Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/583

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HENRY 501 HENRY daughter of Malcolm III. of Scotland, thus conciliating in turn the people, the Church, and the Scots. Robert landed an army, but was pacified with a pension, and the promise of succession in event of his brother's decease. Soon after, however, Henry invaded Normandy, took Robert prisoner in 1106, and reduced the duchy. He was successful also in the struggle with France. The last years of his reign were very troubled. In 1120 his only son William was drowned in returning from Normandy, where, three years later, a revolt oc- curred in favor of Robert's son. The Welsh also were a source of disturbance, Henry appointed as his heir his daugh- ter Matilda or Maud, whom he had married first to the Emperor Henry V., and then to Geoffrey Plantagenet of An- jou. Henry died at Rouen in 1135, and was succeeded by Stephen. Henry II., first of the Plantagenet line, horn in Normandy in 1133, son of Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, and Matilda, daughter of Henry I. He was invested with the Duchy of Normandy, by the consent of his mother, in 1150; in 1151 he succeeded to Anjou and Maine, and by a marriage with Eleanor of Guienne gained Guienne and Poitou. In 1152 he invaded England, but a compromise was effected, by which Stephen was to retain the crown and Henry to succeed at his death, which took place in 1154. The commencement of his reign was marked by the dismissal of the foreign merce- naries; and though involved with his brother, Godfrey, who attempted to seize Anjou and Maine, and in a temporary dispute with France, he reigned prosper- ously till the contest with Thomas Becket regarding the Constitutions of Clarendon. Though sufficiently submissive after Becket's death in the way of penance and expiation, Henry only gave up the article in the Constitutions of Clarendon which forbade appeals to the court of Rome in ecclesiastical cases. Before this matter was terminated, Henry, in 1171, com- pleted the conquest of Ireland, a great part of which had been reduced by Rich- ard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, com- monly known as Strongbow. Henry's last years were embittered by his sons, to whom he had assigned vai'ious terri- tories. The eldest son, Henry, who had been not only declared heir to England, Normandy, Anjou, Maine and Touraine, but actually crowned in his father's life- time, was induced by the French mon- arch to demand of his father the imme- diate resignation either of the kingdom of England or of the dukedom of Nor- mandy. Queen Eleanor excited her other sons, Richard and Geoffrey, to make sim- ilar claims; Louis and William of Scot- land gave them support; and a general invasion of Henry's dominions was be- gTin in 1173 by an attack on the fron- tiers of Normandy, and an invasion of England by the Scots, attended by con- siderable disturbance in England. Con- ciliating the Church by his penance, Henry took prompt action; William of Scotland was captured, and an accommo- dation arrived at with Henry's sons. These, however, once more became tur- bulent, and though the deaths of Henry and Geoffrey reduced the numbers of centers of disturbance, the king was forced to accept humiliating terms from Richard and Philip of France. He died shortly after at Chinon in 1189. He ranks among the greatest English kings both in soldiership and statecraft. Henry III., eldest son of King John and Isabella of Angouleme; born in Win- chester, in 1207. He succeeded his father in 1216. The regency was intrusted to William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, who, in 1217, defeated the French army at Lincoln, and compelled the dauphin Louis to retire to France. On Pem- broke's death, in May, 1219, Hubert de Burgh and Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, became regents; but mutual jealousies and dissensions disturbed their administration and weakened their power. Henry was crowned a second time, in 1220, and two years later was declared of age, but his feebleness of character unfitted him to rule, and the real power remained with his ministers. His fondness for foreign counsellors, his unsuccessful wars with France, and his attempts to govern without parliaments, excited much ill-humor in the nation. This was increased by the heavy impo- sitions on his subjects, made necessary by his acceptance of the crown of Sicily for his son Edmund. At length, in 1258, he was virtually deposed by the "Mad Par- liament," which assembled at Oxford, and a council of state was formed under the presidency of Simon de Montfort. The popular leaders quarreled among themselves, while the king was a prisoner in their hands. But in 1262 civil war be- gan, the king being compelled to employ foreign mercenaries. In 1264 the battle of Lewes was fought, at which the king. Prince Edward, Earl Richard, king of the Romans, and his son Henry, were made prisoners by the barons. Soon after, De Montford, now virtually sover- eign, summoned a Parliament, which met in January, 1265, and was the first to which knights of the shires and repre- sentatives of cities and boroughs were called; thus constituting the first House of Commons. In August of that year