Little Arthur's history of EnglandCallcott, Maria, Lady
History
Little Arthur's history of England
Callcott, Maria, Lady
Great Britain -- History -- Juvenile literature
He had little foreign war to disturb him; but the Welsh and Scotch
several times made war upon the English who lived nearest to them.
There was in Henry’s days a very famous Scotch earl called James of
Douglas, and he came into the north of England and began to burn the
villages, and rob the people, until the Earl of Northumberland, whose
name was Percy, and his son, Henry Hotspur, gathered their soldiers
together, and went to fight Douglas, at a place called Holmedon, and
they beat him, and took a great many prisoners.
In those days it was the custom for everybody to do as they pleased
with the prisoners they took. A cruel man might kill them, another
might make slaves of them; one, a little kinder, might say, “If your
friends will send me some money, I will let you go;” but the kindest
of all would let them go home again without paying for it.
Now King Henry had a dispute with Earl Percy about those Scotch
prisoners, and Percy and his son were so affronted, that they
determined to make a civil war, and they were joined by several
English lords; but the person who helped them most was a Welsh
gentleman, named Owen Glendower, who was related to the old princes
of Wales.
He was very angry with King Henry the Fourth, because he thought he
behaved ill to Wales, which was his own country; besides, he had been
a friend of poor Richard the Second; and though he might have thought
it right to keep him in prison, he could not bear to think of his
having been put to death.
These reasons made him join the Percys, and they collected a very
large army to fight against King Henry. The Earl Percy’s son was
called Harry Hotspur, because he was very impatient, as well as very
brave. Indeed, he and the young Prince of Wales, who was called
Henry of Monmouth, were the two bravest young men in England. The
king’s army met the army that Percy and Owen Glendower had raised
against him near Shrewsbury, and then everybody thought a great deal
about the two young Harrys, who were both so brave and handsome.
The battle was fought, and the king gained the victory. Henry of
Monmouth behaved as bravely as the Black Prince used to do, and he
was not hurt in the battle. Harry Hotspur was equally brave, but he
was killed. Oh! civil war is a sad thing. There was one of the finest
young noblemen in England killed among Englishmen, who ought to have
agreed, and helped, and loved one another, instead of fighting.
Perhaps you will wonder why I mention the young noblemen
particularly, when so many other Englishmen were killed; and you will
wonder if it is of any use that there should be noblemen.
I think it is, and I will tell you why. The first noblemen were those
men who had been either very good in all things, or who had found out
something useful for everybody, or who had been very brave in battle,
or very wise in giving good advice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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