[Illustration: 081.jpg WILLIAM II.]
WILLIAM RUFUS.
_Contemporary Monarchs_
EMP. OF GERM. KINGS OF SCOTLAND. K. OF FRANCE. K. OF SPAIN.
Henry IV. Malcolm III 1093 Philip I. Alphonso VI.
Donald Bane, dep 1091
Duncan 1094
Donald Bane 1097
Edgar.
POPES.
Urban II. 1099
Paschal II.
{1087.} WILLIAM, surnamed Rufus, or the Red, from the color of his hair,
had no sooner procured his father’s recommendatory letter to Lanfranc,
the primate, than he hastened to take measures for securing to himself
the government of England. Sensible that a deed so unformal, and so
little prepared, which violated Robert’s right of promigeniture, might
meet with great opposition, he trusted entirely for success to his own
celerity; and having left St. Gervas while William was breathing his
last, he arrived in England before intelligence of his father’s death
had reached that kingdom.[*] Pretending orders from the king, he
secured the fortresses of Dover, Pevensey, and Hastings, whose situation
rendered them of the greatest importance; and he got possession of the
royal treasure at Winchester, amounting to the sum of sixty thousand
pounds, by which he hoped to encourage and increase his partisans,[**]
The primate, whose rank and reputation in the kingdom gave him great
authority, had been intrusted with the care of his education, and had
conferred on him the honor of knighthood;[***] and being connected with
him by these ties, and probably deeming his pretensions just, declared
that he would pay a willing obedience to the last will of the Conqueror,
his friend and benefactor. Having assembled some bishops and some of the
principal nobility, he instantly proceeded to the ceremony of crowning
the new king;[****] and by this despatch endeavored to prevent all
faction and resistance. At the same time, Robert, who had been already
acknowledged successor to Normandy, took peaceable possession of that
duchy.
[* W. Malms, p. 120. M. Paris, p. 10.]
[** Chron. Sax. p. 192. Brompton, p. 983.]
[*** W. Malms, p. 120. M. Paris, p. 10. Thorn.
Rudborne, p. 263]
[**** Hoveden, p. 461.]
But though this partition appeared to have been made without any
violence or opposition, there remained in England many causes
of discontent, which seemed to menace that kingdom with a sudden
revolution. The barons, who generally possessed large estates both
in England and in Normandy, were uneasy at the separation of those
territories; and foresaw that, as it would be impossible for them to
preserve long their allegiance to two masters, they must necessarily
resign either their ancient patrimony or their new acquisitions.[*]
[* Order. Vitalis, p. 666.]
Robert’s title to the duchy they esteemed incontestable; his claim to
the kingdom plausible; and they all desired that this prince, who alone
had any pretensions to unite these states, should be put in possession
of both. A comparison also of the personal qualities of the two brothers
led them to give the preference to the elder. The duke was brave, open,
sincere, generous: even his predominant faults, his extreme indolence
and facility, were not disagreeable to those haughty barons, who
affected independence, and submitted with reluctance to a vigorous
administration in their sovereign. The king, though equally brave, was
violent, haughty, tyrannical; and seemed disposed to govern more by
the fear than by the love of his subjects. Odo, bishop of Baieux, and
Robert, earl of Mortaigne, maternal brothers of the Conqueror, envying
the great credit of Lanfranc, which was increased by his late services
enforced all these motives with their partisans, and engaged them in a
formal conspiracy to dethrone the king. They communicated their design
to Eustace, count of Boulogne Roger, earl of Shrewsbury and Arundel,
Robert de Belesme, his eldest son, William, bishop of Durham, Robert de
Moubray, Roger Bigod, Hugh de Grentmesnil; and they easily procured the
assent of these potent noblemen. The conspirators, retiring to their
castles, hastened to put themselves in a military posture; and expecting
to be soon supported by a powerful army from Normandy, they had already
begun hostilities in many places.
The king, sensible of his perilous situation, endeavored to engage the
affections of the native English, As that people were now so thoroughly
subdued that they no longer aspired to the recovery of their ancient
liberties, and were content with the prospect of some mitigation in ihe
tyranny of the Norman princes, they zealously embraced William’s cause,
upon receiving general promises of good treatment, and of enjoying
the license of hunting in the royal forests. The king was soon in a
situation to take the field; and as he knew the danger of delay, he
suddenly marched into Kent, where his uncles had already seized the
fortresses of Pevensey and Rochester. These places he successively
reduced by famine; and though he was prevailed on by the earl of
Chester, William de Warrenne, and Robert Fitz-Hammon, who had embraced
his cause, to spare the lives of the rebels, he confiscated all their
estates, and banished them the kingdom.[*] This success gave authority
to his negotiations with Roger, earl of Shewsbury, whom he detached
from the confederates; and as his powerful fleet, joined to the indolent
conduct of Robert, prevented the arrival of the Norman succors, all the
other rebels found no resource but in flight or submission. Some of them
received a pardon; but the greater part were attainted; and the king
bestowed their estates on the Norman barons who had remained faithful to
him.
[* Chron. Sax. p. 195. Order. Vitalis, p. 668.]
{1089.} William, freed from the danger of these insurrections, took
little care of fulfilling his promises to the English, who still found
themselves exposed to the same oppressions which they had undergone
during the reign of the Conqueror, and which were rather augmented
by the violent, impetuous temper of the present monarch. The death of
Lanfranc, who retained great influence over him, gave soon after a full
career to his tyranny; and all orders of men found reason to complain
of an arbitrary and illegal administration. Even the privileges of the
church, held sacred in those days, were a feeble rampart against his
usurpations. He seized the temporalities of all the vacant bishoprics
and abbeys; he delayed the appointing of successors to those dignities,
that he might the longer enjoy the profits of their revenue; he bestowed
some of the church lands in property on his captains and favorites;
and he openly set to sale such sees and abbeys as he thought proper to
dispose of. Though the murmurs of the ecclesiastics, which were quickly
propagated to the nation, rose high against this grievance, the terror
of William’s authority, confirmed by the suppression of the late
insurrections, retained everyone in subjection, and preserved general
tranquillity in England.
{1090.} The king, even thought himself enabled to disturb his brother
in the possession of Normandy. The loose and negligent administration
of that prince had imboldened the Norman barons to affect a great
independency; and their mutual quarrels and devastations had rendered
that whole territory a scene of violence and outrage. Two of them,
Walter and Odo, were bribed by William to deliver the fortresses of
St. Valori and Albemarle into his hands: others soon after imitated
the example of revolt, while Philip, king of France, who ought to have
protected his vassal in the possession of his fief, was, after making
some efforts in his favor, engaged by large presents to remain neuter.
The duke had also reason to apprehend danger from the intrigues of his
brother Henry.
This young prince, who had inherited nothing of his father’s great
possessions but some of his money, has furnished Robert, while he was
making his preparations against England, with ihe sum of three thousand
marks; and in return for so slender a supply, had been put in possession
of the Cotentin, which comprehended near a third of the duchy of
Normandy. Robert afterwards, upon some suspicion, threw him into prison;
but finding himself exposed to invasion from the king of England, ind
dreading the conjunction of the two brothers against him, he now gave
Henry his liberty, and even made use of his assistance in suppressing
the insurrections of his rebellious subjects. Conan, a rich burgess of
Rouen, had entered into a conspiracy to deliver that city to William;
but Henry, on the detection of his guilt, carried the traitor up to a
high tower and with his own hands flung him from the battlements.
The king appeared in Normandy at the head of an army and affairs seemed
to have come to extremity between the brothers, when the nobility on
both sides, strongly connected by interest and alliances, interposed,
and meditated an accommodation. The chief advantage of this treaty
accrued to William, who obtained possession of the territory of Eu, the
towns of Aumule, Fescamp, and other places; but in return he promised,
that he would assist his brother in subduing Maine, which had rebelled;
and that the Norman barons, attainted in Robert’s cause, should be
restored to their estates in England. The two brothers also stipulated,
that, on the demise of either without issue, the survivor should inherit
all his dominions; and twelve of the most powerful barons on each
side swore that they would employ their power to insure the effectual
execution of the whole treaty,[*] a strong proof of the great
independence and authority of the nobles in those ages.
[* Chron. Sax. p. 197. W. Malms, p. 121. Hoveden,
p. 462. M Paris, p. 11. Annul. Waverl. p. 137. W. Heming. p.
463. Sum Dunelm. p. 216. Brompton, p. 986.]
Prince Henry, disgusted that so little care had been taken of his
interests in this accommodation, retired to St. Michael’s Mount, a
strong fortress on the coast of Normandy, and infested the neighborhood
with his incursions. Robert and William, with their joint forces,
besieged him in this place, and had nearly reduced him by the scarcity
of water, when the elder, hearing of his distress, granted him
permission to supply himself, and also sent him some pipes of wine for
his own table. Being reproved by William for this ill-timed generosity,
he replied, “What, shall I suffer my brother to die of thirst? Where
shall we find another when he is gone?” The king also, during this
siege, performed an act of generosity which was less suitable to his
character. Riding out one day alone, to take a survey of the fortress,
he was attacked by two soldiers, and dismounted. One of them drew his
sword in order to despatch him, when the king exclaimed, “Hold, knave! I
am the king of England.” The soldier suspended his blow and, raising the
king from the ground with expressions of respect, received a handsome
reward, and was taken into his service. Prince Henry was soon after
obliged to capitulate; and being despoiled of all his patrimony,
wandered about for some time with very few attendants, and often in
great poverty.
{1091.} The continued intestine discord among the barons was alone in
that age destructive; the public wars were commonly short and feeble,
produced little bloodshed, and were attended with no memorable event.
To this Norman war, which was so soon concluded, there succeeded
hostilities with Scotland, which were not of longer duration. Robert
here Commanded his brother’s army, and obliged Malcolm to accept of
peace, and do homage to the crown of England. This peace was not more
durable. {1093.} Malcolm, two years after, levying an army, invaded
England; and after ravaging, Northumberland, he laid siege to Alnwick,
where, a party of Earl Moubray’s troops falling upon him by surprise,
a sharp action ensued in which Malcolm was slain. This incident
interrupted for some years the regular succession to the Scottish crown,
Though Malcolm left legitimate sons, his brother Donald, on account of
the youth of these princes, was advanced to the throne; but kept
not long possession of it. Duncan, natural son of Malcolm, formed a
conspiracy against him; and being assisted by William with a small
force, made himself master of the kingdom. New broils ensued with
Normandy. The frank, open, remiss temper of Robert was ill fitted to
withstand the interested, rapacious character of William, who, supported
by greater power, was still encroaching on his brother’s possessions,
and instigating his turbulent barons to rebellion against him. The king,
having gone over to Normandy to support his partisans, ordered an army
of twenty thousand men to be levied in England, and to be conducted to
the sea-coast, as if they were instantly to be embarked. {1094.} Here
Ralph Flambard, the king’s minister, and the chief instrument of his
extortions, exacted ten shillings apiece from them, in lieu of their
service, and then dismissed them into their several counties. This money
was so skilfully employed by William that it rendered him better service
than he could have expected from the army. He engaged the French king
by new presents to depart from the protection of Robert; and he daily
bribed the Norman barons to desert his service; but was prevented from
pushing his advantages by an incursion of the Welsh, which obliged him
to return to England, tie found no difficulty in repelling the enemy;
but was not able to make any considerable impression on a country
guarded by its mountainous situation. A conspiracy of his own barons
which was detected at this time, appeared a more serious concern,
and engrossed all his attention. {1095.} Robert Moubray, earl of
Northumberland, was at the head of this combination; and he engaged in
it the count d’Eu, Richard de Tunbridge, Roger de Lacy, and many others.
The purpose of the conspirators was to dethrone the king, and to
advance in his stead Stephen, count of Aumale, nephew to the Conqueror.
William’s despatch prevented the design from taking effect, and
disconcerted the conspirators. Moubray made some resistance; but being
taken prisoner, was attainted and thrown into confinement, where he died
about thirty years after. {1096.} The count d’Eu denied his concurrence
in the plot, and to justify himself, fought, in the presence of the
court at Windsor, a duel with Geoffrey Bainard, who accused him. But
being worsted in the combat, he was condemned to be castrated, and
to have his eyes put out. William de Alderi, another conspirator, was
supposed to be treated with more rigor when he was sentenced to be
hanged.
But the noise of these petty wars and commotions was quite sunk in the
tumult of the crusades, which now engrossed the attention of Europe, and
have ever since engaged the curiosity of mankind, as the most signal and
most durable monument of human folly that has yet appeared in any age or
nation. After Mahomet had, by means of his pretended revelations, united
the dispersed Arabians under one head, they issued forth from their
deserts in great multitudes; and being animated with zeal for their new
religion, and supported by the vigor of their new government, they made
deep impression on the eastern empire, which was far in the decline with
regard both to military discipline and to civil policy. Jerusalem,
by its situation, became one of their most early conquests; and the
Christians had the mortification to see the holy sepulchre, and the
other places consecrated by the presence of their religious founder,
fallen into the possession of infidels. But the Arabians or Saracens
were so employed in military enterprises, by which they spread their
empire, in a few years, from the banks of the Ganges to the Straits of
Gibraltar, that they had no leisure for theological controversy; and
though the Alcoran, the original monument of their faith, seems to
contain some violent precepts, they were much less infected with the
spirit of bigotry and persecution than the indolent and speculative
Greeks, who were continually refining on the several articles of their
religious system. They gave little disturbance to those zealous pilgrims
who daily flocked to Jerusalem; and they allowed every man, after
paying a moderate tribute, to visit the holy sepulchre, to perform his
religious duties, and so return in peace. But the Turcomans or Turks,
a tribe of Tartars, who had embraced Mahometanism, having wrested Syria
from the Saracens, and having in the year 1065 made themselves masters
of Jerusalem, rendered the pilgrimage much more difficult and dangerous
to the Christians. The barbarity of their manners, and the confusions
attending their unsettled government, exposed the pilgrims to many
insults, robberies, and extortions; and these zealots, returning from
their meritorious fatigues and sufferings, filled all Christendom with
indignation against the infidels, who profaned the holy city by their
presence, and derided the sacred mysteries in the very place of
their completion. Gregory VII., among the other vast ideas which he
entertained, had formed the design of uniting all the western Christians
against the Mahometans; but the egregious and violent invasions of that
pontiff on the civil power of princes had created him so many enemies,
and had rendered his schemes so suspicious, that he was not able to make
great progress in this undertaking. The work was reserved for a meaner
instrument, whose low condition ir life exposed aim to no jealousy,
and whose folly was well calculated to coincide with the prevailing
principles of the times.
Peter, commonly called the Hermit, a native of Amiens, in Picardy, had
made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Being deeply affected with the dangers
to which that act of piety now exposed the pilgrims, as well as with the
instances of oppression under which the eastern Christians labored, he
entertained the bold, and, in all appearance, impracticable project of
leading into Asia, from the farthest extremities of the west, armies
sufficient to subdue those potent and warlike nations which now held
the holy city in subjection.[*] He proposed his views to Martin II., who
filled the papal chair, and who, though sensible of the advantages which
the head of the Christian religion must reap from a religious war, and
though he esteemed the blind zeal of Peter a proper means for effecting
the purpose,[**] resolved not to interpose his authority till he saw
a greater probability of success. He summoned a council at Placentia,
which consisted of four thousand ecclesiastics and thirty thousand
seculars; and which was so numerous that no hall could contain the
multitude, and it was necessary to hold the assembly in a plain.
[* Gul. Tyrius, lib. i. cap. 11 M. Paria, p, 17.]
[** Gul. Trrius, lib. i. cap. 13.]
The harangues of the pope, and of Peter himself, representing the dismal
situation of their brethren in the East, and the indignity suffered by
the Christian name, in allowing the holy city to remain in the hands of
infidels, here found the minds of men so well prepared, that the whole
multitude suddenly and violently declared for the war, and solemnly
devoted themselves to perform this service, so meritorious, as they
believed it, to God and religion.
But though Italy seemed thus to have zealously embraced the enterprise,
Martin knew that, in order to insure success, it was necessary to enlist
the greater and more warlike nations in the same engagement; and having
previously exhorted Peter to visit the chief cities and sovereigns of
Christendom, he summoned another council at Clermont, in Auvergne.[*]
The fame of this great and pious design being now universally diffused,
procured the attendance of the greatest prelates, nobles, and princes;
and when the pope and the hermit renewed their pathetic exhortations,
the whole assembly, as if impelled by an immediate inspiration, not
moved by their preceeding impressions, exclaimed with one voice, “It is
the will of God, It is the will of God”--words deemed so memorable and
so much the result of a divine influence, that they were employed as
the signal of rendezvous and battle in all the future exploits of those
adventurers.[**] Men of all ranks flew to arms with the utmost ardor;
and an exterior symbol too--a circumstance of chief moment,--was here
chosen by the devoted combatants. The sign of the cross, which had been
hitherto so much revered among Christians, and which, the more it was
an object of reproach among the pagan world, was the more passionately
cherished by them, became the badge of union, and was affixed to
their right shoulder by all who enlisted themselves in this sacred
warfare.[***]
Europe was at this time sunk into profound ignorance and superstition.
The ecclesiastics had acquired the greatest ascendant over the human
mind; the people, who, being little restrained by honor, and less by
law, abandoned themselves to the worst crimes and disorders, knew of no
other expiation than the observances imposed on them by their spiritual
pastors; and it was easy to represent the holy war as an equivalent for
all penances,[****] and an atonement for every violation of justice and
humanity.
[* Concil. torn. x. Concil. Clarom. M. Paris, p.
16. M. West, p. 233.]
[** Historia Bell. Sacri, torn. i. Musaei Ital.]
[*** Hist. Bell Sacri, tom. i. Mua. Ital. Order.
Vitalis, p. 721.]
[**** Order. Vitalis, p. 720.]
But amidst the abject superstition which now prevailed, the military
spirit also had universally diffused itself; and though not supported
by art or discipline, was become the general passion of the nations
governed by the feudal law. All the great lords possessed the right
of peace and war: they were engaged in perpetual hostilities with each
other: the open country was become a scene of outrage and disorder: the
cities, still mean and poor, were neither guarded by walls nor protected
by privileges, and were exposed to every insult: individuals were
obliged to depend for safety on their own force, or their private
alliances; and valor was the only excellence which was held in esteem,
or gave one man the preeminence above another. When all the particular
superstitions, therefore, were here united in one great object, the
ardor for military enterprises took the same direction; and Europe,
impelled by its two ruling passions, was loosened, as it were, from its
foundations, and seemed to precipitate itself in one united body upon
the East.
All orders of men, deeming the crusades the only road to heaven,
enlisted themselves under these sacred banners, and were impatient
to open the way with their sword to the holy city. Nobles, artisans,
peasants, even priests,[*] enrolled their names; and to decline this
meritorious service was branded with the reproach of impiety, or,
what perhaps was esteemed still more disgraceful, of cowardice and
pusillanimity.[**] The infirm and aged contributed to the expedition by
presents and money; and many of them, not satisfied with the merit of
this atonement, attended it in person, and were determined, if possible,
to breathe their last in sight of that city where their Savior had died
for them. Women themselves, concealing their sex under the disguise of
armor, attended the camp; and commonly forgot still more the duty of
their sex, by prostituting themselves without reserve to the army.[***]
The greatest criminals were forward in a service which they regarded
as a propitiation for all crimes; and the most enormous disorders were,
during the course of those expeditions, committed by men inured to
wickedness, encouraged by example, and impelled by necessity. The
multitude of the adventurers soon became so great, that their more
sagacious leaders, Hugh, count of Vermandois, brother to the French
king, Raymond, count of Toulouse, Godfrey of Bouillon, prince of
Brabant, and Stephen, count of Blois,[****] became apprehensive lest the
greatness itself of the armament should disappoint its purpose; and they
permitted an undisciplined multitude, computed at three hundred thousand
men, to go before them, under the command of Peter the Hermit, and
Walter the Moneyless.[*****]
[* Order. Vitalis, p. 720.]
[** W. Malms, p. 133,]
[*** Vertot, Hist. de Chev. de Malte, vol. i. p.
46.]
[**** Sim. Dunelm. p. 222]
[***** M. Paris, p. 17.]
These men took the road towards Constantinople, through Hungary and
Bulgaria; and trusting that Heaven, by supernatural assistance, would
supply all their necessities, they made no provision for subsistence
on their march. They soon found themselves obliged to obtain by plunder
what they had vainly expected from miracles; and the enraged inhabitants
of the countries through which they passed, gathering together in arms,
attacked the disorderly multitude, and put them to slaughter without
resistance. The more disciplined armies followed after; and passing the
straits at Constantinople, they were mustered in the plains of Asia,
and amounted in the whole to the number of seven hundred thousand
combatants.[*]
Amidst this universal frenzy, which spread itself by contagion
throughout Europe, especially in France and Germany, men were not
entirely forgetful of their present interests; and both those who went
on this expedition, and those who stain behind, entertained schemes of
gratifying by its means their avarice or their ambition. The nobles who
enlisted themselves were moved, from the romantic spirit of the age, to
hope for opulent establishments in the East, the chief seat of arts and
commerce during those ages; and in pursuit of these chimerical projects,
they sold at the lowest price their ancient castles and inheritances,
which had now lost all value in their eyes. The greater princes, who
remained at home, besides establishing peace in their dominions by
giving occupation abroad to the inquietude and martial disposition of
their subjects, took the opportunity of annexing to their crown many
considerable fiefs, either by purchase or by the extinction of heirs.
The pope frequently turned the zeal of the crusaders from the infidels
against his own enemies, whom he represented as equally criminal with
the enemies of Christ. The convents and other religious societies bought
the possessions of the adventurers; and as the contributions of the
faithful were commonly intrusted to their management, they often
diverted to this purpose what was intended to be employed against the
infidels.[**] But no one was a more immediate gainer by this epidemic
fury than the king of England, who kept aloof from all connections with
those fanatical and romantic warriors.
[* M. Paris, p. 20, 21.]
[** Padre Paolo, Hist. delle Benef. Eccles. p.
128]
Robert, duke of Normandy, impelled by the bravery and mistaken
generosity of his spirit, had early enlisted himself in the crusade;
but being always unprovided with money, he found that it would be
impracticable for him to appear in a manner suitable to his rank
and station, at the head of his numerous vassals and subjects, who,
transported with the general rage, were determined to follow him into
Asia. He resolved, therefore, to mortgage, or rather to sell, his
dominions, which he had not talents to govern; and he offered them to
his brother William for the very unequal sum of ten thousand marks.[*]
The bargain was soon concluded: the king raised the money by violent
extortions on his subjects of all ranks, even on the convents, who were
obliged to melt their plate in order to furnish the quota demanded of
them[**] he was put in possession of Normandy and Maine; and Robert,
providing himself with a magnificent train, set out for the Holy Land,
in pursuit of glory, and in full confidence of securing his eternal
salvation.
The smallness of this sum, with the difficulties which William found
in raising it, suffices alone to refute the account which is heedlessly
adopted by historians, of the enormous revenue of the Conqueror. Is it
credible that Robert would consign to the rapacious hands of his brother
such considerable dominions, for a sum which, according to that account,
made not a week’s income of his father’s English revenue alone? or
that the king of England could not on demand, without oppressing his
subjects, have been able to pay him the money? The Conqueror, it is
agreed, was frugal as well as rapacious, yet his treasure at his death
exceeded not sixty thousand pounds, which hardly amounted to his income
for two months; another certain refutation of that exaggerated account.
The fury of the crusades during this age less infected England than the
neighboring kingdoms; probably because the Norman conquerors, finding
their settlement in that kingdom still somewhat precarious, durst
not abandon their homes in quest of distant adventures. The selfish,
interested spirit also of the king, which kept him from kindling in the
general flame, checked its progress among his subjects; and as he is
accused of open profaneness,[***] and was endued with a sharp wit,[****]
it is likely that he made the romantic chivalry of the crusaders the
object of his perpetual raillery.
[* W. Malms, p. 123. Chron. T. Wykes, p. 24.
Annal. Waverl p. 139. W. Heming. p. 467. Flor. Wigorn. p.
648. Sim. Dunelm, p. 222. Knyghton, p. 2364.]
[** Eadmer,p. 35. W. Malms, p. 123. W. Heming. p.
467.]
[*** Gul. Newbr. p. 358. Gul. Gemet. p. 292.]
[**** W. Malms, p. 122].
As an instance of his religion, we are told that he once accepted of
sixty marks from a Jew, whose son had been converted to Christianity,
and who engaged him by that present to assist him in bringing back the
youth to Judaism. William employed both menaces and persuasion for that
purpose; but finding the convert obstinate in his new faith, he sent for
the father, and told him that as he had not succeeded, it was not just
that he should keep the present; but as he had done his utmost, it
was but equitable that he should be paid for his pains; and he would
therefore retain only thirty marks of the money.[*] At another time,
it is said, he sent for some learned Christian theologians and some
rabbies, and bade them fairly dispute the question of their religion in
his presence. He was perfectly indifferent between them; had his ears
open to reason and conviction; and would embrace that doctrine
which, upon comparison, should be found supported by the most solid
arguments.[**] If this story be true, it is probable that he meant only
to amuse himself by turning both into ridicule; but we must be cautious
of admitting every thing related by the monkish historians to the
disadvantage of this prince. He had the misfortune to be engaged in
quarrels with the ecclesiastics, particularly with Anselm, commonly
called St. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury; and it is no wonder his
memory should be blackened by the historians of that order.
After the death of Lanfranc, the king for several years retained in
his own hands the revenues of Canterbury, as he did those of many other
vacant bishoprics: but falling into a dangerous sickness, he was seized
with remorse; and the clergy represented to him, that he was in danger
of eternal perdition, if before his death he did not make atonement
for those multiplied impieties and sacrileges of which he had been
guilty.[***] He resolved, therefore, to supply instantly the vacancy of
Canterbury; and for that purpose he sent for Anselm, a Piedmontese
by birth, abbot of Bee, in Normandy, who was much celebrated for his
learning and piety. The abbot earnestly refused the dignity, fell on
his knees, wept, and entreated the king to change his purpose,[****] and
when he found the prince obstinate in forcing the pastoral staff upon
him, he kept his fist so fast clinched, that it required the utmost
violence of the bystanders to open it, and force him to receive that
ensign of spiritual dignity.[*****]
[* Eadmer, p. 47.]
[** W. Malms, p. 123.]
[*** Eadmer, p. 16. Chron. Sax. p. 198,]
[**** Eadmer, p. 17. Diceto, p. 494.]
[***** Eadmer, p. 18.]
William soon after recovered; and his passions regaining their wonted
vigor, he returned to his former violence and rapine. He detained in
prison several persons whom he had ordered to be freed during the time
of his penitence; he still preyed upon the ecclesiastical benefices;
the sale of spiritual dignities continued as open as ever; and he kept
possession of a considerable part of the revenues belonging to the see
of Canterbury.[**] But he found in Anselm that persevering opposition
which he had reason to expect from the ostentatious humility which that
prelate had displayed in refusing his promotion.
The opposition made by Anselm was the more dangerous on account of the
character of piety which he soon acquired in England by his great zeal
against all abuses, particularly those in dress and ornament. There was
a mode which, in that age, prevailed throughout Europe, both among men
and women, to give an enormous length to their shoes, to draw the toe to
a sharp point, and to affix to it the figure of a bird’s bill, or some
such ornament, which was turned upwards, and which was often sustained
by gold or silver chains tied to the knee.[***] The ecclesiastics took
exception at this ornament, which, they said, was an attempt to bely
the Scripture, where it is affirmed, that no man can add a cubit to
his stature; and they declaimed against it with great vehemence, nay,
assembled some synods, who absolutely condemned it. But--such are the
strange contradictions in human nature--though the clergy, at that time,
could overturn thrones, and had authority sufficient to send above a
million of men on their errand to the deserts of Asia, they could never
prevail against these long-pointed shoes: on the contrary, that caprice,
contrary to all other modes, maintained its ground during several
centuries; and if the clergy had not at last desisted from their
persecution of it, it might still have been the prevailing fashion in
Europe.
[** Eadmer, p. 19, 43. Chron. Sax. p. 199.]
[*** Order. Vitalis, p. 082. W. Malms, p. 123.
Knyghton, p. 2369]
But Anselm was more fortunate in decrying the particular mode which was
the object of his aversion, and which probably had not taken such fast
hold of the affections of the people. He preached zealously against
the long hair and curled locks which were then fashionable among the
courtiers; he refused the ashes on Ash-Wednesday to those who were
so accoutred; and his authority and eloquence had such influence, that
the young men universally abandoned that ornament, and appeared in
the cropped hair which was recommended to them by the sermons of the
primate. The noted historian of Anselm, who was also his companion and
secretary, celebrates highly this effort of his zeal and piety.[*]
When William’s profaneness therefore returned to him with his health, he
was soon engaged in controversies with this austere prelate. There was
at that time a schism in the church between Urban and Clement, who
both pretended to the papacy;[**] and Anselm, who, as abbot of Bee,
had already acknowledged the former, 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
recognizing any pope whom he had not previously received, was enraged at
this attempt, and summoned a synod at Buckingham, with an intention of
deposing Anselm; but the prelate’s suffragans declared, that, without
the papal authority, they knew of no expedient for inflicting that
punishment on their primate.[****] The king was at last engaged by other
motives to give the preference to Urban’s title; Anselm received the
pall from that pontiff; and matters seemed to be accommodated between
the king and the primate,[*****] when the quarrel broke out afresh from
a new cause. William had undertaken an expedition against Wales, and
required the archbishop to furnish his quota of soldiers for that
service, but Anselm, who regarded the demand as an oppression on the
church, and yet durst not refuse compliance, sent them so miserably
accoutred, that the king was extremely displeased, and threatened
him with a prosecution.[******] Anselm, on the other hand, demanded
positively that all the revenues of his see should be restored to him;
appealed to Borne against the king’s injustice;[*******] and affairs
came to such extremities, that the primate, finding it dangerous to
remain in the kingdom, desired and obtained the king’s permission to
retire beyond sea. All his temporalities were seized;[********] but he
was received with great respect by Urban, who considered him as a martyr
in the cause of religion, and even menaced the king, on account of his
proceedings against the primate and the church with the sentence of
excommunication.
[* Eadmer, p. 23.]
[** Hoveden, p. 463]
[*** Eadmer, p. 25. M. Paris, p. 13. Diceto, p.
494. Spei Concil vol. ii. p. 16.]
[**** Eadmer, p. 30]
[***** Diceto, p 495.]
[****** Eadmer, p. 37, 43.]
[******* Eadmer, p. 40.]
[******** M. Paris, p. 13. Parker, p. 178.]
Anselm assisted at the council of Bari, where, besides fixing the
controversy between the Greek and Latin churches concerning the
procession of the Holy Ghost,[*] the right of election to church
preferments was declared to belong to the clergy alone, and spiritual
censures were denounced against all ecclesiastics who did homage to
laymen for their sees or benefices, and against all laymen who exacted
it.[**] The rite of homage, by the feudal customs, was, that the vassal
should throw himself on his knees, should put his joined hands between
those of his superior, and should in that posture swear fealty to
him.[***] But the council declared & execrable that pure hands,
which could create God, and could offer him up as a sacrifice for the
salvation of mankind, should be put, after this humiliating manner,
between profane hands, which, besides being inured to rapine and
bloodshed, were employed day and night in impure purposes and obscene
contacts.[****] Such were the reasonings prevalent in that age;
reasonings which, though they cannot be passed over in silence, without
omitting the most curious and perhaps not the least instructive part
of history, can scarcely be delivered with the requisite decency and
gravity.
[* Eadmer, p. 49. M. Paris, p. 13. Sim. Dunelm,p.
224.]
[** M. Paris, p. 14.]
[*** Spelman. Du Cange, in verbo Hominium.]
[**** W. Hemmg. p. 467. Flor. Wigorn. p. 649. Sim.
Dunelm p. 524. Brompton, p. 994.]
{1097.} The cession of Normandy and Maine by Duke Robert increased the
king’s territories; but brought him no great increase of power, because
of the unsettled state of those countries the mutinous disposition of
the barons, and the vicinity of the French king, who supported them in
all their insurrections. Even Helie, lord of La Fleche, a small town
in Anjou, was able to give him inquietude; and this great monarch
was obliged to make several expeditions abroad, without being able
to prevail over so petty a baron, who had acquired the confidence and
affections of the inhabitants of Maine. He was, however, so fortunate as
at last to take him prisoner in a rencounter, but having released him,
at the intercession of the French king and the count of Anjou, he found
the province of Maine still exposed to his intrigues and incursions.
Helie, being introduced by the citizens into the town of Mans, besieged
the garrison in the citadel, {1099.} William, who was hunting in the
new forest when he received intelligence of this hostile attempt, was
so provoked, that he immediately turned his horse, and galloped to the
sea-shore at Dartmouth, declaring that he would not stop a moment till
he had taken, vengeance for the offence. He found the weather so cloudy
and tempestuous, that the mariners thought it dangerous to put to sea:
but the king hurried on board, and ordered them to set sail instantly;
telling them that they never yet heard of a king that was drowned.[*]
By this vigor and celerity he delivered the citadel of Mans from its
present danger, and pursuing Helie into his own territories, he laid
siege to Majol, a small castle in those parts: {1100.} but a wound which
he received before this place, obliged him to raise the siege; and he
returned to England.
The weakness of the greatest monarchs during this age, in their
military expeditions against their nearest neighbors, appears the more
surprising, when we consider the prodigious numbers, which even petty
princes, seconding the enthusiastic rage of the people, were able
to assemble, and to conduct in dangerous enterprises to the remote
provinces of Asia. William earl of Poitiers and duke of Guienne,
inflamed with the glory and not discouraged by the misfortunes, which
had attended the former adventurers in the crusades, had put himself at
the head of an immense multitude, computed by some historians to amount
to sixty thousand horse, and a much greater number of foot,[**] and he
purposed to lead them into the Holy Land against the infidels. He wanted
money to forward the preparations requisite for this expedition, and he
offered to mortgage all his dominions to William, without entertaining
any scruple on account of that rapacious and iniquitous hand to which he
resolved to consign them.[***]
[* W. Malms, p. 124. H. Hunting, p. 378. M. Paris,
p. 33. Ypod. Neust. p. 442.]
[** W. Malms, p. 149. The whole is said, by Order.
Vitalie (p. 789) to amount to three hundred thousand men.]
[*** W. Maims, p. 127.]
The king accepted the offer; and had prepared a fleet and an army, in
order to escort the money and take possession of the rich provinces of
Guienne and Poictou; when an accident put an end to his life, and to all
his ambitious projects. He was engaged in hunting, the sole amusement,
and indeed the chief occupation of princes in those rude times, when
society was little cultivated and the arts afforded few objects worthy
of attention. Walter Tyrrel, a French gentleman, remarkable for his
address in archery, attended him in this recreation, of which the new
forest was the scene: and as William had dismounted after a chase,
Tyrrel, impatient to show his dexterity, let fly an arrow at a stag
which suddenly started before him. The arrow, glancing from a tree,
struck the king in the breast, and instantly slew him;[*] while Tyrrel,
without informing any one of the accident, put spurs to his horse,
hastened to the sea-shore, embarked for France, and joined the crusade
in an expedition to Jerusalem; a penance which he imposed on himself for
this involuntary crime. The body of William was found in the forest
by the country people, and was buried without any pomp or ceremony at
Winchester. His courtiers were negligent in performing the last duties
to a master who was so little beloved; and every one was too much
occupied in the interesting object of fixing his successor, to attend
the funeral of a dead sovereign.
[* W. Malms, p. 126. H. Hunting, p. 378. M. Paris,
p. 87. Petr. Bles. p. 110]
The memory of this monarch is transmitted to us with little advantage
by the churchmen, whom he had offended; and though we may suspect in
general that their account of his vices is somewhat exaggerated, his
conduct affords little reason for contradicting the character which
they have assigned him, or for attributing to him any very estimable
qualities. He seems to have been a violent and tyrannical prince;
a perfidious, encroaching, and dangerous neighbor; an unkind and
ungenerous relation. He was equally prodigal and rapacious in the
management of his treasury; and if he possessed abilities, he lay so
much under the government of impetuous passions, that he made little
use of them in his administration; and he indulged without reserve that
domineering policy which suited his temper, and which, if supported, as
it was it him, with courage and vigor, proves often more successful in
disorderly times, than the deepest foresight and most refined artifice.
The monuments which remain of this prince in England are the Tower,
Westminster Hall, and London Bridge, which he built. The most laudable
foreign enterprise which he undertook was the sending of Edgar Atheling,
three years before his death, into Scotland, with a small army, to
restore Prince Edgar, the true heir of that kingdom, son of Malcolm,
and of Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling; and the enterprise proved
successful. It was remarked in that age, that Richard, an elder brother
of William’s, perished by an accident in the new forest; Richard, his
nephew, natural son of Duke Robert, lost his life in the same place
after the same manner; and all men, upon the king’s fate, exclaimed
that, as the Conqueror had been guilty of extreme violence in expelling
all the inhabitants of that large district to make room for his game,
the just vengeance of Heaven was signalized in the same place by the
slaughter of his posterity. William was killed in the thirteenth year of
his reign, and about the fortieth of his age. As he was never married,
he left no legitimate issue.
In the eleventh year of this reign, Magnus, king of Norway, made a
descent on the Isle of Anglesea; but was repulsed by Hugh, earl of
Shrewsbury. This is the last attempt made by the northern nations upon
England. That restless people seem about this time to have learned the
practice of tillage, which thenceforth kept them at home, and freed the
other nations of Europe from the devastations spread over them by
those piratical invaders. This proved one great cause of the subsequent
settlement and improvement of the southern nations.