Clay Lane

The Copy Book

A Library of History and Literature in English

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655

The Battle of Lewes

The Battle of Lewes in 1263 took place just a few miles from the Battle of Hastings two centuries before it, and was arguably as important.

Henry III (r. 1216-1272) allowed extravagance and extortionate taxation to drive his noblemen to the brink of rebellion. When in 1258 he did as his father John had done, and signed the Great Charter only to break it soon after, civil war beckoned. Yet the conflict proved a blessing, for as American historian David Montgomery explains, it led to ‘government by the people.’

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Picture: © Tanya Dedyukhina, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.

656

The Provisions of Oxford

When King Henry III’s barons turned up to his council wearing full armour, he realised he had to mend his ways.

When King John died in 1216, England was in civil war. A series of cool-headed regents for John’s nine-year-old son Henry III steadied the kingdom, but when Henry took over from them in 1236 he immediately undid all their good work. His spending was so lavish (he tried to buy Sicily) and he levied such cruel taxes to fund it, that his barons longed for the days when Henry had left government to them.

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Picture: © NotFromUtrecht, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.. Source.

657

The Harrowing of Hell

Will Langland tells how after the crucifixion, the soul of Christ went down to Hades to fetch Piers the Ploughman and the rest of hopeless humanity.

In William Langland’s dream-narrative ‘The Book of Piers the Ploughman’, we have seen Jesus Christ enter Jerusalem, and seen him crucified. But Lucifer and his devils are anxious. From their fastness in Hades, surrounded by the souls of the dead, they see a distant light; they double-bar the doors and plug every chink in the mortar but closer and closer it comes, until it stands before the very gates.

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Picture: © Niki.L, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.. Source.

658

Trial and Crucifixion

In ‘Do-bet,’ the sequel to his popular ‘Vision of Piers the Ploughman,’ Will Langland dreams about the trial of Jesus Christ before Pontius Pilate, and what followed.

In William Langland’s dream-narrative ‘The Book of Piers the Ploughman’, we have seen Jesus Christ enter Jerusalem riding on an ass, but looking more to Will’s eyes like a knight entering the lists to joust on behalf of mankind. Now the Tournament begins in earnest, with Roman Governor Pontius Pilate sitting in the umpire’s chair.

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Picture: From the Vaux Passional, via the National Library of Wales and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

659

The Triumphal Entry

Will Langland, a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, dreams he is looking for his old friend Piers the Ploughman in Jerusalem just when Christ rides in on a donkey.

William Langland’s ‘Book of Piers the Ploughman’ is a late fourteenth-century dream sequence that tumbles together Christian reflection with social commentary much as John Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ would later do. In Passus 18, Will has fallen asleep during Lent, and his dream takes him confusedly to Palm Sunday, a week before Easter.

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Picture: From the Benedictional of St Athelwold, via the British Library and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.

660

On Top of the World

Maria Montessori takes some of her pupils up onto a roof terrace, and witnesses a eureka moment.

Whereas many educators in her day ran classrooms like battlegrounds between teachers and unwilling pupils, Italian doctor Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was convinced that children rejoice in learning so long as teachers do not meddle. The following anecdote appeared in a pamphlet written for the Board of Education in 1912, and shows that joy in abundance.

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