hereby withdraw the 9 fealty and homage sworn to you. I no longer am bound in faith to you, and I 10 deprive you of all royal power and dignity. We claim and hold nothing from you as king; and in all time to come declare you to be a mere private person."

Severn shall re-echo with affright

The shrieks of death, through "Berkeley's roof that ring,

Shrieks of an 12 agonizing king!*

* Gray.

One morning the castle gates were thrown open, and the people from the country round were invited to see the dead monarch. It was said that he had

TOMB OF EDWARD II., GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

died suddenly in the night, but no one believed the story. The poor man, more weak than wicked, had been murdered.

6

1 Indolent, fond of idleness. 2 burn, a brook. 3 gilly, a servant. • Kenilworth, near Warwick. 5 captive, a prisoner. depose, to put off the throne. 7 spokesman, one who speaks on behalf of others. 8 authorize, to give authority or power to. 9 fealty, faith. 10 deprive, to take away from. 11 Berkeley, a town in Gloucestershire, near the mouth of the Severn. Edward had been removed thither. 12 agonizing, suffering very great pain.

EDWARD III. was not fifteen when he began to reign, but he was nineteen before he took the government into his own hands. Compared with 1his father he seems a great ruler, but alike as soldier and lawgiver he falls far short of his grandfather.

3

Anxious to gain power and glory he entered willingly upon a war with France. The causes that led to the war were trifling,—indeed, there need have been no fighting had the sovereigns of the two countries been just and reasonable. But they were both disposed to quarrel, and therefore had no difficulty in finding excuses for quarrelling.

The finest wool in the world was grown in England, whereas the chief seat of the woollen

manufacture was in 4 Flanders. Hence there was a great trade between the two countries. Philip VI. of France wanted to interfere with this trade. He also wanted to get hold of 5 Guienne, which was all that was left to the English of the French

dominions of Henry II. Edward, on the other hand, claimed to be the rightful king of France, though his claim was worthless, and probably only made as a pretext for fighting.

6

for a hundred years. The English, fighting against 7 desperate odds, won several famous victories, but in the end they gained nothing whatsoever; on the contrary, they lost even that part of France which they held at the beginning. The lives cut short and the treasure spent were absolutely thrown away. The first great battle was fought at sea, off Sluys,

ENGLAND

Southampton

8

Dover

Strait of
Dover

9

Abbeville

in 1340. A French fleet of 190 ships was drawn up across the mouth of the harbour. As Edward's vessels bore down upon them his archers let fly such a terrible shower of arrows that the 10 Genoese bowmen in the service of Philip were driven from the decks. The English, when they got close enough, boarded the enemy's ships and a fierce