of Caernarvon.

In 1282, France became involved in the wars between Charles of Anjou and Pedro, king of Aragon, for the kingdom of Sicily, and on his march to invade Aragon, Philippe fell sick and died at Roussillon.

PHILIPPE IV. (le Bel) was a clever, wary, treacherous, and violent man.

In 1294, PHILIPPE IV. invaded the dominions of Guy Dampierre, count of Flanders, Edward's ally. Edward endeavoured to succour him, but his hands were tied by his Scottish war and by the refusal of his barons to serve beyond the sea or grant supplies. He gave up attention to the Continent to concentrate it on England, and after a voyage to Flanders, when want of means crippled him, he made a truce with Philippe.

Pope Boniface VIII. interfered on behalf of Guy of Flanders, but in vain. Philippe made peace with Edward, giving him his sister Margaret as a second wife, and betrothing his daughter Isabel to Edward of Caernarvon in 1303. The treaty of Monbreuil was signed, by which Edward left Philippe almost all he claimed in France.

In 1291, on the death of Alexander III. and the failure of the direct line of Scottish kings, Edward was called to decide the succession between the claimants. He chose John Balliol, but in 1294 assumed a power as suzerain that galled the Scots. They rebelled, and a fierce war broke out, in which Edward's passions were roused to fury. The needs of Edward led to the assembly of the first regular Parliament. He defeated the Scots under Wallace at Falkirk in 1298, deposed Balliol as rebellious, and seized the whole kingdom; but the violence of the governors he employed provoked an outlaw war in 1299. Edward was forced to give way to the Parliament, and sanction the law that supplies cannot be granted without consent from the nation.

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The unhappy Guy was taken and imprisoned, and Boniface excommunicated Philippe, who sent violent men to threaton the Pope in 1304, and thus drove him to a frenzied suicide. Through the French cardinals Philippe obtained the election of Clement V. in 1305, a miserable creature of his.

In 1307, Philippe demanded of Clement the suppression of the Order of the Temple, who had become dangerously powerful. The prosecution lasted seven years; the knights being accused of horrible crimes, tortured, and burnt for heresy.

In 1307, on his way to repress the rising, Edward I. died at Burgh-on-the-Sands.

In 1308, Edward II. married Isabel, daughter of Philippe.

In 1308, in the first year of Edward II., it became understood that a law was not valid without the assent of Parliament. EDWARD II., weak, licentious, and led by favourites, neglected the Scottish war. His first favourite, Piers Gaveston, was murdered by the barons in 1312, and he afterwards led an army to Scotland, but was utterly routed at Bannockburn in 1314.

In 1325, on a summons to Edward to do homage for Guienne, Isabel offered to take her son to France to perform it in his stead. She there obtained an army of adventurers, with whom she returned to England, and with the aid of her lover Mortimer overcame the king, in 1327, seized and executed the Despensers, gave the crown to her son, EDWARD III., and in 1328, caused the deposed king to be murdered in Berkeley Castle.

Philippe was an uncertain, violent man, with some flash of chivalry, but very unjust.

In 1330, Robert of Artois, misused by Philippe, took refuge in England, and Philippe was so displeased at his being there sheltered as to become Edward's bitter enemy, destroying merchant ships, fostering pirates, and stirring up the Scots to war.

After a marauding expedition of the Scots into Northumberland, which young Edward III. vainly opposed, he owned Robert I. as King of Scots in 1330. He soon after overthrew Mortimer, and reigned alone. He was brilliant and popular, though dissipated, and was regarded as a great promoter of commerce.

The Count-dauphin of Vienne left his county to Jean, son of the king, and thence "dauphin" became the title of the heir-apparent.

In 1333, after Bruce's death, the Scots broke the truce, upon which Edward set up Balliol's son as King of Scotland, and, while DAVID II. (son to Bruce) fled to France, endeavoured to subdue the country.

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In 1337, the French attacks forced Edward into war. He therefore demanded the crown of France, and allying himself with the insurgent Flemings of Ghent, gained a great naval victory at Sluys, and invaded France on the Flemish side in 1340. This was calling him off from Scotland, he made a truce, and David II. returned in 1341.

It was a time of much distress to the people. The Gabelle, or salt tax, was rigourously imposed to maintain the war, and the seignorial rights were harshly enforced. The policy of supporting cities against nobles was forgotten, and the gentry were cruel and insolent, with little check save from chivalry; but there was hardly any pity for men not of gentle blood, though much courtesy to those who possessed it.

The succession to the duchy of Brittany was disputed between the houses of Blois and Montfort. France took the part of the former, England of the latter, and Edward sent succours to the brave Jeanne de Montfort, besieged in Hennebonne. Edward invaded France in person, and with his son, the Black Prince, gained a great victory at Creçy, and after a long siege took Calais.

The barons were more amenable to a warlike king, but the country was drained of money, and the king had often to entreat for subsidies.

In 1346, David II. invaded England, but was defeated and made prisoner at Nevil's Cross, in 1347.

In 1348, Edward tried to marry his daughter to the Count of Flanders, but he escaped, and threw himself into the arms of France. A truce was made, partly from the exhaustion of both countries, which were alike ravaged by the terrible pestilence, the Black Death.

In 1349, the Order of the Garter was instituted. William of Wykeham was chancellor.

England was proud of the victories, though there was great want of money and scarcity of labour.

In 1350, Philippe VI. died of feasting at his second marriage. His son JEAN succeeded; more honourable, but hard to inferiors.

In 1355, Edward espoused the cause of Charles I. (the Bad), king of Navarre, who claimed fiefs in Normandy, as Count of Evereux, and was the bitter enemy of Jean.

The history of both kingdoms was chronicled by the graphic gossiping historian, the Flemish Froissart.

In 1356, the war broke out again, and a splendid victory was gained by Edward, prince of Wales, over Jean at Poitiers. Jean was made prisoner and taken to England.

In 1357, the dauphin Charles governed France. His third brother, Philippe, married the heiress of Burgundy, and founded a great ducal house. There was a terrible insurrection, called the Jacquerie, of the oppressed peasants against the nobles.

In 1360, a treaty was signed at Bretigny ceding Aquitaine to the English princes, as vassals to the French crown. Jean was released, giving his sons as hostages.

The Jacquerie was put down, and savage execution done on the peasants.

The knights and nobles on either side fought brilliantly and with great exchange of courtesy and grace, but the lower classes were hardly treated on both sides, and hardly regarded as human beings. Bands of mercenaries were hired by each king, and were a scourge to the country.

In 1356, Edward purchased the claims of Balliol, and tried to effect the conquest of Scotland. He feasted with two captive kings at the Tower in 1357.

In 1361, the descendants of Charles of Anjou on the throne of Naples having become extinct, Louis, son of King Jean, was adopted as heir; but never had more than the title of King of Sicily, though he obtained the county of Provence.

The Prince of Wales governed Aquitaine, holding a chivalrous court at Bordeaux, frequented by the best knights of England and Germany.

In 1364, unable to obtain fulfilment of the treaty by the French, Jean returned to captivity, and there died the same year.

CHARLES V. succeeded, a wary man of great ability, but feeble of health. At Cocherel the troops of Charles of Navarre were defeated, and the Gascon, Captal de Buch, the Black Prince's friend, made prisoner.

The bands of Free Companions roamed the country, living lawlessly on the people. The great Breton

The war between the kingdoms was formally at an end, but the allies of both carried it on, assisted on either side by English and French adventurers.

At Auray the fate of Brittany was decided in a battle where young Montfort, under the care of Sir John Chandos, defeated and slew Charles de Blois.

This was a period of great prosperity and much progress in literature. Geoffrey Chaucer was writing his poems, Wickliffe denouncing the vices of the wealthier clergy.

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knight, Bertrand Duguesclin, collected and led them (in 1365) to Castile, to dethrone the tyrant Pedro IV. on behalf of his illegitimate brother Enrique.

In 1367, Pope Urban V. moved the papal court back to Rome, but only remained there three years.

In 1367, Pedro the Cruel fled to Bordeaux, and threw himself upon the protection of the Black Prince, who crossed the Pyrenees, defeated Enrique and Duguesclin at Najara, making Duguesclin prisoner; but, discovering Pedro's worthlessness, he returned to Bordeaux, his health shattered.

In 1369, Duquesclin being ransomed defeated and slew Pedro at Montiel, and place Enrique on the throne.

Charles V., skilfully avoiding open war, used his power as suzerain to undermine that of the Black Prince at Bordeaux. A hearth-tax was imposed by the prince in 1370. It excited much discontent, and was appealed against. Charles summoned the prince to answer the appeal; he was enraged, and renewed the war. He was carried in a litter to the revolted town of Limoges, which he caused to be sacked and cruelly treated. The policy of Charles was to allow no pitched battles with the English, but to take castle after castle and harass them out.

In 1375, Lancaster marched from Brittany to Bordeaux without once meeting an enemy, but arrived exhausted in men and money.

Pope Gregory V. again removed to Rome; but on his death two parties arose. One elected a pope willing to remain at Rome, the other one desirous to remain at Avignon. Thus arose the Great Schism. The English held with the Roman pope, the French with the antipope at Avignon.

In 1378, Bertrand Duguesclin was made Constable of France.

In 1379, there was a great revolt of the Flemish towns, who expelled their Count, Louis le Mâle.

In 1380, Charles V. died, leaving his son, Charles VI., nine years old, to the guardianship of his uncles of Berry, Burgundy, and Anjou. Duguesclin died before the Castle of Rendom, and Clisson became Constable.

In 1382, young Charles was conducted to put down the revolt of the Flemings, who were overthrown at the battle of Rosbecque.

In 1384, a truce was made between the kingdoms of England and France.

Richard was inclined to peace, and this alienated the nobles, who regarded him as frivolous. At the Wonderful Parliament (in 1386) his uncle Gloucester seized his ministers, put Sir Simon Burley to death, and banished his favourite, Robert de Vere.

In 1388, the gallant chivalrous skirmish of Otterburn was fought between English and Scots.

In 1389, Richard tried to regain his power, but was too unpopular to succeed except by the support of Lancaster, who aided him against Gloucester's ambition. Gloucester stirred up the discontent of the country against the cessation of the war, and constantly browbeat his nephew the king.

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king, on his way to exact vengeance, was seized with an access of insanity, which returned at intervals all his life. His queen, Isabeau, was selfish and indolent; she intrigued with his brother Louis, duke of Orleans, and there was a perpetual feud between them and the Duke of Burgundy, while the king was cruelly neglected. Burgundy's magnificence made him all powerful at Paris.

In 1397, Richard II. married for his second wife Isabel, daughter of Charles.

In 1397, Richard seized and imprisoned Gloucester, who died in his hands.

In 1398, Henry, son of the the Duke of Lancaster, accused Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, of treason, and offered to prove it by wager of battle; but Richard prevented the fight, and banished both.

In 1399, on his father's death, Henry returned, ostensibly to claim his inheritance; but, finding the great family of Percy and the people willing to join him, he obtained the crown, and deposed Richard, who perished in captivity, in 1400.

In 1402, the Scots were defeated at Homildon; but HENRY IV., demanding the custody of the prisoners, offended the Percys, who turned at once against him, taking up the cause of the direct heir, Edmund Mortimer, who had been set aside.

In 1404, Philippe, duke of Burgundy, died, and Louis of Orleans held the chief power, but with bitter enmity from Jean, duke of Burgundy. After an endeavour at pacification, Louis was murdered, in 1407, in the streets of Paris by order of Burgundy, and a friar preached a sermon in justification of the deed. The duke's great power and his influence in Paris bore him off unscathed.

In 1404, Henry IV. defeated them at Shrewsbury; but his reign was full of plots and troubles. He captured the heir of Scotland on his way to be educated in France, and held him in captivity.

In 1413, Louis the dauphin assumed the government, and in 1414 expelled Jean of Burgundy from Paris. The city was in a state of horrible disorder, divided into the parties of Burgundians and Armagnacs, as the enemies of Burgundy were called from the Count of Armagnac, who had great ascendency over the dauphin, and held the chief power in Paris.

In 1413, Henry IV. died, prematurely worn out. HENRY V., full of vigour and enterprise, succeeded, and saw that war alone would keep the nobles from turbulence at home.

In 1415, Richard Plantagenet, who had married the sister of Mortimer, plotted to obtain the crown, but Mortimer revealed the treason, and Richard suffered death, leaving a son, Richard, duke of York.

The English were in raptures with Henry's conquests, and supplied him with men and money.

In 1416, the dauphin Louis died, and next year the dauphin Jean; and the queen, who detested the Armagnac influence over her third son, Charles, fled and made common cause with Burgundy. Paris was given up to Burgundy by his partisans, who made a frightful massacre of the Armagnacs.

Henry continued his conquest of Normandy.

In 1419, Charles the dauphin, with some Armagnac chiefs, invited the Duke of Burgundy to a conference on the bridge of Montereau, and there assassinated him. They then retired into the south of France, where they continued a feeble resistance to

In 1419, Henry took the city of Rouen.

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Henry, chiefly supported by Réné and Charles, sons of Louis, titular king of the Two Sicilies, and Count of Anjou. The dauphin's wife, Marie, was their sister.

In 1421, Scottish warriors came in large numbers to assist the French.

Philippe, son and heir to the murdured Duke of Burgundy, joined Henry, in order to obtain vengeance, admitted him to Paris, and forced the queen and the helpless and imbecile Charles VI. to give him their daughter Catherine in marriage, and disinherit their son in his favour, making him regent during the king's lifetime. He held all the northern provinces, and the only reverse that befell him was that during his absence in England (in 1421) his brother Thomas was killed in the battle of Beaugé.

In 1422, Charles VI. died at Paris, and his son, CHARLES VII., was proclaimed at Bourges, but lived there in ease and dissipation, as if indifferent.

In 1422, the infant Henry was proclaimed at Paris king of France. The Duke of Bedford, brother to Henry V., was regent, continued the war with vigour, and obtained the great victories of Crevant in 1424, and of Verneuil in 1425.

In 1428, the English endeavoured to extend their conquests beyond the Loire, and besieged the city of Orleans, defeating the French, who tried to cut off their supplies, at the Battle of the Herrings, in 1429. The peril of the country roused high religious enthusiasm in a peasant girl named Jeanne d'Arc. She roused such spirit in the army that she saved Orleans, and conducted Charles VII. in triumph to be crowned at Rheims; but the French king and nobles never really appreciated her, she was ill-supported, was taken by the English and Burgundians, who put her to death at Rouen as a witch in 1431.

In 1422, Henry V. died of a short illness, at Vincennes; and his son, HENRY VI., nine months old, was crowned, and placed under the protectorship of his uncles, the Duke of Gloucester, and Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester (son to John of Gaunt). These two were continually disputing for the chief power, and hated one another bitterly.

In 1429, the rule was established that knights of the shire, i.e. members of Parliament, must be elected by freeholders.

In 1433, the Duke of Lorraine died. The duchy was claimed by his sister, wife of Réné, but was seized by order of Philippe of Burgundy. The Duke of Burgundy was reconciled to Charles VII. and forsook the English. Réné was made prisoner while fighting for Lorraine.

In 1436, a brilliant chivalry began to grow up around Charles. The Count de Richemont was the ablest of his leaders, and many irregular enterprises were undertaken, usually to the profit of the French; but the lawlessness and insubordination were extreme, and the country was dreadfully pillaged and oppressed, until Charles, reviving from his sloth, modelled his army, brought the men under discipline, and put down the bands of marauders, in 1440.

In 1433, the Duke of Bedford died at Rouen from anxiety and toil.

The Parisians opened their gates to the troops of Charles and expelled the English. The Duke of York, under Gloucester's patronage, became regent in France, but the public service was impeded by jealousies between him and the Duke of Somerset, head of the Beauforts. Cardinal Beaufort made an attempt at negotiation in 1439.

In 1433, the Duke of Gloucester led the popular cry to continue the war, while Cardinal Beaufort would have concluded a peace; but the pride of the Beaufort family and their claims to royal blood made them very hateful to the nation. The king, now come to man's estate, was pious and gentle, but weak. He was desirous of peace, but Gloucester opposed it. The king founded Eton and King's College, Cambridge, and delighted in learning and devotion.

Charles's able financier, Jacques Coeur, enabled him to consolidate his power, and win back his kingdom

In 1445, Henry VI. married Margaret, daughter of Réné, duke of Anjou and titular king of Sicily, signing a truce with Charles, and yielding up the provinces of Anjou and Maine. The marriage was exceedingly disliked in England, and the Duke of Suffolk was hated, as having instigated it.

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step by step. He showed much vigour and acuteness at this period; but he was always a fickle and dangerous friend, equally ready to make favourites and to acquiesce in their ruin. The Duke Philippe le Bon of Burgundy was by far the most powerful and magnificent prince of the time. Having obtained by inheritance almost all the Low Countries, with their rich cities, and brilliant nobility of Flanders, he was on the point of forming an independent kingdom on the east border of France.

In 1447, Gloucester, on suspicion of treason, was arrested, and died immediately after, a few weeks before Cardinal Beaufort's death.

Immediately after, Suffolk was impeached for treasonable dealings with the French about the queen's marriage; he was unfairly tried, exiled, and murdered on his passage to Calais.

In 1450, the Kentish peasants revolted under Jack Cade, complaining of the French queen's government, and of the exactions in courts of law. They sacked London, committed some murders, but soon dispersed.

In 1451, Jacques Coeur was ungratefully accused of treason and other crimes by the king's favourites, who seized his great wealth, and left him to die in poverty.

In 1451, the badge of a red rose began to be worn by the Beauforts and their party; a white rose by the Yorkists; whence these were termed "Wars of the Roses."

Louis the dauphin was continually quarrelling with his father, and lived in a state of constant enmity to Charles in his own county of Dauphiné, always carrying on intrigues.

In 1456, the jealousy and suspicion between Charles VII. and his son became so great that Louis withdrew to Burgundy, and lived there under the protection of Duke Philippe.

Charles VII. was called le bien servi, and his nobles were certainly men of distinguished courage and patriotism. The discipline he had established in his army rendered his soldiers some of the best troops, and his guard of Scottish archers rendered him able to exert his authority. The kingdom began to recover prosperity, and was in a better state than since the English wars began; but the king lived in a state of miserable suspicion, and died at length in 1461 from fear of taking food lest he should be poisoned.

LOUIS XI., cunning, hard-hearted, and grossly superstitious, but hypocritical, set himself to reduce the feudal privileges of the nobles, and to overthrow all whom he feared by his crafty but cruel policy.

In 1453, an expedition was sent under brave old Talbot to recover Guyenne, but it failed, and Talbot was killed in battle at Châtillon.

In 1461, Margaret fled to Burgundy, and thence to France, with her son.

In 1452, York claimed to be acknowledged as heir to the crown before the Beauforts. He raised an army but was made prisoner and forgiven. Henry fell into a state of imbecility, during which a son (Edward) was born to him in 1454. Meantime York acted as regent until Henry recovered in 1455, and recalled the Duke of Somerset, on which York took up arms, and fought at St. Alban's, where he obtained possession of the king's person, and held the government for a year; when Henry, recovering, tried in 1456 to bring about a reconciliation, and a festival called the Love-day was held, when York, Somerset, and all their partisans swore amity; but Nevil, earl of Warwick, brother-in-law to York, was the bitter enemy of the queen and Somerset, and the disputes broke out again. In 1459, at Blore Heath, a victory was gained by the Yorkists, and the next year at Northampton they made the king prisoner; and at a parliament held shortly after, it was determined that he should retain the crown for his life, but that York should succeed him. On this, Margaret, hotly indignant, raised an army in the north, and defeated and slew York upon Wakefield Bridge. But he was quickly revenged by his son Edward, who in 1461 defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimer's Cross, St. Alban's, and at Towton Moor, the bloodiest of English battles; threw the king into prison, and was crowned as EDWARD IV. He was a youth of great talents, but proud, licentious, and indolent. He married, secretly, Elizabeth Wydville, widow of Sir John Gray, a Lancastrian knight.

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In 1464, there was a coalition of almost all the princes and nobles of France against Louis's encroachments, headed by his brother, the Duke de Berri, and Charles the Bold, heir of Burgundy; but, in 1465, the king ingeniously broke them up, and dispersed them without a blow.

Margaret resided with her father, Réné of Anjou.

In 1464, Margaret returned, and obtaining friends in the north, made another attempt, but was defeated at Hexham. She escaped with her son, and Henry lurked in concealment till he was betrayed and imprisoned in the Tower of London (in 1465). Edward had much talent, and was an encourager of learning and of commerce. The English merchants and tradespeople flourished under him and were much attached to him; but his sensuality destroyed his vigour and better qualities.

In 1467, Philippe of Burgundy died, and was succeeded by Charles the Bold, between whom and Louis there was deep hostility. Louis spread emissaries everywhere, hoping to undermine Charles's power, and stir up insurrection in his cities. Trusting to his powers of cajolery, he went in 1468 to visit Charles at Péronne with very few attendants, not calculating on the citizens of Liège, inflamed by his emissaries, breaking into revolt at that very moment. In his anger, Charles threw him into prison (in spite of a safe-conduct), and only released him to besiege Liège and punish it severely.

In 1467, Charles, Duke of Burgundy, married Margaret of York, sister to Edward IV. Under her encouragement the art of printing, then newly invented, was carried on at Caxton in Flanders.

However, Warwick found he would not submit to dictation, and therefore became disaffected, and led away with him Edward's brother, George, duke of Clarence, who had married Warwick's daughter, Isabel Nevil.

In 1470, Louis convoked the notables at Tours, and declared all the engagements he had taken to Burgundy at Péronne null and void. St. Quentin, the town of the Count de St. Pol, who had hesitated between the two princes, and been a traitor to both, was taken by the French. Charles advanced on Amiens, but was forced to demand a truce. Louis's was a reign of terror to the nobility, whom he crushed by the harshest tyranny, in order to put an end to the wild independence fostered by the English wars. The Duke de Nemours, head of the house of Armagnac, was put to death; others were shut up in iron cages at the castle of Loches. The king's confidence was given to lowborn men, such as Olivier le Daim, a barber, and Tristan l'Hermite, provost-marshal.

Louis reconciled Margaret and Warwick. It was his policy to befriend Lancaster as being weak and unwarlike, and to oppose York as being connected with Burgundy, and also brave and warlike.

In 1470, Clarence and Warwick fled to France, where they formed a coalition with Margaret, giving Warwick's youngest daughter, Anne, in marriage to her son Edward. Returning, Warwick took Edward unawares, obliged him to fly to Flanders, and restored Henry.

Quickly rallying, however, Edward returned in 1471, defeated and slew Warwick at Barnet, and at Tewkesbury made prisoner and slew Edward of Lancaster. Henry VI. was privately put to death in the Tower. The king was much swayed by the kinsmen of his wife, the Wydvilles and Grays.

In 1472, Louis's brother, the Duke de Berri, died under suspicion of poison. Charles marched to revenge him, but was repulsed at Beauvais.

In 1474, Louis stirred up the Swiss republic to attack Burgundy. The city of Brisach, in Alsace (which Duke Sigismund of Austria had pledged to Charles), revolted with Swiss aid, and murdered the Burgundian governor, calling back Sigismund. On this Charles invaded the electorate of Cologne, but he was routed by the Swiss at Morat, and was detained eleven months by the siege of Neuss, and was forced to give it up.

In 1472, Charles of Burgundy and Edward of England agreed to join forces, conquer France, and dethrone Louis, dividing the kingdom between them, Edward taking Normandy and Aquitaine, and Charles the east and south, so as to form anew the kingdoms of Neustria and Austrasia.

Edward, indolent and sensual, was tardy in collecting his forces for the invasion of France, and squandered the supplies granted for the purpose; but at length, in 1474, he assembled a splendid army of nobles and gentlemen, who expected to pay their expenses by French plunder.

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The Count de St. Pol was beheaded at Paris.

Lorraine, the inheritance of the wife, and through her of the grandson, of Réné of Anjou, had been seized by Charles of Burgundy, who offered to buy off his claim; but young Réné, the true heir, leagued with the Swiss, and Charles suffered at their hands a terrible defeat at Granson in 1476. All Lorraine revolted, and the gates of Nancy were shut against him. He laid siege to the place in 1477, but there were traitors in his camp, and he was surprised in a night attack, and found lying slain by many wounds among the fugitives.

Burgundy, as a male fief, reverted to France, but Flanders and Holland remained with Charles's daughter, Mary, who married Maximilian, heir of Austria. In 1478, Louis marched an army against her, but it was defeated by Maximilian at Terouenne.

In 1480, old king Réné died, having given up his right to Provence and to the kingdom of Naples to the king. A truce was concluded between Louis and Mary of Burgundy, by which his young son, Charles, was to marry her daughter, Margaret of Austria.

In 1482 Mary of Burgundy died from a fall from her horse, leaving two children, Philippe and Margaret.

Edward landed in Calais in 1475, but Charles joined him with exhausted forces; and Edward, displeased at his not fulfilling his engagements, consented to meet Louis at the bridge of Pecquigny, and there was bribed and cajoled by him into returning home, his courtiers receiving pensions as compensation for the plunder they missed.

In both countries this was a time of much corruption in religion. The long wars in each had demoralized the people, ruined the churches, and involved the abbeys deep in debt. There was much ignorance among the lower clergy, and the higher were generally statesmen. Though the Great Schism had long been ended, the mischief it had done was not repaired. Printing had been invented, and under the patronage of the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy many English works were printed by Caxton.

In 1476, the old barons of England were almost destroyed by the late terrible wars, and never again became so powerful as before; but the queen's relations enjoyed great favour with Edward IV. They were brave, handsome gentlemen, great encouragers of learning, but were regarded as arrogant and avaricious, and much hated, especially by the king's brothers, George, duke of Clarence, and Richard, duke of Gloucester.

In 1478, George, who had never been trusted by Edward since his treason, was sent to the Tower and there put to death.

In 1480, there was a short war with Scotland.

In 1483, Louis XI., after long ill-health, during which his suspicious cruelty increased, died. His son, CHARLES VIII., was only fourteen years of age, and affairs were arranged by Anne, his sister, the Dame de Beaujeu, a woman of great shrewdness and energy.

In 1484, the States-General were convoked, and relaxed the most oppressive ordinances of Louis, releasing his victims from captivity. There was a great conspiracy against the power of Anne of Beaujeu on the part of all the princes and nobility, but she repressed them with great ability, though they continued full of discontent, and continually forming plots against her. The Duke of Brittany and the Duke of Orleans (next heir to the throne) were jealous of her authority, and were resolved on striking a blow for the old influence of the great princes of France.

Classical literature and art were eagerly studied at this time in Italy; and though the taste had hardly yet reached England and France, the seductive influence of these pursuits over the Court of Rome tended to make the discipline of the Church more lax, and to lead to great greediness of gain.

In 1484, the Duke of Brittany, François, received and sheltered Henry Tudor.

In 1483, Edward IV., having ruined his health by excesses, died early, leaving a son of thirteen, EDWARD V.; but Richard, duke of Gloucester, taking advantage of the national hatred of Elizabeth Wydville and her kinsmen, obtained a declaration that young Edward and his brother were illegitimate, and threw them into the Tower, where, while he was crowned RICHARD III., they are believed to have been murdered. Soon after the Duke of Buckingham, who had hitherto acted in concert with Richard, turned against him, and was put to death. The affections of the English turned to the last scion of the House of Lancaster, Henry Tudor, of Welsh extraction, but whose mother was a Beaufort, great-granddaughter to John of Gaunt. After securing the promises of numerous nobles, Henry landed in 1485, and at the battle of Bosworth Richard was killed. HENRY VII. was crowned, and strengthened his claim by marrying in 1486 Elizabeth of York, daughter to Edward IV. Clarence's son, the Earl of Warwick, was imbecile, but was personated by an imposter,

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In 1488, the confederates were defeated at St. André de Cormier, and Orleans made prisoner. The Duke of Brittany died the same year, leaving only two daughters. The Dame de Beaujeu resolved to seize the duchy, either as a male fief, or by marrying her brother to Anne, the eldest daughter. She invited Maximilian of Austria to marry and defend her, and, in 1490, he espoused her by proxy, but he was detained for want of supplies. In 1491, Nantes was taken, and Anne of Brittany consented to marry the king, thus uniting her duchy with the crown; while her engagement with Maximilian was broken, as well as that of Charles to his daughter. But by this means all the great feudal principalities were absorbed by the Crown, and Charles VIII. was the first real king of all France.

In 1488, a league was formed between the Duke of Brittany and Henry VII. against Anne of Beaujeu. Henry sent troops to Brittany, but only to share the defeat of his allies, and meantime Margaret of York, the duchess dowager of Burgundy, eagerly watched for means of injuring him.

In 1489, Henry VII. joined the alliance for the defence of Brittany.

called Lambert Simnel, who in 1487 raised an insurrection, but was overthrown.

The resources of the Crown had been much diminished by the wars of York and Lancaster, and Henry was forced to be very parsimonious. He was also very grasping, and was always unpopular, though the country was too weary of civil war for a serious rebellion; and the great nobles, who ever since Magna Charta had domineered over the Crown, had been almost entirely broken in strength.

In 1491, Henry, on pretext of the French war, levied large contributions from his people by the name of benevolences.

A Fleming, called Perkin Warbeck, patronized by Margaret of York, duchess of Burgundy, professed to be the young Duke of York killed in the Tower.

In 1492, Henry VII. invaded France and besieged Boulogne, but consented to make peace on recieving a large subsidy from Charles VIII.

America was discovered. Alexander VI. was elected pope. He was a Spaniard of the House of Borgia, and his flagrant wickedness greatly corrupted the whole Church.

In 1493, Charles VIII., though weakly in body and mind, was full of dreams of chivalrous conquest, and availed himself of Réné's claim to the crown of Sicily to invade Italy. He was favourably received at Florence and Milan, and marched triumphantly with a brilliant army the length of Italy. The rival king of Sicily fled to the island, and he took possession of Naples, where on his return to France he left a garrison of the best knights in France; but they suffered much from the climate, and their force melted away, so that only 500 survived to be sent home.

Throughout these Italian wars, the popes were constantly intriguing and struggling to save their temporalities, expel the foreigners from Italy, or obtain principalities for their nephews. Respect for their office was much weakened.

In 1498, Charles VIII. died from a blow on his head against a doorway. His successor was LOUIS XII., formerly Duke of Orleans, who married his widow, Anne of Brittany. He had claims through his grandmother to the Duchy of Milan, and renewed the Italian war. He entered Milan in person, and sent an army to recover Naples; but in the meantime the King of Sicily had resigned in favour of the Spanish royal family, and the French had to contend with Gonzalo de Cordova, the greatest captain then living. Louis d'Armagnac, duke de Nemours, was the French viceroy of Naples, and chivalrous combats occurred between his troops and those of Spain; but Cordova was the true general, and at Cerignola, in 1503, Nemours was slain, and the French totally defeated two years later at the Garigliano, so as to be forced to leave the kingdom of Naples, though they

In 1499, Warbeck and Edward, Earl of Warwick, the last of the Plantagenets, tried to escape, but were detected, and both beheaded. The real cause for Edward's death was Henry's desire to secure the crown in the eyes of the King of Aragon, whose daughter Katharine was betrothed in 1502 to Arthur, Henry's eldest son; but Arthur died before the full completion of the marriage. Margaret, Henry's eldest daughter, was given to James IV. king of Scotland. Henry had become much hated from the exactions he authorized his ministers, Empson and Dudley, in making.

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continued the war in Lombardy. There was a vehement desire on the part of the Italians to expel both French and Spaniards from Italy, and leagues were perpetual against one or the other. The Chevalier Bayard was distinguished for his spotless character and bravery throughout these wars. In 1506, the League of Cambrai was formed between Louis XII. and Maximilian against the Venetians, and a victory was gained at Aquadello by the allies, who then overran the Venetian territory as far as the Adda.

Italy. The Swiss, who ever since their defeating Burgundy had been esteemed the best European soldiers, were hired out in large numbers to fight for one side or the other.

Henry VII. died in 1509, prematurely aged. HENRY VIII. succeeded, and at once married Katharine of Aragon. His abilities and learning were very great, and he was the most powerful king in Europe.

In 1510, Maximilian, partly from levity of nature, partly from want of means, failed in his engagements with the French, and finally leagued with the Pope, the Spaniards, and Venetians against them. At the battle of Ravenna, in 1512, the French gained a victory, but lost the benefit of it by the death of their leader, Gaston de Foix, and in a short time Milan and their other Italian conquests had again slipped from their grasp.

In 1510, Thomas Wolsey, an exceedingly able though domineering ecclesiastic, became Henry's chief minister, and aimed at making his influence preponderant in Europe. The country at home was in an unexampled state of wealth and prosperity, and learning and civilization made much progress, though the power of the Crown was greater than ever before. The French excited James IV. of Scotland to invade England in the king's absence, but at Flodden Field he was encountered by the Earl of Surrey, totally defeated, and slain.

In 1514, Queen Anne of Brittany died, leaving only two daughters, the elder of whom, Claude, heiress of Brittany, was married to François, next heir to the throne.

Overtures of peace were made from Louis to Henry, and were accepted. Mary, Henry's sister, was given in marriage to Louis.

In 1515, Louis died, three months after his marriage. FRANÇOIS I., young and enterprising, full of schemes of conquest, succeeded.

In 1515, Mary Tudor, the widow of Louis, married Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk.

In 1517, François resolved on pursuing the Italian war, and crossed the Alps. At Marignano his Swiss mercenaries mutinied, and he fought a desperate battle with them. After his victory he caused himself to be knighted by Chevalier Bayard. He soon regained all Milan, and after a conference with Leo X. returned home. The birth of the son of Claude of France united Brittany to the crown, like the other great principalities, such as Normandy, Burgundy, Provence, Gascony, &c.; but each of these provinces retained its own parliament. These parliaments differed from the English in being composed only of nobles and lawyers, and having no power to grant supplies, nor to originate measures. They could only register the decrees of their sovereign.

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him and Henry, which made Henry inclined to be neuter, and hold the balance between the rivals, Charles and François.

In 1521, François, excited by the Pope, renewed the war; but his general, Lautrec, did not receive succour from home in time to save him from being driven out of Milan by the Imperial forces and the Italians.

Far too much influence was allowed by the king to his mother, Louise of Savoy, a vain and dissolute woman.

At Worms, Luther was summoned to appear before the princes of the empire. His doctrine was condemned, but he was allowed to return unhurt.

In 1522, Leo X. died, and Adrian VI., Charles V.'s tutor, was elected to the Papacy. Henry VIII. joined the league with the Emperor against the French.

In 1523, Charles, duke de Bourbon and constable of France, being offended by the king's mother, deserted his country and gave his service to the Emperor. Bayard was killed in a skirmish at Ivrea. Bourbon persuaded Charles to give him an army to invade France; he besieged Marseilles, but was forced to retreat on the king's advance.

In 1525, François marched into Italy and besieged Pavia. In a battle with the Imperial forces, headed by the Marquis of Pescara and the Constable de Bourbon, he was defeated, wounded, and made prisoner. He was sent to Spain, where he fell sick, and was visited by his sister Marguerite, who negotiated for his deliverance.

In 1526, François was released on resigning all claim to Milan and Naples, and giving his two sons as hostages; but, instead of fulfilling these conditions, he leagued with the Pope and the Venetians to expel the Imperial troops from Italy.

In 1527, a German army of adventurers, led by Bourbon, marched to Rome. He was killed in the assault, but the city was taken and sacked, and the Pope became a captive.

In 1526, Henry, having cast his eyes on Anne Boleyn, and being weary of his sonless marriage with Katharine, demanded of Clement VI. to declare it null on the ground of her having been married to his brother, though they had been so young that it was in name only; but Clement was too much in the hands of the Emperor to pronounce such a sentence against his aunt, and Wolsey, who had at first desired a divorce, opposed it when he found whom Henry wanted to marry.

In 1528, an army was sent to Naples under Lautrec, but so ill supported that they could effect nothing; disease broke out, Lautrec died, and the remnant could hardly reach France.

François and Henry formed a league for the deliverance of the Pope. Their heralds jointly declared war against the Emperor.

In 1528, Cromwell, Wolsey's secretary, gained the ear of the king, and began to prejudice him against Wolsey, who was likewise bitterly hated by Anne Boleyn.

In 1529, Louise of Savoy and Margaret of Austria met at Cambrai and arranged the treaty known as the Ladies' Peace. The young princes were restored.

The French were becoming much more influenced towards a reform of the Church by John Calvin, who founded a sect more removed from Rome than the Lutheran.

In 1529, the great statesman-cardinal was dismissed from court in disgrace, and died soon aftewards.

In 1530, Henry began to try to obtain a judgment from the universities against his marriage, and the legitimacy of his daughter Mary.

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In 1533, François' son Henri was married to Catherine de Medicis, niece to the Pope.

On Archbishop Wareham's death, in 1533, Henry made Thomas Cranmer primate, and obtained a sentence from him against the marriage. He then married Anne Boleyn. Henry caused Parliament to declare him the head of the English Church instead of the Pope.

In 1535, François revived the old claim to Milan, and claimed a sum of money for his mother from Savoy.

In 1535, Paul III. was chosen Pope, and began with Charles V. to prepare for a council of the Church.

In 1535, Thomas Cromwell became Secretary of State, and used his influence against the Church.

In 1536, Charles V. anticipated him by a sudden attack on Provence, which was laid desolate before him, so that he could not remain there; but, in the meantime, the French had siezed all Savoy, excepting Nice. The war on the side of the Low Countries also resulted to the advantage of France; but in the desire of François to harass the Emperor, he actually allied himself with the Turks and Moors against him. The Constable, Anne de Montmorency, was an able leader; also the Duke de Guise, a younger son of the Duke de Lorraine.

In 1536, he began suppressing the lesser monasteries, which had fallen into debt and disorder. Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher were beheaded for denying Henry's supremacy.

Henry became suspicious of Anne Boleyn, and on an accusation of unfaithfulness the marriage was declared null, and her daughter Elizabeth illegitimate. The king married Jane Seymour. The peasants of the north, together with some abbots and a few gentlemen, made a rising on behalf of the abbeys, called the Pilgrimage of Grace; but it was soon suppressed. A son was born to Henry in 1537, and Queen Jane died immediately after.

In 1537, a conference was held at Nice, where the Pope tried to reconcile the king and the emperor. They would not meet in his presence, but did so immediately after at Aigues Mortes, where a truce was made, but without ending the quarrel. All this time François cruelly persecuted the Calvinists in his own kingdom.

He was a great lover of art, and patronized the great Italian painters, Leonardo da Vinci and Raffaelle.

In 1537, James V. of Scotland married François's daughter. She died soon after, and he married Marie, daughter of the Duke de Guise.

In 1540, Charles's presence being required in the Low Countries, he was invited to pass through France, and magnificently entertained.

In 1540, Henry married Anne of Cleves, but, disliking her person, divorced her immediately, and soon after disgraced and beheaded Cromwell.

In 1541, he married Catherine Howard, but, discovering levity before her marriage, beheaded her in 1542. James of Scotland invaded England; but his troops were miserably routed at Solway Moss, and he died of grief, leaving an infant daughter, Mary.

In 1543, the Duke d'Enghien defeated the Imperial forces at Cerignola, and together with the Moors plundered and burnt Nice, but could not take the citadel. François came to terms, and peace between him and the emperor was signed at Crespy.

In 1543, Henry allied himself with the Emperor against François, and sent an army, which besieged and took Boulogne, and defeated the French.

In 1545, the French tried to retake Boulogne, but their army wasted with sickness, and peace was made. The Council of Trent began to sit, but it consisted only of Italian and Spanish prelates.

In 1543, Henry married Catherine Parr. His temper had become savage and distrustful, and no one was safe from him. Persecution was carried on against all who transgressed the Six Articles, whether by the doctrines of the Reformation or denial of his supremacy. The Earl of Surrey was put to death on a charge of treason.

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In 1547, François died, and was succeeded by his son Henry II.

Henry II. was a weak, vain man, much ruled by Diane de Poitiers, his mistress, and the Constable de Montmorency. He was a terrible persecutor of the Calvinists, though he forbade his clergy to go to the Council of Trent, and continued his father's policy of annoying Charles V. by supporting the Lutherans.

The French Calvinists were termed Huguenots, for what cause is uncertain.

In 1547, Henry VIII. died, and was succeeded by his son, Edward VI., nine years old, and under the protectorate of his mother's brother, Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset.

Proposals were made for uniting England and Scotland by a marriage between their young sovereigns. On the refusal of the Scots, the Protector invaded Scotland, gained a victory at Pinkie Cleuch, and ravaged the country.

In 1549, the Liturgy was translated and ordered to be used in churches. The Norfolk peasants, displeased with the innovations, made an insurrection, which was suppressed by Thomas Dudley, afterwards Duke of Northumberland. Dudley accused Somerset of usurping royal power, and obtained the chief power in his stead.

In 1550, the Prayer-book was revised and made more accordant with the taste of Dudley's Protestant advisors.

In 1552, Henry II. taking advantage of the rising of the Lutherans, invaded Germany, and took Metz, which he placed in charge of François, duke of Guise. Charles endeavoured in vain to retake it.

In 1552, the Council of Trent adjourned, or rather broke up in alarm, on the advance of the insurgent Lutherans.

In 1552, Somerset and his brother were beheaded. The young king had fallen into a decline and was entirely managed by Dudley, who, working on his fears for the Reformation, induced him to nominate as his successors neither of his sisters, but Jane Grey, granddaughter of Mary Tudor, duchess of Suffolk, whom Dudley married to his son Guildford.

In 1553, Edward VI. died, and Jane was proclaimed in London; but the country would not accept her, and MARY obtained the crown. She at once restored the old Roman Catholic ritual, and Archbishop Cranmer was sent to the Tower, for having supported Jane. An insurrection on Jane's behalf by Sir Thomas Wyatt led to her being beheaded. Mary married Philip, son to Charles V., and Cardinal Pole reconciled England to Rome.

In 1554, Henry caused Hainault and Artois to be ravaged, and a doubtful battle was fought at Renty.

In 1555, Charles V. resigned the Low Countries to his son, and Spain the next year. He gave up the empire to his brother and retired to a convent. A new pope was chosen the same year, Paul IV., a bitter personal enemy of Philip.

In 1555, the Reformers were persecuted, and four bishops–Ridley, Latimer, Hooper, and Ferrar–burnt at the stake, besides other victims.

In 1556, a five years' truce was made between France and Spain; but it was immediately broken, and Guise carried on the war in Savoy, the Admiral de Coligny in the Low Countries. Coligny was besieged at St. Quentin, and Montmorency endeavouring to relieve him was totally defeated by Philip's troops.

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there. It was a complete overthrow, throwing the chief power into Philip's hands.

In 1558, Calais was surprised by the Duke of Guise and taken.

sickness. Pole died a few hours before Queen Mary, in 1558. She was succeeded by her sister ELIZABETH, who immediately restored the English Liturgy.

In 1559, Henry was forced to make peace, restore Savoy, and marry his sister to the duke. During the tournament at the feast Henry was pierced in the eye by a splinter of a lance, and died.

François II., a sickly lad of fifteen, married to Mary of Scotland, was left under the tutelage of his mother, Catherine de Medicis, a subtle, unprincipled, clever woman, always striving to play off one party against the other. The heads of the Catholic party were the House of Guise; of the Huguenot, the house of Bourbon, namely Antoine (titular King of Navarre in right of his wife), and Louis, prince of Condé. The king and queen were almost entirely under the dominion of the Guises, and in 1560, the conspiracy of Amboise was formed by Condé for taking them out of their hands. It was detected, and the Bourbon princes were imprisoned, and in danger of their lives, when FRANÇOIS II. died. CHARLES IX., his next brother, was only nine, and Catherine, becoming regent, released Condé, and in 1561 caused conferences to be held at Poissy to see whether the Church could be reformed enough to reclaim the Huguenots; but these were broken up by the Catholic party, and an attack made by the attendants of the Duke of Guise on a Huguenot congregation at Vassy began the civil war. Condé, his brother, and the Admiral de Coligny led the Huguenots, and raised Normandy and Provence in their favour, laying siege to Rouen, where King Antoine was killed. Rouen was taken and plundered, and Condé advanced on Paris, but was encountered at Dreux by Guise and made prisoner.

In 1559, Paul IV. died. Pius IV. was elected.

François and Mary assumed the title of King and Queen of England as well as of France, thus denying Elizabeth's legitimacy.

In 1560, the Scots rose against Mary of Guise, their queen-regent, and Elizabeth assisted them.

In 1561, Mary Stewart returned to Scotland from France, charming, beautiful, clever, and unprincipled.

In 1562, the Huguenots asked the aid of Elizabeth, and placed the port of Havre de Grace in her hands.

In 1559, Elizabeth made Lord Burleigh her Secretary of State. She was rapturously hailed by those inclined to Reform; but those who held the old form of faith regarded her as illegitimate, and Mary of Scotland as the rightful queen. Her position was very dangerous; but she weathered the storm by her courage and sagacity, though these were alloyed by much vanity and constant falsehood, which was regarded as a lawful engine of statecraft. The nation and she had a deep earnest love for each other, and her wisdom restored their prosperity; but she vacillated in her foreign policy, and her lack of means and unwillingness to impose taxes made her parsimonious, and she never properly supported her allies or her own subjects. Nevertheless, though neither Lutheran nor Calvinist, she was regarded as the great champion of all the bodies of Reformed Christians in Europe, as the King of Spain was of the Roman Catholics, and she held her position.

She was too much addicted to favouritism, and was much under the influence of Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, son to the Duke of Northumberland.

In 1563, Guise was murdured by a Huguenot, and Catherine and Condé made a treaty at Amboise, granting the Huguenots liberty of worship. Catherine continued her system of playing the Guises and Huguenots off one against the other; but they lived in constant hatred and suspicion. There were in fact three parties,–the Guises, or violent Catholics; the Calvinists; and the loyal, moderate Catholics, headed by the Constable de Montmorency.

In 1567, the war broke out again, and old Montmorency was killed at the battle of St. Denys. War raged in many parts of France, but in general the

In 1563, the Council of Trent began to sit again. Much was done to purify the Church from her worst corruptions, but others were perpetuated. The Council was broken up, but France did not accept the decree.

Havre was restored.

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south was more Huguenot than the north. The headship of the loyal party passed to his son, the Duke of Montmorency.

one of the murderers, brought suspicion on her. The people rose on her, and imprisoned her at Lochleven; but she escaped and fled to England, where Elizabeth kept her in custody in the north. There she fascinated the northern nobles into rising in her favour. The insurrection cost much blood.

In 1569, Condé was killed in the battle of Jarnac, where the royalist troops were commanded by the Duke of Anjou, the king's brother.

The leadership of the Huguenots devolved on Jeanne, queen of Navarre, and Coligny, the latter of whom was defeated and wounded at Montcontour.

The more patriotic party in France being in dread of Spain, there was an alliance with England, though the Guises turned to Philip II. for support in their spirit of persecution. Philip II.'s cruel repression of the Reformation in the Low Countries was leading to a great revolt of the Dutch, headed by the Prince of Orange. Aid was asked from both Charles IX. and Elizabeth. A proposal of marriage was made between Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou, even while her subjects volunteered to assist the Huguenots, and Raleigh was in the battle at Montcontour.

In 1569, the Duke of Norfolk offered his hand to Mary. He was sent to the Tower, and her imprisonment made more stringent.

In 1570, a peace was made at St. Germain, and the Calvinists received certain cities as securities; but while they held aloof from court they grew so strong in the provinces as to keep Catherine alarmed and jealous. She resolved to cajole the heads of the party.

In 1570, Elizabeth was excommunicated by Pius V., and this placed all her Roman Catholic subjects in a hostile attitude to her.

In 1571, Jeanne of Navarre and Coligny were invited to court, and a marriage arranged between Jeanne's son Henri and the king's sister Marguerite. Soon after her arrival, Jeanne died (in 1572); but HENRI came to Paris with an immense train of Huguenots for his wedding. Four days later, on St. Bartholomew's day (Aug. 24), Guise and his followers, with the people of Paris, rose on the Huguenots and massacred them by thousands. Coligny and all the principle nobles were killed; the same massacre took place in other cities, and the young King of Navarre abjured his faith to save his life, and remained, watched and guarded, at court. The war burnt feebly on.

In 1573, Henri, duke of Anjou, was elected King of Poland.

In 1574, Charles IX., a miserable prey to remorse, died, and HENRI III. came to the crown, returning from Poland. He was a strange compound of courage and indolence, cruelty and effeminacy.

In 1575, his younger brother, the Duke d'Alençon, tired of the court, fled and put himself at the head of the Calvinists.

In 1576, Henry of Navarre, awakened from his long indolence, fled from court, returned to Calvinism, and took up arms. A peace was concluded, and Henri of Navarre returned to his hereditary states in Bearn. Alençon accepted an invitation from the insurgents in Flanders to place himself at their head. These Protestant alliances led the House of Guise and the more violent Catholics to form a league for the defence of the Church.

In 1573, Elizabeth assisted the revolted Dutch, but only enough to enable them to keep up the struggle. It was a time of great peace and prosperity in England, but with little of event. It was the period of many of our greatest men, Burleigh as minister, Bacon as a thinker, Shakespeare and Spenser as poets, Raleigh and Drake as captains and discoverers. There was a continual piratical war of adventurous seamen made on the Spanish vessels and settlements, and winked at by the queen. All this time Leicester continued her favourite at court.

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In 1580, Henry of Navarre seized the city of Cahors, which was part of his wife's portion, and a short war took place.

In 1581, Alençon came to England to endeavour to marry Elizabeth. She coquetted with him, but refused him.

In 1582, Alençon treacherously endeavoured to seize Antwerp for himself, and thus alienated the Dutch. He was forced to give up his campaigns there, and returned to Paris.

In 1584, the Duke d'Alençon died after a short illness, and Henri III. being childless, the next heir was the head of the House of Bourbon, Henri of Navarre, who as a Calvinist and relapsed, was regarded with horror by the League, who, with Guise at their head, tried to cause his uncle, Cardinal de Bourbon, to be declared heir. In 1585, the War of the Three Henrys (of France, Navarre, and Guise) began; but though the king was in the power of the Guises, he had a certain attachment to his cousin, and was unwilling to cut him off from the succession.

In 1584, Throgmorton and some of the Roman Catholics conspired in favour of Mary Stewart, but were discovered and put to death. Open war was declared between Elizabeth and Philip. She authorized the expeditions of Drake and Hawkins, and espoused the cause of the revolted provinces in Holland, sending Leicester as her lieutenant. Leicester's nephew, Philip Sidney, the flower of the English youth, was killed at the siege of Zutphen.

In 1586, a fresh conspiracy having taken place on the part of Babington to murder Elizabeth and crown Mary, at length, after nineteen years, led Elizabeth to cause her to be tried and executed at Fotheringay Castle, in 1587.

In 1588, Philip II., who had long been meditating a great attack on England, now mustered all his forces, and though delayed by the bold attacks of Drake on the ships in Cadiz and Lisbon bay, sent forth the huge armament called the Spanish Armada; but after being harassed by the English fleet the whole length of the Channel, it was destroyed by storms in the German Ocean, and all Spanish hopes of subduing England thus ended. The Earl of Leicester died the same year.

In 1589, Catherine de Medicis died. Her son threw himself on the protection of the King of Navarre, and they besieged Paris together; but a fanatic monk, named Clement, avenged Guise by stabbing Henri III.

In 1589, Elizabeth adopted into his place as favourite his stepson, Robert Devereux, earl of Essex. She was now triumphant over all her enemies, and the long struggle with Spain had ended in her glory and victory.

HENRI IV. became rightful king; but the Leaguers proclaimed his uncle the Cardinal. He fought his way to the crown, reducing Normandy first, and winning the brilliant victory of Ivry, and then besieged Paris, but was called off by the invasion of the Spaniards under the Duke of Parma, and had to act on the defensive until Parma's death, in 1592. The

Elizabeth acknowledged Henri, and entered into alliance with him.

In 1590, Sixtus V. died. Clement VIII. became Pope.

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French were weary of the war, and when he embraced the Catholic faith, resistance was nearly over. In 1593, the gates of Paris were opened to him; and when, in 1595, he obtained absolution from the Pope on condition of proclaiming the Council of Trent in France, the last remnant of the League was reconciled to him, and the religious wars were at an end.

In 1596, Henri IV. and the Duke de Mayenne, the brother of Guise, were reconciled. He made peace finally with Philip II.

In 1596, an alliance was signed between Henri IV. and Elizabeth.

In 1596, the Earls of Nottingham and Essex plundered the city of Cadiz.

In 1598, Henri granted to the Huguenots equal rights and liberty of conscience by a decree which, being registered in Brittany, was known as the Edict of Nantes.

In 1598, Philip II. died.

In 1599, Henry was divorced from his wife, Marguerite of France, and married Marie de Medicis. He and his great minister, the Duke de Sully, applied themselves to bring the long distracted kingdom into a state of prosperity and peace, and thus came into collision with the Duke de Bouillon, the last of the old independent feudal nobles, and the Duke de Biron, who had risen to great power and haughtiness in the civil wars. In 1602, Biron absolutely rebelled, and was tried, condemned, and executed.

The destruction of the religious wars had greatly weakened the nobility, and the crown was more powerful than before. Henri had many great qualities, and the wisdom of Sully assisted in doing much for the benefit of his people, by whom he was passionately beloved, from his frankness of manner and readiness of address. Unhappily he was licentious in the extreme, and set an example of corruption of manners, bearing with no rebukes from the strict old Huguenots who had brought him to the throne.

In 1599, Essex was sent to Ireland to repress Tyrone's insurrection; but, failing in so doing, he hurried home without leave to justify himself, and thus offended the queen. In 1600, he was impeached and brought to trial, but pardoned. Fancying he could coerce the queen into favouring him as of old, he in 1601 raised an insurrection, but was overcome, tried, and beheaded. Elizabeth never recovered her spirits, and died shortly after (in 1602). The crown passed to James Stewart, king of Scotland. He was a man of much learning and some ability, but of foolish demeanour, and great timidity and conceit, very easily led. A plot was formed for setting Arabella Stewart on the throne, in which Sir Walter Raleigh was implicated. It was overthrown, Raleigh was imprisoned, and Arabella watched. In 1603, James assumed the title of King of Great Britain. He held conferences with the clergy and the Puritans at Hampton Court, and gave all his support to the Church and Prayer-book, thus discontenting the Protestant party, who were further displeased that he made peace with Spain.

In 1605, the Roman Catholics, however, angered that the son of Mary Stewart did not befriend them, plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder while he was opening the session. The plot was discovered in time, and the English horror of Popery was increased. James, having overweening notions of the rights of kings, offended the Parliament by declaring them, when the Tudors had merely exercised their real power. A storm began to gather both in Church and State.

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by the widowed queen, Marie de Medicis, a weak, unprincipled woman, under the dominion of her favourites, an Italian husband and wife, called Concini, to whom she had given the title of Maréchal d'Ancre.

In 1611, by the cabals of the Concini, Sully was forced to retire from government. The queen was entirely ruled by her favourites, and everything fell into a ruinous state of disorder.

In 1611, the Authorized Version of the Bible was published.

In 1612, James's eldest son, Henry, died at nineteen.

In 1613, his daughter Elizabeth married the Elector Palatine of the Rhine.

In 1615, Louis XIII., at fifteen, married Anne of Austria, daughter to Philip III. of Spain.

In 1615, George Villiers (created Duke of Buckingham) became the favourite of the king and his son Charles.

In 1616, the Abbé de Richelieu (soon Cardinal), the ablest man in France, began to gain influence. Albert de Luynes, a favourite companion of the king, engaged to free him from his thraldom. Concini was killed at the door of the Louvre, and his wife tried and put to death, while the queen-mother remained in a sort of captivity. The king was of a childish, weak nature, unable to exist without a favourite, and fell entirely under the dominion of De Luynes. The Government was showing a desire to elude the provisions of the Edict of Nantes; and the Huguenots, taking umbrage, in 1621 revolted, and garrisoned their towns. De Luynes was created Constable, and marched against them, taking the king with him. Montauban was taken and burnt; but on the march De Luynes was taken ill and died.

In 1622, there was a great struggle for influence between the queen-mother and Richelieu, in which Richelieu was successful. The king went with the army in Poitou, where the property of the Huguenots was pillaged. The war smouldered on, and the Huguenots possessed the great stronghold of La Rochelle, where the Duke de Rohan organized their resistance. Richelieu meantime had obtained complete ascendancy at court, and ruled king and people harshly, but most ably and effectually, allowing the king favourites as playfellows, but destroying them if they ever attempted to acquire political influence.

In 1622, the Elector Palatine was driven out of his own country, and lived in much poverty at the Hague.

In 1622, James dissolved the refractory Parliament and imprisoned some of the members. Great discontent both with State and Church affairs prevailed.

In 1624, on his way to Spain, Princes Charles saw and fell in love with Henrietta Maria, the sister of Louis XIII., and Buckingham audaciously coquetted with Anne, the young queen of France.

In 1624, Princes Charles and the Duke of Buckingham made a romantic journey to Spain to see the princess intended for Charles; but Spanish etiquette denied him all access to her, and the marriage was broken off.

In 1625, Charles I. married Henrietta Maria. Buckingham, who was sent to fetch her, gave great offence at Paris by his insolent airs, and was much incensed against Richelieu.

In 1625, James I. died, and was succeeded by CHARLES I., who was devotedly attached to Buckingham, and much under his dominion; but the favourite was hated by the whole nation.

In 1626, Buckingham persuaded Charles into declaring war against France.

In 1626, the Parliament, instead of granting supplies for the war, impeached Buckingham, and was dissolved. Charles raised money by vexatious duties.

In 1627, Richelieu began to besiege La Rochelle. Great valour was shown on both sides, but Rochelle was finally taken in 1628, and thenceforth the Huguenots were at the mercy of the king.

In 1627, Buckingham, in the English fleet, vainly endeavoured to relieve La Rochelle.

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In 1628, the succession of the duchy of Mantua having fallen to the Duke de Nevers, the Spaniards and Germans opposed him, Richelieu caused the king to espouse his cause, and marched into Italy with him.

privileges on which Charles was trampling. Buckingham was murdered at Portsmouth, when again about to sail to relieve La Rochelle.

In 1629, the Commons remonstrated against the enforcement of Ritual, and against the oppressive duties. Seven members were imprisoned, Parliament dissolved, and Charles endeavoured to do without one. This led to reviving all the old customs by which money could be raised, especially fines levied by the court called the Star Chamber, and the grant of monopolies, which excited great discontent. Bishop Laud's endeavours at strict discipline in the Church enraged the Puritans.

In 1630, Mantua was pillaged by the Austrians, but Saluzzi was taken by the French and a treaty was concluded, leaving Nevers in possession of the duchy. During an illness of the king at Lyons, his mother and his brother, Gaston, duke of Orleans, hoped they had prevailed to have Richelieu dismissed, but he returned more powerful than ever, and drove them both into retirement. The Duke de Montmorency being involved with them, was put to death by Richelieu.

In 1630, peace was signed between Louis and Charles.

In 1633, France began to interfere in the Thirty Years' War, apparently in alliance with the Emperor, but really undermining his power and stirring up enemies against him.

In 1634, the German princes offered Alsace to Louis if he would support them against the Emperor Ferdinand.

In 1633, Charles visited Scotland, and was crowned there. He sent Wentworth (afterwards Earl of Strafford) to Ireland, as Lord Deputy. He governed loyally, but with a hard hand, which bitterly offended the Irish.

In 1634, the ancient contribution of all towns and villages towards the navy was revived under the name of ship-money, and, being arbitrary, was regarded as vexatious and illegal.

In 1635, Laud was made Archbishop, and carried on his reforms and prosecutions with great energy, embittering the Puritans to the last degree.

In 1636, the German army having suddenly dashed into Picardy and threatened Paris, Louis showed some spirit, and the force of the kingdom being collected, the enemy retreated.

In 1637, the French invaded Spain and took Perpignan. The war continued in Italy and the Low Countries without striking events, but Richelieu's policy was of continual war as the best occupation for the nobles.

In 1638, a son was born to Louis XIII.; but the queen continued to be neglected, and Richelieu predominant. Though in very frail health, he ruled all France, including the king, almost despotically, keeping rigid order, and repressing the nobility so as to exalt the power of the crown, while his foreign policy raised France to be the leading power in Europe. He allowed the king a favourite, but no one had any political power except himself. The reigning favourite was Cinq Mars, a young man of more character and spirit than Richelieu had yet suspected. Savoy, though the duchess-regent was the king's sister, was overrun and almost conquered.

In 1638, Marie de Medici took refuge in England.

In 1638, the most influential Scottish nobles bound themselves by the "Solemn League and Covenant" to maintain their form of Calvinism against the king. In 1639, they took up arms, under the Earl of Leven.

After eleven years, Charles was obliged to summon a Parliament in 1640 to obtain supplies; but he dissolved it in three weeks. The Scots entered England and occupied Newcastle, and Charles could obtain no effective support without reassembling Parliament. He did this, and brought together the LONG PARLIAMENT, which began by passing an act against its own dissolution. Having now an opportunity to

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exert their voices, the Parliament (in 1641) impeached Strafford and Laud, and sentenced Strafford to death for his measures in Ireland. The Star Chamber was abolished, but, meantime, the Irish rose in a terrible insurrection.

In 1642, Cinq Mars and his friend De Thou organized a plot, with the king's knowledge, for overthrowing Richelieu and bringing in Spanish aid to destroy him; but the conspiracy being detected, they were both put to death. The cardinal was even then very ill, and died before the end of the year.

In 1643, Mazarin, an Italian ecclesiastic trained under Richelieu, succeeded to his post, became a cardinal, and carried out his policy, with more suavity and less harshness, but quite as much determination. He placed Louis de Bourbon, duke d'Enghien, eldest son of the Prince of Condé, at the head of the army, where he soon showed himself, though still very young, one of the greatest of French generals. Louis XIII. died. His son, LOUIS IV., was only five years old, and the regency was given to his mother, Anne of Austria, who gave all her confidence to Mazarin. Enghien won the great battle of Rocroy, and destroyed the fine old Spanish infantry.

In 1644, Enghien and Turenne, his equal in ability, advanced into Germany, and fought a bloody but doubtful battle at Friburg.

In 1642, Charles went down to the House to arrest the five leaders of the Opposition; but the project becoming known through the queen's indiscretion, the members withdrew; and the Londoners, indignant, rose in tumult. The king left London and went northward. The gates of Hull were closed against him by Sir John Hotham.

In 1643, the king raised his standard at Nottingham, and the Civil War began. The party who esteemed the Church, and regarded strict loyalty to the king's person as their foremost duty, were of the Cavalier or Royalist party. Those who desired greater liberty in Church matters, and desired to bar the usurpations of the Crown upon the State, were on the Parliamentary or Roundhead side. In the battle of Edgehill, the king's best commander, Lord Lindsay, was slain, but the battle was indecisive.

In 1644, Charles, with his head-quarters at Oxford, met with varying success. Hampden was killed at Chalgrove Field. Oliver Cromwell rose into command in the Parliamentary army. The Royalists suffered a great defeat at Marston Moor.

In 1645, another terrible battle was gained at Nordlingen by Enghien and Turenne, who were raising the French army to be the best in Europe.

In 1645, Queen Henrietta fled to France, and was received with her children at Paris.

In 1645, Archbishop Laud was beheaded by the Parliament, and the use of the Prayer-book forbidden. The Royal army was defeated at Naseby. Bristol was surrendered; and the Marquis of Montrose, who had upheld his cause in Scotland, was defeated by the Covenanters.

In 1646, Enghien and Turenne entered the Low Countries, and took Courtrai and Dunkirk.

In 1646, Charles, having lost all his armies and strongholds, threw himself on the loyalty of the Covenanters.

In 1647, Enghien (now Prince of Condé) entered Spain and attacked Lerida, but was repulsed and forced to retreat.

In 1647, they surrendered him to the Parliament for a sum of money, but the soldiery under Cromwell were so much more powerful than the Parliament that they assumed the custody of his person.

In 1648, Enghien entered Flanders and won the great victory of Lens; Turenne was equally successful at Sommerhausen. Peace was signed at Munster

In 1648, Cromwell caused Colonel Pryde to expel all the Presbyterian members of Parliament who scrupled to proceed against the king.

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between France, Germany, and Spain, Alsace being given up by the empire to France.

In 1648, the struggle called The Fronde, between the Court and Parliament of Paris, began. The edicts for levying contributions put forth by the queen and Mazarin were so illegal, that the Parliament refused to register them. Anne endeavoured to reduce the Parliament to obediance by arresting and imprisoning two members; but the Parisians rose in tumult, and she was forced to yield the captives, but resolved on revenge. The Parliamentary party were called Frondeurs.

Thus, both in France and England, the nobility having lost much of their power, the crown had come into collision with the middle classes. The great difference however was, that in England, there being only one Parliament, and that having the power of withholding supplies, it had much more vigour and substance than the French Parliament of Paris; and while in France the strife was for little more than an outward form, in England it was for the liberties of the nation. In France, the matter was complicated by the intrigues and jealousies of the Princes of the Blood. In England, a religious war was connected with the political one. The Parliament succumbed in France for want of genuine support from the aristocracy, whose dislike had only been to the minister, not to the power of the crown. In England, the Parliament had only been successful for a time through the abilities of a great soldier, who, having created a victorious army, forthwith overthrew all parliamentary power.

In 1649, she left Paris with the court, and caused Condé to besiege the city. Turenne took the part of the Fronde, and the two parties came to terms; Condé brought the king back to Paris in triumph, but this success rendered him arrogant and dictatorial, so that the queen and Mazarin in alarm caused him, his brother and brother-in-law, to be arrested and imprisoned at Vincennes. His wife raised the people of Bordeaux in his favour, and held out the city for four months. Turenne obtained aid from Spain, but though defeated at Rethel, his threatening attitude, and the general indignation at Condé's imprisonment and Mazarin's ascendency, were such that the queen was obliged to set the princes at liberty, while the cardinal fled in disguise. But his intrigues still kept the court in a state of dissension, and Condé, finding himself in danger there, fled to the south of France and placed himself at the head of an army, taking the part of the Parliament, not for the sake of guarding their privileges, but from hatred to Mazarin. The cardinal thereupon returned and reconciled himself to Turenne, who took the defence of the court party against the Fronde; Condé threw himself into Paris, and a terrible battle was fought at the Porte St. Antoine, where Condé was defeated, and the Parisians found themselves forced to submit. The Frondeurs resigned their projects, the Parliament became the mere mode of registering royal decrees, and Condé went into exile.

In 1649, Charles was arraigned before a commission appointed by Cromwell, and accused of treason to the nation. He refused to plead before an illegally constituted court, and was condemned and beheaded three days later. The office of King and the House of Lords were abolished by Parliament.

In 1650, Cromwell put down the rebellion in Ireland by measures of terrible severity. Charles II., then in Holland, was invited by the Scottish Covenanters to assume the crown. He came to Scotland, and took the covenant, but his party were defeated by Cromwell at Dunbar. Nevertheless, the indignation excited by his father's death made many regard him with favour, and in 1651 he entered England; but the Scots Covenanters and English Royalists did not easily coalesce, and Cromwell defeated them, first at Preston, and afterwards at Worcester, while Montrose, making a vain attempt in Scotland, was taken and hung. Charles, after wandering in diguise, reached France in safety, and Cromwell was all-powerful in England, nominally as the general appointed by Parliament, but really as entirely by the support of the army.

In 1652, the Navigation Act, restricting trade with the East and America to English ships, injured the commerce of Holland. Dutch ships had been searched to see whether munitions of war were being conveyed to the Royalists, and a war broke out between Holland and the Commonwealth.

In 1653, Mazarin returned to Paris, while Condé hovered on the frontier of the Netherlands, as a general in the pay of Spain; Turenne checked his movements, and it was a game of great skill between the two strategists.

In 1653, there were a series of terrible sea-fights between the Dutch and English. Blake defeated Van Tromp off Portland, and again at the Texel. Meantime Cromwell, finding the remnant of the Long Parliament inclined to reduce the army, expelled all the remaining members, and issued writs for another,

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which is usually known as Barebone's Parliament, from the Speaker's name. By this body he was declared Lord Protector of England, with regal powers.

In 1654, the Prince of Condé was laid under sentence of death. Louis XIV. was crowned, and his generals were successful on all sides–in Savoy, Spain, and the Netherlands.

In 1654, Cromwell made peace with Holland. His government at home was able and lenient towards the Cavalier party, and he showed many qualities of a great man. His secretary was the poet John Milton, and he was surrounded with able men. His power was much respected, and he obliged the Duke of Savoy to give better treatment to the persecuted Waldenses. Jamaica was taken from the Spaniards by the English fleet.

In 1655, Anne of Austria presided over the French court with great grace and dignity. The forms of etiquette became extremely majestic, but cumbrous. The queen was a pious and conscientious woman, but very ignorant and narrow-minded, and the king was very ill educated. The licence of manners among the nobility was great, and infected the greater part of the court. Still there was a very strong and earnest devotion among many, and the convent of Port Royal was the centre of a stern and ascetic school of piety, which, however, was persecuted as being connected with the doctrine called Jansenism.

In 1655, an alliance was made between Cromwell and Mazarin against Spain. Charles II. and his brothers were driven out of France; James, duke of York, the second brother, went to serve under Condé in Flanders.

In 1658, a plan was formed between Cromwell and Mazarin for conquering Flanders, and dividing it between France and England. Dunkirk was besieged by the French, under Turenne, with English allies. Its relief was attempted by Condé and the Spanish army, with the English princes in it. The battle of the Dunes was lost by Condé through Spanish obstinacy, and Dunkirk yielded, and was put into the hands of the English.

In 1659, Spain was reduced by these severe defeats to sue for peace. A treaty was signed at the Isle of Pheasants, in the river Bidassoa, and Condé was forgiven and reinstated in all his honours.

In 1659, Cromwell, after long failure of health, died, and his son Richard became Protector; but he was a weak and inefficient man, and, on the remonstrance of the army against his assembling a Parliament, dismissed it, and resigned his office.

In 1660, Louis XIV. married Marie Theresa, daughter of Philip IV. of Spain. His brother Philippe, duke of Orleans, married Henrietta, sister to Charles II. The French nobles had by this time lost all political or local power. All that remained to them was the privilege of waiting on the king at court, being exempt from taxation, and engrossing to themselves all the military commissions, so that no low-born soldier, however deserving, could ever hope to rise into command.

In 1661, Mazarin died, and Louis XIV. began to govern in person, and became the great centre of everything in France. He was a man of great ability and industry, and with a majesty of demeanour that rendered him one of the most personally revered sovereigns who ever lived. His courtesy was perfect, but his pride and ambition were as overweening as his selfishness. He had no feeling for any one but himself, and his people worshipped him contentedly.

In 1660, General Monk entering London, assembled the remains of the Long Parliament, which issued writs for a fresh election. The new Parliament resolved to restore royalty, and invited back CHARLES II., who returned amid great rejoicings, and took possession of the kingdom as if he had succeeded peaceably on his father's natural death. The Cavaliers returned to their estates, and the Church was restored.

CHARLES II. had unusual abilities, but they were rendered useless by his indolence, laziness, and self-indulgence. He brought all the vices of the French court back with him; and, though full of grace, good-temper, and kindliness, was one of the most unprincipled of men–but his Church appointments were of good and pious men. He was inclined to the Roman Catholic Church at heart, and his brother and next heir, James, duke of York, professed himself one openly.

In 1662, the Pope, Alexander VII., was averse to the French, and a quarrel breaking out between the Romans and the ambassador's suite, France considered her honour insulted, declared war, and seized the city

In 1662, Charles married Catherine of Braganza, receiving Tangiers and Bombay as her portion. The Act of Uniformity was passed, by which all ministers not episcopally ordained were ejected from the

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of Avignon, which had always belonged to the Papacy.

In 1664, the Pope was reduced to make peace on humiliating conditions.

In 1665, on the death of Philip IV. of Spain, Louis claimed the Netherlands, because his wife was the daughter of the first wife, her brother Charles II. of Spain of the second.

In 1664, Charles sold the city of Dunkirk to the French.

churches they had occupied. They were prevented by the Conventicle Act (1664) from using meeting-houses instead.

In 1665, the war with Holland was resumed, but without advantage, and the Great Plague devastated London.

In 1666, war was declared on behalf of the Netherlands, but Louis subsidized the English malcontents to occupy Charles and prevent his attacking France. Charles, always attached to him, readily treated with him in secret, and the peace of Breda was signed between France, England, and Holland.

In 1666, a doubtful battle was fought at Lowestoft, between the English and Dutch fleets, and a great victory gained at the North Foreland by the English. The Fire of London caused great destruction, and the nation was stunned into a desire for peace–above all, when the Dutch fleet entered the Thames and burnt Chatham–and peace with Holland was welcome.

In 1667, Louis entered Flanders and took Lille, Charleroi, and Courtrai.

In 1668, Condé conquered all Franche-Comté, but the able negotiations of the Dutch and the force of the triple alliance forced Louis to make peace and check his conquests.

In 1668, a triple alliance was formed to curb the power of France, between England, Holland, and Spain.

In 1670, Louis employed Henrietta Stewart, duchess of Orleans, to detach Charles II. from the triple alliance, and to accept French subsidies. A secret treaty was signed between them at Dover, in consequence of which France and England both declared war upon Holland on slight pretexts.

In 1668, Charles dismissed his father's minister, Edward Hyde, earl of Clarendon; and the cabinet called the Cabal, from the initials of the ministers, came into office, and were accessible to the influence and bribery of France.

In 1672, Louis invaded Holland, intending to crush the Dutch republic. William, Prince of Orange (nephew to Charles II.), took the command of the Dutch, and their resistance was energetic. They opened their sluices to make the country untenable by the enemy.

In 1672, a terrible and decisive battle was fought between the English and Dutch fleets off Harwich.

In 1673, the French army, under Turenne, devastated the County Palatine of the Rhine. Louis himself invaded Holland, and with the great engineer, Vauban, took Maestricht, and overran the country.

William, Prince of Orange, induced the Dutch to flood the country by opening their dykes, and this obstructed the French advance; while Spain and Austria took up arms to defend the Republic.

In 1674, at Seneff, the Prince of Condé fought his last and the Prince of Orange his first battle. It was very bloody, but indecisive.

In 1675, Turenne was killed at Saspach, on the Rhine, and was greatly lamented as one of the greatest generals and noblest men produced by France.

In 1673, Parliament made the grant of supplies conditional on the acceptance of the Test Act, which required an oath against the Roman Catholic Church, as a test, from all in public office.

Two more battles were fought by the English and Dutch fleets; but the heart of the nation was with Holland and against France, and distrust and jealousy of the Roman Catholic influence at court increased.

In 1674, Parliament forced Charles into making peace with the Dutch.

In 1676, a secret treaty was made between Charles and Louis.

In 1677, Valenciennes was taken, and the Prince of Orange defeated at Mont Cassel.

In 1677, Mary, daughter of the Duke of York, married William, prince of Orange.

In 1678, Louis held the most splendid court yet known in France. His ministers, Colbert and Louvois, supplied him with means; and the stateliness of his court and the grandeur of his buildings–

In 1678, a general peace was signed at Nimeguen, between France, England, Germany, Spain, and Holland.

In 1678, the whole nation was excited by the supposed discovery of a Popish Plot for overthrowing Government and Church. The king yielded to the pressure, and the Earl of Stafford and other Roman

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especially his palace at Versailles–were dazzling. It was a period of great talent; Bossuet and Fénélon were brilliant lights of the Church, Racine the great tragedian, Molière the comedian, Luxemburg and Villars as generals, and men who had attained excellence in every line; all adored the king, and laid their services at his feet. Louis had an almost unequalled power of making himself revered, and was treated like a sort of demigod, his very failings admired even by good men; and by the ascendency of his character he not only ruled over all hearts in France, but was regarded as the very type of a king by foreign princes. Yet his life was profligate, and his tyranny weighed heavily on nobles and poor, but Richelieu's policy had made the crown too supreme to be resisted.

Louis's powerful character and example of easy despotism had a great effect on the two Stuart princes, whose residence in France had taught them to look on him as the head of royalty, and the pattern for imitation. His laxity of morals were viewed as an excuse for theirs, and his supreme contempt for all popular rights justified their want of political principle.

Charles, however, by his nonchalance, ease, versatility, and want of earnestness, avoided ever coming to serious issue with his people, and preserved his personal popularity–never going further than they would bear; but he himself was under strong French influence, the people full of hatred and dread of it, and the ministry and influential statesmen, for the most part, truckling to it.

Catholic gentlemen were actually put to death on this false charge.

In 1679, the Act of Habeas Corpus, making it illegal to keep a person in prison without trial, was passed. In Scotland, the Covenanters murdered Archbishop Sharpe, and a bitter war broke out between Government and the Covenanters.

In 1680, the Protestant party were so strong as to prosecute the Duke of York as a Popish recusant, and force him to leave England. The Commons passed a bill to exclude him from the succession, but it was thrown out by the Lords.

In 1681, Louis, thinking himself under the influence of religion, began to persecute the Huguenots, and quartered dragoons on their families, who rendered their life miserable. At the same time, he had a sharp quarrel with the Pope respecting the Regale, or right of appropriating the revenues of vacant benefices. Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, drew up propositions declaring the liberty of the French Church, and in especial that the authority of a General Council is superior to that of the Pope.

In 1681, the plot called the Rye House Plot was discovered. The more moderate, among whom were Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney, intended to exclude York from the succession, but others intended the murder of the king. Russell and Sidney were executed. Many others of their party in England and Scotland were reduced to great danger and distress.

In 1685, Louis revoked Henri IV.'s Edict of Nantes, which had tolerated the Huguenots and allowed them to worship in safety. Horrible distress and cruel persecution followed; the Huguenots fled the country, where possible, and many of the most industrious of the silk-workers of the South of France had to choose between secret flight and apostasy. This proceeding was taken under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, a lady of great talent, whom the king had privately married, and who turned him in his old age to much more feeling for religion. He hoped to satisfy his conscience by following the dictates of the priests, who desired the extirpation of the Huguenots. The Elector Palatine died, and Louis claimed his personal property as that of his sister, the Duchess of Orleans.

In 1685, the refugees who left France on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes were kindly received in England, a subscription raised for them, and posts given to their nobles in the army. The silk-weavers settled at Spitalfields, and introduced their industry.

In 1685, Charles II. was struck with apoplexy, and died. JAMES II., a Romanist, succeeded. James, duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles, attempted to seize the crown as a Protestant king, but was defeated at Sedgmoor, captured, and executed. Chief Justice Jeffreys made the progress called the Bloody Assize, barbarously condemning his partisans by wholesale, unless bribed to spare them. The king continued to depress the English Church, and endeavour to obtain support from the Nonconformists by granting them equal tolerance and favour with the Roman Catholics; but they received his advances with distrust, and the whole nation only endured in hope of the accession of the Prince of Orange.

In 1688, Louis, by the advice of his minister Louvois, commenced a savage war to obtain the lands of the Palatinate. Louvois died in the midst. He was the last of the remarkable men who had made the outset of Louis's reign so splendid. Condé died

In 1688, James commanded that a declaration of freedom of conscience, placing Nonconformists and Roman Catholics on a level with English Churchmen, should be read in the churches. Seven of the bishops refused, and were committed to the Tower on a charge

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the same year, and the later generation were inferior. The splendour of Louis's reign began to wane.

Louis's only son, the Dauphin, was sent with the army into Germany, and took Philipsburg. His grandson, the Duke of Burgundy, was educated by Fénélon, a bright light of the French Church, but who was persecuted for the support he gave to a mystic writer called Madame Guyon, whom Bossuet condemned.

In 1688, James, being in close alliance with Louis, whose overweening ambition was hated and dreaded by the rest of Europe, met with no cordial sympathy even from the Pope. Louis's attack on Germany, by drawing off his troops from the Dutch frontier, left William of Orange at liberty to make his expedition to England.

of libel. A son (James Francis) was born to James. In their vexation, the nation branded him as an imposter. At the same time the seven bishops were triumphantly acquitted, and the country, in despair at the Romanist succession they saw before them, invited the Prince of Orange to redress their grievances. He landed in Torbay; the army, under Lord Churchill, deserted to him, and James fled to France.

James II. having abdicated, the crown was offered by Parliament to his nephew, WILLIAM III., prince of Orange, and his daughter, MARY II., who accepted it, and consented to the Declaration of Rights, by which the power of the crown was curtailed, and the monarchy became subject to definite restrictions from Parliament.

In 1689, the war in the Palatinate was carried on with terrible barbarity, Louvois even venturing to slight the king in the commands he sent to the generals.

In 1689, Louis gave James troops, with whom he went to head the Irish Jacobites, and held a stormy court there.

In 1690, William defeated James and his Irish and French allies at the battle of Boyne Water.

In 1689, the friends of the banished Stuarts became known as Jacobites; those who upheld the privileges of the crown were called Tories, those who were on the popular side Whigs. Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, maintained the cause of James in Scotland, and was killed in the moment of victory at Killiecrankie; but the Jacobite interest continued to flourish in Scotland, especially in the Highlands, where the people were chiefly Roman Catholics. The Episcopal Church held to James, and was disestablished in favour of Presbyterianism.

In 1691, Louvois' insolence displeased the king, who manifested his anger; and the minister died just in time to avert public disgrace.

In 1691, the Irish were again defeated at Aughrim, Limerick was surrendered to the king, and Ireland pacified.

In 1692, a fleet was fitted out by Louis for the restoration of James, but it was totally defeated off Cape la Hogue by Admiral Russell.

The war was carried on in the Netherlands by William in person, and Marshall Luxemburg in command of the French. The French gained a victory at Steinkirk, and took Mons and Namur.

In 1692, by way of terrifying the Highlanders, a terrible massacre of the whole clan of the Macdonalds of Glencoe was sanctioned by the king and Lord Stair, and executed by the Campbells.

In 1693, France was in a dreadful state of exhaustion and suffering. Three armies were kept up–on the Rhine, in Savoy, and the Netherlands; and the expense was immense. Still the king, under strong Jesuit influence, tried to satisfy his conscience by discouragement of all that they disapproved.

In 1695, the Duke of Savoy began to obtain some advantage.

In 1693, another great French victory took place at Neerwinden, but William, though always defeated in battle, kept up the constancy of the Dutch, and thus exhausted Louis.

In 1694, Luxemburg died, and with him much of the superior strategy of France, so that William began to regain ground.

In 1697, worn out with the war, a peace was concluded by both nations at Ryswick, by which Louis acknowledged William as King of England, restored the cities in the Netherlands, and gave up his pretensions to the Palatinate.

In 1700, Charles II. of Spain died childless. The direct heir was the Dauphin, but as, by the constitution of Spain, a foreign monarch was not eligible, he

In 1693, Archbishop Sancroft, Bishop Ken, and many other clergy, having refused to transfer their allegiance to William, were deprived. They were called Nonjurors. Tillotson was appointed in Sancroft's place.

In 1694, the Bank of England was established, in order to arrange for the loans that the war required Government to ask from individuals, thus forming the National Debt.

Queen Mary II. died, but William continued to reign alone. An act was passed making Parliament triennial, i.e. to be freshly elected every three years.

In 1700, on the death of the last child of Anne (daughter of James II.), an Act of Settlement was passed by which (members of the Church of Rome

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and his eldest son, the Duke of Burgundy, resigned any claim to the second son, the Duke of Anjou, who became Philip V. of Spain (in 1701). This increase of French influence alarmed the other Powers of Europe, and a claim was set up for the Archduke Charles, second son of the Emperor, and was supported by England and Holland.

being excluded) the crown was to go after Anne to the House of Hanover, descended from Elizabeth, daughter of James I.

In 1701, James II. died, and his claims passed to his son James Francis, called the Chevalièr or the Pretender.

In 1702, Philip V. endeavoured to establish himself in Naples and Lombardy, but affronted the Duke of Savoy, who joined the alliance against him. The great Austrian general at this time was Prince Eugène, a cadet of Savoy, who had been bred up in France, but had been mortally offended by Louis.

In 1702, William III. died of a fall from his horse, and was succeeded by ANNE, married to Prince George of Denmark.

In 1704, the Duke of Marlborough, with the allied armies of Austria, England, and Holland, marched into Bavaria, and gained a splendid victory over the French and Bavarians at Blenheim.

In 1705, the Earl of Peterborough, with an English army, tried to seat Charles on the throne of Spain. He gained great successes, but Charles's slackness disgusted him; he threw up the command and returned. Lord Galway was his successor, a Huguenot refugee.

In 1704, Sir George Rooke, making a descent on Spain, captured Gibraltar.

Anne was under the influence of the wife of Marlborough, an able and imperious woman, and was led by her into the hearty support of the Whigs, and the policy of steady resistance to the encroachments of France, by which Marlborough was maintained at the head of the armies, and Godolphin was prime minister at home.

In 1706, the Savoyards, under Eugène, totally defeated the French at Turin. Louis was a feeble old man: his best generals and his early ministers dead, and he had outlived the glories of his reign. His kingdom was in a mournful state of poverty and distress, but he still kept up his resistance with great dignity and steadiness.

In 1706, the French invaded Flanders, and were totally defeated by Marlborough and Eugène at Ramilies.

In 1706, the glory of Marlborough's victories was highly esteemed, but the insolence and grasping of the Duchess of Marlborough were unpopular.

In 1707, the English in Spain, under Galway, were defeated at Almanza by Berwick, an illegitimate son of James II., and nephew to Marlborough.

In 1707, England and Scotland were united, i.e., their parliament was made one, the Peers of Scotland being represented by a certain number elected by themselves. This measure was so unpopular in Scotland that an attempt was made (in 1708) to bring back James Stuart, but it was repulsed by Sir George Byng.

In 1708, a fresh campaign took place in Flanders. Marlborough gained another great victory at Oudenarde, and invested Lille, which was taken after a long siege. Another battle was won at Malplaquet. Minorca was taken by Sir John Leake and General Stanhope; Nova Scotia was also taken from the French.

In 1708, the queen's husband died. The insolence of the Duchess of Marlborough had grown so galling, that Anne allowed herself to become interested in Abigail Masham, by whom Robert Harley, the leader of the Tory party, was introduced. The ministry was changed, and Harley, now Earl of Oxford, came into office. This reign is called the Augustan age of England, from the number of polished writers then living–Dryden, Addison, Pope, Swift, Gay, Steele, &c.

In 1709, the Port Royal establishment was broken up.

In 1710, the Dauphin died of small-pox, and in less than a year his son, the Duke of Burgundy, with his wife and eldest son, also died, of measles.

In 1710, Generals Stanhope and Staremberg made another attempt in Spain, gained a victory at Almanza, and pushed on to Madrid; but in 1711 were defeated at Villa Viciosa, and forced to retreat to Barcelona.

In 1712, Eugène, left alone with the Austrian army, was repeatedly defeated in Flanders by Marshall Villars.

In 1712, hostilities ceased between England and France, and the death of the Emperor Joseph II. opened a way to peace, by bringing the Archduke Charles to the Empire.

In 1713, the Peace of Utrecht was concluded between England, France, Germany, and Spain. Philip V. was acknowledged King of Spain, but gave up the Netherlands to Charles as sovereign of Austria: Gibraltar, Minorca, Upper Canada, and Nova Scotia remaining with the English. Charles VI. obtained the consent of the other Powers to a decree of the Empire, called the Pragmatic Sanction, by which his daughter (he had no son) was made the heir to his hereditary dominions, to the exclusion of the male heirs of the House of Austria.

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In 1714, Queen Anne died, and was succeeded by GEORGE I., Elector of Hanover. Sir Robert Walpole became head of the Whig ministry.

In 1715, Louis XIV. died, after a reign of seventy-two years, leaving a great-grandson, LOUIS XV., of three years old, with no relation, except the king of Spain, nearer than the dissipated Philippe, duke of Orleans, who became Regent, and was under the influence of the disgraceful Abbé Dubois.

In 1715, the Parliament was made septennial, i.e. dissolved every seven years. A Jacobite attempt was made in Scotland and the North of England at once. There was an indecisive battle at Sheriff Muir, but the English Jacobites were totally defeated at Preston, and the Pretender only landed to have to fly again.

In 1716, the insurgent Lords Derwentwater and Kenmuir were beheaded.

In 1717, Philip of Spain claimed the regency of France, as uncle to the king, under the influence of his wife Elizabeth Farnese and Cardinal Alberoni.

In 1718, the Quadruple Alliance was formed between France, England, Austria and Holland, for keeping the ambition of Spain in check.

In 1718, Sir George Byng defeated the Spanish fleet off Syracuse.

In 1719, there was much avarice and corruption of all kinds, and adventurers took advantage of it. James Law, a Scotsman, led half France into extravagant speculations, which ended in total ruin. The shameless debauchery of the Regent, duke of Orleans, and his family, was the scandal of Europe.

In 1720, the influence of Alberoni declined, and Spain made peace with the other powers.

In 1720, in England a company was formed, afterwards called the South Sea Bubble, which was a fraudulent speculation, and produced ruin and distress.–The consequence of the Hanoverian succession was that from this time England was dragged into all the quarrels that affected the king as Elector of Hanover.

In 1723, the Duke of Orleans died suddenly, and the Duke of Bourbon became regent. He married the young king to the daughter of Stanislas, an expelled king of Poland, and sent home the Spanish princess intended for him. Louis was a weak, selfish, ill-educated man, and after a few years fell into the grossest dissipation and licentiousness, while all the miseries of Louis XIV.'s rule remained unabated in the country.

In 1725, the Queen of Spain in great fury allied herself with Austria and proclaimed war.

In 1725, the Spaniards made a desperate endeavour to take Gibraltar.

In 1727, George I. died, in Hanover; his son GEORGE II. succeeded, and made peace with Spain by the treaty of Seville. Walpole continued prime minister, and, with the assistance of Queen Caroline, so ruled the king as to keep England neutral and peaceable, without interfering in the continental disturbances. Caroline was the real ruler of England, and affairs went well, except for violent quarrels with Frederick, Prince of Wales, until her death, in 1737.

In 1733, the queen's father, Stanislas, was restored to Poland for a short time, but expelled by Russia and Austria. France was forced to take up arms in his cause. Berwick commanded her armies; Eugene, the Austrian. Berwick was killed while besieging Philipsburg.

In 1735, peace was made on Austria giving up the duchy of Lorraine to Stanislas, to revert to France upon his death. Compensation being given to the duke who had married the heiress of Austria.

In 1739, a commercial quarrel led to a war with Spain.

In 1740, the death of Emperor Charles VI. again led to a general war. His hereditary dominions were secured to his daughter, Maria Theresa, and it was intended that her husband, Francis of Lorraine, should be elected to the empire. But France and Prussia (under Frederick II.) were resolved against her; England, having guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction, took part with Austria; but the elector, Charles of Bavaria, was elected emperor and claimed Bohemia; and at the same time Munich was taken by the Austrians. Maria Theresa bought off Prussia by ceding Silesia; but France continued the war, and seized Bohemia in the name of the Emperor Charles.

In 1742, Sir Robert Walpole was impeached and retired from office.

In 1743, Cardinal Fleury, Louis's old minister, died.

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In 1743, Marshal Belleisle, after a long and bravely sustained siege, capitulated honourably. Louis was going to put himself at the head of his army to recover Bavaria, but fell dangerously ill. The transport of joy on his recovery caused him to be termed Louis le bien aimé. The Duke de Noailles commanded the French army, while George II. and his second son, William, duke of Cumberland, were at the head of the English forces sent to Maria Theresa's assistance. A great victory was gained by the English at Dettingen; but by bad management they were forced to continue their retreat before the French. This was the last battle where an English king commanded.

In 1743, the Pelham Ministry was in favour in England, guided by the Duke of Newcastle and his brother.

In 1745, the emperor Charles of Bavaria died; but France and Prussia continued the war with England and Austria. At Fontenoy, in Flanders, Louis XV. and his son, with Marshal Saxe, fought a hotly-contested battle with the Duke of Cumberland and defeated him. Francis of Lorraine, husband of Maria Theresa, was elected emperor.

In 1747, great naval victories were gained by the English over the French; but at Lawfeldt Marshal Saxe routed Cumberland, and constantly outmanoeuvred him.

In 1748, the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed by all the sovereigns, leaving the boundaries of the kingdoms much in their old state, except that Prussia retained Silesia.

In 1750, Marshal Saxe died. Voltaire and other able writers were filling France with attacks upon Christianity.

In 1751, Frederick, Prince of Wales, died.

In 1752, the Gregorian Calendar (new style) was adopted.

In 1754, the French and English were continually disputing as to the boundaries of their territories in North America, also as to the alliances of their several trading companies in the East Indies. Dupleix, who had shown great talent, and laid the foundation of possible French empire in India, was recalled and ruined.

Hostilities began in America, on the Ohio and the Canadian borders. The Red Indian tribes were excited to take part in the struggle, and their savage attacks of scattered homesteads were horrible.

In 1755, Maria Theresa, in the desire to recover Silesia, allied herself with France and Russia, and commenced the Seven Years' War, in which England took part with Prussia.

In 1756, the French attacked and seized the Island of Minorca from the English. Admiral Sir George Byng was executed for not having exerted himself to relieve the garrison.

In 1754, Robert Clive and the other East India Company's servants showed great sagacity, and obtained much influence among Indian native princes.

The Archbishop of Paris (Beaumont) caused his clergy to refuse the rites of the Church to those who were either Jansenists or could not show certificates of being in the habit of confessing. Vehement opposition was made by the parliament of Paris, who were much infected by the freethinking habits of the day. He would not yield, and was twice sent into exile.

A Hindoo prince, Surajah Dowlah, surprized Calcutta, and penned up 123 English inhabitants for a night in a small room, called the Black Hole, where most perished.

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In 1757, an attempt was made by Damien to assassinate the king, and was revenged by a barbarous execution.

Marshal Soubise was totally defeated at Rosbach by Frederick II. of Prussia.

The French army was as brave as ever, but much encumbered by the fopperies of the fine gentlemen who kept all the higher grades to themselves.

In 1757, Prussia was overrun, in spite of gallant resistance, by the Russian and Austrian forces. Armies were sent to the scene of conflict by both France and England; but that of England was all German, and Cumberland was defeated at Hastenbeck by Marshal d'Estrées, he signed a convention at Kloster Seven, surrendering Hanover to French occupation. George II. refused to ratify it, and Cumberland retired in anger to private life.

In 1757, the great William Pitt the elder came to the head of the government.

In 1757, Clive gained the great battle of Plassey over the Rajah Dowlah, thus avenging the Black Hole, and by the conquest of Bengal establishing British power in India.

In 1758, the French army, under the Count de Clermont, was defeated at Crefeldt by Ferdinand of Brunswick, and after several lesser battles were forced to retreat from the Elbe to the Rhine.

In 1758, the English made an attack on St. Malo, in Brittany, when they burnt the ships and stores, and another at Cherbourg, but were beaten off at St. Cast. In 1759, in Lower Canada, which the French had neglected, General Wolfe gained a magnificent victory at Quebec, which resulted in the conquest of the entire province by British arms. The allied armies of Germans and English, under Lord George Sackville and Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, gained a victory over Coutades and the French at Minden, the completeness of which was much injured by a misunderstanding between them, but which saved Hanover from the French. Admiral Hawke likewise defeated the French fleet in Quiberon Bay.

In 1760, Montreal surrendered, and Canada was entirely lost to France.

In 1760, George II. died suddenly, and was succeeded by his grandson, George III., who was under the Tory influence of the Earl of Bute, and peaceably inclined; but Pitt was at the head of affairs until 1761, when war was declared with Spain on account of its alliance with France.

In 1763, the Peace of Hubertsburg was signed, and closed the Seven Years' War.

In 1763, the Grenville Ministry came into power. John Wilkes was prosecuted and outlawed for publishing a libel on the king.

In 1764, Madame de Pompadour died. A more common-place, vulgar, good-natured woman, Madame du Barry, gained power over the debauched old king.

In 1764, the Bute influence was very unpopular, but George III. and Queen Charlotte, pious and high principled, were striving to purify their court and improve the nobility.

In 1765, the dauphin died, leaving a young family. The king sank into the lowest and grossest licence, while the nobility were haughty and dissipated, and the old feudal rights were frightfully oppressive to the peasantry. Promotion was unnattainable without noble birth, and the corrupt state of the Church had led to infidelity and discontent among more clever men.

In 1770, the young dauphin was married to Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa.

In 1765, Grenville attempted to impose stamp duties on the colonies. The Americans vehemently resisted.

In 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed, but Parliament declared its power to govern the colonies without their own consent, and laid a tax on tea and other commodities. The Americans denied the right, and destroyed the taxed articles. Pitt (Lord Chatham) guided government, though unable to take office.

In 1773, a riot took place at Boston about the tea duty.

In 1774, Louis XV. died of small-pox. His grandson, Louis XVI., a pious, but far from able man, succeeded him, with a sincere desire to redress the horrible evils of the state; but the whole fabric was

In 1774, a petition presented by Benjamin Franklin was rejected by the British government.

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rotten, and Church and State in France both corrupt. The ablest men looked back to the old heroic characters of Greece and Rome, and longed to restore philosophy and freedom.

The Count de Maurepas, a selfish, cautious old man, revived the old parliaments, and put Turgot at the head of the finances, which were in inextricable confusion.

In 1775, the first skirmish took place at Lexington between the Americans and the English troops. A union was formed by thirteen colonies against the claims advanced by the mother country, the English garrison was seized in Boston, and the first battle was fought at Bunker's Hill, and proved indecisive. George Washington became the general of the revolted Americans.

In 1776, Boston was evacuated. The Declaration of Independence was made by the revolted Americans.

In 1777, Maurepas became jealous of Turgot, and overthrew him. Necker, a Genevan banker, undertook the management.

In 1777, Washington was defeated at Brandywine, but soon after forced General Burgoyne, with 4,000 men, to surrender to him at Saratoga.

In 1778, France openly allied herself with the Americans, and England declared war against her.

Pondicherry was taken from the French, and their power in India put an end to.

In 1778, there was a move made for giving up the American colonies. Lord Chatham, though aged and ill, came to the House of Lords to oppose it, and fell stricken to death in his speech.

In 1779, an indecisive battle took place of Ushant between the English and French fleets.

In 1780, Lord George Gordon, a fanatic young noble, raised a great riot in London at the removal of some of the enactments against Roman Catholics, and was sent to the Tower.

In 1781, Maurepas became afraid of the discussions caused by Necker's reforms, and forced him to retire, but soon after died.

In 1781, Lord Cornwallis was forced to surrender Yorktown to Washington.

In 1782, the Duke de Crillon took Minorca and besieged Gibraltar, which was gallantly and successfully defended by Sir. J. Eliot. Hyder Ali, Sultan of Mysore, and his son, Tippoo Sahib, tried to support the cause of France in India, but were defeated by Sir Eyre Coote. Admiral Rodney gained a great naval victory over Count de Grasse in the West Indies.

In 1782, Lord North went out of office, and the Rockingham Ministry returned for a short time. Then Lord Shelburne was at the head of affairs.

In 1783, peace was concluded at Versailles between England, France, and America, and the independence of the United States of America was recognized.

In 1787, Calonne, who was at the head of the finances, persuaded Louis XVI. to convoke the assembly of Notables (i.e. men of the upper classes selected by government), in hopes to obtain their sanction to the extension of the taxes to the nobility,

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but they refused, and so abused Calonne, that he had to go into exile.

In 1788, the Parliament of Paris refused to register any tax made by the king's authority, so that he might be forced to assemble the States-General. The king tried to arrest two members, but only produced more irritation.

In 1788, George III. had his first attack of insanity. A Regency by his eldest son was considered.

In 1789, Louis was driven into recalling Necker and convoking the States-General. All sat together in one chamber, and the deputies of the Tiers-état, or commonalty, had by far the majority. They changed the name to the National Assembly, and swore never to separate till they had given a constitution to France. The Duke of Orleans joined the party of Revolution; the Count de Mirabeau was the great leader of the Reformers; also La Fayette, who became the captain of the National Guard, an enrolled company of citizens who undertook the defence of the country. Excited and furious mobs paraded Paris, and when the king brought troops nearer for defence, it was supposed that he meant to crush the Revolution, and the fury of the people was uncontrollable; the nobles from this time began to take refuge in other countries, and the fugitives were termed emigrants. The Bastille was sacked and demolished. The National Assembly drew up a declaration of the Rights of Man, in imitation of that of the United States, and a Constitution was framed, in which the only power left to the king was that of veto, or of refusal of consent to a measure. This excited great wrath; and moreover, scarcity of provisions infuriated the people of Paris. The fear that Louis would call in the military added to their rage, and, on a report of an enthusiastic scene in the theatre at Versailles, the mob and National Guard hurried out to Versailles, insulted the king and queen, almost killing the latter, and dragged them back to Paris.

In 1789, George III. recovered.

Many ardent spirits who had long been shocked at the tyranny in France, sympathized with these early days of the Revolution, especially Charles James Fox, the head of the Whig party.

In 1790, all titles were abolished, all taxes refused, and the property of the Church seized to make up for them. Necker resigned and retired to Switzerland. The clergy were required to swear to obey the National Assembly instead of the Pope, and on the refusal of the greater number they were ejected.

In 1791, Mirabeau, in whom the royal family had some hope, died. Their situation amid daily insults, imprisoned in their own palace, was intolerable, and they tried to escape; but were captured at Varennes,

In 1790, Pitt demanded an increase of the army as a precaution against the French in their excited state. Edmund Burke, the most eloquent man in England, separated from the Whigs and warned the country against the excesses of the French Revolution.

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and brought back to closer captivity. The National Assembly, having completed their Constitution, broke up, and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly, in whom all power but that of veto was vested.

In 1792, the Legislative Assembly was elected from the Departments into which France had been divided, instead of the old Provinces. There were three parties: those who were willing to rest as they were; the Girondins, who wished to resemble the old Republic, but were virtuous, upright men; and the Jacobins, furious levellers, with Robespierre, Danton, and Marat for their leaders, and the mob for their instruments. Acts were drawn up depriving the emigrants of their property, and placing under surveillance the clergy who had refused the oaths. The king used his power of veto. The mob broke into the Tuileries, and threatened him and the queen. Meantime, the emigrant nobles and foreign powers were arming to rescue him, but this so enraged the Parisians that they invaded the palace, and massacred the faithful Swiss guards. The royal family took refuge in the Legislative Assembly, and were sent close captives to the Tower of the Temple. On the advance of the army from Germany, the Jacobins slaughtered 8,000 gentry and clergy in the prisons of Paris. Royalty was abolished by a decree. The emigrants and Germans were defeated at Valmy and Jemappes. The Legislative Assembly broke up, and the National Convention was elected, with a Committee of Public Safety, which summarily executed with the guillotine all who were accused of adhering to the old system. No sex or age was safe, it was a time of bloodshed throughout France.

In 1792, William Wilberforce, supported by Pitt, moved for the abolition of the slave trade.

In 1793, the king was tried for treason against the nation, and executed. The Girondists were overthrown by the Jacobins, and all guillotined. The Reign of Terror prevailed, and multitudes of victims were destroyed by the guillotine, by shot, or by drowning. The gallant Vendéens, also Lyons and Toulon, revolted, but in vain; a horrible revenge was taken. The German forces were defeated on the Rhine by Moreau, and the Dutch by Pichegru. Excitement rendered the French troops invincible. Cruelty still raged at Paris, the queen and the king's sister were executed, and his young son, Louis XVII., slowly wasted to death under cruel imprisonment.

In 1793, the French envoy was dismissed, and war declared against France. The Duke of York, second son of George III., made an attack on France on the Dutch side, in conjunction with the Prince of Orange, but was repulsed. Attempts were made to succour Toulon, but failed, chiefly from bad management.

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The Duke of Orleans was executed. A woman, called the Goddess of Reason, was enthroned in Notre Dame; Christianity proscribed; but Marat was assassinated by a girl named Charlotte Corday, and Danton and his party overthrown by Robespierre.

In 1794, the nation became horrified at the blood that was constantly shed; Robespierre was arrested and executed, and the Reign of Terror ceased; 18,603 people had perished on the guillotine. The Jacobin Club was suppressed.

In 1794, the French threatened an invasion of England. The Militia was enrolled for defence, and Lord Howe gained a naval victory off Ushant.

In 1795, the government passed into the hands of a Directory, and when the mob attempted to rise it was repressed by the soldiery, under a Corsican officer, Napoleon Bonaparte. Holland was united to France.

In 1795, an attempt was made in Quiberon Bay to assist the Vendéens, but in vain.

The power of France was crippled wherever an English fleet could reach.

In 1795, the Prince of Wales was married to Caroline of Brunswick. The Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon were taken from the Dutch as allies of France.

In 1796, the French resolved to attack the Austrian dominions in Italy. Bonaparte led the army across the Alps, and gained splendid victories over Austria at Lodi, Rivoli, the Brenta, and Arcola; and though Moreau gained some successes in Austria itself, peace was only purchased by the emperor acknowledging the French Republic, giving up Flanders to France, and Lombardy to self-government under French protection.

In 1796, Spain entered into an alliance with France.

In 1797, Venice was seized by France and given to Austria, Rome laid under contribution, and a treaty, signed at Campo Formio, when the French obtained the Roman isles hitherto belonging to Venice.

In 1797, the fleets of Spain and Holland, in alliance with the French, were defeated, the one at St. Vincent by Jervis, the other at Camperdown by Howe.

In 1797, a dangerous mutiny in the fleet at the Nore was suppressed by Admiral Jervis, now Lord St. Vincent.

In 1798, Bonaparte induced the French Directory to give him an army to make his way to India by way of Egypt and Cabul. On his way he took Malta from the Knights of St. John. He routed the Egyptian forces at the battle of the Pyramids, and took possession of Cairo. The Sultan Selim II. fitted out two armies against Bonaparte, who, in 1799, marched to meet the first in Syria, and there took Jaffa, where he made a terrible slaughter. Rome and Savoy were both mastered by the French, and the Pope was dragged into France, and there died. Naples was seized and overrun by the French.

In 1798, Horatio Nelson utterly destroyed the French fleet in the Bay of Aboukir, at the mouth of the Nile, and cut Napoleon off from supplies from home. The French troops were blockaded in Malta, and Corfu taken by the English, who were supreme at sea.

Admiral Sir Sidney Smith directed the Turkish defence of St. Jean d'Acre, repulsed Napoleon there, and forced him to retreat into Egypt, afterwards carrying a Turkish army to Egypt. Nelson transported the king and queen of Naples to Sicily, where they were protected by the English fleet.

In 1798, encouraged by France, the Irish rebelled, and, for three months before the final quelling, there was horrible bloodshed on each side. In India, Seringapatam was taken by General Harris and Tippoo Sahib slain.

In 1799, Austria and Russia united against France, and the Russians recovered Lombardy, while the Austrians drove the French back on the Rhine. Napoleon hurried home, leaving Kleber in command of his army in Egypt. He dismissed the Directory by the strong hand, and caused himself to be nomi-

In 1799, Ireland was united to England and Scotland, and ceased to have in independent parliament.

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nated First Consul, with two inferiors quite powerless.

In 1800, Napoleon again crossed the Alps to recover Italy, and beat the Austrians at Montebello and Marengo, forcing them to retreat. Moreau defeated the Austrians at Hohenlinden, on the Iser. Russia and Austria were forced to make peace.

In 1800, England, alone continuing at war with France, established what was called the Continental System, i.e. a blockade of all French ports, and likewise the searching of all neutral ships, so as to prevent them from carrying arms, goods, or provisions to France. This enraged Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, who all declared war against England.

In 1801, Bonaparte began to restore religion and order in France, and held a brilliant court at the Tuileries.

In 1801, Sir Ralph Abercrombie gained a great victory at Alexandria, which, though he was killed, destroyed the French hold upon Egypt.

In 1801, Pitt had attempted to take restrictions off the Roman Catholics, but George III. refused, regarding it as against his coronation oath. Pitt resigned, and Addington was at the head of the ministry. Sir Hyde Parker and Nelson fought a battle at Copenhagen, and totally defeated the Danish fleet.

In 1802, a general peace was signed between England and France at Amiens.

In 1803, an ineffectual attempt was made to reduce the Island of Hayti to French obedience.

In 1803, on a dispute respecting Malta, the war again broke out. Napoleon seized and detained all English travellers, and prepared a fleet at Boulogne, in which he intended to invade and conquer England. He likewise occupied Hanover.

In 1803, Sir Arthur Wellesley gained a brilliant victory over the wild mountain Indian tribe of Mahrattas at Assaye. The whole English nation prepared to resist the expected invasion.

In 1804, Napoleon, apparently to deter the royal family from corresponding in France, seized the Duke d'Enghien, heir of the Condés, at Baden, and had him shot at Vincennes. The stanch republican Pichegru was thrown into prison and there perished, and Moreau exiled to Germany. Having cleared away all opposition, he then assumed the title of Emperor of the French, and forced the Pope to anoint him; but crowned himself, making his brother Joseph king of Naples and Louis king of Holland.

In 1804, Pitt returned to the head of affairs. Spain, being in alliance with France, declared war against England, but Russia allied herself to us.

In 1805, Napoleon added Italy to the French empire, whereupon Austria took up arms, but suffered a great defeat from him at Ulm, and afterwards, in union with the Russians, at Austerlitz. The Russians retreated, and the Austrians had to make peace. The Prussians, rising against the aggressions of Napoleon, were utterly crushed at Jena.

In 1805, the French and Spanish fleets united to make a superior force to enable the French to land in England, but were defeated and destroyed at Trafalgar by Nelson, who was killed in the moment of victory.

In 1806, Sir J. Stuart gained a great victory over the French at Maida, in Calabria.

In 1806, Pitt died, and the management of affairs was taken by Fox, who, however, did not live through the year. Lord Grenville carried on the government; and the abolition of the slave trade was carried (in 1807) by Wilberforce under him. Grenville resigned on the Catholic question. The Duke of Portland came into power. To prevent the Danish fleet from being seized by the French, Copenhagen was bombarded and the ships captured.

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in France, and set his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain, sending his brother-in-law, Murat, to Naples. The Spaniards refused obedience, and asked aid from England.

In 1808, Sir Arthur Wellesley brought troops to the aid of Portugal, and defeated the French at Vimiera. A convention was signed at Cintra, causing the French to leave Portugal.

In 1809, the Austrians again took up arms, but were defeated by Napoleon at Eckmuhl. A doubtful battle followed at Aspern, and at Wagram the French gained such a victory that Vienna and all Austria were at his mercy; and Napoleon, divorcing his childless French wife, obtained the Emperor's daughter, Maria Louisa, as his wife.

In 1809, Sir John Moore entered Spain; but the failure of the Spaniards caused him to retreat, and he gained a victory at Corunna to protect his embarkation; he was killed in the battle. Wellesley, however, returned to Portugal, and defeated the French at Talavera.

In 1810, having no other war on hand, he concentrated his forces, under Massena, on the Peninsula, and though they were defeated at Busaco, they forced Wellesley (now Wellington) to confine himself to his entrenchments at Torres Vedras, in Portugal, whence want of supplies obliged the French to retreat, when Wellington, following, routed them at Fuentes d'Onor, and delivered Portugal. The French in southern Spain were likewise beaten at Barossa and at Albuera.

In 1810, the mind of George III., now a very old man, became permanently deranged.

In 1811, Louis Bonaparte, sickened by his brother's harsh rule, resigned Holland, which was united to France.

In 1811, the Prince of Wales was appointed Regent, and continued the same policy in spite of his former bitter opposition.

In 1812, Napoleon collected his forces for a great invasion of Russia. Italians and Germans were forced into his service, and the Grand Army was the largest ever collected. A sharp but doubtful battle was fought at Borodino, on the Moskova, and the French advanced to Moscow. The city was deserted, and a fire breaking out so utterly destroyed it as to deprive the French of all winter quarters. They had to retreat in bitter weather, closely pursued, and suffering some of the greatest miseries ever known in the history of war ere they reached shelter on the Prussian frontier. However, Prussia, Austria, and Sweden all united with Russia against France, to avenge their long sufferings. Terrible, doubtful battles were fought at Lutzen and Bautzen, but at Leipsic Napoleon was entirely defeated.

In 1812, Wellington took Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, and gained the battle of Salamanca, and advanced to Burgos; but thence had again to retreat to Torres Vedras, where he remained during the winter.

In 1812, Perceval was assassinated by a madman, and the prime minister became Lord Liverpool. The search of vessels in pursuance of the continental system irritated the United States, and war was declared.

In 1813, Wellington, advancing, won the battle of Vittoria, took St. Sebastian, gained several victories upon the Pyrenees, and drove the French out of Spain.

In 1813, the Americans attacked Canada, but were repulsed. Naval battles took place to their advantage.

In 1814, all Germany arose against Napoleon, the Prussians, Austrians, and Russians all entered France; but Napoleon still gained battles against each army singly at Montmirail, Champ Aubert, and Montereau, but the numbers overbore him, and after a last stand at Montmartre, all resistance was given up, and the allies entered Paris, while Napoleon repaired to Fontainbleau.

In 1814, Wellington, crossing the Pyrenees, gained two great victories at Orthez and Toulouse.

Napoleon abdicated, and was sent into exile in the island of Elba. A general peace was made, and the allied sovereigns visited England.

LOUIS XVIII. was restored to the throne of France, with a modified constitution, but emanating from king instead of people.

In 1814, an attack was made upon Washington, Baltimore and New Orleans, but without success, and America was included in the pacification.

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In 1815, the representatives of the different powers met at the Congress of Vienna to re-arrange the boundaries of the European states; but in the midst, Napoleon escaped from Elba, put Louis XVIII. to flight, and reinstated himself. All the allies took up arms and were advancing on him. He hoped to fight them in detail, but was totally defeated by Wellington at Waterloo, and pursued by the Prussians. The allied forces again occupied Paris. Napoleon tried to fly; but was forced to surrender to an English vessel, and was kept for the rest of his life a prisoner under English guard at St. Helena.

Louis XVIII. was again restored. He had no children, but his brother, the Count d'Artois, had two sons, the Duke d'Angoulême, and the Duke de Berri. Marshall Ney was executed for his treason in joining Napoleon.

In 1816, Louis XVIII., a clever, selfish man, with the indolence of age, played his part so as to give as little offence as possible to the seething elements of discord in his kingdom, chiefly caring not to be sent into exile again.

In 1816, the high price of corn, which had mounted up in the time of war, led to riots. The Algerine pirates were crushed by Admiral Pellew (Lord Exmouth).

In 1817, Princess Charlotte, heiress to the throne, died.

In 1820, the Duke de Berri was murdered at the opera. He left a posthumous son, Henri, duke of Bordeaux (since called Count of Chambord).

In 1820, George III. died; the Prince Regent succeeded as George IV. There was a plot to assassinate the ministers, but it was discovered, and the chief mover, Thistlewood, and others were executed. The Queen came home, but was refused a share in the coronation on account of her misconduct. A bill was brought forward for her divorce, but was abandoned, though she was not allowed to share in the coronation, and soon after (in 1821) died.

In 1821, Napoleon died in St. Helena.

In 1822, a rising in Spain against the feeble Ferdinand VII. caused the French to send the Duke d'Angoulême with an army to the assistance of royalty, defeated the revolutionists, and took Cadiz, restoring the king to his power.

In 1822, Lord Londonderry (Castlereagh) committed suicide, and Canning returned to the ministry.

In 1824, Louis XVIII. died, leaving the crown to his brother, CHARLES X., a much more narrow-minded and despotic character. He continued to bring measures forward which offended the longing of the people for liberty.

In 1824, a war took place in Burmah, in which Rangoon was taken.

In 1827, he desperately offended the people by attempting to abridge the liberties of the press, dissolving the Chamber of Deputies which objected, and creating 65 peerages.

In 1827, France, England, Austria, and Russia, united to assist the Greeks in their long war of independence against the Turks. A great naval victory over the Egyptian and Turkish fleets was gained at Navarino, and Greece was emancipated.

In 1827, Lord Liverpool resigned, and Canning became prime minister, but died in the course of the year. All this time the Whigs were striving for the removal of disabilities from the Roman Catholics–the Tories opposing.

In 1829, the Prince de Polignac, an old emigrant, became the prime minister. His royalist opinions made him and the king doubly unpopular. Their principle was, that as Louis XVI. had perished by yielding, they would never yield a jot.

In 1829, the Duke of Wellington became prime minister, and Peel Home Secretary, as a Tory government; but the pressure had become so strong that they induced George IV. to sanction Roman Catholic Emancipation, and thenceforth the principle was virtually given up that England should only be governed by members of the Church of England.

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In 1830, Algiers was conquered and made a French province. The Polignac Ministry, thinking the liberty of the press dangerous, suppressed it violently, by royal authority alone. The whole population of Paris rose in a fury, Charles X. and his family fled, and the crown of a nation with a constitutional charter was offered to the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as LOUIS PHILIPPE I., King of the French. Polignac was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment.

Flanders, which had been made into a kingdom, together with Holland, for the House of Orange, revolted. France and England protected it, and it became the kingdom of the Belgians, under Leopold of Saxe Coburg.

In 1830, George IV. died, and his brother, WILLIAM IV. liberally inclined, succeeded, and accepted the resignation of Wellington and Peel. Earl Grey and a Whig Ministry came in.

In 1831, the hereditary peerage was abolished. The Duchess of Berry made an attempt on the part of her son in La Vendée; and on the other hand the more violent republicans in Paris arose against the government on the day of the barricades, but both alike were put down.

In 1831, the Reform Bill, extending the borough franchise to persons renting 10l. houses, and regulating the system, was brought in by ministers. Parliament rejected it and was dissolved. It was carried by the next House of Commons, but rejected by the Lords. The country was in a riotous state, ricks were burnt, and there was dangerous agitation.

In 1832, the cholera raged frightfully in France and England.

In 1832, on the threat of creating Liberal Peers to out-vote the rest, the Lords passed the Reform Bill.

In 1833, slavery was abolished in all the English colonies.

In 1834, Lord Grey retired, and after a short ministry of Lord Melbourne, Peel and Wellington came into office.

In 1837, William IV. died, and VICTORIA, his niece, came to the throne. Hanover passed to the male heir, her uncle, Ernest Augustus.

In 1838, an insurrection in Canada was quelled by Sir John Colborne.

In 1840, Louis Napoleon, son of the ex-king of Holland and nephew to Napoleon I., made a descent on France, but was imprisoned at Boulogne. M. Guizot became minister of foreign affairs.

In 1841, the great Napoleon's remains were brought home from St. Helena and buried at the Hôtel des Invalides with great enthusiasm.

In 1840, the Queen married Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg. Upper and Lower Canada were united. There was a short war with China to compel the authorities to permit trade in opium.

In 1841, the English troops who had occupied Cabul were attacked by the natives, and most disastrously destroyed in the Khyber pass. The Whigs resigned. Sir. R. Peel was at the head of the cabinet.

In 1842, Louis Philippe's eldest son, the Duke of Orleans, was killed by a fall from his carriage.

In 1842, China was brought to a treaty; Generals Nott and Pollock avenged the losses in Cabul.

In 1843, a war was carried on in Algeria with the natives. The Prince de Joinville, Louis Philippe's son, bombarded Tangier. Abdul Kader, a gallant Arab chief, waged a long war against them.

In 1843, the Queen and Prince Albert visited Louis Philippe, and the next year the visit was returned by the King of the French.

In 1843, Sir Charles Napier gained a brilliant course of victories in Scinde.

In 1845, the potato crop universally failed; and Sir Robert Peel saw that the duty on foreign corn (the Corn Laws) could no longer be maintained. A great war; the Sikhs were defeated at Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and Aliwal.

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In 1846, Louis Napoleon escaped from prison and took refuge in England. The crown of Spain had descended to a young girl, Isabel; and Louis Philippe procured that she should be married to her cousin, dull and feeble; her sister to his son the Duke of Montpensier. It was suspected that this was with a view to the crown for the latter, and he became very unpopular. Abdul Kader was captured and imprisoned.

In 1847, the long-growing discontent in France was more and more felt; there was a general mistrust of the king and his minister Guizot.

In 1846, the repeal of the Corn Laws was carried, whereon the Conservatives, thinking Peel had deserted them, combined with the Liberals against him; he resigned, and Lord John Russell was at the head of affairs.

In 1848, the Parisians rose in rebellion. Louis Philippe shrank from calling in the soldiery, and fled with his family to England, while a Republic was proclaimed and a National Assembly elected, of which Louis Napoleon was a member.

The more violent democratic party, called the Red Republicans, again rose and barricaded Paris. Archbishop Affre was shot while trying to pacify them. The National Guard, backed by the soldiers under Cavaignac, put them down, and before the end of the year, Louis Napoleon was elected president of the French republic.

In 1848, an English mob made an attempt at demanding a free charter, but the precautions of Government made it harmless.

The Irish attempted to rebel, but were easily put down.

In 1849, Rome having followed the universal continental example of rebellion, expelled the Pope, Pius IX., but he was brought back by French intervention, and has been supported ever since in his temporal power by a French force.

In 1849, the Sikhs were defeated at Goojerat, and the Punjab annexed.

In 1850, Sir Robert Peel was killed by a fall from his horse.

In 1851, Louis Napoleon finding himself resisted by the generals, performed a coup d'êtat, had them arrested, and profiting by the attachment of France to the name of Napoleon, obtained that he should be president for ten years.

In 1851, the International Exhibition in Hyde Park was opened.

In 1852, he was elected Emperor of the French as NAPOLEON III.

In 1852, the Whig Ministry resigned, and Lord Derby and Disraeli came into power on Conservative principles, but had to resign at the end of the year to the Aberdeen Ministry. This year the Duke of Wellington died, and was buried with unexampled honours.

In 1854, anxieties as to the encroachments of Russia on the Turks led France and England to unite for the protection of Turkey. An expedition of their two armies was sent to the Crimea, where the battles of the Alma, Balaklava, and Inkerman were jointly gained, and Sebastopol besieged for a year, until the Russian garrison evacuated it, whereupon peace was made.

In 1855, Lord Aberdeen resigned; Lord Palmerston became premier.

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In 1857, a frightful mutiny broke out in the army in India; officers and their families were murdered by wholesale at Delhi, Cawnpore and other places. Delhi closed its gates against the British troops. The English were besieged in Lucknow, and there was a frightful war and slaughter, till the rebellion was trampled out and the government transferred from the East India Company to the Crown. Lord Palmerston resigned and Lord Derby came into power again.

In 1859, on fresh demands for the extension of the suffrage, the Derby Ministry resigned and Lord Palmerston came in.

In 1860, a fierce civil war broke out between the Northern and Southern American States.

In 1860, another Chinese war was concluded by a treaty of commerce.

In 1861, Prince Albert died, exceedingly lamented. The American civil war, by preventing supplies of cotton, caused terrible distress in Lancashire.

In 1863, the French endeavoured to establish a regular form of government in Mexico, placing the Archduke Maximilian of Austria at the head as Emperor, and supporting him with their troops. The Northern party in the United States refused to acknowledge Maximilian. Napoleon was forced to withdraw his troops, and in 1867 Maximilian was seized by the insurgents and shot.

In 1864, the Northern States obtained the victory.

In 1868, they resigned, and Mr. Gladstone became prime minister. Meantime, the detention of some English by the King of Abyssinia led to an expedition by Lord Napier, in which he obtained a complete success. Magdala, the capital, was taken; the king committed suicide.

In 1869, Isabel II. of Spain was expelled from her throne, and took refuge in France.

In 1869, the Irish Church was disestablished.

In 1870, Napoleon III., feeling himself unpopular, tried calling in a liberal ministry, and then requested the nation to decide by plébiscite, or universal vote, on the continuance of the succession to his son. The majority was not as great as he expected, and there were signs of disaffection, desire of change, and longing for war. Negotiations were being made with Prussia, by which France hoped to absorb Belgium, allowing Prussia to obtain Luxemburg; but these failed. At the same time the Spaniards elected Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Siegmarigen, a relation of the King of Prussia, to their throne. Francis protested against it, and demanded a guarantee that he should never accept it. He had already declined it, but the guarantee was refused by Prussia, on which the French declared war, and the Emperor himself led an army across the frontier near Metz. The Prussians assembled their whole force, totally defeated the French at Weissemburg, Gravelottes, and Sedan, in the last place making the Emperor prisoner.

Paris proclaimed a Republic, and the Second Empire fell.

THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE.
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HEARTSEASE:
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THE DAISY CHAIN.
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THE TRIAL:
MORE LINKS OF THE DAISY CHAIN. Fifth Edition, with Coloured Frontispiece and other Illustrations. Crown 8vo. cloth, 6s.

THE CHAPLET OF PEARLS:
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THE DOVE IN THE EAGLE'S NEST.
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DYNEVOR TERRACE.
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HOPES AND FEARS.
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THE YOUNG STEPMOTHER.
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THE CLEVER WOMAN OF THE FAMILY.
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DANVERS PAPERS.
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THE CAGED LION.
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THE LANCES OF LYNWOOD.
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THE LITTLE DUKE.
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THE PRINCE AND THE PAGE.
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CAMEOS FROM ENGLISH HISTORY.
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A BOOK OF GOLDEN DEEDS.
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A BOOK OF WORTHIES.
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THE PUPILS OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE.