heritance of Henry, and to deliver him to the Spanish tyrant. But the penetrating Elizabeth of England discovered and frustrated the whole design. Before the young prince was 16 years old, his heroic mother placed him at the head of the Huguenot army, which was beaten in the engagement at Jarnac, in 1568. The youth now pledged himself for the defence of his religion and of freedom of conscience, to the last drop of his blood. The forces under the command of the admiral de Coligny, animated by this act, proclaimed the young Henry generalissimo; and, notwithstanding a new defeat at Montcontour, the Huguenots concluded an advantageous peace at St. Germain-en-Laye. Henry then travelled through his own kingdom, became acquainted with the wants of his subjects, saw their grievances, and resolved to exert all his powers to mitigate them. A mind heroic and noble, a temper elevated above little offences and revenge, a gentle and sympathizing heart, with a strong inclination for the fair sex, and an ardent though_tractable temperament, marked the early character of the hero, which gradually acquired a firm and resolute tone in the school of misfortune. The horrid plan of exterminating the Huguenots in France at a single blow, was already conceived by the bloody Catharine, and her weak son, king Charles IX, was persuaded to consent to it. For this purpose, it was necessary that the chiefs of the Huguenot party should be assembled at Paris. Under the pretence of uniting both parties, a marriage was proposed to queen Jeanne, between Henry and Margaret of Valois, youngest sister of Charles IX. While preparations were making for the marriage festival, Henry's mother died at Paris, not without strong suspicions of poison. Henry now as sumed the title of king of Navarre. His marriage took place Aug. 18, 1572. Then followed the horrible scenes of St. Bartholomew's, August 24. (See Bartholomew's Day.) Henry and Condé were obliged to make profession of the Catholic faith to save their lives; but Catharine of Medici endeavored to dissolve the marriage just celebrated. As she was unsuccessful in this, she adopted the plan of corrupting the noble youth by the pleasures of a licentious court; and Henry did not escape the snare. In 1576, however, he took advantage of a hunting excursion to escape from the court. He now put himself anew at the head of the Huguenots, and professed himself again of the Protestant church. Catharine, who, after the

decease of Charles IX, administered the government in the name of his successor, Henry III, now thought it advisable to conclude a treaty of peace with the Huguenots (1576), securing to them religious freedom. Exasperated by this event, the jealous Catholics, in 1585, formed the celebrated league, which the king was obliged to confirm, and at the head of which was Henry, duke of Guise. Soon after, the religious war was again kindled with renewed violence. In 1587, Henry, with an inferior force, defeated the army of the league at Coutras. To the latter Henry III had now become an object of suspicion; and, at the assembly of the states-general at Blois, in 1588, the Guises used every effort to destroy the royal power. The Sorbonne absolved the subjects of Henry III from their allegiance, and pope Sixtus V threatened to excommunicate the king. The misguided monarch had now no hope but in a reconciliation with Henry of Navarre. After they had united at Tours, they obtained the ascendency over the league, and Henry III marched to Paris, but he was assassinated in the camp at St. Cloud; and his last commands to the assembled nobility were, that they should acknowledge Henry of Navarre as his lawful successor to the throne of France. Meanwhile Henry IV found innumerable difficulties in establishing his claims. His Protestant religion was brought forward by all the competitors to prejudice the Catholics against him. At the head of the opposite party stood the duke de Mayenne. Philip II of Spain also claimed the French throne, and sent aid to the league. Henry IV first defeated his enemies in the memorable battle of Arques, and completed their overthrow in the celebrated engagement of Ivri. In consequence of this victory, Paris was besieged, and Henry IV was upon the point of compelling the fanatical citizens to surrender by famine, when the Spanish general Alexander, duke of Parma, by a skilful manœuvre, obliged him to raise the blockade. Convinced that he should never enjoy quiet possession of the French throne without professing the Catholic faith, Henry at length yielded to the wishes of his friends, was instructed in the doctrines of the Roman church, and professed the Catholic faith July 25, 1593, in the church of St. Denys. He happily escaped an attempt to assassinate him; was solemnly anointed king at Chartres, in 1594; and entered the capital amid the acclamations of the people. The Spanish troops were compelled to a dis

graceful retreat. After Henry had been acknowledged by the pope, all parties in France were reconciled. To humble the pride and break the power of Spain, Henry concluded an offensive alliance with England and Holland. The war against Spain was concluded in 1598, by the peace of Vervins, to the advantage of France. Henry made use of the tranquillity which followed, to restore the internal prosperity of his kingdom, and particularly the wasted finances. In this design he was so successful, with the aid of his prime minister Sully, that 330 millions of the national debt were paid, and 40 millions laid up in the treasury. At the instance of Sully, Henry dissolved his inarriage with Margaret of Valois; the pope confirmed the divorce, and the king soon after married Maria de' Medici, niece of the grand-duke of Tuscany. But the crafty, domineering and ambitious Maria so imbittered the life of Henry by her constant jealousy, that he resolved more than once to dissolve his union with her; Sully, however, prevented him. The birth of an heir (Louis XIII) for a while reconciled him with his wife. But other troubles afflicted him, particularly the conspiracy of his former friend and companion in arms, marshal Biron, whom he would gladly have saved; but whom repeated acts of disobedience obliged him to surrender to the hand of the executioner. No less painful to the king were the conspiracies of the count of Auvergne, of the marshal de Bouillon, and his mistress, the artful Entragues. It became necessary to inflict punishments, though mercy would have been more congenial with his feelings. To his former brothers in faith, the Protestants, Henry granted entire religious freedom and political security, by the edict of Nantes, in 1598. (See Huguenots.) To humble Spain and Austria (against whom the Protestants in Germany had sought his aid), he conceived a perhaps impracticable plan of a great confederacy, and an entire alteration in the arrangement of the European states; the consequence of which was to be a perpetual peace. He made preparations to carry it into execution, and was on the point of entering upon a campaign. During his absence, Maria, his wife, was to be regent; and he therefore caused her to be crowned at St. Denys, in 1610. As Henry was riding through the streets of Paris, on the following day, to examine the preparations for the solemn entrance of the queen, his coach was obstructed in the street de la Feronnerie, by

two wagons. A fanatic, named Ravaillac, took advantage of this moment to perpetrate a long-meditated deed: he mounted the step of the coach, plunged a long twoedged knife twice into the heart of Henry, and thus ended the career of the best king France ever had. (See Ravaillac.) By his first wife Henry had no heir; by Maria, two sons and three daughters. By his mistresses, Gabrielle d'Estrées, Henriette de Balzac (the countess d'Entragues), Jacqueline (countess of Moret), and Charlotte of Essarts, he had several children. The benevolent mind of Henry, his paternal love to his subjects, his great achievements, his heart, always open to truth, though it exposed his own faults, have preserved his memory in the hearts of the nation; and his royal expression, "I wish that every peasant might have a fowl in his pot on Sundays," still lives in the mouths of the people, while his defects are charged to the dissoluteness of the age.-See Memoirs and Correspondence of Duplessis-Mornay: being a History of the Reformation and of the Civil and Religious Wars in France, under the Reigns of Charles IX, Henry III, Henry IV, and Louis XIII, from the Year 1571 to 1623 (Mém. et Correspond. de Duplessis-Mornay, pour servir à l'Hist. de la Réformation et les Guerres Civiles et Religieuses en France, sous le Règne de Charles IX, Henry III, Henry IV, et Louis XIII, depuis l'An 1571 jusqu' en 1623), (Paris, 1825, 15 vols.); Secret Amours of Henry IV, from the Original Manuscripts of 1632; written by Jean Francois, Marquis of Montgendre; collected in France, in 1815, with Notes by Count Alb. von Pappenheim (Nuremberg, 1824, 2 vols.).

HENRY I, king of England, surnamed Beauclerc, youngest son of William the Conqueror, was born in 1068. He was hunting with William Rufus, in the New Forest, when that prince received his mortal wound, in 1100. Henry instantly rode to London, and caused himself to be proclaimed king, to the prejudice of his brother Robert, then absent on the crusades. To reconcile the people to his usurpation, Henry issued a charter, containing concessions to public liberty, which, however, operated little in restraint of his own government. He also performed another popular act, by recalling Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, whose authority was necessary to his projects of conciliating his English subjects by marrying Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III, king of Scotland. This union strengthened his party, when his

brother landed an army, in 1101, with a view of asserting his claim to the crown. Actual hostilities were prevented by Anselm, who induced Robert to accept a pension; and it was agreed that the brothers should succeed to each other's dominions, in the event of death without issue. This treaty did not prevent Henry from invading Normandy, a short time after; and, in 1106, he took Robert prisoner, and reduced the whole duchy. A contest with the papal court, on the subject of investitures, ended in a compromise, by which he merely retained the right of temporal homage. His usurpation of Normandy involved him in continual war, which was very oppressive to his English subjects; but, although William, son of Robert, escaped out of custody, and was assisted by the king of France, Henry maintained possession of the duchy. His public prosperity was, however, counterbalanced by several domestic misfortunes. One of these was the loss, at sea, of his only son, William, who was drowned, in 1120, in returning from Normandy, together with his natural sister, whose cries recalled him to the sinking ship, after he had got clear from it in the long-boat. Henry was never seen to smile afterwards. He had betrothed his only daughter, Matilda, to the emperor, Henry V, and, when she became a widow, married her a second time to Geoffry Plantagenet, son of the count of Anjou. He himself also married a second wife, Adelaide, daughter of the duke of Lorraine, by whom he had no issue. He died in Normandy, of a sudden illness, occasioned by eating lampreys, in the 67th year of his age and 36th of his reign. Henry was a prince of great accomplishments, both of mind and person, and his ready elocution and proficiency in the literature of the period obtained him his surname. He was much attached to women, and possessed all the Norman passion for the chase, which produced so many rigorous game-laws.

HENRY II, king of England, the first of the line of the Plantagenets, born in Normandy, in 1132, was the son of Geoffry, count of Anjou, and the empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I. He early displayed an elevated character, and was invested with the duchy of Normandy, by the consent of his mother, at the age of 16. The year following, he succeeded his father in the possession of Anjou and Maine, and, by a marriage with Eleanor of Guienne, just divorced from Louis VII, king of France, on a suspicion of infidelity, annexed that province, with Poic

et.

tou, to his other dominions. Rendered thus potent, he determined to pursue his claim to the crown of England, against the usurpation of Stephen. His expedition for that purpose ended in a compromise, by which Stephen was to retain the crown during his life, 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 mercenaries; and, although involved with his brother Geoffry, who attempted to seize Anjou and Maine, and in a temporary dispute with France, he reigned prosperously, until his memorable contest with Thomas à Becket. Anxious to repress the usurpation of the clergy, Henry, in 1164, summoned a general council of nobility and prelates, at Clarendon, which assembly passed the famous constitutions named from that place. The consequences of the reluctant subscription of Becket to these articles, in the first instance, and his subsequent conduct, have been already related in the life of BeckA prince of less power and policy than Henry, might have yielded to the storm which followed; but, although sufficiently submissive in the way of penance and expiation, he only gave up the article in the constitutions of Clarendon, which forbade appeals to the court of Rome in ecclesiastical cases, and, even in that case, reserved the right of exacting sufficient security from all clergy who should leave the country in prosecution of such appeals. Before this matter was terminated, Henry, in 1172, armed with a bull of pope Adrian, whose authority to give away kingdoms, in this instance, he did not dispute, undertook an expedition into Ireland, a great part of which, owing to the disputes of its native chieftains, had been reduced by some private adventurers, conducted by Richard Strongbow, earl of Strigul. The king found little more to do than to make a progress through the island, to receive the submission of the Irish princes; and, having left earl Richard in the post of seneschal of Ireland, he returned to England,-proceedings so important to the future destinies of both countries having occupied only a few months. Being an indulgent father, Henry had assigned to each of his four sons & provision out of his extensive territories. The eldest son, Henry, was not only declared heir to England, Normandy, Anjou, Maine and Touraine, but actually crowned in his father's life-time. On paying a visit to the court of his father-in-law, Louis, the prince was induced by the French

monarch to demand of his father the immediate resignation either of the kingdom of England or of the dukedom of Normandy. This extraordinary request being refused, he withdrew from his father's court, and was openly supported in his claim by Louis. Henry's various gallantries, exemplified in the popular and not altogether unfounded legend of fair Rosamond, or Rosamond Clifford, also embroiled him with his queen, Eleanor, who excited her other sons, Richard and Geoffry, to make similar claims, and imitate the example of their elder brother. Many potent barons and nobles, in the respective provinces, were thus withdrawn from their allegiance, and Louis, king of France, William, king of Scotland, and other powers, lent spirit to the confederacy. A general invasion of Henry's dominions was in this way concerted, and began, in 1173, by an attack on the frontiers of Normandy, where he opposed the storm with vigor. In the mean time, the flame had broken out in England, which was overrun with malcontents, while the king of Scots made an incursion into the north. Henry, in consequence, hastened home, and, to conciliate the clergy, passed a day and night of penance at the tomb of Becket. His absolution was followed by the news of a complete victory, gained by his general, the justiciary Glanville, over the Scots, in which their king was made prisoner. The spirit of the English malcontents being thus broken, they rapidly submitted; and Henry, returning to Normandy, entered into an accommodation with his sons, on less favorable terms than they had previously rejected; nor did the king of Scotland gain his liberty but by stipulating to do homage, and yield up some fortresses. The pause obtained by these exertions of vigor and ability, Henry employed in regulations and improvements which equally manifest his capacity and love of justice. He checked the prevailing licentiousness by severe laws, partitioned England into four judiciary, districts, and appointed itinerant justices, to make regular excursions through them. He revived trial by jury, discouraged that by combat, and demolished all the newly-erected castles, as shelters of violence and anarchy. The turbulence of his sons still disquieted him; but Henry, the eldest, who had engaged in a new conspiracy, was cut off by a fever, in 1183, after expressing great contrition for his disobedience; and, two years after, the death of the equally restless Geoffry also released the king from newly meditated hostilities. Philip Augustus, then king of

France, however, continued to foment the differences between Henry and his sons, and Richard was again prompted to rebel. A war between the two crowns followed, the event of which was so unfavorable to Henry, that he was at length obliged to agree that Richard should receive an oath of fealty from all his subjects, and marry Alice, sister of the French king, for whom Henry himself, under whose care she had long resided, is charged, and not without grounds, of having indulged an unbecoming, if not a criminal passion. He also stipulated to pay a sum of money to the French king, and to grant a pardon to all Richard's adherents. The mortification of Henry, at these humiliating terms, was aggravated to despair when he saw the name of his favorite son, John, at the head of the list of delinquents whom he was required to pardon; and, cursing the day of his birth, he pronounced a malediction upon his undutiful sons, which he could never be persuaded to retract. The anguish of his mind threw him into a low fever, which put an end to his life, at the castle of Chinon, near Saumur, in the 58th year of his age, and 35th of his reign. Henry II ranks among the greatest kings of England, not only in extent of dominion, but in all the qualities which give lustre to authority, being equally fitted for public life and for cultivated leisure. He was manly in person, gifted with ready elocution, and possessed warm affections. His wisdom and love of justice were acknowledged by foreign potentates, who made him arbiter of their differences, and regarded him as the first prince of the age.

HENRY III, king of England, surnamed of Winchester, son of John, was born in 1207, and succeeded his father, 1216. At the time of his accession, the country was in a state of lamentable distraction. The dauphin of France, Louis, at the head of a foreign army, supported by a faction of English nobles disgusted with the conduct and tyranny of John, had assumed the reins of government, but, being justly suspected of arbitrary intentions, was become odious to the body of the people. The cause of the young king, then only nine years of age, was espoused by the earl of Pembroke, whose prudent government, as regent, in a short time compelled Louis to sue for peace, and quit the country. As Henry approached to manhood, he displayed a character wholly unfit for his station. One of his first false steps was to discard his most faithful and able minister, Hubert de Burgh, and give his

entire confidence to rapacious and unprincipled foreigners, an evil which was further augmented by his marriage, in 1236, with Eleanor of Provence. Many grievances were the consequence; and his foolish acceptance of the crown of Sicily, offered him by the pope, involved him in vast debts, which parliament refused to discharge. In his necessity, he had recourse to exactions, which increased the national discontent, and, finally, gave an opportunity to his brother-in-law, the ambitious Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, to make a total change in the constitution, and deprive him of royal authority. In 1258, conspiring with the principal barons, that earl appeared with them in arms at a parliament holden at Oxford, and obliged the king to sign a body of resolutions, which threw all the legislative and executive power into the hands of an aristocracy of 24 barons, assisted by a lower house, consisting of four knights, chosen from each county. The aristocracy, as usual, soon displayed a spirit which united both king and people against them, and the former was absolved by the pope from his oath to observe the provisions of Oxford. By the aid of his able and spirited son Edward, Henry was gradually restored to authority; on which Leicester, calling in Llewellyn, prince of Wales, involved the kingdom in a civil war. The power of the barons was by this means partially restored, but, great divisions prevailing, both parties agreed to abide by the award of Louis IX, king of France. The award of this monarch, given in 1264, being favorable to the king, Leicester and the confederate barons refused to submit to it; and a battle was fought near Lewes, in which Henry, and his brother Richard, king of the Romans, were taken prisoners, and the person of prince Edward also ultimately secured. A convention ensued, called the Mise of Lewes, which provided for the future settlement of the kingdom; but, in the mean time, Leicester ruled without control. To him, however, was owing the first example of a genuine house of commons in England; for, in a parliament summoned by him, in 1265, deputies from boroughs were sent, as well as knights of shires. Prince Edward at length escaped, and, assembling an army, defeated Leicester's son. The decisive battle of Evesham quickly followed, in which Leicester himself was slain; and the king, then in the hands of the rebels, being placed in the front of the battle, narrowly escaped with his life. Replaced upon the throne, he remained as insignifi

cant as ever; and the departure of his son for the Holy Land was the signal for new commotions, which were, however, terminated by his death, in 1272, in the 64th year of his age and the 56th of his reign.

HENRY IV, king of England, surnamed of Bolingbroke, the first king of the house of Lancaster, was born in 1367, being the eldest son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, third son of Edward III, by the heiress of Edmund, earl of Lancaster, second son of Henry III. In the reign of Richard II, he was made earl of Derby and duke of Hereford, and, while bearing the latter title, appeared in the parliament of 1398, and preferred an accusation of treason against Mowbray, duke of Norfolk. The latter denied the charge, and offered to prove his innocence by single combat, which challenge being accepted, the king appointed the lists at Coventry; but, on the appearance of the two champions, at the appointed time and place, Richard would not suffer them to proceed. Both were banished the kingdom, Norfolk for life, and Hereford for ten years, shortened by favor to four, with the further privilege of immediately entering upon any inheritance which might accrue to him. On the death of John of Gaunt, in 1399, he succeeded to the dukedom of Lancaster, and laid claim, according to agreement, to the great estates attached to it; but the fickle and imprudent Richard recalled his letters patent, and retained possession of the estates; soon after which, he departed for Ireland. The duke, disregarding the unfinished term of his exile, embarked, in July, 1399, at Nantes; and, landing, with a small retinue, at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire, made oath, on his landing, that he only came for the recovery of his duchy. He was quickly joined by the earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, the most potent barons of the north, and soon found himself at the head of 60,000 men. The duke of York, acting as guardian in the king's absence, was unable to oppose him; and, marching to Bristol, he took upon himself to execute some of the most odious of Richard's ministers, without trial. The latter, on the report of these transactions, landed at Milford Haven with an army, which soon melted away by desertion; and, falling into the hands of his enemies, he was brought to London by the duke, who now began openly to aim at the crown. A resignation was first obtained from Richard, who was then solemnly deposed in parliament. (See Richard II.) On this abdication, the right of succession was clearly in the house of