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 highe this accommodation between Robert and Rufus, seem mil mails scarcely worthy of the attention of history. They in-nig vor Schottland. deed 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.

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A new breach was made some time after be- A. D. William Pufen tween the brothers, in which Rufus found 1093. veitelt met. pere Verschul means to encroach still farther Robert's possesupon sions. An incursion from the Welsh filled the country aute ge= of England with alarm; but they were quickly A. D. gen ihn. repelled, and obliged to find refuge in their na- 1094. tive mountains. A conspiracy of the Norman barons in England 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.

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But the memory of these transient broils and unsuc

Kreuzzug cessful 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 pope, who permitted 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 adapted to his inclinations and his circumstances; he was brave, zealous, covetous of glory, harassed by insurrections, and, what was more than all, naturally fond of change. In order to supply money to defray the necessary charges of so expensive an undertaking, he offered to mortgage his dukedom of Normandy to his brother Rufus for a stipulated sum of money. This sum, which was no greater than ten thousand marks, was readily promised by Rufus, whose ambition was upon the watch to seize every advantage. He was no ways solicitous about raising the money, as he knew the riches of his clergy. From them, therefore, he forced the whole,-heedless of their murmurs, and aggravating his injustice by the pious pretences he made use of to cover his extortions: thus equipping his brother for his romantic expedition to the Holy Land, he more wisely, and more safely, took peaceable possession of his dukedom at home.

In this manner was Normandy once more united to Norman England; and from this union, afterwards, arose those did n numerous wars with France, which for whole centuriesing England wil continued to depopulate both nations, without conducing in the end to increase the power of either. However, Rufus was not a little pleased with this acquisition: he made a voyage to his new dominion, and took possession of it for five years, according to agree- A. D. ment with his brother. He also demanded of 1096. of the king of France a part of the territory of Vexin, which he pretended was an appurtenance to his duchy,

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and even attempted to enforce his claims by arms. But though the cession of Maine and Normandy greatly increased the king's territories, they added little to his real power, as his new subjects were composed of men of independent spirits, more ready to dispute than obey his commands. Many were the revolts and insurrections which he was obliged to quell in person; and no sooner was one conspiracy suppressed than another rose to give him fresh disquietude.

In the midst of these foreign troubles, he found himself involved in a disagreeable quarrel with Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, a prelate of a haughty disposition, and extremely tenacious of the rights of the clergy. There was at that time a schism in the church, between Urban and Clement, who both pretended to the рарасу; and Anselm, who had already acknowledged Urban, was determined, without the king's consent, to introduce his authority into England. William, who, imitating his father's example, had prohibited his subjects from recognising any pope whom he had not previously approved, was enraged at Anselm's pretensions. A synod was summoned at Rockingham, for deposing the prelate; but, instead of obeying the king, the members of it declared, that none but the pope could inflict a censure on their primate. To this was soon after added a fresh offence. Anselm, being required to furnish his quota of soldiers for an intended expedition against the Welsh, reluctantly complied; but he sent them so ill equipped, that Rufus threatened him with a prosecution. As the resentments on both sides were increased, their mutual demands were raised in proportion, till at length their anger proceeded to recrimination; and Anselm, finding it dangerous to remain in the kingdom, desired permission to retire to Rome. This request the king very readily complied with; but, in

order to mortify the prelate yet more, he sent an officer to search his baggage after he was on board, and to seize all his money, on pretence of a law which forbade the exportation of silver. Not content with this, he ordered all his temporalities to be confiscated, and actually kept possession of them for the remaining part of his life.

This open infringement of what were then considered William as rights of the church, served to exasperate the pope, war geld as well as all the ecclesiastics of his own dominions, gierig. against him. Urban even menaced him with the sentence of excommunication; but he was too earnestly engaged in the crusade to attend to any other business. Rufus, therefore, little regarded those censures, which he found were ineffectual: he had very little religion at best; and the amazing infatuation of the times inspired him with no very high ideas of the wisdom of its professors. It is reported of him, that he once accepted fifty marks of a Jew, whose son had been converted to Christianity, and who engaged him by that present to assist in bringing back the youth to Judaism. William employed both menaces and persuasion to that purpose; but, finding his efforts ineffectual, he sent for the father, and informing him that the new convert was obstinate in his faith, he returned him half the money, and kept the rest for his pains. At another time, he is said to have sent for some learned Christian theologians, and some Jewish rabbis, and bade them fairly dispute the points of their religion before him. He was perfectly indifferent, he said, which should prevail; he had his ears open to both, and he would embrace that doctrine, which, upon comparison, should be found supported by the most solid arguments.

In this manner Rufus proceeded, careless of approbation or censure, and only intent upon extending his