till the opportunity was loft; while William exerted himfelf with incredible activity to diffipate the confederacy before his brother could arrive. Nor was this difficult to effect: the confpirators had, in confequence of Robert's affurances, taken poffeffion of fome fortreffes; but the appearance of the king foon reduced them to implore his mercy. He granted them their lives, but confifcated all their eftates, and banished them the kingdom. A new breach was made fome time after, between the brothers, in which Rufus found means to encroach still farther upon Robert's poffeffions. Every confpiracy thus detected, ferved to enrich the king, who took care to apply to his own ufe thofe treasures which had been amaffed for the purpose of dethroning him. But the memory of thefe tranfient broils and unfuc. cefsful treafons were now totally eclipfed by one of the moft noted enterprifes that ever adorned the annals of nations, or excited the attention of mankind: I mean the Crufades, 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 pilgri mage to the holy fepulchre at Jarufalem, and beheld, with indignation, the cruel manner in which the Chrifti. ans were treated by the Infidels, who were in poffeffion of that place. He preached the Crufade over Europe by the pope's permiffion, and men of all ranks flew to arms with the utmost alacrity, to refcue the holy Land from the Infidels, and each bore the fign of the crofs upon their right fhoulder, as a mark of their devotion to the cause. In the midst of this univerfal ardour, that was diffused over Europe, men were not entirely forgetful of their temporal interefts; for fome, hoping for a more magnificent fettlement in the foft regions of Afia, fold their European property for whatever they could obtain, contented with receiving any thing for what they were predetermined to relinquith. Among the princes who felt and acknowledged this general fpirit of enterprife, was Robert duke of Normandy. The Crufade was entirely adapted to his inclinations and his circumftances; he was brave, zealous, covetous of glory, poor, harraffed by infurrecti ons, and what was more than all, naturally fond of change. In order, therefore, to fupply money to defray the neceffary charges of fo expenfive an undertaking, he offered to mortgage his dukedom in Normandy to his brother Rufus, for a ftipulated fum of money. This fum, which was no greater than ten thousand marks, was readily promised by Rufus, whose ambition was upon the watch to feize every advantage. But though the ceffion of Maine and Normandy greatly increased the king's territories, they added but little to his real power, as his new fubjects were compofed of men of independent fpirits, more ready to difpute than to obey his commands. Many were the revolts and infurrections which he was obliged to quell in perfon; and no fooner was one confpiracy, fuppreffed, than another rofe to give him fresh difquietude. However, Rufus proceeded, care lefs of approbation or cenfure; and only intent upon extending his dominions, either by purchafe or conqueft. The earl of Poitiers and Guienne, inflamed with a defire of going upon the Crufade, had gathered an immenfe multitude for that expedition, but wanted money to forward his preparations. He had recourfe, therefore, to Rufus, and offered to mortgage all his dominions, without much confidering what would become of his unhappy fubjects that he thus difpofed of. The king accepted this offer with his ufual avidity, and had prepared a fleet, and an army, in order to take poffeffion of the rich provinces thus configned to his truft. But an accident put an end to all his ambitious projects; he was fhot by an arrow that Sir Walter Tyrrel difcharged at a deer in the New Foreft, which, glancing from a tree, ftruck the king to the heart. He dropt dead inftantaneously; while the innocent author of his death, terrified at the accident, put fpurs to his horse, haftened to the fea-fhore, em barked for France, and joined the Crusade that was then fetting out for Jerufalem, D 5 CHAP TENRY, the late king's younger brother, who had been hunting in the New Foreft when Rufus was flain, took the earlieft advantage of the occafion, and haftening to Winchefter, refolved to fecure the royal treafure, which he knew to be the best affiftant in feconding his aims. The barons, as well as the people, acquiefced in a claim which they were unprovided to refift, and yielded obedience, from the fears of immediate danger. Henry, to ingratiate himfelf with the people, expelled from court all the minifters of his brother's debauchery and arbitrary power. One thing only remained to confirm his claims without danger of a rival. The English remembered their Saxon monarchs with gratitude, and beheld them excluded the throne with regret. There ftill remained fome of the defcendants of that favourite line; and, among others, Matilda, the niece of Edgar Atheling; which lady, having declined all pretentions to royalty, was bred up in a convent, and had actually taken the veil. Upon her Henry firft fixed his eyes as a proper confort, by whofe means, the long breach between the Saxon and Norman interefts would be finally united. It only only remained to get over the fcruple of her being a nun but this a council, devoted to his interefts, readily ad mitted, and Matilda being pronounced free to marry, the nuptials were celebrated with great pomp and folemnity.. It was at this unfavourable juncture that Robert returned from abroad, and after taking poffeffion of his native dominions, laid his claim to the crown of England. But propofals for an accommodation being made, it was ftipulated, that Robert, upon the payment of a certain fum, fhould refign his pretentions to England; and that. if either of the princes died without iffue, the other fhould fucceed to his dominions. This treaty being ratified, the armies on each fide were disbanded; and Robert, having lived two months in the utmost harmony with his brother, returned in peace to his own dominions. But Robert's indifcretion foon rendered him unfit to govern any state; he was totally averfe to bufinefs, and only ftudious of the more fplendid amufements or employ ments of life. His fervants pillaged him without com punction; and he is defcribed as lying whole days a-bed for want of clothes, of which they had robbed him. His fubjects were treated ftill more deplorably; for being under the command of petty and repacious tyrants, who plundered them without mercy, the whole country was become a fcene of violence and depredation. It was in this miferable exigence, that the Normans at length had recourfe to Henry, from whose wife administration of his own dominions, they expected a fimilitude of profperity should he take the reigns of theirs. Henry very readily promised to redress their grievances, as he knew it would be the direct method to second his owm ambition. The year enfuing, therefore, he landed in Normandy with a ftrong army, took fome of the principal towns; and a battle enfuing, Robert's forces were totally overthrown, and he himself taken prifoner, with near ten thousand of his men, and all the confiderable barons who had adhered to his misfortunes. This victory was followed by the final reduction of Normandy, while Henry returned in triumph to England, leading with him his captive bro ther, who, after a life of bravery, generofity, and truth, now found himself deprived not only of his patrimony and his friends, but also his freedom. Henry, unmindful of his brother's former magnanimity with regard to him, detained him a prifoner during the remainder of his life, which was no lefs than twenty-eight years; and he died in the caftle of Cardiff, in Glamorganfhire. It is even faid, by fome, that he was deprived of his fight by a red-hot copper bafon applied to his eyes; while his brother attempted to stifle the reproaches of his confcience, by founding the abbey of Reading, which was then confidered as a fufficient atonement for every degree of barbarity. Fortune now feemed to fmile upon Henry, and promife a long fucceffion of felicity. He was in peaceable poffeffion of two powerful ftates, and had a fon, who was acknowledged undifputed heir, arrived at his eighteen year, whom he loved moft tenderly. His daughter Matilda was alfo married to the emperor Henry V. of Germany, and the had been fent to that court, while yet but eight years old, for her education. All his profpects, however, were at once clouded by unforeseen misfortunes and accidents, which tinctured his remaining years with mifery. The king, from the facility with which he ufurped the crown, dreading that his family might be fubverted with the fame ease, took care to have his fon recognised as his fucceffor by the ftates of England, and carried him over to Normandy to receive the homage of the barons of that duchy. After performing this requifite ceremony, Henry, returning triumphantly to England, brought with him a numerous retinue of the chief nobility, who seemed to fhare in his fucceffes. In one of the veffels of the fleet, his fon, and feveral young noblemen, the companions of his pleasures, went together to render the paffage more agreeable. The king fet fail from Barfleur, and was foon carried by a fair wind out of fight of land. The prince was detained by fome accident; and his failors, as well as their captain, Fitz-Stephen, having spent the interval in drinking, became fo diforded, that they ran the fhip upon a rock, and immediately it was dafhed to pieces. The prince was put into the boat, and might have efcaped had he not been called back by the cries |