Page images
PDF
EPUB

in favour of Baliol, on condition that the latter acknow- | finally overtook him. His first acts after the death of ledged him as lord paramount, and on the breaking out of his father foreshadowed his future career. He at once war with France he demanded his assistance. On Baliol's recalled Piers Gaveston, a favourite whom his father had refusal, and on learning that he had entered into a treaty banished from the court, and created him carl of Cornwall, with France, Edward in 1296 captured Berwick, defeated caused his father's body to be buried at Westminster, and, the Scots at Dunbar, took the castles of Roxburgh, after rejoining the army for a few days, returned again to Jedburgh, Edinburgh, Dumbarton, and Stirling, and, London, and for six years made no serious effort to receiving at Perth Baliol's unconditional surrender, sent prosecute the war with Scotland. Previous to his coronation him prisoner to the Tower. In 1297 Wallace headed a he went to France to be married to Isabella, daughter of rebellion of the Scots, and defeated the English with great Philip II.; and by appointing Gaveston guardian of the slaughter at the battle of Stirling bridge; but next year kingdom during his absence, and loading him with the Scots suffered an overwhelming defeat at Falkirk, honours and presents on his return, he roused the animosity and only prevented the further success of the English by of the nobles to such a height that it was only on laying waste their own country. In 1299 and 1300 his promising to agree to certain demands that might bo Edward's attempts at invasion met with little success on submitted to him at a future Parliament, that they conaccount of opposition from his barons. In 1301 he in- sented to his coronation. It took place 25th February vaded Scotland for the fifth time, but at the request of the 1308. Until the nobles rose in rebellion in 1312, and king of France granted it a truce. In 1304 he compelled executed Gaveston at Warwick castle, the favourite formed its submission, and excepted from the amnesty granted to a perpetual subject of dispute between the nobles and the the Scotch nobles Sir William Wallace, who was captured king, and was alternately banished and recalled according and executed in 1305. In 1307, to avenge Bruce's murder to the king's exigencies. In 1311 Parliament confirmed of Comyn and his attacks on the English, Edward resolved the report of the "Committee of Ordinances" appointed on a seventh invasion, and, though in great bodily weak- to reform the abuses of the administration. The king ness, determined to lead his army in person; but his almost nominally agreed to act in accordance with the report, but unexampled labours had already undermined his vigorous by a saving clause secured to himself full liberty to evade the health, and be died 7th July 1307, at the village of Burgh- principal enactments, the result of which was a series of on-the-Sands, on the fifth day of his march northwards from quarrels with the nobles, becoming more serious each succesCarlisle. He had given orders that his dead body should sive time, followed by reconciliations increasing gradually be carried before the army until his enemies were conquered; in hollowness till the end of his reign. Robert Bruce but his son Edward made no endeavour to fulfil his wish. took full advantage of the internal difficulties of England, The body was escorted to Waltham, and was buried at and in 1314 had reconquered the principal strongholds of Westminster on the 27th October. In Edward were united Scotland with the exception of Stirling castle. For its in a rare degree both the physical and mental qualities of relief Edward raised an army of 100,000 men, but suffered a great general; and he is one of the few English kings, a ruinous defeat at the battle of Bannockburn, 24th June and perhaps the first, who can lay claim to the higher 1314. Edward made no further effort of importance qualities of statesmanship. The measures which he passed against the Scots till 1319, when he besieged Berwick, for the government of his own kingdom, and the conces- which Bruce had taken, but was compelled to raise the sions he made to the demands of his subjects, almost entitle siege, and concluded a two years' truce with Scotland. him to be called the founder of England's constitutional | After the death of Piers Gaveston, the place of favourite freedom; while the far-seeing wisdom of his foreign policy with the king was occupied by Hugh Despenser. He was was shown by his sacrificing his influence in France in banished by Parliament in 1321, but soon returned; and, order to quell the opposition to his authority in Scotland. provoked at this, the barons under Lancaster declared war, That his claims on Scotland were altogether just can scarcely but were defeated and Lancaster executed in March 1322. be affirmed; but that he clearly saw the necessity of a union In 1323 a fourteen years' truce was concluded with of Scotland and England, and devoted his whole efforts to Scotland. In 1324 Edward was persuaded to send the the attainment of this end, is perhaps his highest title to queen to France in order to settle some disputes with the honourable remembrance. His harsh manner of attaining French king. She succeeded in her mission, but refused his end, and the cruel punishments he exercised on those to return home, on account, she affirmed, of previous illwho sought to thwart his efforts, may be excused partly treatment by her husband, although doubtless intrigues on account of the times in which he lived, and partly as with Roger Mortimer had something to do with her refusal. arising from the just vexation of a stern and eager nature; From France she went to Flanders, and, raising a small and they are somewhat counter-balanced by the righteous- army against the king, landed at Orwell in Suffolk, 22d ness and clemency with which he governed Scotland at September 1326. The whole nation flocked to her standard, the periods when it was under his rule. Despenser was executed, and young Edward was appointed guardian of the kingdom. In 1327, the king was formally deposed by Parliament, and his son elected in his stead. A plot was formed against the deposed monarch in the same year, and he was murdered with great cruelty at Berkeley Castle on the 27th September. (See the same writers for this reign as for the last.)

See Hallam's Middle Ages; Pearson's History of England during the Early and Muldle Ages, vol. ii.; Longman's Lectures on the History of England, vol. i.; Stubbs's Early Plantagenet Kings; Hill Burton's History of Scotland, vol. ii.; and Green's Short History of the English People.

EDWARD II. (1284-1327), king of England, fourth son of Edward I. and of Eleanor, was born at Carnarvon, April 25, 1284, and became heir-apparent in 1285. His first title was earl of Carnarvon, but in 1301 he was created earl of Chester and prince of Wales. His personal character, and the whole tenor and tendency of his reign, may perhaps be best described as the opposite of those of his father. Though not the slave of any of the worst vices, and not without natural abilities, he was weak, indolent, and faithless; and his utter incompetence for the position in which fortune had placed him requires no other proof than the fate which

[ocr errors]

EDWARD III. (1312-1377), king of England, the eldest son of Edward II. and of Isabella, was born at Windsor, November 13, 1312. He was appointed guardian of the kingdom October 26, 1326, and received the crown February 1, 1327. On the 24th January 1328 he was married to Philippa, daughter of the count of Hainault. During his minority the government of the kingdom was intrusted to a body of guardians with Henry of Lancaster at their head, but was virtually usurped by Roger Mortimer, until the king, irritated by his arrogance, caused him to be

[ocr errors]

the throne of France, but retained his full sovereignty over the whole of the ancient duchy of Aquitaine, the counties of Ponthieu and Guignes, and the town of Calais. Peace was again broken in 1369 by Charles of France, and when he concluded a truce with England in 1375 all of France that remained in Edward's hands was Bayonne and Bordeaux in the south, and Calais in the north. The last years of Edward's reign form a sad and gloomy close to a career which had had a vigorous and energetic commencement, and had afterwards been rendered illustrious by great achievements. His empire in France was virtually overthrown; the vast expenditure which had had such a fruitless result was sorely burdening his subjects, and awakening increasing discontent; and he himself, through the gradual decay of his mental faculties, had become a mere tool in the hands of Alice Perrers and of ministers whose only aim was their own aggrandizement. In 1367 the "Good Parliament" virtually seized the helm of the state from the hands of the king and his ministers. It compelled Alice Perrers to swear never to return to the king's presence, suspended the ministers Latimer and Lyons, protested against the means then adopted for raising taxes, and demanded a vigorous prosecution of the war. The Black Prince was the chief agent in urging these reforms, but his death, in the midst of the Parliament's deliberations, for a time rendered almost abortive the good work he had begun. Edward died 21st June 1377. The splendour of his reign belongs properly rather to the people than to the monarch. Both in his home and foreign relations he showed conmerit of having endeavoured as much as possible to keep on good terms with his subjects; but under him the progress of constitutional reform was due either to his money difficulties or to events entirely beyond his control. Although endowed with high courage and daring, there is no proof that he possessed more than average ability as a general. His expeditions were planned on a scale of great magnificence, but he entered on his campaigns without any definite aim, and his splendid victories were mere isolated achievements, won partly by good fortune, but chiefly by the valour of Welsh and Irish yeomen and the skill of English archers.

seized at Nottingham on the 15th October 1330, and conveyed to the Tower. He was executed at Tyburn on the 29th November. It is said to have been chiefly through Mortimer's influence that, on the 24th April 1328, a peace was concluded between England and Scotland, the chief provisions of which were that the Scots agreed to pay England the sum of £20,000, and that Edward agreed definitely to recognize the independence of the Scotch crown. The treaty was very unpopular in England, and it is not surprising, therefore, that, when Edward Baliol in 1332 made his attempt to mount the Scotch throne, Edward III. gave him indirect assistance, and that after Baliol's dethronement in 1333 an invasion of Scotland was resolved on. On July 19 Edward defeated the Scots at the battle of Halidon Hill, and receiving as the result of his victory the submission of the principal Scotch nobles, he annexed the whole of Scotland south of the Forth to his own crown, and allowed Baliol to reign over the remainder as titular king. Soon after, Baliol was again a fugitive, but was again aided by Edward to mount a nominal throne. After a short period of peace Edward in July 1336 ravaged and burned Scotland as far as Aberdeen, but growing complications with France compelled him in the same year to return to England. Though he professed to have a claim, through his mother, on the French throne against Philip of Valois, that claim was left in abeyance until several acts of aggression on the part of Philip brought about a rupture between the two kings. The count of Flanders, at Philip's instigation, had broken off commercial relations with England; French privateers were daily com-siderable prudence and sagacity, and he may be allowed the mitting ravages on English commerce; Aquitaine was continually threatened by desultory attacks; and Philip, though he hesitated to accept the responsibility of being the first to declare war, scarcely attempted to conceal his endeavours to throw that responsibility on Edward. Edward sailed for Flanders July 16, 1338, and at Coblentz held a conference with the emperor Louis V., at which the latter appointed him his vicar-general, and gave orders for all the princes of the Low Countries to follow him in war for the space of seven years. In 1339 Edward laid siege to Cambrai, but soon afterwards raised the siege and invaded France. Philip advanced to meet him, but declined battle, and Edward concluded his first campaign without achieving anything, to compensate him for its cost. 1340 he defeated the French fleet before Sluys, and after landing in France laid siege to Tournai, but before he succeeded in capturing it he was induced through money difficulties to conclude a truce of nine months with France. In 1342 a truce for two years was concluded between England and Scotland, and at the end of the same year Edward again set out on an expedition against France, but at the intercession of the Pope he agreed to a truce. Shortly after his return to England a great tournament was held by him at Windsor in memory of King Arthur. In 1346 he set sail on the expedition which resulted in the great victory of Crécy and the capture of Calais; and in 1348 he again concluded a truce with France. This year and the following are darkly memorable in English annals from the outbreak of the "black death," which spread terror and desolation throughout the whole country, but on account of the reduction it made in the population, was the ultimate cause of the abolition of serfdom and villanage in England. From this time Edward as a warrior retires somewhat into the background, his place being taken by the prince of Wales (See EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE), who in 1356 won the battle of Poitiers, and took King John prisoner. In 1359 Edward again mvaded France, and in 1360 he signed the peace of Bretigny, according to which the French agreed to pay for King John a ransom of three million crowns, and Edward renounced his title to

In

See History of Edward the Third, by W. Longman (1869); Edward III., by Rev. W. Warburton, M. A. (1876); Pearson's England in the Fourteenth Century (1876); and essay on Edward III., by E. A. Freeman (Essays, first series).

EDWARD IV. (1441-1483), king of England, was the second son of Richard duke of York, and was born at Rouen, April 29, 1441. His father was appointed protector of the kingdom during the incapacity of Henry VI., and having in 1460 laid claim to the throne as a descendant of Edward III., was named by Parliament successor of Henry VI. on condition that he allowed Henry to retain his throne. As an heir had been born to the king, it was only natural that Queen Margaret should seek to resist this proposal. She accordingly raised an army against the duke of York, and he was defeated and slain at the battle of Wakefield, December 30, 1460. Edward, who was at that time in Wales, on hearing of his father's death resolved to avenge it, and gathering a mixed army of Welsh and English, defeated the earls of Pembroke and Ormond at Mortimer's Cross in Hereford, February 7, 1461. On February 17, Queen Margaret defeated the Yorkists at St Albans; but Edward, notwithstanding her victory, having united his forces with those under Warwick entered London, and, being received by the citizens with loud shouts of welcome, was proclaimed king 4th March 1461. But he could not permit himself to enjoy his dignities in idle security. King Henry had escaped aud joined the army of the queen, which, having withdrawn to the north,

was to the number of about 60,000 encamped at Towton, about eight miles from York. Here Edward and Warwick met the queen's forces, and a battle of great obstinacy ensued, which, notwithstanding the arrival of a reinforcement to Margaret in the middle of the battle, ended in her utter defeat. Henry and Margaret fled to Scotland, and on the 28 Jane Edward was crowned at London. Margaret afterwards escaped to France, from which country in 1462 she made two separate attempts to retrieve the fallen fortunes of her house, but these, as well as one made by Henry in 1464, proved utterly abortive. In May 1461 Edward was secretly married to Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Woodville, Lord Rivers, and widow of Sir John Gray; and having in the September following publicly acknowledged her as his queen, he grievously disappointed and displeased his chief supporter, the earl of Warwick, who had been negotiating for the marriage of Edward with the sister of Louis XI. of France. Though from this time secretly bending all his energies to accomplish Edward's overthrow, Warwick skilfully concealed not only his intentions but even his share in overt acts; and it was not till 1369 that, receiving intelligence of the success of an insurrection secretly fomented by him in Yorkshire, he showed his hand by taking the king prisoner near Coventry. Shortly after, Edward either escaped or was allowed his freedom; and in 1470 he defeated the rebels near Stamford, and compelled Warwick to make his escape to France. Here the earl, through the good offices of Louis, was reconciled with Queen Margaret, and agreed to invade England in behalf of her husband. Landing at Dartmouth, he soon had an army of 60,000 men. Edward, taken by surprise and unable to raise a force sufficient to oppose him, fled to Holland; and Warwick, having released Henry, again got him acknowledged king. Edward in his turn adopted the tactics that had been successful against him. In 1471 he landed at Ravenspur, and professing at first to resign all claims to the throne, and to have no further aim than merely to recover his inheritance as duke of York, he soon collected sympathizers, and then, throwing off all disguise, issued proclamations against Henry and Warwick. He marched without opposition direct to London, and after entering it and taking Henry prisoner, advanced against the army which had been collected to oppose him. The encounter took place at New Barnet, April 14, when the party of Warwick were defeated and Warwick himself was slain. On the same day Margaret with her son Edward, now eighteen years of age, had landed at Weymouth, but on May 4 she was defeated at Tewkesbury and taken prisoner. Her son either perished in battle, or was slain shortly after wards by the order of the king; and her husband Henry died in the Tower on May 21, the evening of the day on which Edward re-entered London. Secure at home, Edward now turned his thoughts on foreign conquest. In 1475 he formed an alliance with Charles of Burgundy against Louis, but on landing on the Continent with a large army he learned that the duke and Louis had come to an understanding, and prudence compelled him to enter into a seven years' treaty with the power he had hoped to conquer. Shortly after this, the duke of Burgundy having died, Clarence, the brother of Edward, wished to marry Mary, the duke's daughter and heiress; but Edward, perhaps on account of chagrin at the former deceit of her father, refused his consent to the suit. Exasperated at his brother's conduct, Clarence took no pains to conceal his anger, and Edward thought it necessary to impeach him of treason before the House of Lords. He was condemned to death, February 7, 1478, and on February 17 was executed in the Tower, but with so great secrecy that the manner of his death is unknown. Edward died April 9, 1483. The beauty of his person and the freedom of his

manners rendered Edward a great favourite with the lower and middle classes, but there appears to have been little in his character to awaken real esteem. He had certainly an ability for subtle scheming and intrigue, but his memory is connected with no act conferring any benefit of importance on his country, and it is tarnished by several deeds of ruthless cruelty, and by the helpless self-indulgence into which he sank during his later years. On account of the unsettled nature of the country during his reign, the influence of Parliament on the affairs of the kingdom became virtually suspended; while the antipathy and contentions between the two parties of the nobles made it almost a necessity that that party which supported the king should be unable to present any strong resistance against undue exercise of authority on his part. The result was the inauguration of that form of despotism known as the New Monarchy.

EDWARD V. (1470-1483), king of England, was the son of Edward IV. and of Elizabeth, and was born in the sanctuary of Westminster Abbey, November 4, 1470. As soon as Edward IV. was dead his brother Richard, duke of Gloucester (see RICHARD III.), acting so far in accordance with the late king's wishes, secured possession of the person of the young king, and was appointed by Parliament protector of the realm. He had previously arrested Earl Rivers, the young king's uncle, and Lord Richard Gray his half-brother, and his next step was to accuse Lord Hastings, president of the royal council, of designs on his life, and to have him executed almost immediately afterwards on Tower Green. The way being now cleared for a full declaration of his designs, he caused it to be decided at a meeting of the Lords and Commons that the marriage of Edward IV. had been invalid on account of the existence of a precontract; and, receiving a petition to act in accordance with this decision and assume the crown, he after a very slight reluctance consented to do Edward V. and his brother were confined in the Tower. Shortly after it was known that they were dead, but though it was the general conviction that they had been murdered, it was not till twenty years afterwards that the manner of their death was discovered. Brackenbury, the constable of the Tower, had refused to obey the command of Richard to put the young princes to death, but complied with a warrant ordering him to give up the keys of the Tower for one night to Sir James Tyrrel, who had agreed to provide for the accomplishment of the infamous He gave admittance to two assassins hired by himself, who smothered the two youths under pillows while they were asleep.

So.

act.

For Edwards IV. and V. see Green's Short History of the English People, the Houses of Lancaster and York, by James Gairdner, and "König Richard III." in Pauli's Aufsatze zur Englischen Geschichic.

EDWARD VI. (1537-1553), king of England, was the son of Henry VIII. and of Jane Seymour, and was born at Hampton Court, 12th October 1537. "Till he came to six years old," he says in his journal, "he was brought up among the women." He was then transferred to the direction of several masters, who instructed him in Latin, Greek, French, philosophy, and divinity. In his tenth year he was created prince of Wales and duke of Cornwall, and very shortly afterwards he succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, 28th January 1547. The will of Henry, for the protection of the young king, had named merely a council of regency, but that council immediately chose Edward, earl of Hertford, as protector, and on the 16th February ordered that he should be created duke of Somerset. The leanings of the protector were strongly Protestant, and he inaugurated his protectorate by the repeal of various Acts whose tendency was to support the waning influence of the Church of Rome, and by additional

legislation in favour of Reformation principles. Though England was in a somewhat unsettled state, this did not prevent him from planning an expedition against Scotland, on account of that power refusing to fulfil a former treaty by which a marriage had been agreed upon between Mary Queen of Scots and Edward. He defeated the Scots at the battle of Pinkie Cleugh, September 10, 1547, and next year captured Haddington; but, on account of growing dissensions at home, he was compelled to give up all further attempts against Scottish independence. His brother, who had been created Lord Seymour of Sudeley and made lord admiral of England, was suspected of being at the head of a plot to overturn his authority, and with something of bravado admitted as much as was sufficient to criminate himself, although he refused to answer in regard to the more serious charges. In the House of Lords a bill was framed against him which passed the House of Commons almost unanimously, and, it being assented to by the king shortly afterwards, he was executed on Tower Hill, March 20, 1549. In the following summer the distress consequent on the depreciation of the currency and the wasteful expenditure of the court awakened a general discontent, which in different parts of the kingdom broke out into open insurrection. The protector, instead of repressing the rebellion by vigorous measures, gave considerable concessions to the demands of the populace, his sympathy with whom he openly admitted. By such an avowal he necessarily alienated the nobility, and they speedily planned his overthrow. The council, headed by Dudley, earl of Warwick, declared against him, deposed him, and imprisoned him in the Tower, October 14, 1549. He regained his freedom shortly afterwards, but a plot which he was concocting for the overthrow of Warwick having prematurely come to light, he was again arrested in 1551, and being convicted of high treason, he was executed on Tower Hill, January 22, 1552. The king, who, except where his religious convictions were concerned, was a mere puppet in the hands of the faction which at any time was paramount, yielded his assent to the execution, apparently without any feelings of compunction. Warwick, some time before this created duke of Northumberland, now exercised absolute sway over the affairs of the kingdom, but he was hated by the populace, and distrusted even by the friends who had raised him to power. He found it necessary, therefore, to take further steps to guarantee the stability of his authority. The king was dying rapidly of consumption, and his sister Mary being heir to the throne, Northumberland could not hide from himself the probability that his own overthrow would follow her accession. He therefore took advantage of the king's strong religious prejudices to persuade him to make a will, excluding Mary and Elizabeth from the succession to the throne on the ground of their illegitimacy, and nominating as his successor Lady Jane Grey, who was married to the duke's eldest son. The arbitrary urgency of Northumberland and the religious obstinacy of Edward prevailed over the strong objections of the judges, and letters patent being drawn out in accordance with the king's wishes, passed under the Great Seal, and were signed by the chief nobles, including, although only after repeated endeavours to alter Edward's determination, Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury. Edward died July 4, 1553. There were some suspicions that his death had been hastened by Northumberland, but although his malady showed at last some symptoms of poisoning, it is now believed that these were caused by accidental administrations of over-doses of mineral medicine. The early age at which Edward VI. died makes it impossible to form a confident estimate of his character and abilities. The exceptional talent which he manifested in certain respects may have been due largely to the

precocity caused by disease. He was undoubtedly highly accomplished, but there is some reason for suspecting that he was defective in force of character, and that he was too much of a recluse to have become a successful ruler. His own writings show that he was fully aware of the abuses which had crept into the administration of affairs, and that he was conscientiously desirous that they should be remedied; but they leave it uncertain whether he had the practical sagacity to discern the true causes of these evils, and whether he had sufficient energy to remedy them even had he known the proper remedies.

The Writings of Ed-card VI. (including his Journal), edited with Historical Notes and a Biographical Memoir by John Gough Nichols, have been printed in two vols. by the Roxburgh Club (London, 1857). See also Hayward's Life of Edward VI. and Froude's History of England, vols. ív. and v.

EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE (1330-1376), son of Edward III. of England, and of Philippa, was born at Woodstock, June 15, 1330. In 1337 he was created duke of Cornwall. He was appointed guardian of the kingdom during the king's absences in France in 1338, 1340, and 1342, and on his return in 1343 was created prince of Wales. In 1346 he accompanied his father's fourth expedition against France, when the division led by him bore the chief brunt in the battle of Crécy. In 1350 ho shared with his father the glory of defeating the Spanish fleet at the battle of "L'Espagnols-sur-Mer." In 1355 he commanded the principal of the three armies raised by the English for the invasion of France, and landing at Bordeaux captured and plundered the chief of its southern towns and fortresses. In the year following he gained the great victory of Poitiers, and took King John prisoner; and returning to England in 1357, he entered London in triumphant procession, accompanied by his illustrious captive. During the pause of arms which followed the treaty of Bretigny he was married to his cousin Joan, commonly called the Fair Maid of Kent, of whom he was the third husband. This event took place in 1361. Shortly after, he was created duke of Aquitaine, and he set sail for his new dominions in February 1363. Here his life was spent in comparative quietude until Pedro, the deposed monarch of Castile, sought his assistance to remount the Spanish throne. Trusting to Pedro's promises to defray the cost of the expedition, the Black Prince agreed to his request. He marched across the Pyrenees, defeated Don Henry with great slaughter at the battle of Navarette, and two days afterwards, along with Don Pedro, entered Bruges in triumph. Don Pedro, however, speedily forgot the promise of payment which his distresses had induced him to make, and after the Black Prince had waited some months in vain for its fulfilment, he was compelled to return to his duchy, having lost four-fifths of his army by sickness alone. To defray his expenses he found it necessary to impose on Aquitaine a hearth tax, and the Gascon lords having complained to the king of France, he was summoned in 1369 to Paris to answer the complaint. He replied that he was willing and ready to come, but it would be with "helm on head, and with 60,000 men." War was consequently again declared between England and France. Two simultaneous invasions of English territory were planned by the French-the one under the duke of Anjou, the other under the duke of Berri. The latter laid siege to Limoges, which by the treachery of its bishop basely surrendered. Enraged almost to madness, the prince swore by the "soul of his father" that he would recover the city, and after a month's siege fulfilled his oath. Surprising the garrison by the springing of a mine, he carried the city by assault, and massacred without mercy every man, woman, and child found within its walls. This terrible act of cruelty, attributable, it is

only charitable to suppose, partly to the irritation of ill health, and possibly to chagrin arising from the presentiment that the English power in France was now on the wane, is the one blot on his fair fame. It closed also his military career, for he was compelled in 1371, by the advice of his physicians, to return to England. From this time his constitution was utterly broken, but he lingered on to witness the loss of his duchy to England, and also to originate the measures of the "Good Parliament," although his death prevented their completion. He died at Westminster, 8th June 1376. He was buried at Canterbury Cathedral, where his mailed effigy may still be seen.

See Longman's Life and Times of Edward III.; Edward III. by Rev. W. Warburton, M.A.; Pauli's Aufsätze zur Englischen Geschichte (Edward, Der Schwarze Prinz), Leipsic, 1869; and Creighton's Edward the Black Prince.

EDWARDES, SIR HERBERT BENJAMIN (1819-1868), major-general in the East Indian army, one of the noblest names on the roll of the soldier-statesmen of the British Indian empire, was born at Frodesley, in Shropshire, November 12, 1819. The family was of high standing. Sir Herbert's father was Benjamin Edwardes, rector of Frodesley, and his grandfather Sir John Edwardes, baronet, eighth holder of the title, which was conferred on one of his ancestors by Charles I. in 1644. After receiving his early education at a private school, he was sent to King's College, London, to complete his studies. Through the influence of his uncle, Sir Henry Edwardes, he was nominated in 1840 to a cadetship in the East India Company; and on his arrival in India, at the beginning of 1841, he was posted as ensign in the First Bengal Fusileers. He remained with this regiment about five years, and during this period gave proof of that "great capacity for taking pains" which is the characteristic of genius. He mastered the lessons of his profession, obtained a good knowledge of Hindustani, Hindi, and Persian, and attracted attention by the political and literary ability displayed in a series of letters which appeared in the Delhi Gazette. In November 1845, on the breaking out of the first Sikh war, Edwardes was appointed aide-de-camp to Sir Hugh (afterwards Viscount) Gough, then commanderin-chief in India. On the 18th of the following month he served at the battle of Moodkee, and was severely wounded. He soon recovered sufficiently to resume his duties, and fought by the side of his chief at the decisive battle of Sobraon (February 10, 1846), which closed the war. He was soon afterwards appointed third assistant to the commissioners of the Trans-Sutlej Territory; and in January 1847 was named first assistant to Sir Henry Lawrence, the resident at Lahore. Lawrence became the great exemplar of the young hero, who looked up to him with the affectionate reverence of a disciple and a son, and in later years was accustomed to attribute to the influence of this "father of his public life" whatever of great or good he had himself achieved. He took part with Lawrence in the suppression of a religious disturbance at Lahore in the spring of 1846, and soon afterwards assisted him in reducing, by a rapid movement to Jummoo, the conspirator Imaum-ud-din. In the following year a more difficult task was assigned him,-the conduct of an expedition to Bunnoo, a tributary Afghan district, in which the people would not tolerate the presence of a collector, and the revenue had consequently fallen into arrear. By his rare tact and fertility of resource, Edwardes succeeding in completely conquering the wild tribes of the valley without firing a shot, a victory which he afterwards looked back upon with more satisfaction than upon other victories which brought him more renown. His fiscal arrangements were such as to obviate all difficulty of collection for the future. In the

|

spring of 1848, in consequence of the murder of Mr Vans Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson at Mooltan, by order of the Dewan Moolraj, and of the raising of the standard of revolt by the latter, Lieutenant Edwardes was authorized to march against him. He set out immediately with a small force, occupied Leia on the left bank of the Indus, was joined by Colonel Cortlandt, and, although he could not attack Mooltan, held the enemy at bay and gave a check at the critical moment to their projects. He won a great victory over a greatly superior Sikh force at Kineyree (June 18), and received in acknowledgment of his services the local rank of major. In the course of the operations which followed near Mooltan, Edwardes lost his right hand, by the explosion of a pistol in his belt. On the arrival of a large force under General Whish the siege of Mooltan was formed, but was suspended for several months in consequence of the desertion of Shere Singh with his army and artillery. Edwardes distinguished himself by the part he took in the final operations, begun in December, which ended with the capture of the city, January 4, 1849 For his services he received the thanks of both houses of parliament, was promoted major by brevet, and created C.B. by special statute of the order. The directors of the East India Company conferred on him a gold medal and a good service pension of £100 per annum. After the conclusion of peace Major Edwardes came to England for the benefit of his health, married during his stay there, and wrote and published his fascinating account of the scenes in which he had been engaged, under the title of A Year on the Punjab Frontier in 1848-1849. His countrymen gave him fitting welcome, and the university of Oxford conferred on him the degree of D.C.L. In 1851 he returned to India and resumed his civil duties in the Punjab under Sir Henry Lawrence. In November 1853, he was entrusted with the responsible post of commissioner of the Peshawur frontier, and this he held when the Mutiny or Sepoy War of 1857 broke out. It was a position of enormous difficulty, and momentous consequences were involved in the way the crisis might be met. Edwardes rose to the height of the occasion. He saw as if by inspiration the facts and the need, and by the prompt measures which he adopted he rendered a service of incalculable importance, by effecting a reconciliation with Afghanistan, and securing the neutrality of the Amir and the tribes during the war. So effective was his procedure for the safety of the frontier that he was able to raise a large force in the Funjab and send it to co-operate in the siege and capture of Delhi. In 1859 Edwardes once more came to England, his health so greatly impaired by the continual strain of arduous work that it was doubtful whether he could ever return to India. During his stay he was created K.C.B., with the rank of brevet colonel; and the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the university of Cambridge. Early in 1862 he again sailed for India, and was appointed commissioner of Ambala and agent for the Cis-Sutlej states. He had been offered the governorship of the Punjab, but on the ground of failing health had declined it. In February 1865, he was compelled finally to 1esign his post and return to England. A second good service pension was at once conferred on him; in May 1866, he was created K.C. of the Star of India, and early in 1868 was promoted majorgeneral in the East Indian army. It was known that he had been for some time engaged on a life of Sir Henry Lawrence, and high expectations were formed of the work; but he did not live to complete it. He died in London, December 23, 1868. Sir Herbert Edwardes, great in council and great in war, was singularly beloved by personal friends, and was generous and unselfish to a high degree. He was also a man of deep religious convictions,

« EelmineJätka »