Richard II

Three Richards.--Richard the Crusader.--King John.--Character of the kings and nobles of those days.--Origin and nature of their power.--Natural rights of man in respect to the fruits of the earth.--Beneficial results of royal rule.--The power of kings and nobles was restricted.--Disputes about the right of succession.--Case of young Arthur.--The King of France becomes his ally.--Map showing the situation of Normandy.--Arthur is defeated and made prisoner.--John attempts to induce Arthur to abdicate.--Account of the assassination of Arthur.--Various accounts of the mode of Arthur's death.--Uncertainty in respect to these stories.--League formed against him by his barons.--Portrait of King John.--Magna Charta.--Runny Mead.--The agreement afterward repudiated.--New wars.--New ratifications of Magna Charta.--Cruelties and oppressions practiced upon the Jews.--Extract from the old chronicles.--Absurd accusations.--The story of the crucified child.--John Lexinton.--Confessions extorted by torture.--Injustice and cruelty of the practice.--Anecdotes of the nobles and the king.

There have been three monarchs of the name of Richard upon the English throne.

Richard I. is known and celebrated in history as Richard the Crusader. He was the sovereign ruler not only of England, but of all the Norman part of France, and from both of his dominions he raised a vast army, and went with it to the Holy Land, where he fought many years against the Saracens with a view of rescuing Jerusalem and the other holy places there from the dominion of unbelievers. He met with a great many remarkable adventures in going to the Holy Land, and with still more remarkable ones on his return home, all of which are fully related in the volume of this series entitled King Richard I.

Richard II. did not succeed Richard I. immediately. Several reigns intervened. The monarch who immediately succeeded Richard I. was John. John was Richard's brother, and had been left in command, in England, as regent, during the king's absence in the Holy Land.

After John came Henry III. and the three Edwards; and when the third Edward died, his son Richard II. was heir to the throne. He was, however, too young at that time to reign, for he was only ten years old.

The kings in these days were wild and turbulent men, always engaged in wars with each other and with their nobles, while all the industrial classes were greatly depressed. The nobles lived in strong castles in various places about the country, and owned, or claimed to own, very large estates, which the laboring men were compelled to cultivate for them. Some of these castles still remain in a habitable state, but most of them are now in ruins--and very curious objects the ruins are to see.

[Illustration: RUINS OF AN ANCIENT CASTLE.]