15. Children of Edward IV., and descendants of younger daughters PAGE 289 16. Some descendants of Henry VII., and Elizabeth of York. 290 17. Descendants of Henry VII. on Edward VI.'s death 291 18. Descent of Philip II. of Spain and Rannucio Farnese from Philippa Plantagenet. 19. Heirship of Charles, Earl of Westmoreland, to Elizabeth Plantagenet 20. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex' relationship to Queen Elizabeth 21. Descent of James I. from the eldest daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon 292 293 294 295 22. Descent of Jerome Napoleon's issue from George II. 23. Heirship of the Duke of Buckingham to Lady Catharine Grey 296 297 24. Heirship of Marie Therèse of Este, to Charles I. 298 25. The Kings of England from Egbert to her present Majesty. 299 THE SUCCESSION ΤΟ THE ENGLISH CROWN. I PROPOSE to put together, with lines taken from Subject. familiar stores, a sketch of the history of the succession to the English Crown from the reign of Egbert to the present time, and of the controversies touching it, at the close of which the' succession at length settled down on its present basis, strictly hereditary, yet resting not on divine right but on the national will expressed on critical occasions. The history combines greater varieties of incident and principle than that of the devolution of any other crown in Europe. with I begin with Egbert because he was the first of Beginning Anglo-Saxon Princes who united under his sway Egbert, a portion of England considerable enough to be A.D. 828. regarded as a nucleus of the Crown of England, which expanded first into that of Great Britain and finally into that of the United kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. And on this account, B The house though after Egbert's death the kingdom he ruled was more than once partitioned, yet his reign may fairly be taken as the beginning of the English Empire. THE HOUSE OF CERDIC FROM EGBERT Egbert was a descendant of Cerdic, first King of of Cerdic. Wessex, and from Egbert to Victoria the blood of Cerdic has run in the veins of every English Sovereign except probably Harold, son of Godwin, perhaps Sweyn and Canute, and Canute's sons, and certainly William the Conqueror. Principle of succes sion in it. Alfred the Great, A.D. 871. From the beginning (in 828) of the sway of Egbert over the several kingdoms of the Heptarchy to the accession in 1066 of William the Conqueror, the succession was generally confined to the descendants of Cerdic, in the unbroken male line. It was, however, by no means hereditary in the modern sense. The great council of the nation chose from the royal family the member who appeared to it most fitted by age and character for a post which the free genius of the English considered a public trust and not a private possession. To this generous conception of the kingly office we owe the reign of Alfred the Great, the monarch who perhaps, out of all those who have borne the title of "Great," has deserved it best. In the memorable year 871, he was called to the throne by the Wittenagemôt in preference to the children of his brothers Ethelbert and Ethelred. Alfred was the youngest of the four sons of Ethelwulf, son of Egbert. After a glorious reign of nearly thirty years, he was succeeded by Edward the Elder, his son, and according to Edward the modern notions his heir. But on Edward's death in 924, his son, Alfred's favourite grandson, the splendid Athelstan, who is generally considered to Athelstan, have been illegitimate, obtained the suffrages of the nation, to the exclusion of Edward's younger but certainly legitimate children. Athelstan left the crown de Elder, A.D. 901, A.D. 924. successors. Edred, A.D. 955. The choice, however, was not undisputed on Athelstan's behalf of Edward's other issue. no descendant, and on his death volved on his brother Edmund. To Edmund Edmund, succeeded his brother Edred, to the exclusion of A.D. 940. Edmund's young children, and in turn Edred's 946. infant children were postponed to Edwy, son of Edwy, A.D. Edmund. Edwy was that youthful victim of St. Dunstan, whose hapless fate has been told by Sir Henry Taylor in his tragedy of Edwin the Fair. He was succeeded by his brother Edgar, Edgar, A.D. the licentious favourite of the monkish party of the Church. Edgar's eldest son, Edward "the Edward the Martyr," was murdered by his stepmother Martyr, Elfreda at Corfe Castle, and was succeeded by Ethelred Elfreda's son, Ethelred "the Unready." Ethelred, the Unafter an inglorious reign of nearly thirty years, 978. 959. A.D. 975. ready, A.D. Edmund A.D. 1016. Danish kings. 1013. Dane. was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Edmund Ironside. THE DANISH KINGS. From the death of Edgar to the accession of Edmund, the crown had devolved, if we disregard Sweyn the the momentary dominion of Sweyn, King of Dane, A.D. Denmark, according to modern rules, until Canute Canute the the Dane, son of Sweyn and a descendant, according to some authorities, through Thyra daughter of Edward the Elder, of the house of Cerdic, gained with the sword half of the realm from Death of Edmund Ironside, and on the death of Edmund, Edmund in the November of 1016, the whole of it. Ironside A.D. 1016, Edmund Ironside was the son of Ethelred “the November 30. Unready," by his first marriage. Ethelred had Ethelred's taken for his second wife, Emma, sister of Richard I., and family. Duke of Normandy, whose ambitious house thus became nearly allied to the English royal family, without, however, sharing its blood. By Emma, Ethelred had, besides Alfred, Edward the Confessor, worthy son of the Unready. Soon Canute's after the death of Edmund Ironside, Canute marriage married Ethelred's widow, Emma, and by this marriage and the promise of leaving the crown of mise as to England to her children by himself, averted Duke the Crown. Richard's threatened intervention in favour of the children of Ethelred and Emma. Notwithstanding this promise, Canute by his will gave the throne to second wife with Emma. His pro His breach of it. |