Charles Dickens

Name: A Child's History of England — Chapter 17
Author: Charles Dickens

A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (1900)

Summary

“A Child's History of England — Chapter 17”, published in 1900, is a work by Charles Dickens. It explores elements such as Gaveston, Bruce and Barons.

Quotes from A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (Charles Dickens)

Charles Dickens, A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (1900)

“ The time was come when Piers Gaveston was to feel the black dog's teeth indeed. They set him on a mule, and carried him, in mock state and with military music, to the black dog's kennel—Warwick Castle—where a hasty council, composed of some great noblemen, considered what should be done with him. Some were for sparing him, but one loud voice—it was the black dog's bark, I dare say—sounded through the Castle Hall uttering these words: "You have the fox in your power. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Charles Dickens, A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (1900)

“ While they were thus hard pressed and amazed, there appeared upon the hills what they supposed to be a new Scottish army, but what was really only the camp-followers, in number fifteen thousand : whom Bruce had taught to show themselves at that place and time. The Earl of Gloucester, commanding the English horse, made a last rush to change the fortune of the day; but Bruce (like Jack the Giant-killer in the story) had had pits dug in the ground, and covered over with turfs and stakes. Into these, as they gave way beneath the weight of the horses, riders and horses rolled by hundreds. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Charles Dickens, A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (1900)

“ The fortunes of Scotland were, for the time, completely changed; and never was a battle won, more famous upon Scottish ground, than this great battle of Bannockburn.
Plague and famine succeeded in England; and still the powerful King and his disdainful Lords were always in contention. Some of the turbulent chiefs of Ireland made proposals to Bruce, to accept the rule of that country. He sent his brother Edward to them, who was crowned King of Ireland. He afterwards went himself to help his brother in his Irish wars, but his brother was defeated in the end and killed. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Charles Dickens, A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (1900)

“ Now, this same Gaveston was handsome enough, but was a reckless, insolent, audacious fellow. He was detested by the proud English Lords: not only because he had such power over the King and made the Court such a dissipated place, but also, because he could ride better than they at tournaments, and was used, in his impudence, to cut very bad jokes on them; calling one, the old hog; another, the stage-player; another, the Jew; another, the black dog of Ardenne. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Charles Dickens, A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (1900)

“ Robert Bruce, returning to Scotland, still increased his strength there.
As the King's ruin had begun in a favorite, so it seemed likely to end in one. He was too poor a creature to rely at all upon himself; and his new favorite was one Hugh Le Despenser, the son of a gentleman of an ancient family. Hugh was handsome and brave, but he was the favorite of a weak King, whom no man cared a rush for, and that was a dangerous place to hold. The Nobles leagued against him, because the King liked him; and they lay in wait both for his ruin and his father's. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Charles Dickens, A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (1900)

“ Led by the Earl of Lancaster, the King's cousin, they first of all attacked the King and Gaveston at Newcastle. They had time to escape by sea, and the mean King, having his precious Gaveston with him, was quite content to leave his lovely wife behind. When they were comparatively safe, they separated; the king went to York to collect a force of soldiers; and the favorite shut himself up, in the mean time, in Scarborough Castle overlooking the sea. This was what the Barons wanted. They knew that the Castle could not hold out; they attacked it and made Gaveston surrender. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Charles Dickens, A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (1900)

“ The people, who called nothing for the King, were very angry that their beautiful Queen should be thus rudely treated in her own dominions; and the King, taking advantage of this feeling, besieged the castle, took it, and then called the two Despensers home. Upon this, the confederate lords and the Welshmen went over to Bruce. The King encountered them at Boroughbridge, gained the victory, and took a number of distinguished prisoners; among them, the Earl of Lancaster, now an old man, upon whose destruction he was resolved. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Charles Dickens, A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (1900)

“ He summoned a Parliament at York; the Barons refused to make one, while the favorite was near him. He summoned another Parliament at Westminster, and sent Gaveston away. Then the Barons came, completely armed, and appointed a committee of themselves, to correct abuses in the state and in the King's household. He got some money on these conditions, and directly set off with Gaveston to the Border-country, where they spent it in idling away the time, and feasting, while Bruce made ready to drive the English out of Scotland. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Charles Dickens, A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (1900)

“ He was hanged, torn open while he was yet alive, cut up into pieces, and thrown to the dogs. His son was soon taken, tried at Hereford before the same judge on a long series of foolish charges, found guilty, and hanged upon a gallows fifty feet high, with a chaplet of nettles round his head. ”

Charles Dickens

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Quotes from A Child's History of England — Chapter 17 (Charles Dickens)

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