by an atrocious massacre of the unfortunate race, which commenced in London (1189), and was renewed at many other towns, and more especially at York (1190).

Richard having resolved to take part in the third crusade, adopted all possible expedients to raise money for the enterprise. The suzerainty of Scotland was resigned for 10,000 marks, and many important offices were sold to the highest bidders. He joined Philip Augustus of France at Vezelay, where the aggregate army amounted to more than 100,000 men (1190). Thence he proceeded to Messina, in Sicily, where he quarrelled with Tancred, the sovereign, but afterwards terminated the hostilities by a peace. On his voyage towards Palestine part of his vessels were wrecked at Cyprus; and as Isaac, the emperor of the island, had seized and plundered some of the ships, he dethroned the tyrant and bound him with silver chains.

Having arrived in Palestine, the siege of Acre was prosecuted with great vigour, and the town soon surrendered (July, 1191). But Philip, being apparently dissatisfied with the greater renown which Richard had achieved, determined on returning to France, and left 10,000 of his troops under the command of his vassal, the Duke of Burgundy. During Richard's stay in the Holy Land he defeated the Saracens, led by their illustrious leader, Saladin, and advanced towards Jerusalem; but unfavourable weather and the sickness of his soldiers convinced him that he could not hope to conquer the city, and he abandoned the enterprise. As intelligence had reached him that his brother, John, and Philip were in league to dethrone him, he resolved on an immediate return to Europe. The vessel in which he himself sailed was driven on the Dalmatian coast, and he landed at Zara disguised as a pilgrim (1192). He was, however, recognised on his journey, near Vienna, and delivered into the hands of his bitter enemy, Leopold, Duke of Austria, who afterwards surrendered him to Henry VI, the Emperor of Germany. By him he was confined

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in a castle in the Tyrol; but the place of his imprisonment becoming known, and indignation being aroused at the deten tion of so celebrated a crusader, Henry brought him before a diet at Hagenau, to answer certain charges alleged against him. Of these he cleared himself; but a large sum was nevertheless demanded for his ransom, which was raised by means of heavy exactions on the English. He, at last, landed at Sandwich, March, 1194.

William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, had been appointed by the king guardian of the realm during his absence; but, by the influence and intrigues of Prince John, he was driven from his office, and retired to France (1191). John, who thus became practically head of the government, entered, as just said, into treasonable communications with Philip; and these princes, when they heard of Richard's capture, promised large bribes to the emperor to continue his imprisonment. On Richard's return he pardoned his brother (who pretended that he repented of his treachery) and made war upon Philip, which proved to be at once sanguinary and desultory. The most important battle of the five years' contest was fought at GISORS in 1198, where the French sovereign was in imminent peril.

In 1196 there was a serious rising in London, caused by William Fitz-Osbert, who had inflamed the popular discontent against the wealthy citizens of the metropolis, because they laid the burden of taxation chiefly upon the poor. The tumult was suppressed by Archbishop Hubert, and Fitz-Osbert was executed.

Richard established uniformity of weights and measures throughout the country, and mitigated the harshness of the law relative to wrecks. His predecessor had enacted that if only an animal escaped from the vessel, by means of which the owner could be ascertained, three months should be allowed in which to claim the property; by Richard's law that privilege was extended in case of the owner's death to his children, or,

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failing them, to his brothers and sisters. London obtained a new charter in 1189, by which the citizens were to be governed by a mayor instead of a portreeve. The first mayor was Henry Fitz-Alwin, who held the office for more than twenty-four years. It was at this period that the famous outlaw Robin Hood, and his lieutenant Little John, are said to have lived. Their usual retreat was Sherwood Forest, which then stretched from Nottingham to the centre of Yorkshire. According to tradition they robbed only the rich, and distributed their superfluous booty among the poor.

Death.-Richard was mortally wounded by an arrow while laying siege to the castle of Chaluz, a few miles from Limoges. He died eleven days after (April, 1189). The French historian, Sismondi, truly says of him that he was a bad son, a bad brother, a bad husband, and a bad king.

JOHN (LACKLAND).

Reigned from 1199 to 1216.

Birth.-John was born at Oxford, December 24, 1166. Descent.—He was brother of the late king, and youngest son of Henry II.

Marriage. His first wife was his cousin Hadwisa (granddaughter of Robert, Earl of Gloucester), whom he divorced; his second was Isabella, daughter of the Count of Angoulême.

Children.-Henry, who succeeded him; Richard, Earl of Cornwall, elected King of the Romans; Joan, who married Alexander II of Scotland; Eleanor, who first married William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, and on his death Simon de Montfort; and Isabella, who married the Emperor Frederick II.

Important Events.-John was readily recognised in England, Normandy, and Aquitaine; but the people of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine, preferred the claims of Arthur, the son of Geoffrey, an elder and deceased brother of the king. Philip espoused the cause of the young prince, and attacked Normandy; but

after a short war peace was agreed to, and Arthur did homage to his uncle for the duchy of Brittany.

The precipitate marriage of the king with Isabella, who was already betrothed to the Count de la Marche, led that nobleman to supplicate the assistance of Philip against his rival, who was now ordered by his suzerain to give up all his continental possessions, except Aquitaine, to Arthur. On his refusal the youthful duke besieged Eleanor, who energetically supported the interests of John, in her castle of Mirabeau, in Poitou; but her son hastened to her relief, and a battle being fought (1202), Arthur and his sister Eleanor fell into the hands of their uncle, who is said to have put Arthur to death (1203). Eleanor, the Maid of Brittany, was brought to England, and remained in confinement at Bristol till her decease in 1241. Philip, as John's feudal lord, summoned him to appear at his court, to answer for the death of Arthur; and, as he refused to do so, he was adjudged to have forfeited the possessions which he held by homage in France. In the course of two or three years Philip obtained forcible possession of all his vassals' continental lands except Guienne.

In 1205 Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, died; and the pope, Innocent III, taking advantage of a dispute between the monks of St. Augustine's abbey and the king, relative to the election of a successor, declined to recognise John, Bishop of Norwich, the nominee of the sovereign, and induced the monks to choose Stephen Langton (1207). This papal usurpation so irritated the king that he banished the monks and appropriated their revenues. In the following year the pope placed the country under an interdict; in 1209 he excommunicated the king; and in 1212 he declared him deposed, and offered the crown to Philip, who accordingly prepared to invade England. John's fleet, however, suddenly destroyed the French vessels collected at Fécamp, and inflicted other damage; and Pandulf, the papal legate, having persuaded the king (who was suspicious of the fidelity of his subjects) to surrender his realm to

the pope, and to hold it of him as a vassal, Philip was ordered to abandon his enterprise (1213). As he continued his prepara tions, John sailed over to Rochelle, and gained some successes; but an Anglo-Flemish army was completely overthrown by Philip at BOUVINES, a village between Lisle and Tournay, (1214), and the English monarch found it necessary to sue for peace.

Almost immediately after, the barons, headed by Stephen Langton, the archbishop, resolved to obtain from the king (who was obnoxious to them on account of his oppression, profligacy, and cruelty) a redress of grievances; and as he was deserted by nearly all his nobles, he agreed, though reluctantly, to sign, at Runnymede, the famous Magna Charta. Among the provisions of this most invaluable basis of English freedom were the following:-That no aids nor subsidies should be levied from the subjects, unless in a few special cases, without the consent of the great council; that all the privileges granted by the king to his vassals should be communicated by them to their inferior vassals; that one weight and one measure should be used throughout the country; that all men should pass from, and return to, the kingdom at their pleasure; that all cities and boroughs should preserve their ancient liberties; that the Court of Common Pleas should be stationary; that freemen should be fined only in proportion to their offences, and not to their utter ruin; and that no free person should be tried or punished, except by the judgment of his peers and the laws of the land.

The faithless monarch obtained from the pope a bull annulling the charter; and, having secured the services of a body of foreign mercenaries, he engaged in hostilities with his barons, who, fearing his vengeance, offered the kingdom to Louis (the eldest son of Philip), who landed at Sandwich in the summer of 1216. In a short time the south-eastern districts, as well as the metropolis, were in his possession; but he injured his cause by the promotion of his countrymen, as some of the barons,