Runnymede, and there
signed the Great Charter, whose most important clauses protect the
personal liberty and property of every freeman in the kingdom by
giving security from arbitrary imprisonment and unjust exactions.

[16] "Short History of the Norman Conquest."

[17] Wassail and Drinkhail are both derived from the
Anglo-Saxon. They were the common drinking pledges of the
age. Wassail is equivalent to the phrase, "Your health,"
of the present day. Drinkhail, which literally signifies
"drink health," was the usual acknowledgment of the other
pledge. The carol from which the verses are quoted was
evidently sung by the wandering minstrels who visited the
castles of the Norman nobility at the festive season of
Christmas.

[18] Grattan.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER V.

CHRISTMAS, FROM MAGNA CHARTA TO THE END OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES.

(1215-1485.)

Soon after the disaster which overtook John's army at the Wash the
King ended his wretched career by death. He died on October 18, 1216,
in the castle of Newark on the Trent, and the old chroniclers describe
him as dying in an extremity of agony and remorse.

HENRY THE THIRD,

sometimes called "Henry of Winchester," came to the throne in
troublous times, before he was ten years of age. The tyranny of his
father had alienated every class of his subjects, and the barons who
had obtained Magna Charta from King John had called in Louis of
France. But through the conciliatory measures of the Regent Pembroke
towards the barons, and the strong support which the Roman Church gave
the boy-king (whose father had meanly done homage to the Pope), the
foreigners were expelled, and the opposition of the barons was
suppressed for a time, though in later years they again struggled with
the crown for supremacy of power. When Henry had grown to manhood and
the responsibility of government rested upon his own shoulders, he
still exulted in the protection of the Holy See, which found in him a
subservient vassal. He fasted during Lent, but feasted right royally
both at Christmas and Easter. In 1234 he kept a grand Christmas in the
Great Hall at Westminster, and other royal Christmases were celebrated
at Windsor Castle and at his palace at Winchester. He made large
additions to Windsor Castle, and some of his mandates giving minute
directions for the decoration of his palace at Winchester are still
preserved. He enjoyed the old plays and