Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/521

 M The Hundred Years War 485 The gale of the castle was never opened, nor the draw- bridge let down, before eight o'clock in the morning, at which time the officers were let in, and the captains ordered their guards to their several posts, with pickets of archers in the middle of the court, as in a town upon the frontiers that is closely guarded : nor was any person admitted to enter except by the wicket, and with the king's knowledge, unless it were the steward of his household and such persons as were not admitted into the royal presence. Is it possible then to keep a prince (with any regard to his quality) in a closer prison than he kept himself? The cages which were made for other people were about eight feet square ; and he (though so great a monarch) had but a small court of the castle to walk in, and seldom made use of that, but generally kept himself in the gallery, out of which he went into the chambers on his way to mass, but never passed through the court. Who can deny that he was a sufferer as well as his neighbors, considering how he was locked up and guarded, afraid of his own children and rela- tions, and changing every day those very servants whom he had brought up and advanced ; and though they owed all their preferment to him, yet he durst not trust any of them, but shut himself up in those strange chains and enclosures. If the place where he confined himself was larger than a common prison, he also was much greater than common prisoners. BIBLIOGRAPHY Conquest of Wales : GREEN, Short History, pp. 161-169. A. Refer- Scottish Wars : CHEYNEY, Short History of England, pp. 220-226. tnces. France during the Hundred Years' War : ADAMS, Growth of the French Nation, Chapter IX, pp. 108-135; LODGE, Chapter IV, pp. 66-97. Black Death and Peasants' Rebellion: CHEYNEY, Industrial and Economic History, pp. 96-134; Short History, pp. 243-250; Statutes of Laborers, in Translations and Reprints, Vol. II, No. 5. Constitutional Progress in England : ADAMS, Civilization, pp. 347-363- Wars of the Roses : GREEN, Chapter VI, sect. 2.