all the remonstrances and threats of Gregory, he was detained in custody during the remainder of William's reign. A. D. William had scarcely put an end to this transaction when he felt a very severe blow in the death of Matilda, his queen; and, as misfortunes generally come together, he received information of a general insurrection in Maine, the nobility of which had been always averse from the Norman government. Upon his arrival on the continent, he found that the insurgents had been secretly assisted and excited by the king of France, whose policy consisted in thus lessening the Norman power, by creating dissensions among the nobles of its different provinces. William's displeasure was not a little increased by the account he received of some railleries which that monarch had thrown out against him. It seems that William, who was become corpulent, had been detained in bed some time by sickness; and Philip was heard to say, that he only lay-in of a big belly. This so provoked the English monarch that he sent him word he should soon be up, and would at his churching present such a number of tapers as would set the kingdom of France in a flame. In order to perform this promise he levied a strong army, and, entering the Isle of France, destroyed and burned all 1087. the villages and houses without opposition. He took the town of Mante, which he reduced to ashes. But the progress of these hostilities was stopped by an accident, which shortly after put an end to William's life. His horse chancing to place his fore-feet on some hot ashes, plunged so violently that the rider was thrown forward, and bruised upon the pommel of the saddle to such a degree, that he suffered a relapse, and was obliged to return to Rouen. Finding his illness increase, and being sensible of the approach of death, he began to turn his eyes to a future state, from which the pursuit of ambition had long averted them. He was now struck with remorse for all his cruelties and depredations: he endeavoured to atone for his former offences by large presents to churches and monasteries, and by giving liberty to many prisoners whom he had unjustly detained. He was even prevailed on, though not without reluctance, to consent, with his dying breath, to the deliverance of his brother Odo, against whom he was extremely incensed. He then bequeathed Normandy and Maine to his eldest son Robert, whom he never loved; to Henry he left five thousand pounds and his mother's jointure, without the smallest territory; and though he would not pretend to establish the succession of the crown of England, to which he now began to perceive that he had no title, he expressed his wish that it might devolve to his favourite son William, whom he immediately despatched with letters to the archbishop of Canterbury, desiring his assistance. Having thus regulated his temporal affairs, he was conveyed in a litter to a little village near Rouen, where he might settle the concerns of his soul without noise or interruption. It was there that he died, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, after having reigned fifty-three years in Normandy and almost twenty-one in England. His body was interred in the church at F Caen, which he himself had founded: but his interment was attended with a remarkable circumstance. As the body was carrying to the grave, the prelates and priests attending with the most awful silence, a man, who stood upon an eminence, was heard to cry out with a loud voice, and to forbid the interment, of the body in a spot that had been unjustly seized by the Conqueror. "That very place," cried the man, "is the area of my father's house; and I now summon the departed soul before the divine tribunal to do me justice and to atone for so great an oppression." The bishops and attendants were struck with the man's intrepid conduct; they inquired into the truth of his charge, and, finding it just, agreed to satisfy him for the damages he had sustained. William was a prince of great courage and capacity; ambitious, politic, cruel, vindictive, and rapacious. He was fond of glory, and parsimonious merely for the purposes of ostentation. Though sudden and impetuous in his enterprises, he was cool, deliberate, and indefatigable in times of danger. He is said, by the Norman writers, to have been above eight feet high, his body strong-built and well proportioned, and his strength such that none of his courtiers could draw his bow. He talked little; he was seldom affable to any, except to Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury; with him he was ever meek and gentle-with all others stern and austere. Though he rendered himself formidable to all, and odious to many, yet he had policy sufficient to transmit his power to posterity; and the throne is still occupied by his descendants. CHAPTER VI. WILLIAM RUFUS. A. D. 1087-1100. WILLIAM, surnamed Rufus from the colour of his hair, had no sooner received the late king's letter to Lanfranc in his favour, than he hastened to take measures for securing himself on the throne. Arriving, therefore, before the news of William's death had yet reached England, his first care was to take possession of the treasure left by the king at Winchester, which amounted to the sum of sixty thousand pounds. He then addressed the primate, who had always considered him with an eye of peculiar affection, and who now, finding the justness of his claim, instantly proceeded to the ceremony of his coronation. At the same time Robert, who had been appointed successor to Normandy, took peaceable possession of that government; where his person was loved, and his accession long desired. In the beginning of the reign of William Rufus, the English began to think they had hitherto mistaken this prince's character, who had always appeared to them rude and brutal. He at first seemed to pay the utmost regard to the counsels of Lanfranc the primate, which were mild and gentle, and constantly calculated for the benefit of the nation. Nevertheless, the Norman barons, who knew him better, perceived that he kept his disposition under an unnatural restraint, and that he only waited an opportunity for throwing off the mask when his power should be established. They were, from the beginning, displeased at the division of the empire by the late king; they eagerly desired an union as before, and looked upon Robert as the proper owner of the whole. The natural disposition also of this prince was as pleasing to them as that of William his brother was odious. Robert was open, generous, and humane; he carried his facility to an excess, as he could scarcely find strength of mind to give any of his adherents the mortification of a refusal. But this was a quality no way disagreeable to those who expected to build their ambition on the easy pliancy of his temper. A powerful conspiracy was therefore carried on against William ; and Odo, the late king's brother, undertook to conduct it to maturity. He William, sensible of the danger that threatened him on all sides, endeavoured to gain the affections of the native English, whom he prevailed upon, by promises of future good treatment and preference of the distribution of his favours, to espouse his interests. was soon in the field; and, at the head of a numerous army, showed himself in readiness to oppose all who should dispute his pretensions. In the meantime Odo had written to Robert an account of the conspiracy in his favour, urging him to use despatch, and exciting him by the greatness of the danger, and the splendour of the reward. Robert gave the most positive assurances of speedy assistance; but his indolence was not to be excited by distant expectations. Instead of employing his money in levies to support his friends in England, he squandered it away in idle expenses and unmerited benefits, so that he procrastinated his departure till the opportunity was lost; while William exerted himself with incredible activity to dissipate the confederacy before he could arrive. Nor was this difficult to effect: the conspirators had, in consequence of Robert's assurances, taken possession of some fortresses; but the appearance of the king soon reduced them to implore for mercy. He granted them their lives, but confiscated all their estates, and banished them from the kingdom. William, thus freed from all danger of insurrection, and fixed in the peaceable possession of the kingdom, showed the first instance of his perverse disposition, in his ingratitude to the English who had secured him on the throne. The death of Lanfranc, which followed shortly after, took off all restraint from his inclinations; and his mind now appeared in its natural deformity, tyrannical and unjust. He ordered a new survey to be taken of all the lands and property of the kingdom; and wherever he found them undervalued in the Domesday-book, he raised the proportion of taxes accordingly. Even the privileges of the church, which were held very sacred in those times of ignorance, were but a feeble rampart against his usurpations; he seized the vacant bishoprics, and openly put to sale such abbeys as he thought proper. But, not contented with exerting his tyranny over his own dominions, he was resolved to extend his authority over those of his brother. In consequence of this resolution he A. D. appeared in Normandy at the head of a numerous army; 1091. but the nobility, on both sides, strongly connected by in terest and alliances, brought on an accommodation. Among other articles of this treaty, it was agreed, that, if either of the brothers should die without issue, the survivor, should inherit all his dominions. It was in vain that Henry, the other brother, remonstrated against this act of injustice; it was in vain, that he took arms, and even defended a little fortress on the coast of Normandy, for some time, against their united assaults. He was at last obliged to surrender; and, being despoiled of even the small patrimony that was left him, he wandered about for some years with a few attendants, and was often reduced to great poverty. His It was in besieging this fortress that a circumstance or two have been related, which serve to mark the character of the two brothers. As William was taking the air one day on horseback, at some distance from the camp, he perceived two horsemen riding out from the castle, who soon came up and attacked him. In the very first encounter, the king's horse being killed, overturned, and lay upon him in such a manner that he could not disengage himself. antagonist, while he remained in this situation, lifted up his arm to despatch him; when William exclaimed, in a menacing tone, "Hold, villain! I am the king of England." The two soldiers were immediately seized with veneration and awe; and helping him up, accommodated him with one of their horses. William was not ungrateful for this service; he mounted the horse, and ordering the soldier to follow, took him into his service. Soon after, Robert had an occasion to show still greater marks of generosity; for, hearing that the garrison was in great distress for want of water, he not only ordered that Henry should be permitted to supply himself, but also sent him some pipes of wine for his own table. Rufus did not at all approve of this ill-timed generosity; but Robert answered his remonstrances by saying, "Shall we suffer our brother to die with thirst? Where shall we find another when he is gone?" The intestine and petty discords that ensued upon this accommodation between Robert and Rufus, seem scarcely worthy of the attention of history. They indeed produced more real calamities to the people than splendid invasions and bloody battles; as the depredations of petty tyrants are ever more severely felt by the poor than the magnanimous projects of ambition. A rupture ensued between Rufus and Malcolm, king of Scotland, in which the latter was ultimately surprised and slain by a party from Alnwick castle. A new breach was made some time after between the brothers, A. D. in which Rufus found means to encroach still farther upon Robert's possessions. An incursion from the Welsh filled A D 1093. the country of England with alarm: but they were quickly repelled, and obliged to find refuge in their native moun- A. D. tains. A conspiracy of the Norman barons in England 1094. threatened serious consequences; but their schemes were prevented and frustrated. Robert Mowbray, earl of Northumberland, who was at the head of this plot, was thrown into prison, where he died, after thirty years' confinement. The count of Eu, another conspirator, denying the charge, fought with his accuser in presence of the court at Windsor, and, being worsted in the combat, was condemned to be castrated, and to have his eyes put out Every conspiracy, thus detected, served to enrich the king, who took care to apply to his own use those treasures that had been amassed for the purpose of dethroning him. But the memory of these transient broils and unsuccessful treasons was now totally eclipsed by one of the most noted enterprises that ever adorned the annals of nations, or excited the attention of mankind; I mean the crusades, which were now first projected. Peter the Hermit, a native of Amiens in Picardy, was a man of great zeal, courage, and piety. He had made a pilgrimage to the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem, and beheld, with indignation, the cruel manner in which the Christians were treated by the infidels, who were in possession of that place. Unable to suppress his resentment, upon his return he entertained the bold design of freeing the whole country from the Mahometan yoke, and of restoring to the Christians, the land where their religion was first propagated. He proposed his views to Urban II. at that time who perpope, mitted rather than assisted this bold enthusiast in his aims. Peter, therefore, warmed with a zeal that knew no bounds, began to preach the crusade, and to excite the princes of Christendom to the recovery of the Holy Land. Bare-headed and bare-footed, he travelled from court to court, preaching as he went, and inflaming the zeal of every rank of people. The fame of this design being thus diffused, prelates, nobles, and princes, concurred in seconding it; and, at a council held at Clermont, where the pope himself exhorted to the undertaking, the whole assembly cried out with one voice, as if by inspiration, It is the will of God! It is the will of God! From that time nothing was seen but an universal migration of the western nations into the East; men of all ranks flew to arms with the utmost alacrity, and bore the sign of the cross upon their right shoulder, as a mark of their devotion to the cause. In the midst of this universal ardour that was diffused over Europe, men were not entirely forgetful of their temporal interest; for some, hoping a more magnificent settlement in the soft regions of Asia, sold their European property for whatever they could obtain, contented with receiving any thing for what they were predetermined to relinquish. Among the princes who felt and acknowledged this general spirit of enterprise, was Robert, duke of Normandy. The crusade was entirely |