Death of
Henry II.
From that blow he never rallied. He was carried on a litter to Chinon, chafing against the shame of defeat and the mortification of his love. Geoffrey sat by him fanning him in the sultry air and driving away the flies that teased him. To him Henry confided his last wishes. He told him he was to be Archbishop of York, and gave him his ring, with the seal of the panther, to give to the King of Castile; then he ordered them to take him up, on his bed, and lay him before the altar of the castle chapel; there he received the last sacraments and died, two days after the meeting at Colombieres.
There is hardly in all English history a more striking catastrophe or a scene in itself more simply touching. So much suffering, so great a fall, from such grandeur to such humiliation, such bitter sorrow, the loss of everything worth having, power and peace and his children’s love may have stirred in him in that last moment the thought of forgiveness. But Richard saw him alive no more; and when at the funeral, at Fontevraud, he met the bier on which his father’s body lay, blood flowed forthwith from the nostrils of the dead king, as if his spirit were indignant at his coming.
CHAPTER VI.
RICHARD CŒUR DE LION.
Character of the reign—Richard’s first visit to England—His character—The Crusade—Fall of Longchamp—Richard’s second visit—His struggle with Philip—His death.
The historical interest of the reign of Richard I. is of two sorts: there is abundance of personal adventure and incident, and there is a certain quantity of legal and constitutional material which it is easier to interweave into a general disquisition on such subjects than to invest with a unity and plot of its own. But there is no great national change, no very pronounced development, no crisis of stirring interest or great permanent import. The strong system of government introduced by Henry II. was gaining still greater strength and consistency; the royal power, which it was the first object of that system to consolidate, was growing stronger and stronger, and the nation in general, whilst it was passing through that phase in which a strong government is a necessary guide and discipline, was benefiting by the policy which must sooner or later educate it to remedy the abuses and perhaps to overthrow the strong government itself. But as yet the royal power was wielded by men who used it like statesmen, and the strength of the nation was not tempted to assert itself by a premature struggle. One great personal struggle there was during the reign, and a somewhat interesting one in point of detail, but it is one which typified and prefigured rather than formed a link in the chain of causes that brought about the struggle of Runnymede.
The great subjects of romantic interest are Richard’s crusade, captivity and death. England had little to do with these, except as being the source for the supply of treasure; she scarcely saw Richard; to her the king was little more than a political expression which furnished arguments to a series of powerful administrators, William Longchamp, Walter of Coutances, Hubert Walter and Geoffrey Fitz Peter. But as connecting English with Continental history the personal career of Richard has its own interest and value, and, even in a rapid survey like the present, it demands, if not the first place, certainly one which is second to no other.
Richard’s
succession.
Eleanor
regent.