Then the Earl of Strigul, who was called Strongbow, and some other noblemen, gathered all their followers together, and went to Ireland to help Dermot; and, after a great deal of fighting, they conquered that part of Ireland opposite to England, and drove the people over to the other side; just as the English had driven the Britons to Wales. From that time Ireland has always been under the same king with England. You remember, I am sure, that one part of Britain is called Scotland. Now, at the time I am writing about, Scotland had kings of its own, and was more like England than any other country; but it was much poorer, and the people were ruder and wilder. The king of Scotland, named William the Lion, having heard that King Henry was in Normandy, thought it would be a good opportunity to take an army into England, to rob the towns and carry away the corn and cattle; and so he did. But several of the noblemen and bishops got together a number of English soldiers and marched to the North, and fought King William and took him prisoner. William was sent to London, and King Henry would not set him free till he had promised that, for the future, the kings of Scotland should be only under-kings to the kings of England; and from that time the kings of England always said Scotland was theirs; but it was long before England and Scotland became one kingdom. I do not think this was quite good for England, though the English drove the Scots home again, because it made many quarrels and wars between England and Scotland. As I have now mentioned the best part of Henry the Second’s reign, we must end our long chapter. CHAPTER XIX. How the Popes wanted to be masters in England; how that led to the murder of Becket; how Queen Eleanor made her sons rebel against their father; why Henry the Second was called Plantagenet. It is a pity that we must think of the bad things belonging to Henry’s reign. I dare say you remember the chapter in which I told you how the Angles and Saxons became Christians, and that a bishop of Rome sent Augustine and some companions to teach the people. Now the bishops of Rome called themselves popes, to distinguish themselves from other bishops; and, as most of the good men who taught the different nations to be Christians had been sent from Rome, the popes said they ought to be chief of all the bishops and clergymen in every country. This might have been right, perhaps, if they had only wanted to know that everybody was well taught. But they said that the clergymen were their servants, and that neither the kings nor judges of any country should punish them, or do them good, without the pope’s leave. This was foolish and wrong. Although clergymen are in general good men, because they are always reading and studying what is good, yet some of them are as wicked as other men, and ought to be judged and punished for their wickedness in the same manner. And so King Henry thought.