Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/217

A.D. 1180.] himself his vassal, and said that he committed the protection of his hereditary rights into his hands. Philip accepted his oath of fealty, and, in return, presented him with some towns conquered by the French troops from his father. Henry quitted the spot in violent agitation, and, mounting his horse, he rode to Saumur, there to make his preparations for continuing the war.

At this news of this new rupture, the Bretons, who had been quiet for two years, rose once more in revolt, and the men of Poitou declared for Richard so soon as they perceived him to be finally separated from his father. Many of the nobles and knights of Henry began to desert him, as they had done before, and the party of his son, supported by the King of France, increased in strength daily. On the other hand, the greater part of the Normans remained faithful to their sovereign, and the Pope granted Henry his assistance, causing sentence of excommunication to be declared against all the adherents of the rebellious son. But Henry was no longer young. The repeated vexations and misfortunes he had undergone—the wounds he had received from the disobedience of his children—at length produced their effect, and he resigned himself to sorrow, leaving to the legate of the Pope and to the priests the care of his defence. They sent repeated messages to Richard and to the King of France, whom they threatened with excommunication, and, at length, Philip was induced to consent to another conference, at which peace was to be arranged.



At this meeting, which took place in the year 1189, there were present, besides the two kings, Richard, John of Anagni the cardinal-legate of the Pope, and the Archbishops of Canterbury, Rheims, Bourges, and Rouen. Philip proposed the same conditions as before, and Henry again rejected them, but offered to marry Alice to John, the only one of his sons who had remained obedient to him, proposing, at the same time, to make John heir to the continental dominions of the English Crown. Richard indignantly refused these terms, and the King of France having supported him in this opposition, John of Anagni declared that his mission was to place the whole of the territories of Philip under an interdict. The young king boldly defied the legate, and Richard even drew his sword against the Pope's envoy, and would have killed him on the spot but for the interposition of those who surrounded him.

Henry was compelled to relinquish these unavailing negotiations, and to summon his troops to take the field. The French king attacked his territories in Anjou, while the Poitevins and Bretons, headed by Richard, seized the royal towns and castles in the south. The old king, whom grief and failing health had rest of all his former energy, was compelled once more to sue for peace, and offered to grant whatever terms might be demanded. Philip and Henry met, for the last time, in a plain between Tours and Azay-sur-Cher, Richard remaining at a distance, waiting the result of the interview. Philip demanded that the English king should give in his allegiance to him, and place himself at his mercy; that Alice should be committed to the care of persons appointed by Richard, until his return from the Holy Land, whither he intended to proceed immediately; that Henry should give his son the kiss of peace, in token of entire forgiveness of the past; and should pay to the King of France twenty thousand marks of silver, for the restitution of the provinces which he had conquered.

According to a contemporary historian, the two kings were talking together in the open field, when suddenly, although the sky was without a cloud, a loud clap of thunder was heard overhead, and a flash of lightning descended between them. They immediately separated in affright, and when, after a short interval, they met again a second clap, louder than the first, was heard almost; on the instant. The conference was broken off, and Henry, whose weak state of health rendered him liable to be seriously affected by any violent emotion, retired to his quarters, where the articles of the treaty reduced to writing were sent to him. Thus the historian would have us believe that Heaven itself interposed to present the dishonour of the English king, and his submission to the crown of France.

The envoys of Philip found the old king in bed, and while he lay there they began to read out to him the articles of the treaty. When they came to the part which referred to the persons engaged secretly or avowedly in the cause of Richard, the king desired to know their names, that he might at least learn who they were who had been his enemies. The first name read to him was that of his youngest son, John, whom he had so long believed to be loyal and dutiful. On hearing this name the old man was seized with a violent agitation or convulsion of the whole frame. Raising himself half up, he exclaimed, "Is it, then, true that John, the joy of my heart, the son of my love, he whom I have cherished more than all the rest, and for love of whom I have brought upon myself these troubles, has also deserted me?" Then falling back on the bed, and turning his face to the wall, he said, in words of despair, "So be it, then; let everything go as it will. I care no more for myself, nor for the world!"

Feeling that he grew rapidly worse, Henry caused himself to be conveyed to Chinon, where he arrived in a dying state. In his last moments he was heard to utter maledictions on himself as a conquered king, and to curse also the sons he was leaving behind him. The bishops and lords who surrounded him exerted themselves in