Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/489

 England in the Middle Ages 4 1 7 Henry divided his French possessions among his three sons, Quarrels in Geoffrey, Richard, and John ; but father and sons were engaged family ^ in constant disputes with one another, as none of them were easy people to get along with. Philip Augustus took advantage of these constant quarrels of the brothers among themselves and with their father. These quarrels were most fortunate for the French king, for had the Plantagenets held together they might have annihilated the royal house of France, whose narrow dominions their own possessions closed in on the west and south. So long as Henry H lived there was little chance of expelling Richard the , -11 • r 1 • Lion- Hearted the Plantagenets from France ; but with the accession ot his reckless son, Richard the Lion-Heai/ted, the prospects of the French king brightened wonderfully. Richard is one of the most famous of medieval knights, but he was a very poor ruler. He left his kingdom to take care of itself while he went upon a crusade to the Holy Land (see below, p. 47 1). He persuaded Philip Augustus to join him ; but Richard was too overbearing and masterful, and Philip too ambitious, to make it possible for them to agree for long. The king of France, who was physi- cally delicate, was taken ill on the way and was glad of the excuse to return home and brew trouble for his powerful vassal. When Richard himself returned, after several years of romantic but fruitless adventure, he found himself involved in a war with Philip Augustus, in the midst of which he died. Richard's younger brother John, who enjoys the reputation John loses ,, ^ ^ ,. , , . 1., the French of being the most despicable of English kings, speedily gave possessions Philip a good excuse for seizing a great part of the Plantagenet lands. John was suspected of conniving at the brutal murder of his nephew Arthur (the son of Geoffrey^). He was also guilty of the less serious offense of carrying off and marrying a lady betrothed to one of his own vassals. Philip Augustus, as John's suzerain, summoned him to appear at the French court to answer the latter charge. Upon John's refusal to appear or to do 1 Geoffrey, John's next older brother, who would naturally have succeeded Richard, died in 1186. of his house