Complete Novels of E Nesbit

by Edith Nesbit

  Edward II. was never loved by his subjects. He made favourites of silly and wicked persons, and so gave much offence to good folk. He was wasteful and extravagant, and did not even try to govern the country wisely and well, while his favourites made themselves hated more and more by their dishonesty and wickedness. The last of his favourites was named Despenser, and he was as much hated by the Queen Isabella as by the lords and people of England. Despenser not only made himself hated by the queen, but he managed also to make her dislike her husband, the king, with whom she had long been on unfriendly terms. At last Isabella, disgusted with her husband and his favourite, ran away to France, and there, with the help of the Count of Hainault and other friends in England, she raised an army and attacked and defeated her husband and his favourite. The young Despenser was hanged on a gibbet fifty feet high, and a Parliament was called to decide what should be done with the king.

  The Parliament declared its right to make or unmake kings, and ordered that Edward should not be king any more. Some members went to Edward at Kenilworth to tell him what they had decided, and Edward clad in a plain black gown, received them and quietly promised to be king no more. Then he was taken to Berkeley Castle, and a few months after the people learned that he was dead.

  There has always been much doubt whether he died a natural death or was murdered. The Bishop of Hereford, who had always been on the queen’s side, is said to have sent to two wicked men the following message written in Latin—”Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est.” Now this message had two meanings according to the way the stops were put in. The first was—”Be unwilling to fear to kill Edward — it is good.” The other was—”Be unwilling to kill Edward — it is good to fear.”

  So you see that, if this message fell into anyone’s hands for whom it was not intended, the bishop would have been able to say he meant to warn people not to kill the king, while Gurney and Maltravers, who received the message, could say that the paper was an order to kill him. The story goes, that they came to the castle and there found the poor king in a dungeon. He was standing in mire and puddle, and, although he was a king, they gave him only bread and water. Then he thought of his former greatness and how brave and gallant a show he had made as a knight, and he cried out —

  “Tell Isabel, the queen, I looked not thus

  When for her sake I ran at tilt in France

  And there unhorsed the Duke of Cleremont.”

  a.d. 1327.

  He was too weak to resist these wicked men, and they had no mercy in their hearts, but murdered him.

  HENRY VI., THE BABY KING. (See page 47.)

  EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE

  a.d. 1340.

  THE name of Edward the Black Prince will always be remembered with love and admiration by all young Englishmen, because he was by all accounts a very brave, gallant, and courteous prince, feared by his foes and by his friends beloved. His father, Edward the Third, had not given up his hopes of regaining his lost possessions in France, so he spent two long years in getting together money and ships and an army. He fought the French fleet near Sluys. Both sides fought fiercely, and at last the English won. The French had thought that they were quite sure to get the best of it, and they were afraid to tell the King of France how the English had beaten them, for hundreds of the French had been either killed or been forced to jump into the sea to escape the swords of the English.

  Now, at this time every king kept a jester to make jokes and amuse him and his friends at their feasts, and the jester was a privileged person, who could say anything he liked. So now they told the jester of the King of France that he must tell the king the bad news, because he could say what he liked and no one would punish him for it. So the jester said —

  “Oh! what dastardly cowards the English are!”

  “How so?” said the king, who expected to hear that the cowardly English had been driven away by his men.

  “Because,” answered the jester, “they have not jumped into the sea as our brave men had to do.”

  So then the king asked him what he meant, and then the courtiers came forward and told the sad story of the English victory.

  Then Edward besieged a town called Tournay, but he had not enough money to get provisions for his men, so he had to make friends with the king of France for a little while and go back to England.

  Six years later he pawned his crown and his queen’s jewels, and at last got together enough money to go and fight with the French again. He landed at La Hogue, and as he landed he fell so violently that his nose began to bleed.

  “Oh, this is a bad sign,” said his courtiers, “that your first step on French soil should be a fall.”

  “Not so,” said the king. “It is a good sign. It shows that the land desires me: so she takes me close to her.”

  He had thirty-two thousand men with him, and his son, the Black Prince. Some say he was called the Black Prince because he wore black armour, but others say it was because he made himself as great a terror to the French as a black night is to foolish children.

  Edward marched towards the French and the French marched to meet him, and as they marched they broke down all the bridges, so that the English could not advance by them. But Edward had made up his mind to get across the river Seine and fight with his enemies; and he was no more to be stopped by the water than a dog would have been who wanted to get over to the other side to fight another dog. He got a poor man to show him a place where the river was shallow at low tide, and there he plunged into the river, crying, “Let him who loves me follow me,” and the whole army followed and got safely to the other side.

  Edward arranged his soldiers well, and went himself to the top of a little hill where there was a windmill. From this he could see everything that went on. The French had a far larger army than the English, and when they came in sight of Edward’s army and saw how well placed it was, the wiser Frenchmen said, “Do not let us fight them to-day, for our men and horses are tired. Let us wait for to-morrow and then we can drive them back.” So the foremost of the French army turned back, but those behind were discontented and thought the fighting had begun and that they had not had a chance. So they pushed forward till the whole French army was close to the English.

  a.d. 1346.

  King Edward had made all his soldiers sit on the grass and eat and drink. Mounted on his horse he rode among them telling them to be brave, for that they were now going to win a glorious victory and cover themselves with eternal glory. At three in the afternoon the first French soldiers came face to face with the Englishmen, and the battle began. Some soldiers from Genoa who had been paid to fight for the French king, said they did not want to fight, they were too tired and could not fight as good soldiers should, but the men behind pressed them on and they were beaten. A heavy rain fell, with thunder, and a great flight of crows hovered in the air over all the battalions, making a loud noise. Shortly afterwards it cleared up and the sun shone very bright. But the French had it in their faces and the English at their backs.

  When the Genoese drew near, they approached the English with a loud noise to frighten them; but the English remained quite quiet, and did not seem to attend to it. They then set up a second shout and advanced a little forward. The English never moved. Still they hooted a third time, and advanced with their crossbows presented and began to shoot. The English archers then moved a step forward and shot their arrows with such force and quickness that it seemed as if it snowed. The fight raged furiously, and presently a knight came galloping up to the windmill and begged the king to send help to his son, the Black Prince, as he was sore pressed.

  “Is my son in danger of his life?” said the king.

  “No, thank God,” returned the knight, “but in great need of your help.”

  Then the king answered: “Return to them that sent you and say that I command them to let the boy win his spurs, for I am determined that, if it please God, all the glory of this day shall be given to him and to those to whose care I have entrusted hi
m.”

  This message cheered the Prince mightily, and he and the English won the battle of Creçy.

  And the battle of Creçy, one of the most glorious in English History, was won by the common people of England, yeomen and archers, foot soldiers against the knights and squires of France with their swords and horses.

  In this battle the blind king of Bohemia took part with the French.

  “I pray you,” he said to his friends, “lead me into the battle that I may strike one more stroke with this good sword of mine.”

  So they led him in and he was killed.

  a.d. 1356.

  The battle of Poictiers was fought entirely under the direction of the Black Prince, and this was another splendid victory to England; and in this battle the French king was taken. The king was brought to the Black Prince as he was resting in his tent, and he behaved like the true gentleman he was. He showed the deepest respect and sympathy for his vanquished foe. He ordered the best of suppers to be served to the king, and would not sit with him to eat, but stood behind his chair and waited on him like a servant, saying—”I am only a prince. It is not fitting I should sit in the presence of the king of France.” And King John said —

  “Since it has pleased Heaven that I am a captive, I thank my God I have fallen into the hands of the most generous and valiant prince alive.”

  King John was taken as a prisoner to London. They rode into the city, King John mounted on a beautiful white horse that belonged to the Black Prince, while Prince Edward himself, riding on a black pony, was ready to wait on him, and to do his bidding.

  It was this generous temper which made the Black Prince beloved by all who knew him; it was only during his last illness that his character seemed to be changed by the great sufferings that he underwent, and it was only during the last year of his life that he did anything of which a king and an Englishman need be ashamed.

  He seems to have inherited his skill in war from his father, and from his mother, Queen Philippa, he inherited gentleness, goodness, and true courtesy. There are many stories told of the goodness and courage of this lady. Among others, this: —

  a.d. 1347.

  When Edward the Third had besieged Calais for a year, the good town which had held out so long was obliged to surrender, for there was no longer anything to eat in the city, and the folks said: “It is as good to die by the hands of the English as to die here by famine like rats in a hole.” So they sent to tell the king they would give up the town to him. But Edward the Third was so angry with them for having resisted him so long, that he said that they should all be hanged. Then Edward the Black Prince begged his father not to be so hard on brave men who had only done what they believed to be their duty, and entreated him to spare them. Then said the king —

  “I will spare them on condition that six citizens, bare-headed and bare-footed, clad only in their shirts, with ropes round their necks, shall come forth to me here, bringing the keys of the city.”

  And when the men of Calais heard this, they said: “No; better to die than live a dishonoured life by giving up even one of these our brothers who have fought and suffered with us.” But one of the chief gentlemen of Calais — Eustace de S. Pierre — said:

  “It is good that six of us should win eternal glory in this world and the sunshine of God’s countenance in the next, by dying for our town and our brethren. I, for one, am willing to go to the English king on such terms as he commands.”

  Then up rose his son and said likewise, and four other gentlemen, inspired by their courage, followed their example. So the six in their shirts, with ropes round their necks and the keys of the town in their hands, went out through the gates, and all the folk of Calais stood weeping and blessing them as they went. When they came to the king, he called for the hangman, saying—”Hang me these men at once.”

  But Queen Philippa was there, and though she was ill, she left her tent weeping so tenderly that she could not stand upright. Therefore she cast herself upon her knees before the king, and spoke thus: —

  “Ah, gentle sire, from the day I passed over sea I have asked for nothing; now I pray you, for the love of Our Lady’s son Christ, to have mercy on these.”

  King Edward waited for a while before speaking, and looked at the queen as she knelt, and he said—”Lady, I had rather you had been elsewhere. You pray so tenderly that I dare not refuse you; and though I do it against my will, nevertheless take them. I give them to you.”

  Then took he the six citizens by the halters and delivered them to the queen, and released from death all those of Calais for the love of her.

  HENRY THE FIFTH AND THE BABY PRINCE

  a.d. 1399.

  HENRY the Fourth was the Black Prince’s nephew, and he came to be king of England. His son was Henry the Fifth, the greatest of the Plantagenet kings. When he was a young man, and only Prince of Wales, he was very wild and fond of games and jokes. They used to call him Harry Madcap.

  Once, when he got into some trouble or other, his father, who was ill, sent for him, and he went at once in a fine dress that he had had made for a fancy dress party. It was of light blue satin with odd puckers in the sleeves, and at every pucker the tailor had left a little bit of blue thread and a tag like a needle. The king was very angry with the prince for daring to come into the royal presence in such a silly coat. Then Prince Harry said —

  “Dear father, as soon as I heard that you wanted me, I was in such a hurry to come to you that I had no time to even think of my coat, much less change it.”

  And so the king forgave him.

  Another time one of his servants got into trouble and was taken before the Chief Judge Sir William Gascoyne. The Prince went directly to the Court where the judge was and said —

  “Lord Judge, this is my servant, and you must let him go, for I am the king’s son.”

  “No,” said the judge, “I sit here in the place of the king himself, to do justice to all his subjects, and were this man the Prince of Wales himself, instead of being his servant, he should be punished in that he has offended against the law.”

  The prince was so angry that he actually forgot himself so far as to strike Sir William Gascoyne. The good judge did not hesitate a minute.

  “You have insulted the king himself,” he said, “in my person, since I sit here in his place to do justice. The common folks who offend against the law offend merely against the king; but you, young man, are a double traitor to your king and your father.”

  And he sent the prince to prison.

  Henry begged the good judge’s pardon afterwards, and when he came to the throne he thanked him for having behaved so justly and wisely, and gave him great honour because he had not been afraid to do his duty without respect of rank, and Henry behaved to the judge like a good son to a good father.

  No king of England was ever more wise or brave or just than Henry the Fifth; and even now he is remembered with affection. One of Shakespeare’s most splendid plays is written about him, and, when you have once read that, you will always remember and love Henry the Fifth as all Englishmen should do.

  a.d. 1413.

  At the very beginning of his reign the wars with France began again. The king sent to France and claimed some lands that had belonged to Edward the Third; and the young prince of France sent back the message—”There is nothing in France that can be won with a dance or a song. You cannot get dukedoms in France by playing and feasting, and the prince sends you something that will suit you better than lands in France. He has sent you a barrel of tennis balls, and bids you play with them and let serious matters be.” Then King Henry was very angry, and said—”We thank him for his present.

  When we have matched our rackets to these balls,

  We will in France, by God’s grace, play a set

  Shall strike his father’s crown into the hazard.

  Before I was King of England I was wild and merry because I knew not how great and solemn a state waited for me. I have played in my youth like a common
man because I was only Prince of Wales; but now that I am King of England I will rise up with so full of glory that I will dazzle all the eyes of France.”

  Henry sailed over to France and besieged a town called Harfleur. He spoke to the soldiers before they attacked the town.

  “Break down the wall and go through,” he said, “or close the wall up with our English dead.

  Bend every spirit

  To his full height. On, on, you noblest English,

  Whose blood is fetched from fathers of war proof.

  Be copy now to men of grosser blood

  And teach them how to war. And you, good yeomen,

  Whose limbs were made in England, let us swear

  That you are worth your breeding, which I doubt not;

  Cry God for Harry, England and Saint George.”

  The Englishmen answered nobly to his appeal, and Harfleur was taken.

  Then the English advanced to a place called Agincourt, a name fated to be linked with splendid glory for ever in the hearts of all English folk. The French had a very large army, and the English soldiers were tired with their long march. Many of them were ill and many were hungry; but they loved the king, and for his sake, and for the sake of their country, they were brave in spite of hunger and cold. Though they were in a strange country and many times outnumbered by their foes, they kept up a brave heart as Englishmen have done, thank God, many’s the good time, all the world over. So few were they that the Earl of Westmoreland said, just before the battle, —

  “Oh, that we now had here

  But one ten thousand of those men in England

  That do no work to-day!”