Out of bad things, good things sometimes arise. Out of this hanging of the innocent merchant, and the bloodshed and strife [冲突] it caused, there came to be established one of the greatest powers that the English people now possess. The preparations for the war being very expensive, and King Edward greatly wanting money, and being very arbitrary in his ways of raising it, some of the Barons began firmly to oppose him. Two of them, in particular, Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, were so stout [有决心] against him, that they maintained he had no right to command them to head his forces in Guienne, and flatly refused to go there. 'By Heaven, Sir Earl,' said the King to the Earl of Hereford, in a great passion, 'you shall either go or be hanged!' 'By Heaven, Sir King,' replied the Earl, 'I will neither go nor yet will I be hanged!' and both he and the other Earl sturdily [determined] left the court, attended [伴随] by many Lords. The King tried every means of raising money. He taxed the clergy, in spite of all the Pope said to the contrary; and when they refused to pay, reduced them to submission, by saying "Very well, then they had no claim upon the government for protection, and any man might plunder them who would" - which a good many men were very ready to do, and very readily did, and which the clergy found too losing a game to be played at long [at last]. He seized all the wool and leather in the hands of the merchants, promising to pay for it some fine day; and he set a tax upon the exportation of wool, which was so unpopular among the traders that it was called 'The evil toll.' But all would not do. The Barons, led by those two great Earls, declared any taxes imposed without the consent of Parliament, unlawful; and the Parliament refused to impose taxes, until the King should confirm afresh the two Great Charters, and should solemnly declare in writing, that there was no power in the country to raise money from the people, evermore, but the power of Parliament representing all ranks of the people. The King was very unwilling to diminish his own power by allowing this great privilege in the Parliament; but there was no help for it, and he at last complied. We shall come to another King by-and-by [later], who might have saved his head from rolling off, if he had profited by this example.
flatly - in a direct and definite way. rank - 等级;军衔. class - 阶级.
The people gained other benefits in Parliament from the good sense and wisdom of this King. Many of the laws were much improved; provision [规定] was made for the greater safety of travellers, and the apprehension [逮捕] of thieves and murderers; the priests were prevented from holding too much land, and so becoming too powerful; and Justices of the Peace were first appointed (though not at first under that name) in various parts of the country.
The title Justices of the Peace derives from 1361, in the reign of Edward III. An Act of 1327 had referred to "good and lawful men" to be appointed in every county in the land to "guard the Peace". 元: 1279~1368.
And now we come to Scotland, which was the great and lasting trouble of the reign of King Edward the First.
About thirteen years after King Edward's coronation, Alexander the Third, the King of Scotland, died of a fall from his horse. He had been married to Margaret, King Edward's sister. All their children being dead, the Scottish crown became the right of a young Princess only eight years old, the daughter of Eric, King of Norway, who had married a daughter of the deceased sovereign. King Edward proposed, that the Maiden of Norway, as this Princess was called, should be engaged to be married to his eldest son; but, unfortunately, as she was coming over to England she fell sick, and landing on one of the Orkney Islands, died there. A great commotion [*] immediately began in Scotland, where as many as thirteen noisy claimants [sb who claims] to the vacant throne started up and made a general confusion.
六级/考研单词: innocent, merchant, expense, arbitrary, stout, sturdy, clergy, contrary, wool, import, wicked, toll, consent, parliament, charter, solemn, rank, diminish, privilege, comply, tentative, thief, priest, potent, derive, reign, tertiary, princess, sovereign, maiden, engage, elder, vacancy, throne, confuse