CHAPTER X.

WILLIAM II.

Election of William; rebellion of Odo; character of William; Ralf Flambard; behaviour of the Royal followers (1)—Norman affairs; Scottish affairs (2)-Flambard's financial expedients; Anselm made Primate (3)—the first Crusade; Normandy mortgaged (4)—death of William (5)--building of Westminster Ħall (6). 1. William II., surnamed Rufus, or the Red, 1087-1100.The Conqueror's wish was fulfilled, his son William being elected and crowned king, Sept. 26th. But Odo of Bayeux worked upon the barons by contrasting the easy-tempered Robert with the fierce William, and raised a strong party in the Duke's favour. William thereupon made an appeal to the English, promising them the best laws they ever had, liberty of hunting on their own lands, and freedom from unjust taxes. The English answered with hearty support, and soon quelled the rebellion. In 1089, Lanfranc died, and with him all hope of good government. Rufus, as he was called from his ruddy complexion, inherited his father's valour, but no other of his virtues. He gave himself up to gross vice, was irreligious and blasphemous in speech, and surrounded himself with wicked and foolish companions, who gave scandal equally by their sins and their follies. His promise to impose no unjust taxes was not kept a year; for being utterly reckless how he spent his money, he was soon in need. As an instance of his tasteless extravagance we are told that one morning when putting on a pair of new boots, he asked his chamberlain what they had cost. "Three shillings." Rufus flew into a rage: "How long has the King worn boots at so paltry a 'price?

Go and bring me a pair worth a mark of silver." The chamberlain returned with a pair in reality cheaper than those rejected, and told him they had cost the price he had named. "Ay," said Rufus, "these are suitable to royal majesty." After this the chamberlain was sharp enough to charge the King what he pleased for his clothes. The King's chief adviser was now Ralf, a Norman priest, who got the nickname of "Flambard," or the Torch, and whom he afterwards made Bishop of Durham. This minister's ingenuity was employed in laying on grinding taxes, and otherwise raising money; the halter, it is said, was loosed from the robber's neck if he could promise any gain to the Sovereign. Wherever the King and the court went, they did as much damage as an invading army; for the royal followers lived at free quarters on the country people, and often repaid their hosts by plundering and selling their property, and, in wanton insolence, washing their own horses' legs with the liquor they did not drink.

2. Norman and Scottish affairs.-In 1090 the King attacked Robert in his Dukedom; but after a while the brothers were reconciled, and turned their joint arms against their third brother Henry, whom they drove from his stronghold on Mount St. Michael in Normandy. The King then returned to deal with an invasion of the Scots; and made a peace with their King Malcolm, who did him homage. Malcolm's second invasion in 1093 cost him his life, as he was killed before Alnwick. In the time between the two inroads the English King restored Carlisle, which had been long in ruins, built a castle there, and colonized the city with peasants from the South.

3. Archbishop Anselm.-Flambard's great device in the way of raising money was for the King to take possession of all vacant bishoprics and abbeys, and farm out their lands and revenues to the highest bidder. If he at last named a

new bishop or abbot, it was understood that the honour was to be paid for. The See of Canterbury had thus never been filled since Lanfranc's death. But in Lent, 1093, the King falling grievously sick, and being pricked in conscience, in his terror promised good government, and named to the archbishopric Anselm, an Italian by birth, and Abbot of Bec. Anselm, a man of the greatest learning and holiness, who was afterwards canonized as saint, was unwilling, and with good reason, to receive the dangerous honour; for no sooner had William got well than he fell back into worse ways than ever. The Archbishop was treated with studied harshness until, after many quarrels, he withdrew to Rome.

4. Normandy mortgaged.—Meanwhile Normandy, which the King had again striven to win by force, came quietly within his grasp. From early ages it had been the practice of Christians to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land, to pray at the sepulchre of Christ; but about this time a flame of indignation was raised throughout Europe by tales of the wrongs done by the Turks both to the native Christians of Palestine and to the pilgrims. At the call of the Pope an armed expedition termed a Crusade, of which an account will be found in the "General Sketch," set out in 1096 to rescue the Holy Sepulchre from the Mohammedans; and among those who were stirred by the prevailing enthusiasm for crusading was Robert of Normandy. To meet the expense of his undertaking, he mortgaged for 10,000 marks his dominions to his brother for five years, and set off joyously to Palestine, when William entered into possession of Normandy.

5. Death of William.-On the 2nd August, 1100, William, who was passionately fond of the chase, was hunting in the New Forest. Some vague suspicion of intended foul play was probably afloat, for evil dreams had been dreamed

by himself and others, and on this account he had been half persuaded not to ride that day; but wine kindled his courage, and exclaiming, "Am I an Englishman, who will put off a journey for an old wife's fancy?" he went forth. Soon after he was found lying pierced by the shaft of a crossbow, and in the agonies of death. Suspicion fell on one of the hunting party, Walter Tyrell, who fled for his life and got away to France. That he had accidentally shot the King became the common belief, but he always denied it; and as no one ever owned to having seen Rufus struck, the matter remains in doubt. A poor charcoal-burner alone in a cart carried the King's body to Winchester, where it was buried without any religious rite; for it was thought unseemly to bestow such upon him who had been thus cut off in the midst of unrepented sins.

6. Westminster.—Westminster Hall was first built by Rufus, whose love of architecture was one of his few better tastes; but it was afterwards cased over and otherwise altered in the time of Richard II.

CHAPTER XI.

HENRY I.

Henry I.; Charter of Liberties (1)—marriage with Edith-Matilda ; invasion of Duke Robert; Normandy won by Henry (2)Dispute between Henry and Anselm (3)—The Welsh Marches; settlement of Flemings (4)—death of the Queen; death of William; second marriage of Henry; crown settled on Matilda (5)— death of Henry; his government (6).

1. Henry I., surnamed the Clerk or Scholar, 1100-1135. Charter of Liberties.-Henry, youngest son of the

Conqueror, was one of the hunting-party when Rufus fell. As soon as he heard of his brother's death, he galloped for Winchester, and there made himself master of the royal treasures. Three days later, he was crowned at Westminster, thus forestalling his brother Robert, who was still loitering on his way home from the Crusade. To reconcile all to his accession, he put out a Charter of Liberties, in which he promised to the Church neither to retain, sell, nor farm vacant benefices; and to his vassals freedom from sundry exactions and restrictions, bidding them make the same concessions to their own vassals. To the nation at large he promised that the laws of King Edward should be put in force.

2. Normandy won.-The evil companions of Rufus were removed, and Archbishop Anselm was recalled. Further to win the people's hearts, Henry took to wife Edith, daughter of Malcolm of Scotland, and, on the side of her mother, Margaret, descended from the West-Saxon Kings. She assumed the Norman name of Matilda, and was by the people surnamed "the Good." The nobles were for the most part unfriendly to the King, and, relying on their support, Duke Robert invaded England to push his claim. The English held fast to Henry, and Anselm exerting his influence over the nobles, the dispute between the brothers was made up without bloodshed. After this, the King set himself to break the power of his barons, whom he effectually tamed for the remainder of his reign. His next object was to wrest Normandy from his brother; and by the victory of Tinchebrai in 1106 he obtained possession both of the Dukedom and of Robert, whom he kept a prisoner until his death in 1135. The Ætheling Edgar, who, having followed Robert, was among the prisoners, was allowed to live unmolested in England.

3. Archbishop Anselm.—About the same time a dispute