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diff --git a/25848.txt b/25848.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ad310b --- /dev/null +++ b/25848.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5882 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of William the Conqueror, by Jacob Abbott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: William the Conqueror + Makers of History + +Author: Jacob Abbott + +Release Date: June 20, 2008 [EBook #25848] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + Makers of History + + William the Conqueror + + BY + + JACOB ABBOTT + + WITH ENGRAVINGS + + NEW YORK AND LONDON + HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS + 1902 + + + + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand + eight hundred and forty-nine, by + + HARPER & BROTHERS, + + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District + of New York. + + Copyright, 1877, by JACOB ABBOTT. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In selecting the subjects for the successive volumes of this series, it +has been the object of the author to look for the names of those great +personages whose histories constitute useful, and not merely +entertaining, knowledge. There are certain names which are familiar, as +names, to all mankind; and every person who seeks for any degree of +mental cultivation, feels desirous of informing himself of the leading +outlines of their history, that he may know, in brief, what it was in +their characters or their doings which has given them so widely-extended +a fame. This knowledge, which it seems incumbent on every one to obtain +in respect to such personages as Hannibal, Alexander, Caesar, Cleopatra, +Darius, Xerxes, Alfred, William the Conqueror, Queen Elizabeth, and Mary +Queen of Scots, it is the design and object of these volumes to +communicate, in a faithful, and, at the same time, if possible, in an +attractive manner. Consequently, great historical names alone are +selected; and it has been the writer's aim to present the prominent and +leading traits in their characters, and all the important events in +their lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the plain and simple +language which is so obviously required in works which aim at permanent +and practical usefulness. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + Chapter Page + + I. NORMANDY 13 + + II. BIRTH OF WILLIAM 31 + + III. THE ACCESSION 51 + + IV. WILLIAM'S REIGN IN NORMANDY 72 + + V. THE MARRIAGE 96 + + VI. THE LADY EMMA 119 + + VII. KING HAROLD 142 + + VIII. PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION 164 + + IX. CROSSING THE CHANNEL 189 + + X. THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS 212 + + XI. PRINCE ROBERT'S REBELLION 242 + + XII. THE CONCLUSION 265 + + + + + ENGRAVINGS. + + + Page + + MAP--THE SITUATION OF NORMANDY 14 + + WILLIAM AND ARLOTTE 40 + + WILLIAM'S ESCAPE 77 + + THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY 102 + + THE RESCUE 127 + + HAROLD'S INTERVIEW WITH EDWARD 147 + + WILLIAM RECEIVING TOSTIG'S TIDINGS 166 + + MAP--NORMANDY 190 + + THE NORWEGIANS AT SCARBOROUGH 218 + + WILLIAM'S HORSE STEPPING ON THE EMBERS 281 + + + + +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +NORMANDY. + +A.D. 870-912 + +The Norman Conquest.--Claim of William to the throne.--The right of the +strongest.--Map of Normandy.--The English Channel.--Nature of the French +coast.--Nature of the English coast.--Northmen and Danes.--Character +of the Northmen.--Their descendants.--The Dukes of Normandy.--The +first duke, Rollo.--History of Rollo.--His rendezvous on the Scottish +coast.--Expedition of Rollo.--His descent upon Flanders.--Difficulties +encountered.--Rollo passes the Straits of Dover.--Charles the +Simple.--Defeated by Rollo.--Treaty of peace.--Its conditions.--The +three ceremonies.--Rollo's pride.--Kissing the king's foot.--The baptism +and marriage.--Rollo's peaceful and prosperous reign.--Description +of Normandy.--Scenery.--Hamlets.--Chateaux.--Peasantry.--Public +roads.--Rouen.--Its situation.--The port of Rouen.--Its name of Le Havre +de Grace.--Intermingling of races.--Superiority of the Norman stock. + + +One of those great events in English history, which occur at distant +intervals, and form, respectively, a sort of bound or landmark, to which +all other events, preceding or following them for centuries, are +referred, is what is called the Norman Conquest. The Norman Conquest +was, in fact, the accession of William, duke of Normandy, to the English +throne. This accession was not altogether a matter of military force, +for William claimed a _right_ to the throne, which, if not altogether +perfect, was, as he maintained, at any rate superior to that of the +prince against whom he contended. The rightfulness of his claim was, +however, a matter of little consequence, except so far as the moral +influence of it aided him in gaining possession. The right to rule was, +in those days, rather more openly and nakedly, though not much more +really, than it is now, the right of the strongest. + +Normandy, William's native land, is a very rich and beautiful province +in the north of France. The following map shows its situation: + +[Illustration: MAP OF ENGLAND AND PART OF FRANCE, SHOWING THE SITUATION +OF NORMANDY.] + +It lies, as will be seen upon the map, on the coast of France, adjoining +the English Channel. The Channel is here irregular in form, but may be, +perhaps, on the average, one hundred miles wide. The line of coast on +the southern side of the Channel, which forms, of course, the northern +border of Normandy, is a range of cliffs, which are almost perpendicular +toward the sea, and which frown forbiddingly upon every ship that sails +along the shore. Here and there, it is true, a river opens a passage for +itself among these cliffs from the interior, and these river mouths +would form harbors into which ships might enter from the offing, were it +not that the northwestern winds prevail so generally, and drive such a +continual swell of rolling surges in upon the shore, that they choke up +all these estuary openings, as well as every natural indentation of the +land, with shoals and bars of sand and shingle. The reverse is the case +with the northern, or English shore of this famous channel. There the +harbors formed by the mouths of the rivers, or by the sinuosities of the +shore, are open and accessible, and at the same time sheltered from the +winds and the sea. Thus, while the northern or English shore has been, +for many centuries, all the time enticing the seaman in and out over +the calm, deep, and sheltered waters which there penetrate the land, the +southern side has been an almost impassable barrier, consisting of a +long line of frowning cliffs, with every opening through it choked with +shoals and sand-banks, and guarded by the rolling and tumbling of surges +which scarcely ever rest. + +It is in a great measure owing to these great physical differences +between the two shores, that the people who live upon the one side, +though of the same stock and origin with those who live upon the other, +have become so vastly superior to them in respect to naval exploits and +power. They are really of the same stock and origin, since both England +and the northern part of France were overrun and settled by what is +called the Scandinavian race, that is, people from Norway, Denmark, and +other countries on the Baltic. These people were called the _Northmen_ +in the histories of those times. Those who landed in England are +generally termed _Danes_, though but a small portion of them came really +from Denmark. They were all, however, of the same parent stock, and +possessed the same qualities of courage, energy, and fearless love of +adventure and of danger which distinguish their descendants at the +present day. They came down in those early times in great military +hordes, and in fleets of piratical ships, through the German Ocean and +the various British seas, braving every hardship and every imaginable +danger, to find new regions to dwell in, more genial, and fertile, and +rich than their own native northern climes. In these days they evince +the same energy, and endure equal privations and hardships, in hunting +whales in the Pacific Ocean; in overrunning India, and seizing its +sources of wealth and power; or in sallying forth, whole fleets of +adventurers at a time, to go more than half round the globe, to dig for +gold in California. The times and circumstances have changed, but the +race and spirit are the same. + +Normandy takes its name from the Northmen. It was the province of France +which the Northmen made peculiarly their own. They gained access to it +from the sea by the River Seine, which, as will be seen from the map, +flows, as it were, through the heart of the country. The lower part of +this river, and the sea around its mouth, are much choked up with sand +and gravel, which the waves have been for ages washing in. Their +incessant industry would result in closing up the passage entirely, +were it not that the waters of the river must have an outlet; and thus +the current, setting outward, wages perpetual war with the surf and +surges which are continually breaking in. The expeditions of the +Northmen, however, found their way through all these obstructions. They +ascended the river with their ships, and finally gained a permanent +settlement in the country. They had occupied the country for some +centuries at the time when our story begins--the province being governed +by a line of princes--almost, if not quite, independent +sovereigns--called the _Dukes of Normandy_. + +The first Duke of Normandy, and the founder of the line--the chieftain +who originally invaded and conquered the country--was a wild and +half-savage hero from the north, named _Rollo_. He is often, in history, +called Rollo the Dane. Norway was his native land. He was a chieftain by +birth there, and, being of a wild and adventurous disposition, he +collected a band of followers, and committed with them so many piracies +and robberies, that at length the king of the country expelled him. + +Rollo seems not to have considered this banishment as any very great +calamity, since, far from interrupting his career of piracy and +plunder, it only widened the field on which he was to pursue it. He +accordingly increased the equipment and the force of his fleet, enlisted +more followers, and set sail across the northern part of the German +Ocean toward the British shores. + +Off the northwestern coast of Scotland there are some groups of +mountainous and gloomy islands, which have been, in many different +periods of the world, the refuge of fugitives and outlaws. Rollo made +these islands his rendezvous now; and he found collected there many +other similar spirits, who had fled to these lonely retreats, some on +account of political disturbances in which they had become involved, and +some on account of their crimes. Rollo's impetuous, ardent, and +self-confident character inspired them with new energy and zeal. They +gathered around him as their leader. Finding his strength thus +increasing, he formed a scheme of concentrating all the force that he +could command, so as to organize a grand expedition to proceed to the +southward, and endeavor to find some pleasant country which they could +seize and settle upon, and make their own. The desperate adventurers +around him were ready enough to enter into this scheme. The fleet was +refitted, provisioned, and equipped. The expedition was organized, arms +and munitions of war provided, and when all was ready they set sail. +They had no definite plan in respect to the place of their destination, +their intention being to make themselves a home on the first favorable +spot that they should find. + +They moved southward, cruising at first along the coast of Scotland, and +then of England. They made several fruitless attempts to land on the +English shores, but were every where repulsed. The time when these +events took place was during the reign of Alfred the Great. Through +Alfred's wise and efficient measures the whole of his frontier had been +put into a perfect state of defense, and Rollo found that there was no +hope for him there. He accordingly moved on toward the Straits of Dover; +but, before passing them, he made a descent upon the coast of Flanders. +Here there was a country named Hainault. It was governed by a potentate +called the Count of Hainault. Rollo made war upon him, defeated him in +battle, took him prisoner, and then compelled the countess his wife to +raise and pay him an immense sum for his ransom. Thus he replenished +his treasury by an exploit which was considered in those days very +great and glorious. To perpetrate such a deed now, unless it were on a +_very_ great scale, would be to incur the universal reprobation of +mankind; but Rollo, by doing it then, not only enriched his coffers, but +acquired a very extended and honorable fame. + +For some reason or other, Rollo did not attempt to take permanent +possession of Hainault, but, after receiving his ransom money, and +replenishing his ammunition and stores, he sailed away with his fleet, +and, turning westward, he passed through the Straits of Dover, and +cruised along the coast of France. He found that the country on the +French side of the channel, though equally rich and beautiful with the +opposite shore, was in a very different state of defense. He entered the +mouth of the Seine. He was embarrassed at first by the difficulties of +the navigation in entering the river; but as there was no efficient +enemy to oppose him, he soon triumphed over these difficulties, and, +once fairly in the river, he found no difficulty in ascending to +Rouen.[A] + +[Footnote A: See the map at the commencement of this chapter.] + +In the mean time, the King of France, whose name was Charles, and who +is generally designated in history as Charles the Simple, began to +collect an army to meet the invader. Rollo, however, had made himself +master of Rouen before Charles was able to offer him any effectual +opposition. Rouen was already a strong place, but Rollo made it +stronger. He enlarged and repaired the fortifications, built +store-houses, established a garrison, and, in a word, made all the +arrangements requisite for securing an impregnable position for himself +and his army. + +A long and obstinate war followed between Rollo and Charles, Rollo being +almost uniformly victorious in the combats that took place. Rollo became +more and more proud and imperious in proportion to his success. He drove +the French king from port to port, and from field to field, until he +made himself master of a large part of the north of France, over which +he gradually established a regular government of his own. Charles +struggled in vain to resist these encroachments. Rollo continually +defeated him; and finally he shut him up and besieged him in Paris +itself. At length Charles was compelled to enter into negotiations for +peace. Rollo demanded that the large and rich tract on both sides of the +Seine, next the sea--the same, in fact, that now constitutes +Normandy--should be ceded to him and his followers for their permanent +possession. Charles was extremely unwilling thus to alienate a part of +his kingdom. He would not consent to cede it absolutely and entirely, so +as to make it an independent realm. It should be a _dukedom_, and not a +separate _kingdom_, so that it might continue still a part of his own +royal domains--Rollo to reign over it as a duke, and to acknowledge a +general allegiance to the French king. Rollo agreed to this. The war had +been now protracted so long that he began himself to desire repose. It +was more than thirty years since the time of his landing. + +Charles had a daughter named Giselle, and it was a part of the treaty of +peace that she should become Rollo's wife. He also agreed to become a +Christian. Thus there were, in the execution of the treaty, three +ceremonies to be performed. First, Rollo was to _do homage_, as it was +called, for his duchy; for it was the custom in those days for +subordinate princes, who held their possessions of some higher and more +strictly sovereign power, to perform certain ceremonies in the presence +of their superior lord, which was called doing homage. These ceremonies +were of various kinds in different countries, though they were all +intended to express the submission of the dependent prince to the +superior authority and power of the higher potentate of whom he held his +lands. This act of homage was therefore to be performed, and next to the +homage was to come the baptism, and after the baptism, the marriage. + +When, however, the time came for the performance of the first of these +ceremonies, and all the great chieftains and potentates of the +respective armies were assembled to witness it, Rollo, it was found, +would not submit to what the customs of the French monarchy required. He +ought to kneel before the king, and put his hands, clasped together, +between the king's hands, in token of submission, and then to kiss his +foot, which was covered with an elegantly fashioned slipper on such +occasions. Rollo would do all except the last; but that, no +remonstrances, urgencies, or persuasions would induce him to consent to. + +And yet it was not a very unusual sign or token of political +subordination to sovereign power in those days. The pope had exacted it +even of an emperor a hundred years before; and it is continued by that +dignitary to the present day, on certain state occasions; though in the +case of the pope, there is embroidered on the slipper which the kneeling +suppliant kisses, a _cross_, so that he who humbles himself to this +ceremony may consider, if he pleases, that it is that sacred symbol of +the divine Redeemer's sufferings and death that he so reverently kisses, +and not the human foot by which it is covered. + +Rollo could not be made to consent, himself, to kiss King Charles's +foot; and, finally, the difficulty was compromised by his agreeing to do +it by proxy. He ordered one of his courtiers to perform that part of the +ceremony. The courtier obeyed, but when he came to lift the foot, he did +it so rudely and lifted it so high as to turn the monarch over off his +seat. This made a laugh, but Rollo was too powerful for Charles to think +of resenting it. + +A few days after this Rollo was baptized in the cathedral church at +Rouen, with great pomp and parade; and then, on the following week, he +was married to Giselle. The din of war in which he had lived for more +than thirty years was now changed into festivities and rejoicings. He +took full and peaceable possession of his dukedom, and governed it for +the remainder of his days with great wisdom, and lived in great +prosperity. He made it, in fact, one of the richest and most prosperous +realms in Europe, and laid the foundations of still higher degrees of +greatness and power, which were gradually developed after his death. And +this was the origin of Normandy. + +It appears thus that this part of France was seized by Rollo and his +Northmen partly because it was nearest at hand to them, being accessible +from the English Channel through the River Seine, and partly on account +of its exceeding richness and fertility. It has been famous in every age +as the garden of France, and travelers at the present day gaze upon its +picturesque and beautiful scenery with the highest admiration and +pleasure. And yet the scenes which are there presented to the view are +wholly unlike those which constitute picturesque and beautiful rural +scenery in England and America. In Normandy, the land is not inclosed. +No hedges, fences, or walls break the continuity of the surface, but +vast tracts spread in every direction, divided into plots and squares, +of various sizes and forms, by the varieties of cultivation, like a vast +carpet of an irregular tesselated pattern, and varied in the color by a +thousand hues of brown and green. Here and there vast forests extend, +where countless thousands of trees, though ancient and venerable in +form, stand in rows, mathematically arranged, as they were planted +centuries ago. These are royal demesnes, and hunting grounds, and parks +connected with the country palaces of the kings or the chateaux of the +ancient nobility. The cultivators of the soil live, not, as in America, +in little farm-houses built along the road-sides and dotting the slopes +of the hills, but in compact villages, consisting of ancient dwellings +of brick or stone, densely packed together along a single street, from +which the laborers issue, in picturesque dresses, men and women +together, every morning, to go miles, perhaps, to the scene of their +daily toil. Except these villages, and the occasional appearance of an +ancient chateau, no habitations are seen. The country seems a vast +solitude, teeming everywhere, however, with fertility and beauty. The +roads which traverse these scenes are magnificent avenues, broad, +straight, continuing for many miles an undeviating course over the +undulations of the land, with nothing to separate them from the expanse +of cultivation and fruitfulness on either hand but rows of ancient and +venerable trees. Between these rows of trees the traveler sees an +interminable vista extending both before him and behind him. In England, +the public road winds beautifully between walls overhung with shrubbery, +or hedge-rows, with stiles or gateways here and there, revealing hamlets +or cottages, which appear and disappear in a rapid and endlessly varied +succession, as the road meanders, like a rivulet, between its beautiful +banks. In a word, the public highway in England is beautiful; in France +it is grand. + +The greatest city in Normandy in modern times is Rouen, which is +situated, as will be seen by referring to the map at the commencement of +this chapter, on the Seine, half way between Paris and the sea. At the +mouth of the Seine, or, rather, on the northern shore of the estuary +which forms the mouth of the river, is a small inlet, which has been +found to afford, on the whole, the best facilities for a harbor that can +be found on the whole line of the coast. Even this little port, however, +is so filled up with sand, that when the water recedes at low tide it +leaves the shipping all aground. The inlet would, in fact, probably +become filled up entirely were it not for artificial means taken to +prevent it. There are locks and gateways built in such a manner as to +retain a large body of water until the tide is down, and then these +gates are opened, and the water is allowed to rush out all together, +carrying with it the mud and sand which had begun to accumulate. This +haven, being, on the whole, the best and most commodious on the coast, +was called _the_ harbor, or, as the French expressed it in their +language, _le havre_, the word _havre_ meaning harbor. In fact, the name +was in full _le havre de grace_, as if the Normans considered it a +matter of special good luck to have even such a chance of a harbor as +this at the mouth of their river. The English world have, however, +dropped all except the principal word from this long phrase of +designation, and call the port simply Havre. + + * * * * * + +From Rollo the line of Dukes of Normandy continued in uninterrupted +succession down to the time of William, a period of about a hundred and +fifty years. The country increased all the time in wealth, in +population, and in prosperity. The original inhabitants were not, +however, expelled; they remained as peasants, herdsmen, and +agriculturists, while the Norman chieftains settled over them, holding +severally large estates of land which William granted them. The races +gradually became intermingled, though they continued for many centuries +to evince the superior spirit and energy which was infused into the +population by the Norman stock. In fact, it is thought by many observers +that that superiority continues to the present day. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +BIRTH OF WILLIAM. + +A.D. 912-1033 + +Castle at Falaise.--Present ruins of the castle.--Scenery of the town +and castle.--Wall and buildings.--Watch-towers.--Sentinels.--Enchanting +prospect.--Chronological history of the Norman line.--Rollo.--William +I., second duke.--Richard I., third duke.--Richard II., fourth +duke.--Richard III., fifth duke.--Intrigues of Robert.--He becomes +the sixth duke.--Robert and Henry.--William's mother.--Robert's +first meeting with Arlotte.--He is captivated.--Robert sends +for Arlotte.--Scruples of her father.--Arlotte sent to the +castle.--Robert's affection for her.--Birth of William.--The nurse's +prediction.--William's childhood.--He is a universal favorite.--Robert +determines to visit the Holy Land.--Dangers of the journey.--He makes +William his heir.--Surprise of the assembly.--The nobles do homage to +William.--William is taken to Paris.--He is presented to the French +king. + + +Although Rouen is now very far before all the other cities of Normandy +in point of magnitude and importance, and though Rollo, in his conquest +of the country, made it his principal head-quarters and his main +stronghold, it did not continue exclusively the residence of the dukes +of Normandy in after years. The father of William the Conqueror was +Robert, who became subsequently the duke, the sixth in the line. He +resided, at the time when William was born, in a great castle at +Falaise. Falaise, as will be seen upon the map, is west of Rouen, and it +stands, like Rouen, at some distance from the sea. The castle was built +upon a hill, at a little distance from the town. It has long since +ceased to be habitable, but the ruins still remain, giving a picturesque +but mournful beauty to the eminence which they crown. They are often +visited by travelers, who go to see the place where the great hero and +conqueror was born. + +The hill on which the old castle stands terminates, on one side, at the +foot of the castle walls, in a precipice of rocks, and on two other +sides, also, the ascent is too steep to be practicable for an enemy. On +the fourth side there is a more gradual declivity, up which the fortress +could be approached by means of a winding roadway. At the foot of this +roadway was the town. The access to the castle from the town was +defended by a ditch and draw-bridge, with strong towers on each side of +the gateway to defend the approach. There was a beautiful stream of +water which meandered along through the valley, near the town, and, +after passing it, it disappeared, winding around the foot of the +precipice which the castle crowned. The castle inclosures were shut in +with walls of stone of enormous thickness; so thick, in fact, they were, +that some of the apartments were built in the body of the wall. There +were various buildings within the inclosure. There was, in particular, +one large, square tower, several stories in height, built of white +stone. This tower, it is said, still stands in good preservation. There +was a chapel, also, and various other buildings and apartments within +the walls, for the use of the ducal family and their numerous retinue +of servants and attendants, for the storage of munitions of war, and for +the garrison. There were watch-towers on the corners of the walls, and +on various lofty projecting pinnacles, where solitary sentinels watched, +the livelong day and night, for any approaching danger. These sentinels +looked down on a broad expanse of richly-cultivated country, fields +beautified with groves of trees, and with the various colors presented +by the changing vegetation, while meandering streams gleamed with their +silvery radiance among them, and hamlets of laborers and peasantry were +scattered here and there, giving life and animation to the scene. + +We have said that William's father was Robert, the sixth Duke of +Normandy, so that William himself, being his immediate successor, was +the seventh in the line. And as it is the design of these narratives not +merely to amuse the reader with what is entertaining as a tale, but to +impart substantial historical knowledge, we must prepare the way for the +account of William's birth, by presenting a brief chronological view of +the whole ducal line, extending from Rollo to William. We recommend to +the reader to examine with special attention this brief account of +William's ancestry, for the true causes which led to William's invasion +of England can not be fully appreciated without thoroughly understanding +certain important transactions in which some members of the family of +his ancestors were concerned before he was born. This is particularly +the case with the Lady Emma, who, as will be seen by the following +summary, was the sister of the third duke in the line. The extraordinary +and eventful history of her life is so intimately connected with the +subsequent exploits of William, that it is necessary to relate it in +full, and it becomes, accordingly, the subject of one of the subsequent +chapters of this volume. + +_Chronological History of the Norman Line._ + +ROLLO, first Duke of Normandy. + +From A.D. 912 to A.D. 917. + +It was about 870 that Rollo was banished from Norway, and a few years +after that, at most, that he landed in France. It was not, however, +until 912 that he concluded his treaty of peace with Charles, so as to +be fully invested with the title of Duke of Normandy. + +He was advanced in age at this time, and, after spending five years in +settling the affairs of his realm, he resigned his dukedom into the +hands of his son, that he might spend the remainder of his days in rest +and peace. He died in 922, five years after his resignation. + +WILLIAM I., second Duke of Normandy. + +From 917 to 942. + +William was Rollo's son. He began to reign, of course, five years before +his father's death. He had a quiet and prosperous reign of about +twenty-five years, but he was assassinated at last by a political enemy, +in 942. + +RICHARD I., third Duke of Normandy. + +From 942 to 996. + +He was only ten years old when his father was assassinated. He became +involved in long and arduous wars with the King of France, which +compelled him to call in the aid of more Northmen from the Baltic. His +new allies, in the end, gave him as much trouble as the old enemy, with +whom they came to help William contend; and he found it very hard to get +them away. He wanted, at length, to make peace with the French king, and +to have them leave his dominions; but they said, "That was not what they +came for." + +Richard had a beautiful daughter, named Emma, who afterward became a +very important political personage, as will be seen more fully in a +subsequent chapter. + +Richard died in 996, after reigning fifty-four years. + +RICHARD II., fourth Duke of Normandy. + +From 996 to 1026. + +Richard II. was the son of Richard I., and as his father had been +engaged during his reign in contentions with his sovereign lord, the +King of France, he, in his turn, was harassed by long-continued +struggles with his vassals, the barons and nobles of his own realm. He, +too, sent for Northmen to come and assist him. During his reign there +was a great contest in England between the Saxons and the Danes, and +Ethelred, who was the Saxon claimant to the throne, came to Normandy, +and soon afterward married the Lady Emma, Richard's sister. The +particulars of this event, from which the most momentous consequences +were afterward seen to flow, will be given in full in a future chapter. +Richard died in 1026. He left two sons, Richard and Robert. William the +Conqueror was the son of the youngest, and was born two years before +this Richard II. died. + +RICHARD III., fifth Duke of Normandy. + +From 1026 to 1028. + +He was the oldest brother, and, of course, succeeded to the dukedom. His +brother Robert was then only a baron--his son William, afterward the +Conqueror, being then about two years old. Robert was very ambitious and +aspiring, and eager to get possession of the dukedom himself. He adopted +every possible means to circumvent and supplant his brother, and, as is +supposed, shortened his days by the anxiety and vexation which he caused +him; for Richard died suddenly and mysteriously only two years after his +accession. It was supposed by some, in fact, that he was poisoned, +though there was never any satisfactory proof of this. + +ROBERT, sixth Duke of Normandy. + +From 1028 to 1035. + +Robert, of course, succeeded his brother, and then, with the +characteristic inconsistency of selfishness and ambition, he employed +all the power of his realm in helping the King of France to subdue his +younger brother, who was evincing the same spirit of seditiousness and +insubmission that he had himself displayed. His assistance was of great +importance to King Henry; it, in fact, decided the contest in his favor; +and thus one younger brother was put down in the commencement of his +career of turbulence and rebellion, by another who had successfully +accomplished a precisely similar course of crime. King Henry was very +grateful for the service thus rendered, and was ready to do all in his +power, at all times, to co-operate with Robert in the plans which the +latter might form. Robert died in 1035, when William was about eleven +years old. + +And here we close this brief summary of the history of the ducal line, +as we have already passed the period of William's birth; and we return, +accordingly, to give in detail some of the particulars of that event. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM AND ARLOTTE.] + + * * * * * + +Although the dukes of Normandy were very powerful potentates, reigning, +as they did, almost in the character of independent sovereigns, over one +of the richest and most populous territories of the globe, and though +William the Conqueror was the son of one of them, his birth was +nevertheless very ignoble. His mother was not the wife of Robert his +father, but a poor peasant girl, the daughter of an humble tanner of +Falaise; and, indeed, William's father, Robert, was not himself the duke +at this time, but a simple baron, as his father was still living. It +was not even certain that he ever would be the duke, as his older +brother, who, of course, would come before him, was also then alive. +Still, as the son and prospective heir of the reigning duke, his rank +was very high. + +The circumstances of Robert's first acquaintance with the tanner's +daughter were these. He was one day returning home to the castle from +some expedition on which he had been sent by his father, when he saw a +group of peasant girls standing on the margin of the brook, washing +clothes. They were barefooted, and their dress was in other respects +disarranged. There was one named Arlotte,[B] the daughter of a tanner of +the town, whose countenance and figure seem to have captivated the young +baron. He gazed at her with admiration and pleasure as he rode along. +Her complexion was fair, her eyes full and blue, and the expression of +her countenance was frank, and open, and happy. She was talking joyously +and merrily with her companions as Robert passed, little dreaming of the +conspicuous place on the page of English history which she was to +occupy, in all future time, in connection with the gay horseman who was +riding by. + +[Footnote B: Her name is spelled variously, Arlette, Arlotte, Harlotte, +and in other ways.] + +The etiquette of royal and ducal palaces and castles in those days, as +now, forbade that a noble of such lofty rank should marry a peasant +girl. Robert could not, therefore, have Arlotte for his wife; but there +was nothing to prevent his proposing her coming to the castle and living +with him--that is, nothing but the law of God, and this was an authority +to which dukes and barons in the Middle Ages were accustomed to pay very +little regard. There was not even a public sentiment to forbid this, for +a nobility like that of England and France in the Middle Ages stands so +far above all the mass of society as to be scarcely amenable at all to +the ordinary restrictions and obligations of social life. And even to +the present day, in those countries where dukes exist, public sentiment +seems to tolerate pretty generally whatever dukes see fit to do. + +Accordingly, as soon as Robert had arrived at the castle, he sent a +messenger from his retinue of attendants down to the village, to the +father of Arlotte, proposing that she should come to the castle. The +father seems to have had some hesitation in respect to his duty. It is +said that he had a brother who was a monk, or rather hermit, who lived +a life of reading, meditation and prayer, in a solitary place not far +from Falaise. Arlotte's father sent immediately to this religious +recluse for his spiritual counsel. The monk replied that it was right to +comply with the wishes of so great a man, whatever they might be. The +tanner, thus relieved of all conscientious scruples on the subject by +this high religious authority, and rejoicing in the opening tide of +prosperity and distinction which he foresaw for his family through the +baron's love, robed and decorated his daughter, like a lamb for the +sacrifice, and sent her to the castle. + +Arlotte had one of the rooms assigned her, which was built in the +thickness of the wall. It communicated by a door with the other +apartments and inclosures within the area, and there were narrow windows +in the masonry without, through which she could look out over the broad +expanse of beautiful fields and meadows which were smiling below. Robert +seems to have loved her with sincere and strong affection, and to have +done all in his power to make her happy. Her room, however, could not +have been very sumptuously furnished, although she was the favorite in a +ducal castle--at least so far as we can judge from the few glimpses we +get of the interior through the ancient chroniclers' stories. One story +is, that when William was born, his first exploit was to grasp a handful +of straw, and to hold it so tenaciously in his little fist that the +nurse could scarcely take it away. The nurse was greatly delighted with +this infantile prowess; she considered it an omen, and predicted that +the babe would some day signalize himself by seizing and holding great +possessions. The prediction would have been forgotten if William had not +become the conqueror of England at a future day. As it was, it was +remembered and recorded; and it suggests to our imagination a very +different picture of the conveniences and comforts of Arlotte's chamber +from those presented to the eye in ducal palaces now, where carpets of +velvet silence the tread on marble floors, and favorites repose under +silken canopies on beds of down. + +The babe was named William, and he was a great favorite with his father. +He was brought up at Falaise. Two years after his birth, Robert's father +died, and his oldest brother, Richard III., succeeded to the ducal +throne. In two years more, which years were spent in contention between +the brothers, Richard also died, and then Robert himself came into +possession of the castle in his own name, reigning there over all the +cities and domains of Normandy. + +William was, of course, now about four years old. He was a bright and +beautiful boy, and he grew more and more engaging every year. His +father, instead of neglecting and disowning him, as it might have been +supposed he would do, took a great deal of pride and pleasure in +witnessing the gradual development of his powers and his increasing +attractiveness, and he openly acknowledged him as his son. + +In fact, William was a universal favorite about the castle. When he was +five and six years old he was very fond of playing the soldier. He would +marshal the other boys of the castle, his playmates, into a little +troop, and train them around the castle inclosures, just as ardent and +aspiring boys do with their comrades now. He possessed a certain +vivacity and spirit too, which gave him, even then, a great ascendency +over his playfellows. He invented their plays; he led them in their +mischief; he settled their disputes. In a word, he possessed a +temperament and character which enabled him very easily and strongly to +hold the position which his rank as son of the lord of the castle so +naturally assigned him. + +A few years thus passed away, when, at length, Robert conceived the +design of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This was a plan, not of +humble-minded piety, but of ambition for fame. To make a pilgrimage to +the Holy Land was a romantic achievement that covered whoever +accomplished it with a sort of sombre glory, which, in the case of a +prince or potentate, mingled with, and hallowed and exalted, his +military renown. Robert determined on making the pilgrimage. It was a +distant and dangerous journey. In fact, the difficulties and dangers of +the way were perhaps what chiefly imparted to the enterprise its +romance, and gave it its charms. It was customary for kings and rulers, +before setting out, to arrange all the affairs of their kingdoms, to +provide a regency to govern during their absence, and to determine upon +their successors, so as to provide for the very probable contingency of +their not living to return. + +As soon, therefore, as Robert announced his plan of a pilgrimage, men's +minds were immediately turned to the question of the succession. Robert +had never been married, and he had consequently no son who was entitled +to succeed him. He had two brothers, and also a cousin, and some other +relatives, who had claims to the succession. These all began to maneuver +among the chieftains and nobles, each endeavoring to prepare the way for +having his own claims advanced, while Robert himself was secretly +determining that the little William should be his heir. He said nothing +about this, however, but he took care to magnify the importance of his +little son in every way, and to bring him as much as possible into +public notice. William, on his part, possessed so much personal beauty, +and so many juvenile accomplishments, that he became a great favorite +with all the nobles, and chieftains, and knights who saw him, sometimes +at his father's castle, and sometimes away from home, in their own +fortresses or towns, where his father took him, from time to time, in +his train. + +At length, when affairs were ripe for their consummation, Duke Robert +called together a grand council of all the subordinate dukes, and earls, +and barons of his realm, to make known to them the plan of his +pilgrimage. They came together from all parts of Normandy, each in a +splendid cavalcade, and attended by an armed retinue of retainers. When +the assembly had been convened, and the preliminary forms and +ceremonies had been disposed of, Robert announced his grand design. + +As soon as he had concluded, one of the nobles, whose name and title was +Guy, count of Burgundy, rose and addressed the duke in reply. He was +sorry, he said, to hear that the duke, his cousin, entertained such a +plan. He feared for the safety of the realm when the chief ruler should +be gone. All the estates of the realm, he said, the barons, the knights, +the chieftains and soldiers of every degree, would be all without a +head. + +"Not so," said Robert: "I will leave you a master in my place." Then, +pointing to the beautiful boy by his side, he added, "I have a little +fellow here, who, though he is little now, I acknowledge, will grow +bigger by and by, with God's grace, and I have great hopes that he will +become a brave and gallant man. I present him to you, and from this time +forth I give him _seizin_[C] of the Duchy of Normandy as my known and +acknowledged heir. And I appoint Alan, duke of Brittany, governor of +Normandy in my name until I shall return, and in case I shall not +return, in the name of William my son, until he shall become of manly +age." + +[Footnote C: Seizin, an ancient feudal term denoting the inducting of a +party to a legal possession of his right.] + +The assembly was taken wholly by surprise at this announcement. Alan, +duke of Brittany, who was one of the chief claimants to the succession, +was pleased with the honor conferred upon him in making him at once the +governor of the realm, and was inclined to prefer the present certainty +of governing at once in the name of others, to the remote contingency of +reigning in his own. The other claimants to the inheritance were +confounded by the suddenness of the emergency, and knew not what to say +or do. The rest of the assembly were pleased with the romance of having +the beautiful boy for their feudal sovereign. The duke saw at once that +every thing was favorable to the accomplishment of his design. He took +the lad in his arms, kissed him, and held him out in view of the +assembly. William gazed around upon the panoplied warriors before him +with a bright and beaming eye. They knelt down as by a common accord to +do him homage, and then took the oath of perpetual allegiance and +fidelity to his cause. + +Robert thought, however, that it would not be quite prudent to leave his +son himself in the custody of these his rivals, so he took him with him +to Paris when he set out upon his pilgrimage, with view of establishing +him there, in the court of Henry, the French king, while he should +himself be gone. Young William was presented to the French king, on a +day set apart for the ceremony, with great pomp and parade. The king +held a special court to receive him. He seated himself on his throne +in a grand apartment of his palace, and was surrounded by his nobles +and officers of state, all magnificently dressed for the occasion. At +the proper time, Duke Robert came in, dressed in his pilgrim's garb, +and leading young William by the hand. His attendant pilgrim knights +accompanied him. Robert led the boy to the feet of their common +sovereign, and, kneeling there, ordered William to kneel too, to do +homage to the king. King Henry received him very graciously. He embraced +him, and promised to receive him into his court, and to take the best +possible care of him while his father was away. The courtiers were +very much struck with the beauty and noble bearing of the boy. His +countenance beamed with an animated, but yet very serious expression, +as he was somewhat awed by the splendor of the scene around him. He +was himself then nine years old. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ACCESSION. + +A.D. 1035-1040 + +Robert departs on his pilgrimage.--He visits Rome and +Constantinople.--Robert's illness.--Litter bearers.--Death of +Robert.--Claimants to the crown.--Theroulde.--William's military +education.--The Earl of Arques.--William proclaimed duke.--The +pilgrim knights.--They embrace William's cause.--Debates in the +council on the propriety of William's return.--William's return to +Normandy.--Its effects.--William's accomplishments.--Impression upon +the army.--Claimants in the field.--Iron rule of the nobles.--Almost +a quarrel.--Interview between William and Henry.--Henry's +demand.--William's indignation.--Henry destroys one of William's +castles.--Difficulties which followed.--War with Henry.--William rescues +Falaise.--William received with acclamations.--Punishment of the +governor.--The Earl of Arques.--Advance of Henry.--A dangerous +defile.--Henry's order of march.--William's ambuscade.--Its +success.--Pretended flight of the Normans.--Disarray of the +French.--Rout of the French.--William's embassage to Henry.--The +castle at Arques taken.--William crowned at Falaise. + + +After spending a little time at Paris, Robert took leave of the king, +and of William his son, and went forth, with a train of attendant +knights, on his pilgrimage. He had a great variety of adventures, which +can not be related here, as it is the history of the son, and not of the +father, which is the subject of this narrative. Though he traveled +strictly as a pilgrim, it was still with great pomp and parade. After +visiting Rome, and accomplishing various services and duties connected +with his pilgrimage there, he laid aside his pilgrim's garb, and, +assuming his proper rank as a great Norman chieftain, he went to +Constantinople, where he made a great display of his wealth and +magnificence. At the time of the grand procession, for example, by which +he entered the city of Constantinople, he rode a mule, which, besides +being gorgeously caparisoned, had shoes of gold instead of iron; and +these shoes were purposely attached so slightly to the hoofs, that they +were shaken off as the animal walked along, to be picked up by the +populace. This was to impress them with grand ideas of the rider's +wealth and splendor. After leaving Constantinople, Robert resumed his +pilgrim's garb, and went on toward the Holy Land. + +The journey, however, did not pass without the usual vicissitudes of so +long an absence and so distant a pilgrimage. At one time Robert was +sick, and, after lingering for some time in a fever, he so far recovered +his strength as to be borne on a litter by the strength of other men, +though he could not advance himself, either on horseback or on foot; and +as for traveling carriages, there had been no such invention in those +days. They made arrangements, therefore, for carrying the duke on a +litter. There were sixteen Moorish slaves employed to serve as his +bearers. This company was divided into sets, four in each, the several +sets taking the burden in rotation. Robert and his attendant knights +looked down with great contempt on these black pagan slaves. One day the +cavalcade was met by a Norman who was returning home to Normandy after +having accomplished his pilgrimage. He asked Duke Robert if he had any +message to send to his friends at home. "Yes," said he; "tell them you +saw me here, on my way to Paradise, carried by sixteen _demons_." + +Robert reached Jerusalem, and set out on his return; and soon after +rumors came back to Paris that he had died on his way home. The accounts +of the manner of his death were contradictory and uncertain; but the +fact was soon made sure, and the news produced every where a great +sensation. It soon appeared that the brothers and cousins of Robert, who +had claimed the right to succeed him in preference to his son William, +had only suspended their claims--they had not abandoned them. They began +to gather their forces, each in his own separate domain, and to prepare +to take the field, if necessary, in vindication of what they considered +their rights to the inheritance. In a word, their oaths of fealty to +William were all forgotten, and each claimant was intent only on getting +possession himself of the ducal crown. + +In the mean time, William himself was at Paris, and only eleven years of +age. He had been receiving a careful education there, and was a very +prepossessing and accomplished young prince. Still, he was yet but a +mere boy. He had been under the care of a military tutor, whose name +was Theroulde. Theroulde was a veteran soldier, who had long been in +the employ of the King of France. He took great interest in his young +pupil's progress. He taught him to ride and to practice all the +evolutions of horsemanship which were required by the tactics of those +days. He trained him, too, in the use of arms, the bow and arrow, the +javelin, the sword, the spear, and accustomed him to wear, and to +exercise in, the armor of steel with which warriors were used, in those +days, to load themselves in going into battle. Young princes like +William had suits of this armor made for them, of small size, which they +were accustomed to wear in private in their military exercises and +trainings, and to appear in, publicly, on great occasions of state. +These dresses of iron were of course very heavy and uncomfortable, but +the young princes and dukes were, nevertheless, very proud and happy to +wear them. + +While William was thus engaged in pursuing his military education in +Paris, several competitors for his dukedom immediately appeared in +Normandy and took the field. The strongest and most prominent among them +was the Earl of Arques. His name was William too, but, to distinguish +him from the young duke, we shall call him Arques. He was a brother of +Robert, and maintained that, as Robert left no lawful heir, he was +indisputably entitled to succeed him. Arques assembled his forces and +prepared to take possession of the country. + +It will be recollected that Robert, when he left Normandy in setting out +on his pilgrimage, had appointed a nobleman named Alan to act as regent, +or governor of the country, until he should return; or, in case he +should never return, until William should become of age. Alan had a +council of officers, called the council of regency, with whose aid he +managed the administration of the government. This council, with Alan at +their head, proclaimed young William duke, and immediately began to act +in his name. When they found that the Earl of Arques was preparing to +seize the government, they began to assemble their forces also, and thus +both sides prepared for war. + +Before they actually commenced hostilities, however, the pilgrim knights +who had accompanied Robert on his pilgrimage, and who had been +journeying home slowly by themselves ever since their leader's death, +arrived in Normandy. These were chieftains and nobles of high rank and +influence, and each of the contending parties were eager to have them +join their side. Besides the actual addition of force which these men +could bring to the cause they should espouse, the moral support they +would give to it was a very important consideration. Their having been +on this long and dangerous pilgrimage invested them with a sort of +romantic and religious interest in the minds of all the people, who +looked up to them, in consequence of it, with a sort of veneration and +awe; and then, as they had been selected by Robert to accompany him on +his pilgrimage, and had gone on the long and dangerous journey with him, +continuing to attend upon him until he died, they were naturally +regarded as his most faithful and confidential friends. For these and +similar reasons, it was obvious that the cause which they should espouse +in the approaching contest would gain a large accession of moral power +by their adhesion. + +As soon as they arrived in Normandy, rejecting all proposals from other +quarters, they joined young William's cause with the utmost promptitude +and decision. Alan received them at once into his councils. An assembly +was convened, and the question was discussed whether William should be +sent for to come to Normandy. Some argued that he was yet a mere boy, +incapable of rendering them any real service in the impending contest, +while he would be exposed, more perhaps than they themselves, to be +taken captive or slain. They thought it best, therefore, that he should +remain, for the present, in Paris, under the protection of the French +king. + +Others, on the other hand, contended that the influence of William's +presence, boy as he was, would animate and inspire all his followers, +and awaken every where, throughout the country, a warm interest in his +cause; that his very tenderness and helplessness would appeal strongly +to every generous heart, and that his youthful accomplishments and +personal charms would enlist thousands in his favor, who would forget, +and perhaps abandon him, if he kept away. Besides, it was by no means +certain that he was so safe as some might suppose in King Henry's +custody and power. King Henry might himself lay claims to the vacant +duchy, with a view of bestowing it upon some favorite of his own, in +which case he might confine young William in one of his castles, in an +honorable, but still rigid and hopeless captivity, or treacherously +destroy his life by the secret administration of poison. + +These latter counsels prevailed. Alan and the nobles who were with him +sent an embassage to the court of King Henry to bring William home. +Henry made objections and difficulties. This alarmed the nobles. They +feared that it would prove true that Henry himself had designs on +Normandy. They sent a new embassage, with demands more urgent than +before. Finally, after some time spent in negotiations and delays, King +Henry concluded to yield, and William set out on his return. He was now +about twelve or thirteen years old. His military tutor, Theroulde, +accompanied him, and he was attended likewise by the embassadors whom +Alan had sent for him, and by a strong escort for his protection by the +way. He arrived in safety at Alan's head-quarters. + +William's presence in Normandy had the effect which had been anticipated +from it. It awakened every where a great deal of enthusiasm in his +favor. The soldiers were pleased to see how handsome their young +commander was in form, and how finely he could ride. He was, in fact, a +very superior equestrian for one so young. He was more fond, even, than +other boys of horses; and as, of course, the most graceful and the +fleetest horses which could be found were provided for him, and as +Theroulde had given him the best and most complete instruction, he made +a fine display as he rode swiftly through the camp, followed by veteran +nobles, splendidly dressed and mounted, and happy to be in his train, +while his own countenance beamed with a radiance in which native +intelligence and beauty were heightened by the animation and excitement +of pride and pleasure. In respect to the command of the army, of course +the real power remained in Alan's hands, but every thing was done in +William's name; and in respect to all external marks and symbols of +sovereignty, the beautiful boy seemed to possess the supreme command; +and as the sentiment of loyalty is always the strongest when the object +which calls for the exercise of it is most helpless or frail, Alan found +his power very much increased when he had this beautiful boy to exhibit +as the true and rightful heir, in whose name and for whose benefit all +his power was held. + +Still, however, the country was very far from becoming settled. The Earl +of Arques kept the field, and other claimants, too, strengthened +themselves in their various castles and towns, as if preparing to +resist. In those days, every separate district of the country was almost +a separate realm, governed by its own baron, who lived, with his +retainers, within his own castle walls, and ruled the land around him +with a rod of iron. These barons were engaged in perpetual quarrels +among themselves, each plundering the dominions of the rest, or making +hostile incursions into the territories of a neighbor to revenge some +real or imaginary wrong. This turbulence and disorder prevailed every +where throughout Normandy at the time of William's return. In the +general confusion, William's government scarcely knew who were his +friends or his enemies. At one time, when a deputation was sent to some +of the barons in William's name, summoning them to come with their +forces and join his standard, as they were in duty bound to do, they +felt independent enough to send back word to him that they had "too much +to do in settling their own quarrels to be able to pay any attention to +his." + +In the course of a year or two, moreover, and while his own realm +continued in this unsettled and distracted state, William became +involved in what was almost a quarrel with King Henry himself. When he +was fifteen years old, which was two or three years after his return +from Paris to Normandy, Henry sent directions to William to come to a +certain town, called Evreux, situated about half way between Falaise and +Paris, and just within the confines of Normandy,[D] to do homage to him +there for his duchy. There was some doubt among William's counselors +whether it would be most prudent to obey or disobey this command. They +finally concluded that it was best to obey. Grand preparations were +accordingly made for the expedition; and, when all was ready, the young +duke was conducted in great state, and with much pomp and parade, to +meet his sovereign. + +[Footnote D: See map at the commencement of chapter ix.] + +The interview between William and his sovereign, and the ceremonies +connected with it, lasted some days. In the course of this time, William +remained at Evreux, and was, in some sense, of course, in Henry's power. +William, having been so long in Henry's court as a mere boy, accustomed +all the time to look up to and obey Henry as a father, regarded him +somewhat in that light now, and approached him with great deference and +respect. Henry received him in a somewhat haughty and imperious manner, +as if he considered him still under the same subjection as heretofore. + +William had a fortress or castle on the frontiers of his dukedom, toward +Henry's dominions. The name of the castle was Tellieres, and the +governor of it was a faithful old soldier named De Crespin. William's +father, Robert, had intrusted De Crespin with the command of the castle, +and given him a garrison to defend it. Henry now began to make complaint +to William in respect to this castle. The garrison, he said, were +continually making incursions into his dominions. William replied that +he was very sorry that there was cause for such a complaint. He would +inquire into it, and if the fact were really so, he would have the evil +immediately corrected. Henry replied that that was not sufficient. "You +must deliver up the castle to me," he said, "to be destroyed." William +was indignant at such a demand; but he was so accustomed to obey +implicitly whatever King Henry might require of him, that he sent the +order to have the castle surrendered. + +When, however, the order came to De Crespin, the governor of the castle, +he refused to obey it. The fortress, he said, had been committed to his +charge by Robert, duke of Normandy, and he should not give it up to the +possession of any foreign power. When this answer was reported to +William and his counselors, it made them still more indignant than +before at the domineering tyranny of the command, and more disposed than +ever to refuse obedience to it. Still William was in a great measure in +the monarch's power. On cool reflection, they perceived that resistance +would then be vain. New and more authoritative orders were accordingly +issued for the surrender of the castle. De Crespin now obeyed. He gave +up the keys and withdrew with his garrison. William was then allowed to +leave Evreux and return home, and soon afterward the castle was razed to +the ground. + +This affair produced, of course, a great deal of animosity and +irritation between the governments of France and Normandy; and where +such a state of feeling exists between two powers separated only by an +imaginary line running through a populous and fertile country, +aggressions from one side and from the other are sure to follow. These +are soon succeeded by acts of retaliation and revenge, leading, in the +end, to an open and general war. It was so now. Henry marched his +armies into Normandy, seized towns, destroyed castles, and, where he was +resisted by the people, he laid waste the country with fire and sword. +He finally laid siege to the very castle of Falaise. + +William and his government were for a time nearly overwhelmed with the +tide of disaster and calamity. The tide turned, however, at length, and +the fortune of war inclined in their favor. William rescued the town and +castle of Falaise; it was in a very remarkable manner, too, that this +exploit was accomplished. The fortress was closely invested with Henry's +forces, and was on the very eve of being surrendered. The story is, that +Henry had offered bribes to the governor of the castle to give it up to +him, and that the governor had agreed to receive them and to betray his +trust. While he was preparing to do so, William arrived at the head of a +resolute and determined band of Normans. They came with so sudden an +onset upon the army of besiegers as to break up their camp and force +them to abandon the siege. The people of the town and the garrison of +the castle were extremely rejoiced to be thus rescued, and when they +came to learn through whose instrumentality they had been saved, and +saw the beautiful horseman whom they remembered as a gay and happy +child playing about the precincts of the castle, they were perfectly +intoxicated with delight. They filled the air with the wildest +acclamations, and welcomed William back to the home of his childhood +with manifestations of the most extravagant joy. As to the traitorous +governor, he was dealt with very leniently. Perhaps the general feeling +of joy awakened emotions of leniency and forgiveness in William's +mind--or perhaps the proof against the betrayer was incomplete. They did +not, therefore, take his life, which would have been justly forfeited, +according to the military ideas of the times, if he had been really +guilty. They deprived him of his command, confiscated his property, and +let him go free. + +After this, William's forces continued for some time to make head +successfully against those of the King of France; but then, on the other +hand, the danger from his uncle, the Earl of Arques, increased. The earl +took advantage of the difficulty and danger in which William was +involved in his contests with King Henry, and began to organize his +forces again. He fortified himself in his castle at Arques,[E] and was +collecting a large force there. Arques was in the northeastern part of +Normandy, near the sea, where the ruins of the ancient castle still +remain. The earl built an almost impregnable tower for himself on the +summit of the rock on which the castle stood, in a situation so +inaccessible that he thought he could retreat to it in any emergency, +with a few chosen followers, and bid defiance to any assault. In and +around this castle the earl had got quite a large army together. William +advanced with his forces, and, encamping around them, shut them in. King +Henry, who was then in a distant part of Normandy, began to put his army +in motion to come to the rescue of Arques. + +[Footnote E: See map, chapter ix.] + +Things being in this state, William left a strong body of men to +continue the investment and siege of Arques, and went off himself, at +the head of the remainder of his force, to intercept Henry on his +advance. The result was a battle and a victory, gained under +circumstances so extraordinary, that William, young as he was, acquired +by his exploits a brilliant and universal renown. + +It seems that Henry, in his progress to Arques, had to pass through a +long and gloomy valley, which was bounded on either side by precipitous +and forest-covered hills. Through this dangerous defile the long train +of Henry's army was advancing, arranged and marshaled in such an order +as seemed to afford the greatest hope of security in case of an attack. +First came the vanguard, a strong escort, formed of heavy bodies of +soldiery, armed with battle-axes and pikes, and other similar weapons, +the most efficient then known. Immediately after this vanguard came a +long train of baggage, the tents, the provisions, the stores, and all +the munitions of war. The baggage was followed by a great company of +servants--the cooks, the carters, the laborers, the camp followers of +every description--a throng of non-combatants, useless, of course, in a +battle, and a burden on a march, and yet the inseparable and +indispensable attendant of an army, whether at rest or in motion. After +this throng came the main body of the army, with the king, escorted by +his guard of honor, at the head of it. An active and efficient corps of +lancers and men-at-arms brought up the rear. + +William conceived the design of drawing this cumbrous and unmanageable +body into an ambuscade. He selected, accordingly, the narrowest and most +dangerous part of the defile for the purpose, and stationed vast +numbers of Norman soldiers, armed with javelins and arrows, upon the +slopes of the hill on either side, concealing them all carefully among +the thickets and rocks. He then marshaled the remainder of his forces +in the valley, and sent them up the valley to meet Henry as he was +descending. This body of troops, which was to advance openly to meet the +king, as if they constituted the whole of William's force, were to fight +a pretended battle with the vanguard, and then to retreat, in hopes to +draw the whole train after them in a pursuit so eager as to throw them +into confusion; and then, when the column, thus disarranged, should +reach the place of ambuscade, the Normans were to come down upon them +suddenly from their hiding-places, and complete their discomfiture. + +The plan was well laid, and wisely and bravely executed; and it was most +triumphantly successful in its result. The vanguard of Henry's army were +deceived by the pretended flight of the Norman detachment. They +supposed, too, that it constituted the whole body of their enemies. They +pressed forward, therefore, with great exultation and eagerness to +pursue them. News of the attack, and of the apparent repulse with which +the French soldiers had met it, passed rapidly along the valley, +producing every where the wildest excitement, and an eager desire to +press forward to the scene of conflict. The whole valley was filled with +shouts and outcries; baggage was abandoned, that those who had charge of +it might hurry on; men ran to and fro for tidings, or ascended eminences +to try to see. Horsemen drove at full speed from front to rear, and from +rear on to the front again; orders and counter orders were given, which +nobody would understand or attend to in the general confusion and din. +In fact, the universal attention seemed absorbed in one general and +eager desire to press forward with headlong impetuosity to the scene of +victory and pursuit which they supposed was enacting in the van. + +The army pressed on in this confused and excited manner until they +reached the place of ambuscade. They went on, too, through this narrow +passage, as heedlessly as ever; and, when the densest and most powerful +portion of the column was crowding through, they were suddenly +thunderstruck by the issuing of a thousand weapons from the heights and +thickets above them on either hand--a dreadful shower of arrows, +javelins, and spears, which struck down hundreds in a moment, and +overwhelmed the rest with astonishment and terror. As soon as this first +discharge had been effected, the concealed enemy came pouring down the +sides of the mountain, springing out from a thousand hiding-places, as +if suddenly brought into being by some magic power. The discomfiture of +Henry's forces was complete and irremediable. The men fled every where +in utter dismay, trampling upon and destroying one another, as they +crowded back in terrified throngs to find some place of safety up the +valley. There, after a day or two, Henry got together the scattered +remains of his army, and established something like a camp. + +It is a curious illustration of the feudal feelings of those times in +respect to the gradation of ranks, or else of the extraordinary modesty +and good sense of William's character, that he assumed no airs of +superiority over his sovereign, and showed no signs of extravagant +elation after this battle. He sent a respectful embassage to Henry, +recognizing his own acknowledged subjection to Henry as his sovereign, +and imploring his protection! He looked confidently to him, he said, for +aid and support against his rebellious subjects. + +Though he thus professed, however, to rely on Henry, he really trusted +most, it seems, to his own right arm; for, as soon as this battle was +fairly over, and while the whole country was excited with the +astonishing brilliancy of the exploit performed by so young a man, +William mounted his horse, and calling upon those to follow him who +wished to do so, he rode at full speed, at the head of a small +cavalcade, to the castle at Arques. His sudden appearance here, with the +news of the victory, inspirited the besiegers to such a degree that the +castle was soon taken. He allowed the rebel earl to escape, and thus, +perhaps, all the more effectually put an end to the rebellion. He was +now in peaceable possession of his realm. + +He went in triumph to Falaise, where he was solemnly crowned with great +ceremony and parade, and all Normandy was filled with congratulations +and rejoicings. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WILLIAM'S REIGN IN NORMANDY. + +A.D. 1040-1060 + +A lapse of twenty years.--Conspiracy of Guy of Burgundy.--The fool +or jester.--Meetings of the conspirators.--Final plans of the +conspirators.--Discovered by Galet.--Galet sets out in search of +William.--He finds him asleep.--William's flight.--His narrow +escape.--William is recognized.--Hubert's castle.--Hubert's +sons.--Pursuit of the conspirators.--Defeat of the rebels.--Their +punishment.--Curious incident.--Coats of armor.--Origin of +heraldry.--Rollo de Tesson.--Keeping both oaths.--Changing +sides.--Character of the ancient chieftains.--Their love of +war.--Ancient castles.--Their interior construction.--Nothing +respectable for the nobility but war.--Rebellions.--Insulting allusions +to William's birth.--The ambuscade.--Its failure.--Insults of the +garrison.--Indignation of William.--William's campaign in France.--His +popularity.--William's prowess.--True nature of courage.--An +ambuscade.--William's bravery.--William's victory.--Applause of the +French army.--William firmly seated on his throne.--His new projects. + + +From the time of William's obtaining quiet possession of his realm to +his invasion of England, a long period intervened. There was a lapse of +more than twenty years. During this long interval, William governed his +duchy, suppressed insurrections, built castles and towns, carried on +wars, regulated civil institutions, and, in fact, exercised, in a very +energetic and successful manner, all the functions of government--his +life being diversified all the time by the usual incidents which mark +the career of a great military ruler of an independent realm in the +Middle Ages. We will give in this chapter a description of some of these +incidents. + +On one occasion a conspiracy was formed to take his life by secret +assassination. A great chieftain, named Guy of Burgundy, William's +uncle, was the leader of it, and a half-witted man, named Galet, who +occupied the place of jester or fool in William's court, was the means +of discovering and exposing it. These jesters, of whom there was always +one or more in the retinue of every great prince in those days, were +either very eccentric or very foolish, or half-insane men, who were +dressed fantastically, in gaudy colors and with cap and bells, and were +kept to make amusement for the court. The name of William's jester was +Galet. + +Guy of Burgundy and his fellow-conspirators occupied certain gloomy +castles, built in remote and lonely situations on the confines of +Normandy. Here they were accustomed to assemble for the purpose +of concocting their plans, and gathering their men and their +resources--doing every thing in the most cunning and secret manner. +Before their scheme was fully ripe for execution, it happened that +William made a hunting excursion into the neighborhood of their +territory with a small band of followers--such as would be naturally got +together on such a party of pleasure. Galet, the fool, was among them. + +As soon as Guy and his fellow-conspirators learned that William was so +near, they determined to precipitate the execution of their plan, and +waylay and assassinate him on his return. + +They accordingly left their secret and lonely rendezvous among the +mountains one by one, in order to avoid attracting observation, and +went to a town called Bayeux, through which they supposed that William +would have to pass on his return. Here they held secret consultations, +and formed their final plans. They sent out a part of their number, in +small bands, into the region of country which William would have to +cross, to occupy the various roads and passes, and thus to cut off all +possibility of his escape. They made all these arrangements in the most +secret and cautious manner, and began to think that they were sure of +their prey. + +It happened, however, that some of William's attendants, with Galet the +fool among them, had preceded William on his return, and had reached +Bayeux[F] at the time when the conspirators arrived there. The +townspeople did not observe the coming of the conspirators particularly, +as many horsemen and soldiers were coming and going at that time, and +they had no means of distinguishing the duke's friends from his enemies; +but Galet, as he sauntered about the town, noticed that there were many +soldiers and knights to be seen who were not of his master's party. +This attracted his attention; he began to watch the motions of these +strangers, and to listen, without seeming to listen, in order to catch +the words they spoke to each other as they talked in groups or passed +one another in the streets. He was soon satisfied that some mischief +was intended. He immediately threw aside his cap and bells, and his +fantastic dress, and, taking a staff in his hand, he set off on foot to +go back as fast as possible in search of the duke, and give him the +alarm. He found the duke at a village called Valonges. He arrived there +at night. He pressed forward hastily into his master's chamber, half +forcing his way through the attendants, who, accustomed to the liberties +which such a personage as he was accustomed to take on all occasions, +made only a feeble resistance to his wishes. He found the duke asleep, +and he called upon him with a very earnest voice to awake and arise +immediately, for his life was in danger. + +[Footnote F: See map, chapter ix.] + +William was at first inclined to disbelieve the story which Galet told +him, and to think that there was no cause to fear. He was, however, soon +convinced that Galet was right, and that there was reason for alarm. He +arose and dressed himself hastily; and, inasmuch as a monarch, in the +first moments of the discovery of a treasonable plot, knows not whom to +trust, William wisely concluded not to trust any body. He went himself +to the stables, saddled his horse with his own hand, mounted him, and +rode away. He had a very narrow escape; for, at the same time, while +Galet was hastening to Valonges to give his master warning of his +danger, the conspirators had been advancing to the same place, and had +completely surrounded it; and they were on the eve of making an attack +upon William's quarters at the very hour when he set out upon his +flight. William had accordingly proceeded only a little way on his route +before he heard the footsteps of galloping horses, and the clanking of +arms, on the road behind him. It was a troop of the conspirators coming, +who, finding that William had fled, had set off immediately in pursuit. +William rode hastily into a wood, and let them go by. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM'S ESCAPE.] + +He remained for some time in his hiding-place, and then cautiously +emerged from it to continue his way. He did not dare to keep the public +road, although it was night, but took a wild and circuitous route, in +lanes and bypaths, which conducted him, at length, to the vicinity of +the sea. Here, about day-break, he was passing a mansion, supposing that +no one would observe him at so early an hour, when, suddenly, he +perceived a man sitting at the gate, armed and equipped, and in an +attitude of waiting. He was waiting for his horse. He was a nobleman +named Hubert. He recognized William immediately as the duke, and +accosted him in a tone of astonishment, saying, "Why, my lord duke, is +it possible that this is you?" He was amazed to see the ruler of the +realm out at such an hour, in such a condition, alone, exhausted, his +dress all in disorder from the haste with which he had put it on, and +his steed breathless and covered with dust, and ready, apparently, to +drop down with fatigue and exhaustion. + +William, finding that he was recognized, related his story. It appeared, +in the end, that Hubert held his own castle and village as a tenant of +one of the principal conspirators, and was bound, according to the +feudal ideas of the time, to espouse his landlord's cause. He told +William, however, that he had nothing to fear. "I will defend your +life," said he, "as if it were my own." So saying, he called his three +sons, who were all athletic and courageous young men, and commanded them +to mount their horses and get ready for a march. He took William into +his castle, and gave him the food and refreshment that he needed. Then +he brought him again into the court-yard of the house, where William +found the three young horsemen mounted and ready, and a strong and fleet +steed prepared for himself. He mounted. Hubert commanded his sons to +conduct the prince with all dispatch to Falaise, without traveling at +all upon the highway or entering a town. They took, accordingly, a +straight course across the country--which was probably then, as now, +nearly destitute of inclosures--and conducted William safely to his +castle at Falaise. + +In the course of the morning, William's pursuers came to Hubert's +castle, and asked if the duke had been seen going by. Hubert replied in +the affirmative, and he mounted his steed with great readiness to go and +show them the road which the fugitive had taken. He urged them to ride +hard, in hopes of soon overtaking the object of their pursuit. They +drove on, accordingly, with great impetuosity and ardor, under Hubert's +guidance; but, as he had purposely taken a wrong road, he was only +leading them further and further astray. Finally they gave up the chase, +and Hubert returned with the disappointed pursuers to his fortress, +William having in the mean time arrived safely at Falaise. + +The conspirators now found that it was useless any longer to attempt to +conceal their plans. In fact, they were already all exposed, and they +knew that William would immediately summon his troops and come out to +seize them. They must, therefore, either fly from the country or attempt +an open rebellion. They decided on the latter--the result was a civil +war. In the end, William was victorious. He took a large number of the +rebels prisoners, and he adopted the following very singular plan for +inflicting a suitable punishment upon them, and at the same time +erecting a permanent monument of his victory. He laid out a public road +across the country, on the line over which he had been conducted by the +sons of Hubert, and compelled the rebels to make it. A great part of +this country was low and marshy, and had been for this reason avoided by +the public road, which took a circuitous course around it. The rebel +prisoners were now, however, set at work to raise a terrace or +embankment, on a line surveyed by William's engineers, which followed +almost exactly the course of his retreat. The high road was then laid +out upon this terrace, and it became immediately a public thoroughfare +of great importance. It continued for several centuries one of the most +frequented highways in the realm, and was known by the name of the +Raised Road--_Terre levee_--throughout the kingdom. In fact, the remains +of it, appearing like the ruins of an ancient rail-road embankment, +exist to the present day. + +In the course of the war with these rebels a curious incident occurred +at one of the battles, or, rather, is said to have occurred, by the +historians who tell the story, which, if true, illustrates very +strikingly the romantic and chivalrous ideas of the times. Just as the +battle was commencing, William perceived a strong and finely-equipped +body of horsemen preparing to charge upon the very spot where he +himself, surrounded by his officers, was standing. Now the armor worn by +knights in battle in those times covered and concealed the figure and +the face so fully, that it would have been impossible even for +acquaintances and friends to recognize each other, were it not that the +knights were all accustomed to wear certain devices upon some part of +their armor--painted, for instance, upon their shields, or embroidered +on little banners which they bore--by means of which they might be +known. These devices became at length hereditary in the great +families--sons being proud to wear, themselves, the emblems to which the +deeds of their fathers had imparted a trace of glory and renown. The +devices of different chieftains were combined, sometimes, in cases of +intermarriage, or were modified in various ways; and with these minor +changes they would descend from generation to generation as the family +coat of arms. And this was the origin of heraldry. + +Now the body of horsemen that were advancing to the charge, as above +described, had each of them his device upon a little flag or banner +attached to their lances. As they were advancing, William scrutinized +them closely, and presently recognized in their leader a man who had +formerly been upon his side. His name was Rollo de Tesson. He was one of +those who had sworn fealty to him at the time when his father Robert +presented him to the council, when setting out upon his pilgrimage. +William accordingly exclaimed, with a loud voice, "Why, these are my +friends!" The officers and the soldiers of the body-guard who were with +him, taking up the cry, shouted "_Friends! friends!_" Rollo de Tesson +and the other knights, who were slowly coming up, preparing to charge +upon William's party, surprised at being thus accosted, paused in their +advance, and finally halted. Rollo said to the other knights, who +gathered around him, "I _was_ his friend. I gave my oath to his father +that I would stand by him and defend him with my life; and now I have +this morning sworn to the Count of Cotentin"--the Count of Cotentin was +the leader of the rebellion--"that I would seek out William on the +battle-field, and be the first to give him a blow. I know not what to +do." "Keep both oaths," replied one of his companions. "Go and strike +him a gentle blow, and then defend him with your life." The whole troop +seconded this proposal by acclamation. Rollo advanced, followed by the +other knights, with gestures and shouts denoting that they were friends. +He rode up to William, told him that he had that morning sworn to strike +him, and then dealt him a pretended blow upon his shoulder; but as both +the shoulder and the hand which struck it were armed with steel, the +clanking sound was all the effect that was produced. Rollo and his +troop--their sworn obligation to the Count of Cotentin being thus +fulfilled--turned now into the ranks of William's soldiery, and fought +valiantly all day upon his side. + +Although William was generally victorious in the battles that he fought, +and succeeded in putting down one rebellion after another with +promptness and decision, still, new rebellions and new wars were +constantly breaking out, which kept his dominions in a continual state +of commotion. In fact, the chieftains, the nobles, and the knights, +constituting the only classes of society that exercised any influence, +or were regarded with any respect in those days, were never contented +except when actively employed in military campaigns. The excitements and +the glory of war were the only excitements and glory that they +understood, or had the means of enjoying. Their dwellings were great +fortresses, built on the summits of the rocks, which, however +picturesque and beautiful they appear as _ruins_ now, were very gloomy +and desolate as residences then. They were attractive enough when their +inmates were flying to them for refuge from an enemy, or were employed +within the walls in concentrating their forces and brightening up their +arms for some new expedition for vengeance or plunder, but they were +lonely and lifeless scenes of restlessness and discontent in times of +quietness and peace. + +It is difficult for us, at this day, to conceive how destitute of all +the ordinary means of comfort and enjoyment, in comparison with a modern +dwelling, the ancient feudal castles must have been. They were placed in +situations as nearly inaccessible as possible, and the natural +impediments of approach were increased by walls, and gates, and ditches, +and draw-bridges. The door of access was often a window in the wall, ten +or fifteen feet from the ground, to which the inmates or their friends +mounted by a ladder. The floors were of stone, the walls were naked, the +ceiling was a rudely-constructed series of arches. The apartments, too, +were ordinarily small, and were arranged one above another, in the +successive stories of a tower. Nor could these cell-like chambers be +enlivened by the wide and cheerful windows of modern times, which not +only admit the light to animate the scene within, but also afford to the +spectator there, wide-spread, and sometimes enchanting views of the +surrounding country. The castle windows of ancient days were, on the +contrary, narrow loop-holes, each at the bottom of a deep recess in the +thick wall. If they had been made wide they would have admitted too +easily the arrows and javelins of besiegers, as well as the wind and +rain of wintery storms. There were no books in these desolate dwellings, +no furniture but armor, no pleasures but drinking and carousals. + +Nor could these noble and valiant knights and barons occupy themselves +in any useful employment. There was nothing which it was respectable for +them to do but to fight. They looked down with contempt upon all the +industrial pursuits of life. The cultivation of farms, the rearing of +flocks and herds, arts, manufactures, and commerce--every thing of this +sort, by which man can benefit his fellow-man, was entirely beneath +them. In fact, their descendants to the present day, even in England, +entertain the same ideas. Their younger sons can enter the army or the +navy, and spend their lives in killing and destroying, or in awaiting, +in idleness, dissipation, and vice, for orders to kill and destroy, +without dishonor; but to engage in any way in those vast and magnificent +operations of peaceful industry, on which the true greatness and glory +of England depend, would be perpetual and irretrievable disgrace. A +young nobleman can serve, in the most subordinate official capacity, on +board a man-of-war, and take pay for it, without degradation; but to +_build_ a man-of-war itself and take pay for it, would be to compel his +whole class to disown him. + +It was in consequence of this state of feeling among the knights and +barons of William's day that peace was always tedious and irksome to +them, and they were never contented except when engaged in battles and +campaigns. It was this feeling, probably, quite as much as any settled +hostility to William's right to reign, that made his barons so eager to +engage in insurrections and rebellions. There was, however, after all, +a real and deep-seated opposition to William's right of succession, +founded in the ideas of the day. They could not well endure that one of +so humble and even ignominious birth, on the mother's side, should be +the heir of so illustrious a line as the great dukes of Normandy. +William's enemies were accustomed to designate him by opprobrious +epithets, derived from the circumstances of his birth. Though he was +patient and enduring, and often very generous in forgiving other +injuries, these insults to the memory of his mother always stung him +very deeply, and awakened the strongest emotions of resentment. One +instance of this was so conspicuous that it is recorded in almost all +the histories of William that have been written. + +It was in the midst of one of the wars in which he was involved, that +he was advancing across the country to the attack of a strong castle, +which, in addition to the natural strength of its walls and +fortifications, was defended by a numerous and powerful garrison. So +confident, in fact, were the garrison in their numbers and power, that +when they heard that William was advancing to attack them, they sent out +a detachment to meet him. This detachment, however, were not intending +to give him open battle. Their plan was to lay in ambuscade, and attack +William's troops when they came to the spot, and while they were unaware +of the vicinity of an enemy, and off their guard. + +William, however, they found, was not off his guard. He attacked the +ambuscade with so much vigor as to put the whole force immediately to +flight. Of course the fugitives directed their steps toward the castle. +William and his soldiers followed them in headlong pursuit. The end was, +that the detachment from the garrison had scarcely time, after making +good their own entrance, to raise the draw-bridges and secure the +gates, so as to keep their pursuers from entering too. They did, +however, succeed in doing this, and William, establishing his troops +about the castle, opened his lines and commenced a regular siege. + +The garrison were very naturally vexed and irritated at the bad success +of their intended stratagem. To have the ambuscade not only fail of its +object, but to have also the men that formed it driven thus +ignominiously in, and so narrowly escaping, also, the danger of letting +in the whole troop of their enemies after them, was a great disgrace. To +retaliate upon William, and to throw back upon him the feelings of +mortification and chagrin which they felt themselves, they mounted the +walls and towers, and shouted out all sorts of reproaches and insults. +Finally, when they found that they could not make mere words +sufficiently stinging, they went and procured skins and hides, and +aprons of leather, and every thing else that they could find that was +connected with the trade of a tanner, and shook them at the troops of +their assailants from the towers and walls, with shouts of merriment and +derision. + +William was desperately enraged at these insults. He organized an +assaulting party, and by means of the great exertions which the +exasperation of his men stimulated them to make, he carried some of the +outworks, and took a number of prisoners. These prisoners he cut to +pieces, and then caused their bloody and mangled limbs and members to +be thrown, by great slings, over the castle walls. + +At one time during the period which is included within the limits of +this chapter, and in the course of one of those intervals of peace and +quietness within his own dominions which William sometimes enjoyed, the +King of France became involved in a war with one of his own rebellious +subjects, and William went, with an army of Normans, to render him aid. +King Henry was at first highly gratified at this prompt and effectual +succor, but he soon afterward began to feel jealous of the universal +popularity and renown which the young duke began soon to acquire. +William was at that time only about twenty-four years old, but he took +the direction of every thing--moved to and fro with the utmost +celerity--planned the campaigns--directed the sieges, and by his +personal accomplishments and his bravery, he won all hearts, and was the +subject of every body's praises. King Henry found himself supplanted, +in some measure, in the regard and honorable consideration of his +subjects, and he began to feel very envious and jealous of his rival. + +Sometimes particular incidents would occur, in which William's feats +of prowess or dexterity would so excite the admiration of the army that +he would be overwhelmed with acclamations and applause. These were +generally exploits of combat on the field, or of escape from pursuers +when outnumbered, in which good fortune had often, perhaps, quite as +much to do in securing the result as strength or courage. But in those +days a soldier's good luck was perhaps as much the subject of applause +as his muscular force or his bravery; and, in fact, it was as deservedly +so; for the strength of arm, and the coolness, or, rather, the ferocity +of courage, which make a good combatant in personal contests on a +battle-field, are qualities of brutes rather than of men. We feel a +species of respect for them in the lion or tiger, but they deserve only +execration when exercised in the wantonness of hatred and revenge by man +against his brother man. + +One of the instances of William's extraordinary success was the +following. He was reconnoitering the enemy on one occasion, accompanied +only by four or five knights, who acted as his attendants and +body-guard. The party were at a distance from the camp of the enemy, and +supposed they were not observed. They were observed, however, and +immediately a party of twelve chosen horsemen was formed, and ordered +to ride out and surprise them. This detachment concealed themselves in +an ambuscade, at a place where the reconnoitering party must pass, and +when the proper moment arrived, they burst out suddenly upon them and +summoned them to surrender. Twelve against six seemed to render both +flight and resistance equally vain. William, however, advanced +immediately to the attack of the ambuscaders. He poised his long lance, +and, riding on with it at full speed, he unhorsed and killed the +foremost of them at a blow. Then, just drawing back his weapon to gather +strength for another blow, he killed the second of his enemies in the +same manner. His followers were so much animated at this successful +onset, that they advanced very resolutely to the combat. In the mean +time, the shouts carried the alarm to William's camp, and a strong party +set off to rescue William and his companions. The others then turned to +fly, while William followed them so eagerly and closely, that he and +they who were with him overtook and disabled seven of them, and made +them prisoners. The rest escaped. William and his party then turned and +began to proceed toward their own camp, conveying their prisoners in +their train. + +They were met by King Henry himself at the head of a detachment of three +hundred men, who, not knowing how much necessity there might be for +efficient aid, were hastening to the scene of action. The sight of +William coming home victorious, and the tales told by his companions of +the invincible strength and daring which he had displayed in the sudden +danger, awakened a universal enthusiasm, and the plaudits and encomiums +with which the whole camp resounded were doubtless as delicious and +intoxicating to him as they were bitter to the king. + +It was by such deeds, and by such personal and mental characteristics as +these, that William, notwithstanding the untoward influences of his +birth, fought his way, during the twenty years of which we have been +speaking, into general favor, and established a universal renown. He +completely organized and arranged the internal affairs of his own +kingdom, and established himself firmly upon the ducal throne. His mind +had become mature, his resources were well developed, and his soul, +always ambitious and aspiring, began to reach forward to the grasping of +some grander objects of pursuit, and to the entering upon some wider +field of action than his duchy of Normandy could afford. During this +interval, however, he was married; and, as the circumstances of his +marriage were somewhat extraordinary, we must make that event the +subject of a separate chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MARRIAGE. + +A.D. 1045-1052 + +Political importance of a royal marriage.--William's views in regard +to his marriage.--His choice.--Matilda's genealogy.--Her relationship +to William.--Matilda's accomplishments.--Her embroidery.--Matilda's +industry.--The Bayeux tapestry.--The designs.--Uncouth +drawing.--Preservation.--Elements of decay.--Great age of the Bayeux +tapestry.--Specimens of the designs of the Bayeux tapestry.--Marriage +negotiations.--Matilda's objections.--Matilda's refusal.--Her attachment +to Brihtric.--Matilda's attachment not reciprocated.--Her thirst for +revenge.--William and Matilda's consanguinity.--An obstacle to their +marriage.--Negotiations with the pope.--Causes of delay.--William's +quarrel with Matilda.--The reconciliation.--The marriage.--Rejoicings +and festivities.--Residence at Rouen.--Ancient castles and +palaces.--Matilda's palace.--Luxury and splendor.--Mauger, archbishop of +Rouen.--William and Matilda excommunicated.--Lanfranc sent to negotiate +with the pope.--His success.--Conditions of Lanfranc's treaty.--Their +fulfillment.--William and Matilda's children.--Matilda's domestic +character.--Objects of William's marriage.--Baldwin, Count of +Flanders.--The blank letter.--Baldwin's surprise. + + +One of the most important points which an hereditary potentate has to +attend to, in completing his political arrangements, is the question of +his marriage. Until he has a family and an heir, men's minds are +unsettled in respect to the succession, and the various rival candidates +and claimants to the throne are perpetually plotting and intriguing to +put themselves into a position to spring at once into his place if +sickness, or a battle, or any sudden accident should take him away. This +evil was more formidable than usual in the case of William, for the men +who were prepared to claim his place when he was dead were all secretly +or openly maintaining that their right to it was superior to his while +he was living. This gave a double intensity to the excitement with which +the public was perpetually agitated in respect to the crown, and kept +the minds of the ambitious and the aspiring, throughout William's +dominions, in a continual fever. It was obvious that a great part of +the cause of this restless looking for change and consequent planning to +promote it would be removed if William had a son. + +It became, therefore, an important matter of state policy that the duke +should be married. In fact, the barons and military chieftains who were +friendly to him urged this measure upon him, on account of the great +effect which they perceived it would have in settling the minds of the +people of the country and consolidating his power. William accordingly +began to look around for a wife. It appeared, however, in the end, that, +though policy was the main consideration which first led him to +contemplate marriage, love very probably exercised an important +influence in determining his choice of the lady; at all events, the +object of his choice was an object worthy of love. She was one of the +most beautiful and accomplished princesses in Europe. + +She was the daughter of a great potentate who ruled over the country of +Flanders. Flanders lies upon the coast, east of Normandy, beyond the +frontiers of France, and on the southern shore of the German Ocean. Her +father's title was the Earl of Flanders. He governed his dominions, +however, like a sovereign, and was at the head of a very effective +military power. His family, too, occupied a very high rank, and enjoyed +great consideration among the other princes and potentates of Europe. It +had intermarried with the royal family of England, so that Matilda, the +daughter of the earl, whom William was disposed to make his bride, was +found, by the genealogists, who took great interest in those days in +tracing such connections, to have descended in a direct line from the +great English king, Alfred himself. + +This relationship, by making Matilda's birth the more illustrious, +operated strongly in favor of the match, as a great part of the motive +which William had in view, in his intended marriage, was to aggrandize +and strengthen his own position, by the connection which he was about to +form. There was, however, another consanguinity in the case which had a +contrary tendency. Matilda's father had been connected with the Norman +as well as with the English line, and Matilda and William were in some +remote sense cousins. This circumstance led, in the sequel, as will +presently be seen, to serious difficulty and trouble. + +Matilda was seven years younger than William. She was brought up +in her father's court, and famed far and wide for her beauty and +accomplishments. The accomplishments in which ladies of high rank sought +to distinguish themselves in those days were two, music and embroidery. +The embroidery of tapestry was the great attainment, and in this art the +young Matilda acquired great skill. The tapestry which was made in the +Middle Ages was used to hang against the walls of some of the more +ornamented rooms in royal palaces and castles, to hide the naked surface +of the stones of which the building was constructed. The cloths thus +suspended were at first plain, afterward they began to be ornamented +with embroidered borders or other decorations, and at length ladies +learned to employ their own leisure hours, and beguile the tedium of the +long confinement which many of them had to endure within their castles, +in embroidering various devices and designs on the hangings intended for +their own chambers, or to execute such work as presents for their +friends. Matilda's industry and skill in this kind of work were +celebrated far and wide. + +The accomplishments which ladies take great pains to acquire in their +early years are sometimes, it is said, laid almost entirely aside after +their marriage; not necessarily because they are then less desirous to +please, but sometimes from the abundance of domestic duty, which allows +them little time, and sometimes from the pressure of their burdens of +care or sorrow, which leave them no heart for the occupations of +amusement or gayety. It seems not to have been so in Matilda's case, +however. She resumed her needle often during the years of her wedded +life, and after William had accomplished his conquest of England, she +worked upon a long linen web, with immense labor, a series of designs +illustrating the various events and incidents of his campaign, and the +work has been preserved to the present day. + +At least there is such a web now existing in the ancient town of Bayeux, +in Normandy, which has been there from a period beyond the memory of +men, and which tradition says was worked by Matilda. It would seem, +however, that if she did it at all, she must have done it "as Solomon +built the temple--with a great deal of help;" for this famous piece of +embroidery, which has been celebrated among all the historians and +scholars of the world for several hundred years by the name of the +_Bayeux Tapestry_, is over four hundred feet long, and nearly two feet +wide. The wet is of linen, while the embroidery is of woolen. It was all +obviously executed with the needle, and was worked with infinite labor +and care. The woolen thread which was used was of various colors, suited +to represent the different objects in the design, though these colors +are, of course, now much tarnished and faded. + +The designs themselves are very simple and even rude, evincing very +little knowledge of the principles of modern art. The specimens on the +following page, of engravings made from them, will give some idea of the +childish style of delineation which characterizes all Matilda's designs. +Childish, however, as such a style of drawing would be considered now, +it seems to have been, in Matilda's days, very much praised and admired. + +[Illustration: PLOWING. From the Bayeux tapestry.] + +[Illustration: SOWING. From the Bayeux tapestry.] + +We often have occasion to observe, in watching the course of human +affairs, the frailty and transitoriness of things apparently most +durable and strong. In the case of this embroidery, on the contrary, we +are struck with the durability and permanence of what would seem to be +most frail and fleeting. William's conquest of England took place in +1066. This piece of tapestry, therefore, if Matilda really worked it, +is about eight hundred years old. And when we consider how delicate, +slender, and frail is the fibre of a linen thread, and that the various +elements of decay, always busy in the work of corrupting and destroying +the works of man, have proved themselves powerful enough to waste away +and crumble into ruin the proudest structures which he has ever +attempted to rear, we are amazed that these slender filaments have been +able to resist their action so long. The Bayeux tapestry has lasted +nearly a thousand years. It will probably last for a thousand years to +come. So that the vast and resistless power, which destroyed Babylon and +Troy, and is making visible progress in the work of destroying the +Pyramids, is foiled by the durability of a piece of needle-work, +executed by the frail and delicate fingers of a woman. + +We may have occasion to advert to the Bayeux tapestry again, when we +come to narrate the exploits which it was the particular object of this +historical embroidery to illustrate and adorn. In the mean time, we +return to our story. + +The matrimonial negotiations of princes and princesses are always +conducted in a formal and ceremonious manner, and through the +intervention of legates, embassadors, and commissioners without number, +who are, of course, interested in protracting the proceedings, so as to +prolong, as much as possible, their own diplomatic importance and power. +Besides these accidental and temporary difficulties, it soon appeared +that there were, in this case, some real and very formidable obstacles, +which threatened for a time entirely to frustrate the scheme. + +Among these difficulties there was one which was not usually, in such +cases, considered of much importance, but which, in this instance, +seemed for a long time to put an effectual bar to William's wishes, and +that was the aversion which the young princess herself felt for the +match. She could have, one would suppose, no personal feeling of +repugnance against William, for he was a tall and handsome cavalier, +highly graceful and accomplished, and renowned for his bravery and +success in war. He was, in every respect, such a personage as would be +most likely to captivate the imagination of a maiden princess in those +warlike times. Matilda, however, made objections to his birth. She could +not consider him as the legitimate descendant and heir of the dukes of +Normandy. It is true, he was then in possession of the throne, but he +was regarded by a large portion of the most powerful chieftains in his +realm as a usurper. He was liable, at any time, on some sudden change of +fortune, to be expelled from his dominions. His position, in a word, +though for the time being very exalted, was too precarious and unstable, +and his personal claims to high social rank were too equivocal, to +justify her trusting her destiny in his hands. In a word, Matilda's +answer to William's proposals was an absolute refusal to become his +wife. + +These ostensible grounds, however, on which Matilda based her refusal, +plausible as they were, were not the real and true ones. The secret +motive was another attachment which she had formed. There had been sent +to her father's court in Flanders, from the English king, a young Saxon +embassador, whose name was Brihtric. Brihtric remained some little time +at the court in Flanders, and Matilda, who saw him often at the various +entertainments, celebrations, and parties of pleasure which were +arranged for his amusement, conceived a strong attachment to him. He was +of a very fair complexion, and his features were expressive and +beautiful. He was a noble of high position in England, though, of +course, his rank was inferior to that of Matilda. As it would have been +deemed hardly proper for him, under the circumstances of the case, to +have aspired to the princess's hand, on account of the superiority of +her social position, Matilda felt that it was her duty to make known her +sentiments to him, and thus to open the way. She did so; but she found, +unhappy maiden, that Brihtric did not feel, himself, the love which he +had inspired in her, and all the efforts and arts to which she was +impelled by the instinct of affection proved wholly unavailing to call +it forth. Brihtric, after fulfilling the object of his mission, took +leave of Matilda coldly, while _her_ heart was almost breaking, and went +away. + +As the sweetest wine transforms itself into the sharpest vinegar, so the +warmest and most ardent love turns, when it turns at all, to the most +bitter and envenomed hate. Love gave place soon in Matilda's heart to +indignation, and indignation to a burning thirst for revenge. The +intensity of the first excitement subsided; but Matilda never forgot and +never forgave the disappointment and the indignity which she had +endured. She had an opportunity long afterward to take terrible revenge +on Brihtric in England, by subjecting him to cruelties and hardships +there which brought him to his grave. + +In the mean time, while her thoughts were so occupied with this +attachment, she had, of course, no heart to listen favorably to +William's proposals. Her friends would have attached no importance to +the real cause of her aversion to the match, but they felt the force of +the objections which could justly be advanced against William's rank, +and his real right to his throne. Then the consanguinity of the parties +was a great source of embarrassment and trouble. Persons as nearly +related to each other as they were, were forbidden by the Roman Catholic +rules to marry. There was such a thing as getting a dispensation from +the pope, by which the marriage would be authorized. William accordingly +sent embassadors to Rome to negotiate this business. This, of course, +opened a new field for difficulties and delays. + +The papal authorities were accustomed, in such cases, to exact as the +price, or, rather, as the condition of their dispensation, some grant or +beneficial conveyance from the parties interested, to the Church, such +as the foundation of an abbey or a monastery, the building of a chapel, +or the endowment of a charity, by way as it were, of making amends to +the Church, by the benefit thus received, for whatever injury the cause +of religion and morality might sustain by the relaxation of a divine +law. Of course, this being the end in view, the tendency on the part of +the authorities at Rome would be to protract the negotiations, so as +to obtain from the suitor's impatience better terms in the end. The +embassadors and commissioners, too, on William's part, would have no +strong motive for hastening the proceedings. Rome was an agreeable +place of residence, and to live there as the embassador of a royal duke +of Normandy was to enjoy a high degree of consideration, and to be +surrounded continually by scenes of magnificence and splendor. Then, +again, William himself was not always at leisure to urge the business +forward by giving it his own close attention; for, during the period +while these negotiations were pending, he was occupied, from time to +time, with foreign wars, or in the suppression of rebellions among his +barons. Thus, from one cause and another, it seemed as if the business +would never come to an end. + +In fact, a less resolute and determined man than William would have +given up in despair, for it was seven years, it is said, before the +affair was brought to a conclusion. One story is told of the impetuous +energy which William manifested in this suit, which seems almost +incredible. + +It was after the negotiations had been protracted for several years, +and at a time when the difficulties were principally those arising +from Matilda's opposition, that the occurrence took place. It was at +an interview which William had with Matilda in the streets of Bruges, +one of her father's cities. All that took place at the interview is not +known, but in the end of it William's resentment at Matilda's treatment +of him lost all bounds. He struck her or pushed her so violently as +to throw her down upon the ground. It is said that he struck her +repeatedly, and then, leaving her with her clothes all soiled and +disheveled, rode off in a rage. Love quarrels are often the means of +bringing the contending parties nearer together than they were before, +but such a terrible love quarrel as this, we hope, is very rare. + +Violent as it was, however, it was followed by a perfect reconciliation, +and in the end all obstacles were removed, and William and Matilda were +married. The event took place in 1052. + +The marriage ceremony was performed at one of William's castles, on the +frontiers of Normandy, as it is customary for princes and kings to be +married always in their own dominions. Matilda was conducted there with +great pomp and parade by her parents, and was accompanied by a large +train of attendants and friends. This company, mounted--both knights and +ladies--on horses beautifully caparisoned, moved across the country like +a little army on a march, or rather like a triumphal procession +escorting a queen. Matilda was received at the castle with distinguished +honor, and the marriage celebrations, and the entertainments +accompanying it, were continued for several days. It was a scene of +unusual festivity and rejoicing. + +The dress both of William and Matilda, on this occasion, was very +specially splendid. She wore a mantle studded with the most costly +jewels; and, in addition to the other splendors of his dress, William +too wore a mantle and a helmet, both of which were richly adorned with +the same costly decorations. So much importance was attached, in those +days, to this outward show, and so great was the public interest taken +in it, that these dresses of William and Matilda, with all the jewelry +that adorned them, were deposited afterward in the great church at +Bayeux, where they remained a sort of public spectacle, the property of +the Church, for nearly five hundred years. + +From the castle of Augi, where the marriage ceremonies were performed, +William proceeded, after these first festivities and rejoicings were +over, to the great city of Rouen, conducting his bride thither with +great pomp and parade. Here the young couple established themselves, +living in the enjoyment of every species of luxury and splendor which +were attainable in those days. As has already been said, the interiors, +even of royal castles and palaces, presented but few of the comforts and +conveniences deemed essential to the happiness of a home in modern +times. The European ladies of the present day delight in their suites of +retired and well-furnished apartments, adorned with velvet carpets, and +silken curtains, and luxuriant beds of down, with sofas and couches +adapted to every fancy which the caprice of fatigue or restlessness may +assume, and cabinets stored with treasures, and libraries of embellished +books--the whole scene illuminated by the splendor of gas-lights, whose +brilliancy is reflected by mirrors and candelabras, sparkling with a +thousand hues. Matilda's feudal palace presented no such scenes as +these. The cold stone floors were covered with mats of rushes. The +walls--if the naked masonry was hidden at all--were screened by hangings +of coarse tapestry, ornamented with uncouth and hideous figures. The +beds were miserable pallets, the windows were loop-holes, and the castle +itself had all the architectural characteristics of a prison. + +Still, there was a species of luxury and splendor even then. Matilda had +splendid horses to ride, all magnificently caparisoned. She had dresses +adorned most lavishly with gold and jewels. There were troops of valiant +knights, all glittering in armor of steel, to escort her on her +journeys, and accompany and wait upon her on her excursions of pleasure; +and there were grand banquets and carousals, from time to time, in the +long castle hall, with tournaments, and races, and games, and other +military shows, conducted with great parade and pageantry. Matilda thus +commenced her married life in luxury and splendor. + +In luxury and splendor, but not in peace. William had an uncle, whose +name was Mauger. He was the Archbishop of Rouen, and was a dignitary +of great influence and power. Now it was, of course, the interest of +William's relatives that he should not be married, as every increase of +probability that his crown would descend to direct heirs diminished +their future chances of the succession, and of course undermined their +present importance. Mauger had been very much opposed to this match, +and had exerted himself in every way, while the negotiations were +pending, to impede and delay them. The point which he most strenuously +urged was the consanguinity of the parties, a point to which it was +incumbent on him, as he maintained--being the head of the Church in +Normandy--particularly to attend. It seems that, notwithstanding +William's negotiations with the pope to obtain a dispensation, the +affair was not fully settled at Rome before the marriage; and very soon +after the celebration of the nuptials, Mauger fulminated an edict of +excommunication against both William and Matilda, for intermarrying +within the degrees of relationship which the canons of the Church +proscribed. + +An excommunication, in the Middle Ages, was a terrible calamity. The +person thus condemned was made, so far as such a sentence could effect +it, an outcast from man, and a wretch accursed of Heaven. The most +terrible denunciations were uttered against him, and in the case of a +prince, like that of William, his subjects were all absolved from their +allegiance, and forbidden to succor or defend him. A powerful potentate +like William could maintain himself for a time against the influence and +effects of such a course, but it was pretty sure to work more and more +strongly against him through the superstitions of the people, and to +wear him out in the end. + +William resolved to appeal at once to the pope, and to effect, by some +means or other, the object of securing his dispensation. There was a +certain monk, then obscure and unknown, but who afterward became a very +celebrated public character, named Lanfranc, whom, for some reason or +other, William supposed to possess the necessary qualifications for this +mission. He accordingly gave him his instructions and sent him away. +Lanfranc proceeded to Rome, and there he managed the negotiation with +the pope so dexterously as soon to bring it to a conclusion. + +The arrangement which he made was this. The pope was to grant the +dispensation and confirm the marriage, thus removing the sentence of +excommunication which the Archbishop Mauger had pronounced, on +condition that William should build and endow a hospital for a hundred +poor persons, and also erect two abbeys, one to be built by himself, for +monks, and one by Matilda, for nuns. Lanfranc agreed to these conditions +on the part of William and Matilda, and they, when they came to be +informed of them, accepted and confirmed them with great joy. The ban of +excommunication was removed; all Normandy acquiesced in the marriage, +and William and Matilda proceeded to form the plans and to superintend +the construction of the abbeys. + +They selected the city of Caen for the site. The place of this city will +be seen marked upon the map near the northern coast of Normandy.[G] It +was situated in a broad and pleasant valley, at the confluence of two +rivers, and was surrounded by beautiful and fertile meadows. It was +strongly fortified, being surrounded by walls and towers, which +William's ancestors, the dukes of Normandy, had built. William and +Matilda took a strong interest in the plans and constructions connected +with the building of the abbeys. William's was a very extensive edifice, +and contained within its inclosures a royal palace for himself, where, +in subsequent years, himself and Matilda often resided. + +[Footnote G: See map, chapter ix.] + +The principal buildings of these abbeys still stand, though the walls +and fortifications of Caen are gone. The buildings are used now for +other purposes than those for which they were erected, but they retain +the names originally given them, and are visited by great numbers of +tourists, being regarded with great interest as singular memorials of +the past--twin monuments commemorating an ancient marriage. + +The marriage being thus finally confirmed and acquiesced in, William and +Matilda enjoyed a long period of domestic peace. The oldest child was a +son. He was born within a year of the marriage, and William named him +Robert, that, as the reader will recollect, having been the name of +William's father. There was, in process of time, a large family of +children. Their names were Robert, William Rufus, Henry, Cecilia, +Agatha, Constance, Adela, Adelaide, and Gundred. Matilda devoted herself +with great maternal fidelity to the care and education of these +children, and many of them became subsequently historical personages of +the highest distinction. + +The object which, it will be recollected, was one of William's main +inducements for contracting this alliance, namely, the strengthening of +his power by thus connecting himself with the reigning family of +Flanders, was, in a great measure, accomplished. The two governments, +leagued together by this natural tie, strengthened each other's power, +and often rendered each other essential assistance, though there was one +occasion, subsequently, when William's reliance on this aid was +disappointed. It was as follows: + +When he was planning his invasion of England, he sent to Matilda's +brother, Baldwin, who was then Count of Flanders, inviting him to raise +a force and join him. Baldwin, who considered the enterprise as +dangerous and Quixotic, sent back word to inquire what share of the +English territory William would give him if he would go and help him +conquer it. William thought that this attempt to make a bargain +beforehand, for a division of spoil, evinced a very mercenary and +distrustful spirit on the part of his brother-in-law--a spirit which he +was not at all disposed to encourage. He accordingly took a sheet of +parchment, and writing nothing within, he folded it in the form of a +letter, and wrote upon the outside the following rhyme: + + "Beau frere, en Angleterre vous aures + Ce qui dedans escript, vous trouveres." + +Which royal distich might be translated thus: + + "Your share, good brother, of the land we win, + You'll find entitled and described within." + +William forwarded the empty missive by the hand of a messenger, who +delivered it to Baldwin as if it were a dispatch of great consequence. +Baldwin received it eagerly, and opened it at once. He was surprised at +finding nothing within; and after turning the parchment every way, in +vain search after the description of his share, he asked the messenger +what it meant. "It means," said he, "that as there is nothing writ +within, so nothing you shall have." + +Notwithstanding this witticism, however, some arrangement seems +afterward to have been made between the parties, for Flanders did, in +fact, contribute an important share toward the force which William +raised when preparing for the invasion. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE LADY EMMA. + +A.D. 1002-1052 + +William's claims to the English throne.--The Lady Emma.--Claimants +to the English throne.--Ethelred.--Ethelred subdued.--He flies to +Normandy.--Massacre of the Danes.--Horrors of civil war.--Ethelred's +tyranny.--Emma's policy.--Emma's humiliation.--Ethelred invited to +return.--Restoration of Ethelred and Emma.--War with Canute.--Ethelred's +death.--Situation of Emma.--Her children.--War with Canute.--Treaty +between Edmund and Canute.--Death of Edmund.--Accession of +Canute.--Canute's wise policy.--His treatment of Edmund's +children.--Canute marries Emma.--Opposition of her sons.--Emma again +queen of England.--The Earl Godwin.--Canute's death.--He bequeaths +the kingdom to Harold.--Emma's plots for her children.--Her +letter to them.--Disastrous issue of Alfred's expedition.--His +terrible sentence.--Edward's accession.--Emma wretched and +miserable.--Accusations against Emma.--Her wretched end.--Edmund's +children.--Godwin.--Harold.--Plans of Edward.--Plots and counterplots. + + +It is not to be supposed that, even in the warlike times of which we are +writing, such a potentate as a duke of Normandy would invade a country +like England, so large and powerful in comparison to his own, without +some pretext. William's pretext was, that he himself was the legitimate +successor to the English crown, and that the English king who possessed +it at the time of his invasion was a usurper. In order that the reader +may understand the nature and origin of this his claim, it is necessary +to relate somewhat in full the story of the Lady Emma. + +By referring to the genealogy of the Norman line of dukes contained in +the second chapter of this volume, it will be seen that Emma was the +daughter of the first Richard. She was celebrated in her early years for +her great personal beauty. They called her _the Pearl of Normandy_. + +She married, at length, one of the kings of England, whose name was +Ethelred. England was at that time distracted by civil wars, waged +between the two antagonist races of Saxons and Danes. There were, in +fact, two separate dynasties or lines of kings, who were contending, all +the time, for the mastery. In these contests, sometimes the Danes would +triumph for a time, and sometimes the Saxons; and sometimes both races +would have a royal representative in the field, each claiming the +throne, and reigning over separate portions of the island. Thus there +were, at certain periods, two kingdoms in England, both covering the +same territory, and claiming the government of the same population--with +two kings, two capitals, two administrations--while the wretched +inhabitants were distracted and ruined by the terrible conflicts to +which these hostile pretensions gave rise. + +Ethelred was of the Saxon line. He was a widower at the time of his +marriage to Emma, nearly forty years old, and he had, among other +children by his former wife, a son named Edmund, an active, energetic +young man, who afterward became king. One motive which he had in view in +marrying Emma was to strengthen his position by securing the alliance of +the Normans of Normandy. The Danes, his English enemies, were Normans. +The government of Normandy would therefore be naturally inclined to +take part with them. By this marriage, however, Ethelred hoped to detach +the Normans of France from the cause of his enemies, and to unite them +to his own. He would thus gain a double advantage, strengthening himself +by an accession which weakened his foes. + +His plan succeeded so far as inducing Richard himself, the Duke of +Normandy, to espouse his cause, but it did not enable Ethelred to +triumph over his enemies. They, on the contrary, conquered _him_, and, +in the end, drove him from the country altogether. He fled to Normandy +for refuge, with Emma his wife, and his two young sons. Their names were +Edward and Alfred. + +Richard II., Emma's brother, who was then the Duke of Normandy, received +the unhappy fugitives with great kindness, although _he_, at least, +scarcely deserved it. It was not surprising that he was driven from his +native realm, for he possessed none of those high qualities of mind +which fit men to conquer or to govern. Like all other weak-minded +tyrants, he substituted cruelty for wisdom and energy in his attempts to +subjugate his foes. As soon as he was married to Emma, for instance, +feeling elated and strong at the great accession of power which he +imagined he had obtained by this alliance, he planned a general massacre +of the Danes, and executed it on a given day, by means of private +orders, sent secretly throughout the kingdom. Vast numbers of the Danes +were destroyed; and so great was the hatred of the two races for each +other, that they who had these bloody orders to obey executed them with +a savage cruelty that was absolutely horrible. In one instance they +buried women to the waist, and then set dogs upon them, to tear their +naked flesh until they died in agony. It would be best, in narrating +history, to suppress such horrid details as these, were it not that in +a land like this, where so much depends upon the influence of every +individual in determining whether the questions and discussions which +are from time to time arising, and are hereafter to arise, shall be +settled peacefully, or by a resort to violence and civil war, it is very +important that we should all know what civil war is, and to what +horrible atrocities it inevitably leads. + +Alfred the Great, when he was contending with the Danes in England, a +century before this time, treated them, so far as he gained advantages +over them, with generosity and kindness; and this policy wholly +conquered them in the end. Ethelred, on the other hand, tried the +effect of the most tyrannical cruelty, and the effect was only to arouse +his enemies to a more determined and desperate resistance. It was the +phrensy of vengeance and hate that these atrocities awakened every where +among the Danes, which nerved them with so much vigor and strength that +they finally expelled him from the island; so that, when he arrived in +Normandy, a fugitive and an exile, he came in the character of a +dethroned tyrant, execrated for his senseless and atrocious cruelties, +and not in that of an unhappy prince driven from his home by the +pressure of unavoidable calamity. Nevertheless, Richard, the Duke of +Normandy, received him, as we have already said, with kindness. He felt +the obligation of receiving the exiled monarch in a hospitable manner, +if not on his own account, at least for the sake of Emma and the +children. + +The origin and end of Emma's interest in Ethelred seems to have been +merely ambition. The "Pearl of Normandy" had given herself to this +monster for the sake, apparently, of the glory of being the English +queen. Her subsequent conduct compels the readers of history to make +this supposition, which otherwise would be uncharitable. She now +mourned her disappointment in finding that, instead of being sustained +by her husband in the lofty position to which she aspired, she was +obliged to come back to her former home again, to be once more +dependent, and with the additional burden of her husband himself, and +her children, upon her father's family. Her situation was rendered even +still more humiliating, in some degree, by the circumstances that her +father was no longer alive, and that it was to her brother, on whom her +natural claim was far less strong, that she had now to look for shelter +and protection. Richard, however, received them all in a kind and +generous manner. + +In the mean time, the wars and commotions which had driven Ethelred +away continued to rage in England, the Saxons gradually gaining +ground against the Danes. At length the king of the Danes, who had +seized the government when Ethelred was expelled, died. The Saxons then +regained their former power, and they sent commissioners to Ethelred to +propose his return to England. At the same time, they expressed their +unwillingness to receive him, unless they could bind him, by a solemn +treaty, to take a very different course of conduct, in the future +management of his government, from that which he had pursued before. +Ethelred and Emma were eager to regain, on any terms, their lost throne. +They sent over embassadors empowered to make, in Ethelred's name, any +promises which the English nobles might demand; and shortly afterward +the royal pair crossed the Channel and went to London, and Ethelred was +acknowledged there by the _Saxon_ portion of the population of the +island once more as king. + +The _Danes_, however, though weakened, were not yet disposed to submit. +They declared their allegiance to _Canute_, who was the successor in the +_Danish_ line. Then followed a long war between Canute and Ethelred. +Canute was a man of extraordinary sagacity and intelligence, and also of +great courage and energy. Ethelred, on the other hand, proved himself, +notwithstanding all his promises, incurably inefficient, cowardly, and +cruel. In fact, his son Prince Edmund, the son of his first wife, was +far more efficient than his father in resisting Canute and the Danes. +Edmund was active and fearless, and he soon acquired very extensive +power. In fact, he seems to have held the authority of his father in +very little respect. One striking instance of this insubordination +occurred. Ethelred had taken offense, for some reason or other, at one +of the nobles in his realm, and had put him to death, and confiscated +his estates; and, in addition to this, with a cruelty characteristic of +him, he shut up the unhappy widow of his victim, a young and beautiful +woman, in a gloomy convent, as a prisoner. Edmund, his son, went to the +convent, liberated the prisoner, and made her his own wife. + +[Illustration: THE RESCUE.] + +With such unfriendly relations between the king and his son, who seems +to have been the ablest general in his father's army, there could be +little hope of making head against such an enemy as Canute the Dane. +In fact, the course of public affairs went on from bad to worse, Emma +leading all the time a life of unceasing anxiety and alarm. At length, +in 1016, Ethelred died, and Emma's cup of disappointment and humiliation +was now full. Her own sons, Edward and Alfred, had no claims to the +crown; for Edmund, being the son by a former marriage, was older than +they. They were too young to take personally an active part in the +fierce contests of the day, and thus fight their way to importance and +power. And then Edmund, who was now to become king, would, of course, +feel no interest in advancing _them_, or doing honor to _her_. A son +who would thwart and counteract the plans and measures of a father, as +Edmund had done, would be little likely to evince much deference or +regard for a mother-in-law, or for half brothers, whom he would +naturally consider as his rivals. In a word, Emma had reason to be +alarmed at the situation of insignificance and danger in which she found +herself suddenly placed. She fled a second time, in destitution and +distress, to her brother's in Normandy. She was now, however, a widow, +and her children were fatherless. It is difficult to decide whether to +consider her situation as better or worse on this account, than it was +at her former exile. + +Her sons were lads, but little advanced beyond the period of childhood; +and Edward, the eldest, on whom the duty of making exertions to advance +the family interests would first devolve, was of a quiet and gentle +spirit, giving little promise that he would soon be disposed to enter +vigorously upon military campaigns. Edmund, on the other hand, who was +now king, was in the prime of life, and was a man of great spirit and +energy. There was a reasonable prospect that he would live many years; +and even if he were to be suddenly cut off, there seemed to be no hope +of the restoration of Emma to importance or power; for Edmund was +married and had two sons, one of whom would be entitled to succeed him +in case of his decease. It seemed, therefore, to be Emma's destiny now, +to spend the remainder of her days with her children in neglect and +obscurity. The case resulted differently, however, as we shall see in +the end. + +Edmund, notwithstanding his prospect of a long and prosperous career, +was cut off suddenly, after a stormy reign of one year. During his +reign, Canute the Dane had been fast gaining ground in England, +notwithstanding the vigor and energy with which Edmund had opposed him. +Finally, the two monarchs assembled their armies, and were about to +fight a great final battle. Edmund sent a flag of truce to Canute's +camp, proposing that, to save the effusion of blood, they should agree +to decide the case by single combat, and that he and Canute should be +the champions, and fight in presence of the armies. Canute declined this +proposal. He was himself small and slender in form, while Edmund was +distinguished for his personal development and muscular strength. Canute +therefore declined the personal contest, but offered to leave the +question to the decision of a council chosen from among the leading +nobles on either side. This plan was finally adopted. The council +convened, and, after long deliberations, they framed a treaty by which +the country was divided between the two potentates, and a sort of peace +was restored. A very short period after this treaty was settled, Edmund +was murdered. + +Canute immediately laid claim to the whole realm. He maintained that +it was a part of the treaty that the partition of the kingdom was to +continue only during their joint lives, and that, on the death of +either, the whole was to pass to the survivor of them. The Saxon leaders +did not admit this, but they were in no condition very strenuously to +oppose it. Ethelred's sons by Emma were too young to come forward as +leaders yet; and as to Edmund's, they were mere children. There was, +therefore, no one whom they could produce as an efficient representative +of the Saxon line, and thus the Saxons were compelled to submit to +Canute's pretensions, at least for a time. They would not wholly give up +the claims of Edmund's children, but they consented to waive them for a +season. They gave Canute the guardianship of the boys until they should +become of age, and allowed him, in the mean time, to reign, himself, +over the whole land. + +Canute exercised his power in a very discreet and judicious manner, +seeming intent, in all his arrangements, to protect the rights and +interests of the Saxons as well as of the Danes. It might be supposed +that the lives of the young Saxon princes, Edmund's sons, would not have +been safe in his hands; but the policy which he immediately resolved to +pursue was to conciliate the Saxons, and not to intimidate and coerce +them. He therefore did the young children no harm, but sent them away +out of the country to Denmark, that they might, if possible, be +gradually forgotten. Perhaps he thought that, if the necessity should +arise for it, they might there, at any time, be put secretly to death. + +There was another reason still to prevent Canute's destroying these +children, which was, that if _they_ were removed, the claims of the +Saxon line would not thereby be extinguished, but would only be +transferred to Emma's children in Normandy, who, being older, were +likely the sooner to be in a condition to give him trouble as rivals. It +was therefore a very wise and sagacious policy which prompted him to +keep the young children of Edmund alive, but to remove them to a safe +distance out of the way. + +In respect to Emma's children, Canute conceived a different plan for +guarding against any danger which came from their claims, and that was, +to propose to take their mother for his wife. By this plan her family +would come into his power, and then her own influence and that of her +Norman friends would be forever prevented from taking sides against him. +He accordingly made the proposal. Emma was ambitious enough of again +returning to her former position of greatness as English queen to accept +it eagerly. The world condemned her for being so ready to marry, for her +second husband, the deadly enemy and rival of the first; but it was all +one to her whether her husband was Saxon or Dane, provided that she +could be queen. + +The boys, or, rather, the young men, for they were now advancing to +maturity, were very strongly opposed to this connection. They did all in +their power to prevent its consummation, and they never forgave their +mother for thus basely betraying their interests. They were the more +incensed at this transaction, because it was stipulated in the marriage +articles between Canute and Emma that their _future_ children--the +offspring of the marriage then contracted--should succeed to the throne +of England, to the exclusion of all previously born on either side. Thus +Canute fancied that he had secured his title, and that of his +descendants, to the crown forever, and Emma prepared to return to +England as once more its queen. The marriage was celebrated with great +pomp and splendor, and Emma, bidding Normandy and her now alienated +children farewell, was conducted in state to the royal palace in London. + +We must now pass over, with a very few words, a long interval of twenty +years. It was the period of Canute's reign, which was prosperous and +peaceful. During this period Emma's Norman sons continued in Normandy. +She had another son in England a few years after her marriage, who was +named Canute, after his father, but he is generally known in history by +the name of Hardicanute, the prefix being a Saxon word denoting +energetic or strong. Canute had also a very celebrated minister in his +government named Godwin. Godwin was a Saxon of a very humble origin, and +the history of his life constitutes quite a romantic tale.[H] He was a +man of extraordinary talents and character, and at the time of Canute's +death he was altogether the most powerful subject in the realm. + +[Footnote H: It is given at length in the last chapter of our history of +Alfred the Great.] + +When Canute found that he was about to die, and began to consider what +arrangements he should make for the succession, he concluded that it +would not be safe for him to fulfill the agreement made in his marriage +contract with Emma, that the children of that marriage should inherit +the kingdom; for Hardicanute, who was entitled to succeed under that +covenant, was only about sixteen or seventeen years old, and +consequently too young to attempt to govern. He therefore made a will, +in which he left the kingdom to an older son, named Harold--a son whom +he had had before his marriage with Emma. This was the signal for a new +struggle. The influence of the Saxons and of Emma's friends was of +course in favor of Hardicanute, while the Danes espoused the cause of +Harold. Godwin at length taking sides with this last-named party, Harold +was established on the throne, and Emma and all her children, whether +descended from Ethelred or Canute, were set aside and forgotten. + +Emma was not at all disposed to acquiesce in this change of fortune. +She remained in England, but was secretly incensed at her second +husband's breach of faith toward her; and as he had abandoned the child +of his marriage with her for _his_ former children, she now determined +to abandon him for _hers_. She gave up Hardicanute's cause, therefore, +and began secretly to plot among the Saxon population for bringing +forward her son Edward to the throne. When she thought that things were +ripe for the execution of the plot, she wrote a letter to her children +in Normandy, saying to them that the Saxon population were weary of the +Danish line, and were ready, she believed, to rise in behalf of the +ancient Saxon line, if the true representative of it would appear to +lead them. She therefore invited them to come to London and consult with +her on the subject. She directed them, however, to come, if they came at +all, in a quiet and peaceful manner, and without any appearance of +hostile intent, inasmuch as any thing which might seem like a foreign +invasion would awaken universal jealousy and alarm. + +When this letter was received by the brothers in Normandy, the eldest, +Edward, declined to go, but gave his consent that Alfred should +undertake the expedition if he were disposed. Alfred accepted the +proposal. In fact, the temperament and character of the two brothers +were very different. Edward was sedate, serious, and timid. Alfred was +ardent and aspiring. The younger, therefore, decided to take the risk of +crossing the Channel, while the elder preferred to remain at home. + +The result was very disastrous. Contrary to his mother's instructions, +Alfred took with him quite a troop of Norman soldiers. He crossed the +Channel in safety, and advanced across the country some distance toward +London. Harold sent out a force to intercept him. He was surrounded, and +he himself and all his followers were taken prisoners. He was sentenced +to lose his eyes, and he died in a few days after the execution of this +terrible sentence, from the mingled effects of fever and of mental +anguish and despair. Emma fled to Flanders. + +Finally Harold died, and Hardicanute succeeded him. In a short time +Hardicanute died, leaving no heirs, and now, of course, there was no one +left[I] to compete with Emma's oldest son Edward, who had remained all +this time quietly in Normandy. He was accordingly proclaimed king. This +was in 1041. He reigned for twenty years, having commenced his reign +about the time that William the Conqueror was established in the +possession of his dominions as Duke of Normandy. Edward had known +William intimately during his long residence in Normandy, and William +came to visit him in England in the course of his reign. William, in +fact, considered himself as Edward's heir; for as Edward, though +married, had no children, the dukes of the Norman line were his nearest +relatives. He obtained, he said, a promise from Edward that Edward would +sanction and confirm his claim to the English crown, in the event of his +decease, by bequeathing it to William in his will. + +[Footnote I: The children of Ethelred's oldest son, Edmund, were in +Hungary at this time, and seem to have been wellnigh forgotten.] + +Emma was now advanced in years. The ambition which had been the ruling +principle of her life would seem to have been well satisfied, so far as +it is possible to satisfy ambition, for she had had two husbands and two +sons, all kings of England. But as she advanced toward the close of her +career, she found herself wretched and miserable. Her son Edward could +not forgive her for her abandonment of himself and his brother, to +marry a man who was their own and their father's bitterest enemy. She +had made a formal treaty in her marriage covenant to exclude them from +the throne. She had treated them with neglect during all the time of +Canute's reign, while she was living with him in London in power and +splendor. Edward accused her, also, of having connived at his brother +Alfred's death. The story is, that he caused her to be tried on this +charge by the ordeal of fire. This method consisted of laying red-hot +irons upon the stone floor of a church, at certain distances from each +other, and requiring the accused to walk over them with naked feet. If +the accused was innocent, Providence, as they supposed, would so guide +his footsteps that he should not touch the irons. Thus, if he was +innocent, he would go over safely; if guilty, he would be burned. Emma, +according to the story of the times, was subjected to this test, in the +Cathedral of Winchester, to determine whether she was cognizant of the +murder of her son. Whether this is true or not, there is no doubt that +Edward confined her a prisoner in the monastery at Winchester, where she +ended her days at last in neglect and wretchedness. + +When Edward himself drew near to the close of his life, his mind was +greatly perplexed in respect to the succession. There was one descendant +of his brother Edmund--whose children, it will be remembered, Canute had +sent away to Denmark, in order to remove them out of the way--who was +still living in Hungary. The name of this descendant was Edward. He was, +in fact, the lawful heir to the crown. But he had spent his life in +foreign countries, and was now far away; and, in the mean time, the Earl +Godwin, who has been already mentioned as the great Saxon nobleman who +rose from a very humble rank to the position of the most powerful +subject in the realm, obtained such an influence, and wielded so great a +power, that he seemed at one time stronger than the king himself. Godwin +at length died, but his son Harold, who was as energetic and active as +his father, inherited his power, and seemed, as Edward thought, to be +aspiring to the future possession of the throne. Edward had hated Godwin +and all his family, and was now extremely anxious to prevent the +possibility of Harold's accession. He accordingly sent to Hungary to +bring Edward, his nephew, home. Edward came, bringing his family with +him. He had a young son named Edgar. It was King Edward's plan to make +arrangements for bringing this Prince Edward to the throne after his +death, that Harold might be excluded. + +The plan was a very judicious one, but it was unfortunately frustrated +by Prince Edward's death, which event took place soon after he arrived +in England. The young Edgar, then a child, was, of course, his heir. The +king was convinced that no government which could be organized in the +name of Edgar would be able to resist the mighty power of Harold, and he +turned his thoughts, therefore, again to the accession of William of +Normandy, who was the nearest relative on his mother's side, as the only +means of saving the realm from falling into the hands of the usurper +Harold. A long and vexatious contest then ensued, in which the leading +powers and influences of the kingdom were divided and distracted by the +plans, plots, maneuvers, and counter maneuvers of Harold to obtain the +accession for himself, and of Edward to secure it for William of +Normandy. In this contest Harold conquered in the first instance, and +Edward and William in the end. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +KING HAROLD. + +A.D. 1063-1066 + +Harold and William.--Quarrel between Godwin and Edward.--Treaty between +Godwin and Edward.--Hostages.--The giving of hostages now +abandoned.--Cruelties inflicted.--Canute's hostages.--Godwin's +hostages.--Edward declines to give up the hostages.--Harold goes to +Normandy.--Harold's interview with Edward.--The storm.--Harold +shipwrecked.--Guy, count of Ponthieu.--Harold a prisoner.--He is +ransomed by William.--William's hospitality.--His policy in +this.--William's treatment of his guests.--William's policy.--William +makes known to Harold his claims to the English crown.--Harold's +dissimulation.--William's precautions.--The betrothment.--William +retains a hostage.--Harold's apparent acquiescence.--The public +oath.--The great assembly of knights and nobles.--The threefold +oath.--William's precaution.--The sacred relics.--Harold's +departure.--His measures to secure the throne.--Age and infirmities of +Edward.--Westminster.--Edward's death.--The crown offered to +Harold.--Harold's coronation.--He knights Edgar.--Harold violates his +plighted faith to William. + + +Harold, the son of the Earl Godwin, who was maneuvering to gain +possession of the English throne, and William of Normandy, though they +lived on opposite sides of the English Channel, the one in France and +the other in England, were still personally known to each other; for not +only had William, as was stated in the last chapter, paid a visit to +England, but Harold himself, on one occasion, made an excursion to +Normandy. The circumstances of this expedition were, in some respects, +quite extraordinary, and illustrate in a striking manner some of the +peculiar ideas and customs of the times. They were as follows: + +During the life of Harold's father Godwin, there was a very serious +quarrel between him, that is, Godwin, and King Edward, in which both the +king and his rebellious subject marshaled their forces, and for a time +waged against each other an open and sanguinary war. In this contest the +power of Godwin had proved so formidable, and the military forces which +he succeeded in marshaling under his banners were so great, that +Edward's government was unable effectually to put him down. At length, +after a long and terrible struggle, which involved a large part of the +country in the horrors of a civil war, the belligerents made a treaty +with each other, which settled their quarrel by a sort of compromise. +Godwin was to retain his high position and rank as a subject, and to +continue in the government of certain portions of the island which had +long been under his jurisdiction; he, on his part, promising to dismiss +his armies, and to make war upon the king no more. He bound himself to +the faithful performance of these covenants by giving the king +_hostages_. + +The hostages given up on such occasions were always near and dear +relatives and friends, and the understanding was, that if the party +giving them failed in fulfilling his obligations, the innocent and +helpless hostages were to be entirely at the mercy of the other party +into whose custody they had been given. The latter would, in such cases, +imprison them, torture them, or put them to death, with a greater or +less degree of severity in respect to the infliction of pain, according +to the degree of exasperation which the real or fancied injury which he +had received awakened in his mind. + +This cruel method of binding fierce and unprincipled men to the +performance of their promises has been universally abandoned in modern +times, though in the rude and early stages of civilization it has been +practiced among all nations, ancient and modern. The hostages chosen +were often of young and tender years, and were always such as to render +the separation which took place when they were torn from their friends +most painful, as it was the very object of the selection to obtain those +who were most beloved. They were delivered into the hands of those whom +they had always regarded as their bitterest enemies, and who, of course, +were objects of aversion and terror. They were sent away into places of +confinement and seclusion, and kept in the custody of strangers, where +they lived in perpetual fear that some new outbreak between the +contending parties would occur, and consign them to torture or death. +The cruelties sometimes inflicted, in such cases, on the innocent +hostages, were awful. At one time, during the contentions between +Ethelred and Canute, Canute, being driven across the country to the +sea-coast, and there compelled to embark on board his ships to make his +escape, was cruel enough to cut off the hands and the feet of some +hostages which Ethelred had previously given him, and leave them +writhing in agony on the sands of the shore. + +The hostages which are particularly named by historians as given by +Godwin to King Edward were his son and his grandson. Their names were +Ulnoth and Hacune. Ulnoth, of course, was Harold's brother, and Hacune +his nephew. Edward, thinking that Godwin would contrive some means of +getting these securities back into his possession again if he attempted +to keep them in England, decided to send them to Normandy, and to put +them under the charge of William the duke for safe keeping. When Godwin +died, Harold applied to Edward to give up the hostages, since, as he +alleged, there was no longer any reason for detaining them. They had +been given as security for _Godwin's_ good behavior, and now Godwin was +no more. + +Edward could not well refuse to surrender them, and yet, as Harold +succeeded to the power, and evidently possessed all the ambition of his +father, it seemed to be, politically, as necessary to retain the +hostages now as it had been before. Edward, therefore, without +absolutely refusing to surrender them, postponed and evaded compliance +with Harold's demand, on the ground that the hostages were in Normandy. +He was going, he said, to send for them as soon as he could make the +necessary arrangements for bringing them home in safety. + +Under these circumstances, Harold determined to go and bring them +himself. He proposed this plan to Edward. Edward would not absolutely +refuse his consent, but he did all in his power to discourage such an +expedition. He told Harold that William of Normandy was a crafty and +powerful man; that by going into his dominions he would put himself +entirely into his power, and would be certain to involve himself in some +serious difficulty. This interview between Harold and the king is +commemorated on the Bayeux tapestry by the opposite uncouth design. + +What effect Edward's disapproval of the project produced upon Harold's +mind is not certainly known. It is true that he went across the Channel, +but the accounts of the crossing are confused and contradictory, some of +them stating that, while sailing for pleasure with a party of attendants +and companions on the coast, he was blown off from the shore and driven +across to France by a storm. The probability, however, is, that this +story was only a pretense. He was determined to go, but not wishing to +act openly in defiance of the king's wishes, he contrived to be blown +off, in order to make it seem that he went against his will. + +[Illustration: HAROLD'S INTERVIEW WITH EDWARD.] + +At all events, the _storm_ was real, whether his being compelled to +leave the English shores by the power of it was real or pretended. It +carried him, too, out of his course, driving him up the Channel to the +eastward of Normandy, where he had intended to land, and at length +throwing his galley, a wreck, on the shore, not far from the mouth of +the Somme. The galley itself was broken up, but Harold and his company +escaped to land. They found that they were in the dominions of a certain +prince who held possessions on that coast, whose style and title was +Guy, count of Ponthieu. + +The law in those days was, that wrecks became the property of the lord +of the territory on the shores of which they occurred; and not only were +the ships and the goods which they contained thus confiscated in case of +such a disaster, but the owners themselves became liable to be seized +and held captive for a ransom. Harold, knowing his danger, was +attempting to secrete himself on the coast till he could get to +Normandy, when a fisherman who saw him, and knew by his dress and +appearance, and by the deference with which he was treated by the rest +of the company, that he was a man of great consequence in his native +land, went to the count, and said that for ten crowns he would show him +where there was a man who would be worth a thousand to him. The count +came down with his retinue to the coast, seized the unfortunate +adventurers, took possession of all the goods and baggage that the waves +had spared, and shut the men themselves up in his castle at Abbeville +till they could pay their ransom. + +Harold remonstrated against this treatment. He said that he was on his +way to Normandy on business of great importance with the duke, from the +King of England, and that he could not be detained. But the count was +very decided in refusing to let him go without his ransom. Harold then +sent word to William, acquainting him with his situation, and asking him +to effect his release. William sent to the count, demanding that he +should give his prisoner up. All these things, however, only tended to +elevate and enlarge the count's ideas of the value and importance of the +prize which he had been so fortunate to secure. He persisted in refusing +to give him up without ransom. Finally William paid the ransom, in the +shape of a large sum of money, and the cession, in addition, of a +considerable territory. Harold and his companions in bondage were then +delivered to William's messengers, and conducted by them in safety to +Rouen, where William was then residing. + +William received his distinguished guest with every possible mark of the +most honorable consideration. He was escorted with great parade and +ceremony into the palace, lodged in the most sumptuous manner, provided +with every necessary supply, and games, and military spectacles, and +feasts and entertainments without number, were arranged to celebrate his +visit. William informed him that he was at liberty to return to England +whenever he pleased, and that his brother and his nephew, the hostages +that he had come to seek, were at his disposal. He, however, urged him +not to return immediately, but to remain a short time in Normandy with +his companions. Harold accepted the invitation. + +All this exuberance of hospitality had its origin, as the reader will +readily divine, in the duke's joy in finding the only important rival +likely to appear to contest his claims to the English crown so fully in +his power, and in the hope which he entertained of so managing affairs +at this visit as to divert Harold's mind from the idea of becoming the +King of England himself, and to induce him to pledge himself to act in +his, that is, William's favor. He took, therefore, all possible pains to +make him enjoy his visit in Normandy; he exhibited to him the wealth +and the resources of the country--conducting him from place to place to +visit the castles, the abbeys, and the towns--and, finally, he proposed +that he should accompany him on a military expedition into Brittany. + +Harold, pleased with the honors conferred upon him, and with the novelty +and magnificence of the scenes to which he was introduced, entered +heartily into all these plans, and his companions and attendants were no +less pleased than he. William knighted many of these followers of +Harold, and made them costly presents of horses, and banners, and suits +of armor, and other such gifts as were calculated to captivate the +hearts of martial adventurers such as they. William soon gained an +entire ascendency over their minds, and when he invited them to +accompany him on his expedition into Brittany, they were all eager to +go. + +Brittany was west of Normandy, and on the frontiers of it, so that the +expedition was not a distant one. Nor was it long protracted. It was, in +fact, a sort of pleasure excursion, William taking his guest across the +frontier into his neighbor's territory, on a marauding party, just as a +nobleman, in modern times, would take a party into a forest to hunt. +William and Harold were on the most intimate and friendly terms possible +during the continuance of this campaign. They occupied the same tent, +and ate at the same table. Harold evinced great military talents and +much bravery in the various adventures which they met with in Brittany, +and William felt more than ever the desirableness of securing his +influence on his, that is, William's side, or, at least, of preventing +his becoming an open rival and enemy. On their return from Brittany into +Normandy, he judged that the time had arrived for taking his measures. +He accordingly resolved to come to an open understanding with Harold in +respect to his plans, and to seek his co-operation. + +He introduced the subject, the historians say, one day as they were +riding along homeward from their excursion, and had been for some time +talking familiarly on the way, relating tales to one another of wars, +battles, sieges, and hair-breadth escapes, and other such adventures as +formed, generally, the subjects of narrative conversation in those days. +At length William, finding Harold, as he judged, in a favorable mood for +such a communication, introduced the subject of the English realm and +the approaching demise of the crown. He told him, confidentially, that +there had been an arrangement between him, William, and King Edward, for +some time, that Edward was to _adopt_ him as his successor. William told +Harold, moreover, that he should rely a great deal on his co-operation +and assistance in getting peaceable possession of the kingdom, and +promised to bestow upon him the very highest rewards and honors in +return if he would give him his aid. The only rival claimant, William +said, was the young child Edgar, and he had no friends, no party, no +military forces, and no means whatever for maintaining his pretensions. +On the other hand, he, William, and Harold, had obviously all the power +in their own hands, and if they could only co-operate together on a +common understanding, they would be sure to have the power and the +honors of the English realm entirely at their disposal. + +Harold listened to all these suggestions, and pretended to be interested +and pleased. He was, in reality, interested, but he was not pleased. He +wished to secure the kingdom for himself, not merely to obtain a share, +however large, of its power and its honors as the subject of another. He +was, however, too wary to evince his displeasure. On the contrary, he +assented to the plan, professed to enter into it with all his heart, and +expressed his readiness to commence, immediately, the necessary +preliminary measures for carrying it into execution. William was much +gratified with the successful result of his negotiation, and the two +chieftains rode home to William's palace in Normandy, banded together, +apparently, by very strong ties. In secret, however, Harold was +resolving to effect his departure from Normandy as soon as possible, and +to make immediate and most effectual measures for securing the kingdom +of England to himself, without any regard to the promises that he had +made to William. + +Nor must it be supposed that William himself placed any positive +reliance on mere promises from Harold. He immediately began to form +plans for binding him to the performance of his stipulations, by the +modes then commonly employed for securing the fulfillment of covenants +made among princes. These methods were three--intermarriages, the giving +of hostages, and solemn oaths. + +William proposed two marriages as means of strengthening the alliance +between himself and Harold. Harold was to give to William one of his +daughters, that William might marry her to one of his Norman chieftains. +This would be, of course, placing her in William's power, and making her +a hostage all but in name. Harold, however, consented. The second +marriage proposed was between William's daughter and Harold himself; but +as his daughter was a child of only seven years of age, it could only be +a betrothment that could take place at that time. Harold acceded to this +proposal too, and arrangements were made for having the faith of the +parties pledged to one another in the most solemn manner. A great +assembly of all the knights, nobles, and ladies of the court was +convened, and the ceremony of pledging the troth between the fierce +warrior and the gentle and wondering child was performed with as much +pomp and parade as if it had been an actual wedding. The name of the +girl was Adela. + +In respect to hostages, William determined to detain one of those whom +Harold, as will be recollected, had come into Normandy to recover. He +told him, therefore, that he might take with him his nephew Hacune, but +that Ulnoth, his brother, should remain, and William would bring him +over himself when he came to take possession of the kingdom. Harold was +extremely unwilling to leave his brother thus in William's power; but as +he knew very well that his being allowed to return to England himself +would depend upon his not evincing any reluctance to giving William +security, or manifesting any other indication that he was not intending +to keep his plighted faith, he readily consented, and it was thus +settled that Ulnoth should remain. + +Finally, in order to hold Harold to the fulfillment of his promises by +every possible form of obligation, William proposed that he should take +a public and solemn oath, in the presence of a large assembly of all the +great potentates and chieftains of the realm, by which he should bind +himself, under the most awful sanctions, to keep his word. Harold made +no objection to this either. He considered himself as, in fact, in +duress, and his actions as not free. He was in William's power, and was +influenced in all he did by a desire to escape from Normandy, and once +more recover his liberty. He accordingly decided, in his own mind, that +whatever oaths he might take he should afterward consider as forced upon +him, and consequently as null and void, and was ready, therefore, to +take any that William might propose. + +The great assembly was accordingly convened. In the middle of the +council hall there was placed a great chair of state, which was covered +with a cloth of gold. Upon this cloth, and raised considerably above the +seat, was the _missal_, that is, the book of service of the Catholic +Church, written on parchment and splendidly illuminated. The book was +open at a passage from one of the Evangelists--the Evangelists being a +portion of the Holy Scriptures which was, in those days, supposed to +invest an oath with the most solemn sanctions. + +Harold felt some slight misgivings as he advanced in the midst of such +an imposing scene as the great assembly of knights and ladies presented +in the council hall, to repeat his promises in the very presence of God, +and to imprecate the retributive curses of the Almighty on the violation +of them, which he was deliberately and fully determined to incur. He +had, however, gone too far to retreat now. He advanced, therefore, to +the open missal, laid his hand upon the book, and, repeating the words +which William dictated to him from his throne, he took the threefold +oath required, namely, to aid William to the utmost of his power in his +attempt to secure the succession to the English crown, to marry +William's daughter Adela as soon as she should arrive at a suitable age, +and to send over forthwith from England his own daughter, that she might +be espoused to one of William's nobles. + +As soon as the oath was thus taken, William caused the missal and the +cloth of gold to be removed, and there appeared beneath it, on the chair +of state, a chest, containing the sacred relics of the Church, which +William had secretly collected from the abbeys and monasteries of his +dominions, and placed in this concealment, that, without Harold's being +conscious of it, their dreadful sanction might be added to that which +the Holy Evangelists imposed. These relics were fragments of bones set +in caskets and frames, and portions of blood--relics, as the monks +alleged, of apostles or of the Savior--and small pieces of wood, +similarly preserved, which had been portions of the cross of Christ or +of his thorny crown. These things were treasured up with great solemnity +in the monastic establishments and in the churches of these early times, +and were regarded with a veneration and awe, of which it is almost +beyond our power even to conceive. Harold trembled when he saw what he +had unwittingly done. He was terrified to think how much more dreadful +was the force of the imprecations that he had uttered than he had +imagined while uttering them. But it was too late to undo what he had +done. The assembly was finally dismissed. William thought he had the +conscience of his new ally firmly secured, and Harold began to prepare +for leaving Normandy. + +He continued on excellent terms with William until his departure. +William accompanied him to the sea-shore when the time of his +embarkation arrived, and dismissed him at last with many farewell +honors, and a profusion of presents. Harold set sail, and, crossing the +Channel in safety, he landed in England. + +He commenced immediately an energetic system of measures to strengthen +his own cause, and prepare the way for his own accession. He organized +his party, collected arms and munitions of war, and did all that he +could to ingratiate himself with the most powerful and wealthy nobles. +He sought the favor of the king, too, and endeavored to persuade him to +discard William. The king was now old and infirm, and was growing more +and more inert and gloomy as he advanced in age. His mind was occupied +altogether in ecclesiastical rites and observances, or plunged in a +torpid and lifeless melancholy, which made him averse to giving any +thought to the course which the affairs of his kingdom were to take +after he was gone. He did not care whether Harold or William took the +crown when he laid it aside, provided they would allow him to die in +peace. + +He had had, a few years previous to this time, a plan of making a +pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but had finally made an arrangement with the +pope, allowing him to build a Cathedral church, to be dedicated to St. +Peter, a few miles west of London, in lieu of his pilgrimage. There was +already a Cathedral church or _minster_ in the heart of London which was +dedicated to St. Paul. The new one was afterward often called, to +distinguish it from the other, the _west_ minster, which designation, +Westminster, became afterward its regular name. It was on this spot, +where Westminster Abbey now stands, that Edward's church was to be +built. It was just completed at the time of which we are speaking, and +the king was preparing for the dedication of it. He summoned an assembly +of all the prelates and great ecclesiastical dignitaries of the land to +convene at London, in order to dedicate the new Cathedral. Before they +were ready for the service, the king was taken suddenly sick. They +placed him upon his couch in his palace chamber, where he lay, restless, +and moaning in pain, and repeating incessantly, half in sleep and half +in delirium, the gloomy and threatening texts of Scripture which seemed +to haunt his mind. He was eager to have the dedication go on, and they +hastened the service in order to gratify him by having it performed +before he died. The next day he was obviously failing. Harold and his +friends were very earnest to have the departing monarch declare in _his_ +favor before he died, and their coming and going, and their loud +discussions, rude soldiers as they were, disturbed his dying hours. He +sent them word to choose whom they would for king, duke or earl, it was +indifferent to him, and thus expired. + +Harold had made his arrangements so well, and had managed so effectually +to secure the influence of all the powerful nobles of the kingdom, that +they immediately convened and offered him the crown. Edgar was in the +court of Edward at the time, but he was too young to make any effort to +advance his claims. He was, in fact, a foreigner, though in the English +royal line. He had been brought up on the Continent of Europe, and +could not even speak the English tongue. He acquiesced, therefore, +without complaint, in these proceedings, and was even present as a +consenting spectator on the occasion of Harold's coronation, which +ceremony was performed with great pomp and parade, at St. Paul's, in +London, very soon after King Edward's death. Harold rewarded Edgar for +his complaisance and discretion by conferring upon him the honor of +knighthood immediately after the coronation, and in the church where the +ceremony was performed. He also conferred similar distinctions and +honors upon many other aspiring and ambitious men whom he wished to +secure to his side. He thus seemed to have secure and settled possession +of the throne. + +Previously to this time, Harold had married a young lady of England, a +sister of two very powerful noblemen, and the richest heiress in the +realm. This marriage greatly strengthened his influence in England, and +helped to prepare the way for his accession to the supreme power. The +tidings of it, however, when they crossed the Channel and reached the +ears of William of Normandy, as the act was an open and deliberate +violation of one of the covenants which Harold had made with William, +convinced the latter that none of these covenants would be kept, and +prepared him to expect all that afterward followed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE PREPARATIONS. + +A.D. 1066 + +Harold's brother Tostig.--He brings intelligence of Harold's +accession.--William's strength and dexterity.--His +surprise.--Fitzosborne.--His interview with William.--The great council +of state.--The embassy to Harold.--Harold reminded of his promises.--His +replies.--Return of the messenger.--William prepares for war.--William +calls a general council.--Want of funds.--Means of raising +money.--Adverse views.--Various opinions.--Confusion and disorder.--Plan +of Fitzosborne.--It is adopted by William.--Success of Fitzosborne's +plan.--Supplies flow in liberally.--Embassage to the pope.--Its +success.--Reasons why the pope favored William's claims.--The banner +and the ring.--Excitement produced by their reception.--William's +proclamations.--Their effects.--William's promises.--Naval +preparations.--Philip, king of France.--William's visit to +him.--William's interview with Philip.--Philip opposes his +plans.--Council of nobles.--Result of their deliberations.--William's +return.--Final preparations.--Matilda made duchess regent.--William's +motives.--Republican sentiments.--Hereditary sovereigns.--Enthusiasm of +the people.--The two-tailed comet. + + +The messenger who brought William the tidings of Harold's accession to +the throne was a man named Tostig, Harold's brother. Though he was +Harold's brother, he was still his bitterest enemy. Brothers are seldom +friends in families where there is a crown to be contended for. There +were, of course, no public modes of communicating intelligence in those +days, and Tostig had learned the facts of Edward's death and Harold's +coronation through spies which he had stationed at certain points on the +coast. He was himself, at that time, on the Continent. He rode with all +speed to Rouen to communicate the news to William, eager to incite him +to commence hostilities against his brother. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM RECEIVING TOSTIG'S TIDINGS.] + +When Tostig arrived at Rouen, William was in a park which lay in the +vicinity of the city, trying a new bow that had been recently made for +him. William was a man of prodigious muscular strength, and they gave +him the credit of being able to use easily a bow which nobody else +could bend. A part of this credit was doubtless due to the etiquette +which, in royal palaces and grounds, leads all sensible courtiers to +take good care never to succeed in attempts to excel the king. But, +notwithstanding this consideration, there is no doubt that the duke +really merited a great portion of the commendation that he received for +his strength and dexterity in the use of the bow. It was a weapon in +which he took great interest. A new one had been made for him, of great +elasticity and strength, and he had gone out into his park, with his +officers, to try its powers, when Tostig arrived. Tostig followed him to +the place, and there advancing to his side, communicated the tidings to +him privately. + +William was greatly moved by the intelligence. His arrow dropped upon +the ground. He gave the bow to an attendant. He stood for a time +speechless, tying and untying the cordon of his cloak in his +abstraction. Presently he began slowly to move away from the place, and +to return toward the city. His attendants followed him in silence, +wondering what the exciting tidings could be which had produced so +sudden and powerful an effect. + +William went into the castle hall, and walked to and fro a long time, +thoughtful, and evidently agitated. His attendants waited in silence, +afraid to speak to him. Rumors began at length to circulate among them +in respect to the nature of the intelligence which had been received. At +length a great officer of state, named Fitzosborne, arrived at the +castle. As he passed through the court-yard and gates, the attendants +and the people, knowing that he possessed in a great degree the +confidence of his sovereign, asked him what the tidings were that had +made such an impression. "I know nothing certain about it," said he, +"but I will soon learn." So saying, he advanced toward William, and +accosted him by saying, "Why should you conceal from us your news? It is +reported in the city that the King of England is dead, and that Harold +has violated his oaths to you, and has seized the kingdom. Is that +true?" + +William acknowledged that that was the intelligence by which he had been +so vexed and chagrined. Fitzosborne urged the duke not to allow such +events to depress or dispirit him. "As for the death of Edward," said +he, "that is an event past and sure, and can not be recalled; but +Harold's usurpation and treachery admits of a very easy remedy. You +have the right to the throne, and you have the soldiers necessary to +enforce that right. Undertake the enterprise boldly. You will be sure to +succeed." + +William revolved the subject in his mind for a few days, during which +the exasperation and anger which the first receipt of the intelligence +had produced upon him was succeeded by calm but indignant deliberation, +in respect to the course which he should pursue. He concluded to call a +great council of state, and to lay the case before them--not for the +purpose of obtaining their advice, but to call their attention to the +crisis in a formal and solemn manner, and to prepare them to act in +concert in the subsequent measures to be pursued. The result of the +deliberations of this council, guided, doubtless, by William's own +designs, was, that the first step should be to send an embassy to Harold +to demand of him the fulfillment of his promises. + +The messenger was accordingly dispatched. He proceeded to London, and +laid before Harold the communication with which he had been intrusted. +This communication recounted the three promises which Harold had made, +namely, to send his daughter to Normandy to be married to one of +William's generals; to marry William's daughter himself; and to maintain +William's claims to the English crown on the death of Edward. He was to +remind Harold, also, of the solemnity with which he had bound himself to +fulfill these obligations, by oaths taken in the presence of the most +sacred relics of the Church, and in the most public and deliberate +manner. + +Harold replied, + +1. That as to sending over his daughter to be married to one of +William's generals, he could not do it, for his daughter was dead. He +presumed, he said, that William did not wish him to send the corpse. + +2. In respect to marrying William's daughter, to whom he had been +affianced in Normandy, he was sorry to say that that was also out of +his power, as he could not take a foreign wife without the consent of +his people, which he was confident would never be given; besides, he +was already married, he said, to a Saxon lady of his own dominions. + +3. In regard to the kingdom: it did not depend upon him, he said, to +decide who should rule over England as Edward's successor, but upon the +will of Edward himself, and upon the English people. The English barons +and nobles had decided, with Edward's concurrence, that he, Harold, was +their legitimate and proper sovereign, and that it was not for him to +controvert their will. However much he might be disposed to comply with +William's wishes, and to keep his promise, it was plain that it was out +of his power, for in promising him the English crown, he had promised +what did not belong to him to give. + +4. As to his oaths, he said that, notwithstanding the secret presence of +the sacred relics under the cloth of gold, he considered them as of no +binding force upon his conscience, for he was constrained to take them +as the only means of escaping from the duress in which he was virtually +held in Normandy. Promises, and oaths even, when extorted by necessity, +were null and void. + +The messenger returned to Normandy with these replies, and William +immediately began to prepare for war. + +His first measure was to call a council of his most confidential friends +and advisers, and to lay the subject before them. They cordially +approved of the plan of an invasion of England, and promised to +co-operate in the accomplishment of it to the utmost of their power. + +The next step was to call a general council of all the chieftains and +nobles of the land, and also the _notables_, as they were called, or +principal officers and municipal authorities of the _towns_. The main +point of interest for the consideration of this assembly was, whether +the country would submit to the necessary taxation for raising the +necessary funds. William had ample power, as duke, to decide upon the +invasion and to undertake it. He could also, without much difficulty, +raise the necessary number of men; for every baron in his realm was +bound, by the feudal conditions on which he held his land, to furnish +his quota of men for any military enterprise in which his sovereign +might see fit to engage. But for so distant and vast an undertaking as +this, William needed a much larger supply of _funds_ than were usually +required in the wars of those days. For raising such large supplies, the +political institutions of the Middle Ages had not made any adequate +provision. Governments then had no power of taxation, like that so +freely exercised in modern times; and even now, taxes in France and +England take the form of _grants_ from the people to the kings. And as +to the contrivance, so exceedingly ingenious, by which inexhaustible +resources are opened to governments at the present day--that is, the +plan of borrowing the money, and leaving posterity to pay or repudiate +the debt, as they please, no minister of finance had, in William's day, +been brilliant enough to discover it. Thus each ruler had to rely, then, +mainly on the rents and income from his own lands, and other private +resources, for the comparatively small amount of money that he needed in +his brief campaigns. But now William perceived that ships must be built +and equipped, and great stores of provisions accumulated, and arms and +munitions of war provided, all which would require a considerable +outlay; and how was this money to be obtained? + +The general assembly which he convened were greatly distracted by the +discussion of the question. The quiet and peaceful citizens who +inhabited the towns, the artisans and tradesmen, who wished for nothing +but to be allowed to go on in their industrial pursuits in peace, were +opposed to the whole project. They thought it unreasonable and absurd +that they should be required to contribute from their earnings to enable +their lord and master to go off on so distant and desperate an +undertaking, from which, even if successful, they could derive no +benefit whatever. Many of the barons, too, were opposed to the scheme. +They thought it very likely to end in disaster and defeat; and they +denied that their feudal obligation to furnish men for their sovereign's +wars was binding to the extent of requiring them to go out of the +country, and beyond the sea, to prosecute his claims to the throne of +another kingdom. + +Others, on the other hand, among the members of William's assembly, were +strongly disposed to favor the plan. They were more ardent or more +courageous than the rest, or perhaps their position and circumstances +were such that they had more to hope from the success of the enterprise +than they, or less to fear from its failure. Thus there was great +diversity of opinion; and as the parliamentary system of rules, by which +a body of turbulent men, in modern times, are kept in some semblance of +organization and order during a debate, had not then been developed, the +meeting of these Norman deliberators was, for a time, a scene of uproar +and confusion. The members gathered in groups, each speaker getting +around him as many as he could obtain to listen to his harangue; the +more quiet and passive portion of the assembly moving to and fro, from +group to group, as they were attracted by the earnestness and eloquence +of the different speakers, or by their approval of the sentiments which +they heard them expressing. The scene, in fact, was like that presented +in exciting times by a political caucus in America, before it is called +to order by the chairman. + +Fitzosborne, the confidential friend and counselor, who has already been +mentioned as the one who ventured to accost the duke at the time when +the tidings of Edward's death and of Harold's accession first reached +him, now seeing that any thing like definite and harmonious action on +the part of this tumultuous assembly was out of the question, went to +the duke, and proposed to him to give up the assembly as such, and make +the best terms and arrangements that he could with the constituent +elements of it, individually and severally. He would himself, he +said, furnish forty ships, manned, equipped, and provisioned; and he +recommended to the duke to call each of the others into his presence, +and ask them what they were individually willing to do. The duke adopted +this plan, and it was wonderfully successful. Those who were first +invited made large offers, and their offers were immediately registered +in form by the proper officers. Each one who followed was emulous of the +example of those who had preceded him, and desirous of evincing as much +zeal and generosity as they. Then, besides, the duke received these +vassals with so much condescension and urbanity, and treated them with +so much consideration and respect, as greatly to flatter their vanity, +and raise them in their own estimation, by exalting their ideas of the +importance of the services which they could render in carrying so vast +an enterprise to a successful result. In a word, the tide turned like a +flood in favor of granting liberal supplies. The nobles and knights +promised freely men, money, ships, arms, provisions--every thing, in +short, that was required; and when the work of receiving and registering +the offers was completed, and the officers summed up the aggregate +amount, William found, to his extreme satisfaction, that his wants were +abundantly supplied. + +There was another very important point, which William adopted immediate +measures to secure, and that was obtaining the _Pope's_ approval of his +intended expedition. The moral influence of having the Roman pontiff on +his side, would, he knew, be of incalculable advantage to him. He sent +an embassage, accordingly, to Rome, to lay the whole subject before his +holiness, and to pray that the pope would declare that he was justly +entitled to the English crown, and authorize him to proceed and take +possession of it by force of arms. Lanfranc was the messenger whom he +employed--the same Lanfranc who had been so successful, some years +before, in the negotiations at Rome connected with the confirmation of +William and Matilda's marriage. + +Lanfranc was equally successful now. The pope, after examining William's +claims, pronounced them valid. He decided that William was entitled to +the rank and honors of King of England. He caused a formal diploma to be +made out to this effect. The diploma was elegantly executed, signed with +the cross, according to the pontifical custom, and sealed with a round +leaden seal.[J] + +[Footnote J: The Latin name for such a seal was _bulla_. It is on +account of this sort of seal, which is customarily affixed to them, that +papal edicts have received the name of _bulls_.] + +It was, in fact, very natural that the Roman authorities should take a +favorable view of William's enterprise, and feel an interest in its +success, as it was undoubtedly for the interest of the Church that +William, rather than Harold, should reign over England, as the accession +of William would bring the English realm far more fully under the +influence of the Roman Church. William had always been very submissive +to the pontifical authority, as was shown in his conduct in respect to +the question of his marriage. He himself, and also Matilda his wife, had +always taken a warm interest in the welfare and prosperity of the +abbeys, the monasteries, the churches, and the other religious +establishments of the times. Then the very circumstance that he sent his +embassador to Rome to submit his claims to the pontiff's adjudication, +while Harold did not do so, indicated a greater deference for the +authority of the Church, and made it probable that he would be a far +more obedient and submissive son of the Church, in his manner of ruling +his realm, if he should succeed in gaining possession of it, than Harold +his rival. The pope and his counselors at Rome thought it proper to take +all these things into the account in deciding between William and +Harold, as they honestly believed, without doubt, that it was their +first and highest duty to exalt and aggrandize, by every possible means, +the spiritual authority of the sacred institution over which they were +called to preside. + +The pope and his cardinals, accordingly, espoused William's cause very +warmly. In addition to the diploma which gave William formal authority +to take possession of the English crown, the pope sent him a banner and +a ring. The banner was of costly and elegant workmanship; its value, +however, did not consist in its elegance or its cost, but in a solemn +benediction which his holiness pronounced over it, by which it was +rendered sacred and inviolable. The banner, thus blessed, was forwarded +to William by Lanfranc with great care. + +It was accompanied by the ring. The ring was of gold, and it contained a +diamond of great value. The gold and the diamond both, however, served +only as settings to preserve and honor something of far greater value +than they. This choice treasure was a hair from the head of the Apostle +Peter! a sacred relic of miraculous virtue and of inestimable value. + +When the edict with its leaden seal, and the banner and the ring arrived +in Normandy, they produced a great and universal excitement. To have +bestowed upon the enterprise thus emphatically the solemn sanction of +the great spiritual head of the Church, to whom the great mass of the +people looked up with an awe and a reverence almost divine, was to seal +indissolubly the rightfulness of the enterprise, and to insure its +success. There was thenceforward no difficulty in procuring men or +means. Every body was eager to share in the glory, and to obtain the +rewards, of an enterprise thus commended by an authority duly +commissioned to express, in all such cases, the judgment of Heaven. + +Finding that the current was thus fairly setting in his favor, William +sent proclamations into all the countries surrounding Normandy, inviting +knights, and soldiers, and adventurers of every degree to join him +in his projected enterprise. These proclamations awakened universal +attention. Great numbers of adventurous men determined to enter +William's service. Horses, arms, and accoutrements were everywhere in +great demand. The invasion of England and the question of joining it +were the universal topics of conversation. The roads were covered with +knights and soldiers, some on horseback and alone, others in bands, +large or small, all proceeding to Normandy to tender their services. +William received them all, and made liberal promises to bestow rewards +and honors upon them in England, in the event of his success. To some +he offered pay in money; to others, booty; to others, office and power. +Every one had his price. Even the priests and dignitaries of the Church +shared the general enthusiasm. One of them furnished a ship and twenty +armed men, under an agreement to be appointed bishop of a certain +valuable English diocese when William should be established on his +throne. + +While all these movements were going on in the interior of the country, +all the sea-ports and towns along the coast of Normandy presented a very +busy scene of naval preparation. Naval architects were employed in great +numbers in building and fitting out vessels. Some were constructed and +furnished for the transportation of men, others for conveying provisions +and munitions of war; and lighters and boats were built for ascending +the rivers, and for aiding in landing troops upon shelving shores. +Smiths and armorers were occupied incessantly in manufacturing spears, +and swords, and coats of mail; while vast numbers of laboring men and +beasts of burden were employed in conveying arms and materials to and +from the manufactories to the ships, and from one point of embarkation +to another. + +As soon as William had put all these busy agencies thus in successful +operation, he considered that there was one more point which it was +necessary for him to secure before finally embarking, and that was the +co-operation and aid of the French king, whose name at this time was +Philip. In his character of Duke of Normandy the King of France was +his liege lord, and he was bound to act, in some degree, under an +acknowledgment of his superior authority. In his new capacity, that is, +as King of England, or, rather, as heir to the English kingdom, he was, +of course, wholly independent of Philip, and, consequently, not bound +by any feudal obligation to look to him at all. He thought it most +prudent, however, to attempt, at least, to conciliate Philip's favor, +and, accordingly, leaving his officers and his workmen to go on with +the work of organizing his army and of building and equipping the fleet, +he set off, himself, on an expedition to the court of the French king. +He thought it safer to undertake this delicate mission himself, rather +than to intrust it to an embassador or deputy. + +He found Philip at his palace of St. Germain's, which was situated at a +short distance from Paris. The duke assumed, in his interview with the +king, a very respectful and deferential air and manner. Philip was a +very young man, though haughty and vain. William was very much his +superior, not only in age and experience, but in talents and character, +and in personal renown. Still, he approached the monarch with all the +respectful observance due from a vassal to his sovereign, made known his +plans, and asked for Philip's approbation and aid. He was willing, he +said, in case that aid was afforded him, to hold his kingdom of England, +as he had done the duchy of Normandy, as a dependency of the French +crown. + +Philip seemed not at all disposed to look upon the project with favor. +He asked William who was going to take care of his duchy while he was +running off after a kingdom. William replied, at first, that that was a +subject which he did not think his neighbors need concern themselves +about. Then thinking, on reflection, that a more respectful answer would +be more politic, under the circumstances of the case, he added, that he +was providentially blessed with a prudent wife and loving subjects, and +that he thought he might safely leave his domestic affairs in their +hands until he should return. Philip still opposed the plan. It was +Quixotic, he said, and dangerous. He strongly advised William to abandon +the scheme, and be content with his present possessions. Such desperate +schemes of ambition as those he was contemplating would only involve him +in ruin. + +Before absolutely deciding the case, however, Philip called a council of +his great nobles and officers of state, and laid William's proposals +before them. The result of their deliberations was to confirm Philip in +his first decision. They said that the rendering to William the aid +which he desired would involve great expense, and be attended with great +danger; and as to William's promises to hold England as a vassal of the +King of France, they had no faith in the performance of them. It had +been very difficult, they said, for many years, for the kings of France +to maintain any effectual authority over the dukes of Normandy, and when +once master of so distant and powerful a realm as England, all control +over them would be sundered forever. + +Philip then gave William his final answer in accordance with these +counsels. The answer was received, on William's part, with strong +feelings of disappointment and displeasure. Philip conducted the duke to +his retinue when the hour of departure arrived, in order to soothe, as +far as possible, his irritated feelings, by dismissing him from his +court with marks of his honorable consideration and regard. William, +however, was not in a mood to be pleased. He told Philip, on taking +leave of him, that he was losing the most powerful vassal that any lord +sovereign ever had, by the course which he had decided to pursue. "I +would have held the whole realm of England as a part of your dominions, +acknowledging you as sovereign over all, if you had consented to render +me your aid, but I will not do it since you refuse. I shall feel bound +to repay only those who assist me." + +William returned to Normandy, where all the preparations for the +expedition had been going on with great vigor during his absence, and +proceeded to make arrangements for the last great measure which it was +necessary to take previous to his departure; that was, the regular +constitution of a government to rule in Normandy while he should be +gone. He determined to leave the supreme power in the hands of his wife +Matilda, appointing, at the same time, a number of civil and military +officers as a council of regency, who were to assist her in her +deliberations by giving her information and advice, and to manage, +under her direction, the different departments of the government. Her +title was "Duchess Regent," and she was installed into her office in a +public and solemn manner, at a great assembly of the estates of the +realm. At the close of the ceremonies, after William had given Matilda +his charge, he closed his address by adding, "And do not let us fail to +enjoy the benefit of your prayers, and those of all the ladies of your +court, that the blessing of God may attend us, and secure the success of +our expedition." + +We are not necessarily to suppose, as we might at first be strongly +inclined to do, that there was any special hypocrisy and pretense in +William's thus professing to rely on the protection of Heaven in the +personal and political dangers which he was about to incur. It is +probable that he honestly believed that the inheritance of the English +crown was his right, and, that being the case, that a vigorous and manly +effort to enforce his right was a solemn duty. In the present age of the +world, now that there are so many countries in which intelligence, +industry, and love of order are so extensively diffused that the mass of +the community are capable of organizing and administering a government +themselves, republicans are apt to look upon hereditary sovereigns +as despots, ruling only for the purpose of promoting their own +aggrandizement, and the ends of an unholy and selfish ambition. That +there have been a great many such despots no one can deny; but then, on +the other hand, there have been many others who have acted, in a greater +or less degree, under the influence of principles of duty in their +political career. They have honestly believed that the vast power with +which, in coming forward into life, they have found themselves invested, +without, in most cases, any agency of their own, was a trust imposed +upon them by divine Providence, which could not innocently be laid +aside; that on them devolved the protection of the communities over +which they ruled from external hostility, and the preservation of peace +and order within, and the promotion of the general industry and welfare, +as an imperious and solemn duty; and they have devoted their lives +to the performance of this duty, with the usual mixture, it is true, +of ambition and selfishness, but still, after all, with as much +conscientiousness and honesty as the mass of men in the humbler walks of +life evince in performing theirs. William of Normandy appears to have +been one of this latter class; and in obeying the dictates of his +ambition in seeking to gain possession of the English crown, he no doubt +considered himself as fulfilling the obligations of duty too. + +However this may be, he went on with his preparations in the most +vigorous and prosperous manner. The whole country were enthusiastic in +the cause; and their belief that the enterprise about to be undertaken +had unquestionably secured the favor of Heaven, was confirmed by an +extraordinary phenomenon which occurred just before the armament was +ready to set sail. A comet appeared in the sky, which, as close +observers declared, had a double tail. It was universally agreed that +this portended that England and Normandy were about to be combined, and +to form a double kingdom, which should exhibit to all mankind a +wonderful spectacle of splendor. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CROSSING THE CHANNEL. + +A.D. 1066 + +The River Dive.--Final assembling of the fleet.--Map.--Brilliant and +magnificent scene.--Equinoctial gales.--The expedition detained +by them.--Injurious effects of the storm.--Discouragement of the +men.--Fears and forebodings.--Some of the vessels wrecked.--Favorable +change.--The fleet puts to sea.--Various delays.--Its effects.--Harold's +want of information.--He withdraws his troops.--Harold's vigilance.--He +sends spies into Normandy.--Harold's spies.--They are detected.--William +dismisses the spies.--His confidence in his cause.--Fears of William's +officers.--He reassures them.--Arrival of Matilda with the Mira.--A +present to William.--The squadron puts to sea again.--Its +appearance.--Fleetness of the Mira.--Leaves the fleet out of +sight.--William's unconcern.--Reappearance of the fleet.--The fleet +enters the Bay of Pevensey.--Disembarkation.--Landing of the +troops.--Anecdote.--The encampment.--Scouts sent out.--William's +supper.--The missing ships.--The Conqueror's Stone.--March of the +army.--Flight of the inhabitants.--The army encamps.--The town of +Hastings.--William's fortifications.--Approach of Harold. + + +The place for the final assembling of the fleet which was to convey the +expedition across the Channel was the mouth of a small river called the +Dive, which will be seen upon the following map, flowing from the +neighborhood of the castle of Falaise northward into the sea. The grand +gathering took place in the beginning of the month of September, in the +year 1066. This date, which marks the era of the Norman Conquest, is one +of the dates which students of history fix indelibly in the memory. + +[Illustration: NORMANDY.] + +The gathering of the fleet in the estuary of the Dive, and the +assembling of the troops on the beach along its shores, formed a very +grand and imposing spectacle. The fleets of galleys, ships, boats, and +barges covering the surface of the water--the long lines of tents under +the cliffs on the land--the horsemen, splendidly mounted, and glittering +with steel--the groups of soldiers, all busily engaged in transporting +provisions and stores to and fro, or making the preliminary arrangements +for the embarkation--the thousands of spectators who came and went +incessantly, and the duke himself, gorgeously dressed, and mounted on +his war-horse, with the guards and officers that attended him--these, +and the various other elements of martial parade and display usually +witnessed on such occasions, conspired to produce a very gay and +brilliant, as well as magnificent scene. + +Of course, the assembling of so large a force of men and of vessels, and +the various preparations for the embarkation, consumed some time, and +when at length all was ready--which was early in September--the +equinoctial gales came on, and it was found impossible to leave the +port. There was, in fact, a continuance of heavy winds and seas, and +stormy skies, for several weeks. Short intervals, from time to time, +occurred, when the clouds would break away, and the sun appear; but +these intervals did not liberate the fleet from its confinement, for +they were not long enough in duration to allow the sea to go down. The +surf continued to come rolling and thundering in upon the shore, and +over the sand-bars at the mouth of the river, making destruction the +almost inevitable destiny of any ship which should undertake to brave +its fury. The state of the skies gradually robbed the scene of the gay +and brilliant colors which first it wore. The vessels furled their +sails, and drew in their banners, and rode at anchor, presenting their +heads doggedly to the storm. The men on the shore sought shelter in +their tents. The spectators retired to their homes, while the duke and +his officers watched the scudding clouds in the sky, day after day, with +great and increasing anxiety. + +In fact, William had very serious cause for apprehension in respect to +the effect which this long-continued storm was to have on the success +of his enterprise. The delay was a very serious consideration in itself, +for the winter would soon be drawing near. In one month more it would +seem to be out of the question for such a vast armament to cross the +Channel at all. Then, when men are embarking in such dark and hazardous +undertakings as that in which William was now engaged, their spirits and +their energy rise and sink in great fluctuations, under the influence of +very slight and inadequate causes; and nothing has greater influence +over them at such times than the aspect of the skies. William found that +the ardor and enthusiasm of his army were fast disappearing under the +effects of chilling winds and driving rain. The feelings of discontent +and depression which the frowning expression of the heavens awakened in +their minds, were deepened and spread by the influence of sympathy. The +men had nothing to do, during the long and dreary hours of the day, but +to anticipate hardships and dangers, and to entertain one another, as +they watched the clouds driving along the cliffs, and the rolling of the +surges in the offing, with anticipations of shipwrecks, battles, and +defeats, and all the other gloomy forebodings which haunt the +imagination of a discouraged and discontented soldier. + +Nor were these ideas of wrecks and destruction wholly imaginary. +Although the body of the fleet remained in the river, where it was +sheltered from the winds, yet there were many cases of single ships that +were from time to time exposed to them. These were detached vessels +coming in late to the rendezvous, or small squadrons sent out to some +neighboring port under some necessity connected with the preparations, +or strong galleys, whose commanders, more bold than the rest, were +willing, in cases _not_ of absolute necessity, to brave the danger. Many +of these vessels were wrecked. The fragments of them, with the bodies of +the drowned mariners, were driven to the shore. The ghastly spectacles +presented by these dead bodies, swollen and mangled, and half buried in +the sand, as if the sea had been endeavoring to hide the mischief it had +done, shocked and terrified the spectators who saw them. William gave +orders to have all these bodies gathered up and interred secretly, as +fast as they were found; still, exaggerated rumors of the number and +magnitude of these disasters were circulated in the camp, and the +discontent and apprehensions grew every day more and more alarming. + +William resolved that he must put to sea at the very first possible +opportunity. The favorable occasion was not long wanting. The wind +changed. The storm appeared to cease. A breeze sprang up from the south, +which headed back the surges from the French shore. William gave orders +to embark. The tents were struck. The baggage of the soldiers was sent +on board the transport vessels. The men themselves, crowded into great +flat-bottomed boats, passed in masses to the ships from the shore. The +spectators reappeared, and covered the cliffs and promontories near, to +witness the final scene. The sails were hoisted, and the vast armament +moved out upon the sea. + +The appearance of a favorable change in the weather proved fallacious +after all, for the clouds and storm returned, and after being driven, in +apprehension and danger, about a hundred miles to the northeast along +the coast, the fleet was compelled to seek refuge again in a harbor. The +port which received them was St. Valery, near Dieppe. The duke was +greatly disappointed at being obliged thus again to take the land. +Still, the attempt to advance had not been a labor wholly lost; for as +the French coast here trends to the northward, they had been gradually +narrowing the channel as they proceeded, and were, in fact, so far on +the way toward the English shores. Then there were, besides, some +reasons for touching here, before the final departure, to receive some +last re-enforcements and supplies. William had also one more opportunity +of communicating with his capital and with Matilda. + +These delays, disastrous as they seemed to be, and ominous of evil, were +nevertheless attended with one good effect, of which, however, William +at the time was not aware. They led Harold, in England, to imagine that +the enterprise was abandoned, and so put him off his guard. There were +in those days, as has already been remarked, no regular and public modes +of intercommunication, by which intelligence of important movements and +events was spread every where, as now, with promptness and certainty. +Governments were obliged, accordingly, to rely for information, in +respect to what their enemies were doing, on rumors, or on the reports +of spies. Rumors had gone to England in August that William was +meditating an invasion, and Harold had made some extensive preparations +to meet and oppose him; but, finding that he did not come--that week +after week of September passed away, and no signs of an enemy appeared, +and gaining no certain information of the causes of the delay, he +concluded that the enterprise was abandoned, or else, perhaps, postponed +to the ensuing spring. Accordingly, as the winter was coming on, he +deemed it best to commence his preparations for sending his troops to +their winter quarters. He disbanded some of them, and sent others away, +distributing them in various castles and fortified towns, where they +would be sheltered from the rigors of the season, and saved from the +exposure and hardships of the camp, and yet, at the same time, remain +within reach of a summons in case of any sudden emergency which might +call for them. They were soon summoned, though not, in the first +instance, to meet Harold, as will presently appear. + +While adopting these measures, however, which he thought the comfort and +safety of his army required, Harold did not relax his vigilance in +watching, as well as he could, the designs and movements of his enemy. +He kept his secret agents on the southern coast, ordering them to +observe closely every thing that transpired, and to gather and send to +him every item of intelligence which should find its way by any means +across the Channel. Of course, William would do all in his power to +intercept and cut off all communication, and he was, at this time, very +much aided in these efforts by the prevalence of the storms, which made +it almost impossible for the fishing and trading vessels of the coast to +venture out to sea, or attempt to cross the Channel. The agents of +Harold, therefore, on the southern coast of England, found that they +could obtain but very little information. + +At length the king, unwilling to remain any longer so entirely in the +dark, resolved on sending some messengers across the sea into Normandy +itself, to learn positively what the true state of the case might be. +Messengers going thus secretly into the enemy's territory, or into the +enemy's camp, become, by so doing, in martial law, _spies_, and incur, +if they are taken, the penalty of death. The undertaking, therefore, is +extremely hazardous; and as the death which is inflicted in cases of +detection is an ignominious one--spies being hung, not shot--most men +are very averse to encountering the danger. Still, desperate characters +are always to be found in camps and armies, who are ready to undertake +it on being promised very extraordinary pay. + +Harold's spies contrived to make their way across the Channel, probably +at some point far to the east of Normandy, where the passage is narrow. +They then came along the shore, disguised as peasants of the country, +and they arrived at St. Valery while William's fleets were there. Here +they began to make their observations, scrutinizing every thing with +close attention and care, and yet studiously endeavoring to conceal +their interest in what they saw. Notwithstanding all their vigilance, +however, they were discovered, proved to be spies, and taken before +William to receive their sentence. + +Instead of condemning them to death, which they undoubtedly supposed +would be their inevitable fate, William ordered them to be set at +liberty. "Go back," said he, "to King Harold, and tell him he might have +saved himself the expense of sending spies into Normandy to learn what I +am preparing for him. He will soon know by other means--much sooner, in +fact, than he imagines. Go and tell him from me that he may put himself, +if he pleases, in the safest place he can find in all his dominions, +and if he does not find my hand upon him before the year is out, he +never need fear me again as long as he lives." + +Nor was this expression of confidence in the success of the measures +which he was taking a mere empty boast. William knew the power of +Harold, and he knew his own. The enterprise in which he had embarked was +not a rash adventure. It was a cool, deliberate, well-considered plan. +It appeared doubtful and dangerous in the eyes of mankind, for to mere +superficial observers it seemed simply an aggressive war waged by a duke +of Normandy, the ruler of a comparatively small and insignificant +province, against a king of England, the monarch of one of the greatest +and most powerful realms in the world. William, on the other hand, +regarded it as an effort on the part of the rightful heir to a throne to +dispossess a usurper. He felt confident of having the sympathy and +co-operation of a great part of the community, even in England, the +moment he could show them that he was able to maintain his rights; and +that he could show them that, by a very decisive demonstration, was +evident, visibly, before him, in the vast fleet which was riding at +anchor in the harbor, and in the long lines of tents, filled with +soldiery, which covered the land. + +On one occasion, when some of his officers were expressing apprehensions +of Harold's power, and their fears in respect to their being able +successfully to cope with it, William replied, that the more formidable +Harold's power should prove to be, the better he should be pleased, as +the glory would be all the greater for them in having overcome it. "I +have no objection," said he, "that you should entertain exalted ideas of +his strength, though I wonder a little that you do not better appreciate +our own. I need be under no concern lest he, at such a distance, should +learn too much, by his spies, about the force which I am bringing +against him, when you, who are so near me, seem to know so little about +it. But do not give yourselves any concern. Trust to the justice of your +cause and to my foresight. Perform your parts like men, and you will +find that the result which I feel sure of, and you hope for, will +certainly be attained." + +The storm at length entirely cleared away, and the army and the fleet +commenced their preparations for the final departure. In the midst of +this closing scene, the attention of all the vast crowds assembled on +board the ships and on the shores was one morning attracted by a +beautiful ship which came sailing into the harbor. It proved to be a +large and splendid vessel which the Duchess Matilda had built, at her +own expense, and was now bringing in, to offer to her husband as +her parting gift. She was herself on board, with her officers and +attendants, having come to witness her husband's departure, and to bid +him farewell. Her arrival, of course, under such circumstances, produced +universal excitement and enthusiasm. The ships in harbor and the shores +resounded with acclamations as the new arrival came gallantly in. + +Matilda's vessel was finely built and splendidly decorated. The sails +were of different colors, which gave it a very gay appearance. Upon them +were painted, in various places, the three lions, which was the device +of the Norman ensign. At the bows of the ship was an effigy, or +figure-head, representing William and Matilda's second son shooting with +a bow. This was the accomplishment which, of all others, his father took +most interest in seeing his little son acquire. The arrow was drawn +nearly to its head, indicating great strength in the little arms which +were guiding it, and it was just ready to fly. The name of this vessel +was the Mira. William made it his flag ship. He hoisted upon its mast +head the consecrated banner which had been sent to him from Rome, and +went on board accompanied by his officers and guards, and with great +ceremony and parade. + +At length the squadron was ready to put to sea. At a given signal the +sails were hoisted, and the whole fleet began to move slowly out of the +harbor. There were four hundred ships of large size, if we may believe +the chronicles of the times, and more than a thousand transports. The +decks of all these vessels were covered with men; banners were streaming +from every mast and spar; and every salient point of the shore was +crowded with spectators. The sea was calm, the air serene, and the +mighty cloud of canvas which whitened the surface of the water moved +slowly on over the gentle swell of the waves, forming a spectacle which, +as a picture merely for the eye, was magnificent and grand, and, when +regarded in connection with the vast results to the human race which +were to flow from the success of the enterprise, must have been +considered sublime. + +The splendidly decorated ship which Matilda had presented to her husband +proved itself, on trial, to be something more than a mere toy. It led +the van at the commencement, of course; and as all eyes watched its +progress, it soon became evident that it was slowly gaining upon the +rest of the squadron, so as continually to increase its distance from +those that were following it. William, pleased with the success of its +performance, ordered the sailing master to keep on, without regard to +those who were behind; and thus it happened that, when night came on, +the fleet was at very considerable distance in rear of the flag ship. Of +course, under these circumstances, the fleet disappeared from sight when +the sun went down, but all expected that it would come into view again +in the morning. When the morning came, however, to the surprise and +disappointment of every one on board the flag ship, no signs of the +fleet were to be seen. The seamen, and the officers on the deck, gazed +long and intently into the southern horizon as the increasing light of +the morning brought it gradually into view, but there was not a speck to +break its smooth and even line. + +They felt anxious and uneasy, but William seemed to experience no +concern. He ordered the sails to be furled, and then sent a man to the +mast head to look out there. Nothing was to be seen. William, still +apparently unconcerned, ordered breakfast to be prepared in a very +sumptuous manner, loading the tables with wine and other delicacies, +that the minds of all on board might be cheered by the exhilarating +influence of a feast. At length the lookout was sent to the mast head +again. "What do you see now?" said William. "I see," said the man, +gazing very intently all the while toward the south, "four _very small +specks_ just in the horizon." The intense interest which this +announcement awakened on the deck was soon at the same time _heightened_ +and _relieved_ by the cry, "I can see more and more--they are the +ships--yes, the whole squadron is coming into view." + +The advancing fleet soon came up with the Mira, when the latter spread +her sails again, and all moved slowly on together toward the coast of +England. + +The ships had directed their course so much to the eastward, that when +they made the land they were not very far from the Straits of Dover. As +they drew near to the English shore, they watched very narrowly for the +appearance of Harold's cruisers, which they naturally expected would +have been stationed at various points, to guard the coast; but none were +to be seen. There had been such cruisers, and there still were such off +the other harbors; but it happened, very fortunately for William, that +those which had been stationed to guard this part of the island had been +withdrawn a few days before, on account of their provisions being +exhausted. Thus, when William's fleet arrived, there was no enemy to +oppose their landing. There was a large and open bay, called the Bay of +Pevensey, which lay smiling before them, extending its arms as if +inviting them in. The fleet advanced to within the proper distance from +the land, and there the seamen cast their anchors, and all began to +prepare for the work of disembarkation. + +A strong body of soldiery is of course landed first on such occasions. +In this instance the archers, William's favorite corps, were selected to +take the lead. William accompanied them. In his eagerness to get to the +shore, as he leaped from the boat, his foot slipped, and he fell. The +officers and men around him would have considered this an evil omen; but +he had presence of mind enough to extend his arms and grasp the ground, +pretending that his prostration was designed, and saying at the same +time, "Thus I seize this land; from this moment it is mine." As he +arose, one of his officers ran to a neighboring hut which stood near by +upon the shore, and breaking off a little of the thatch, carried it to +William, and, putting it into his hand, said that he thus gave him +_seizin_ of his new possessions. This was a customary form, in those +times, of putting a new owner into possession of lands which he had +purchased or acquired in any other way. The new proprietor would repair +to the ground, where the party whose province it was to deliver the +property would detach something from it, such as a piece of turf from a +bank, or a little of the thatch from a cottage, and offering it to him, +would say, "Thus I deliver thee _seizin_," that is, _possession_, "of +this land." This ceremony was necessary to complete the conveyance of +the estate. + +The soldiers, as soon as they were landed, began immediately to form an +encampment, and to make such military arrangements as were necessary to +guard against an attack, or the sudden appearance of an enemy. While +this was going on, the boats continued to pass to and fro, +accomplishing, as fast as possible, the work of disembarkation. In +addition to those regularly attached to the army, there was a vast +company of workmen of all kinds, engineers, pioneers, carpenters, +masons, and laborers, to be landed; and there were three towers, or +rather forts, built of timber, which had been framed and fashioned in +Normandy, ready to be put up on arriving: these had now to be landed, +piece by piece, on the strand. These forts were to be erected as soon as +the army should have chosen a position for a permanent encampment, and +were intended as a means of protection for the provisions and stores. +The circumstance shows that the plan of transporting buildings ready +made, across the seas, has not been invented anew by our emigrants to +California. + +While these operations were going on, William dispatched small squadrons +of horse as reconnoitering parties, to explore the country around, to +see if there were any indications that Harold was near. These parties +returned, one after another, after having gone some miles into the +country in all directions, and reported that there were no signs of an +enemy to be seen. Things were now getting settled, too, in the camp, +and William gave directions that the army should kindle their camp fires +for the night, and prepare and eat their suppers. His own supper, or +dinner, as perhaps it might be called, was also served, which he +partook, with his officers, in his own tent. His mind was in a state of +great contentment and satisfaction at the successful accomplishment of +the landing, and at finding himself thus safely established, at the head +of a vast force, within the realm of England. + +Every circumstance of the transit had been favorable excepting one, and +that was, that two of the ships belonging to the fleet were missing. +William inquired at supper if any tidings of them had been received. +They told him, in reply, that the missing vessels had been heard from; +they had, in some way or other, been run upon the rocks and lost. There +was a certain astrologer, who had made a great parade, before the +expedition left Normandy, of predicting its result. He had found, by +consulting the stars, that William would be successful, and would meet +with no opposition from Harold. This astrologer had been on board one of +the missing ships, and was drowned. William remarked, on receiving this +information, "What an idiot a man must be, to think that he can predict, +by means of the stars, the future fate of others, when it is so plain +that he can not foresee his own!" + +It is said that William's dinner on this occasion was served on a large +stone instead of a table. The stone still remains on the spot, and is +called "the Conqueror's Stone" to this day. + +The next day after the landing, the army was put in motion, and advanced +along the coast toward the eastward. There was no armed enemy to contend +against them there or to oppose their march; the people of the country, +through which the army moved, far from attempting to resist them, were +filled with terror and dismay. This terror was heightened, in fact, by +some excesses of which some parties of the soldiers were guilty. The +inhabitants of the hamlets and villages, overwhelmed with consternation +at the sudden descent upon their shores of such a vast horde of wild and +desperate foreigners, fled in all directions. Some made their escape +into the interior; others, taking with them the helpless members of +their households, and such valuables as they could carry, sought refuge +in monasteries and churches, supposing that such sanctuaries as those, +not even soldiers, unless they were pagans, would dare to violate. +Others, still, attempted to conceal themselves in thickets and fens till +the vast throng which was sweeping onward like a tornado should have +passed. Though William afterward always evinced a decided disposition to +protect the peaceful inhabitants of the country from all aggressions on +the part of his troops, he had no time to attend to that subject now. He +was intent on pressing forward to a place of safety. + +William reached at length a position which seemed to him suitable for a +permanent encampment. It was an elevated land, near the sea. To the +westward of it was a valley formed by a sort of recess opened in the +range of chalky cliffs which here form the shore of England. In the +bottom of this valley, down upon the beach, was a small town, then of no +great consequence or power, but whose name, which was Hastings, has +since been immortalized by the battle which was fought in its vicinity a +few days after William's arrival. The position which William selected +for his encampment was on high land in the vicinity of the town. The +lines of the encampment were marked out, and the forts or castles which +had been brought from Normandy were set up within the inclosures. Vast +multitudes of laborers were soon at work, throwing up embankments, and +building redoubts and bastions, while others were transporting the arms, +the provisions, and the munitions of war, and storing them in security +within the lines. The encampment was soon completed, and the long line +of tents were set up in streets and squares within it. By the time, +however, that the work was done, some of William's agents and spies came +into camp from the north, saying that in four days Harold would be upon +him at the head of a hundred thousand men. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. + +A.D. 1066 + +Tostig.--He is driven from England.--Expedition of Tostig.--He sails +to Norway.--Tostig's alliance with the Norwegians.--The Norwegian +fleet.--Superstitions.--Dreams of the soldiers.--The combined +fleets.--Attack on Scarborough.--The rolling fire.--Burning of +Scarborough.--Tostig marches to York.--Surrender of the city.--Arrival +of King Harold.--Movements of Tostig.--Surprise of Tostig and his +allies.--Preparations for battle.--Negotiations between Tostig and his +brother.--The battle.--Death of Tostig.--The Norwegians retire.--Harold +attempts to surprise William.--His failure.--Advice of Harold's +counselors.--He rejects it.--Harold's encampment.--The country +alarmed.--Harold's brothers.--He proposes to visit William's +camp.--Harold's arrival at William's lines.--He reconnoiters the +camp.--Harold's despondency.--His spies.--Their report.--William's +embassadors.--Their propositions.--William's propositions +unreasonable.--Harold declines them.--Further proposals of +William.--Counter proposal of Harold.--Harold's forebodings.--Proposals +of his brothers.--Night before the battle.--Scenes in Harold's +camp.--Scenes in William's camp.--Religious ceremonies.--A martial +bishop.--William's war-horse.--Preliminary arrangements.--Battle of +Hastings.--Defeat of Harold.--He is slain.--Final subjugation of the +island.--William crowned at Westminster.--William's power.--His +greatness. + + +The reader will doubtless recollect that the tidings which William first +received of the accession of King Harold were brought to him by Tostig, +Harold's brother, on the day when he was trying his bow and arrows in +the park at Rouen. Tostig was his brother's most inveterate foe. He had +been, during the reign of Edward, a great chieftain, ruling over the +north of England. The city of York was then his capital. He had been +expelled from these his dominions, and had quarreled with his brother +Harold in respect to his right to be restored to them. In the course of +this quarrel he was driven from the country altogether, and went to the +Continent, burning with rage and resentment against his brother; and +when he came to inform William of Harold's usurpation, his object was +not merely to arouse _William_ to action--he wished to act himself. He +told William that he himself had more influence in England still than +his brother, and that if William would supply him with a small fleet +and a moderate number of men, he would make a descent upon the coast and +show what he could do. + +William acceded to his proposal, and furnished him with the force which +he required, and Tostig set sail. William had not, apparently, much +confidence in the power of Tostig to produce any great effect, but his +efforts, he thought, might cause some alarm in England, and occasion +sudden and fatiguing marches to the troops, and thus distract and weaken +King Harold's forces. William would not, therefore, accompany Tostig +himself, but, dismissing him with such force as he could readily raise +on so sudden a call, he remained himself in Normandy, and commenced in +earnest his own grand preparations, as is described in the last chapter. + +Tostig did not think it prudent to attempt a landing on English shores +until he had obtained some accession to the force which William had +given him. He accordingly passed through the Straits of Dover, and then +turning northward, he sailed along the eastern shores of the German +Ocean in search of allies. He came, at length, to Norway. He entered +into negotiations there with the Norwegian king, whose name, too, was +Harold. This northern Harold was a wild and adventurous soldier and +sailor, a sort of sea king, who had spent a considerable portion of his +life in marauding excursions upon the seas. He readily entered into +Tostig's views. An arrangement was soon concluded, and Tostig set sail +again to cross the German Ocean toward the British shores, while Harold +promised to collect and equip his own fleet as soon as possible, and +follow him. All this took place early in September; so that, at the same +time that William's threatened invasion was gathering strength and +menacing Harold's southern frontier, a cloud equally dark and gloomy, +and quite as threatening in its aspect, was rising and swelling in the +north; while King Harold himself, though full of vague uneasiness and +alarm, could gain no certain information in respect to either of these +dangers. + +The Norwegian fleet assembled at the port appointed for the rendezvous +of it, but, as the season was advanced and the weather stormy, the +soldiers there, like William's soldiers on the coast of France, were +afraid to put to sea. Some of them had dreams which they considered as +bad omens; and so much superstitious importance was attached to such +ideas in those times that these dreams were gravely recorded by the +writers of the ancient chronicles, and have come down to us as part of +the regular and sober history of the times. One soldier dreamed that the +expedition had sailed and landed on the English coast, and that there +the English army came out to meet them. Before the front of the army +rode a woman of gigantic stature, mounted on a wolf. The wolf had in his +jaws a human body, dripping with blood, which he was engaged in +devouring as he came along. The woman gave the wolf another victim after +he had devoured the first. + +Another of these ominous dreams was the following: Just as the fleet was +about setting sail, the dreamer saw a crowd of ravenous vultures and +birds of prey come and alight every where upon the sails and rigging of +the ships, as if they were going to accompany the expedition. Upon the +summit of a rock near the shore there sat the figure of a female, with a +stern and ferocious countenance, and a drawn sword in her hand. She was +busy counting the ships, pointing at them, as she counted, with her +sword. She seemed a sort of fiend of destruction, and she called out to +the birds, to encourage them to go. "Go!" said she, "without fear; you +shall have abundance of prey. I am going too." + +It is obvious that these dreams might as easily have been interpreted to +portend death and destruction to their English foes as to the dreamers +themselves. The soldiers were, however, inclined--in the state of mind +which the season of the year, the threatening aspect of the skies, and +the certain dangers of their distant expedition, produced--to apply the +gloomy predictions which they imagined these dreams expressed, to +themselves. Their chief, however, was of too desperate and determined a +character to pay any regard to such influences. He set sail. His +armament crossed the German Sea in safety, and joined Tostig on the +coast of Scotland. The combined fleet moved slowly southward, along the +shore, watching for an opportunity to land. + +[Illustration: THE NORWEGIANS AT SCARBOROUGH.] + +They reached, at length, the town of Scarborough, and landed to attack +it. The inhabitants retired within the walls, shut the gates, and bid +the invaders defiance. The town was situated under a hill, which rose in +a steep acclivity upon one side. The story is, that the Norwegians went +upon this hill, where they piled up an enormous heap of trunks and +branches of trees, with the interstices filled with stubble, dried +bark, and roots, and other such combustibles, and then setting the whole +mass on fire, they rolled it down into the town--a vast ball of fire, +roaring and crackling more and more, by the fanning of its flames in the +wind, as it bounded along. The intelligent reader will, of course, pause +and hesitate, in considering how far to credit such a story. It is +obviously impossible that any mere _pile_, however closely packed, could +be made to roll. But it is, perhaps, not absolutely impossible that +trunks of trees might be framed together, or fastened with wet thongs or +iron chains, after being made in the form of a rude cylinder or ball, +and filled with combustibles within, so as to retain its integrity in +such a descent. + +The account states that this strange method of bombardment was +successful. The town was set on fire; the people surrendered. Tostig and +the Norwegians plundered it, and then, embarking again in their ships, +they continued their voyage. + +The intelligence of this descent upon his northern coasts reached Harold +in London toward the close of September, just as he was withdrawing his +forces from the southern frontier, as was related in the last chapter, +under the idea that the Norman invasion would probably be postponed +until the spring; so that, instead of sending his troops into their +winter quarters, he had to concentrate them again with all dispatch, and +march at the head of them to the north, to avert this new and unexpected +danger. + +While King Harold was thus advancing to meet them, Tostig and his +Norwegian allies entered the River Humber. Their object was to reach the +city of York, which had been Tostig's former capital, and which was +situated near the River Ouse, a branch of the Humber. They accordingly +ascended the Humber to the mouth of the Ouse, and thence up the latter +river to a suitable point of debarkation not far from York. Here they +landed and formed a great encampment. From this encampment they advanced +to the siege of the city. The inhabitants made some resistance at first; +but, finding that their cause was hopeless, they offered to surrender, +and a treaty of surrender was finally concluded. This negotiation was +closed toward the evening of the day, and Tostig and his confederate +forces were to be admitted on the morrow. They therefore, feeling that +their prize was secure, withdrew to their encampment for the night, and +left the city to its repose. + +It so happened that King Harold arrived that very night, coming to the +rescue of the city. He expected to have found an army of besiegers +around the walls, but, instead of that, there was nothing to intercept +his progress up to the very gates of the city. The inhabitants opened +the gates to receive him, and the whole detachment which was marching +under his command passed in, while Tostig and his Norwegian allies were +sleeping quietly in their camp, wholly unconscious of the great change +which had thus taken place in the situation of their affairs. + +The next morning Tostig drew out a large portion of the army, and formed +them in array, for the purpose of advancing to take possession of the +city. Although it was September, and the weather had been cold and +stormy, it happened that, on that morning, the sun came out bright, and +the air was calm, giving promise of a warm day; and as the movement into +the city was to be a peaceful one--a procession, as it were, and not a +hostile march--the men were ordered to leave their coats of mail and all +their heavy armor in camp, that they might march the more unencumbered. +While they were advancing in this unconcerned and almost defenseless +condition, they saw before them, on the road leading to the city, a +great cloud of dust arising. It was a strong body of King Harold's +troops coming out to attack them. At first, Tostig and the Norwegians +were completely lost and bewildered at the appearance of so unexpected a +spectacle. Very soon they could see weapons glittering here and there, +and banners flying. A cry of "The enemy! the enemy!" arose, and passed +along their ranks, producing universal alarm. Tostig and the Norwegian +Harold halted their men, and marshaled them hastily in battle array. The +English Harold did the same, when he had drawn up near to the front of +the enemy; both parties then paused, and stood surveying one another. +Presently there was seen advancing from the English side a squadron of +twenty horsemen, splendidly armed, and bearing a flag of truce. They +approached to within a short distance of the Norwegian lines, when a +herald, who was among them, called out aloud for Tostig. Tostig came +forward in answer to the summons. The herald then proclaimed to Tostig +that his brother did not wish to contend with him, but desired, on the +contrary, that they should live together in harmony. He offered him +peace, therefore, if he would lay down his arms, and he promised to +restore him his former possessions and honors. + +Tostig seemed very much inclined to receive this proposition favorably. +He paused and hesitated. At length he asked the messenger what terms +King Harold would make with his friend and ally, the Norwegian Harold. +"He shall have," replied the messenger, "seven feet of English ground +for a grave. He shall have a little more than that, for he is taller +than common men." "Then," replied Tostig, "tell my brother to prepare +for battle. It shall never be said that I abandoned and betrayed my ally +and friend." + +The troop returned with Tostig's answer to Harold's lines, and the +battle almost immediately began. Of course the most eager and inveterate +hostility of the English army would be directed against the Norwegians +and their king, whom they considered as foreign intruders, without any +excuse or pretext for their aggression. It accordingly happened that, +very soon after the commencement of the conflict, Harold the Norwegian +fell, mortally wounded by an arrow in his throat. The English king then +made new proposals to Tostig to cease the combat, and come to some +terms of accommodation. But, in the mean time, Tostig had become himself +incensed, and would listen to no overtures of peace. He continued the +combat until he was himself killed. The remaining combatants in his army +had now no longer any motive for resistance. Harold offered them a free +passage to their ships, that they might return home in peace, if they +would lay down their arms. They accepted the offer, retired on board +their ships, and set sail. Harold then, having, in the mean time, heard +of William's landing on the southern coast, set out on his return to the +southward, to meet the more formidable enemy that menaced him there. + +His army, though victorious, was weakened by the fatigues of the march, +and by the losses suffered in the battle. Harold himself had been +wounded, though not so severely as to prevent his continuing to exercise +the command. He pressed on toward the south with great energy, sending +messages on every side, into the surrounding country, on his line of +march, calling upon the chieftains to arm themselves and their +followers, and to come on with all possible dispatch, and join him. He +hoped to advance so rapidly to the southern coast as to surprise +William before he should have fully intrenched himself in his camp, and +without his being aware of his enemy's approach. But William, in order +to guard effectually against surprise, had sent out small reconnoitering +parties of horsemen on all the roads leading northward, that they might +bring him in intelligence of the first approach of the enemy. Harold's +advanced guard met these parties, and saw them as they drove rapidly +back to the camp to give the alarm. Thus the hope of surprising William +was disappointed. Harold found, too, by his spies, as he drew near, to +his utter dismay, that William's forces were four times as numerous as +his own. It would, of course, be madness for him to think of attacking +an enemy in his intrenchments with such an inferior force. The only +alternative left him was either to retreat, or else to take some strong +position and fortify himself there, in the hope of being able to resist +the invaders and arrest their advance, though he was not strong enough +to attack them. + +Some of his counselors advised him not to hazard a battle at all, but +to fall back toward London, carrying with him or destroying every thing +which could afford sustenance to William's army from the whole breadth +of the land. This would soon, they said, reduce William's army to great +distress for want of food, since it would be impossible for him to +transport supplies across the Channel for so vast a multitude. Besides, +they said, this plan would compel William, in the extremity to which +he would be reduced, to make so many predatory excursions among the more +distant villages and towns, as would exasperate the inhabitants, +and induce them to join Harold's army in great numbers to repel +the invasion. Harold listened to these counsels, but said, after +consideration, that he could never adopt such a plan. He could not be +so derelict to his duty as to lay waste a country which he was under +obligations to protect and save, or compel his people to come to his aid +by exposing them, designedly, to the excesses and cruelties of so +ferocious an enemy. + +Harold determined, therefore, on giving William battle. It was not +necessary, however, for him to attack the invader. He perceived at once +that if he should take a strong position and fortify himself in it, +William must necessarily attack _him_, since a foreign army, just landed +in the country, could not long remain inactive on the shore. Harold +accordingly chose a position six or seven miles from William's camp, +and fortified himself strongly there. Of course neither army was in +sight of the other, or knew the numbers, disposition, or plans of the +enemy. The country between them was, so far as the inhabitants were +concerned, a scene of consternation and terror. No one knew at what +point the two vast clouds of danger and destruction which were hovering +near them would meet, or over what regions the terrible storm which was +to burst forth when the hour of that meeting should come, would sweep in +its destructive fury. The inhabitants, therefore, were every where +flying in dismay, conveying away the aged and the helpless by any means +which came most readily to hand; taking with them, too, such treasures +as they could carry, and hiding, in rude and uncertain places of +concealment, those which they were compelled to leave behind. The +region, thus, which lay between the two encampments was rapidly becoming +a solitude and a desolation, across which no communication was made, and +no tidings passed to give the armies at the encampments intelligence of +each other. + +Harold had two brothers among the officers of his army, Gurth and +Leofwin. Their conduct toward the king seems to have been of a more +fraternal character than that of Tostig, who had acted the part of a +rebel and an enemy. Gurth and Leofwin, on the contrary, adhered to his +cause, and, as the hour of danger and the great crisis which was to +decide their fate drew nigh, they kept close to his side, and evinced a +truly fraternal solicitude for his safety. It was they, specially, who +had recommended to Harold to fall back on London, and not risk his life, +and the fate of his kingdom, on the uncertain event of a battle. + +As soon as Harold had completed his encampment, he expressed a desire +to Gurth to ride across the intermediate country and take a view of +William's lines. Such an undertaking was less dangerous then than it +would be at the present day; for now, such a reconnoitering party would +be discovered from the enemy's encampment, at a great distance, by means +of spy-glasses, and a twenty-four-pound shot or a shell would be sent +from a battery to blow the party to pieces or drive them away. The only +danger _then_ was of being pursued by a detachment of horsemen from the +camp, or surrounded by an ambuscade. To guard against these dangers, +Harold and Gurth took the most powerful and fleetest horses in the +camp, and they called out a small but strong guard of well-selected men +to escort them. Thus provided and attended, they rode over to the +enemy's lines, and advanced so near that, from a small eminence to which +they ascended, they could survey the whole scene of William's +encampment: the palisades and embankments with which it was guarded, +which extended for miles; the long lines of tents within; the vast +multitude of soldiers; the knights and officers riding to and fro, +glittering with steel; and the grand pavilion of the duke himself, with +the consecrated banner of the cross floating above it. Harold was very +much impressed with the grandeur of the spectacle. + +After gazing on this scene for some time in silence, Harold said to +Gurth that perhaps, after all, the policy of falling back would have +been the wisest for them to adopt, rather than to risk a battle with so +overwhelming a force as they saw before them. He did not know, he added, +but that it would be best for them to change their plan, and adopt that +policy now. Gurth said that it was too late. They had taken their stand, +and now for them to break up their encampment and retire would be +considered a retreat and not a maneuver, and it would discourage and +dishearten the whole realm. + +After surveying thus, as long as they desired to do so, the situation +and extent of William's encampment, Harold's party returned to their own +lines, still determined to make a stand there against the invaders, but +feeling great doubt and despondency in respect to the result. Harold +sent over, too, in the course of the day, some spies. The men whom he +employed for this purpose were Normans by birth, and they could speak +the French language. There were many Normans in England, who had come +over in King Edward's time. These Norman spies could, of course, +disguise themselves, and mingle, without attracting attention, among the +thousands of workmen and camp followers that were going and coming +continually around the grounds which William's army occupied. They did +this so effectually, that they penetrated within the encampment without +difficulty, examined every thing, and, in due time, returned to Harold +with their report. They gave a formidable account of the numbers and +condition of William's troops. There was a large corps of bowmen in the +army, which had adopted a fashion of being shaven and shorn in such a +manner that the spies mistook them for priests. They told Harold, +accordingly, on their return, that there were more _priests_ in +William's camp than there were soldiers in all his army. + +During this eventful day, William too sent a body of horsemen across the +country which separated the two encampments, though his emissaries were +not spies, but embassadors, with propositions for peace. William had no +wish to fight a battle, if what he considered as rightfully his kingdom +could be delivered to him without it; and he determined to make one +final effort to obtain a peaceable surrender of it, before coming to the +dreadful resort of an appeal to arms. He accordingly sent his embassy +with _three_ propositions to make to the English king. The principal +messenger in this company was a monk, whose name was Maigrot. He rode, +with a proper escort and a flag of truce, to Harold's lines. The +propositions were these, by accepting either of which the monk said that +Harold might avoid a battle. 1. That Harold should surrender the kingdom +to William, as he had solemnly sworn to do over the sacred relics in +Normandy. 2. That they should both agree to refer the whole subject of +controversy between them to the pope, and abide by his decision. 3. +That they should settle the dispute by single combat, the two claimants +to the crown to fight a duel on the plain, in presence of their +respective armies. + +It is obvious that Harold could not accept either of these propositions. +The first was to give up the whole point at issue. As for the second, +the pope had already prejudged the case, and if it were to be referred +to him, there could be no doubt that he would simply reaffirm his former +decision. And in respect to single combat, the disadvantage on Harold's +part would be as great in such a contest as it would be in the proposed +arbitration. He was himself a man of comparatively slender form and of +little bodily strength. William, on the other hand, was distinguished +for his size, and for his extraordinary muscular energy. In a modern +combat with fire-arms these personal advantages would be of no avail, +but in those days, when the weapons were battle-axes, lances, and +swords, they were almost decisive of the result. Harold therefore +declined all William's propositions, and the monk returned. + +William seems not to have been wholly discouraged by this failure of his +first attempt at negotiation, for he sent his embassage a second time +to make one more proposal. It was, that if Harold would consent to +acknowledge William as King of England, William would assign the whole +territory to him and to his brother Gurth, to hold _as provinces_, under +William's general sway. Under this arrangement William would himself +return to Normandy, making the city of Rouen, which was his capital +there, the capital of the whole united realm. To this proposal Harold +replied, that he could not, on any terms, give up his rights as +sovereign of England. He therefore declined this proposal also. He, +however, now made a proposition in his turn. He was willing, he said, to +compromise the dispute, so far as it could be done by _the payment of +money_. If William would abandon his invasion and return to Normandy, +giving up his claims to the English crown, he would pay him, he said, +any sum of money that he would name. + +William could not accept this proposal. He was, as he believed, the true +and rightful heir to the throne of England, and there was a point of +honor involved, as well as a dictate of ambition to be obeyed, in +insisting on the claim. In the mean time, the day had passed, while +these fruitless negotiations had been pending. Night was coming on. +William's officers and counselors began to be uneasy at the delay. They +said that every hour new re-enforcements were coming into Harold's camp, +while they themselves were gaining no advantage, and, consequently, the +longer the battle was delayed, the less was the certainty of victory. So +William promised them that he would attack King Harold in his camp the +very next morning. + +As the time for the great final struggle drew near, Harold's mind was +oppressed more and more with a sense of anxiety and with foreboding +fears. His brothers, too, were ill at ease. Their solicitude was +increased by the recollection of Harold's oath, and of the awful +sanctions with which they feared the sacred relics might have invested +it. They were not sure that their brother's excuse for setting it aside +would save him from the guilt and curse of perjury in the sight of +Heaven. So they proposed, on the eve of the battle, that Harold himself +should retire, and leave them to conduct the defense. "We can not deny," +they said, "that you did take the oath; and, notwithstanding the +circumstances which seem to absolve you from the obligation, it is best +to avoid, if possible, the open violation of it. It will be better, on +the whole, for you to leave the army and go to London. You can aid very +effectually in the defense of the kingdom by raising re-enforcements +there. We will stay and encounter the actual battle. Heaven can not be +displeased with us for so doing, for we shall be only discharging the +duty incumbent on all, of defending their native land from foreign +invasion." + +Harold would not consent to adopt this plan. He could not retire +himself, he said, at the hour of approaching danger, and leave his +brothers and his friends exposed, when it was _his_ crown for which +they were contending. + +Such were the circumstances of the two armies on the evening before the +battle; and, of course, in such a state of things, the tendency of the +minds of men would be, in Harold's camp, to gloom and despondency, and +in William's, to confidence and exultation. Harold undertook, as men in +his circumstances often do, to lighten the load which weighed upon his +own heart and oppressed the spirits of his men, by feasting and wine. He +ordered a plentiful supper to be served, and supplied his soldiers with +abundance of drink; and it is said that his whole camp exhibited, during +the whole night, one wide-spread scene of carousing and revelry, the +troops being gathered every where in groups around their camp fires, +some half stupefied, others quarreling, and others still singing +national songs, and dancing with wild excitement, according to the +various effects produced upon different constitutions by the +intoxicating influence of beer and wine. + +In William's camp there were witnessed very different scenes. There were +a great many monks and ecclesiastics in the train of his army, and, on +the night before the battle, they spent the time in saying masses, +reading litanies and prayers, chanting anthems, and in other similar +acts of worship, assisted by the soldiers, who gathered, in great +congregations, for this wild worship, in the open spaces among the tents +and around the camp fires. At length they all retired to rest, feeling +an additional sense of safety in respect to the work of the morrow by +having, as they supposed, entitled themselves, by their piety, to the +protection of Heaven. + +In the morning, too, in William's camp, the first thing done was to +convene the army for a grand celebration of mass. It is a curious +illustration of the mingling of the religious, or, perhaps, we ought +rather to say, the superstitious sentiment of the times, with the +spirit of war, that the bishop who officiated in this solemn service of +the mass wore a coat of mail under his pontifical attire, and an +attendant stood by his side, while he was offering his prayers, with a +steel-pointed spear in his hand, ready for the martial prelate to assume +as soon as the service should be ended. Accordingly, when the religious +duty was performed, the bishop threw off his surplice, took his spear, +and mounting his white charger, which was also all saddled and bridled +beside him, he headed a brigade of horse, and rode on to the assault of +the enemy. + +William himself mounted a very magnificent war-horse from Spain, a +present which he had formerly received from one of his wealthy barons. +The name of the horse was Bayard. From William's neck were suspended +some of the most sacred of the relics over which Harold had taken his +false oath. He imagined that there would be some sort of charm in them, +to protect his life, and to make the judgment of Heaven more sure +against the perjurer. The standard which the pope had blessed was borne +by his side by a young standard bearer, who was very proud of the honor. +An older soldier, however, on whom the care of this standard officially +devolved, had asked to be excused from carrying it. He wished, he said, +to do his work that day with the _sword_. While making these preliminary +arrangements for going into battle, William, with the party around him, +stood upon a gentle eminence in the middle of the camp, and in sight of +the whole army. Every one was struck with admiration at the splendid +figure which their commander made--his large and well-formed limbs +covered with steel, and his horse, whose form was as noble as that of +his master, prancing restlessly, as if impatient for the battle to +begin. + +When all were ready, the Norman army advanced gayly and joyously to +attack the English lines; but the gayety and joyousness of the scene +soon disappeared, as corps after corps got fairly engaged in the awful +work of the day. For ten long hours there reigned over the whole field +one wide-spread scene of havoc and death--every soul among all those +countless thousands delivered up to the supreme dominion of the most +dreadful passions, excited to a perfect phrensy of hatred, rage, and +revenge, and all either mercilessly killing others, or dying themselves +in agony and despair. When night came, the Normans were every where +victorious. They were in full possession of the field, and they rode +triumphantly to and fro through Harold's camp, leaping their horses over +the bodies of the dead and dying which covered the ground. Those of King +Harold's followers that had escaped the slaughter of the day fled in +hopeless confusion toward the north, where the flying masses strewed the +roads for miles with the bodies of men who sank down on the way, spent +with wounds or exhausted by fatigue. + +In the morning, William marshaled his men on the field, and called over +the names of the officers and men, as they had been registered in +Normandy, for the purpose of ascertaining who were killed. While this +melancholy ceremony was going on, two monks came in, sent from the +remains of the English army, and saying that King Harold was missing, +and that it was rumored that he had been slain. If so, his body must be +lying somewhere, they said, upon the field, and they wished for +permission to make search for it. The permission was granted. With the +aid of some soldiers they began to explore the ground, turning over and +examining every lifeless form which, by the dress or the armor, might +seem to be possibly the king's. Their search was for a long time vain; +the ghastly faces of the dead were so mutilated and changed that nobody +could be identified. At length, however, a woman who had been in +Harold's family, and knew his person more intimately than they, found +and recognized the body, and the monks and the soldiers carried it away. + + * * * * * + +The battle of Hastings sealed and settled the controversy in respect to +the English crown. It is true that the adherents of Harold, and also +those of Edgar Atheling, made afterward various efforts to rally their +forces and recover the kingdom, but in vain. William advanced to London, +fortified himself there, and made excursions from that city as a centre +until he reduced the island to his sway. He was crowned at length, at +Westminster Abbey, with great pomp and parade. He sent for Matilda to +come and join him, and instated her in his palace as Queen of England. +He confiscated the property of all the English nobles who had fought +against him, and divided it among the Norman chieftains who had aided +him in the invasion. He made various excursions to and from Normandy +himself, being received every where throughout his dominions, on both +sides the Channel, with the most distinguished honors. In a word, he +became, in the course of a few years after he landed, one of the +greatest and most powerful potentates on the globe. How far all his +riches and grandeur were from making him happy, will appear in the +following chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +PRINCE ROBERT'S REBELLION. + +A.D. 1076-1077 + +William's oldest son.--His character.--William's conflicts with his +son Robert.--William Rufus.--William's son Henry.--Robert nicknamed +Short Boots.--Robert's betrothment.--William's motives.--Death +of Margaret.--More trouble.--Robert's political power.--His +ambition.--Robert claims Normandy.--William refuses it.--Castle at +L'Aigle.--Quarrel between Robert and William Rufus.--The combatants +parted.--Robert's rage.--Robert's rebellion.--Anxiety and distress of +Matilda.--Measures of Matilda.--Advantages of William.--Robert lays +down his arms.--Interview with his father.--Recriminations.--The +interview fruitless.--Robert goes to Flanders.--His treasonable +correspondence.--Action of Philip.--He sides with Robert.--Robert's +dissipation.--Matilda sends him supplies.--Matilda's secret +supplies.--She is discovered.--Matilda's messenger seized.--William's +reproaches.--Matilda's reply.--William's anger.--Sampson's +escape.--Things grow worse.--Preparations for war.--Matilda's +distress.--William wounded by his son.--The battle goes against +him.--Matilda's anguish.--The reconciliation. + + +Ambitious men, who devote their time and attention, through all the +early years of life, to their personal and political aggrandizement, +have little time to appropriate to the government and education of their +children, and their later years are often embittered by the dissipation +and vice, or by the unreasonable exactions of their sons. At least it +was so in William's case. By the time that his public enemies were +subdued, and he found himself undisputed master both of his kingdom and +his duchy, his peace and happiness were destroyed, and the tranquillity +of his whole realm was disturbed by a terrible family quarrel. + +The name of his oldest son was Robert. He was fourteen years old when +his father set off on his invasion of England. At that time he was a +sort of spoiled child, having been his mother's favorite, and, as such, +always greatly indulged by her. When William went away, it will be +recollected that he appointed Matilda regent, to govern Normandy during +his absence. This boy was also named in the regency, so that he was +nominally associated with his mother, and he considered himself, +doubtless, as the more important personage of the two. In a word, while +William was engaged in England, prosecuting his conquests there, Robert +was growing up in Normandy a vain, self-conceited, and ungovernable +young man. + +His father, in going back and forth between England and Normandy, often +came into conflict with his son, as usual in such cases. In these +contests Matilda took sides with the son. William's second son, whose +name was William Rufus, was jealous of his older brother, and was often +provoked by the overbearing and imperious spirit which Robert displayed. +William Rufus thus naturally adhered to the father's part in the family +feud. William Rufus was as rough and turbulent in spirit as Robert, but +he had not been so indulged. He possessed, therefore, more self-control; +he knew very well how to suppress his propensities, and conceal the +unfavorable aspects of his character when in the presence of his father. + +There was a third brother, named Henry. He was of a more quiet and +inoffensive character, and avoided taking an active part in the +quarrel, except so far as William Rufus led him on. He was William +Rufus's friend and companion, and, as such, Robert considered him as his +enemy. All, in fact, except Matilda, were against Robert, who looked +down, in a haughty and domineering manner--as the oldest son and heir +is very apt to do in rich and powerful families--upon the comparative +insignificance of his younger brethren. The king, instead of restraining +this imperious spirit in his son, as he might, perhaps, have done by a +considerate and kind, and, at the same time, decisive exercise of +authority, teased and tormented him by sarcasms and petty vexations. +Among other instances of this, he gave him the nickname of _Short +Boots_, because he was of inferior stature. As Robert was, however, +at this time of full age, he was stung to the quick at having such a +stigma attached to him by his father, and his bosom burned with secret +sentiments of resentment and revenge. + +He had, besides, other causes of complaint against his father, more +serious still. When he was a very young child, his father, according to +the custom of the times, had espoused him to the daughter and heiress of +a neighboring earl, a child like himself. Her name was Margaret. The +earldom which this little Margaret was to inherit was Maine. It was on +the frontiers of Normandy, and it was a rich and valuable possession. It +was a part of the stipulation of the marriage contract that the young +bride's domain was to be delivered to the father of the bridegroom, to +be held by him until the bridegroom should become of age, and the +marriage should be fully consummated. In fact, the getting possession of +this rich inheritance, with a prospect of holding it so many years, was +very probably the principal end which William had in view in contracting +for a matrimonial union so very premature. + +If this was, in reality, William's plan, it resulted, in the end, even +more favorably than he had anticipated; for the little heiress died a +short time after her inheritance was put into the possession of her +father-in-law. There was nobody to demand a restoration of it, and so +William continued to hold it until his son, the bridegroom, became of +age. Robert then demanded it, contending that it was justly his. William +refused to surrender it. He maintained that what had passed between his +son in his infancy, and the little Margaret, was not a marriage, but +only a betrothment--a contract for a future marriage, which was to take +place when the parties were of age--that, since Margaret's death +prevented the consummation of the union, Robert was never her husband, +and could not, consequently, acquire the rights of a husband. The lands, +therefore, ought manifestly, he said, to remain in the hands of her +guardian, and whatever rights any other persons might have, claiming to +succeed Margaret as her natural heirs, it was plain that his son could +have no title whatever. + +However satisfactory this reasoning might be to the mind of William, +Robert was only exasperated by it. He looked upon the case as one of +extreme injustice and oppression on the part of his father, who, not +content, he said, with his own enormous possessions, must add to them by +robbing his own son. In this opinion Robert's mother, Matilda, agreed +with him. As for William Rufus and Henry, they paid little attention to +the argument, but were pleased with the result of it, and highly enjoyed +their brother's vexation and chagrin in not being able to get possession +of his earldom. + +There was another very serious subject of dispute between Robert and his +father. It has already been stated, that when the duke set out on his +expedition for the invasion of England, he left Matilda and Robert +together in charge of the duchy. At the commencement of the period of +his absence Robert was very young, and the actual power rested mainly in +his mother's hands. As he grew older, however, he began to exercise an +increasing influence and control. In fact, as he was himself ambitious +and aspiring, and his mother indulgent, the power passed very rapidly +into his hands. It was eight years from the time that William left +Normandy before his power was so far settled and established in England +that he could again take the affairs of his original realm into his +hands. He had left Robert, at that time, a mere boy of fourteen, who, +though rude and turbulent in character, was still politically powerless. +He found him, on his return, a man of twenty-two, ruder and more +turbulent than before, and in the full possession of political power. +This power, too, he found him very unwilling to surrender. + +In fact, when William came to receive back the province of Normandy +again, Robert almost refused to surrender it. He said that his father +had always promised him the duchy of Normandy as his domain so soon as +he should become of age, and he claimed now the fulfillment of this +promise. Besides, he said that, now that his father was King of England, +his former realm was of no consequence to him. It did not add sensibly +to his influence or his power, and he might, therefore, without +suffering any sensible loss himself, grant it to his son. William, on +his part, did not acknowledge the force of either of these arguments. He +would not admit that he had ever promised Normandy to his son; and as to +voluntarily relinquishing any part of his possessions, he had no faith +in the policy of a man's giving up his power or his property to his +children until they were justly entitled to inherit it by his death; at +any rate, he should not do it. He had no idea, as he expressed it, "of +putting off his clothes before he was going to bed." + +The irritation and ill-will which these dissensions produced grew deeper +and more inveterate every day, though the disagreement had been thus far +a private and domestic dispute, confined, in its influence, to the +king's immediate household. An occasion, however, now occurred, on which +the private family feud broke out into an open public quarrel. The +circumstances were these: + +King William had a castle in Normandy, at a place called L'Aigle. He was +spending some time there, in the year 1076, with his court and family. +One day William Rufus and Henry were in one of the upper apartments of +the castle, playing with dice, and amusing themselves, in company with +other young men of the court, in various ways. There was a window in the +apartment leading out upon a balcony, from which one might look down +upon the court-yard of the castle below. Robert was in this court-yard +with some of _his_ companions, walking there in an irritated state of +mind, which had been produced by some previous disputes with his +brothers. William Rufus looked down from the balcony and saw him, and by +way, perhaps, of quenching his anger, poured some water down upon him. +The deed changed the suppressed and silent irritation in Robert's heart +to a perfect phrensy of rage and revenge. He drew his sword and sprang +to the stair-case. He uttered loud and terrible imprecations as he went, +declaring that he would kill the author of such an insult, even if he +_was_ his brother. The court-yard was, of course, immediately filled +with shouts and exclamations of alarm, and every body pressed forward +toward the room from which the water had been thrown, some to witness, +and some to prevent the affray. + +The king himself, who happened to be in that part of the castle at the +time, was one of the number. He reached the apartment just in time to +interpose between his sons, and prevent the commission of the awful +crime of fratricide. As it was, he found it extremely difficult to part +the ferocious combatants. It required all his paternal authority, and +not a little actual force, to arrest the affray. He succeeded, however, +at length, with the help of the by-standers, in parting his sons, and +Robert, out of breath, and pale with impotent rage, was led away. + +Robert considered his father as taking sides against him in this +quarrel, and he declared that he could not, and would not, endure such +treatment any longer. He found some sympathy in the conversation of his +mother, to whom he went immediately with bitter complainings. She tried +to soothe and quiet his wounded spirit, but he would not be pacified. He +spent the afternoon and evening in organizing a party of wild and +desperate young men from among the nobles of the court, with a view of +raising a rebellion against his father, and getting possession of +Normandy by force. They kept their designs profoundly secret, but +prepared to leave L'Aigle that night, to go and seize Rouen, the +capital, which they hoped to surprise into a surrender. Accordingly, in +the middle of the night, the desperate troop mounted their horses and +rode away. In the morning the king found that they were gone, and he +sent an armed force after them. Their plan of surprising Rouen failed. +The king's detachment overtook them, and, after a sharp contest, +succeeded in capturing a few of the rebels, though Robert himself, +accompanied by some of the more desperate of his followers, escaped over +the frontier into a neighboring province, where he sought refuge in the +castle of one of his father's enemies. + +This result, as might have been expected, filled the mind of Matilda +with anxiety and distress. A civil war between her husband and her son +was now inevitable; and while every consideration of prudence and of +duty required her to espouse the father's cause, her maternal love, a +principle stronger far, in most cases, than prudence and duty combined, +drew her irresistibly toward her son. Robert collected around him all +the discontented and desperate spirits of the realm, and for a long +time continued to make his father infinite trouble. Matilda, while she +forbore to advocate his cause openly in the presence of the king, kept +up a secret communication with him. She sent him information and advice +from time to time, and sometimes supplies, and was thus, technically, +guilty of a great crime--the crime of maintaining a treasonable +correspondence with a rebel. In a moral point of view, however, her +conduct may have been entirely right; at any rate, its influence was +very salutary, for she did all in her power to restrain both the father +and the son; and by the influence which she thus exerted, she doubtless +mitigated very much the fierceness of the struggle. + +Of course, the advantage, in such a civil war as this, would be wholly +on the side of the sovereign. William had all the power and resources of +the kingdom in his own hands--the army, the towns, the castles, the +treasures. Robert had a troop of wild, desperate, and unmanageable +outlaws, without authority, without money, without a sense of justice on +their side. He gradually became satisfied that the contest was vain. In +proportion as the activity of the hostilities diminished, Matilda became +more and more open in her efforts to restrain it, and to allay the +animosity on either side. She succeeded, finally, in inducing Robert to +lay down his arms, and then brought about an interview between the +parties, in hopes of a peaceful settlement of the quarrel. + +It appeared very soon, however, at this interview, that there was no +hope of any thing like a real and cordial reconciliation. Though both +the father and son had become weary of the unnatural war which they had +waged against each other, yet the ambitious and selfish desires on both +sides, in which the contest had originated, remained unchanged. Robert +began the conference by imperiously demanding of his father the +fulfillment of his promise to give him the government of Normandy. His +father replied by reproaching him with his unnatural and wicked +rebellion, and warned him of the danger he incurred, in imitating the +example of Absalom, of sharing that wretched rebel's fate. Robert +rejoined that he did not come to meet his father for the sake of hearing +a sermon preached. He had had enough of sermons, he said, when he was a +boy, studying grammar. He wanted his father to do him justice, not +preach to him. The king said that he should never divide his dominions, +while he lived, with any one; and added, notwithstanding what Robert had +contemptuously said about sermons, that the Scripture declared that a +house divided against itself could not stand. He then proceeded to +reproach and incriminate the prince in the severest manner for his +disloyalty as a subject, and his undutifulness and ingratitude as a son. +It was intolerable, he said, that a son should become the rival and +bitterest enemy of his father, when it was to him that he owed, not +merely all that he enjoyed, but his very existence itself. + +These reproaches were probably uttered in an imperious and angry manner, +and with that spirit of denunciation which only irritates the accused +and arouses his resentment, instead of awakening feelings of penitence +and contrition. At any rate, the thought of his filial ingratitude, as +his father presented it, produced no relenting in Robert's mind. He +abruptly terminated the interview, and went out of his father's presence +in a rage. + +In spite of all his mother's exertions and entreaties, he resolved to +leave the country once more. He said he would rather be an exile, and +wander homeless in foreign lands, than to remain in his father's court, +and be treated in so unjust and ignominious a manner, by one who was +bound by the strongest possible obligations to be his best and truest +friend. Matilda could not induce him to change this determination; and, +accordingly, taking with him a few of the most desperate and dissolute +of his companions, he went northward, crossed the frontier, and sought +refuge in Flanders. Flanders, it will be recollected, was Matilda's +native land. Her brother was the Earl of Flanders at this time. The earl +received young Robert very cordially, both for his sister's sake, and +also, probably, in some degree, as a means of petty hostility against +King William, his powerful neighbor, whose glory and good fortune he +envied. + +Robert had not the means or the resources necessary for renewing an open +war with his father, but his disposition to do this was as strong as +ever, and he began immediately to open secret communications and +correspondence with all the nobles and barons in Normandy whom he +thought disposed to espouse his cause. He succeeded in inducing them to +make secret contributions of funds to supply his pecuniary wants, of +course promising to repay them with ample grants and rewards so soon as +he should obtain his rights. He maintained similar communications, too, +with Matilda, though she kept them very profoundly secret from her +husband. + +Robert had other friends besides those whom he found thus furtively in +Normandy. The King of France himself was much pleased at the breaking +out of this terrible feud in the family of his neighbor, who, from being +his dependent and vassal, had become, by his conquest of England, his +great competitor and rival in the estimation of mankind. Philip was +disposed to rejoice at any occurrences which tended to tarnish William's +glory, or which threatened a division and diminution of his power. He +directed his agents, therefore, both in Normandy and in Flanders, to +encourage and promote the dissension by every means in their power. He +took great care not to commit himself by any open and positive promises +of aid, and yet still he contrived, by a thousand indirect means, to +encourage Robert to expect it. Thus the mischief was widened and +extended, while yet nothing effectual was done toward organizing an +insurrection. In fact, Robert had neither the means nor the mental +capacity necessary for maturing and carrying into effect any actual +plan of rebellion. In the mean time, months passed away, and as nothing +effectual was done, Robert's adherents in Normandy became gradually +discouraged. They ceased their contributions, and gradually forgot their +absent and incompetent leader. Robert spent his time in dissipation and +vice, squandering in feasts and in the company of abandoned men and +women the means which his followers sent him to enable him to prepare +for the war; and when, at last, these supplies failed him, he would have +been reduced gradually to great distress and destitution, were it not +that one faithful and devoted friend still adhered to him. That friend +was his mother. + +Matilda knew very well that whatever she did for her absent son must be +done in the most clandestine manner, and this required much stratagem +and contrivance on her part. She was aided, however, in her efforts at +concealment by her husband's absence. He was now for a time in England, +having been called there by some pressing demands of public duty. He +left a great minister of state in charge of Normandy, whose vigilance +Matilda thought it would be comparatively easy to elude. She sent to +Robert, in Flanders, first her own private funds. Then she employed for +this purpose a portion of such public funds as came into her hands. The +more she sent, however, the more frequent and imperious were Robert's +demands for fresh supplies. The resources of a mother, whether great or +small, are always soon exhausted by the insatiable requirements of a +dissolute and profligate son. When Matilda's money was gone, she sold +her jewels, then her more expensive clothes, and, finally, such objects +of value, belonging to herself or to her husband, as could be most +easily and privately disposed of. The minister, who was very faithful +and watchful in the discharge of his duties, observed indications that +something mysterious was going on. His suspicions were aroused. He +watched Matilda's movements, and soon discovered the truth. He sent +information to William. William could not believe it possible that his +minister's surmises could be true; for William was simply a statesman +and a soldier, and had very inadequate ideas of the absorbing and +uncontrollable power which is exercised by the principle of maternal +love. + +He, however, determined immediately to take most efficient measures to +ascertain the truth. He returned to Normandy, and there he succeeded in +intercepting one of Matilda's messengers on his way to Flanders, with +communications and money for Robert. The name of this messenger was +Sampson. William seized the money and the letters, and sent the +messenger to one of his castles, to be shut up in a dungeon. Then, with +the proofs of guilt which he had thus obtained, he went, full of +astonishment and anger, to find Matilda, and to upbraid her, as he +thought she deserved, for her base and ungrateful betrayal of her +husband. + +The reproaches which he addressed to her were bitter and stern, though +they seem to have been spoken in a tone of sorrow rather than of anger. +"I am sure," he said, "I have ever been to you a faithful and devoted +husband. I do not know what more you could have desired than I have +done. I have loved you with a sincere and true affection. I have honored +you. I have placed you in the highest positions, intrusting you +repeatedly with large shares of my own sovereign power. I have confided +in you--committing my most essential and vital interests to your charge. +And now this is the return. You employ the very position, and power, and +means which your confiding husband has put into your hands, to betray +him in the most cruel way, and to aid and encourage his worst and most +dangerous enemy." + +To these reproaches Matilda attempted no reply, except to plead the +irresistible impetuosity and strength of her maternal love. "I could not +bear," she said, "to leave Robert in distress and suffering while I had +any possible means of relieving him. He is my child. I think of him all +the time. I love him more than my life. I solemnly declare to you, that +if he were now dead, and I could restore him to life by dying for him, I +would most gladly do it. How, then, do you suppose that I could possibly +live here in abundance and luxury, while he was wandering homeless, in +destitution and want, and not try to relieve him? Whether it is right or +wrong for me to feel so, I do not know; but this I know, I _must_ feel +so: I can not help it. He is our first-born son; I can not abandon him." + +William went away from the presence of Matilda full of resentment and +anger. Of course he could do nothing in respect to her but reproach her, +but he determined that the unlucky Sampson should suffer severely for +the crime. He sent orders to the castle where he lay immured, requiring +that his eyes should be put out. Matilda, however, discovered the +danger which threatened her messenger in time to send him warning. He +contrived to make his escape, and fled to a certain monastery which was +under Matilda's special patronage and charge. A monastery was, in those +days, a sanctuary into which the arm even of the most despotic authority +scarcely dared to intrude in pursuit of its victim. To make the safety +doubly sure, the abbot proposed that the trembling fugitive should join +their order and become a monk. Sampson was willing to do any thing to +save his life. The operation of putting out the eyes was very generally +fatal, so that he considered his life at stake. He was, accordingly, +shaven and shorn, and clothed in the monastic garb. He assumed the vows +of the order, and entered, with his brother monks, upon the course of +fastings, penances, and prayers which pertained to his new vocation; and +William left him to pursue it in peace. + +Things went on worse instead of better after this discovery of the +mother's participation in the councils of the son. Either through the +aid which his mother had rendered, or by other means, there seemed to be +a strong party in and out of Normandy who were inclined to espouse +Robert's cause. His friends, at length, raised a very considerable +army, and putting him at the head of it, they advanced to attack Rouen. +The king, greatly alarmed at this danger, collected all the forces that +he could command, and went to meet his rebel son. William Rufus +accompanied his father, intending to fight by his side; while Matilda, +in an agony of terror and distress, remained, half distracted, within +her castle walls--as a wife and mother might be expected to be, on the +approach of a murderous conflict between her husband and her son. The +thought that one of them might, perhaps, be actually killed by the +other, filled her with dismay. + +And, in fact, this dreadful result came very near being realized. +Robert, in the castle at L'Aigle, had barely been prevented from +destroying his brother, and now, on the plain of Archembraye, where this +battle was fought, his father _fell_, and was very near being killed, by +his hand. In the midst of the fight, while the horsemen were impetuously +charging each other in various parts of the field, all so disguised by +their armor that no one could know the individual with whom he was +contending, Robert encountered a large and powerful knight, and drove +his lance through his armor into his arm. Through the shock of the +encounter and the faintness produced by the agony of the wound, the +horseman fell to the ground, and Robert perceived, by the voice with +which his fallen enemy cried out in his pain and terror, that it was his +father that he had thus pierced with his steel. At the same moment, the +wounded father, in looking at his victorious antagonist, recognized +his son. He cursed his unnatural enemy with a bitter and terrible +malediction. Robert was shocked and terrified at what he had done. He +leaped from his horse, knelt down by the side of his father, and called +for aid. The king, distracted by the anguish of his wound, and by the +burning indignation and resentment which raged in his bosom against the +unnatural hostility which inflicted it, turned away from his son, and +refused to receive any succor from him. + +Besides the misfortune of being unhorsed and wounded, the battle itself +went that day against the king. Robert's army remained masters of the +field. William Rufus was wounded too, as well as his father. Matilda was +overwhelmed with distress and mental anguish at the result. She could +not endure the idea of allowing so unnatural and dreadful a struggle to +go on. She begged her husband, with the most earnest importunities and +with many tears, to find some way of accommodating the dispute. Her +nights were sleepless, her days were spent in weeping, and her health +and strength were soon found to be wasting very rapidly away. She was +emaciated, wan, and pale, and it was plain that such distress, if long +continued, would soon bring her to the grave. + +Matilda's intercessions at length prevailed. The king sent for his son, +and, after various negotiations, some sort of compromise was effected. +The armies were disbanded, peace was restored, and Robert and his father +once more seemed to be friends. Soon after this, William, having a +campaign to make in the north of England, took Robert with him as one of +the generals in his army. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE CONCLUSION. + +A.D. 1078-1087 + +William's reign in England.--His difficulties.--Feelings of the +English people.--Rebellions.--Amalgamation of the English and +Normans.--William's labors.--Necessity of bringing a large Norman +force.--Providing for them.--The British realm Normanized.--O yes! O +yes! O yes!--Relics of the past.--Their future preservation.--Point +of view in which the Norman Conquest is regarded.--Domesday +Book.--Its great obscurity.--Specimen of the Domesday +Book.--Translation.--Matilda's health declines.--Death of her +daughter.--Matilda retires to her palace at Caen.--Her distress of +mind.--Matilda's health.--Memorials of her.--William's declining +years.--His fitfulness and discontent.--Philip ridicules +William.--William's rage.--William's threats.--Conflagration of +Mantes.--William's injury.--His great danger.--William's remorse.--His +last acts.--Robert absent.--He receives Normandy.--William Rufus +and Henry.--The king's will.--William's death.--Abandonment of +the body.--Apprehensions of the people.--The body removed to +Caen.--Extraordinary scenes.--The body conveyed to the monastery on +a cart.--The procession broken up.--Scene at the interment.--The +sarcophagus too small.--The body burst.--William Rufus obtains +possession of the English throne. + + +From the time of the battle of Hastings, which took place in 1066, to +that of William's death, which occurred in 1087, there intervened a +period of about twenty years, during which the great monarch reigned +over his extended dominions with a very despotic sway, though not +without a large share of the usual dangers, difficulties, and struggles +attending such a rule. He brought over immense numbers of Normans from +Normandy into England, and placed all the military and civil power of +the empire in their hands; and he relied almost entirely upon the +superiority of his physical force for keeping the country in subjugation +to his sway. It is true, he maintained that he was the rightful heir to +the English crown, and that, consequently, the tenure by which he held +it was the right of inheritance, and not the right of conquest; and he +professed to believe that the people of England generally admitted his +claim. This was, in fact, to a considerable extent, true. At least +there was probably a large part of the population who believed William's +right to the crown superior to that of Harold, whom he had deposed. +Still, as William was by birth, and education, and language a foreigner, +and as all the friends and followers who attended him, and, in fact, +almost the whole of the army, on which he mainly relied for the +preservation of his power, were foreigners too--wearing a strange dress, +and speaking in an unknown tongue--the great mass of the English people +could not but feel that they were under a species of foreign +subjugation. Quarrels were therefore continually breaking out between +them and their Norman masters, resulting in fierce and bloody struggles, +on their part, to get free. These rebellions were always effectually put +down; but when quelled in one quarter they soon broke out in another, +and they kept William and his forces almost always employed. + +But William was not a mere warrior. He was well aware that the +permanence and stability of his own and his successor's sway in England +would depend finally upon the kind of basis on which the civil +institutions of the country should rest, and on the proper consolidation +and adjustment of the administrative and judicial functions of the +realm. In the intervals of his campaigns, therefore, William devoted a +great deal of time and attention to this subject, and he evinced a most +profound and statesmanlike wisdom and sagacity in his manner of treating +it. + +He had, in fact, a Herculean task to perform--a double task--viz., to +amalgamate two _nations_, and also to fuse and merge two _languages_ +into one. He was absolutely compelled, by the circumstances under which +he was placed, to grapple with both these vast undertakings. If, at the +time when, in his park at Rouen, he first heard of Harold's accession, +he had supposed that there was a party in England in his favor strong +enough to allow of his proceeding there alone, or with a small Norman +attendance, so that he might rely mainly on the English themselves for +his accession to the throne, the formidable difficulties which, as it +was, he had subsequently to encounter, would all have been saved. But +there was no such party--at least there was no evidence that there was +one of sufficient strength to justify him in trusting himself to it. It +seemed to him, then, that if he undertook to gain possession of the +English throne at all, he must rely entirely on the force which he could +take with him from Normandy. To make this reliance effectual, the force +so taken must be an overwhelming one. Then, if Normans in great numbers +were to go to England for the purpose of putting him upon the English +throne, they must be rewarded, and so vast a number of candidates for +the prizes of honor and wealth could be satisfied only in England, and +by confiscations there. His possessions in Normandy would obviously be +insufficient for such a purpose. It was evident, moreover, that if a +large number of Norman adventurers were placed in stations of trust and +honor, and charged with civil offices and administrative functions all +over England, they would form a sort of class by themselves, and would +be looked upon with jealousy and envy by the original inhabitants, and +that there was no hope of maintaining them safely in their position +except by making the class as numerous and as strong as possible. In a +word, William saw very clearly that, while it would have been very well, +if it had been possible, for him to have brought _no_ Normans to +England, it was clearly best, since so many must go, to contrive every +means to swell and increase the number. It was one of those cases +where, being obliged to go far, it is best to go farther; and William +resolved on thoroughly _Normanizing_, so to speak, the whole British +realm. This enormous undertaking he accomplished fully and permanently; +and the institutions of England, the lines of family descent, the +routine of judicial and administrative business, and the very language +of the realm, retain the Norman characteristics which he ingrafted into +them to the present day. + +It gives us a feeling akin to that of sublimity to find, even in our own +land, and in the most remote situations of it, the lingering relics of +the revolutions and deeds of these early ages, still remaining, like a +faint ripple rolling gently upon a beach in a deep and secluded bay, +which was set in motion, perhaps, at first, as one of the mountainous +surges of a wintery storm in the most distant seas. For example, if we +enter the most humble court in any remote and newly-settled country in +the American forests, a plain and rustic-looking man will call the +equally rustic-looking assembly to order by rapping his baton, the only +symbol of his office, on the floor, and calling out, in words mystic and +meaningless to him, "O yes! O yes! O yes!"[K] He little thinks that he +is obeying a behest of William the Conqueror, issued eight hundred years +ago, ordaining that his native tongue should be employed in the courts +of England. The irresistible progress of improvement and reform have +gradually displaced the intruding language again--except so far as it +has become merged and incorporated with the common language of the +country--from all the ordinary forms of legal proceedings. It lingers +still, however, as it were, on the threshold, in this call to order; and +as it is harmless there, the spirit of conservatism will, perhaps, +preserve for it this last place of refuge for a thousand years to come, +and "_O yes_" will be the phrase for ordaining silence by many +generations of officers, who will, perhaps, never have heard of the +authority whose orders they unwittingly obey. + +[Footnote K: Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Norman French for Hearken! hearken! +hearken!] + +The work of incorporating the Norman and English families with one +another, and fusing the two languages into one, required about a century +for its full accomplishment; and when at last it was accomplished, the +people of England were somewhat puzzled to know whether they ought to +feel proud of William's exploits in the conquest of England, or +humiliated by them. So far as they were themselves descended from the +Normans, the conquest was one of the glorious deeds of their ancestors. +So far as they were of English parentage, it would seem to be incumbent +on them to mourn over their fathers' defeat. It is obvious that from +such a species of perplexity as this there was no escape, and it has +accordingly continued to embarrass the successive generations of +Englishmen down to the present day. The Norman Conquest occupies, +therefore, a very uncertain and equivocal position in English history, +the various modern writers who look back to it now being hardly able to +determine whether they are to regard it as a mortifying subjugation +which their ancestors suffered, or a glorious victory which they gained. + +One of the great measures of William's reign, and one, in fact, for +which it has been particularly famous in modern times, was a grand +census or registration of the kingdom, which the Conqueror ordered with +a view of having on record a perfect enumeration and description of all +the real and personal property in the kingdom. This grand national +survey was made in 1078. The result was recorded in two volumes of +different sizes, which were called the Great and the Little Domesday +Book. These books are still preserved, and are to this day of the very +highest authority in respect to all questions touching ancient rights of +property. One is a folio, and the other a quarto volume. The records are +written on vellum, in a close, abridged, and, to ordinary readers, a +perfectly unintelligible character. The language is Latin; but a modern +Latin scholar, without any means other than an inspection of the work, +would be utterly unable to decipher it. In fact, though the character is +highly wrought, and in some respects elegant, the whole style and +arrangement of the work is pretty nearly on a par, in respect to +scientific skill, with Queen Emma's designs upon the Bayeux tapestry. +About half a century ago, copies of these works were printed, by means +of type made to represent the original character. But these printed +editions were found unintelligible and useless until copious indexes +were prepared, and published to accompany them, at great expense of time +and labor. + +Some little idea of the character and style of this celebrated record +may be obtained from the following specimen, which is as faithful an +imitation of the original as any ordinary typography will allow: + +[Illustration] + +The passage, deciphered and expressed in full, stands thus--the letters +omitted in the original, above, being supplied in italics: + + IN BRIXISTAN HUND_redo_. + + Rex ten_et_ BERMUNDESYE. HERALD_US_ com_es_ tenuit. T_unc_ se + def_en_d_ebat_ p_ro_ xiii. hid_is_, m_od_o pro xii. hid_is_. T_er_ra + e_st_ viii. car_rucatarum_. In d_omi_nio e_st_ una car_rucata_ et + xxv. vill_ani_ et xxxiii. bord_arii_ cu_m_ un_a_ car_rucata_. Ibi + nova et pulchra eccl_esia_, et xx. ac_rae_ p_ra_ti. Silva v. porc_is_ + de pasnag_io_. + +The English translation is as follows: + + IN BRIXISTAN HUNDRED. + + The king holds BERMUNDESYE. Earl HERALD held it [before]. At that + time it was rated at thirteen hides; now, at twelve. The arable + land is eight carrucates [_or_ plow-lands]. There is one carrucate + in demesne, and twenty-five villans, and thirty-three bordars, with + one carrucate. There is a new and handsome church, with twenty + acres of meadow, and woodland for five hogs in pasnage [pasturage] + time. + +But we must pass on to the conclusion of the story. About the year 1082, +Queen Matilda's health began seriously to decline. She was harassed by +a great many anxieties and cares connected with the affairs of state +which devolved upon her, and arising from the situation of her family: +these anxieties produced great dejection of spirits, and aggravated, if +they did not wholly cause, her bodily disease. She was at this time in +Normandy. One great source of her mental suffering was her anxiety in +respect to one of her daughters, who, as well as herself, was declining +in health. Forgetting her own danger in her earnest desires for the +welfare of her child, she made a sort of pilgrimage to a monastery which +contained the shrine of a certain saint, who, as she imagined, had power +to save her daughter. She laid a rich present on the shrine; she offered +before it most earnest prayers, imploring, with tears of bitter grief, +the intercession of the saint, and manifesting every outward symbol of +humility and faith. She took her place in the religious services of the +monastery, and conformed to its usages, as if she had been in the +humblest private station. But all was in vain. The health of her beloved +daughter continued to fail, until at length she died; and Matilda, +growing herself more feeble, and almost broken hearted through grief, +shut herself up in the palace at Caen. + +It was in the same palace which William had built, within his monastery, +many long years before, at the time of their marriage. Matilda looked +back to that period, and to the buoyant hopes and bright anticipations +of power, glory, and happiness which then filled her heart, with sadness +and sorrow. The power and the glory had been attained, and in a measure +tenfold greater than she had imagined, but the happiness had never come. +Ambition had been contending unceasingly for twenty years, among all the +branches of her family, against domestic peace and love. She possessed, +herself, an aspiring mind, but the principles of maternal and conjugal +love were stronger in her heart than those of ambition; and yet she was +compelled to see ambition bearing down and destroying love in all its +forms every where around her. Her last days were embittered by the +breaking out of new contests between her husband and her son. + +Matilda sought for peace and comfort in multiplying her religious +services and observances. She fasted, she prayed, she interceded for the +forgiveness of her sins with many tears. The monks celebrated mass at +her bed-side, and made, as she thought, by renewing the sacrifice of +Christ, a fresh propitiation for her sins. William, who was then in +Normandy, hearing of her forlorn and unhappy condition, came to see her. +He arrived just in time to see her die. + +They conveyed her body from the palace in her husband's monastery at +Caen to the convent which she had built. It was received there in solemn +state, and deposited in the tomb. For centuries afterward, there +remained many memorials of her existence and her greatness there, in +paintings, embroideries, sacred gifts, and records, which have been +gradually wasted away by the hand of time. They have not, however, +wholly disappeared, for travelers who visit the spot find that many +memorials and traditions of Matilda linger there still. + +William himself did not live many years after the death of his wife. He +was several years older than she. In fact, he was now considerably +advanced in age. He became extremely corpulent as he grew old, which, as +he was originally of a large frame, made him excessively unwieldy. The +inconvenience resulting from this habit of body was not the only evil +that attended it. It affected his health, and even threatened to end in +serious if not fatal disease. While he was thus made comparatively +helpless in body by the infirmities of his advancing age, he was +nevertheless as active and restless in spirit as ever. It was, however, +no longer the activity of youth, and hope, and progress which animated +him, but rather the fitful uneasiness with which age agitates itself +under the vexations which it sometimes has to endure, or struggles +convulsively at the approach of real or imaginary dangers, threatening +the possessions which it has been the work of life to gain. The dangers +in William's case were real, not imaginary. He was continually +threatened on every side. In fact, the very year before he died, the +dissensions between himself and Robert broke out anew, and he was +obliged, unwieldy and helpless as he was, to repair to Normandy, at the +head of an armed force, to quell the disturbances which Robert and his +partisans had raised. + +Robert was countenanced and aided at this time by Philip, the king of +France, who had always been King William's jealous and implacable rival. +Philip, who, as will be recollected, was very young when William asked +his aid at the time of his invasion of England, was now in middle life, +and at the height of his power. As he had refused William his aid, he +was naturally somewhat envious and jealous of his success, and he was +always ready to take part against him. He now aided and abetted Robert +in his turbulence and insubordination, and ridiculed the helpless +infirmities of the aged king. + +While William was in Normandy, he submitted to a course of medical +treatment, in the hope of diminishing his excessive corpulency, and +relieving the disagreeable and dangerous symptoms which attended it. +While thus in his physician's hands, he was, of course, confined to his +chamber. Philip, in ridicule, called it "being in the straw." He asked +some one who appeared at his court, having recently arrived from +Normandy, whether the old woman of England was still in the straw. Some +miserable tale-bearer, such as every where infest society at the present +day, who delight in quoting to one friend what they think will excite +their anger against another, repeated these words to William. Sick as he +was, the sarcasm aroused him to a furious paroxysm of rage. He swore by +"God's brightness and resurrection" that, when he got out again, he +would kindle such fires in Philip's dominions, in commemoration of his +delivery, as should make his realms too hot to hold him. + +He kept his word--at least so far as respects the kindling of the fires; +but the fires, instead of making Philip's realms too hot to hold him, by +a strange yet just retribution, were simply the means of closing forever +the mortal career of the hand that kindled them. The circumstances of +this final scene of the great conqueror's earthly history were these: + +In the execution of his threat to make Philip's dominions too hot to +hold him, William, as soon as he was able to mount his horse, headed an +expedition, and crossed the frontiers of Normandy, and moved forward +into the heart of France, laying waste the country, as he advanced, with +fire and sword. He came soon to the town of Mantes, a town upon the +Seine, directly on the road to Paris. William's soldiers attacked the +town with furious impetuosity, carried it by assault, and set it on +fire. William followed them in, through the gates, glorying in the +fulfillment of his threats of vengeance. Some timbers from a burning +house had fallen into the street, and, burning there, had left a +smoldering bed of embers, in which the fire was still remaining. +William, excited with the feeling of exultation and victory, was riding +unguardedly on through the scene of ruin he had made, issuing orders, +and shouting in a frantic manner as he went, when he was suddenly +stopped by a violent recoil of his horse from the burning embers, on +which he had stepped, and which had been concealed from view by the +ashes which covered them. William, unwieldy and comparatively helpless +as he was, was thrown with great force upon the pommel of the saddle. He +saved himself from falling from the horse, but he immediately found that +he had sustained some serious internal injury. He was obliged to +dismount, and to be conveyed away, by a very sudden transition, from the +dreadful scene of conflagration and vengeance which he had been +enacting, to the solemn chamber of death. They made a litter for him, +and a corps of strong men was designated to bear the heavy and now +helpless burden back to Normandy. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM'S HORSE STEPPING ON THE EMBERS.] + +They took the suffering monarch to Rouen. The ablest physicians were +summoned to his bed-side. After examining his case, they concluded that +he must die. The tidings threw the unhappy patient into a state of +extreme anxiety and terror. The recollection of the thousand deeds of +selfish ambition and cruelty which he had been perpetrating, he said, +all his days, filled him with remorse. He shrunk back with invincible +dread from the hour, now so rapidly approaching, when he was to appear +in judgment before God, and answer, like any common mortal, for his +crimes. He had been accustomed all his life to consider himself as above +all law, superior to all power, and beyond the reach of all judicial +question. But now his time had come. He who had so often made others +tremble, trembled now in his turn, with an acuteness of terror and +distress which only the boldest and most high-handed offenders ever +feel. He cried bitterly to God for forgiveness, and brought the monks +around him to help him with incessant prayers. He ordered all the money +that he had on hand to be given to the poor. He sent commands to have +the churches which he had burned at Mantes rebuilt, and the other +injuries which he had effected in his anger repaired. In a word, he gave +himself very earnestly to the work of attempting, by all the means +considered most efficacious in those days, to avert and appease the +dreaded anger of heaven. + +Of his three oldest sons, Robert was away; the quarrel between him and +his father had become irreconcilable, and he would not come to visit +him, even in his dying hours. William Rufus and Henry were there, and +they remained very constantly at their father's bed-side--not, however, +from a principle of filial affection, but because they wanted to be +present when he should express his last wishes in respect to the +disposal of his dominions. Such an expression, though oral, would be +binding as a will. When, at length, the king gave his dying directions +in respect to the succession, it appeared that, after all, he considered +his right to the English throne as very doubtful in the sight of God. He +had, in a former part of his life, promised Normandy to Robert, as his +inheritance, when he himself should die; and though he had so often +refused to surrender it to him while he himself continued to live, he +confirmed his title to the succession now. "I have promised it to him," +he said, "and I keep my promise; and yet I know that that will be a +miserable country which is subject to his government. He is a proud and +foolish knave, and can never prosper. As for my kingdom of England," he +continued, "I bequeath it to no one, for it was not bequeathed to me. I +acquired it by force, and at the price of blood. I leave it in the hands +of God, only wishing that my son William Rufus may have it, for he has +been submissive to me in all things." "And what do you give _me_, +father?" asked Henry, eagerly, at this point. "I give you," said the +king, "five thousand pounds from my treasury." "But what shall I do with +my five thousand pounds," asked Henry, "if you do not give me either +house or land?" "Be quiet, my son," rejoined the king, "and trust in +God. Let your brothers go before you; your turn will come after theirs." + +The object which had kept the young men at their father's bed-side +having been now attained, they both withdrew. Henry went to get his +money, and William Rufus set off immediately for England, to prepare the +way for his own accession to the throne, as soon as his father should be +no more. + +The king determined to be removed from his castle in Rouen to a +monastery which was situated at a short distance from the city, without +the walls. The noise of the city disturbed him, and, besides, he thought +he should feel safer to die on sacred ground. He was accordingly removed +to the monastery. There, on the tenth of September, he was awakened in +the morning by hearing the city bells ringing. He asked what it meant. +He was told that the bells were ringing for the morning service at the +church of St. Mary. He lifted up his hands, looked to heaven, and said, +"I commend myself to my Lady Mary, the holy Mother of God," and almost +immediately expired. + +The readers of history have frequent occasion to be surprised at the +sudden and total change which often takes place at the moment of the +death of a mighty sovereign, and even sometimes before his death, in the +indications of the respect and consideration with which his attendants +and followers regard him. In William's case, as has happened in many +other cases since, the moment he ceased to breathe he was utterly +abandoned. Every body fled, carrying with them, as they went, whatever +they could seize from the chamber--the arms, the furniture, the dresses, +and the plate; for all these articles became their perquisites on the +decease of their master. The almost incredible statement is made that +the heartless monsters actually stripped the dead body of their +sovereign, to make sure of all their dues, and left it naked on the +stone floor, while they bore their prizes to a place of safety. The +body lay in this neglected state for many hours; for the tidings of the +great monarch's death, which was so sudden at last, produced, as it +spread, universal excitement and apprehension. No one knew to what +changes the event would lead, what wars would follow between the sons, +or what insurrections or rebellions might have been secretly formed, to +break out suddenly when this crisis should have arrived. Thus the whole +community were thrown into a state of excitement and confusion. + +The monk and lay brethren of the monastery at length came in, took up +the body, and prepared it for burial. They then brought crosses, tapers, +and censers, and began to offer prayers and to chant requiems for the +repose of the soul of the deceased. They sent also the Archbishop of +Rouen, to know what was to be done with the body. The archbishop gave +orders that it should be taken to Caen, and be deposited there in the +monastery which William had erected at the time of his marriage. + +The tale which the ancient historians have told in respect to the +interment is still more extraordinary, and more inconsistent with all +the ideas we naturally form of the kind of consideration and honor which +the remains of so great a potentate would receive at the hands of his +household and his officers of state, than the account of his death. It +is said that all the members of his household, and all his officers, +immediately after his decease, abandoned the town--all eagerly occupied +in plans and maneuvers to secure their positions under the new reign. +Some went in pursuit of Robert, and some to follow William Rufus. Henry +locked up his money in a strong box, well ironed, and went off with it +to find some place of security. There was nobody left to take the +neglected body to the grave. + +At last a countryman was found who undertook to transport the heavy +burden from Rouen to Caen. He procured a cart, and conveyed it from the +monastery to the river, where it was put on board a vessel, and taken +down the Seine to its mouth, and thence by sea to Caen. The Abbot of St. +Stephen's, which was the name of William's monastery there, came, with +some monks and a procession of the people, to accompany the body to the +abbey. As this procession was moving along, however, a fire broke out in +the town, and the attendants, actuated either by a sense of duty +requiring them to aid in extinguishing the flames, or by curiosity to +witness the conflagration, abandoned the funeral cortege. The +procession was broken up, and the whole multitude, clergy and laity, +went off to the fire, leaving the coffin, with its bearers, alone. The +bearers, however, went on, and conveyed their charge to the church +within the abbey walls. + +When the time arrived for the interment, a great company assembled to +witness the ceremonies. Stones had been taken up in the church floor, +and a grave dug. A stone coffin, a sort of sarcophagus, had been +prepared, and placed in the grave as a receptacle for the body. When all +was ready, and the body was about to be let down, a man suddenly came +forward from the crowd and arrested the proceedings. He said that the +land on which the abbey stood belonged to him; that William had taken +forcible possession of it, for the abbey, at the time of his marriage; +that he, the owner, had been compelled thus far to submit to this wrong, +inasmuch as he had, during William's life-time, no means of redress, but +now he protested against a spoliation. "The land," he said, "is mine; it +belonged to my father. I have not sold it, or forfeited it, nor pledged +it, nor given it. It is my right. I claim it. In the name of God, I +forbid you to put the body of the spoiler there, or to cover him with my +ground." + +When the excitement and surprise which this denunciation had awakened +had subsided a little, the bishops called this sudden claimant aside, +examined the proofs of his allegations, and, finding that the case was +truly as he stated it, they paid him, on the spot, a sum equal to the +value of ground enough for a grave, and promised to take immediate +measures for the payment of the rest. The remonstrant then consented +that the interment might proceed. + +In attempting to let the body down into the place prepared for it, they +found that the sarcophagus was too small. They undertook to force the +body in. In attempting this, the coffin was broken, and the body, +already, through the long delays, advanced in decomposition, was burst. +The monks brought incense and perfumes, and burned and sprinkled them +around the place, but in vain. The church was so offensive that every +body abandoned it at once, except the workmen who remained to fill the +grave. + + * * * * * + +While these things were transpiring in Normandy, William Rufus had +hastened to England, taking with him the evidences of his father's +dying wish that he should succeed him on the English throne. Before he +reached head-quarters there, he heard of his father's death, and he +succeeded in inducing the Norman chieftains to proclaim him king. +Robert's friends made an effort to advance his claims, but they could do +nothing effectual for him, and so it was soon settled, by a treaty +between the brothers, that William Rufus should reign in England, while +Robert was to content himself with his father's ancient domain of +Normandy. + + THE END. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + +1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors, and to +ensure consistent spelling and punctuation in this etext; otherwise, +every effort has been made to remain true to the original book. + +2. The chapter summaries in this text were originally published as +banners in the page headers, and have been moved to beginning of the +chapter for the reader's convenience. + +3. 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