foolish lad, and took it into his head that because
he had been crowned his father's reign was at an end. In =1173= he
fled for support to his father-in-law and persuaded him to take up his
cause. "Your master," said Louis to the ambassadors of the father, "is
king no longer. Here stands the king of the English." These words were
the signal for a general attack on the elder king. Headed by Louis,
his neighbours and discontented subjects took arms against him, and it
was not till September that he prevailed over them. In July the great
English barons of the north and centre rose in insurrection, and
William the Lion, king of the Scots, joined them. De Lucy, the
Justiciar, stood up for Henry; but, though he gained ground, the war
was still raging in the following year, =1174=. In the spring of that
year the rebels were gaining the upper hand, and the younger Henry was
preparing to come to their help. In July the elder Henry landed in
England. For the first and only time in his life he brought to England
the mercenaries who were paid with the scutage money. At Canterbury he
visited the tomb of Thomas, now acknowledged as a martyr, spent the
whole night in prayer and tears, and on the next morning was, at his
own request, scourged by the monks as a token of his penitence. That
night he was awakened by a messenger with good news. Ranulf de
Glanvile had won for him a great victory at Alnwick, had dispersed the
barons' host, and had taken prisoner the Scottish king. About the same
time the fleet which was to bring his son over was dispersed by a
storm. Within a few weeks the whole rebellion was at an end. It was
the last time that the barons ventured to strive with the king till
the time came when they had the people and the Church on their side.
William the Lion was carried to Normandy, where, by the treaty of
Falaise, he acknowledged himself the vassal of the king of England for
the whole of Scotland.

[Illustration: Military and civil costume of the latter part of the
twelfth century.]

23. =The Assize of Arms. 1181.=--In September =1174= there was a
general peace. In =1181= Henry issued the Assize of Arms, organising
the old fyrd in a more serviceable way. Every English freeman was
bound by it to find arms of a kind suitable to his property, that he
might be ready to defend the realm against rebels or invaders. The
Assize of Arms is the strongest possible evidence as to the real
nature of Henry's government. He had long