Hilip, furnamed the Gift of God, from the time of his birth, the Magnanimous, and the Conqueror, during his life-time, and, as if thefe had fallen fhort of his merit, ftiled Auguftus after his deceafe, was, in truth, one of the most extraordinary princes that ever fat upon this or any other throne, as giving very early marks of a great genius, and yet exceeding in the flower what he had promifed in the firft buddings of genius. He affumed the government from the time the crown was placed upon his head, though but in his fifteenth year; and though the count of Flanders is, by fome writers, ftiled regent of the kingdom, yet that was but courtesy; for notwithstanding the king took his advice, and probably did nothing without it, yet all was executed, not only by his authority, but by himfelf. He was jealous that his youth, and want of experience, might expofe him to contempt; and, therefore, the first inftance he gave of his authority was, in ordering jefters, jugglers, and buffoons, to quit his court, and he took care to be obeyed. He found the people complain loudly of the Jews, who had got into poffeffion of one-third part of the lands in his dominions; and, as on the one hand, he found they had exercised the most oppreffive ufury, and, on the other, by choofing proper patrons, were powerfully fupported by the nobility, he obliged them to quit his territories, allowing them to carry away their perfonal eftates. This chagrined the great lords, but it pleafed the people, and the king was obeyed. From this, which was a very difficult and dif

agreeable undertaking, he proceeded to another that was ftill more fo. The mercenary foldiers who had ferved his father and the king of England, being disbanded, and without means of maintaining themfelves, affembled together in great bodies, and committed most enormous outrages. They were diftinguifhed by the feveral names of Cottereaux, Brabançons, Routiers, and Taverdins, nefting themselves in different parts of the kingdom, and laying the country under contribution wherever they were. The king directed the great towns to make head against them, affifted them with his own troops, and in one action cut off nine thousand; fo that by degrees he either extirpated or expelled them all. He then directed the inhabitants of every great town, that held immediately of him, to furround it with walls, and to pave the ftreets; which, as it was expensive and troublesome, was not all relished; but, however, the king making a circuit in perfon for that purpose, it was performed. Some of the nobility, taking the advantage of his father's infirmities, had committed exceffes, more efpecially against the clergy, which the king redreffed in perfon, and by force of arms; holding his grandfather's maxim, that the royal authority was to be extended by a zeal for juftice, and by fupporting the weak against the ftrong. As thefe great things required time to accomplish, fo, as he began them early, he, until they were complete, made them the conftant objects of his attention.

The queen-mother, the cardinal of
Champagne,

5

Champagne, and the rest of the princes of her house and faction, laboured all they could, before and after the death of king Lewis, to ruin the credit of Philip, count of Flanders, with the young king, and more especially to prevent his completing his marriage with his niece Ifabel, but without effect. That count was the king's godfather, from whom he received his name, and in those times this was confidered as a kind of kindred ; befides, he had adopted the young lady as his daughter, and bestowed upon her in dowry the county of Artois, and all the country along the river Lys. When the queen, and those of her party, found this, they quitted the court, and having the young king of England with them, prevailed upon him to go over to his father to demand his protection. In the mean time, the king caufed himfelf and his queen to be crowned at the abbey of St. Denis, by the archbishop of Sens, which piqued the cardinal archbishop of Rheims extremely. Henry of England came over with his fon into Normandy, extremely well pleafed with this opportunity of interfering in the affairs of the king's family; but Philip, and the count of Flanders, marching directly towards him with a numerous army, Henry, who was unwilling to come to extremities, demanded a conference, which did great honour to the abilities of the young king; for as, on the one hand, he remained firm in the meafures he had taken, notwithstanding all the address of this wife and great prince, fo, on the other, he would not liften to the arguments ufed by the earl of Flanders, to reject abfolutely all propofitions of peace. He profeffed great duty and refpect for

his mother, offered to pafs by all that had happened, with respect to the lords of her faction, and to receive them again into his favour ; which they thought fit to accept. It was not long before the count of Flanders began to take this in a wrong light, and to form intrigues in his turn, into which, amongst the first that entered, were the cardinal of Champagne and one of the queen dowager's brothers; the duke of Burgundy alfo, though a prince of the blood, embraced the fame party, and the avowed motive to their confederacy was the young monarch's popularity. Philip, not caring to truft the nobility that ftill remained about him, raifed an army with his own money, took one of the principal fortreffes of the duke of Burgundy, and in it his fon, on which the duke demanded pardon, and the reft, following his example, fubmitted.

The death of the countefs of Flanders caufed new disturbances. She was a princefs of the royal blood, and the heiress of the count of Vermandois. The king, as the died without iffue, was for annexing her eftates to the crown, but the count pretended that the late king had made him a grant of this fucceffion, which Philip had confirmed: the king owned this, but affirmed the grant to be only for the countefs's life. However, both parties took the field; the emperor threatened to take part with the earl of Flanders, who appeared to be highly irritated, and laboured to engage the nobility to make it a common caufe, pretending the king had nothing elfe in view but to unite one fief with another. Philip preffed him fo vigorously, and his friends aflifted him fo faintly, that the count

first demanded a truce, and at length was glad to make peace, the king leaving him the towns of Perron and St. Quintin for his life, and annexing the rest of the county of Vermandois to the crown. The young king Henry of England dy1182. ing in France, expreffed, in his last moments, great regret for the continual disturbance he had given his father, which affected Henry fo much, that he appeared inconfolable for his death. The fame year he had a conference with king Philip, who infifted upon the reftitution of the town of Gifors and the Vexin, which had been given in dowry to his fifter Margaret, on her marriage with the young king. In order to gain the affection of Philip, and prevent this reftitution, the king of England did homage to him for all the lands he held in France, and at the fame time promifed, that in cafe the like dowry was given

1183. to the princess Alice, his fon

Richard, who was now become his heir apparent, should efpoufe her without any farther delay; to which Philip aflented, and the two kings parted, in all appearance well fatisfied. But this calm was of no long continuance.

This harmony did not last long. Henry had it not at all in his intention that his fon Richard fhould marry Alice, for whom he was thought to have a strong paffion himself, to which the French writers afcribe the jealoufy of queen Eleanor, and the king's keeping her as he did a prifoner for twelve years before his death. Geoffrey, duke of Bretagne, Henry's fecond fon, and by much the best of them all, quarrelled with his father, because he would not add the country of Maine to his dominions, and went there

upon, in great difcontent, to Paris, where, being thrown from his horfe at a tournament, he died of the bruifes he received; king Philip retaining under his protection his widow, his daughter Eleanor, and his pofthumous fon Arthur, with which Henry was much offended. The count of Flanders and the emperor gave the king fome disturbance, but his firmness and his good fortune foon extricated him out of these, as it had done out of former difficul ties; but on the side of the king of England he was able to procure no fatisfaction. At length, therefore, he declared war; and having taken fome places of lefs confequence, befieged Chateauroux, in which were the two princes of England, Richard and John; but they made fo good a defence, that Henry had time to come to their relief; upon which Philip raifed the fiege, and marched to give him battle. At this juncture arrived a legate from the pope, to intercede with the two kings, and to engage them to lay aside their private quarrels, and take the cross in favour of the Chriftians, from whom the famous Saladine had taken Jerufalem. Henry having folemnly promifed that, at their return from this expedition, all things fhould be adjusted to the fatisfaction of Philip, the two kings, and, moved by their example, the most of the great lords in both armies took the crofs, which, of his own free will, prince Richard had taken before.

1187.

King Philip, in order to defray the expences of fuch a war, laid heavy taxes upon the clergy, at which they murmured exceedingly, but which the king, neverthelels, caufed to be raised, and to which in thofe days they gave the name of

the

the tax of Saladine. But while the king was thus employed, prince Richard, when it was least expected, made a furious irruption into the territories of Raymond, count of Thouloufe, in pursuance of the old quarrel, which, as we obferved, Henry kept open, on purpose to afford colour for fuch incurfions. The monarch of France was no fooner informed of this than he made a diverfion in favour of count Raymond, by invading the territo. ries which Henry poffeffed in France. That monarch, with an alacrity little fuitable to his years, advanced with an army to their relief; but his fuccefs was not equal to his fpirit, and therefore demanded a conference, at which he defired, that, in ftead of Richard, the princefs Alice might efpouse his fon John, which was rejected, there being a fecret understanding between Philip and the prince of England. The pope's legate interpofed upon this, and went fo far as to threaten Philip with an excommunication; but the king told him, that he held his crown from God, and not from the pope, who had no right to prescribe how he should behave to his vaffal;

infinuating at the fame time 1188. that the legate's zeal was prompted by king Henry's gold. As for Richard, he was fo much incenf ed, that he was very near killing the legate upon the spot, and, being hindered, fhewed his refentment by doing homage to king Philip, and retiring to the French camp; fo that thefe broils, which had been fo lately appeafed, were now more inAlamed than ever.

The king, with prince Richard, as foon as they were able to affemble troops fufficient, attacked the city of Mous, which, though it was the

ftrongeft place in all Henry's French territories, was taken in the space of three days, by an accident; for the governor having given directions for burning the fuburbs, this was performed in fuch a hurry, that the flame caught the town. King Henry, who was there in perfon, escaped with difficulty, being warmly purfued by Philip and Richard. He retired to Chinon, where he determined to defend himself to the last extremity; but, before things were brought to this pafs, the count of Flanders, and other great lords, reprefented to king Philip, that they could not, with a fafe conscience, ferve him against a monarch who had taken the crofs, and thereby impede the recovery of Jerufalem, which constrained him once more to admit of a conference. The two kings difcourfing together on horfeback, were parted by a dreadful clap of thunder, which fell between them. However, they came together again, and, after three hours conversation, the terms of the peace were fettled; the places taken from the king of England were to be restored, king Philip was to have a large fum in ready money, Richard was to be crowned as his brother Henry had been, and then to espouse the princefs Alice; but this folemnity was to be deferred till their return from the Holy Land, and, in the mean time, the princefs was to be put into fuch hands as Philip fhould approve. When all was adjufted, Henry obferved to Philip, that princes had a common intereft against traitors, and infifted fo paflionately to fee the affociation, by which he had been invited to invade his dominions, that at length he did. But as soon as Henry faw his favourite fon John's name at the head of it, he flew

into

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