William Hunt

“ He had been taught that the royal authority could be best asserted by disregarding ties of connection, and breaking up parties, and that a king should choose his ministers without yielding to the dictates of a faction. He had seen in the success of Pitt the triumph of a statesman who disregarded party connection. ”

“ Olaf is sufficient reason for the unfavourable light in which he is represented by northern writers. From the more trustworthy songs of his contemporaries comes a picture of the king as a mighty ruler, wise, politic, and crafty, a lover of minstrelsy and a patron of poets. They exhibit a man endowed with a remarkable power of judging the characters of others, and of using them to forward his own interests. His craftiness is abundantly proved by his intrigues in Norway, and the natural cruelty and violence of his temper surely need no special proofs. ”

“ Wales had long been a source of trouble to England, and her princes took advantage of every embarrassment that befell the English crown to add to its difficulties. As long as the country preserved its native laws and system of government it was impossible to reduce it to anything more than a state of nominal dependence, or to put an end to its power to do mischief. Moreover, as long as it remained virtually unconquered, the position of the lords marchers was almost that of petty sovereigns, and greatly weakened the authority of the crown. ”

“ Before the battle began the prince prayed aloud to God that as he had come that day to uphold the right and reinstate a disinherited king, God would grant him success. Then, after telling Peter that he should know that day whether he should have his kingdom or not, he cried: 'Advance, banner, in the name of God and St. George; and God defend our right.' The knights of Castile pressed his van sorely, but the wings of Henry's army behaved ill, and would not move, so that the Gascon lords were able to attack the main body on the flanks. ”

“ The ‘Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’ is silent as to some of these evil deeds, while it speaks plainly of others, and even in reading the chronicle some allowance should perhaps be made for the readiness with which men of a defeated and conquered people set down their disasters to the treachery of one or more of their leaders. In one case at least Eadric has been accused unjustly, in others his guilt may fairly be questioned, the evidence is insufficient or contradictory, or the crime attributed to him is in itself unlikely, but even so enough will remain to prove that he was false and unscrupulous. ”

“ Godwine's fall ‘seemed wonderful to every man that was in England,’ his power had been so great, his sons were ‘earls and the king's darlings,’ and his daughter the king's wife. Before long men sent him messages, and some went over to him in person, assuring him that if he would come back they would fight for him, and people said that it would be better to be with him in exile than to be in England without him. ”

“ The deaths of Henry and Count Geoffrey in 1060 secured William from further attacks, for Henry's successor, Philip I, was young, and his guardian was the Count of Flanders, William's father-in-law, while the new Count of Anjou, Geoffrey the Bearded, was far less powerful than his uncle had been. William had made himself feared or respected by foreign powers, and was absolute master in his duchy both in things ecclesiastical and civil. He banished several lords whom he suspected of disaffection, not always justly, for he sometimes acted on false and malicious accusations. ”

“ The churches of those parts of the continent that were near England held him in reverence, and he corresponded with Fleury and the great monasteries of Flanders. Although he was no longer engaged in affairs of state, he had much business to transact. As a judge he was quick to discern the truth; he loved to compose quarrels and to befriend the weak and needy, and he ever continued to uphold the laws of marriage and to strengthen the church. As a teacher he was unwearied, so that the whole of England is said to have been filled with his light. ”

“ George had gained a signal success, for he had found in North a minister of considerable sagacity, courage, and parliamentary tact. His scheme of government was fully realised; parties were broken up; the ‘power of the crown, almost dead and rotten as prerogative, [had] grown up anew, with more strength and far less odium under the name of influence’ (Burke) . George had succeeded in setting up a system of personal rule through a minister who commanded a large majority in parliament, and consented to shape his policy in accordance with commands given him in the closet. ”

“ No other Englishman appears to have been so beloved by Eadward as Tostig, the brother of Harold. This stern and violent man gained great influence over the weak king, who in spite of his saintliness was spiteful and cruel when any one offended him, and must therefore have been glad to find a counsellor and companion as unscrupulous as he was himself when his passion was roused, and of a far stronger will than his own. ”

“ Salisbury was a wise and valiant man, not, indeed, to be ranked with patriotic statesmen, such as William the earl-marshal and Hubert de Burgh, but far superior to most of the nobles of his day, and sincerely attached to the interests of the royal house from which he came, faithful as long as it was possible to his brother John, and a good servant to his young nephew Henry. ”

“ Henry of Lancaster was esteemed throughout Western Europe as a perfect knight; he was brave, courteous, charitable, just, and at once magnificent and personally temperate in his habits. He had a thorough knowledge of public affairs, was a wise counsellor, and was loved and trusted by Edward III beyond any other of his lords. ”

“ Although the murder of Oswin is a blot on Oswy's memory, he appears to have been a religious man, sincerely anxious for the spread of Christianity. He had to contend with many difficulties, and overcame them triumphantly. Northumbria, which at his accession seemed to lie at the mercy of its great enemy, Penda of Mercia, was raised by him to a position of supremacy equal to that which it had held under Eadwine. Besides the overthrow of Penda and the increase of Oswy's power consequent upon his victory, his reign presents three characteristics of special importance. ”

“ ETHELRED or ÆTHELRED (d. 889) , archbishop of Canterbury, a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, is said to have been bishop of Wiltshire when Æthelred and Ælfred appointed him to the archbishopric in 870 ”

“ OLIVER of Malmesbury otherwise known as Eilmer, Elmer, or Æthelmær (fl. 1066) , astrologer and mechanician, a monk of Malmesbury, is said by William of Malmesbury, who calls him Eilmer, a latinised form of the English name Æthelmaer, to have been a man of learning. In his youth he attempted to follow the example of Dædalus, fitted wings on to his hands and feet, ascended a tower to get the help of the wind, threw himself off, and is said to have flown a furlong or more. Becoming frightened at the strength of the wind, he fell and broke his legs, and thenceforward was lame. ”

“ He embarked at Bristol, and sailed round the Welsh coast, landed and met his brother Tostig, earl of Northumberland, who had been ordered by the king to join him with a force partly at least composed of cavalry. Taught by experience, Harold organised his army so as to render it fit for the special character of the war. He caused his infantry to lay aside their heavy arms, and to change their usual tactics of fighting in a close square, and made them wear leathern breast-pieces, fight with the javelin and sword, and live on the food of the country. ”

“ Herlwin, the founder and abbot, gladly received him as a member of the convent, and found his knowled of affairs very useful. Lanfranc applied himself to the study of the Ignorant as the abbot was of wordly learning, for he had passed his life as a warrior, Lanfranc listen with admiration to his expositions of the Bible, and obeyed him and the prior implicitly in all things. Being dissatisfied with the character of his fellow-monks, and knowing of that some of them envied him, for the abbot treated him with respect and affection, he formed the design of becoming a hermit. ”

“ The three bishops besought the king to avoid an interdict, but he swore 'by God's teeth,' for that and 'God's feet' were his usual forms of oath, that if any one published the interdict he would send all the prelates, clerks, and monks in England off to the pope, and would seize their goods, and that if he caught a Roman in his kingdom he would tear out his eyes and cut off his nose. ”

“ When Richard was about to leave Normandy and go on his crusade he caused John to swear at the council which he held in March that he would not enter England for the next three years without his leave, but the queen-mother persuaded the king to release him from this oath. This was a mistake, for Richard had made him so powerful that his presence in England was dangerous to the peace of the kingdom when the king was not there to overawe him. ”

“ On the 30th the king was startled by the appearance before him of the barons in armour, their swords, however, being left at the door of Westminster Hall. ‘What is it, my lords?’ he cried; ‘am I your prisoner?’ That Roger Bigod denied, but said that the aliens must be banished, and that the king and his son must swear that he would be guided by a council of twenty-four elected magnates which should enforce reforms. Henry agreed, and on 11 June met the barons at Oxford. They came with their men armed as for war, for they had been summoned for an expedition into Wales. ”

“ Later in the year the ‘great fleet’ came back again from Denmark, and the ravages began again. Æthelred made another attempt to withstand the invaders, and called out the levies of Wessex and Mercia. All harvest-time they were under arms, but no good came of it; the Danes marched, plundered, and destroyed as they would, and then retired to their ‘frith-stool,’ the Isle of Wight. About midwinter they began their work of destruction afresh, and Æthelred held a meeting of the witan to consult how the land might be saved from utter ruin. ”

“ The energies of the nation had too long been wasted in war. In common with his king, Eadgar ‘the Peaceful,’ Dunstan laboured for peace, and, excellent craftsman that he was, he longed to see the people learn the arts of peace. ”

“ He knew that while Robert remained lord of so many strong fortresses, and held an almost independent position in the Severn country, where he could easily find Welsh allies, it was hopeless to attempt to carry out his design of enforcing order and of humbling the great feudatories. His war with the earl [for particulars see Bellême, Robert of] was the principal crisis in his reign. Not only did Robert's wealth and dominions make him a dangerous foe, but the chief men in Henry's army also sympathised with him. Henry depended on the loyalty of men of lower degree. ”

“ On 5 March 1762, less than three weeks after her sister had married the Duke of Hamilton, Maria married George William, sixth earl of Coventry. In the summer she went to France, but the Parisians laughed at her silliness, her want of breeding, and her ignorance of French, and would scarcely allow that she was beautiful. Her tour was not altogether a happy one, for her husband appears to have been jealous and petulant, and they had several squabbles. On her return she was universally considered the most beautiful woman of the court. ”