His death was violent and unexpected, the effect of casualty; although
this perhaps is the only misfortune of life to which the person of a
prince is generally less subject than that of other men. Being at his
beloved exercise of hunting in the New Forest in Hampshire, a large stag
crossed the way before him, the King hot on his game, cried out in haste
to Walter Tyrrel, a knight of his attendants, to shoot; Tyrrel,
immediately let fly his arrow, which glancing against a tree, struck the
King through the heart, who fell dead to the ground without speaking a
word. Upon the surprise of this accident, all his attendants, and
Tyrrel[15] among the rest, fled different ways; until the fright being a
little over, some of them returned, and causing the body to be laid in a
collier's cart, for want of other conveniency, conveyed it in a very
unbecoming contemptuous manner to Winchester, where it was buried the
next day without solemnity, and which is worse, without grief.

[Footnote 15: Yet Eadmer saith, that Tyrrel told him, he had not been in
the Forest that day. [D.S.]]

I shall conclude the history of this prince's reign, with a description
and character of his body and mind, impartially from the collections I
have made; which method I shall observe likewise in all the succeeding
reigns.

He was in stature somewhat below the usual size, and big-bellied, but he
was well and strongly knit. His hair was yellow or sandy; his face red,
which got him the name of Rufus; his forehead flat; his eyes were
spotted, and appeared of different colours; he was apt to stutter in
speaking, especially when he was angry; he was vigorous and active, and
very hardy to endure fatigues, which he owed to a good constitution of
health, and the frequent exercise of hunting; in his dress he affected
gaiety and expense, which having been first introduced by this prince
into his court and kingdom, grew, in succeeding reigns, an intolerable
grievance. He also first brought in among us the luxury and profusion of
great tables. There was in him, as in all other men, a mixture of
virtues and vices, and that in a pretty equal degree, only the
misfortune was, that the latter, although not more numerous, were yet
much more prevalent than the former. For being entirely a man of
pleasure, this made him sacrifice all his good qualities, and gave him
too many occasions of producing his ill ones. He had one very singular
virtue for a prince, which was that of being true to his word and
promise: he was of undoubted personal valour, whereof the writers in
those ages produce several instances; nor did he want skill and conduct
in the process of war. But, his peculiar excellency, was that of great
dispatch, which, however usually decried, and allowed to be only a happy
temerity, does often answer all the ends of secrecy and counsel in a
great commander, by surprising and daunting an enemy when he least
expects it; as may appear by the greatest actions and events upon the
records of every nation.

He was a man of sound natural sense, as well as of wit and humour, upon
occasion. There were several tenets in the Romish Church he could not
digest; particularly that of the saints' intercession; and living in an
age overrun with superstition, he went so far into the other extreme, as
to be censured for an atheist. The day before his death, a monk relating
a terrible dream, which seemed to forebode him some misfortune, the King
being told the matter, turned it into a jest; said, "The man was a monk,
and dreamt like a monk, for lucre sake;" and therefore commanded
Fitzhamon to give him an hundred shillings, that he might not complain
he had dreamt to no purpose.

His vices appear to have been rather derived from the temper of his
body, than any original depravity of his mind; for being of a sanguine
complexion, wholly bent upon his pleasures, and prodigal in his nature,
he became engaged in great expenses. To supply these, the people were
perpetually oppressed with illegal taxes and exactions; but that sort of
avarice which arises from prodigality and vice, as it is always needy,
so it is much more ravenous and violent than the other, which put the
King and his evil instruments (among whom Ralph, Bishop of Durham, is of
special infamy) upon those pernicious methods of gratifying his
extravagances by all manner of oppression; whereof some are already
mentioned, and others are too foul to relate.

He is generally taxed by writers for discovering a contempt of religion
in his common discourse and behaviour; which I take to have risen from
the same fountain, being a point of art, and a known expedient, for men
who cannot quit their immoralities, at least to banish all reflections
that may disturb them in the enjoyment, which must be done either by not
thinking of religion at all; or, if it will obtrude, by putting it out
of countenance.

Yet there is one instance that might shew him to have some sense of
religion as well as justice. When two monks were outvying each other in
canting[16] the price of an abbey, he observed a third at some distance,
who said never a word; the King demanded why he would not offer; the
monk said, he was poor, and besides, would give nothing if he were ever
so rich; the King replied, "Then you are the fittest person to have it,"
and immediately gave it him. But this is, perhaps with reason enough,
assigned more to caprice than conscience; for he was under the power of
every humour and passion that possessed him for the present; which made
him obstinate in his resolves, and unsteady in the prosecution.

[Footnote 16: An Irish phrase for selling or buying by auction. It is
somewhat remarkable that so severe a critic should have used such a word
in historical composition. [S.]]

He had one vice or folly that seemed rooted in his mind, and of all
others, most unbefitting a prince: This was, a proud disdainful manner,
both in his words and gesture; and having already lost the love of his
subjects by his avarice and oppression, this finished the work, by
bringing him into contempt and hatred among his servants; so that few
among the worst of princes have had the luck to be so ill beloved, or so
little lamented.

He never married, having an invincible abhorrence for the state,
although not for the sex.

He died in the thirteenth year of his reign, the forty-third of his age,
and of Christ 1100, August 2.

His works of piety were few, but in buildings he was very expensive,
exceeding any King of England before or since, among which Westminster
Hall, Windsor Castle, the Tower of London, and the whole city of
Carlisle, remain lasting monuments of his magnificence.



THE REIGN OF HENRY THE FIRST.

This prince was the youngest son of William the Conqueror, and bred to
more learning than was usual in that age, or to his rank, which got him
the surname of Beauclerk; the reputation whereof, together with his
being born in England, and born son of a king, although of little weight
in themselves, did very much strengthen his pretensions with the people.
Besides, he had the same advantage of his brother Robert's absence,
which had proved before so successful to Rufus, whose treasures he
likewise seized on immediately at his death, after the same manner, and
for the same end, as Rufus did those of his father the Conqueror. Robert
had been now five years absent in the Holy War, where he acquitted
himself with great glory; and although he was now in Apulia, upon his
return homeward, yet the nobles pretending not to know what was become
of him, and others giving out that he had been elected King of
Jerusalem, Henry laid hold of the occasion, and calling together an
assembly of the clergy, nobles, and people of the realm at London, upon
his promises to restore King Edward's laws, and redress the grievances
which had been introduced by his father and brother, they consented to
elect him king. Immediately after his coronation, he proceeded upon
reforming the abuses of the late reign: he banished dissolute persons
from the court, who had long infested it under the protection and
example of Rufus: he restored the people to the use of lights in the
night, which the Conqueror had forbidden, after a certain hour, by the
ringing of a bell. Then he published his charter, and ordered a copy
thereof to be taken for every county in England. This charter was in
substance; The freedom of Mother Church from former oppressions; leave
to the heirs of nobles to succeed in the possession of their lands,
without being obliged to redeem them, only paying to the king a moderate
relief; abolition of fines for licence of marriage to their heiresses; a
promise of not refusing such licence unless the match proposed be with
the king's enemy,[17] &c.; the next of kin to be guardians of the lands
of orphans; punishments for coiners of false money; a confirmation of
St. Edward's laws; and a general amnesty.

[Footnote 17: _i.e._ with a traitor or malcontent. [D.S.]]

About the same time he performed two acts of justice, which, by
gratifying the revenge and the love of the people, gained very much upon
their affections to his person: the first was, to imprison Ralph Bishop
of Durham,[18] who having been raised by the late king from a mean and
sordid birth to be his prime confidant and minister, became the chief
instrument, as well as contriver, of all his oppressions: the second
was, in recalling and restoring Archbishop Anselm, who having been
forced by the continual persecutions of the same prince, to leave
England, had lived ever since in banishment, and deprived of all his
revenues.

[Footnote 18: Le Neve says that Ralph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, was
imprisoned in the Tower, September, 1100, but escaped in February of the
following year, and fled to Normandy. ("Fasti," iii. 282-3). [W.S.J.]]

The King had not been many months on his throne, when the news came that
Duke Robert, returned from the Holy Land, was received by his subjects
with great marks of joy and honour, and in universal reputation for his
valour and success against the infidels: soon after which, Ralph Bishop
of Durham, either by the negligence or corruption of his keepers,
escaped out of prison, and fled over to the Duke; whom he stirred up to
renew and solicit his pretensions to the crown of England, by writing to
several nobles, who, either through old friendship, or new discontent,
or an opinion of his title, gave him promises of their assistance, as
soon as he should land in England: but the Duke having returned
exceeding poor from the Holy Land, was not yet in a condition for such
an undertaking, and therefore thought fit to defer it to a more
seasonable opportunity.

As the King had hitherto, with great industry, sought all occasions to
gratify his people, so he continued to do in the choice of a wife. This
was Matilda, daughter of Malcolm the late King of Scots; a lady of great
piety and virtue, who, by the power or persuasion of her friends, was
prevailed with to leave her cloister for a crown, after she had, as some
writers report, already taken the veil. Her mother was sister to Edgar
Atheling, the last heir-male of the Saxon race; of whom frequent mention
hath been made in the two preceding reigns: and thus the Saxon line, to
the great contentment of the English nation, was again restored.

Duke Robert, having now with much difficulty and oppression of his
subjects, raised great forces, and gotten ready a fleet to convey them,
resolved once more to assert his title to the crown of England: to which
end he had for some time held a secret correspondence with several
nobles, and lately received fresh invitations. The King, on the other
side, who had received timely intelligence of his brother's
preparations, gave orders to his admirals to watch the sea-ports, and
endeavour to hinder the enemy's landing: but the commanders of several
ships, whether Robert had won them by his bribes, or his promises,
instead of offering resistance, became his guides, and brought his fleet
safe into Portsmouth, where he landed his men, and from thence marched
to Winchester, his army hourly increasing by great numbers of people,
who had either an affection for his person, an opinion of his title, or
a hatred to the King. In the mean time Henry advanced with his forces,
to be near the Duke, and observe his motions; but, like a wise general,
forbore offering battle to an invader, until he might do it with
manifest advantage. Besides, he knew very well that his brother was a
person whose policy was much inferior to his valour, and therefore to be
sooner overcome in a treaty than a fight: to this end, the nobles on
both sides began to have frequent interviews; to make overtures; and at
last concert the terms of a peace; but wholly to the advantage of the
King, Robert renouncing his pretensions in consideration of a small
pension, and of succeeding to the crown on default of male issue in his
brother.

The defection of nobles and other people to the Duke was so great, that
men generally thought if it had come to a battle, the King would have
lost both the victory and his crown. But Robert, upon his return to
Normandy after this dishonourable peace, grew out of all reputation with
the world, as well as into perfect hatred and contempt among his own
subjects, which in a short time was the cause of his ruin.

The King having thus by his prudence got rid of a dangerous and
troublesome rival, and soon after by his valour quelled the
insurrections of the Earls of Shrewsbury and Mortaigne, whom he forced
to fly into Normandy, found himself in full peace at home and abroad,
and therefore thought he might venture a contention with the Church
about the right of investing bishops; upon which subject many other
princes at that time had controversy with their clergy: but, after long
struggling in vain, were all forced to yield at last to the decree of a
synod in Rome, and to the pertinacy of the bishops in the several
countries. The form of investing a bishop, was by delivery of a ring and
a pastoral staff; which, at Rome, was declared unlawful to be performed
by any lay hand whatsoever; but the princes of Christendom pleaded
immemorial custom to authorize them: and King Henry, having given the
investiture to certain bishops, commanded Anselm to consecrate them.
This the archbishop refused with great firmness, pursuant to what he
understood to be his duty, and to several immediate commands of the
Pope. Both sides adhering to their own sentiments, the matter was
carried to Rome, where Anselm went in person, by the King's desire; who,
at the same time, sent ambassadors thither to assert and defend his
cause; but the Pope still insisting, Anselm was forbidden to return to
England. The King seized on all his revenues, and would not restore him,
until upon other concessions of the Pope, Henry was content to yield up
his pretensions to the investiture; but, however, kept the right of
electing still in his own hands.

Whatever might have been the method of electing bishops, in the more
primitive ages, it seems plain to me that in these times, and somewhat
before, although the election was made _per clerum et populum_, yet the
king always nominated at first, or approved afterwards, and generally
both, as may be seen by the style in which their elections ran, as well
as by the persons chosen, who were usually Churchmen of the court, or in
some employment near the King. But whether this were a gradual
encroachment of the regal upon the spiritual power, I had rather leave
others to dispute.

  1104.
  1105.

About this time Duke Robert came to England, upon a visit to the King,
where he was received with much kindness and hospitality; but, at the
same time, the Queen had private directions to manage his easy temper,
and work him to a consent of remitting his pension: this was compassed
without much difficulty; but, upon the Duke's return to Normandy, he was
severely reproved for his weakness by Ralph Bishop of Durham, and the
two Earls of Mortaigne and Shrewsbury. These three having fled from
England for rebellion, and other treasons, lived exiles in Normandy;
and, bearing an inveterate hatred to the King, resolved to stir up the
Duke to a resentment of the injury and fraud of his brother. Robert, who
was various in his nature, and always under the power of the present
persuader, easily yielded to their incitements: reproached the King in
bitter terms, by letters and messages, that he had cozened and
circumvented him; demanding satisfaction, and withal threatening
revenge. At the same time, by the advice of the three nobles already
mentioned, he began to arm himself as formidably as he could, with
design to seize upon the King's possessions in Normandy: but as this
resolution was rashly taken up, so it was as faintly pursued, and ended
in his destruction: neither hath any prince reason to expect better
fortune, that engages in a war against a powerful neighbour upon the
counsel or instigation of exiles, who having no further view than to
serve their private interest, or gratify their revenge, are sure to
succeed in one or t'other, if they can embark princes in their quarrel,
whom they fail not to incite by the falsest representations of their own
strength, and the weakness of their enemy: for as the King was now
settled in his throne too firm to be shaken, so Robert had wholly lost
all credit and friendship in England; was sunk in reputation at home;
and, by his unlimited profuseness, reduced so low, that, having pawned
most of his dominions, he had offered Rouen, his capital city, in sale
to the inhabitants. All this was very well known to the King, who,
resolving to make his advantage thereof, pretended to be highly provoked
at the disgraceful speeches and menaces of his brother; which he made
the formal occasion of a quarrel: therefore he first sent over some
forces to ravage his country; and, understanding that the Duke was
coldly supported by his own subjects, many of whom came over to the
King's army, he soon followed in person with more; took several towns;
and, placing garrisons therein, came back to England, designing with the
first pretext or opportunity to return with a more potent army, and
wholly subdue the duchy to his obedience.

Robert, now grown sensible of his weakness, became wholly dispirited;
and following his brother into England, in a most dejected manner begged
for peace: but the King, now fully determined upon his ruin, turned away
in disdain, muttering at the same time some threatening words. This
indignity roused up once more the sinking courage of the Duke; who, with
bitter words, detesting the pride and insolence of Henry, withdrew in a
rage, and hasting back to Normandy, made what preparations he could for
his own defence. The King observing his nobles very ready to engage with
him in this expedition; and being assured that those in Normandy would,
upon his approach, revolt from the Duke, soon followed with a mighty
army, and the flower of his kingdom. Upon his arrival he was attended,
according to his expectation, by several Norman lords; and, with this
formidable force, sat down before Tinchebray: the Duke, accompanied by
the two exiled earls, advanced with what strength he had, in hopes to
draw the enemy from the siege of so important a place, although at the
hazard of a battle. Both armies being drawn out in battalia, that of the
King's, trusting to their numbers, began to charge with great fury, but
without any order.

  1106.

The Duke, with forces far inferior, received the enemy with much
firmness; and, finding they had spent their first heat, advanced very
regularly against their main body, before they could recover themselves
from the confusion they were in. He attacked them with so much courage,
that he broke their whole body, and they began to fly on every side. The
King believing all was lost, did what he could by threats and gentle
words to stop the flight of his men, but found it impossible: then he
commanded two bodies of horse, which were placed on either wing, to
join, and, wheeling about, to attack the enemy in rear. The Duke, who
thought himself so near a victory, was forced to stop his pursuit; and
ordering his men to face about, began the fight anew; mean time the
scattered parts of the main body, which had so lately fled, began to
rally, and pour in upon the Normans behind, by which Duke Robert's army
was almost encompassed; yet they kept their ground awhile, and made
several charges, until at length, perfectly overborne by numbers, they
were utterly defeated. There Duke Robert, doing all the parts of a great
captain, was taken prisoner, together with the Earl of Mortaigne, and
almost his whole army: for being hemmed in on all sides, few of them
could make their escape. Thus, in the space of forty years; Normandy
subdued England, and England Normandy; which are events perhaps hardly
to be paralleled in any other ages or parts of the world.

  1107.

The King, having stayed a while to settle the state of Normandy,
returned with his brother into England, whom he sent prisoner to Cardiff
Castle, with orders that he should be favourably used, which, for some
time, were duly observed; until being accused of attempting to make his
escape (whether it were real or feigned) he had his eyes put out with a
burning basin, by the King's express commands; in which miserable
condition he lived for six-and-twenty years.

It is believed the King would hardly have engaged in this unnatural and
invidious war, with so little pretence or provocation, if the Pope had
not openly approved and sanctified his cause, exhorting him to it as a
meritorious action; which seems to have been but an ill return from the
Vicar of CHRIST to a prince who had performed so many brave exploits for
the service of the Church, to the hazard of his person, and ruin of his
fortune. But the very bigoted monks, who have left us their accounts of
those times, do generally agree in heavily taxing the Roman court for
bribery and corruption. And the King had promised to remit his right of
investing bishops, which he performed immediately after his reduction of
Normandy, and was a matter of much more service to the Pope, than all
the achievements of Duke Robert in the Holy Land, whose merits, as well
as pretensions, were now antiquated and out of date.

  1109.

About this time the Emperor Henry V. sent to desire Maud, the King's
daughter in marriage, who was then a child about eight years old: that
prince had lately been embroiled in a quarrel with the see of Rome,
which began upon the same subject of investing bishops, but was carried
to great extremities: for invading Italy with a mighty army, he took the
Pope prisoner, forced him to yield to whatever terms he thought fit to
impose, and to take an oath of fidelity to him between his hands:
however, as soon as Henry had withdrawn his forces, the Pope assembling
a council, revoked all his concessions, as extorted by compulsion, and
raised great troubles in Germany against the Emperor, who, in order to
secure himself, sought this alliance with the King.

About this time likewise died Archbishop Anselm, a prelate of great
piety and learning, whose zeal for the see of Rome, as well as for his
own rights and privileges, should in justice be imputed to the errors of
the time, and not of the man. After his death, the King, following the
steps of his brother, held the see vacant five years, contenting himself
with an excuse, which looked like a jest, That he only waited until he
could find another so good a man as Anselm.

In the fourteenth year of this King's reign, the Welsh, after their
usual manner, invaded the Marches with great fury and destruction; but
the King, hoping to put a final end to those perpetual troubles and
vexations given to his kingdom by that unquiet people, went in person
against them with a powerful army; and to prevent their usual stratagem
of retreating to their woods and mountains, and other fastnesses, he
ordered the woods to be cut down, beset all their places of security,
and hunting them like wild beasts, made so terrible a slaughter, that at
length observing them to fling down their arms, and beg for quarter, he
commanded his soldiers to forbear; then receiving their submissions, and
placing garrisons where he thought necessary, he returned, in great
triumph and satisfaction, to London.

  1114.

The Princess Maud being now marriageable, was delivered to the Emperor's
ambassador; and for a portion to the young lady a tax was imposed of
three shillings upon every hide of land in England, which grew
afterwards into a custom,[19] and was in succeeding times confirmed by
Acts of Parliament, under the name of "Reasonable Aid for marrying the
King's Daughter," although levied after a different manner.

[Footnote 19: This was the first occasion of the feudal tax called
scutage being levied in England. [W.S.J.]]

As the institution of Parliaments in England is agreed by several
writers to be owing to this King, so the date of the first hath been
assigned by some to the fifteenth year of his reign; which however is
not to be affirmed with any certainty: for great councils were convoked
not only in the two preceding reigns, but for time immemorial by the
Saxon princes, who first introduced them into this island, from the same
original with the other Gothic forms of government in most parts of
Europe. These councils or assemblies were composed according to the
pleasure of the prince who convened them, generally of nobles and
bishops, sometimes were added some considerable commoners; but they
seldom met, except in the beginning of a reign, or in times of war,
until this King came to the crown; who being a wise and popular prince,
called these great assemblies upon most important affairs of his reign,
and ever followed their advice, which, if it proved successful, the
honour and advantage redounded to him, and if otherwise, he was free
from the blame: thus when he chose a wife for himself, and a husband for
his daughter, when he designed his expedition against Robert, and even
for the election of an archbishop to the see of Canterbury, he proceeded
wholly by the advice of such general assemblies, summoned for the
purpose. But the style of these conventions, as delivered by several
authors, is very various; sometimes it is _comites, barones, et
cleri_;[20] his marriage was agreed on, _consilio majorum natu et
magnatum terrae_. One author[21] calls it _concilium principum,
sacerdotum, et reliqui populi._ And for the election of an archbishop,
the Saxon Chronicle says, That he commanded by letters all bishops,
abbots, and thanes to meet him at Gloucester _ad procerum conventum_.
Lastly, some affirm these assemblies to have been an imitation of the
three estates in Normandy. I am very sensible how much time and pains
have been employed by several learned men to search out the original of
Parliaments in England, wherein I doubt they have little satisfied
others or themselves. I know likewise that to engage in the same
enquiry, would neither suit my abilities nor my subject. It may be
sufficient for my purpose, if I be able to give some little light into
this matter, for the curiosity of those who are less informed.

[Footnote 20: Brompton. [D.S.]]

[Footnote 21: Polydore Virgil. [D.S.]]

The institution of a state or commonwealth out of a mixture of the three
forms of government received in the schools, however it be derided as a
solecism and absurdity by some late writers on politics, hath been very
ancient in the world, and is celebrated by the gravest authors of
antiquity. For although the supreme power cannot properly be said to be
divided, yet it may be so placed in three several hands, as each to be a
check upon the other; or formed into a balance, which is held by him
that has the executive power, with the nobility and people in
counterpoise in each scale. Thus the kingdom of Media is represented by
Xenophon before the reign of Cyrus; so Polybius tells us, the best
government is a mixture of the three forms, _regno, optimatium, et
populi imperio_: the same was that of Sparta in its primitive
institution by Lycurgus, made up of _reges, seniores, et populus_; the
like may be asserted of Rome, Carthage, and other states: and the
Germans of old fell upon the same model, from whence the Goths their
neighbours, with the rest of those northern people, did perhaps borrow
it. But an assembly of the three estates is not properly of Gothic
institution: for these fierce people, when upon the decline of the Roman
Empire they first invaded Europe, and settled so many kingdoms in Italy,
Spain, and other parts, were all Heathens; and when a body of them had
fixed themselves in a tract of land left desolate by the flight or
destruction of the natives, their military government by time and peace
became civil; the general was king, his great officers were his nobles
and ministers of state, and the common soldiers the body of the people;
but these were freemen, and had smaller portions of land assigned them.
The remaining natives were all slaves; the nobles were a standing
council; and upon affairs of great importance, the freemen were likewise
called by their representatives to give their advice. By which it
appears, that the Gothic frame of government consisted at first but of
two states or assemblies, under the administration of a single person.
But after the conversion of these princes and their people to the
Christian faith, the Church became endowed with great possessions, as
well by the bounty of kings, as the arts and industry of the clergy,
winning upon the devotion of their new converts: and power, by the
common maxim, always accompanying property, the ecclesiastics began soon
to grow considerable, to form themselves into a body, and to call
assemblies or synods by their own authority, or sometimes by the command
of their princes, who in an ignorant age had a mighty veneration for
their learning as well as piety. By such degrees the Church arrived at
length, by very justifiable steps, to have her share in the
commonwealth, and became a third estate in most kingdoms of Europe; but
these assemblies, as we have already observed, were seldom called in
England before the reign of this prince, nor even then were always
composed after the same manner: neither does it appear from the writers
who lived nearest to that age, that the people had any representative at
all, beside the barons and other nobles, who did not sit in those
assemblies by virtue of their birth or creation, but of the lands or
baronies they held. So that the present constitution of the English
Parliament hath, by many degrees and alterations, been modelled to the
frame it is now in; which alterations I shall observe in the succeeding
reigns as exactly as I can discover them by a diligent search into the
histories of the several ages, without engaging in the controverted
points of law about this matter, which would rather perplex the reader
than inform him.

  1116.

But to return, Louis the Gross King of France, a valiant and active
prince, in the flower of his age, succeeding to that crown that Robert
was deprived of, Normandy, grew jealous of the neighbourhood and power
of King Henry, and begun early to entertain designs either of subduing
that duchy to himself, or at least of making a considerable party
against the King in favour of William son of Robert, whom for that end
he had taken into his protection. Pursuant to these intentions, he soon
found an occasion for a quarrel: expostulating with Henry, that he had
broken his promise by not doing homage for the Duchy of Normandy, as
well as by neglecting to raze the castle of Gisors,[22] which was built
on the French side of the river Epte, the common boundary between both
dominions.

[Footnote 22: Father Daniel says that for some years past it had been
agreed that Gisors "should be sequestered in the hands of a lord called
Pagan or Payen, who was to receive into it neither English or Norman,
nor French troops; and in case it should fall into the hands of either
of the two kings, it was stipulated, that the walls should be razed
within the space of forty days" ("Hist. of France," i. 369). [W.S.J.]
]

But an incident soon offered, which gave King Henry a pretext for
retaliating almost in the same manner: for it happened that upon some
offence taken against his nephew Theobald Count of Blois by the French
King, Louis in great rage sent an army to invade and ravage the earl's
territories. Theobald defended himself for a while with much valour; but
at length in danger to be overpowered, requested aid of his uncle the
King of England, who supported him so effectually with men and money,
that he was able not only to defend his own country, but very much to
infest and annoy his enemy. Thus a war was kindled between the two
kings; Louis now openly asserted the title of William the son of Robert,
and entering into an alliance with the Earls of Flanders and Anjou,
began to concert measures for driving King Henry out of Normandy.

The King having timely intelligence of his enemy's designs, began with
great vigour and dispatch to prepare himself for war: he raised, with
much difficulty and discontent of his people, the greatest tax that had
ever been known in England; and passing over into Normandy with a mighty
army, joined his nephew Theobald. The King of France, who had
entertained hopes that he should overrun the duchy before his enemy
could arrive, advanced with great security towards the frontiers of
Normandy; but observing an enemy of equal number and force already
prepared to engage him, he suddenly stopped his march. The two armies
faced one another for some hours, neither side offering battle; the rest
of the day was spent in light skirmishes begun by the French, and
repeated for some days following with various success; but the remainder
of the year passed without any considerable action.

  1119.

At length the violence of the two princes brought it to a battle: for
Louis, to give a reputation to his arms, advanced towards the frontiers
of Normandy, and after a short siege took GuГ© Nicaise;[23] there the
King met him, and the fight began, which continued with great obstinacy
on both sides for nine hours. The French army was divided into two
bodies, and the English into three; by which means, that part where the
King fought in person, being attacked by a superior number, began to
give way; and William Crispin, a Norman baron, singling out the King of
England (whose subject he had been, but banished for treason) struck him
twice in the head with so much violence, that the blood gushed out of
his mouth. The King inflamed with rage and indignation, dealt such
furious blows, that he struck down several of his enemies, and Crispin
among the rest, who was taken prisoner at his horse's feet. The soldiers
encouraged by the valour of their prince, rallied and fell on with fresh
vigour, and the victory seemed doubtful, when William the son of King
Henry, to whom his father had entrusted the third body of his army,
which had not yet engaged, fell on with this fresh reserve upon the
enemy, who was already very much harassed with the toil of the day: this
quickly decided the matter; for the French, though valiantly fighting,
were overcome, with the slaughter of several thousand men; their King
quitted the field, and withdrew to Andely; but the King of England
recovering GuГ© Nicaise, returned triumphant to Rouen.

[Footnote 23: At that time reckoned an important fortress on the river
Epte. [D.S.]]

This important victory was followed by the defection of the Earl of
Anjou to King Henry, and the Earl of Flanders fell in the battle; by
which the King of France was at once deprived of two powerful allies.
However, by the intercession of the former, a peace was soon after made
between both crowns. William the King's son did homage to Louis for the
Dukedom of Normandy; and the other William, following the fortunes of
his father, was left to his pretensions and complaints.

It is here observable, that from this time until Wales was subdued to
the English crown, the eldest sons of England were called Dukes of
Normandy, as they are now Princes of Wales.

  1120.

The King having stayed some time in Normandy, for the settlement of his
duchy after the calamities and confusions of a war, returned to England,
to the very great satisfaction of his people and himself. He had
enlarged his dominions by the conquest of Normandy; he had subdued all
his competitors, and forced even the King of France, their great
protector, after a glorious victory, to his own conditions of a peace;
he was upon very good terms with the Pope, who had a great esteem and
friendship for his person, and made him larger concessions than was
usual from that see, and in those ages. At home he was respected by the
clergy, reverenced by the nobles, and beloved by the people; in his
family he was blessed with a son of much hopes, just growing to years of
manhood, and his daughter was an empress; so that he seemed to possess
as great a share of happiness as human life is capable to admit. But the
felicity of man depends upon a conjunction of many circumstances, which
are all subject to various accidents, and every single accident is able
to dissolve the whole contexture; which truth was never verified more
than in this prince, who by one domestic misfortune, not to be prevented
or foreseen, found all the pleasure and content he proposed to himself
by his prudence, his industry, and his valour, wholly disappointed and
destroyed: for William the young prince having embarked at Barfleur some
time after his father, the mariners being all drunk, suffered the ship
to run upon a rock, where it was dashed to pieces: the prince made a
shift to get into the boat, and was making to the shore, until forced
back by the cries of his sister, whom he received into the boat, so many
others crowded in at the same time, that it was immediately overturned.
There perished, beside the prince, a natural son and daughter of the
King's, his niece, and many other persons of quality, together with all
their attendants and servants, to the number of a hundred and forty,
beside fifty mariners, but one person escaping.

Although the King survived this cruel misfortune many years, yet he
could never recover his former humour, but grew melancholy and morose;
however, in order to provide better for the peace and settlement of the
kingdom after his death, about five months after the loss of his son,
his former Queen having died three years before, he married Adeliza, a
beautiful young lady of the family of Lorraine,[24] in hopes of issue by
her, but never had any.

[Footnote 24: She was daughter of Godfrey Duke of Louvain, or the Lower
Lorraine. [D.S.]]

  1124.

The death of the prince gave occasion to some new troubles in Normandy;
for the Earls of Meulant and Evreux, Hugh de Montfort, and other
associates, began to raise insurrections there, which were thought to be
privately fomented by the French King, out of enmity to King Henry, and
in favour of William the son of Robert, to whom the Earl of Anjou had
lately given his daughter in marriage. But William of Tankerville, the
King's lieutenant in Normandy, surprising the enemy's forces by an
ambush, entirely routed them, took both the earls prisoners, and sent
one of them (Meulant) to his master; but the Count d'Evreux made his
escape.

  1126.

King Henry having now lost hope of issue by his new Queen, brought with
him, on his return to England, his daughter Maud, who by the Emperor's
death had been lately left a widow and childless; and in a Parliament or
general assembly which he had summoned at Windsor, he caused the crown
to be settled on her and her children, and made all his nobles take a
solemn oath to defend her title. This was performed by none with so much
forwardness as Stephen Earl of Boulogne, who was observed to shew a more
than ordinary zeal in the matter. This young lord was the King's nephew,
being second son of the Earl of Blois by Adela the Conqueror's daughter:
he was in high favour with the King his uncle, who had married him to
the daughter and heiress of the Earl of Boulogne, given him great
possessions in England, and made him indeed too powerful for a subject.

The King having thus fixed the succession of the crown in his daughter
by an Act of Settlement and an oath of fealty, looked about to provide
her with a second husband, and at length determined his choice in
Geoffrey Plantagenet Earl of Anjou, the son of Fulk lately deceased.

This prince, whose dominions confined on France and Normandy, was
usually courted for an ally by both Kings in their several quarrels; but
having little faith or honour, he never scrupled to change sides as
often as he saw or conceived it for his advantage. After the great
victory over the French, he closed in with King Henry, and gave his
daughter to the young prince William; yet at the same time, by the
private encouragement of Louis, he prevailed on the King of England to
be easy in the conditions of a peace. Upon the unfortunate loss of the
prince, and the troubles in Normandy thereupon, he fell again from the
King, gave his other daughter to William the son of Robert, and struck
up with France to take that prince again into protection. But dying soon
after, and leaving his son Geoffrey to succeed in that earldom, the King
was of opinion he could not anywhere bestow his daughter with more
advantage, both for the security and enlargement of his dominions, than
by giving her to this earl; by which marriage Anjou would become an
acquisition to Normandy, and this be a more equal match to so formidable
a neighbour as France. In a short time the marriage was concluded; and
this Earl Geoffrey had the honour to introduce into the royal family of
England the surname of Plantagenet, borne by so many succeeding Kings,
which began with Henry II. who was the eldest son of this marriage.

But the King of France was in great discontent at this match: he easily
foresaw the dismal consequences to himself and his successors from such
an increase of dominion united to the crown of England: he knew what
impressions might be made in future times to the shaking of his throne
by an aspiring and warlike king, if they should happen in a weak reign,
or upon any great discontents in that kingdom. Which conjectures being
highly reasonable (and since often verified by events) he cast about to
find some way of driving the King of England entirely out of France; but
having neither pretext nor stomach in the midst of a peace to begin an
open and formal quarrel, there fell out an accident which gave him
plausible occasion of pursuing his design.

Charles the Good Earl of Flanders having been lately murdered by some of
his subjects, upon private revenge, the King of France went in person to
take revenge of the assassins; which he performed with great justice and
honour. But the late earl leaving no heir of his body, and several
competitors appearing to dispute the succession, Louis rejected some
others who seemed to have a fairer title, and adjudged it to William the
son of Robert, the better to secure him to his interests upon any design
he might engage in against the King of England. Not content with this,
he assisted the Earl in person, subdued his rivals, and left him in
peaceable possession of his new dominion.

King Henry, on the other side, was very apprehensive of his nephew's
greatness, well knowing to what end it was directed; however, he seemed
not to regard it, contenting himself to give the Earl employment at home
by privately nourishing the discontents of his new subjects, and
abetting underhand another pretender: for William had so entirely lost
the hearts of his people, by his intolerable avarice and exactions, that
the principal towns in Flanders revolted from him, and invited Thierri
Earl of Alsace to be their governor. But the King of France generously
resolved to appear once more in his defence, and took his third
expedition into Flanders for that purpose. He had marched as far as
Artois, when he was suddenly recalled to defend his own dominions from
the fury of a powerful and provoked invader: for Henry King of England,
moved with indignation to see the French King in the midst of a peace so
frequently and openly supporting his most dangerous enemy, thought it
the best way to divert Louis from kindling a fire against him abroad, by
forcing him to extinguish one at home: he therefore entered into the
bowels of France, ravaging and laying waste all before him, and quickly
grew so formidable, that the French King to purchase a peace was forced
to promise never more to assist or favour the Earl of Flanders; however,
as it fell out, this article proved to be wholly needless; for the young
Earl soon after gave battle to Thierri, and put his whole army to the
rout; but pursuing his victory, he received a wound in his wrist, which,
by the unskilfulness of a surgeon, cost him his life.[24]

[Footnote 24: The lance passed through or under the ball of his thumb
into his wrist. The wound gangrening, he died within five days. [D.S.]]

This one slight inconsiderable accident did, in all probability, put a
stop to very great events; for if that young prince had survived his
victory, it is hardly to be doubted but through the justness of his
cause, the reputation of his valour, and the assistance of the King of
France, he would in a little time have recovered Normandy, and perhaps
his father's liberty, which were the two designs he had in agitation;
nor could he well have missed the crown of England after the King's
death, who was now in his decline, when he had so fair a title, and no
competitors in view but a woman and an infant.

  1129.

Upon the King's return from Normandy, a great council of the clergy was
held at London, for the punishing of priests who lived in concubinage,
which was the great grievance of the Church in those ages, and had been
condemned by several canons. This assembly thinking to take a more
effectual course against that abomination, as it was called, decreed
severe penalties upon those who should be guilty of breaking it,
entreating the King to see the law put in execution; which he very
readily undertook, but performed otherwise than was expected, eluding
the force of the law by an evasion to his own advantage: for exacting
fines of the delinquent priests, he suffered them to keep their
concubines without further disturbance. A very unaccountable step in so
wise a body for their own concernments, as the clergy of those times is
looked upon to have been; and although perhaps the fact be not worth
recording, it may serve as a lesson to all assemblies never to trust the
execution of a law in the hands of those who will find it more to their
interests to see it broken than observed.

  1132.

The Empress Maud was now happily delivered of a son, who was afterwards
King of England by the name of Henry the Second: and the King calling a
Parliament, had the oath of fealty repeated by the nobles and clergy to
her and her issue, which in the compass of three years they all broke or
forgot.

  1134.

I think it may deserve a place in this history to mention the last scene
of Duke Robert's life, who, either through the poorness or greatness of
spirit, having outlived the loss of his honour, his dominions, his
liberty, his eyesight, and his only son, was at last forced to sink
under the load of eighty years, and must be allowed for the greatest
example either of insensibility or contempt of earthly things, that ever
appeared in a sovereign or private person. He was a prince hardly
equalled by any in his time for valour, conduct, and courtesy; but his
ruin began from the easiness of his nature, which whoever knew how to
manage, were sure to be refused nothing they could ask. By such
profusion he was reduced to those unhappy expedients of remitting his
rights for a pension, of pawning his towns, and multiplying taxes, which
brought him into hatred and contempt with his subjects; neither do I
think any virtue so little commendable in a sovereign as that of
liberality, where it exceeds what his ordinary revenues can supply;
where it passes those bounds, his subjects must all be oppressed to shew
his bounty to a few flatterers, or he must sell his towns, or basely
renounce his rights, by becoming pensioner to some powerful prince in
the neighbourhood; all which we have lived to see performed by a late
monarch in our own time and country.

  1135.

Since the reduction of Normandy to the King's obedience, he found it
necessary for his affairs to spend in that duchy some part of his time
almost every year, and a little before the death of Robert he made his
last voyage there. It was observable in this prince, that having some
years past very narrowly escaped shipwreck in his passage from Normandy
into England, the sense of his danger had made very deep impressions on
his mind, which he discovered by a great reformation in his life, by
redressing several grievances, and doing many acts of piety; and to shew
the steadiness of his resolutions, he kept them to the last, making a
progress through most parts of Normandy, treating his subjects in all
places with great familiarity and kindness, granting their petitions,
easing their taxes, and, in a word, giving all possible marks of a
religious, wise, and gracious prince.

Returning to St. Denys le Ferment from his progress a little indisposed,
he there fell into a fever upon a surfeit of lamprey, which in a few
days ended his life. His body was conveyed to England, and buried at
Reading in the abbey-church himself had founded.

It is hard to affirm anything peculiar of this prince's character; those
authors who have attempted it mentioning very little but what was common
to him with thousands of other men; neither have they recorded any of
those personal circumstances or passages, which only can discover such
qualities of the mind as most distinguish one man from another. These
defects may perhaps appear in the stories of many succeeding kings;
which makes me hope I shall not be altogether blamed for sometimes
disappointing the reader in a point wherein I could wish to be the most
exact.