married Matilda, a Saxon princess, and thus united the Saxon and Norman lines. Matilda was the daughter of Margaret, the sister of Edgar Atheling (grandson of Edmund Ironside), and of Malcolm, King of Scotland. Her Saxon name was Edith, but to please the Normans, her name was changed to Maud or Matilda.

Henry sat on the throne for nearly forty years, but nothing very remarkable took place during his reign. In the early part he was constantly at war with his elder brother, Robert Duke of Normandy, who again invaded England in an attempt to obtain the English throne. His army, and that of King Henry, lay in sight of each other for some days, but peace was made between them by the influence of Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was agreed that Robert should keep possession of Normandy, and Henry remain king of England. But Henry was very ambitious, and soon found a pretext for invading Normandy. He gained a victory over his brother, took him prisoner, and carried him off to England. Here he kept him in prison in Cardiff Castle for nearly thirty years; and as a chronicler of the time says, "Nor was he liberated till the day of his death." This victory over Robert gave the King of England undisputed possession of Normandy.

Reign of Stephen.

A. D. 1135 to A. D. 1155.

Henry was succeeded by Stephen, son of Adela, Reign of the fourth daughter of William the Conqueror. He A.D. 1135.

Stephen,

The Norman Barons

Saxons.

name.

people.

is usually called an usurper, but the order of succession to the throne was not well settled in those days, and therefore it is hardly fair thus to brand his He did only what others of our kings did in those times without being branded as usurpers. The rightful possessor of the crown, as we should now think, was Matilda, the daughter of the late king; and Stephen's whole reign was occupied by contests for the throne with her and her uncle David, king of Scotland, who supported her claims. In order to gain adherents to his cause, Stephen was obliged to make many concessions to the Norman barons. They extorted leave to fortify their castles, oppress the which they filled with their turbulent soldiers, and greatly oppressed the people. An old chronicler says: "They filled the castles with devils and evil men. They seized those whom they supposed to have any goods, men and labouring women, and threw them into prison, for their gold and silver, inflicting on them unutterable tortures. Some they hanged up by their feet, and smoked with foul smoke; some by the thumbs, or by the beard, and hung coats of mail on their feet. This lasted the nineteen years that Stephen was king, and it grew continually worse and worse." These are the words of a writer of those days, and they give us a striking picture of the ferocity of the times. But these struggles between the Norman barons and the Saxon serfs helped to lay the foundation of the liberty and freedom we now enjoy.

Geoffrey Plantagenet.

I must tell you the name of the husband of Matilda, who fought for the crown with Stephen, as he was the founder of a long line of English kings. It was Geoffrey Plantagenet, the ancestor of the

Plantagenet race, who sat on the throne of England for 300 years.

North

Stephen was at first successful in his defence of Battle of his throne, and he gained a great victory over allerton, David and Matilda at Northallerton, in Yorkshire. A.D. 1138. This was called the Battle of the Standard, from the English carrying a high cross, erected on waggon, as a military ensign. Stephen's success was not lasting, as he himself was not long afterwards taken prisoner; but, on Matilda's brother being captured, she consented to release Stephen in exchange for him. England was now invaded by

English Standard at the Battle of Northallerton, A.D. 1138.

Matilda's son Henry, who gained a victory over Stephen, and he was thus enabled to make an agreement with Stephen and his friends, that although Stephen should be permitted to remain unmolested on his throne for the rest of his life, yet that the crown should be placed on his own head at Stephen's Stephen's death.

death,

A. D. 1155.

Henry the
Second,

A. D. 1155.

The first of the

Shortly after this arrangement Stephen died.

Reign of Henry the Second.

A. D. 1155 to A. D. 1189.

Stephen was succeeded by Henry the Second, son, as I have mentioned, of his cousin Matilda and of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou.

You will

recollect the circumstances attending the accession

of Henry the Second, if you keep him in your mind Plantaas Henry Plantagenet, and as the first of the Planta- genets. genets. The name Plantagenet is derived from the Latin name of the broom plant, Genista, and Plantagenet means the plant Genista, or broom. Henry's father, Geoffrey, took this name because he usually wore a sprig of this plant in his helmet.

Henry was not only King of England, but he possessed nearly one third of France. From his mother he inherited Normandy, from his father Anjou, and with his wife Eleanor, the divorced wife of Louis the Seventh of France, he received Aquitaine.

Pope.

Henry's reign was memorable for his contests with Struggles the Pope. The murder of Thomas à Becket, Arch- with the bishop of Canterbury, sprang from those disputes. It was a struggle between the Pope and the King of England to decide which was the strongest, temporal power, that is, the power of the state, or the ecclesiastical power, - that is, the power of the church. The struggle began in this way.

England in those days was a Roman Catholic country; and the Pope claimed authority over the kings, but more especially over all the bishops and clergymen in every country. The English clergy, supported by the Pope, refused to be judged by the laws of the land, and demanded that none should have power over them but their bishops and superiors in the church. Since the Reformation, which took place in the reign of Henry VIII., the Pope has had no power in this country, and the clergy have devoted themselves to teaching religion to the people; and they now not only devote themselves to this, but they do all in their power to promote the education