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clergy, ministers; priests. scourged, whipped.
did penance, showed his sorrow. stubborn, obstinate.
homage, promise of obedience. subdued, conquered.
1. Henry the Second, the first Plantagenet King, was the son of Geoffre
Count of Anjou, and Maud, daughter of Henry the First. He was the most powerful King of his time—ruling not only England, but also the greater part of France. He also subdued Wales and Ireland.
2. His first care was to lessen the power of the barons; and this he did by causing many of their castles to be destroyed. Then, wishing to rule the clergy, he took into his favour a priest named Thomas Becket—a Norman by birth, and son of a wealthy London merchant—gave him great wealth and power, and made him Archbishop of Canterbury.
3. But Becket, when he had got this great power, did not do as Henry wished. He gave up his rich and costly manner of living, and all his long train of followers. He began to eat coarse food; he wore sackcloth next his skin, keeping it on until it was painful for him to wear it; and he daily washed the feet of thirteen beggars.
4. He then took the part of the clergy against Henry. The Council, or Parliament, drew up laws, called the Constitutions of Clarendon, in Henry's favour. Becket nevertheless continued to give Henry so much trouble, that one day, when he was in France, and heard of Becket's wilful ways, he became very angry, and said, “Is there not one of the cowardly knights eating of my bread that will rid me of this stubborn priest?”
5. Four of his knights, hearing what was said, and being very jealous of Becket's power, secretly crossed over to England, and went to Canterbury
to murder Becket. They found him in the cathedral, at the altar; and there they fell upon him and dashed out his brains.
6. When Henry heard of this horrid murder, he was not only very sorry, but also much afraid of the Pope's anger. He therefore ordered a splendid tomb to be built for Becket: and he did penance by walking barefoot through Canterbury to the tomb; and by allowing himself, as he knelt there, to be scourged with knotted cords.
DEATH OF BECKET.
7. The chief event of Henry's reign was the invasion of Ireland. This country was at that time divided into six provinces, ruled by as many Kings. Two of the most powerful of these quarrelled, and one of them applied to Henry for help. Henry allowed some of his nobles with their knights to go to his aid. The chief of these was Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke. Soon afterwards he went himself,and received the homage of several of the chiefs.
8. Henry had four sons, Henry,Geoffrey, Richard, and John.They were wild and disobedient,and caused their father much trouble in the later part of his reign. They even got the Kings of France and Scotland to help them. But Henry put to flight all his enemies. He died, however, of a broken heart, on hearing that his favourite son John was among the rebels. Henry was much given to pleasure, cruel and passionate; but he was a clever man, and a lover of peace.
9. In this reign London became the capital of England. Winchester, the old capital, had been laid in ruins during the civil war in Stephen's reign. William the Lion, King of Scotland, was taken prisoner, and was not released till he had owned Henry as over-lord of Scotland. Richard the First gave up this claim for a sum of money.
中文阅读
1. 亨利二世是金雀花王朝的第一位国王，他是安茹伯爵杰弗里
与亨利一世的女儿莫德的儿子。他可算是当时最强有力的一位国王，统治的疆域不光有英格兰，还包括大部分法国的领土，威尔士和爱尔兰也臣服于他。
2. 他上台第一关心的事就是如何削弱贵族的势力，最终通过拆毁他们的城堡而达到了目的。然后他又琢磨着如何统治牧师群体，他找来一个效忠于他的牧师，名叫托马斯·贝克特，这是一个伦敦富商的儿子，亨利给了他巨额的财产以及强大的权力，还扶植他当上了坎特伯雷大主教。
3. 但当贝克特得势之后，却并没有按照亨利的意愿行事。他居然放弃了巨额的财富、高贵的生活，还有前呼后拥的仆从，每日粗茶淡饭，鹑衣百结，还给十三个乞丐洗脚。
4. 不久他联合其他牧师，一起反对亨利的统治。在此背景下，亨利控制国会或者叫议会起草了《克拉伦登宪章》，以此限制教权。但是贝克特还是一如既往，不断找国王的麻烦。有一天亨利在法国，又听见关于贝克特的烦心事，他实在忍无可忍，怒吼道：“那些成天靠我养活的窝囊废骑士，就没有一个能去把这个花岗岩脑袋的牧师给解决了吗？”
5. 这句话传到他麾下的四位骑士的耳中，平日他们对贝克特炙手可热的权力就极其嫉妒，于是密谋渡海去英格兰，到坎特伯雷
刺杀贝克特。他们在大教堂里发现了贝克特，他正坐在祭坛上，这四人上去就让他脑袋开了花。
6. 亨利后来听见这个骇人的谋杀事件后，不仅感到很愧疚，而且也害怕教皇怪罪于他。于是在公元1174年，他找了一块风水宝地，为贝克特修建了宏伟的陵墓；安葬以后，亨利赤足从坎特伯雷走到陵墓所在地，以示忏悔；并且跪在陵前，让人用打结的灯芯绒衣物鞭笞他的身体。
7. 亨利在位期间最主要的事件是入侵爱尔兰。这个国家在当时被分成六个小国，被许多国王轮番统治。后来有两位实力最强的国王发生争执，其中一位向亨利寻求帮助，于是亨利派了一些贵族和骑士前往襄助。队伍领头的人是彭布洛克伯爵斯特朗博。此后不久享利便亲自前往，数位首领均对他表示效忠。
8. 亨利有四个儿子，分别是亨利、杰弗里、理查德和约翰。这四位都调皮捣蛋，不忠不孝，给他们父王的统治带来了不少麻烦。他们后来获得了法国和苏格兰一些小国国王的支持，但是亨利依然对所有敌人开战了。享利死时伤心欲绝，因为在临终时听说他最疼爱的儿子约翰依然还在反叛者的队伍中。观其一生，亨利乐观、有激情，但也不失残暴；但总的说来，他是个智慧之君，并且爱好和平。
9. 在他的治下，伦敦成为英格兰首都。旧都温彻斯特在斯蒂文国王时期的内战中成了废墟。苏格兰国王勇士威廉成了俘虏，直到他承认亨利对苏格兰的统治权才获得释放。理查德一世最终也放弃了战争赔款。
deputy, one acting for another; agent. precipice, cliff.
disobedience, refusal to obey. produced, led to.
exploit, feat. resulted, ended.
permitting, allowing. structure, building.
warfare, fighting.
blockade, shutting up; surrounding with troops.
1. While King Henry the Second was living in France, a huge Irishman,called Dermot MacMorrogh, paid him a visit, which resulted in a Norman invasion of Ireland. A wicked woman, named Devorgilla, who was the wife of an Irish prince, had induced Dermot, then King of Leinster, to carry her off from an island in Meath, where her stern husband had shut her up. This produced a war, in which Dermot was defeated and driven from his throne.
2. He found his way to Henry; and he promised, if the English King would help to restore him, that he would hold his kingdom as a subject of the English crown—that he would, in fact, become Henry's vassal. Not being then able to go across, Henry gave Dermot a letter, permitting him to enlist the English nobles in his cause.
3. Dermot stayed a good while at Bristol, trying to persuade the neighbouring nobles to undertake his quarrel. At last Richard Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, agreed to assist him in return for the hand of his daughter Eva, and for having been made heir to the crown of Leinster. Two knights crossed the sea before Strongbow was ready and with only a few hundred men seized the cities of Wexford and Dublin. We may understand the kind of warfare that was waged by the fact that three hundred Irish heads were brought to be laid in a heap at the feet of Dermot.
4. A little later, there went over a Norman knight, called Raymond the Fat, who was the deputy of Stronghow. Fat men are often goodnatured; but Raymond must have been an exception to that pleasant rule, for, when he had taken seventy prisoners, he carried them to the top of some high rocks, at the foot of which the sea was washing, and having broken their bones with clubs,he fl ung them down the precipice into the water
5. Strongbow himself then went over, although Henry had sent him word not to do so. His fi rst exploit was the siege of Waterford. Then almost every town was surrounded by a wall; and the great object of besiegers was of course to make a hole, or, as it is called, a breach, in this defence. Strongbow managed to cut away the supports of a wooden house, which was built into the wall of Waterford; and when the structure fell, it tore away a large piece of the wall. Through the breach thus made the Normans rushed, and soon the streets were strewed with dead bodies.
6. Strongbow then marched to Dublin, which he took in a somewhat similar way. Just when his force was thinned by a command from the English King that all loyal knights should return, a band of Danes in armour, whose red shields were the terror of all that coast, attacked the defences of the city. But the Norman knights easily beat of these rude sailors. There was then a great blockade of Dublin, which lasted two months, and so reduced the strength of the Norman garrison that it was on the point of yielding to the besiegers.
7. But the Normans resolved on a final dash. At nine one morning from the opened gate they rushed out and charged the whole army. So sudden and so fierce was their onslaught, that the Irish army, although numbering thirty thousand, fled in terror at sight of the soldiers in armour, galloping on with levelled spears and with white plumes streaming from their helmets.
8. This success secured the footing of the Normans in Ireland. After the fighting was over, Henry, who had forgiven the disobedience of Strongbow,sailed to Ireland. He took up his quarters at Dublin, in a large house made of wicker-work, and there he ate his Christmas dinner, to which he invited a number of the Irish chiefs.
中文阅读
1. 当亨利二世国王在法国生活时，一位身材魁梧的爱尔兰人拜访了他，此人名叫德莫特·麦克摩罗，这次拜访直接导致了诺曼人入侵爱尔兰的事件。故事的起因是这样的：有位不检点的妇人，名叫德沃尔吉拉，她是当时一位爱尔兰王子的王妃。她勾引了身为伦斯特国王的德莫特，让他把她从米斯郡的一个岛上接走，他那暴戾的丈夫一直把她囚禁于此。这件事后来便引发了战争，德莫特被打败，连王位也丢了。
2. 德莫特找到亨利，承诺说如果英王亨利能让他恢复王位，他将会把自己的国家作为英国的属国，也就是臣服于英国。由于当时亨利不能立即跨海前往，便修书一封给德莫特，保证会让属下贵族出面帮他摆平此事。
3. 德莫特在布里斯托尔停留了很长时间，试图说服周边的贵族们加入他的行列与敌作战。最后彭布洛克伯爵理查德·斯特朗博终于同意出手帮他；作为回报，德莫特将女儿艾娃许配于他，还指定他作为伦斯特王权的继承人。公元1169年，在斯特朗博做好出征准备之前，他麾下的两位骑士就已经跨海出发了，很快以不足百人的队伍攻取了都柏林与韦克斯福德诸城。当三百爱尔兰人的人头堆在德莫特面前时我们或许就能理解这是怎样的一场战争了。
4. 不久之后，另一位诺曼骑士代表斯特朗博前来参战，他就是大胖子雷蒙德。一般而言，胖子大多比较和善温厚，但雷蒙德可能是个例外。他曾将七十多名战俘带到高高的山崖上，山崖下面就是惊涛拍岸的大海，他先用棍棒把这些人全部打成粉碎性骨折，然后再把他们全部扔进海里。
5. 斯特朗博后来也亲自来到战斗前线，虽然亨利已经私下告诉他无需如此。斯特朗博来了之后的第一件事便是围攻沃特福德。当时每座城几乎都有城墙，因此当务之急便是在城墙上打洞，或者也可称之为在防御工事上凿出缺口。由于城墙上有一座小木屋，可以连通城墙内外，于是斯特朗博想办法砍掉了木屋的支撑架，木屋轰然倾覆，城墙被打开一个大缺口。诺曼大军从这个缺口蜂拥而入，很快城内满街便尸骨横。
6. 斯特朗博又挥师前往都柏林，攻城的方式跟上一次差不多。就在这时英王亨利下令要求所有忠诚的骑士都必须从战场撤回，这让斯特朗博的兵力大幅削弱。而恰逢此时，一帮披坚执锐的丹麦敌寇也来入侵都柏林，他们的一脸红毛依然是当地人的恐怖记忆。不过还好，诺曼骑士们很快就把这帮粗鄙的海盗打得落花流水。然而敌军此后对都柏林进行了封锁，并且持续长达两个月，这让诺曼大军的战斗力严重受损，最后实在难以支撑，几乎快要缴械投降了。
7. 就在这千钧一发之际，诺曼军决定背水一战。在一天早晨的九点钟，他们从敞开的城门倾巢出动，攻势突然而迅猛，让号称三万大军的爱尔兰阵营乱作一团，对方士兵们看见这些披坚执锐的骑兵头扎羽缨，策马而来，全都抱头鼠窜。
8. 这次胜利让诺曼人在爱尔兰站稳了脚跟。战事结束后，亨利国王也原谅了斯特朗博的抗命之举，并御驾渡海来到了爱尔兰。他将都柏林定为爱尔兰辖区的中心城市，并修建了一座藤条编制的大房子，并在那里邀请了许多爱尔兰首领与他一起共进圣诞晚宴。