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Page 9
In the reign of Henry IV, the French made two other attacks: on the
first occasion they were repulsed with loss; and on the second,
when a large fleet made a threatening demand of a subsidy, the
islanders were so elated at their past success, that they invited
the French to land and try their prowess in fair fight, after
having had sufficient time to rest and refresh themselves: this
handsome challenge was not however accepted.
Owing to its comparatively remote situation, the island escaped
those calamities which afflicted the rest of the kingdom during the
bloody disputes of the rival Roses: nor was it engaged with any
foreign enemy till the year 1488, when the governor, Sir Edward de
Woodville, having raised a body of about 500 men, passed over to
the continent in aid of the Duke of Bretagne against the king of
France. At the battle of St. Aubin the Bretons were routed, and the
islanders, whom hatred or contempt of the French probably impelled
to a more obstinate resistance, perished to a man: this unfortunate
event plunged the whole island into mourning; and in order to
recruit the diminished population, an act of parliament forbad any
single inhabitant from holding farms above the annual rent of ten
marks.
On the 18th of July, 1545, a large French fleet appearing off the
Isle of Wight, the English squadron which lay at Spithead, though
greatly inferior in force, stood out to meet them: but the
admiral's ship _Mary Rose_ sinking with most of her crew, the
others retreated into the Solent Channel; while the French landed
several parties of troops, and after some sharp fighting, repulsed
the islanders who had collected to oppose them; it was next
proposed in a council of war to fortify and keep possession of the
island, but this being considered impracticable by any number of
men that could then be spared from the ships, they proceeded to
pillage and burn the villages, till the inhabitants, being
reinforced, attacked and drove them off with the loss of many men,
and one of their principal officers. King Henry VIII, in order to
prevent a repetition of such mischievous visits, erected several
forts and blockhouses for the protection of the coast; and though
the rapid advance of the British naval power still more effectually
guarded it from the danger of foreign invasions, the islanders for
many years afterwards neglected no precautions for their own
defence: a train of field-pieces was provided among the different
parishes, and the militia, in 1625, numbered 2000 men.
In the division between king Charles I and the parliament, the
islanders at first manifested some zeal in the royal cause; yet as
soon as hostilities commenced at Portsmouth, the Newport militia
expelled the weak garrison of Carisbrooke Castle, which, with the
other forts, were delivered to the parliamentary troops; and on the
arrival of the Earl of Pembroke, the gentlemen and principal
farmers assembled at Cowes, and tendered him their best services.
The inhabitants having thus taken a decisive step in closing with
the prevailing power, remained undisturbed spectators of the
ensuing commotions, till the king injudiciously sought here an
asylum.
On the 12th of November, 1647, Charles, who had just fled from
Hampton Court, was met at Tichfield by Colonel Hammond, governor of
the Isle of Wight, who invited him to take up his residence at
Carisbrooke Castle. The offer was accepted, and for some time the
royal guest appeared to be quite free and unrestrained in his
actions and company; but afterwards his liberty was gradually
abridged, his confidential servants removed, and himself imprisoned
within the castle; the various unsuccessful attempts that were made
to effect his escape only serving as a pretext to increase the
rigor of his confinement. Yet during the subsequent negociations of
the Treaty of Newport, he was set at large on his parole,--till a
detachment of the army broke off the negociations by arresting and
conveying him to Hurst Castle; 30 days before he lost his life at
Whitehall.
As its situation preserved it from scenes of hostility between the
troops, the island enjoyed a much happier state than any other part
of the kingdom during the civil war, which caused many families to
retire hither: a circumstance that for the time rose the farm-rents
in the proportion of 20 per cent. The subsequent local history
presents nothing of any interest, with the exception perhaps of the
powerful armaments which assembled in the neighbourhood during the
last French war, and the large bodies of military which were in
consequence here quartered.
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