While thus the political position of the different orders was giving room for a temporary establishment of almost absolute monarchy, but at the same time allowing the formation of that middle class which was to overthrow it, and while the exclusive system of the middle ages was giving way to the modern relations of labour, the new culture, the existence of which more than anything else separates the middle ages from modern times, was beginning to make its way. As the leader in this direction Humphrey of Gloucester may be mentioned. In spite of his turbulent and disorderly character, he was a sincere lover of literature. He was in communication with several of the greater Italian scholars. More than one classical translation was dedicated to him. He carried his love of inquiry so far that he is believed to have dabbled in magical arts; and it is generally reported that his books, which he left to Oxford, were the nucleus of the present great library there. He did not stand alone in his literary tastes. Tiptoft the Earl of Worcester was likewise impregnated with Italian learning, and, among the newer nobles, Lord Rivers gave distinguished patronage to the art of printing, which Caxton introduced into England in the year 1469. Altogether, it would seem that among the upper classes the rudiments of learning were beginning to be widely spread, and that the laity were gradually becoming sufficiently cultivated to rival the Churchmen, and to take their proper part in the government of the country. It may be observed as an indication of this that Henry VI.’s reign was marked by the foundation of Eton, and that several considerable colleges were founded both in Oxford and Cambridge during the century. It is probable that these were chiefly intended as defences for orthodoxy, the teaching being as yet confined to the worst form of scholasticism.
Change in the military system.
It is strange, immediately after the great civil war, and before the outbreak of nautical energy under the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to meet with constant complaints of the degeneracy of the English as soldiers. But it seems as if changes in the military system, and the love of money and luxury which accompanied the Renaissance, were really producing their effects. Archery was giving way to the use of gunpowder; and we meet with statutes fixing the price of bows, and enacting general practice of archery, which clearly show that the use of the national weapon had to be artificially fostered. There was considerable difficulty in collecting a sufficiency of troops before the Battle of Bosworth, and Caxton writes to Richard III. a deplorable account of the decay of knighthood, to be cured, as he thinks, by the reintroduction of tournaments and the perusal of chivalrous romances. A change in warfare was, in fact, going on in Europe, which called into existence abroad standing armies, and the effect of which was felt in England, though circumstances postponed the establishment of a regular army some time longer. It was thus amid the general weakness in all classes except the Crown, and during the development of great social changes, that the Tudor sovereigns found it possible to establish that peculiar personal monarchy which occupies the transition period between mediæval and modern times, and under the shadow of which the various classes regained strength for the subsequent re-establishment of the Constitution.
Saxon England.
ENGLAND UP TO
1066.
Oxford & Cambridge.