YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE HISTORY OF NORMANDY ENGLAND. THE HISTORY OF NORMANDY AND OP ENGLAND, BY SIE FRANCIS PALGRAVE, K.H. THE DEPUTY KEEPER OP HER MAJESTY'S PUBLIC RECORDS. VOLUME IV. WILLIAM KUFUS— ACCESSION OF HENRY BEAUOLERC. Narratione autem historica (ait Augustinus) cum pneteri ta etiam hominum instituta rtarrantur, non inter humana instituta ipsa historia numeranda est; quia jam quae transierunt, nee infecta fieri possunt, in ordine tem- porum habenda sunt, quorum est conditor et administrator Deus. LONDON : MACMILLAN & Co., 16, BEDFOED STKEET, COVENT GAKDEN. M.DCCC.LXIV. I £*>T [The right of Translation and Reproduction is reserved.-] LONDON : PMNTED BY GEOR&E PHIPPS, 1S&14, TOTHIIi STREET, WESTMINSTER. CONTENTS. BOOK IY. THE CONQUERORS SONS. Chapter I. THE EVENTS CONSEQUENT UPON THE ACCESSION OF EUFUS IN ENG LAND, AND OF ROBERT IN NORMANDY. 1087—1088. A.D. PAGB 1087-8 Tomb of the Conqueror 1 — Praise and dispraise of William 3 — Good and evil of the Conquest 5 — The Forest laws 7 — The New Forest 9 — Titles of the sons to succeed 10 — Rufus prefers a sound claim 11 — Henry Porphyrogenitus 12 — Eudo and Odo support Rufus < 13 — Rufus in England 14 — Lanfranc's adhesion ....... 15 — Rufus is crowned 16 — His charter extant 17 — He fulfils William's bequests 18 — Conduct of the barons ....... 19 — The Mowbrays 20 — Discontent in Normandy * 21 — The bad Belesmes 22 — Insurrection of the baronage 24 — Robert takes possession of the duchy .... 25 — Odo joins him 26 — Robert urged to attack England 27 — Chiefly by Odo 28 .. — Names of the rebels . 30 h VI A.D. CONTENTS Rufus alienates St. Carileph Bygod seizes Norwich Castle Northumbria rises Mercia invaded Main struggle in Kent Robert inactive : Rufus energetic Summons the English The Nithing reproach . Rufus manages discreetly . Deals with Robert . Odo and Rufus at war English defeat the Norman fleet Rochester taken by Rufus . Treatment of the rebels Rufus gains complete success PAGE 31 32 32 33 34353637 3839 41 424445 47 Chapter II. FLAMBARD S ADMINISTRATION, AND THE SCHEME FOR THE GENERAL SECULARIZATION OF CHURCH PROPERTY. 1089—1100. 1089—1100 Lanfranc dies — His loss to the country — And to Rufus — Ralph Flambard : his rise — Obtains influence over Rufus — Clerk of the Chancery .... — Justiciar of England ..... — Increases the taxes — Makes new assessment of Danegelt — Becomes unpopular .... — Plot against his life — Popular gossip against him — Principal scheme of Rufus : to secularize ecclesiasti cal property — How to be effected — Moral aspect of Rufus' conduct — Outline of the scheme — Repression of the bishops and clergy . 4849 50 51 5455 56 57 5964 6566 70 71 73 74 CONTENTS. vn A.D. Appropriation of Church property . Seizure of the Primate's temporalities Sale of Church property . Canterbury to be suppressed Jealous rivalry of York Peculiars of Canterbury Scbism in the Papacy Favours Rufus in his Church policy Personal grounds of this . Discipline of the Western Church Attacked by the Western sovereigns Summary of wars during these contests PAGE 7576 77 79 80 818385 87909192 Chapter III. ANSELM, OP AOSTA, APPOINTED ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 1092—1093. 1092-3 Relation of biography to history .... 94 — Philosophical history unsatisfactory .... 98 — Moral elements in history 99 — Conflict of Rufus and Anselm 100 — Malmesbury and Eadmer 101 — Hugh Lupus invites Anselm 102 — He comes to England 103 — His popularity in England 104 — Is received at court 105 — Refused leave to return to Normandy . . . . 107 — Council at Gloucester 108 — Position of mediaeval Church 109 — Towards religion 1 10 — Towards rich and poor . . . * . . . 112 — The bishops petition Rufus 115 — Assisted by Anselm 116 1093 Rufus and Fitz-Hamo 117 — Rufus falls sick ........ 119 — Names Anselm archbishop ..... 120 — Makes deathbed promises 122 — Anselm: nolo episcopari 123 — Compelled to accept investiture . . . . . 124 — General jubilee 125 62 vm CONTENTS. Chapter IY. ANSELM'S TROUBLES IN HIS AECHIEPISCOPAL FUNCTIONS. 1093—1094. A.D. 1093- 4 Anselm's feelings .... Rufus : the peers .... Anselm begins his administration Obtains consent from Robert From Bee Rufus restored to health and wickedness He organizes his cabinet Remigius, of Dorchester and Lincoln Bloet appointed to the see of Lincoln . Limesey to Chester .... Villula to Bath and Wells Losinga to Thetford and Norwich His character as bishop .... Durham restored to St. Carileph He begins the cathedral Robert de Mellent .... 1094 The king's party Anselm's demands .... Rufus evades them .... Anselm holds out .... Council of Winchester .... Anselm becomes archbishop Constitutional position of our hierarchy 1093 Anselm enthroned And consecrated Canterbury and York .... Dispute between Anselm and his suffragans Rufus and Anselm quarrel again The king demands a benevolence . Anselm is inconsistent But repents PAGE 126 127 129131132 133 135136 138 139 140 142144 145 146 147 148 150 152 153 154 155 156 159 160 lfil162 163 164 166 168 CONTENTS. IX Chapter Y ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES, ENDING WITH HIS FIRST EXILE. 1094—1097. A.D. PAGE 1094 Popular character of Anglo-Norman Church fran chises 169 — Royal restraints upon them 170 — Church jurisdictions supplemented civil . . . 172 — Effects of their suspension ...... 174 — Corruptness of the period 176 — Council at Hastings 178 — Rufus forbids a Church council 179 — The bishops advise a compromise . ... 180 — Anselm applies to Rome for confirmation ... 182 — The pallium 183 1095 Rufus returns to England 184 — His forest residences 185 — Anselm and Rufus meet in Selwood .... 186 — Rufus requires him to renounce Urban . . . . 186 — Council at Rockingham 187 — Bishops again advise Anselm to submit . . . 189 — And combine against him 191 — He is impeached by St. Carileph 192 — Evades the impeachment 193 — The people support him 195 — Rufus threatens 197 — The bishops renounce Anselm 198 — The lay peers refuse 199 — Rufus attacks the bishops . . . " . . . 200 — A respite granted 202 — Disgrace of St. Carileph 203 — Rufus sends a mission to Rome 204 — A legate despatched thence ...... 206 — Who acts with Rufus 207 — Rufus acknowledges Urban 208 — Council at Windsor 209 — A reconciliation patched up 211 — Anselm receives the pallium 212 X CONTENTS. A.D. PAGB 1096-7 Is still persecuted 213 — Determines to seek redress from Rome . . . 216 — Rufus evades his request 217 — But at last orders him to leave England . . . 218 — Rufus and Anselm part finally 219 Chapter YI. THE BROTHERS WAR IN NORMANDY. 1090—1091. 1090-1 Character of Henry Beauclerc . • . . 220 — His literary position 222 — Royal patronage 223 — Mediaeval studies 224 — Henry's alleged writings 225 — His proverbial philosophy 226 — Disputes arising from William's will .... 228 — Robert and Henry 229 — Henry obtains the Cotentin 230 — Robert's misgovernment in Normandy . . . . 231 — The barons 232 — Want of documentary evidence as to this period . . 233 — Evils arising from land tenures 234 — Robert's court and family 235 — His position towards Maine 237 — Fulk, of Anjou 238 -- Robert Belesme 242 — Bishop Odo 242 — Henry in England : his cohabitation with Nesta . 244 — Belesme and Henry return 245 — Henry imprisoned at Bayeux 246 — Odo urges Robert to war 247 — Robert's chief supporters 248 — He enters Mans 250 — And takes S. Oenery t 251 — Belesme and Henry released . . . 252 — Rufus meanwhile prepares war . . . 253 — His position towards Mowbray . . . 254 — Holds council at Winchester .... 255 — And states his reasons for war with Robert . . 256 CONTENTS. XI A.D. 1091 1091 Rufus' party in Normandy - He buys King Philip away from Robert Robert tries to secure assistance Negotiates with Fulk Mans liberates itself .... Hoel and Helias .... Ugone leaves Mans to Helias Rouen conspires against Robert . Robert gains over Henry . His party attack Rouen . Success of Robert's party . Execution of Conan Pillage of Rouen .... Belesme raises fresh troubles He and Robert attack Courcy Rufus appears in the field The Normans welcome him Robert has to yield Rufus and Robert unite against Henry Blockade him in Mont S. Michel . Henry capitulates .... Rufus settles Normandy Is called off to Scotland . PAGE 257 261262 264 266 267 269271 272273274275277 278 281282 283284 285 286 288289 290 Chapter YII. ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 1057—1107. 1057 — 1107 Principles of historical reproduction . . 291 — Scottish history 293 — Pictish problem » . . . 294 — Sources of Scottish history 295 — Influence of the Conquest on Scotland . . . . 296 — Principal Scots' families foreign .... 298 — Anglicism of Scotland 299 — Inlaw 300 — False impressions on the relation of the countries . 301 — The Anglo-Saxon race 302 — Antagonism of races 303 — Political applications of the doctrine . . . 304 xn CONTENTS. A.D. 1091 1092 1093 Popular errors in Scottish history . The Scoto-Pictish monarchy Beginning of Malcolm Canmore's reign His English bias Relation of Lothian to the Gaelic land . Malcolm fixes himself at Dumferline . Malcolm and Margaret .... Her influence and character Her love of piety and splendour . Character of the Irish Gael in Scotland . Margaret's court Her innovations disliked . Antipathy of Celt and Saxon extends to religion Similarly of Teuton and Slavonian . Peculiarities of Catholic church . Of Scottish ecclesiastical system . . Celtic church The Culdees Usages of the Scoto-Pictish clergy Margaret tries to reform them . She and Malcolm break off . . . And join the English church English clergy in Scotland . English immigrants Noble families Traditions of Malcolm's government Moot Hill of Scone .... Peculiarities of Scots' law .... Margaret anglicizes her family Proud of their Saxon descent Their Saxon names Edgar Atheling flies to Malcolm Malcolm invades England .... The Justiciars repel him . Rufus retaliates on Scotland . Malcolm and Rufus meet . Terms of peace Submission to the English crown Privileges secured in return to the king of Scot's Fate of Edgar ... Rufus returns south Rufus occupies Carlisle And makes it an English settlement . Malcolm sends his daughter to England Is summoned by Rufus . CONTENTS. Xlll A.D. — Raises objections — Plans another invasion of England — But is slain at Alnwiek .... — The Piercy legend — Historical narrative of the event — Margaret dies — Donaldbane named heir by the Gael . — Invests Edinburgh castle — Malcolm's family flee — Edith and Mary — Donaldbane expels the Anglo-Normans 1094 Rufus supports Duncan as king — Questions as to his legitimacy . 1095 — 1097 Duncan expels Donaldbane — But is compelled to expel foreign soldiers — ¦ Is killed at Monachedin — Donaldbane restored — Edgar negotiates for Rufus . 1098 Conquers Donaldbane .... --- And blinds him ..... — Donaldbane the last genuine Scottish king 1098 — 1107 Edgar appointed king — Constitutes Scotland on the English model — Scotland anglicized .... — Alienation from the Gael .... — Certain results of this process — Intolerance of the Teutonic race — Ireland PAGE 357 358 359 360 361 363 363 364365 366368369370 371372 373 373374 375 375 376 376377 378379 380 381383 Chapter YIII. RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 1092—1096. 1092 — 1096 Moral aspect of mediaeval church . . . 385 — Depravity of the south 387 — The troubadour spirit 388 — Conduct of king Philip of France . . . . 389 — Bertrada 390 — Philip marries Bertrada . . . . . . 391 — She reconciles him with Fulk 393 XIV CONTENTS. A.D. — Rufus and Robert .... — Normandy insurgent . — Belesme — Henry invoked against him — Quarrel of de Breteuil and Asceline Goel (1095) Breteuil besieges Ivry — Belesme takes it ... . 1093 Robert and Rufus quarrel again 1094 Great council at Hastings — Rufus raises standard at Eu — His followers — Robert seeks aid from Philip — Rufus raises contributions — Financial measures of Flambard — Rufus has to return to England 1095 Renewal of the Odo conspiracy . — Plan of the conspirators — ¦ Mowbray's imprudence ruins the plot — He is summoned to Winchester — Makes default : proclaimed a rebel — Establishes himself in Bamborough — Rufus blockades the castle — Mowbray taken .... — Rufus victorious .... 1096 Council at Sarum .... — Punishment of the rebels . — Fate of the Mowbrays . PAGE 394 395 395 396 397399400 401 402 403 404 405407 408409 410 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419420 421 422 Chapter IX. THE COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 1095—1096. 1095—1096 Meteorological phenomena — Physical circumstances of the time 1095 Council held at Clermont — Clermont — Volcanoes of Auvergne . — Origin of the Rogation Days — The Crusades — Chivalry 424 426428 429 430 432434 435 CONTENTS. XV A.D. How realized And how idealized The " generosity of Bayard " Papal authority .... How viewed in the middle ages Urban sanctions the Crusade Urban at Clermont The Hermit : reputation of Hermits Bohemond .... PAGE 437 438441442 443445 446 447 449 Chapter X. ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 1080—1456. 1080—1456 The real objects of the Crusades — Urban's ostensible motives — Urban's address — Contemplated partition of the Greek Emp — Crusades originate the colonial system (1300 — 1330) Marino Sanuto's crusading scheme — His experiences of travel . — His commercial and political objects — Proposed blockade of Egypt — His geographical researches . — Sanuto and Pope John XXH — The plan dropped .... — Antagonism of Greek and Latin — Bohemond : origin of his name — Norman sobriquets — Bohemond's character . — Peter the Hermit — Robert Guiscard aims at Byzantium 1081 His first invasion of the Greek Empire — Bohemond acts under him 1084 Battle of Larissa 1085 Death of Guiscard 1086-8 Bohemond's advancing power — The Normans side with the Popes 1088 Raise Urban to the chair . — Bohemond plans to gain the Empire — The Normans in Sicily 450 451452453454455 456 458 460 463 465 466 467468469470 471 475477478 478 479 479480 481482483 XVI CONTENTS. — How connected with those of Normandy — Shown in the architecture of the time — And in marriages — Family connections thus formed — Relations between Italo-Normans and Flanders — Godfrey of Bouillon — Early influences on his mind .... — Effect of Carlovingian traditions — Turpin's Charlemagne — Ecclesiastical policy of the Normans — Tendency to quiet in the middle ages . — Knight-errantry a romance . . — And opposed to the real facts — Bohemond's statecraft .... — Guiscard's death a respite for the Greeks — Letter of Alexis to the Latin powers 1095 Doubtful legend of his embassy to Piacenza — The letter probably forged by Bohemond . — Similar historical forgeries .... — Peter is Bohemond's agent — The pilgrimage system — How regarded by the Church Fathers — But popular with the world .... — Fate of early pilgrimages to the east — The real animus of the Crusaders . — The Crusade was a wicked and aggressive war — Sanctioned by the " Church" .... — Sophistical pretences advanced by Urban — The "Rights of Conquest" .... — Bad conduct of Latins to Orientals . — Injury to religion from the Crusades — And to morals — And to the ecclesiastical system . — The colonial system ..... — Civilization : extinction Chapter XI. ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 1096—1100. 1096—1 100 The Crusade and the rival Popes — Urban patronizes it ... 541 542 CONTENTS. xvn A.D. 1096 1097 1098 1099 The interests of the parties engaged Godfrey The Baldwins Lorraine and Flanders .... The Hautevilles Robert Courthose His Norman followers Breton Crusaders Stephen of Blois The men of Vermandois Urban's interests .... The fighting Bishops .... German Crusaders .... Literary Crusaders .... Dispatches, poetry .... Historians of the Crusades . Ordericus Composition of the armies Pilgrims : mercenaries Criminals Finances of the Crusade Commercial activity excited . Alienations and mortgages Robert pledges Normandy to Rufus Crosses the Alps .... The Countess Matilda Robert recovers Rome for Urban Winters in Apulia ..... The Crusaders in Greece . Pillage Constantinople . Alexis reasonably suspicious Crusaders perform homage to the Emperor Crusaders before Nicaea Battle of Dorylaeum .... March through Phrygia towards Antioch Siege of Antioch Hideous conduct of the Crusaders Antioch betrayed and sacked Corruption of the Crusaders Battle of Antioch Jerusalem taken .... Abominations of the capture PAGE 543546547 549550552 554555 556 557 559 561562563 564 567 573 579581 583584 586 587 588 589 589 590 591 592 593594596597597 598 599600601 602603 603 604 XV111 CONTENTS. Chapter XII. CLOSE OF EUFUS— BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 1096—1101. A.D. PAGE 1096—1101 Last era of Rufus' reign .... 606 — Position of Henry 607 — His discreet conduct 608 — His chances 610 — Review of the successes of Rufus .... 614 — Over the Church 615 — The Scots 616 — And Cymri 617 ¦ — His wise administration of Normandy . . . 619 — Norman barons favourable to Rufus . . . . 621 — Belesme obtains the earldom of Shrewsbury . . 623 — Prominent barons in England . . ... 624 — Taxation 625 1097 Rufus and Philip 626 — Rufus demands the Beaucassin 627 — Recovers Gisors . 629 — Enters France 629 — Prepares to recover Maine 630 — Anjou : Mans ........ 631 — Helias de la Fleche 632 — Quarrels with Rufus 633 1098 Belesme stirs Rufus up 634 — Belesme's cruelties 635 — Rufus invades Maine 636 — Bad generalship of Rufus 637 — Fulk: Helias . . ¦ 638 — Mans surrendered to Rufus 639 — Rufus rejects Helias 640 — Takes precautions to secure Mans .... 641 1099 Rufus returns to England 642 — Ominous state of the country 643 — The New Forest 644 — Its superstitions 646 — Death of Richard, son of the Conqueror, there . . 647 — Helias recovers Le Mans 648 — News brought to Rufus in the Forest . . . . <$49 CONTENTS. XIX A.D. PAGE — He crosses to Normandy 650 — And retakes Mans . 651 — But flies from Mayet . 652 — And returns to England 653 — His architectural works 654 — Westminster Hall . 656 — Its effect on English law 657 658 — Rufus taxes the land 659 660 — Church affairs 661 — Cession of Poitou to Rufus proposed 662 — He projects an invasion of Ireland . 663 — And schemes to conquer Rome .... 664 (1099) Close of the flrst Crusade .... 665 — Robert's place in public opinion .... 666 — His success at Ascalon 666 667 1100 Death of King Godfrey 668 669 — Other crusading settlers 670 — Death of Stephen of Blois 671 — Robert's marriage and return .... 672 — Rufus alarmed at Robert's power 673 — Makes preparations for war .... 674 — Richard, son of Robert, shot in the New Forest . 675 — Robert approaches Normandy .... 676 677 — His hunt meets in the New Forest . . ' . < 678 — Jests between Rufus and Tyrrell .... 679 680 681 682 — Tyrrell denies the deed 683 — Henry claims the crown 683 684 — And is acknowledged king 685 686 — Purkis, the charcoal burner .... 687 — Settlement of Henry's accession .... 687 — Henry at Westminster 688 — His promises to the nation 689 — Influence of clergy over Henry 690 691 — He is required to give charters . . . • 693 XX CONTENTS. PAGE — Concessions made — Confessor's law restored — Henry crowned .... — How far accepted by the nation . — Publication of Henry's charter . — Henry's charter the source of John's — Robert enters Normandy . — Henry sacrifices Flambard . — Recalls Anselm .... 1098 — 1100 Anselm's exile . — Deputations to Anselm — He is graciously received — But Henry asserts his authority — Henry demands homage from Anselm — Embassy to Rome — Henry's plans of government — Constitutionalism — Loyalty — Henry seeks Editha in marriage — And settles Nesta elsewhere . — Opposition to marriage with Edith — Anselm's conduct — Marriage and coronation of Edith-Matilda — Her character and tastes — Her Saxon descent .... — Her supposed influence on Henry . — Political importance of the marriage — Enmity of Henry and Robert 1101 Flambard escapes from the Tower — And joins Robert — Difficulties of Henry .... — He will not change the Forest laws — Popular reports on Rufus' death — Contemporary ignorance as to the facts — His intoxication of mind . ERRATA. 24, line 27, for " Carthose," read " Courtbose." 56, line 21, for " presided by," read " presided over by.' 177, line 3, for " Anslem," read " Anselm." 229, in marginal note, for " Vetalis," read " Vitalis." 550, line 11, for " objugatious," read •• objurgations." 699, line 22, for " Lagam," read " Legem." 707, line 7, for " grandson," read " son." BOOK IV. THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. Chapter I. THE EVENTS CONSEQUENT UPON THE ACCESSION OF RUFUS IN ENGLAND, AND OF ROBERT IN NORMANDY. 1087, 1088. § 1. We have seen how William the Conqueror 1087, loss has been gathered to his fathers. Usual pagean- 1087 tries ensued : loud praises bestowed' upon the September. departed monarch by those who enjoyed his TpmioTs bounty or profited by his patronage. Poets the°con-ng abounded in court and cloister, expatiating upon queror- his merits, vying with one another in composing the epitaph, worthy to be inscribed upon the rich tomb at Caen, raised between presbytery and choir, concealing William's last conquest, his contested grave. A splendid work was this me morial, studded with gems, and covered with the plates of precious metal hammered and embossed by Ottone, the Goldsmith — Otto Aurifaber in the pages of Domesday. Many fine lordships did this cunning disciple of Saint Eloy receive from the VOL. III. B 2 THE CONQUERORS SONS. 1087 Conqueror in Essex and elsewhere, the rewards " of his craft, parcels of Earl Algar's confiscated domains. He transmitted inheritance and skill to a long descent of Knights and Sheriffs, great county men, yet following their ancestor's vo cation, money-changers, and engravers to the mint; until, through the daughters of the last Fitz-Otto, the lineage is lost in aristocracy. One vill or manor, Beauchamp-Otton, six miles from Hedingham Keep, acquired by the Goldsmith's posterity, still bears his Lombard-sounding name, conjoined to that of the high alliance which his family had formed. Amongst the competitors for the laureateship, was the northern Metropolitan, Archbishop Tho mas ; so famed for facile composition and ready The con- flow ; and he obtained the distinction of com- queror's ... . . epitaph by memorating, as it was thought, perennially, Wil- YorkP °f ^ams stern prowess, in stately, and, for the age, most scholar-like, grammar-Latin verse. Qui rexit rigidos Normannos, atque Britannos Audacter vicit, fortiter obtinuit; Et Cenomannenses virtute coercuit enses, Imperiique sui legibus applicuit; Rex niagnus parva jacet hie Guillelmus in uma: Sufficit et magno parva domus domino. Ter septem gradibus se volverat atque duobus, Virginis in gremio Phoebus, et hie obiit. A vain attempt, if addressed to posterity. Long since has the tomb been ruined : Chastillon's Huguenots broke it down ; and William's bones, ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 3 not allowed to rest in his unjust acquisition, were 1087 contumeliously cast into the common mire of the filthy city. And it was still more vain in the poet's own time : his verses fell dead upon the ear. Not so the strains of the other poets, re-Mmstrei D3.11ELU.S hearsing William's deeds in another tongue. Go ££" con-g to England : there in street and market you may iueror- see the crowds thronging around the gleeman, trolling stave after stave of the rudely rhyming ballad, — For slaying hart and hind Doth many a man go blind. He loved the dappled deer As he their father were ; and how clerk and layman, earl and churl, "did forfeit life and limb, if they would not yield to him," all equally weighed down by his inexorable tyranny ; his misdeeds lengthening the chaunt's monotonous melody. In the churches throughout the land they Popular • • -.- i . t, , feeiing- were singing dirge and requiem. But mens tongues are unloosed and unbound : things which the many had thought, though none had dared to say, became words ; words, boldly uttered, no longer whispered between the two wayfarers on the solitary road, or faintly enounced* amongst the three companions at the board, carefully looking round lest the listening spy should be near. Men speak aloud : the people pass judg ment upon the departed King. Awe, anger, pity, all concurred in the popular B 2 4 THE CONQUERORS SONS. io87 mind. Those who deemed most truly, felt most kindly. — " May the Almighty God shew mercy to his soul, and grant him forgiveness of his sins. These things have we spoken concerning him, both good and evil, that men may choose the good after their goodness, and flee from the evil withal, and go in the way that leadeth to the kingdom of heaven." — Truisms, flat truisms, it may be replied. Certainly, but not the less worthy of repetition, for a truism is nothing else but a disagreeable home-truth, pinching us hard, and which we try to evade ; a dun to whom we deny ourselves, but who knocks and knocks; a poor relation, against whom we cannot close the door ; a preacher driving us into a corner by texts and warnings, and from whom we would fain get away. Those who prayed received their comfort, and to them their sentiments became reality. The panegyrists lost their pains. The majority vexed themselves with useless despite, dwelling upon William's greediness, his implacability, his con tempt for all control, and, more than that, for all human feeling. — "Never has there been a time," said they, " of such distress, such sorrow : is there a hide of land in England that he hask not set down in his great book: an acre of which' he did not know the worth to a penny ? How many a Noble has he put in bands and fetters: how many a Bishop and Abbot has he deprived ! ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 5 Never had England such sorrow, such distress as 1087 under him, who recked not the hatred of us all." § 2. Are we, in our nineteenth century, re- The ba- . ..... . . „ . lance of quired to join m this promulgation oi popular good and sentiment ? England suffered most acutely by ins £om the Norman Conquest : but, comparing, as far as iuest- we can imperfectly know and tell, the similar or analogous punishments of nations, never was so crushing a subjection accompanied by less oppression and wrong. Bitter oppression, cruel wrong; — yet oppression, which, according to the world's opinion, is inevitable ; wrong which the statesman never fails to justify. In propor tion as the grades of society descended, so did the hardships diminish. There was no per manent evil inflicted on the great masses of society. The shattered and decayed elements of old English policy were preserved, and the means provided for reuniting them in a more efficient organization. London retained all her Anglo- Saxon integrity. London Stone was not moved. All the Sokes preserved their franchises. Col chester Townsmen met in Colchester Moothall. Lincoln's Lawmen kept their statutes. The Burghs of Mercia held their "morning speech," even as their kinsmen in the red Westphalian land. No Englishman, who patiently had continued in scot and lot, became an alien in his own country. No peasant was expelled from his cottage, no churl from his patrimonial field. So far as the 6 the conqueror's sons. 1087 Norman administration reached the villein, he obtained greater protection for the fruits of his labour, more assurance in the quiet and comfort of house and home, than he had enjoyed under the Confessor. His rent could not be raised, his services could not be increased. Above all, no "penal laws," no persecution of faith, no legal ized degradation, no spite against nationality, no proscription of dress or language, no useless insult, no labour of hatred to render contempt everlasting ; no " Glorious Memory," no " Boyne Water," no "Croppies lie down." — Before the first year after the Conqueror's death has closed, we shall see the favour of the English nation sought by the Norman king. Those who writhe under the wound's imme diate smart and anguish, are rarely able to judge of the future danger. An injury, seemingly shght, may inflame, spread, and occasion death : whilst the deep, gaping gash, frightful to look upon, but which has not touched a vital part, can heal; and the body be restored to its pristine vigour. Even the very syncope resulting from the loss of blood, may aid the intention, pro ducing an ultimate cure. Such was the case with England : the hard foreign government was alone felt, and the alleviations disregarded. Great as were the evils of national subjugation, they were exaggerated; and William's despotism, which hardened his whole administration, in- ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 7 duced the crushed multitude to undervalue the ios* benefits they had received. Yet even at that period, two opinions might be formed. Those least inclined to extenuate the oppressions of the Conqueror; those who grieved for the hardships of their fellow-country men, and mourned for their sins, have told much good of him. As in the days of Rollo, the sword wielded by the Norman ruler was the sword of justice. When war ceased in the land, that sword continued unsheathed for the preservation of the peace; and effectually. During these intervals the land rested. No slaughter, no violence, no rob bery, no blood-feud : the rich man might travel from England end to end unhurt, with his bosom full of gold ; matron and maiden went forth blithely, without dread of harm. Alfred could have done no more. 5 3. But there was an error in William's The forest J laws and policy which often becomes inveterate amongst p(er^w the ablest rulers. Had not William the Con queror offended the people's feeling, he might have gained, if not the love, yet the sullen re spect of his subjects. Imagination is a most powerful engine of government ; thowgh States men scorn the faculty, whilst Economists and Lawyers treat it as null. Some one opposition to sentiment, may excite intenser hatred than the most grievous tyranny. We are more affronted by offences against our tastes than by contraventions 8 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1087 of our principles ; and there are some demands like the last feather breaking the horse's back, whereunto neither individuals nor nations will yield. It is not the oriental imagery of Aladdin, but the oriental wisdom, which constitutes the charm of the Arabian tale. The Slave of the lamp placed all the world's riches at the feet of the talisman's owner ; but he would not bring Aladdin the Roc's egg: there the Slave's slavery ended. When Aladdin asked the Genius for the Roc's egg, the Genius rebelled and departed. Every man, every woman, every child, every com munity, every state, every nation, broods over some one Roc's egg: touch it, and your slave will break away. It is therefore a great wisdom in all rulers to leave the Roc's egg alone. William the Conqueror had been fully able to subjugate the English ; but the extreme vex ation they sustained from the rigour of his forest laws, well nigh destroyed the empire he founded. Violations of a law higher than the law of nature, those abuses of the power over the earth and the earth's products, which man possesses by delegation and not as an inherent right, have continued to be the source of dis content and resistance from generation to gene ration. The hateful forest laws assisted in placing our first Charles upon the scaffold : and, in a scarcely mitigated form, continue to embitter the poor against the rich at the present day. This ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 9 code was not William's — it was Canute's ; but ios? the cruelty with which the Conqueror ex- "~ tended and enforced the odious jurisprudence, occasioned unmitigated horror. The New Forest of Hampshire, as the ancient Jettenwald, the Weald of Giants, now began to be called, was deemed the consummation of selfish cruelty. In the churches founded by William they were singing dirge and requiem ; yet, what profits the endowment of the monks of Battle, or the dota tion to the priests of Coutances and Rouen, if sixty churches are cast down in the fertile town ships now desolate and abandoned? Where the spade of the husbandman dug the ground, and the good wife span before the door, the lithe doe springs in fearlessly from the surrounding glade. The tofts in which the cottages stood are yet bare, and the ashes still heap the hearth ; but the rank herbage and the palmy fern will speedily hide them. The walls of the unroofed chancel are yet standing; but they will soon begin to crumble down upon the altar. Here had the Conqueror spurred his steed and delighted in the slaughter, witnessing with pleasure the dumb anguish of the fleeting stag pursued by the hound, the hiero glyphic so often seen in the mystical sculptures of the Basilica, denoting the power of evil seek ing the sinner's soul ; and therefore was not the haunted ground considered as accursed? Ominous forebodings, and misfortunes, already more than 10 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1087 forebodings, had marked the New Forest as fraught "" with evil to the Norman dynasty. The con. ^ 4 Perhaps the unequal bequests made by c^ofthe William, to the firstborn, the younger, and the threeTs youngest, were inevitable. Trouble unites to unjust power in its nascent state, and continues an inseparable element : such a distribution was certain to foment hatred and dissension amongst the Princes, and become a temptation and a snare to the people. It was a great misfortune, both to their subjects and themselves, that each of the three sons might support his claim for the entire inheritance by reasons sufficiently plausible, and yet no one had so clear a right, as to silence his competitors. firstbomhe Amongst the Normans, the prevailing feeling was in favour of primogeniture. The right as to males was so generally admitted that it almost had the force of law. Robert, associated to the government in early youth, had been designated as the successor of his father in Normandy : an union between Normandy and England was ob viously the measure best calculated to secure the interests of the Norman baronage. Could any one hope for an enduring peace between Robert and Rufus, when the latter should become the King ? Every Lord of a Norman seignory, whose name appeared in the roll of Winton, would be distracted by a divided allegiance. He would be bound to serve two masters ; on each side of the ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 11 channel adherence to the joint, yet severed Liege 1087 Lords, would jeopardize the baronies hither or thither beyond the sea. Fully admitting Robert's pre-eminence, Rufus Rufus the • -n devisee. opposed his pretensions to the English crown, by pleading the Conqueror's last will and testament. It was very doubtful whether the principle of inalienability could be predicated concerning any other than a patrimonial and dominant Fief. What the son had derived as the inheritance of the father, the grandson was to hold as the heir of the grandsire. Three generations were needed to vest the right in the blood. But the father's earnings might be bestowed at his free will and pleasure. England, as the prud"-homme would declare, was an acquest, fully subject to the Conqueror's disposal; and Rufus deserved the bounty. Whatever were the failings of Rufus, he had been an affectionate and dutiful son, the only affectionate and dutiful son : his father's cen- tinel in war, his companion in peace ; therefore if William possessed the right of rewarding him, was not the exercise of the right conformable equally to moral sentiment and to law ? " All this is indifferent to me," might Henry HenryBeauclerc Beauclerc have replied — " Norman customs are the Por- 1 phyrogeni- wise : my father spoke his intent ; but my coun- tu?- trymen tell me that I am the only true and legiti mate heir." It was the popular belief, if not entirely the established constitutional doctrine 12 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1087 jn England, that no child of the Basileus could demand the crown, unless born after the royal dignity had been vested in his father. Such is the principle still prevailing in the Eastern empire as it now subsists under the Czars. Henry alone, therefore, according to this prepossession, had royal blood in his veins. He alone, the Porphy rogenitus, was the son of an anointed King and an anointed Queen: he alone had first breathed and seen the light in England, educated in Eng land, habituated in England, speaking the English language as his native tongue. All this, without doubt, had been well known to the Conqueror, inducing him to utter the boding prediction addressed to Henry, that he would one day possess all the honours of the elder brethren: ambiguously hovering between the promise of prosperity and the prescience of misfortune ; for the anticipations of the toils and sorrows pre paring for his children, filled the dying man's dulled mind. § 5. Probably during William's last mortal Sownby ag°ny> certainly before the sad funeral, Rufus ofEudoCe naa been actively and energetically employed in be'tand" securing the English crown. William, indeed, odo.nc commanded him so to do; but he might have inclined to linger. Decency, perhaps sorrow, might have checked his activity during the sea son of mourning, had he not been urged to im mediate action by useful and powerful advisers. Rufus secures the ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 13 Eudo Fitz-Herbert, more usually called Eudo ios7 Dapifer from the office which he held, placing him in immediate relation to the royal person, earnestly moved Rufus to the enterprize. It was the tradition in Eudo's family, that he thus ex erted himself in pursuance of the Conqueror's instructions. Nor would this be otherwise than consistent with William's experience and feelings. In one sense, he owed the crown to Herbert's promptness and adroitness; and these qualities had descended to Herbert's son. Bishop Odo, brought forth from his captivity, saw his visions of the Supreme Pontificate fade away, and imme diately adhered to the cause of Rufus. Far more congenial to Odo was his Palatine earldom of Kent than Bayeux diocese or Bayeux cathedral : the lance than the crozier ; he obeyed the impulse of pleasurable ambition, and perhaps the hopes of revenge. These two supporting Rufus, formed the Eudo in- nucleus of his party. Eudo Dapifer was first in wiiiiam de action, wisely — not before the castle, or in open Arche ,t0 ' ¦> Jr , surrender field: but assailing the heart ofthe empire. All the ^A' treasure amassed by the Conqueror was deposited southern116 in the vaults of Winchester. Thither Eudo pro ceeded, and, treating with William de Ponte- Arche (equally accommodating in the next reign) induced him to surrender the keys. Hence the High Steward proceeded rapidly along the coast. Dover, Pevensey, Hastings, and the other prin- 14 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1087 cipal castles on the sea-bord were visited by him. His known station constituted his letter of cre dence. He boldly quoted Rufus as " the king ;" and the garrisons promised obedience and alle giance to the soldier's friend, the Conqueror's favoured son. Rufus Rufus guarded himself against being inter- Engfand! cepted. Instead of proceeding by the Seine, he took his route to Touques, a small haven at the mouth of the river of the same name. Here he embarked ; and landing, as his subsequent stage indicates, at Southampton, advanced to Win chester. Eudo Dapifer had made the way clear for him. Odo of Bayeux resumed the possession of his earldom. With Rufus, came also many who were well seen in England. Duncan the son of Malcolm, the hostage ; Harold's son and Harold's brother, and the long-banished Morcar; all de livered from thraldom. No opposition whatever was raised : the larger portion of the baronage had continued in Normandy; a circumstance greatly in favour of Rufus, for their absence diminished the number of those from whom most difficulty might be apprehended. The Conqueror's confidential Chancery Clerk, Robert Bloet, whether accompanying or preced ing Rufus, had already presented the testamentary ££T writ t0 the Archbishop. From Lanfranc, Rufus FoTgood might expect affection and favour. Educated by m°evnetrn" the prelate, the Norman Clito had received from ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 15 him the degree of knighthood ; yet when Rufus 1087 appealed to his father's will, as the foundation "~ of his title to the crown, Lanfranc hesitated and paused. Had he refused, had he even continued to delay, Rufus would have lost the kingdom. Lanfranc was, however, not acting upon his ar bitrary opinion, but judicially. Caution was his duty. The Archbishop of Canterbury was the functionary through whom the heir, possessing an inchoate title, obtained investiture of the sove reignty. Lanfranc, distrusting Rufus, exacted such preliminary terms as would ensure his as sent to the constitutional compact in due and solemn form. A new exigency had arisen de manding a new remedy. According to our ancient policy, as soon as the future King was acknow ledged, his peace was proclaimed, and the breach of the peace became a crime against his crown and dignity: the interregnum ceased ; and though the heir had not assumed the royal title, yet his writs began to run. He entered into the exercise of his power. Thus accepted, might not Rufus have refused to submit to the solemn obli gation imposed by the Church, as the bond for securing the performance of his duties ^towards the whole body of the people ? Lanfranc there fore demanded a threefold promise from Rufus, before assenting to co-operate in acknowledging his right, — that he would rule his subjects in justice, equity, and mercy, — protect the rights 16 THE conqueror's sons. 1087 and franchises of the Church, — and, lastly, — conform to such counsels as Lanfranc might give. These conditions, if rightly understood, according to their intent and meaning, not according to their mere sound, contain all the elements of constitutional government. The Primate of Can terbury was the only individual who could claim the power of speaking out for the defence of the English people. He was their virtual repre sentative, he stipulated for his constituents ; he was prime minister in temporals by virtue of his transcendant spiritual office ; and such an engage ment was the only means of enforcing the principle, that the sovereign authority was to be exercised by the advice and consent of the legislature. se1 tember § ®' There had also been, however, a prevail- 26,27,29. jnD. disinclination against Rufus. Robert was Consecra- ° ° tion and preferred by the Norman baronage. Lanfranc, coronation r J o of Rufus. SUpp0rted by Wulstan, the last-surviving member of the Anglo-Saxon hierarchy, overcame this opposition. The coronation ceremonial began on Sunday the sixth of the Kalends of October, when Rufus was consecrated by Lanfranc in the abbey church of St. Peter, before the tomb of the Confessor. On the following day, the festival of Cosmus and Damianus, he was crowned. | Lastly, on the festival of Saint Michael the Arch angel, the two nations, the English and the French, swore the oath of fealty, and accepted him as their King. ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 17 The Conqueror granted a charter of liberties ios7 to the English people, and so did his successors, ' until the increasing power of the Commons ren dered the form unnecessary. All these Char ters are still existing, and there is but one blank in the series : no such grant from Rufus is extant. Thrice he covenanted. — First, when seeking royal authority. — Secondly, when de fending his acquired authority. — Lastly, when, as he deemed, approaching death would deprive him of that authority ; but charter and concession and record have disappeared. § 7. Rufus began his reign prudently and ^"^? M" kindly. He had much to dread — the English, dis- ^^,ie contented, the Norman baronage distrustful, above beiuest3- all, his own brothers, constantly his open or secret enemies. He himself was rapidly becoming worse, but all Lanfranc's instructions had not been pro fitless, nor were his tendencies to virtue as yet entirely corrupted or quelled. The general in telligence which the people throughout England received concerning the King's accession, was speedily followed by the appearance of officers from his exchequer. Unwelcome at first must the sight of these visitors have been. What but taxation or extortion could be anticipated from such messengers? Monks assembled in their chapter house to consider how the demand could be best evaded. Burghmoots prepared to haggle about the " geld :" knights, and socmen, villeins, VOL. III. c 18 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1087 hundredors, all began to realize the results of " that awful book of Domesday, wherein every man's estate was registered, fresh and marsh, plough-land and grass-land, kine and swine. But such was not the present intention of Rufus : it was to give the poor and needy some share in the wealth laid up in store and hoard by the Conqueror. Soon as Rufus had been crowned, he returned to Winchester, the ancient capital, still maintaining a close equality with the commonwealth of London. Here was palace, seat of government, and that treasury, of which the doors had been so readily opened by William de Ponte Arche. We can fancy the riches which the depths displayed by the light of the torches : black silver in money, white silver in bars, gold in ingots, gold in ancient coin ; bezants bearing the impress of the eastern emperors, massive dee- nars, fretted with the Cuphic characters, standing high, in square relief, above the burnished con cave field ; vessels rich with enamel and ancient gems, piles of silken vestments, caftans, robes and palls stiff with embroidery. All these, upon which William set his heart, had passed into the power of the willing heir, who now begins their dis persion. Gladly busy are they in every church ; sacristans are placing the gifts upon the altar, opening the copes, ponderous with bullion and pearls, and hanging up the lamps they expect the royal bounty will feed. Ten marks of gold for ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 19 every cathedral, and every good monastery: sixty 1087— 8 shillings to every parish, be it great or small, " throughout the realm ; moreover one hundred pounds to the poor in every shire. It is true that all these donations were the Conqueror's legacies, and not resulting from his son's bounty ; yet who could have enforced the performance of the trust ? Gratitude is rendered to the hand which gives, no matter wherefore or why; and the payment must have been accepted as a token not merely of the new king's justice, but also of his munificence. 5 8. It mav be collected from subsequent Apparent J •* L adherence transactions, that the coronation was speedily fol- j^® lowed by the adherence, though secretly reluctant to Rufus- as to the greater number, ofthe Norman baronage, then settled in England, who took the oaths and became the King's homagers. The support re ceived from Lanfranc and the Prelates in general, contributed to this result, aided by the King's good management and speciousness of manners, boldness, wit, whim, pleasantry. However much Rufus may have tyrannized, he always continued popular amongst those whom he gathered about him as his family or meisny. This recognition nevertheless required further ratification: for it must be recollected that England was not con solidated into one state. Hitherto the coronation of the Anglo-Saxon sovereign at Kingston, or Winchester, or even Westminster, did not import C2 20 the conqueror's sons. 1087—8 that all the several kingdoms or earldoms simul taneously accepted his authority. Northumbria, in particular, had been almost independent; and the reminiscence of the antient franchise ha9 been tolerated by the Conqueror, for the purpose of reconciling the unruly population to the su premacy of the new dynasty. Mowb'a ^ w1^ °e recollected that the Conqueror Northum- bestowed the earldom upon Geoffrey Mowbray, hCunde Bishop of Coutances, the active justiciar of wshoprf England, the eminent military commander. His s- flock and his see were little thought of by the prelate, whose possessions spread through thir teen shires. Robert Mowbray, the prelate's ne phew was, however, his known and appointed heir ; and since he alone is distinguished as Earl of Northumbria, the territorial dignity must have been transferred or ceded to him ; his authority being partly exercised through a Vicecomes, named Morel, connected with King Malcolm of Scotland. If a northern minstrel had described this Earl, he could have told you that Mowbray was shaggy as the bear, from whom Earl Siward descended, swarthy as Ferrargus, tall as Boe- mond ; his stature, his boldness, his great cunning and vigour, all contributed to his influence. Rufus immediately sought and received the favour of the Mowbray family : a favour to him, for at this juncture he obtained greater advantage by their alliance, than they could derive from ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 21 his protection. Bishop Geoffrey became his com- 1087^8 panion, and ostensibly a favourite counsellor. " Mowbray had just married Matilda, the daughter of Richard de Aquila, (he who had been shot by the boy at St. Sauveur) and who was also the niece of Hugh Earl of Chester. This great Earl adhered to Rufus. Robert Fitz-Hamo, gaining ground and settling himself in the acquisitions he had made in the land of the Britons, followed the same example ; an important aid to Rufus, as counterbalancing the doubtful loyalty of the Earl of Shrewsbury, the " Normannus Norman- norum," famous Roger de Montgomery. Wil liam de Warenne in the south, who obtained a grant or renewal of the earldom of Surrey from Rufus, was an energetic, though short-lived par- tizan ; and England, during autumn and winter, appeared to be in a state of obedience. § 9. We must now advert to Normandy. Affairs of /-« iiii- i -r-» • i Normandy. Great troubles had arisen here. Previously to the Conqueror's death, the elements of disor ganization were fermenting, though prevented from manifesting themselves by his vigilance and wisdom. People at large, the peasantry in the open country and the burghers in the* towns, were satisfied ; but discontent was lurking Discontent amongst the baronage, occasioned by the very Norman , . ... baronage. spirit of the authority which restrained it. Obedience to the law, equality before the law, were the redeeming virtues of the Norman 22 the conqueror's sons. 1087-8 government. The prerogative exercised by the Dukes, of placing garrisons in the baronial castles, r.endered the supremacy of the Sovereign as incontestible in practice as it was in prin ciple. There was no exemption from the Clameur deHaro; in every castle-yard, the sword of justice might be raised. Robert de The leader of the revolt will occupy a pro- his family, mment place in our history. This was Robert, conduct, i * ' racter1'1 the eldest son of Montgomery, who had been knighted by the Conqueror during the siege of Fresnay. Mabel Talvas, the cruel Mabel the Lady of Belesme Alencon and Montgomery, his mother, merciless, and yet so loved and honoured by her husband and family, had been killed when reposing in her bed after taking the bath, a Roman luxury, which continued in constant use during the earlier periods of the middle ages. Murder of Hugh de Jaujey perpetrated the slaughter; it Taivas. was a bloodthirsty and cowardly act, though he had been instigated by Mabel's oppression, she having deprived him of his paternal inheritance. Roger de Montgomery, who probably might have claimed her possessions, the domains of Belesme and Alenc^on, now wholly separated from Maine, and united to Normandy, surrendered them wisely and willingly to their eldest son, who henceforward, by his father's directions, assumed the name of Belesme. There was much good sense in this family arrangement. It enabled ACCCESSION OF RUFUS. 23 Montgomery to pursue his conquests in the ios7-s Welsh Marches the more uninterruptedly : at "~ ' the same time additional security was given to the family, should the event take place, which during the latter years of the Conqueror's life must have appeared so probable — the separation of Normandy and of England. There are some races in which cruelty is an inheritance : it continued to be the belief in Normandy that this visitation was fearfully manifested in the family of Talvas -Belesme; Robert was truly his mother's son. His bar barities, told by those who lived to witness the retributive justice which afterwards fell upon him, can only be read in the language in which they have been recorded. Like Ezzelino di Ravenna, he displayed the depth and cunning of a maniac whose talent struggled against the insanity of ferocity : causeless, objectless, paradoxical, yet horrible ; and testifying the fas cinating effect of that passive fear, which renders the multitude incapable of freeing themselves from tyranny ; when one bold hand could do the deed. Robert de Belesme, was proceeding to the Aallftt royal court, for the purpose of treating upon Ootober- business with the King. The accounts of Wil liam's danger seem to have been but slowly propagated, or, what is more probable, carefully concealed, when, passing nigh the Prudhoe of 24 the conqueror's sons. 1087-8 Normandy, Brionne, he learned his Sovereign's death. Belesme instantly pulled up, turned his steed the other way, and, by a forced march reached Alencon, where the royal garrison were still ignorant of the event ; and a sudden rush or attack, enabled him and his followers to gain General possession of fortress and town. From his chief tion ofthe castles of Alencon and Belesme; as well as from Norman baronage. al] his other strong holds, Domfront, St. Cenery, Essai, La Motte, Pontorson, Mamers, Vignes, and very many more, he equally expelled the royal troops. And as soon as he was released from the check imposed by the royal authority, he ravaged the adjoining country, seizing the possessions of his weaker neighbours. William of Evreux, ruled by his Countess the noble Heloise, another Marfisa, followed the example of Belesme, and won again the royal castle of Dangeau, thus affronting the Conqueror's me mory. So did Raoul de Toeny, from whom more loyalty to the Conqueror's family might have been expected. William de Breteuil, the son of Fitzosborn, the like. The insurrection spread ing, an entire liberation from the power of justice was effected by the baronage; and the misrule thus commenced, continued, without intermis sion, during the miserable reign of Robert Car- those. We learn these transactions only from an im perfect and desultory narrative ; the tales and talk accession of rufus. 25 of the cowled veterans, collected and recollected ios7-8 at St. Evroul, years after the events. Could the " ' Barons have patronized a chronicler of their own, this continued turbulence might have been de scribed as a patriotic struggle to regain their lawful independence. Under William, however, they had really sustained no grievance, except the necessity of submitting to the law : he dealt as sternly with his own subjects, in his own patrimonial duchy, as in the conquered country, even in England. fi 10. Robert still continued at Abbeville, Robert J takes pos- under the protection of Count Guy ; sporting, ^j""^ rioting, surrounded by his little court of hungry expectants, young, ill-conditioned men, impatient of control, rallying round an heir-apparent, whose usual position constitutes one of the principal objections, if we reason upon the subject, to hereditary monarchy. It was reported that the very garments they wore, had been won by their robberies upon the Norman Marches. Count Al- beric brought the message from the dying father, recalling Robert to his inheritance, and he pro ceeded immediately to Rouen, and took possession without opposition. No mourner was he : fie fol lowed not his father's body to the grave. Many were there to whom Robert's faults of character rendered him the more acceptable. Robert was a singular instance of that union of ability and incapacity, of inconsistent merit and inconsistent 26 the conqueror's sons. 1087—8 failings, which so often perplexes the world. Personally brave, but frequently unnerved by fits of pusillanimity: intending to be kind and merciful, and yet often cruel, and apparently devoid of natural affection : endowed with talents which he rarely put to use, he was utterly unable to comprehend the duties annexed to his station ; his only object was to pass a self-indulgent life, and a sluggish merry time. odo quits Bishop Odo, actuated by sentiments soon to Rufus and *¦ J Robert'! ^e disclosed, quitted England speedily after the counsellor. King's coronation, and became Duke Robert's chief counsellor. There was some similarity between his merits and faults, and those of Robert; clever, but unwise, and unable to give any useful counsel, or exercise any useful influence. It was a great defect in the State of Normandy, where the clergy had been so kept down, that there was no functionary like the Archbishop of Canterbury, possessing a station to which constitutional power in civil affairs was attached. As an order, the Norman hierarchy were destitute of political authority. The administration of the common wealth depended entirely upon the Sovereign's personal character. Hitherto the Rulers had been prudent and able ; but now the time of experiment arrived, and the strength of the government was to be tried. Robert could never deny any boon demanded by a favourite, a minion, or a courtier. He would give all that was asked, and promise accession of rufus. 27 more; and no concession made by him earned 1087-8 any gratitude. In his grants of the royal domains " "~ he was peculiarly imprudent. William de Bre teuil obtained Albreda's incomparable tower of Ivry, consecrated, so to speak, by the sacrifice of the architect. To Roger de Beaumont he gave another very strong fortress, that boastful Brionne, both in the very heart of the land. Such cessions were as wedges driven into a dominion already splitting in every direction. Robert was universally despised for his weakness and facility. Ovid's well-known verse is not applicable to sovereigns : they cannot avoid submitting to the yoke of keeping state ; they must vindicate their worship, otherwise they rarely command affec tion ; in them love and majesty must be combined. Oil. Robert was not long allowed to rest Robert in- stigated in quietness : the main feeling sustaining him in to the con- his position was the intention of the Norman England. baronage, that, for them, the Roi Faineant should reconquer England. Robert had not been restrained by any affec tion from rushing into war with Rufus. The son who felled his father to the ground in the conflict for a Duchy, would scarcely scruple to attack his brother for a Kingdom. Sheer idleness, ignoble sloth, withheld him. When the first news of his brother's accession was brought to him, he amused himself by swaggering jests ; but, roused at length by the attempts made to excite his ambition, 28 the conqueror's sons. 1087-8 the instability of his character created in him an appetite for adventure, as eager as his preced ing quiescence. None so obstinate as the feeble, when a determination has once been forced upon them, either by others or themselves. chief *! Robert's chief instigator was his uncle. Odo thf ento£f had been restored to his Kentish earldom, and '"'"" treated by Rufus with much cordiality: never theless he sustained a bitter disappointment ; he was not trusted. Rufus gave all his confidence to his other advisers : Archbishop Lanfranc was the minister who influenced him, partly by his authority, and partly by that affection which even Rufus could not undervalue. William de St. Carileph, who originally owed his appointment to Odo's influence, was another. He had now held the see for more than ten years, ever since Bishop Walcher had been murdered — an ex tremely able man of business, clever, subtle, and magnificent : an active and diligent churchman, who, ejecting the lazy, louting, secular canons, as he thought them, introduced the diligent Benedictines, and who planned and executed much for Durham's glory. His talent won the King's confidence; and it was believed, except by the very few who knew the secrets of the palace, that " all England fared according to his word." Either now or shortly afterwards, Robert Bloet, much encouraged by Rufus, was appointed Chancellor. Odo, finding himself in this mortify- ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 29 ing position of honoured neglect, was deeply ios7-s offended. Against Lanfranc, in particular, he " entertained a virulent hatred. To him, Odo ascribed his long captivity. That bitter sarcasm which William passed upon his brother when he put him in chains, is attributed to Lanfranc ; not in blame, but in praise. All Lanfranc's piety could not restrain his too ready tongue. The unsuccessful plea on Pennenden heath, though a matter, small comparatively in import, was also an element of ill-will against both Lanfranc the successful plaintiff, and Gosfried the Justiciar. People never entirely get rid of the grudge against the parties who have defeated them in a lawsuit. With these feelings, Odo returned to Normandy, and acted as the recognized leader of the baronage of both dominions, when they determined to place Robert on the English throne. fi 12. The latter part ofthe autumn and the Conspiracy i i • • • i • ofthe winter, were employed in organizing the conspi- Angio- racy, extensively and disgracefully successful. 0^°0nbaj;e' It would have seemed impossible to anticipate p0^,™ such a general dereliction of principle ; for all 1088- those who were plotting against Rufus in England, had just become his sworn liegemen. It was re marked, even in their own time, that there was not one of these great men free from perjury. Robert de Mortaigne, the son of Arietta, the loved brother of the Conqueror, became a chief of the discontented party, which numbered a most formidable array. — Eustace of Boulogne, 30 the conqueror's sons. 1087—8 the younger son of Eustace aux Grenons, who had been called over by the English against the Conqueror, himself destined to be the father-in- law of an English King; the aged Hugo de Grandmesnil, once acting by the Conqueror's appointment as Regent of the kingdom, and who survived this conflict to aid, when sheltered in the cloister, in furnishing the sources of the history we are now relating ; Robert de Telliolo, the savage and ferocious Lord Marcher of Rhudd- lan and Flint, he owed fealty to the Earl of Chester, who continued true, but was detached equally from his Lord and from the King's party by his connexion with Grandmesnil ; Bernard de Neumarche, afterwards the conqueror of Breck nock ; Roger Bygod, perhaps the son of Ralph, and who had certainly succeeded to his autho rity, but genealogists with rare sobriety have not attempted to determine their affinity : above all, Mowbray and Montgomery. They finally settled their plans of attack and outbreak co-operation during Lent. At Easter, Rufus held spimcy. his court as usual at Westminster, but scant was AprS^' the appearance of liegemen : their benches were empty in the hall — they had withdrawn from their Sovereign's presence, preparing themselves for hostility ; and the civil war broke out simul taneously in the north, the eastern shires, the British Marches, and the south-east quarters of the kingdom. The embarrassments of Rufus at this juncture were much increased by the sudden ACCESSION OF RUFUS. 31 alienation of William de St. Carileph, hitherto 1087-8 his faithful friend and counsellor. The dispute ' v~ arose out of a distraint or seizure made upon the Bishop's land by the royal officers : the particulars ^[^A of -this transaction, which possess great consti-fee?tCari" tutional interest, cannot here find a place. As elucidating the future conduct of Rufus towards the Hierarchy, it must be remarked that the main point at issue was, whether the Bishop could be legally compelled to appear and plead in the lay-court, upon the prosecution of the King. It might have been expected, that, at such a juncture, Rufus would have postponed any adverse discussion with the great Palatine-Bishop, who, by uniting his power to the Mowbray, could do him so much harm. No — not he — not even the pressure of extreme danger would induce him to tolerate any departure from his prerogative : a prerogative possibly lawful, but liable to ex treme abuse. The King was judge in his court whenever he chose. The security of securities, the doctrine that the King had irrevocably delegated his judicial authority to the ermine on the bench, required centuries ere it could be perfected. The mind and pen of Coke, were required to complete that, the greatest safeguard of liberty. Let the reader treasure carefully this in his mind, and recollect that when, in Anglo- Norman times, you speak of the " King's Court," it is only a phrase for the King's despotism. 32 THE conqueror's sons. 1087—8 One quarrel bred another. It was reported and believed that St. Carileph also joined the revolters : a fact which he, however, afterwards emphatically denied. His old acquaintance and friendship with Odo may have prompted the suspicion, and the conduct of his retainers ap parently confirmed it. A great feud certainly existed between them and fierce Paynell, who acted for the King in Northumbria; yet how could he restrain them ? Roger Bygod, who was stigmatized, or perhaps admired, as excelling all Fast others in evil, struck the first blow by forcibly Anglia. ,/-,,, ... seizing Norwich Castle, then almost a city, which, from its white shining walls, or perhaps from older traditions, had acquired the name of Blanchefleur, from whence he wasted the ad joining country. Northumbria rose at the instigation of the Bishop of Coutances and his nephew, Mowbray, Northum- who at the same time prepared for further operations, in the south-western districts of the island. It was said that William de St. Carileph also aided them. There was another great field of stiff contention in Mercia, particularly in the British Marches, and the adjoining parts. These were in great measure under the power of Roger de Montgomery, who expected the event which shortly after took place, the arrival in England of his son Belesme. Bernard de Neumarche, uniting his force to Roger de Lacy, accession of rufus. 33 Lord of Ewias, overspread Herefordshire. The W87-8 open country of Gloucestershire was ravaged by ^27" William of Eu. The Counts of Eu, that ancient, SftSi prosperous, illegitimate branch of the house of E$£h,by Rollo, always bore a grudge against the Con-anTch' t»- 1 /-^-i/. ^ -^ . Welshmen. queror. Bishop Godfrey and Robert Mowbray, marching downwards from the North country, plundered Bristol and Bath, extending their ravages as far as the great Honour of Berkeley. But the most formidable attack was made upon Worcester. Bishop Wulstan being peculiarly ob noxious on account of the support he rendered to the King, this city was fiercely besieged by Montgomery, and by Ralph Mortimer. English men, Normans, even Welshmen, the latter partly Anglicized by their long connexion with the Saxon, composed the assailant forces, the mixed popu lation of the turbulent March-lands, which had in a measure become emancipated from royal authority. These marauders threatened Worces ter, not only with ravage, but with destruction. Griffith ap Conan, prince of Deheubarth, or Griflith aP at 1 Conan. North Wales, he who first taught the Cymri to strike the Irish harp, he whose true history reads as a varied romance, gladly joined in the fray ; but he fought for himself and his own people. Saxon and Frenchman, and Saxonized Welshman, were equally Griffith's enemies. Besides the Earl of Chester, there were very few in the West who could support the cause VOL. III. d 34 the conqueror's sons. 1087—8 of Rufus by stimulating the people. Robert of ' ' Lorraine, Bishop of Hereford, so well known as the prime astrologer and mathematician of his age, was appalled and inert. Not so Wulstan, the old English Bishop of Worcester, senior ofthe episcopal bench : he exhorted the people, the English people, to defend the King's cause and their own. At the request of the Normans, the Bishop, instead of retreating from the strife, con tinued in the castle, the more to influence and encourage the defenders, urging, as their Pastor, the performance of their duty, and giving them his blessing. Garrison, citizens, and Wulstan's retainers, all immediately prepared for the fight : defying the revolters, they crossed the Severn, and completely defeated them. Kent. But the main struggle was to take place in Kent, Odo's palatinate Earldom, where he pos sessed a very great, though not undivided in fluence. Kent and Sussex once gained, these Counties would become, as the Conqueror in tended them to be, outworks of Normandy, into which the Norman forces might pour for invasion. Here the chief leaders were the Bishop, Eustace of Boulogne, and Robert de Belesme, who had arrived with considerable reinforcements. Their first muster was held at Rochester. Situated in the heart of Odo's earldom, this position en abled him to keep up the communication with Normandy, and to bring the war home to the accession of rufus. 35 King's very door. From Rochester, so recently 1087-8 strengthened by and for the Conqueror, the in- "" surgents plundered Canterbury, instigated equally by dislike to the Archbishop, and enmity against the King. The neighbourhood of London was spoiled: the portion wasted (probably the bo rough of Southwark) belonged to the citizens; an unwise measure, for it irritated a powerful community, without helping Robert's cause. Robert's party, moreover, wanted the personal Rob«r^? support of royalty : his adherents fruitlessly ex horted him to come over, and take the command. Crown and kingdom, the right of the first-born, were now in his power. The Norman Duke re ceived the intelligence with joy and exultation, triumphing in the success obtained by his ad herents, as though the victory were secured ; but unable to wrench himself from his enjoyments. 5 13. Not so his energetic brother: what- Energy of J Rufus — ever forces Rufus could muster, he brought toge- supported ther in London. Had it not been for the aidfranc- and counsel received from Lanfranc, the result would have been exceedingly dubious ; — but the Archbishop sustained the venal loyalty of the few Normans who still adhered to the "King, and roused the English to defend their crowned and anointed Sovereign. The natural-born chief tains of the English had been almost wholly swept away; the unprotected people transferred their affection to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the D 2 36 the conqueror's sons. 1087—8 head of the national Church, and therefore of the "~"' English people ; Church and people, people and Church, were one. Thus supported, the Conqueror's son threw himself upon the assistance of the race whom his father had humiliated and despoiled. He issued his writs, directed only to the native English, putting the Normans wholly by. He English addressed the English as his defenders against summoned ° . ° to agreat Norman treason, claiming their aid in his urgent need. The best men in England were those whom he courted, the best men in England were those whom he summoned, promising them deli verance from the consequences of the hard sub jugation they had sustained. It should seem that the citizens of London appeared by twelve representatives. We have nothing but hints. All is seen, as it was done, in hurry and con- Promises fusion. Three were the promises which Rufus Rufus— again made — first, he would refrain from all un- afterwards ° developed just taxation — secondly, every man should enjoy charta. his own hunts and chases in his own woods and wolds — thirdly, and lastly, was the declaration, perhaps too sweeping, that all abuses introduced under the new dynasty should be utterly abo lished. — This most important covenant, this appeal to the Commons, is described without emphasis and without remark, in the succinct and obscure narratives of the chroniclers. They were too near, to comprehend the full import of these three accession of rufus. 37 sentences. Words thus spoken to a people are io87— 8 rarely idle, however insincere the speaker may be. ' " The developement of the three promises will begin under Henry Beauclerc, and receive fur ther expansion upon Runnymede. This trans action flits and flees before us like a shadow, and disappears like a shadow ; but, to borrow a simile from a sign and wonder of our times, it was daguerreotyped upon the public mind, and became visible in all its brightness when Arch bishop Hubert penned Charta de Foresta and Magna Charta. Moreover, during these proceedings, Norman The Rufus used the English speech, the better to reproach. personate the character of an English King, warning the English not to incur the foul shame of becoming Nithings, a term scarcely suscep tible of interpretation. Learned glossographers have puzzled to discover the why and the where fore this term " Nithing" was so opprobrious. One seeks the derivation from " nidus et pullus, sed quaere," and so on. It is no discredit to have failed : the pith and force of popular language can rarely be read out of a grammar, or picked out of a lexicon, any more than you can* acquire the accent by looking at the words. Imagine a Gottingen professor trying to make out the mean ing of Radical by comparing the English-Latin part of En tick with Todd's Johnson, or young Italy at Bologna giving the explanation of Loco-foco 38 the conqueror's sons. 1087—8 from Baretti. Such things have been done ; but be this as it may, to be called a "Nithing" was the greatest ignominy an Englishman could receive. mani e § ^- Rufus possessed all the advantages of Sufus?f youth and expectation. At this juncture also, his peril excited sympathy : the English poured out to the assistance of their Lord. They were egged on by a revival of national feeling, they were called upon to punish the conquering race, to wreak their King's vengeance upon their own oppressors. Thirty thousand Englishmen, as they reckoned, came forward, eager in spirit, cla mouring for battle, urging Rufus to chastise the traitors, without respect of persons, and encou raging him to assert his rights. Let him search the histories of England, said they : there will he find that Englishmen are ever faithful to their King. Had Rufus read the English chronicles, he might have doubted the assertion; however, he fully availed himself of this transient burst of the English enthusiasm. Rufus But the Normans also required to be dealt detaches . x Mont- with. Discreet management enabled him to gomery o Robert's detach Montgomery from the Norman party. party. Rufus sought an interview with the great Earl, spoke to him cheerfully and confidentially. Clever statesman as he was, he did not direct the speech merely to the individual whom he addressed: it was a confidence intended for publicity. "Why are yc so discontented?" said accession of rufus. 39 he, "need ye more lands? Ye shall have iost-s them." — He concluded by reminding the Earl — " — that King and Barons held by one title: if they disregarded the appointment which Wil liam the Conqueror had made of the royal dignity in England, were his grants of their English possessions more secure? At the same time that Rufus thus labour- Rufus i . (. . . , deals with ed to pacify his opponents in England, he was R°bert- working upon Robert's easy temper. Messengers were despatched, bearing courteous communica tions, telling him that Rufus never intended to wrong his elder brother. If he accepted the crown, it was because the offer had been made during Robert's absence, by the baronage. He was now ready to declare that if he reigned in England it should be only as vassal, or sub- regulus, beneath the supremacy of the worthier heir. A yearly tribute, say three thousand marks, should testify his dependence, and upon the death of either brother, the survivor should take the Conqueror's whole inheritance. Specious pro posals, little worthy of trust, nevertheless they confirmed Robert in his apathy. He continued merrily in Normandy, whilst his partizans were eagerly, anxiously, awaiting him in England. They had staked their fortunes on his cause, perhaps their lives. Amongst the opponents of Rufus there was no flinching from any measure which could en- Rufus. 40 the conqueror's sons. 1087-8 sure full success. Should Rufus be taken alive, v ' they would surrender the prisoner to Robert, and Robert might deal with him as he chose. Other- The parti- wise, he might be slain. Whenever Subjects zans of ' Robert bring themselves calmly to contemplate the contem- ° " * Seath*/ alternative of detaining a dethroned Monarch in captivity, or depriving him of life, the latter, the safer course, will usually be preferred. In organizing this enterprize, the Barons acted open ly and avowedly for their own interest; and their only motive of preference for Robert was the benefit which they should receive by preserving the integrity of the State, — England and Nor mandy united into one dominion, under one Monarch, and he an easy and manageable King. From the beginning to the end, the move ment was entirely Norman, and it was this circumstance, apparently so disadvantageous to Rufus, which enabled him to defeat the rebellion. Englishmen, with scorn, called the insurgents the richest Frenchmen ; rich being used in its primitive sense of power, perhaps inseparable from its secondary and now alone familiar mean ing. It may be doubted indeed, whether there ever was an aristocracy, in the proper sense, unless united to wealth ; but neither wealth nor lineage at this period imparted any consistent principle of truth, honour, or loyalty. Though we may quote bright and noble exceptions, yet none were more destitute of truth, honour, or loyalty, accession of rufus. 41 than the classes, who, according to the conven- 1087-8 tional phrases of history — phrases so teeming v with false teaching, because, founded upon gra tuitous assumptions, their repetition gives them the aspect of incontestible facts — would be termed the chivalrous baronage. fi 15. Odo established himself with a large Proseeu- J , ° tion of the body of troops in Rochester, much encouraged war. by the presence of Belesme and his companions. Robert's * r * partizans Rufus began cautiously : he refrained from at- b,f p^"^. tacking the city, and led his forces to Tunbridge, held by Gilbert Fitz-Richard. The castle-gar rison speedily capitulated. In the meanwhile, Odo, leaving very sufficient forces in Rochester, such as would fully counterbalance any power Rufus could bring, occupied Pevensey. He had good reasons to maket this movement, though it was unsuccessful : he was followed by Rufus, and, after sustaining six weeks' siege, he became so straitened that he was compelled to surrender, engaging also that he would cause Rochester to be given up, and that he would then quit Eng land. For the fulfilment of this promise, Odo was escorted by a small body of the king's sol diers, to the walls. Embrazures and battlements were manned by the garrison, officered by the flower of England and Normandy. The King's detachment approached in full confidence, calling out to those within, Open the gates ; for such, said they, is the will of the King who is absent, and 42 the conqueror's sons. io87-s of the Bishop, your Earl, whom you see present " here. The Bishop was present ; he spake not, but his expressive countenance told a great deal. The garrison fully understood his silence. The gates suddenly open, the armed cavalry scour out, the troops of Rufus are brought in as prisoners, and Odo, as in triumph, resumes the command. He and the other Chieftains, zealous and rancor ous, determined to defend the city to the utmost. Further reinforcements from Normandy were expected by Odo: therefore had he taken his station in Pevensey ; but none arrived. Robert, however, in this instance, had not been entirely neglectful of his promise. Some forces had been sent over ; but the Englishmen, most pro bably the sailors of the Cinque Ports, faithfully serving Rufus, guarded £he sea. They knew their element, and the winds assisted in dis persing the Norman armament. Many of the men were slain, more were drowned; the war fare was inflamed by national antipathy. The Normans threw themselves into the sea, rather than be shamed by surrendering to an English enemy. This was our first victory gained on the high seas, against the people of the French tongue. The pre-eminence in naval warfare which, had the English been enabled to use it on Harold's behalf, might have repulsed the Conqueror, was employed in defending the right of the Conqueror's child. accession of rufus. 43 § 16. Rufus again renewed his general 1087-8 summons to his English Lieges. From within j^rtheT" burgh and from without, from town and from operations upland, they were called — they most readily an-°fRufus- swered to the call. Rochester was closely Siege of ^ Rochester. invested : the noble dungeon keep, erected by Gundulph for the defence of the royal power, now became a stronghold against the Con queror's appointed heir. The royal army was deficient in artillery : they did not venture to storm the city ; and the siege was turned into a strict blockade. The garrison soon began to suffer severely: the weather was unusually sultry; contagious disease spread rapidly, engendered by the filth and corruption of the crowded mul titude — man and beast equally contributing to the infection. Over and above the sickness, and evidently occasioned by the same cause, an intolerable plague of flies broke out. Odo and his companions, who defied the ordinary hard ships and perils of war, were entirely subdued by this last visitation, one of the many which humiliate all human skill and wisdom. They proposed a surrender ; yet they were Negotia- bold and confident in their asking. They were **d8^ willing to accept peace upon their own terms. R°chester Let their English lands, honours, and possessions, be confirmed to them, and then they would be come the King's homagers. Rufus was exceed ingly incensed by this demand. He would shew 44 the conqueror's sons. 1087—8 no mercy to such traitors : they should expiate "" their guilt with their lives ; he would hang them all. He spoke in right earnest. Left to himself, Mediation the threat would have been fulfilled. The Barons of the Baronage. who headed the royal army, however, now in terceded earnestly on behalf of the offenders. They did not like such an example. Could they feel otherwise? — the revolters were their own friends, some their own retainers, their own relatives, others their own lords. Moreover, such rigid severity would have been an awkward precedent, coming too near home. How long might it be before they themselves should fall in the like danger of the law ? — a motive always exciting wide and deep sympathy for political offenders. Furthermore, they urged the claims of Odo's near kindred; his sacerdotal character- he was a Bishop — the old connexion with the House of Boulogne — the impolicy of driving the Belesme family to despair, they who held so large a portion of Normandy in their power. complete fi 17. Influenced by these arguments rather subjuga- tion and than by any touch of compassion, Rufus con- expulsion " * A . ofRobert's sented that the besieged should depart safe in life and limb; — the latter a real mercy, as en suring them against the mutilations so often inflicted upon the vanquished. But he imposed the hard condition that they should forfeit all the possessions which had incited their rebellion, and abjure the country. Odo's spirit could not accession of rufus. 45 submit willingly to disgrace : he earnestly suppli- ^i"-8 cated that he might not be vilified and degraded oaVs" when he evacuated the city ; and that the trum- contumely pets of the conquering army, as he came forth, might not be sounded in triumph. " Not for a thousand marks of gold," exclaimed Rufus, " will I excuse him." When Odo, whom the English called Judas, passed beneath the portal, trumpets announced the victory; but the shrill blasts were almost overpowered by the louder shouts and outcries of the English soldiery. " The halter, the halter ! — to the gallows, to the gallows !" exclaimed they. The foulest calumnies and execrations were heaped and bestowed upon him by the multitude. Thus did Odo of Bayeux, the brother of the Conqueror, he by whose prowess the tide of battle had been turned at Hastings, depart for ever from the land he had afflicted. His vast possessions, his pala tine-earldom, his widely-extended manors, all the riches he had acquired, were seized by the King. Odo's followers and Robert's adherents were, in like manner, deprived of their possessions: " the Frenchmen abandoned their lands," said the exulting Englishmen, " and fared over the sea." This was the first of the convulsions which Replacement and displaced the Norman baronage; but, far more ^™a*nd efficient than any catastrophe, was the slow and 0£ the*10" silent operation of other judgments, uniformly Barrage. working against them, whose consummation was 46 the conqueror's sons. 1087-8 to be disclosed in future times. In the reign of "" Charles I., a Dugdale, contemplating the dimmed magnificence and grandeur of England's ancient and noble families, was compelled to close his Baronage with mournfulness and submission: reading therein the lessons taught by shield and surcoat, helmet and crest — the shortness, the uncertainty, and the transiency of that earthly grandeur, which it was his duty and also his delight to record. For of the two hundred and seventy noble families who acquired their pos sessions by spoiling England, whose lineages and actions fill the folio, only eight continued subsist ing in Dugdale's day, and none amongst them whose estates had not been exceedingly diminished. In this first expulsion of the Norman conquerors, effected by the conquerors themselves, we dis cern the commencement of the retributive sen tence, doomed to waste them away. Many of Robert's adherents, who had not been so actively engaged as the Rochester gar rison, quitted England quietly. It was very important for Rufus to rid himself of the Bishop of Durham, possessed of so commanding a ter ritory, in restless Northumbria : the strength of Durham Castle and the sanctity of Saint Cuth- bert's Shrine, might have rendered William de St. Carileph a dangerous enemy. Rufus continued to assail the Bishop by pro ceedings in his Supreme court, legally in the first accession of rufus. 47 instance (at least they were sanctioned by Lan- 1087-8 franc), but oppressively, the main point at issue — whether he, as Bishop, might demur to the lay jurisdiction, being mixed up with accusations of treason. Partly by force, and partly by com promise, Rufus gained possession of Durham castle; until the Bishop, worried and annoyed, sought and obtained permission to exile himself from England, and found refuge in Normandy — time well employed for us, as he there obtained the plan of the magnificent cathedral now tower ing on the Wear's rocky banks, and which he began to erect, when, after three years' banish ment, he was permitted to return. Rufus did not press severely upon any except those who had been actually taken in arms. He well knew who were unsound, but he spared the older Barons ; they had been his father's friends, his policy taught him to respect their old age, and he honoured his father's memory. He trusted to the great peacemaker, the Angel of Death : he knew they could not live much longer to trouble him or themselves. Others laboured to gain his confidence by ostentatious loyalty — some were closely watched. None excited more suspicion than the Mowbray on this side of the channel, and William of Eu on the other ; whilst Rufus, hunting the hare in the chariot drawn by oxen, waited patiently till he could wreak his vengeance. Chapter II. flambard's administration, and the scheme por the general secularization op church property. 1089—1100. io89-noo ^ i_ Robert's partizans being thus expelled, a year of political tranquillity ensued ; but not a happy or a restful year : a year of terror, a year of trouble. Earthquakes throughout England, storms, blights, murrain ; corn laid by the driving showers; the pallid ear, sodden by wet, heavy with damp, bearing down the flaccid straw. Sun less harvest time brought within sight of mournful Yule tide. Crops unreaped till after dank Mar tinmas, far on, in foggy November ; when coming Christmas is talked of, and the beeves and swine slaughtered and salted for winter's store. 28%, But the great sorrow of the year was Lan- franc's death. On the morrow of Venerable Bede's commemoration Lanfranc departed. His body was deposited in the Basilica he had begun to raise, the noble structure planned, as they were wont to plan, in Imperial Christian Rome. Lan- franc's obit was long marked in Christ Church, Canterbury, as a day of holy joy, when in the choir, ascending in triple grade, the altar blazed with light, surrounded by the Ministers whose white garments were tokens to eye and mind flambard's administration. 49 that their mourning was a thankful triumph, 1089-1100 whilst the roof resounded with the hymn appro priated to the memory of the Pastor gathered to his rest. But when that same day, the tenth Kalends of June, arose in the year one thousand and eighty- nine, the prevailing feeling was not devotional remembrance, but the sharp pang of natural sorrow. Lanfranc's death was mourned as the heaviest loss which could befal England. Lan franc had been placed over the British Churches, an alien, yet he lived to become the protector of the English people. Strange in blood to the Norman, strange in blood to the Englishman, both now loved him as their kinsman : his station and disposition combined to render him the medi ator between the conquerors and the subjugated. It was an apparent, but by no means a real con tradiction in the Red King's character, that if he submitted to be directed, whether for good or evil, he obeyed readily. In the one case, his strong good sense, when his mind was undis turbed, enabled him to contend against his natu ral inclination. In the other, that same natural inclination stimulated him to drive onward with the grateful adviser. So long as Lanfranc lived, Rufus had, in all open and public affairs, been substantially guided by his counsel. Bickerings there might be between the Archbishop and the King: sharp retorts from the quick and witty VOL. III. E 50 the conqueror's sons. 1089-1100 Sovereign, but no coolness. His proud and angry temper, though not completely restrained, was mitigated and sweetened by Lanfranc's kindly intervention. To the last, the Archbishop re tained the bland, senatorial elegance and courtesy of Pavia. Rufus had been endued with noble qualities. His filial obedience affords evidence of a virtuous germ. Hitherto constrained by difficulties, his conduct towards his subjects was so moderated and guarded, that, as kings are used to be, Eng land had good reason to be content. But the difficulties being subdued, Lanfranc's death re leased him from all controul; and he settled into a course of unremitted oppression, the more grievous, because, excepting when his mind was under paroxysmal excitement, his schemes of action were able, clever, and carefully destined for a definite end. Ralph £ 2. The history of Ministers, employing the BMiovao*a appellation in its most extended sense, from Hisorigin Tristan I'Hermite with his halter, to Talleyrand, is an integral chapter in the history of monarchs, It cannot be otherwise : the strongest arm needs a weapon ; the ablest hand, a working-tool. Ralph, the future Bishop of Durham and Premier, was born in mean estate. This circumstance, the truest temporal honour of the Christian Hier archy, has always been so common, that had he not provoked popular rancour by his subsequent and cha^ racter. flambard's administration. 51 conduct, it would have been passed over almost 1089-1100 without observation, and certainly without inju- — " — ' rious comment : the aristocratic pride of blood, as yet unnursed by badges and banners, was then only a subordinate element in general medieval feeling. But, when powerful and prosperous, his diligent, and therefore most unpopular adminis tration, induced the world to exaggerate the ill fame of his ancestry. He came from Bayeux, now thoroughly a Romane city. The old Danske was wholly for gotten there, and the Teutonic lineages quite gallicised. Nevertheless the name of Ralph's father bears an Anglo-Danish or English sound. There had been a constant give and take be tween England and Normandy; and Thurstan, for thus was he called, may have crossed the water in Duke Richard's time. This however is mere, and not very important, conjecture. Whether the stories circulated respecting Ralph's parents be true or no, he himself was certainly one of the Normans whom the weakness or libe rality of the Confessor encouraged in England. Ranulphus, or Radulphus Flamme, or Flanbard, or Flambart, or Flambard, or Passe-flambard, held, tempore regis Edwardi, a hide of land in Hampshire. Tempore Regis Willielmi, matters altered for the worse. The property was included within the devouring bounds of the New Forest. The Conqueror seized the parcels, and transferred E 2 52 the conqueror's sons. 1089—noo field and fold to the beasts ; so it was gone. Nevertheless Flambard got good compensation: in the last year of King William's reign he ap pears as a landholder to a decent extent ; holding property both in capite, and as an under tenant ; amongst other hereditaments, a mansion in Oxford. He was a Burgher and a Minor Baron as well as a Vavassor. If we choose to fill up the void, be tween Domesday and the recollections of Durham and Saint Evroul's monasteries, we might repre sent him, when the forest officers seized his land, repairing in suppliant guise to the Conqueror, addressing the King in good Norman French, and complaining what a hard case it was, that he, a Norman by birth, a Norman of Bayeux, should thus be ejected. Yet, not whining dolefully, but speak ing cheerfully, and as if unwilling to grieve about the matter, and thus winning the Royal favour. Many a long historical yarn of good repute, has been spun out of a tow far slighter ; Flambard's biography comes off very clear, and there is no real difficulty, except as to the order in which the various incidents of his eventful life succeeded. Flambard Taking the arrangement which seems most passes into ° the Koyai probable, we trace him from Oxford — for this service. * place must be considered as his domicile—to the service of the Bishop of London, Bishop Maurice the Chancellor; but whether officially, or as a domestic chaplain, does not clearly appear. A dispute arose between the Bishop flambard's administration. 53 and Flambard: the latter wanted a Deanery, losa-noo but could not get it. The failure seems to in- ' " ' dicate that he was not regularly upon the Chan cery establishment. He then passed into the Royal service as a Clericus. An exact chro nology of Flambard's passages is impracticable : but it is certain that he was speedily stationed in a very important branch of the royal house hold — the King's kitchen — the earliest Clerk of Flambard, the Kitchen upon record. Employment in thistheKit- department led to good preferment. We shall live (in this our history) to see many similar chances and changes : Roger, the King's Larderer, appointed Bishop of Hereford, and Robert, the King's Chaplain in the chapel, and Clerk in the King's pantry, Bishop of Coventry. In this region Flambard continued for a time, ruling over cooks and varlets, coquins and scul lions, and other such like retainers of the Court, until he worked his way onward from the royal kitchen to the royal hall. Clever, but full of malice, both in the English and French significa tion, he became a Puck, a Robin Goodfellow, set ting all the establishment together by the ears. Hence Robert Le Despenser called him the Fire- origin of i i x t-ii i » i i -i Flambard's brand, or " Le b lam bard, the name, together with by-name. other analogous appellations, given to him by pro- lepsis in Domesday, and which never afterwards departed from him. Flambard he became a Bishop, Flambard in power, Flambard in disgrace, 54 the conqueror's sons. io89_noo Flambard expelled, Flambard restored, and Flam bard he died. Flambard a Hence to the Chapel : a Clericus in the King's \^ ici k oi Lire chancery. Chancery, drawing and engrossing, folding and sealing Writs and Charters; the King's man of business, handsome, but somewhat profligate, full of resource and adaptation, recommending him self to notice, and still more to social popularity, by those talents which are hated and encouraged — the ready gibe, the satirical jeer. He advanced faster and faster. Ralph the Publican, the chief of Publicans, possessed, as the epithet given to him by a great Prelate denotes, a consummate talent for finance. He was confidentially em ployed in fiscal service by the Conqueror. Flam bard must have been known to be very able and very firm, for William despatched him to the Bishoprick of Durham, afterwards his own : where he raised a large sum for the King. It was said also that the tax was illegal, and Northum bria was peculiarly sensitive to any invasion of her privileges. However, he was entirely suc cessful. Flambard $ 3. A new reign furnished a more congenial confidence patron. The Conqueror found Flambard useful, of Rufus, . and be- but he did not absolutely need the man to carry comes his * " SinTster. out ms Policy> and there was scarcely any affinity between their characters. Not so Rufus : he and Flambard matched. They coalesced by mutual attraction ; and as soon as Lanfranc died, Flam- FLAMBARD S ADMINISTRATION. 55 bard, though still ostensibly in a subordinate 1089-1100 position, expanded rapidly into permanent influ- " ' ence and power. During the early part of this reign, Robert Flambard a ° clerk of the Bloet, the King's half uncle, continued to act as Shan5jry- 0 The chan- Chancellor. He always retained the favour of^mes^b- his royal kinsman; an able and efficient man, with no peculiar vice, but who did not possess any principle inducing him to become disagree able to the King. Bloet, though long in the Chapel, had not yet obtained a Bishoprick, and his son Simon, a Clerk in minor orders, was yet rather too young to look for ecclesiastical preferment. In the Chancery Flambard had companions destined to eminence; men of fame and name, in hier archical annals. Gerard, sometimes designated as Chancellor, probably introduced by his uncle Walkeline, Bishop of Winchester, and therefore connected with the Royal family; William Warle- wast, called the King's cousin through his mother; William Gifford, a kinsman of the Earl of Buck ingham, who occasionally acted as Chancellor ; possibly also Galdric or Baldrick, the tonsured clerk who fought for Henry Beauclerk in the fatal battle of Tenchebrai, and was promoted, as some say, to Landaff, but more probably to Laon. So much for Flambard's superiors or associates ; but, whether placed higher or lower, whether sitting on the upper form or the under form, he was known to be the King's own Cie- 56 the conqueror's sons. 1089—noo ricus, really preeminent amongst them all ; bear ing messages, serving process, levying distresses, making seizures — doing anything which could be required. Division of labour, in all cases, the purchase of precision at the expence of vigour, was not much practised ; and what now are called, feelings of delicacy, were scarcely known. Flambard He seems to have continued in this position, appointed x tortotius until Bloet's removal from office. Employments Regni." an(j r0yai favours then accumulated upon him. He is designated as Procurator totius regni; a title not constitutionally known, but evidently im plying that he was perpetual Justiciar. Higher he could not rise, inasmuch as, by virtue of this office, he became Regent whenever the Sove reign was absent from the kingdom; and also the King's Lieutenant wherever the Sovereign was not present actually and personally, his Com mission superseding all other jurisdictions. There were some curious vestiges of this regal power in herent in the Court of King's Bench, presided by the Chief Justice of all England, which continued until they were abolished by Statute, inasmuch as they occasionally caused practical inconve niences. Flambard appears sometimes also as Trea surer, sometimes as Chancellor: the fact is, that, like the King whom he represented, he could sit in any court, and act in any department. Occasionally, colleagues were assigned to him; flambard's administration. 57 but, nevertheless, so long as Rufus lived, Flam- 1089-1100 bard was Prime Minister, favourite and adviser ; " invested with almost royal authority. § 4. A memorable financial operation sug- Flambard's iit-ii i i • i -ii. •• encrease of gested by Flambard, requires detail, being inti- the Dane- mately connected with mediaeval policy in various other taxes. bearings : and well illustrated also, by comparison with the economy of later periods. When the Land-tax, already suggested under the Common wealth, received its present apportionment and mode of collection, about four years after the Revolution, the Statute directed an "assessment" of all real property, "according to the full and true yearly value thereof;" and this valuation was assumed to be the permanent basis of the rate. Whether this Land-tax was higher or iuustrated lower, it was so much m the pound, as the Land-tax * Assess- pound had been rated under William of Nassau. ments' The assessment was sufficiently " full ;" but, on the face of the Commissioners' books, it offers many remarkable inequalities, so as to raise doubts whe ther it equally complied with the Parliamentary injunction of being " true." Political sentiments are supposed to have possessed some influence. A staunch supporter of the Protestant succession had the agreeable mortification of finding himself a great deal poorer than his neighbour the Tory squire, the advocate of hereditary right. A sur charge, it is believed, might be reduced ten per cent, by whistling Lillabulero ; and the Papist's 58 the conqueror's sons. 1089—1100 double poundage was doubled again if it had been surmised that information might be obtained that the tormented Recusant had been heard to hum "Confound their politicks, Frustrate their knavish tricks," though he had not completed the stanza. However, allowing for these acci dents, the general principle of the assessment was unquestionably the land's annual value at a rack-rent, and no other: and this principle continued, and continues, unaltered. Whatever improvements may have been subsequently made in the land's value, the Land-tax scale does not go to slide. This revolution tax, renewed annually, without intermission, by Parliament, so as to be come virtually a permanent branch of the Crown revenue, and reckoned as such by Blackstone; was ultimately legalized as a perpetual tax by Flambard's successor, William Pitt. Still the Land-tax always continued to be rated and levied, and still is rated, levied, or commuted, accord ing to the " full and true annual value " assessed and settled when the Oxford coach took six days to complete its journey outward and homeward, and you examined the priming of your pistols when you had passed Saint Giles his pound, the Oxford road, (or rather the series of ruts and sloughs bounded by tall dark hedges, and so called,) being much infested by highwaymen to wards nightfall. Hence the great discrepancies between the present value of landed property flambard's administration. 59 and the Land-tax. Carlton Terrace pays and 1089— uoo redeems at the same standard as though the de coy ducks still winged their flapping flight in the Park. Belgravia not a penny more or less than during her eocene era, when her gay precinct con stituted the dismal swamp of Chelsea fields. That a contribution to the public necessi ties, not regulated, as it promises and professes to be, by the true value of the taxed article, is theoretically unfair, cannot be doubted. But even before the Land-tax had been rendered permanent, property was held, and bought, and sold, upon the understanding that the original assessment should continue unchangeable. There fore it would have been construed as a breach of public faith, had a new assessment been made ; and, though occasionally suggested, any increase of the Land-tax, as a distinct territorial Govern ment impost, is admitted to be quite out of the question. A celebrated item in Flambard's budget ofF1¥nbard ° makes a Ways and Means, his new assessment of the °ee"t™pe08*" Danegelt, or tax of six shillings upon each hyde *£™ prm~ of land, so recently settled by Domesday, was more than equivalent to such an hypothetical re-assessment and surcharge of the Land-tax — more than equivalent, — because more searching, and also giving the Crown a despotic hold upon the rights of property. The scheme was ably effected by Flambard ; not by raising the nominal 60 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1089—1100 money-tax, for the geld was still no more than six shillings per hyde, but by enlarging the quantity of taxable land. Ancient The Domesday commissioners accepted with- measure- ments of out hesitation, as the materials of their survey, land calcu- * lated by the sworn returns or presentments made by the productive " extent. Jurors of the Hundreds and Burghs, or other Sokes or Leets, whomsoever they might be. Toge ther with the new Norman landlords, old English men, real Englishmen, churls and villeins, con stituted the largest numerical proportion of these Juries. But whether Norman or Englishman swore, they concurred in defending their land against the demands of the Crown upon one and the same principle. It was a cause in which all were united. They proceeded according to the custom of the country, and as Englishmen were used to do in the old time ; they could nor would innovate. According to this English cus tom, land was measured by a compromise between Land so superficial extent and productive value. Instead measured A r r>yome6sday °^ trundling the theodolite, they yoked the oxen commission- and sped the plough. Thus, the carucate con sisted of so much land as the ploughshare could furrow in the course of the season; the half- drowned plashes which sunk beneath the tread, or the soil studded with jutting rocks, where the husbandman could not turn up the glebe, were no portion of the plough-land. The bents and sedges where tho ox could not feed were FLAMBARD'S ADMINISTRATION. 61 excluded from the ox-gang. The ridges and 1089-1100 balks over which the scythe could not mow the " grass, were not reckoned in the "day-math :" and, generally speaking, no land uncultivated at the time of the Domesday survey, was included in the calculation of the hydes. Hence, the very unequal admeasurements of the plough-land, ca- rucate, or hyde, in subsequent times, when by usage it became a regular sum total of acreage ; the same denomination of measure, a "hyde land" or its synonyms, being applied to sixty, eighty, an hundred, an hundred and twelve, an hundred and twenty, or an hundred and fifty acres. Flambard's deeply concerted plan, however, embraced objects far more important than the quantum of Dangeld. He aimed at the substitu tion of arbitrary authority, in place of the limited monarchy recognized by Domesday. Without any abstract theory of popular representation, English men, by the intervention ofthe jurors, taxed them selves. If the people were bound by the verdict, so was the King. Flambard made a bold at tempt to wrest this privilege from the nation, and to vest an uncontrolled fiscal authority in the Crown. Repudiating any advice or consent of Land- F1„™b*ml lords or Landholders, he caused the land to be re- "eXTo'be measured according to the rude Norman practice, by1sU"paetred by the rope or line, rendering superficial extent extent. alone, the basis of the calculation. The Crown 62 the conqueror's sons. 1089—1100 officers formed a new Cadastre, according to the new principle which he laid down. His surveys were made according to the practice first intro duced by the Scandinavians, almost the only tradition of their customs then remaining, but precisely that which was most tyrannical. The land was therefore meted according to an in variable geometrical standard, without any refer ence to its productive worth ; and this introduc tion of a new standard acted in every way to the prejudice of the Landholders. fc™eof The first result exhibited, of course, a far larger acreage than the Domesday survey; and the tax accrued accordingly. The mere surcharge, however, was the least odious feature in the transaction. Much might be said, and probably was said, to justify this proceeding ; for the prin ciples of business were perfectly well understood. The Domesday Commissioners had in some de gree contemplated the possibility of uncultivated land being brought into cultivation, and thus be coming liable to the tax. Nevertheless, there is a natural feeling to rest upon possession ; and any disturbance of an established revenue system, in which, from the mode of collection, the subject has enjoyed some advantage, fair or unfair, is sure to produce discontent, however plausible the reasons may be. of9forPeaston But in the present case, besides the additional payment, there was another pregnant grievance, the wide-spreading usurpation of hunting and flambard's administration. 63 sporting ground, hitherto spared for the suste- io89_noo nance, and still more, the recreation of the people. All the promises given by Rufus for redressing the abuses of the Forest, were violated as soon as the rebellion of the Norman party had been quelled. The linear measurements afforded the utmost facilities for absorbing such of the subjects' woods and chases as were in and about the Royal purlieus. This was particularly the case with the fated Giant's Weald : the ambit of the unhappy New Forest was widely extended by Rufus, who accumulated upon his own head the curses of his Father's acts and his own. Rufus was absolutely fanatic as a hunts man : he inflicted the heaviest punishments, per petual imprisonments, horrible mutilation, death, for the slightest trespass against his delights. He was the raging Wilde Jaeger of England. Lastly, this repartition of taxes, purely by subversion royal authority, would, if it had continued, have f Ple^ of •i * ' ¦ ' taxation. subverted all the constitutional principles of ad ministration, and placed all the property, and through the property, the person of the subject, entirely in the King's power. Flambard bore all the odium attached to the financial department of the government, and he did not shrink from responsibility. He is said to have doubled the amount of the taxes by his unscrupulous rigour. Yet, much as he was vituperated, no accusation of personal corruption 64 the conqueror's sons. 1089—1100 was ever preferred against him. He was entirely "" devoted to the government, and to the govern ment only, and that government was the King. He threw himself entirely into the mind of Rufus: thought with him, worked with him, and enjoyed carrying out the Sovereign's intentions. As a servant of the Crown he acted with the fearless perverted honesty of ministerial devotion: he cared not whom he offended in the execution of his duty; high or low, his exactions fell equally upon all. Effects of fi 5. Flambard being thus impartial in en- Flambard's J ° r unpopu- forcing the royal demands upon all classes, so did all classes reward him with equivalent hatred : not in the least mitigated by the full conscious ness, which none could resist, of his great capacity and ability. A plot was formed against his life. Plot By a feigned story that Bishop Maurice, his old against his J ° J r Iife- patron, was dying and wished to see him, he was inveigled on board a vessel lying in the Thames. When the false intelligence was brought to the King's Chancellor, for in this capacity Flambard was now acting, he immediately embarked, pro bably at the old Bridge, or Landing-place of the Palace, not unfrequently mentioned in State Papers and correspondence of the Tudor and Stuart era, only very recently obliterated by the embankment, for it stood close to the spot where the Clock Tower is rising. And, always faithful to his trust, even during that absence from the flambard's administration. 65 Court, expected to be so short, he took with ios9— uoo him the King's Great Seal. But, soon as the ^ vessel fairly stood out in the stream, Flambard found he was a captive : instead of making for the banks, the boat rowed down to the Nore, and from the Nore unto the open sea. Aware now of his imminent danger, his first thoughts turned to his official charge : he cast the Privy Seal as well as the Great Seal into the water ; a curious anticipation of Jefferies. Flambard did so, lest the Seals should be employed in exciting trouble by affixing them to forged documents : a precau tion perhaps also shewing, that he suspected some plots against the King. Consultations were held how the victim should be despatched. Some, advised murdering him on board ; others, inclined to throw him over. This dispute led to further differences : the intended assassins began to quarrel amongst themselves concerning the spoil, the division of his rich garments, and the valuables he wore about his person. In the mean while, a gale began to blow. Flambard's cheerfulness," his presence of mind, his unshaken courage, — lastly, the storm, — preserved his life. The boat was driven back upon the coast, Flambard and his enemies landed in safety. He returned to the Palace ; and, received by Rufus as one restored from the dead, rose higher than ever in royal favour and delegated au thority. VOL. III. F 66 the conqueror's sons. 1089—noo After many vicissitudes, Bishop Flambard repented ; and, accusing himself bitterly for his misdeeds, ended his days better than Clerk Flam bard began. There was always a vein of magna nimity and liberality in his character. Even now, when at his worst, he abstained from inflicting any vengeance upon his dastardly enemies, who are indicated as having been both numerous and powerful ; yet he employed precautions which effectually secured him against open attacks or secret perfidy, during the remainder of the reign. stories n0 forecast or wariness, however, could shield concerningparJe"ntsrd'9 Flambard from the pungent shafts of truth fea thered by slander. The abuses of Flambard's public conduct may have been in some degree exaggerated ; but greater scope was given for invention, in the jocose malignant gossip, en grafted upon an indubitable fact, the meanness of Flambard's family. His father, Thurstan, cer tainly a priest, a married priest at Bayeux, was stigmatized as a most wretched and dissolute character. Flambard's ugly mother, Thurstan's wife, acquired, growing older and uglier, the re putation of a witch. During the Anglo-Norman era, there was no persecution of witchcraft as such: she was safe from being burnt or swum, though the object of universal detestation and horror. Children, it was reported, used to hie away in the streets for fear, when the fell one-eyed sor ceress drew nigh. And how had she lost the flambard s administration. 67 other? — It had been clawed out, in a conflict 1089-1100 with the Demon. The poor, vexed carline, attain- " ing extreme old age, lived under Flambard's care, both in adversity and in prosperity ; and his filial affection was an additional and unmerited source of further obloquy. Had our Ordericus of St. Evroul, like his con temporaries at Peterborough, written his history in the vernacular tongue, these precious anec dotes would, perhaps, have appeared in the form of quotations from a popular ballad ; they might have ranged with the rhyme-staves upon the death of the Conqueror, which we unravel out of the prose paragraphs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Nothing is more likely than that the story of Flambard's mother enlivened the chanson of some bullied minstrel, who, jesting in Flam bard's presence, had been treated as Flambard in earlier life often deserved to be — cuffed out of the hall. Such effusions have deeply tinctured mediaeval history, and like modern political cari catures and squibs, afford lively and valuable in formation. Kouli Khan, making his triumphal entry upon his elephant into Leadenhall street, , adds the finishing touch to Burke's speeches against Charles Fox and the India Bill. Sayers and Gilray, and the artist of the mysterious monogram, will supply to the Hallams and Ma- caulays of the next age, a perpetual commentary F 2 68 the conqueror's sons. io89_ uoo upon Woodfall and Hansard. Future Mahons may elucidate the despatches of Guizot and Aberdeen by Punch and the Charivari. Khemefor $ ®" ^n *^e preceding sketch, we have given baetionUofr~ a general view of Flambard's career. We must caTpro-3'1" now advert to that branch of public policy in perty' which he became most thoroughly, most inti mately useful to the King. Whatever other objects occupied Rufus during his reign, the main one, — and in all probability, however carefully he may have concealed his sen timents during Lanfranc's life, from his first settlement in the kingdom — was the general secularization of ecclesiastical property. This idea became the governing principle of his mind : — all the movements were in harmony with this key-note. Busily engaged in conflicts with his brothers, warring against Scots and Cymri, intensely pursuing personal gratification and voluptuousness, he never allowed himself to be diverted by distraction, employment, plea sure, or exigency, from the purpose of his great scheme. "Priests," said Rufus, "hold half my kingdom." Extravagant as this misstatement was — and he must have known it to be untrue, since he possessed surveys affording that exact and statistical information concerning England, which the archives of no other Sovereign con tained—the assertion should not be considered flambard's administration. 69 so much an intentional exaggeration, as the ios9— uoo token of an inveterate hostility. Seizures of ^ money and other valuable objects, deposited in churches and monasteries, had been frequently made, but moveable property was soon spent ; and therefore the territorial endowment of the Church, out and out, could alone satisfy his de- f0I,n,v>e01^d„ sire. The whole he intended to parcel out into church Knights' fees, a further propitiation to the mili- Knights" fees. tary power. Some approach to such a utilization of ec clesiastical property, had been effected by the conversion of episcopal and monastic endow ments into Baronies ; but this very obscure transaction, scarcely known otherwise than by the results, was more vexatious than onerous. The number of Knights' fees for which the pre lates became liable, was comparatively incon siderable and ill-defined. Whenever the Earl Marshal held a muster, there ensued a constant squabble as to the number of men this or that Bishop or Abbot was bound to send : subject to this charge, the revenues belonged to the Church. With respect to other foundations, a large proportion continued to hold their lands as benefices in franc-almoigne, rendering prayers and alms. Rufus would fain displace the Hierarchy entirely, and transfer all the permanent posses sions of the Church to the laity. Precedents somewhat analogous were not wanting. Carlo vin- 70 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1089—1100 gians and Capets, Dukes of France and Counts of Flanders, set the example. Rufus might think he had as good right to the Abbey of Westminster, as Hugh the Great had to be Abbot of Tours, or Arnolph, of St. Bertin. Yet these abusive usur pations of ecclesiastical property were occasional and accidental, and neither implied any hostility to ecclesiastical order, nor resulted from any well-matured design : whereas Rufus proceeded systematically, and upon opinion and principle. actuated by Rufus was an enthusiast, working out the principles, great idea that possessed him ; actuated therein by deeper feelings than mere avarice, or even than mere ambition, strange and wild as his visions of power may have been. His conduct differed essentially from that pursued by his father. The Conqueror considered his preroga tive over ecclesiastical property, and indeed over the very spirituality of the Church, as paramount ; but he acted with the controlled discretion of a cool and tranquil politician. Allowing for circum stances, William the First and William the Third might have counterchanged. His feelings of devo tion were tepid, yet religion was by him neither neglected nor despised. Not so his son Rufus. He hated religion. He is the only old English King who never made any pious or charitable founda tion worth notice. He bargained and sold with Churchmen, therefore his name appears in char ters ; for it was not necessary to express the FLAMBARD'S ADMINISTRATION. 71 money-consideration in the grants. Some small 1089— 1100 donations may have been extorted by a sense of decency, or a momentary half-delirious com punction : but these exhausted his bounty ; no consecrated structure, no cathedral or monastery contained within its walls any memorial of Rufus, except the most significant one, to which he came at last — his prayerless tomb. His knowledge, that faith, or any object of faith existed, can be collected only from his oaths and execrations, his scoffs and his jeers. In rejecting the exagge rations of belief, he rejected belief altogether. Somewhat later, flourished the Second Frederick of Hohenstauffen, the imperial sceptic, holding so prominent a station in the annals of free enquiry. The English King's infidelity was of a different kind. He rather resembled the Great Frederick of Prussia, his profanity being encouraged by sarcastic and talented profligacy. Nevertheless Rufus was a splendid monarch : nay, amongst certain classes a popular monarch ; many profited by his vices, many admired, all feared him. " Were we Ethnics, and were it lawful for us to believe in the transmigration of souls," ex claims the adulatory monk of Malmesbury, seek ing in Rome's history and Rome's traditions the standard of excellence, "it might be said that the soul of Caesar passed into the body of Rufus." Rufus was unshaken in his resolves. He proclaimed his opinions, he gloried in his 72 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1089-1100 vices. Rufus just missed the opportunities which would have placed him amongst the world's he roes. He was gifted with consistency — that gift which more than courage, more than acuteness, more than eloquence, more than any other, quali fies a Leader to compel the obedience of mankind. outline of $ 7. Flambard aiding and counselling, the br°iiufed £rea,t design, whatever encouragement and sup- barV'in3"1" Port might be derived from ancient continental TuTtheg examples, was prosecuted with more system, and secuiarfea- approached nearer to success than in any other Christian realm. The practice of the English Church, and the prerogatives of William the Con queror, now and henceforth called the Consuetu- dines paternm or Consuetudines avitw — we shall hear a great deal more of these Consuetudines under Henry Beauclerk and Henry Plantagenet — afforded instrumentality of peculiar power. Had Rufus entertained any misgivings respecting the possibility of his plan, had he doubted that he should ultimately succeed, he would probably have rushed to the full extent in the first instance, endeavouring to avoid any contingent chance of discomfiture by a sudden and violent seizure. He proceeded more slowly, because he believed himself to be sure. He improved every oppor tunity that offered, whether by exercise of pre rogative, or by playing off" the personages under his command. Love of lucre, ambition, vice- but most useful of all— timid and complacent FLAMBARD'S ADMINISTRATION. 73 servility, enabled this godless King to neutral- ioso- uoo ize the energies of the Faith which pervaded society An Anglo-Norman Sovereign, by virtue of the s,°"^^ °f Consuetudines, possessed the uncontrolled autho- o"^!™™ rity of appointing Bishops, not promoted upon Blsh°Ps- hypothetical expectations, but men of whom he was already sure, men well broken in to the bit — well disciplined for his service beforehand. The majority were trained in the Chancery, fashioned in the Chancery: all created in the Chancery, and retaining, after their preferment, the obedient habits acquired and taught in the Chancery. When the Great Council assembled, the Chancery Clerks always attended ; and their regular attend ance has been mistaken for an appearance of the inferior clergy, such as was afterwards required by the famous Premunientes clause. In this body of clerks and chaplains originated the select legal Council, which, when our Legislature began to assume its present form, became the directing committee of the High Court of Parliament : the Woolsack, in this respect, may be honoured as coeval with our Constitutional Throne. Old ac- The. co»- nexion be- quaintanceship, official intercourse, community of ^*n^he interest and feeling, amalgamated .the Bishops and cnhda*^r the Chancery-men into a most influential section of the Legislature : the King, particularly useful to them ; they, to the King. Most, or all of the Bishops were or had been Chancellors, Chancery- 74 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1089—1100 masters, Chancery-clerks. Most or all of the Chancellors, Chancery-masters, Chancery-clerks, were Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons, Canons, Pre bendaries, Rectors, or multiples thereof: or be came so, or wanted to be. This intimate relation between the Prelacy and the Chancery, furnishes the rationale of whole chapters ofthe Statute Book and the Parliamentary Records. Seen through the mist of historical traditions, the opposition to the Papal claims appears as a glorious struggle for the liberty of the National Church. A more minute investigation of the Close and Patent rolls will reveal the prizes for which the combat ants contended. The Provisors and their Papal Bulls attacking the finest and choicest preferment — the Chancellor and the Master of the Rolls endeavouring to scare away the assailants, by waving in their faces the Premunire, the Presen tation, and the Great Seal. synods of The Bishops, thus influenced and controlled the Clergy . prohibited, in the Great Council, all ecclesiastical liberty as well as " cUeirof eT was denied to them elsewhere. The Conqueror disdpimt1 prohibited the promulgation of any canon unless with his previous approbation. Rufus wholly prevented the assemblies of the Clergy. Con sequently, the Synods, in which the active life of the hierarchy resides, and without which it continues in a convulsive doze, were never held. If, in modern times, Convocation has become a shadow, even that shadow never flitted before FLAMBARD'S ADMINISTRATION. 75 the Church when Rufus reigned. Deprived ofio89— uoo power collectively, the Clergy were equally para lyzed individually; no ecclesiastical censure or interdict could be pronounced without the royal fiat. The King kept the Power of the Keys under his own lock and key. Furthermore, by forcing investiture upon them,.the persons of the Clergy, deprived of the immunity of their order, were amenable to the King's tribunals, or, in other words, entirely in his power. A Bishop had neither the freedom of a layman, nor the privi lege of a clerk. 5 8. It should seem that William the Con- spoliation J of the queror, though he exerted, had not greatly abused church the right of investiture, so far as related to the custody of Church temporaries during vacancies. Flambard advised that whenever any avoidance took place, the King should seize the possessions, and hold and treat them entirely as Crown pro perty. Elizabeth made full use of this power ; many noble lordships and manors passed from the Mitre to the Queen, or the Queen's favourite, during such a pause. This plainest and easiest mode of pillage, was pursued with unsparing rapa city. Various advantages resulted from the plan. So long as the See continued vacant, all the Church property came under Flambard's manage ment : and his mode of administration is best exemplified by the first and most memorable ex ample, his occupation of the Sec of Canterbury. vacancies. death. 76 the conqueror's sons. 1089—noo Rufus and Flambard had, without doubt, been seizure expecting Lanfranc's death. Before the solemn,* temporal- lengthened, funeral-services were concluded, Flam- ties of canterbury bard, as Custos on the King's behalf, entered upon Lan- deTt.h8 the Monastery, and seized all the possessions, archiepiscopal and conventual, into the King's hands. He did his work thoroughly : supported by an armed band, accompanied by a still more for midable array of Chancery-clerks, he invaded the cloture, routed through every chamber, ransacked every repository. The tenants were racked ; the conventionary usages infringed, and the gavelkind estates granted out to the King's retainers. The doles distributed by Lanfranc's hands under the arch in the Burgate ceased. The stranger no longer ascended the staircase to enter the hall prepared for his welcome ; the almoner desisted from making his rounds amongst the poor, visiting the sick man, and seeking according to Lanfranc's special injunction, — see his Constitutions — to please the distempered palate, when bestowing the needful food. All the internal management and domestic economy of Christ Church was sub verted, and the evils aggravated by scorn and rudeness. Such was the condition of every ec clesiastical establishment, grasped by the Crown. § 9. Whilst these intrusions enriched the Trea sury, they also removed many obstacles to the royal power. Under the best possible management, Bishops or Abbots might be troublesome : somo SimoniacalI ran suc tions. FLAMBARD'S ADMINISTRATION. 77 conscientious, and therefore unsubmissive spirit ioso— iioj might speak out, nay, act. By diminishing their numbers, Rufus diminished this risk, so that to wards the conclusion of his reign, the Bench of Lords spiritual was very scantily filled. Yet it was expedient for him to be prudent in this mode of proceeding. The practice being new, might be carried to such an extent as to occasion comment or discontent. It was, therefore, more advisable for Rufus to follow occasionally in the wake of accustomed usage, and to do wrong in the right way, that is to say, in a manner agree able to the tone of the world. Consequently he and Flambard sometimes adopted the opposite mode ; instead of keeping Bishoprics and Abbeys open, they filled them up, selling the preferment for the best price which could be obtained. This plan had many advantages : it was an estoppel to censure. If the See or the Monas tery had a Pastor, there was no primd facie grievance, and many Prelates, irregularly and culpably appointed, were nevertheless men of merit and good principle, though vacillating. The transaction was advantageous to both con tracting parties, King and Bishop, the turn of the market remaining in the King's favour. It was through Episcopacy, that Rufus could most Advan- ... tages re- conveniently manage his exactions, especially suiting upon the inferior Clergy. Rufus and Flambard course- were, however, like all dealers, compelled to 78 the conqueror's sons. 1089—1100 seek, not only their own profit, but the inclina- ^ tion of the parties with whom they traded. In some cases, the exact particulars ofthe bargains have been preserved ; though instead of a direct contract, they could often act more efficiently by an understanding, even as the advertisement of a next presentation for sale, with a slight hint of an early vacancy, places the comfortable par sonage at the end of a very short vista. The mere purchase-moneys of the preferments constituted only a small portion of the fiscal profit. To adopt the phrase suggested by an analogous, though distant era, all the Bishops, whether nominated by Rufus or not, were " Tul- chan Bishops ;" and squeezed, either in proportion to their revenues, or to the bargains they made and drove with the King. The King exacted a rent from every preferment: there was not a single Bishop exempted from this extortion ; those who were not appointed by him submitted in order to buy him off. The annual average wrung from each of the superior hierarchy was about three thousand five hundred marks. This amount affords some notion, both ofthe ecclesiastical reve nues, and England's general wealth. A mark, thirteen-and-fourpence in reckoning, was intrin sically worth two-thirds of a pound of silver, and that pound of silver would probably purchase as much labour as a pound of gold at the present day, so very scarce were the precious metals. The flambard's administration. 79 Bishops were constantly in debt to the King, and ios9— imn exposed to all the harass of Exchequer process ; and the military service imposed upon their lands, always laid them open to his game. All England was the royal Scaccarium : the Castle, a very good piece, so also the King's Knight, but the King's Bishop best of all. § 10. Whatever bargains Rufus and Flambard '™spu°pr_tance were willing to make, there was one reserved lot f^6 ArcL they would not sell ; the Archbishoprick of Can- oTcanter- terbury. The seizure of this See was a coup de main. So long as Rufus could keep posses sion of this position, all around and below seemed at his command. Indeed, it was all but indis pensable for the success of his campaign. By virtually suppressing the Archbishoprick, the British Churches lost their centre of unity and their most powerful support: the great privi leges constitutionally and traditionally claimed or enjoyed by the Papa alterius orbis, the per petual representative of the Pope, were such, that in the hands even of the most timid, they could scarcely fail to be obstacles against the King. The Clergy were entirely deprived of their eccle siastical Protector and constitutional advocate ; and yet, at the same time, the jealousies which unhappily prevailed were such, as not only recon ciled them to the loss of this defence, but made them rejoice at the vacancy of the Metropolitan Primacy. 80 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1089-noo A constant source of mischief to the Church, jealousies resulted from the unhappy rivalry between the thePri- successors of Augustine and of Paulinus: the mates, in- , ducing insufficient compromise effected between the York to counte- Archbishops Lanfranc and Thomas, in the previous nance the l J ofPcantei°n reign> onty rendered the latter more anxious to bury. recover his unsubstantial rights. The Archbishop of Canterbury being now removed, York ac quired, without further trouble, that supremacy he had so long contested. When we recollect the extreme violence and virulence which prevailed between the disputants during so many centuries, breaking out upon the slightest pretence, or with out any, occasionally leading even to personal violence, it is doing no wrong to Archbishop Thomas if we suppose that he was heartily glad, when the decease of Lanfranc relieved him from all competition. York took the highest room on the high dais at the three high festivals, placed the crown on the King's head, wrote him self, without challenge, Primate of all England. Moreover, Archbishop Thomas was left at liberty to insist upon another important litigated claim, in whicii York had been hitherto unsuccessful, the subjection of certain Archdeaconries within the Mercian dioceses. But though the Archbishop of York might enjoy his pre-eminence, as sole Archbishop, during the suspension of Canterbury, in the whole isle of Britain; yet the Northern Crozier did not flambard's administration. 81 practically obtain any ecclesiastical jurisdiction 1089— uoo within the Southern Province. Therefore, upon ^ Lanfranc's death, all the suffragans of Dorobernia became independent, each in his own Diocese. The longer they continued released from a supe rior, the less would they be inclined to return to canonical obedience. The lawful power of an Archbishop of Canter- Peculiars of Canter bury was very great; even the mildest Archbishop bu.rs:- Their » J ° r origin. could not but meddle, nor an energetic Primate be otherwise than frequently unpopular. Some pri vileges also, enjoyed by the Archbishops of Canter bury were obnoxious ; none jarred harder against ecclesiastical feeling, than the right which the Archbishop claimed of exercising episcopal func tions, out of his own episcopal Diocese, in all the manors, sokes, or vills, constituting the endow ment of his Archiepiscopal See, wheresoever they might be situated. Or, according to another ver sion or representation ofthe privilege, the erection and dedication of a Church by the Archbishop in an Archiepiscopal manor or vill, immediately an nexed the Parish or Chapelry to his Diocese. All these localities were withdrawn from their proper Ordinary, and became part of the Diocese of Can terbury. Hence the origin of the Archiepiscopal Peculiars, as they existed till the present day. It does not appear that, previously to the Conquest, this right, though asserted by Archbishop Dunstan, was well defined. Possibly it may often have been vol. in. o 82 the conqueror's sons. 1089—1100 conceded out of respect to the Metropolitan. Lan franc insisted upon his prerogative, and exerted it without contradiction in some Dioceses, such as Worcester, but not universally. Nor can it be denied but that the utility of the privilege was very questionable, disturbing the symmetry of the hierarchical organization, and also offensive to the Diocesans. m6theiars ^ne Archbishop of Canterbury owned many London.of manors within the Diocese of London. This See preTecTby continued filled, as it had been during part of an ranc. ^e conqueror's reign, by Flambard's first patron, Bishop Maurice, the ex-Chancellor. It should seem, that, either to avoid affronting the Bishop of London in his double capacity, Dean of the Province and the King's Chancellor, or by acci dent, Lanfranc had never entered these demesnes in his episcopal capacity. Indeed, two of the most important Middlesex residences, Hayes, and Harrow-on-the-Hill, — the latter so disguised un der its Latinized Anglo-Saxon name of Herga, that good scholars have been puzzled by the classical effusions bearing its date — had been seized by the Conqueror, though Lanfranc obtained a tardy restoration of them ; as well as of umbrageous Mortlake, in Walkcline's diocese of Winchester, on the other side of the Thames. Lambeth, after wards the source of much quarrelling, did not, as yet, belong to the Archiepiscopal See. But the prerogative, though dormant, subsisted: a new flambard's administration. 83 Archbishop might open the question. Hence, 1089-1100 Bishop Maurice, and all other Bishops, under " similar circumstances, would have a lurking pri vate feeling against the Archiepiscopacy. All these jealousies disinclined the Hierarchy from making any effort to accomplish the first step for the restoration of order in the Church, — the nomination ofthe Primate. Rufus enjoyed these divisions, and profited by them : they afforded him an additional capital of strength, upon which he could draw, for the purpose of carrying on the contest wherein he was engaged. 5 11. The general circumstances of Latin Theschism J ° in the Christendom were favourable to the Anti-Church JapaoyT,Favourable enterprize. That seeming prosperity, often so s°„n^e0fe" awfully granted to the wicked, received a re-Kufus' markable exemplification in Rufus, till it im pelled him to the brink of the chasm down which he was hurled. The schism continued in the Papacy. Guibert of Ravenna, under the name of Clement, supported by the Caesar, was ac knowledged in all the Churches of the German tongue. But in the very same year, when the Conqueror's death delivered Odo of Bayeux from captivity, he learned how the ambiguous prophecy, to him so delusive, that an Odo should come after Hildebrand, was fulfilled, though not immediately. Theodoric of Capua, who reigned about four months under the name of Victor III., being interposed between Gregory's demise and the G2 84 the conqueror's sons. 1089—1100 next Pontificate, considered as verifying the pre- "~ Toss"" diction in the person of Odo, Cardinal Bishop Prophecy of Ostia, whilome a monk at Clugny. Elected should by the Sacred College at Terracina, on the fes- succeed nude- tival of St. Gregory the Great, the Gauls, Spain, brand," , verified and a portion of Italy, acknowledged him as in tne elec— of°osti0do legitimate. Urban II. — for this was the name which Odo assumed — came from the Rheimois, his father being Eucher, a Baron of that pro vince. Birth and connexions aided the future promoter of the Crusades, in becoming the fa vourite Pontiff of the Latin tongue. Nevertheless, the Ghibelline Usurper and the Ghibelline schis matics continued very strong. The Archbishop of Ravenna recovered Rome ; and whilst the Im perialists exulted in Pope Clement's success, the Guelfs mourned over the Anti-Pope Guibert's triumph. They ultimately prevailed ; yet their progress was tardy. When the Flambard admi- Po^TGui "Stration began, although the ancient city had Ravenna submitted to Urban, yet the tower of Crescentius, Anrpope. the Castle of St. Angelo,— in its intermediate phase between the ancient mausoleum and the modern fortress, — was nevertheless held by the Clementines, and enabled them to command all the surrounding R/o//i or Wards. potior Continental Christendom thus wofully divided, acknow-pe the Ro?al Prerogatives restrained the English Engild" Church from acknowledging either Pope or Anti-Pope. How and in what manner national flambard's administration. 85 Churches, independently of a general Council, 1039-1100 should act under these grievous circumstances, " does not appear to have been settled. — It was a difficulty which the Canons of the Church never guarded against : the Church never con templated such an evil. — The case was omitted in the ecclesiastical code ; possibly for the same reason, which, according to the myth, induced the Grecian Legislator to avoid decreeing any pun ishment for parricide. The Conqueror silenced TJie risht x L of deciding every doubt by assuming that all the rights of uP?Jtth^f clergy and laity, temporal and spiritual, were fielititte1" concentrated in his person. Rufus, not a whit ?hTAnjio- behind his father in such pretensions, went far so°v™^gn. beyond his father in the arrogance with which he asserted them ; and he had reserved his ac knowledgment (if any) of a Pontiff, till some opportunity should occur when he could make the recognition best turn to his advantage. There was no Pope known in England. The English Church continued, therefore, drifting away from the rest of Latin Christendom. Her hierarchy be gan to lose the support derived from common feel ing and common sympathy. In other parts, the schism as to persons, did not repudiate the unity of principle. Here the principle was becoming obsolete. Gross as may have been the corrup tions of the Papal Court, which even the most pious Pontiffs could not remove, this severance was nevertheless practically a great evil. The 86 the conqueror's sons. 1089—1100 prerogative assumed by the Anglo-Norman Sove- ' reign, of rendering the Papal Supremacy dependent on his arbitrary discretion and personal will, gave the last rivetting stroke to the fetters binding the Church. It deprived the Hierarchy of all power of movement, and prevented any possibility of correcting the prevailing abuses. Nothing but an independent foreign authority, even if unfairly ex erted, could afford any chance of a remedy. Could the simoniacal bargain, concluded by the King upon the throne, be set aside by an appeal to the King in his Court of Chancery ? The power of the Apostolic See had been much diminished by the schism ; but it belonged to a great name. Urban, amidst his difficulties, exercised his exalted func tions with efficacy and wisdom : in England the power was absolutely null. The con- § 12. And yet, after all, — a deeper and more against pervading cause than any of the before-mentioned, authority furnished the strongest instigation to the aver- mainly in- ° ° stigated by sion entertained by Rufus against the hierarchy, imparting the greatest aid to him for the en forcement of his designs. It was the desire which he, and Anglo-Norman England, and the Anglo-Norman Baronage, began fully to share with so many other Princes and High Estates ; the desire of obtaining an entire emancipation from the moral restraint imposed by religion. During the period including the disputes be tween the Crown and the Pontificate, technically FLAMBARD S ADMINISTRATION. 87 designated by ecclesiastical historians as the con- loso-noo flict between the two swords, the real question — " — ' at issue, about which we must no longer equivo cate or speak smoothly, was whether there should or should not be one Law and Gospel permitting sin to Kings, Princes, and Great people, and an other Law and Gospel prohibiting sin to the mean, poor, and small. The fact lies upon the very surface of history, and penetrates it to the inmost core. This battle-royal in defence of licentious ness is completely opposed in principle to the earnest strivings after amendment actuating the Council of Constance, which afterwards pro duced the Reformation; the latter, a sincere contest for holiness, though, from the depraved character of the Pontiffs, the sons of Eli, who then disgraced the Chair of St. Peter, the Refor mation movement ultimately became perverted into deadly hostility against the Hierarchy. But Thf e ?on- ¦/ ¦/ o J tests mis- these two contests have been very generally and underst00d- injuriously confounded. None erred so griev ously in this respect as the early Continental Reformers; a deplorable error, — for it was by entertaining this false judgment, that their efforts have been frustrated and marred. Their Churches are perishing — Geneva proscribes the doctrines of Calvin: whilst Lutheranism, recently exposed to bitter and cruel persecution by the House of Brandenburgh, now lingers in the ruling king dom of Northern Germany, the most warlike, the 88 the conqueror's sons. 1089—1100 most wealthy, the most active, and the most in tellectual of her Protestant communities, merely as a despised and grudgingly-tolerated sect, under Police superintendence. The Antipapal warfare has been conducted upon a system involving uncompromising enmity against every Hierarchy : nor have we escaped unscathed from the results of this blind anta gonism. — Our own noble sacred structure stands firm, yet riven and dilapidated by the artillery of her edifiers and defenders. The shells projected by . Cranmer and Latimer, rebound from the Dome of St Peter's and pierce through the Cupola of St Paul's. Bullinger and Bucer load the ordnance of Zurich, pointed by Jewel, and Pilkington and Sandys, against the Vatican ; and now, the self same roaring guns are turned round, and batter the Anglican chancel and choir. Incomparably more sad is the combination of the errors, into which human infirmity betrayed the Fathers of the Reformed Churches, with the organic principles of positive civilization. Im perfectly as these principles are disclosed, they, even now, only grant a provisional truce to any religious belief whatever, except upon condition of implicit subjection to Human authority, and pros tration before Human intellect. — Hence, should any Church dare to make any real and bond fide assertion of practical faith, so as to cross the world in the world's opinions, or the world's lite- flambard's administration. 89 rary, scientific, moral, social, or material lines of 1089-1100 action, the demonstration of her loyalty towards " the King of kings would be derided as folly or reprobated as rebellion. When the Scottish Kirk endeavoured to prevent the desecration ofthe Day of Rest, Lords Provosts and Town Councillors taunted her with the superstition of the dark ages ; bigotry, worthy only of an Hildebrand. — For this, she has to thank John Knox and John Foxe, not David Hume and Voltaire. The very essence of ecclesiastical discipline consists in its isonomia : — no respect to persons whatever, all ranks rendered equally amenable before men, to the Divine Law. If, from defective powers, or the general tendencies of society, it be comes impracticable for a Church to enforce disci pline, or to interfere for the preservation of morals, it is an act of tyranny to impose a constraint upon the Prince from which the subject is exempted. But if a Church, like the mediaeval Church, claims and exercises such an authority, then, neither rank nor station can excuse or restrain the Priest hood from executing their indefeasible commis sion : if they condonate the offence, they become offenders themselves. The nations of Latin Europe were in danger salutary r ° effects of of sinking into the filthy slough of the Eastern J^p1™6 Empire : the vices of barbarity, struggling with ^Xin the vices of incipient civilization. Rampant t^en™"8 uncleanness infested the community : the higher promglcy 90 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1089—1100 the station, the greater the profligacy. The oTtlie history of Great Houses at this period becomes a classes. scandalous chronicle ; fornication, incest, adultery. The Church, by her discipline, her maxims, and still more as the only sound organ of public opinion, was the sole keeper of public morals. Vernacular literature, beginning to develope it self with great power in Southern Europe, only glossed and encouraged the general corruption. There was neither theoretically nor practically any mode of disconnecting morality from Chris tianity. Not that the Church, always weakened by her own errors, faults, and transgressions, even in her purest and most efficient age, could do more than offer a laborious and agonizing oppo sition to evil. Yet an irrefragable proof of the general benefit resulting from ecclesiastical autho rity in the West, may be found by comparing the morality of Latin Christendom, however defective, with the Greek and other Oriental Christians, whose depravity, far greater than that of the Moslem, was so justly punished by the Maho metan sword. Now, it was for the purpose of neutralizing or annihilating this salutary authority : most salu tary in spite of superstition, doctrinal error, or Papal abuse, that the Princes of the earth were striving. Ordinary political motives and passions had their weight: yet when we consider the flambard's administration. 91 character of the Sovereigns, who, during this io89— noo period were most active in opposing the Hier archy, we can, almost without exception, discover lust, as the primitive molecule round which all other motives crystallized. Henry IV. of Ger many, basely flagitious; Philip of France, William of Poitou, open, pertinacious adulterers ; Henry Beauclerc, Henry Plantagenet, Frederick of Ho- henstauffen, vying in luxurious voluptuousness with Soldan, or Caliph ; all had the most lively and personal interest to subvert, if possible, the only tribunal upon earth, before which they could be rendered amenable. They were taking counsel to break their bands ; raging to free them selves from every yoke ; — sons of Belial, in the true significance of that term, whereby Holy Scrip ture both designates and symbolizes the desperate spurning of Divine control. As for Rufus, he was inveterately profligate : he had refused to marry in order that he might indulge his vile passions with shameless liberty ; he took equal delight in the transgressions he committed, and in tempting others to sin. § 13. Church affairs during this reign pos-Civiiand sess so much unity, and relate so much to one tfansac- « ' tions dur- individual, that they had best be told continu- ™fttb \ ously and connectedly : but the reader must re- RuS6" collect, that during and pending the ecclesiastical church. transactions narrated in the chapters immediately following, Rufus was also actively employed in pro- 92 THE conqueror's sons 1089—1100 fligacy, politics, and war. The confidence so well deserved by Flambard, enabled his master to be absent from England without scruple or anxiety: he had a faithful partner in his government. Whilst the Alter-ego, whether Clericus, or Chan cellor, or Justiciar, or Procurator totius Regni, continued in the Palace-chapel, the Palace-cham ber and the Palace-hall, the King himself was free to hunt and torment man and beast, negotiate, and campaign, wherever he chose, with unembarrassed vigour. — Protracted dissensions and hostilities in 1091—1094 Normandy, involving all the three brothers, Cour- those, Rufus, and Beauclerc, increased that ran cour which ended only with their lives. — A bold expedition, conducted by Rufus against the Scots, 1091—1093 for the purpose of enforcing Malcolm's unwilling allegiance, did not fulfil its immediate purpose. Malcolm fell ; but not by the power of the English Sovereign. — Further wars ensued in Scotland; the removal of the rival was followed by a formid- 1095—109? able though unsuccessful rebellion in England. — Normandy, acquired from the reckless Robert. 1096—1097 — Conflicts against the Cymri ensued, during which the Anglo-Norman King carried devasta- io98-noo tion to their furthest confines.— Lastly, the attacks made by Rufus upon the valiant men of Maine, turning his tide of fortune, complete the trans actions of the reign. At home, Rufus absent or present, the spirit of oppression was unabated. A chronicle, con- flambard's administration. 93 sisting of scarcely more than the few memoranda ioso-hou made upon the monk's tablet, and jotted down as the events occurred, says that Normans and En glishmen, Clerks, and Laity, were in such misery that they loathed their very lives. Yet, during this season of anguish, about five years after the siege of Rochester, hope appeared to gleam in a quarter where comfort seemed furthest off; just as the refracted beams of the unseen dawn, re flected from the dark cloudy sky of the opposite Western horizon, sometimes announce the rising of the Sun. Chapter III. ANSELM OF AOSTA APPOINTED ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 1092, 1093. 1092,1093 £ l. Boundary questions are perplexing: Relation of none more so than those of knowledge. There to'Histor/. is no deciding them definitely by negotiation or discussion : the unaided pen cannot cut the knot, even like the half-drawn sword. We either over look or evade this difficulty in physical science. Geology vivifies into physiology. The distinctions between organic and inorganic matter lose them selves when pursued. Electricity has attracted magnetism, and combines with chemistry. Still greater uncertainty prevails in ethical instruction, erroneously called ethical science ; and in every subject connected with ethical instruction, the affections and operations of intellect and mind blend into each other like rainbow tints, and all their developments are equally commingled. Try historical composition : labour to absorb historical facts for the purpose of imparting them ; and you then feel how vague is the standard which measures the due proportion between individual biography and general history. This difficulty has been often discussed: one answer amongst many has been given, tersely, and with plausible yet deceptive clearness. — " Perhaps," it anselm archbishop of canterbury. 95 has been said, " nothing can be more universally 1092,1093 " laid down as a rule than that the Biographer " ought never to introduce public events, except " so far as they are absolutely necessary to the " illustration of character : and that the Historian " should rarely digress into biographical parti- " culars, except so far as they contribute to the " clearness of his narrative of political occur- " rences." — Yet, in attempting to apply this rule, apparently so intelligible and well-reasoned, we find it disappear before the exceptions. If ex amined, the distinction between the two classes of composition becomes null. Holy Scripture, the earliest history, equally the foundation, the development, and the final cause of all history, is, strictly speaking, simply biography. Human his tory, treat it as we may, ultimately resolves itself into biography, told less or more imperfectly, according to the extent or deficiency of our knowledge. All man's acts, deeds, and works, are strung upon the threads of individual existence : the in scription testifies the thought of him by whom it was dictated : the statue, is the sculptor's skill rendered tangible : the picture, the image reflected back from the eye of the artist, whose hand rendered the internal impression visible. In the direct evidence of history, the page we read should not be looked at and turned over as a thing of black and white, of lines and letters, 96 the conqueror's sons. 1092, 1093 but heard as the voice of the living speaker, by whose assertions and relations we are guided. We should strive to apprehend historical events as perceptions resulting from actual observation or living testimony, as things of which we pos sess an immediate knowledge. Never do we truly understand history, until it approximates to a recollection of the personages themselves, as if we had known them living, and seen them mov ing ; until their ideas habitually efface the remem brance of the process by which the impress has been given : so that we may forget Clarendon in Fairfax and Naseby, Livy in Hannibal and Cannae. Could we fully and truly narrate the lives of all the individuals appointed as the instruments whereby mundane events have been evolved, that narrative would be the world's history in its real succession, the shape most instructive, and at the same time most confounding to human pride and wisdom. Moreover, it is only by examin ing individual character, that we maintain the due equilibrium between conjecture and evidence, upon which historical instruction depends. With out conjecture, you may have an accurate his torical digest of evidence which no memory can retain : with a small proportion of evidence, a clever composition containing nothing worth re membrance. Biography fixes you to individual actions: and the individual actions attested by anselm, archbishop of canterbury. 97 biography possess exactly the same value in histo- 1032, 1093 rical instruction which experiments do in physical science. Beyond the inferences and deductions they fairly warrant, no argument is more than arbitrary hypothesis. Dissertations upon institutions, disquisitions upon the progress of society, and such like, have not unfrequently, and by neglect of that due equilibrium between conjecture and fact, become equivalent to the well-sounding and unmeaning symphonies employed to fill up the fragments of an imperfectly-recited drama. They are the con certos and sonatas of literature : no words set to the one, no thoughts to the other. Or, like effects in the artist's sketch-book, — bright and pleasant, but looking equally well whether turned up or down, whether taken to be rock or cloud, earth or water, sea or sky. Abstract terms and collective denominations are the formulae employed for designating human actions exhibited in their re sults ; which formulae we substitute for the actors, because we know them not in detail, nor could we grasp their complexity in our minds, if we did know them. All the workings of human society are only the effects of each man's indivi dual obedience or disobedience. They possess no reality beyond their relation towards the Creator ; the Spirit of the age has no existence except in that delusive generalization, which conceals the individual responsibility of each immortal Spirit, 'KK VOL. III. H 98 the conqueror's sons. 1092, 1093 piaced here under probation, and passing hence to judgment. Whenever we are permitted to possess sufficient information respecting any human agent who has embodied any influential principle, or become a hero by power, intellect, or crime, his personal history and destiny become elements in the history of all human kind. The motive can alone decide the right or the wrong, the wisdom or the folly of the action ; not the imperfect test of success, or the still more fallible testimonials of censure, detraction, glory, honour, fame. Philosophical history, professedly and avow edly a preconceived theory, wherein historical facts are degraded to the position of exponents, is, ou account of its vapoury shadiness, entirely un satisfactory. Romantic history, endeavouring to realize the past by minute and elaborate detail; by the Breughel treatment in which you trace every embroidery upon the cope, every fold of the chasuble, every joint of the armour, the bear ing upon every standard, every feather of every plume, not less so. Human nature is painted out by the thick, gaudy body-colouring: it cannot shine through the gold, and the vermilion, and the azure. Such a composition dresses up human creatures like mummers and maskers in a Kermes pageant, utterly concealing the fundamental prin ciple, that no history, not even the Bible, can be truly received, if we discard the revealed truth, that the mal seme d'A " riformare lo stato," as it appears canon™1"1' in the nomenclature of Florentine politics. The traduction" operation consisted in taking the State to pieces, dictines6" and putting it together again. At this period, the sluggard secular Canons were generally considered incurable: the only effective mode of dealing with the foundation was to clear ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 103 them out, and replace them by active Benedic- 1092,1093 tines. William de St. Carileph had recently done the like at Durham. There was considerable truth in this opinion, though possibly somewhat exaggerated by political feeling. Earl Lupus therefore established, in the old Mercian College, an active colony from the transcendant school of learning and piety, Bec-Hellouin ; and in order that they might be duly organized, he invited Anselm of Aosta, whom we may recollect in com pany with Lanfranc, to come over. A judicious choice : Anselm had left England with every body's good word, and was thoroughly acquainted with England and English feeling. § 4. Anselm refused the Earl's solicitations 1092 three times : however, at last he assented, and Anseim'* arrived in England in- the course of the year, when England, Rufus, having returned from his adventurous tion at . Canter- and toilsome expedition against the Scots, was i™ry- employed in re-establishing and re-fortifying Car lisle. Anslem's road to Chester conducted him through Canterbury. Here, his reception from Monks, Clergy, and Burgesses, was such, that, after a troubled and anxious night, he departed hastily, retreating from the City ere the dawn. Anselm fled from what he considered a fearful Anseimescapes danger, the danger of being designated for the tro.™Uryato Primacy. The people hailed him, as though they 't^uT* would appoint him Archbishop by acclamation ; bishop. thus had Ambrose been raised to the Sec of 104 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092, 1093 Milan. Notwithstanding the Royal consuetudines, the nomination to Canterbury was accompanied by a species of popular or national consent. At the present day, the Metropolitan Chap ter make a shew of independence. When they assemble, pursuant to the conge" d'Slire, two can didates are always named for the Archbishoprick ; but the one who is not recommended by the Royal Letter missive, never gets a vote : this practice is evidently a reminiscence of ancient times, pre served by usage. But Rufus would not allow any approximation to a violation of his prero gative : a postulation in favour of his nominee, might perhaps follow • in obedience to his de clared intentions; but, made previously, freely, and independently, it would have brought all parties in danger of life or limb. Anticipa- This indication of popularity had not come tions of r r ^ Anselm's upon Anselm by surprise. Long before, the an- promotion l * r ° ^*« ticipating voice of public opinion in Normandy bishoprick. had p0inted out Anselm, the friend of the Conqueror and of Matilda, the depository of Lanfranc's traditions and opinions ; and ac quiring even a greater fame than Lanfranc for reputation, talent, and piety, as Lanfranc's proper successor. — "Should he go to England, he will surely be Archbishop," was the talk in the Re fectory and the conversation in the cloistered garden; many a little plan and secret scheme, without doubt, gossipped over in Bec-Hellouin, ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 105 intended to fructify, "when our Abbot shall 1092,1093 be Archbishop of Canterbury." — Anselm would give no support to such expectations, whether by act, word, or deed. Nay, it was for the pur pose of avoiding even a seeming corroboration of the rumours, that he had so repeatedly de nied acceding to the request made by Lupus ; stating as a reason, his apprehensions, lest, by visiting England, it might be suspected he was stealthily approaching the vacant Archiepisco- pacy. His, was not the discreet humility of the clever aspirant, who stoops to rise, the coy timid ity which retreats for discovery, the gratus risus ab angulo, betraying where the concealed Seeker, hides to be found : but a real, simple, single- hearted aversion to the troubles of preferment, a determination to escape the snare. § 5. Hastening away from Canterbury, An- Anselm's • ii- .-. reception selms honours increased as he journeyed. On at court. reaching the Presence, probably at Westminster, noblemen and courtiers crowded out to receive him. Rufus met the Abbot of Bee at the Palace-door, kissed him, and placed the friend of his father and his mother by his side. Anselm, encouraged by this kindness, endeavoured, whilst lodging in the palace, to exert a useful influence, for which the way thus seemed to open ; he spoke forcibly to the King concerning the wrongs inflicted upon the Church. His exertions failed : the slight glow of good feeling excited in Rufus by 106 the conqueror's sons. 1092, 1093 ^ne company 0f the living and the memory of the dead, entirely subsided, and nothing was done. Anselm, having soon completed St. Wer- burgh's settlement, wished to return as speed ily as possible to Normandy. The disturbed country, Duke Robert's bad government, the needs of Bec-Hellouin, might well occasion his anxiety ; Royai pre- but an unexpected obstacle arose. According to rogative of x ° restraining the very strict police of Anglo-Norman England, a persons ti tr o o «n™the14 passport under the Great Seal, called in subsequent kmgdom. chanCery language a licentia transfretandi, was in many cases needed before a passenger could em bark and cross the seas. William the Conqueror, as we have seen, had made this law peculiarly stringent upon the Clergy ; without the licence, Anselm could not move. The Sovereign also ex ercised the same prerogative in another mode, by restraining any individual from quitting the king dom. We obtain a beautiful exemplification of the happy working granted to the English Con- origin of stitution, when we observe how a power, (in some the Writ of f > \ ™eexnT degree modified by Magna Charta,) exercised ty rannically, under Normans and Plantagenets, vex- atiously, capriciously, or corruptly, under Tudors and Stuarts, has been matured into the ordinary administration of justice. I allude to the Writ of Ne creat regno, that process, now issued by the Court of Chancery for the purpose of preventing a debtor in equity from escaping to foreign parts, and defeating a rightful claim, being directly ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 107 derived from the arbitrary prerogative of our 1092,1093 ancient Kings. In the form of a legal remedy, the prerogative was first employed by the Chan cery under James I., — but as an ungracious, des potic, and ill-fated exertion or abuse of State- authority, we may well recollect the detention of Cromwell by his Son. When Anselm requested from the King the Anselm's needful permission, Rufus stubbornly refused. His refused by r J% Rufus. mind had been wholly turned against Anselm ; he spoke of the Lombard Abbot with scoff and scorn and anger. Though no reason is assigned for his denial of the passport, it is possible he dreaded lest Anselm should do some act prejudicial to the royal authority, or at least to the royal re putation, upon the Continent ; may be, by insti gating Rome against him, or spreading further reports of his tyranny. But in the actions of a partially disjointed mind, the motives can no more be collected, even by those who are nearest to the individual, than you can see the specks floating before your companion's disor ganized eye, or hear the ringing in his ears. Whatever the cause, Anselm's passport was Anseim r, L follows the stopped : Rufus would not in anywise permit it court. to be issued. Anselm, a prisoner at large in England, had no remedy but to linger, until by the King's favour or the King's caprice, the licence could be obtained. For this purpose he followed the Court. Whoever had a favour to seek from 108 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092,1093 the Crown — even the administration of justice ~~ v~" must be reckoned as a favour — was compelled to "follow his suit" in person; and this practice continued more or less till the Revolution. 1092 Christmas drew nigh : Court and Council as- Great sembled as usual during the Festival, when the Council at . . . Gloucester. King wore his crown. Such a periodical assem bly, always a State Ceremonial, was on this occasion also employed on high and important business. — Scotland continues to refuse her alle giance. — Rufus, on ill terms with both his bro thers : Henry Beauclerc, of whom more here after, preferring a claim to his mother's inherit ance. — South Wales, much disturbed; a despe rate conflict now taking place there between the Prince, the last Prince of Deheubarth, Rhys ap Tudor, and the Norman adventurers, Fitz-Hamo, their Chief, who are establishing theii1 power with in the British boundary. — These circumstances probably induced Rufus to meet his nobles at Gloucester, to him a favourite city. Anselm, the revered Abbot of Bee, ought to have been re spectfully lodged in St. Peter's Abbey ; but we can well understand that Abbot Serlo, now an old man, but who survived Rufus, might be unwilling to receive an inmate so disagreeable to the King; Anselm, equally desirous to avoid obtrusion in the Sovereign's way. Accordingly he lodged somewhere out of the town. § 7. We are now entering the fifth year ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 109 of the period during which, as the chroniclers say, 1092, 1093 the English Church " sustained the King's sacri- Effects legious persecution :" an intelligible phrase, com- Z^uw. have ! n -i • resulted posed of words in common use, conveying a from the definite meaning; but to those who employed of the . _ . .. . . mediaeval lt, signifying much more than it denotes in our church, ' ° •> ° translated vocabulary. int° * modern Civilization and Christianity rarely meet on ideas- common ground, that narrow common ground, whose neutrality the Spirit of the Age unwillingly concedes : and never meeting upon terms of equa lity ; Civilization, the well-bred Despot, Christi anity, the timid Vassal, disguising servitude un der the name of Alliance. Religion, according to our dominant ethics, is an occasional and subsidiary element in human society. — The majority amongst us admit its utility under existing circumstances. Religion is a medi cine recognized in our moral pharmacopoeia ; prescribed, administered, swallowed, and taken, as an alterative, tending to mitigate some of the ailments affecting the body politic. Were our masses quite in a healthy state Civilization could do without it. It would not be missed : such is our esoteric reasoning. Hence we consider the duties and influences of the Church in and upon the visible and exist ing human world, to be exceptional and inci dental. Doctrines, creeds and catechisms, pulpits, platforms, sermons and hymns, Sunday-books, 110 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092,1093 good-books and Prayer-books, heaven and the ' world to come, all belong to her, but if possible, let her have nothing more. Religion, on the contrary, according to the dominant ethics of the mediaeval period, was a permanent and primal element in human society : at once medicine and nourishment; efficient in the visible as in the invisible world. They sought to render Faith the leaven of man's daily bread in the corporeal, no less than in the spiri tual sense, the spring of the duties and ordi nances, pursuits and avocations, — all the trials, toils, and labours, mental and bodily, which the sentence of sorrow passed upon man enforces and requires. For whereas positive civilization now seeks to exclude religion from any participation in the material and intellectual concerns of human life ; so did Catholicity then seek to vivify all those concerns by faith. Religion was as truly the bond of society in the Christian world, as Islam still faithfully struggles to be. Such being the rnediasval principles, it follows, that if we reason upon the terms "sacrilegious persecution of the Church," accepting them ac cording to the modern signification, however correct that signification may be in the nineteenth century, we shall draw erroneous and defective inferences. We substitute a portion of the pro position for the whole. This is one of the many instances in which a contemporary writer becomes ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. Ill obscure, iu consequence of his entire familiarity 1092> 1093 with his subject. He assumes that those whom he addresses are equally acquainted with the matter in all its details : he therefore leaps at once to conclusions. Still more, if he be an impassioned advocate, pleading his own cause, imperfectly and impersuasibly ; such an advocate, possessed as he is by one prevailing idea, in which all others are absorbed, will necessarily present his case in the least favourable aspect to the tribunal. The great art of the advocate consists in throwing himself into the mind of the judge, which his own anxiety will prevent him from discerning. Nor can we understand the true bearing of the con templated general secularization of Church pro perty in the eleventh century, except by fusing the' middle ages and recasting them into the mould of our own. Disregarding the minuter proprieties of lan- Eieemosy- . nary, guage, Rufus would now be viewed, not as the uterary, ° commer- enemy of religion, but as a fierce and ignorant d^onduti Lit fin tin enemy of civilization and social order. Every J^1^0™* secular body or institution was then an emanation chu "h*1 from the Church; or more truly a province of the Church, not cut off by its peculiar circum scription from the universal community to which it belonged. Suppose that Rufus has completed his destruc tion of Church institutions. — The first and chiefest sufferers are the poor. When we now denomi- 112 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092, 1093 nate the Church, " the poor man's Church," the " notion which the commendation raises, is that of a house of prayer, where the poor man is permitted to go in and sit down upon a bench, without paying a shilling to the pew-opener. But in the mediaeval period, the Church was the poor man's tenderest mother. She provided for the poor man's body, whilst she cared for the poor man's soul. She was the active parent, teaching her children to perform the duties of humanity towards the poor, not as creatures of an inferior genus, but as brethren amongst themselves. The typical stanzas of a well-known hymn — " Come wretched, come ragged, come needy, come bare, Come filthy, come naked, come just as you are," — then received their literal application from the Church. All the eleemosynary functions now exercised under the direction of the State, or by associations acting upon the voluntary principle, were by her performed. — The scheme of Rufus, therefore, sup presses all Unions, Workhouses, and other similar Parliamentary institutions: all Hospitals, Asylums, Refuges for the Destitute, Dispensaries ; including Benefit, Blanket, Clothing, District Visiting and all other Charitable Societies. In the next place, the cultivated classes are smitten. The fear of the Lord was then, to the fullest extent of the Christian's talent and power, admitted in word and in deed to be the be ginning of wisdom. All human learning was ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 113 founded upon Faith ; all sciences obeyed Theo- i°92> 1093 logy, their Queen. — Therefore all Universities, Academies, Institutes, Polytechnics, Colleges, Public and Subscription Libraries, Lecture-rooms, Foundation, Grammar, Proprietary, and Private Schools, all the machinery of education and in struction, down to the very Infant School upon the Green, will be annihilated : all the means of intellectual improvement destroyed. Thirdly, commerce and manufactures lose their chief support. It was the doctrine as well as the practice of mediaeval Catholicity, that the Divine blessing should be sought and acknowledged in* all the pursuits of human industry. Prayer, Penitence, and Charity, incorporate the Guild. All crafts are broken up, all the connections of master and workman terminated. All trading and joint-stock Companies dissolved. Even the ordinary means of transit and security ; the means of providing safely and conveniently for those who travel by land or by water will share in the general bankruptcy — bridges, roads, lighthouses, inns, hotels, — many forfeit a large proportion of their funds, others fall into neglect or desolation. Lastly, the only means of investment Being real property, the confiscation of the Church-lands contemplated a general disturbance of the rela tions between landlord and tenant throughout the kingdom ; the Government itself revolutionized, by the destruction of an essential Order in the VOL. III. I 114 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092, 1093 State, and which had grown up, in, and with, every Christian kingdom. The position of the Prelates in the Great Council was in some respects analogous to that of Borough Representatives, although in others, they constituted, as now, a portion of the Peerage. The "Consuetudines" placed them entirely at the Crown's merciless mercy, extinguishing their independence and legal influence. Above all, the blow struck at the na tional rights by the virtual abolition of the Arch bishoprick of Canterbury. That chief member of the Great Council, who, placed by the side of the 'throne, enforced the Sovereign's responsibility, was removed from the Legislature. His absence subverted the principle of the Anglo-Saxon Con stitution, that the Sovereign should be controlled by a permanent Prime Minister, possessing rights, sacred as his own. 1092-3 ^ 8. After so many years of oppression, this Christmas .... . „ . . week. The political — or, if you choose, constitutional — sen- Coundi timent, caused the first faint voice to be raised become at length 0n behalf of the Church. Not from the Bishops ; anxious for A pdntaent they were becoming more and more tame and bishop^o?" heartless ; nor from the people, without leader biSyt.er~ or coherency; nor from the devout, who prac tised patient submission as a duty ; but from the lay nobility, otherwise most interested in supporting the Royal authority, and profiting by the then subsisting state of things. How the movement originated we know not ; the transac- ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 115 tion is told anonymously : all we can collect is, 1092, 1093 that the great men of the laity, the " Primores," neither consulting with nor supported by the Bishops, determined to take some step for the restoration of the Primacy. And what was the boon which the Primores, after much consultation, ventured to ask? Was it to restore the canonical right of Election ? No ; this would have been an inexcusable infringement of prerogative. That the King would advise with the Prelates upon the selection of a competent person to supply the vacancy ? Such a sugges tion could not be hazarded. That he would, in the plenitude of his authority, invest any Clerk who might have deserved, yea, even purchased, his favour ? Even this mode of attempting to check the devastation would have been disrespectfully bold. — The very utmost upon which the Great They ad- •> *• dress the Parliamentary Council dared to venture, was an Kins- humble petition, beseeching the King's permis sion for public prayers to be offered up through out England, that his heart might be moved to nominate a fitting Pastor, and the Church of England in some degree relieved from her desolation and misery : a supplication which, as Eadmer anticipated, would surely appear most marvellous in after-times. The address was sent up to the King by the Bishops. Rufus would not delude them by assumed civility. He despised their office. An equivocal, mocking, blasphe- 12 116 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092, 1093 mous answer, defying the effect of prayer, was the only concession obtained. The Great Council construed the ungracious reply into an assent ; and this their course occa sioned an unexpected difficulty. The Bishops, upon whom the duty of preparing the Service devolved, were completely bewildered, not wish ing to incur the slightest liability which could commit them with the King. Yet, amongst the faint-hearted, and yielding like the rest to the contagion, was the excellent and learned Osmund, author and compiler of the Sarum Breviary, the " Sarum use," the noblest type of liturgical ordinance ever produced in Western Christen- The dom. They therefore shifted the duty upon Bishops ^ J r request that stranger who chanced to be within call, one Anselm to o tbTform of n°t of their own body, Anselm of Aosta. The prayer. Abbot of Bee hesitated. Prudent son of poUtic Italy, he rarely acted indiscreetly : he knew how foolish it was for him to put his sickle in other men's corn ; therefore he shrank from usurping upon the proper functions of the English Bishops, and only yielded when strenuously urged. An selm's devotional compositions are remarkable for their spirituality as well as elegance. The Bishops gladly adopted the Form he suggested ; and the Great Council being dissolved, the members re turned to their homes. «nuesiCn°n" § 9. Rufus continued in Gloucestershire. terXre," The Great Council dispersed; but when the ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 117 budding Lenten-tide, the Spring, approached, the 1092, 1093 Baronage again re-assembled by the King's com- a^d!s~ mand, in military array. Subsequent transactions tm a" point out that Rufus was much interested in the uiness. fortunes of Fitz-Hamo, Seigneur of Astreme- February, Mfircli ville, in Normandy, a Knight, concerning whose previous ancestry little is known beyond his father's name, though now advancing rapidly in greatness, influence and power. Some say he came over with the Conqueror ; but he long continued in comparative obscurity, being one of the new men who arose into consequence after the first displacement of the Field-of-Hastings baron age, occasioned by Odo's rebellion. Then he be came suddenly one of the most mighty nobles, nay, almost potentates, in the realm. Rufus bestowed upon Fitz-Hamo the great Robert r ° Fitz-Hamo Honour of Gloucester, formerly held by Earl wins Mor- ¦/ «/ ganog, Brihtric, which had belonged to Queen Matilda, tne6Lorcus and was claimed by Henry Beauclerc as her de- G^r- visee or heir. The history of this territorial Ho- gan' nour and domain is so extremely perplexed, that we shall not endeavour to unravel it ; but the more essential particulars are sufficiently certain. The Honour had been obtained by Fitz-Hamo as a donation from Rufus ; and Henry Beauclerc con sidered that the grant constituted a large item in his heavy account of grudges and grievances. Fitz- Hamo and his twelve Knights companions were winning Morganog, the present Glamorgan, from 118 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092, 1093 Jestyn ap Gurgant ; and throughout those districts constituting the Garden of South Wales, the Cymri were fleeing and falling before the Norman sword. Rufus seems to have been preparing for the field in support of Fitz-Hamo, who was so widely extending the boundaries of the Anglo-Norman realm. For this reason, passing through Thorn bury, one of the capitals of Fitz-Hamo's Honour ; and then moving his quarters about five miles onwards towards Bristol, he fixed them at the " Villa Regia " of Alveston. Ramparts and fosses, sinking and rising on and around the turfy summits of the surrounding hills, show that Alveston had, at a remote period, been occupied as a military position. These memorials of primeval populations boldly advance to the brow of the rising ground, commanding a clear, though distant view of the Severn and of Wales beyond. This station of Alveston had evidently been always of great importance, from its vicinity to the once famed passage of Aust, which until recently, constituted the accustomed transit from Gloucestershire to the opposite shores of Mon mouth, the ancient Gwent land. The appointment of an Archbishop of Can terbury was still apparently as distant as ever. Prayers continued to be offered ; but Rufus, to use his own expression, had pitted himself against prayer. However, his determination could not stop conversation. Rufus lived jovially and easily ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 119 with his Court. People were full of Anselm; 1092,1093 and when the King was conversing amongst the " Peers, one spoke out earnestly and sincerely, — " We have no man amongst us so holy as An selm, loving only the Lord : there is no earthly object he desires." — " Not even the Archbishop rick of Canterbury ? " answered Rufus, with his usual jocular sneer. — " Certainly not," was the reply. — Rufus continued mocking loudly and in decently ; and concluded by exclaiming,—" Every competitor shall give way to me ; so long as I have breath in my body, no one but King Wil liam shall be Archbishop of Canterbury." There was nothing in this speech, taken by itself, differing from his ordinary tone; but it was evidently connected with some discussions which displeased him. Political troubles were frequent and incessant ; danger apprehended from Scotland. Extravagant mirth, gross indulgence, unbridled licentiousness, violence of temper, and perverse impiety, continued constantly working upon Rufus, in addition to the cares of govern ment. His general conduct indicates the symp toms of that heated, harassed state, neither decided fever nor decided insanity; yet a state, in which it is an even chance whether the mind will disorganize the body, or the body derange the mind. At the present juncture, the mind continued sound, but the physical frame gave way. Whilst yet vociferating his scorn of 120 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092, 1093 Anselm, Rufus dropped down as if struck. Borne ~" to his bed, his illness increased so rapidly that his attendants hoped or feared him to be at the last gasp. Nevertheless, they conveyed him to Glou cester, where we may suppose that such medical aid as could be rendered by his physicians, of whom John de Villula, the new Bishop of Bath, was the chief, would be most conveniently afford ed. Bishops, Abbots, Barons, Nobles, assembled at Gloucester, there awaiting the event in anxious expectation, whether his last moment would arrive. Rufus sup- $ 10. It is just possible that they anticipated be on his a recovery, — hence they endeavoured during this death-bed, . . . . . names season of affliction and debility, to gain some Anselm to •> _ ° be Arch- remission of the oppressions under which all were bishop of *¦ *¦ Canter- suffering. The royal dungeons were filled with captives. As law then stood, imprisonment was rarely a part of the punishment annexed to any judgment given at the suit of the subject; but it was inflicted with execrable severity upon offenders against the Sovereign. All Crown debtors were considered as offenders, and pun ished accordingly. Some were incarcerated for arrears of taxes, and gelds, and forfeitures. — Far more, for the fines and ransoms imposed upon transgressors against the forest laws. These processes were now particularly employed by Rufus as the means of extorting money from the wealthier English, the English of the old gentility. Thieves and Robbers were kept in duress in order ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 121 to give the King a chance of profiting by the 1092, 1093 bribe, which would save the offender at the very " foot of the gallows. All who had access to Rufus earnestly en treated him, for his soul's health, to forgive his debtors, and to free his captives generally from their bondage ; nor did they fail to urge the duty of restoring freedom to the Church ; particularly the reinstatement of Canterbury. The vacancy and the evil occasioned to England, had become the opprobrium of the kingdom. Rufus, on the first Sunday in Lent, was either 1093 J March 6. unwilling to act, or so clouded by illness as to be unable to give any assent to these demands ; when some of the King's household suddenly bethought themselves to call for Anselm, who, ignorant of what was taking place in Gloucester, lingered in retirement near the town; in order that he, the pious, and the wise, might comfort and ex hort the Monarch. A strange and unaccountable movement ; for we have not the slightest indi cation that the hostile sentiments entertained by Rufus towards Anselm had been in the least relaxed. However, Anselm came with the utmost haste, and gave such counsel as beseemed a priest to wards one at the point of death. Anselm pro ceeded calmly and methodically. He informed himself of the advice which had been given ; ap proved thereof, but directed that Rufus should 122 the conqueror's sons. 1092, to93 begin by making a hearty confession of his sins, ^ and engage, should he recover, to fulfil the sup plications addressed to him on his people's behalf. The sick man promised all that was asked, and more ; undertaking, should further length of days be granted, to rule thenceforward with righteousness. Ill as he was, he, of his own accord, offered to confirm the engagement in the most solemn, authentic, and public form. A Charter was engrossed and sealed with the Great Seal. In addition to all that had been petitioned, he decreed the opening of the prisons, the liberation of the captives, the release of all debts due to the Crown, and a general pardon of thUfth-fdr a^ on?ences against the royal dignity. He renewed nevraws the compact made at the Coronation, promising, wTtfthe as he had done before, that he would govern the peop e' whole people committed to his charge, with jus tice and mercy. As he could not approach the altar himself, he employed the Bishops as his delegates, to declare his promises; empowering them to become his pledges and securities be tween earth and heaven. Further obligations remained. The general Charter of liberties did not satisfy the special and particular obligation of restoring the Primacy, Those about Rufus continued exhorting him to appoint a Metropolitan. He gave tokens of as sent : the languid nerveless sufferer, raised his aching head from the comfortless pillow, and pre- ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 123 pared to speak. How anxious is the suspense 1092, 1093 prevailing, whilst they crowd around the couch, awaiting his words. — Of course some old and use ful favourite will be chosen : some Clerk of the Chancery, Gerard, or William Warlewast, perhaps Flambard. The silence is broken. Rufus, prop ping himself on his enfeebled arm, pronounces the name hitherto so scorned and contemned: — "I choose the holy man Anselm." — All present - rejoiced with exuberant gladness : all save one. One was truly aghast. Anselm, overwhelmed by terror, refused the dignity. Rufus earnestly be sought him, as the greatest favour he could bestow, to accept the Primacy. He appealed to all Anselm's feelings of friendship and gratitude. Not merely did Anselm entertain the greatest Anseim • ° refuses apprehension of being harnessed to the same his.nomi- 171 ° nation, but plough, as he afterwards expressed himself, with ^f^f such a furious and untameable steer as Rufus, j^maf™6 but there were real and positive obligations force' preventing him, and which he stated. He owed allegiance to another Sovereign. He was bound by canonical obedience to another Metropolitan. Lastly, he was wedded to his own community, who had a right to insist upon his continuing amongst them. Therefore, unless Duke Robert, William Bonne Aime, Archbishop of Rouen, and the Monks of Bee, severally granted their per mission, he was incapacitated. All these difficulties wall be easily removed, 124 the conqueror's sons. 1092, 1093 shouted the company. Anselm refused more re solutely, if possible, than before. Fruitless argu ments ensued. Prelates, Priests, Clerks, Monks, flung themselves at Anselm's feet, renewing their supplications. Quick as they, he attempted to defeat them by throwing himself also flat on the ground. It was needful, according to the usage then prevailing, that investiture should be corporeally given by the nominated Prelate actually receiv ing the symbol from the King's own hand. This was an act which neither giver nor receiver could delegate or perform by proxy. " Bring a pas toral staff," some one cried; and, surrounding Anselm, they dragged, pulled, pushed, drove the struggling Abbot close up to the King's bed-side. Anselm resisted, and so strenuously, that, to use his own language, those present, might doubt whether they beheld maniacs mastering their keeper, or the keepers carrying off the maniac to his place of con finement. Anselm's captors seized his right arm, and holding it firmly in their gripe, turned the right hand towards the sick King, who offered him the pastoral staff. Anselm clenched his fist the tighter, and would not open it on anywise. The Bishops, who had secured him, continued striking his fin gers, trying to drive the staff between them by main force. They hurt the old man so much that he cried out ; and either his strength giving way to their violenre, or his constancy vielding to ANSELM, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 125 pain, the pastoral staff was thrust into his hand. 1092, 1093 The Bishops squeezed that hand in theirs, so *" that he could not open thumb and fingers and drop the staff; and thus he, in spite of his loud cries of " Nolo, nolo, non consentio," and his un abated resistance, was deemed to have received investiture. Still continuing to refuse, still pro testing that the whole was a nullity, he is borne, rather than conducted, to the adjoining Church. Bishops and Priests chaunt the joyful Ambrosian hymn ; whilst without, the crowds are shouting " Long life to the- Archbishop of Canterbury !" The intelligence rapidly spread throughout Universal England; and accompanied by the immediate removal of intense sufferings and vexations — the delivery of the prisoners and the release of the Crown debts, — the event was celebrated as a general jubilee. Chapter IV. ansklm's troijblrs in his archiepiscopal functions. 1093, 1094. * 1093,1094 § 1- All parties concerned in the Arch- " ' bishop's nomination had been taken by surprize. All the par- * _ J tr ties con- Anselm, without premeditation or expectation, cemed in L r '"" ' found himself elevated to a station he entirely promotionsurprise7, disliked and feared. Strange and ludicrous as the bedside investiture may appear; — and the rude, uncouth, almost indecorous scene has been presented in the plainest terms, employing the words transmitted by those present, but princi pally by Anselm himself — there is no reason for doubting his sincerity, although his reluctance excited amongst his contemporaries no less comment, than similar conduct would at the Anseims present day. His opposition was not a piece unfeignedreluctance, of acting, but resulted from his sentiments; like those of Ambrose under the like circum stances, genuinely expressed. He dreaded the responsibility cast upon him : he dreaded the great change of life : he dreaded the disturbance of all his favourite studies and occupations: he dreaded the banishment from the tranquil seclu sion of his prosperous College : he dreaded the cares imposed by secular pomp and power. Re moved from his brethren, his pupils, his books, ANSELM'S TROUBLES. 127 and his cell, what could Anselm of Aosta gain ? 1093, 1091 these feelings, aggravated also by nervous timid ity, the sudden shock, advancing age. By a combination of unforeseen and irresist- Rufus com- . t» pelled to lble circumstances, Rufus had been compelled, thwart his L own plans. not merely to annul that determination of keep ing the Archbishoprick vacant, which he had pledged himself should be inflexible ; but also to nominate the individual most qualified to thwart his destructive projects. Yet this act was solely his own act ; by his own despotic caprice he had detained the individual whom he most scorned and feared in England : nigh the Court, close to his own person, so as to be at once fit and ready to receive the dignity. He had no one to blame but himself. It was his own doing. Rufus must account with Rufus for not hearkening to Anselm, for not letting Anselm go. The temporal Peers yielded to the desire The Pri- 1 * /-< /~i m • 1 mores ac- of restoring the Great Council to its complete- tuated by . political ness. An Archbishop of Canterbury was need- motives. ful in support of their own dignity. Without the Archbishop, the legislature being maimed in its most important member, an uncomfortable sense of imperfection prevailed, lowering the whole body in public estimation ; and it was this deficiency which they had striven to remove. The ecclesiastical government constituted a depart ment of the civil government, and the civil go- 128 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1093, 1094 vernment a department ofthe ecclesiastical. These exertions were right, nay laudable, but merely politic and secular : the Primores sought the nomination of an Archbishop, in order that the administration of the realm might be completely organized. Parliament would now become indig nant did the Crown refuse to appoint a Com mander-in-Chief, or to issue the Commissions for the Ordnance or the Admiralty Boards. The Great Council viewed the vacancy of the Arch bishoprick in the same manner; but they had not the slightest inclination to restrain any of the royal prerogatives, in which they, indirectly, shared. " Pace ai preti, Ma pochi e cheti," exclaimed Alfieri. There might be a difference of opinion respecting the numbers of the sacer dotal order, but that the priests should be cheti, was indispensable. The Peers wished for a plea sant companionable man of business, who should help to work the machine ; though certainly, speaking of them collectively, the last thing they desired was to have amongst them the greatest practical theologian of the age, the strenuous defender of orthodoxy, the stern rebuker of sin. The Bis- Actuated by mixed feelings, the Bishops, pre- thed0e1nerai viousty reconciled to apathy, starting out of their impetus, torpor, forgot their jealousies and private rea sons, and promoted Anselm's election to the ut most, obeying the impulse without consideration This is a common social phenomenon. Amongst anselm's troubles. 129 all classes, high or low, whether concerned in the 1093, 1094 most seemingly important or the most seemingly trivial transactions, there often arises the same in stinctive, impulsive union, which may be observed in a launch; when people who care nothing about the ship or her owners, crowd on board, shout, stamp, leap, and do all they can to make the vessel go off the stocks, and float in the water. fi 2. Tranquillity being somewhat restored by steps taken ¦> 1^0 ''by Anselm the cooling ofthe great burst of enthusiasm, all the ^^fjj^. before-mentioned several parties began to consider seIf- the results of the transaction, so important to the British Churches and the Anglo-Norman realm. Anselm fully anticipated that the proposed dignity would be replete with trials and dangers. In his earliest letter on the subject, he uses a strong expression, implying his dread of bodily harm; having however diligently and sincerely tried his conscience, he convinced himself that he could not refuse the station to which he had received this providential call. He had been conquered by Anselm's , • , , m characteras force, literal as well as metaphorical, lo force, a man of business. he yielded. But yielding, he nevertheless con ducted himself with caution and wariness. In the middle ages, the Lombards were proverbially men of business : the national characteristic per vaded, not merely the money-changers, who sat behind their Banco, but the whole community. All had a Banking tincture. Teutonic steadiness and Italian acuteness conjoined in producing the VOL. III. k 130 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1093, 1094 mixed race ; and the good qualities of Barbarian and Roman blood, were and are happily combined. Anselm, however truly detached in spirit from the world, did not repudiate the advantages de rived from this inbred aptitude: he cultivated all his talents. Shrewd, courteous, well-spoken, discreet, watching his opportunity, he can rarely be found committing himself — neyer leaping his horse till he comes to the hedge, then going right over : — and he now adopted every precaution which forecast could reasonably suggest. consent The investiture by the staff, though giving from Duke Anselmr as the usage was then understood, a Robert,— ' & legal and political right to the Archiepiscopate, did not pledge him to the dignity ; nor could he properly and consistently retain the promotion, otherwise than with the consent of his temporal and spiritual superiors in Normandy. It was needful he should release himself from his exist ing Norman obligations, and, by such exoneration, be rendered competent to contract the new obliga tions which the English Archiepiscopate imposed. First of all, he needed Duke Robert's assent. The Lombard patrician did not owe any political sub jection to the Norman Sovereign. His relations to Robert were official, binding whilst they conti nued, but susceptible of being released. Even natural allegiance could be renounced according to the principles of mediaeval jurisprudence. An inimical defiance was originally only the undoing anselm's troubles. 131 oi fiance or fealty. Anselm sought to be amicably 1093, 1091 defied. After his tumultuary acclamation in the bed chamber, Anselm was designated to the Arch bishoprick by the Anglo-Norman legislature, in constitutional form, though only in implicit obe dience to the previous Royal investiture. This is the semblance of national consent to which we have before alluded. No record or direct narra tive of the proceeding has been preserved : we are only informed of it incidentally ; nevertheless the part taken by the several ranks and orders is expressed with precision. The Lords, the Prin cipes, petitioning the King, advise the choice; the Clergy and people, petitioning, approve. These postulations were transmitted to Court- hose, soliciting his permission that Anselm might resign Bec-Hellouin. Robert received the pro posal ungraciously, answering disrespectfully and unhandsomely ; but, with his usual instability, he gave way, and then apparently with good will. William Bonne Aime, the kind Archbishop ofconsentof triG Arcn- Rouen, not only assented, but urged Anselm to l™hov o{ •> ° Rouen ; accept the office. Some of his suffragans enter tained a different opinion. Anselm's conduct gave rise to remarks and censures: Gilbert Fitz-Osbern, or Le Gros, Bishop of Evreux, the Conqueror's old confidant, seems to have been prominent in expressing his disapprobation; however, the as sent was obtained. k 2 132 the conqueror's sons. 1093,1094 Lastly, the proposal had to be considered and debated at Bec-Hellouin. Anselm's removal could only be contemplated as a great loss to the House. Indeed, so it proved, for after he quitted the Monastery, the Collegiate splendour of the opulent establishment gradually declined. From the exertions of Lanfranc and Anselm, Bec-Hellouin acquired its European reputation as a University ; but, of all institutions, schools • can least depend upon traditional eminence. The proposition for accepting Anselm's resignation received a determinate, perhaps obstinate oppo sition. Nevertheless, when the placet was put to the vote in the Chapter, the non-contents were in the minority ; the successful party com municated the result to Anselm with great satis faction, and William de Montfort, the son of Thur- stan and Albreda, being, upon his recommenda tion, elected in his stead, he became entirely free. All these transactions were tedious and complicated, and the season far advanced before they concluded. Rufus, re- § 3. In the meanwhile Rufus was passing coveringhealth, re- through a great change for better and for worse. lapses into ° ° ° ous'T™ Anselm's appointment concurred with the crisis ranny. 0£ ^g disease, afflicting the King's body and the King's mind ; in both, the alteration took place rapidly. Renewed health, renewed life, had been vouchsafed, affording a season for amendment and repentance. Under suffering, Rufus, contrite, or anselm's troubles. 133 at least subdued, appeared fully impressed with 1093, 1094 the desire of ruling as a righteous King. From v~~' moaning Rufus, weak and weary upon the bed of sorrow and pain, submitting to the Physician's regimen and the Confessor's exhortation, pro ceeded grace, mercy, and justice ; but the sick man became convalescent, the convalescent merry and hearty. — Did history permit, we might ren der the chronicler's prose into the rhyme of the Geste. Priest and Leech retire, giving place to jougleur and minstrel : the Squire brings the bright helmet, the Chamberlain the trimmed robe. Hamo Dapifer and Eudo Dapifer, the smoking-dishes : the Bow-bearer the shafts, the Mareschal holds the great stirrup, at the sight of which the dogs yelp and yowl for terror. And Rufus shews too plainly, that, relieved from the corporal ailment, he relapses into the ailment of the soul. Strength and vigour fully restored, every pro mise he had given was violated. Eadmer tells us that misery desolated the land. The captives, just become accustomed to the light of day, dragged from the homes where they had been so recently welcomed, cast into the dungeon, and? by the King's special command, loaded with heavier chains. The poachers blinded. All the Crown debts which Rufus professed to pardon, exacted again with inexorable severity: all the Crown suits discharged by the Charter revived, all offen ders against the Crown's prerogatives or the 134 the conqueror's sons. 1093, 1094 Crown's revenues, compelled to appear before the Crown Judges, who sought no other end, ex cept the gratification of the King's avarice and malice. All the evils inflicted upon the people by Rufus previously to his attack, were obli terated by comparison with his tyranny, when, after the transient respite, enforced by the visita tion of disease, King William Rufus was himself again. Admonished, he replied by despairing desperate blasphemy — a scoff implying that he had renounced all hope of infinite mercy. Rufus or- fi 4. It was with Rufus, alienated from all ganizes his , cabinet goodness, in this tone of mind, never afterwards and Party. ° varied, so long as he lived, that Anselm began to transact the business necessitated by the accept ance of the Primacy. The first affair in wliich he engaged excited the King's highest displeasure; and Rufus and Anselm being thenceforward in constant collision, it becomes needful to examine somewhat in detail, the elements constituting the King's party. Rufus was in nowise altered. He stood in his original position. Such as he was before his illness, such he continued; the same powers, the same mind, active, implacable — determined to employ all means without scruple or hesi tation. But the circumstances under which he had to act were entirely changed — he was placed in a greater difficulty, and moreover in a new kind of difficulty. Hitherto he had to deal with a class. Rufus stalked the herd safely, and anselm's troubles. 135 picked them out one by one. Now ensued the 1093,1094 higher, but more perilous sport, of encountering "" the stag at bay. All powerful as Rufus was, he could not oppose himself to Anselm otherwise than in the Great Council. Rufus was not yet prepared, like Plantagenet, to use the sword. Therefore he had to battle with Anselm by statecraft. His prerogatives against the Hierarchy might be exercised methodically, by his personal authority ; but in a face to face conflict of principle, it is far more easy for a Sovereign to deal against a whole order, than against any one individual, in whom the power, withdrawn from the multitude, is concentrated — the one man who stands up and gives the challenge ; a Luther declaring — " Ich kann nicht anders : Mer steK ich : Gott hel/e mir, Amen." § 5. Let us enter the Anglo-Norman Cabinet. Ministers We shall find its nucleus in the Royal Chapel, porters of , . Rufus' Ca- the Chapel of the Chancery : Flambard, the Pre- wnet. mier ; Bloet, the Chancellor : Gerard and William Warlewast, experienced Clerks. Other officials there were, but the forenamed Chancery-men most trusted and employed by the King. We must now turn our attention to ihe Epis copal Bench, and try to distinguish the confidants of the Monarch. After what has been observed concerning the Chancery, it will be easily an ticipated that all the prominent functionaries, Flambard, Bloet, Gerard, and Warlewast, ulti- 136 the conqueror's sons. 1093, 1094 mately became Bishops. The first promoted was " Chancellor Bloet ; whose advancement was inti mately connected with the transactions of his predecessor Remigius, the Conqueror's friend. Remigius § 6. When Rufus acquired the throne, Re- seTfrom 1S migius had not yet been able to complete the (Oxon.) to removal, so anxiously desired by him, of his Ca- dies before thedra from Dorchester to Lincoln. His Minster the com pletion of had been nearly completed : a glorious structure. the trans- . . lation. The old traditionary saying, — " London is, York was, Lincoln shall be the richest of the three," seemed almost fulfilled, for the old Roman city, the secret seat also of Danish power, where the descendants of the Danes, believing in the inde feasible right of the Danish Kings, watched the guarded hoard of treasure, whilst the Jews re joiced in theirs, was then preeminently wealthy; the Minster rising in the midst, a fitting crown. But the consecration of the Basilica had not been perfected. Portions of the great Mercian Bishoprick, once the most extensive in the Island, had, in consequence of the earlier political rela tions of the country, far back in the time of the Northumbrian Kings, gained a dubious boun dary. It was asserted to stretch from Thames to Humber ; the latter a name geographically ob scure. At Dorchester, (the Oxford Dorchester,) Remigius was Canterbury's suffragan; the Arch bishop of York asserted that Lindesay belonged to the Northern Province. Pope and King, Hilde- anselm's troubles. 137 brand and the Conqueror, sanctioned the Cathe- 1093, 1094 dral translation. The decree had not yet been canonically fulfilled; but, notwithstanding the want of the proper sanction, the building proceeded steadily: the Minster roofed in, the scaffolds struck, the lofty Roman arches casting their deep shadows on the broad and towering front, open to receive Remigius. This active and stirring Prelate had already organized and endowed his Chapter after the scheme of Rouen ; he styled himself Bishop of Lincoln; yet he was not the enthroned Bishop of Lincoln : and would he ever be so inaugurated ? His brother Bishop of Hereford, the astronomer, said No. He had consulted the stars : their evil influence would never be counteracted: never would Remigius witness the blessing of his Cathe dral. Remigius heeded not: he worked, laboured, bribed; obstacles diminished; gold seemed en tirely to have dispelled them. Despite of the reclamation made by Archbishop Thomas, the donation paid into the Treasury moved Rufus to issue his writs, addressed to all the Bishops of England, commanding them to be at Lincoln on Sunday in Rogation Week, for the puspose of j,10^- completing the ceremony. Robert, the astrologer- Bishop, heeded not the mandate : he knew it would come to nothing. Ptolemy's Quadripartite disclosed to him that the ceremony would be frustrated. Time passed rapidly away : they were 138 the conqueror's sons. 1093, 1094 within three days of the appointed solemnity, when Remigius suddenly died. Bioet ap- § 7. Robert Bloet, the Chancellor, was placed pointed to Lincoln In the Royal Chapel, the central mart of ecclesi- upon the " x , -n i death of astical preferment, the Royal Exchange. Broker Remigius. l . . . as to others, he struck his bargain with his Princi pal, and passed to the newly-erected See; a move ment of great importance to Rufus. None more able than Bloet in matters of state, but miserably qualified for such a dignity and charge. A delay ensued; though Bloet appears to have entered into possession of the episcopal endowments and jurisdiction; an irregularity consistent with the doctrines of Royal investiture, not to be con founded with Royal nomination, whatever the Gallican palliators of the abuse may maintain : nor did he become a Bishop in his spiritual capacity, until, as shall be after mentioned, he obtained episcopal Orders through Anselm's hands. In the meanwhile, Bloet, Chancellor, and by state courtesy called Bishop, treated with Ru fus for an exoneration from the supremacy of the Northern Primate. Three thousand marks con stituted the price, or rather the first instalment paid to the King for the immunity. It was out of the question for the Archbishop of York to resist : Lincoln became the Diocesan Cathedral. Subsequently, Rufus compensated York by grant ing to the Archbishop the Abbeys of Saint German's Saleby, and St. Oswald's Gloucester; anselm's troubles. 139 neither of them his to give, but which Archbishop 1093, 1094 Thomas accepted because nothing else was to * be obtained. § 8. Robert de Limesey, originally a Capel- Robert de lanus or Chancery-man, dating his promotion £nm°v?ss from the preceding reign, adhered firmly to ^P^e Rufus. A strenuous Prelate, in some respects a fe0id tolch" good churchman, though over fond of shew and and6from splendour. Leaving St. Chad and the field of Coventry" martyrs, he translated his episcopal seat from humble Anglo-Saxon Lichfield, to Palatine Ches ter. Here, mortifications awaited him. Oversha dowed by Hugh Lupus, he was not contented : therefore he sought a third change. It was said, that through the Lady Godiva's liberality, every beam in the Basilica of Coventry was covered with gold and silver. Bishop Robert anticipated he should rule at Coventry with more grandeur ; and, by coming to an arrangement with the Trea sury, the translation was effected. Henceforward, until the Reformation, Robert de Limesey's suc cessors were indifferently denominated Bishops of Chester, Coventry, and Lichfield, whereby some confusion is occasioned. Bishop de Limesey lived under three Kings. Well adapted for Court, he always retained Royal favour, and became one of Henry Beauclerc's chief Counsellors. § 9. John de Villula of Tours, otherwise vniuia,6 Johannes Turonicus, conjoined three faculties : Physic, . first Bishop a Clerk in orders, a Chancery-clerk, and a of Bath and 140 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1093, 1094 physician ; but the last capacity eclipsed all ^ others. John de Villula was scarcely thought of otherwise than as a professor of the healing art. Therein he acquired a well-deserved repu tation, and earned an ample fortune. The epis copal historian of Bishops, speaking of John de Villula, informs us that he was "ex eorum genere quos empiricos hodie appellamus, usu non Uteris medicus probatus." Hence, probably, his success : he treated his patients by experience and common sense, instead of dosing them accord ing to Hippocrates and Avicenna. John de Vil lula went on prosperously ; acted as though he considered himself not bound to obey the obso lete canons which censured his practice, took his fees, became a favourite at Court, the King's body-physician. Knowing that anything the King had to dispose of, could be bought, and seeking to employ his capital advantageously, he watched his opportunity for a good investment. This oc curred upon the death of Giso, the old Bishop of Wells, which took place soon after the acces sion of Rufus, and he purchased the vacant in cumbency. Bath, or as the place was constantly called until the last century, the Bath, then enjoyed a transeehdant reputation : men wondered at the noble structures, temples, palaces, halls, hypo- causts ; the decaying honours of the Aquae Solis, " built by Julius Caesar," the universal personifi- anselm's troubles. 141 cation of Roman power. The thermal waters of 1093- 1094 the Sun excited constant admiration and wonder. Philosophers speculated upon the cause of the heat: some quoted Pliny and Solinus, others sought their origin through the glimpses of Aris totle's philosophy. A more popular theory as cribed them to the necromancy of King Bladud ; four huge vessels of brass filled with brimstone, sal-ammoniac, and saltpetre, burning day and night affording perennial warmth to the gushing springs. Now, it was an object which John de Vil lula had much at heart, to remove his See from the Wells to the Bath ; a desire arising, with out doubt, from his favourite and profitable pur suit. The Anglo-Saxons called Bath by the ap propriate name of " Achemari's Chester'," the City of Invalids. — Where could Bishop John de Vil lula, Doctor of Medicine, and not of Divinity, be more advantageously established ? By paying a large additional sum to Rufus, this arrange ment was effected upon the death of the Abbot of Bath; and John de Villula became the first Bishop of Bath and Wells, though not entirely settled in his new seat till the subsequent reign, when, by payment of five hundred pounds more, he purchased the Seignory of the Soke and Burgh of Bath, and completed the bargain. He began by treating the Monks of Bath most harshly, not only despising them as stupid barbarians : " hebetes, et sua aestimatione barbari," but also starving 142 the conqueror's sons. 1093, 1094 them. Nor did the Canons of Wells fare better. The Bishop improved his estate by demolishing their residences, and building his Palace on the site. And conniving also with the Archdeacon who seized their endowments, they were reduced to primitive poverty. Herbert de §10. Herbert de Losinga, originally a disciple Bishop of 0f Bec-Hellouin, afterwards Prior of Fecamp, Thetford, r No6rJichds accompanied Rufus to England in the capacity of Chamberlain. No one started in the English Church with so large a share of obloquy. It was said he derived his surname from his wheedling or lozing. Herbert was stigmatized as the flat tering liar, the Lusinghiere, above all others; but we cannot help suspecting that he has in curred more than a due share of ignominy. He was a Losinga by birth. His father was a Lo singa, the Bishop of Hereford was a Losinga. They were evidently an old and flourishing fa mily. Herbert Losinga is commemorated as the most celebrated dealer of the time, the great contractor in ecclesiastical preferments. Hyde or Winchester Abbey, so honoured by King Alfred's memory, he bought for his father ; Ramsey and Thetford for himself. Admired, envied or de famed, he hitched into verses, ascribed to the " most excellent poet ofthe age," (perhaps Malmes bury himself, who calls them a quotation,) but whose name is nevertheless concealed : Surgit in Ecclesia monstrum, gcnitore Losinga, Simonidum socta, canonuni virtute rcsecta : anselm's troubles. 143 and then alluding to the legend, St. Peter is 1093,1091 invoked to check the ascent of the deceiver : Petre nimis tardas, nam Simon ad ardua tentat Si praesens esses, non Simon ad alta volaret, Filius est Praesul, pater Abbas, Simon uterque. Quid non speremus, si nummos possideamus — Winchester cost him a thousand pounds, Thet ford nineteen hundred. The terms of his removal to Norwich are not known. The Pope sanctioned, the King approved ; a good price being paid for . the permission. Roger Bigod aided effectually in this transaction, which possessed the recommen dation of being in strict conformity to the canons, directing the removal of sees from decaying to populous localities. Thetford declining, Norwich was increasing rapidly in importance. The Earl gave Losinga the Tombland, the Campo Santo of ancient Norwich, the Cemetery, with its Church, without the walls. Here, on this consecrated ground, where the Cross already stood, Herbert Losinga laid the first stone of the Cathedral, so accurately repeating in its forms the model he brought from his own country. In the apse of the Basilica the throne of Herbert remains, and the north transept still displays his effigy in the attitude of Founder. Rufus bestowed the Staff upon Losinga, therefore he equally exercised the prerogative of deposing the Bishop, calling in some other prelates to give a countenance to the proceeding. This deprivation, however, operated 144 the conqueror's sons. 1093,1094 merely as a suspension. Losinga regained his dignity; and, smarting under the punishment, became afterwards the King's most steady adhe rent during the contests with the Primate. Nevertheless, Herbert Losinga, notwithstand ing the irregularity of his promotion and his injurious subservience to the Crown, acted prac tically in all other respects, as an excellent pre late. Consistently inconsistent, Herbert, labour ing to obtain a lawful object by unlawful devices, had sought his situation with the full intention of performing its duties. It seemed absolutely impossible to become a Bishop without simony. Herbert, charitable, honest, fervently devout, was, in our common colloquial phrase, most anxious to obtain a sphere of utility ; and to hold that such an end justifies the means is no new thing. Father Bartholomew de Coton, or Cotton, a good-tempered old Norwich Monk, apologizes for Losinga by saying that there is a certain decretal allowing a clergyman to buy a church, when he cannot otherwise obtain a cure of souls. The verification of this quotation would be diffi cult; but Herbert's conduct palliated, if it did not justify his error; for which he soon felt deep and earnest compunction. He worked earnestly for the benefit of Flock and See. Amongst churches the permanent tokens of his diligence are the built by r ° Losinga. Churches of St. Leonard on the Hill, St. Mary s in the Marsh, and St. Mary's at Elmham, ANSELM'S TROUBLES. 145 St. Margaret's at Lynn, St. Nicolas at Yar- 1093, 1094 mouth ; and above all, Norwich Cathedral, ex isting amongst us, as most useful memorials of Losinga's penitence and liberality. Bishop Losinga was an eminent scholar. He, ^ttt^n~ with much pains, imported the first copy of Sue- f^ughtby tonius into England. Not being able to find the EngSf0 book in this country, he obtained a transcript from Fecamp, probably brought to him by Bro ther Stannard, whose name still subsists in East Anglia, and whom he commemorates in his cor respondence as a confidential messenger. Sue tonius became a favourite author; and we may therefore date the first English edition of the Classic from the Norwich Scriptorium. fi 11. The restoration of William de St. Cari- wmiam de J St. Carileph leph was equivalent to a new appointment. After ^*to^ to continuing three years in exile, the tedium of Durham- which had been diminished by his activity, Rufus permitted him to return. The profits of the* se questrated Bishoprick passed to the Treasury, and the strong castle continued, for some time, in the royal power. William de St. Carileph thought much about Durham whilst abroad, and there procured the plans for the Cathedral. He pro ceeded strenuously to raise the pile. Turgot the Prior, the Historian of Durham, Chaplain also to holy Queen Margaret, laid the first stone. Mal- 11 August, colm of Scotland, gladly acknowledging St. Cari leph as his Bishop, assisted in the ceremony. A VOL. III. L 146 the conqueror's sons. 1093,1094 mother-church frequently transmitted her out- piston^ ward lineaments to her daughters. Durham Cathedral1 Cathedral became the normal model of eccle- cariieph,'' siastical architecture throughout the ancient Priof,°and6 diocese of Aidan and Finan, far beyond the coim. Tweed ; — the maternal features being distinctly traced at Jedburgh, Kelso, above all, Dumferline, where the indented columns repeat William de St. Carileph's masonic designs. Like Losinga, St. Carileph was a useful Bishop, though with fewer redeeming points, blinded by ambition, and sin fully proud. He did every thing in his power to promote the antagonism between Church and State, and was the recognized leader of the Royal party. Flambard himself could scarcely have assisted Rufus so efficaciously in working out his great scheme. The preceding enumeration includes the Bishops upon whom the royal influence was most decidedly pronounced, who moved most actively at the King's commands : but the distinction between tbem and the others, only consisted in the degrees and gradations of inertness, plia bility, subserviency, and hostility. With one exception, all the Bishops congregated round the Crown in opposition to Anselm : statesmen, courtiers, party men — anything rather than Churchmen in the political strife, caballing, speaking, acting, voting for the Government. Some were pious ; others, according to the ordi- ANSELM'S TROUBLES. 147 nary average, diligent Bishops in their own dio- 1093, 1094 ceses : but whatever their real sentiments may have been, they were thoroughly overawed by the King's genius. This must be accepted as the reason, if not the excuse, for the conduct they pursued. § 12. Amongst the Lay Peers who supported ^oXg the King, Robert de Mellent, afterwards Earl 0ftheKing- Leicester, the Prud'homme, .the eloquent, the in tellectual, nay, the leader of fashion in his day, stands conspicuous. Had Mellent recorded his Meuent.de principles in writing, his ideas might have ex panded into such doctrines as Dante speculatively inculcated concerning the Christian Monarchy. Rufus was actuated by sheer hatred against re ligion ; but Mellent seems to have entertained the theory of the ecclesiastical authority inherent in the imperial Crown. No individual gave so great a moral support to Rufus as Mellent, universally admired for his wisdom, wise in all things ex cepting those conducing to his own comfort and happiness, so that he ended a life of splendour in the deepest wretchedness. Mellent managed for the King, in the lay Section of the Legislature. Eudo and Hamo, the two Stewards or Dapifers, were both thoroughly at the King's service. — Furthermore, Stephen Earl of Albemarle and Holderness, often in England about this time; Ivo Taillebois, concerning whom there are so many traditions of his enmity to the Church, * L2 148 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1093, 1094 lately in disgrace but now recalled to favour ; " and Urso de Abitot, whose memory is preserved in Bishop Aldred's rhyming malediction, were diligent attendants of the Court. — All these acted together. In proportion as the disputes inve- terated, so did the plan of the Royal Chapel, or Chancery party, mature. According to the doc trine of law, conspiracy may be inferred from the overt acts of individuals, co-operating in a common cause. Public opinion, like Crown Law yers concerned in a State Trial, strains hard for a conviction of those whom it reprobates. When the plot thickened, a general opinion prevailed pians of that a deliberate plan existed for harassing An- party. selm, until he should be driven out of the king dom ; in which case St. Carileph, as a reward for his exertions, was to obtain the Primacy. At last the enmity ran so high, as to induce people to believe, that, if Anselm's bloody corpse had been found lying on the pavement of the Council Hall, the perpetrators of the deed would have had no great reason to dread the royal tribunals. Transac- fi 13. We retrace our steps, and resume our tions im- J A "n!d'nt6l4 narrative from the month's mind immediately fol- investiture. iowmg Anselm's investiture, when Rufus yet had his illness upon him, and his graciousness, there fore, yet unimpaired. He began smilingly, seemed determined to anticipate the usual tardiness of the Chancery, commanded that Anselm should be put in possession, not only of all the property anselm's troubles. 149 appertaining to the See, but also of the City of 1093, 1094 Canterbury, held by Lanfranc as a life benefice. Anselm, by virtue of the King's writ, entered into some of the Archiepiscopal Vills or do mains, Bishop Gundulph assisting him in their management. But Rufus was getting better. The main bulk of the endowment remained in the King's hands, and the restitution of the temporalities was indefinitely adjourned. The readiness and alacrity shewn by Rufus therefore evaporated into civility. His actual concessions were of small value either to giver or receiver, except as they might be given or received. On the part of Rufus, his acts implied little more than the wish to appear agreeable ; and Anselm, by occupying the do mains needful for his maintenance, did not place himself under any legal or moral obli gation. He accepted the favours tranquilly, and waited the result. A' character of the usual standard, a trimming combination of sincerity and worldliness, placed in collision with Rufus, would probably have soon been coaxed, compli mented, and terrified into complete dependence. A feeble, though right-minded Priest, would, as probably, have assailed the King, claiming all the Archiepiscopal rights and privileges ; but Anselm waited his opportunity — and in the mean time, Rufus shook off his infirmity, and the tug of war began. 150 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1093, 1094 § 14. Anselm, when the communications with Anseim Normandy approached to completion, opened his Rufus the negociations with the King. Seeking a confi- conditions . . . i • i ii -r»i upon which dential interview, which took place at Rochester, he will l ' accept the he made a clear and specific declaration concern- Archbish- l oprick. ing the terms he required. His final acceptance of the Archbishoprick, — he informed Rufus — depended upon the reply given to the following stipulations. All and every the lands appertaining to the See of Canterbury, as they were held by Lan franc, shall be restored without suit or contro versy. — Concerning those possessions belonging to the See, alienated by your father, before Lan franc's Pontificate, and which he was not able to regain, you shall do right and justice. Secondly, inasmuch as you have not yet recog nized Urban, and I have received and do receive him as the Pope, know, lest scandal should arise, that I acknowledge him as Apostolic Father. Lastly, in all things belonging to the service of God and Christianity, you shall prefer my counsel before all others. I accept you for my temporal Lord and Protector: you shall obey me as the Director of your conscience and your Spiritual Father. justice of Such were Anselm's propositions. — Property Anselm's L x 1 * demands, unjustly seized, to be restored ; usurped or abu sive prerogatives renounced; conscientious obe dience rendered to the Primate of the realm. — ANSELM'S TROUBLES. 151 Not merely were these all just demands ; but what 1093> im rendered them more perplexing, just demands made exactly at the right time, neither too soon nor too late ; including all points (save one) con nected with the Primatial Status, upon which any differences between the King and the Arch bishop could arise ; unembarrassed by minor or unimportant details. His explicit declaration concerning the pro perty of the See was indispensable. In addition to the seizures made by the Conqueror, large portions of the domains had, during the vacancy, been appropriated by Rufus, and granted out to be held as Knight's fees. Therefore, if Anselm, without reclamation, consented to accept the di minished endowment, this act, tantamount to a confirmation, would have been conclusive against him and all his successors. With respect to the acknowledgment of Urban, Anselm was not seeking to controul Rufus, but was anxious to ascertain whether his own rights of conscience would be ensured. Otherwise than in obedience to the lawful Pon tiff, he, Anselm, would have no connexion with the Church of England. The third article concerned the whole Realm : before accepting the constitutional Primacy, An selm required the Sovereign's assent to the com pact upon which the station was held. Rufus was astounded, paused, and would not 152 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1093, 1094 answer without advice. Therefore the Bishop of Rufus ^ Durham, and Robert de Mellent were called in evasive11 as witnesses, before whom the King required Anselm to repeat his conditions. Anselm did so, readily and deliberately ; and Rufus, after consideration with his counsellors, returned an ambiguous answer. He would restore the lands of the See as they were actually in Lanfranc's possession. With respect to the alienated lands, he, the King, would not then come to any agreement. Respecting other matters, he, Rufus, declared he would do what he ought to do ; — and thus, the conference ended. Windsor- § -1 5- ^ot l°ng afterwards, all the needful Nor- refuses"to man assents having been transmitted to Rufus, aUemSo*6 Anselm was in the position enabling him to re- church- ceive the English Primacy. Rufus summoned him to Windsor. This is one of the earliest instances of public business being transacted in the Forest Castle, then better known as a prison than as a palace. The appointment of the Coun cil in such a wild locality, — for all Berkshire was reckoned the King's forest — is a circumstance not without importance in the transaction. Rufus urged Anselm not to hesitate accepting the Arch bishoprick, nor to oppose the postulation or elec tion made by King and kingdom. At the same time, he requested as a favour — "for love of me," was his expression — the confirmation of the ANSELM'S TROUBLES. 153 grants made of the Church-lands to his Knights. 1098, 1094 It should seem that they were Thane lands, held of the Archbishoprick before the Conquest, and which, having continued vacant in consequence of the death of the tenants, had been granted out by Rufus to his own men. Anselm peremptorily rejected the demand : had he been as unable or unwilling to resist as the Tudor Churchmen, there would have been little or nothing left for Henry or Elizabeth to despoil. Anselm refused, for the reasons which must Anselm's refusal ever prevent an ecclesiastic who acts consistently unjustly r " carped at up to his principles, from concurring in the alien- ^[stm^nrsn ation of Church property: simply because it is not his to give. " Do not argue with me," he replies, " whether the act be expedient or no — caditquces- " tio, I have not the power." — His title depends only upon his incumbency ; his interest extends not beyond the usufruct ; he has no right to dis pose of property belonging to others, for whom he is merely a trustee. This is so obvious, that it would be unnecessary to make the remark, but for the wretched cavils raised against Anselm, and which obtrude themselves upon our recollec tion in every portion of his history. Even an antiquarian lawyer has said, that "Anselm injudi- " ciously began the battle by his opposition to " the King's wishes respecting the Church-lands, " inasmuch as their restoration could not be " effected without great disturbance of persons." 154 the conqueror's sons. 1093, 1094 A curious argument. Would this lawyer have ^ advised an heir to desist from claiming his father's lands, because the suit would be disagreeable to those who held the property by intrusion ? § 16. Anselm's negative, brought on, at once, the indications of an approaching contest. Rufus became extremely incensed, and all further pro ceedings respecting Anselm's induction were suspended. At this, Anselm rejoiced; he had submitted to the burthen of the Episcopal office because the duty seemed in the first instance imperative ; but he would be still more happy, should uncontrollable circumstances annul the call, and release his conscience. He was now in full hope, that, exonerated from the Archbish oprick, he might return to Bec-Hellouin ; not in the capacity of Abbot, for his surrender of the dignity, and the appointment of his successor William de Montfort, had been completed, but as a private monk ; and live, to die, in that tranquil home. council of But the business became more and more im- Winches-ter— An- portant. Rufus could not retreat, and he was selm in- X acceVthe compelled, against his inclinations, to summon c^prickish" another Great Council at Winchester. Here the form^61 matter was fully discussed ; promises also made omage. wj1jcn }nduced Anselm to comply. Accepting the Archbishoprick, he consented, in consideration of the investiture, to perform liege homage, or become the King's man, as Lanfranc had done before him, anselm's troubles. 155 according to the usage of the country, contrary 1093, 1094 to the Ecclesiastical Canons : a conduct only intel ligible upon the assumption, that the local insti tutions, rendering the Archiepiscopate an office of mixed jurisdiction, might, in Anselm's opinion, derogate from general principles, and thus excuse him. The importance attached to this concession, Ryf«s ob- a tains, con- afterwards the source of Anselm's bitter repent- J^^f ance, may be best understood from the extra- J^r» of ordinary precautions which Rufus adopted for A"m^'s the purpose of establishing the act by conclusive evidence. As yet, there were no consecutive records of the Chancery. These muniments, without a pa rallel for completeness, antiquity, and richness, appear to have been first directed by Archbishop Hubert, — a constitutional precaution upon the accession of John Lackland. Until that period, although the accounts of the Exchequer were regularly kept, and the proceedings of the Curia Regis, the earliest without exception, of any European State or Realm, duly enrolled, none of the transactions in or before the Chancery were registered or recorded. A detached instrument might be prepared, but this was very rare. The performance of homage, an act so permanently stringent upon both King and subject, had scarcely any memorial. Nevertheless one very an cient example exists, in this very case of Anselm : 156 the conqueror's sons. 1093, 1094 a record obtained, so to speak, by an underhand device. On the day subsequent, Rufus made a donation, or rather a concealed sale, to Bishop Bloet ; and in the concluding or testing clause of the Charter, — the clause containing the date, and the names of the persons present, when the Great Seal was affixed — a statement is inserted of An selm's submission. The homage is rendered an era — "Hoc donum factum est, die crastina qua Anselmus Archiepiscopus, meus ligeus homo factus est," Ralph Flambard being one of the witnesses. So that here was an incontestible memorial, in authentic form, ready to be pro duced against Anselm, in case he should deny, or try to deny, the obligation he incurred. EnVh $17. No national Church exists, in which cathoMc7, tne theory of a Constitutional Hierarchy, — that stltutimiai. is *° sav' a Hierarchy established in a State by the annexation to the Spiritual Ministry of secular rights, possessions, and dignities — is more clearly and distinctly enounced, according to Ca tholic doctrines, than in our Church of England. For the purpose of proving this position, an example of the singular vitality of the departing principle, the adherence to antiquity, which until our age has constituted the peculiar character istic of the English Commonwealth, we shall proceed to quote the laws and usages prevailing at the present day. In the first instance, our Imperial Sovereign, anselm's troubles. 157 who, by virtue of our Lex Regia, represents the 1093, 1094 people, and the Chapter who represent the Clergy, concur in the postulation and election ; the latter being fulfilled in canonical form. The election which bestows the inchoate title, being duly notified to the proper members of the Episcopate, they proceed to confirm, spiritually invest, and consecrate the appointed Prelate. The Bishop having received his office and Mode of 1 ° performing work through the successors of the Apostles, by ^^ by imposition of hands, is then required to contract ^nt1!^6" the civil obligation claimed by our Sovereign. He kneels before the Queen, and placing his hands between hers, repeats the oath of fealty adminis tered by a great officer of State, and declares his homage ; but the expressions which bound the temporal Baronage are softened or elided. The qualified homage being performed, the Bishop, invested with his secular dignity, de parts from the Queen. She signs the Bill for the restitution of the temporalities, a document reciting the canonical election of the Bishop by his Chapter, as the primary motive and consi deration. The Bill is the warrant for the patent of restitution, which, issuing from the Chancery, furnishes the authority for taking seizin of the lands ; the Bishop having acquired possession of his See, by installation in the Cathedral. Thus does our Constitution declare, that the Anti-Eras- spiritual office is bestowed by the spiritual order, meter of'aii 158 the conqueror's sons. 1093, 1094 whilst the temporal possessions and honours are the acts by dispensed by the Crown. All the civil rights English' and possessions are adjuncts; they subserve the Blsnop is . nominated Sacerdotal functions, whereunto the law has an- and ap proved, nexed them. trines oV "^u* *n*s recogmze(l ascendancy of the spi- againstuie rftual character, ultimately resulted from the de'brand11" struggle in which Anselm himself, when he dis- uit°ae-Eras- covered his great error, afterwards triumphantly engaged. In the eleventh century, the Church was threatened by a Lay or Protestant Episco pacy, supposing even the form of a Catholic Hierarchy had been retained. conese°uent § 18. In the earlier ages of the Church, elec- MimVin-" ti°n> consecration, and induction, followed close IndtSn6.- upon each other, composing an entire transaction ; age' but, when Kings were carrying out the doctrines of royal investiture, the several stages were widely separated and inverted, so as to give the aspect of spiritual authority emanating from the Crown. When the Consuetudines ruled in England, it became a necessary consequence, deduced from the principle and practice of lay investiture, that the outward title to all Episcopal functions, possessions, and jurisdictions was de rived from the delivery of the Staff. As soon as the symbol had been received, and the homage performed, the nominee, though, if "put to his clergy" he might not have been able to read one word in the neck-verse, was the King's Bishop. anselm's troubles. 159 Anselm's Charter, therefore, declared that he 1093,1094 received his Episcopatus from the Sovereign. Charter of " William King of the English, to all Bishops, granting " Earls, Proceres, Sheriffs, and all others his liege- bishopnck . r7- of Canter- " men, French and English, greeting — Know ye bury to Anselm. " that I have given unto Archbishop Anselm the " Archbishoprick of the Church of Canterbury." And thus qualified by investiture, homage, and the instrument under the Great Seal, Anselm un- consecrated proceeded to take bodily possession of the Cathedral granted to him by the King. He entered Canterbury on the fifteenth Anseim •' enthroned Sunday after Trinity. Clergy and Laity came ^anter" forth with hymn and psalm to receive their Pas- ^oo|ept' tor, to hail the successor of Augustine : he was enthroned in the Basilica with great magni ficence. Here Anselm joined in the Collect of the Day, constantly used by the Church of England from the time of Pope Gregory the Great, to whom this portion of our ritual owes its origin, — " Keep, we beseech thee, 0 Lord, " thy Church with thy perpetual mercy, and " because the frailty of man without thee cannot " but fall, keep us ever by thy help from all " things hurtful, and lead us to all things profit- " able to our salvation," a prayer remarkably applicable to the anxious circumstances under which he had placed himself. The Gospel, — "No man can serve two masters, for either he " will hate the one and love the other, or else 160 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1093, 1094 ¦¦ kg wj2i JjqJjJ t0 f.ne one an(j despise the other : "ye cannot serve God and Mammon," even more so. — Before Anselm had risen from his throne, he was made to feel the weight of the chain he had placed upon himself, by receiving in vestiture from the King, as the foundation of his Archiepiscopal dignity. Ralph Flambard, stalking up the aisle, and defying all sense of propriety or dignity, served Anselm with process at the King's suit. Had the plea been properly cognizable before the Curia Regis, such a proceeding, upon a day of holy festivity, would have been harsh and disrespectful ; but the matter related to Ecclesiastical rights, not coming within the juris diction of a secular tribunal. — Anselm had ren dered himself the King's man before he became Archbishop, and now he might begin to anticipate and appreciate the persecution he would have to sustain. Anseim An uncomfortable pause ensued, during which conse- . . . crated, Anselm, keeping his state as Archbishop by Royal 4,io93; investiture, was, nevertheless, as to Orders, only his metro- ' ' « SigJut" a priest. Had he been a layman, the circum- te6ntSus°iy" stances would have been still the same : the by York.6 reader will bear this fact in mind with refer ence to the general question of lay investiture. The usage of the Church of England required that the Archbishop of Canterbury should be consecrated by the Archbishop of York, all the Bishops of England assisting. Archbishop anselm's troubles. 161 Thomas clung to his dignity, and did not feel 1093,1094 anxious to accelerate the ceremony. Bishop w Wulstan, the Senior Bishop, was confined by illness, and there were other causes of delay, trying to Anselm's patience. At length the4D°e93em_ appointed day arrived, the first Sunday after the ber- Feast of St. Andrew, the second in Advent. It was the duty of Maurice, Bishop of London, as Dean of the Province, to read the Schedule of Consecration. He could not forget his vexa tions, and he showed his temper by imposing the office, considered, and truly, as an honour, uponBishopWalkeline of Winchester. — Walkeline began ; and, having completed the introductory compellation, he continued — " It is well known, my brethren, how long the Church of Canter bury, the Metropolitan See of all Britain, hath been deprived of her Pastor." Soon as the words were spoken, Archbishop Thomas, who had been lying in wait for his quarrel, fired up, and chal lenged the metropolitan claim with exceeding acri mony. The ceremony was stopped until the Temporary meeting allayed the dissension, by striking out mise be- • -n • tween the the words " totius Britanniae Metropolitanus," Primates. and inserting " totius Britanniae Primas," a con cession insufficient to satisfy the mutual jealousies, afterwards extremely detrimental ; for we reckon them amongst the principal causes, which deprived the English Church of her legitimate share in the temporal legislature. VOL. 111. M 162 the conqueror's sons. 1093, 1094 § 19. The dispute between the rival Metropo- :r^~m~~" litans thus imperfectly settled, another unpleasant Anseim discussion ensued ; Anselm's opponent being the Bishop6 of Dean of his Province, the troubled Bishop of concerning London. The Church of Harrow-upon-the-Hill, thePecu- . r liar of begun in Lanfranc s time, was now completed, Harrow. ° and Anselm prepared to consecrate the edifice. Bishop Maurice continued anxiously on the watch to impede, or to prevent, if possible, the dismem berment of the Parish from his Diocese ; and, When Anselm was there, two Canons of St. Paul's appeared and warned him off. One of the Bishop of London's chaplains disturbed and delayed the ceremony, by a petty and irreverent school-boy theft. Anselm made enquiry concerning his ex traordinary jurisdiction : Bishop Wulstan helped him. It does not appear that any other proof except oral testimony was produced ; but Anselm satisfied himself that he possessed the prerogative, and exercised the functions which stamped Har row as a Peculiar; an immunity destroyed by statute whilst these pages are in hand. Anselm constantly asserted these assumed Archiepiscopal rights, without heeding the vexations they occa sioned to Walkeline and other Bishops in "fo reign "Dioceses; and the exempt parishes became Dispute fully established by law. concerning » „ . . . . the subjec- J zu. A third dissension accompanied the tion of , x Lincoln to consecration of Robert Bloet, who, although for bmy. some time in possession of Lincoln, had not yet anselm's troubles. 163 received Episcopal Orders. Seven Bishops were io°3» 1094 summoned to assist the Primate ; and, the season being concurrent with a Great Council, the Primores had an opportunity of attending. An selm refused to complete the ordination, unless Bloet promised obedience to Canterbury, which he had objected to do. As Chancellor Bloet sought to be exonerated from the Primacy of York, this denial of Canterbury amounted to an intimation that he would not own any Primate whatever; and he was supported in his pre tension by many of the Bishops and laity. How ever, on this occasion, Rufus decided in Anselm's favour, adding, lest his conduct should be mis construed, the explanation, that though he hated the Archbishop, he did not wish to injure the See. These bickerings had the unhappy effect of alienating the Prelacy more and more from Anselm. fi 21. The hostile defiance given by Courthose 1094' 3 a J Quarrel to his brother, of which more hereafter, was between Rufus and accepted, and William prepared to invade the ^^w'0Xlt Duchy with all his power ; but he spent more Bfe*®0_ than he robbed, — his wild extravagance being ^ ST*" i >i t* i • 'j. .TT * aid the always ra advance ot his rapacity. He was in King in his real need of money to carry on the war. Even agamst10" . Normandy. Flambard's financial skill could not immediately replenish the exhausted treasury ; and Rufus was, to no inconsiderable extent, thrown upon his sub jects inclinations. Half bully, half beggar, threats M 2 164 the conqueror's sons. 1093,1094 and solicitations were equally employed. The ^ boundaries of prerogative and power were con fused. Never did fierce royalty appear in a meaner plight than during the earlier eras of Anglo-Norman and Plantagenet history. Neither favour nor justice could be obtained by the empty peUiiedtom~hailc'- ^he indispensable accompaniment of any nevoiences application to the Superior was a gift; a gift subjects, no longer considered as the token of respect and good will, but a contingent, and yet at the same time a regular, branch of the revenue. If the nuzzeer offered to Rufus did not satisfy his expectations, he kicked it away. The unlucky petitioner, prelate, noble, or courtier, became a marked man, a man out of the King's grace, against whom the King always bore a spite ; until the disgraziato increased his bidding, and could purchase himself into the King's favour again. It is from the whole contexture and combina tion of apparently insulated facts and personal anecdotes, that we discover the nature of a Con stitution, far more clearly than by laws or char ters. Much money could be wrung out by Royal prepotence : still, there were many cases in which the King was compelled, when seeking from his subjects what in after times was termed a Bene volence, to haggle and bargain — base terms; but these hagglings and bargainings are amongst the elementary processes by which the House of Commons, with its present attributes, was formed. anselm's troubles. 165 Rufus being placed under these exigencies, 1093,1094 several of Anselm's friends, or those professing themselves to be his friends, advised him to offer a gift. Anselm, over persuaded, complied ; partly to shew his good-will, partly in the ill-judged expectation that the proffer would purchase some degree of quiet for the performance of his duties. Upon his promotion, Anselm found himself in a state of poverty. This pressed upon him. He needed money: — wealth was not required to promote his own personal ease or comfort — but he wanted much for the execution of the trusts his station imposed. Farms and monas teries had been rifled and despoiled, tenants pil laged, monks dispersed, establishments ruined. However, he determined to tender five hundred ^esresImve pounds, being nearly three years' purchase of the pounds? Kentish possessions of the See, so far as a pecu niary value could be affixed to them. Rufus, grasping as he was, would in the first instance have been satisfied ; but Anselm's enemies, rapidly increasing in number and in virulence, urged the King to spurn the paltry donation. Anselm's books were criticised, his acts censured, the world turning against him. — " It is a shame," Kufus, by ° ° theinsti- said they, " that this Lombard, placed by you f1^™^ amongst the rulers of this land, whom you have 'eqSres'a enriched and exalted, who could well afford you a fo^t thousand pounds, or two thousand pounds, should the proffer! make such a paltry proffer. Refuse it, shew 166 the conqueror's sons. 1093, 1094 your displeasure ; the Lombard will come cring ing before you, happy to double the sum." Anselm's proposal was unquestionably very liberal in proportion to his means, nor have we reason to suppose that any layman would have contributed with equal readiness. But the Bishops, (like the Jews,) were universally con sidered as the King's tributary bondsmen, and they themselves had probably a lurking feeling, that no individual amongst them ought to be more exempted from contribution than the others. Acting in all simplicity, Anselm was much sur prised when he heard how the King refused his money. He forthwith repaired to the Presence, and repeated his proffer. — "It is the first gift, my Lord King, tendered by your Archbishop, but it shall not be the last. Is it not more seemly to accept a little from friendship, and from one who will often repeat the courtesy, than to make heavy exactions from a servile depend ent ? Asa friend, command me always ; as a slave, never." — Rufus angrily dismissed the Archbishop. Anselm departed ; at this period of his life he was somewhat vacillating, not always consistent ; occasionally hesitating between right and wrong. He had erred against the Canons of the Church when he accepted investiture by the Staff, and his tender of the money resembled time-serving pusillanimity. But his humiliation had done its appointed work ; and as he was quitting the anselm's troubles. 167 Chamber, the Scripture which the liturgical 1093,1094 order of the Church had caused him to hear on1" ~ that Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity when he en tered his Cathedral, — "No man can serve two mas ters," came as a living voice upon his mind. The warning words told him, that he had been saved from temptation and rescued from shame. Had the money been received by Rufus, the gift would doubtless have been represented as the instal ment of the price promised to the King for his promotion, the fulfilment of one of the usual simoniacal bargains which disgraced the prelacy. His strength was renewed. He was liberated, for ever, from the sinister influence of the King. The whole extent of the evils resulting from the abusive employment of the Royal Prerogatives, expanded, as it were, before him — he determined to repair the errors into which he had fallen. Rufus, abjectly greedy, measuring others by his own standard, sent fruitless messengers to the Archbishop, hoping he might be worried or fright ened into compliance. Anselm had formed his resolution : he refused to make any gift whatever ; but, lest he should be accused of avarice, he dis tributed the money in alms, with the hope that the charity might work for the good of the King's soul. § 22. Henceforward, without losing any por- J"10'" Anselm's encreasin_ troubles — tion of his forbearance, courtesy, sweetness, or ^Ved^y" charity, Anselm became inflexibly firm in every Bishops'* 168 the conqueror's sons. io93, 1094 act of duty, whilst every act of duty only encreased the troubles and persecutions he sustained. But worst of all, was the absence of aid and sympathy, degenerating into indifference, aversion, opposi tion, and hatred, which he encountered amongst the Hierarchy. When the contest began, he had only one useful friend, able, and willing to stand by him : Gundulph, firm as his own tower. — All the others useless, or worse : Wulstan Bishop of Worcester, debilitated by infirmity; Bishop Osbern of Exeter, decrepit and blind ; Bishop Osmund of Salisbury, good and holy, but still dragged down by the weight of the Chancellor's robe ; Archbishop Thomas of York, grudging the contested Primacy, impatient of any brother near the throne ; Bishop Maurice of London, Harrow- upon-the-Hill constantly before him, whichsoever way he turned ; Bishop Walkeline of Winchester, heartily wishing Anselm away from Mortlake; Bishop Limesey of Coventry, envying Canter bury's splendour ; Bishop Bloet of Lincoln, surly under his enforced subjection ; Bishop Robert of Hereford, to whom the King's star was always in the ascendant; Bishop Herbert of Norwich, and Bishop John of Bath, much afraid for their bargains; and Bishop William de St. Carileph of Durham, leader of the King's party, Prolocutor for the King, seeking with all his heart and soul to hunt Anselm out of the English Church, and to triumph as Primate of all Britain. Chapter V. ANSELM S ENCREASING TROUBLES, ENDING WITH HIS FIRST EXILE. 1094—1097. § 1 . If Hampden dying on the field and 1094—1097 Russel on the scaffold, have earned their coun- The privi- . leges of the try's gratitude ; let not the same proud tribute be church in J . o ' r the Angi0_ denied to Anselm the Confessor and Becket the Normanera, to be Martyr. — You worship the patriot Statesman by ^nthetered the votive statue ; be consistent, honour the ofathelses patriot Prelate also in the temple of worldly people- glory. — The people's voice was first heard by the Hierarchy. The privileges of the Church were the nation's constitutional rights: from the Church, our traditions of popular liberty have been pri marily derived. Government, in the age of pervading faith, was taught through theology; justice inculcated as a religious duty. Positive civilization, discard ing the knowledge of God, treats government as an intellectual science ; justice, a duty towards society. Their theory was directed to heaven ; ours chains us to the earth. They in all things professed to look God-ward; we, man-ward. Translating nevertheless the policy of catholicity into the constitutional nomenclature of our pre sent age, Church and Public, must, in all external 170 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094—1097 and secular relations, be received as equivalent "" or parallel terms. This, notwithstanding the anta gonism of principle ; for in both cases the com munity is held to possess transcendent rights, indefeasible by sovereign authority; and either theory, of Church or Constitution, is founded upon the basis of equality before the Law. Exposition Political freedom results from the aggregate duced bpr°" °^ Priya*e rights : — the old English saying, "Every straintsim- mans nouse is his castle," gives their summary. aTcon^ The utility of ecclesiastical authority is exactly pro- upon°eccie- portionate to ecclesiastical independence. Never jurisdic- should the servants of the altar, when discharging their sacred functions, invoke, employ, or obey the secular arm. The Anglo-Norman monarch ruled despotically over the Church ; and in order that we may appreciate some of the effects, resulting from the Conqueror's subjection of that autho rity to the Crown's irresponsible controul, we must briefly examine a passage from the juris prudence of a subsequent era, opening the Folio in a chapter further down. § 2. It is the natural tendency of all sove reignty to disturb the equilibrium of the balance of justice. Monarchy overweights the scale by casting in crown and sceptre, ermine and coro net, riband and star: Democracy, bowie knife and rifle, blouse and blanket-coat, club and clouted shoon. "Caesar never did wrong, but with just cause," conveys the excuse : an excuse ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 171 sometimes admissible in singular instances and 1094-1097 extreme emergencies; but never, when tending to the prevention or denial of condign punish ment or needful remedy. It is the impunity granted to the great, the powerful, the rich, the sycophant, the useful, the pander, the minion, which stings. In this country, the impartial administration of the law has perhaps received the utmost security which human institutions combined with human virtue can afford. Let it be acknowledged with thankfulness, not with pride, that no parallel can be found for the talent, the integrity, and the conscientiousness adorning and dignifying the judges of the land. Yet this consummation, the main compensation for the encreasing distempers o£ our social state, has been won after a hard struggle. Besides the servility, which, during a long period, disgraced the Bench, and the facilities of influence, intimidation, and corruption, during a longer, there were many prerogatives, or pretended prerogatives, enabling the King to baffle and defeat the Subject, when pursuing his legal remedy. The King's power of exempting a defendant protec- - ... VI .1 o tions, their from civil process was peculiarly vexatious. So abuse. long as the Royal protection subsisted, no action or suit could be maintained. Complaints against this outrageous privilege fill the rolls of Parlia ment : and some restrictions were obtained, partly by decisions and partly by statute, but not effec- 172 the conqueror's sons. 1094—1097 tual : writs of protection continued to be readily granted, and greatly abused, till checked by the acuteness of a wary Sovereign. Queen Elizabeth saw it was imprudent to incur the odium for the benefit of a favourite ; and she granted few or none, giving a reason, as my Lord Coke tells us, in paronomasia or jingle — "he was no fit Subject to be employed in her service that was subject to other men's actions." Nevertheless, the idea lingered within the verge of Whitehall and St. James's ; the last instance of the exercise of the prerogative being found under William the Third, whose Protection, granted to the notorious Lord Cutts, Dean Swift's Salamander, defended the bold Rake from being outlawed by his tailor. ticaruris" Annoying as such a.prerogative must have needed3 for been, — and we know how the public are galled thetefects by tne very limited and perhaps justifiable privi- ofthesecu- i n t> v a j_i • l lar laws, lege of Parliament — the grievance becomes im perceptible, when placed in comparison with the parallel paragraphs of the Anglo-Norman and Plantagenet paternal and ancestorial customs and usages, the customs and usages so dear to the Crown, by which the Church was enslaved. Ecclesiastical authority was, as we have before observed, both complementary aud remedial, — essential, not merely in a spiritual sense, but for the ordinary transactions of society. Thus, as an additional example, the common law possessed no means by which the fulfilment of a contract ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 173 could be compelled ; but the ecclesiastical law 1094—1097 interposed, by considering the obligations as " ~ binding upon conscience, and then enforcing the engagement by excommunication. — We were cir cumstanced in England, like the other portions of Latin Christendom. Temporal law, imperfect, rigid, inflexible : Ecclesiastical, grounded upon the true principles of human nature, and self-adapt able to the progress and developement of human society. According to the Anglo-Saxon, or Anglo- Norman law, some crimes were austerely pun ished; all trespasses against property: cattle- stealing, house-breaking, theft, robbery; so also treason, in all its branches, false coining, breaches of the forest-laws, and indeed, every offence against the Royal prerogative. As to all other misdeeds, the remedies were defective ; nor could the suitor expect any justice in the Royal tribu nals except by hazard : that is to say, when not perverted by the King's will. Rufus would, for love or money, excuse or sanction any wrong: whereas, the discipline of the Church had be come impartially and effectually remedial, by im posing hard penances pro salute animte, where secular tribunals gave either a most imperfect redress, or none. The Royal pardon could not absolve the sinner. " Execution," says Lord Coke, "is the life of the law ;" therefore the restraints upon excommunication enabled a Rufus or a Plan- 174 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094-1097 tagenet to say — " My Earl, my Baron, my Sheriff, my Bailiff, my Knight, my Squire, my Routter, my Ribald, my Groom of my Stable, my Varlet of my Chamber, my Turnspit of my Kitchen, my Clerk of my Chancery, shall have full and free license and liberty to commit fraud, perjury, slander, violence, seduction, fornication, incest, adultery, manslaughter, poisoning, murder, with out any punishment at all." I\entoy ^he spiritual magistracy palsied, individuals Rovafre-6 released from the punishment of individual trans- upoTeL gression, and at the same time deprived of their cation"111 individual remedies, each spiritual magistrate lying under a perennial prohibition, the aggregate jurisdiction of the Church was virtually destroyed. What is a Church without a Synod? — A demo cracy without a forum ; an aristocracy without a senate ; a federation without a congress ; a consti tutional monarchy without a parliament. — Under these circumstances, the Church, so far as admini strative or coercive government is concerned, may exist as a congregational body, in parishes and dioceses, but not as a collective corporation, not as One. Besides the powerful political motives inducing Rufus to prohibit the holding of Synods, and entertained by him in common with the Con queror, others actuated him, peculiar and personal. These assemblies were, in their nature, reforming ticai coun. Parliaments. In them resided the moral govern- cils, the « , guardians ment ot the commonwealth : always failing to ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 175 satisfy the full requirements of Christianity, yet 1094-1097 always striving. All the ecclesiastical legislatures, oTthT" to the utmost of their knowledge and conscience, "hastate! did endeavour to repress wickedness and vice, both in clergy and in laity, not sparing their own order ; speaking out, and endeavouring to meet new evils by new remedies, the vigilance in which the very essence of sound legislation subsists. Never had England more needed this moral power; in addition to the natural and indigenous growth of depravity, a new crop of profligacy, so to speak, had been forced into rank luxuriance, by the vio lence of the Conquest, the immigration and settle ment of foreigners, and, above all, the example of the King. Such a Monarch as Rufus had the same objection to an ecclesiastical Council that a thief has to the Old Bailey. He laboured to suppress the only Court in which he could be tried. He strove to silence the only censor by whom his licentiousness could be shamed ; he would have been annoyed by any public testimony against sin. He could not have been controlled by ecclesiastical canons ; but any voice of admonition wearied him. He hated a power which he could not entirely disregard and would not obey. fi 3. Anselm's appointment had not worked increasing J x xr depravity any change in the government proceedings : Rufus country. and Flambard pursued their systematic course. Abbey after abbey became vacant ; the monks, dispersing themselves as vagabonds throughout 176 THE conqueror's sons. 1094-1097 the kingdom, encreased the general scandal by ~^ their dissolute lives. But the decay of the out ward establishment of the Church, was far less grievous to Anselm than the encreasing preva lence of sin. Not merely Christianity, but even the natural restraints of morality, were fast dying away. Over and above the ordinary vices of human kind, England was infected by wickedness not to be named. Effeminacy As is usual, outward fashions conformed to of Dress. the dissoluteness of manners. Dress is a portion of man's moral physiognomy; and the loose lasci vious feminine attire and long hair nourished by the young courtiers, after the fashion of damsels, " more juvencularum," denoted the most debasing pollution. No analogy can be needed from the codes of heathen legislators, still less any argu ment from Scripture, for the purpose of shewing that the Church is imperatively bound to enjoin modesty and sobriety of raiment. Whenever Shepherds and flock conjoin in belie viug the doctrines they profess; whenever Priests and Laity are really in earnest ; whenever Teachers and Hearers take pleasure in religion, such in junctions are always given, and frequently obeyed. From the era of the Constitutions ascribed to the Apostles, there had been repeated canons, exhortations, and admonitions against excesses in apparel. Anselm had no power to institute any enquiries into the conduct of the King's Courtiers; ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 177 if he had, the authority would have been nugatory, 1094-1097 inasmuch as he could not proceed to excommu nication : his hands were tied. But Anslem could not discharge himself from his own liability : what he saw, his office compelled him to notice ; he was a Magistrate witnessing a breach of the peace, a Judge in whose presence a contempt of court is committed. Therefore when the Effeminates presented themselves for the peni tential service of Ash- Wednesday, mocking the holy place and the holy offices by their garb, in sulting the God of purity, he repelled them from the Altar. Many a Patristic homily, many a monkish sermon, many an ecclesiastical canon, sanctioned this mild rebuke ; but it was not in homily, nor in sermon, nor in canon, that Anselm sought his warrant : — " The woman shall not wear "that which appertaineth unto a man, neither " shall a man put on a woman's garment ; for all " that do so are an abomination unto the Lord " thy God ; " — " Doth not nature itself teach you, " that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame to " him?" — " Abstain from all appearance of evil." — Is it needful to remind any of our readers, that whilst the Bible remains closed on the school room shelf, the books ridiculing and reviling An selm because he honoured the Divine law and the Apostolic precepts, are open on the nursery-table ; read by the mother to the boy upon her knee? § 4. If ever Anselm was surprized into ^nducHn VOL. III. N 178 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094—1097 heat or vexation, the evenness of his cheerful seeking to mind was speedily restored : he united zeal and missio/to' prudence, tact and simplicity. Fully aware that convene a -,-, „ . , . . , . Synod. Rufus was always seeking occasions against him, it seemed as though he never discerned the King's swaggering frown, or heard the angry tone of the King's voice. He took no notice of the King's dyspathy, and resorted to the Court freely, as station authorized him and duty required. 1094. Hostilities between Robert and Rufus being February. council at renewed, the King prepared vigorously for a se- prepara3' cond unhappy campaign. Bishops, Prelates, and tory to the _ . invasion of .Peers, were summoned to meet at Hastings. Normandy. Battle Abbey Church now rose completed; and the Conqueror's heir was called upon to witness the consecration of the edifice commemorating the Conqueror's triumph. Anselm appeared at the head of the Clergy: there also the Bishops, Gundulph of Rochester, Walkeline of Winchester, Ralph of Chichester, Osmund of Salisbury, John de Villula of Bath, and William de St. Carileph of Durham, who performed the ceremony. Decency required that the son's munificence should attend the completion of the father's vows. The token bestowed by Rufus was characteristic ; he gave what did not belong to him, Churches and tithes. This celebration occupied a portion of the King's enforced delay: on this occasion, the usual good auspices of Rufus failed him. It used to be remarked that the King never had to wait a fair ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 179 wind, so rarely was he contradicted by. the ele- 1094-1097 ments ; but now the wind was adverse, and con- "~ tinued in the same quarter during more than a month, blowing furiously. Prayers were offered up for his safety : whether on account of the na vigation, or for some other cause, not clearly stated, there were reasons to apprehend danger. It was the custom, that, upon the sailing of a royal expedition, the benediction should be given by a Bishop. For that purpose An selm continued with the King in Hastings' Castle during the detention, entering freely, as far as he dared, into familiar and friendly con versation with the angry fretting King. Going to him one morning, Anselm sat down by his side, and opening the business he had so deeply at heart, entreated Rufus to permit the holding of a Synod, alleging as the imperative motive, the depravities spreading themselves throughout the realm ; stating clearly the urgent duty of suppress ing vice, and praying that the royal and sacerdotal authorities might co-operate for that good end. — " What," exclaimed the Scorner, " is to be gained for thee therein ? " — " Nothing for me ; yet much Rufus re- . fuses to for thee and for the Lord." — Rufus commanded permit the convoca- him to hold his tongue. Anselm, without no-tionofan ° ecclesias- ticing the rudeness, continued; he had made his cotmcii. venture, and could not recede. He besought the King to fill up the vacant Churches, and appoint proper superiors. "Would Lanfranc have dared N2 180 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094-1097 to meddle with my Father? May I not do what I please with my own ? " — was the King's reply. — " You do what you think fit with your farms, why should not I, with my Abbeys ? " Anselm attempted an argument, but Rufus insultingly drove him out of the chamber : he had now cast off even the external deference which Anselm's rank imposed. Anselm grieved deeply for Rufus, prayed for him, — could he gain, or regain the King's favour, he was willing to make any sacrifice, save that of conscience. He entreated the Bishops to be peace makers : they communicated with the King, he gave them a surly but intelligible answer — and re turning to Anselm they expressed their unanimous opinion, if he wished to obtain peace from the King, he must purchase pardon, and pay liberally. Bisho " Take our advice," said the Bishops ; " do as we Anleim to ^° m ^e like circumstances ; give the King the withPthT d fiye hundred pounds you lately offered, promise ins' him as much more as soon as you can raise the money from your Tenants." Anselm explained that the Tenants being racked and ruined, he could not think of such a proceeding. No inconsider able portion of his duty consisted in protecting his Gavelkinders and Villainage, not only from the undue exactions of the King's officers, but also of his own ; as for the five hundred pounds, the money was gone ; it had all been distributed in charity. ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 181 For the last time, let us refer to the modern 1094-1097 commentaries upon Anselm's history. Concern- Modem ing this transaction it has been remarked : " An- upon An- s elm's "selm was unwise enough to refuse; and when conduct. " his counsellors reminded him that it would only " be giving what he had proposed to give, he per severed in his refusal, upon the ground that " he had disposed thereof to the poor. Few minds " could be so weak as not to have discerned that "this impolitic parsimony, or rather perverse- "ness, could only exasperate William by an " unnecessary provocation." — Unwise in refusing to yield to extortion, or to exercise extortion — parsimony, in attempting to preserve the patri mony of the destitute — perverseness in bestowing the wealth upon those to whom it belonged. The Bishops reported the result of their con ference to the King. — " I hated him yesterday," ex claimed Rufus; — "I hate him more to-day; and I will hate him bitterly more and more to-morrow, and ever afterwards. I will never acknowledge him as Spiritual Father and Archbishop. I refuse his prayers, I curse his blessings. Let him wait no longer here to give his benediction ; let him be off." There was no withstanding such insane violence — Anselm hastened away. § 5. The position of the English Church had f„Ssg become singularly anomalous: no renunciation ^ektheto of the Roman See, no declared obedience to t°on ofthe any Pontiff. We may collect, however, that se°ema 182 THE conqueror's sons. 1094—1097 the English prelacy favoured Guibert, the Anti- pope. In the Continental Churches of Latin Christendom, the feud between Free-Kirk and Bond-Kirk ran so high, that neither party held any communion with the other. Anselm, having openly testified his recognition of Urban, did not proceed further ; he abstained from insisting that the same acknowledgment should be made by his suffragans, contrary to the King's injunc tions ; but, for the present, he allowed the ques tion to remain open, and continued to consort freely with them. Indeed, Anselm could scarcely act otherwise ; nevertheless, there was a degree of uncertainty about his position, which it was very needful should be removed. Troubles and trials were thickening : the most arduous duties pressed upon Anselm: conscience, intellect, worldly prudence, bodily labour, all to be obeyed, consulted, exerted. His mind was not at ease: his position was not entirely legitimate : he had not yet received the full credentials required by public opinion for the unchallenged exercise of his archiepiscopal authority. Invested by the Sove reign, accepted by the Clergy, sanctioned by the Legislature, seized of his temporalities, conse crated, enthroned, there was one thing wanting, the confirmation of Rome. iTu™Pal" In an earlier portion of our narrative, the ratification imparted to Archiepiscopal authority by the Pope's delivery of the Pallium, has been ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 183 noticed ; but the subject, hitherto only collateral 1094—1097 and incidental, now obtains a primary import- " ance. Heraldry, employed as an adjunct to his tory, furnishes a species of technical memory ; and the stole embroidered with the four crosses, constituting the armorial bearing of Archiepis copal Canterbury, permanently betokens this branch of ancient Papal Supremacy. It is very difficult to prove that the right existed in the earlier ages : it is quite impossible to deny that the claim became generally admitted after the Pontificate of Symmachus, who is first 492—513 known to have bestowed the insignia upon Caesa- firsttnown rius of Aries. Like all other constitutional princi- under sym- i • m 1 tt i machus. pies, lt had grown up insensibly. Usage estab lished the jurisdiction ; and, according to the orga nization now fully developed in the Latin Church, the Pallium was accepted equally as the symbol and the confirmation of Archiepiscopal dignity. The Popes required that the Metropolitan should receive the Pallium in person from the Supreme Pontiff. In very special cases, dispensations might be granted, but only as exceptions from the rule. How sternly had not Hildebrand insisted upon Lanfranc's conformity thereto. The journey to Rome was most rarely excused. The Roman Court was poor and greedy — the officers of the Papal Chancery extortionate. The Church murmured and submitted. The recognition by the Supreme Pontiff prevented confusion in the Western Church : the conception of an indivisible Catho- 184 the conqueror's sons. H>94— 1097 Hcity was so engrafted in men's minds, however imperfectly they may have carried out this prin ciple, that, according to their theory, neither doc trine nor discipline could have subsisted, unless concurrently with the constant seeking after cor porate unity. The schisms in the Apostolic See rendered it the more needful that the ceremonial should be insisted upon, by which each Metropolitan representing his church, confessed himself sub ordinate to the paramount federal Superior. In the British Churches, the power and privileges of the insular Primate, the Papa alterius orbis, were greater than those enjoyed by any other Latin Prelate ; nevertheless, Anselm did not feel firm in his station. When he leant upon his pas toral Staff, he saw the King's gauntletted hand still grasping it. That iron hand prevented his raising the Staff, and could at any time drag the Staff away. He could not get any dependable purchase against the King, excepting through the Pallium which would bind him to the Chair of St. Peter. Was he sure of obtaining this, his ultimate safeguard and protection? Would the Abbot of Bec-Hellouin's acknowledgment of Urban be accepted as an excuse for the Arch bishop of Canterbury, who had accepted the in vestiture which the Church condemned ? November,' § 6. Rufus prosecuted his enterprize in Nor- Rrfu!™- niandy, where his military and political energy Norman°dy. and his lavish expenditure of money amongst ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 185 the Barons, prepared the country for Robert's 1094-1097 removal ; he then returned to England, recalled ^ by the Cymric disturbances : and Anselm imme diately resumed his exertions for the settlement of the Church. Rufus lived almost wholly in his hunting The forest " ° residences grounds, none more pleasing to him than the New g^med by Forest, the Goblin's weald, the haunt of the Witches ; his favourite Lodge being in the Lind- Wood, the Dragon's Wood, where the Verdurers still keep his great brown rusty stirrup through which the dogs were drawn. All who could not pass through the gauge being subjected to that painful mutilation, which, even during the gene rations when the duty of mercy to the beast was almost wholly forgotten, excited commiseration and horror. Such residences possessed multifarious attrac tions for Rufus : not only did they contribute to his delights, but they gave him greater scope for exercise of his power. Nowhere was a King of England so much a King, as within the Forest boundary. Separated from the Shireland, and governed by a special code of cruelty, adminis tered by the royal officers, the precinct was inac cessible to the ordinary course of justice ; what ever small protection the laws could afford, was here denied. Such localities — one third of Eng land — tempted the commission of crime, afford ing concealment and promising impunity. No 186 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094—1097 one forgot the death of that son of the Con queror whose life ended so mysteriously in the New Forest; and he who apprehended any enemy's treachery or vengeance might shrink from enter ing the gloomy shades: — even their myths excited the imagination to evil. meets11" § ?• Rufus, probably on his way to Wales, was Gingham stationed at Gillingham, four miles from Shaftes- mSeiwood Durv jn this now open and well-cultivated dis trict, it would be difficult to imaginate the mighty Selwood forest, the Coit-maur ofthe Britons, once expanded over Somerset and Dorset, where Al fred concealed himself from the Danes, and whose coverts and shaws continued to be the haunt of felon and outlaw until the last century. Anselm, having required an interview, was directed to the Selwood by the King. He came readily, and without testifying any apprehension, requested permission that he might repair to Rome for the Rufus dis- indispensable Pallium. "From which Pope?" allows x r ^eco^tion- "From Urban."— " Urban," replied blustering urbaT Rufus, " has never been acknowledged by me. Neither in my father's time nor in mine, accord ing to our royal usages, has any one been called Pope in our Realm, unless by our permission. He who deprives me of this prerogative, de prives me of my Crown. You shall have no place in my kingdom, unless I am satisfied that you are ready to renounce Urban at my pleasure." ' Rufus thoroughly felt what he spoke. His mighty ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 187 ambition, never to be satisfied, was constantly 1094-1097 burning within him : he triumphed in a supre- "~ macy which those who ministered to his insatiate pride assured him belonged to no other King. So far as Anselm was concerned, the question had been already decided. Abbot of Bee in Normandy, denizen of another State, he, in the conference at Rochester, expressly stipulated that he should not be compelled to depart from his obedience. It was the condition upon which he accepted the Archbishoprick; disputes had since arisen between him and the King, yet Rufus, by confirming him in the See, had ratified the treaty. All this he stated to Rufus; nevertheless, he would not hastily determine. Anselm there fore craved a respite until the Bishops and Peers of the Realm might decide, by their judgment, whether he could reconcile the duties of spiritual obedience to Pope Urban, and temporal allegiance to King William. If ruled in the negative, he should prefer resigning his dignity, and quitting the kingdom. A great Council, Bishops and Abbots, and all included in the comprehensive, yet obscure denomination of Nobility or Prin cipes, was accordingly summoned to assemble on the second Sunday of Lent, the fifth of the Ides of March, in the Castle of Rockingham. § 8. The tangled forest of Rockingham, a 11 March. continuation of the Derbyshire woodlands, was council at amongst the largest and most secluded in theham.'ing" 188 THE conqueror's sons. 1094—1097 kingdom. At a much later period, this dreary weald measured thirty miles in length. The Castle, raised by the Conqueror, had been planned by the cautious Sovereign quite as much for the purpose of coercing the inhabitants, as for the pro tection of the glowing furnaces. Echoes of facts and opinions, the mediaeval traditions, represent the forgemen as a peculiarly barbarous class : had Anselm been faint-hearted, he might have dreaded placing himself in a spot where the executioners of any misdeed or cruelty might be so readily found. The Council was opened in the Castle Chapel. Anselm entered, accompanied by one with whom we are well acquainted, faithful Eadmer, his Secretary; but none of the other Prelates can be seen, all closetted, together with the Nobles, Flambard and the Clerks of the Chancery, William de Saint Carileph, Bishop of Durham, the King's Prolocutor, and the King, arranging the impeachment against the Primate. When they came forth, Anselm addressed the whole assembly, wisely and temperately, though deeply moved, pathetically beseeching them to give him counsel, how he might satisfy the conflicting claims of the Apostolical See and the Crown. But more specially does he appeal to his brethren for guidance. It is a hard trial for him ; — he earn estly seeks to render obedience to the King ; he never will violate his obedience to the Successor of Saint Peter, the Supreme Pontiff, the universal ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 189 Father of Christendom. — The Bishops, who en- 1094-1097 tirely identified themselves with William de St. " ' Carileph their leader, answered unanimously; — Archbishop Anselm must act upon his own re sponsibility ; they were fully aware of his pru dence and goodness ; he did not need their advice, they could give him none. If, without any condition or stipulation he submitted to the King's will and pleasure, they would convey his determination to the Sovereign ; nevertheless if he thought fit, they would as readily report that he persisted in his obedience to the Aposto lical See. — A Convocation in the Tudor age could not have shewn more ductility. § 9. Rufus adjourned the debate until the 121)°I95h following or second day. Secluded as the situation The second ° _ J day's de- Was, a great multitude nevertheless assembled, ^f- The 0 Bishops Anselm took his seat in the midst of the Pro- ad,Tise An- selm agam ceres, surrounded by the anxiously attentive *° st^mit crowd. Again he asked his brethren for their KingswiU- counsel — "As we answered you yesterday, we answer you to-day. Submit yourself purely and unreservedly to the King's will and pleasure, and then we will give you such useful counsel as we can afford ; but if you expect any advice from us upon the ground of faith or religion which can frustrate the King's wishes, you seek in vain." — Old legal etymologists tell you that the name of the " Coroner " is derived from the "Corona," the encircling crowds who witness 190 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094—1097 his proceedings. These imaginary derivations " often arise from a correct conception. They re turn to the truth, though they do not start from it. Wherever the rights of the people are con cerned, publicity has always been an inherent principle in England. — Shame thought the " Co rona," and transferring their feelings to the cause of them, the spectators fancied that the Bishops hung down their heads and looked conscious of the shame. — Not they. Bisho s $10. Excepting personal danger, which he agains"6 defied, Anselm had nothing to fear, and looking Anseim. Up Spirjtedly and boldly, he addressed the as sembly. Sternly rebuking the Prelates and the ' Baronage, the Shepherds of the Christian flock, the Princes of the people, for their base servility in refusing to give any advice except according to one man's command, he testified his belief in the sacred and immutable appointment of the Papacy; his speech being an ample commentary upon the text, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." Whilst he declared that in all spiritual things he would obey the Suc cessor of St. Peter, yet, in all belonging of right to the King's dignity, he would with equal fidelity render service to the utmost of his power. — The members of the Council rose in tumultuous confusion. The hall resounded with clamour, shouting, and railing against Anselm, but no answer. Anselm stood, deserted: none ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 191 would venture to report his speech to the King. 1094—1097 Undaunted, Anselm presented himself to the Sove reign, repeated his declaration, and immediately quitted the Presence. Rufus raged with maniacal fury, upbraid ing Bishops and Peers because they could find no answer to Anselm. A long and stormy dis cussion ensued, begun in the hall and concluded in the royal chamber. The Bishops, preceded by William de St. Carileph, a few Peers accom panying them, came out again to Anselm ; expos tulations, persuasions, threats, constituted their argument, if such it can be called. — " What good," said they, " can you hope for from Urban, if you offend the King? Renounce your obedience to him; behave as it beseems an Archbishop of Canterbury ; acknowledge your error, promise to obey the King's will, and you may keep your Archbishoprick. Seeking to deprive our Sovereign of the glory of his Crown, you have the whole kingdom against you. Whoever deprives the King of his prerogatives, deprives him of Crown and Kingdom." Evening drew on ; Anselm, very tired, craved an adjournment till the following day. The Bis hops thought his constancy was failing, and de termined to drive the matter home; they rejoined the King, advising him to deny any further respite, and thus bring the matter at once to a conclusion. The Bishop of Durham, the manager 192 the conqueror's sons. 1094—1097 on the part of the King, declared he would undertake that the Archbishop should be at once compelled, either wholly to renounce Urban's obedience, or resign his Staff. Rufus gave him full power to act, satisfied either way. If Anselm abjured Urban, he would stand disgraced before the world by his apostacy : and, losing his cha racter, lose all influence : if he surrender the Archbishoprick, then we are delivered from him altogether. Anseim R 11. Proceedings being thus settled, St. impeached J . . B"ishoe f Carileph came forth heading the Bishops, and Durham, accompanied by some of the lay Peers and others, Clerks of the Chancery, to support him ; he now propounded the formal charge or impeachment in the King's name. — " Thou hast deprived the King of his dignity, by acknowledging Odo Bishop of Ostia as Pope, in his kingdom of England; and having thus deprived him of his dignity, thou seekest a delay, in order to find arguments to justify thy wrong. First reinstate the King in his Empery, then sue for time to answer." — More followed about the King's un paralleled supremacy, such as no other Sove reign possessed. The Bishop of Durham's address was vehement, angry, and disrespectful; but neither the tone of the charge, nor the terms employed, threw Anselm off his guard. From first to last, his conduct during this dispute was singularly cautious. Throughout, he avoided any ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 193 reasoning, which, supposing he failed in his par- 1094—1097 ticular case, might enfeeble or injure the Papal cause, taking the greatest care to guard against any measure whereby Urban might be brought to trial in Anselm's person. He was defending his own conduct, and not appearing as an advocate for Urban's legitimacy. The Papal supremacy he assumed to be a fact incontrovertible ; but, at the same time, he scarcely argued against the prerogatives which Rufus claimed. Anselm laboured to take the question narrowly, Anseim x •> ' raises the to deal with it, as far as practicable, upon per-P°^n sonal grounds. He mainly depended upon the 0Ycha^te0-p terms made when he accepted the See, that his amenable^ submission to Urban should continue undisturbed. pe0pe? He became Archbishop, subject to that stipula tion: why was the compact to be violated? Anselm heard patiently, and answered shortly : — " Let him come forward who wishes to prove that because I will not renounce my obedience to the Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Church, the Pope of Rome, I am therefore violating my fealty and oath to the King ; and in the name of the Lord, he will find me ready to answer, as I ought, and where I ought." — The Bishops, in their haste and vehemence, did not at first understand the full import of Anselm's words, Sicut debeo et ubi debeo; but when they retired to the King, and consulted with him, they then became fully aware of the important point which Anselm's sicut and vol. 111. o 194 the conqueror's sons. 1094—1097 ubi had raised. It was substantially a plea to the jurisdiction, a plea in abatement. The accu sation affected Archbishop Anselm in his ecclesi astical character. The Great Council was utterly incompetent to censure or punish the Primate, the highest functionary, under the Sovereign, in the empire. None but a Pope could pass judgment upon an Archbishop of Canterbury. Therefore the Reformed Church of England does not possess any tribunal which can exercise authority over the Primate, as was evidenced in the most anomalous proceedings, occasioned by the misfortune which clouded the concluding " years of Archbishop Abbott — the involuntary homicide at Bramzill Park. Anseims During these proceedings, the multitude, cause sup- ° x ° ported by their excitement increasing, continued crowd- the public. o' ing and pressing into the Hall. No place could be fancied in England less propitious to Anselm than Rockingham. The Castle, filled with the King's knights and soldiers, foresters, forest-officers, forest-swains, and churls, and the swarthy, reeking ferocious forgemen ; these com posed the public, watching Anselm's proceedings, and making his case more and more their own ; for their interests were involved in his. He was not a mere handsome pious pageant, a venerable stately beau-ideal of a Prelate, a fine mitre on his head, a rich embroidered cope on his back, and a tall gemmed crozier in his hand, but a fagged, wor- ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 195 ried, hard-working, dusty-footed labouring man in 1094—1097 this weary world, transacting his business amongst the world for the benefit of the English people at large, but most of all, the poor — their doctor, their lawyer, their advocate, their champion, their defender. — "Fearing the tyrant," this is Eadmer's expression, "none had yet dared display any sympathy with Anselm." — The feelings, hitherto silent, could not be any longer restrained; and one, stepped forward, to declare the indignation of the multitude — a rude Soldier, who, advancing to An selm, knelt before him : — " My Lord and Father," said he, " through me, thy children beseech thee, let not thy heart be troubled, and be not afraid ;" adding examples of comfort suggested by Holy Writ, encouraging him to persevere in patience and in constancy. Few were the words he spake, but by them Anselm fully understood that the people were on his side ; — " and much did we re joice and receive consolation," says Eadmer, " re collecting the Scripture, — ' Vox populi vow Dei.' " Possibly some of the Apocryphal writings, current in the middle ages, may contain the text, un- discoverable in the Bible. The source, however. remains untraced ; and Anselm's trial first records the sentiment which has since become the rally ing cry of political liberty, though involving a far deeper truth than is perceptible to the minds of those by whom the maxim is most frequently proclaimed. o 2 196 the conqueror's sons. io94_io97 In the Council, the debates continued viru- " lently and violently. — " What shall I do ? Were I to attempt," says our reporter, Eadmer — lite rally our reporter, for he was present during the whole session — "to describe the threats, con tumelies, false and foul language with which the Archbishop was assailed, I should be judged an ex- aggerator." — No decision was yet obtained. The Bishops staggered : Rufus, teazed and exaspe rated, stuttering, stammering with anger, scolded at the Prelates with impotent rage. " What is this?" said he, "did not you pledge yourselves that you would deal with him according to my will, and drive him away ?" — The Bishop of Dur ham, baffled and confounded, answered foolishly and weakly: he was completely shaken: it seemed as if he had lost his wits. But darkness had come on, and, nearly worn out, he proposed exactly that measure which he had before vehemently objected to, an adjournment till the morrow. After they broke up, Anselm retired to his lodging, King and Bishops re-assembled in the Royal Chamber. Rufus became more calm; William de St. Carileph recovered his self-pos session, and he and the other Bishops continued till a very late hour in consultation with Rufus, settling their ulterior proceedings. 13 March ^ 12" ^n tne tn*ra m°rning, the debate was The third resumed. Rufus came down in person ; and the bate'-fhe Bishop of Durham, pursuant to the resolution ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 197 they had adopted the preceding night, declared 1094— m1 the Royal ultimatum — Unless Archbishop An-^mgde-^ selm do obey the King's will and pleasure, let ^Jfb™^. ring and staff be taken from him, and he expel- S^obe'di- led from the kingdom. The Episcopal Bench listened silently. The Barons, the lay members of the Church, una nimously answered, " Not content." Rufus burst into another paroxysm of rage, the more in decent, because ineffectual. — "What will please you, if this does not please you ? As long as I live, I will have no equal in my kingdom. Why did you let me commit myself by engaging in this dispute with Anselm, if you felt his cause to be so strong ?" — And then, swearing a great oath, " unless you condemn him, I will condemn you." Robert de Mellent quietly answered, that they had nothmg to say. "My Bishops," exclaimed fierce Rufus, turning towards the bench, where he reasonably expected to find more pliancy, " what say you?" Now arose the consideration of the plea, the The sicut, and the ubi, and when they faced the ob- knowledge . *nat tney stacle, they found it insuperable according to have uo law. The Bishops began by expressing great ^P™Jceh sorrow ; — but wherefore grieved they ? for the ser- bish°p; vitude of the Church, for their Archbishop's tribu lation ? No ; simply because they did not possess the power of carrying out the King's wishes. — Anselm, said the Prelates, is not merely Primate 198 THE conqueror's sons. io94_io97 0f the English Church, but of Scotland, Ireland, ^ and all the islands around. We are Anselm's suffragans : were even manifest guilt proved against our Archbishop, we cannot sit in judg ment upon him." — " Well then," demanded Rufus, " what remains ? If you are unable to condemn him, cannot you abjure his authority?" "Cer tainly," — answered the Bishops: unanimous would they have been, but for the one dissenting voice of Gundulph, who alone never swerved, — "Cer tainly, since our King commands." but they " Then," replied Rufus, " do so at once : bring agree to withdraw him to shame, universally abandoned, universally dience. despised. I will begin first in my empire, re voking my protection, renouncing him as Arch bishop and spiritual Father." Question and reply had probably been pre viously concocted by William de St. Carileph. It is difficult to understand how those who fully acknowledged Anselm as their lawful superior, could justify their withdrawal of obedience from him ; but the ingenious sophistical distinction was sufficient to satisfy their complaisant conscience. The regular Clergy, who might be more stiff, were to be consulted : the Bishops retired in conference with the Abbots, and then returned, all assenting to the King's proposition, which they declared to Anselm. He answered amicably, expostulating rather than complaining, but renewing his pro mise of affection and fidelity to the Kine-. ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 199 No attention was paid to Anselm ; the Clergy 1094—1097 detached themselves from their Prelate, and the Primate of the British Churches was all but de posed. All but ; — for the vote of the Clergy did not bind the temporal Peers, the Principes, who, throughout the proceedings, acted as a distinct estate; and Rufus again addressed them, requiring their concurrence, almost as a matter of form. But Rufus drew the bow too hard ; the string snapped in his hand. Strongly as they might be tempted, nay, supported, by the Clergy's example, and urged by their wild despotic monarch, the Baron age refused: unanimously, decidedly, perempto rily. " Anselm is our Archbishop, the head of the Christendom of our land; and we, as Chris tians, can in nowise decline his magistracy." fi 13. Thus the great transaction returned Proceed- . fogs exactly to the point whence it had started, brought v x to a stand Religious feelings had some influence amongst by f^non- 00 o compliance the Barons : self, self-interest, self-defence, a great ^^reaa. deal more. The attack made by Rufus upon the Archbishop's station, the Great Council's Premier member, he who judged the succession, he who administered the Sovereign's oath, concerned them all. As a Baron, Anselm was not put upon his trial ; as a Bishop, they had no power to judge him ; as a Peer, would they allow him to be deprived of his seat by the King's absolute will? This dispute between King and Primate in volved the most intricate of all constitutional ques- 200 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. io94_io97 tions, the enforcement of the Sovereign's respon sibility. Supposing an Archbishop, exercising his high political functions, came in collision with a King seeking to violate the national compact, was he to be deposed by the Royal will, either acting nakedly, or by the more dangerous and insidious machinery of a feeble or corrupted Hierarchy? In an Archbishop's person, the privi leges of every rank and order might be assailed. The Ferociously angered by the opposition of the bphtheided Barons, Rufus dared not shew his temper: the people. times were perilous ; but the contrast between the Lay Peers' firmness, and the slavish alacrity of the Clergy, gave a new impulse to popular feeling. The surrounding multitude, knights, sol diers, forgemen, forest swains, pelted the Prelates with opprobrious epithets. Cries of Judas Iscariot, Herod, Pilate, indignantly applied to this or that Bishop by name, testified the disgust they had inspired and the contempt they had incurred. Yet their degradation was not complete. When the Bishops appeared before the King, they were compelled to increase their own confusion. Not satisfied with their collective assent to his proposition, he put the question of the renunci- sists that ation of obedience to them again, separately and the Bishops . . ° r J shaii make singly, so that he might fix them with individual themselves ^ aiidiresUon an(* Personal responsibility ; and, employing per- thdrre- suasi°n and menace, he again required their tions!"" votes- Gundulph continued unchangeable, nei- ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 201 ther seduced nor scared. Many complied with- 1094—1097 out qualification or hesitation : those who re nounced the Archbishop out and out, received im mediately signal marks of favour. Rufus called them up as his friends, caused them to sit by his side. Others faintly explained that their renun ciation of the Archbishop, though complete, was in pursuance of theKing's command: a quibbling sub terfuge, tending to throw the responsibility upon their master, but without exonerating themselves. Rufus stormed, commanding the Bishops to expect judgment and condemnation : a threat, easily translated into its true meaning. Skulking into a retired corner of the building, they con sulted what they should do. Not much consi deration was required : the course was clear, and they gladly adopted the usual mode of pacifying their despot, by submitting to heavy fines. Thus, as usual, the waverers fared the worst, bearing the largest share of obloquy, purchasing, by dereliction of duty, vexation, contumely, and worldly loss. fi 14. Anselm, having this fresh testimony of The fur- J ° ^ ther prose- the Bishops' untrustworthiness and debility, now c"tion ?f determined to abandon the contest and the king- ^ele' dom, and besought the King to grant his passport. What Anselm asked, he meant, and nothing more : nevertheless the request placed Rufus in per plexity. Much as he wished to be rid, once and for all, of the annoyance, he feared the scandal consequent upon Anselm's departure, — the Bri- 202 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1034—1097 tish Primate despised and persecuted, roaming "" penniless from land to land, a houseless wanderer. Without in the least desisting from his main purpose, Rufus altered his plan; he had ascer tained that the anticipated victory against Anselm could not be won by absolute force : management was needed, devices already in progress to be matured, and time to be gained. The royal pre sence was required in the tribunal and the field ; the realm being disturbed by conspiracies and wars, as will be told hereafter. Therefore Rufus was very willing to avail himself of the intervention offered by the Lay Peers, some Prelates assisting. A truce was concluded, that, until the next Whit suntide, matters should continue as they were. Anselm retired to Mortlake, most anxious to re store tranquillity, though he disdained to purchase any temporary respite by compromising his prin ciples : and Rufus was enabled to employ all his power for the suppression of a rebellion again threatening his Crown and life, and the subju gation of the enemy. £!dgdeath $ 15- We sna11 henceforth hear nothing more of wmiam 0f him who has hitherto stood forward so promi- cariieph. nently as Anselm's persecutor, Anselm's enemy, the chief leader of the royal party, the expectant successor to Anselm's Primacy, the aspirant to the chief dignity under the Sovereign in the realm. William de St. Carileph, on the first morning ofthe opening debate at Rockingham Castle, fully ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 203 anticipated his prize; but that debate's three 1094-1097 anxious days brought his varied, active, energetic career to a close. The Bishop's zealous advice and strenuous co-operation, unrestrained by any scruples of conscience, or any feeling of duty excepting towards the Crown, had given such powerful assistance to the designs which Rufus entertained against Anselm, that, inasmuch as the business had not proceeded satisfactorily, Rufus, according to the usual custom of Princes, (say, rather, of mankind,) was fully justified in casting all the blame upon the minister. William de St. Carileph received a summons to appear before the Curia Regis as a delinquent. Grievously ill, he requested a respite. Rufus rudely and cruelly refused the strictly lawful essoign, de malo lecti, which, according to our ancient jurisprudence, the meanest defendant might claim as a matter of right, — swearing the excuse was a sham. The Bishop was compelled to follow the Court, in which he had recently paraded so proudly, but he sank under the combined effect of vexation and disease ; for when he reached Windsor, he took again to his bed, from whence he never rose. Anselm diligently and affectionately at tended him, received his confession, administered the last sacraments, prayed with him and for him. The Bishop's corpse was interred in Dur ham Cloister, before the Chapter-house door: St. Carileph, though urged, refused to allow his 204 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094—1097 decaying body to intrude within Saint Cuthbert's ^ towering Minster, the noble monument which he had raised. The memory of his good deeds, when he was dead, predominated over his errors. Happy in this, that the harm he intended was overruled ; the good remained and remains. Embassy fi 16. During the discussions which ensued dispatched by Rufus since the Gillingham conference, Rufus and his to Rome ° * fo0rsehofpur" Cabinet, Flambard and the Chancery or Chapel Pop"'"™'?6 Party> bad been diligently working to circumvent cumvent- Anselm by a complicated artifice. Could the sefm. n" Papal interest be secured in the King's favour, the ground would be cut away from under An selm's feet. The intimate connexion between the Anglican and Gallican Churches, the latter of which had always acknowledged Odo of Ostia, gave him a better claim in this country than Guibert. Neither of them had addressed any direct solicitation to the British Churches, but it was obvious that he who received the support of so influential a portion of Christendom, would obtain a great advantage over his competitor. Cisalpine and Transalpine Potentates had been engaged in direct hostility against the Chair of St. Peter, but the insular Kingdom of Ina and of Canute was recollected in Rome only as an affec tionate and protecting power. Who could pass under the walls of Santo Spirito in Saxia, the Hospitale Anglorum, without being reminded of the ancient union between England and the Catho- ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 205 lie Metropolis of Christendom ? King of England 1094-1097 and Pope of Rome would equally profit by a con cordat; and Master Gerard and Master William Warlewast — foreign missions on State affairs ^ y™*tic being peculiarly within the functions of the Chan- chancery eery — were despatched as the King's Envoys to crhfp°eyial the Apostolic See. The Masters were instructed to ascertain which Rufusplans to Papal competitor might be most conveniently obtain fte treated with and accepted as legitimate Pope ; PfaJ^mi and then to induce the acknowledged Pontiff, by those ways and means which wealthy England could well employ, to transmit the Pallium, not specifically to " Anselm, Archbishop of Canter bury," but anonymously or generally to "The Archbishop of Canterbury," placing the insignia at the King's disposal. Thus, when Rufus should succeed in expelling Anselm from See and King dom, he might nominate some creature of his own, who, invested with the Pallium, would be support ed equally by Royal and by Pontifical authority. The object of this embassy was intended to Waiter,Cardinal be a profound secret, and the secret was fairly Bishop of _ " Albano, well kept. Few of the details oozea out, but the appointed x Papal public supplied the absence of particulars by a l^T ready supposition, — English gold and silver have ^mt been abundantly flowing from the Winchester Hoard into the Quirinal Treasury, and whatever influence gold and silver can produce, will be ad verse to the Archbishop. — This suspicion was never 206 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094—1097 dispelled ; and whilst Urban, like all the Popes of his age, must be completely absolved from the slightest suspicion of pecuniary corruption, the same immunity cannot be extended to the Papal Court. It is highly probable that some largesses, some compliment, some expedition money, swelled the lean pouches of Datary and Prothonotary. The fragmentary Fasti of the Roman Diocese, which must always be distinguished from the Ro man Patriarchate,* scarcely give any information relating to Walter, Cardinal Bishop of Albano, beyond what they obtained from our Anglo-Nor man sources. It appears from the latter, that, high in Urban's confidence, the Cardinal was appointed Legate at the English Court, and he proceeded hither, accompanied by Master Gerard and Master William Warlewast. Both these En voys executed their mission highly to the satis faction of the Crown. We shall soon congra tulate Master Gerard upon his preferment ; and in due time Master Warlewast also, who, though nephew of Bishop Walkeline, had to wait his turn somewhat longer. The Le- R 17, The Roman Cardinal and his attendants gate s ar- J conduct1: land at Dover. Imagine the busy expectations ihe6ts Tn- excited by their appearance ; but the object of the treatTwH* legation continues involved in profound mystery. mg- — Not a word escaped concerning the Pope's intentions. The Legate avoided Anselm en tirely, seeming as if he refused to take notice of ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 207 Anselm's individual or official existence, passing 1094—1097 secretly through Canterbury without stop or stay. Cardinal Walter made directly for the Court; and, journeying to the Palace, he was honour ably received by the King, whose confidence he speedily gained. Many and frequent were their meetings and conferences. So much of the negociation as pleased Rufus, was permitted to transpire, and the general import became known. It was soon bruited about, and the diffusion of the intelli gence could have been effected only through the King or his Ministry, that the Cardinal Legate, intrusted with the Pallium, had ignored Anselm altogether. Not making any attempt whatever on the Archbishop's behalf, nor em ploying any endeavour for the purpose of paci fying the contention, subsisting, with so much detriment and sorrow to the Head of the British Hierarchy. Nay, the Legate, associating with Anselm's enemies and ill-wishers, gave a ready ear, and perhaps a ready belief, to their reports and illustrative comments. It is said that the Cardinal expected a handsome donation would be bestowed by Anselm's prudence or prospec tive gratitude. This accusation is not clearly established ; nevertheless the Cardinal's coldness towards Anselm produced the same effect as animosity, and he was evidently a tricky man and insincere. Great jealousies subsisted between 208 THE conqueror's sons. 1094—1097 them. It was very needful that the Legate of "" the Pope of Rome, and the Papa alterius orbis, should meet and consult upon the state of the English Church, but no meeting took place. Each blamed the other as the cause of the neglect. The Cardinal censured Anselm for his toleration of the Guibertines, and even expressed doubts whether the Prelate who had submitted to lay investiture, held his See by canonical authority. Loud complaints resounded against Rome's cor ruption ; Rome, betraying right and justice, Rome abandoning Anselm to his oppressor. People en quired, — what comfort, what hope, what consola tion can we ever obtain from Rome ? Cardinal Walter was wholly employed with Rufus on the Papal affairs, labouring to procure the recognition of Urban. Indirect charges are made against the Cardinal, as though he artfully and deceitfully won the King over, by engaging that the Papal authority should support the Royal pretensions against the Primate. There is no proof of this assertion : Rufus, however, cer tainly construed the Cardinal's alienation from Anselm and obliging language and conduct to wards himself into an engagement that the Pope Eufus w°uld co-operate with the Crown in all respects. uajgT' He agreed to accept Urban as the legitimate fai'sTnob- Pontiff.—" Let Urban," was the King's declara- reclproci1^' tion. "be received as Apostolical Father, and Legate.6 obeyed as St. Peter's successor." — Rufus had ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 209 done his part, and now fully expected equivalent 1094-1097 concessions from the Legate ; but the calm, subtle, Italian, neither embarrassed nor compliant, drew back, and stood still. Rufus, with his utmost vehemence and talent, urged that the Legate should concur in Anselm's deposition. Any sum of money would he give to Cardinal Walter indi vidually, or as an annual subsidy or tribute to the Roman See. But Cardinal Walter continued immoveable. Rufus now discovered that he had again marred his own game. By acknow ledging Urban, he surrendered the position which gave him the command of the field. The king dom was in Urban's obedience; the chief pre tence for continuing Anselm's persecutions, taken away. fi 18. However little Rufus might be inclined *?9S- x ° Whitsun- to respect Holy Festivals, he was obliged to keep 13_2odftja Whitsuntide as a State holiday. He never ap- council at J r Windsor. proached the Altar, yet he needs must recollect Rufus wil1- "' i ing to come the season, when constitutional usage directed the t0 terms- Sovereign to assemble his Council, and wear his Crown. Rufus, always clinging to the forest, selected Windsor as the locality for the conven tion of Clergy and Nobility. It will be recol lected that the further discussion of the points at issue had been postponed till Pentecost, but Anselm did not repair to Windsor, he continued at Mortlake ; and Rufus, being, perhaps upon the instigation of Walkeline Bishop of Winchester, VOL. III. P 210 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094—1097 unwilling to treat with him there, Anselm re paired to Hayes, Hayes in Eldthorn Hundred, whose name carries us back to the earliest age, when the popular Court, the Folkmoot, assembled round the ancient tree. Rufus, having much urgent business to transact, was, under existing circumstances, willing to convert the truce into a peace, until a good occasion should occur for renewing hostilities. He communicated with the Bishops; and a numerous deputation proceeded to Hayes, and treated with the Archbishop on behalf of the Sovereign. conference As usual, money became the burthen of the at Hayes ; * the Bish- Song. Hints and inuendoes, not attended to by An- ops try ° . Ans^mto semi> introduced an open demand. The Bishops thTiinig's consistently displayed their laxity and poorness of spirit. — Anselm, as consistently, his inflexibility and prudence. Had there been no better motive, he knew, that, once entrapped into a corrupt bargain, his influence would be wholly lost. The Pallium, the Bishops told him, was now in his power through the King's intervention.—" Never will I so degrade my Lord the King as to ren der his friendship an article of merchandize."— " Nay then," returned they, coaxing Anselm argu- mentatively, " consider the matter in the right point of view ; recollect that, pursuant to the King's gracious request, the Pallium has been actually brought to you from Rome. You will obtain the Papal investiture without personal ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 211 trouble or cost. Surely there will be no im- 1094—1097 propriety in your placing at the King's disposal ^ a sum equal to the expense of the long journey to Rome, for by his kindness that disbursement has been saved." — This ingenious calculation failed to produce any effect. — " I will give nothing," — answered Anselm. Rufus was now compelled to abandon his hope of profit. A formal reconcilia- fe°™^,ia. tion took place, and the Archbishop was received rXT"1 into the royal favour, and permitted to exercise his functions with the King's approbation. Still, more delays. Rufus was strongly advised to insist that Anselm should receive the symbol from the royal hand. And why should he not ? Why should not the Pallium be delivered by the Sovereign, in the same manner as ring and staff? Having quitted the Court, Anselm was over- Osmund taken upon the road by good Bishop Osmund, Salisbury, V. • . and Robert and by Robert de Losinga, Bishop of Hereford : Bish°p of • ° x Hereford sad, conscience-smitten, repenting them of their s?ek.an|i x ° obtain ab- conduct towards Anselm in renouncing their ^k" canonical obedience at Rockingham, they im- seIm' plored his pardon. The trespass was not so much against him as against his office : he would not delay for a moment ; so taking them into a little church close to the wayside, he granted them the absolution they required. Bishop Wulstan was dying ; and when the Bishop of Hereford was at the Court, he saw the old man in a dream, urging him to repair instantly to Worcester, that they P2 212 THE CONQUERORS SONS. 1094-1097 1095. 26 June. Death of Losinga,Bishop of Hereford : he is suc ceeded by Master Gerard. 1099. Flambardappointedto Durham 1095. 10 June. Anselm,pursuant to a com promise,invests himself with the Pallium. might meet once more in the flesh, for Losinga's end was also near. It were long to tell how the warning was fulfilled. Wulstan's death was fol lowed by that of Losinga : his Astrolabe was broken, his calculations ended. Gerard, the Clerk of the Chancery, was immediately nomi nated to the vacant See by Rufus ; and Anselm performed the ceremony of consecration. As for Durham, it came into the possession of the Crown. During three or four years the revenues were received by Flambard : at the end of which period, the Receiver was installed in the great Palatine See of England. The Cardinal Legate was slack in supporting Anselm ; nevertheless, the latter firmly advocated the Papal rights, and utterly refused the Pallium, if it were to come from Rufus. A compro mise enabled Anselm to maintain the freedom of the Church, without offending the dignity of the Crown ; and Cardinal Walter evaded a direct approbation of the Prelate who had infringed the Canons of the Church, by accepting Royal in vestiture. In solemn procession, the sacred Vest ment, enclosed in a silver casket, was borne by the Legate into the Cathedral of Canterbury, and placed upon the High Altar. There the Cardinal left the consecrated insignia; Anselm advanced barefooted, kissed the stole devoutly, and invested himself therewith as bestowed by St. Peter's hand. This is one of the transactions in which outward ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 213 forms and punctilios are the very essence of the 1094—1097 thing. The Pallium embodied the principles as serted and contested by the respective parties. If at this juncture Rufus had prevailed, so as to have the symbol at his disposal, could one precedent have been quoted of the Archbishop obtaining the spiritual garment from the Sovereign, the inde pendence, or rather the existence, of the Hier archy would have been destroyed. 5 19. The settlement of affairs in Normandy 109M°97- 3 J Continued gave full scope for the activity of Rufus, and vexations or 'i and perse- often withdrew him from England ; but no re- jjjjgj£?n8ed spite for Anselm. All the simulated good will by Anselm- passed away : Flambard was diligent and ever- present, Rufus implacable. Vexations and per secutions were renewed and continued ; some heavy, some petty, directed against Anselm's friends, his property, himself. There was no pos sibility of keeping pace with Flambard's ingenu ity and the King's greediness : every compliance became merely the excitement and incentive to further demands. Rufus, in order to raise the consideration for churches which Robert hypothecated his paternal inherit- bJ Rufus- ance, with small chance of redeeming the mort gage, swept away from the Churches the conse crated vessels, thuribles, candelabra, lamps and shrines, indeed every object of value, to the ut most of his power. The bounties which, upon his accession, had so rejoiced Monk and Sacris- 214 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094—1097 tan, were now resumed, to their sorrow. Rufus scoffed at the dead men's bones, insulting the living by scorning the holiness of the departed. Anselm had no help ; to save his church and monastery from worse consequences, he gave a large sum out of the Cathedral's diminished treasures. But he made good the loss to the community, by granting to the Conventual Chap ter the revenues of an Archiepiscopal manor for the term of seven years. They were expended upon the fabric of the Cathedral. Anseim A writ under the King's Great Seal issued harassed by ° demands from the Chancery addressed to Anselm, corn- connected -i tar^sTr-11" manding him to station himself at Canterbury, Tlce- and place the city in a state of defence : a griev ous restraint, amounting to an arrest, and of which he complained as interfering with his Archiepiscopal duties. Nevertheless there was a shew of legality in the demand, for he held the city as a Military Custody or Benefice; and he fulfilled, both in spirit and to the letter, tho directions he received. According to his obligations of tenure, Anselm duly furnished his contingent when Rufus led his army against the Cymri. The King broke their strength ; nevertheless the victory had been dearly purchased. Many men and more horses were captured or perished in the woods and moun tain passes. The nation defended themselves vali antly, and Rufus seems to have been incautious. ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 215 Therefore when he returned, he endeavoured to 1094-1097 throw some portion of the blame upon Anselm, " alleging that the troops he sent were few in number and not sufficiently equipped; and An selm was Exchequered for the imputed default. Indeed his situation was becoming intolerable. If he attempted to resist the undue exactions made by the Crown, or even to plead against the royal demands, he was crushed by the King's Court, a tribunal in which the King sat as judge in his own cause, or acted by a Flambard. All the depravities of the country were fearfully encreasing : he, the spiritual Head of the national Church, had no power to restrain the transgres sions, in which he appeared involved by his involuntary toleration; so that the spoliation of Church property was the most inconsiderable of existing evils. In these exigencies, no trial pressed so heavily Anseim upon Anselm as the indifference and ill-will of his g^ b° own order. No comforter arose, no counsellor*^!""™11 would advise, no friend support, no brother stretch brethren- forth a helping hand ; all neglected him. In the words of the Psalmist, he complained he was for gotten out of mind. Thus overwhelmed, Anselm saw no hope except by obtaining the authorita tive advice of the Roman See, the last Court of appeal, affording the only chance of protection against the Sovereign's violence. Nor did he, by this act, endeavour to alarm or overawe the 216 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1094—1097 King. Anselm simply invoked the only support " remaining. Had the Bishops been true to the Church and to themselves, had they honestly done their duty, no aid from Rome would have been required. 1097. I 20. Anselm, anxiously seeking peace and tions which charity, proceeded cautiously. He took his first finally pro- . . duced An- opportunity in conversation, whilst the dishes selm's exile. x x J He solicits were smoking on the board, during the Whitsun permission ° ° Rome-r *° festival, trying to ascertain the tendency of the f™i™~ King's mind. Some days afterwards, he solicited permission, that he might repair to Rome: Rufus evaded the question by an answer, which might pass either for a civility, or a sneer. — What May. need has Archbishop Anselm to advise with the Pope ? Learned Anselm can better give advice to Urban, than Urban to Anselm. August. a second request preferred, when a Great Council was specially summoned for the despatch of important affairs, met with no better success. But Rufus soon found that the decision could not October, be avoided. Anselm appeared by appointment in prefers ws the next Great Council at Winchester, — a full request a thud time and solemn Assembly. Eadmer and his suite in the first »' atwin- accompanied him, here he presented his petition Chester. for tne tnjr(j tmie ^ violent debate arose, occupying two days ; debate, in truth, it scarcely was ; all were on one side, all attacked Anselm. Rufus declared, that, if Anselm consulted the Pope, he should be deprived. The King's cause ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 217 had suddenly recovered great strength amongst 1094—1097 the Baronage who hitherto sided with Anselm : Robert de Mellent and Flambard, had, without doubt, been co-operating. The acquisition of Normandy by Rufus added exceedingly to his power. He prospered, had so much more to give, and the reports spread concerning his vast plans of imperial conquest, magnified his present good fortune. Walkeline Bishop of Winchester, appointed Justiciar conjointly with Flambard, and replacing William de Saint Carileph, took the lead in the royal party. The Bishops of Lincoln and Bath, and, alas ! for human consistency, good Osmund of Salisbury co-operated strenuously with the Cabinet. The Bishops argued lengthily with Anselm, and informed him they would in no wise disobey the King. Anselm. was required Anseim to J ° A? elect be- tO elect between the complete renunciation oftween*he x renuncia- Rome's remedial jurisdiction, and banishment. ^ne°^the No appeal made to Rome, no letter sent to Rome, j^d^tion no Bull or Brief received; no communications ment.3,111311" exchanged, except when approved by the King. Anselm, it was alleged, had engaged to observe the laws and usages of the realm : — such were the Realm's laws and usages : unless he conformed he would be expelled, without any expectation of pardon. Anselm Anselm resumed the debate in the King's asai°de- o serted by presence, by earnest, impassioned, faithful argu- 0p6s S in- ments. A promise he admitted ; but could any S^g. 218 THE conqueror's sons. 1094—1097 promise be extended to unrighteous commands, commands against the Lord, which he could not obey in the Lord. "No mention was made of the Lord, or of righteousness," vociferated King and Peers. King and Peers stormed : without attempting to refute Anselm, they tried to beat him down by contumely. Rufus, and Robert de Mellent, interrupted Anselm's speech, with groans and cries. — Oh ! Oh ! a sermon, a sermon ! — the whole Council joined in the uproar. Anselm kept his seat, humble, unmoved, calm, silent; but it was only the fatigue of their own vociferations that silenced his adversaries. The liing Anselm retired from the hall : he was im- commandsAnseim to mediately followed by the King's messengers. — quit the J J ° ° kingdom. Anselm might depart if he listed ; " but the King declares that nothing which belongs to him, mayest thou take with thee." — " Horses have I, furniture, garments. Let the King claim them if he chooses ; rather would I go bareheaded and barefooted than desist from mine intent." — Rufus, somewhat abashed, sent back a reply that he did not wish to strip the Archbishop, never theless Anselm must avoid the country within eleven days, and a royal officer would meet him at the port and superintend his embarkation. William Warlewast, stimulated by the reward which his late companion Gerard, now Bishop of Hereford, had received, was employed upon this mean service : he executed his duty with rude ANSELM'S ENCREASING TROUBLES. 219 affronting harshness, searching Anselm's baggage 1094—1097 on the very beach. Eadmer, and those about Anselm, proposed 15O0c9t70'ber that they should immediately repair to their The Part- ¦' j r ing of hostel. Not so Anselm : he returned to the King. ?ufus and 0 Anselm. Cheerfully, courteously, and respectfully, he took his leave, declaring his purpose of immediately repairing to Dover, but imploring Rufus to accept a blessing, as from one who knew not when they might behold each other's face again, — from one who would be always mindful of his eternal welfare. Rufus answered thoughtfully, he did not re ject the proffered benison : he bowed his proud head. Anselm raised his hand, and signed the monarch with the cross : his lips, speaking from the heart, pronounced the benediction : Rufus and Anselm parted, and the parting was for ever. Chapter VI. THE BROTHERS WAR IN NORMANDY. 1090—1091. 1090,1091 § i. Henry Beauclerc, cruel, licentious, character false, possessed a great advantage over his bro- Beaudere. thers. Robert and Rufus were enslaved by their passions. Henry's ferocity, lust, and dissimulation were compatible with his worldly prosperity. Humiliation, sorrow, and anguish, punished the man ; but the man's vices rarely diminished the Monarch's prestige, or clouded his splendour. Instinctive prudence enabled him to mask the odious features of his character, by means of his intellectual resources ; or, rather, to supply the excuses which, in the world's estimation, cover a multitude of sins. Astute in youth, crafty in old age, Henry rendered all his talents subservient to his inter ests. He combined acuteness and cultivation : a thorough man of business, a man of letters, and a man of the world. He was the most winning of the Conqueror's sons. By popular opinion the Porphyrogenitus had been always designated for the throne. " He is born to be a King," was the first sentiment annexed to Henry's name. During the transition from childhood to adolescence, the feeling that the English Atheling deserved to be WAR IN NORMANDY. 221 a King, gained ground more and more. Well 1090, 1091 had Henry profited by being driven to book ; Lanfranc and Master Achard might have been proud of their pupil. The expression " driven to book," must not, however, be construed in its literal sense. The old metrical chronicler, whose rhyme we quote, was himself straitened for a word. Beauclerc was not driven, he took to his book most kindly : his book-knowledge became thoroughly incorporated in his mind. Beauclerc has always been favoured as a literary hero, in our old English Picture gallery. Sometimes brighter colours have been employed, sometimes darker ; but the main features have continued unvaried. We must make some allow ance for the foibles of our accustomed guides. The peculiar position of monastic writers seduced them into unchristian laxity, as well as into unchristian asperity. In the monotonous soli tude of the cloister, the valour, the gallantry, the splendour, the munificence of a Sovereign, seen in the distance, occasionally became so attractive as to earn applauses and laudations, which ob servers, practically acquainted with the hacked knick-knacks of Vanity Fair, would have denied. There is much to be considered in Beau- clerc's real character, contrasted with the tradi tionary reputation assigned to him. Holding a comparatively insignificant position in literary history, Beauclerc ranks, nevertheless, with your Tenth Leo, or your Francois Premier, those 222 THE CONQUERORS SONS. 1090, 1091 names whom the adulatory spirit of literature v has decked with such false adornments, as in some degree to justify the observation attributed to the most acute of French statesmen, that history is an universal conspiracy against truth. Even as the artist's test of merit is the patronage or love of art, and the soldier's the encourage ment of military talent or war, so has literature become the test of merit amongst those by whom reputation is bestowed. " Non fu si santo ne benigno Augusto, Come la tuba di Virgilio suona. L'avere avuto in poesia buon gusto La proscrizion iniqua li perdona. Nessun sapria se Neron fusse ingiusto, Ne sua fama saria forse men buona; Avesse avuto e terra e ciel nemici, Se gli scrittor sapea tenersi amici." They pay but an indifferent compliment either to Authority or to themselves, who, with upturned eyes and submissive voice, express their humble raptures when Royalty cultivates the accomplishments or caresses the acquirements of the human mind. Where is the merit ? Where, the condescension? Do you practise any self- denial if you eat pleasant fruit ? Do you mortify yourself by taking wholesome food ? Is it a pen ance to quit the stifling atmosphere and ceaseless din of a crowded metropolis, to seek the clear waters of classic Ilissus, or the tranquil shades of the academic grove ? Diogenes may be proud ; but if Alexander WAR IN NORMANDY. 223 wants to profit by the Philosopher's lesson, 1090,1091 there is no humility in Alexander's visiting the Philosopher's tub. Wisdom receives no honour from those who seek her : she bestows th e honour. Science dignifies her votaries, she gains no dignity, though her votary wears a Crown. Learning learns nothing from the Prince's pre sence. Regal protection follows the develope- ment of talent, never bestows it. Newton and Boyle made the Royal Society, not the Merry Monarch's gilded mace and broad-sealed charter. Yet there is one aspect under which intellectual proficiency attained by the Great is not undeserv ing of temperate encomium. When properly con sidered, their success belongs to the History of the Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties. It is the Conquest of the difficulties imposed by the uncommunicable and transcendant prerogative of noble birth, or by the pre-eminences, temp tations and duties of Rank and Station, which constitutes the honour of those, who, so impeded and disadvantaged, obtain knowledge. With the usual compensation of human affairs, Mediaeval teaching the literary poverty of the mediaeval period may compared not have been less advantageous to the mediae val student, than our literary opulence : perhaps more so. Literature gushed fresh from the spring, Science descended clad in radiance. The education of those theological times was effectual. They founded their system on the most definite and comprehensive principle ; the pebble 224 THE conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 was set in gold. Even when their teaching failed "~" in its ultimate object, it bestowed a stirring activity upon the intellect ; and we are not aware of any period during which the cultivation of the ruling classes obtained a higher comparative standard. The studies of the age all tended to utility. Their scholarship was taught in earnest : more sparing than ours, less was wasted : the narrowness of the current encreased the strength of the stream. Every book possessed the zest of scarcity, a Rox burgh volume : every branch of human know ledge was recommended by its novelty. Thumbed Cornelius Nepos, and the now neglected Justin, were, to such as Henry Beauclerc, visitors from an unexplored country. They were not swamped by the literature of the day : that day which never sees the morrow : neither was knowledge spoilt by being made too cheap. Not entirely without reason does popular opinion leap to the conclusion that the cheap article is trumpery. Value results from labour. Had any ingenious person sat down, to devise a plan for debasing the intellectual worth of science in the estimation of the youthful mind, this object could not have been effected more nicely than by Philosophy in Sport, and Peter Parley. composl Rarely could Henry, amidst his vicissitudes, "ibedTo P^asures, and cares, be seen with a book in his Beauclerc. hand, yet his few opportunities of privacy and seclusion were always well employed in study. WAR IN NORMANDY. 225 He is said to have written iEsopean fables in 1090,1091 English, first translating them from Greek into " Latin. Gaffer Goodrich, the nickname afterwards given to Beauclerc by the Normans, in scornful mockery, testifies Henry's decided Anglicism, and thus adds support to an assertion which otherwise might have appeared improbable to the critical archaeologist. But Henry Beauclerc issued writs and charters in English: the contem porary chronicle of his reign is written in English ; and the aspect of improbability arises only from the erroneous opinions concerning the Conqueror's projected abolition of the vernacular tongue. Marie de France, a true poetess in the age of minstrel rhymers, pure and chaste amidst the obscene and corrupted Trouveurs and Trou badours who crowd around her, received her literary impulse from Beauclerc. She acknow ledges that King Henry supplied the substance of her Apologues : whilst Marie's fables, in their turn, suggested the artistic naivete" which imparts the peculiar charm to Lafontaine :— " Pour amour le Conte Williaume Le plus vaillant de cest Royaume M'entremis, de cest livre faire, » Et de 1'Engleis en Romance traire. Ysopet apelons ce livre Q'il travailla et fist ecrire ; De Grec en Latin le turna Le Roi Henri qui moult Tama, Le translata puis en Engleis, Et je l'ai rime en Franceis." VOL. III. Q 226 THE conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 Beauclerc's inclination to Natural History may " be connected with these myths, by which the taste would be both fostered and encouraged. Moreover, the Rex vetus Henricus claims to be the author of a popular Galateo, a treatise on courtly manners. Henry the First was called the Rex vetus, in order that he might be dis tinguished from his grandson : the custom of adding numerals to royal names did not prevail till a subsequent period. This same manual, which in its versions and paraphrases is entitled the Rex Urbanus, or the Dictii d'Urbain, be came a favourite repertory of good breeding. The adage Henry was fully conscious of his gifts. His Rex UlitBT— atusestAsi- favourite adage, Rex illiteratus est A sinus coro- nus corona- ... tus, as natus, savours of vanity m his mouth. He em- quoted by "* Henry. ployed the verse so emphatically that he acquired the credit of being its author. We dare not con test the rhythm's originality on behalf of Fulk the Good, for, with a slight various reading, Vin- centius Bellovacensis vindicates the lesson on behalf of a nameless Roman Emperor, when he, the tutor of the children of St. Louis, approvingly repeats it to Margaret, their mother Queen. Beauclerc's memory was well stored with those pithy maxims and popular apophthegms, which enter so largely into the daily knowledge of life. It would be a curious enquiry how far national and individual character may be affected by gnome and adage, a mode of ethical WAR IN NORMANDY. 227 instruction so natural, so primeval, so grateful to 1090, 1091 the human mind. The apt quotation subdues popuiar without argument, and silences without contro- andsay- versy. Bullion cannot be used in traffic : the m ingot requires to be struck into current money ; proverbs and adages enable you to make a tender of wisdom in a coinage which cannot be refused. But the metal is, unfortunately, too often adul terated. Applicable to the conduct of human society in every phase, equally adapted to the simplicity of the Patriarchal age, and the complexity of civilization, the best guides for our prudent walk in the corrupted world, the Proverbs of Holy Writ disinfect the world's corruption. But no collection of popular proverbs opens by acknow ledging that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; and the majority, in every nation and tongue, inculcate the most seductive branches of the falsest "false teaching, justification of selfish ness, and mopkery of sin. We need not here particularize the apt lessons of libertinism they afford : but, how much sanction is given to mean and griping avarice by the one familiar proverb, the very condensation of perverted truth, that charity begins at home. 5 2. Never does the root of all evil produce Disputes J x with Henry a more bitter fruit than when planted in the dead BeJa^1f c x and his bro - man's coffin. No scroll unfolds a heavier judg- *?rmg. out ment than the last will, whereby the testator, mmt^' Q2 228 the conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 declaring that he surrenders his soul to his claims upon Creator, his body to the grave, leaves that wealth the estates . of his fa- whieh he loses, to become the source of the ther and mother, fiercest hostility between those nearest allied. The moralist sighs and wonders at the strange insensibility of the cut-purse, who pursues his vocation whilst his companion is expiring on the scaffold, unmoved by the example. If this be folly, there are few who do not take the adjoining berth in the great Stultifera Navis. In defiance of all principle, of all reason, the very event which testifies the nothingness of riches, renders us all more eager for their acquisition. Henry Beauclerc considered Robert Courthose as their Father's executor and trustee, and Rufus as their Mother's : the testamentary quarrels which ensued, crushed out the last spark of natural affection between him and his Brothers. Henry's implacable hatred pursued them both, till Rufus fell by the shaft, and pining captivity ended Robert's weary darkness. We are not pos sessed of the particulars enabling us to understand the exact bearing of this undignified dispute: there was no court before which the parties to the suit could plead, and publish their mutual accusations. But the recriminations which passed between them, tinge the conflicting statements furnished by the chroniclers, who may be con sidered as representing the advocates of the liti gants. WAR IN NORMANDY. 229 Dishonesty and fraud are imputed to Robert : 1090, 1091 to Henry, screwing avarice. Within a short time Different after Robert's accession, he exhausted the trea- the dealings sury of Caen : his extravagance was unbounded, Courthose and Beau- his palace a vulgar and licentious hostelry on the clerc- largest scale. In addition to this constant drain, he raised large stipendiary forces, needed for the intended invasion of England ; incompetent, un trustworthy retainers, who exhausted his revenue without contributing to military strength. The assertion, therefore, that these dangerous depend ants absorbed the fund with which he was bound to answer Henry's legacy, comes supported by antecedent probability. According to another version of the transac- story as repeated tion, talked over, as all these bye-gone stories were, hy °deri- C IIS Vctfllis* by the cowled veterans circling the hearth at St. Evroul, Robert, needing three thousand pounds, the reputed amount of the Legacy, craved pecu niary aid from his wealthy brother, whereupon Beauclerc peremptorily refused. — " I will neither give you money nor lend you money," quoth Henry ; whereupon Robert proposed to sell him the whole Cotentin. The hard bargain was im mediately concluded ; a most inadequate price, forced upon necessity. Not more uncharitable was Henry's conduct, if we adopt the supposition that he, the younger brother, dealt with the elder as an usurious and unconscientious creditor, pressing a shuffling 230 THE conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 debtor ; who, not being able to get the money, " extorts far more than the money's worth in dis charge of his claim. Such a mode of doing business is very common : therefore it is just as likely that Beauclerc insisted upon the Cotentin as a satisfaction for the unpaid legacy. The coten- j}e this as it may, the result of the pecuniary tin LitiiiS" soidb °r dealings is indubitable. Henry acquired the Co- Henr^ to tentin, a Viscounty, reckoned as one-third of the Duchy. Strict geographical measurement might not warrant this calculation, though probably cor rect when grounded upon the data, equally or more indicative of value, — the items of tradition ary associations, importance, and opulence. A bold and compact peninsula, fertile and defen sible. A fine sea-coast, opening into ports and harbours, Cherbourg and Barfleur, then the favou rite passage to England. Strong fortresses and flourishing towns : Coutances the capital ; Saint Lo, vying with Coutances ; Avranches on the towering rock, from whence you survey the shores, reach after reach, Normandy trending northwards, Bretagne on the south, and in the distant aestuary, the Mont St. Michel, Abbey, Castle, Fane of the tutelary Archangel, rising like a dream on the horizon. Henry having taken possession, was styled Count of the Cotentin, ruling with praiseworthy prudence and wisdom. Robert's conduct was the reverse. By accustoming the people to see WAR IN NORMANDY. 231 Sovereign rights bought and sold as mere pro- 1090,1091 perty, they learnt the lesson that their own alle- giance was to be bought and sold likewise. If Robert parted with the Cotentin Homagers, might not his other Barons bring themselves into the market on their own account? Moreover, con sidering the rivalry prevailing between the Bro thers, it was still more injudicious to give Henry that which the Conqueror had not bestowed, a territorial endowment, a point d'appui for future operations, thus beginning to satisfy the universal anticipations of his power. § 3. If by surrendering the Cotentin, Robert Misgovem- • -1 i • r- ment and bargained away so large a portion ot his domi- confusion prevailing nions, he could scarcely be said to rule the in Nor- ^ mandy remainder otherwise than by sufferance. Upon ^J^L. the death of the Conqueror, Normandy flung her rider, and Robert never could seat himself in the saddle again, never again snatch hold of the reins. The Baronage, having emancipated them selves from the Ducal authority, would in no wise return to obedience ; and their mutual dissensions were rarely suspended, except when, to suit their own private purposes, they formed their cabals or leagues, either for or against their Sovereign. The history of Normandy, like that of Scotland, acquires much interest and much intricacy from the number of personages who are constantly in the field. But a main difficulty in telling thew.antof •" ° principle in story, arises from the want of political principle. bmohTT1 Oaths were of no more value than they used to 232 the conquerors sons. 1090, 1091 be at the Custom House. So sudden and swift are the whirlings of the weather-cocks, that you are constantly perplexed when you try to race after their changes. If a given Baron is found obedient to King or Duke in the Spring, it is more than an even chance that you will find him fighting on the other side during the follow ing Summer. In Normandy's better days, the Norman's pride had been the strict administration of justice. The traditions concerning Rollo, are popular em blems of the spirit which gave a healthy energy to Normandy, vigilant, equitable, and rigidly coercive. That residue, of which Robert called himself Duke, was completely anarchized : every man's hand lifted up against his neighbour. The Sovereign's prerogatives restraining the Baronage from erecting fortresses, and also empowering the Duke to place garrisons therein, preroga tives, so useful and wholesome, were entirely set at nought, walls raised, fosses dug, outworks staked and palisadoed, without any reference to the restraints imposed by the Law. These " adulterine Castles," erected and fortified with out any authorization, filled the land. The dis- R 4. Such strongholds became centres of vio- turbances J ° mandypro- lence : tneir inmates rioted in vice within, and parTfrom were encouraged to commit acts of aggression and tafnty of'" depredation without. Normandy offered an aspect piesPofnci" of universal confusion. However, amidst all this disorder, there was, to a certain extent, a consist- WAR IN NORMANDY. 233 ent motive, a plausible pretence. If the Baronage 1090, 1091 could have paused to explain their conduct, might "~ they not have pleaded some justification? But they were too angry to reason. We have in a previous chapter glanced at the double aspect offered by the Norman insurrection. Could the circumstances attending this baronial turbulence be correctly disclosed, they would probably, without affecting the verity of the transactions, considerably modify the opinions which we form of the disturbers. We all know why treason never prospers, and the developement of mere civil rights often passes through periods in which legality or illegality is a hit or miss. Succeed in your agitation, you are a patriot : fail, you are a felon. The discontents of the Baronage may be attributed to a struggle for possession, an agrarian agitation carried on by the aristocracy. The same leaven contributed to generate Magna Charta. The custom of conveying land by verbal Absence of •> ° ^ document - grant and symbolical delivery, wholly deprives us ^\^^e of documentary evidence relating to lay territorial ofX6™™ property anterior to the Conqueror's reign : con- hlstory- jecture alone supplies the blank ; but the whole tendency of the narratives which describe the Norman Baronial dissensions, will support the supposition that the legal principles of tenure were not completely settled. This uncertainty prevailed more particularly in cases when the title of the Landholder, not being derived from ment. 234 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 the Northman's first conquest, was founded upon " a grant proceeding from the Sovereign. Sstootion ^e avoid using the terms allodial or feudal ; undTheid because the employment of either would pre- oc'cupa'ncy judge the question, which in another work we new feoff- have attempted, however imperfectly, to discuss. In this particular era and country, we suggest that there was a wide distinction between lands held by the ancient occupancy, and the new feoff ment; and that, with respect to such modern tenures, not only was it dubious whether the Baron's son was entitled by positive law to suc ceed to the land held by his father, but even whether a Ducal grant imparted more than a custody, which might be determined whenever the Sovereign chose. The principle of hereditary Baronial right, grounded upon possession, and protected by usage, was unquestionably gaining the ascendancy. A wise and prudent Sovereign, a William, would, without making any express renunciation of his prerogative, always incline in favour of fixity of tenure, allowing the Baron's son to succeed his father, not hastily revoking a grant, and avoiding, as far as possible, all con trariety in his dealings. A foolish, head strong Robert, unable to foresee consequences, or heed less of them, would, as readily and naturally, act upon opposite principles. The most enthusiastic Norman Archiviste, the most diligent Eleve of the Ecole des Chartes, can WAR IN NORMANDY. 235 never expect to supply the absence of authentic 1090, 1091 muniments, or remove the poverty of information under which we labour, and therefore no theory can be established with certainty. Nevertheless, we can answer for one thing — that whoever will take the trouble to study the Norman quarrels as recorded by the Chronicler of St. Evroul, in the main, one ofthe most trustworthy of historians, will, having completed that study, be "convinced of the general soundness and applicability of the foregoing hypothesis. 8 5. The surrender of Rochester sent Bi- Robert's ¦> Court and shop Odo back again to Normandy, angered familJ- against those who deserted him, seeking revenge, deeply mortified by the destruction of all his ambitious hopes, but entirely unbroken in spirit, vigorous, ingenious, active, and ready for any employment except his Episcopal duties. He im mediately resumed his former position as Robert's chief Counsellor and adviser. Another Counsellor was Edgar Atheling, between whom and Robert a close intimacy had long subsisted. The first sup position would be, that political views induced Robert to protect the legitimate heir of the Anglo-Saxon crown, so as to play him off'against the King. But no such intention received any countenance from the bold, honest, simple-minded, affectionate Englishman. Edgar submitted cheer fully to his destiny, well contented to act in a subordinate capacity. If descent from Cerdic 236 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 imparted any royal rights, they were popularly " considered as transferred to Queen Margaret at Dumferline. William de Arques, a Monk at Molesme, is incidentally noticed as being in Ro bert's cabinet. A trusty friend was always found in Helias de St. Sidoine, or Saint Saens, a Baron distantly connected with the royal family through a remote ancestress, a sister of the Duchess Gun- nora, and who in this era of Anglo-Norman his tory will afford a bright example of time-tried troth and fidelity. Robert's The two sons of Robert by the Priest's children, " two sons daughter, bearing the honoured family names and one o ' O J daughter. 0f Richard and William, continued with their father. Rarely are these young men spoken of, and yet when any observation accompanies the mention of them, only for good. Well qualified for distinction by talent and disposition, not dis qualified by birth, for, considering the maternal parentage of their Grandfather, their origin was scarcely a stain, they never appear prominent in public affairs ; a circumstance which, whilst it fixes our attention upon them, does not receive any explanation from the Chroniclers. A third child was a girl: her nameless mother is only known to us as concubine ; but she held her position, a recognized and not unimportant member ofthe Ducal family. Such was the inner circle, so to speak, of Robert's court and house hold, when the battle for the English crown WAR IN NORMANDY. 237 being terminated, he engaged in another series 1090, 1091 of vexatious and humiliating contests. fi 6. However sluggish Robert Courthose Maine. J °° Bobert not may have been, it was scarcely possible that he y?t rJe?°s- •i * r mzed m should not feel himself degraded, until duly in- *eI>:,ft°ve" augurated and acknowledged in Maine. Maine, an acquisition of which the Conqueror was scarcely less proud than England, bestowing the style of state inscribed upon his Seal, Dux Normannorum et Cenomanorum ; furnishing the eulogium, gained by the doughty deeds — et Ce- nomanenses virtute coercuit enses — commemo rated upon his splendid tomb. From this, his father's Honour, Robert Courthose was excluded. No homages had as yet been tendered. Norman garrisons occupied the castles which William raised; Bishop Hoel retained his indubitable fidelity to his patron's family, but the Manceaux had not given any token of allegiance. Many Party fa- ° * ° " vouring the were desirous to accept as their Sovereign a ^ms °£e Prince in whom the rights of Este and Maine bertl^o" were united, one who could defend them equally opposed by against the powers of Anjou and of Normandy, laVfedie. the descendants of Tortulf and of Rollo. — Albert Azzo was yet living in extreme old age, being nearly an hundred years old; therefore the expectations of the Manceaux were placed upon his son Ugone, believed to be very powerful and opulent, and the husband of Heria, Robert Guiscard's daughter. Geoffrey of Mayenne still 238 the conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 retained much influence, but the Este interest was potently counterbalanced by the rising con sequence of Helias de la Fleche, the son of Jean de Beaugency, the great grandson of Herbert Wake-the-dogs, whose activity fully deserved the quaint epithet of his grandsire. Robert had un questionably a legal right to Maine, so solemnly assured to him upon his betrothal with the de ceased Margaret, the daughter of the last reigning Count. Yet the transaction had become almost illusory, and there is every reason to suppose that the Manceaux would be much inclined to cancel the obligations altogether. Under favourable circumstances, a conflict with the descendants of Caesar's valiant opponents was hazardous : how much more so to Court hose, who, besides the difficulties arising from misgovernment, had many enemies who might thwart his designs. Since the treaty of La Blanchelande, Fulk Rechin had never troubled Normandy, or inter fered in the affairs of the Manceaux. Fulk was otherwise employed. We owe much to Fulk's Rfehin of ability in authorship. His memoirs of the House MemoirsHof oi? Anj0u> including his auto-biography, — and in of AnjoT tne earlier portions grounded upon the family traditions received from his uncle Geoffrey Mar tel, — brief as they are, may well excite our curiosity ; the composition of a layman, the work of a Prince, lively and spirited, they constitute WAR IN NORMANDY. 239 the earliest specimens of a species of composi- 1090, 1091 tion so important in French history, and so illustrative of the French character. Remin iscences of the past, connected with the actions of the narrator, supported by his authority, tinc tured by his feelings, to be trusted and yet dis trusted, claiming a confidence which we must both render and deny. An auto-biographist gives particulars which none but the author could tell ; but at the same time he conceals just as many, which the author never will let us know. An acute observer, a constant guest at the best tables, one equally versed in books and in the ways of the world, used to give his opinion to us broadly, that no person ever kept an auto-biographical journal without deceiving others or themselves; there fore he abstained from the practice ; a reticense occasioning a loss, great to posterity, but far greater to his residuary Legatees. We calculate that the copyright would have been worth a thousand pounds to them. It is certainly more than doubtful, whether any writer of his own history ever records matters which he honestly believes to be disadvantageous to his reputation, whether he ever recollects those passages which he would wish to be forgotten by posterity. The confessions of the Citizen of Geneva do not furnish any objection, he gloated upon his own morbid depravity. 240 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 Therefore it is not from Fulk's auto-biography "* that we learn how he ultimately espoused four or Fuik Re-- five wives. Up to this period we reckon three. chin's x wives. Launcelotta otherwise Hildegarda, (the latter name having been perhaps assumed for euphony or dignity,) daughter of Launceline of Beaugency, the only one amongst them who fortunately or unfortunately died as his consort, was succeeded by Ermengarda, the daughter of Archambaud, Sire of Bourbon. Ermengarda, upon pretence of kindred, having been repudiated by Fulk, he courted and obtained Arengarda of Chastell Aillon. Divorced, like her predecessor, though without any cause assigned, she retired into a Monastery. A fourth, of unhappy celebrity, will soon appear. How Fulk Re"chin would act, was dubious; his turbulence seemed to have subsided. Fulk Rechin's ancestor and namesake, Fulk the Good, might have rejoiced in the assurance, that his singularly talented descendant was entirely ex empted from the obloquy of being an IUiteratus ; nevertheless his general conduct fully proved that all his acquirements did not protect him from the imputation, implied in the second hemistich Of the adage. He might truly be called an Asinus, aye and by many a worthy Baron, who, unable to read a syllable, signed his charter eWnVpt- Pro ignorantia Htterarum, with his mark. Fulk's sonai fop- time wag occupied in literature, debauchery, and foppery : he was remarkable as being the influ- WAR IN NORMANDY. 241 ential patron of the fashion which has become 1090,1091 one of the standing common-places of scrap- book antiquarianism, the puffed, and then curly- pointed, long-toed shoes. The fellow (he is spoken of very contemptuously) who first made and wore these shoes, which resembled ram's horns, obtained therefrom the nickname of "Cornard." The Cornard's invention adopted by Fulk was greatly improved by his taste, and patronized by him for the purpose of concealing the ugliness of his knobbed, inflamed, and swollen feet. He was troubled by this unsightly ailment, of which the deformity vexed him more than the infirmity or the pain. But notwith standing these weaknesses, the Rechin, the Shark, now, according to his own reckoning, about forty-seven years of age, was energetic in mind, and not enervated in body. He was fully com petent for love and war. Fulk Re'chin's power rendered him formidable. Still more had Robert to apprehend from Geoffrey Martel, Fulk's son by Ermengarda, heir-apparent of Anjou, a youth endowed with splendid ambition and bravery. Opposition might proceed also from Philip of France, who, though he had relapsed into inac tivity, partly occasioned by his encreasing cor pulence and love of good cheer, was jealous of any advance made by Normandy. Yet, after all, Robert had most reason to lesmemuch be on his guard against domestic foes, his brother courtLse^ VOL. III. e, 242 the conqueror's sons. io9o, 1091 Henry, and the great March-Lord, Robert Belesme, Count of Alencon, and husband of Agnes de Pon- thieu, — Belesme, the terror equally of Normandy and Maine. He had been the first to declare against Government upon the Conqueror's death. The affairs of England gave him transient, but congenial employment. Would he not now re sume his former scheme of extending his almost independent authority, so sure to be augmented at no distant period by the dominions of his father-in-law, the Count Guy? Belesme's very name excited a constant, and just cause of appre hension to all. He possessed military talents of a high order, especially in the art of fortification, the best engineer of the time ; and his reckless cruelty added to his influence. Who did not dread a conflict with Belesme ? — captivity in his Dungeons always threatened torture and death. odo urges Bishop Odo, as far as his influence extended, Robert to r ' ' reform, exhorted his nephew to exertion. The Bishop emulated all Robert's vices, excepting his indo lence and love of ease ; stimulated by morbid activity, he would be always up and doing, he never was happy in tranquillity. Odo upbraided Robert, pointed out to him strongly his negligence' and the faults of his government, and proffered good counsel for amendment, practically amount ing to nothing. From the first moment of his accession, Robert's cause was hopeless. A weak government may be nursed into strength; but WAR IN NORMANDY. 243 when born ricketty, the disease in the bones is in- 1090, 1091 curable. Take, for example, Charles I., whom no " human prudence or wisdom could have retrieved. The reduction of Maine was strongly urged by Odo; but this object could not be obtained otherwise than by subjugating the Belesme- Talvas family. If not effected now, they were gaining strength so steadily, that any attempt to reduce them would soon become hopeless. Odo and Robert reckoned up with apprehension the domains which they held : — Belesme Castle, from whence the chief of the family in Nor mandy derived his territorial surname, noble Alencon, tower-encircled Domfront, St. Cenery, haunted by crime, La Motte DTge, where dread Mabel was slain, Mamers, Vignas, Lurson. The Duke and the Bishop maintained amongst them selves, that there was not one of these places which the Talvas lineage had not obtained by violence or fraud. But the difficulties attending a rupture with Belesme were weighed and consi dered, and would probably have deterred Robert from aggression, had not an unexpected oppor tunity tempted him to the enterprize. & 7. Not long after the siege of Rochester, Henry's 3 ° ° 'journey to Henry passed over to England. His ostensible f nfhand and declared objects were both pleasure andPa°4einof^" business: a holiday, and the recovery of the ^Sance, inheritance he claimed from his mother, the ofoToTces- territorial Earldom or Seignory called the Hon- ter R 2 244 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 our of Gloucester. We have before alluded to this claim as involved in great perplexity. We cannot understand how the Honour became vested in Matilda, nor how Henry claimed through her, and we have a difficulty concerning Fitz-Hamo himself: whether he was or was not the son of Hamo Duredent is a mooted point in genealogy. Beauclerc Fortunately however for history, the doubts demands, which obscure the details do not conceal the the Honour to "he poS more important facts, the establishment of the Rtz-Hamo. great Marcher-Lordship of Glamorgan, which placed Hamo in the first rank of Anglo-Norman Baronage. It is certain, that Robert Fitz-Hamo, now married to Sybilla the daughter of Roger de Montgomery, — by whom he had but one child, an only child, a daughter — and receiving support from that high alliance, was in possession of the domain so much coveted by Henry, and also extending his conquests in the adjoining parts of Wales. Henry continued in England during the greater part of the summer : he failed to obtain any justice from Rufus ; but he succeeded, about this time, in winning the Nesta, the beautiful daughter of Rhys ap Tudor, the last King of Deheubarth, or South Wales. We have called her "the Nesta," for though the appellation is given to her as a proper name, a Cymric scholar informs us that it should rather be construed as denoting her kindred, relationship, or affinity to WAR IN NORMANDY. 245 the King. History is provokingly silent concerning 1090,1091 this adventure, nor will the traditions of the Romantic borders supply the deficiency. Her father was slain by Fitz-Hamo ; and Belesme, Fitz-Hamo's brother-in-law, soon appearing as the companion of Henry, it might be inferred that Henry, not being able to assert his rights, joined Fitz-Hamo, and carried off the damsel in the warfare. Married they never were, according The Nesta, daughter of to the laws of the Church ; but the Nesta con- Rhys aP . . . Tudor, sorted with Henry until he found it convenient to Henry's " concubine. discard her, providing, however, as he generally did in those cases, a convenient and accommo dating husband glad to accept the Royal con cubine. During their brief cohabitation, the Their son Nesta gave birth at Caen to Henry's firstborn son, Robert, always trusted by his Father, the noblest character of the Anglo-Norman line, the most distinguished by courage, conduct, and consistency. Towards the end of the summer, Robert de Belesme Belesme, with the King's leave and license, quit- return™17 ted England and repaired to Normandy, accom- where they panied by Henry Beauclerc. This fellowship, into prison. somewhat unaccountable, suggested the conjecture that they were united in some plot or plan. Their intentions had been known in Normandy : troops were stationed at the place of landing, probably Barfleur; and, when the Porphyrogenitus and the Count of Alencon descended from the vessel, 246 the conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 they were captured and loaded with chains. "No trial, no investigation : the denunciation secret, Duke Robert acting under the influence of panic fear. If conscience makes cowards, cowardice, in the real sense, always makes cruelty. Bishop Odo advised the measure ; to gratify one Beauclerc nephew, he became the jailor of the other. He kept in ... custody at received Henry into his custody, and the Count Baieux. * J _ of the C6tentin was confined in the Castle of Bayeux, of which we recollect the last vestiges. — It was a noble Bastille — where they kept the royal prisoner in close captivity. The Ducal prero gatives verged upon despotism. If the question had come to be debated, Courthose might have shown that he was fully authorized to exercise this act of severity. Nevertheless, men in power are unwise when they violate the reverence due to their own order. Whoever disrespects the rights of others, teaches disrespect to his own : temporary advantage is purchased at a dear rate, when the Monarch or the State furnishes the precedent which can be retorted: by this act Courthose began to dig the pit into which he afterwards fell. odo again & g. Plots and conspiracies, the suggestion urges lto- J r oo tmtie°hos" tnat Henry and Belesme had combined with Rufus against Robert, afforded, according to report, the reason for the arrest. Odo was sus pected of having instigated the measure ; at all events he immediately improved the result into WAR IN NORMANDY. 247 the means of carrying out his schemes. The 1090, 1091 disturbances in Normandy reduced Robert, the " nominal Sovereign, to the situation of a mere party leader. Any movement was perilous ; nevertheless, Odo persisting in his schemes of hostility, strenuously urged the long contemplated raid, — to employ the term campaign, would con vey an erroneous idea — an expedition having for its object, the acquisition of Maine, and the reduction of the hated Belesme-Talvas family. Could any time be more favourable than the present? Many of the arguments employed by Odo were right ; all plausible, but he is charged with insincerity. Odo gave qui tam advice : if the action failed, he expected to get his costs : to profit by the spoil. We continue ignorant of the manner in which military service was required from the Norman Baronage, no regular convention or assembly can be traced : the Baronage who consented to give their aid, obeyed their own inclinations, not Robert's writ of summons. Robert's conduct affords a painful contrast with his real situation. Fully impressed with the idea that he ruled as a Sovereign, he was only a Condottiere Of Con- dottieri. Such as they were, he held his mus ters, and we will call over the roll. Bishop Odo first and foremost, put on his Enume- , . „ . . . ration of shirt of mail : not in a figurative but a literal Robertsparty. sense, chief commander of the army. 248 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 William, Count of Evreux, the great grandson of Richard Sans Peur, husband of the haughty, sturdy, eloquent, close-fisted Heloise, stands next on the roll. Count William was full of grudges against Robert Courthose, claiming various do mains, Gace, Bavent near Caen, Noyon-sur-An- delle, Gravencon and Ecouche", all formerly held by Ralph de Gace, better known as Tete-d'Ane, the Grand Conn Stable of Normandy, the faithful guardian of the Conqueror, but which had been withheld from Tete-d'Ane's kinsmen, who desig nated themselves his heirs, the inheritable quality of the property being the fact virtually denied. The Count's co-operation with Robert, whatever terms he might be inclined to propose, was there fore a great gain ; moreover he carried with him a power of influential connexions and retainers. Ralph or Third in command appears the Count's mater- Raoul de x x his wifeIld nSil Dr°ther> Ralph de Toeny, Sire of Conches, isabei. grand Standard-Bearer of Normandy, Lord of Flamstead and Clifford's Castle in England, whose wife Isabel or Elizabeth de Montfort vied with her sister-in-law, the Countess Heloise, in boldness, spirit, and audacity, excelling her much in grace and beauty. Both these ladies must be mentioned here : completely the rulers of their Lords, they are quite as conspicuous in History. wniiam de William de Breteuil, eldest son of Fitz-Osbern, Breteuil. ' Earl of Hereford, nephew of Ralph de Toeny, answers as the fourth leading Chieftain. He also WAR IN NORMANDY. 249 had his quarrel for a Seignory assumed to be here- 1090, 1091 ditary. Robert, by procuring Breteuil's adherence, neutralized a claimant who was hesitating whether he should become a suitor or an insurgent. Furthermore, this alliance might bring in the The Mont- . forts. Montforts, a family encreasing in consequence, doubly connected with the Houses of Evreux and Toeny: with the house of Evreux, they were united through the deceased Agnes, Count William's sister, widow of the late Simon de Montfort, the first bearing those well-known names. The Count was childless, and one line of the Evreux family was continued through the children of Agnes and Simon de Montfort, his nephew Aymeric, and his niece, who was living at Evreux, under the care of her aunt Heloise ; blooming Bertrada, a damsel already celebrated far and wide for her exquisite loveliness. The Montfort connexion with the Toeny family was through Isabel. Whilst we are telling up these and the like noble names, so richly teeming with historical reminiscences, let us be mindful, that, contrary to the Scottish proverb, blood in Normandy was not thicker than water, nor did connexions and alliances afford any protection against the feuds which distracted the various lineages. The Nor man families exhibited the narrowness of clanship, destitute of the redeeming affections which real or ideal kindred might inspire. 250 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 The foregoing enumeration is very important, inasmuch as it includes the largest section of Robert's party. The aggregate force was suffi ciently imposing : Robert and his army marched on to Le Mans; but all his followers excepting Odo, and Helie de St. Sidoine, were ready to fall oft' the bough whenever it should be shaken. Robert's fi 9. They were received without opposition, operations j •/ 1 1 Man^Ld nay' apparent j oy was manifested. Bishop Hoel lesm^Tai- was heartily glad to place himself again under skuJ.03868 Norman domination, and to welcome the son of his Patron, the Patron who had given him his Bishoprick. Geoffrey of Mayenne and Helias de la Fleche respectively thought it wiser to avoid revived in resistance. The Este party kept quiet. Clergy Mans. an(j Burghers came forth; Robert, he who in early youth had been betrothed to the heiress of Maine, he who had been invested by the King of France, now kept his state as the inaugurated Liege-lord. Yet his authority was very slight. Payen de Montdoubleau, a minor Baron, held out in doleful Balaon ; but after a short, though desperate defence, he surrendered. Srrender Tiie real difficulty, the subjugation of the Belesme-Talvas family, remained. Soon as politic old Roger de Montgomery knew how his son, bold Belesme, had been captured, he quitted his Marcher-Lordship, and crossing over to Nor mandy, caused all the fortresses and strongholds which the lineage inherited, usurped, or occupied, of St. Ce nery. WAR IN NORMANDY. 251 to be put into a state of defence. Courthose began 1090, 1091 operations by laying siege to St. Cenery, so "^ "~~ important from its situation as a strong frontier barrier. Robert Quarel, one of Belesme's house hold, had been entrusted with the defence; he executed his duty valiantly; nor would the garri son surrender until compelled by starvation. This was a fortress of contested title. It had once been held by the Giroie family. Courthose treated the defence as high treason. Robert Quarel was immediately blinded, by the Duke's special and personal direction: the horrible act seems to have been committed in his presence. Little did he, Duke Robert, anticipate the hour when the red-hot brass would glow before his own agon ized eyes. He caused the soldiers to be horribly cruel " , treatment mutilated, pronouncing their sentence in his Ducal °f the gar- Court. The example answered : great terror was excited by Robert's vindictive sternness; and there are circumstances under which respect is rendered to cruelty. Alencon, the capital of the county, so severely punished by William the Bastard and Belesme, the Caput Baronice, at the two extremities of the Talvas' dominions, were unas- sailed ; but they saw in Robert the son of his inexorable father — the bleeding stumps and mutilated limbs of the Saint Cenery garrison, raised the gaunt spectre of the Conqueror : — affright seized the garrisons, they communicated with each other, and prepared to surrender. 252 the conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 Without doubt, the intervening fortresses were like-minded ; but at this juncture, Court hose grew weary of exertion, and threw up the expedition. He granted St. Cenery to Robert Giroie, the son of that Robert who was poisoned by his wife Adelaide, the Conqueror's cousin, and returned to Rouen, for the purpose of enjoying idleness and debauchery. Robert thus lost all the political benefit he had gained by his cruelty, but retained the full odium of the act. Beiesmede Roger de Montgomery, who had waited his reieaMdiry opportunity, now solicited the liberation of his prison. son- Courthose assented; Robert de Belesme was set at large by the Duke's permission. Possibly their old companionship, the recollection of the merry days he and Belesme passed together at Abbeville, somewhat influenced him. Belesme's enlargement was immediately followed by his being received into high favour. Beauclerc con tinued awhile in prison ; but the nobles inter ceded on his behalf. Odo opened the doors of the Bayeux Bastille : no condition was exacted. Henry resumed the Cotentin, Count of the Coten tin, governing independently and sensibly; and securing, till the glittering bait should be held up by Rufus, the good will of the chieftains sub jected to his anomalous dominion. Baldwin de Redvers or Rivers, who may be styled Earl of Devon, and Hugh de Avranches, or Hugh Lupus, Earl Palatine of Chester, are quoted in particular, WAR IN NORMANDY. 253 as his chief adherents, but he was generally sup- 1090, 1091 ported by the Cdtentin Baronage. § 10. After the surrender of Rochester, ^sh?a_ Rufus earnestly set his heart upon revenge : ^^i. nevertheless he was so strongly instigated, that m°"dyNor' we must make allowances for him as a King. Between Rufus and Robert, or rather between Rufus, Robert, and Henry, it had been simply the question, who should strike the first blow for the acquisition of the entire inheritance. Robert made the attempt: not unadvisedly, considering the support that was offered ; but he failed. It was now the turn of Rufus to exchange Robert's fire. The strife being opened, the matter could not rest till England conquered Normandy, or Normandy England. The Conqueror's Dominion was tacitly admitted one and indivisible ; to be, by fair means or foul, reunited under one Crown. Rufus prepared for future operations by an Mowbray ... . -ii ' . re-estab- ostensible pacification with the lately rebellious ushed fa r J the North. Baronage. Mowbray, the most dangerous, re turned to the North, his influence and power unaffected. The Northumbrian fortresses were placed anew in a state of defence. First, bold Alnwick, then also called Muri- eldene, a strange appellation, concerning which we have a vague supposition, that, corrupted or disguised by transcribers, it has some connexion with Morel, the Vicecomes of Northumberland, the " gossip " of Malcolm Canmore. However, 254 THE conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 Murieldene was then beginning to receive its ~~" present denomination, denoting its position upon the bend of the river, the Alne, Allan, or Ellen, the Alwen, the flowing white stream, whose Celtic name murmurs so touchingly the language of a race which has passed away. Tynemouth also, nigh which St. Oswyn's desolated Priory had been splendidly restored by Mowbray's munificence. But chief and noblest of all, Ida's dungeon-tower of Bamburgh, where the swarthy Earl kept his sullen state, as the, successor of the first Bernician King. Here Mowbray had no competitor ; he kept aloof from Rufus, making raids at his discretion, plundering the vessels which came into his ports. So unsettled, uncon- jugal, and wild was his conduct, that, long as he had been married to Matilda de Aquila, they had not yet lived together, in the whole, for so much as three months under one roof, indeed, they never did, — and that spirited woman led a widowed life, mourning, or rejoicing, at the absence of her husband. Rufus Without allowing his vigilance to be dis- plans to SO gif "noT *rac*e(l' f°r Mowbray was constantly observed, rona^a" Hufus forthwith applied himself to conciliate the Norman nobility, his endeavours being principally directed to the Haute Normandie. This district, between the Seine and the Channel, composed of the Pays de Caux, the Pays de Brai, and the Roumois, was nearly covered by a group of Ba- WAR IN NORMANDY. 255 rons, closely connected with the English Crown : 1090> 1091 many who held English dignities, English titles, English lands, and many more fully accessible to the influence of English money. Rufus, like his father, trusted to conquer as much by gold as by arms. Never was warrior more universally potent in such matters than the hero of the old Spanish romance, Don Dinero. § 11. Having made his arrangements, Rufus ^onnciiat summoned a great Council of the Baronage at^rin^n"s Winchester. In his address, he adverted em- re^Tfc? phatically to the fact that his hearers held their his^Bro8 lands in both countries ; availing himself of the very motives and reasons, the anxieties and in conveniences of a divided allegiance, which had recently instigated the movement against him. The misrule and misgovernment of Normandy, afforded a plausible, almost a valid argument for interference. It was in his power to benefit the Duchy; activity being always, to a certain degree, a corrector of vice. Rufus knew the right : in endeavouring to accomplish the very few good objects which he sought, he was no less ardent than when pursuing evil. The cruelty which deformed his character included the»germ of justice. The King therefore expatiated upon the miseries Normandy sustained, promising to restore good order. He would protect the rights of Holy Church, defend widow and orphan, punish robber and assassin by the sword. 256 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 This profession of zeal for the Church might almost have been considered a mockery, throwing doubt upon his other promises; but they were given and taken in the gross. The words of Rufus served their purpose : the flourish of trum pets as a portion of the form and ceremony. The union of Normandy and England was a public and private benefit : the latter driving on the accomplishment of the former : any allegation therefore would suffice as a reason for carrying on the war. The Barons who now supported Rufus felt exactly as they had done when they fought on the other side. Their real concern was the attainment of the political object by which they expected to profit ; and the course of events ultimately manifested, that the highest and noblest amongst them cared no more for Rufus, than Robert's adherents cared for him. Heralds tell us that the shield of the traitor ous Knight is to be reversed. Had this law of chivalry been observed in Normandy, would not the beautiful stained glass glowing in the rich Church windows have looked oddly ? — the ma jority of the emblazonments turned upside down, unless a double infidelity authorized Sir Knight to turn his shield right up again. «rBearon- § 12. Stephen of Albemarle, was the first ?nt6in°gnthe" Wn0 Came 0VeF to RufuS = SOU of Odo Count of CLln Champagne, and Earl of Holderness in England, tormandy. gran(json 0f Adelaide, the Conqueror's sister, his WAR IN NORMANDY. 257 lineage placed him amongst the chief nobility. 1090,1091 Albemarle, a chef-lieu, so homely in its etymology, st hven so dignified by the ideas associated to the title, Aibemarie. was a strong fortress on the river Bresle, divid ing Normandy from the French territory. The position of these possessions, as well as Ste phen's character, rendered his alliance very im portant. Albemarle was followed in his defection from Robert Count of Courthose, by Robert, Count of Eu, Lord of the ^"^ Honour of Hastings, and subsequently by William ms son- his son, who succeeded to the County, as well as to. the English Barony, upon his father's death, an event which happened during these contests. Count William had taken a very prominent part in the Odo insurrection ; but his fealty to Court hose, and his rebellion against Rufus, were equally forgotten. He and Rufus shook hands again. Peculiarly conspicuous for his base and greedy avarice — auri ingenti victus aviditate — William of Eu gave himself up wholly to Rufus, and was the most powerful leader of the treasons against the Duke his Liege Lord. Furthermore, Walter Giffard, Earl of Buck- Waiter Giffard ingham in England, Seigneur of Longue ville in de'Lon^e Normandy, still appropriated to the ancient ^1 o?d family by the name of Longueville-Giffard, gave hamking" his aid. Earl Walter's territory opened the way to Rouen, supplying also points of attack against the two most important adherents of Courthose vol. 111. s 258 the conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 in those parts, William of Evreux, and faithful Helias de St. Sidoine. Gerard de Rufus was joined by Gerard de Gournay, Lord of Caister nigh Yarmouth, whose original Barony of Gournay, increased by the Conqu&e of old Hugh, and the most commanding in the Pays de Brai, continued the English line of occupation. His fortresses of Gournay, La- Fertd, and Gaille-Fontaine, constituted a barrier against France. Moreover, Gerard de Gournay was connected by marriage with the House of Evreux : being the son of. Basilia, widow of Ralph de Gace\ or T6te-d'Ane, whom Hugh his father had espoused : — therefore it was very advanta geous for Rufus to detach him from the Court party. Through Stephen of Albemarle, who had married Heloisa de Mortimer, Rufus enlisted Ralph Mortimer, — Mortimer the March-Lord; which alliance also secured the aid of various Ralph minor adherents. Ralph Mortimer had been Mortimer. x strenuous in Robert's cause during the insurrec tion. As a Norman Baron, Robert was Ralph Mortimer's lawful Sovereign ; but none a greater felon against that Sovereign than Mortimer. Philip de Furthermore, Rufus bought the dubious alle- Braiosa. , ° giance of the unsteady Philip de Braiosa, the only son of William de Braiosa of Bramber, the great Sussex Baron, and many others, unnamed at present, but who were waiting the opportu- WAR IN NORMANDY. 259 nity of bringing their allegiance to a profitable 1090,1091 market. § 13. Though not immediately, Ralph de Dissensions Toeny passed over to the Royal Cause : this the count adhesion ensued in consequence of an absurd ^°dTR^ph family quarrel which occasioned great mischief. £cctneir16d An outrageous rivalry subsisted between virago wes- Heloise and vixen Isabel. In this dispute they involved their husbands. Evreux and Toeny were at open war with each other, brother against brother, sister against sister, woman against woman. Isabel rode out in full armour, dashing amongst the soldiery, a leader and a follower of the camp — conduct which excited universal amazement in the world of Normandy : we won der what her husband thought of her. Much scandalized, rather amused, and also tempted to admire, the Monks, rubbing up their learning, exhausted the Classics, in search of apt com parisons. Camilla and Penthesilea, Marpesia, Menalippe, Hippolyte, Thalestris, all the Ama zons put together, did not equal this one Isabel. Ralph de Toeny, notwithstanding his wife's military talent, perhaps, in consequence of it, had much the worst of the conflict: he applfed to Courthose for help. Courthose either could not or would not interfere : Toeny therefore turned to Rufus, by whom he was gladly welcomed. Rufus promised all the assistance in his power. Ste phen of Albemarle and Gerard de Gournay joined S2 260 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 their forces to those of Toeny. The Count of Evreux besieged Conches. Richard de Montfort, doughty Isabel's brother, and the nephew of Count William, was slain. Ralph de Toeny, coun tenanced by Rufus, got more and more the upper hand. The two brothers compromised their fool ish and unnatural dispute ; Ralph de Toeny had a younger son, Roger; and the Count of Evreux nominated this young man to be the heir of all his domains : a great joy to Ralph de Toeny and the now proud Isabel — the families were reconciled; but Robert Courthose lost their support, their strength being partly wasted, and partly attracted to his competitor. Robert ap- fi 14. Rufus poured his troops into Nor- pliesfor 'J * L aid from mandy. The Barons who supported him received King Phi- J rr Utter116 *^e English forces in their Castles and strong byuf ufaf places : Eu, Albemarle, Saint Valery, all the posi tions which Rufus thought fit, were occupied by his garrisons. Robert, distressed by the encreas- ing disloyalty and faithlessness of subjects and allies, and harassed by his Brother's active policy, now sought assistance from Philip King of France. Hard indeed, for a descendant of Rollo thus to humble himself, but perplexity allowed him no choice. A strong rivalry between the King of England and Philip had become manifest: reports were afloat concerning the extent of the projects entertained by Rufus. Philip therefore had a decided reason to assist Robert in opposing WAR IN NORMANDY. 261 the latter: nevertheless the Capet knew his own 1090,1091 worth, and his interest too, and he refused to aid unless he received a competent remuneration. Robert's treasury was emptied : nothing had he to give in money : he dared not venture to make any donation at the expence of his Baronage. Still, it is always pleasant to cut thongs out of another man's hide : Courthose therefore tried to draw a draft upon that tempting fund, the pro perty of the Church, and he transferred to Philip a portion of the endowment belonging to the See of Rouen, the Lordship of Gisors; thereby doing an act which might have contributed to his ruin, for Gisors, fourteen leagues from Rouen, fourteen leagues from Paris, is the key and defence of Normandy against France. Moreover the transaction excited just indignation. The Clergy exclaiming against the spoliation, threat ened a general interdict ; and this was not a time when Robert could afford to incur any unpopularity. Philip agreed to accept the price : the slug gish and luxurious monarch advanced at the head of his forces to Robert's aid. The French King and the Norman Duke invested some of the Castles which held for Rufus, — LaFerte, Gournay, and Saint Vallery, — with all their power. But a retreat was soon sounded by the French. If Courthose had promised much in land, Rufus had given more, in ready, sterling money. Gisors 262 THE conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 was not surrendered to Philip, who returned " home to his banquets and his gluttony; and the large army which he had raised was dispersed. Flambard, during these transactions, imposed a heavy, and, as the English complained, an illegal tax or geld upon the realm. This levy fur nished the means of paying the price, the " very great treasure," which persuaded Philip to aban don Robert's cause. Robert fi 15. Alarming as open defections may have marries his ox »* Heifasde*0 ^een *° Courthose, he had greater reason to amneSi apprehend danger from well-known, though as yet, undeclared, enemies. The interest of Rufus spread rapidly. In every Bailliage, Barons and Vavassours expected to hail the King of England's banner, and to touch the King of England's money. Courthose started out of his lethargy, and sought more supporters and allies, though few were open to him. He formed a closer connexion with the Seigneur of St. Sidoine : Robert gave his daughter in marriage to Helias, — bestowing upon the damsel in dowry, the noble castle of Arques, which we cannot mention with out thinking of its grey ruins on the grassy steep. The Castle of St. Sidoine is higher up, upon the same river. To this, was added Bures ; and Helias was entrusted with the command of the whole " Pagus Talogiensis," or County of the Tala-Ou. The St. Sidoine Seignory thus enlarged, WAR IN NORMANDY. 263 became an excellent barrier, against the Houses 1090> 1091 of Eu and Giffard. The alliance contained a better element than military strength. Helias possessed a rarer quality than power : he was honest and truthful, and continued to love Robert Courthose, his wife's father, sincerely, when overwhelmed by misfortune. For Robert's sake, Helias sustained confiscation, exile, perse cution, poverty. So long as he lived, did Helias de St. Sidoine manifest his conscientious and consistent affection and fidelity; § 16. Courthose fell sick, probably from Fhfnk0R^;n intemperance; and he sustained the additional J0,^^* vexation of receiving bad news from Maine. c1umetmspr°~ The Manceaux, encouraged by the quarrel ^nst the between Rufus and Robert, endeavoured to avail an?eaux' themselves of the diversion which these dissen sions afforded, and prepared to throw off their enforced subjection. Ugone d'Este, the rich Marquis of Liguria, had been invited to cross the Alps, and regain his Tramontane inheritance : Robert was compelled to dread the loss of the dominions which he so much prized. In this emergency, Robert opened a negoci- ation with Fulk Re^chin, in order to obtain his co-operation against the agitators. A dangerous experiment, considering the claims put forth by ambitious Anjou : Robert was rousing the sleep ing Lion. The Lion proved very tame. Fulk was cultivated and clever ; but cultivation is not 264 the conqueror's SONS. 1090, 1091 wisdom, nor cleverness either ; Fulk's acquire ments and talents sufficed not to preserve him from egregious absurdities and follies, which encreased upon him with age — Male inccepit, pejus vixit, pessime finivit, is the funeral ora tion pronounced over Fulk Rechin's bier, by the Monk of Marmoustier ; and his common sense seems to have diminished in the same ratio. The delighted Count of Anjou determined immediately to repair to Rouen, where he found Robert convalescent. Such alacrity must have been considered a token of great earnestness on Robert's behalf; or, if wise men chose to be sus picious, of Fulk's eagerness to gain some advan tage. So it was ; he did intend to profit by the opening, though after a course differing widely from any which could have been anticipated. Fuik Re- After many pleasant and friendly discourses, mandsBer- during which Robert solicited the aid of Fulk to trada de . , Montfort keep down the Manceaux, the Angevine rephed by ilS 1 11C [MlCC of his co- a confidence of love — " I am in love," said crook- operation. shoed, cornard Fulk, — not old enough to be called a dotard, however he may have acted like one, — " I am in love with sweet Bertrada de Montfort, the fair niece of the Count of Evreux, the or phan girl, whom her aunt the Countess Heloise now educates with so much care. Do this one thing for me : obtain Bertrada for me, and I will subdue the Manceaux, and help thee WAR IN NORMANDY. 265 faithfully for ever." — Robert was most willing 1090,1091 to comply, but he had no authority : he could only persuade ; and the request was commu nicated to Count William. This matrimonial negociation excited great interest in the House of Evreux. A family Council was held, friends and relations, uncles and aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins, and chaplains, called in ; and the matter being well discussed, the Count of Evreux pro ceeded to Court. Count William began in a tone of indigna- g^™ of tion—" What," said he, " sacrifice my niece, that |™fr tender young thing whom my dying brother en- Eesfow0 trusted to my care, by condemning her to the ^e*Mk embraces of Fulk Rechin, he who still has two wives, alive and hearty: a vile bargain on your part, to purchase Maine by the sale of our Bertrada, who is not yours to sell, at the same time that you rob me of my inheritance. I cannot think of such a thing, unless you restore me Bavent, Noyon-sur-Andele, Gravencon, Gace", Ecouch£, and all the other lands which ought to have come to me from my uncle Tete-d'Ane. Moreover, my nephew William de Breteuil, who stands here, must have Pont Saint-Pierce, and all other the domains that belong to him also. Let this be done, then perhaps we may think better of the matter, and the match may pro ceed according to Fulk's desire." These terms did not entirely please Courthose : 266 the conqueror's sons. logo, 1091 usually he was profuse in his donations ; now, a " paroxoysm of prudence came on. He expected to propitiate Fulk without cost; but, after consi dering the matter with Edgar Atheling, William de Arches, and Robert de Belesme, he agreed to the terms, save and except as to Ecouchd, from which place they could not dislodge the Gournay family. The delicate and elegant girl, distinguished equally by her talents and by her beauty, was taken home by hobbling Fulk as his fourth wife, a re luctant, timid, disgusted bride. Yet in due time after the marriage she presented him with a son, Fulk, " le Jeune," the father of Geoffrey Planta genet. ugone, the § 17. Fulk Rechin did not neglect his part bert Azzo of the engagement : persuasives, good words, the obtains the display of adequate force, all employed by him, Maine. k.ept the Manceaux quiet for about a year. He then ceased to exercise any further influence on Robert's behalf, — domestic affairs and Ber trada gave him quite employment enough. Anjou's pressure being withdrawn, the dissensions between Rufus and Robert encouraged the Manceaux to execute the plans they had formed for asserting their independence, and also facilitated their exertions. They rose simultaneously, expelled the Norman garrison from the Conqueror's towers, and Mans was free. United in this national object, the succession continued unsettled, nor were their disscusions allayed. Helias de la WAR IN NORMANDY. 267 Fleche entered Balaon, so lately won by thrift- 1090, 1091 less Robert: thriftless even in his cruelty. But he received a serious check. Ugone, the son of Albert Azzo, the rich Marquis of Liguria, reputed son-in-law of Robert Guiscard, fancied by the Manceaux to be so brave, wealthy, and liberal, was approaching. Geoffrey de Mayenne and all his party supported Ugone ; therefore they kept away from Helias; and Bishop Hoel, stubborn, and faithful to the Conqueror's memory, employed all possible influence against him. Helias, noble spirited and generous, was hasty. ^°fm Forgetting all his respect for the Church and g^6^ ecclesiastical immunities, he seized Bishop Hoel, Fleche- kept the Prelate in close confinement, pf which the irksomeness was encreased by the sentinels constantly stationed in his chamber. A poor lack- learning priest, the only attendant allowed to the Bishop, was selected on account of his ignor ance; because, could he have talked Grammar- Latin, he and Bishop Hoel might have held conversation and deceived the Warders. This outrage occasioned great trouble, the Bishop undergoing prison discipline, the Clergy mourn ing, lamenting, and complaining: bells silenced, shrines and crosses taken down and laid flat on the pavement, huge fagots of thorns piled up in the porches and heaped agamst the Church-doors ; symbols of tribulation. Helias relented, repented, released the Bishop, and implored forgiveness; 268 the conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 the Bishop readily granted pardon; but Helias ~~* was for the present stayed in his career. Bishop Ugone, son of Albert Azzo, grandson of Hu- Hoel does not assent bert Wake-the-dogs, made his joyous entry into ifon" and Mans, first winding below the Roman walls which ManSLe protrude their solid bastion-towers, then ascend ing the steep City hill. Courthose had been received with great shew of obedience : equally so was Ugone; and the Ligurian Count was inau gurated by the citizens. But the ceremonial was incomplete. Ugone, the old citizens might say, was not a legitimate Count according to King Childebert's Charter. The Bishop was an integral member of the Cenomanensian Commonwealth. The nomination of Ugone was unsanctioned by the Prelate, who, repairing to Rouen, bore the news of the defection. Robert had relapsed into his sloth. He refused to make any further exertion; intimated he cared nothing more for Maine, he would let the Manceaux alone, and in this mood he advised the Bishop to return. Bishop Hoel made his way back, but he could not go home, he found Ugone lodged in the Episcopal Palace, placed there by the citizens : a residence honourable and defensible, Palace and Cathedral constituted a castle. Bishop Hoel, compelled to lodge where he could, took up his station at the Monastery of St. Vincent, then in the meadows without tbe walls. Ugone, mean, cowardly, greedy, and needy, proved incompetent to the task of WAR IN NORMANDY. 269 government. No daughter of Guiscard accom- 1090, 1091 panied him as Countess, he had shamed and repudiated the noble damsel. To make matters worse, a disgraceful quarrel took place among the Clergy. We will spare ourselves the particulars. Bishop Hoel again abandoned his See, knowing it would be useless to expect any help from Robert. Hoel's per tinacious fidelity now conducted him to Eng land. Concerting further operations with Rufus, Hoel sought his See again, but not daring to enter Mans, he retreated to Soleme, on the banks of the Sarthe, a monastery, which, abandoned to destruction, has renewed its moral existence ; the death-bed repentance of Santerre having furnished to the Abbot's zealous piety, the chief resources by which the sanctuary has been re- endowed. In consequence of these disputes, Mans suffered Disturb- 1 x ances m Le greatly. Trade and business was interrupted. ^a^-e fin_ We can picture Mans in those days : the tall do^Le" stone-houses, of which many, still existing in the ^"obtains Bourg, are probably scarcely posterior to the time * e °unty" of Helias, display the wealth of the Burghers, and seem to have furnished the model of similar buildings in England. Crafts and trades were impoverished, and Ugone, whose incapacity en creased the evil, was therefore the more hated and the more despised. The divorce of his wife Heria became peculiarly detrimental to his cha- 270 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 racter : having incurred the Papal excommunica- ~^ tion, it is possible that some may have thought that he was thereby excluded from dominion. Under these circumstances the prospects of Helias brightened ; and he acted prudently, avoid ing those harsh proceedings, which in the event of present success, might alienate the feelings of the people at a future period. Instead of attempting any hostile measures which would have weakened the country, and created inimical feuds, he employed himself in winning over the Manceaux ; and Bishop Hoel, who might have crossed his projects, abstained from any exertions. Ugone became tired of his uneasy Transalpine Sovereignty. Helias then began to work upon him, magnifying the dangers of his situation : what might not he, Ugone, apprehend from Normandy? — The Marquis turned all he could lay hands on, into money; and sold all his rights to Helias for ten thousand sols, Manceaux currency. Ugone then departed for his own coun try, where, behaving treacherously against the great Countess Matilda, he died in disgrace and poverty. Helias de la Fleche became Count of Maine ; and although he subsequently sustained many reverses, he regained and retained the County, proving a most able and efficient Sove reign. Theciti- § 18. There was no part of Normandy where zens of J r •' Rouen Rufus was acquiring more valuable influence than WAR IN NORMANDY. 271 in Rouen. The ancient Roman colony, encreas- 1090, 1091 ing in circuit and population, had encreased in T-" O 1 1 conspire prosperity. Transmitted to us through the ordi- p^foYde1- nances and Charters of Philip-Augustus, the ^"rtf municipal organization of Rouen under the French deringlbn Kings, affords evidence ofthe citizens' franchises to Rufus! y during the Ducal era : for we may safely assume as a principle, that such apparent concessions are the amplifications or confirmations of pre- existent privileges analogous if not identical. Rouen under Robert would be well able to sup ply the Hundred Peers, who had the choice of the Echevins; and at this period Conan son of Gilbert Pilate, and William Fitz-Augier, were amongst the most wealthy citizens. A commer cial population would naturally incline towards a maritime alliance : the insolence of the Court retainers affronted the Burghers. Robert's extra vagance and unthrift provoked their contempt. Moreover the proposed cession of Gisors grieved the Archbishop, discontented the Clergy, and alienated the public mind. Rufus distributed his gifts freely, exciting expectations of more ample largesses; and the leading classes readily com bined with the Royal emissaries for the purpose of deposing the indolent Duke, and surrendering both their Sovereign and his city to' the active &' .Conan, the Conan, the chief man in the great trading IZl-i?^, community, was the head and prime mover of%£ 272 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 the English party. His riches and connexions enabled him to collect a very numerous array of adherents. It was settled, that on the mor row of All Souls, the solemn festival now uni versally established throughout Western Chris tendom, the citizens should rise on behalf of Rufus, and the garrisons of Gournay and the other fortresses, which, at lesser or greater dis tances encircled Rouen, advance simultaneously to the city, and occupy it on the King's behalf. The majority of the citizens concurred in the defection. Courthose or his advisers obtained intelligence of the conspiracy, which, including so many agents, could not be easily concealed; Robert he assembled the few friends whom he retained, Henr/s and invited the support of his brother Henry. assistance. There existed no common feeling amongst the Conqueror's sons, except mutual ill-will; upon this, Courthose relied. It suited Henry to help one brother, that he might the better thwart the other equally hated enemy. William of Evreux, William de Breteuil, Gilbert de l'Aigle the Mowbray's brother-in-law, and above all, ferocious Belesme, continued stanch; and Robert anticipated more than victory : revenge. All the antiquities of Rothomagum are rapidly disappearing, hamlet and village absorbed in the continuous mazes of the manufacturing metro polis, Churches and Convents demolished, or sustaining a worse desecration than mere ruin : WAR IN NORMANDY. 273 subjected to the defilements of the workshop, 1090,1091 the barrack, the theatre, and the jail. During the last quarter of a century, this process has advanced with accelerated rapidity ; yet perhaps there may be some few persons surviving, who recollect the last remains of the ancient Palatial Castle, the outer walls whereof stood adjoining the brink of the river. A very lofty and solid tower, ascribed to Richard Sans Peur, but which, judging from description, was probably erected upon Roman foundations, constituted the build ing's chief feature, ornament and defence. Within the Palace precinct, Robert Courthose was acknowledged as a Sovereign, but within the precinct only. The city owned him not : Rouen's citizens were Rouen's masters. The leaders on behalf of Robert, concerted, that, for the purpose of restoring his authority, and anticipating the enemy, Gilbert de Aquila, who commanded a body of the Ducal forces, stationed towards the South-west of the Seine, should, on the day appointed for the outbreak, surprize the city by a coup de main. Early in ,1090. the morning, therefore, Aquila and his troops, The attack gallopping along the new bridge, entered the city. Conan, equally alert, had mustered the citizens : some detachments of the King's troops were already admitted ; and, exactly at the time when Gilbert de Aquila was making his assault, Warrenne, Gournay's brother-in-law, entered VOL. III. 274 the conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 through the Porte Cauchoise, the high road opening towards the Bailliages of the Pays de Caux and the Pays de Brai, districts where Rufus was most in power. The Ducal and Royal troops encountered each other immediately within the walls, and the fray began in right earnest. The citizens, to their great mischief and subsequent sorrow, became engaged and involved in the conflict. Some mixed themselves with Robert's troops, many more with the Royalists. Robert, stationed in the Castle, sallied forth with Beauclerc to support his partizans; but the Ducal forces were, or seemed to be, unequally matched. The close and narrow streets, dark and tortuous defiles swarming with population, resounded with the cries of the combatants, wo- mens' shrieks, the smash and dint, the clash and clang of arms. Fear magnified the numbers of Robert's the hostile crowds. Robert's heart failed: sup- panic. x ported in his cowardice by the dishonourable connivance of his suite, who urged that a Duke should not expose himself to such dangers, he retreated from Rouen, and, getting into a little boat, took refuge at Ermondeville, now a suburb, but then a detached village, sheltering himself in the monastery of Ste. Marie des Bonnes Nou- velles, where Matilda received the tidings of her husband's conquest. The donations which the Conqueror's Son afterwards bestowed upon the Monks, testify his panic and his gratitude. WAR IN NORMANDY. 275 This scurry was equally ludicrous and dis- 1090,1091 graceful; whilst Robert was running away, his men were gaining an easy victory. Beauclerc took the command; Gilbert de Aquila joined his troops to those of Henry. They tramped through and through Rouen, cutting and treading down all before them ; and the rebels, since their defeat entitles us to call them so, were routed with great slaughter. § 19. Whilst the wailings of the multitude, striving and fleeing, bleeding and expiring be neath hoof and blade, rejoiced the Ducal par tisans, Conan had been captured. Tranquillity conan cap- being restored, he was brought before Courthose for judgment. Robert condemned the traitor to perpetual imprisonment. He spared Conan's life, not in mercy, but vindictively, with the declared purpose of prolonging the criminal's misery. Robert's dissolute life rendered him savage : he thought truly — and knew it too truly when the lot fell on himself — that no punishment is so great as life, lengthened and dragging on, in weary and hopeless captivity. Henry, equally savage, but wiser, determined to put Conan to death. Suffering keeps up sympathy, and sup ports the sufferer's cause. Death ends sympathy, whilst the terror remains. He therefore required that Conan should be delivered into his power. Henry collared the captive and dragged him Span's to the summit of Duke Richard's Dungeon tower, tion™". T 2 276 THE conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 Here the future King of England bitterly —-¦—' mocked the wretch, bidding him look down and admire the smiling, fertile country, which he had attempted to win for Rufus' cause, mead and glade, watered by the winding, island-dotted Seine. Conan, too well aware of the fate awaiting him, cried aloud, imploring mercy, offering gifts, promising fidelity. "No ransom for a traitor," exclaimed Henry. Conan, in agony, entreated but one, one mercy only — that he might confess his sins — Beauclerc, grinning with rage, and clenching his victim with both his hands, pushed the howling Conan off, hurling him over the battlements, whirring down the height. The mangled corpse, contumeliously dragged amidst the soaking filth from end to end of the city, gave an insulting warning to his compeers and townsmen : telling them what measure they had to expect. Henceforth, Duke Richard's Dungeon tower, called the Sant de Conan, became the caitiff's monument and pre served his history. pniage of Robert was somewhat inclined to deal mer- Rouen. cifully with the citizens ; but the Baronage and soldiery would not be baulked. They despised the Duke's sympathy, and entirely counteracted his faint good will. Rouen, treated as a con quest, was abandoned to pillage. The plunder, which in such lucky seasons, was robbed and lifted from chest and store, constituted the small- WAR IN NORMANDY. 277 est portion of the booty. The crock deeply 1090,1091 buried in the cellar, the casket built up in w_v~~ the hole in the wall, the gold deposited in the cell of the distant monastery, and which the trusty guardian would never deliver except to the messenger who certified his authority by the mystic grip, the thumb thrice pressed on the wrist, — these were the prizes to which the soldiers looked for their reward. Therefore, the capture of a city was only the preliminary to the cruelties, wrenching from the wealthy the treasures dearer to them than their lives. The Rouen burghers themselves, constituted the very cream of the Rouen booty. Ask who had been the richest citizen in Rouen — William Fitz-Augier. — Ask Pities where he is — starving in cold and filth, his flesh "JJi^jg cankered by chains, deep in William de Breteuil's dungeon, from whence he will not be released till he has paid his ransom, three thousand pounds. Henry gave this sum for the Cotentin, so that one substantial burgher was worth as much to his captor as the finest province in Normandy. This particular example enables us to esti mate the amount of the extortions which the burghers sustained, but no adequate idea is thereby conveyed of their vexations and suffer ings. William de Breteuil employed duresse and torture professionally, he only wanted the money ; but Belesme was never contented unless 278 the conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 he enjoyed the excitement of inflicting agony. ~" The most atrocious and beastly of the inflictions practised in the East were familiar to him ; and he rejoiced in being the executioner. The Normans were now experiencing the miseries they had inflicted upon England. Their proud and ancient capital even suffered more than the English metropolis ; London had never been spoiled, never pillaged, never had one London citizen been insulted by a Norman Baron. The retributive lesson was not profitless — many consciences still continued uneasy, and they con sidered the desolation of Rouen as a national punishment. Norman R 20. Nevertheless the most permanent afflic- dissensions. •* r Beiesmede *i°n sustained by Normandy, was the absence of tothem6.11* anv sovereign power to protect the weak against the strong, the strong against each other. The dissensions amongst the Baronage involved the whole country in confusion. The families were bound together by a net-work of pedigrees, the meshes knotted into each other ; if one was rent, you never could tell how far the mischief would extend. Not entirely ineffectual were the offices ofthe Church; but the want of truth and fidelity amongst the Baronage enfeebled the moral prin ciple, upon which the coercive and corrective authority of religion is founded. Old quarrels were revived : new, taken up with virulent per tinacity. Litigiousness and violence combined: WAR IN NORMANDY. 279 the disputants were parties in a lawsuit, carry- 1090,1091 ing on that suit with swords in their hands. Robert de Belesme arose prominent in the ge- Beiesme's 1 ° expecta- neral fray : his power was much encreased by his p£j^ marriage with Agnes de Ponthieu; sooner or later, it was certain that the County of Ponthieu would fall to him. Count Guy, the contemporary of Harold and ofthe Conqueror, was waxing old, the Lady Agnes, his only surviving child and heiress. Nevertheless, so wildly ferocious was Belesme, that he treated his wife very cruelly, keeping her in rigorous confinement in the Castle of Belesme, without any assignable cause, except his malignity. The disorders were much en creased by Courthose's inconsiderateness : he made grants, almost at random, of disputed castles and domains, so that the grantee took the quarrel as a charge upon the estate. Possibly, like other Barons, Belesme had oc- Beiesme's " claims casionally some colour for his aggressions? found- ^"J}*6 ing his claims upon the antecedent tenures or Bfisge°ePrie occupancies of his family. There is some un certainty concerning the boundary which should be assigned to the ancient County of Alencon. Robert de Belesme claimed the whole territory included in the Bishopric of Seez ; and it is not entirely clear, whether he did not entertain a plan of becoming Lay-Bishop; at all events, the Bishop was constantly the object of his persecution. So also, did he pertinaciously assail the Baronage 280 THE conqueror's sons. 1090,1091 of the Pays de Houlme, a district which he was — v"~' intent upon subduing. Hugh de Grantmesnil, now very aged, though an occasional visitant in England, never returned to settle there after the Odo conspiracy ; and his English domains continued, with few ex ceptions, in the King's hands. Hugh took to good works, employing himself mainly in the restoration of St. Evroul, comforting himself with devotion amongst the Monks ; living much with them. We believe that a great deal of our narrative is grounded upon Grantmesnil's recollections. Few amongst the Norman Baron age had so large a family as Grantmesnil, con nected so widely and so nobly. Rohezia, the seventh amongst his children, was married to Robert de Courcy, ancestor of the Barons of Kinsale ; and the Sires of Courcy were the peculiar objects of Beiesme's hostility. Belesme, countenanced and supported by Duke Robert, occupied the Houlme, in which country he built two Castles, one at Fourches, and the other at Chateau-Gonthier ; structures shewing the thorough determination he had formed of trusting to absolute force. attackTtho Hugh de Grantmesnil and Richard de Courcy, SianT8" R°Dert de Courcy's father, though old and bro- SS. ken, came forth valiantly: their connexions crowd ed to their aid, so indeed did many of the Ba ronage less immediately involved, for all dreaded WAR IN NORMANDY. 281 Beiesme's tyranny. This resistance was formid- 1090, 1091 able to Belesme, and he induced the unwise ~ Courthose to join him in the enterprize ; one of the Duke's numberless mistakes. The attack in which Courthose aided, would, if successful, only have encreased the influence of a most dangerous chieftain, and, if unsuccessful, only alienate him from the other Baronage. The united forces of Belesme and Courthose, for it is right to put the so-called vassal first, proceeded to blockade Courcy ; Courcy-sur-Dive, not far from Falaise. § 21. Operations against Courcy were conducted ^j^f °f after a strange fashion : many lives were lost on of Cour°y- both sides ; yet the conflict might seem a species of rough May-game. Courcy and its district possessed only a single oven, on the outside of the walls, in which the besieged were accustomed to bake their bread. It was evidently what is called a bannal-oven, of which the lord enjoyed the monopoly, as still is the case in some Scottish regalities. Therefore the lord hitherto permitted no other ovens in Courcy, and now, they had not time to build an additional one. Every day, there was regularly a scuffling skirmish round the oven, townsmen and garrison fighting fer their baking, Courthose and the besiegers striving to drive them away, but with constant slaughter. In one of these conflicts, upwards of a score of good men, whom Ordericus bitterly laments, were killed. The Bishop of Seez interfered for the 282 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 purpose of inducing a pacification. His groom " or serving-lad exercising a horse, was captured by the besiegers, who made prize of the animal. — This is set down as a remarkable incident. Important military movements may frequently be briefly dismissed with a sentence; but the ferocious pettiness of warfare during the Anglo- Norman period, must occasionally be described minutely, because minute details alone elucidate the peculiar characteristics, distinguishing an age in which war was almost unnaturally destitute of the pomp and pride of circumstance : it was dull work, though bloody. The soldiery usually fought with no higher ardour than the crew of a privateer. Even the Conqueror's splendour, and the romantic aspirations of Rufus could not raise the general average. 1091. Rufus had bided his time, and exactly when February. Courthose was most involved and perplexed, he appeared in the field. The unwelcome intelhgence took Robert Courthose completely by surprize. His forces were very small ; but what was infi nitely more to his disadvantage, his heart en tirely failed him. The fit of cowardice came on again: he became extremely terrified. Rufus was marching towards Courcy. Courthose ran away : his troops dispersed, and all his partizans returned to their homes. The In the same degree that the arrival of Rufus Normans . , receive distressed his brother, so was it welcome to the WAR IN NORMANDY. 283 Normans of every degree, who received him by 1090, 1091 acclamation. They flocked to him, offering gifts r^ • ¦i .1 i c • • i • • zealously. with the hopes ot receiving more : his very vices qualified Rufus to be a great Condottiere; all the mercenaries of the surrounding states, Bre tons, Poitevins, Flemings, Frenchmen — the latter being always carefully distinguished in Normandy from the Normans — were equally zealous in tes tifying their devotion to the merry, debauched, military-minded King. fi 22. Thus supported, William dictated the courthose ¦J x r compelled terms of pacification. Robert did not attempt ^Sion resistance : how could he ? he was virtually "antageoM dethroned. The brothers met at Rouen, bitterly terms- hating each other, but united in hatred against Henry. We have just seen how earnestly Beau clerc had been engaged in the service of Court hose, no one tells us how or why they became so suddenly alienated : the fact comes upon us unex pectedly, but it was their usual way. The Chroni clers therefore do not take the trouble to com ment upon the renewed enmity. Robert ceded to Rufus the superiorities of Eu and of Albemarle, of Gournay and of Conches, with all their appur tenances and dependencies: the greater part of the Pays de Caux became the King's unques tioned dominion. Morever, Rufus obtained the Suzerainship or Seignory of Fecamp, and of Cherbourg, and the Mont St. Michel in the C6- tentin, provided Henry could be expelled. By 284 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 this surrender, Robert's territories were so broken "^ up, that he could only continue to reign as long as it suited his brother. the'treaf Another ungrateful condition, soon afterwards enforced by Rufus, was, that Robert should banish his friend, his counsellor, the only one about him, save Helias de Saint Sidoine, pos sessing any worth of character, Edgar the Athel ing. In return, William promised to support Robert's assertion of the family claim upon Mans, and to restore his English lands: and in this restoration he engaged to include all the Nor mans, who, by supporting the cause of Robert, had incurred a forfeiture. Lastly, if either Rufus or Courthose should die without a son born in lawful marriage, the kingdom of England should revert to the survivor. No stipulation more remarkable than this: one object, no doubt, was to extinguish any hope that might be entertained by the Porphyrogenitus, their common enemy. But the clause had a farther The me- and more extensive application ; the very careful Courthose an<* cautious wording of the treaty confirmed a fromUdne new constitutional principle, namely, that bas tardy, hitherto tolerated in the Ducal family, was henceforward to be an exclusion : and the sons of Courthose, Richard and William, with as good a title as the Conqueror himself, were, so far as these young and active men might submit to the degradation, entirely put away. succession. WAR IN NORMANDY. 285 The treaty was confirmed with unusual solem- 109°. i°91 nity. Twelve Proceres of Normandy appeared as the respective vouchers for Rufus and for Court hose, becoming pledges that the treaty should be observed, which pledge they gave upon oath ; the brothers had no faith or trust in each other, nor could they deal with any confidence or security. § 23. Nevertheless, they were united at pre- ^0^9rtand sent by one common object, the expulsion of^'l^ their brother. Rufus, joining Robert in command, Sn°gex~ invaded the Cdtentin. Beauclerc earned no for- enry" bearance from his brothers, nor did he intend to practise any. Collecting forces from Brittany as well as from Normandy, he garrisoned Coutances and Avranches, and prepared energetically for war ; but the power, the talent, above all, the riches of Rufus, terrified, alienated or seduced, Beauclerc's most influential adherents. Hugh, Earl of Chester, whom we should here designate as Hugh of Avranches, and the majority ofthe Baron age, deserted his cause. They acted confessedly upon calculation. Henry was poor, compared with his brother of England ; and the defection became so general, that within a short space of time the Mont St. Michel was the only fortress remaining to him, and here he sought refuge against his enemies. St. Michel, in periculo maris, well deserves ^g01*™ its name ; but the inundations which submerged ^om;e the forest, whose trunks are buried deep below, st" Mlchel- 286 THE conqueror's SONS. looo, 1091 have been stayed ; Abbey and Castle still defy the tempest and the ocean. The encircling tiers of towers and bartizans, arch above arch, buttress above buttress, battlement above battlement, unite with the crag's rugged sides, until they reach the base of the ancient Church, which crowns the pyramid. During flood tides, the rock can only be approached by very small boats, and with considerable difficulty : and when the water has ebbed, the fortress receives protection from the moist treacherous sands, in which its image looms, an unvaried, sullen, monotonous mirror, between the rock and shore. tbeg^ri-1 Rufus and Robert blockaded the fortress, Mont st.6 occupying the coast, until, as they expected, the garrison could be distressed into a surrender. Henry, whose soldiers were acquainted with the tracks where a harder substratum afforded some surer footing beneath the yielding uniform sur face, harassed his opponents by constant sallies. They were compelled to make these ventures. The Mount is an unbroken granite boulder ; no spring whatever gushes from the rock, and the garrison suffered extremely from want of fresh water. The besieging forces diligently guarded the only source from which they could be sup plied. Beauclerc entreated Robert to war against them like a soldier, but not to deprive them of the necessaries of life. Robert, moved by this en treaty, or seeming to be so, directed the sentinels WAR IN NORMANDY. 287 not to be over-vigilant when the garrison endea- 1090, 1091 voured to draw from the well. Rufus upbraided the humanity of his brother : — " You will keep good store of enemies if you give them meat and drink !" — " And if we allow our brother to perish," replied Robert, — "where shall we find another when he is lost ? " — Words which would deserve little notice, but for the manner in which they have been echoed from history to history. Were we to judge of Monarchs by the extreme care with which their smallest participation in the common sympathies of humanity is hailed, we should form a lower estimate of them than they deserve. These sycophantisms defame the Royal character, by giving the impression that it is needful to rebut a prima facie presump tion, of their being worse than other men. It is a proof of the inherent sanctity of the or dinance, that Royalty withstands the reaction resulting from the obsequiousness by which So vereigns are assailed. Total failures are these artifices, if employed for the purpose of con ciliating favour on behalf of Royalty. No reason ing can reconcile Royalty, and above all, Here ditary Royalty, to human reason. Moral Instinct, not intelligence, compels the submission of hu man society to the institution. It has no real moral support except when received as a Divine appointment, imposed by the transgressions of mankind. 288 the conqueror's SONS. 1090, 1091 The warfare was conducted, on both sides, j^^"^ in a desultory and ineffective manner. On one during the occasion, a sally having been made, a Norman fiafglra- horseman is dismounted, dragged in his stirrup bestowed6 and attacked by Beauclerc's soldier, whose sword conduct is about to cut him down. — " I am the King of England." The exclamation, extorted by immi nent peril, stayed the assailant's hand : the soldier drew back terrified, and a pause ensued. Rufus remounted his horse, and commanded his enemy to stand before him. The man did so, boldly, and Rufus immediately retained him in his own service : an incident sometimes coloured, hke the preceding, by exaggerated commendation, as exhi biting what is called chivalrous magnanimity, but not peculiar to any particular era, nor shewing either military talent or greatness of soul. taiatesCapi A* length Henry capitulated and evacuated the the cd6°ten- Abbatial fortress, with all the honours of war. becomes a The Cotentin reverted apparently to Robert, adven- but really to the Baronage ; and in the course turer. of these conflicts all Henry's wealth had been dissipated and lost. He was penniless. For some months afterwards, he wandered as an adventurer in Brittany, and afterwards in the Beaucassin and the adjoining parts of France. He was lodged now here, now there, receiving an ambiguous hospitality, afforded as much by self-interest as by pity ; for in such cases the possibility of the reversion of royal authority, however remote, is WAR IN NORMANDY. 289 never dismissed, either from the object of sym- i°90> i09i pathy, or those by whom it is afforded. One Clerk, one Knight, and three Esquires, composed Beauclerc's train. During this discipline of tran sient adversity, men gave him credit for acquiring lessons turned to good account, when he ascended the English throne. He saw much of human nature, but on the worst side, and his^future life, as a Prince and a Sovereign, declared too clearly that he never was taught mercy, forbearance, or tenderness, by any trial which he himself sus tained. § 24. Beauclerc, having thus quitted the Rufus em- J ° x ployed in field, Rufus proceeded, wisely and considerately, affair"^6 to settle the affairs of Normandy. Coelum non Normandy- animum, mutant qui trans mare currunt, is not a universal truth : nay, applied dogmatically, rather demonstrates ignorance of human nature. Outward pressure sometimes makes the particles even of solid bodies take a new set ; and there is no greater cause of change in man's mode of action, than a removal beyond the sea. With respect to Governments and Governors, the chance is, that they deteriorate by transplanta tion : but if we are to consider England as the home of Rufus, the alteration, in his case, was for the better. When exercising authority in Normandy, his conduct exhibited few of the evils which marked his rule in England. No rivalry appeared between Rufus and Courthose; the VOL. III. u 290 the conqueror's sons. 1090, 1091 Brethren acted as joint Sovereigns, administering "^ a trust in which they were equally interested, seeking the good of their common inheritance. TheAr- King and Duke called before them the Bi- ticles of o renewed"6 shops and Barons of Normandy, and promul gated the ancient Articles of justice, the prero gative code employed by the Dukes for securing the country's peace, the yoke, the bridle, the terror of Baronial power, the same which the Conqueror renewed at Lillebonne. The Brothers were pro ceeding effectually: a happier period seemed to August. De approaching, when sudden and alarming intel- draiyeaji- ligence was received, how the Scottish King, Tand0 Scot" Malcolm Canmore, the husband of the English Atheliza Margaret, had passed the border; and Rufus determined to return and face the enemy. Chapter VII. ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 1057—1107. § 1. An Historian reproducing the past, may 1057,1107 be compared to a draftsman, who restores the The pre plan of an ancient edifice. The ruin's first aspect historical . ' reproduc- presents unconnected, picturesque, fragmentary tion. variety, interesting in each portion, but unin telligible as a whole. Here, a tower standing firm, but open to the sky; there, a detached oratory, retaining the vaulted roof which pro tects the still unmutilated fret-work, the foliaged canopies, and the solemn imagery; further on, the smooth-spread grassy turf, without a vestige ; then an uncouth rocky mass, deprived of every architectural feature ; and this rough rubble core is followed by a lofty, perfect, fair, but abruptly broken portal; whilst in other places, the foundations can alone be discovered, when you excavate deeply beneath the soil. A delineation, exhibiting nought but the ob jects seen by the eye, and measured by the rod, would neither instruct nor please. In such a case, therefore, the artist never scruples to com plete the ichnography of the building, from the remains which have escaped destruction. But, although neither visible nor tangible on the site, u2 292 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 the lines he employs to perfect the ground-plot cannot be called imaginary. They are directed by the axis of the structure, they shoot out of the existing portions : the column on the right hand asks for a corresponding column on the left; the transept must have had a closing wall: the presbytery gives the infallible suggestion for the choir, terminated by the altar. If you find the Baptistery, you may be certain it contained a font : from existing data, you deduce the whole. Such is the task of the Historian. Occasion ally there may be some one authority furnishing him with satisfactory testimony concerning a peculiar passage or era — testimony, ample and satisfactory as the providential chances whereby the evidences of history are transmitted to us, can ever be expected to afford. But far more frequently we possess the materials of history only in fragments, notices and hints — brief, dis continuous, imperfect, ill-defined, separated occa sionally by long intervals, and then heaped up and running together, which cannot be rendered useful to the student, excepting through the Teacher who works them up into a unity; — by his conjectures, if you choose; but unless cast into a systematic form, they are unprofitable. If you wander amongst the ruins without the Guide, their mutual relation will be lost. Similes expanded into details lose their appli cability. We shall therefore content ourselves ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 293 with observing, that the preceding considerations 1057, 1107 arose within the precincts of St. Andrew's Cathe- " dral. Scanty as the relics are, the tower of St. Regulus is so perfect, his Chapel so significant, the dilapidated Western portal, the venerable melancholy termination of the Eastern choir, so suggestive, and so connected by the intervening ruins, that a skilful Ecclesiologist could not feel any difficulty in completing the scheme of the edifice. Here digging, here delving, here pacing the turf, his scientific pencil would aggregate the dispersed members into one harmonious frame. He would lecture satisfactorily upon the deve- lopement of Scottish architecture, during the whole period between the erection of the Sanc tuary, when the first stone of that noble and lofty tower was laid, to the fatal era of Car dinal Beatoun, and the fane's destruction. fi 2. With respect to Scottish history, the character- 3 x .... istics of the difficulties attending the investigation of its materials varied themes, are not more formidable, on the history. average, than those encountered by any Enquirer who has to deal with the formation of the States composing the European commonwealth. Even the much-mooted Pictish contfoversy ThePictish does not compel us to make an exception. Every insoluble. y portion of human history offers difficulties, which neither research, nor talents, nor acuteness, can possibly remove ; and this for the very plain and simple reason, that we possess not the 294 the conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 facts upon which any judgment can be founded. " The Pictish vessel is seen in the distant horizon, she approaches rapidly till you clearly distin guish the crew upon the deck ; but before you are near enough to hear their voices, she sinks, the waters close over her, and the wreck never Total ex- can be raised. The total extinction of the tinction of the Pictish Pictish language renders any further enquiry impossible. The acumen and criticism of the Nineteenth Century cannot advance beyond the homely wisdom ofthe Twelfth Century: — Quam- vis Picti jam videantur deleti, et lingua eorum ita destructa, ut jam fabula videatur quod in veterum scriptis eorum mentio invenitur: cui autem non comparet amor ccelestium et horror terrestrium, si cogitet non solum reges eorum, et principes, et populum deperiisse, rerum etiam stirpem omnem et linguam et mentionem simul defecisse ; et si de aliis mirum non esset, de lingua tamen, quam unam inter cceteras, Deus ab exordio linguarum instituit mirandum vide- tur. — Such are the words of Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon — and what can be added respecting the Picts? — their place is known no more. The sources of Scottish history are, however, unequally distributed, and comprehend diverse classes. Some of our witnesses speak out: others mumble. You obtain the outline from one frag ment ; another gives you colouring : but they are well grouped: they fit into each other. They ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 295 are so well calculated to supply their mutual 1057,1107 deficiencies, that their critical investigation, " ~ though not devoid of the pleasures and perplex ities arising from occasional obscurities, presents no substantial trouble or vexation. You have some rugged pieces of ground to Continuous °° r ° series of get over. The path is not always marked dis- |^?^ of tinctly ; perhaps you may quit the beaten track mstory- now and then, and be the better for the devi ation: but you make your way fairly to the end of the journey, to Berwick upon Tweed, with King James, the Sixth of Scotland and First of England, and then to the calamities of our own times. — The process which created the King dom of Scotland is still in operation. That des tructive process which constitutes the prominent character of Scottish History, was neither deter mined, by the union of the Crowns of England and Scotland, nor neutralized by the union of the Kingdoms. Eye-witnesses, ear- witnesses, who lived in 'Works of •> writers Malcolm Canmore's Court ; Bishops and Prelates contempo- x raneous enthroned and installed in the Sanctuaries where ^ ^- Malcolm and his descendants knelt, Writers, ad- JjJ!^"1- dressing their compositions to Malcolm's children, furnish us with the main evidences concerning the era in which the Scottish Monarchy began to acquire consistency and form; when her Sove reigns first assumed their position in the Imperial Commonwealth of Western Christendom. 296 THE conqueror's SONS. 1067, 1107 The facts relating to the earlier periods are c^T^ deduced from national Chronicles, attested, like the Scripture Histories, by the genealogies they commemorate or include : brief, uncouth, Celtic, bearing in their barbarous and quaint phrase ology or archaic dialect the stamp of authen ticity; — the annals of the Monasteries; — The Poems chanted by the Bard before the Scottish King. — Proceeding downwards, the writers ap pertaining to a more cultivated and familiar class, whose very diversities confirm their general veracity. charters Where Chroniclers fail, we possess documents, and Re- > f > cords. m some respects more authentic than any nar rative which Monk or Canon can afford — Deeds and Charters whereunto the Scottish Kings and the Scottish Nobility and Baronage have set their seals, the muniments by which they hold or grant their regalities and honours and lands. — Jnd usages. Traditions, of which the general impress is so true as to compensate for the poetical form assumed by the myth, and correct the fable's imagery. — Lastly, Customs, usages, and practices, vigorous, and subsisting until our own generation, and not to be entirely obliterated until the last starving Highlander shall have found a transatlantic re fuge, or a transatlantic grave. ofthe"06 § 3. England became fully and finally incor- conquTst porated into one realm under her new Dynasty. K One King, one Kingdom, one Church, one Law. ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 297 Scotland, sometimes called the sister, but more 1057,1107 truly the daughter kingdom, was created by and through the recoil of the Norman invasion. Anglo-Saxon England, expanding into Anglo- Norman England, preserved her identity. The Anglo-Saxon language, laws, institutions, main tain as they grow, develop, and expand, their undeviating succession; but in Scotland, the neighbouring realm's catastrophe displaced and dislocated every primitive stratum. Yet not merely by one explosion. The new formation resulted from continued and steady English influ ence, penetrating, dispersive, metamorphic, which, in process of time, produced its full effect, changing and altering the whole frame of so ciety. Can any realm be found offering such para- Phamome- doxes as Scotland ? results apparently so con- t'osh Ms- tradictory to their causes : all the effects of con quest, without a Conqueror. Caledonia, unsub dued by foreign enemies, yet vanquished by foreign influence. Scotland, her speech more Anglo- Saxon than English England. Scotland, more feudal in tenure than feudal Normandy. Scot land, peopled by the most mixed multitude, yet in the hour of peril, united by the strongest national feeling. Scotland, the dependent of the Anglo-Norman Crown, and nevertheless protect ing the Anglo-Saxon line, and transmitting that line to England. Scotland so generous and 298 THE CONQUERORS SONS. 1057, 1107 affectionate to all, except to Scotia's sons. Scot- ^^A~ ' land, so justly proud of her aristocracy, but the^rinci. claiming her proudest ancestry from the stranger. EfScot-g6S Whence come Scotland's noblest names — Bruce and Balliol, Comyn and Gordon, Douglas and Campbell, Sinclair and Sutherland, Colville and Umphraville, Soulis and Somerville, Lindesay and Morville, Morley and Fraser, Beaton and Seaton, Hay and Barclay, Keith and Oliphant, Ker and Huntley, the patriot Wallace a d the royal Stuart — whose legends give poetry to Scot land's streams, and dignity to Scotland's towers, whose deeds deck her annals, whose cry re sounded in the battle, whose banners led on to victory ? — are we not compelled to deduce their lineages from a British, a French, a Flemish, a Norsk, a Saxon, or an English forefather ? from England, or from the invaders, colonists, or occu pants of England ? eTrii § 4. When the Baronage and Freeholders ^deda- assembled in the Abbey of Aberbrothic, asserting brothic. tae righ*s of Scotland, which they beheved to have descended through one hundred and thir teen Kings of the true and ancient line, " nullo alienigena interveniente," we fail in distinguish ing more than one upon the Parliamentary Roll who could disclaim that alien blood. The English man was reprobated as the most implacable foe, the alien of the aliens; yet, in the Scotland of the Bruce and the Stuart, a large proportion ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 299 amongst the nobility, and the largest amongst the 1057, 1107 nation, must confess their Anglo-Saxon race. Blind Harry, like blind Homer, is an integral element in Scottish history. " Our Ancestors, of whom we should oft read, And hold in mind their noble, worthy deed, We let o'erslide, through very slothfulness, And cast us ever to other business. To honour enemies is set our whole intent, Which hath been seen into these times bywent. Our old enemies coming of Saxon blood, That never yet to Scotland would do good." And yet none were of more truly Saxon blood than the Minstrel himself, and those whose enthu siasm he raised by his rugged rhymes. That very Abbey of Aberbrothic was founded by a Scottish King, in Becket's honour — Saint An drew, Columba, Kentigern, Ninian, names asso ciated with the earliest ages of the Scoto-Irish Church, hallowed by the veneration of the Scoto- Irish tribes, all neglected for Saint Thomas of Canterbury, the tutelary patron of England. Thoroughly English, thoroughly impressed by ^f^ the English stamp, do we behold the Scottish ^J^! government, manners, laws. In proportion as ^A Eng" the Scottish nation vindicated their national independence, they surrendered the distinctive tokens of nationality. Opposing England's co ercive dominion, they obeyed the English mind. Church and State became assimilated to the in stitutions of their foes and rivals. England, their 300 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1057, 1107 normal model of instruction, the whole kingdom assumed an English character. The earliest mu niment of English common-law jurisprudence they adopted as their own. To justify this adop tion, they gladly accepted a fiction as a truth, The^Regi- and promulgated a mutilated and interpolated inter^oiat- C0Py °^ *he ^rea^se compiled by the Justiciar tiiated mu" 0I" Henry Plantagenet, as the code prescribed by Gianviiie. ^e Scottish legislator. A Scotsman ignorant of its origin, would read in Magna Charta a collection of Scottish laws. The most peculiar organization of the English Parliament, the re presentation of the Commons, became the object of Scottish imitation. — The English Statutes were copied as precedents. The Coronation Oath ad ministered to the Scottish Monarch in Anglo- Norman French. The very royal Burghs of Scotland speak in their Custumals as though they were Colonies from Winchester, the ancient capital ofthe Anglo-Saxon Kings. Erroneous r 5 The relation which the history of Scot- opinions J * themutuai land bears to the history of England is very English9 °f imperfectly appreciated. Both parties are in tish ms- fault. A mistaken nationality diverts our atten tion from the lessons afforded by the history of Scotland. Englishmen and Scotsmen seem to have no common ground, excepting on de- bateable land. We are accustomed to consider the ancient kingdoms of the Rose and the Thistle as connected only by their rivalries. ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 301 We encounter each other as enemies at Ban- 1057,1107 nock burn or Flodden Field, and then adjourn the battle to the Library. When political claims were grounded upon historical inductions, a good and sufficient reason subsisted for stout argu ments between the litigant parties ; but each generation is exonerated from the feuds of their ancestors, though liable for their transgressions. Our annals offer much reason for thankfulness, far more for sorrow, nothing for triumph. It is not worth while to plead for Edward or for the Bruce ; we cannot help them : we gain no thing by asserting England's supremacy, or as persing Scotland's Liberator. And at all events, when such questions arise, they can never be discussed profitably, except with temper and tranquillity. In our stereotyped catalogue of mediaeval absurdities, the climax is found in the decision of legal questions by the Duello, or Battle-trial, a challenge to the Judge for the purpose of reversing his decree. We have been as hardly dealt with : it is next best to a chal lenge, if your critic tells you, that, in comment ing upon an old chronicle or on a record, you have attacked a whole nation with truculent hostility. i 6. Furthermore, the facts included in Preroga- J " tives claim - our current histories, are classed mainly accord- ed f°r the " Anglo- ing to an artificial system. Now it is univer- ®ixon sally acknowledged that artificial systems are the 302 the conqueror's SONS. 1057, 1107 easiest, and the most intelligible to the begin- " ner; but being essentially superficial and exter nal, they never carry that beginner beyond the beginning of the Science. Some one said, that, to become a good Botanist upon the Linnsean system, you need only be able to count up to twenty. You learn nothing concerning the na ture and quality of the objects classified. The artificial system of History consists in its chrono logical deduction according to the political divi sion of States, each taken apart, by which means, whatever advantage may be gained in clearness, conciseness, and simplicity, there is an equal dis advantage resulting from an arrangement which carries matters, nearly and intimately connected, far away from each other. Therefore in the moral history of man, the natural system ap proaches nearest to verity — the classification ac cording to relationships and characteristics. His torical inquiry ought to be considered as com posed of interpenetrating spheres, so that there are points in each sphere belonging to many others. connexion The History of mediaeval Scotland possesses between ^ x ofatedSia?-y a far wider application, than merely to the sphere lan^and of which mediaeval England is the centre. It is M6tfryn6fal really and truly the most important portion of saxot"810" the History of the living "Anglo-Saxon" race. ticauTarfyin Wherever dispersed, it is in Scotland that the "Anglo-Saxons," or those who call themselves ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 303 so, will find the origin ofthe "Anglo-Saxon" doc- 1057,1107 trine — "that a civilized people, inhabiting any " country, has a right to dispossess barbarians of " their land, if residing on it, or in their neigh- " bourhood ; because such people do no good to " themselves or to others." — Such is the new Anglo-Saxon version of the Angelic Message — on earth peace, good-will towards men — all nations and people, races and tribes, who are incapable of receiving the lessons of Anglo-Saxon civiliza tion, are to be extinguished before its march : to melt before its blaze. § 7. There are peculiar eras when abstract ^"4*1?" speculations become embodied into realities. An races' hundred thousand men could not have done so much for the Whigs as John Locke. The Social Compact changed the political aspect of Europe : the Balance of Power had its day, in frustrating the ambition of Louis le Grand. Statesmen adopt doctrines as convenient symbols : and, seized at the right time, these doctrines become preroga tive powers. The antagonism of races has of late years entered largely into political disquisitions. It is recognized in the Cabinet of the Tuileries, and lies upon the table of the House of Commons. Promulgated as a new truth, the doctrine is no thing more than the oldest of all historical facts ; the first crime which stained the earth after the Fall, is the type of the antagonisms which have ever since subsisted amongst the children of 304 THE conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 Adam : the bitterest portion of our punishment, to ' " ' continue, until the bow is broken, and the spear snapped asunder. But it is a truth which has been brought forward under a new aspect, a truth which has received perverted applications, and rendered subservient to man's bad passions, an incentive to guilt, and not guilt's terror. There is a great peril attending the position of a Reasoner who feels that he has possessed himself with a truth, hitherto neglected or concealed. He holds a mighty power, and all power is a tempta tion to abuse. When once converted into a theory, the very working out of a principle, deduced from incontrovertible facts, often becomes a source of deception. The philosopher, the politician, or the historian, will drive his truth over much: he will persuade himself that it is an alcahest, by which all difficulties are to be solved. He political will deceive himself by considering his theory as application . . of the Doc- universal, and discern its proofs equally in the trine of the r ^ J Antagon- most minute or doubtful incidents, and in the ism of Races. greatest results; whilst the Statesman renders it the excuse for reducing the dynamics of govern ment to the two forces of oppression, and resist ance ; oppression enhanced by occasionally assum ing the bland aspect of civilization. A great theoretical error, conducing to prac tical consequences, has been associated with the political doctrine of antagonism: it is the per manent inheritance of the moral and intellectual ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 305 character or endowments of races ; a principle i°57> 1107 which, however correct to a considerable extent, is nevertheless frequently disturbed, by secon dary causes, some apparent and potent, others which cannot be appreciated or discerned. Phy sical relations and circumstances exercise an unquestionable influence, — formerly perhaps too much exaggerated, now too much neglected, — social and moral energies, evidently more. Never theless, the anomalies are frequent and startling; and none more striking than those afforded by the Celtic tribes. In the greater part of Gaul, we find them abandoning religion, customs, laws, above all, language, by a voluntary assimilation with the conquerors ; yet, in the Armoricon Pro vinces, and in the British islands, adhering with unshaken heroic fortitude to the traditions of their forefathers. Sometimes peculiar traits of character will withstand foreign commixture, and continue unaltered amidst all the mutations of religion and government : the Lutetians of Julian are the Parisians of the present day. Old writers attribute these unaccountabilities to planetary or astral influence. In other words, they could give no reason, nor can we>. We may fill volumes with disquisitions, and consume our lives philosophizing; but in everything re lating to human society or human destiny, there will always be abnormal deviations from ascer tained laws, inexplicable by human science, a VOL. III. x 306 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 residual phenomenon, which our calculations can not reach, the workings of a special Providence. With respect to the term "Anglo-Saxon," in its modern political application, it is ethnographi- cally incorrect, though morally true ; and this leads us to fix our attention upon the fact, that the insatiable aggressive spirit of "Anglo- Saxonism" first became distinctly disclosed amongst the Anglo-Norman settlers, in the territories composing the Kingdom of Scotland. In the course of these enquiries, we shall therefore consider all who acted under the de vouring tendencies which the Anglo-Norman dynasty elicited, as designated by that same term of "Anglo-Saxon." All differences and distinc tions of race merge in that general character, best exemplified by the People and States who glory loudest in claiming it — the Anglo-Saxon republics of the New World. $ 8. Such are the mutations and develope- ments constituting the internal life of Scotland, and rendering her history so important; not merely relating to one small kingdom, but form- Popuiar ing a chapter in the annals of mankind. In errors '-' x bC°the0I16d or^er' however, to attain a full perception of the applfcT- process by which they were effected, it is needful, tionrf the at the very onget of Qur enqUirieSj to dispel the delusion cast by the modern denomination of Scotland upon the modern mind; so inveterate, that scarcely can even the most cautious, accu- ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 307 rate, or the best informed student protect him- 1057, 1107 self against the error. The most accessible and " popular sources perpetuate the misapprehension, concealing the oecumenical interest belonging to Scotland's vicissitudes and fortunes. Begin with the Tales of a Grandfather. The volume opens in its first chapter by describ ing the Scotland of Macbeth and Banquo as a solid country, separated from England by Sol- way and Tweed; a definition which, so long as it retains any hold upon the memory, will ever denaturalize the incidents related with such ex quisite skill. In the work intended to instruct the reader of more advanced age, the truth is obscured amidst details of Picts and Caledonians. Lastly, the classical history of Scotland, which supersedes every previous investigation, omits the geography of the ancient realm altoge ther. We must, therefore, reiterate the substance Recapitulation of of a former lesson. Take the map before you; the.terri- r J ' tones and perambulate the regions included in Modern comprising Scotland, following the rivers, ascending the pi„|sCh0t0" mountains, descending into the marches and Monarchy- plains, and again consider the chorography of the realm. — Sutherland and Caithness in the North, are Norwegian. Malcolm's dominions are composed of the following territories; — English Lothian, from the Island-Shire of St. Cuthbert x 2 308 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 to the water of Forth, divided from the southern v parts of Strath Clyde by hill and fell, and by the waste, which, commencing on the border of Hexham-Shire, had either remained uncultivated, or relapsed into primeval solitude. — Strath Clyde and Galloway, from the Lome to and beyond the valley of Clyde, until the Mounth, the Hills of ancient Drumalbane ; — Argyle, from the same mountains, but winding round to Inverness. — Moray, Highland and Lowland, bounded by the water of Spey; — and the residue, the tract between Forth and Spey, being the territory to which the name of Scotia, originally belonging to Ireland, can alone be assigned. — Ireland was the original Scotland. languages Nor is it less important that we should advert scoto6- to the languages spoken by the families amongst realms. whom these lands of the Gentile isles were divid- British,knd ed : — the Lothians, where the English had oblit- wsh. erated the dialects of the preceding occupants ; — Strath Clyde, retaining the ancient British tongue; — Lastly, the Irish, or Erse, now somewhat affect edly called Gaelic, a term of recent adoption, in all the other portions of the kingdom, to which the comprehensive term of Albanach was ap plied. Albanach! was the slogan when the Irish Gael rushed against the Sassenach foe. And henceforward the social history of the Scottish Kingdom exhibits the gradual exten sion of the name of Scotland, to the whole of ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 309 the dominions previously ruled by the Scoto- 1057,1107 Pictish monarchs : and their slow and imperfect ~ consolidation into one realm, producing succes sively the subjugation, the expulsion, and the approaching extinction, of the Irish Gael. fi 9. Foreign conquest is a great evil ; but the Malcolm J o j. o Canmore calamity is inferior to the miseries resulting from be.sins his * ° reign a domestic conquest, a domestic tyranny. Farjj?*™J"" more susceptible of alleviation is the real stranger's harshness, than the incurable antipathy of a legitimate Sovereign, forced and fixed upon his subjects by foreign bayonets or foreign spears. In the first case it may be the interest, nay, the inclination ofthe Ruler to conciliate those over whom he possesses not any right, except the right of the strongest ; whereas in the latter, the Sovereign is kept at variance with his own. You are always far more merciful towards an acknowledged enemy, than towards those whom you brand as rebels. The strongest chemical combination results from the union of elements, when they form the compound in their nascent state. Traditions of government are more stringent than laws. The hatred smoulders intensely though the *flames blaze less fiercely; and the inward grudge rankles after the enactment is repealed. The "Penal Laws" are no longer upon the Statute Book, but the dominant caste execute them in spirit, nor 310 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 can they be erased from that Book which will be opened at the Last Day. Scotland arose in enmity. Upon the first foundation of the Kingdom, the Sovereign be came, by reason of his dignity, not the protector, but the concealed or open foe of the Crown's primitive subjects. This was the unhappy con dition in which Malcolm Canmore was placed from the beginning of his reign. Shakspeare, so long as the world lasts, will prevent our sympathizing with Macbeth ; but we should recol lect that Macbeth had at least as good a legal title to the throne as gracious Duncan, the son of the Abbot of Dunkeld. Had he succeeded, Macbeth, generous and free-spirited, would have been the King of the Gael. King Malcolm Canmore derived his ancestry from the most unmixed of the Celts, the Dal- riadic stem; but the babe Malcolm had nestled in the warm nursing bosom of an English mother: English was the first language which sounded in Malcolm's ear. Whether considered as an - historical fact or a moral lesson, the mother's in fluence upon the character of a child, so clearly ^^ indicated in the history of the Kings of Judah Maicofm and Israe1' is equally exemplified in Scotland. No descend- descendant of Malcolm ever courted a daughter Tngio-°f of the North. In each succeeding generation, B. each Scottish Prince, each Scottish King, sought ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 311 a consort in the lineages and kindred of Eng- 1057, 1107 land's rulers ; and the effect of each mother's fo- "~~ '~ reign nationality, renewed and continued through all the successors of Malcolm Canmore who pos sessed the royal authority, is one of the most im portant circumstances in Anglo-Scottish history. Malcolm's birth may in one sense be said to have rendered him almost an Englishman. His Malcolm's education confirmed his English character. De- education. prived of his father's protection in early youth, the boy found another parent in his mother's kinsman, Northumbrian Siward. During fifteen years Malcolm grew up into manhood under the Confessor's benign protection, his benefactor and his Suzerain, standing before the Confessor's throne, consorting with the Confessor's Clerks, riding with the Confessor's Knights, sitting at the Confessor's table. Here he imbibed the cultivation of the English Court, and, like other Englishmen, adopted the Romance of Normandy, the fashionable dialect. Grammar-Latin he does not seem to have acquired ; but the English and the French, for so we must call it by anticipation, he spoke as fluently as the Erse or Gaelic, and was, therefore, to that extent denationalized. Words are men's masters. Malcolm was wise, merciful, and brave, but in truth a foreigner, brought in by foreign power. The Duan Alba nach greeted him as " Maolcoluim Mac Donn- chaidh," but at that very moment, the Irish 312 the conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 Gael shunned their Sovereign as a Sassenach v King. Kingdom of $ ^" Analyzed, all human government gra- createdby States into practical despotism. We do not mmaneeof employ the term odiously, because the odious- OTCTth" ness is incidental, and results from abuse ; but Gaelic ter- •ii,.,i/».i o ntory. simply descriptively, for the purpose of ex pressing the truth, that all authority terminates in placing one portion of the Community be neath the absolute disposal of another or others, one or many. Not but that there may be efficient means of mitigating the exercise of this supreme Autocracy, — la Russie est une monarchie absolue, temperee par les assassinats; — but the Autocrat is absolute notwithstanding. Vary the form of Government as much as you choose: veil its character as much as you can : take as many as you please into partnership, still the fact remains unaltered. In the most complete, universal-suf frage democracy, the majority, be it only of one, is constitutionally the master of the minority's lives and fortunes. Which individual of the ag gregate it is, you cannot tell, but there is the one amongst them who has annihilated the mi nority, the last feather breaking the horse's back, the grain of dust turning the scale. A more common despotism is exercised by race over race: none so galling. — Or by class over class; the "Monarchy ofthe middle classes," is a truth not destroyed by the inaccuracy of the ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 313 expression. — Lastly, by a Metropolis, or one ter- 1057,1107 ritorial portion or member ruling over the rest. It rarely happens that these Autocracies subsist simply. They are usually combined, occasioning much perplexity in government. In the British Empire, which includes them all, England is the Metropolis. After the union of the Crowns, Eng land was the Metropolis of Scotland. Lothian, a dismemberment of England, ope rated upon Scotia nearly in the same manner as England subsequently affected Scotland: the more powerful, more vigorous portion bound to the weak, and drawing away the elements of influence and power : the new piece sewn to the old garment, making the rent worse ; tearing away the King from his people, the father from his children. And this metropolitan supremacy acted concurrently with the prepotence of immi grating races : the counterpart of Anglo-Saxon ascendancy in Ireland. Truest Scots by lineage, truest Scots in feel- Reasons -1 i i , • inducing ing, Malcolm s Irish predecessors cherished their Maicoim to 0 . r establish own people, their own land. Lothian was more his resi- x x dence at opulent and tempting than the Straths and wilds J?™fer' of Albanach ; the Maiden's Castle, Dunediri, the rock rising amidst forest and morass, a strong and defensible fortress. But they loved the soil where their forefathers settled : there they had a greater strength, loftier rocks, thicker forests, deeper waters, a speech which cheered them, a 314 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1057, 1107 kindred to whom they clung. Not so, anglicized ~' Malcolm, husband of the English Atheliza, fair and holy Margaret. All in Scotia was strange, almost unpleasing to him : his tastes, manners, intellect, Avere adverse. The Scots he could not leave unwatched ; therefore, without entirely quitting their borders, he descended to the very margin of the Forth, the Scottish water. Hence, the Peel of Dumferline became the Royal Tower : here he was placed close to the English of Lo thian, whom he affected, the Northumbrians, who recollected in him not the son of the Scot tish Duncan, but the kinsman of their ancient Earls ; here also he was separated from the aggrieved Celts, murmuring their displeasure. P°nald- A very forcible expression of feeling is discovered coims in the conduct of Donaldbane. Malcolm's brother brother,fathe1"163 kept aloof from that brother's dominions, even Sands" as he had done when the dreaded Macbeth had filled the throne. He continued to live untroubled under Norwegian supremacy in the Western isles, saved from the spectacle, to him so odious, of his brother's alienation from their blood and race. It is also singularly characteristic of Malcolm's reign, that the native Chieftains of the Irish Gael, the Maormors, are entirely obscured, until they re-appear as the enemies of his son. ofhthePgo- $ H- There Avas indeed great reason for dis- vernment comfort and anxiety. Domestic happiness caused and1Mar1- national tribulation, national sorrow. As Malcolm ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 315 grew older, his affection for Margaret increased ; 1057, 1107 and in proportion to the increase of that affec- " ' garet, in- tion, did they estrange themselves more and more imicaito from their subjects. Malcolm's Court became an race- Anglo-Saxon colony, hostile to the feelings, the opinions, the laws, the faith, the property, the national existence of the Gael. Malcolm was generous and mild ; Margaret kind, sincere, affec tionate, pious, truly seeking to perform her duty, and to assist in promoting the welfare of the people over whom she ruled; and yet those endeavours have produced encreasing misery : generation after generation steeped in anguish, the most powerful impulse given to those oppres sions which seem to place us in the regions of eternal woe. " Quivi sospiri, pianti, ed alti guai Risonavan per 1'aer senza stelle, Perch'io al comminciar' ne lagrimai. Diverse lingue, orribili favelle Parole di dolore, accenti d'ira, Voci alte e fioche, e suon di man con elle." fi 12. The successes ofthe wicked form, compa- Providential #J x frustration ratively, a small trial to Faith. We are taught to f, the , * ° labours of expect their prosperity ; but it is otherwise with the sood- the constant frustration of the holiest travails and aspirations of the good. From the zealous humanity of Las Casas arose the incalculable sufferings sustained by the African race; and the endeavours made to abolish Transatlantic slavery, have renewed and multiplied its hor- 316 THE conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 rors. Some compensation has been vouchsafed. In the Empires of Montezuma and Atahualpa, the Aztec and the Quichua have been preserved through the efforts of the Andalusian Priest, to witness, perhaps rejoice over, the humilia tion and calamity of their conquerors. The British Negro may bless the memory of Wil berforce for the comfort and liberty he enjoys. Nevertheless, so great in these and all similar instances have been the mischiefs resulting from the best intentions, when applied to the policy of this visible world, that it seems almost as if it were our vocation to sit still, waiting the de- velopement of the Divine decrees, in the quiet and confident belief, that His faithfulness will be established and His judgments executed, with out any human exertion. Or, if this should be thought a dereliction of our duty, and a neglect of those talents which have been bestowed upon us, it may at least teach us to be content if the result of any human effort has not been harm. The more compre hensive any scheme to be carried out by human agency, the greater the chance of detriment from our utter inability of contemplating human affairs as a unity, or calculating the adverse or pesti ferous elements which the process of human in tervention may disengage. The ordinary course of human affairs would alone suggest that solution. But could Ave vieAv our actions as Angels view ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 317 them, Avould it not be found that the denial of 1057, 1107 a blessing to the warfare of the righteous, has " oft been the reproof needful for the correction of that infirmity which makes us lean upon the broken reed, seeking help from the enemies of Him, in whose cause we attempt to labour ? The very follies, errors, and weaknesses of those who are most truly His servants, are amongst the means which He has chosen, to teach that no flesh shall glory* in His presence. fi 13. Margaret's influence was founded upon Margaret's 3 ° x piety and love and piety. Her Husband's counsellor, min- charity. ister, friend : all that Margaret disliked, Malcolm disliked; and all that Margaret loved, he loved. He would often snatch the Gospel-Book from his wife's dear hand, and kiss it out of love for her. Margaret's life exhibited a consistent unvaried course of duty — methodical, systematic, never desisting from exertion and self-sacrifice. Early in the morning nine orphan infants were brought to the Queen : their food was prepared under her special care, and the attending to these little ones afforded the chief recreation of her toilsome day. Three hundred poor, collected from the adjoining districts, were introduced into the Banquet-hall, the meat and drink devoutly carried round to each by Malcolm and by Margaret. The household priesthood, the only attendants present ; for the doors were closed, not churlishly, but lest the mul titude might admire and praise the royal charity. 318 THE conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 Twenty-four alms-folk received their entire support from Margaret's bounty, and followed the Court whilst journeying through the realm. When not employed in the cares of government, the conduct of her household, and the education of her children, her time was given to the study of the Holy Scriptures. Margaret read the Latin language as easily as her mother-tongue. She delighted particularly in the Psalter, considered by the mediaeval Church as an epitome of the Old Testament and the New, reading fifty Psalms each day. Her abundant and abounding charity rendered her poorer than the poor. Privations, penances, hardships, the want of needful food, and still more of needful rest, enfeebled her con stitution. Prayer marked each vigil of the night, and interrupted her scanty slumbers. kverfret9 M^' But although Margaret truly lived as wenco^'- one always preparing to quit the world, her onu^my station drew her downwards. Hard conflicts mercCeT" had Margaret to sustain between her natural tastes, and the grace by which they were par tially subdued. Daughter of a German mother, her earliest infancy accustomed to the splendour of an Imperial Court, and afterwards familiar ized with the opulence and luxury of Eng land, Margaret could not help prizing the world's dignified elegance. In fleeing from England, the Atheliza and her guardians had brought with them many of the treasures of art which adorned ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 319 the Palace of Westminster. The goldsmith's 1057,1107 work of Germany, the Opus Teutonicum so esteemed, and the skilful embroideries of England, were still the delights of her eye, if not of her heart. Mary's disgust at the barbarity of Edinburgh, the blooming widow weeping for the courtly splendour of France, must have been anticipated by Margaret's feelings when she landed on the Scottish shore. Few of those opinions, institutions, inventions, and delicacies, constituting the connecting links between Civility and Civilization had been com municated to the Scottish realms. The Irish Gael ?om«ri.?simplicity were still subsisting in a primitive and simple q^ Irish state of society, not widely differing from the Homeric age, excepting as affected by climate, local peculiarities, and Christianity. The use of money was scarcely known. Pecuniary trans actions were really reckoned by heads of cattle. No one city or town, in the modern sense, was there in Malcolm's dominions : no arts, no arti- zans, no machinery, except the plough and the harrow, the file and the forge, the quern and the distaff. Margaret sought to enrich the country, and to allure her subjects to those refinements re sulting from Roman civilization, which had been preserved amongst the other nations dwel ling within the boundaries of the Empire. Com merce, to some extent, had been carried on by 320 the conqueror's sons. io57, 1107 the Northmen, who conjoined the spirit of mer cantile genius with the spirit of war. This germ of national wealth was fostered by Mar garet's industrial patronage. Foreign dealers resorted to the Scottish ports ; and the material products ofthe country, bartered and exchanged, enabled Margaret to imitate the style of Southern splendour realms. Rich stuffs and garments, brilliant, va- of the . Scottish ried, and gay, were brought over in plenty, and the Queen, adopting these fashions for herself, her family, and household, induced or compelled — for the wishes of a Sovereign are compulsion — her subjects to assume this foreign attire. She trained up a School of embroiderers amongst the damsels of her Court, who worked under her direction, and in her presence, sub jected to her strict, yet cheerful discipline. The Si art16"" Purest su^ they wrought with threads of gold, bDMa™|ed intermixed with the pearls and gems, for such ret- they were reckoned, furnished by Scottish streams and Scottish hills. Stoles and chasubles, altar- cloths and copes, shrines and ornaments for the House of God, constituted a main object of these labours ; and the " Black Rood," the most venerated relic which Scotland owned, that Holy Rood which imparted its name to the fated Palace, was decked with peculiar care. Never theless, the World had an ample share of Margaret's favour. She appointed that Malcolm should ride about in great state and pomp; no ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 321 Scottish King had known the like before. Dum- 1057, 1107 ferline was as nobly and gaily decked, as the means of Scotia could furnish. Gold and silver vessels and dishes shone on the royal table ; and Queen Margaret justified all this to herself, by arguing that it was not done out of ostenta tion, but as part of her duty to keep up the needful state and dignity of royalty. These innovations affronted, nay, terrified the Discontent ' *i ' excited by Irish Gael ; their own pride, no less than their ^f^ own instinctive acuteness, told them how much ^"olei. the strength of a nation depends upon small things. It is impossible to confute the arguments advocating the advantages arising from the intro duction of new modes of thought, new customs, and new usages — improvement, progress, civil ization — but there is a moral sense, testifying against such innovations, which annihilates argu ment. If nationality be valued, as a treasure above all earthly treasure, be certain, fully cer tain, you must accept the hard dogma that there are no means of protecting the national stamina, except by interposing the usages of our fore fathers as an irremoveable obstacle to all muta tion. But developement is not mutation : the expansion resulting from an internal plastic energy does not introduce anything new, it is the most powerful defence against innovation. Next to the highest of all principles, the holiest are those reverential doctrines, whereby VOL. III. Y 322 THE conqueror's SONS. 1057, 1107 the living are placed beneath the authority of the " ' departed, tutelary protectors, honoured though not idolized, beyond temptation, beyond muta bility. For the life of nations is not as the life of an individual. The body can only live by food, by assimilation of new matter, by change ; and corporeal change is a constant advance to wards death. Whereas the real life of nations is spiritual, self-existent, self-sustained. The very progress of a nation ultimately kills its primitive life and identity. The luxuries introduced by Margaret were as much against the taste of the Gael, as they were conformable to hers ; nor could her inconsistency in this respect, do otherwise than enfeeble the influence of her piety. Had any pallid Culdee, opening the Holy Scriptures, enquired of Mar garet how far her encouragement of artificial wants was consistent with the precept which tells us to be content with food and raiment, what answer would the Queen have returned? Margaret's fi 15. Margaret, an alien amongst the people severance s ° » r r s^oTtish6 wno nac* adopted her, repelled even more by church, manners, customs, mind, than by blood, was equally severed from the Scottish Church. She found no comfort in it. The Ministers, the ser vices were uncongenial to her, and the real diversities and causes of disunion were exag- Angio- gerated by temper and feeling. So inveterate pathy. has been the antipathy nourished bythe "Anglo- ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 323 Saxon" against the Celt, that Catholicity, else- 1057,1107 where so influential in beating down the wall of separation between people and people, failed to produce a kindly bond. — Protestantism enhanced the contemptuous aversion. — Civilization imparts her cool, reasoning, calculating mercilessness, the last and most fell exacerbation. A similar repulsion existed between the Teuton and the Sclavonian. An interesting but an afflicting parallel (for we are the worse) might be drawn between the conduct pursued by the Teutons towards the Slavo-Vendic tribes, and the austere contempt which, even in the most mitigated instances, the Celts of the British islands have experienced from the Anglo-Saxon. The subject would also require to be treated as a special section of Ecclesiastical History. Had all the members of the Catholic body re ceived a proportionate developement, the Celtic and Slavonian Churches would have constituted two of the great Nations of Christendom. We are fain to adopt the constitutional phraseology employed by the Council of Constance. For it was a great thought, and a wise, in that su preme Federal Assembly of the Christian com monwealth, to enjoin the mode of voting by Nations, which preserved both ethnic individu ality and Catholic union. The Celt, however, would have stood furthest away from the general ethos of the West. Amongst all the Y2 324 THE conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 sons of Japhet, none so far apart from his im- ' " ' mediate brethren : in no wise inferior, but pos sessing a diverse idiosyncracy. Marked Pe- §16. Works of art are adequate tokens of culiarities . ofthe the minds which produced them. You cannot Catholic x church. i00k at the Cross of Aberlemno, sculptured upon the Druidical Stone, the Heathen monu ment converted, in the literal sense, to Chris tianity, the " Clachan," with its strangely con torted knots, protuberant bosses, uncouth orna mentation, hieroglyphical angels, without being convinced that the Priest who preached at its foot, was, however united in doctrine with the rest of Latin Christendom, entirely disassociated from the Western Church by habits, usages, and feelings ; — the Eastern Churches holding com munion with the Church of Rome, the Maro- nites and Armenians, are nearly in the same predicament. But in the same way, let it be spoken with reverence, that the natural cha racter of the Apostles affected their ministra tions, so did the same indelible affections act upon their successors; and the religion incul cated by Patrick, Ninian, Aidan, and Columba, received some differences in outward tinge and colouring from the teaching of Paulinus and Augustine. supremacy Canterbury and York, the rival Primates, scottuh claimed, contested, and ultimately lost, the Churches ¦ . . . "* claimed by ecclesiastical supremacy of the dominions ruled ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 325 by the Scottish Kings. Lindisfairne, now repre- 1057> 1107 sented by Durham, possessed an unquestionable Canterbury * x ^ as weU as jurisdiction as far as the Firth of Forth. Melrose ^ Tork- and Jedburgh were within its boundaries; St. Cuthbert himself was born on fair Tweed side. Moreover there existed a spiritual consanguinity between the ancient inhabitants of Albanach and this See. Aidan was the first Missionary in Northumbria. King Oswald had earnestly soli cited the aid of the Scoto-Pictish Church for the diffusion of Christianity amongst his own people. This created a common feeling between the Scoto- Peculiar connexion Pictish Kings and the Bishops of Lindisfairne. ™th Lin- ° x disfairne or The voluntary submission of the old Pictish Durhara- King Nechtan to the Abbot of Jarrow, leads to the supposition that the authority of the Chair was not confined to the afore-mentioned geo graphical boundary. Lindisfairne, however, and the Northumbrian Church, continued purely English : whatever peculiarities of discipline or liturgy may have been imparted by Aidan and the Irish Missionaries, were entirely obliterated. There is one circumstance attending the ec- Scottish Episcopacy clesiastical history of Scotland, which, duly appre- unsettled, ciated, enables us to abide by some of its appa- ™}. orsan- v 11 ization rent contradictions. They probably arose from |j^°jjj lete the conflict between the Episcopacy of races — Ethno-episcopacy, by which the Bishop has juris diction over the flock, wherever it may be located, — and Episcopacy regulated by territorial 326 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 boundaries, Enchorial-episcopacy, which bestows "" Jurisdiction because of the pasture. Imagine an Ulphilas, bivouacking with his Maeso-Goths in Pannonia; how often would he not collide against the Bishop of Sirmium? — The Celtic hierarchy avoided the English prelates. It is possible that some few Sees had a permanent estabhshment — Kilrule, now St. Andrew's, may be particularized, as well as Whitehern, or Candida Casa in Gal loway : — yet, in other parts, we doubt if there was any definite repartition into Dioceses. The Epis copal Staff was very weak ; we can scarcely make out that there were three Bishops altogether in Scotland during Malcolm Canmore's reign. Parishes did not exist in Scotia proper; and the Crosses, the most remarkable of the country's neglected memorials, are the Stations round which the Missionaries assembled their hearers, and administered the Sacraments under a booth or hut, with thatched roof and wattled waUs, to which the name of Clachan, now applied in Gaelic to all places of worship, Avas transferred. state, con- fi 1 7. The doctrine of the Scottish Clergy dition, and J °" dfStneine was souna> but their discipline departed from the church, general type of the Western Church. Marriage Avas tolerated amongst the Celtic Clergy; this usage, we have full reason to suppose, led to the formation of an hereditary Priesthood. Amongst the Celtic Clergy, like the Greek Papas, the attri bution of sacerdotal functions to a caste, seems ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 327 to have rendered them lax and negligent. There 1057, 1107 was neither need nor stimulus for exertion." Elsewhere, Grammar-Latin lived amongst the hierarchy in their daily intercourse ; but in the Scoto-Pictish territories, the Clergy, ill-instructed in the language constituting the common bond of Western Europe, were unable to converse in it. They could speak no other tongue than Gaelic, and were no less deficient in letters than the Eng lish Clergy when Alfred began his great reform. They had degenerated from the bright and noble example of their mother-country Erin. Concerning the organization of the Scoto- The . . . Culdees. Pictish Church our information is most scanty. No memorials or canons of any ecclesiastical Councils, Synods, or Assemblies, are extant. The Culdee Monasteries were numerous and vene rated, and, without much positive proof, we are inclined to invest them with the stern ascetic character which distinguished the Monks of the Thebaid. Nevertheless some of the Convents or Houses seem to have been treated as secular endowments. Antiquarians have maintained that the Abthanes were lay Abbots. A son of Mal colm's, like Malcolm's grandfather, was Abbot of Dunkeld, and also Earl of Fife ; so that Charles Martel's precedents found favour in Britain. Controversialists have endeavoured to earn for the mysterious Culdee communities the credit of identity with the modern Presbyterians, or to 328 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 repel that identity as a calumny. The existence of such a controversy sufficiently proves the paucity of authentic documents relating to this priesthood, and the obscurity in which they are involved. Peculiar Many strange customs received the sanction usages of " ° tishoer'o- °f the Scoto-Pictish Clergy. Generally speaking, they continued very uncombinable with the other members of the Catholic hierarchy, according to the prevailing system of the West. Festivals and services did not correspond : the soothing charm of Catholicity was partially impaired: they celebrated their mass with " barbaric rites," contrary to the general practice of the Western Church. We interpret this censure as indicating the liturgical employment of the Erse or ver nacular tongue. The Paschal computation had ceased to be the subject of dispute; nevertheless, Lent was shortened, and not observed canon- cathoTic°f ically- Even on Easter-day the Holy Commu- amon^°stial n^on was neglected by the Clergy, and at all dsii ciergy. times and seasons by the laity. Religious dis cipline had become exceedingly slack, nor, as we are told, was moral restraint enforced. The reverence due to the Lord's day was forgotten : every servile work being performed thereon with out distinction, and they seemed to delight in violating the Commandment. Illicit and inces tuous marriages Avere common ; and the fore going neglects and delinquencies are quoted, not ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 329 as a complete enumeration of the depravities 1057,1107 of the Gael, but as a specimen, elucidating their v~ conduct and conversation. Nevertheless, the accusations proceed from an Anglo-Saxon Monk, certainly not inclined to extenuate the errors of those whom he hardly owned to be his brethren : the scarcity of Clergy in a dispersed population may also account for many licenses. However, making every deduction for exaggeration, we cannot doubt that irregu larities and immoralities subsisted. The proper and canonical remedy was obvious: a Council convened under the Metropolitan, or the direction of the Apostolic See. But the Scottish hierarchy practically ignored the authority of either Anglo- Saxon Prelate. They were neglected or forgot ten by the Popes, and their Church had failed to exert the power of corporate or collective legislation. Corrections were therefore inevit able. No Church without a Bishop, is the un questionable, unshaken maxim, the irrefragable, constitutional doctrine of primitive Catholicity. But Episcopacy is nullified when administered contrary to the maxims and doctrines of Catho licity. And the Episcopal Church which does not assemble pursuant to its charter, labours under the imperfections of Presbyterian Church govern ment, without attaining Presbyterian vigour. § 18. Vexed and grieved in spirit, Margaret's Margaret zeal prompted her to irregular courses, calcu- the Re- 330 the conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 lated to weaken the Church, whose errors she foTn^tioir laboured to remove. Unmindful of a clear and Scottish positive precept, she undertook a mission from an in-eguiar which woman is excluded, and sought to be- Ecclesias- . . ticaias- come the instrument of reforming the Scottish sembly. Church. A meeting of the Clergy was convened, contrary to all the rules and principles of eccle siastical authority. It is doubtful whether any Bishops attended; indeed, as before-mentioned, there were very few within the Scottish ter ritories ; but it is certain that there was no proper President, either by virtue of his office, or by Papal delegation. Margaret stood forth as Opponent, Malcolm by her side ; the Scottish Clergy, as Respondents. She exhorted, reasoned, disputed with the Clergy ; they could neither understand her Latin nor her English, therefore Malcolm became his wife's interpreter. Notwithstanding this impediment to free converse, the debate was continued for three days with great vigour and animation. The Clergy might, nay, ought to have warned the Queen that her duty was to keep silence. Priests and Culdees argued stoutly : but Mar garet was familiarly acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, Patristic theology, and the Canons of the Church. After much discussion, the Clergy in this assembly, more than anomalous, singular in the strictest sense of the term — for we have no other example in Catholicity of a female ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 331 presuming to take this forbidden office — agreed 1057,1107 (as it is said) to obey the general usages of the West. Some reformation of manners seems to have been effected, though probably more by the excellent example of the royal family than by any exertion of authority. If there had previously existed a dispathy Maicoim x J i. J andMarga- between Margaret and the National Church, r^™*: ° ' hold their these discussions put them further asunder ; ^™%e Malcolm and Margaret virtually separated them- ^^ selves from the Scottish Hierarchy. They never afterwards consulted with the Scottish Prelacy or Priesthood. One son, as before-mentioned, was Abbot of Dunkeld, but he was also Earl of Fife ; it is therefore probable that, like his great-grandfather, he held the preferment only as a secular dignity. The restoration of the decayed buildings at Iona, — a cross or shrine bestowed upon Kilrule, — a small donation, the lands of Balchristy, made to the Culdees of Loch Leven, whose vicinity to Dumferline may have suggested the bounty, appear, — unless we add a very doubtful grant to Murthelach or Aberdeen, — the only recorded tokens of Malcolm's and Margaret's affection towards the ancient Church of Malcolm's forefathers. This neglect of the Scottish Church is a conclusive proof of an alienated spirit: hardly a lamp fed by the piety of King Malcolm and Queen Margaret: hardly a Priest who could commemorate Mal- 332 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 colm and Margaret amongst the Benefactors of ~~" the Altar, or include them in the bidding prayer. Measures £ 19. Henceforward, Malcolm and Margaret indMar connected themselves as closely as possible with le pufose the English Church. When the Royal Family rising the first passed over to Scotland, it does not ap- churches. pear that they were accompanied by any Eng lish Churchmen, or at least none remained. Bishop Aylwin only continued there for a short season : and, during the discussions with the Scot tish Clergy, we cannot collect that the Queen was cierlishsent assisted Dy any priesthood of her own. Margaret d° Lan-and therefore addressed Archbishop Lanfranc, request- franc. mg jjjm to Decome her Christian Father. By this act, Margaret, so far as her authority ex tended, — and the wife without doubt spoke on behalf of her husband, — acknowledged the Pri macy of Canterbury. In conformity with this solicitation, Lanfranc despatched to her three of his brethren, the senior being the English Gold- wine, or Godwin, as the foundation of a reno vated establishment. His very remarkable letter, only recently disentombed from a public Library, is the earliest document existing concerning the incipient Kingdom of Scotland. We have an ob scure suspicion, that the unfortunate Columban (noticed in our account of Lanfranc's transactions at Canterbury,) opposed the mission. tionoV10" A further reinforcement followed from Dur- cicfgy!1 ham, the mother-church of the Lothians : Turgot ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 333 the Prior — an old dispute with hasty Malcolm 1057,1107 forgotten — became Margaret's domestic Chap- tu^u~ lain ; and, if we may use the modern expres- Durham, sion, her spiritual director. The good man ad- chaplain, ' r ° andher mired his royal patrons, the Queen especially, biographer. entered into their confidence, tells us fully of their thoughts, habits and customs, and can see nothing wrong in those whom he revered and loved. Appointed in a subsequent reign to the See of Kilrule, which by that time had fully acquired its modern denomination of St. An drew's, Turgot preserves to us, in the biography of his Royal Mistress and the Chronicles of his Northumbrian Cathedral, the memorials so sin gularly illustrating this remote and important era. The Culdees constituted the most national portion of the Scoto-Irish Church. They were the keepers of the Scoto-Irish ecclesiastical tra ditions, and their corporate communities main tained the ancient doctrines, customs, and usages. Therefore in opposition to these defenders of Celtic nationality, Malcolm and Margaret founded the Abbey of Dumferline, close to Dumferline palace and tower, into which they introduced the venerable and ruling Order of the Latin Church, the Benedictines. Such was the commence ment of the new ecclesiastical settlement, which, proceeding steadily, supplanted the ancient Hie rarchy. Margaret and Malcolm did not live to complete the organization of Dumferline 334 the conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 Abbey, but the seed was sown. Monastic 1^^~' Colonies, some from France, but more from troluced'in England, spread themselves over the land. " Sa- to the'cTi- rum Use " supplanted the Scoto-Irish Liturgies. The Episcopal Sees became located, and Dioceses assigned according to the prevailing system. Ca- nonically speaking, the succession of the Scottish Prelacy was unbroken, but not so in a national sense. The mere Irish Gael were excluded from ecclesiastical privileges and honours. They were under a perpetual disqualification, because they were Irish. After the reign of Malcolm Canmore, we can scarcely ever discover a Gaelic name in the Kingdom's hierarchy. mencement § 20. All these anti-national influences were saxonSan"d both the cause and the effect of the Anglo-Saxon Norman colonization, which had been steadily advancing zation since Malcolm's restoration to the Scottish Mo- am on gst . the scots, narchy, commencing the displacement and exter mination of those whom we may call the abo rigines. The troops furnished by the Confessor, and whose strength placed Malcolm on the throne, began the blighting Colony. Nevertheless, let it be constantly recollected, that we must use the term of " Anglo-Saxon " with some degree of inaccuracy. Like the co-relative denomination, "Norman," it fluctuates between the nomencla ture of race and policy. Considering how many of the French tongue were employed and protected by the Confessor, there can be little doubt but ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 335 that the Frenchmen composed a portion of Earl 1057, 1107 Siward's army, or followed in the wake. Then came the royal fugitives, the Atheling Angio- and the Atheliza, and Agatha and Christina, J^g*)™^ with their companions. To these were added l™$£f the English Thanes, who, fleeing from the Norman colm- yoke, found an asylum in the Scottish territory. Renowned Gospatric, with his sons Gospatric, Dolphin, and Waltheof, who were established chiefly in the Merse and the Lothian s ; Archill, the great Northumbrian Thane, to whom Mal colm granted large territories in Dumbarton, compensating the spoliations he had sustained from the Conqueror; Merlesweyn, Siward-Barn, Alfwin, all of whom can be discerned as landed men under Malcolm, and whose descendants sub sequently appear high on the roll of Scotland's territorial aristocracy. Tradition also designates Foreign families the families of Lindesay, Vaux, Ramsey, Lovel, supposed Towers, Preston, Sandiland, Wisheart, Soulis, |ettlfd ¦? ¦ ¦ Scotland Wardlaw, Maxwell, Crichton, Giffard, Maule, and^ecrolm Borthwick, as established in the Scottish domi- Cann,ore- nions during Malcolm's reign. Lords required vassals; chieftains, a ten antry: equal encouragement was given to* the immigration of the English villainage. Every English ... Villainage insurrection in Northumbria which unsettled the broughtin as inhabitants, drove them within Malcolm's border: Colonists- the desolations of Yorkshire impelled the swarms of cultivators, who escaped William's conquering 336 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 Sw0rd. Malcolm proceeded upon a settled prin ciple of policy. The forcible abduction ofthe Eng lish whom he carried away as prisoners during his incursions, so that the Scottish villages were filled with them, was only a rude process of colonization : one of the measures he employed for raising up a new race to supplant his Irish Gael. At a subsequent period the Scottish ter ritories also became the spoil of Norman or Anglo-Norman adventurers; who, seizing their domains by right of conquest, compromised their usurpations by owning the Scottish Monarch as their Sovereign. The Legal R 21. The Constitutional transactions ofthe myth of J fcfribution reign are embodied in that ancient myth which °ands6of approaches to legal verity. Our Malcolm, Mal- scotiand. coim Canmore, is the Malcolm whose personality conjoins with ideality, who distributes all the lands of Scotland to his men, and retains nought to himself in property, save the royal dignity and iuii6oM°0t the Moot-hill of Scone,— that same Moot-hill, in scone. itself such a type of the progress of our age, having been levelled by modern cultivation — the great pyramid of Scotland, destroyed by the landscape gardener, to adorn the view from the drawing-room window. And there the Barons granted the wardship and the relief of the heir of each Baron, for the maintenance of the royal dignity. Furthermore, according to the usages of other nations, Mal- ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 337 colm ordained, that henceforward men should i°s7. 1107 take their surnames from their lands; a new custom, never before known amongst the Scots. The custom could not indeed be known amongst the Scots, for it was the blood which gave iden tity to the man, not the soil upon which he trod. Moreover, strange and proud dignities did Mal colm create: Earls and Barons, and Knights with golden spurs, thus obliterating the ancient policy of Albanach. Inaccurate as these traditions are in the is.u.b?tan.- . tial truth of letter, they are true in spirit. They give a con- MythegaJ sistent and comprehensive summary of Malcolm's policy, not as reduced by him into a code or a state document, but exhibiting the tendency of his actions and his mind, a generalization re flected back from the results. Malcolm's reign was a succession of acts and actions which the legal myth comprehends, as it were, in one simultaneous decree. From Malcolm resulted the impulse which transformed the dominions of the Scoto-Pictish Kings into an Anglo-Norman kingdom. The ideal symmetry of a feudal king- The ab- dom has never been so nearly realized as in Scot- ?f Feudai- " ity realized land. When each Norman or Anglo-Saxon celonist inScotIan the Charter and the Seizin, appear scoalnd t0 proceed from the Superior, in the same manner as if the grant had been gratuitous and original. He kneels before the Judges who represent the Sovereign, and receives investi ture by the Staff. — This system was irrecon- cileably hostile to the national existence of the Irish Gael, for their lands were the property of the Clan, held freely and without subjection, or, in the emphatic terms of the earliest age, of God and the Sun. Margaret's § 22. It seems to have been a fatality in- education separably attached to Margaret's influence, that Royai she could do no good, otherwise than in connexion Family. ... ° with mischief to the Gael. Her utmost endea vours Avere anxiously and consistently employed in ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 339 training up her children. They were excellently 1057' lwr well instructed : the girls as good scholars as their mother. Those who might be unable to judge of the children's acquirements, were pleased and edified by their gentleness of demeanour, their mutual love and kindness, their due sub ordination, the younger always giving place to the elder, their filial obedience. They were thoroughly imbued with Margaret's kind and holy spirit, and transmitted the same spirit to their own children. So long as the male lineage of Mal colm Canmore and Margaret subsisted, the Kings and Princes of Scotland were pre-eminent in Christendom for piety, courtesy, courage, gene rosity, the acquirements of the understanding and the graces of the heart — common-place terms ; but whatever is most important can only be expressed with truth in trite phraseology. House hold virtues are best described in household words. And yet, with all this, there was one irreme diable blight imparted to them by their mother. She brought them up to be an English family. She taught them from their earliest youth to despise, fear, and shun the people to whom they belonged, and over whom they were called to rule. The language of the Court and Household The Rcyai 00 Familv was English or Roman French : the manners and Angi6"-sax- 0 onized and customs of the Gael rejected as wild and savage ; |rSomnt|ed and the children encouraged to consider them- Gae1- z 2 340 the conqueror's SONS. 1057,1107 selves as pre-eminently distinguished by their ' Anglo-Saxon descent. Their honour was sought through their mother. And how lively was the recollection of that mother still in England. Ask the Englishman — who represents the right old royal line? You will be answered, if he trusts you, — Why, who but Queen Margaret? — Mar garet, the daughter of Edward, the son of Edmund, the son of Ethelred, the son of Edgar, the son of Edmund, the son of Edward, the son of Alfred, the son of Ethelwolf, the son of Egbert, the son of Alchmund, the son of Offa, the son of Eoppa, the son of Ingils, the son of Ina, the son of Cenred, the son of Ceolwald, the son of Cutha, the son of Cuthwyn, the son of Celin, the son of Cynric, the son of Creoda, the son of Cerdic, and so on to Woden. — In Margaret, and Margaret's children, if there be a rightful heir, (for Edgar the Atheling has resigned his preten sions,) must England seek that rightful heir of the Imperial Crown. Not so in Albanach. When the Gaelic chief tain crossed the ravine encircling Dumferline tower, he found himself in a foreign land : strange customs, strange manners, strange priests, strange courtiers, a strange Queen, an estranged King : worst of all, that Queen and King seeking to per petuate their estrangement through their pos terity. ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 341 Edward, Margaret's first-born, renews the 1057,1107 recollections of his father's Patron and his mo- Adoption ther's kinsman, the Sainted Confessor. Saxonnames. Edmund tells you of the valiant Ironside, the hero of the English, their Defender. Ethelred revives the memory of the imme diate stem of the royal family. Edgar recalls the glories of the Basileus of Britain: he before whom Kenneth knelt as an homager : he whose triumphant bark was rowed by the vassal Kenneth on the Dee. Alexander records the Macedonian hero, whose gestes, the earliest of romantic legends, spread throughout the Avorld. David bespeaks his mother's veneration for the Prophet, whose Songs of Sion are daily heard in the isles of the Gentiles, the uttermost parts of the earth. Editha, borne to the baptismal font in the name of the widowed Anglo-Saxon Queen. Lastly, the youngest, Mary. In these appellations, so significant of the sentiments entertained by the parents who be stowed them, imagination and devotion had their share ; but their main recommendation was the principle which they involved. In those ages, a genealogy was more than a title-deed, more than a charter: each ancestor was a living assertor of his descendants' rights. The recollection of the English genealogy, and the resumption of the 342 . THE CONQUEROR'S sons. 1057, 1107 Anglo-Saxon denominations, amounted to a con tinued claim ofthe Anglo-Saxon dominion; whilst the language declared an equally continuous re jection of their ancient Irish nationality. When Malcolm and Margaret spoke to their fair sons and daughters around their board, there was not one child who answered to a Celtic appel lation, whose name reminds you of Loarn, or Ere of the shining countenance, Aidan of the golden swords, Ferchar of the arrows, or Aodh, the white-shielded, Fergus, or Domangard ; — not one who would have been known to the Comely hosts of the yellow tresses ; not one whose name had been heard in the hall, or wailed in the coronach ; sung to the harp, or sounded in the Seanachie's lay: — all were strangers. Thus did the Irish Gael find themselves enve loped by inimical influences : their Church re buked, their manners despised, their customs contemned, their tastes offended, their language proscribed, their lands usurped, a fierce race of strangers implanted amongst them; and, worst of all, the Royal progeny pledged to the per petuation of implacable enmity. Awful is the presentiment afflicting indivi duals and nations, when they are haunted by the vague foreknowledge of inevitable evil : the pestilence which can be anticipated, but not stayed : the distant darkness, disclosing the sha dow, darker than the surrounding gloom. Would ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 343 not the Gael turn wistfully to Donaldbane, Mal- 1057 , 1107 colm's brother, far in the Hebrides? Better be a dependent upon the Northmen, a vassal of Magnus Barefoot, or Godred Crovan, than subju gated by a national Sovereign, who is becoming a foreigner amongst his own race, a usurper in his own realm. § 23. During the first years after the acces- 1001. sion of Rufus, Malcolm continued tranquil within invasion of his boundaries. A tempting opportunity was territOTyby TWii.1 ool m offered by the Odo rebellion, which left the canmore. Northern districts uncovered and unprotected. Nevertheless Malcolm did not move, until Rufus, by expelling Edgar from Normandy, raised a new enemy against himself. The Atheling took Edgar J ° , ° Atheling, refuge amongst his royal kindred : the former f£Por'?d, discontents between him and his brother-in-law ma2dy by liufus, were forgotten; and Edgar, retaining all his*f^"tst0 affection for Robert, now considered that his Scotland- allegiance towards Rufus, who had seized his English possessions, was dissolved. The results of Edgar's presence at Dumferline became speedily manifest. Malcolm, raising his forces, invaded the Anglo-Norman realm and the dubious Marchlands. There was an obvious cause of offence justifying this attack. South Cumbria had been granted to William de Mes- chines, a dismemberment of the district, known, when reduced into Shires, as Cumberland and Westmoreland, and properly belonging to the 344 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 Scoto-Pictish Crown. Nor is it improbable but " that Malcolm entertained some project of regain ing Margaret's inheritance, and ruling as King- Consort over the Anglo-Norman realm. — In the van ofthe mixed host may there not have floated the imperial banner of Wessex : the banner of Edmund Ironside, the red dragon with fiery eyes, waving and winding in the air; that banner which rallied the army of Malcolm's youngest son and successor on the disastrous field of Cutton Moor? Maicoim Malcolm designed to overwhelm Northum- H.rl v&n ops as far as brian England. The enemy whom he would street. chiefly dread, in the parts adjoining to his own dominions, was cunning, swarthy, sullen Mow bray. Moreover, he might be checked by the garrison placed in the new Castle upon the Tyne: that tall, firm, Angevine fashioned tower, with its wide circuit of walls, erected during the last reign by Robert Courthose, as a barrier against the Scottish incursions. The western districts were less protected. Carlisle was wasted and abandoned, the Roman ramparts including only a desolate tract ; but Dolphin, Gospatric's son, and many of the Cumbrians or their leaders were still willing to own Malcolm as their immediate Sovereign. Malcolm appears to have taken a circuitous route. Advancing by a South-western sweep, probably aided by Cumbrian forces, and over- ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 345 spreading the country, he reached Chester-le- 1057, 1107 Street, on the banks of the Wear, where the Prelates of Lindisfairne and the relics of St. Cuthbert found shelter during the Danish ravages, rather more than half-way between Newcastle and Durham. Very great terror was excited in England by this attack: perhaps also not unmixed with hope. The husband of the Athe liza Margaret was the invader, he might con quer not only for himself, but for another, his son Edward, the representative of Cerdic. Mal colm threatened to advance; and his boldness at this juncture promised success ; but the raid passed away like a hurricane. Though Rufus tw«- was absent, Flambard and his co-justiciars were £g^ present. Vigilant and active, the Regency dis patched an army against Malcolm, who retreated. No mention is made of any battle. Such a repulse, therefore, was not a defeat : far more would the booty carried off by Malcolm and his people invite them to repeat the foray, than any chastisement deter them. Was it not worth the venture, when, for each slain catheran, (and the more slain the better,) a score of rother-beasts might be won? § 24. It was this intelligence which, reaching Au^s't. Rufus in Normandy, recalled him to England, for ^^ed the purpose of punishing Malcolm's rebellion. Settlement Courthose joined his brother. The Duke knew affair! of the north country well, and Rufus probably anti- ret™nTtdoy' 346 the conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 cipated that the friendship subsisting between En^nd-^ him and the Atheling might aid in a pacification, bert, when should any contingency make it expedient to informed , . . ofthe bring the war to an amicable conclusion. Scottish ° ... invasion. Courthose lent his cordial aid, sharing in the command of the army. There was a double object in this expedition : not merely to repel or punish an enemy, but to enforce the service 1091. denied by the Vassal. Rufus collected all the September. " Rufus in- forces which populous and powerful England vadesthe . . Scottish could furnish. England's fleets sailed up the territories ° x by 'sead and North Sea, whilst the army advanced under the command of the King, the Duke of Normandy, and the Anglo-Norman chieftains. But the ex pedition was ill-timed. Whether delayed by those obstacles against which no foresight can guard, or impelled by his impetuous temper, Rufus began the campaign at the season of the declining year, when the elements were sure to war against him. His vessels were dispersed, wrecked, sunk by the equinoctial gales : the troops starved on the bleak and barren land, and the desolation which the Conqueror had inflicted upon North umbria, aided in bringing calamity upon his son. 1091. § 25. Malcolm achanced out of Scotia into Autumn. Maicoim the Lothians, still colloquially reckoned as Eng- advances x " w Rufus8* ^an^" ^e Pe°ple wei'e English, and their lan guage English, therefore the political separation Avas often forgotten ; just as the German included Elsat.z in the notion of Deutschland. long after ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 347 the fertile Rhinebank had been ceded to the 1057,1107 French Crown. The Peasantry of Alsace retain the same notion still. Unexpectedly, Rufus and Malcolm came m J^"™^8 sight of each other. The entire ignorance under J^p the movements and operations of their enemies, constitutes a peculiar feature of military opera tions during the Anglo-Norman era. — The Con queror had been a great Commander, but his talent expired with himself; and, generally speaking, we may say that the mediaeval nations, had, at this period, lost the discipline of civilized war without acquiring the sagacity of the savage. Though harassed and reduced, the forces of Rufus were formidable to Malcolm, but at the same time the situation of the King in this remote and in hospitable region was not without peril. Before him, the Forth ; the Scottish hosts hovering on his flank ; around him famine ; in the rear, an insurgent country, and the suspected Mowbray. Each monarch had sufficient reasons to forbear; and the precautions which Rufus had taken for the purpose of procuring an amicable settlement succeeded. Malcolm was not actuated by' any determined or implacable hostility ; he hesitated to repudiate the homage claimed by the Anglo- Norman Crown. §26. Robert, with the assent of Rufus, com passed over to the Scottish camp, where, meeting coZ Mal- 348 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 Edgar Atheling, these friends acted as mediators. to obey Peace was concluded on fair terms, and with no Rufus . . as he had inconsiderable degree of diplomatic skill. Each; obeyed the x conqueror, party obtained substantial advantage, sufficiently enabling him to claim the stipulations as the result - of success. Far and wide might Englishman and Norman spread the news, how Malcolm Canmore, . humbled by the very aspect ofthe Anglo-Norman army, abandoning his pretensions of independence, agreed to obey Rufus, even as he obeyed the Mutual Conqueror, King William, before him, — on these advantages . resulting conditions had he obtained peace, — ea conditione from the x treaty. uf Willielmo, sicut patri suo obedivit, Malcolmus obediret. True, but not the whole truth. — Thus might the English and Normans exult, and the Court and courtiers of Rufus triumph. But how might the treaty be construed in the North? When Malcolm's clerks and courtiers returned to Dumferline, they would lay no peculiar em phasis upon the submission portion of the trans action, they would not talk much about it; and, discreetly shading the homage, they on their. part would also rejoice at the glorious con clusion of the warfare, Avhereby Malcolm Can- more, King of Scots, Prince of Strath Clyde and Cumbria, and Lord of Lothian, Queen Margaret's husband, had won the restitution of all his rights, the satisfaction for all his claims. Some particulars are told by the Monks of Durham, of Peterborough, of Worcester, and ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 349 St. Evroul ; but we collect them more distinctly 1057, 1107 in Westminster Abbey, close at home. Enter the arched chamber, the Treasury where the Con fessor kept his hoard, on the eastern side of the Cloisters, between the Chapter-House portal and the Refectory. Here are the muniments of the Kingdom, arranged and catalogued by Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, who as Lord Trea surer had them whilome in his charge. Ask for the keys of the huge iron-bound, oaken hutch, and, opening the three locks, take out the Char ter which Malcolm's grandson, the second Alex ander, obtained from Cceur de Lion's Chancery, (we believe that Edward Longshanks brought it back again,) and in this faded document you will read the privileges which his Grandsire had enjoyed. Twelve marks of good red gold, paid and Privileges 0 o » r secured to told every year to Malcolm from the English ^^j^ Treasury.— Twelve broad Manors restored, to be forrthe™ submission held of the Crown of England, where Malcolm tfthT and his followers may, when he journeyed to the £h South, revel and rest, roast the beef on the skewer, and broach the bright ale.— One hundred shillings for every day from and after Malcolm or his suc cessors shall have passed his own confines, pur suant to the King's writ or summons, in journey ing towards the King's Court : and as much for his journey homeward, until he shall have re-en tered his own land—Thirty shillings in sterling 350 THE conqueror's SONS. 1057,1107 silver, twelve wastel-cakes, twelve simnels, four " quarts of wine, and forty wax-candles, all ofthe same kind as the Royal Household use, two pounds of pepper, four pounds of cinnamon, and two stone of wax, quality not specified, all duly paid, measured, and weighed to Malcolm day by day, and each and every day, and for each and every day from his arrival at Court until his de parture, whilst he, the King of Scots, as a liege man, shall be in actual attendance on the King of England. Moreover, to the King of Scots was allowed the honour, sought but denied to the Cymric Princes. He bore the sword before the King; and Parliamentary traditions commemorated, even to our OAvn age, the memorials of the suit and ser vice rendered by the premier Liegeman of the Empire to the Anglo-Norman Crown. chair of "What is the meaning of this seat?" said a the King ° of scots member of the House of Commons, whose words placed beside the we faithfully record, to the old Usher of the throne in • ' of LorfT Black Rod, pointing to an arm-chair placed beside the throne. — " It is for the King of Scots," was the answer : the custom having been transmitted by continual usage, from time whereof the me mory of man knew not to the contrary. The chair of the Scottish King continued in the ancient position, until the fastidious fancy of the Regent-Sovereign displaced and destroyed this signal illustration of our constitutional history. ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 351 I 27. As friends, the Kings seemed to part : 1057> 1107 Rufus marched homewards. The description of ^j^ his route, as given by the Chroniclers — from Rufus ° * returns to "Northumbria," through "Mercia," into "Wes-|°;'*n sex," discloses a fact possessing greater historical importance than belongs to the mere line of march. The expressions employed shew, forcibly, how the constitutional geography of the Anglo- Saxons was preserved. The Anglo-Norman King chose to be accompanied by his Ducal brother, and the Atheling Edgar. Their pre sence testified the restoration of harmony : the ungrateful stipulations which banished the Eng lish Prince from England and from Normandy were virtually rescinded. We possess evidence also that Edgar Atheling ultimately obtained res titution of his lands, where he found a retreat, and closed his lengthened life in peace and quiet ness. The reconciliation between Rufus and Robert had proved honourable and advantageous to both; but the transient illusion of concord between the false brothers was immediately dis sipated ; they could not live except in enmity. Rufus refused to perform the stipulations* into which he had entered with Robert, the price of the Duke's useful services. At Yule-tide Rufus held his Court and Avore his crown as usual ; that great constitutional ceremony never neglected till the accession of the Plantagenet 352 THE conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 dynasty. Robert and Edgar were invited to 1091. grace and honour the festivities. They attend- 23 Dec. ,,..„,, Quarrels ed ; but the joy ot the solemn season was marred Rufus and and destroyed by the fraternal outburst. The Robert •¦ "¦ renewed,— reiterated angry demands of Robert brought on tlie luttcr awakfrom as an&ry a refusal from Rufus ; and, two days England. before Christmas, on the feast of St. Clement, Robert, taking the Atheling with him, rushed away in great despite, and returned to Nor mandy, renewing the scarcely-suspended dissen sions and quarrels. 1092. (j 28. Although it cannot be asserted that oJc^ies Robert and the Atheling were in anywise gua rantees of the treaty of peace between Rufus and Malcolm, yet their friendship would have con tributed to good understanding. Affairs again became uneasy in the North. Malcolm's conduct began to excite suspicions of his hostility towards Rufus, or furnished a pretence for aggression. In the following year, therefore, Rufus made another bold and threatening movement ; shew ing much statesmanship. Lugubalia, or Carlisle, though amidst the British population, had always been excluded from the grants of Cumbria and Strath-Clyde, the apanages of the Scoto-Pictish Monarchy. The City, together with the circuit or liberty of fifteen miles round about, was erected into an English Sheriffdom or Bailiwick. Placed under the protection of St. Cuthbert, the district was annexed to Bernicia or Northum- ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 353 bria, a portion of the Kingdom or the Earl- 1057,1107 dom, an enclavure in Cumbria. Utterly desolated * by the Danes, Carlisle continued wasted and abandoned : the few inhabitants of the adjoin ing country avoided the precinct as though a dread had come upon them. No attempt was made to occupy the tract, either for habitation or culture. More than two centuries had now elapsed since sword and fire laid the city low. Great oak-trees grew up amidst the ruined Roman walls. Eden's waters flowed idly. Neglected, as insignificant or worthless, Carlisle had been forgotten by the Anglo-Norman Councils. Dol phin, son of the great Gospatric, had, as we have before mentioned, occupied the place with his followers. The district became a Scottish out post, menacing South Cumbria, claimed by Mal colm as his rightful dominion, still wrongly with held. Rufus marched thither at the head of a large Carlisle # ° restored by army, and, expelling Dolphin, restored the city. Rufus- Employing portions of the Roman structures as a nucleus, he raised the castle, re-built the towers. The seat of Arthur's fabled chivalry was gar risoned by the Norman soldiery, and here fliey might first become acquainted with those won drous fictions which have constituted the most powerful element in the inspiration of poetry. Here in the rude North, and amidst the rugged moors, were the prototypes of the Round Table VOL. III. A A 354 the conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 and the Joyeuse Garde, the ultimate sources of " Tasso's epic, and Ariosto's lay. The Conqueror slew, and slaughtered, and dispersed, but he never attempted to transplant masses of men. Rufus executed a bolder stroke of policy than had been ventured upon by his father. — Let Uther Pendragon do what he can, Eden will run where Eden ran, is the old Cum berland adage ; — but a new race became settled andns6 uPon Eden's pleasant borders. Rufus brought rendered together a large population from the South: statement English churls, their wives and their children, whom he settled on the deserted, though not ungrateful, soil. It is to the expansion of this colony of hostile blood and race, that we may attribute the ultimate extinction of the Cymri: so thoroughly expunged from the Cumbrian re gion, that no trace can be found of them except a tradition or a name. — Helvellyn sounds to us as their dying moan. Ssed § 29- Tms is a perplexed period in the his- No™agn°" tory of Scotland and the Scottish border. Mal- ture™" colm was sustaining great vexations and anxie ties, such as threatened his Kingdom. Inde pendent Anglo-Norman adventurers would be even more formidable than the Norman King. Wales affords the strongest illustration of this assertion. All around, nigh or distant, consti tuted as fine a field for Anglo-Norman enterprize, as the territory of the uncivilized Spaniards to ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 355 the " American Anglo-Saxon." The Earldom of 1057, 1107 Richmond, held by Alan the Red, gave the Breton a position within a few days march of the Lothian frontier. So troubled was Malcolm, so unable, as he feared, to protect even his own family from the Norman power, that he and Margaret, the father and the mother, were compelled to send young Editha to her aunt Editha ,r J ° , placed for Christina, now Abbess of Romsey in England ; safety with the Minster might protect the damsel whom the ^"^"Jf'" castle-walls could not defend. Christina, rigid and stern, did not, like Margaret, adorn her piety by kindness ; she determined that Editha should take the veil : she would dress the girl in the garb of a novice, and scold at her because she refused to pronounce the vows. — Editha, as she herself tells us, for we have her authentic legal deposition of the facts, dreaded her Aunt's presence ; but she had a will of her own also. Out of her Aunt's sight, she would take the veil off her head, and stamp on it ; and when she was brought back to Dumferline, wearing the same attire, Malcolm Canmore used also to snatch off the ugly thing, and say he would rather see her Earl Alan's wife, than locked up in a Monastery. fi 30. Troubles arose again in the relations Renewal of dissensions between the Anglo-Norman Monarch and the between 0 Rufus and Scot. There are difficulties in making out which Maicoim. of the two was the complaining party: none, as to A A2 356 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 the party acknowledged to be the superior. Mal- " ' colm may have deemed the occupation of Carlisle an act of hostility, and he is represented as a suitor for peace. Furthermore, he petitioned that the stipulations which Rufus entered into with him, should be fully performed. Rufus, on his part, having some grief against Malcolm, some charge which it was needful for the latter to answer, summoned the Scottish Monarch to appear at Maicoim Gloucester, before the Court, on St. Bartholo- summonedto appear mew's day. Malcolm prepared to obey the man- Gieuce'ster date ', but we may doubt whether Rufus permitted thoiomeVs him to journey from manor to manor, receiving August?1 the allowance and enjoying the good cheer. Durham claimed Malcolm's spiritual allegiance, William de St. Carileph being his Diocesan; and it was during this journey that he assisted in the solemn ceremony of the Minster's foun dation, laying the first and corner-stone. Malcolm reached Gloucester when Rufus had recovered from that dangerous illness, so strangely conducive to Anselm's appointment. Health returned, imparted cheerfulness. Rough and boisterous mirth might also accompany returning strength : but the same unconquer able violence of temper which brought on the first attack, continued to rage Avithin him. Rufus was maddening Avith pride. Malcolm approached the royal residence. The rude usher closed the chamber-door. Rufus would neither see ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 357 Malcolm nor speak to him. He would not 1057,1107 admit the King of Scots into his presence, in- j^"" sisting that Malcolm, the delinquent, was bound Maicoim. to submit to the judgment of the Court before which he was called. Explanations ensued. Mal- Ma'coim r declares his colm, without denying the supremacy of the ™ d^fight British Crown, maintained that, according to the of^ngianJ; old Law, if summoned to answer, he was only toTnciTIt amenable to the judgment of the Court assem bled on the Marches, where the Kings of the Scots were accustomed to do right to the Kings of England; ubi reges Scottorum erant soliti facere rectitudinem regibus Anglorum: fulfilling the judgment given by the Nobles of either realm. A vestige of this jurisprudence may be found in the long-continued border custom, when the Knights of England and of Scotland assem bled, with cautious step and wary glance, to administer justice between the hostile neighbours who dwelt on either side, in the debateable land. More complete is the similarity in the case of the Conqueror himself, who if he rendered obe dience to the Capet, was to meet the French Sovereign beneath the ancient tree, on the con fines of the Duchy and the Kingdom. ^ 31. Seize your enemy now that he is in Maicoim 3 J v returns to your power, — was the advice given to Rufus by fn,d,tlar°d' his counsellors. But Rufus refused to violate Ksftfhr the protection which the lawful summons to his EngUnd."* Court afforded, and Malcolm returned to his 358 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 dominions in safety. The peace was, however, at an end : Malcolm determined to renew hos tilities. A raid might obtain the satisfaction which Rufus denied. The expedition was planned with more than usual caution. Malcolm associated his eldest son, Edward, in the command, though his mother almost forbade him to go. Edgar also joined Margaret the host. To the care of Edgar Atheling, Mal- "uced" c°lm entrusted Margaret and the other children, protection Ethelred, Edmund, Alexander, David, Editha, Athdmgrin Mary. As a further precaution, they were re- castie"1^ moved from Dumferline Tower to the Castle of Maidens, Edinburgh; the rock, whose height, surrounded by the lochs below, offered greater security than Dumferline, should any mischance arise. The English population of Lothian, was more congenial and loyal to the Enghsh Margaret and the English Edgar, than the Celtic tribes. Penances and austerities, privations and self- sacrifices, taught by faith, submitted to in faith, vigils, and fastings, had destroyed Margaret's health ; she was now wasting away. Broken by infirmity, racked by constant pain, she could only travel in a litter, rarely rise from her couch; — very sad was Margaret's parting from husband and son. Maicoim $ 32. For the fifth time, Malcolm harried invests cas,tieick EnSland witn fire and flame : he overspread the country, ravaged and plundered Teesdale, Cleve- ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 359 land, and Richmondshire ; then directing his 1057, 1107 course homeward, invested Alnwick Castle, taking v his station on the North. The season was exceed ingly stormy: deluges of rain swelled the streams and broke up the ground. Fearless Malcolm Jj0^ and his men crossed the river Alne by the ford Ma100.1™ «/ and his son which still bears his name. It was a bold ^ata before enterprize of Malcolm's to attempt reducing such Alnwick- a fortress, new in its strength, and defended by the Earl Mowbray, and his favourite Morel. — Mowbray the stubborn and stern, who answered not if you spake to him, who made no return if you saluted him, upon whose sullen countenance a smile was never seen : Mowbray always troubled, full of guiles and wiles, and whose cunning in spired as much apprehension as his ferocity. fi 33. Within the Castle of Alnwick, the The ««<* j ' Legend. Warder, passing from Hotspur's Chair, conducts you down a steep and gloomy flight of steps, opening into a small, concealed, but protected postern : hence, as he informs you, sallied forth the warrior Hamond, by whom Malcolm was slain. The legend is somewhat old, and may be traced as early, at least, as Hotspur's time. If in the York and Lancaster period a pilgrim visited the adjoining Abbey, the Monk would tell him the ballad tale, whilst he gazed upon and ad mired the Percy shield, in which the Lion pas sant azure of Brabant quarters the five fusils, and the pendant banner, heavy with rich embroi- 360 THE conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 dery, barred with gold and green, mottoed " Es- * ' perance en Dieu," displaying the crescent badge given by the Earls. " When the fierce Scots besieged the Castle, the stout valiant soldier stole out, determined to brave every danger. Hamond simulated himself as an herald of peace : — the garrison, straitened by Malcolm's besieging army, as he told the sen tinels, had resolved to implore the King's cle mency. He was sent forth to proffer the Castle's keys, pendant on the sharp point of his lance. — Malcolm, unsuspicious and unarmed, received the messenger at his tent's door ; when Hamond suddenly transfixed the King in the eye; by his speedy flight into the woods he escaped the vengeance of the Scottish soldiery, and the sur name Pierce-eye, or Percy, acquired by the act, was transmitted to his noble posterity." — Such were the traditions of the age, AA'hen the plea sant fictions of Chivalry, that Chivalry whose ideal period recedes Avhen you advance in search of it, like the base of the rainbow, began to be incorporated by Herald and Pursuivant, with the information derived from pedigree, chronicle, and Charter. i3Nov § 34. Authentic history agrees M'ith these The nisto- fables in the main fact, that Malcolm's death, rical nar- Malcolms on the festival of St. Brice, a festival still recog- death. nized in our Calendar, was effected through a stratagem which conscience repudiates, though ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 361 the laws of war absolve the perpetrator. Morel, 1057, 1107 so intimately connected with Malcolm, by a bond * then deemed no less strong than the ties of con- Maicoim 0 slain by sanguinity, seduced or betrayed his " gossip " into stratagem. an ambush, where Mowbray's forces surrounded him ; but it was by Morel's own hand that the King was slain. The deed was committed upon a rising ground, on the Northern banks of the Alne, opposite the Castle : whose image reflected in the stream may oft be seen, intersected, - yet not concealed, by the shadows which the towers cast. The locality is indicated with singular preci- v™^ m- •> or dications of sion. Malcolm's Cross still marks the spot where the locality. Malcolm fell. Other memorials there were, but Malcolm's Well is obliterated : subterraneous workings, disturbing the adjoining strata, have drawn off the waters ; and time and violence have ruined the Chapel of St. Leonard, founded bv the piety of Eustace de Vescy, who, married to a Margaret of the royal family of Scotland, endowed the Sanctuary for the repose of Mal colm's soul. A general attack upon the Scottish forces ensued. Mowbray's troops pursued them, and afforded to the Northumbrian Earl a glorious victory. Very many of the Scots were drowned in the over-flowing rivers, or clemmed in the quagmires, or suffocated in the marshes, or slaugh tered in the rout. Some took refuge in the 362 the conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 woods which covered the country up to the Death of Scottish border. Prince Edward, the King's eldest Malcolm's son, who received a mortal wound in the conflict, was carried off from the field of battle to the forest which bounded the Redesdale, where he died. The name of Edward's Ley, given to the glade, commemorated his fate: his body was deposited by the side of his father's in Tyne- mouth Priory ; but both the corpses were subse quently translated to the Royal sepulchres at Dumferline. 1093. § 35. Margaret continued languishing in Death of dreary Dunedin : distressed, heavy-hearted ; un- Margaret . ... in Edin- able to rise from her bed, a widening chasm of burgh castie. time separating her from those most dear. No messenger from Northumbria reached her. No intelligence from the Host. Nothing known how Malcolm had sped ; nothing about Edward, from whom she had parted so reluctantly ; nothing about Edgar. — The rough, coarse weather, the raging floods which destroyed the tracks, might in some degree account for the delayed intelli gence ; yet these circumstances, adding to the perils of the expedition, would also increase solicitude. Each gloomy, brief November day was lengthened by anxiety: night brought no comfort. Sink ing rapidly under bodily infirmity and foreboding dread, speaking • as if certain that her children would soon be deprived of all parental care, she earnestly besought her confessor and chaplain, ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 363 Turgot, to guide them for good. Margaret still 1057, 1107 clung to life. Nothing but lingering love kept " her affections in the world : she became feebler and feebler: having received the Holy Com munion, her face turned more ashy pale, and the bystanders knew that death was nigh. Edgar entered the chamber. He was silent. Margaret's anxious enquiries, — Where was Malcolm ? where Edward ? received one answer. It was well with them, — was the reply. No more earthly hope, no more fear. — Margaret's yearning earnestness, nevertheless, extorted the details of the calamity. She heard, burst into an ejaculation of praise and thanksgiving, and expired. § 36. Whilst the mourners were watching oonaid- and wailing, and the tapers burning round the to the tranquil corpse, their flickering flames contend- the Gael. ing with the murky air, Dunedin was suddenly surrounded by the hostile forces of the Gael. Malcolm's death had been the signal for a ge neral insurrection. Morel and Mowbray had set them free: they reverted to their national rights, they proclaimed their natural Sovereign — natural by blood and lawful by right : the brother of the deceased Monarch, one who would own them as his people. It must be recollected, that, as yet, the law of direct and lineal representation had not been established amongst the Scots. The function of deciding upon the succession, de pended upon those Seven Chieftains whom later 364 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 constitutional language termed the Seven Earls v of Scotland. They were the authorities empow ered to bestow the Sovereignty upon that indivi dual to whom the Crown of Fergus properly belonged. Donald- Donaldbane was proclaimed. With lightning bane sup- * ° ported by swiftness the fiery Cross reached the Western the Norwe- •> gians. Islands. The Norwegians immediately gave their support to the future King of the Scots. It is asserted that he purchased the alliance by making a formal cession of the Ebudes to Mag nus. The sturdy Northman was already master of the islands ; but he gladly gave his aid. The fleet was always ready ; the crews eager for con flict, the battle-axes hanging on the wall. The Scandinavian and Celtic warriors, united; and, from the rapidity of their progress, it should seem as if Donaldbane had been expecting the opportunity. Donaldbane is accused of inimical win- intentions against his brother's family. Hence, cSs'tifof the investment of the Castle, during that mourn- Edmburgh. jQg time, when the inmates Avere protected by the sanctity of sorrow. The dense fogs which enveloped the rock suggested or afforded the means of escape. Two of Malcolm's sons refused to abandon their country and their people. Ed mund passed over to his father's brother Donald bane, hailed and accepted as King. Ethelred returned (as Ave conjecture) to his Abbey of Dunkeld, and disappears from history. The other ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 365 children gathered round their maternal uncle, the 1057, 1107 Atheling Edgar; and, protected and guided by " him, they all reached England in safety. § 37. Edgar was not molested by Rufus ; Edgar and but he became the object of enmity. An accusa- of Maicoim . „ and Marga- tion of treason was preferred against him by a ret> (Ed- 0 v mund ex- faithless Englishman, Orgar : the Atheling came ^e^fu e within the danger of the law; but there were inEnsland- many still strongly affected to the old Eng lish line. Godwin of Winchester offered himself as Edgar's champion in the battle-trial, meeting the appeal of treason, and gained the victory. Edgar Atheling henceforward recovered the fa vour of Rufus, and enjoyed his confidence. Rufus had the wisdom to perceive that there was no reason whatever to fear the Atheling's ambition, and that there was much to expect from his heartiness and his fidelity. Rufus was, indeed, preparing, when opportunity should offer, to re assert that supremacy which Malcolm had so recently acknowledged ; and he was advantaged by the circumstances which had placed so many members of Malcolm's family in his power. Mal- Duncan,Malcolm's colm's eldest son, the son of his youth, the son son by Ingebiorga. of his first love, — Duncan, though released from captivity by the Conqueror's death, had never been recalled by his father, but continued to flourish under the protection of Rufus. The hostage seized by the Conqueror became the favourite of his politic successor. The children of Malcolm and Margaret were 366 the conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 all ultimately adopted, so to speak, by Anglo- Editha and Norman England. The Princesses were, in the wfthytheired first instance, placed considerately and kindly tina. "9 under the care of their aunt Christina at Romsey. Edith resumed the monastic garb. It was gene rally supposed that she had taken the vows ; or that, if not actually professed, she was equally bound in conscience. People seemed determined to believe that during her infancy she had been offered by her parents to the service ofthe altar. This supposition was entirely unfounded, and was afterwards disproved by canonical process and legal evidence ; nevertheless, it is probable that her aunt the Abbess insisted upon the supposition, as though it were true. Edith was very beautiful. She inherited her mother's talent, her mother's warm affection, sweetness, patience, piety, — and profited by all the cultivation, both intellectual and moral, that Margaret had bestowed. Therefore, notwithstanding her supposed profession, suitors presented themselves, courting the poor damsel courted by °f high degree. William de Warenne, Earl of EariT8' Surrey, sought her hand: the Earl made his b^Beau*11 application to Rufus: Edith, if considered as a Royal Ward, could not be espoused without the Royal assent. Another suitor offered, a plea sant and attractive lover, Henry Beauclerc, who at all times in his life En noble dames et en belles, Et en coitoises damiselles, Tourna son deduit et s'entente. ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 367 Edith was sufficiently attractive to warrant the 1057,1107 assumption that Henry loved her, according to " his sort of love. If the Nesta were not already put away, he was quite ready to dismiss her. Edith's attractions were also enhanced by her lineage : the lustful though wary Porphyro genitus could not fail to recollect the influence which her descent from Cerdic possessed upon the English mind. But her Monastic seclusion, or some other obstacle, opposed his views, and no further did the courtship proceed till a more fortunate or unfortunate day, when, under the name of Matilda, she espoused the Anglo-Norman King. § 38. Whilst describing the principal events 1093, 1094. relating to Malcolm, Margaret, and their children, bane suP- we have hitherto conversed with their most inti- Edmund, his nephew. mate associate, their companion, their friend, one who heard their daily conversation, who was pos sessed of their designs and thoughts. But Turgot now quits us : he returns for a while to Durham ; and instead of listening to a member of the domestic circle, we are again left to the infor mation derived from distant observers, with small opportunity of ascertaining the precise truth, and contenting themselves with brief and desultory memorials. Dimness covers the scene, and we are now necessitated to form conjectures concerning the actions and sentiments of men, who pass before us like shadows — and yet are they more 368 the conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 shadows than those which surround us ? As with the present, so with the past, we must attempt, by throwing ourselves into feelings which change not with the changes of the world, to obtain some interpretation of the obscurities in which we are involved. Donald- The first and joyful consequence of Donald- Peis the bane's accession was the expulsion of the stran- Anglo-Normans. gers. Our Anglo-Saxon Chronicle dolefully and emphatically announces this re-conquest ; but we do not think it was in anywise complete, or that any were driven out, except from the districts immediately within the power of the newly inau- Madach, gurated Sovereign. Donaldbane strengthened Donau- himself, however, by granting to his son Madach, of Athoi. the Earldom, (for the Anglo-Saxon title had become quite established in Malcolm's reign,) of Athol ; and Madach, afterAvards matching with Norwegian Haco's daughter, became the pro genitor of a powerful chieftainry, who gave some trouble to the Crown. The circumstance, however, which more completely than any other, demonstrates the moral influence of Donaldbane, was the adhesion of Edmund, that third son of Malcolm and Margaret, who, instead of joining Edgar Atheling, had (as before mentioned) like Ethelred, chosen to continue among the Scots. In the other children, the training bestowed by Margaret proved efficient. She had succeeded in rendering them thoroughly English, to the very ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 369 marrow of their bones: Edward, Edgar, Alex- 1057, 1107 ander, David, Edith, Mary, all of them as com pletely English, as if they had been born and bred in the Palace of Westminster. But Edmund, though equally cultivated and instructed by his mother, shewed by his actions that he was a true Celt in heart. He felt the certain misery which would ensue from the English and Norman colo nization, and devoted himself thoroughly to his Celtic uncle's cause. 5 39. Rufus had steadily watched the affairs 1094. 3 J May. ofthe North. From thence, troubles were always Duncanthe son of likely to arise. Astute Mowbray and restless Maicoim " " becomes Malcolm kept each other in check: it was hard Jpns ?f the 1 Scots by to say who might become most dangerous to the 0feI^Ujiort King. Mowbray's victory was no great gain to Rufus; and the death of Malcolm had again left the question of submission open. Malcolm's homage did not bind Donaldbane. With him, the obligation was only inchoate: a Scottish Monarch rarely rendered his allegiance to the King of England, except when compelled. How ever, Rufus possessed within his own power the machinery for renewing his dominion. His con duct towards Duncan had been very pmident and considerate, obviously contemplating the pos sibility of such a contingency as the present. Rufus bestowed the degree of Knighthood upon Duncan, and married him to an English Atheliza, Ethelreda or Elreda, who had some claim to VOL. III. w R 370 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1057, 1107 the great Earldom of Northumbria : and encou raged by his advantageous position, the son of Malcolm preferred his claim to the Scottish Crown. Questions rpne qUestion of Duncan's illegitimacy has kgitimacy. been fruitlessly discussed. Contradictory asser tions, and dubious facts, can scarcely produce any other result. We believe, however, that as in almost every similar case occurring in those days, there was a satisfactory mezzotermine. Malco lm andlngebiorga (we will say) had been united hand in hand, according to the tradi tional customs of the Northmen, but their union lacked the blessing of the Church. Yet, whether Duncan was truly or not the child of a concubine, is a matter comparatively of little moment : practically, the distinction between the wife's lawful issue and the unmarried mother's progeny, was not very broadly marked. Arlotta's grandson would not be much inclined to en quire minutely, whether Malcolm had or had not been duly espoused to the Scottish maiden or the Norwegian matron who bore the suppliant. Duncan, already naturalized in England, the King's familiar, coming forward ostensibly as a tenant suing to have livery, or to be put in pos session of his inheritance, prayed (certain of a gracious answer) that Rufus, the Suzerain, would be pleased to grant him his father Malcolm's Kingdom. — This opportunity of intervention was ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 371 in every way grateful and advantageous. Mal- 1057, 1107 colm's death had removed a dangerous enemy: ' — " — ' the petition preferred by Duncan enabled Rufus to assert his imperial right with consistency and cogency. He consented to acknowledge Duncan the claimant, Malcolm's first-born, as Malcolm's heir ; and Duncan, taking the oath of fealty, con firmed the bond. Rufus, vindicating his own rights through Duncan, granted to him a suffi cient military aid, English and French, (as they were called.) At the head of the Anglo-Norman troops, Duncan advanced to Scotland. Donald bane fled, though not ignobly nor without hard fighting, and Duncan was inaugurated as King. — The unfortunate successes of the preceding reign again predominated : like his father Mal colm, the title of Duncan the heir merged in the intrusion of Duncan the conqueror. fi 40. Duncan, the English Knight, husband 1095-1097. ._,,-., , Donaldbane of the English Ethelreda, became no less strange expeiiedby Duncan, to the Irish Gael than Anglicised Malcolm had who rag™ 0 in his stead. been. But the Anglo-Norman power could not be resisted. The whole of these transactions must be considered as continuous ; the change of per sonages does not break that continuity. It js not a series of wars for this or that Sovereign, a quarrel between claimant and claimant, the adherents of a legitimate monarch, opposed to rebels supporting a usurper, but nation arrayed against nation, a dogged, desperate fight, even BB2 372 THE conqueror's sons. io57,no7 more venomous during the intervals of tranquil- " lity than amidst raging war, the invaders con tending for wealth and power, the natives for Donau- existence. Donaldbane fled to the Isles, where bane sup ported by he was again protected by the Norwegian King, gians. and befriended by the mixed population. Magnus, who profited by all these dissensions for the better establishment of his own dominion, continued to aid Donaldbane ; the latter had a very sure ally in Scotland itself — his nephew Edmund. Thus encouraged, the Gael would not acknowledge Duncan, and fiercely resisted his The Gael authority. Defeated in a sudden attack, they had compel _ * Duncan to him at their mercy : they spared his life, and d°iersgnsol~ permitted him to reign, stipulating that he would dismiss his English and Norman auxiliaries, and never again allow the foreigner to dwell in Scot tish land. More of artifice than of loyalty do we discern in this compact. Had the Gael slain Duncan at once, they would have exposed them selves to the vengeance of the mailed and dis ciplined Southern soldiery ; but by removing the enemy, and husbanding their own resources, there was a better chance of ultimate success. Duncan, thus weakened, laid himself open to further hostility. Edmund headed the insurrection, of which the object was Donaldbane's restoration: it was said, that, if successful, Edmund was to be rewarded by half the realm ; not an improbable compact. Duncan invaded the Mearns, then ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 373 entirely inhabited by a Gaelic population ; and 1057, 1107 he reached Monachedin, now Mondyness, the ' * ' Pitcairne Barony on the banks of the Bervie. It is a species of peninsula nearly surrounded by the river ; and, as artifice or treachery is hinted, he may have been conducted there by some false friend. A battle ensued. Duncan was killed by Duncan Malpeit, or Malpeddir, the Earl or Maormor of MafpedL, the Maor- the Mearns. A tall, uninscribed stone, rude as ™or of the Mearns. those attributed to the Druids, marks the spot where he fell. But Duncan's son, William, sur- wiiiiam, the son of vived and prospered. He obtained the great 5""°^% Earldom of Moray. Honoured by his lineage, ^hf* <*£* formidable by his power, William Fitz-Duncan ^f e" won the hand of Alice, daughter and heiress of Robert de Romilly, Lord of Skipton in Craven: the ill-fated Boy of Egremont, the issue of that marriage, stranger as he was, united the affec tions of the Gael to the favour of the Anglo- Normans, and, supported by the Seven Earls, contested, though unsuccessfully, his ancestor's Crown. & 41. Donaldbane was reinstated : the Gael 1098-1107. -i, Donaid- accepted him gladly. They imposed, however, bane de- a condition, and a wise one, that he should expel £?ign °* i r Edgar, the Anglo-Normans or Anglo-Saxons, who were JX°lndal" usurping the inheritance of the original race. fheTS6of But time was not allowed him for the conso- scottuf10" lidation of his authority ; a new opportunity was Kings' afforded to a vigilant and active foe. Rufus 374 THE conqueror's sons. io57, 1107 determined to enforce the ancient rights of the i^f ' Anglo-Saxon Crown. Edgar Fitz-Margaret flou- EdP|ar?the rished under the protection of Rufus, and it now c°o"m.fMal became the object of the Anglo-Norman King as well as of the Anglo-Norman party, to place this English youth, for such he was in effect, upon the Scottish Throne. Could he be estab lished there, would not Albanach become their Atheun Prey ^ Edgar Atheling, well acquainted with the attempting Scots, first felt his way, by negociating with date frith Donaldbane, proposing either that he should cede ba°nead his authority, or, what is more likely, content himself with a portion of the Scottish territories. These endeavours failed ; and Rufus therefore entrusted to Edgar Atheling the duty of restoring the Scottish inheritance to his name-sake and nephew. September. At the head of a large and powerful Anglo- Silsat?1" Norman army, the Atheling advanced to Scot- fuTpiacS'1" land; his nephew with him, shewn to the people force atThe as the heir of the Scottish Monarchy. The Scot- of the tish Edgar gained support and favour ; mild in tem per, agreeable in aspect, manly, and A-igorous. A dream confirmed him in the belief that St. Cuth- bert protected the enterprize : the sacred banner was brought forth, and Robert, the English Thane, Godwin of Winchester's son, aided in the com mand. The Anglo-Scottish Edgar, son of Margaret, had a plausible pretence to the allegiance of the Lothians, which, morally speaking, yet constituted ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 375 a portion of Northumbria, for, as before observed, 1057,1107 the political severance had not broken the links ' " of language and affinity : nor can we doubt but the men of English race, gathered thick and strong beneath the standard raised by royal Edgar. Resistance availed nought : it was im- 1098- °t ° Edgar vic- possible for the Gael to stand against the stub- torious 1 ° over Don- bom, determinate firmness of the Anglo-Saxon aldb:ine- host. Donaldbane fled : he was captured, cast into prison. Some scruples restrained the young Anglicised Edgar from killing his old grey headed uncle, who must have been nearly eighty years of age; but these scruples did not go far, the Victors put out the old man's dim eyes, Edgar x " causes his and Donaldbane died, in miserable captivity, at ^blne to" Rescobie. No one knows where his body was ^d keeps' buried — there is a mystery about it. Some Edmmdin say at Dumferline, some at Dunkeld, some within heX^'1" the hallowed precincts of Iona. Edmund was also taken : his life was spared ; but he was kept by his brother Edgar in chains and fetters, till death delivered him also. A story is current that, when worn out by weary imprisonment, and feeling himself dying, he desired to be buried in his irons, as a token of his repentance. Genealogically, the race of the ancient Mon archs was continued from male to male, through Malcolm's progeny, till it became extinguished in the last Alexander: but straight lines, and brackets, and names written one under another, 376 the conqueror's sons. 1057,1107 upon an emblazoned roll, do not alone consti- ""' tute a pedigree. The descents may be all con sistent, all certified by the Heralds, all proved by Deeds, and Charters, and Records, and certi ficates, and tomb-stones, and verified by affidavits duly sworn, and, nevertheless, there may be no Donald- moral continuity. So great was the transfor- of the scot- mation which ensued in Malcolm's race, that tish Kings : his rights Scottish Historians are unanimous in terminat- transmittedBaden'och m& the series of the Scoto-Irish Kings with Do naldbane. His lineage, however, subsisted, and dreamed about their ancient rights. John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, who appeared before Edward as a competitor for the Scottish Crown traced his genealogy from Donaldbane through the fe male line, and claimed the Crown in right of his remote progenitor. io98-no7. { 42. Therefore, with Edgar, though Mal- Character istics of colm s son, arose an entire new dynasty, the Edgar's go- " vernment. dynasty of the Anglo-Scottish Kings : destruction to the Gael. By the behest of Rufus, Edgar was appointed to be the first King of the new realm, the Anglo-Saxon Scotland, in fealty to the Enghsh Monarch, a fealty which he constantly maintained. Much honoured by Rufus was the Scottish King: the favour he enjoyed, and his pre-eminence over the other dependents of the Empire, was testified in the great solemnities when Rufus wore his Imperial Crown. Recompensed by the distinc tion which the Cymric Princes failed to obtain, ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 377 Edgar, the vassal, but himself a Sovereign, bore 1057, 1107 the Sword of State before the English King. * The scheme of policy contemplated by Mal colm acquired full strength and consistency under Edgar, and may be designated as a plan, pro fessedly intended to place Scotland in the social position which England held. To employ our common phrase, Edgar adopted the " age of the Confessor" as his model; but, as in all similar cases, the ideal conformity to a previous period was exceedingly modified by change of men, place, and time ; and, in reality, the Scoto-Saxon The King- Monarchy ripened into an adaptation of the Scotland constituted model presented by the Anglo-Norman Com-'"P°nthe monwealth. But the most important of the No™an r mode. characteristics of Anglo-Norman England, the institutions which defended the subject against oppression, were in great measure forgotten. We never find in ancient Scotland, as in ancient England, that doctrine of remedial justice, which, however slowly it may have expanded, and with whatever imperfections it may have been alloyed, has, nevertheless, contributed to establish our principles of national honour and integrity. The Scottish Edgar gloried in the epithet of Edgar the ,_,.„, ii i . , First, con- the Pacific, bestowed by popular gratitude upon secrated his English namesake and ancestor; he also earned Scotland. and obtained in his own age, the praise that he emulated the Confessor's piety. The commence ment of his reign was signalized by the acts which declared his principles of Government. 378 THE conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 Hitherto, the Kings of the Scots had been inau gurated upon the Stone of Scone, according to the patriarchal customs of the Gael. Edgar in corporated himself in the Community of Latin Christendom. By the authority of the Apostolic See, he was anointed according to the solemn rites of the Western Church, the first consecrated Monarch of Scotland, receiving that Ordination which renders the Monarch a member of the Hcassumes Hierarchy. Edgar assumed the Imperial title : nai style. fae ~Qas[\eus adopted the Crown and regal orna ments of Imperial Albion: and his great Seal imitated from the Seal of the Confessor, expresses in the most emphatic form, the total alteration which the Royal authority had sustained. Meta- ms Great phorically as well as literally, Edgar's Great Seal, the first great seal of Scotland, stamps the cha racter of the new Kingdom. Scotland Henceforward, the Kings of Scotland acted anglicized . ..... bythe scot- upon a consistently aggressive principle, import ing, that, wherever their authority extended, or could be enforced, they were the owners of the soil. The King was the Supreme Landlord — no right availed against his theoretical prerogative, and that prerogative was to be equally enforced by or against justice. Edgar's personal virtues have caused his tranquil reign to pass silently, and almost unnoticed, through the annals of History, but like his father and mother, his virtues became lethal to his race. " Maolcholum Mac Donnchaidh," was the last name of a Scottish ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 379 Monarch which the genealogist could repeat in i°57>1107 the speech of the Irish Gael. Edgar stands upon the fated stone; but the Celtic Monarchy has departed. Edgar is no more a patriarchal Chief, but a crowned and conquering King, appertaining to a strange, hostile, fierce, conquering, greedy, intolerant people. The Scoto-Saxon Monarch T,Lel?ot" r r tish Kings alienated himself from the past ; silencing the frj^a^e Harp, and turning a deaf ear to the Bard, he Gae1' complacently listened to the foreign flatterers, who traced his blood to Cerdic or to Woden. Edgar's personal taste, the language he spoke, the education he had received, the lessons of his parents, their example, the respect and affec tion he had borne them, his veneration for their memory; nay his very piety, separated him from the mind of the Celtic Huntsmen and Herdsmen, Lawmen and Warriors, Traditions and Poetry, Priests and Altar. And now begins the sorrowful History of Scotland, exhibiting the devouring malady of civilization, the increase ofthe comforts and tem poral happiness of one race or class, distinctly and avowedly encouraged at the expence of another ; so that those who choose to see nothing but the bliss, become determined to know nothing of the woe. In its general outline, the formation of the Parallel- Scottish kingdom runs parallel with Ireland, Scottish and produced the same wretched results. Two History. nations were placed in contact, under circum- 380 THE conqueror's SONS. 1057, 1107 stances, which, by their co-ordination under one Sovereignty created increasing animosity. Hated and despised by the ruling and predominating party, the Gael had neither the privileges of fellow-subjects, nor the rights of declared ene mies. Neither the Laws of peace nor war were observed towards them — the Judges strung them on the gallows; the Red-coats bayonetted and shot them on the moors : they were treated both as domestic traitors and as foreign enemies, a consistent inconsistency — it got rid of them: it shortened the process of destruction ; they were denied the protection which Law grants to the criminal, and Military honour to the foe. In their own country, the Scots became the objects of the persecution the dread and the enmity of their Sovereign. Aliens upon their own soil, aliens under their own sky. And in our times, the final consummation of their miseries: — the clearing of the glen: — the burning of the cottage : — the Sheriff substitute and the detachment, — the sheeling pulled down upon the woman in child-birth : — the farm let by auction — the "bratgalla," the foreigner's rag,— the " an riochd mallaichte," the accursed grey,— the sheep-flocks, poisoning the fresh heather by the oily rankness of their wool : — the " Highland gathering" got up in His Grace's park, — the pre miums for encouraging Highland sports, — the Prize Bagpiper at the champagne party,— the Queen's letter,— the collection at the Church- ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 381 door, — the Relief committee, — the Guinea Polka 1057, 1107 ticket, — the Destitution concert, — the Emigrant " steamer, — the fetid steerage, — the putrid mass ofthe fevered living, kneaded into the festering dying: — the warm corpse, half-shrouded in the rotten sail, heaved over the vessel's side and plashing in the water. fi 43. It is a great trial in the study of intolerance jo j and cruelty History to be perpetually contemplating human toni^rJces" calamities; but we heighten human sorrows if £ Mother we chloroform ourselves against the painful per- mankfnd0/ ception of their truth and reality — and amongst the various judgments so unfolded, no one more heavy to the soul than the destinies annexed to each family of mankind. These destinies are constantly displayed, blazing in light, and yet enveloped in impenetrable darkness. Whichever way we reason, whether with respect to the human individual or the human race, we encoun ter the inexplicable mystery of immutable omni potent prescience concurrent with unfettered free-will. Excepting in those examples where Reve lation has indicated the causes of the blessing or the curse, there may be equal presumption in attempting to explain these dispensations, as in denying them. They display the pervading pre sence ofthe Almighty, rendering man the minister of His immutable decrees, or permitting man to fill up the measure of his transgressions. 382 THE CONQUEROR'S sons. 1057, 1107 Affliction is not always a token of disfavour : the punishment may be designed in love, teach ing those whom God has delivered into the power of the enemy, to feel how much more merciful is any chastisement which He sends, than that inflicted through the hand of man. Nor is suc cess any sure token that the victor has received a blessing : he may be merely the executioner of vengeance ; his sins being greater than those of the people whom his sword has laid low. Al though the victor may not have been the most sinful in the onset, he invariably becomes so, striv ing to justify the causes which have induced his aggression. There is no example of any nation, which, flushed by success, has not increased in pride and tyranny. All and every the families of mankind share in this guilt, — all and every kindred, all and every tongue. Each has its own fashion in perpetrating it. The Teutonic races, succeeding as inheritors to the fierceness of the Roman Eagle, have in the later ages of the world been most fearfully predominant. Gifted with mighty intellectual vigour, they reject, they pun ish all others and themselves, by their intolerant, fanatic, and contemptuous pride, which takes the sweetness out of their very kindness. Amongst the Teutonic tribes, none so deeply involved in guilt as the " Anglo-Saxon race." In their treat ment of the Celtic nations, they have exceeded all others in iniquity, even degraded Spain ; for the ANGLO-SAXON SCOTLAND. 383 Spaniards inherited the ferocity of the Visigoths: 1057,1107 they were nursed in blood by their constant conflicts with the Arabians, and they delighted in the accursed doctrine of religious persecution. Whereas, with none of these excuses, — so far as education, inveterate prejudice, and ignorance, may avail — the Anglo-Saxon dominion in Ireland, founded upon crafty and unprovoked aggression, has in its course and conduct been pursued in utter opposition to the dictates of justice and the rights of man, violating the laws of nations, and of nature, and of God. Unhappy Ireland, her tears without an earthly comforter, Princes, Hierarchy, People, deposed, degraded, crushed, mocked, plundered, scourged, slaughtered, tortured to the madness of despair. — More unhappy England, sustaining the heavier judgments of the Oppressor, the deafened ear, the blinded eye, the seared conscience, the har dened heart. These confessions are wrung from us. — Gene rosity and justice are claimed as our national virtues ; and our confidence in the merits which we ascribe to ourselves, has, in this and, alas ! too many other analogous instances, tempted us to the worst of wrongs. If individuals so often fail in what they consider their strong points, nations still more so ; for they envelop themselves in self- flattery and self-delusion. There is no adulation so sneaking as that which nations, through the 384 THE conqueror's sons. 1057, 1107 organs and leaders of national opinion, render to themselves. Rather be the slave licking the dust before Tiberius or Heliogabalus than the Illinois Judge, praising his fellow-citizens as a generous and excitable nation, when he directs the grand jury to ignore a Bill for burning a negro alive — More honoured be Tiberius or Heliogabalus, than the nation by whom such incense is required. Let us never take credit for any national virtue exercised in our Imperial policy, not even in a mercantile sense; for the evils we inflict upon one subject-nation can never be compen sated by any good we bestow upon another. We cannot discharge our account by setting off hap piness against suffering, and striking the balance between suffering and happiness : — the just and merciful protection extended to millions of Ryots does not relieve the misery of one evicted Irish cottager. In all our dealings with the Milesian race, there has not been one of our national prin ciples which we have not violated, not one of our moral duties in which we have not failed. — We have despised their poverty, we have reviled their virtues, we have insulted their feelings, we have despoiled their inheritance, we have derided their fortitude, we have scoffed their heroism, we have scorned their patriotism, we have stigmatized their Faith, their comfort and support in all their calamities, as their foulest crime. Chapter VIII. RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 1092—1096. § 1. " Dilexi justitiam et odi ini qui tatem, 1092— 1096 propterea morior in exilio," — were the dying The words of Hildebrand. — Truly he loved righteous- churdTtL ness and hated iniquity ; hence the hatred he antagonist encountered, hence his persecutions, hence his raiity. power. During his era, and so long as his influence subsisted, the Church was in her strength and glory, because she waged an un compromising warfare against vice. When she neglected this mission, and made friends with the world, then her strength diminished and her glory became dim. Authority is respected, even by its opponents, exactly in proportion to the efficacy which the Magistrate displays ; and the disobedient, recalcitrating sense of mankind was compelled to testify unwillingly in favour of the. efforts made by the Church to correct the trans gressor. Of all her external offices, there is none requiring so much strength of heart and courage. It is very easy to preach sound orthodox doc trine : not hard to be earnest in enforcing the performance of good works ; but most ungrateful to coerce evil. The difficulty of narrating his torically the labours of the Church in restraining VOL. III. C C 386 the conqueror's sons. 1092—1096 vice, consists, not in vindicating the acts of her " Legislators and Magistrates, but in disclosing the sins they strove to repress. There has long been a degrading and degraded tendency to bring forward the ecclesiastical and casuistic Canons and decrees and exhortations and juris prudence, concerning breaches of the seventh Commandment, for the purpose of gratifying prurient curiosity, or increasing prejudiced anti pathy against the Catholic Priesthood: anti pathy even more ignorant than prejudiced. Writers who do so, upbraid the Magistrate for possessing the qualifications which constitute his merit, the painful knowledge of the crimes he is called upon to punish. Theh* minds pervert anatomical demonstrations into obscene pictures. Their depraved imagination imparts to honest Vesalius the colouring of infamous Aretine. The passages, to which we will allude no further, adduced with loathsome satisfaction, for the pur pose of exulting over the corruptions of the mediaeval period — corruptions to which all flesh is liable — are only proofs of the stern principle which withstood the enormities. The zeal of the Church was excited instead of being cooled by the personal dangers which her Ministers encountered : the labour now be came more trying, because licentiousness was assuming a new aspect. It continued gross and shameless as heretofore, even amongst person- RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 387 ages ofthe highest rank. The temporal head of 1092-1096 the Latin Commonwealth, the Emperor Henry IV, was a portent of debased brutality. His con duct towards Praxeda outrages human nature. — - Nevertheless, immorality was also beginning to be rendered seductive by refinements, which adorn ing its coarseness, encreased its real malignity: an embroidered veil thrown over an ulcerated sore. A flood of evil was pouring in from Southern Depravity r ° ofthe Gaul. Under that bright Sun, and amongst an south,— intelligent race, gifted almost with Hellenic viva- badours- city, the development of talent and luxury pro ceeded with concurrent vigour. Here, in the Roman Province, the ancient seat of Roman civilization, more of Roman art lingered than even in Italy; particularly in and about Aix and Toulouse. The Romance language of these regions had attained grammatical regularity, a rich and sweet dialect (in subsequent times in cluded in the Langue d 'oc), affording the vehicle for a flourishing literature, exhibiting compli cated and elegant versification, variety of rhythm, refined and delicate fancy; and yet saturated with immorality. Such were the compositions of the Troubadours : the whole tendency of* this School of Poesy was, in plain terms, to palliate unchastity and adultery, to recommend and pro mote the most abandoned profligacy. This is Rot a vague accusation, an hypothesis laboriously extorted from dubious evidence, but the very cc 2 388 the conqueror's SONS. 1092—1096 evidence itself; the arraignment comes from their own mouths, they pass judgment upon them selves : the Troubadours, cynically impudent, dis play their defilements before you as their pride and honour. — They inculcated depravity by pre cept and by example : it animated their poetry, and constituted the business of their lives. vu'count ^ne spirit of the age is mirrored in the first thJersTof Troubadour of whom any composition is pre- badours"" served, — earliest in date, exalted in rank, pre- 1087,1127. emment in talent, — William Count of Poitou and Duke of Aquitaine, grandfather of Queen Eleanor. Poetical fluency, wit, whim, courage, courtesy, sentimental licentiousness, reckless de bauchery, all are combined in him. Count William personifies the beau-ideal of the gay and gallant Provencal Minstrel. We willingly shorten the details exhibiting his character; yet one incident must be noticed. He established a house of prostitution at Niort, which he organ ized as a mock monastery. Harlots robed as Nuns, ruled by a Superior whom he styled the Abbess. Count William had seduced Malburga, Viscountess of Chatelherault: discarding his own wife Hildegarda, he entertained this profligate woman in his palace in defiance of the Viscount her husband, and Avhen he rode forth to deli ver the Holy Sepulchre, with the red Cross mantle floating on his shoulder, the portrait of his adulterous companion was painted upon his RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 389 shield. The censures of the Church he en- 1092—1096 tirely defied. He was excommunicated by Peter Bishop of Poictiers. When the Prelate was pro nouncing the anathema, Count William rushed up to him and threatened him with death. The Bishop asked a moment's time for consideration, and then completed the sentence, presenting his neck to the Count's sword — whereupon Wil liam burst into loud laughter, telling the Bishop he hated him too much to send him to Para dise. Perhaps there is no form in which vice is rendered more seductive than when accom panied with clever and spirited levity. § 2. King Philip, not less dissolute, was Philip, destitute of the Count's talents. After many France, J elopes with years marriage, faithful, mild, and submissive A^0ndaof Bertha, having borne him four children, two of whom survived, she became first an object of his neglect, and next of his persecution. That he might indulge his passions with greater license, uncontrolled by the presence of his forbearing wife, he imprisoned her in the Castle of Montreuil. Self-divorced, he considered himself at liberty, and fixed his heartless affections upon the Coun tess of Anjou. Whitsun-eve, whilst the Clergy 1092. were pronouncing the benediction upon the Bap tismal fonts, and the congregation crowding the Cathedral, Bertrada eloped, and meeting the King of France at Maindrai, half way between Tours and Orleans, he carried her off to his 390 the conqueror's sons. io92-i«96 own domains. Some say, that Bertrada herself made the first advances, and inveigled the King: others, that he, visiting his friend and vassal Fulk, began by intriguing with Bertrada. Both may have been equally enticing and consenting. be*madet0 Nevertheless, if ever there was a case in whicb trada.er" an enforced marriage could be pleaded as an excuse for subsequent misconduct, Bertrada's was one. — Fulk's vices were even more disgusting than his person ; and the young and lovely Bertrada had ample reason to expect the vilest treatment from the husband to whom she had been sold. Repelled from her duty by that husband's profligacy, Bertrada was as forcibly attracted towards evil, by the dissoluteness of the class in which she was placed by birth and station.— Yet Bertrada was ultimately preserved from the 1118-9. deceit of thus iustifying herself. Some sixteen Bertradas " * ° death*"1' years> or thereabouts, after Bertrada had aban doned Fulk Re"chin, she died at Haute-bruyeres, a cell affiliated to the rigid order of Fontevrault, and then recently established, though without her intervention, upon a Seignory constituting a por tion of her dowry. She had entered this retreat as a penitent. There, she found a companion, another penitent, her kinsAvoman, Isabel de Mont fort, the once brilliant Lady of Toeny, tamed by age, worn out, humble and contrite, seeking rest. When Bertrada took the veil, she still retained her full beauty : not a wrinkle Avas seen upon RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 391 her pleasant, open countenance; but her tender 1092—1096 and delicate frame sank before the austerities of the rule in which she professed. This misdeed became the poison and misery of Philip's life. Having thus obtained his prize Bertrada, he lived in open concubinage with her. Bertha being still imprisoned at Montreuil. It was an aggravation of King Philip's unkindness, that he thus kept the Queen confined in a place which had been prepared and given to her as a Bridal bower. No divorce had been pronounced between Bertrada and Fulk, nor between Philip and Bertha, there was therefore a double adul tery. Furthermore, Philip cruelly violated Fulk Rechin's hospitality, and also dishonoured the mutual relation between Lord and Vassal. Whe ther as a man, a husband, or a king, Philip's conduct was flagrantly despicable. Moral sensi bility was somewhat obtuse at this period in the world, but Philip passed over all the conven tional limits of propriety which the great usually prescribed to themselves, and this ostentatious example of Royal licentiousness excited unpa ralleled scandal throughout all Christendom. Ambition actuated Bertrada more forcibly than wantonness : she had determined to be a Queen. The Countess and Philip were married : married Marriage x of Philip certainly, but under circumstances of extreme t"addlf er" privacy. All parties concerned were ashamed of themselves ; and although five different prelates, Odo Bishop Of Bayeux, Bonalme Archbishop of 392 THE conqueror's SONS. 1092—1096 Rouen, Philip Bishop of Troyes, Walter Bishop of M^aux, and Urso Bishop of Senlis, were severally accused of having unworthily profaned the holy ceremony, it is doubtful upon whom the censure falls. Probably, however, Odo of Bayeux was the delinquent. As to such other of the before-named Prelates who were present, Philip may have per suaded or terrified them into compliance, all being more or less under his influence, even the Arch bishop of Rouen, who held domains in France. Nevertheless the French Clergy did their duty intrepidly, and the universal Church supported them: — no flinching, no condonation. The offence was committed in the diocese of Chartres. Ivo, the Bishop of that See, the Tribonian of the Canon Law, he who accomplished the great la bour of first drafting the code, was no less resolute than learned. Ivo realized the law he taught. The impartial administration of justice was with him a fact, not a theory. He excommunicated the King. Philip revenged himself by putting Ivo in prison. The suit was brought up before a provincial Council, and the sentence ultimately confirmed by the Supreme Pontiffs Urban, and his successor Pascal. Philip was repeatedly en joined to separate himself from Bertrada, but he refused ; and except during some Aery short intervals, he continued excommunicated until Philip and the approach of death. cens^ed Whenever King Philip entered a city, all Di- by the . „ ° r J' Church, vine Service ceased. In the full exercise of royal RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 393 authority — for it is entirely untrue to assert that 1092-1096 his subjects were authorized by the Church to " ' withdraw their allegiance from him — he was branded with infamy, never assuming the royal ornaments, never wearing the Crown ; nor had Bertrada ever the satisfaction of being saluted as Queen. Fulk of Anjou displayed his resentment cha- Fuik and racteristically, by the pen, and not by the sword, condiedfby In his private memoirs, he calls Philip " the traitor," without specifying the treachery. Fur thermore, Fulk caused his public acts to bear re cord of his own and Bertrada's shame, the shame which he had deserved and earned. For example, we have a Charter of his, signed in the following terms, — " Facta est autem hsec donatio anno ab " incarnatione Domini, millesimo nonagesimo " quinto, Urbano Apostolico, Franeia ex adulterio "Philippi indigni Regis fcedata." But Fulk's indignation evaporated in words: he and Philip Avere congenial spirits, and all parties became good friends. Bertrada's cleverness, winning man ners, and lively spirit, enabled her to manage both husbands. As a token of their reconcili ation they banquetted together. Fulk and Philip. sat at her feet; nor did there ever afterwards appear any rivalry between them. Bertrada, not insensible to her disgrace, endeavoured to conceal her feelings by audacity. On one occasion she compelled the priests at Sens to say mass, by main force, when she was in the city : as if the 394 the conqueror's sons. 1092—1096 Services of the Church, celebrated in defiance ""'of the Church, could profit her, cut off from communion. Philip, indolently good-humoured, sported with his degradation. Whenever the King and Queen quitted a city, their exit was marked by the bells ringing merrily, at which he used to joke with Bertrada, saying, — "Well, dear, how gladly those folks drive us away." It was thus he tried to harden himself; but the pre vailing sentiment was entirely against him. The people believed that the dogs would not gnaw the bones which came from his table ; and the diseases which afflicted him, painful and loath some, were attributed to Divine vengeance. Discom- R 3. The interference of the Church with forts of •" courthose Philip, as well as his adulterous union, had their15 much influence in political affairs; but we p^ts'- must now return to circumstances more imme- agaTnTfthe diately concerning Normandy and England. — The Christmas outbreak at Gloucester, when Robert departed so angrily from the Court, was not immediately followed by hostile opera tions. The brothers were each discomforted in their respective dominions, and therefore unable to harass each other. Rufus was occupied by his discussions with Anselm ; much discontent was fermenting amongst a large section of the Anglo-Normans. The King's talent and power threw the Baronage into the shade. — His rigid administration of the law restrained and provoked them. They believed he would hang a Knight RENEWED wars AND CONSPIRACIES. 395 or imprison a Baron, as readily as a churl. They 1092-1090 fretted under the yoke, and began to entertain ~ very bold projects, decidedly more desperate than any hitherto formed. Many of the parties were deservedly suspicious to Rufus, old offenders and without any definite knowledge of their intentions, he vigilantly observed them. Courthose sank in proportion as his brother Normandy x x insurgent. rose, and completely relapsed into insignificance. Normandy became insurgent. Robert de Belesme Beiesme'spower and stood prominent in the disturbances, and mixed tyranny. himself up in most of the feuds which arose amongst the Baronage. Various claims which he possessed or asserted, gave him a plausible pre tence for frequent interference. His activity was unabated, his cruelty unsatiated. — The Clerks bestowed upon him all the Demon-names they could collect from the mythological literature of the Infernal regions, — Pluto, Megsera, Cerberus, — which however queerly inappropriate, bespoke the deserved indignation and horror he excited. He continued to improve all his resources and talents. Skilled in the art of fortification, he was anxious to learn more : he had now engaged the assistance of a celebrated engineer, .who, a few years afterwards, rendered great services to the Crusaders in Palestine. Had Belesme been able to restrain his cruelty within the bounds of common sense, he would unquestionably have risen to the highest political eminence and power ; but his uncontrolled, almost 396 the conqueror's sons. 1092-1096 insane ferocity, counteracted his ambition. On * ' every side Belesme provoked resistance by his unreasonable tyranny ; and he so oppressed the people of Domfront, a place which he held by a confused title, compounded of inheritance and conquest, that they could not bear such treat- H6auyd b ment any longer : they sought a deliverer. From the men of Du\ie Robert, as much in Beiesme's power as Domfront. ' r they, no aid could be expected ; so they fixed their hopes on Beauclerc, whom they invited from France. If we read a corrupted text rightly, they sent his old tutor Achard to bring him in. An insurrection ofthe Beauclerc party ensued, and he acquired the territory. Domfront now became a point-d'appui for further operations. French men and Bretons joined Beauclerc : his influence rapidly increased. It is probable he was secretly assisted by Rufus, and we find afterwards that he regained the whole Cotentin, — but our ac count of Beauclerc's exploits at this juncture is remarkably brief and obscure : he persecuted the Monks of St. Evroul by attacking their posses sions ; Ordericus seems therefore rather sullen, and tells as little as possible about the matter. The great R 4. Inveterate were the feuds concerning feud be- 3 , ° bamdeWil" ^e grim Castle of lATy. We can scarcely doubt andTsce- tne trutn of> t^e human sacrifiCe which inaugu rated the Dungeon tOAver; but, were the story a mere myth, it is nevertheless characteristic of Ivry's fortunes. William de Breteuil, now at peace with Raoul or line Goel. RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 397 Ralph Toeny, was engaged in a fierce dispute with 1092—1096 his vassal Asceline, Seigneur of Breherval and ^ ~ Lord of Castle Cary in England. — Goello or Goel was the surname which Asceline usually assumed, derived from a noble Breton Barony ; but the designation of Lupellus, or the young Wolf, had been bestoAved upon him in consequence of his savage temper, common to the whole family. This Asceline is a personage of much importance in English genealogies. Through his son William, Families the name Lupellus, softened into Lovel, became from Goel- hereditary. — "Lovel, our dog," was his lineal descendant. — Lovels of Castle Cary and Lovels of Tichmarsh, Percevals, Egremonts, Beaumonts, and Somersetshire Gurneys, the second line of BareAve Gournay, where the walls of the old man sion are partly standing, all come from Asceline. He and his brothers signalized themselves by £ause of , ° •* the quarrel. their intrepid, turbulent lawlessness. William, one of this maudite engeance, had carried off a damsel at Pascy. William de Breteuil, sitting in his Baronial Court, passed judgment upon him. Asceline resented this administration of justice as an unbearable indignity. He defied his liege- lord, and, attacking Ivry, surprised the Castle, and surrendered it to Courthose, who claimed the possession as a Ducal domain. But instead of holding Ivry as a place of defence, he restored the fortress to Breteuil, receiving, nevertheless, a good sum of money for the same. This trans- 398 the conqueror's sons. 1092—1096 action exasperated the enmities between Wil- liam de Breteuil and Asceline. The latter now became equally fierce against his superior. Barons and Knights were always standing ready to be hired: money never failed to secure their aid. Asceline negociated with the Montforts, and with certain household or immediate retainers ofthe French King. Thus supported, Asceline attacked William de Breteuil, took him prisoner, and kept him captive in his Castle of Breteuil. William de Breteuil had only two children, both illegitimate — Eustace de Pascy, who attained the miserable distinction of becoming Beauclerc's son-in-law, by espousing the base-born but noble spirited Juliana; and a daughter, Isabel. Breteuil Asceline, was rich in money and lands. Asceline, young usage and and unmarried, converted the capture of his liege torture, , ... -, . m compels Lord into a matrimonial speculation. Two con- Breteuil to give him ditions did AsceUne therefore insist upon as the his daugh- x ter Isabel, price of BreteuU's liberation. Three thousand pounds of Dreux currency, and fair Isabel. Wil liam de Breteuil resisted these exactions stoutly ; he would not part either with money or daughter. At first, no Jew of York, or Burgher of Rouen, could have stood out harder; and therefore Asce line was under the unpleasant necessity of treat ing the Baron as though he had been a Burgher or a Jew. During three months Breteuil was kept in duresse, ironed, chained, plagued, and starved, without yielding : till at length the livres RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 399 and the lady were extorted by an ingenious mode 1092-109C of torture. In the depth of winter, Asceline " fastened his liege-lord to the grating at the bleak top of a tower, unclothed, save by a poor, thin shirt : he was thus exposed to the whistling, bitter, biting winds, whilst water was poured upon him abundantly and continually, till he was sheeted with ice. This anguish Breteuil could not resist: he consented to the terms proposed, paid the ransom, endowed Isabel in the Church porch, and gave her away. § 5. A relationship thus contracted was not ^"fiHuL^ hkely to produce much affection, — and in the W-JE do following year William de Breteuil, eager for and'lTce- revenge, renewed the warfare against his now son-m'-iaw. son-in-law with increased anger and desperation. Asceline took possession of Ivry, as a portion of Isabel's dowry: his father-in-law, William de 1095. May. Breteuil, besieged the Castle, occupying an ad- ivry be- joining Monastery. Goel spared no ecclesiastical Brfteuiif immunity; and set fire to the sacred edifice. Had not Breteuil saved himself by flight, he would have sustained a repetition of his former discipline. Affront thus heaped upon affront, Breteuil sought to support himself by the assistance of King Philip and Duke Robert. He bought their services. It is a great breach in the theoretical sys tem of feudality, thus to find Sovereigns receiving pay from a vassal (for Breteuil was the vassal both of France and Normandy), for the purpose 400 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092—1096 of fighting his battles. This petty warfare also "^ includes an incident of exceeding importance in French constitutional History, the first appear ance of the Communal militia. Hitherto, as it is supposed, the Baronage had been the sole leaders of the King's forces ; but during the siege of Breherval, the tiers-e'tat appeared, the ancient - Herr-bann of the Carlovingian age revived. Mar shalled under the Communal banners, the au thority of commanding the troops raised from the towns, was transferred to the towns them selves : a small beginning, but which under Louis le Gros effected a complete alteration in the military system which had hitherto pre vailed. Mesme's par more powerful than King of France or heTake°sns: Duke of Normandy, was Robert de Belesme st^cenery. Count of Alencon, who, considering Ascehne Goel as a rival, bore him a virulent hatred, assisting the besiegers with all his power. The renowned engineer whom he had retained, constructed the ordnance needed for the attack. By his machines, stones and beams of enormous weight were cast into the fortress; and the description of the effect which these missiles produced, shews how deficient the Norman artil lery had previously been. Ivry surrendered: Belesme, stimulated by success, pursued his enter prises, and attacked the often contested Castle of St. Cenery. This kindled another feud; for RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 401 Beauclerc, invited to assist Robert Giroie, who 1092— 1096 held the castle, engaged with great zeal in his '' defence. More calamities. Robert Giroie was expelled: brave Radegonda, who defended the castle of Giroie during her husband's absence, died of distress ; and their child, who fell into Beiesme's power, was removed by poison. This cowardly and detestable mode of assassination continued as prevalent as ever. Giroie, however, rallied again, and, making head against Belesme, began to build a new castle at Montaigu. Be lesme now had recourse to Duke Robert, who assisted in assailing the threatening fortification ; and the castle was attacked and razed. It is not needful to pursue the narrative of these per plexed and obscure transactions: but the inci dents here noticed or selected, enable us to realize the state of the country, and to eluci date the tone of sentiment which prevailed. § 6. Robert, harassed by the quarrels in i°93- which he was engaged against his brother, hostilities nursed his anger for about two years, at the|°bertand end of which term, the Christmas Feast, the The former challenges joyful and holy anniversary, was again troubled ^Sring\hheer by family enmity: no peace, no good .will, SSS" amongst the Conqueror's sons. Rufus was ce lebrating the Festival, wearing his Crown at Gloucester, when a messenger — we must not commit the anachronism of calling him a Herald — entered the Hall, bearing Robert's defiance, VOL. III. DD 402 the conqueror's sons. 1092—1096 accusing the King of perjury and treachery, declaring that the compact between them was at an end. No particulars of the complaint appears to have been stated, but many plots and machinations against Robert were partially dis closed. Beauclerc had evidently gone over to Rufus, so also many of the Barons in -the tur bulent Alencon Marchland. Be this as it may, Rufus gladly took up the gauntlet and accepted the challenge. Flambard issued the writs; and the Great Council was summoned to meet at Hastings on Candlemas-day. 1094. Much important business was transacted in February 2. . x Great this assembly, ecclesiastical, administrative, and Council at Hastings, military. It was during this Session that the memorable interview between Rufus and Anselm took place, when the Archbishop fruitlessly urged the King to aid in re-establishing eccle- 19 March, siastical discipline. On Midlent Sunday, Rufus, Rufus , , crosses to the adverse Avinds which had detained him having Normandy. . subsided, took his unblest passage to Normandy: a meeting ensued between him and discontented Meetings Courthose. It came to nothing. A second con- between ° tilers- ference took place in the Campus Martius: a s^rvators" smgular denomination this, evidencing the medi- trea'ty ^^l tendency of looking to ancient Rome for R^fuTin words and thoughts and models, and more espe cially in all matters connected with policy or war. The proceedings, however, were judicial, and con ducted strictly according to Teutonic traditions. RENEWED wars AND CONSPIRACIES. 403 The Four-and-twenty Barons, the Twelve and 1092-1096 Twelve, who upon their oaths had become sure ties for the treaty, came forth and gave their verdict, throwing the whole blame upon the King. Rufus cared nothing for their judgment, and re fused to abide by it. — He would neither retract nor amend, pay nor restore. i 7. The brothers separated, furious against Kufus J sr o raises his each other. Courthose repaired to Rouen ; Rufus ^"adopts* returned to Eu, trusting in the well-paid alliance measures. of Count William, who had such a strong pecu niary interest to continue useful. Moreover, the Count of Eu had many reasons to be a stanch Anglo-Norman Englishman, being married to the sister of Geoffrey Baynard, who had thoroughly settled himself in England, Geoffrey being Lord of the Soke (the modern ward) of Castle Baynard, in the heart of London. At Eu, then, Rufus raised Rufusincreases his banner, conducting his military operations ac- J*e "utmber cording to his usual fashion, bestowing and dis- zans- pensing gifts, largesses, promises, money, lands, with profuse liberality. — He knew with whom he had to deal. — "Be it better, be it worse, be ruled by him who rules the purse," was the accepted motto of the Norman Baronage. Gour nay, and Giffard, and Braiosa, and Evreux, and Toeny, adhered to their patron, and crowds of others, Barons, Donzels, Knights, Squires, Sol diers, all who wanted pay or favour, resorted to him. He was very successful amongst the Alencon DD2 404 THE conqueror's sons. 1092-1096 March-Lords. William Peverel, the Nottingham Peverel, who commanded the Castle of Houlme, was one of their chiefs. wiuiam de Probably about this time there also entered Alderia J and waiter mt0 the King's service two individuals who en- Tyrrel. ° joyed much of his confidence : William de Alderia, and Walter Tyrrel. — The first was remarkable -for his handsome and delicate person: but we cannot distinctly make out his lineage. He is nowhere mentioned except in connexion with the history of Rufus. — The second was a descendant of Fulk, Seigneur of Guernaville, Dean of Evreux. This Dean Fulk affords a conspicuous example of a married dignitary. Disciple of the famous Fulbert of Chartres, possessing an ample military inheritance, he, half secular, half ecclesiastic, espoused the noble Lady Orielda, by whom he had ten children. Wal ter, who assumed the name of Tyrrel, was the youngest, and transmitted his name (as we judge) to the King's favourite and boon com panion. Our Walter Tyrrel was Seigneur of the noble Barony (afterwards the Principality) of Poix in the Amiennois, not far from the Norman frontier, between Albemarle and Gour nay. This vicinity would naturally connect Walter Tyrrel with the Norman Lords. Two of Beiesme's brethren, Roger de Poitou, as he was called, Seigneur of Argenteuil, and Ar nold or Ernold, joined the King. Most important RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 405 however to him was a family re-union. The ani- 1092-1090 mosity between Henry and Rufus had rapidly miti- * gated into forbearance : it was profitable for both of them to help each other ; and the forbearance speedily ripened into an alliance against Robert. Henry attached himself very closely to Rufus. Henceforward, so long as Rufus lived, he always appears subservient to his eldest brother, follow ing him in all his ways, and, with few exceptions, always close at hand — Beauclerc had good reason to be watchful of public affairs. 5 8. Amidst the general venality of the courthose J o ^ invites the Norman Baronage, there was one whom no price up BJnghiof could buy — Helias de St. Sidoine. His Castle aepurpose fT-» .i tv 1 * of counter - Bures on the Dieppe or Arques river, was a acting great obstacle to the King's plans, cutting off the communication between Eu and the Giffard Barony. Rufus laid siege to Bures, the Castle surrendered ; he had triumphed by arms ; but the resistance to his money so provoked the King, that he adopted a very unusual measure : he transported a part of the garrison to England, where they were kept in close captivity. Helias de St. Sidoine, however, was not taken. Robert again invited the dangerous aid of King Philip, who soon afterwards began to asso ciate his young and active son Louis le Gros in the royal authority. The French troops were pow erful, their commanders shewed unusual courage and spirit. Robert himself displayed a sudden 406 THE conqueror's sons. 1092—1096 and transient burst of activity. He attacked the " Castle of Houlme in or adjoining the Belesme territory, and compelled William Peverel and his large garrison to surrender. King Philip P,ccipse ^a^ siege to Argenteuil. Another display of treachery or cowardice ensued : on the very day after he had invested the place, seven hundred Knights and fourteen hundred Squires yielded themselves up at discretion, a disgraceful act, exemplifying the want of honour and good faith amongst the peddling soldiery. But on this occasion the Argenteuil garrison made a bad bargain; Philip took them all to France, and extorted large ransoms from them for his own benefit and advantage. Financial R 9. Rufus now began to feel himself strait- scheme 3 ° adopted by ened and in difficulties. The successes of Phihp Rufus and x Flambard. were considerable. More power was needed to oppose the enemy, and that power consisted in money. — Finance is becoming the English ta lent. — The largesses required for the hire of the Norman Baronage had exhausted the Exchequer. Flambard continued most diligent : the sale of Church preferment proceeded vigorously; sees kept vacant, tenants racked, Bishops compelled to answer the heavy drafts upon their well-filled purses, sums of money carried away bodily from the Monasteries, as, for example, from Winches ter, and the geld exacted to the last penny. A new device Avas therefore adopted. Under the RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 407 Anglo-Saxon constitution, the Crown possessed 1092—1096 very extensive powers of calling out the Fyrd, " that general armament of the people which com prehended every rank, under various obligations and penalties, all heavy. These levies were sum- Royai Pre- ii 1 tt-. t • rogative of moned by the King, according to his uncon- enforcing A ° . military trolled judgment and prerogative. He impera- levies- tively decided when military service was required. The expenses of the Host were charged upon the land. The Shires and Burghs virtually assessed themselves, according to their ancient and imme morial customs, recognized and established by Domesday. The contributions and rates were unequal, as well as the mode of apportionment. When not affected by any special usage, the lia bility was regulated by the common law. The soldiers Avere victualled at the expense of the Shire or Burgh for a certain term, usually two months ; but the money was impounded, paid to the soldier, and not to the King. This is stated very distinctly in Domesday as being an important right, and gave a considerable degree of inde pendence. By the King's command, the Justiciars issued the writs for the levy. The troops were specially summoned for the King's army in Normandy. Twenty thousand English soldiers assembled at Hastings, each of whom had received the money for the payment of his expenses during the expedition. It was always doubtful whether, 408 the conqueror's sons. 1092—1096 at any time, the Sovereign's prerogative, unless *~~J aided by a special enactment, could compel an Englishman to perform military service out of the British islands. — " Sir Earl, you shall either go, or hang," quoth King Edward to the Earl Marshal. — " Sir King, I will neither go nor hang," was the reply. The Earl Marshal neither went nor hanged, and the result was a confir mation of the Charters by the King, and liberal grants by the people : nor was any foreign ex pedition afterwards entertained without Parlia mentary concurrence, Monarch and Subject yield ing to that principle of compromise which has produced the Constitution, a trial of strength, not carried to the utmost. The want of Royal authority might be com pensated by the subject's good will, and, as we have before observed when relating the Con queror's last fatal campaign, the English had no objection to co-operate with their SoArereign in Flambard fighting against a French enemy. But Rufus 6XCU.S6S actual and Flambard did not put them to the test. service in x ationdoT" IflStead of requiring the troops to embark, Flam- Sly'the bard offered to release the actual service, pro- the Crown vided each man would pay ten shillings to the King ofthe°rrtl°n out of the County alloAvance. Flambard thus mme™6" raised at once, and without trouble, delay, or de duction, the sum often thousand pounds; and the soldiers returned to their homes, most of them with a surplus of pocket-money. The transaction RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 409 was equally advantageous to both parties. The 1092—1096 Sovereign obtained his supplies : the subject was *" excused an onerous duty. Thus we arrive at another incipient stage of the English Constitu tion, the commencement of the Commutations for military service afterwards termed Scutages ; and also of the extraordinary aids, in the first instance obtained before the King's Commis sioners in the several Shires, and ultimately by the assembled representatives of the Shires. — For the purpose of granting a subsidy, the sol diers at Hastings were the Commons House of Parliament. § 10. No troops therefore crossed from Hast- December. ings to Normandy : none indeed were needed : ?^ ct°m~ the general muster had answered its purpose England. far better, by its disbandment on English land. Affairs improved in Normandy for Rufus. Beau clerc co-operated cordially : the defection amongst Robert's Baronage encreased. Philip's army melt ed away before the walls of Longueville-Gif- fard, though not an arrow was shot ; and a judicious dole out of the ten thousand pounds may be easily understood to have effected these results. Rufus was left at liberty to return to England, where dangers again threatened his authority. Duncan, the English liege-man, was expelled; the Anglo-Norman interest suffering. The Cymri united in a well-planned and desperate insurrection: North Wales, West Wales, South 410 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092—1096 Wales, all co-operating, had nearly cleared the country of the French invaders ; a delusive suc cess, for the toils were tightening round them ; but, nevertheless, the rising became alarming to the Norman power. The year was declining, — winter coming fast on — severe weather — a bad season for warfare; but Rufus enjoyed any danger which gave diver sion for his restless activity ; he delighted in change of place, and for any reason; though his energy occasionally failed strangely in actual peril, causing alternations of extreme excitement and gloom. He and Henry returned to England ; his power was now so well consolidated in Nor mandy, that both could afford to be absent. Rufus raised and conducted a large army against the Welsh. His troops again suffered consider able losses in the mountains and forests ; but the rebels were severely punished; for, after these heavy blows, they always sunk lower and lower in strength, though not in valour. Rufus then rushed over to Normandy, and returned as sud denly to England. — He must continue in England, or all will be lost. 1095. R i] The conspiracy always suspected, if not Renewal of ,. . r J J tr the odo distinctly known, by Rufus, and now becoming conspiracy. . ripe for execution, was a continuance of Bishop Odo's rebellion. The Baronage engaged in that enterprize succumbed to the King's power, but Avaited the opportunity for renewing the attempt; RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 411 Rufus, conscious of the subsistence of the adverse 1092—1096 feeling, had been in like manner warily expecting the explosion. On the part of the Baronage, all the former instigations continued and increased : Rufus was more feared, more tyrannical, more loathsome. Whatever vices disgraced the Baron age, his, were such as to occasion universal detes tation. The conspirators consisted mainly of the old connexion : all who had been engaged in the machinations of the two Norman Bishops, Odo of Bayeux and Godfrey of Coutances, and were yet alive and in England, joined in it. — The Earl of^a™8con_ Shrewsbury, Robert of Montgomery, the Norman ^*baerirs' of the Normans the Conqueror of the Bretons, being'thl and his son Philip; — Roger de Lacy, unmindful of the benefits he had received from Rufus, who never earned any real gratitude ; — William of Eu, so recently untrue to Robert Duke of Normandy, and now equally ready to violate the engage ments he had contracted with William King of England; — Odo, Earl of Holdernesse, always honoured as Count of Champagne, the kinsman of the King ; — Gilbert, son of Richard de Clare, grandfather of Ireland's bane and England's also, Richard Strongbow, and this great Baron Gilbert de Clare, sometimes called Gilbert de Tonbridge, increased his culpability by a simu lated adhesion to Rufus; — Geoffrey Baynard, as we collect from subsequent transactions, con nived with the conspirators; — William de Alderia, 412 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092—1096 so lately received into royal favour also ; — and, ~" at the head, Robert Mowbray, the triumphant Earl of Northumberland. There would seem to have been small reason for much exultation at a victory like that which Mowbray obtained by stratagem and treachery over Malcolm Canmore : nevertheless, it upset his ill-regulated mind, so overweening was the pride it had excited. He determined to dethrone Rufus. Morel, his counsellor and co-operator, assisted in organizing the plot ; their object being The con- an entire change of dynasty. The sons of the spiratorspropose a Conqueror were to be cleared away. Rufus they change of ^ J J Diachfy' detested, Robert, effete and useless, they despised; Aibemarif Henry, versatile, ingenious, was supported by a throne!16 strong English interest, and therefore to be dreaded as a King. Stephen, the son of the titular Count of Champagne, now in possession of the Earldom of Albemarle, was the individual whom they selected to be the founder of the new race, for though very noble by descent, and nearly connected with the royal family, — the grandchild of the Conqueror's half-sister, — he had only a nominal relationship with the house of Rollo. Stephen is well known by his pious foundations: for him, perhaps, no better com memoration is needed. He was very valiant, considerate, and prudent ; qualities, entitling him to the perilous distinction of appearing as a competitor with Rufus, Avhen there were so many RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 413 others of the Richardites, as they were called, 1092-1096 collateral branches of the old Ducal family, who " might otherwise have been preferred. § 12. You sometimes lose sight of an object cata- .... . . . , strophe of by looking upon it too intently. When men s the plot Jt ° r J brought on minds are fixed upon the perpetration of great by mow- x x x ° bray s im- or perilous deeds, their anxious attention to prudence. the plot's minuter machinery renders them incapable of perceiving the probable results of particular actions, which any person, being a spec tator, and not an actor, would judge to threaten entire failure. Common prudence might have taught Mowbray, at this juncture, to remain quiet, and avoid rousing the sleeping lion, abstaining from giving any plausible cause of offence to his vigilant, active, and implacable Sovereign, one who thoroughly appreciated the advantage of ruling through the Law, as well as in spite of the Law. This caution the Earl of Northumberland wantonly disregarded. He and his trusty helper, Norwegian ii/riiii -tit . Merchants Morel, plundered certain Norwegian traders plundered iii by Mow- wno had peaceably resorted to a Northumbrian bray- port. The Rauber-Schloss, so conspicuous in the regular modern romance of feudal times, never really reared its battlements in ancient England. The merchants besought the King for redress. Rufus, notwithstanding all his wild and half- insane irregularities and vices, fully compre hended the scope of his Sovereignty. Whether the merit belongs to Rufus or to Flambard, the judicial organization was well worked. The royal 414 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1092- 1096 authority dilated itself more and more over Theyap- the Anglo-Saxon realms, consolidating Mercia, the King and Wessex, and Northumbria, by uniformity as Conser- ... vator of of administration ; and Rufus, supreme Conser ve Peace. x vator of the peace, summoned the delinquent Mowbray to make amends, or failing, to appear before the Great Council, and answer for his trespasses. At a subsequent period, this reme dial prerogative continued to be exercised by the King's Council, from which the equitable juris diction of the Court of Chancery has emanated. Under the Edwards, the injured parties would have presented a petition, and if the culprits were out of reach, subjects, for example, of a foreign prince, who refused to do the Plaintiffs justice, letters of marque and reprisal would have issued against the other subjects of the offending State. If a natural-born subject was the wrong -doer, the proceedings would have been remitted to the King's Bench, the supreme criminal Court, or called before the Council. Mowbray fi 13. Mowbray Avas therefore summoned by refuses to J ¦' for^th?6" writ to appear before the Great Council at Win- coundi. chester. Could the Process-server dare to cross Bamborough drawbridge, or seek access to fierce Mowbray in Tynemouth tower? — Anyhow, the Earl of Northumbria made default. He did not condescend to come before the Court ; he acted Mio95.g as an independent potentate. Rufus had now Mowbray attained the object for which he had been so summoned , to the long preparing, a fair and plausible cause oi RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 415 hostility against the Earl. He issued a peremptory 1092-1096 writ, summoning Mowbray to appear, like the whiSuT' other Baronage, at the ordinary Whitsun Coun- makes cil. Mowbray required pledges that he should Kufus ' proceeds be allowed to come and return freely. As a against Mm * as a rebel. Baron, he was fully entitled to this protection, not so as an offender ; therefore Rufus would not give any promise. Mowbray again made default : the Court was full, but no Earl of Northumber land there. Rufus, now having right upon his side, determined to punish this contumacy, not only against royal authority but against justice, by military execution. Assembling his forces, he marched against the Earl as one who had broken his allegiance. It is instructive to observe the Analogy 0 t between forms of existing Institutions, loosely outlined in ancient ° « mihtary the obscure and remote Anglo-Norman period. ejactaess ° tr of royal Our practical jurisprudence still repeats the an- Pnde^e cient language, a living commemoration of early fhe"courtf doctrines and usages. In cases of resistance to cery.han the process of the Common-Law Courts, more particularly grounded upon Anglo-Saxon tra ditions, it is the Sheriff who raises the Posse- comitatus; but the last process against a con tumacious defendant in the Court of Chapcery, (a branch, so to speak, of the Anglo-Norman Great Council,) is a Commission of rebellion. § 14. Earl Mowbray had fully prepared 1095. himself for the danger. Newcastle upon Tyne Nofember. was occupied by the Royal troops, but the Earl ™7onS 416 the conqueror's sons. 1092—1096 had partisans amongst them, well affected to his aglhS ' cause. He established himself in Bamborough as terminated his head-quarters : his wife, the energetic Matilda byhiscap- and the enemy chased him into St. Oswyne's capture! Priory, the sanctuary which his bounty had raised. But no ecclesiastical immunity could protect the State delinquent: the Monastery was besieged and stormed. Many of his companions in arms fell, all the rest were taken. Mowbray himself, RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 419 wounded and bleeding, was dragged from the 1092— 1096 Church in which he vainly sought refuge. Bamborough still held out, stubbornly de fended by the Countess and by Morel. They could obtain a supply of provisions by sea : the siege was protracted also in consequence of the inefficiency of the Norman artillery ; and when 1095. Rufus returned from the Welsh expedition, and6oet. King Ida's Castle still defied the assailants. Force being unavailing, Rufus commanded that Mowbray should be led in chains before the walls of his Castle : proclamation was made, that, unless Matilda and Morel surrendered Bamborough, the King would pluck out Mow bray's eyes. Rufus was in right earnest, and when he threatened, he was wont to be worse than his word. Whether influenced by affection, .or by the hopelessness of protracted resistance, Matilda yielded, — Bamborough surrendered to Bam- the King; and now Rufus might glut his venge- surrelf-1 ance. Much information concerning the con spiracy had been given by Gilbert de Clare. Morel, admitted into the King's Court, con summated his treacheries by disclosing all the ramifications of the plot ; and through his dever, crafty dealing, the traitors, or those whom he accused as such, were delivered into the King's power. All thus denounced, Clergy and laity, were completely at the mercy of the Sove reign. ee 2 420 THE conqueror's SONS. 1092—1096 ^ 1 5. A Great Council was summoned with 1096. unusual stringency, to meet at Sarum on the Great octave of the Epiphany; a woeful solemnity. sarum.1^* Geoffrey Baynard appealed his brother-in-law, mentrf the William Count of Eu, as a traitor. Mixed motives actuated the Appellant : the Challenger, or as we should noAV say, the Accomplice who turned King's evidence. To inform against a Brother- in-law might have seemed odious, but the means Avere noAV offered to Baynard of clearing himself from his crime, misprision of treason. William was unfaithful to his wife Helisenda, Baynard's sister : a large family by the Count's Concubine surrounded him. Geoffrey had been careless about his sister's affront: but he now assumed the attitude of virtuous indignation, and declared he would avenge the outrage. William Eu bifnded de ^u was vanquished : the judgment of battle lated""*1 passed against him, and the son and heir of Robert de Eu, the Conqueror's chief counsellor, he who for the sake of Rufus, and the bribes of Rufus, had abandoned his nearer liege lord, being deli vered into the hands of the executioner, was blinded, and expiated his complicated treacheries by other mutilations and pains, worse than mortal agony. wiiiiam de William de Alderia Avas hanged on the hill Alderia ° hanged, ot Did oarum, unavailingly protesting innocence as to any design of compassing the King's death ; but, troubled in conscience, and heavily burthened RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 421 by other exceedingly grievous sins, he confessed 1092—1096 them to Bishop Osmund, entreating, as the last ~ boon, that, before he died, he might suffer an adequate penance. William de Alderia was scourged at the door of every church in and about the Castle and Burgh, then constituting the City. On his way to the place of execution, he distributed his garments to the poor, and kneeled again and again on the sharp flints and stones, so that his blood tracked his painful rugged path up to the gallows. Odo, the titular Count of Champagne, the odo of Conqueror's nephew, was imprisoned ; Roger de ),asne and Lacy banished, and his lands bestowed upon his ^^ban" brother. Hugh de Montgomery, the Norman of The end of the Normans, disgraced, and heavily fined : he Montgo- had to pay three thousand pounds, and never held up his head again. Some say he was shorn as a monk in his own Abbey of Shrewsbury : others, that, at last, the Welsh were able to avenge themselves upon their implacable enemy ; but of this more hereafter. Roger de Mowbray, Robert's heroic father, The end of had fought by the Conqueror's side. Who had Mowbray. assisted him more valiantly and more loyally? but the recollection of these services availed nought for the son : perhaps they enhanced his guilt. Earl Mowbray was let down into the pit of Windsor Castle, in which his robust consti tution encreased his punishment, by giving him 422 the conqueror's SONS. 1092—1096 strength to linger during thirty-four wretched years, before he was removed from this living grave to the sepulchre. Matilda de Aquila did not sorrow very long for her husband. Accord ing to a principle of jurisprudence still preA-ailing in France, and adopted from the Roman law, perpetual imprisonment is equivalent to civil death : the Pope therefore declared the mar riage dissolved. Another husband soon appeared, Nigel de Albini, the King's Bow-bearer, who, obtaining Earl Mowbray's lands and Earl Mow bray's wife, transmitted Earl Mowbray's name to his posterity. Nigel lived with Matilda so long as she could promote his interest ; but when her brother, Gilbert de Aquila, died, even as she had divorced her first husband, so did the second divorce her. As she had done, so she was done by. Nigel kept the lands, but repudiated the lady. Matilda died in disgrace and poverty, and Nigel, by Henry Beauclerc's special introduction, married the great heiress, Gundreda the fair, daughter of Gerard de Gournay; and her son, Roger, assuming the name of Mowbray, though without a drop of Mowbray blood in his veins, became the founder of the new Mowbray family. The end of Morel, hated, contemned, and despised, died Morel. ... in exile, a miserable beggar. Some of the con spirators were admitted to make their peace, that is to say, they purchased pardon by large pecu niary payments. The royal authority was en- RENEWED WARS AND CONSPIRACIES. 423 creased and consolidated ; and although Rufus 1092—1096 was more and more abhorred, no further open manifestation of discontent appeared. Relieved from apprehension, he encreased in audacity : his good fortune apparently returned. — Before the year closed, Normandy fell into his power, and he entered upon a new career of regal magnificence. Chapter IX. THE COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 1095—1096. 1096—1096 § 1. The meteoric and cosmical phseno- intensity of mena, which, commencing with the decline of celestial phenomena the Roman Empire, encreased in the later ages, cento* seem now to have attained the greatest intensity. Comets successively appeared of singular forms and wonderful splendour. Blazing swords and fiery dragons, as they were fancifully described, rapidly swept along the heavenly arch. From Britain to Syria, the sky repeatedly burned with blood-red glow, interspersed with flickering shafts, pourtraying armies battling in the air. The Aurora, so long intermitted, and whose re appearance, when the lucid rays came as a novelty before Newton and Halley offers a sin gular and unsolved problem, then coruscated across the welkin, dismaying the multitudes. loos. But amongst these portents, most awful The great and strange was the magnificent spectacle wit- asteroidal ° ° r stream, nessed throughout Europe on the Wednesday recorded as o i the prog- night of the feast of St. Ambrose, in the year nostication " * : ih when "Easter fell in our Lady's lap :" that contin gency deemed — had no other token occurred— to forebode evil. Streams of astral showers co vered the aerial realms, thick as snow-flakes nostication ofthe Crusade, COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 425 t floating and whirling in the storm, or the pouring 1095—1096 hail, or as if the stars were dispersed and driven " like chaff in the furious wind ; evidently the cur rent of asteroids now again periodically inter secting our sphere, and watched or sought from the Observatory, furnishing captivating specula tions to the philosopher; but if we come closely to argument, marvels inexplicable by the reason of mankind. The Astrologer Bishop then also stood upon Lisieux tower, and declared, that in the celestial signs he beheld the symbol of changes and going forth of the troubled nations. As such was the warning universally received and realized in the First Crusade. So terrible and sublime was this display of the stars fighting in their courses, that the event has been commemorated by almost every contempo rary Chronicler ; and from their pages it passes into the annals of the world. The uniformity of the descriptions is very remarkable : the clear and definite aspect of the radiant torrent was unsusceptible of misrepresentation, and surpassed exaggeration: modern science could not describe the appearances more accurately ; the Witnesses all concur in the main facts, though some furnish valuable additional details, telling of the heated aerolithes which fell and struck the smoking ground. § 2. Sore was the hunger in the lands Famine and A 11 il. i- • i • pestilence All the qualities and accidents, all the motions, concurrcnt 426 the conqueror's sons. 1095—1096 changes, and developements of matter and orga nization, are at once natural and preternatural, if indeed there be any distinction (excepting that occasioned by our imperfect conceptions) between the laws imposed upon Creation, and the Will of Him in whom is the life and motion and being of all Creation. Viewing, however, these phenomena merely under their physical relations, they concurred most impressively with the disordered and distempered state of society, resulting from the visitations which Europe had sustained. A succession of inclement seasons, the blight and the cankerworm, droughts and floods, scorching winds, alternating with rigid cold, caused perennial famine throughout Chris tendom. Year after year, each scanty harvest had been exhausted before the seed-time of the Spring, the corn withered or swamped, the vine burnt by frost, the shrunk olive cut from the bough by the scathing blast. The food to which the people were driven was not the sustenance of life, but life's destruction: the meagre watery herb, the crude root, the corrupted carcase engendering painful and loathsome diseases, plague, pestilence. This distress extended through the most fertile regions. Towns and villages were entirely depo pulated, crime and violence stimulated by raven ing despair. In such contingencies we discoA-er that human agency can never, in the strict sense of the COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 427 term, work any good. Man can but mitigate 1095—1096 evil. The physician may be permitted to remedy v disease, but medicine cannot give health : the husbandman's diligence tills the ground, but the plough cannot bestow fertility: the Legislature provides the store for the years of dearth, but the Statute cannot multiply the contents of the garner : the utmost Avhich civilization can per form, is to relieve particular classes from want, by concentrating the misery upon other mem bers of the body politic. During the mediaeval period there were no exempt classes; misery struck all alike : all were bowed down before affliction. These sufferings stimulated a vague desire of change — anything for the better — any help. As is not uncommon, when epidemics pre vail, visions haunted the popular mind. There was a strange fancy current, that Charlemagne was about to rise at Aix from the sepulchre into which he had descended, clad with his royal ornaments, the embroidered dalmatica, the golden crown, his good sword Joyeuse pendant from his baldric, his eburn horn by his side; and thus did they dream that the Emperor would conduct the nations to Palestine. • § 3. Amidst the fragments of Europe's early 1095. history, the exploits and conquests ofthe Gaulish council of races give them vast pre-eminence ; but the 61"'°n " knowledge which we possess concerning the Plunderers of Delphi, the Founders of Milan, 428 the conqueror's sons. 1095—1096 and the Destroyers of Rome, is not reflected back upon their own homes. Ten of such pages as you are now reading would contain all the facts and annals of Acquitania, the third part of the Cauls, from the going forth out of the Ark until the Merovingian accession, save as to the events recorded in the Commen taries of the Empire's founder. Ten of these lines would condense all that is known concern ing the country of the Arverni : with the excep tion ofthe world-agitating conflict, which ended by transplanting to Nemetum, the site of Cler mont, the population, removed from the waste and desert hill of Gergovia, still pointed out to the wayfarer as the Monument of Caesar's vic tories. Well does the Auvergnat peasant know that the name of Pont du Chastel points out where Caesar built his bridge ; — and Avhere he planted his Eagle standard, on the summit now crowned with the Baronial tower. Henceforward, we pos sess scarcely any information concerning the vicis situdes and fortunes of unchronicled Arvernia, until Ave arrive at the period when her Pre lates were enabled to contemplate the trans lation of the Roman dominion in the Gauls to the rising Frankish Monarchy ; Clovis the Patri cian, wearing the Consular robe, crowned and anointed as Sovereign of the Franks, co-inhe ritor of the Roman Empire. Here, in a city much disconnected from the COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 429 ordinary affairs of the Gauls, Urban convened the 1095-1090 Council, virtually accepted as the Diet of Western Christendom. Thirteen Archbishops, two hun dred and twenty-five Bishops, and eighty croziered Abbots, composed the Legislative Senate, followed and surrounded by inferior members of the Hier archy, Deans, Archdeacons, monks and priors, and the laity, Counts and Barons, Knights and sol diers, burghers and routers, and myriads of the meaner ranks, worried by the general wretched ness, excited, anxious, fevered, eagerly expecting some good from the result of the great assembly. The mosaic-covered Basilica of Ste. Marie du Port, then without the city-walls, received the Fathers of the Council ; the Multitude expanded in encampment upon the surrounding plain. That Urban should have selected secluded R«*onsfurselecting Clermont for the assembly of the Council, has^™0"' been explained by the supposition that Auvergne, onte* still governed by its sturdy dynasty, possessed a more independent political existence than any other continental territory where a Pontiff could preside. The County of Clermont was at this era governed by William, descended from the ancient House of Toulouse. St. Peter's sucaessor and the ecclesiastical magistracy ofthe Western Church were here free from the influence, direct or indirect, of King and Kaiser. This reason possessed weight ; but there was another, less apparent, the marriage of Count William to a 430 the conqueror's sons. 1095—1096 Norman daughter of Sicily brought him close to an Individual who had the success of the great enterprise deeply at heart. Moreover the geographical position of Au vergne, including the culminating points of the Gauls, afforded further inducement. No other station could have been found, which, within a moderate distance from Aquitaine and the Provincia Romana, was so easily attainable, whether from the Belgic and Gallo-Belgic terri tories on the North and North-East, or Normandy and Bretagne on the North and North-West. Urban's acute advisers well knew how much their strength would lie in that direction, and the difficulty of access Avas compensated by com parative proximity. 4o8_ 46o. s 4 Had there been any prepense design of Volcanoes ¦* ^ x x ° Ffranece*ral exalting the multitudes' enthusiasm by strange eruptions aQd awful scenery, Clermont, of all transalpine nyScontem- localities, was most fitted for the end. Here may the Geologist investigate the memorials ofthe last known igneous display of volcanic energy in Europe, except the Mediterranean's burning mountains and Phlegraean fields. Somewhat more than six centuries and an half before the Council of Clermont, Central France had been subject to tremendous volcanic eruptions. From the moun tains, perhaps upheaved at a more remote period, like the Mexican Jorullo, in the course of a single night, the explosive fires bursting forth, broke COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 431 down the cones which ejected the incandescent 1095-1096 showers, attended by continuous earthquakes during three years, shaking and shattering wall and tower. Thunders rolled through the deep recesses of the earth. Al rauco suon' della Tartarea tromba, Treman' Ie spaziose atre caverne, E l'aer cieco a quel' rumor' rimbomba. Appalled by the concussions, the sounds, the con flagrations, even the beasts of the forest, driven from their haunts, sought refuge in the abodes of mankind. These convulsions are commemorated by the living witnesses, who literally dwelt amongst the heaps of ashes and scoria cast forth by the rending craters ; not men of obscure station and humble authority, but individuals of exalted rank, Sidonius Apollinaris the Poet, Prefect, Patrician, sidonius c ' Apolhna- Senator, Bishop ; whose tomb is now seen near ™ c^hop the freshest of the volcanic vestiges, and whose j^"^^ memory lives in the recollection of every peasant 430— 488' inhabiting Avitiacum, the Villa where he resided ; and Alcimus Avitus, equally high in the Church, Aicimus n •> ° ' Avitus, Bi- Bishop of Vienne, nephew of an Emperor, Coun- ^°Pnof seiior and friend of Clovis. These do not record fl^!g|g the events in the studied Chronicle, or in the technical nomenclature of science, or the decked amplification of poetry; but in the language of friendship and devotion. Briefly and empha tically they advert, in Letter and Homily, to transient calamities as the reason for lasting 432 THE CONQUERORS SONS. 1095-1096 gratitude and repentance, speaking not to stran gers, who would need any elaborate explanation, nor preserving details to satisfy the curiosity of posterity, but seeking the comfort and edification of the friends and contemporaries whom they addressed, men who had fled from the suffocating streams and showers, heard the subterranean groans, felt the trembling ground, knelt before the same altar, joined in the same prayers — the people to whom every word of the Preacher realised in their minds the desolation which had passed away. The Church commemorates these visitations, and our Anglican Liturgy is their subsisting and familiar record in each revolving year. — Instructed and profiting by the example ofthe Ninevites, Ma- mertus, Bishop of Vienne, assembled his people in prayer and humiliation : to avert such evils, he instituted the solemn Litanies or Rogations on the three days immediately preceding the feast of the Ascension ; which three days acquired Rogation distinctively the appellation of Rogation days, days, insti tuted by being then the only portion of the year set Mamertus, ° J r ^ vienne °in aPart i°r such purposes of supplication. These ratio™6?10" Services, rendered so impressive by the calamities tioens'np" an(l portents Avhich had suggested them, spread rapidly throughout the Gauls and England. In no atfon tn*s Country they were continued by usage and ^"Eng-" tradition until the eighth century, when they land. were authoritatively adopted as a portion of our COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 433 national ritual, in whose rubrical Calendar they 1095—1096 are now retained. * $ 5. Whether after this vast display any state of further manifestations of volcanic activity ap- after the eruption, peared, we cannot ascertain, Auvergne being almost Avholly destitute of Chroniclers. — Some tokens, however, of the then comparatively recent energies existed during the Middle Ages. One Lake, at least, exhibited a power entirely analogous to the Iceland Geyser, which, teazed by casting in a stone, responds by exploding the steaming column. In this Lake, not far from the tomb of Sidonius, the substratum was still so fully impregnated with gas, that any similar dis turbance was immediately followed by storms of gushing vapour, rushing mists, and raving sounds. The gathering multitudes assembled round striking aspect of the Church of Ste. Marie du Port, were encircled the extinct Volcanoes by the receding ranges of volcanic mountains, *s see" shaped like sepulchral mounds of Titans, each mont the Tumulus of an Enceladus, burnt, scorched, retaining in every crag and fragment the marks of fire, hard, sharp, rough, harsh as the slags cast forth from the iron furnace, their brown and orange tints contrasted by the vivid green df the interspersed vegetation, fresh and luxuriating, life springing amidst destruction. Towering above all, solitary amidst her companions, the cloud- compelling Puy du D6me, so marvellously con trived, when the Deep fled before the Voice of VOL. III. F F 434 THE conqueror's sons. 1095—1096 the rebuking thunder, to irrigate the teeming " Limagne, attracting every passing cloud. No cloud can be wafted within the sphere of the peerless mountain's influence without being en forced to wrap her summit in gloom, whilst the condensed waters, absorbed by the porous mineral through which they are filtered, form the streams, thence meandering in the secret courses below, until they issue forth to feed the fertilizing springs, the rivers which run amongst the hills. By far the greater number of the future Cru saders could never in their whole lives have previously contemplated the more awful beauties of nature : none such were furnished by rich Brabant and undulating Lorraine, stern heathy Bretagne, orchard-covered Normandy, the flow ery meadows and corn-fields adorned by wind ing Seine, the spreading plains of Champagne; — nor was it possible that their imaginations should be otherwise than exalted by a spectacle testi fying and recalling the covenants, catastrophes, and judgments revealed and recorded in Holy Writ, the abatement of the Flood from the face of the Earth, the destruction of the Cities of the plain ; and Sinai veiled in descending darkness. character- § 6. All the nations of Latin Europe con- lstics of the x cmsades. tributed sooner or later their contingent to the Crusades, hence does the History of the Crusades become Catholic, concerning every nation in COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 435 Western Christendom. Her noblest lineages 1095— 1069 appear as Warriors of the Cross. The Latin Empire in the East, is her universal conquest and colony. Our sacred edifices are at once the monuments of the Crusades and their Museums. From the Holy Wars originated the Institutions' powerful in their very names, whose glorious but departing shadows hover around us, whose reminiscences adorn European society. The mys terious Templars ; the bravery and courtesy of golden Malta ; majestic Alcantara, Avis and Calatrava ; the heraldic splendour of the Golden Fleece, and the brilliant Brotherhood of the courtly Garter, the first semblance of romantic chivalry legally established in living society, and the last whose banners have retained any vestige of Gothic grandeur. Furthermore, how intimately do we feel the Chivalry. influence of the Crusades in literature and through literature. The character we ascribe to these " Holy Wars," mainly results from the traditions of poetry : hence the difficulty of dis engaging their real elements, from the attributes which imagination has bestowed. We are spell bound by the witchery of verse. The era of the Crusades has been designated as the heroic age of Western Christendom : a plausible yet most in correct appellation. An heroic age can never be intercalated in the History of nations. Such an age may be found when a nation, unenlightened f f 2 436 THE conqueror's sons. 1095—1096 by the Word of God, begins to assume a social ~" existence : it must disappear as that nation ad vances. The Heroic attributes are the leaves enveloping the sprouting stem, which die when the stem grows and hardens. The History of an heroic age consists of recollections conveyed through the medium of poetical tradition, the myth being as much a reality as the facts which it encloses, — whereas, to us, the Crusaders have been unrealized by poetry reflected back upon the past. The Poets, whether in prose or rhyme, have raised an intoxicating incense-mist of sweet savour, wrapping the senses in delusion, conceal ing the frailties, the imperfections, nay, even the deformities of the mortals before whom it ascends. All exaltation of man — hard as the doctrine may seem — tends towards idolatry, more seductive when rendered to the naturally admirable than to the naturally vile. It is not the graven image which alone constitutes the idol. chivalry, § 7. One hardly knows where to begin in ascribed developing and dispelling the unrealities. You cmsades. contemplate the cross-legged effigy, grim in mailed armour — you call him a Crusader. Could the statue open its mouth and speak, the first thing the stone Avould say is — "No, Friend,— the bones which lie beneath me, belong not to a Crusader." — The notion that the attitude sym bolizes the doughty deeds of the Holy Land is a thorough figment: an antiquarian conceit, COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 437 Avhich has ripened into a vulgar error. Like 1095—1096 many vulgar errors, it has a right worshipful parentage : the fancy derives from Camden, the venerable father of English archaeology ; and yet the opinion is not a whit the more true because it is sanctioned by his respectable name. You may, if you choose, biographize the dead. The ordi- . . nary inci- Take the rubrics of the chapters composing his dents of brief chronicle. — He inherits a small manor, liable biographyin old to a statute staple, acknowledged to a Bristol ^ns^^- merchant : — disputes with the Earl Marshal as to the amount of his tenure : — pleads in the Exchequer; — judgment given that he holds per servitium unius Militis; — stands out against taking his degree of Knighthood until the Barons issue a distringas ; — haggles with the Lord Treasurer for the amount of his scutage ; — still appears charged as a Crown debtor on the Great Roll after six screwed-out instalments: — serves for the Shire ; — receives his five marks for his parlia mentary Avages, and will not bate a single penny to his constituents ; — is put into the Commission as a Conservator of the Peace; — rides once in the jousts on Dunstable Downs, — for what prize we cannot tell, — the earliest guerdon which we ascertain from history to have been jousted for in England was a Bear, the Bear being given by a lady ; it was a lady who gave the Bear, but the Bear was the Victor's meed, and not the lady's kiss, or the lady : — no more tournaments, for he got into trouble by them, being taken up by 438 THE conqueror's sons. 1095—1096 the Sheriff for attending such a disorderly meet ing : — is always at law, now Plaintiff in a Mort dauncestre, now Defendant in a Novel disseisin : — law costs money, so he jobs for a Ward in Chancery, — begs or buys a httle Heiress from the King, having, he best knows how, got the good word of the Bishop who holds the Seals : — settles, — has sixteen children, — buries his worn- out wife, — becomes Tenant by the Courtesy of her lands ; — and dies in his bed. Such is the outline of the life of many a knightly individual, recum bent upon his Tomb before us, with iron-hooded head, gauntleted hand, belt and faulchion, embla zoned shield, girded surcoat, and spurred heel. Popular Well — we give up the costume, though reluct- view of the tor to spi«t of antly ; but we must make a greater sacrifice : we must surrender the ideas suggested by that mailed effigy, iron-hooded head, gauntleted hand, belt and faulchion, emblazoned shield, girded sur coat, and spurred heel ; and, exonerating that Knight from any share of responsibility in the Holy Wars, advert to the favourite theory which derives the "Spirit of chivalry" from the Cru sades. — Are we not told that "the Spirit of " Chivalry was the parent and offspring of the " Crusades ?" again, that in "' the accomplished " character of the Crusader, we discover all the " virtues of a perfect Knight, the true Spirit of " Chivalry, Avhich inspired the generous senti- " ments and social offices of man ?" — The His torian might reply in the words of a great COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 439 Teacher, Avhose voice already resounds in History 1095—1096 — "I confess that if I were called upon to name Arnold's " what Spirit of evil predominantly deserved the cern7ng0n~ " name of Antichrist, I should name the Spirit of ,Ta y' " Chivalry : the more detestable for the very guise " of the Archangel ruined, which has made it so " seductive to the most generous spirits — but to "me so hateful, because it is in direct opposition " to the impartial justice of the Gospel, and its "comprehensive feeling of equal brotherhood, "and because it so fostered a sense of honour " rather than a sense of duty." The illusions of the Desert, the perfumed gardens of Damascus, breathing their fragrance in the evening air, may justify the Poet's creation of Ismeno's enchant ments and Armida's bowers; but never did Pal estine exhibit the garland which clusters round the ideal Knight — "O gran bonta dei cavalieri antichi, Eran rivali, eran di fe diversi, E si sentian degli aspri colpi iniqui, Per tutta la persona anco dolersi ; E pur per selve oscure, e calli obliqui Insieme van, senza sospetto aversi — " piety, gentleness, honour, sincerity, courtesy, for bearance, and love. Take the huge folio of the Gesta Dei per The Poetic Francos — search it boldly and honestly, turn over ch^aty, its fifteen hundred pages, examine their contents tious. according to the rules of moral evidence, the praises the Writers bestow, and more than their praises, their blame ; their commentaries upon 440 the conqueror's sons. 1095—1096 deeds of cruelty, and more than their commen- "' taries, their silence — and try how much you can extract which will justify any one of the general positions which the popular enthusiasts for Chi valry have maintained. Truly, they will be satisfied with small things. — Gaston de Foix marched against Brescia with an army of twelve thousand men : the Loyal Serviteur describes his force as the Flower of French chivalry ; amongst them, Bayard, the The"Ge- Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche; who in nerosity of jr j: Bayard." ^.ne attack of the breach received a wound thought to be mortal. Brescia was taken by storm — the Venetians made a desperate but ineffectual re sistance, and the people emulated the soldiers in fidelity and valour — the opulent City was therefore abandoned to pillage, and the Flower of chivalry, under the guidance of the gentil Gaston de Foix, indulged during seven days in pillage, lust, and slaughter. Nearly fifty thousand ofthe citizens perished. This was the boast of the French — no mercy shewn, even to Avoman or child. The Generosity of Bayard is the pattern-illus tration of the pictorial history of chiAalry. The Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche was taken to the house belonging to a noble family, whence the cowardly husband had fled to a monastery: his wife and tAvo beautiful daughters left exposed to the enemy's brutality. When the soldiers who were bearing Bayard began to break open the door, the Lady came forth in terror. Bayard COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 441 directed that a guard should be placed, and 1095—1096 the mansion, now his hospital, preserved from pillage and violence. During two months of Bayard's slow and painful recovery, he was tenderly nursed by the Lady and her Daughters — no care, no atten tion, which could alleviate the sufferings of the body or comfort the mind, were spared by them ; and their characters displayed the utmost feminine tenderness and purity. According to the spirit of the times of " Francis the father of letters," the Damsels considered themselves as Bayard's prisoners, and more, entirely in his power. When the Chevalier was about to depart, the Mother offered him a purse of ducats as the young ladies' ransom ; but, to her extreme sur prise, — Bayard actually refused the money, — returning a part as their marriage portion, and directing the balance to be distributed in alms, for the relief of the Nuns whom the French had reduced to destitution. This act of generosity and nobility of conduct was amazingly above the average standard then prevailing; the praises which the " generosity " has earned from all Bayard's biographers sufficiently prove the* fact; but how low must then that average standard of Chivalry have been ! fi 8. We must now at length come into close views of J . Papal au- contact Avith him who sounded the Trumpet t!lorit?i.n tr the spirit which sent forth the first Crusade. All the events j^ie thereof, and indeed the whole succession of the Affes- 442 the conqueror's sons. 1095—1096 Holy Wars, all their consequences, aggregate ^ about Pope Urban. The world has writhed under the pains which the Crusades engendered. When considering the character of any supreme Pontiff during the mediaeval period, we must act as foreigners use when they sojourn in a strange country. They treat the Sovereign's authority as an acknowledged fact, and do not question the legitimacy of his powers. — They must also enter into the feelings of his subjects, and understand the national principles of loyalty and obedience, not interpreting these principles and feelings by their own. There is no undue pride in the Turkish Peasant who stands erect and covered before the Padisha. Certain historical peculiarities attend the Papal authority, which at first sight seem almost contradictory to the theory of Papal supremacy. Pontifical authority usually appears during the Middle Ages to increase in stringency and cogency when you recede from the Papal See: yet this phenomenon is in accordance to the nature of all Sovereignty, so far as the Ma gistrate depends upon moral influence. Moral strength grows with the enlargement of the orb through which it radiates. In the very centre, where the Sovereign walks and moves amongst you, you cannot disconnect the mere physical power arising out of his personal presence from his moral power; Avhereas, Avhen the Ruler is removed from the cognizance of our senses, the COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 443 mere fact that he commands obedience, unheard, 1095—1096 unseen, is a far greater testimony of his pre- " eminence. An abstraction sometimes works more upon the imagination than a substance. The Autocrat who horsewhips his Generals on the Parade of Czarskozelo is dreaded as a mad ruffian. In Kamschatka, where all heads are uncovered at the reading of the Ukase, he is a Divinity. It is at Rome that the Pope commanded least veneration. Besides the political antagonism be tween the Popes and the Roman people, there subsisted constantly the cheapening of Papal authority arising from familiarity. Come what will, small things make up the lives of the greatest men. In the days even of Sixtus Quintus, when the Strappado and the Wooden Horse, and the Gallows, were the monuments which, instead of Obelisk and Dioscuri, adorned the Quirinal, and the Bargello was introduced every morning to receive orders, Conclave and Padre Santo were gossipped about, much as London citizens treat Aldermen and Lord Mayor. Neither must we be scandalized at the ex- Freedom of speech con- treme freedom of speech concerning the Supreme Sfrning the Pontiffs which all parties employed, whether Kings or Priests, Abbots or Monks, Statesmen or Chroniclers. The corruptions of the Papal Court, the Papal vices, errors, injustices, connivances, equivocations, are told, not merely with candour, but even with want of it — unfairly, uncharitably. When you are in the heart of the mediaeval period, 444 the conqueror's sons. 1095—1096 you hardly ever find an apology for a Pope, or " ' any justification of Papal misconduct : the story is told plain out, and by bitter tongues. In modern times, Profligate Leo, Borgia the Poisoner, Ganganelli the Philosopher, Giuliano della Rovere the Thunderer, have all been made the objects not merely of palliation but of praise; it was otherwise in the times with which we are now concerned. Even in address ing the Pope, the Clergy are rough, coarse, and almost abusive. Peter Damien and St. Bernard rate and scold at Pope Gregory and Pope Eugene almost in the style of a pseudonymous news paper correspondent, attacking a Prime Minister. The cause of this conduct, apparently so irrecon- cileable with the respect due (according to their Medieval opinions) to the transcendant station of the views ot J- ' Authority Supreme Pontiff, arose, in one Avay, from the firmness of their faith. They spoke of the Priesthood in the same way as the Scriptures speak of Eli and his sons, not unfrequently quoting the very text and examples. An inde feasible commission is not impaired by the un worthiness of the Servant to whom the authority is imparted. Believing (as they did) that the Papal throne stood upon the Rock, it never entered their heads to think that the strength of the Rock was compromised by the frailty of the mortal who filled the Chair. This would not be the place, nor Avould it be our province, to discuss how the inconceivable COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 445 dogma of Papal infallibility arose. One thing 1095—1096 is certain, that it never has been adopted de " facto in any practical sense, excepting according to the universal principle, that the decision of a competent tribunal upon subjects Avithin its juris diction, is valid until revoked by another com petent authority. For the history of the Church is that of a succession of imperfect reforms : aspirations and shortcomings, the fall and the rise, Temptation from below, Weakness within, Help from Above ; each renewal of the Canon of a Council is a confession of negligence and laxity ; each correction of an abuse, a confession of abuses ; each reprehension of a transgression, an acknowledgment of sins. As the Churches of Jerusalem, and Alexandria, and Antioch, and Rome have erred, so does and will every Church; until all shall be gathered under One Shepherd, in One fold. Thanks therefore to this mediaeval bold urban's grievous speaking and free-thinking, we possess the fullest err01: .in . JT o o7 x sanctioning evidence concerning the Holy Wars ; and the most ^de0™ learned and pious members of the Roman Obe dience are compelled to lament that Urban, instigating the Crusades, committed a most grievous error. He yielded to the seductions of the Lying Spirit, he was led by a Temptation which he did not seek to resist. He pressed more Thorns into the side of the Church, from which universal Christendom still continues wounded and languishing. The Holy War be- 446 the conqueror's sons. 1095—1096 came his act, because, though adopted and sanc- " tioned by the Council, he was the efficient organ, and upon his head the responsibility must rest. wfadvfsers h 9. We are not informed whether any of monter" the Sacred College accompanied Urban to Cler mont, but we contemplate him there, standing upon the elevated Podium supported by two Friends and Counsellors. — On his right, appears a cowled Monk, or, if not a Monk, one who wears the grey-mantled habit of Religion, such as befits an anchorite, way-worn, care-worn, small in sta ture, but vigorous, active, nay, restless. Unsteady of eye, the smoothed pilgrim's staff in his thin sinewy hand, his tongue declares or betrays his country. The particular place of his nativity may be uncertain, but you cannot doubt that he comes somewhere from the North of the Gauls, from the Gallo-Belgic provinces, somewhere be- ofti^K^ tween Normandy and Flanders. This you learn mustrateT from the Shibboleth of his speech, the sibilant Fontaine, exchanged for the soft chirping sound, a pecu liarity of dialect best exemplified by a quotation from the terse and playful fable : " Et ce dicton Picard alentour fut 6crit, Biaux Chi res Leups n'ecoute- mie Mere tenchant chon fieu qui crie." Eloquent, — not merely full of Avords, but full of matter, this Anchorite possesses all the pro fessional trick and tact needful for working upon the feelings of a popular assembly. How the crowds shudder when he relates the horrors of COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 447 the persecutions sustained by the Pilgrims in the 1095—1090 Holy Land : how they cheer, when the Hermit's sonorous voice exhorts them to the warlike mis sion : the multitude are carried away by him. Few have the resolution entirely to repudiate him, but there are very many to whom he is not quite satisfactory : they cannot quite trust either his motives or his judgment, they cannot dismiss a lurking doubt that the Orator may be acting a part ; they cannot determine whether he be sincerely devout, a deluded enthusiast, a wild fanatic, or an artful speculator, seeking nothing but to promote the plans of others or his own. Nor does his Hermit's garb inspire confidence Bad repu- - tation of to these somewhat hard iudges, but rather the Hermits J ° and Ancho- contrary. He is arrayed in the uniform of a bad ^di" the set : he may be a good man, but his Hermit's Ages' dress tells against him in the first instance. The lives of these recluses afforded sad proof of their general unworthiness. Not bound by vows, nor subjected to the authority of any Superior, Her mits were in great disrepute, scarcely redeem ed by some bright examples of holiness found amongst them. A solitary life, not needing any previous probation, nor imposing any restraint, too often rendered the secluded cell equally the hidinghole and opportunity of sloth and depravity. A Recluse amongst the merry vintage peasantry of France, dancing under the shading elm, was exposed to far harder temptations than an An chorite platting palm-baskets in the Thebaid 448 the conqueror's sons. 1095-1096 Desert ; and it was even worse, when they chose to wander about the world. In the older times of the Church, the Circumcelliones, the Vagabond Monks, were reprobated as the pests of Society, and so were Hermits now. Turn to the magnificent Soldier who stands at Urban's left hand : a cubit taller than any of his companions — and rendered even more re markable by his beauty than his procerity. Byzantium still preserved many of the treasures of Hellenic art, trophies of Constantine's dubious piety : the works of Polycles and Phidias, which the poet praised and the cultivated admired, memorials of departed glory. The People Avho prided themselves in possessing these master pieces of plastic talent, who delighted in the reminiscences ofthe age of Pericles, who listened to the eloquence of Demosthenes or the strains of Pindar's lyre, might describe this splendid Warrior's symmetrical form as exhibiting the results which the Greek chisel had sought to accomplish: — the abstract perfection of nature: an Adonis cast in the mould of a Hercules. Fair almost as a damsel, his delicacy diminished not his manly vigour — auburn hair flowing, but not unkempt and wild : deep blue eyes beaming courage : his countenance a union of sweetness and ferocity. The sweet smile of this tall warrior inspired more terror than other men's anger: even as the Pythian Apollo insulting Saint Paul's Epistle and Saint Peter's tomb, betrays that COUNCIL OF CLERMONT. 449 hideous union of brightness and condemnation, 1095-io96 the Miltonic conception perhaps suggested by the very marble — the celestial countenance rendered infernal by the cruel brow, the scornful lip, the revengeful pride, the unsubdued rebellion. Is it needful to mention the names of Urban's companions, his friends, counsellors, supporters, advisers ? The one is Peter de Acheris, Koukou Petros, as the Greeks called him — Peter the Her mit. The other is Marco, or Bohemond, Robert Guiscard's first-born by his first wife and first love, the Normande Alberada, repudiated for the dark, stately/ fierce-eyed Sichelgaita, Princess of Benevento, the alliance whereby he consolidated his usurped power: "And shall," the Pontiff asks, "profaneness flow From Nazareth — source of Christian piety, From Bethlehem, from the mounts of Agony And glorified Ascension? Warriors, go, With prayers and blessings we your path will sow; Like Moses, hold our hands erect, till ye Have chased far off by righteous victory These sons of Amalek, or laid them low !" Who would not wish to participate in the enthu siasm of the Laureate strain ? Who can, — after he shall have performed the dreary task of inter rogating the witnesses by whom the tale of temp tation, blood, and sorrow, is unfolded ? VOL. III. gg Chapter X. ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. sades. 1080—1456. ioso-1456 i i. The Laureate's Sonnet affords the ideal The real conception of the Crusade : his lines are the objects of . the cru- poetical version of Urban's words ; but we must unravel and expound them. They were not all his own words, they resulted from his instiga tors. During the sitting of the Council as well as in the frequent Missionary journeys which Urban performed, whether repairing to Clermont, or afterwards, he delivered many allocutions and speeches, varied according to the capacities and feelings of those whom he addressed. Sometimes he urged the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre eloquently and pathetically. This was the reli gious motive. Closely approximating thereto were others, some so similar as to seem almost identical, yet not really germane: apparently homogeneous, though entirely uncombinable;— or if homogeneous, made entirely uncombinable by the soil which they had received, just as a tenuous film of breath, imperceptible to our senses, prevents the globules of mercury from coalescing, and keeps them asunder by an impe- ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 451 netrable barrier. They touch, all but, — but never ioso-1456 run into one. Exhorting and persuading the Chieftains and urban urges an Leaders of Europe, Urban strengthened and aggressive x ° warfare wound up all arguments founded upon religion, Jf^Maho- by pleading for a cause plausibly politic, conci- "nJibiyfor hating the charitable, speaking like Faith, hon- anced6f the" ourable in aspect, agreeable to natural feelings, races3. ia' consonant with the Statesman's views, further ing the Warrior's ambition, promising wealth to the Merchant, gratification to the luxurious, pleasure to intellect, employment to the mul titude ; his reasonings being the more persua sive because whilst no one proposition, taken singly, could be resisted as palpably incompatible with the Christian character, the intent of their conjunction was irreconcileably adverse. Urban yielded to the destructive delusion that it is lawful for those who raise the banner of the Cross to combine voluntarily, actively, practically, and entirely, by their own choice and seeking, with the forces of the World. He was teaching the comfortable lessons that you may safely serve God and Mammon, that the Worshipper may bow the knee to Baal in the Courts of the Lord, that you may fight the good fight of Faith in alliance with God's enemies, and enter the road of righteousness through the paths of human policy, human artifice, human ambition, human revenge. GG2 452 the conqueror's sons. 1080— 1456 Unprovoked aggressive hostility against the ~" Mahometans, was the duty which Pope Urban urged, justified by the relative positions of the Infidel and the Believer. The Saracens had yielded to a fiercer foe : the Turk was advancing towards the heart of the Western Empire. Was there any obligation more imperative than the liberation of those Christian races, already op pressed by the Miscreant, and the protection of the remainder against Mahometan tyranny? urban's — " What have the Unbelievers not gained?" address. Urban continues: " Syria, Armenia, Phrygia, Galatia, Lydia, Caria, Pamphylia, Isauria, Lycia, Cilicia, even to the very borders of the Helles pont. — Asia, one third part of the world, where the Faith was first planted, the Gospel first preached, where the Apostles died, is claimed by the heathen as their inheritance. — Egypt, Africa, once the most flourishing seat of Christianity, Libya and Pentapolis, numbering four hundred and sixty Bishoprics, Africa, now profaned by the Hagarene's presence: Africa, whose wrongs are the greatest humiliation which Christian honour has sustained : that country, the ancient nurse of genius, Augustine's Fatherland, where those bright intellects were fostered, Avhose works are the glories of Roman literature, the delights of the Learned, the instructors of the Divine." And here let us pause ; and, looking down wards through the ghastly perspective of the Cru- ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 453 sades, we shall find that the first, though most ioso— use incongruous motive, the professed service of Re ligion, brightening for a moment in the Tent of St. Louis, gradually wanes away. Faith is invoked to round a sentence or aid an argument; but Christianity no longer imparted any vitality. — A second motive, found in the emigration impulse, arising from famine, distress, and destitution, wore itself out as the visitations were removed. — A third motive continued with encreased energy. The deliverance of the Holy Sepulchre was a Partition phrase, true in the minds of some, though even Greek i • i • i Empire then, strangely mixed with right and wrong ; — anticipated but the permanent and invariable stimulus ofCrusaders- the movement, was the anticipated partition of the Greek Empire. This Conquest was the final cause of the first Crusade. Though the formal execution of the plan may not have been settled, the design was fully contemplated by the Cru saders. They were consistent in the beginning, consistent to the end. Sufficiently was the real object disclosed, when the pilgrims began to pull the beards of the Greeks, to strip the lead off the Churches, and burn the Palaces, until we arrive at the great result, when the Twelve Electors, representing the French and Venetian conquerors, after galloping over the smoking ruins, scarcely quenched by the blood of the inhabitants, held their Council in the Golden Palace of the Bla- cherna?, and meted out amongst themselves the 454 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 possessions and prerogatives which they had — - wrested from the Byzantine Throne. The cru- x 2. The Crusaders created our Modern Colo- sades, the J tEodem1"3'! System. The action has been continuous; fystemf the conflagration has spread through the World. Venice and Genoa, Dandolo and Doria kindled the enterprize of Cortez and Pizarro, Joam de Castro and Albuquerque ; whilst these great Captains passed the flaming torch, to Bussy and to Clive. Historical parallels, like biographical paral lels, depend upon general conformities, never ciose ana- upon minute circumstances : nevertheless, in the logy be- , tween the system pursued by Crusading Europe agamst European Greek and Moslem, there are the closest approxi- conquests x x in Asia mations to our own age of civUization. The and those o crasaders Jerusalem of Goffredo and his pitiable succes sors ; — the Constantinople of Hainault and Cour- tenay ; — Walter of Brienne's Duchy of Athens, the Cyprus of the Lusignans and Catharine Cornaro. — The Conquering Merchants, ruling amongst and over the trembling nations upon whose territories they are implanted; — Galata and Caffa; — Genoa's fortified Factories extend ing along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof, the dependencies of the Bank of St. George, that presence-chamber of the Ligurian City of palaces, — what are they but the similitudes of Ormuz and Aden; Cochin and Malabar; Calicut and Cranganore ; Calcutta and Travancore ; Goa and Madras; Tangiers and Algeria; Canton, ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 455 Hong Kong, Macao and Batavia ; Labuan, Sara- ioso— 1456 wak and Borneo? ' * ' Wherever a European flag has floated in Asia, Africa, or the New World, whether the waving folds displayed or display the emblazoned Lions and Towers of now imbecile Spain, the Quinas of now degraded Portugal, the Orange- woven stripes of now humbled Holland, the Tricolor of now distracted France, all once tri umphant, — or the Union Standard of our still triumphant Empire, — may the impending Neme sis be averted — there do we behold the develope- ment of the irresistible spirit of domination, the unconquerable energy, the power of ascendancy which the Crusades have imparted to the Civil ized Common-wealth. § 3. The Venetian Patrician, Marino Sanuto 1300—1330 the Elder, who flourished in the reign of our JchemTfor third Edward, is the faithful Interpreter of the ciaEer" Crusades. His ancestor, Marco Sanuto, having, crusade, like Dandolo, Ghisi, Zustinian, and so many by Marino others of the Adriatic aristocracy, struck off from the fourth Crusade, conquered for himself the islands of Naxos, Paros, Antiparos, Melos, and indeed the greater number of the Cyclades and the Sporades — hence assuming a new and proud style and title — the Duke of the Archipelago. Marco then made war against his own country men, and occupying Candia, was saluted King of that island. 456 THE conqueror's sons. 1080-1450 Candia reverted to the Parent State, but the • — - — Islands of the Archipelago were retained by the Sanuto family. They encreased their dignity, and were conspicuous for their acquirements and capacity. Our Marino Sanuto, who dates from the Rialto, travelled far and wide. Five times had he crossed the seas, not a hasty voyager, but a wise, judicious, and working traveller, exploring the Levant, as well as the regions of the North. Labour enters into the value of all intellectual acquirements. Those old wayfarers, troubling and learning, learnt their lessons by study; they were compelled to think upon the text of the World's volume, as they construed each line and paragraph ; we flutter over its Hand book-pages. Marino Sanuto had counted his Florins over the Banco of the Frescobaldi in Flanders, lodged in the Fondaco at Smyrna, dealt with turbaned Turk in the bazaar at Cairo, and had even ranged amongst the fur-clad Ger man and Sclavonian population of the Baltic shores. Marino combined study, research, spe culation, and observation: he was a thorough master of history, ancient and modern, sacred and profane. For his age, an excellent geographer, the pattern and instructor of his namesake and relation, the celebrated Marino Sanuto the Younger. The Senior Sanuto Avas in all respects an ingenious and clever man, full of varied con trivances and accomplishments : he invented a ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 457 new species of musical instrument called the ioso— 1456 Torzello, which supplanted the old-fashioned ^AAA, Rigabello. — Above all, Marino Sanuto possessed 130°— 133° the crowning talent of talents, the power of bring ing all his knowledge and information to bear upon any subject for which they were required. The proiect to which Sanuto devoted all the outline of x J Sanuto's energies of a long and active life, was a gigantic scheme. scheme of mercantile colonization, a grand enter- prize — the promotion of trade by means of war, pursued under the sanction of religion. The plan is fully and methodically developed in his ela borate work, entitled " Secreta Fidelium Crucis" containing three Books, subdivided into twenty Parts, and two hundred and thirty-seven Chap ters. An analysis is prefixed by the Author, giving a full descriptive title of each Book, — the point or question discussed in each Part, and the substance of each Chapter. Four Maps were annexed : — 1. the World (Jerusalem being of course in the centre),— 11. the Mediterranean, and adjoining seas, — in. Egypt, — iv. the Holy Land; and Marino has also added an Appendix of correspondence and official documents. The scope of the entire production may be summed up" by the received formula employed for all similar or analogous expeditions or speculations at the pre sent day — "the extension of legitimate commerce, " developement of material resources — diffusion of " civilization,— propagation of Christianity." The 458 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 Prospectus issued by Marino Sanuto could not be — • — ' despised or neglected as having been concocted 1300—1330 by a mere Visionary : any such jeers received a sufficient answer in the prosperity of his then flourishing kinsmen, the Dukes of the Archi pelago. sanuto's There are two sets of propositions in Sanuto's commercial and poiiti- scheme, which, so to speak, are dovetailed into cal objects. ¦"• each other, and compose the whole : the political and the commercial. From both, he labours most ably to shew how enormously the European powers would profit in all their national inte rests by a vast Oriental colonization. One very important, though incidental advantage, is the diminution of war within Europe: he points out, as a warning example, the great injury occasioned to France and England by the wars in Tuscany and Lombardy, which occasioned a stoppage in their trade. Activity is the main characteristic of Sanuto's mind : the proper epi thet, he says, of the "Negotians," is "negans otium," — hence his admiration of trade. The family of Sanuto stands high amongst the highest in the Libro d'Oro, but Marino is thoroughly a merchant in heart and soul. Territorial extent of R 4. The territorial settlements which Sanuto the pro- J Cations .contemplates, cover the whole Southern and fiie/or1"' Eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, together httorairf0 with the appurtenant inland territories. He in- terranean. vites the Latins to appropriate all dominions ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 459 held by Infidel or Schismatick, from the Straits 1080-1456 of Gibraltar to the Black Sea — Barbary, Egypt, XZX^ Syria (the Holy Sepulchre noticed in a paren- 1300—133 thesis), Armenia, Anatolia, and the whole of Asia Minor. The fragments of the Byzantine Empire are not mentioned in express terms, but they are, by implication, comprehended as an appendage. Sanuto appeals very emphatically to the ex- Appeal ample of our wise and warlike Edward L, who, sanuto to a similar as he says, had planned to accomplish the ac- scheme, ac quisition, first of Egypt, next of the Holy Land, Edward l- and lastly, of Constantinople. This design is unnoticed (unless our memory fails us) in the English historians; it is however probable that such projects, so tempting and not unreasonable, though frustrated, may have been entertained. The young Warrior fought in Palestine, emulat ing the Lion-hearted Richard, but when called to wear the uneasy Crown, the victories over Wal lace and Llewellyn, the disobedience of his son, — Wales and Scotland, domestic troubles and sor rows, consumed his days, till he sunk into sleep at Burgh upon Solway Sands. § 5. The prerogative object and intent how- commer- „ , cial object ever oi the scheme is Commerce. It is his of the , proposed heart s desire that Europe should employ the ThTindia^ Secreta Fidelium Crucis, in obtaining the whole trade" mastery of the Indian trade. The main supply of goods and merchandise comes, as Marino says, chiefly from Malabar and Cambodia. Noticing the 460 THE conqueror's SONS. 1080—1456 intermediate ports, he then tells us that the car- ^AZAZ, goes are landed at Aden — a position of whose 1300—1330 importance he was fully sensible — and then con veyed to their marts by the ship of the desert, the Camel. It is a disgrace, as the Venetian laments, that all our cotton, sugar, gold, silver, tin, saffron, mastick, silk, cubebs, spices, cloves, nutmeg, mace, pepper, ginger, cinnamon, dates, and the peerless flax of Egypt, so indispensable for manufactures, should be supplied to us only by the Miscreants, that the perfidious followers of Mahound should monopolize the profit which ought to belong to sanuto Christendom. On the other hand, Sanuto points proposes a r Mockadeof ou* now dependent the Soldan and his Subjects Sax&cen are upon European supplies, no less important to inrge'nerai, them than Indian goods are to Christendom. In ticuiariy particular, Egypt neither produces wood, iron, purpose of nor pitch : the pitch which had so strongly distressing . . i_ i Egypt. impressed the imagination oi Dante when ne saw the cauldrons boiling in the Arsenal, indis pensable for their navigation. Moreover the Soldan's revenue arises principally from his Import or Custom-house duties. Sanuto there fore proposes two concurrent measures of aggres sion — a general blockade of all the Saracen ports, including the Moorish dominions in Spain, though particularly directed against Egypt is the one measure. — The other suggested measure is mari time invasion, a Grand Armada. ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 461 The non-intercourse measure was not new. 108°— 145G It had already been decreed by the European • — *¦ — « 1300— "133 v Commonwealth, and partially acted upon. After the loss of Acre, the General Council of Lateran had forbidden all dealings with the Infidels under penalty of excommunication. This paper block ade was wholly ineffective. The merchants, pro fessing without doubt their entire respect for the principle, established large smuggling dep6ts, through which the trade was carried on, and the anathema was soon wholly disregarded. To render the blockade under the Lateran De- Blockadeto be en- cree efficient, Sanuto proposes that it should be fo™e? hy ' r r religious enforced by a fleet of cruizing galleys, supporting, censures. or supported by, the authority of the Church : or as we usually say, by moral and religious influence. Sanuto in all respects anticipates the dealings of the modern firm of Philanthropy and Gunpowder and Civilization. " We must suffocate the trade," says Sanuto : he therefore requires a total prohibition (by excommunication) of all commerce with Infidels, accompanied by various most stringent clauses — that the penalty should be incurred not merely by direct Traders, but by all who bought or sold any goods that came through or from the Infidel territories, or which might be presumed to come through or from the Infidel territories; so that the onus probandi, contrary to the ordinary rules of justice, should lie upon the persons accused — that every Sovereign 462 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 or Ruler of any country, whose subjects might be ' - guilty of the illicit trade, and also every citizen 1300—1330 Q£ any community or republic of which another citizen might so trade, should be liable as prin cipals. Supposing this legislation could have been carried out, it would have entirely answered its purpose. An individual under excommunication could not sue for any debts in the temporal Courts ; and the lusty Merchant, who might have reconciled himself to his enforced absence from the Church, would sorely rue the ecclesiastical sentences when they prevented his obtaining a judgment against his debtor. Marino sa- The second book of Sanuto's work contains a nuto s plan of invasion, development ofthe military and naval operations by which the blockade was to be accompanied. Sanuto shews, convincingly, that the only mode promising success is to assail the sea-bord of the Saracen States, and he refutes the argu ments of those who preferred expeditions by land. The fleet, he proposes, shall be fitted out principally from the Venetian arsenal. He makes this proposition humbly, disclaiming any natural partiality, says nothing of his country men's valour, naval skill or power, but recom mends their employment, because they are so trustworthy — "quia Veneta gens ita bene at- tendit id quod promittit, sicut aliqua gens de mundo." — The Army to be contributed by the other European powers. He enters into minute ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 463 and very able details as to arms, ordnance, equip- loso-use ments, and the like : and enlarges intelligently ^IZZA^ upon that important branch of military service in 130°— 1330 which the early Crusaders had so dreadfully failed, the Commissariat. And though the Armada, pro perly so called, is to be a Venetian outfit, still Sanuto depends much upon the co-operation of other maritime States, particularly from the ports of the Baltic and the North Sea. Sanuto meets various objections in such a manner, as to shew that they had really been raised by competent antagonists. You feel that the Promoter has debated and discussed his project, and in his own opinion, satisfactorily, and that he is not strengthening his case by victories over men of straw. Sanuto's third Book is principally a recapitu- sanuto's x x * x geogra- lation or summary of the History of Palestine, £^e™d with practical commentaries. The geographical !!^^ portion of the work is peculiarly valuable : his of work. maps are wonderfully uncouth, and yet there is a moral truth in their distortions. Was there ever any map upon Mercator's projection which pos sibly displayed the proportions and positions of the Globe, except enlarged, diminished, united or separated, to suit the purposes of the Trader ? No longer the Terraqueous Sphere in relation to the Universe, but flattened out for the counting- house desk, and planned to correspond with the Merchants' walks on the Royal Exchange. 464 the conqueror's sons. 1080-1456 Marino Sanuto has arranged his matter with "AAA^ extraordinary skill. Facts, arguments, conclusions, 1300—1330 aji i0gicaiiy consequent — every part well thought sanuto's over. Sanuto is entirely honest. He declares cleiir His— closure of that his whole object is to promote the material his objects. advantages of Christendom by and through the Holy War. He brings forward devotional and pious motives forcibly, yet subsidiarily. They do not enter into the foundation of the edifice, nor are they even its pillars or buttresses. But nevertheless, though neither buttress nor pillar, they are on the outside ; they catch the eye at first sight, they are decorations, giving a reli gious character. Marino employs the Emblems of Faith as prominent ornaments, in bold basso- relievo, and wisely, Inasmuch as the blockade by which he proposed to ruin the Mahometan Commerce, and to destroy the resources of the Soldan, could not be effected completely other wise than by the authority of the Pope, it would have been highly impolitic in him, Sanuto, not to enlist the whole religious community in his cause. The Seer eta Fidelutm Crucis may be accounted an excellent commercial treatise. Sanuto's ideas sound as modern as the last blue book which has proceeded from a Committee of the House of Commons — how much cotton grows in Armenia, and how Cyprus may be improved into a sugar-island, to supply the Avhole consump tion of Christendom. ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 465 § 6. Sanuto was indefatigable in the attempts ioso— uno which he made for the purpose of carrying his . — - — great plan into execution. He stirred heaven and SanUto-s earth. He presented his Secreta Fidelium Crucis %Znio™. in the first instance to the Pope, John XXII., Jacques d'Euse of Cahors, in two volumes, hand somely bound, with the maps annexed. The Pope xxi/re" received the proposal very graciously, and referred £„ *£, t0 the proposition to four Commissioners, Ponzio jjj0^?mm18" d'Asti, Vicar Apostolic in Armenia, Giacopo di Camerino, a missionary in Persia, Frate Matteo from Cyprus, and Frate Paolino, the Pope's Peni tentiary. They reported favourably concerning the main propositions, excepting that they ob jected to the stringency and extent of the excom munications suggested by Sanuto for the pre vention of the illicit trade ; pointing out that« in many cases the innocent would be involved with the guilty : also shewing an evident feeling that the authority of the Church would be impaired by such an unreasonable and wholesale exertion of her powers. May be, they discerned that Sanuto, the son of St. Mark, one who had breathed the Raggione di Stato from his birth, who had sucked it in with his mother's milk, was a thorough politician. — " Fire away, boys ! we were Venetians before we were Christians." Sanuto pressed the proposal upon the prin- sanuto's cipal Sovereigns, Prelates, and Powers of Chris- S. tendom, both in person and by correspondence. spond6nce vol. in. H H 466 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 Besides the Epistle specially addressed to King AAAl. Philip of France, there are appended to his 1300—1330 ^Y"orjc twenty-two Letters and forms of Circulars which he employed. Sanuto professes to be en tirely disinterested, and to have no private plan of his own. There is an earnest devotion of his powers to the cause, which leaves no doubt but that he believed himself truly sincere: at the same time one cannot help supposing that if the grand Armada had been raised, he would not have been disinclined to take the command. Had the expedition succeeded in any respect, Marino would probably not have been worse off than his kinsman Nicolo, the then reigning Duke of the Archipelago. Yet the great moral merit of Sanuto's work results from his entire open ness. None could be deceived by Sanuto except those who chose to deceive themselves : — the Secreta Fidelium Crucis are patent to all the world, military, statistic, economical and com mercial, from beginning to end. Sanuto lived to be disappointed : the times were adverse, the Papal authority discredited, England and France occupied with other schemes, Italy troubled by her tyrants and her democracies; and the pro position dropped. Nevertheless, the great idea continued living. We may trace it expanding in the conquests of the Portuguese : the peculiar f importance of Egypt, recollected from time to time by political theorists, engaged the atten- ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 467 tion of Leibnitz ; and, through the German ioso— 1456 philosopher, Marino Sanuto was an adviser of. — • — . XT , , , ¦ 1080—1095 Napoleon s enterpnze. Such then were the objects and the intent of the Crusades, to which must be added, both as the source and the incentive (for it is frequently most difficult to distinguish between the two), the disposition of Latin Europe with relation to Greek and Moslem : a disposition identical with the scornful hostility which the civilized Euro pean cherishes against the Oriental at the pre sent day. As to the Greek, this feeling was partly of old inheritance. How had the Roman despised the Grmculus esuriens, the starving minister to his wants and pleasures ; and to this contemptuousness the stern Teuton had added his own insolent ferocity. Shall we dare to confess the truth in one humiliating phrase ? Latin Europe viewed and treated the Greek, much in the same way as we envy, harass, insult, rob, slander, despoil and despise the "Celestial Em pire." The Crusades envenomed the ancient Teutonic pride ; — and the curse encreasing with the old age of the world, is falling heavier and heavier. They placed Schismatic Heretic and Infidel out of the verge of sympathy, out of the pale of humanity, — born only to be degraded, or devoured by the sword. — Pause before you con demn the Crusaders' religious bigotry. Bacon, the most sound of philosophers, the least edifying HH2 468 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 of ethical reasoners, declared that the Turk was AAZA. not entitled to the benefit of the law of nations. 1080-1095 —For "Schismatic" and "Infidel," read "imper fectly civilized " and " uncivilized," — what are the Crusaders' principles but our own? The intolerance of fanaticism has expanded into that merciless Civilization which incarcerates the Ameer, violates the word of honour pledged to the Emir — and blandly pronounces, by a tem perate Colonial Despatch, the doom which con signs the Savage to extinction. Bohemond § 7. We must now revert to the personal his name, history of the splendid warrior placed by Urban's side, Marco or Bohemond, the main author and promoter of the Crusade : — we must trace him to his early infancy, and begin with a nursery tale. The giant « Once upon a time there was a Giant, and the Bohemond. _ l Giant's name was Bohemond." — To what cycle of fiction Boemonte or Bohemond belonged, the Mythographer cannot tell. In vain do we seek any traces of Bohemond in Scandinavian saga or Nibelungen lay : no Paladin of Charlemagne was he, nor Knight of Arthur's round-table. We know not whether his adventures were tinged with the marvels of the East, or expanded from the droll home traditions of Semi-Pelasgic Apulia. Bohe mond may have been a brother of Grandonio, the grim giant of Pistoia, whose portrait and mace adorn the venerable Palazzo Pretorio. We might pursue these speculations — the disser- ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 469 tations upon the Giant Bohemond might become ioso— 1456 no less voluminous than the disquisitions upon , — - — , the Phoenician History of Ireland, like them, 108°-109S (and some other subjects, not of the antiquarian class,) they possess the property of indefinite extendibility, and exactly for the same reason — the total absence of materials: the Geste of Bohemond is wholly lost : not a line of it has been preserved. Nothing is known of the Giant Bohemond except Bohemond's name ; but he was the subject of a popular lay, which the Jougleur who when pursuing his vocation followed Robert Guiscard's court, chanced to sing for the amuse ment of his jovial master. The popular custom of giving sobriquets, such Normanso- as "Courthose," and "Beauclerc," and " Wise- E^" heart," or " Guiscard," common in the mediaeval periods, was most inveterate amongst the Nor mans; indeed, we may say, that the usage was dictated by absolute necessity. Surnames were scarcely yet fixed, and the Norman practice of confining the choice of baptismal names to a very small nomenclature — so many Rogers, so many Roberts, so many Williams, so many Matildas in each family, rendered it convenient to have some household designation possessing more individuality. Not unfrequently these con versational epithets were multiplied; Guiscard was also called Durand, complimentary to his enduring fortitude or pertinacity. 470 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1466 The merry Duke of Apulia amused himself , — « by adopting the same practice with respect to sobrTuets ms children. Roger his son and successor (the Sufecarfto eldest by Sichelgaita,) obtained a nick-name, tes- dTenf " tifying his character ; because, whilst Marco dis played a liberal spirit, and gave away his pre sents and toys, his next brother was close-fisted, and would not part with anything. Hence his father styled him Bursa or Purse, a thing which would hold whatever got into it: his daughter Mabilia he called Courts Louve. Nei ther of these denominations, thus arising face tiously, became of much importance. Far other wise with that which the same sportive spirit bestowed upon Marco. Robert Guiscard was the^nTme delighted with the Jougleur's story: the concep- mondhe" tion of the Giant hit his fancy, and as it should seem, was so descriptive of his fair-haired, bright- cheeked, active, sturdy Marco, then perhaps playing by his side, that he gave the name of Bohemond to the child. There is no country in which sobriquets have had such good fortune as in Italy, and thus it happened to Marco. — Bohemond he was called in his family, Bohemond in his country, Bohemond, Avherever his fame extended. As Bohemond he lived, conquered, reigned and died, and trans mitted the name of Bohemond to his posterity. Yet, had John Bunyan's homely apologue then been current, the name of "Master Byends" 1080—1095 Bohe- ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 471 would have suited Marco far better. Rarely 1080-1456 has this false world known so crafty and subtle a Statesman as Bohemond, the more dangerous in his wiles, because his brilliant character in- nh°"^er eluded some real good qualities. Endowed with the influential gifts of Providence, a beautiful countenance, a commanding stature, a winning tongue, his talents enabled him to assume the specious semblance of many virtues, in addition to those he actually possessed. Bohemond was affectionate and true to father, wife, and children, pleasant, affable, and courteous : yet wrapt up in selfishness, possessed by insatiate ambition and almost diabolical cruelty, proud and faithless, but in spite of all these vices so seductive, as to com mand the admiration even of those who knew him to be a heartless deceiver. § 8. With respect to Bohemond's companion, Peter the he who stands on the right side of Urban, — Peter his history: the Hermit, — he is one of the many personages concerning whom we suppose we have a distinct idea, until we endeavour to analyze the evidence or information through which such idea has been obtained — then its distinctness fades away. The Hermit's historical portrait is made up *of lights and shadows, without any definite outline. It produces an effect at a distance : when you come near, the tints lapse into vagueness and confusion. We have no certain knowledge about Peter the Hermit. Those who were his contem- 472 THE conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 poraries, nay his neighbours, were curiously per- . ^_ plexed, and contradict each other and themselves 1080-1095 when adverting to his earlier adventures and history. supposed As the missionary preacher of the Crusades, to be a re- . . . tainer of Peter is the most prominent character of his age; the House r . ° ofBou- but he emerges from obscunty and returns to obscurity, having brought myriads of his fol lowers to destruction. After the capture of Jeru salem he slunk back again to his own country, fell into disrepute with such men as Saint Ber nard, and, influenced either by sloth, disappoint ment, remorse, or repentance, retreated to a Monastery, and relapsed into insignificance. Some say Peter was a Spaniard, whereas he certainly was a native of Amiens, or its vicinity, though his family probably came from Acheris, in the Diocese of Laon, no great distance from Amiens, though in a separate district. Certain noble families claim him as their ancestor, but cannot exactly make out their title. Probably he was of knightly rank, holding lands under Eu stace aux Grenons, Count of Boulogne, Godfrey of Bouillon's father. Having followed his Lord in a feud against Robert the Frison, Peter was captured, released and married. His wife, whom some authorities call Anna, belonged to the very noble family of Roucy in Champagne. We shall have something more to say about the illustrious Seignory of Roucy hereafter. The Lady was past ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 473 her prime, and ugly, but he had a family byioso-1456 her. ' : ' Peter de Acheris, or Peter the Frenchman,1080-1095 as he was also called, may then faintly be dis- ente.rs the " * service of cerned as a retainer of Robert Guiscard : he is ^0*»ert . Ixuiscard . stated to have rendered good service to the Norman Chieftain in Apulia and Greece, though probably not in a military capacity. Vigorous and active, his small stature, accompanied, as it should seem, by a deficiency of muscular strength, rendered him but a sorry soldier; nor, though fierce and blood-thirsty, did he possess much nerve or courage. His wife died, and Peter de Acheris then glances before us as a Monk, professed at St. Rigaud in the County of Forez, bordering upon Auvergne — quits his Monastery, (an act prima facie disreputable, requiring explanations which are not given,) and becomes a Hermit, or calls himself so. Whether Peter really ever was in Holy Orders or not, is a matter of considerable doubt, and has been much discussed. Some say he was first a Hermit, before he turned Monk or Priest. However, he wore a Cowl, and hence was called Petrus Cucullatus, from which appel lation his Greek name of Koukou Petros is supposed to have been corrupted. Peter then took to being a pilgrim and a wanderer, travelling far and wide — "qua nescio intentione" are the very significant words of the 474 THE conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 cautious Guibert, Abbot of Nogent. During these __^_, pilgrimages Peter went to Jerusalem, and (as he io80_io95 after wards reported) had much communication Peter visits the Holy with Simeon the Patriarch, who (as he alleged) Land— re- _ . *nriS1Bod" gave him a letter addressed to the Pope, praying tSories, that exertions might be made for relief of the toUrbanT8 Oriental Christians, and the delivery of the Holy Land. On his return from Palestine, Peter landed at Bari in Apulia, a city included in Bohemond's Principality. Peter then found out Urban, embraced his cause, became closely at tached to him and very useful, Urban being then, and for a long time afterwards, in great trouble from the Guibertines. Thus consorting with the Pope, he presented the letter received from the Patriarch, exhorting Urban to under take the enterprize of liberating Jerusalem. — Here, for the present, we must leave Peter, who immediately began those predications by which he acquired such unhappy celebrity ; urging the recovery of the Holy Land in Church and Market place, by road-side and way-side, followed by en- creasing multitudes, and encreasing with them in reputation of sanctity. They used to pluck the hairs off the dear man's mule, and keep them as relics. — Guibert, who tells this fact, very carefully disclaims vouching for Peter's holy character. . GuUcaVd's ^ ^' ^Puna> Calabria, Sicily, Avrested by the invasions of sons of Tancred de Hauteville from Greek, Lom- the Ijreelt ' Empire- bard and Saracen, Robert Guiscard, always ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 475 reckoned the Head of the Family, noAV girded ioso— 1456 himself for prouder conquest, seeking the whole . AA^ Byzantine Empire — the Norman aspired to as- 108°— 1095 " x grounds of cend the throne of the Eastern Caesars. Some h.isPreten-sions. pretence of right being needed, a Papal Bull was talked of, perhaps shewn, legitimating any acquisitions which the firm Ally of the Apos tolic See might win from Schismatic or Infidel. Another claim was grounded upon a marriage formerly contemplated between Guiscard's daugh ter, whom historians call Helena, a name as sumed in place of some barbarian Latin or Celtic appellation (for the Greeks were wont to identify all who came from the Gauls with the Celts of old), and Constantine the Porphyrogenitus, the only son of Michael Ducas, the dethroned Em peror. The espousals never took effect ; but this most imperfect matrimonial contract was assumed by Guiscard as imparting some right over the Empire : a strange confusion of ideas, rendered still more inconsistent and inconclusive by the third ground of aggression, the restorar tion of Michael Ducas himself to the dominion usurped by the talented Comneni. The individual produced as Michael Ducas was one of those Revenans who haunt the world after, the deposition or death of an unfortunate Prince, exciting a painful sympathy, even when that sympathy is crossed by doubt, uncertainty, delusion, nay by the presumption of deceit, per-- 476 THE conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 sonification, or imposture. The so-called Michael ,— _^_ Ducas fell in battle, and therefore Guiscard was io8o_io95 reieased from anynecessity of fighting in his cause ; but all these justifications were merely the conven tional diplomatic ceremonials which the powerful employ, agreeably to custom, when bullying the weak. The Greeks had not given the slightest cause of offence to Guiscard, nevertheless Guis card, affronted by the inward feeling that he had Avronged the Greeks, never relaxed from his avowed endeavour to destroy the Eastern Empire. Predictions Many a prediction had been circulated re- and antici- " x pations specting Guiscard, suggested by credulity, hope concerning r o ? oo «/ J ' r Guiscard. or fear> perhaps also by state-craft. Many an Astrologer had calculated Guiscard's horoscope, many a Seer foretold his victories. A courtly Diviner, a flattering Soothsayer, combining the oracular strain with phrases of adulation, had promised, apparently in Latin verse, that Guiscard should proceed, conquering all under the heavens, all as far as the setherial regions, and not die until he should be nigh Jerusalem. It was cur rently believed that even the realm of Constantine would not satisfy Guiscard; rivalling Alexander, the report was spread that he contemplated winning the region of the Sun, the Monarchy of Cyrus, a Persian Empire. If he planned this long and very circuitous route to Jerusalem from Apulia, many a battle had he to fight before he could arrive there, many a city to win, ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 477 many a scorching valley to traverse; so that, ioso-uso accepting the prophecy, he might anticipate years .' . : ",' of enterprize and glory. ioso— 1095 Mighty was the armament gathered at iosi. Otranto : the Normans in Italy retained all the £™SCnv"a-s freshness of their own race, whilst they avail- Greek ed themselves of the advantages furnished by Southern climes. Their maritime skill enabled them to equip a powerful fleet. Adventurers still continued to join them from the countries of the Romance tongue, and Peter the " French man" is mentioned with considerable emphasis, as having been most useful to the industrious Guiscard. The soldiers were armed in the strongest mail, counterbalancing the superior strategics and resources of the Greeks. Their weapons rendered them peculiarly formidable : the Arbalest, sending forth the heavy shaft, the destructive engine resulting from Teutonic in genuity working under Roman instruction, which imparted to the Latin warriors a superiority over those of the East, almost equal to that which the employment of fire-arms bestows upon European power. Bohemond, Guiscard's eldest born, his father's pride, was always the favourite; the friend, as well as the efficacious, affectionate and trusty son. Yet Guiscard gave to Bohemond no part of Guiscard those rich domains which he had hitherto won the Byzan tine Em- in Italy; and before the expedition sailed foreirffor Durazzo, the Duke of Apulia declared that Roger, 478 THE CONQUEROR'S sons. 1080—1456 the child of Sichelgaita, should inherit his Italian ~~~I ' dignities. Policy without doubt dictated this loso—ioos diSpOSition ; — for Bohemond, his Father antici pated a distinction more honourable, an Empire which his valour should acquire. Macedonia, Epirus, and Thessaly, were over spread by the Norman warriors. They found in Alexis a worthy enemy : luxurious, but not effemi nate, Alexis possessed the boldness and acuteness of an Italian Tyrant : like a Sforza or a Visconti, he conjoined the ^Esopian attributes of the Fox and the Lion. The conflict was ably sustained by both parties ; but the Norman Duke had foes both in the Emperor of the East and the Em- Bohemond peror of the West. The affairs of Italy recalled takes the command, him, and Bohemond was left to sustain the Aveight of the war. The young hero, vigilant, active, and wary as he was bold, advanced towards Byzantium : a defection amongst his troops weakened his power, and in the desperate io84. battle of Larissa, the Greeks claimed the balanced Battle of _. , . . , Larissa. conflict as a glorious victory. A second cam paign, undertaken by Guiscard, occupied the greater portion of a year ; but the Norman had to encounter new and Avell-disciplined opponents. The Venetians lent their galleys to the Emperor, and checked the inA'aders by their discipline. Towards the close ofthe season Guiscard with drew, for the purpose of Avintering in the Ionian islands. Strangely seized by disease, oppressed ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 479 by burning fever, he landed at Cephalonia, beneath loso-use a lofty promontory, and eagerly craved for fresh ~ZAZA water to save his life. His people searched the 108°-1095 coast and found none, but a countryman pointed out an opposite island. The name of the pro montory, as it sounded, to the Normans, was iEther — "In that island," said the countryman, "there is a ruin called Jerusalem," — probably an ancient monastery, magnified by the simple in habitants into an ancient city, — " there you will loss. find a cool and gushing spring." And Robert Death ot . Guiscard. Guiscard knew that his hour was come. § 10. Roger Bursa, supported by the influence Roger of his clever and able mother, Sichelgaita, was feeds to ° theDuke- immediately proclaimed Duke, in Apulia Cala- dom of bria and Salerno. Bohemond demanded a share ; he would not quietly submit to be entirely dis inherited; he immediately repaired to Germany, seeking help from the Emperor Henry, who gave him none. Jordan, the Norman Prince of Capua, grandson of Anschetil Ducarrell, somewhat impa tient of Duke Roger's supremacy, fomented the discontent. Many other Normans joined Bohe mond, and he began an offensive warfare against his brother. A peace was negotiated by the iose-8. intervention of their uncle Roger, Count of acquires , , . . . the princi- Sicily : Otranto, Gallipoli and Ona, were yielded Pality of as the price of pacification, together with Tarento, j^p1™ which became the Capital of Bohemond's Domi- ^f^u. nions; and another quarrel with Duke Roger was p£e.Em" 480 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 settled by the additional cession of Bari. The . — « — Prince of Tarento desisted from any further hos tility, and became friends with his brother. He had acquired a firm station — Tarento was the advanced post towards Greece ; and Bohemond now bent all his intentions to the great con quest, — Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly, Constanti nople, the Byzantine Empire. ma6sNthe § H- ^he Hautevilles exceedingly encreased ofPth°erter9 their consequence in Italy, by preserving the fgainstthe balance of power against the Western Emperor. 1 After some variations and controversies, Robert Guiscard had supported Hildebrand, the Magna nimous and holy Gregory; and during all conflicts adhered steadily to the legitimate successor of St. Peter. Hildebrand, in return, recognized the grants ascribed to his predecessors, which render ing the Dukes of Apulia the feudatories of the Roman See, united the Pontiff and the Vassal by the reciprocal duties of protection and allegiance. Immediately upon the nomination of the Anti- pope Guibert, Gregory sought the Italian Nor mans: Robert Guiscard gladly renewed the feudal bond. In the season of adversity, Hildebrand found hearty defenders in the Normans, and a safe refuge in their territories. His tomb at Salerno is a proud monument of the hospitality which they rendered to the Great Pontiff, the Hero,— if such a term could be properly applied to one above all earthly motives, — of Latin Christendom. ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 481 § 12. Odo of Ostia Avas elevated to the Pope- ioso-hso dom at Terracina, under the protection of the ,"~~t two brothers Roger and Bohemond, who, how- 1080-1095 ,..,,.. 1088. ever divided ra other respects, always concurred 12 March- . » . t , . . Urban u- in their friendship with him. Urban the Pontiff raisedto x the Pope- repaid the obligations incurred by Odo the Car- d£™ u"d^' dinal Bishop. From him Roger Bursa received Haute-"16 the solemn investiture of the Apulian Dukedom, Vllles' by delivery of the Banner; and he resided habi tually in the Normandy of Italy. Four Councils of the Church held by Urban in the Norman dominions, testify the intimate connexion which subsisted between him and the Norman dynasty. Moreover, Urban revolutionised the Hierarchy by the introduction of Norman prelates ; a measure equally augmentative to the Pontifical and Ducal authorities ; — assisted in the foundations of Mo nasteries, or enlarged their privileges; — and, as at La Cava, we rarely find Urban otherwise than accompanied by Roger or by Bohemond. 5 13. Urban had not yet been able to obtain TJrban "• J ^ supported full or quiet possession of Rome. Churches and jj^"^ Monasteries were occupied by the rival combat- th ants as strong posts of defence. The Guihertines garrisoned the Tower of Crescentius : Adrian's Sepulchre was the Dungeon Keep of the Eternal City. In possession of this most commanding position, the Guibertines always divided the authority of Urban in Rome, and frequently caused it to verge upon extinction. Conflicts vol. 111. 11 mans. 482 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 took place in the streets. Nay, whilst one party , — « — , gained the Nave and aisles of a Basilica, the ~~ others retained the apse and upper galleries of the desecrated sacred Edifice, and swarming in the arches and manning the tie-beams of the open roof, battered their enemies below. Urban's temporal power seemed to be only holding by a thread : had it not been for the assistance which the Normans rendered, it is more than pro bable that he would have been compelled to succumb. By these means, Bohemond earned, as he well deserved, the entire friendship and confidence of Urban. — Was there any wish of Bohemond's which Urban would not seek to gratify, any project to which he would not lend his aid? Bohemond R 14. The steadiness displayed by Bohe- persuades J x " - urban to mond in the pursuit of his design, even subse- assist him r o » scheme of quen-tly to the conquest of Jerusalem, may readily Byzantine6 lead us to conclude that, as soon as his father ™pire. died, he did not tarry in preparing for the acquisition of the long-threatened Byzantine Empire. But how was the Prince of Tarento to accomplish the great enterprize ? Would his immediate kinsmen help him ? — Certainly not by any personal exertions of their own. His bro ther Roger scarcely sustained the reputation of his ancestry ; and Apulia and Calabria, and the Neapolitan Republic, that independent Common wealth Avhose privileges subsisted in some degree ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 483 even under the Bourbon dynasty gave him occu- loso-use pation and anxiety. I ' Neither could Bohemond expect any efficient 1080-1095 support from his Uncle, the Christian Emir, the Norman Basileus of Sicily. Count Roger, very bold and strenuous, rose above ambition or sunk below : a rare example of a contented and there fore a wise Conqueror. He had fought hard for dominion, wealth, pleasure, and he enjoyed his prize. He was delighting himself amongst the orange groves, the jasmine gardens, the spark ling fountains, won from the Arab, and he was founding that realm which differed from any other in Europe, if indeed Sicily could be called Europe, exhibiting to the Christian World the only transient example of national toleration. The Codes and Institutions of Byzantium there flou rished under the Norman adventurer, who still permitted the Mullah to expound the Moslem law. The Sovereign assumed the garb of the Character and ethos Eastern Emperor ; and the manners and customs °Tf the x Normans of Bagdad and Cordova imparted splendour as in Sicily- Avell as enervating luxury to palace and throne. — It is therefore from another ally that Bohemond must seek the means which should consolidate his enterprize ; and why not from Urban ? The Guibertines kept him out of Rome — he was continuing a hard fight with Imperialist and Schismatic, and in this exigency an under standing seems to have arisen, subsequently 112 484 THE conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 moulded into a definite compact, virtually to the ^ZIXZ^ following effect : — Bohemond, Prince of Tarento, 1080-1095 wjij assist tne pontiff to recover Constantine's donation ; whilst the Pontiff, on his part, aids and co-operates with the Prince of Tarento in obtaining possession of that inheritance still in abeyance — the coveted Epirus, Thessaly, Mace donia, nay all the Byzantine Empire, splendid in decayed magnificence. § ]5. Urban would sanction the war, but where were the warriors to wield the sword ? Bohemond turned in expectation to his old Fatherland. He mentally looked across the whole breadth of Europe, contemplating the English Channel from the Mediterranean shore. intimate The Normans of Normandy and the Normans connexion " subsisting 0f Apulia and Sicily continued to keep them- between r j r manstf" selves in mutual friendly remembrance. They aldThe"^' were proud of each other. Normandy abounded sieiiyaand°f with traditions concerning the South. — The plea sant stories also of Robert le Diable, news com paratively of yesterday, rendered those scenes familiar. It was often told how he had mocked the Greeks and guerdoned the pilgrims. — The sweet figs and luscious grapes of Italy were described with zest. — Chroniclers recorded how Hastings and his companions had won the riches of Ligurian Luna, vainly defended by her re splendent walls ; and some old crone might yet astound her auditors by repeating the ancestorial ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 485 legends, how much gold the old Northmen once ioso-uso brought home, and buried in their Dragon- ^AXA^ watched sepulchres. 1080-1095 These were reminiscences; but far more at tractive were the solid facts. — How had the small Barons and Vavassours of Normandy sped ? What were they now ? Dukes, Princes, Counts of Calabria, Apulia and Sicily, Tarento and Capua, Capitanata and Conversano. — You had only to cruize to the shores of the Mediterranean, draw your swords, pull your arbalests, discharge the winged iron-headed volee at the Natives, and make your fortune. fi 16. Very significant also of this connexion influence * . of the between Italy and Neustna, are the monuments mutual " connexion which still adorn both countries. Politically no dispiayed * in Archi. less than kindly, had the Adventurers displayed tecture- in Normandy their prosperity and liberality. When Geoffrey Mowbray raised his Cathedral of Coutances, he owed much to the bounty the Hautevilles had bestowed — the spoils of Greek and Saracen assisted in rearing the capacious pile. Amongst the many theories propounded con cerning the component elements and suggestive models destined to produce that style of archi tecture, exercising, perhaps more than any other, a moral and salutary influence upon the human mind, there is the greatest probability in the hypothesis which ascribes the first introduction ofthe Pointed Arch to the Builders who learned 486 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 their lesson in the Mosques and Palaces of Pa- \ I , lermo. Trinacria gives equal evidence of the 1080—1095 converse) the ideas transmitted to Palermo from Caen or Rouen. Greek Mosaics may adorn the apse, and the Arab supplied the varied deco rations; but they are united with the unmis takeable tokens of the Norman hand. " Billet- mouldings" and "Zigzag-mouldings," and "Dog's- tooth-mouldings," and "Chevron-mouldings" fret the arch, whilst Cuphic inscriptions, in bold and flowing characters, declare the praises of the Sicilian King. Tramon- $ 17. After the first settlement ofthe Itahan tane mar- 3 ™s?? ?.f and Sicilian Normans, there were no more great the Itahan O Nodrman^an prizes f°r Adventurers ; but from time to time, many individuals continued dropping in, parti cularly those who were attracted by their con nexion with the reigning family. It will be recollected that the Normans, half in joke, half in earnest, used to pride themselves upon their good luck and policy in forming matrimonial alliances. Sichelgaita's hand confirmed the for tunes of the Hauteville dynasty; nevertheless, whether from policy or from dislike to strange women, they usually chose, at least in the first wives of generation, Norman wives of good families. Both Roger °f .-i ci -ut t-, ¦ Sicily con- tne bpouses of the Norman Emir Avere his coun- nectmghim with trywomen : the first was Judith, daughter of Wil- the Houses , " o MortriTe m Evreux by Hadevisa or Heloisa, widow &«• of Robert de Grantmesnil and daughter of Giroie, ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 487 the Seigneur of Montreuil, a marriage which ioso-uso therefore connected him with the Conqueror's ,' " ' royal family. In Sicily, they changed her name 1080-1095 from Judith to Delicia : this custom, very common in the Anglo-Norman period, creates great con fusion in genealogies. William the Conqueror, quite unwittingly, was the promoter of this match : it arose out of his quarrel with the Grantmesnils. When he drove away Robert de Grantmesnil, (the son of Hadevisa by her first husband,) the Abbot of St. Evroul ; he the Abbot, quitting Normandy for ever, departed for Apulia. Tancred de Haute- ville was a vassal of St. Evroul ; and Guiscard visited the Monastery and bestowed his bounty there immediately before his departure. Abbot Robert therefore repaired naturally to Guiscard, but not alone, being accompanied by his two half- sisters, Judith and Emma of Evreux. Both had taken the veil in Normandy : both put it off in Sicily, Judith marrying Count Roger, as before mentioned, whilst Emma gave her hand to an other of the family. After the death of Judith or Delicia, . Roger still affected the old stock, and married Erem- burga, daughter of William Warleng or Berleng, Count of Mortoil, and therefore granddaughter of Robert, Count of Mortoil, half-brother of the Conqueror. Eloisa, Guiscard's niece, (daughter of his brother Serlo,) was married into the Bar- 488 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 neville family — the Barnewells of Ireland who ^ZZXZZT settled there with Strongbow belonging to them 1080—1095 — an(j p^ger Barneville Eloisa's husband became Lord of Girazzo. One daughter of Roger of Sicily, whose name is not known, was given to Hugh de Gersoy, a Manceau. The whole family seems to have laid great stress upon strength ening their Norman interest; for when Roger Bursa and Bohemond became reconciled, they jointly agreed to give their sister Mabilia, the Little wolf, to William de Grantmesnil in mar riage. William de Grantmesnil was the son of the great Hugh de Grantmesnil, of whom we heard last at Courci sur Dive, and nephew of Abbot Robert. These matters are indicated to us by Ordericus, in his provoking conversational manner, never taking the trouble to give the details, upon the evident notion that You, the Reader, know all about the people as well as he, or better — and this marriage is mentioned so emphatically, as to suggest to us that Bohemond and his brother considered the transaction to be a matter of importance. wi°thThe°n ^n an°ther marriage we trace the influence Roucy fa- pf pope Urban. It will be recollected that the Pontiff was a Champennois, either from Rheims or Chastillon sur Marne; his father being Eu- cher, Seigneur of Langry. The match to which we allude was that which took place between Sybilla, Guiscard's daughter and Bohemond's ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 489 sister, and Ebles Count of Roucy in Champagne, ioso— 1456 and also of Montdidier, so well known in the ,' > ' modern Picardy of Charles-Quint's wars. The 1080-1095 County of Roucy, Avithin four leagues of Rheims, and in the diocese of Laon, was one of the seven Pairies of Champagne, and greatly re spected from its antiquity and importance. In the female line Ebles was connected with the House of Hainault and the Capets, his Grand mother Beatrice being the daughter of Rainier, Count of Hainault and Hade visa, a daughter of King Robert — Besides which, the Counts of Roucy were allied to the Counts of Perche and Mortagne; and there was also some con nexion between them and the ancient House of Vermandois. More immediately important to our subject is the link connecting the Roucy family with Peter, the Promoter of the Crusade. Other fair ones of the Hauteville race had other mar riages of equally been employed to increase and consoli- Guiscards x •> x •/ daughters. date the family interest. The marriage of the damsel, the Emma, or the Matilda, or the Adeliza — for her name is not recorded — who was the wife of the cowardly Ugone, the son of Albert Azzo, did not answer. She went back to her father Guiscard ; but she may have been the Matilda, who, exchanging that Northern appella tion for the more euphonic Almeida, became the wife, firstly or secondly, of Raymond, Count of Barcelona, and secondly or thirdly, of Count 490 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 Aymeric of Narbonne. Another of Guiscard's ^ZAAZ. daughters, the Lady called Helen, espoused or 3080-1095 affianced to the Porphyrogenitus, Constantine Ducas, imparted, as we have seen, a pretence to the Empire. Emma, who assumed the name of Julietta, a daughter of Roger of Sicily, was married, as before mentioned, to the Count of Clermont. She is said to have been courted by the French King. Matilda, another daughter of Count Roger, having first (as it is said) married Robert of Eu, became the wife of Raymond de St. Gilles, Count of Toulouse — another Matilda is commemorated as Queen of Hungary, the Consort of King Coloman, so villainously treated by the Crusa ders : nor did Conrad, the eldest son of the Western Emperor, disdain another Matilda, other wise known by the names of Constancia or Yolanda, in conformity with the custom which causes such inextricable confusion, amidst the wilderness of genealogies. One very important alliance is enveloped in impenetrable obscurity. Tancred, A niece of Guiscard became the mother of Tan cred, so illustrious in prose and verse. Vien poi Tancredi, e non e alcun fira tanti, Tranne Rinaldo, o feritor' maggiore O piu bel di maniere e di sembianti O piu eccelso, e intrepido di cuore. S' alcun ombra di colpa i suoi gran vanti Rende men' cliiari, e sol' follia d' amore. But who was Tancred's father? Who was Odo, ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 491 or Eudes, or William, the " good Marquis," ioso— 1456 honoured by his son ? So strangely inconsequent ^ZXZ^ and desultory are the Chroniclers, that although 108°-1095 ° name of his in all of them Tancred holds a most prominent £a*£rnnot situation, and his biography, the Gesta Tancredi, forms a distinct work, written by his Chaplain, there is not one who gives any clue whatever concerning the country of his Parent. Orderi- cus alone preserves his names. Hence, an in terminable field for learned conjecture amongst the French and Italian archaeologists and his torians. Muratori is at fault: Ducange no better: Tasso cannot help us to any purpose. Guess for guess, we are emboldened to hazard the sup position that, taking all the circumstances into consideration, the "good" Marquis, whether Odo, or Eudes, or William, appertained to the lineage of Burgundy. 5 18. The intimate relations between Nor- connex- J ions be- mans and Flemings were renewed and strength- i^jfannthe ened in Apulia and Sicily. Cross the Somme, ^°d™^_ and you really enter the Belgian territory. We ders' have seen how closely and intimately the Norman and Flemish interests, so conjoined to each other by geographical position and intermixed lineage, worked together in England. Greece and Pales tine were equally destined to witness Flemish and Norman Leaders and Captains, sometimes as fellow-companions, but also as rivals for the trophies of the Holy Wars. Marriage had 492 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 connected the Ducal families of Anglo-Nor- AAZA mandy and Flanders : marriage again connected 1080-1095 the Ducal families of Flanders and Norman- Sicily. Towards the conclusion of the reign of the Conqueror, the active, adventurous, restless Robert the Frison, Count of Flanders, had de parted in pilgrimage for Palestine. A noble train accompanied him. Baldwin of Ghent, Bou chard de Comines (kinsman or ancestor of the Scottish Comyns), Gerard de Lisle, and many others belonging to the Knightly order. Count Robert and his companions proceeded through Apulia: the old intercourse was renewed, — a matrimonial alliance resulted, — a daughter of Flanders, — historians call her Alice or Adela, (an appellation always leaving us in doubt whether it be the real name, or the epithet of Sovereign birth,) the relict of St. Canute the Dane, and mother of Charles le Bon, exchanged the north ern and sober regions of Europe for the most southern and picturesque ; and the Avidow, bloom ing though not young, became the willing bride of Duke Roger. Thus both Roger Bursa and Bohemond could claim as their brother-in-law the second Robert, son of Robert the Frison, that Robert, from his exploits soon to be dis tinguished .as the Hierosolomytan, who shortly before the proclamation of the Crusade succeeded to the great Belgic principality. This alliance again connected the Italian Normans with Nor- ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 493 mandy, the Flemish Robert, being kinsman of our ioso-1156 Robert Courthose. _" I \ § 19. These curiously complicated ties of1080"109* acquaintance, consanguinity, and sympathy, Bouillon. brought Bohemond near to the great Hero of the Crusades, Godfrey, second son of Eustace aux Grenons, the Count of Boulogne. Far higher did Godfrey stand in reverence and dignity than his father: honoured as Charlemagne's descendant, the claims of lineage, through his mother Ida, and the pleasure of the Emperor had bestowed upon him the Marquisate of Antwerp and the Dukedom of Brabant and Lohier, or Nether Lorraine. Previously to the inundations of the Fifteenth century Brabant was nearly an island formed by Scheld, Sambre and Meuse, and their smaller sister the Haisne ; and the whole, or portions, suburbs, or quarters of the great cities and opulent towns upon or divided by those rivers, Antwerp, Tournay, Oudenarde, Ghent, Dendremond, Maestricht, Liege and Namur, were within the old Brabantine boundary. Further more, as Duke of Nether Lorraine, Godfrey held either in direct dominion or feudal superiority much of Hainault, Limburg, Luxemburg, Namur, and Liege, as well as the small dukedom of Bouillon in the Ardennes, whence, from some accidental cause, Godfrey, "il pio Goffredo," ac quired the title under which he became so cele brated in history. Godfrey, amiable, well-in- 494 the conqueror's sons. 1080-1450 structed, bold, imaginative, courteous, possessed ' ; — ' rare and eminent endowments. Lohier and 1080—1095 Brabant included many districts in which the two populations, the Gaulish and the Teutonic, were and still are most curiously implanted amongst and within each other. He was equally familiar with the Romance and the Thiois or Flemish tongues : his brother Eustace had been the intimate ally and friend of Robert Courthose, and his position and nationality equally con nected him with the more purely Flemish no bility. Godfreys Very early in life, from his very childhood, design •> •> •> i?ngjeru!r" Godfrey began to dwell upon the romantic pro- forn™din ject of winning Jerusalem. Often had the boy early youth. Q0(jfrey told his affectionate and admiring mo ther, the canonized Ida, that he would tread the soil of Palestine, but not as a humble pilgrim with scrip and staff. Not merely for prayer did the young Godfrey hope to enter the gates of Jerusalem. It was his lofty aspiration to advance Zionwards, at the head of the armed hosts, Captain of the assailing warriors, and to subju gate the Holy City by battering ram and balista, directed against her walls. Godfrey had en gaged heartily in the Imperial cause served in the Imperial army, and Avas first and foremost in the assault of Rome, Avhen Henry, during the conflicts by which he expelled Hildebrand, attacked the city. Heated by excessive fatigue, ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 495 the exertion Avas followed by injudicious, incau- ioso— use tious excess ; the icy cold of the cavern in which ^AAA, Godfrey greedily quaffed the tempting wine, aided t080-1095 the malignant Malaria of the Tiber. Heavy fever ensued : and he was, or believed himself to be, in danger of death, and vowed to repair to Jerusalem. Recovery followed, but incomplete, the disease continued lurking in his constitution : the vow remained unperformed § 20. From these earliest predispositions of TheCario- /-i i t vingian tra- Godfrey to attempt the conquest oi Jerusalem, ditions—their pro- we must not exclude the influence of the roman- table in fluence tic traditions concerning his ancestor Charle- "Pon God: ° frey smmd. magne, so peculiarly current in Lorraine. Not only throughout the Middle Ages, but even when that era may be said to have closed, there was a species of mystical pre-eminence attached to the Carlovingian lineage, which those who could claim the honour nourished, though often in silence. God alone can bestow the prerogative attached to renowned ancestry, no human power can im part or destroy the prerogative; it is specially and directly created by the Almighty's hand. In those destined to use the talent, whether for good or evil, it becomes to them the token that they are set apart from the rest of mankind. It was upon this pretension, of Carlovingian descent, that the Guise family were brought forward as claimants of the French Crown. There is frequently much difficulty in deciding whether opinion has influenced literature, or literature 496 THE conqueror's SONS. 1080—1456 opinion, or to discern which is the effect, or which ^AAA^. the cause ; but it is very remarkable that, in the 1080—1095 dawn of the crusading period, just about the time when Peter the Hermit was beginning his predications, the romances of Charlemagne as- charie- sumed a written form. About this time, as far magne'svoyage to as we can judge, was composed the Romance Jerusalem. J D > r of Charlemagne's Voyage to Jerusalem. It is almost unnecessary to observe that the Voyage was a pure and gratuitous fiction, yet none was so readily received ; and in less than a genera tion from the date of the first Crusade, the fable passed into the accepted facts of history. Tin-pin's But rnore : at this era also are we to place Charle- . r magne. the redaction of the Romance of Charlemagne and his Twelve Peers, which bears the name of Turpin Archbishop of Rheims, the influential and governing centre of the great cycle, wherein the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre and the Wars against the Saracens form so frequently a general, motive, and sometimes a principal feature, parti cularly in the lays which, coalescing with the Cymric myths, assume their brightest and holiest aspect as the mystic Geste of the Sangreal. Great probability must be conceded to the theory that some of these Carlovingian epics were in tended to excite the enthusiasm of the Crusaders, or written under the inspiration which the Cru sades imparted, though the period of their com position has been placed in a subsequent age. Any exact determination of the era of these ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 497 Fictions must be entirely hypothetical ; never- ioso— 1456 theless, taking the Romances according to the ^- — * — order in which they present themselves, we 1080_1095 would rather ascribe the earliest to Godfrey's patronage or influence. His own family history Romance r ° J J ofTurpin is also connected with one of the most remarkable ascribed to Robertus traditions of Romance, the Knight of the Swan. Monachus- Furthermore, if, as some have conjectured, the Latin Romance of Turpin received the arrange ment under which the text is now extant from Robert, somewhile Abbot of St. Remi at Rheims, where the statues of the Twelve Peers still deco rate the venerable fabric, — this Robert, commonly quoted as "Robertus Monachus," having been not merely a Crusader, but also an Historian of the Crusades, — we obtain a still more definite indi cation of the spirit and intention instigating the marvellous fable. ¦8 21. Much communication was also kept P0I"}ex- J x ions kept up and continued by the Normans in Italy with ^ormJnd6" their tramontane brethren, through the Hierarchy. ™a^e The Normans effected great mutations in the S™!™ Apulian, Calabrian, and Sicilian Churches, the archy.16r" Popes co-operating : perhaps exceeding their legi timate powers. A considerable portion of the Clergy were Greeks. No forcible measures were employed to obtain conformity ; but effectual means were taken to discourage and supplant the Schismatics by a Latin Hierarchy, introducing Norman individuals, as well as Norman affiliations VOL. III. K K 498 THE conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 and feelings. Guitmond, after the stern reproof , — - — . which he administered to William the Conqueror, ~~ quitted Normandy and journeyed to Rome; where, continuing for a time under a feigned name, calling himself Brother Christian, Urban nomi nated him Bishop of Aversa. Guitmond, who repudiated all English preferment as proffered by a Patron who presented by an unjust title, accepted the promotion in Norman Italy. Was this a compromise of principle? — Was Guitmond's conduct inconsistent with his reprehension of the wrongs committed by the Normans in England? — Perhaps not; the circumstances of the case afford a dubious apology. Aversa was rebuilt and repeopled by Robert Guiscard, the See, a new erection, immediately dependent upon the Pope : — we may suppose that, considering these special peculiarities, Guitmond reconciled the measure to his conscience, or his conscience, to the measure. Norman But the ecclesiastical appointment then exert- Monasteries , founded by ing the greatest influence, resulted from the Con- Gmscard in ° ° itaiy. queror 's before-mentioned expulsion of Robert de Grantmesnil, Avhereby the Ex-abbot of St. Evroul obtained so commanding a position in the new State. Advised without doubt by his Brother-in-law, and also fully sensible of the advantages to be derived from a Norman Clergy, Guiscard acted like William the Conqueror, found ing and endowing various establishments in a ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 499 Norman spirit ; amongst others, three Benedic- ioso_ 1456 tine Monasteries as dependencies of St. Evroul, ZHXIZ^ filled with Norman Monks, following the usages 108°-1095 and observances of the Parent Church. — Saint Euphemia on the borders ofthe Adriatic, the Holy Trinity at Venusia (where Albereda Avas buried), and Saint Michael at Melito in Calabria. — Robert de Grantmesnil was the first Abbot of Venusia, and afterwards of St. Euphemia ; and Berenger from St. Evroul, together with Ansger a Normanized Briton, respectively became the Abbot and the Prior of Venusia upon Grantmesnil's translation. All the Grantmesnil family were great benefac- Conne* mond's ed upon the examination oi Witnesses : we must schemes for exciting however recollect that there is an essential differ- Eur.opeagainst the ence between the construction of historical evi- orie6ntafsnd dence and the application of legal evidence. Were the distinction thoroughly understood, much un- 504 ' the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 profitable controversy arid needless harshness AAAl. would be spared. The Historian, whatever lan- ioso—1095 gUage be may employ, ought not to be considered as passing judgment upon the dead : he can only enquire into their conduct, and that most imper fectly. He cannot listen behind the arras to the secret conversation, nor cross-examine the Agent or the Accomplice, he must take the depositions as he finds them, placing the recorded testimonies in apposition. If the witnesses are uninformed, he cannot summon others ; if they are false, he cannot contradict them : he cannot cross-examine, he must receive the evidence as it is found; and therefore, in strictness of terms, the Historian can never be said to establish facts: the utmost which human enquiry can accomplish is to raise presumptions. It is fully certain that Bohe mond's genius directed the forces of Europe against Asia, nominally for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, but really with the intent of winning the Greek Empire amidst the turmoil and confusion : and we must now briefly endea vour to presume the means by which he suc ceeded in giving the impulse, though he did not earn his contemplated prize. Like most Projectors, he obtained but a moderate share in the advantages of his scheme. — A vast attempt, requiring the combination of force and opinion ; but the very difficulties stimulated him to the exer tion of the peculiar talent which he possessed. ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 505 Adapting an old apologue, not the worse ioso— 1456 for its dulness, we may divide Statesmen into ^ZXZ^ three classes. The first, play the great game of 1080— 1095 State-craft with the dice : they hazard their stakes upon the cast, taking their venture, all or nothing, equally excited by the expectation of loss or gain. — The second, are your Chess players, who carry on their game solely by their head, who calculate every combination and every move. — The third, play at Tables: the game re sults from chance corrected by skill : the moves of the pieces follow the throw ; it is the business of the player to improve the advantage of good luck, to contend against bad. — According to the ordinary balance of human affairs, all three Players may equally succeed or equally fail. Chance cannot be regulated. — Men do not always obey the hand. — Ingenuity may be helpless against the adverse destiny; nevertheless the last game is most consonant to our feelings, and the one in which least disappointment is incurred. You have not trusted too much either to fortune or to your own skill — it cannot be helped if you fail. Now it was to this last class that Bohe mond belonged. An attentive Observer of the times, the wide-spreading and continuous dis organization occasioned by the recurring famines and plagues of Europe, which were everywhere detaching the cultivators from the soil, might alone have suggested the possibility of enlisting 506 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1080-1456 the multitudes who inclined to seek their fortune. ¦ — * — ¦ The rich and fertile dominions of the Eastern 1080—1096 Emperor were comparatively near and exceed ingly attractive, well known to those who had tasted of their luxuries and had in part shared in their spoils: therefore Greece was first pointed out as the field of European enterprize. Death of § 24. Great were the perils into which the Respite shattered Empire had been brought by the Nor- given to . . the Greek man imrasion. Poison, administered by Sichel- Empire * thereby, gaita, was reported to have occasioned Guiscard's death. It is amongst the ugliest satires upon human nature, that the notion of the Step-mother should be so popularly associated to unkindness and malignity. Sichelgaita laboured under this disrepute : she tried first, it is said, thus to rid herself of Bohemond. Then, for the purpose of advancing her son Roger, as report added, she willingly yielded to the instigations of Alexis, and destroyed her husband. This detestable mode of wreaking vengeance was no less common in Normandy than in the South. Each example encouraged and inculcated a repetition of the crime, or gave rise to a sus picion that a similar act had been committed. A very great advantage had certainly resulted to the Greeks by the removal of Guiscard, never theless we are not entitled to fix the stigma of such a cowardly assassination upon the memory of Alexis ; for if we may take Anna Comnena ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 507 as speaking the usual sentiments of her family io8o_i4&6 and nation, the Greeks were more generous to ^AAZ^ their enemies than the Latins. Anna is occa- 1080— 109 sionally just to the memory of her father's foes : his foes are never. But at the same time, not only the aversion entertained by the Greeks against the Latins continued, but their fear, espe cially of the Normans, had encreased ; and it was for this reason that Alexis had encouraged the immigration of the English who had been received into his pay, as the means of encreasing his powers of defence against the encroaching enemy. Intercourse between Byzantium and Western Letter ad- * dressed in Christendom was rare : Greece was morally out the name * of Alexis of Europe, as much as Turkey now : communi- count 0?' cations were jealous, stiff, stately, without any andn^irs' comity; like the tone which Stamboul andp^^" Whitehall mutually adopted in the Stuart age. tnTm"? Some sensation therefore must have been excited tinopie. by the appearance of a letter particularly ad dressed to Robert, Count of Flanders, but also professing to be a circular to all Princes, and all lovers of the Christian faith, clerks and lay men, whereby Alexis earnestly, submissively," and heartily invites the aid of the Latins, and seeks to entice them into his Empire. In this very remarkable document, after ex patiating upon the progress made by the Infidels, and stating that the Turks were now at the very 508 the conqueror's SONS. 1080—1456 gates of Constantinople, — for as Alexis is made to . — * — . say, he constantly flies before them, — he professes that he would rather be the subject, the vassal of the Latins, than the scorn of the Pagans. "Far better it is," the Emperor declares, "that you should rule Constantinople, than that a city con taining so many holy relics should fall into the Infidels' power." — The relics are then detailed: we dare not transcribe the list. Taken as a document, adapted to the habits of thought then prevailing, it cannot be perused otherwise than with sorrow for the fond credulity, the exagger ation of piety, willing to believe not only in absurdities, but in impossibilities; and with indig nation against those who abused the simplicity of the believer. The Emperor then exhorts the Latins to pro tect such precious pledges of faith ; but should this duty be an insufficient inducement, how many others does his Empire offer? — "Our Women are the most beautiful in the whole world." — those who speak for Alexis deal in superlatives— if relics, or the charms of beauty suffice not — "if you love gold most of all, does the Avhole universe contain treasures to be compared to ours ? The Temple of Solomon in all its glory did not boast of such precious deposits in gold, silver, precious stones, silken tapestries and robes, as are found in the one Church of St. Sophia. — How shall I reckon to you the wealth of Our nobles, when the ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 509 possessions even of Our ignoble merchants surpass ioso_ 1456 estimation. — Still more Our own Imperial trea- , — ~ — . sures — no tongue can tell the amounts deposited 1080— 10 or concealed in the vaults of Our Imperial palace — all the riches of the old Roman Emperors are hidden there. Haste, haste, therefore, with all your power ; come, come, with all your force, lest such opulence should fall into the hands of the Infidels, whose number is infinite — Sixty thousand are expected, almost on this present day." This letter is said to have been followed by 1095. an Embassy. Messengers from Byzantium pre- reports^ sented themselves, as it was reported, before despatched , , by Alexis Urban in the Council of Piacenza, earnestly to the ^ Council of beseeching him to support the falling Empire. Piacenza. If any such personages appeared, there might have been some difficulty in verifying their cre dentials. It is not absolutely impossible but that some long-robed, long-bearded, real or pseudo- Byzantines, speaking good Greek, (there were plenty at Bohemond's service in Apulia,) should have figured before the assembly. The false Nuncio of Portugal is a remarkable example of the transient success which may attend such impostures. Even in our own days there have been instances of self-appointed agents, profess ing to treat and negociate on behalf of Poten tates and Powers. But in the present case, it is not even certain whether a dramatic repre- 510 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1080—1456 sentation took place. The Embassy is incidentally ZZICZ^ mentioned only by one writer. In the Acts of 1080—1096 j.ne counci!; or rather in the memoranda of the Acts, no notice is taken of the proceeding. Byzantine Historians are entirely silent, and as to the Epistle, it is palpably suppositious: there is not a phrase which could have proceeded from a Greek Emperor. Presump- There are certain contingencies in History, in tions for . ... . . assigning which our final opinion concerning important thektter even*s xS guided by the authenticity or false- mondhe hood °f particular documents. Mary, Queen of Scots, affords a familiar instance. Archaeologists lay down many rules for testing the authenticity of Diploma, Bull, or Charter, and these inves tigations constitute a most important branch of the arid science. The Benedictines have given us six quarto volumes principally for the purpose of confuting fraud or imposition. When the original exists, its genuineness is conclusively determined by experience. The keen Collector, well versed in the mysteries of numis matic ingenuity, detects the beautifully-preserved Philistis by touching the silver cheek of the Sy- racusian Queen with his tongue, or poising the medal on the tip of his finger; — tact in the literal sense: the etymology being the best ex ponent of the corresponding or correlative mental process. Before the Palaeographist, in like man ner, the spurious document is informed against ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 511 by the substance of the wax, the hue of the ink, ioso— 1456 the turn of the pen, the ruled line merely tinting , — L__ the surface or deeply dinting into the pellicle, nay, 108°— 109S almost by the smell of the parchment. — Master John Hardinge's forged instruments, so carefully deposited in our ancient Treasury, which pretend to be proofs of the supremacy of England over Ancient Scotland, are of this class. For these he got his pension, and ought to have lost his ears. His knavery has cast discredit upon the most authentic records. Because the Charter with the Great Seal of Scotland appendant, the Lion rampant within the tressure fleury, whereby Malcolm Canmore testifies his vassalage, is a gross and impudent fabrication, therefore it is argued that we must refuse credence to the coeval Chronicle, which tells of the Homage at Abernethy. The physical or material circumstances which conduce to suspicion or credence when the ori ginals can be consulted, are necessarily absent from documents existing only in transcript. You then must depend upon internal evidence, more difficult of application on account of the grada tions of untruth. — The one extreme may be* the adulteration resulting from the conjectural emen dation of the Editor, or the ignorance of the transcriber, and the other, the manufacture of a designing deceiver : — the one, the grand Gallery Rubens, glowing and resplendent with Chrome- 512 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 yellow and Prussian-blue, — the colours, the gifts ZZZCZ!^ of modern chemistry, which, denied to the pallet 1080-1095 of Antwerp or Cologne, indicate the skilful re storation, or reveal the rather clumsy repair to the microscopic eye of the discreet, smiling, silent Artist, admiring under the direction of the Es thetic Patron : the other the charming, brilliant Van Huysum, wherein the innocent Botanist's unlucky sincerity discovers, for the confusion of the despairing possessor of the darling gem, that the Dahlia, which gives so much point to the bou quet, was utterly unknown in Europe until the Banksian era. — The mistake in the name of a Bishop, and the non-correspondence of Indiction and Dominical year do not affect the substance of Alfred's grant recorded in the Book of Abing don; whilst the mere notice of the proceedings before the " King in Parliament " bestows irrevo cable condemnation upon King Ethelred's Croy land Charter. There is a common saying, that nothing is so easy as lying — which is not true, if thereby you mean that it is easy to lie so as to obtain belief. It might be both interesting and profit able, had we here space, to show the extreme difficulty, almost amounting to impossibility, of forging a document, still less a narrative, which should not excite a doubt, amounting to detec tion when examined by any practised judge in that behalf. — The detection results not so much ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 513 from particulars, as from an intuitive grasp of the ioso— use whole, just as the experienced Banker discovers ', ^_ the accommodation-bill at the first glance. He 1080-1095 seizes the whole bearing of the transaction, the date and maturity, the names, residences, and connexion of the parties, their line of business, whether, to use the mercantile phrase, they had a sufficient reason for operating upon each other, what consideration could have been given, and decides accordingly. — Now, applying similar rea sonings to the Epistle of Alexis, it is obvious that in him, so recently delivered by Guiscard's death from the oppressions of the Latins, it would have been absolute insanity, if addressing the noble Count of Flanders, so closely allied to the Hauteville family, he, the Emperor, had tempted such devourers by offering an uncon ditional surrender of his People, his Wealth, and his Empire. — What should we think of a Note, dated " Mexico," and purporting to come from Santa Anna, inviting Colonel Austin and Five hundred American rifles from Texas, to defend the Capital of the Republic against the Indians ? — Upon the style and phraseology of the Epistle it is needless to enlarge : the forgery is rank in every phrase. We can scarcely err in ascribing this com position to the agency of Bohemond. Although the Letter has never received that critical ex amination which the importance of the question VOL. III. LL 514 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 deserves, yet the casual industry of Archaeologists ^AAA. has recovered more than one transcript from the Monastic Records of Gallia Belgica. The Epistle is fully quoted by Guibert of Nogent, the best informed amongst the Chroniclers of the Crusades who dwelt in Northern France. Circumstances demonstrate that copies of the document were widely diffused, and we shall find that at no dis tant period the motive which the proposal offered, tangible, solid, — a very computable prospect of profit and loss, a very intelligible and valuable acquisition, contributed mainly in sending forth the bold yet calculating Adventurers, who obeyed the Pontiff's call. Hermifthe $ ^" These appeals predisposed Princes and B^he'mond Baronage to adopt Bohemond's views. Whether they fully believed in the Epistle's genuineness or not, yet the address certainly brought the matter home to their minds: the Embassy, still more. Some gave full credit to the messages, nevertheless all lingered. Urban himself paused; he may have been doubting in conscience, or distrustful of his Colleagues, or appalled by the magnitude of the enterprize. The object, more over, though definite, Avas distant, nor had any Commander appeared. And although the Grecian conquest might engage the attention of Chiefs and Leaders, the motive was scarcely adequate to excite that popular feeling needful to collect an army, which, if set in motion, must march ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 51 5 self-supported ; for there were no means of rais- ioso— 1456 ing a common fund. . — « — Ecclesiastical discipline and devotion had Pi,Krim. long sent adventurers to the East. Pilgrim- pSon of ages to the Holy Land commenced in the early pennS-' ages of the Church. The first examples quoted ofytheStem are evidently legendary. From the time of Con stantine, however, Ave may trace the practice, though not very conspicuously. The Church sub sequently included pilgrimages in that peniten tiary system by which she sought to supply the defects of temporal jurisprudence. These tedious and perilous journeys were enjoined as penances for offences beyond the jurisdiction of the civil Magistrate, or imperfectly restrained by law : the rules and regulations imposed, abstinence, prayer, privation, austerity and corporal discipline, ren dered the punishment heavy to the body, and, as they deemed, salutary to the soul. No trial per haps is more severe, yet more benign, if there be any germ of good in the heart, than the weary yearning after affection which absence imposes, giving comfort in the chastisement. The criminal, whether condemned by the Church or by his own conscience, sustained the hardships of exile, nay, penal transportation, without incurring the degradations and suffering, the intense misery inflicted by the Ministers of Positive civilization, cruel in her tenderest mercies. It was reserved for our Age to inter- LL2 516 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1080—1456 cept the smallest bounty which the Hand of Pro- . )L_' vidence casts before the wretched, and to direct 1080—1095 carefuiiy and anxiously, that every berry, herb, or leaf of pleasant taste, or which can afford a refreshing juice, should be rooted out from the accursed Island where the offal and carrion-fed Convict is doomed to execrable toil. Moreover, there were many cases in which the sinner's removal from the locality where his pre sence recalled his temptation or his crime, became equally beneficial to himself and to society ; nor were pilgrimages employed indiscriminately— they constituted an important portion, yet a portion only, of ecclesiastical discipline, not a substitute for repentance. Thus far, well; — but concurrently with the pilgrimages of discipline, other classes of pilgrim age were gaining ground — pilgrimages of self-will, pleasure-pilgrimages, profit-pilgrimages, affording ample means of self-deceit and seduction— we mean those pilgrimages Avhich were undertaken for secular motives or natural inclinations, deno minated religious or devotional. Fancy and im agination occasionally suggested these adven tures: the unconquerable desire of seeing foreign countries; historical or scientific curiosity; the appetite for excitement; family-troubles or family- quarrels; the Avish to cast off laAvful restraints; Abuse of mere idleness, and worse than idleness. All this pilgrimages : was very obvious : it required nothing but com- ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 517 mon sense to know that a large proportion of ioso— 1450 those who put on the pilgrim's garb were im- ^ZAAZ pelled by human, mixed, or unsound desires. 108°— 1095 Therefore whatever improvement, pleasure and satisfaction, the visiting of holy places might im part to really pious minds, the comparative dis advantages were so great, that pilgrimages had discou- been denounced and reprobated by some of the „Jt^thers wisest Fathers and Doctors of the Western Church. Church, except when undertaken simply and solely in canonical obedience. St. Gregory of Nyssa, after visiting Jerusalem, By st. being grieved to the heart at the depravity which j^6*; Sgt prevailed in the Holy City, was exceedingly trou- g "f^"6' bled by beholding the danger both to faith and face' morals resulting from pilgrimages. All the re marks and observations which he and the others who shared in his opinions make upon the subject are plain and common-place, and there fore the more important to be considered: — let us never forget, that trite truths, and fami liar practical sentiments, restore the reality of History. Thus, for example, St. Gregory asks "whether there be any reason to suppose that " the influences of the Holy Spirit are confined "to Jerusalem?" "You who fear the Lord, fear "Him wherever He has given you a dwelling- " place." — "Is it requisite to visit the Mount of " Olives for the purpose of confirming our belief " in the Ascension ?" 518 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 St. Augustine taught his Hearers that it was , — . — . not needful to travel to the East, or to cross — the Seas, in order to obtain remission of sins. St. Jerome's arguments are more elaborate. His personal conduct might seem in the first instance to afford an example in favour of the practice, inasmuch as he had settled himself in Palestine. But St. Jerome had domiciled himself in the Holy Land the better to prepare for the prosecution of his great task, the Translation of the Scrip tures. It was only through converse with the Rabbins of Tiberias that he could perfect him self in the Hebrew and Chaldee tongues : nei ther could he otherwise than by oral instruc tion and actual observation, acquire the know ledge required to adorn the Interpreter, the Critic, the Historian. — " In the same manner," — says the Great Doctor of the Church, " as those " who have visited Athens are better qualified " to understand the History of Greece, and Virgil "gives most delight to those who have sailed "from Troas by Leucate, and Acroceraunia to "Sicily, and thence to the Tiber; even so are "those readers of the Holy Scriptures privi- " leged who have seen Palestine with their own "eyes." — But St. Jerome is most energetic in denying the doctrine that a pilgrimage to the Holy Land is in any wise necessary for improve ment or conducive to sah-ation. One of his arguments is curiously pertinent to us, in this ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 519 Country, — " Regnum enim Dei intra vos est — ioso— 1455 de Hierosolymis et de Britannia, cequaliter patet \ — « — . Aula coelestis." — Female virtue, female honour 1080— 1095 suffered from these distant expeditions. — St. Gre gory of Nyssa expatiates on this subject. — St. Boni face, Archbishop of Mayence, the English Apostle of Germany, also did all in his power to discourage pilgrimages, especially amongst English women, upon the ground of the temptations to which their morals were exposed. He uses the most emphatic expressions in describing the disgrace they sustained. These disadvantages and evils were not over looked : various regulations were enforced by the Church, as well as by the Civil Power, for the purpose of diminishing the mischief. No Monk was to undertake a pilgrimage without the licence of a Superior. Married people not to separate for this purpose, otherwise than by mu tual consent. Every pilgrim to be legitimated by a letter of recommendation from the Bishop of his Diocese or other ecclesiastical Superior, and also by a regular passport from his Govern ment. The "Tracturia pro Itinere peragendo," being such a passport, is extant in the celebrated Marculphian collection of established formularies. Saints and Doctors had testified against pii- counter- grimages. The Church bowed to their authority. opMon ° T-, .... strongly in But submission to authority is not always accom- favour of pilgrim- panied by obedience, and the acknowledgment ases- of a stringent principle is not inconsistent with 520 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 respectful evasion. The Church hesitated, and ^AAA, in the eleventh century pilgrimages were be- 1080—1090 coming more numerous and popular. The pil grim trains increased in frequency and mag nitude : the old salutary rules and restraints were neglected, and the idea evidently began to prevail, that scrip and wallet might be conjoined to war and conquest. Could any precedent be more encouraging than the success of the Nor mans in Apulia? Sixty demure and humble pilgrims, their shirts of mail beneath the cilice, becoming masters of such lovely realms. — Theh devotion to St. Michael had been well rewarded. With respect to Palestine, an Army, — seven thousand pilgrims moving together can be called by no other name — had proceeded thither, just before the conquest of England, conducted by four Prelates of the Empire — Siegfried, Arch bishop of Mayence, and his brethren the Bishops of Bamburg, Utrecht, and Ratisbon. Siegfried was so tall and handsome, that admiring crowds were used to follow the splendid German. This episcopal army engaged in war with the Arabs. It matters little how the dispute arose — the Pil grims were discomfited. Still such an host, ad vancing far into Palestine, shewed what might be effected by European steadiness and valour. Another exploring expedition was the party headed by Robert the Frison. It taught the Flemings the way to Jerusalem. The tokens of this tendency imparted to the public mind, ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 521 thicken upon us : the traditions of Charlemagne's ioso_i456 expeditions to Jerusalem are its exemplifications. . — « — And lastly, in Godfrey of Bouillon, wise, pious, — bold and influential, pledged by his vow to the conquest of Jerusalem, there was the Captain who might be persuaded to take the command. Nevertheless, no movement, no concentration of motive ensued until Peter de Acheris, alias Peter the Frenchman, alias Peter the Hermit, alias Petrus Cucullatus, alias Koukou Petros, whilome the vassal of Godfrey's father Eustace of Boulogne, the husband of Anna de Roucy, then a Monk in the Forez, and an Anchorite, no one knows where, subsequently the useful Retainer of Guiscard, after that a Pilgrim to Jerusalem, returns from Palestine, lands at Bari, Bohemond's territory, repairs to Urban, Bohe mond's confederate and friend ; and then, roam ing round about, begins in his own country, in the Amienneois, within the hearing, so to speak, of the Boulogne and Lorraine families, those Pre dications which roused the Nations and sent forth the famine-struck, restless, demoralized Multitude, fascinated as by an irresistible power. It is a maxim of the Common law, that when three or more persons apparently acting seve rally and distinctly pursue an uniform course, tending to one object, seeking the same intent : and then afterwards conjoin in overt-acts, con formable to their previous separate actions, such their union renders them liable to the charge 522 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 of conspiracy. Each might have been acting from — - — ' his own head; they might have come together 1080—1095 by accident ; the speeches of the same tenor may have resulted from a general contagion of opinion, but the Jurors for our Lady the Queen will not believe it. The Attorney-General does not con sult La Place upon probabilities. He dispenses with any calculation of chances. The philosophy of the indictment, more practically conclusive, deduces the previous confederacy and combina tion of the Defendants from their continued agree ment and ultimate union. If Peter de Acheris therefore be arraigned before the Tribunal of His tory, we believe that a verdict of " guilty" ought to pass against him, when accused of conspiring with Urban and with Bohemond, for the pur pose of turning the forces of Europe against the Byzantine Empire. Erroneous § 26. Could we erase the word Holy, the ofthe iniquity of these Wars would be materially Crusades. . , diminished. Let Bohemond be invested with the full renown he sought : yield to Guiscard's son all the honour attached to his proud and ably concerted military project of gaining the Greek Empire. The Conqueror's ambition excuses the Conqueror. Genghis Khan or Julius Caesar make no apologies for their conduct, and seek no jus tification : they need none. Much of the ma chinery employed for producing the Crusade was free from blame: the personal influences, the family connexions (hereafter more minutely de- ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 523 tailed) which united the Leaders of the cause, and 108°— um the exertions which brought them together, were ¦ — " — ° ° 1080-1095 fairly employed. Men must always work by human means : nor, when labouring in the legiti mate service of God, ought we to neglect the weapons, the tools, or the talents which He has given us. In worldly pursuits, presented unequivocally as worldly pursuits, even in cases where the aim is merely rendered pardonable by the frailty of human nature, the exertions of the pious who may be compelled to engage therein, are not unfrequently rewarded by a blessing. They have turned sinners to righteousness; but can this blessing be expected when they voluntarily ally themselves with the world, under the vain hope that they may be able to guide and direct its evils heavenwards ? They have thus far delivered themselves unto the Adversary. They must follow the Leader whom they have chosen, whose craft they cannot baffle, and to whose supremacy, accepted of their own accord, they must suc cumb. — Unquestionably there was much simple enthusiasm amongst the Crusaders, mercifully rendered the means of preserving things holy and divine : much true faith ; but the best evi- sincerity of ... many of dence which we possess oi their sincerity and *he cm- t/ saders tes- self-devotion, is found in their sorrow and asto- ^^ by their sen - nishment when the enterprize failed. The good, dST'oint wise, pious, charitable, could not possibly under- ment- stand how they had been deprived of assistance 524 THE conqueror's SONS. 1080—1456 in a cause to them appearing so holy, lawful X^^just. A true exponent of their sentiments is loso-ioge found in gt Bernard He vents his lamentar tions, according to his custom, principally in the language of the Psalms ; — why were the Princes allowed to wander in their way, why were they given over to their enemies? ™™ § 27. Questions thus asked might have Wal- been most easily answered, had the Enquirers awakened themselves to the truth. They would then have known, that, taking the Crusades under the most favourable aspect, had the re covery of Palestine been really and truly a work of piety, they had neglected the relative pro portion of obligations and the relation of duties, and had forgotten that good must never be sought through evil. The premises upon which even any imperfect justification could be found ed, are absent. The Crusaders violated all laws of justice, human or divine. — The war was unprovoked, aggressive, exterminating: no de bate is needed to prove that such war is irre- concileable to Christianity; and its sin was aggravated by the pretence of being conducive to the Service of God. The Crusade was one of those examples of permitted temptation — the Lying Spirit placed in the mouth of the Pro phet — so inexplicable to human understanding, yet so distinctly revealed : constantly continuous and continuing, whereby even the ordinary and natural perceptions of right and wrong, nay, the ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 525 very intuitive logic of human reason, seems to ioso— 1456 be dulled and destroyed. . — « — . Hitherto, the Church, whatever might have The ^"ru ' been the sentiments entertained by particular g^t'ex11-6 Pontiffs (Hildebrand himself is not clear from aggrade blame), had avoided the two extremes of giving ^.nctioned any direct approbation of war, or of pronouncing Church. an unqualified condemnation upon war. No cases of conscience are more difficult to determine than the exact point or boundary where the natural and irrevocable right of self-defence against violence, granted by the Creator to Mankind, is to find a limit in the positive precepts of Revelation. War had been tolerated in the Christian soldier, when imposed by duty, practised in obedience, or com pelled by necessity — the Soldier appears as the executor of the punishment imposed by man's transgressions : war being thereby rendered need ful in the economy of human society. St. Augus tine's Epistle to Count Boniface is perhaps as good an exposition of the military obligation thus construed, as can be found; plain, unaf fected, and sensible. In some instances, as we have seen, aggressive war received an express, though temperate eon- demnation, being visited by penances, not very heavy or grievous, but sufficient to convey a sense of rebuke, and stand as a testimony of disap probation. When warfare was to be employed judicially, when the soldier bore the sword in the capacity of a magistrate : when the weapon was 526 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 to be drawn for the protection of the defenceless *AAAZ the orphan and the widow, a benediction was 1080-1095 bestowed, and not inconsistently. The solemn dedication was given for the purpose of restrain ing the abuse of force, not as the laud and praise of military prowess — a duty, not an honour. But the Crusades cannot be covered by this vindica tion. Comparisons taken from the Scriptures are wholly irrelevant, nay, deceptive. Joshua, and Samson, and Jephthah, Gideon, and Barak, were winning or defending their People's promised land, obeying God's commandments ; whereas the Cru saders undertook a war without a warrant, entirely in rebellion against the precepts of the Prince of Peace. All their reasons were futile; destitute of Fieury's solidity or consistency — "The Crusaders profess- condemna- •> •* x tion of the « ed their desire of avenging the insult offered to religious ° ° professed " our Lord ;" — we borrow the words employed by Crusaders. *ne most trustworthy of ecclesiastical Historians; — " but the sins and corruptions of his followers " disgrace his Name, and not the profanation ofthe " material structures, the Temple or the Sepulchre. " Whatever veneration may be due to holy places, "Faith is not "bound to them. He has declared "that the time was come when God should no "more be worshipped at Jerusalem or Samaria, " but everywhere in spirit and in truth. It is a " mistake in us to call Palestine the Lord's Inheri- " tance or the Promised Land : those expressions " belong only to the Old Testament, and cannot "receive any application to the dispensation of ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 527 " the New Covenant, otherwise than as a type or ioso— use "figure. His inheritance is His Church, brought ^ZAAIl. "together from all nations of the world: His pro- 1080-1095 " mised land is His heavenly Kingdom." fi 28. Not less sophistical, though more plau- interven tion on be- sible, are the arguments adduced by Urban to half of array Europe against Asia, upon the plea of ™^oims- superior civilization, conjoined with the principle ^P^f1 that no prescription derived from time, imparts to the Conqueror a legitimate authority over the nations whom he has subdued. In suggesting these motives, Urban suffered himself to be em ployed as an agent, perverting right for the purpose of ministering to selfish ambition. The doctrine which denies any prescriptive Locke's doctrine right to a Conqueror, has, if a name be con- thatnoiaw- ° T. ' ' ful right is sidered, the highest sanction which political ethics °„nai^dtby can obtain, the sanction ofthe Philosopher whose statue we are now erecting in the Palace of the Legislature, the sanction of the Metaphysician, the Jurist, the Moral Teacher, the Founder, in many respects, of our present Constitution; he whose works opened a new era of political opi nion in Europe; he who "prepared the way " for theories of political society, hardly bolder in "their announcement, but expressed with more " passionate ardour, from which the great revolu- " tions of the last and present age have sprung." — " Who doubts," — says Locke, — " but that the Gre- " cian Christians, descendants of the ancient pos- " sessors of that country, may justly cast off the 528 the conqueror's sons. . 1080-1456 " Turkish yoke, which they have so long groaned __- — " under, whenever they have an opportunity to 1080—1095 „ (jQ ^ . £Qr nQ government can have a right of "obedience from a people who have not freely " consented to it." And hence if this ratiocina tion be admitted, it follows, as has been wisely Jemarks9 observed, " that no State composed, as most have "been, out ofthe spoil of conquest, can exer- " eise a legitimate authority over the latest pos- " terity of those it has incorporated. Wales, for " instance, has an eternal right to shake off the " yoke of England ; for what Locke says of con- "sent to laws by representatives, is of httle " weight when these must be out-numbered in "the general legislature of both countries; and, " indeed, the first question for the Cambro-Bri- " tons would be to determine whether they would " form part of such a common legislation." Without discussing the principle either way, the practical refutation is most simple. Hitherto no Conquerors have ever dreamt of allowing the doctrine to be turned against themselves. — Will we ? — As applied by Urban in the Council of Clermont, the exposition was ludicrously mourn ful ; and like many other decencies which satisfy the easy virtue of political prudery, approached so close to mockery, that a by-stander might have wondered how gravity could be preserved. If an occupation continued during centuries did not jus tify the Mahometans in retaining Egypt, or legiti mate the authority derived at Fez, or Tunis, from ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 529 the Caliphate of Bagdad, the title of RoUo's de- ioso— 1456 scendants over Neustria fell into fearful jeopardy. ZZIZT Alp-Arslan arguing with Guiscard would have 108°— 109S run the Norman very hard. The recent acquisi tion of Antioch by the Turk might be challenged, but the challenge would be retorted upon the Normans in Apulia, Calabria and Sicily, just gained by fraud and force. How could King Roger defend himself in fair Trinacria against such reasoning? — Very easily: — "I have van quished them,"— is his reply ; — his justification speaks from the blade of his triumphant sword, "Apulus et Calaber, Siculus mihi aervit et Afer." And this is the complete apology for the Conqueror: — Respect him the more when he disdains to reason. He then avoids the breach of the third Commandment. Urban broke that Commandment when he incited the Crusaders in the name of religion. We must judge of Kings by the standard of Kings, and of Conquerors by the standard of Conquerors. — Open, manifested ambition, the fair and avowed seeking of wealth or power, not palliated by any arguments, not making any appeal to conscientious sentiment, are motives far less harmful thus disclosed, thah when conjoined to the pretence of promoting the spiritual or moral benefit of mankind. With respect to the Crusaders, these pretences were hollow and untrue ; and if we attempt in any wise to vindicate the wrong-doers, we become acces- vol. in. M M 530 the conqueror's sons. 108o— 1456 sories after the fact, and take their responsibilities ^ZX^ upon ourselves. oriental095 -^ey performed none of their promises, they mtrtated never thought of any such performance. Where- Lattol ever tne Crusaders colonized, they followed the Turkish precedents, insulting the native Chris tians, humiliating them, keeping them out of their own possessions. In every City where the Latins obtained the mastery, they took possession ofthe houses, and drove the Orientals, Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, Nestorians, whoever they might be, into the Black Town. The "Assizes of Jerusalem," the Colonial Code of the Latin Kingdom, do not recognize any Burgesses except Latins. We are in great obscurity concerning the rural popula tion. As far as we can judge from the hints which reach us, the services heretofore rendered, were aggravated by the new Lords of the soil. Hugh de Saint Omer, Baron of Tiberias, had less affinity with his Syrian rayahs than Turk or Tartar : his Flemish Baillif hit as heavily as the Reis, and encreased the rent besides. In matters of religion the Latins were even more intolerant than the Mussulman had become, for the Mahometans now left the native Chris tians alone, whereas the Latins subverted, as far as they could, the Oriental establishment by erecting Latin Sees in the Provinces which they occupied; directly contrary to the main prin ciple of the Canon Law, that there cannot be ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 531 two Bishops in one See. The greater portion ioso— uso also of the Latin Clergy were men of shame- A^AA, ful conduct. So completely did the Latin domi- 1080-1095 nation crush the Oriental Christians, that we discover no token of their existence except in the oppressions they sustained. We never hear their voice otherwise than in their groans. Merely in a political point of view, such conduct was most unwise : the injuries, and still more the affronts, which the Latins inflicted upon the Orientals, weakened their dominion, and ulti mately contributed to the destruction of their power. fi 29. As between the Eastern and the Detriment J resulting to Western Churches, the only effect of the Cru- ?elision ' J from the sades was to widen the breach between Latin c™sades. and Greek, so as now to render it impassable. We believe that the Grand Signor and Sultan, Abdul Medschid, is acting entirely in good faith ; but his late Firmaun for the toleration of native Protestant Giaours might pass for a Machiavellian stroke of policy. The Moslem has now the satis faction of witnessing additional discord. The only recollections the Latins left behind them in Syria were horror and detestation. Saracen mothers used to frighten their children by telling them that King Richard was coming to eat them up. Amongst the Native Christians these feelings are still more vivid — with them the wounds are quite raw even at this very day. MM 2 532 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 We can recollect that when the conflagration of ^ZIXZ^ the Church ofthe Holy Sepulchre made it needful 1080--.1095 to repair an(j restore the Structure, the Greeks immediately availed themselves ofthe opportunity to destroy the tomb of Godfrey of Bouillon, the humiliating monument commemorating the inju ries they had sustained. The Crusades contaminated the Faith of Western Christendom. Even under ordinary cir cumstances, we have evident testimony that a journey to Jerusalem is a perilous experiment, one which usually answers either very well or very ill, either much to the Traveller's improvement or to his detriment. In the course of the first Crusade we discover a crime, which on the whole, was very rare in the mediaeval Church, wilful and deliberate fraud. The revelation ofthe Holy Lance was acknowledged to be a cheat in the very Camp where the event happened, and the most profligate of the profligate priests amongst the Crusaders protested energetically against the imposture. The scene of the Soldier- Saints appearing clad in Avhite armour during the battle of Antioch was evidently a contrivance, probably Bohemond's. How greatly these decep tions must have promoted secret infidelity it is unnecessary to remark : Ave find accordingly the great outbreak of scoffing heresy and impiety immediately after the Crusades, and particularly amongst a class avIio are supposed to have been ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 533 much influenced by these wars, the Troubadours. 108°— 14S6 The Manichaean blasphemies, the Gnostic delu- • — " — • i c it n 1080—1095 sions superstitions and follies, of the Albigenses, the Vaudois, the Stedingers, the Gazzari, the Cathari, the Paterini, the Sonderlings, and other similar heretics, were probably much encouraged by the intercourse with the Orientals. And though the influence of secret societies has been exaggerated, we cannot disbelieve in their exist ence. The cruel punishments inflicted upon the Templars have occasioned a natural revulsion of feeling in their favour, but we dare not pro nounce them innocent. 5 30. The deterioration of faith was accom- Deteriora- -fiii tion of panied by great corruption of morals : the luxury Morals 1 J ° x . consequent of Byzantium was inordinate ; the City, the gp°Q *he seat of unbounded vice, the Palais Royal of mediaeval Christendom. The Eastern Christians in general were effeminate and lax, and the Latins, whilst they exceedingly despised the Orientals for their effeminacy, absorbed with alacrity all the depravity Syria could impart. Whatever small benefit might, under certain circumstances, be derived from pilgrimages to holy places, was as nearly as possible lost to the Crusaders. We have seen the opinions of St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Boniface, upon this subject, how they would have reprobated Pope Urban's proceed ings. Nay more, the whole conception of a true 534 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 pilgrimage was completely obliterated by the ^AAZ[ Crusades. A pilgrim had to go humble and lowly, 1080-1095 barefooted and poor, patient and penitent, to seek holy men and means of grace and contrition, and to be constantly occupied in mental prayer : whereas, the Crusaders of high degree, Princes, Counts, and Knights and Barons went forth in all their pride and power, pursuing their ordinary course of life, only under another name: they journeyed on with hawk and hound — literally so — and the vast herd of their followers gave themselves up to plunder and debauchery : wild vagrants, with scarcely any other object except that of bettering their condition, escaping re straint, and indulging their passions with un limited freedom. The development of the various mischiefs, abuses and iniquities engendered by the Crusades, would be, in a great measure, to write the history of the Church, and to trace, until our own times, the progress of European Civiliza tion. Ecciesiasti- R 21. Through the principles which the cal abuses J o i x fromlhf Crusades evolved, the ancient discipline of the dewmentai Chui'ch, as the Censor of public morals, gra- authority dually fell into desuetude. Her collective power racter a" decayed ; the system of plenary indulgences being cimrch. as injurious to morality as the doctrine proved destructive of the authority by which it was pro pounded. The Confessor and the Director feebly supplied the place of Catholic cogency. ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 535 Out of the Crusades, arose those financial loso-use extortions, which rendered the Papal authority _^ odious throughout Christendom. The impositions 108°— 1095 which the Pope laid upon ecclesiastical property, the Saladine tenth, exacted for the purpose of recovering Jerusalem from the noble and mag nanimous son of Ayub, well nigh expelled Urban's successors from the city of the Seven Hills. The Crusades brought on the Reforma tion. Urban set Tetzel in movement when he opened his market for sin — Urban began the rent which in Leo's golden days tore the Western Church asunder. There are two statues in the Narthex of the glorious Basilica of St. Peter — the Prince of the Apostles, the Founder of the Universal See, — and Constantine, claimed as the originator of her temporal Sovereignty. A third is wanting — let the Pontiff add Martin Luther. Had not the Dominican Monk been appointed to cauterize the Church, it would seem that she must have sunk under the poison of her own corrup tions : the chastisement preserved her vitality. § 32. Such was the origin of the first great European # ° coloniza- European colony. — The system which the Cru-tion- sades engendered, has encreased the material resources and riches of the world, to a vast, yet measurable extent. Imports and exports, tributes and revenues, mines and minerals, mountains and forests, land and water, may all be told up and reckoned in figures and numerals ; but the 536 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 sufferings which these acquisitions have brought . — - — , upon mankind are immeasurable. The Statist — ° takes no account of anguish : there is no column for " misery " in his tables. — Hear the story of European Civilization from Those who have witnessed the results ; from Those who amidst the exulting cheers of their countrymen, are going forth to pour out the Vial of Woe upon Regions hitherto partially spared. What says the past ? Nations prosperous, hos pitable, happy, confiding in our honour and inte grity, extirpated ; their arts, their very languages lost; the bold and warlike Hunters withered before the contagious example of the White man; their Tribes dispersed, their wretched remnants brutalized and outcast. What says the present? Powerful Governments, found by the European rich, active, thriving, and industrious, now decom posed by treachery, bribery, and intrigue : their territories wrung from them by the Treaty extorted under the Cannon's mouth, their vices encouraged, their virtues repressed, their energies paralyzed or rendered desperate. There is no phenomenon of human nature more unaccountable to the Physiologist than the disappearance of ancient diseases, succeeded by the development of others more widely and malignantly destructive. An analogy may be found in the leprosies of the soul ; for without in any degree assenting to the truly vulgar notions ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 537 ofthe amelioration or the deterioration of Human ioso— i486 nature since the Fall, it is entirely consistent . — « — , with Revelation to believe that in the world's — later ages the snares of the Deceiver are mul tiplied, and his wiles invested with encreased seductiveness. That man should replenish the earth, is the command of the Creator; but amidst the exceeding complexity of the causes which are drenching the Families and Nations with more bitter wretchedness, one Fact, and one Doctrine are pre-eminent, — the Fact is the migra tion of the European Races into climates where their frame is unfitted for the actual cultivation ofthe soil — the Doctrine is the proposition, the organic principle of Civilization, that the know ledge and industry of civilized man entitle him to usurp from their possessors all the lands allot ted by our common Father to the Races ignorant of the arts or the habits of civilized life. The Fact inevitably leads to the slavery of " imperfectly civilized," " uncivilized," " savage," or "aboriginal" races, — the Doctrine, as inevi tably, to their degradation and extinction. It is claimed as the indefeasible prerogative of civilized man, to whom God has granted know ledge, intellect, wealth, strength, and power, that he should therefore be entitled to persecute, subdue, expel, exterminate, and destroy, for his own profit and advantage, all the Races to whom these gifts have been denied. Truly, when thus 538 THE conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 directed, " Knowledge is power," power to . — - — . commit the deepest crime. The Razzia con- 1080-1095 sumes t]je Arab, and the Commando the Caffre, in the name of civilization. Our Statesmen with one accord repudiate and deny the principle that "religion, morality, or expediency" impart to the Savage any right to the lands which that Savage enjoys by the dispensation of Him to whom the fulness of the Earth belongs: for the very designation of Autochthon conveys the highest idea of right which language can be stow. The Aboriginal Inhabitant is the only inhabitant concerning whom it may be affirmed with entire certainty, that he has been guided into the islands of the sea by the immediate dispensation of Divine Providence. There are many degrees in oppression, from the mere arrogance which insults the feelings and prejudices of the protected Hindoo, to the extinction ofthe Aboriginal SaA-age. Is the meaning of that word 'Extinction' understood? Contemplate one example. New foundland, when the Anglo-Saxon first estab lished himself upon Cabot's discovery, was peopled by a primeval race, who subsisted partly by hunting and partly by fishing. They were extremely numerous, active and ingenious, and the island was intersected by fences, each extending thirty miles and more, which they had constructed for the purpose of enclosing and ORIGIN AND INTENT OF THE CRUSADES. 539 conducting the deer to the stations of capture. ioso— 1456 In proportion as our colonization encreased, the ^_L_, coast was occupied by civilized man, and the 108°— l095 natives prevented from resorting to the water — if they appeared, they were shot. In proportion also as cultivation expanded inward, the deer were diminished and destroyed, and if the starving Savages approached our Settlements they were shot. It was considered a meritorious act to shoot an Indian. Somewhat about twenty years ago, the last Man and last Woman of the Abo riginal race who had crept to the shore during the night to pick up fish from the rocks, were shot on the beach of Notre Dame Bay ; the Man was hit by the bullet when supporting his dying Wife, and they dropped dead side by side. We arrive again at the inexplicable moral problem of collective and hereditary culpability. How long the guilt of each generation may be per mitted to cleave to their children and children's children, is inscrutable. — Sufficient for us is it to know that if repentance be possible in a people, the fierce anger may be turned away. — But re pentance must precede pardon. — If it be sacri legious to take away from God's service that which has been consecrated and set apart for His worship and glory, may there not be greater sin in attempting to hallow the earnings of na tional injustice? David would not give to the Lord the threshing-floor which cost him nothing : 540 the conqueror's sons. 1080—1456 we give Him the fruits of wrong and robbery. If , — « — . we raise the Altar in possessions thus acquired, J ought we not to begin bythe Psalmist's prayer — " Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. — Deliver me from blood-guilti ness, 0 God — Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways ; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee." Chapter XI. ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 1096—1100. § 1. The schism in the Latin Church pro- 1096—1100 duced a corresponding effect upon the disposition Part ' ha_ of Western Christendom towards the Crusade. Se'cru- The Expedition did not possess the absolute and ban6!!. r" undeniable sanction of Catholicity. Whoever element attended the Council of Clermont, convened by posed, with few excep- Pope Urban, acknowledged Urban's legitimacy. «°°s. pf To use the technical phraseology of the Herald, adherents. " Urban gave, Argent a plain Cross, gules." The Cross was Urban's armorial bearing or badge, not the symbol of Christianity : and in the eyes of the Crusaders the Cross presented no more real religious sentiment than when displayed in our Union Standard. Who thinks of the Cross, who sees it, when the flag waves on the Mast head, the Rampart, or the Factory : until they are told that the Cross is there ? — Let us accept this explanation, when we contemplate the enor mities perpetrated by those who took the Sign. — Urban's private object, his Legate heading the enterprize, was the expulsion of the Anti-Pope Clement, and the restoration of his power in Clement VII. 542 the conqueror's sons. io96-iioo the metropolitan city of the Christian world. Unquestionably, Urban, a good and wise man, though not very clear-sighted or very sim ple-minded, was the rightful Pontiff, yet his countenance rendered the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre a party question: a bad omen — a taint which more or less affected every subse- crusade quent Crusade. We can find none clear from proclaimed , (1383) by political motives or party enmity, till at last, clement History shows us a Pope directing a Crusade actually and avowedly against the person of a Competitor. — Another Urban against another Clement, — Bartolomeo Prignano against Robert of Geneva. This was the last scandal of the Crusades: as they began, so they ended. The sowers of the wind reap the whirlwind. No one, therefore, who supported the Anti- Pope, or who wished to preserve neutrality, would join, unless urged by some very strong personal feeling. The three principal Sovereigns of West ern Christendom : Henry the Emperor, Urban's deadly foe : Rufus, cautiously negociating with him ; and Philip, separated from the Church by her censures, all kept entirely aloof. The Swa bian, Thuringian, Franconian and Saxon nations of Germany stigmatized the Crusade as mad ness and folly. In Italy, the various Commu nities and. Fiefs which recognized the Emperor were equally adverse to the Crusade: there fore all those who assumed the Cross (if not ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 543 Crusaders upon principle or for profit) consisted 1096— uoo either of declared Urbanites, or seceders from * the Imperialist, Guibertine or Clementine Party, detached by some peculiar interest, or by their connexion with the Leaders or Promoters of the Enterprize. It is to this very important characteristick that The i"t?r- we must now direct our attention, namely, the J^™^ composition of the constituent Party, the interests together™ or connexions by or through whom the Expedi tion was collected and vivified. If we take the map of Europe, and describe the crusading influ ence according to the terminology of more recent Geography, we may say that the main strength was found in the following territories : the Nether lands generally, Lorraine and Luxembourg, Pi- cardy, the Isle of France, Artois, Normandy, Brittany, Maine, Anjou, Poitou, Champagne, Bur gundy, the Lyonnais, Auvergne, Languedoc and Provence, and a sprinkling from the Ecclesi astical Sovereignties on the left Bank of the Rhine. This would include the Staff and elite, so to speak, of the Crusading forces; but the enume ration fails to convey any accurate idea of the process by which the Crusaders were mustered. The attracting powers which drew the Crusa ders together were neither national nor moral, but personal — man working upon man, imme diate individual influences and interests. In discussing the Crusades, we have heard 544 the conqueror's sons. 1096-1100 them designated as " a Phase of human Society :" ~" " a Phase of human Society," — what does the thing signify? These expressions, which are neither abstract nor metaphorical, but may be included in either category, are the means of delusion or the symbols of truth. Very delusive, when employed currently and glibly, merely for convenience or to spare the trouble of thought. We all use combinations of sounds when we are speaking against time or filling our paper — there are many occasions in which nobody can dispense with them. They are stUl more decep tively plausible, when invoked according to the fashion of Parliamentary orators for the purpose of evading any examination of principle ; but if we wish to form, or teach others to form, any sound judgment upon the right or the wrong, and not to make believe, we must sweep away the cobwebs, and deal simply with reality. Penetrate into the deep import of your verbal symbols. Recollect that in every consideration relating to human nature, each individual soul is the subjective centre of a universe ; and then the symbols become the most useful engines of thought. The word Society is the symbol of in dividuals, each responsible for the acts which he commits or permits, the obedience or the dis obedience, moulding his character to receive the blessing or the curse. When the rush of the blast whitens the foliage masses of the Black poplar- ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 545 tree, it is the upturning of each separate leaf 1096-1100 which has changed the general hue. The " Phase v of human Society " is the aggregate of the acts committed or permitted by individuals, mani fested and disclosed through their importance and multitude, forcing themselves before the light : nothing mystical, nothing recondite, but always worked by the same machinery and according to the same scheme. If ever any state of Society existed which could be thought essentially different from our own, it was under the Theocracy of Israel. The Almighty testifying his Presence by signs and tokens ; — the Eternal Father revealed as the immediate Sovereign; — the fruits of the earth encreased three-fold, by the blessing which He commanded upon the Eve of each Sabbatical year; — the unerring Lot, cast into the lap, and dragging forth the concealed Transgressor or Criminal ;— the Answer given by the Prophet or the Ephod. Yet those who gathered themselves unto David in the cave of Adullam, were no other than the various classes assembled round the Popular Leader yesterday or to-day : and without the influence of the Leader exercised man-ward, as in every similar State-revolution, how would David's Kingdom have been founded? In order, therefore, to obtain a searching knowledge of the Crusade, we shall deal with the Holy War as people are accustomed to discuss VOL. III. n n 546 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 any great undertaking. If you look over the list, for example, of any voluntary association, no matter for what purpose, you see at once how The Lor- the individual interest of this or that Patron, rame in- party. or President, Governor, Director, or other Office bearer, has operated in bringing the members together ; and through these individual influences the Association is founded. § 2. Marshalling the Host according to this principle, we must place at their head the Banner of Lorraine. All things considered, sta tion, personal character, and predetermination, Bounrion°f Godfrey gave the greatest support to the Cru sade. Born and bred to be their Captain, the opulent and powerful Princes who circled round him constituted the heart of the Army. Ruhng on the borders of Capetian France, predominant in the Marches of the Empire, Godfrey exerted authority and persuasion over both Realms ; and if any Vassals or States beneath the Imperial Crown contributed or aided their movement, in opposition to the political and religious feelings prevailing amongst the Germans, was due chiefly to his persuasion. From the Rhine to the bor ders of Normandy, a force was raised, more compact, energetic and wealthy, than any other regions could supply. All Godfrey's kinsmen rallied round him. thersba0nd Nearest to Godfrey, his brothers— Eustace, iSmem6 the elder, who succeeded to the County of Bou- ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 547 logne, afterwards married to Mary of Scotland, 1096-1100 daughter of Margaret and of Malcolm, the father- ^ in-law of Stephen of Blois, the Conqueror's ne phew and King of England. Baldwin, the younger brother of Godfrey, had The four been destined for Holy Orders: well educated and well taught, he held many Prebends in the Churches of Rheims, Cambrai, and Liege ; but, marrying Godechilda, daughter of Ralph de Toeny and Isabel de Montfort, he cast off the sacerdotal habit, if indeed the obligation was ever really assumed by him. — For we suspect that, according to the lax practice resulting from the system of investiture, he held his good pieces of preferment as an untonsured clerk. This is the Baldwin whose cupido ingegno is held up to reprobation by the Bard. Gode childa, whom he espoused, had just been repu diated by the Prudhome, Robert de Beaumont, Count of Mellent, then contemplating a more ambitious alliance. Another Baldwin, Godfrey's cousin, was Bald win du Bourg, the son of Hugh Count of Rg- thel, one of the Seven Peers of Champagne. This County afterwards devolved to the House of Burgundy. Those who have seen the mag nificent tomb of Philippe le Hardi at Dijon, will recollect the armoiries parlantes of Rethel, the Rastel or Rake, emblazoned amongst the quar terings upon the Ducal robe. NN2 548 THE CONQUEROR'S sons. 1096-1100 A third Baldwin was the son of Henry or * Hescelin Grandpre", also one of the Seven Peers of Champagne. A fourth is Baldwin of Hainault or Mons, nephew of Robert the Frison, and the hus band of Ida of Louvaine. In this noble Schiera we find two future Counts of Edessa, and three Kings of Jerusalem; — and nigh them stands Co nan of Montaigu in the Ardennes, Godfrey's Bro ther-in-law, the husband of his sister, who also bears his Mother's honoured name. Ebles de Roucy, the third of the Seven Peers of Champagne who took the Cross, coming in upon the Hauteville interest, was also affected by Godfrey's connexions, being of the Lorraine family. Proceeding with the Lorraine array, we now meet Alberic of Namur, who owned Godfrey as feudal Lord, and prided himself on his very close connexion with the Lorraine family : for though not of Lorraine blood, he was the brother of Oda, the first wife of Godfrey le Barbu, Duke of Lohier and grandmother of Godfrey of Bouillon by the female side. Through Oda, her grandson ob tained the Sovereignty. SeTorlhe" Furthermore, Count Arnolph of Ardres — BoXgnt HuSh de Champ d'Avoine or Campdavaine, Count of St. Paul, with his son Enguerrand, a young man of great and undisappointing pro mise.— The two sons of Baldwin, Count of ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 549 Guisnes. — Manasses, godson of Robert the Frison io96_noo and husband of Emma, daughter of Robert Tan- ' " ' carville, and widow of Odo of Folkstone, and Fulco, who in the Holy Land became Count of Berytus. — The Seigneuries of St. Paul, Guisnes, and Ardres were severally members ofthe County of Boulogne : their Lords were all connected by consanguinity or marriage, and their names transport us to a scene far gayer and brighter than any which the Crusades exhibited, the Chi valric Field ofthe Cloth of Gold. Moreover, Dudon de Conti, the Dudone di Consa to whom Tasso has allotted .an entire stanza, which, considering how many warriors, far more distinguished, have been past over in the Epic (we scarcely hear anything concerning Dudon in the Great Folio of the Crusades), is a whimsical example of poetical injustice. — Gar- nier or Werner Count of Grai, Renaud Count of Toul, Peter his brother, — and some others, prin cipally from the confines of the Teutonic and Roman e tongues. The Lorraine and Hainault interests, amal- Predomi nance of the gamating with the Flemish interest properly so Lor™ne called, as well as with the Norman interest,* long m!sh. in'er- o ests m the continued predominant in the great Oriental co- £"1™-®* lony. Hence the very close connexion between Latin's. the East and the Belgic Provinces of Gaul. All the Kings of Jerusalem belonged to the Lorraine, Hainault, or Flemish interests either by descent 550 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 or marriage ; and Baldwin, sixth of Hainault ' " ' and ninth of Flanders was the first Latin Em peror of Constantinople. After the transient and unhealthy prosper ity exhibited by the French interest, many Me diterranean relics and fragments of the Eastern Empire became vested in the triumphant Re public of Venice, and, by a strange contingency, we are now her heirs. The British Lion has seized the prey dropped by the Lion of San Marco; and the Queen of the British Empire, Protector of the Ionian Isles, is, through the Queen of the Adriatic, the direct successor of the Crusaders. Tuil hf"*6' 0 **• ^or *ne foregoing reasons we have placed terest. ^e Lorraine array at the head of the Host, yet the Bands commanded by Bohemond must be con sidered as very nearly equal in importance with the divisions which follow Godfrey. In these Bat talions were found not only the originators of the scheme, but the main flanking forces of the army. Extent and Great indeed was the power resulting from those influence x ° Hauteville Hauteville alliances previously detailed : some of connexions. tne wjves were dead and others divorced, but such incidents did not much disturb the friend ship and harmony of families. Robert, Count of Flanders, Raymond of St. Gilles, Count of Tou louse, William, Count of Clermont, Aymeric of Narbonne, Ebles de Roucy, and all their vassals and adherents, — Tancred, — Roger de Barneville, whom Tasso places fra gli egregi, partly, per- ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 551 haps, because his name, euphonized into Rug- 1096-1100 gier di Barnevilla, helps the rhythm of a well- " sounding line, — Ivo and Alberic de Grantmesnil; — Anselm de Ribeaumont, of whom we shall have more to say hereafter, — the Houses of Giroie, Toeny, Eu and Evreux ; all belonging to the Hautevilles by marriage or intermarriage, and all their friends and kinsmen complicated with them through the concatenations of the Nor man pedigrees; — the minuter ramifying fibres conveying their quota of nourishment, fully as useful in any important enterprize as the main roots by which it is upheld — the small share holders in a great speculation — the absence of individual consequence being compensated by aggregate value : every name gained being a clear gain. Amidst the general Hauteville interest, we Bohe-mond's must nevertheless distinguish Bohemond's pecu- particular ... associates. liar associates. Tancred falls into this class : at first he was reluctant, but Bohemond per suaded him, though with difficulty.— Richard the Norman Lord of Principata, and Ralph his brother, both sons of William-bras-de-fer, Guis card's brother. — A selection also of Norman and French adventurers. Robert d'Anse and Robert de Sourdeval, we believe from Caen;— Robert Fitz-Thurstan, Herman de Cogny, and Humphrey Fitz-Ralph ; three or four others of minor note, — and, though not a Warrior, yet to us far more 552 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096-1100 important, Ralph of Caen, Tancred's Chaplain, "" who dilates in prose and verse upon his Pa tron's deeds of high emprize. The great 5 4. Then the general Norman interest, Normaninterest properly so called, — we mean those who were under . . Courthose. not immediately comprehended in the Haute ville sphere, — at their head, Robert Courthose. Robert certainly was absent from the Council of Clermont, but jaded by his excesses, and seem ingly despairing of being able to regain any influence, he roused himself to take the Cross. Roberts Devotion found no place in Robert's character: motives. x other motives impelled him; much restlessness, a fine, though spoilt disposition, still strugghng against the enervation of debauchery, transient starts of activity ; probably also the wish to marry advantageously before wrinkles and a grey beard should lessen his chance — there was one Lady at least beyond the Alps upon whom he formerly reckoned, — all combined. Robert also felt degraded, worried, and hum bled in his own dominions. His brother Henry bullied him in Domfront and the C6tentin; and by Rufus, he Avas overshadowed in all the other Bailliages. Never had Robert's weaknesses been so apparent. Even those who would have wished to love and like him, in consequence of his innate good temper and kindness, felt that his presence was absolutely injurious to the public welfare. No prospect, as it seemed, of restoring tranquillity ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 553 and good order except by the Duke's removal. iooe— uoo Had Robert shared in the old pious spirit of his ancestor William Longue-e'pee', he would have retired to a monastery. Abdication in those times was usually accompanied by religious seclusion, perhaps the most satisfactory mode of descending from a throne : — but for this sub mission of spirit, Robert had no heart, and he determined to proceed to Palestine, a course offer ing an acceptable compromise. Three close and Robert's ° . x compan- intimate companions had Robert Courthose. His 1^"9'w"^s good sons, Richard and William, were equally ^Ba^ux, affectionate, but Richard the active huntsman nXhMa- continued at home to watch his father's inter- a orona" ests : William accompanied his Parent. This is the William whom the Poet of the Crusade, with pardonable error, describes as the. King of Eng land's son, bestowing upon him the command of the contingent from the British islands. " Maggior alquanto e lo squadron Britanno Guglielmo il regge, al Re minor figliuolo : Sono gli Inglesi saggitarii, ed hanno Gente con lor ch' e piu vicino al polo, Questi dall' alte selve hirsuti manda La divisa dai mondo ultima Irlanda." Odo of Bayeux joined Robert, actuated by analogous feelings. Nephew and Uncle were both discontented. Odo could no longer continue in Normandy with credit or comfort : he had fallen into great disrepute. — " There goes the Bishop who prostituted his functions by marrying adulterous 554 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1100 Philip to adulterous Bertrada — Fie on him !" — Odo dreaded the vengeance of Rufus, that ven geance so recently wreaked upon Eu and Mow bray. He recollected the cramps of the prison in which he had been kept by the Conqueror; and Rufus was as little inclined to respect ecclesiastical immunities as to be mitigated by affection. Although Odo was old, he was still active and vigorous, glad to avail himself of any opportunity to exchange crozier for spear. The third of Robert's companions was Arnolph, the family Tutor who had so ably conducted the education of Cecilia, Robert's sister. Arnolph was more learned than wise. They called him Mala-Corona, in consequence of his dissolute and unclerical conduct; but he had kept up his know ledge : his talent was undiminished, and he stood high in Robert's confidence and favour. Either Arnolph's worthlessness had been so very noto rious as to debar him from preferment in England or Normandy, or he did not like the small restraint which ecclesiastical dignity imposed. Perhaps he anticipated that he might find a situation to suit him in Palestine, the Colony. Stephen of Stephen of Albemarle and Holdernesse, Albemarle and Holder- though a man of excellent character, also be- nesse. Ro- u Molrtafne came a Crusader for the purpose of removing &c- away from trouble. He did not consider himself safe at home. Although he had not appeared actively in arms against Rufus, still he was ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 555 liable to great suspicion from the manner in 1096—1100 which he had been produced as a Pretender. Others of this Norman connexion, not included amongst the Hauteville followers, were Rotrou Count of Mortagne (also influenced by his Roucy connexion), — Philip the brother of Robert de Belesme, — and also Robert de Beiesme's famous but nameless Engineer who battered the walls of Jerusalem, — Gautier de St. Valery, Duke Rich ard's grandson, — Ralph de Beaugency, who mar ried a daughter of Hugh the Great, Count of Vermandois, — Gerard de Gournay the Norman Baron, and in England Lord of Caister nigh Yar mouth. There are contradictory accounts con cerning Gerard : some say he came home safe during the Crusade, and returned to Palestine, taking with him his wife Editha, daughter of the Earl of Warrenne. At all events, Editha was with Gournay in the Holy Land when he died. The Lady survived, and found another husband in Palestine. The preponderance of re-married mediaeval widows is very remarkable : whether persuaded or compelled, sweetly yielding or more sweetly reluctant, they rarely continued in their weeds. Several distinguished Bretons joined the Breton 0 " Crusaders standard of Normandy, — Alan Fergant, — Conan, J°.in thaens son of Count Geoffrey, — Riou de Loheac, — and old Ralph Guader, whilome Earl of Norfolk, of whom we have heard little since his expulsion 556 THE conqueror's sons. io96.^noo from Norwich Castle. There used to be an anti- " quarian fancy that Norwich Keep was modelled from the Tower of David at Jerusalem. Stephen of Stephen, Count of Blois and Chartres, father Blois and . hisconnex- of our king Stephen, the poet, the orator, the ions. x witty, amiable and wise in Council, the Con queror's son-in-law, was the ornament and pride not only of the Norman party, but of the whole army. None so cheerful, so elegant, so pleasing. Deficient in nerve and resolution, his reluctance yielded to the objurations of his wife, the talented Adela, truly her father's daughter. Adela dearly loved her husband, but she would not let him rest ; she was crazed for glory, and brought him to his death by this passion. Stephen was fol lowed by Jourdain de Pruilly, Count of Vend6me in right of his wife Euphrosyne. Jourdain him self was the son of Geoffroi de Pruilly, who, accord ing to a loose tradition, was the inventor of He raldic Tournaments: one of those assertions which astound us by what we dare not call absurdity, seeing the gravity of the authorities by whom the opinion is maintained. b FiTche6 0ur old friend Helias de la Fleche, who had poitouTand so many Norman friends and also so many chin! " Norman enemies, desired to take the Cross. Certainly actuated by sincere devotion, Helias was one of the very few AA'hom we can imagine calculated to find improvement in the camp of the Crusaders.— William, Count of Poitou, the ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 557 Troubadour, was enticed to Palestine under a 1096—1100 very different inspiration ; he would depart featly " and gallantly, the gay portrait of Countess Mau- berge smiling on his shield, seeking excitement and pleasure, pour engigner dames et damoi- selles, according to his custom ; and also to find subjects for his Muse. — Old Fulk Re"chin thought of going also, probably in a kindred mood: more over he was a friend of Baldwin du Bourg. & 5. Hugh of Vermandois, Hugh le Grand, The yer- 3 • - ¦ B o ' mandois brother of King Philip, seems to have been interest- determined to the Crusade by a variety of con current circumstances, which thus induced him to contrariate his family-feeling. The geogra phical position of the fine territory which Hugh had acquired by his marriage with Adela, heiress ofthe original Counts of Vermandois, probably fur nished the most important motive. If we consult the map, we see that Vermandois is completely surrounded by Crusading countries, placing the Count under the influence of Lorraine, Cham pagne, Normandy, and Flanders : Hugh was en veloped by the Crusading atmosphere, and inti mately acquainted with all the Princes and Baronage. Adela his wife was also a descendant of Charlemagne. A distinguished kinsman shines brightly through the remotest regions of space, and Hugh, pompous and inflated by vain-glory, may probably have considered himself bound to vindicate the Imperial honour. 558 the conqueror's sons. 1096-1100 Hugh le Grand's retainers who accompanied him were mostly involved in crusading connex ions; but particularly the excellent Anselm de Ribeaumont, the Castellan of Valenciennes (and thus in the Flemish interest), — and also hus band of Agnes de Roucy, the daughter of Ebles de Roucy, by Sibylla de Hauteville. Anselm was killed in Palestine, and his Widow is con jectured by some genealogists to have been the Agnes de Ribeaumont who became the wife of Walter Gifford, Earl of Buckingham. According to Ordericus however she was Anselm's sister: any how we shall hear more of her hereafter as Gifford's Widow, seeking another husband. All we know of Anselm de Ribeaumont, whose cha racter bears some resemblance to that of Eustace de Ribeaumont in after times, leads to the sup position that he was a true Pilgrim of the Cross, humble and pious. William Viscount of Melun, ycleped the Hammerer, from the heavy blows which he dealt, the cousin of Hugh de Vermandois; — Drogo de Mounceaux, a Knight of the Beauvoisin, who in due time comforted Editha, the relict of Gerard de Gournay, (Drogo's name, changed by the Picard pronunciation into Mounchy or Mouchi, is retained unaltered in the English possessions of his family, Hurst Mounceaux and Compton Moun ceaux); — Clerembaud de Vendeuil; — Everard de Puisieux and Thomas de la Fer, or de Marie, ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 559 all followers of Vermandois, came in also upon 1096-1100 the same interest. The latter, Thomas de Marie v" (who was then so called in right of his mother), very noble and highly connected, had also a Lorraine connexion, being married to Ida, daughter of Baldwin of Hainault, and widow of Guy de Chievres. He was the son of Engueraud de Couci, and ultimately his successor. What title so chastely proud as that which distin guished him? — Roi, ne Duo, ne Prince, je suis, Je suis le Sire de Couci. Sorely did Thomas disgrace the lineage of Couci. He was atrociously wicked, and resorted to the Crusade for the purpose of avoiding the ven geance which he deserved for his crimes ; but the punishment reached him at last, he died miserably, branded with infamy. — Launcelin de Baugency, married to Matilda, the daughter of Count Hugh, did not join his father-in-law, but, as a Manceau, kept with Courthose and the Norman party. 5 6. Urban's influence, derived from station, — plan's j 7 interest Head of the Church, Leader of the party,— acted 2^° more or less upon every one who accepted the He^H.the Cross; but his personal influence was also con siderable. In his own native country, the people followed him enthusiastically ; and although the three Peers of Champagne, Ebles de Roucy, Baldwin de Grandprd, and Baldwin of Rethel, 560 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1100 the future King of Jerusalem, were brought to the Crusade through other connexions, yet those connexions cannot fail to have been strength ened by their provincial relation to Urban ; and the same feelings prevailed through the adjoining districts. It is difficult also to distinguish be tween such influence as Peter the Hermit may have exercised upon the higher classes, by his electric power, and the direction given by Urban; but one way or another, we attribute to this connexion the acquisition for the Crusade of William, Count of the Forez. He was also, it must be remarked, the bordering neighbour of the Count of Clermont. oran e ^n *ne South, Urban's missionary exertions co alesced with the interests of the Narbonne family. Raimbold of Orange, who took the Cross, was a friend of Raimond of St. Gilles. As far as romantic ideas had any effect, and we are not inclined to deny their suggestiveness, they may have tended to advance the crusading interest in this Principality. The ancient Sovereign of the country, Guillaume au Court-net, thus dis tinguished by an epithet which in our minds detracts so much from any poetical idea, was the legendary pattern of the devotional soldier; and hence Hugh Lupus employed the Geste of William of Orange in the education of the aspi rants whom he trained in the Palatine Castle of the Dee. connexions. ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 561 Ademar de Monteuil, Bishop of Puy-en- 1096—1100 Velay, Urban's confidential friend, whom he ap- tIT^T pointed Legate, the spiritual Commander of the Sops? Xde- Crusade, appertained to this Orange family. papal LeU-y' Ademar was an old soldier, and his strategic wmiam, Bishop of skill proved most useful to the army. William, orange, Bishop of Orange, also went, Ademar's Lieu- sate- tenant, holding the Papal Commission as Vice- Legate: the stout Prelates fought in good earnest. It has been maintained that the Legate did not actually engage in warfare : we are told by mo dern writers, he only assisted the Crusaders by his experience and his prayers. But the con temporary historians plainly describe Ademar's military co-operation in clear and unequivocal terms — and why should they have any reserve? They were proud of his prowess, and so were Ademar's successors— the Sword conjoined to the Pastoral staff was adopted as an honour able augmentation to the armorial bearing of the See. A very peculiar pectoral made of fur, worn by the Canons of the Cathedral at certain festivals and thought to resemble a cuirass, was traditionally considered also as a memorial of the achievements which Tasso commemorates ; the stern necessity of verse compelling the Bishop of Puy-en-Velay to yield precedency in the stanza to his helmetted brother. Poi due pastor de' popoli spiegaro Le insegne lor, Guglielmo ed Ademaro. VOL. IH. 0 O 562 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1100 L'uno e 1' altro di lor', che ne' divini ' » ' Uffici gia tratto pio ministero, Sotto l'elmo premendo i lunghi crini Essercita de l'arme hor l'uso fiero. Da la Citta d'Orange e da i confini Quattro cento guerrier' scelse il primiero, Ma guida quei di Poggio in guerra 1' altro Numero egual, non men ne l'arme scaltro. Other similar strong-fisted blood-shedding Clergy, appeared foremost in the Latin ranks, exciting great disgust amongst the Oriental Christians. Lax as the Greeks were, they could not tolerate this desecration of the sacerdotal character. Morals, like manners, are governed by custom: fashions and conventionalities affect even our estimation of crimes. Together with the merry Crusaders of the Languedoc, employing that term in its largest geographical sense, was William Jordan, Count of Cerdegna, the intimate of Raymond Berenger. — Gerard de Roussillon, William de Montpellier, and William Amaneu .probably enter into the same category. The Provencals were not much esteemed, but they swelled the host. § 7. Of pure German Chieftains, very few indeed can be discerned : they were amongst the worst rabble of the Crusaders — Godschalk, a vagabond priest, Volkmar, a Rauber Graff, a Graff Herman, and another Graff who is called Emicon; but the latter never did any mischief in the Holy Land, being slain as a brigand some- German and Italian ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 563 where near Worms on the Rhine. This Emicon 1096—1100 was desperately cruel : long afterwards it was believed that his vampire corpse rode about by night, tormented in a suit of red-hot armour. There may have been one Italian, the dubious Rinaldo. & 8. Many literary characters, for we are Literary -1 * Crusaders. fully entitled to designate them by the modern expression, were enrolled amongst the Crusaders. — Those whom we can positively distinguish con stitute a very curious and interesting group : there were probably several more, whose works exist in the form of anonymous chronicles or re lations, or have been wholly lost. Godfrey of Godfre)'s ** « literary ac- Bouillon himself, may claim the grace which iuir?- ¦' B ments. literature bestows. Under the influence of his mother Ida, he was fully instructed, like his brother Baldwin, in the acquirements needed for his rank. The education bestowed upon royal and princely families was universally of a high standard; but, of course, the efforts of Parents or Teachers were aided or counteracted in each particular instance by natural capacity. Pecu liar gifts distinguished the Flemish and Nor man families. At one period of his life, Godfrey inclined to the priesthood ; but circumstances prevented him from receiving Holy Orders. The Assizes of Jerusalem, — the statutes and laws prevailing in the Latin Colonies, — were first collected by Godfrey ; and we doubt not but that, 002 564 THE conqueror's SONS. io96—iioo like other Sovereigns of the age, he took an active share in their redaction. Legislation was part of a King's business ; the Assizes however do not exist in their original form : we only possess them in the last revision, adapted for the use of the Kingdom of Cyprus in the fourteenth century, by Jean de Ybelin, the Connetable. Godfrey's eloquence aided his valour; and we Despatches accept the opinions of the Benedictine Histo- of the . r r crusaders rians, that the various despatches and manifestoes dictated of Bouuey issued in Godfrey's name, or in which he joined, ion. were dictated by the Chieftain whom aU honour ed and obeyed. These documents have been preserved textually, sincere and genuine. Take as a specimen the following extract from God frey's despatch announcing the joyfully trium phant capture of Jerusalem : — Et si scire deside- ratis quid de hostibus ibi repertis factum fuerit, scitote quia in porticu Salomonis, et in Templo ejus, nostri equitabant in sanguine Saracenorum usque ad genua equorum. — Written off in haste, the Epistles and Addresses transmitted to Europe by the Crusaders are uniform in tone and lan guage, bearing the evident impress proceeding from one mind : the mind of the soldier whose sentiments they breathe. Stephen of § 9. Stephen of Blois was probably fully as much actuated by intelligent curiosity, when he engaged in the Crusade, as by any other motive, His poetic vein and eloquence gave utterance to ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 565 his well- cultivated talents. The Count's corre- 1096—1100 spondence with his wife Adela is invested with a value unattainable by set and regular history. Two of his letters are extant, bright, affectionate, rich in information; and he sends to his Sweet Friend, his Dulcis Arnica, full particulars of his personal adventures and proceedings, together with the public news. & 10. William Count of Poitiers, the Trou^ wmiam of Poitiers. badour, after a protracted delay, assumed the Cross entirely for his own gratification. Many an adventure, many a bonne fortune and mis fortune, did he find in the East as themes for Sirvente and for Lay. Nothing chary of his talent, the Count chanted his compositions to the plaintive notes of his rebeck : the poems are lost, or perhaps lurk in the catacombs of some huge museum or library. Count William was the most admired amongst the Troubadours for his light, sportive fancy, but the Poet's versatility of tone equalled his fluency : his Crusading songs were melancholy and tender, the delight of his Circle when he returned. fill. Ademar of Monteuil, Soldier, Bishop, Ademar of 3 r Monteml. and Legate, also appears amongst the literary Crusaders. He must have studied to good pur pose, having been ordained late in life. He com posed the Hymn Salve Regina, now universally received in the Latin Church. — Ademar's intel lectual abilities were usefully employed during 566 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1100 the Crusades in his correspondence and his dis- "' courses, the mental exertion giving a zest to his other avocations. Anseim de § 12. Generally speaking, a literary spirit mont^his arose amongst the Crusaders. Hitherto the pondence. writers who had visited the Holy Land, con fined themselves solely to sacred topography. Contemplation and devotion guided their pens, not the lively impulse pf strenuous enterprize, the foundation of a Colonial Empire. — The interest of the expedition excited the Crusaders to historical narrative : the Travellers longed more than ever to tell their story. The novelty of clime and scenery, earth and sky, their dangers, their vicis situdes, their triumphs, imparted a new stimulus to epistolary composition ; and many of the Cru saders transmitted their accounts home. Anselm de Ribeaumont was thus in the habit of commu nicating with Manasses, Archbishop of Rheims. We possess one of his journalizing letters, extend ing through a very interesting period, beginning Avith the siege of Antioch. — It is clear, honest, and pious : no boasting, no exultation, no triumph over the conquered : Anselm earnestly recom mends the poor of his domains to the Archbishop, and he ends with requesting prayers on his own behalf. This was the last letter which Anselm wrote, for, to the great grief of the Army, he was soon afterwards slain. § 13. This animated correspondence parti- ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 567 cipated in all the defects as well as the merits 1096—1100 arising from conflicting interests and excited feel- " ' ings. Few Pilgrims resembled Anselm de Ribeau mont. That many Writers should exaggerate and mistake, and also criticize and blame, Avas a consequence necessarily ensuing from this free dom of the pen : many also coloured or distorted their narratives for the purpose of concealing their own cowardice, misconduct, or folly. — There were two amongst the Crusaders who took this conduct much to heart; Ponze de Balaon, a Knight, and Raimond de Agilis, a Canon of Ademar's Cathedral, companions in the perils of the Pilgrimage. Ponze de Balaon seems from his name to have been an Angevine or Norman, though he served under Raimond de St. Gilles ; and Raimond, the Canon, was the chaplain of his namesake the Tolosan Count, much trusted and consulted on account of his integrity and talent. Ponze and Raimond, vexed by such inaccu- £°"ze de , ' « Balaon and rate tale-bearers, and zealous for the honour 'ff™^ of the Army, agreed that they would write a Historians history of the Crusade, with the avowed inten- crusades. tion, however, of dwelling more minutely upon those events in which their Count was particu larly concerned. They addressed their journal to Leger, Bishop of Viviers, in order that he might, from time to time, publish the authentic intelligence to the world. Ere the Crusaders had reached Jerusalem, Ponze de Balaon was 568 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 killed by a stone, shot from a Balista. Raimond " de Agilis, after the death of his faithful and affectionate companion, continued and completed the work : most instructive is the production, exhibiting the conflict between an entire desire on the part of the writer to declare the truth, and the most unresisting credulity. Peter fi 14. Three brothers, of the Tudebode or Tudebode. J Tuebceuf family, Arnold, Hervd, and Peter, came from Sivrai in Poitou, probably retainers of Count William the Troubadour. Peter was a Clerk, and though speaking with modesty, he describes himself as the first who projected and composed an Itinerary of the Hierosolymitan War and Pil grimage, — an eye-witness, who joined the enter- prize at the very first, and who continued to the very end. Credendus est qui primus scripsit, quia in processione primus fuit, et oculis car- nalibus vidit. An entire character of sincerity appears in Peter Tudebode's Work. No one can doubt his veracity. He evidently asserts his claim of priority in good faith, not knowing when he began how he had been anticipated by Ponze de Balaon and Raimond de Agilis. — However, Raimond and Peter certainly afterwards became acquainted with each other. In many places the closest agreement appears between their narra tives. RobertusSpose'd $ 15- Robert de St. Remi, a Champenois, stRemi. flourished under the peculiar protection of Pope ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 569 Urban. Educated in the great Monastery of St. 1096— uoo Remi at Rheims, Ave have already noticed his supposed connexion with the Romances of Char lemagne. If there was any place where such traditions would flourish most luxuriously it would be in that singularly venerable monastery. Even the Abbey of St. Denis was not so con genial. Robert subsequently professed at Mar- moutier on the Loire, but he continued such a favourite in his old House, St. Remi, that after the death of Abbot Henry he was elected suc cessor. Bernard, the Abbot of Marmoutier, was displeased with Robert's conduct; and by a very strict exertion of his lawful powers, would not permit him to accept the elevated station then offered to him, unless he, Bernard, should retain the authority of directing, reprimanding, and, as it should seem, suspending Robert from authority, if he should think fit. Abbot Bernard found occasion to exercise this stern discipline. Abbot Robert wasted his monastery's goods, and incurred other irregularities : there is a letter from the Archbishop of Lyons, showing that Bernard was justified in his rigidity. However, Robert attended the Council of Clermont, and appealed to Urban, who absolved him ; and he joined the Crusade, and continued in the army till the full completion of the enterprize, attaching himself principally to Bohemond, as well as the Norman 570 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1100 party. Little advantage did Robert gain by par ticipating in the Crusade : the Ex-Abbot quitted Europe with a damaged character, and forfeited the opportunity of re-establishing his reputation in Palestine. Returning, he was not restored to St. Remi, but appointed to the Priory of Senuc ; and again misconducting himself, he was again deposed. — These things speak well for the energy of ecclesiastical discipline. Robert then employed his enforced leisure in composing his Historia Hierosolymitana at the request of an unnamed Bishop, who was dissatisfied with some other history that had fallen into his hands. Under this patronage, Robert the Monk, for he could now assume no other description, went to work. He complains that he lacked an amanuensis, apologizes much for the rudeness of his style, and entreats indul gence from those who are better versed in lite rature. — Writing from recollection, his narrative appears inaccurate : we suspect that in many cases he supplied the want of facts by imagi nation and invention. Robert le Moine is almost the only historian of the Crusades in whom any marked tendency to the marvellous is found. Raoui of §16- Raoul or Ralph of Caen, a pupil and cred's'chro- protege" of Arnolph Malacorona, Duke Robert's Chaplain, joined the Crusades at a very early age, probably under twenty. Raoul, though originally included in the Ducal retinue, was disloyal to ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 571 Courthose. In Palestine he still continued en- 1096—1100 veloped by the party spirit of Normandy. We w~""v~ obtain perhaps more insight into the defects of Robert's character from Raoul's carpings, than from the regular historians. In Apulia, Raoul first attached himself to Bohemond ; but he after wards served under Tancred, and his work is pro fessedly a relation of the deeds of this renowned warrior. Thus doing, he furnishes a remarkable proof how an Historian may neglect to notice important matters, upon the assumption of their being universally known. Great stress is fre quently laid, and reasonably, upon negative evi dence, yet are we constantly shaken in our argumentations by suspecting, that there is nothing very certain except uncertainty. Ralph of Caen, extolling the dignity of Tancred's father, never mentions that Father's name. This is the only neglect with which Raoul can be charged : in other respects, his biographical memoir is minute, true and lively, and the more satisfactory because the admiring dependant does not seem to be aware that his accurate report would diminish the splendour of the Patron's character. — Very different indeed is Tasso's Tancred from the Tan cred of the Norman Clerk. § 17. Fulcher of Chartres, a very popular Fnicher of and widely-circulated writer, started for the Cru sade under the protection of our Duke Robert and of Stephen of Blois : when in Palestine he 572 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 transferred himself to the Lorrainers, and became Chaplain to Godfrey of Bouillon. From the ser vice of Godfrey, Fulcher passed to the next Pa vilion, serving Baldwin of Boulogne, who con tinued him in the station of Chaplain. A brave partizan was Fulcher : a man of the camp, a courageous and active soldier. He is peculiarly accurate with respect to dates, in which other Chroniclers are so frequently deficient. Anxious that confidence should be placed in his narrative of facts, he informs his readers that they may trust him as a pilgrim who relates what he saw with his own eyes, diligently and carefully com memorating the incidents, for the information of posterity. Where Fulcher had reason to doubt, he tells you that he doubts, and offers many excuses for the rudeness of his style. These ex cuses, needless to us, were not accepted by his contemporaries. Fulcher provoked much criti cism ; and inasmuch as his conscientious attempt to discriminate between truth and falsehood was not accompanied by a corresponding degree of acuteness or judgment, he incurred severe cen sure by falling into the very errors he most attempted to avoid. mourns- § 18. Concerning the other historians who m1toriaansd described the first Crusade, they are either anony- Iiiy^ru0.11 nious or did not participate in the pilgrimage, therefore they are generally excluded from our review. Two, however, must be noticed. Our ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 573 old friend Ordericus, in constant converse with 1096-1100 so many who had shared in the enterprize or oTd^uT were embued with its traditions, includes the Jl^glf' principal events of the Crusade in his Norman derived116 history, a welcome and important episode. Pales- traditions , ,, of the Cru- tine was as interesting to the Normans, as New saaers- England to the Puritan kinsmen of the Pilgrim Fathers. The substratum of his narrative may be traced to written sources which we also pos sess ; but Ordericus gives in addition many curi ous facts and anecdotes, particularly respecting Bohemond, gained either from correspondence or conversation. The general value ofthe testimony furnished by Ordericus has not been duly appre ciated. An historian of the last century, who unjust cen- «/ 7 sure be- is pinched by certain facts resting upon the au- ^^orde- thority of Ordericus, calls him an " ignorant £ordby blundering Monk." Without retorting, we mayHailes' truly assert that the Lord of Session, who be stows these epithets, was completely ignorant ofthe opportunities which the Monk enjoyed. The literary Crusaders possess the great re commendation of being parties engaged in the wars which they described; but this, is counter balanced by the corresponding disadvantage, that with the best opportunities of observation, they could not be impartial observers. They were all involved in the success of the Adventure, all intended honestly to excite an interest in favour ofthe Crusades. Their object, quite combinable 574 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 with earnest zeal and devotion to the cause, was " to make the best of the concern. Depending upon public opinion, they courted public opinion, always labouring to justify the Expedition. They were always anxious to vindicate its objects, magnify successes, palliate reverses, and cast the blame of misfortunes upon particular individuals; — this apologetical and laudatory tone was the natural result of the position held by the Re porters, offering a temptation which perhaps no human sincerity can entirely withstand. Guibert de And here we obtain the aid of an impartial Nogent. x and conscientious Commentator, a contemporary, dwelling in the heart of the districts whence the Crusaders went forth, who obtained access to the best works and documents existing in Europe ; and moreover well acquainted with the principal Instigators and Actors, above all, Peter the Her mit. The individual thus qualified was Guibert, Guiberts Abbot of Nogent. Born of a noble family, losing graphy.' his Father at an early age, Guibert was left under the care of a pious and inteUigent Mo ther, his obligations to whom he records with equal delicacy and affection in his autobiogra phy, a work suggested by the Confessions of St. Augustine. It is a touching memorial both of the Mother and the Son, that the old man, writing at the close of his life, dwells with great pleasure upon the recollections of her beautiful countenance and graceful form. ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 575 Without prescribing young Guibert's course 1096—1100 of life, she inclined him towards Holy Orders, "~ or at least gave the child the means of profiting therein, by obtaining for him the best education the country could afford. Guibert remarks that her exertions were attended by trouble and difficulty; "for then," says he, "there were so few " classical teachers in our towns and country places, " that hardly any one could be found. Their know- " ledge also was very slender, nor was it in any- " wise equal to that possessed by the masters of "our modern times." — Guibert's Mother, how ever, directed his course more effectually than by precept. When he was of age to take care of himself, no longer needing her maternal solici tude, she entered a Monastery. Guibert followed Guibert 7 v becomes a her example, and professed at Nogent-sur-Coucy, Cogent.' in the Diocese of Laon. At some subsequent period, Guibert became a disciple of Archbishop Lanfranc, a disciple worthy of such a master, a sound theologian, an excellent and practical Com mentator upon the Holy Scriptures, a preacher, and an instructor of preachers. His Treatise upon the last-mentioned branch of Divinity is peculiarly methodical and profitable. Guibert's faith led him to oppose a tendency, Guibert x x * opposes which, as his good sense taught him to discern, j^j"at_ would cast a stumbling-block in the paths of^Sp^6 the Faithful : undue credulity. Even as every l7£™d colour raises its complementary colour, arising 576 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 round it when the eye dwells too strainedly upon that colour, dazzling and confusing the sight; so does every right feeling, if too much indulged, excite a corresponding wrong feeling. An exag gerated interpretation of Scriptural precepts, though suggested by submission to the Word of God, may diminish Scriptural authority. Vene ration encourages extravagant worship, even of living men : affection towards those most dear, will, if not duly regulated, weaken into silliness. Hence the two meanings of the word fond — the fondness of love, and the fondness of too facile belief, or inanity. The reverence claimed by Saints and Mar tyrs, when not restrained by discretion, often tended to create a morbid and injurious delusion. Faith is akin to Poetry: fanciful legends were multiplied : worship more and more rendered, not only to characters in no wise deserving the reputation of sanctity, but even to names which never had a real representative. Cognate abuses were engendered by the honour bestowed upon sacred relics. During a long period the tomb of Saint or Martyr, where the body reposed, alone obtained the devotion of the faithful ; but an absolute mania had now arisen for these memorials of the good and holy ; and the custom of morselling and dividing the spoils of humanity, became productive, however unintentionally, of indecency and fraud. ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 577 The perversion of sacred relics, for the mere io96_noo purpose of obtaining gifts and offerings, occa- ' " ' sioned great and deserved scandal. A constant inclination also prevailed, emanating from sin cere and earnest piety, to believe in departures from the ordinary directing laws imposed upon Nature, when there was no foundation for such belief. Their error was indeed directly opposite to ours. They filled the broad margin of the Holy Scriptures' text with imaginative anno tations of tradition and wonder : we pare the margin so close, that the Miracles recorded in the Sacred text are carried away. Guibert's investigative criticism rendered his Guibert's mind keenly sensible to the evils which thus and w"t- . . iT1s- resulted, provoking the dubious to scorn and infidelity. Rufus is an example of such unbelief. All these tendencies were exceedingly encreased by the Crusades. Guibert produced a very ela borate Treatise, entitled De pignoribus Sanctorum, for the purpose of inculcating a better principle and a sounder discrimination. One object which the Abbot of Nogent had in view, when he com posed his History of the Crusade, was to rebuke popular superstition. He therefore censures, .and with asperity, the instances he discovers in other writers whom he employs, particularly Fulcher of Chartres : speaks without any reserve as to the imposture of the Holy Lance, and, though cau tiously, clearly gives us his opinion concerning VOL. III. p p 578 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 Peter the Hermit. Guibert is in no respect a ' sceptic : his faith embraces articles rejected by our age, nevertheless he possesses that earnest desire for truth, which causes even the mistakes of an enquirer to be honoured. The cm- R 19. We have enumerated merely the prin- sades, — co- •> , ionizing cipal Historians who mixed in the first Crusade expedi- r composi- or became the Chroniclers thereof. In subse- character quent periods, the evidence becomes wider and Ho*6 more expanding : Arabian Historians take up the reed, and relate the sufferings, the conflicts, the final triumph of Islam. So copious are the existing materials, that two Historians have recently em ployed their lives in elaborating the Annals and Histories of the Philosophy of these Expeditions. Both, con- Wilkenand t . . Michaud. scientiously versed in the Latin or Western sources of information : the German adding thereto a profound knowledge of Byzantine authorities: the Frenchman imbued with Oriental literature, not a mere closet-student, but a Traveller who had visited carefully and intelligently the regions he describes. Yet the relations between the ancient Latin colonies in the East and Europe their mother-country, are as yet only imperfectly investigated. Rhodes and Cyprus, despite ofthe iconoclastic ravages committed by Turkish Van dalism and Mahometan consistency, contain at this moment more effigies and inscriptions, more monumental records and remembrances of ancient French families than now exist throughout the ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 579 length and breadth of the realm, whose castles 1096-1100 cradled and nursed the ancestry of the Lignages ' " d'Outremer, of Courtenay and of Lusignan. An inveterate prepossession has caused the The Cru- . sades to be Crusades to be considered as essentially mediaeval, studied as » the origin entirely grounded upon religious fanaticism or^^g0"- military enthusiasm ; whereas their principles tem- and practice converted the East into a seed-plot of positive civilization. — Your Crusader was your first European colonist. You literally receive the Sugar-cane, the Sweet cane of the far country, the Honey-cane, the cannamele, transplanted from Syria by his hands. He is your Teacher, your Model, your Guide. If you glory in the energies creating our Colonial power, if you exult in our Flag ruling those possessions upon which the sun never sets, take the gifts as bestowed by the Genius ofthe Crusades. — Study the Sanuto Duke dom, as falling into the series of experimental precedents now developing themselves in the Archipelago of the Southern Seas. fi 20. Whilst it is quite certain that the composi- 3 ^ tion of the Crusades ought to be considered as the transi- ?™ifs of 0 the hrst tion from the Middle Ages to the age of Civili- Crusade- zation, nevertheless seen under another aspect the first Crusade approximates to the great migra tions of the human race in earlier times. The Chroniclers reckon the pilgrims by millions : allowing for every exaggeration and misrepre sentation, the love of the marvellous, enthusiasm, PP2 580 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1100 hope, fear, the desire of magnifying victory or of excusing defeat, there seems good reason to suppose, that, when fairly engaged in Asia Minor and Syria, they mustered an Hundred and fifty thousand men more or less fit for service. This Army, tumultuous as an Oriental host, contained within it some faith, much valour, more selfish ness, exuberant corruption. Again, let us repeat, that we entirely believe in the sincerity and truth actuating many of the Leaders, qualities fully Mixed compatible with contradictory aberrations. Any motives ... of the attempt to discriminate between the darker shades Crusaders. of character, inveterate ignorance, ill-regulated zeal, self-interest shading off into self-deception, the voice of conscience drummed down by popular excitement, would be equally presumptuous and futile. But face always answers to face ; and accepting, if you choose, the Pio Goffredo as the Type of the highminded Crusader, we must not disclaim for such Chieftains the merit or demerit of a practical knowledge of the ways of the world : men who conceive that it is advantageous to unite material interests with spiritual views; who conciliate by concealment; who, working by compromise, believe that it is not merely expe dient, but justifiable, to employ such instruments as they can find. From the highest to the lowest, all who par ticipated in the Adventure were volunteers. No Lord could compel his Vassal to embark for ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 581 Palestine : no Chieftain, Raymond de St. Gilles 1090— uoo perhaps excepted, was sufficiently venturesome to " pledge himself for the payment of his retainers. Each trusted to his own wits and resources : chance, luck, strength, good fortune, plunder. We have enumerated many Chiefs and Lords, Pontiffs, and Princes, Dukes, Counts, and Barons ; but there was One Leader more influential than the Godfreys, and the Baldwins, and the Roberts, and the Eustaces — more persuasive than Peter the Hermit, — more implicitly obeyed than Ur ban, — whose encyclical authority was recognized in every rank and station : this irresistible Leader was Walter Sansavoir. Walter Sansavoir is said to have been the Thf mf'" body of the first military Crusader who crossed the water. 1^^^ We will not inquire whether Sansavoir be aby^^_ real name or a sobriquet ; whether he were a SIty' mythical personage or a reality; but Walter San savoir, Walter the Penniless, Walter Empty- Purse, Needy Walter, Walter Lack-land in one shape or another, was the real Conductor of the wandering myriads. They were Emigrants yield ing to necessity; they were seeking their bread — the urgency which cast them forth affords their best plea for pardon. Least justifiable, perhaps, were the bands who The Mer- » x x cenaries. constituted a large and efficient portion of the army, the stout, stalwart, mercenary soldiers who already began to infest Europe : hired men, sol- 582 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 diers in the worst sense, who lived only by selling their bodies and their souls; broken men, who did not know the possibility of honour, faith, or allegiance, sufficiently disciplined to make them formidable opponents to their enemies, or, if need be, to their friends. These were the classes, who, in after times, were called Brabancons, from the Flemish majority prevailing amongst them, as we have already noticed in our account of the Mercenary Conquest. To the Land-devourers, add the Buc- adventur- x ers- caneers, the Sea-rovers, at this time principally Flemings also, who swarmed in all the narrow seas, as much of the Mediterranean as elsewhere, and who joined the Crusade at any convenient opportunity. Now turn we to the wretched: upon them, whatever their offences, bestow undivided pity. Hunger, dire and devouring, those general dearths which for so many years had afflicted Western Christendom, and very particularly in the year of the Asteroids, raised and impelled the great The tide of Emigration. The stricken, starving mul- stricken. titudes, driven by the famine blast, fleeing from death and encountering death ; commencing a new battle for existence which ended in destruc tion; their struggles excited by desperation and silenced in despair. These consisted principally of the rustic populations, the Churls and Villeins from the Belgic Gauls and the Rhine-land, tra velling in their Avains — the sullen fathers, the ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 583 wearied mothers, the tired children — nomades, 1096-1100 but without nomadic energy. — Hordes of English ' " from ravaged and desolated Northumbria next appear. — Then follow the wild, bold races, who resorted from the remote regions of the North, where the sound of the Crusades had been heard, calling them forth, like their ancestors of old, seeking their prey: the Scandinavian, so ignorant of the Southern tongues that he could only speak by signs: the harsh Norwegian: the Gothland forester: the Semi-Pagan Vandal from the Baltic shore. — The shaggy Celt of Ireland : the simple, uncouth Scot, who even then incurred the scorn and contempt of -Anglo-Saxon civilization. To all the foregoing were associated the criminals 0 ° and out- wretches expelled or excluded from society: po verty and destitution combining with degradation and crime : — the Debtor absconding from his cre ditor; the Outlaw who might be felled by any weapon that was raised against him : — the Man- slayer, liable to the vengeance ofthe blood-feud: — the heart-broken Burgher, the Insolvent, de scending from the Stone of Shame: — the recreant Knight hooted through the streets and marched out of the City Gate with the mangy cur upon his shoulder: — the meaner Criminals who fled from Justice or had sustained her penalties, the scourge, the brand, the mutilating iron. Vice in all her fouler forms conjoins her vic tims, sinners more depraved than the convicted , casts. 584 the conqueror's sons. 1096-1100 criminal; — the cunning Cheat, the obscene Jon- * ' gleur, the dissolute Priest, the vagabond Monk renouncing the Cloister's discipline, the Anchorite tired of his hypocrisy, the unnatural Father, the prodigal Son, the profligate Husband, the adul terous Wife, the lascivious Daughter, the unchaste Nun. Lastly, whole Tribes belonging to those strange classes, who, in the language of the times, were generally called Truhands, the Pariah castes appearing under various denominations in the Middle Ages, not Zingaris, though pro bably of analogous habits and origin. Races degraded before the world, but in their hearts proudly despising their despisers, and receiving into their own independent world those who were rejected by the ruling orders of society. Bold, ferocious, filthy, and exciting horror, they had a Chief amongst them who was called their King. They Avere dreaded and shunned as Ghouls, who would scratch open the grave and devour the decaying corpse. TheFi- fi 21. A pause ensued after the Council of nances of the cru- Clermont. The voav was more easily taken than sade. * performed : many hung back, grew slack, dis covered excuses, and seemed inclined to abandon the enterprize : Stephen of Blois and Chartres amongst the number. Urban was indefatigable in his endeavours, travelling about through Cen tral and Southern France, animating, exhorting, ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 585 and at last threatening the defaulters with the 1096-1100 censures of the Church. The ordinary cooling down of enthusiasm was one reason: another, the want of funds. Although the Crusaders might well expect to repay themselves when they reached the Grecian confines, it would be difficult to raise the supplies during the intervening march. Many a weary mile was there to be tramped through, heavy passage-money to be paid. Sansavoir's army began by the tremendous Plunder of J B J the Jews plunder and massacre of the Jews on the Rhine. Sixty thousand perished. — How easily are such things told without exciting any idea except of the figures, and scarcely that, a cypher and four noughts! — imagine yourself a unit in the sum. — The Normans followed the same example at home, and rose against the Jews of Rouen, who were very opulent. Whatever booty was gained in this manner was immediately wasted and lost : and now took place a new species of dealing. On sales and the one part are the Crusaders, the borrowers tions of property. and vendors, going out; on the other, the men of money and substance, lenders and purchasers, who remained at home, more mercilessly extor tionate upon their brethren than the Israelites would have been. In consequence of the quantity of property thrown upon the market, the Crusaders were compelled to submit to any terms. A vast com mercial and monetary excitement ensued : a gene- 586 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 ral outburst of speculation. All articles needful commer- f°r the equipment of the Crusaders rose to enor- vity ex-" mous rates: everywhere the craftsmen were busy. the6 cru- In all the good ports of the Italian and Provencal Littoral of the Mediterranean, the greatest acti vity prevailed. Scarcely less so in the North. The Flemings made as good use of the oppor tunity as the royal merchants of Italy: Dort mund and Stavoren rivalled Pisa and Genoa : the sea was covered with sails. Money became scarcer and scarcer. Some of the Baronage, like the Viscount of Melun, pursued the plain course of robbery, pillaging vills and villages; others squeezed their serfs; but the greater number adopted the ordinary habits of business, and raised their funds by loan or sale, in the usual way. Happy were the Burghers of Rouen, now that the Jewry was closed: merrily did they indemnify themselves, at the expence of the Baronage, for the extortions so recently prac tised upon them by a Breteuil or a Belesme. The Clergy also were sadly tempted by the oppor tunity of making excellent bargains. At the sight of the Red Cross, when the Pur chaser entered the stone-vaulted store-chamber, the Dealer asked the greatest price. At the sight of the Red Cross, when the Baron entered the Chapter House, the Treasurer of the Monastery prepared to make the smallest bidding. The Cru sader, always on the wrong side of the counter, ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 587 bought at the highest quotation, sold at the low- 1096-1100 est : the price current constantly ran against him. " The alienations made by the Crusaders are well Alienations _. „ ... , . and Mort- known. Many iamilies were ultimately dilapidated gages of "> r domains by them ; but the character of charity and devo- p0?*1? sPe- * * culative. tion ascribed to such transactions is in great mea sure gratuitous. Though there might be ultimate loss, few amongst the Emigrants felt they were making any sacrifice, — on the contrary, they acted under intense excitement, anxious, hazardous, but, on the whole, not unpleasurable. They dis posed of their property in Europe, for the purpose of establishing themselves in the Asiatic colony. Gain, enjoyment, subsistence, ambition, destitu tion, excited or stung them forward. The profits resulting from the adventure, Greek and Sy rian domains, lands, castles, towns and towers, deenars and bezants, silks and pearls, slaves, black and white, had been advertised by the promoters of the scheme as inducements to take shares; nay, the attractions of lustful gratification pre sented as an additional bonus or stimulus. Similar to all grand speculations, the venture became unprofitable to the majority, but this was as it might be ; to others, it succeeded. k We entertain no doubts concerning Godfrey's *^'OIls sincerity : nevertheless, when we see the money BomUon.°f counted upon the table by the Prince Bishop of Liege, and Godfrey's Chaplain-Clerk sweep ing the cash into the bags, the sale of the 588 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 Duchy of Bouillon for the sum of four thousand marcs of silver, and gold coins to the weight of one pound, was not ill-compensated by the acquisition of the Kingdom of Jerusalem for him self, his brother, and his nephew. Robert § 22. As for Courthose, reckon him amongst pledges " Normandy the merely extravagant. He had no ultimate tew 0DJect in view : he acted only for the present : a five years, bankrupt going abroad : a ruined man endeavour ing to relieve his mind by change of scene, and distraction, as the French would call it. But he was exactly in the same strait as all the rest — where was the money to come from? It should seem that all his means were exhausted, there were no Crown domains which could be pledged : he had nothing to mortgage except his title to the whole Duchy ; and in this emergency he entreated Rufus to aid him in his need. " Nor mandy shall be the pledge for five years" — until the last year of the Eleventh century, the year Eleven Hundred. — Rufus accepted the proposal with exulting gladness, and agreed, upon condition of being put in possession, to advance a sum of which the amount is variously stated; small enough any way : not exceeding ten thousand marcs : the engagement being concluded, Rufus assumed the government of the Duchy, and Ro bert, assembling his forces, prepared to depart. September. $ 23. Robert played and delayed, and did p!u-ts6from not quit Normandy until the autumn of the ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 589 year after the Council had been held : he crossed 1096— uoo the Alps, taking, as we suppose, the usual pilgrim ^^^, route over the Mont-Cenis. We next find him th°SAifs. and his party in Tuscany. An event had just ^f^J" occurred there, occasioning extraordinary sensa tion throughout all Italy — the separation between Guelph of Bavaria and his spouse, the most The great Countess renowned Countess Matilda — Matilda, the Great Matilda: her mar- CoUnteSS, — the richest Heiress and the most ener- riages and ' separa- getic heroine whom the age had ever beheld. tions- This Matilda was the daughter of Boniface the Pious and the Countess Beatrice. Who can for get the exquisite sarcophagus in the Campo- Santo, which entombs the remains of Beatrice, Hellenic art so strangely adapted to the rites of Christian sepulture ? Matilda's first husband was Godfrey the t^d^ch Hunchback, Duke of Lohier or Brabant, uncle of ^a^hPeurke Godfrey of Bouillon, Avho became ultimately his j^tmis- heir. Italy never has been able to disengage band' herself from Tramontane connexions. Thanks to the Great Countess, Godfrey the Hunchback died childless. Matilda's enemies maintained, that, having been delivered of twins, shaped like their father, she caused them to be drowned. The truth is, that no babes were born. Godfrey the Hunchback's talents and virtues fully compen sated for his deformity; but proud Matilda re fused obedience to her husband, and abandoned his society, virtually repudiating him before his 590 t,he conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 death. Her second husband was the Guelph, who put her away — an unlucky marriage, con cluded by Pope Urban. It is said that Robert Courthose also wooed the Widow, but lost her through the powerful influence exercised in favour of Guelph his rival. The way now opened to him a second time : he may again have been bold enough to seek the Heroine's hand; but fifty years of age and two husbands sufficed, and Matilda abstained from a third Consort. Indeed, she had no inclination or leisure for domestic life, being entirely engaged in politics and the defence of the Papal power. Robert Pope Urban was now under Matilda's pro- at Lucca. tection in Tuscany, being kept out of Rome by the Clementines. Other Chieftains joined Robert at Lucca, the laggard Stephen of Blois, Hugh of Vermandois, and Robert of Flanders. An important conference was held here. Robert and the Crusaders received the Pope's benedic tion, and certainly also his earnest exhortations to pursue the enterprize. Lucca was familiarized to Robert through the Santo Volto, so well known by his brother's favourite oath, and he may have visited the Church of Normandy's patron Saint, that strange and barbaric San' Michele. Robert and Hence to Rome, where they Avere reinforced the Cru- •> ristTnSas" ^ Matilda's army. The city was filled by the recovering Crusaders ; and after continued and desperate con- ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 591 flicts with the Clementines, who fought even in 1096—1100 the Basilica of St. Peter, Urban ultimately re- Roirie for covered the whole city, the Tower of Crescentius ban.6 holding out to the last. Further south, to Apulia, a joyful and merry 1096— 7. party. The Italian Normans gave a splendid winters in reception to the representative of Rollo : Roger Bursa bowed before Courthose as his liege-lord, an ostentatious humility. Here Courthose may now have made his first acquaintance with the Conversano family, that flourishing branch of Hauteville's line : — Geoffrey, the reigning Count, Lord also of Brundusium, abounding in wealth, — William, Geoffrey's son, afterwards Robert's faith ful companion, — and more than all, Sibylla, peer less amongst the young damsels of the land. Was idle, wasteful Robert worthy of Sibylla ? a hound or a hawk would be recompensed by their weight in silver; he continued to display that reckless extravagance which destroyed the worth of his generosity. No Italian was Sibylla, — a true daughter of Normandy : sense and loveliness, energy, discretion, and virtue, all combined. Much were the rich Norman patients courted by the fur-robed physicians of Salerno> Their celebrated Treatise upon Diet and Regimen, well understood to be a Guide to their Baths, is dedicated to Courthose, Anglorum Regi, scribit Schola tota Salerni. Robert was not King yet, but he would not be very angry at this mistake 592 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 in his style and title : the anticipation was v not offensive to his feelings. Odo of Bayeux did not profit by the Baths or the Physicians, nor did he travel much further. Illness, for we cannot imagine any other cause, induced him Death of to pass over to Sicily. Here Odo's campaigns Bayeux. ended; he had worked hard for nothing : he was buried at Palermo in the Duomo. Duke Roger paid the expences of raising him a tomb : some Norman Clerk indited the lugubrious epitaph. In Apulia, Bohemond conferred with the Transalpine Crusaders, and mustered his small but valiant band, Tancred and the rest; they all became his men, and submitted to the oath of obedience and fidelity. April 5. § 24. Soon as Robert crossed the gulf of crosses the Otranto, fresh from the farewells of Apulia, per- crutaders6 haps anxious to renew the greetings, he seemed entirely renovated, casting off the sluggard bands which hitherto bound him : energetic, active, and almost wise, his frankness and pleasant manners gained him universal favour. Robert began the Crusade with but an indifferent character: the Normans held him cheap, talked over his failings : in Italy they scoffed at and despised him. But the alteration in his conduct pro duced the usual reaction : he became a hero in the Camp. That Robert Avas inferior in piety and wisdom to Godfrey might be admitted, yet he was held to be Godfrey's superior in valour ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 593 and military talent. Accepted by common assent 1096—1100 as one of the chief Leaders of the arniy, the Bre- " tons, the Normans, the Angevines and the Eng lish fought on most occasions under his Standard : that Standard we shall follow whe'n tracing the campaign, glancing only at events wherein he is less immediately concerned. It will be important to recollect also, that Robert's deeds1 resounded, not unincreased by the repeated echoes which transmitted them, in Normandy and in England. Every Messenger returning from the East, every Pilgrim, every Fugitive, — for there were those whose hearts failed them — aye and folks of high degree, brought news of Duke Robert's prowess, Duke Robert's success, aiid the credit Duke Robert the Crusader had obtained. fi 25. Robert joined Bohemond in Mace- Robert and • t> 1 • • the Crusa- donia : became Bohemond s intimate, acted as ders before Constanti- though he had been Bohemond's sworn brother n0Ple- ^concurred in Bohemond's views, and these were sufficiently well declared. Various shades of opinion manifested themselves. The Holy Sepulchre was given out as the Lode-star, but even Godfrey's compass occasionally deflected: with the largest proportion of the CrusaderS, there 1097 was no other object except winning what they Aaprii49' could. Godfrey and the Crusaders employed £™t° g"ub. Passion-week in ravaging, insulting, robbing, comtLu- burning all around Constantinople, destroying the "aged by" splendid palaces wherein they had received the saders™" vol. in. Q Q 594 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1096— uoo kindest and most splendid hospitality: those palaces exciting so much admiration, whose ter raced walls and kiosks were said to enclose a space of thirty miles — an exaggeration indeed, but proving the richness of the delightful abode in which the Franks had been entertained. Alexis, his Much has been said concerning the perfidy suspicions # * ofthe cru- 0f Alexis, the Greco fallace, and his want of saders rea- " sonabie. charity towards the pilgrims of the Cross. Alexis would have been insane had he trusted them. Alexis was wise and wary, acute and observant ; but surely it would have required only a very small share of wisdom to put him on his guard. Had the Crusaders observed any of the laws of nations (if such there be), towards Alexis? Had any instinctive feelings of self-defence been left unroused? A hundred thousand banditti, claiming a right of way through a foreign State, the precursors of an overwhelming army, Chieftains, Nations, and Races, who had already usurped the fairest provinces of his Imperial Crown. When an Englishman begins to converse with a Mandarin, hinting at entrance into the " Celes tial Empire," the Chinaman opens the map of the World, lays his finger upon India, and shakes his head — Pardon his tenacious memory — he recollects the Schooner manned by the Smug gler and the Missionary, who first presented his countrymen with tracts and opium ; the drug of ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 595 drunkenness, wrapped by English hands in the 1096—1100 warnings which exclude the Drunkard from the Kingdom of Heaven. They have supplied us with the most refreshing and innocent of bever ages, We compel them by slaughter, to receive the most deleterious of intoxicating poisons. — A slight excuse may therefore be extended to the suspicious Greek. The Norman pilgrims to Monte Gargano had been the forerunners of the Norman Conquerors of Sicily and Apulia : and, towering amidst the Crusaders, is Bohemond, Guiscard's son, the claimant of the Byzantine Empire. The courage of Alexis was unshaken, — to ani mate the Greeks he placed his canopied throne outside the walls, whilst the Franks were skir mishing around. There sat the Emperor under the silken baldachin, beneath thd bright azure sky, bare-headed ; without armour or helmet, sword or shield, tranquil, and apparently un moved. The snap and twang of the dread Nor man Arbalest was heard ; the sharp ponderous arrow slew one of his attendants by his side. At defenceless Alexis, had the shaft been directed : resistance against theLatins became impracticable, he therefore attempted to bind, were it possible, the conscience and the honour of his enemies. He demanded they should perform homage: under this stipulation, they would have acquired the subordinate dominion of any conquests which QQ2 596 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 they might make from the Turks, and their ' " ' recovery of the Imperial territory would have re-united the dismemberments to the original Empire. A compromise certainly, but equitable towards both parties : one which if truly carried out by the Crusaders, would have re-erected the falling Christendom of the East, and created, as they professed to desire, an impregnable bul wark against the Mahometan invasions. Godfrey and his two brothers, Eustace and Baldwin, Robert of Normandy, Robert of Flan ders, and Hugh of Vermandois, entered into the bond. There was much discussion upon the proposed transaction : some said it was a shame to subject themselves to such an humiliation, to bow before the contemptible Greeks. At last they all assented; with the exception of Ray mond de St. Gilles, who consented however, as some say, to take the oath of fealty.— The Homa gers construed the engagement according to the practice of the Norman Baronage. Robert § 26. Robert crosses the Bosphorus, theii crosses into ., , , . Asia. placed under the advocacy of the Cappadocian warrior, and known as the Arm of St. George ; and when the Crusaders entered Asia, the Nor man was, in manner before mentioned, elected one of the three chief Captains of the host, This arrangement was not always observed'; quarrels and rivalries varied the disposition of troops and leaders: indeed, during the whole ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 597 expedition, we seek in vain for military talent, 1096-1100 foresight, or skill. ' v — ' The Crusaders are before Nicaea, where Robert's 1097. grandfather was poisoned. The Turks held the The city, recently wrested from the Christian power, before nl Robert and his companions liberated Nicaea from the Enemy ; but their victory became a vexa tion, for they were compelled to restore the ac quisition, though temporarily, to the Greek, the legitimate Sovereign. Alexis only claimed his right; therefore, henceforward, the Crusaders declared themselves his open enemies. Perils now thickened upon them ; wonder, 1097. bravery, cowardice, and imagination, all tended The great to magnify their calculations of the infidel Hosts. DoryUeum. Three hundred and sixty thousand Turks and Sa racens, Persians and Tartars, as the Crusaders reported or fabled, advanced against them, headed by furious Solyman. In the great battle of Dory- lseum, the Franks, appalled by the envenomed arrows of the Infidels, fled, overpowered by the intense heat, and yielding to terror. The day would have been lost, but for Robert, who, dashing to support the fugitives, waved the Norman banner and raising the war-cry, encou raged them to withstand, and ultimately to dis perse the Paynim army. Three Turkish Admirals, as the Norman Crusaders boasted on the morrow, did Robert transfix with his lance. Thirty thou sand unbelievers fell in the close and desperate 598 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1100 conflict, the ground, so strewn with corpses, " that a horse could not gallop over the field. And the belief that St. George and St. Demetrius fought in the Christian ranks, did not diminish the honour which human prowess had obtained. ftd^rch Robert's fortitude sustained a severer trial in burSg the march through burning Phrygia, where thou- Jgia' sands perished miserably in the agonies of thirst; but the Duke's constancy continued unshaken, his temper undisturbed, his liberality undiminished ; and the small, though opulent city of Azania, which he conquered, became the Barony of a simple Knight who was numbered amongst his followers. The dissensions now arising between the noble Tancred and subtle Bohemond spread throughout the Army; but Robert avoided shar ing in the disputes, and this apparent prudence enhanced his reputation. and'the § 27. Advancing gloriously towards Antioch, ad-^nfe™ the Crusaders must thread the Pass, equally im- Antiocn. pressive to the imagination, and effectual as ofh6hbeai™6n a defence; the bridge of Gessr-il-Haddir, the Bndge. jr0Q g^g^ tne fortified bridge crossing the River of Damascus, Pharpar (as the Crusaders deemed), or fabled Orontes. Lofty panoplied towers covered with metal bars and bands, ex isting till our own times, when the convulsions of the earth destroyed the works which had withstood man and time, enabled the Turkish garrisons to oppose a desperate resistance. Duke ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 599 Robert was selected to perform the dangerous 1096-1100 service of leading the Van of the Army onwards "~ in making the first attempt. The banks of the stream were protected by the Saracen forces, in cessantly pouring their volleys of arrows; but Robert's soldiers, joining their shields, rushed forwards, and opened a way for the march to opulent, flourishing, and powerful Antioch, guarded by her three hundred and sixty towers, bristling the heights and darkening their battle ments against the sky. The Crusaders dared not attempt to assault the mountain-defended city. They were thoroughly appalled by the strength of the fortifications, and still more by the known valour of the defenders. The siege therefore Protracted relaxed into a most irregular and nominal block- Antioch,— • begun Oct. ade — they encamped in the fertile plain, luxu- is, 1097. riated in the delights the gardens of Daphne afforded, and with shameless profusion consumed the ample resources offered by the country. Mountains, walls and towers resisted the prowess of the army : Antioch was ultimately gained, yet not before she had bewitched the Cru saders to their ruin; — Courage, Honour, Soul, all lost. — The extreme corruption which pre vailed, imparted an indelible stain to their cha racter. The worst vices of heathenism luxu riated amongst the besiegers : and to atone for their profligacy, the females who had been the companions of their lust were sacrificed as the 600 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 victims of their ferocity. Savage punishments " were, inflicted upon the delinquents whose guilt was their want of caution: leaving immorality unchecked, and brutalizing the ministers of per verted vengeance. Horrible distress succeeded to wild indulgence, sickness and famine raged. Dismay became contagious. Stephen of Blois and . Chartres stands discreditably prominent. He pretended illness, and absconded from the camp. Robert also departed for Laodicea, seek ing, as he asserted, to gain over certain of those English, who, with Edgar Atheling, had entered the service of the Greek Emperor. mond's The vast extent of the fortifications, and the ofhuman want of discipline amongst the Crusaders, ren dered an assault impracticable. Bohemond's ener gies were roused, and here did he display the inexorable cruelty as well as the extreme frau- dulence of his character. It was in the camp before Antioch that Bohemond gave the hide ous banquets of human flesh, repeated again and again in the course of this war, and excused with faint disapprobation by those who admired, if they did not share, the cannibalism. Most intent upon winning Antioch, Bohemond had fixed his heart on establishing himself in this part of Syria, far more important for the pro secution of his designs against Byzantium than Jerusalem : and he succeeded through a secret league concluded with Phirouz the Renegade. ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 601 In the darkness of the night, seven Towers 1096-1100 were successively gained by escalade: the fore- "TogsT" most who ascended the ladder was the tonsured p^ZJtL Priest, the Historian, Fulcher of Chartres ; but be™£;sde Duke Robert participated in the gloomy tri- ^Bohe- umph of making the first advance into the City. tnecni™ Well satisfied indeed were the Crusading Leaders with Bohemond's ingenuity, promising, as they expected, such a prize for the common weal. The weary inhabitants, trusting in the strength slaughter . of the in- of their defences, were sleeping peacefully : the habitants. yells and shrieks of the Franks woke them to their death: an indiscriminate butchery ensued. Neither the valour of the Turkish soldiers, nor the defenceless condition of the populacy, in spired any compassion. Turk and Greek, Syrian and Armenian, Ismaelite and Israelite, all in volved in the same fate. — " We spared neither age nor sex, nor rank nor condition, in that night," — is the declaration of the Pilgrim Priest who rejoiced in the slaughter. Robert, Count of Flanders, and Robert, Duke of Normandy, were appointed Commanders of the City; but Bohemond had arranged his plan. Scarcely were the Crusaders in possession, when his scarlet Standard was seen waving on the highest tower, and he asserted his claim to the Conquest. Bohemond surprized Antioch by cow ardly treachery, and basely retained the acquisi tion by breaking the faith he pledged to his own 602 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096-1100 companions : such was the foundation of his Syrian sovereignty, his claim to renown. * O gran bontd dei Cavalieri antichi!' — Baldwin, Godfrey's brother, mastered Edessa even more easily. The Greek Prince Theodore having adopted the Red Cross Knight as a son, he con nived at the assassination of the unfortunate and simple-hearted old man, and established himself in the Principality, whence he ascended to the Throne of Jerusalem. Some days ensued of un bridled license and debauchery ; and it is noticed, scarcely with reprehension, that the Bayaderes and Aline's of the East adorned the gay banquets of the Christian soldiery. Kerboga x 28. Further perils roused them to con- advances o tr Antioch?48 nict- Kerboga, of Mosul, advanced with his nine-and-twenty Admirals, — Amirsoliman, Amir- solendus, Amirmazoain, Amirmeleducac, Amir- boelquenari, Amirboldages, Amirmoxe', Amir- sansodole-, Amirhegibbe\ Amirmergascottelon, Amirgirpaslan, Amirgigremis, Amircaraor, Amir- artubech, Amircaraiath and their compeers, whose demon names excited horror when thus repeated in the far distant West. Four hundred thousand chosen warriors followed Kerboga, and enveloped Antioch. Many deserted, letting themselves down from the Avails by ropes, hence obtaining the disgraceful name of Funambulists: — shame to tell, Stephen, Count of Blois and of Chartres, was again found amongst the recreants. He ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 603 fled the country and reached home, safe, sound i096_uoo and hearty, unwelcomed by his noble Consort, his — " — cowardice racking Adela's heart with grief and despair. Antioch was delivered by the tremendous „10r98 J 28 June. battle which derived its denomination from the Battle of Antioch. City beneath whose walls the armies fought. Robert's courage never flagged ; in one des perate sally his sword clove an infidel Emir to the saddle, whilst the Norman Duke thun dered his imprecations against the heathen dog whom the blow delivered to Tarmagaunt and Mahound. Nay, as the Normans declared, was it not Robert, who, encountering Kerboga in single fight, had cut him down, and thus, spreading dismay amongst the troops, drove back the infi dels in wild confusion? Yet amongst the many painful incidents of the Holy War, no one was more so than the impudent frauds which the battle of Antioch involves : — the discovery of the Holy Lance ; — and the apparitions of the Soldier Saints, George, and Maurice, and Theo dore, clad in white armour, aiding the victory. fi 29. During the siege of Jerusalem, Robert's siege and . * capture of valour was equally conspicuous, and it was he Jerusalem. who, with Godfrey, first placed the scaling lad- 1099. ders against the walls of the Holy City. Robert Jerusalem took his full share in the dreadful massacre : old men and young, women and children, the weak and the strong, the poor and the rich, 604 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1100 devoured by sword and flame. Cut, pierced, * stabbed, ripped up, eviscerated, burnt, suffocated, crushed, their bones hewn, splintered, shattered, broken, their flesh hacked, lacerated, their joints and limbs torn, contorted, Avrung, wrenched, rent in agony ; no mercy, no pity, no word or thought of pity or mercy. The loathsome carnage-stench filled the at mosphere. The Conquerors, drunken with fury, could scarcely endure the hot reek steaming from the smoking life-blood in which they waded. — A pause ensued: the Victors, their hands be grimed, their garments clotted and stiffened by slaughter, entered the Holy Sepulchre, wept, knelt, prayed. Ne pur deposto il sanguinoso manto Viene al Tempio con gli altri il sommo Duce E qui 1'arme sospende, e qui devoto II gran Sepolchro adora, e sciogle il voto. Godfrey fulfilled his vow : and his companions, refreshed, exhilarated, forthwith resumed and completed the work of destruction. As there is always much alloy of evil in the good resulting from human exertions, so there is also a tincture of good usually granted as an alleviation for evil. In this respect the Cru sades stand alone : we cannot discern any one resulting benefit which could compensate for their crimes. The Crusades have no parallel. Every other State founded upon conquest, has ROBERT THE CRUSADER. 605 earned some worldly triumph, exhibiting the 1096-1100 rougher virtues whereby the dominion was ac quired, military skill, captainship, intelligence, grandeur; some period of unity, honour, splen dour, prosperity. — But Latin Jerusalem had none : — never did she rise from her bath of pol luted gore. Chapter XII. CLOSE OF RUFUS BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 1096—1101. 1096—noi r, j Robert has departed for Palestine : The last Rufus will never meet him again. Let us take era of the • l l ¦ • life and breath, pause, and consider the position now reign of , Rufus. assumed by the three Brethren, reviewing the events befalling Rufus during the last period of his life and reign, an era commencing with Ro bert's transfer of the Norman Duchy, and ter minating in the Year Eleven hundred. We place ourselves under the Lych-gate, and fix our gaze upon the Corpse borne slowly downwards towards the grave. Thither is Rufus visibly tending. The presence of the Angel of death is not more awful than the recollection of his Precursors. — Oppor tunities, Avarnings, moments of mercy used or lost ; successes turned to vanity ; sorrows ripened into blessings ; each opening the veils between the material and spiritual world; the events of varied complexion, some viewed with breath less anxiety, others flitting by almost unob served, and unmarked, none whereof the signifi cance has been fully appreciated until the Soul has departed from her tenement. The Messen gers dimly seen ; light words, whose omens are CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 607 now disclosed ; thoughts marking the inward 1096—1101 changes of the mind : each, the tolling of the ^ ~~ passing-bell. Even as the most exquisite work of art, the finest texture of the loom, is discerned to be im measurably coarse and rude, when compared with the organized structures of the Kosmic universe, semblances of archetypal forms, exemplifica tions of an incomprehensible plastic power : — so when the Drama of the Poet is placed in parallel with the chronicle of human life, does the highest creative talent ever imparted to the human mind, represent most clumsily and inar^ tificially the convergency of the incidents pre paring each man's destiny, as they concentrate round the catastrophe — none wasted or super fluous; each falling into that order whose pre determination is disclosed by their sequence ; the course apparently devious, yet every variation of track still conducting to the same termination; an epic, overwhelming from the contemplation of its perfect unity ; a plot, which never could have been changed. § 2. All the anticipations of toil, weariness, Position and anxiety, distressing the dying Conqueror Beauclerc. when his dulled thoughts turned towards his children, were now in process of fulfilment. All the dissensions, enmities, and heart-burnings subsisting between the three Brethren at the time of their Father's death, not only continued, 608 the conqueror's sons. 1096—noi but had encreased in virulence ; and the unequal " partition of the Inheritance, dictated in the first instance by prudence or necessity, had become still more unequal. Rufus reigning in the King dom and the Duchy, Robert, the first-born, virtually disinherited : the balance of power which the Conqueror attempted destroyed ; and the compromise whereby he had endeavoured to reconcile the claims of ancestry and the rights of victory, entirely at an end. dilcree'r6 " Henry Beauclerc submitted wisely and dis- conduct. creetly to his fate : he was comfortably circum stanced, manifested neither anxiety nor ambition ; and, outwardly at least, a complete reconciliation had taken place between him and Rufus. Henry continued in possession of the Cotentin, Dom front and its territory, and, as it should seem, held the government of Caen. This we collect rather from collateral circumstances. He cer tainly resided much there, and with his affec tionate Nesta ; — it was at Caen that their son Robert (afterwards the great Earl of Gloucester) was born. Henry kept very close with Rufus however, making himself useful, guarding him self carefully against his own violence and impe tuosity, dissimulation improved into a second nature; cheerful, unpretending, -following his Brother wherever he went, and consorting with him as much as possible, whether in his perils or in his pleasures. The latter indeed was no close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 609 difficult task, for Beauclerc was as keen a sports- 1096-1101 man as Rufus : so knowing in all the minor and " ' meaner branches of the Huntsman's vocation, that even the Normans rather despised him for his proficiency, calling him Pied-de-cerf in deri sion : he lowered himself by his servile skill, more befitting a Yeoman-pricker than the Son of a King. — The love of the chase was a mono mania in the Conqueror's family ; or, if you choose so to consider it, a faculty which had be come hereditary; and there was no surer way of recommending yourself to their patronage and protection, than by conforming to their taste. Beauclerc's confidential favourite was of a Beauclerc's .... . . , favourite congenial spirit. Their mutual introduction cha- confidant, ° r Roger the racterises both parties. It chanced that when cierk of Henry was going forth with his Knights one morning, probably to hunt, he passed a small Chapel in the outskirts of Caen, served by a Priest, poor in pence, poorer in learning; but this Priest had a large share of mother-wit — and when the future King came in, requesting to hear Mass, for the door being opened, he could not decently pass the portal without enter ing the Oratory — Clerk Roger, by leaving out this Lesson and galloping through that Psalm, reached the end of the Service with the greatest possible expedition. A clever Chaplain, for such as We, — quoth jolly Beauclerc. Roger was im mediately taken into his service ; and not many VOL. III. R*» 610 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1096—1101 years after, became a Bishop and the most influ ential minister of the Realm. Beauclerc's § 3. It is hardly consistent with human expecta- „ tions, their nature, when there is any expectation oi an varying chances, inheritance, — however shadowy, or uncertain, or remote, — to discard from our minds the chances which Death may bring. The wisest speculate a little upon these chances : even those who pro fess entire indifference about temporal wealth, employ themselves in cogitating how they will withstand the temptations resulting from en creased prosperity — if luck should conn? — or bestow their acquisitions. We may be certain that the thoughts of the casualties which might give him the Kingdom of England, or the Duchy of Normandy, or both, were rarely dormant in Beauclerc's brain. Had he been ever so unambitious, unworldly, and contented, he could scarcely have resisted these pleasant visions — his father's dying words seemed to prognosticate great good fortune. Constitutional doctrines exonerated the Por phyrogenitus from undue presumption: he was an Englishman by birth, the son of the anointed King and the anointed Queen, contemplated with favour by the English nation as the more rightful heir: nay even old British prophecies, whether of Merlin the Wild or Merlin the Wise, were applied to him. Beauclerc might be en couraged by the character of his brothers : Rufus close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 611 odious, Robert despised — Rufus childless, Robert 1096-1101 unmarried. Nevertheless, if Henry dared to ' " ' entertain any revolutionary project, there were other circumstances, quite as forcible, to render such anticipations all but hopeless. Rufus, vigil ant, fortunate, was unassailable. Robert might marry : he was a good match : many a princess would be glad to become his consort ; and if he continued single, his two brave sons, Richard and William, whose parentage he had unequi vocally acknowledged, were fully as legitimate as their Victorious Grandfather. This fluctuating complexion of affairs, which subsisted during the early part of the reign of Rufus, settled for the worse against Henry, when the Treaty of Rouen was concluded. Henry's opportunities of obtaining either England or Normandy by the death of either hated brother, had always depended upon distant contingencies. Though the youngest, yet Henry was the junior only by a very few years, so that, come what might, the ordinary chances of survivorship could scarcely be reckoned upon. His reversion could only be accelerated by an accidentally fatal illness — and the recovery of Rufus from his mahgdy at Gloucester showed the strength of his constitu tion,— or by a violent death ; — and thus looking to the chances separately, the probable duration of the concurrent lives would only leave Henry a fag end for enjoyment, whether of Royal or RR2 612 the conqueror's sons. io96_hoi of Ducal powers. Now the Treaty was worded " for the express and determinate purpose of extin guishing all Beauclerc's pretensions. Each of the elder Brothers, Rufus and Courthose, made over his Dominion to the other. Whichever of the two contracting parties lived longest, would; holding Kingdom and Duchy, have a double improved interest against Henry : and his reversion seemed ohance re- . . suiting to indefinitely postponed, when suddenly the unex- Robert^s Pected departure of Robert for the Crusades totte'cru- opened a more cheering prospect. sades. rpne dangers of a voyage to the East under any circumstances were great. According to the custom or practice of "putting-out" which arose in the Elizabethan era of marine adven ture, partaking both of Life Assurance and Ship- underwriting, the chances against the safe return of a traveller from the Levant were usually esti mated at three to one. It was upon these terms that John Sanderson, the great Turkey merchant, was accustomed to insure himself when he went upon his voyages ; several of these policies exist for the information of the curious. Sometimes the calculation was made as a gambling speculation. — " I do intend," says Pun- tavorolo in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour, " this year of Jubilee coming on, to "travel, and (because I will not altogether go " upon expence) I am determined to put out some " five thousand pound to be paid me, five for one, close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 613 " upon the return of my Wife, Myself, and my 1096—1101 " Dog, from the Great Turk's Court in Constan- " "tinople." — Puntavorolo, at the tavern, drank the health of Sir Giles Overreach, in joyful ex pectation of receiving his gain from the miser's purse; and Sir Giles Overreach moralised upon Puntavorolo's wastefulness. Could such a policy have been opened upon the life of Robert Courthose, when he departed with the other Crusaders, his risk would cer tainly have been calculated at the highest. Ten to one against his return from the Crusade would scarcely have been an adequate premium. The journey's length, perils by land and sea, Apulian luxury, Greek perfidy, damsels and dragons, wine and poison, the Saracen sabre, the Moorish hassagai, famine and feasting, might all combine for his destruction ; and if, through his indolence, Robert escaped the hazards of war^ the Camp's attendant vices would con stantly expose him to dangers more insidious and not less fatal. Moreover, Robert had taken his son William with him, whose youthful activity might prompt him to be foremost in the conflict, and thus to Beauclerc the chances of the windfall were encreased by one-half. Instead of seeing four Lives between him and England or Nor mandy, two Brothers in possession, and two Nephews who might give trouble, Rufus and Robert, Richard and William, there were only 614 the conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 two of each sort, one Brother and one Nephew, ~" Rufus and Richard. cSse8Uof $ 4- Henry's expectations thus varying, Ru- Rufus. £us na(j^ since his father's death, continued advancing in power, after a course peculiarly calculated to excite self-confidence, encrease de pendence upon his own talent, and fortify his trust in his own energy. He had successfully laboured against difficulties. He had exerted strength and subtlety, courage and skill. He demanded admiration as an unquestionable right, and would take no refusal, and therefore the applause was yielded. He acquired a great name because he displayed a constant and consistent will. People were determined to beheve in his prosperity, and the notion, which had passed into a proverb, that the King was always favoured by a fair wind, testified the power he had gained over the public mind. His accession had been opposed by his own Brothers and his own Uncle, aided by the most wealthy and powerful of the Baronage, those upon whom he had naturally the greatest reason suppres- to rely. Suppressed in appearance, the Con- Sowbra spiracy against him retained vitality, and broke c°ens!pira" out again with greater virulence ; but he had watched his time — force, prudence, and delay, rendered him the victor. Where were his enemies now ? Montgomery dead, William of Eu a muti lated living anatomy, the Mowbray in captivity, close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 615 Odo of Champagne banished, Stephen of Hold- 1096— 1101 ernesse retreating, Robert and Bishop Odo flying ^ away in disgrace, his brother Henry obedient, almost cringing, and his Royal and Ducal author ity universally recognized in England and in Nor mandy, none daring to lift up a voice or a hand. But this victory over men was of compara- 1 tively small import, compared with the triumph church. over principles which he had achieved. Rufus had, as it seemed to him, entirely subjugated the Order which alone could oppose any constitutional barrier against his despotism; the Clergy were completely beaten down. He had envied and dreaded their wealth and their influence ; Church men, he had said, hold half my kingdom; all they held was now within his grasp, to be dealt with gently and discreetly, so as to avoid much clamour or sudden offence; nevertheless just as he should think fit. The Bishops humbled into dumb dogs ; Episcopal Sees bestowed by the King's Great Seal : the Consuetudines rigidly enforced : no appeal against Royal prerogative, the Collec tive jurisdiction of the Church in abeyance : — Councils suspended: the Papal supremacy ex isting only by sufferance, and Anselm, the last defender of Ecclesiastical liberty, a wanderer and an exile, never, as Rufus thought, to return. And indeed it was the expulsion of Anselm which gave to Rufus the pleasurable victory. — No one was left who dared rebuke with authority, 616 the conqueror's sons. 1096—noi who could venture to arouse in him the uncom fortable feelings of conscientious responsibility : no more solemn and friendly warnings ; no more arguments assailing the reason; no more the aspect of that countenance, reproaching by the kindest smile. of Rufus3 When Rufus received the Imperial diadem scotsthe °^ Albion, two of its brightest gems were dim med ; Scots and Cymri repudiated Anglo-Norman ascendancy. — Malcolm's reign had been a con tinued resistance, not only against English supe riority, but also impugning the title of Rufus; clearly asserting his Consort's right of succession to the English Crown. — The Cymri were even more resolute, defended by the natural fortresses of their country, which opposed the strongest obstacles to their well-disciplined but impetuous enemies. But now, the honour of the Imperial Diadem was vindicated, the power of the Gael broken : Malcolm slain by Mowbray, an enemy destroying an enemy, both silenced : the children of Mar garet and Malcolm brought into Anglo-Norman custody — the daughters, fair Edith, and the wise and lovely Mary, the wards of Rufus — the sons, the retainers and followers ofthe English Court: the heirs of the Scoto-Pictish Kings, once so fierce, so resolute, so implacable, his suppliant homagers. The Scottish Edgar, placed upon the throne by Rufus, gratefully rejoiced in his close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 617 dependence ; considering the obligation of fealty 1090—1101 as a privilege, not a burthen ; nay more, reigning * according to doctrines which promised the most entire subjection, not merely political but moral, incorporating himself as a member of the Anglo- Norman community, in heart and in mind. With the Cymri, the conflicts of Rufus had an° over J the Cymri. been somewhat harder — Anglo-Saxon Scotland might be conquered in the person of the Sove reign; Malcolm Canmore's Monarchy possessed the advantages and disadvantages of centralized power. Besides the King, none mighty ; when he fell, the Scoto-Saxon Realm was subdued; but the divisions which weakened the Cymri gave them the means of troubling their assailants. If one Chieftain was slain by the Frenchmen, (as they called the Normans), his rival, released from a national competitor, was the better able to annoy his enemies. Hence the balance of success hitherto at- complex ity of tending Rufus. The affairs of Wales continued weichhis. B tory in the to present that double aspect which renders Nofman their narrative so complex. The King and his ^3^' Barons acting as allies, yet each with a separate separate object: the Anglo-Norman Lords Marchers still theLords conquering on their own account, holding by the and the Sovereign. sword what they won by the sword — the Anglo- Norman Sovereign vindicating his Crown's supre macy. We must content ourselves with viewing the 618 the conqueror's sons. io96-iioi transactions at a distance, and from our side of ~" the hills Having learned prudence from previous discomfitures, Rufus returned to punish the stub born Rebels, who dared defend their nationality, their language, their lands. — He employed his usual persuasions; he held up his purse, and bought over the Traitors who guided him. The season Avas well chosen, bright summer. He penetrated through the Passes, having declared his intent of extinguishing the Cymric race : all the male in habitants were to be slain. Had success attended him, he was fully capable of executing his threat. — Why should he not ? Cromwell thus tranquillized Ireland to the extent of his power. Algeria sustains the process ; nor is the doctrine of extermination either practically or theoretically rejected by Civilization, who mourns over the deed she performs, as the result of inevitable necessity. But the Cymri were to be preserved, though not by their own strength. They dis persed themselves in their fastnesses, and eluded the King's power. Rufus could neither enslave nor utterly root out the natives : his own troops suffered severely, and he retreated. Yet the expe dition proved satisfactory in its results : the Lords Marchers, encouraged or permitted by the Sove reign, raised more and more fortresses around the Borders. The Cymric Princes, — in their own language, the Twisogion, — were contented to ac knowledge the supremacy of triumphant Edgar's close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 619 successor : nay, they contended for the honours 1096—1101 which his Court bestowed and refused, vainly claiming the privilege of bearing the Sword of State before the King. fi 5. Thus successful in Albion, the prosperity R«fts act- of Rufus was even more complete beyond the Jjjjj^ °*d Channel : he was no less powerful in Normandy ^ than in England, and happier there. Although nominally put in possession of the Duchy as a pledge, and for the limited term of five years, purporting to be a mere mortgage subject to redemption, imparting only a temporary and usufructuary authority, Rufus, from the first, conducted himself as an indefeasible Sovereign. He had indeed good reason to act upon this prin- chances in 0 x favour of ciple : like Henry, could he help speculating upon Kufus' ob- the great probability that Robert might perish ^f0enp0fS" in the war, or, if he escaped, might win a Syrian Normand?- Principality, and very willingly resign the Northern Duchy for the attractive luxuries of the South ? Let us take another view, equally favourable, — Robert might return home broken and pen niless, without strength, health, or money, unable to discharge the bond. Or again — Supposing Robert re-appearegl vic torious, full of health and spirit, well supplied with the means, would he be able to dislodge Rufus from the Nest ?— Rufus fully determined that he should not. Possession is nine points ofthe Law ; and Rufus reckoned that possession continued 620 the conqueror's sons. 1096—noi during five years, would make him completely ~" Master of Normandy in the Year Eleven hun dred, the end of Robert's tryste, when the term would be concluded. This state of things was very advantageous to Normandy. Rufus, considering the Duchy as his own, ruled prudently and discreetly, restoring good order and the regular administration of jus tice. The country flourished, and enjoyed peace ; the harvest housed securely, the roads travelled without fear. mandy— Contenting the body of the people, Rufus also s^mes the conciliated the Norman Church by filling up the mai^s? ° vacant Sees and Abbeys : his nominations were good ap- good ; his choice wise, though arbitrarily exer- m the cised. It was needful for Rufus to reclaim the Church. royal domains, unwisely and illegally alienated by Robert. In performing this delicate and somewhat hazardous financial operation, he acted so cautiously as not to excite any hostility on the part of the Baronage, at least, none which they dared to shew : nay, his interest amongst them encreased. All those who were Anglo- Norman, that is to say, whose Baronies were situated both in Normandy and in England, truly appreciated the advantage of an undivided allegiance. To them, the reunion of the English Crown and the Norman Coronal was peculiarly beneficial. William of Evreux, Walter Gifford Earl of Buckingham, who became the Husband close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 621 of Agnes de Ribeaumont before the end of the 1090—1101 reign, Hugh of Avranches Earl of Chester, all were most joyful and hearty in his cause. & 6. The suppression of the Mowbray con- Ru*™ en- ^ x x " creases and spiracy happened in the year preceding the Jj""™": cession of Normandy. The transactions which Part^ led to Anselm's banishment ended about a year onwards. These events, together with the de parture of Robert Courthose, Stephen of Albe marle, Odo of Bayeux, and others, cleared away a very large proportion of the formidable oppo nents who contended against Rufus, and brought forward conspicuously those whom he formerly considered as his friends. Robert de Mellent, the Prud'homme, gained Robert de 0 Mellent. very much in popular reputation, and was con sidered more and more as the leading spirit of the age. Mellent had nevertheless been recently engaged in a transaction anything but consistent with the character of a Prud'homme. It will be recollected that he had repudiated his wife Gode childa de Toeny, who was taken by Baldwin of Boulogne, afterwards King of Jerusalem ; and immediately afterwards, he, Robert de Mellent, His un- happy mar- married Elizabeth, the daughter of Hugh de riase w't>> 0 " Elizabeth Vermandois. He parted with his old wife to a of yermau- r dois. brother Crusader, and received in exchange a new one, a brother Crusader's daughter. The mar riage ended most unhappily, though it encreased his consequence for the time, by connecting him 622 the conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 with the Royal family of France. Mellent, hold- " ing large possessions both appertaining to the Crowns of France and of England, Philip's Liege man and Vassal of Rufus, contrived to retain the confidence of both Sovereigns. It was said that a question of peace or of war could at any time be decided by his free choice and will. With Rufus, Mellent cultivated the closest personal intimacy. He had rendered invaluable services to the Crown, when Anselm was hooted down by the King's party in the Council of Rocking ham. He enjoyed, as is often the case, a reputa tion for sense and talent which his conduct does not appear to have entirely justified; but the notion of his capacity continued till the last. The world will rarely consent to be undeceived with regard to its favourites. Henry de Mellent possessed much practical cleverness Novoburgo, tr r broths s an(* acuteness. He became the familiar friend Warwick. 0I" the Porphyrogenitus, without in any degree exciting the King's vigilant jealousy. Henry de Newburgh, Meiient's brother, whom we inci dentally noticed as a mediator between the Con queror and Courthose, now appears more pro minently. He had received from Rufus a grant of the lands formerly belonging to Thurkill of Warwick : a grant which seems to have made him equal to an Earl in importance and dignity. Earl of Warwick, he is often called ; and when in subsequent times Anglo-Saxon alliances became CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 623 a species of honour, Heralds and Genealogists 1096—1101 not unwilling to adopt the grateful tradition, " believed he acquired the domain by marriage with an English heiress. He possessed extra ordinary influence, chiefly through the benignity of his disposition, and though engaged in many important affairs, history rarely mentions him ; and the principal memorials of his compara tively tranquil life are found in the numerous ecclesiastical endowments made by him, includ ing Warwick Priory. He also managed to keep in favour with Rufus and Henry. Robert Belesme Count of Alencon and Pon- ^|f °£ thieu, received a very great accession of power ^dn|°ri in England. Upon the death of his brother ^ewa~ Hugh, he obtained the Earldom of Shrewsbury as his heir. He paid three thousand pounds to Rufus to be let into possession ofthe inheritance. The rules of succession in cases of this descrip tion still left a wide margin for the expatiation of Royal prerogative. According to our legal and constitutional phraseology, such a payment ought to be called a Relief; but contemporary writers treat this, and other similar transactions, in the light of redemptions, bargains, or + pur chases; and about the same time, Belesme ac quired the inheritance of his kinsman Roger de Butley, also for a large sum of money. Belesme now had to divide his attention, Beiesme'scruelty. much more than before, between Normandy and 624 the conqueror's sons. 1096—noi England ; yet such was his activity, that he per secuted his enemies in both countries with undiminished pertinacity. It seemed as if, by division, his faculty of tormenting others had been doubled and not halved. Upon the Welsh or Britons in the Marches he exercised direful cruelty. During this period he built the forti fications of Bridgenorth, enlarging the old de fences first raised by Ethelfleda, an excellent position. Belesme, in the pride of his heart, could say to himself, — Here may I defy the power even of a King. Reaver1 de Richard de Redvers, Lord of Oakhampton, and Devon! afterwards Earl of Devon, must now be marked wniiam de as one 0I* the leading Barons in the West ; and Arch6" William de Ponte- Arche, the Keeper of the Trea sure-house and Castle at Winchester, never seems to have been removed from his important post during any part of the reign. Walter Tyrell, the Castellan of Poix, married to Adela, the daughter of Richard Gifford, was familiarly companion able with the King. Flambard in full bloom, stout, rosy, hearty; Regent, Justiciar, Prime Min ister, Palatinate-Prelate of Durham, replete with energy and power. A discreditable progeny surrounded him ; yet whatever his faults may have been he continued affectionate to his per- Bi>hops secuted old mother. Thomas Archbishop of and Chan- A eery men. York, now without a rival in the Primacy, Avas waxing old, and could not enjoy his pre-eminence, CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 625 and therefore Maurice, Bishop of London and Dean 1096-1101 of the Province of Canterbury, acquired a greater v prominence in station. William Gifford, the use ful Clerk, held the office of Chancellor. William Warlewast continued busy in the Chancery. The taxes imposed upon the people occasioned encreasing discontent and misery : the superior Landholders, unable to resist the Government demands, oppressed the inferior tenants in their turn. Famine and Pestilence concurred, driving very many of the middling and lower classes to the Crusade. The English Pilgrims, including those who entered the service of Alexis, were reckoned at Twenty thousand. Compared with the resources of the country, the sum required for the Normandy mortgage money was so moderate as not to afford any reason for the spoliations committed by Rufus upon the moveables of the Church. When thus employed, he made his famous mocking speech, telling the Clergy they might scrape the gold and silver from off the dead men's bones. This taunt affords a partial clue to his conduct : he delighted in plaguing the Priesthood ; but, prudent and contriving, he also wished to spare his Treasury, in order to obtain a fund for the projects which his actions speedily disclosed. 1097 fi 7. Rufus knew his strength. The fame of Rufus com- J menees war England's treasures always preceded his Royal ^f«?st banner, and cleared the way for his enterprizes : ^"fc°f vol. 111. s s 626 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 he now commenced a formidable hostility against " the French King. According to universal report, Rufus, through his mother Matilda, asserted a right to the Carlovingian or Capetian Crown. It would puzzle any Diplomatist, Herald, or Ge nealogist, to guess how Matilda's lineage could establish or suggest this unreasonable preten sion. Abbot Suger, equally distinguished as a Churchman, a Statesman, and an Historian, very important also for his testimony upon English affairs, records the claim, abstaining from com ment or refutation. But Rufus needed not any lawful plea : he was devoured by pride ; and his ambition was encouraged by the contempt into which Philip's royal authority had fallen. Philip's adulterous connexion had the usual consequence of introducing those discomforts which, creating unhappiness in private families, are full of danger to royalty. One of the many results imparting a salutary effect to the autho rity of the Church in matrimonial causes, was the occasional obstruction of illegitimate unions, giving rise to contested claims of succession. From the unbounded license which prevailed, in defiance of the Ecclesiastical tribunals, we may estimate the quarrels prevented even by their limited jurisdiction. Bertrada had already two children by Philip, Charles and Florus. The poetic character of a step-mother was liberally bestowed, by common opinion, upon Bertrada. CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 627 It was believed that she would not scruple at 1096-1101 any means by which she could exclude Prince B^adaT Louis from the succession: whether force, orSgt! stratagem, or assassination ; — her son Charles Louk.'the would then become the heir, though it was iip by Ber- impossible to consider him as legitimate ; and the' throne. had she accomplished her plans, a fresh source of trouble would have opened. Philip himself, was very unfit for war : natural indolence stifled his talents and capacity : disease encreased upon him, he was thoroughly degraded by sensuality. Louis was yet very young, and possessed much spirit. — Boy as he was, Rufus hated him as a rival. A plausible reason was in store, justifying Rufus de- the hostilities commenced by Rufus : he renewed Beaucas- sin. the old quarrel of his father for the Beaucassin, Pontoise, and fatal Mantes. Could that entire Marchland be won, France would be deprived of her best protecting frontier. Political and feudal relations gave Rufus great advantages in this quarter. A large number of the Baronage were men of double allegiance, Norman Barons holding lands also under Capetian supremacy, or vice versd. The effects of this complicated relationship again became apparent. They could influenceobtained by not serve two masters, and they naturally chose the wealth . of Rufus. the richer — the money-abounding King of Eng land. Not merely did he attract those who might be excused by their position, but many SS2 628 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1101 others, deprived of that justification, Barons, Knights and Vavassours, purely French by tenure, Philip's undivided Liege-men, passed over to Rufus : they did not owe him any allegiance, but they coveted his pay. The real or supposed bonds of feudality melted instantly at the touch of the fine silver : the Baronage yielded to interest or followed their inclinations, just as occasion served. Robert de Mellent, the Prud'homme, though so proud of his newly-contracted alliance with the royal House of Capet, was the first who declared for Rufus. Interest and personal intimacy with the King of England decided the Wise man : he received the English garrisons in all his Castles, and opened the way to the Isle of France. Eng lish money continued to be distributed most libe rally : many received the subsidies, more longed Castles eagerly for partnership in the sweets. Guy de obtainedby ° J . . ... Rufus— la Roche- Guy on is dishonourably distinguished by Gisors for- J J o J tmed. name, amidst the crowd of greedy participators : he surrendered his Castles of La Roche-Guyon and Veteuil to Rufus, both Arery important, com manding the Seine. They are situated upon a bend of the river, and enabled Rufus to intercept all navigation to or from Paris. The army of Rufus was large and threatening. People said he could have battled against Jidius Caesar: it was always by the Roman standard that they measured heroism. There was a wonderful CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 629 inclination to fanfaronade amongst the Anglo- 1096—1101 Normans : an awful tendency to magnify and ex- ~ aggerate. Many of the Beaucassin Marchers were sturdy and warlike, and opposed Rufus strenu ously. Some lucky captures, by which they got very good ransoms, — a stronger incentive than loy alty, — encouraged them to resistance against the Anglo-Norman Enemy. Rufus, however, gained Rufus re- covers Gi- one great advantage : he recovered Gisors, the so™— Lordship of the Archbishop of Rouen, so incon- £j^is siderately as well as illegally surrendered by Belesme- Courthose to King Philip : the bribe paid out of stolen goods. Rufus excusably kept the domain. Here, Belesme, under the direction of Rufus, dis played his great military skill, planning and raising the Fortress which became equally the protection of Normandy and the terror of her foes, opposite to Chaumont and Trie, fourteen leagues from Paris, fourteen leagues from Rouen, jutting out against France. — A permanent advanced post, from which the three Leopards afterwards defied the Lilies, admirably adapted for defence, the walls as strong as art could make them, with many peculiarities in the plan, and many ingenious con trivances ; flanking bulwarks, and covered ways, to which the peasant points his finger with wonder. The ruins are still standing, singularly interesting from possessing such a certificate of origin. 1098. Rufus, whilst the Castle of Gisors was rising, Rufus could afford to wait: he suspended prosecuting France. 630 THE conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 the campaign. In the following year, he re- * newed the war. William of Poitou, who either had not fully made up his mind to leave Countess Mauberge and content himself with her recollec tions, her portrait, and the Syrian damsels, or who was detained by want of money, allied him self to Rufus. Again, a very powerful army was collected, and the Anglo-Norman King headed the march. It was a night of terror when they first took up their quarters at Conches in France. The sky blazed, the electric announcement of the bloodshed in Palestine. Fires were kindled also upon the earth, for Rufus ravaged and devastated the country as far as Pontoise. Next he besieged Chaumont : the war was unusually bloody, both parties became exasperated, and great loss was sustained on both sides. Rufus, however, had the advantage, and scared the French ; but the affairs of Wales recalled him into England. 1097. § 8. During these French expeditions, Ru fus always steadily kept in view and pursued Rufuspreparesrecovery of the enterprize most nearly concerning his ho- Maiue. nour. Normandy lacked her complement. Court hose could only transfer that which he had and held. The cession did not give unto Rufus the whole of his father's inheritance. He could not write himself Dux Normannorum et Camoman- norum. His honour was blemished, his dignity contemned, until Maine should be regained : and the Manceaux were more alienated from the Nor- close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 631 mans than before. Helias continued to govern logo— uoi with prudence and wisdom, really possessing not a few of the noble qualities and qualifications fondly ascribed to ideal chivalry: daring and pious, strenuous, mild, and affectionate, somewhat hasty, but without any tendency to harshness or cruelty. Moreover he had married a worthy wife, Matilda, daughter of Gervais, Seigneur of Chateau-du-Loir, with whom he received in dowry a small and compact Angevine territory. Anjou always pretended to the superiority of Heiiasde Maine. Normandy demanded in addition, the apprehen sive of An- possession and the inheritance, — neither insisted, j°a and , x Normandy. yet both persisted ; and the conduct to be adopted by Helias required great dexterity; whilst fencing against those foreign opponents, his own people needed cautious management. Mans was approaching rapidly to the condition of a free city, merely owning the Count's sove reignty. The municipal constitution of Mans was in full activity ; the Burgesses meeting regu larly in their Commune, the Bishop being an integral portion of the Corporation ; their Mayor. During this period Bishop Hoel died: a good 1097. Bishop, but very Norman, never forgetting the of Hoei, obligations he owed to the Conqueror, his de- Le Mans. ° ^ Helias fiinCt patron. nominates x Geoffrey. The Conqueror, not entertaining much respect c^rf£ela"ct for privileges, secular or ecclesiastical, had ap- Hildebert- pointed Bishop Hoel by his prerogative. Helias 632 the conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 considered he possessed the same regality, and ~ ~" nominated the Dean, Geoffrey, a Breton, nephew of Judicael, Bishop of Aleth, who, relying upon the Count's presentation, prepared a sumptuous entertainment upon the day when he expected to be confirmed and installed. Contrary to the old proverb, the Host had reckoned without his guests. Neither Clergy nor People would accept the Dean : they issued their own conge d'elire of themselves, and chose Archdeacon Hildebert, the best poet of his age, wise, pious, and clever. Geoffrey's promotion came to nothing, and the banquet he had prepared to celebrate his Ponti ficate was eaten by his dependants just as mer rily as if he had not been ousted; but in good time he obtained compensation, becoming Arch bishop of Rouen. Heiias Homage had not yet been rendered by Helias wishes to ° * ^ de la Fleche to Rufus, who, standing in the place of Robert, and therefore representing the Con queror, claimed this personal submission. Fulk Rdchin made the same demand. Both were dan gerous neighbours, but Rufus excited most appre hension ; and Helias de la Fleche was anxious to preserve his virtual freedom without any offensive assertion of independence. Helias entertained a strong desire, and in him, without doubt, truly devotional, to visit the Holy Land. All Cru saders were privileged by the Holy See. Helias relying, more than previous experience could well take the Cross. close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 633 warrant, upon the generosity of Rufus, made a 1096—1101 bold attempt to place himself under the King's ' * protection; and when Courthose had taken the Cross, then Helias appeared before Rufus in his Court at Rouen. After a long and friendly discourse, Helias declared that, obeying Urban's counsel, he was preparing to join the Pilgrims. He humbly besought the King's friendship, and that he might depart in the King's peace. — " Go Rufus 0 r or refuses the where you choose," replied arrogant Rufus ; " but terms °f " x ° accommo- " first surrender Maine and Mans ; all that my datum pro- « posed by " Father had, I will have also." — Helias answered Helias- that he held his County by hereditary right, derived from his ancestors. He had received that inheritance freely, freely would he transmit the inheritance to his children; yet he was not unwilling to abide by the amicable decision of a competent tribunal. Let the right be inves tigated by the supreme Legislature, the High Court, in which the Kings, the Nobles, and the Bishops are assembled ; let the claim be examined according to the laws of the country, and by that judgment he would stand or fall. This proposal is remarkable, indicating that Helias assumed the existence of a High Court of Peers, possessing jurisdiction over the whole Capetian Monarchy — that Realm to which the name of France can scarcely yet be given. But the answer, however reasonable, provoked in Rufus a paroxysm of angry insanity — " I will only plead 634 the conqueror's sons. io9fl—noi with spear and sword," replied he ; encreasing Rufas" in_ in extravagance : — from the speaker's violence, an^threat- his language became almost unmeaning and unin- Heiia^re- telligible : — he declared that he would bring a hun- defence°.r dred thousand men into Maine, for the purpose of bringing Mans and Maine to destruction. Helias abandoned the Crusade, quietly replying to Rufus, that the arms with which he had intended to assail the Infidels, should now be turned against his nearer enemies. For a time, Rufus suspended the execution of his menaces : being involved in his dispute with Anselm, and also employed against the French, and in Wales, he refrained from at tacking the Manceaux. Hot and angry as he appeared to be, Rufus was fully able to exercise prudent, even crafty caution, but on this occa sion he was over-slack, and displayed an unwonted remissness : delaying, and tardy, his favourite object seemed blotted from his memory. 1098. R 9_ Somewhat of leisure being restored to January ^ ° and March. RufUS) it might have been expected that he Rufufto would forthwith renew hostilities against Helias hoSEs! de la Fleche and the Manceaux, but, unlike him self, when he returned to Normandy, he paused. This collapse was very ungrateful to Robert de Belesme, who urged him to resume the war. ofeRufusCe ^u^us stul demurred — he had not pardoned the great affront he had received from Helias : that was impossible. Could Rufus be doubtful as to CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 635 success — he who had never known fear — yet he 1098—1101 demurred and made excuses — the winter sea- " son, the inclement weather, and the like. Such extreme nervous inertness was very unusual with Rufus : Belesme urged him the more ; so that at length Rufus agreed to move ; not however heartily or with alacrity, but for shame, and lest he should be thought fainthearted. Belesme was actuated by personal animosity against Helias; but he was also astute, a good manager; and with the money which he received from Rufus, he fortified his own Castles, employ ing the King's means for his private purposes : a suspicion of this double-dealing may perhaps have contributed to the reluctance which Rufus displayed. Belesme, who had usurped much Beiesme's . . cruelties. upon Maine, continued his encroachments. He warred atrociously. During the Lent of this year, it was reckoned that upwards of three hun dred prisoners, confined in his dungeons, died of hunger, cold, duresse, and torture. A few saved their lives by paying large ransoms. In such cases there is often a singular conflict between firmness, — not always distinguishable from obstinacy — and cruelty: the Oppressed deter mined not to let the Tyrant get his contemplated profit, and the tyrant determined not to sur render his chance. Helias de la Fleche fought valiantly against Helias de • iii 'a fleche Belesme, and gave him repeated checks : but, sur- captmedby 636 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 prised by stratagem near Dangeuil, he was cap- B^ra^~' tured and brought before the King. Overjoyed Tnto prison at this piece of good fortune, Rufus cast Helias by as' into prison. Belesme had done for Rufus what he had not cared to attempt for himself— The King now summoned a great assembly of the Norman Barons. Accusing himself before them of negligence in having delayed attempting to re cover his father's inheritance, he informed them ofthe important capture, and craved their advice. io98. $ 10. They unanimously counselled an ex- Rufus pedition against Maine. Rufus had been waver- invn.nes x ° inv Maine. mg} he was not quite himself, nevertheless such counsel fell upon a ready ear ; the Barons gave him the stimulus he needed. Frenchmen and Burgundians, Flemings and Bretons, presented themselves as usual, opening their horny hands to receive his money. The forces, thus raised, were estimated at fifty thousand men. Rufus advanced as far as Alencon on the border, in the month of June, the period between the two Harvests, when the old stores were nearly exhausted, and the new crop not got in. The people of Mans, thoroughly averse to Norman domination, prepared for defence; their Com mune, Bishop and Senators assembled every day in Session. Great alarm was created. Never theless there was the usual deficiency of any firm principle. Rufus entered the country, many influential Chieftains submitted ; Ralph de Beau- CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 637 mont, Rotrou de Montfort, and that veteran 1096—1101 partizan, Geoffrey of Mayenne. Gilles de Sully, one of the sturdiest warriors in France, an old retainer of the Louvre, watching the march of the Norman forces from the summit of a hill, exclaimed that on this side the Alps never had he seen so mighty an army ; — probably an excuse for his surrender. Rufus advanced into Maine proper ; Balaon, Bad gene ralship of within four leagues of the City, considered the Rufns- key of the country, was surrendered or sold by Payen de Mont-doubleau. Rufus transferred the Castle to Belesme, and a garrison of three hun dred picked Knights was placed therein. The war however was conducted irregularly; nothing like systematic campaigning can be discerned. The peasantry of Maine fought bravely against the enemy : the Norman troops, broken up into parties of marauders, robbed and plundered, treading down crops, cutting up vineyards, and doing an infinity of small mischiefs. Want of provisions began to be severely felt. Oats rose to ten sous Manceaux a bushel or sestier. The total absence of any species of Commissariat seems almost inconceivable, and Rufus deter mined to retire till after the Harvest. $11. Concurrently with the invasion thusFtu?cof made by Rufus, his rival Fulk Rechin, claiming ^lineaiso Maine as Chief or Supreme Lord, appeared in the field, growling and snarling for the same 638 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 prey. Fulk was accompanied by his son Geoffrey, "" now associated to him in the government; they occupied Mans, and gladly were the Angevines received. The competitors dodged rather than fought. Rufus in or about Balaon, Fulk in Mans, kept one another at bay : when Rufus retreated, Fulk besieged Balaon; but when he returned to the charge, the Angevine withdrew in his turn, and iieiias kept his station in Le Mans. The news of Fulk dreads An- x thanNor- H^chin's movements reached the imprisoned mandy. Helias, not at all to his comfort. Helias, ponder ing in his barred dungeon, thought, that conti nuing in the power of Rufus, there was no telling what his enemies Rufus and Fulk, entirely un restrained by honour, conscience, or principle, might not agree upon, to his detriment. What the Angevines held, the Angevines would try to keep. If they established themselves in Maine, his prospects would be far darker than if the country were subjected to Norman supremacy. Liberty at any price ; and then Heiias would trust to his own good cause and fortune. The Nor man had been beaten out before — why not again ? Negocia- Helias therefore communicated with Bishop tions for tionrf6™" Hildebert and the citizens, and it was agreed Heiias. that if William recovered Mans, Helias should be delivered from captivity. Fulk Rdchin con tinued unsuspecting of this negociation. He filled Mans with his troops, and not only prepared CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 639 for defence, but commenced an aggressive war- 1096-1101 fare. Rufus now advanced boldly and in person, " and the result of the secret understanding became manifest. Fulk took refuge in a monastery : Mans given , . . up to Ru ms own men, his own Angevines, had been con- fus- suiting with the party amongst the Manceaux who were favourable to Rufus; and, alleging it was impossible to defend the city against the Norman forces, they agreed to surrender. Rufus triumphed into the City, followed by three hun dred mailed Knights. The bells pealed merrily. Bishop Hildebert and the Clergy come forth in procession with their banners waving, their chaunts resounding, and accompanied and sur rounded by the hailing multitude, Rufus is con ducted into the Cathedral. Down with Anjou — up with Normandy, — the Standard of Normandy hoisted on the Fortresses which the Conqueror had built, the Royal Tower, Mont-Barbe, Mont- Barbatule". The treaty was ratified. Helias is to be released, but deprived of all his possessions : Maine, every Castle, every foot of ground which William the Conqueror held, is to be ruled by William Rufus his son. Rufus regained the possession, valuable in itself, but of which the value was so extremely encreased by family sentiment and excited feeling. Helias § 12. Rufus kept his word: Helias was libe- requests to rated from his dungeon at Bayeux, and brought into the before Rufus, squalid and unshorn, with the smell of Rufus. 640 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 0f the prison clinging to him ; in this condition he solicited the King's mercy. Helias fully acqui esced in his own deposition. Rufus shall rule the territory unchallenged : all that humbled Helias now wishes for, is to find grace in the King's eyes, and to serve under him as a retainer and a friend. — " Yet," said he, — " inasmuch as the County came to me by inheritance, let me retain my nominal dignity ; let me be called Count." — Rufus was about to assent ; but the Count of Mel lent, dreading lest Helias might win the King's favour and diminish his influence, strongly ad vised Rufus to the contrary. — "The Manceaux, are never to be trusted ; Helias only seeks to enter your service as a traitor and a deceiver." — Rufus yielded to Meiient's counsel, and relaps ing into his usual temper, spurned the demand which the suppliant opponent had made. Rufus re- Helias urged the request again, with more pels the offer— courtesy and more humility, but the transient Helias pre- . pares for feeling of generosity which had faintly flashed in Rufus passed entirely away: he raged. — "Nay then," quoth Helias, " marvel not if I employ all my endeavours to recover my ancestorial inherit ance." " Scoundrel, begone, depart, fly ! " ex claimed Rufus, stuttering and foaming as was his manner when the paroxysms of anger possessed him. — "Away — do thy utmost against me — do thy worst." Helias withdrew, fully determining to accept the challenge ; and he returned to his close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 641 wife's Seigneurie, preparing to renew hostilities, 1096—1101 securing and fortifying the small towns and for tresses which the territory contained, Chateau du Loir and Mayet, neither of them particularly strong from situation, and therefore needing the more care. Rufus determined to return to England, Precau tions taken having left Robert de Belesme as Commander ofbyRufus 0 for the se- Maine. — The Count and Earl of Alencon, and of ^JoS Ponthieu and of Shrewsbury, did his duty : the office suited his taste as well as his interest : he fortified Balaon and other of his strongholds, the King's money being well spent by him, so far as the defence of the country was concerned. Mans seemed to be loyal, but Rufus used due precaution to ensure that dubious loyalty. The lofty towers of the Cathedral were strong as any Castle, and Rufus had endeavoured to compel or per suade Bishop Hildebert to surrender possession thereof. This measure was not effected ; but the command of the garrison devolved upon Walter Fitz-Auger, an able soldier and full of resource, who, with a strong body of Norman Knights, held the Conqueror's Citadels, the Royal Tower, Mont Barbe, and Mont Barbatule". § 13. The arrangements directed by Rufus 1099. for the occupation and defence of Maine and Kufus Normandy, were sufficiently judicious : neverthe- England." less his movements and journeyings exhibited the disturbances and irregularities of an excited vol. in. T T 642 the conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 brain. Brutalized by the most degrading lusts, ~"' there still appeared the phosphorescent gleams of the graces quenched by sin. Acuteness and caprice, prudence and uncontrolled passion, drove him about here and there. His natural state was morbid activity, occasionally wearied into morbid quiescence. The management of his dominions kept him in constant harass and worry : he was always on the fret. In Normandy, virtually an absolute govern ment, the tone and Spirit of authority depended on the Sovereign's presence. England possessed a well-organized Cabinet Regency : Flambard was thoroughly dependable, nevertheless the King's supervision was very frequently needed, and now most urgently. The affairs of Scotland were still in course of settlement, whilst the Cymri re sumed their incursions. The Northmen, invading Wales, occasioned great distress to the Britons, and unquestionably some anxiety to Rufus, They disclaimed hostility against England, but were they to be believed ? — Did not the Danes keep up their continual claim to the Crown of England? It was during this inroad that Hugh de Mont gomery was slain. Portents. England was found by Rufus in great trou ble and anxiety : stormy and inclement seasons, seeming as if there never Avould be fair weather again. The sky burning; a most bright and awful Comet; strange elemental perturbations, fountains CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 643 flowing with blood, a phenomenon repeated in the 1096-1101 subsequent year, indicating earthquakes, which ' the awe-stricken fragmentary Chroniclers have not recorded. Amidst all these calamities, Rufus, racked by the gnawing torment of insatiate am bition, Avas encreasing the general distress and discontent: — heavy taxes, and, more grievous than all, extreme rigour in enforcing the Forest Laws. He accumulated the vigour of an orderly legis lation upon the savage principles of earlier days : the strictness of regular government denying the compensations derived from irregular barbarity. The wealthier English were peculiarly obnoxious to his tyranny; but the Normans were scarcely less vexed by his interference with their rights and amusements. Avarice and cruelty exaspe rated the sufferings he inflicted — fines and confis cations added to torments, mutilations, death. Physiologists may investigate the question of transmitted propensities. The Conqueror dis- Encreased 1 r 1 rigour of played the love of the Chase as an inveterate Laws°r6St passion, clouding his wisdom : Rufus laboured under the same passion, in the form of an un ceasing diseased appetite; yet his shrewdness and cunning were rather sharpened than dimi nished thereby — there was always method in his madness, and the execution of the Forest Laws became to him one mode of demonstrating his despotic power. TT 2 644 the conqueror's sons. 1096— noi Although the political state of Britain afforded E "h weighty, real, and urgent reasons for the sudden SSfsur- departure of Rufus from the Continent, and the beauty! consequent suspension of the war in Maine, yet he was unquestionably attracted to England quite as much by pleasure. The wide extent of our English Forests, their fresh verdure, and pleasant glades, their ancient trees, and dappled deer, excelled all that could be found in Normandy. Poor indeed by comparison were Brotonne or Lihons, — or even Fairy Broceliande. Wild and picturesque Rockingham, the oaks of Windsor, the amplitude of Alfred's awful Selwood, courtly Clarendon, all supplied Rufus with rich and various sports : Rufus loved them all ; but there was one forest loved by Rufus more than all ; no forest so favourite with Rufus as that Forest which ought to have been most hateful to him, the Jetten-Wald, the Eotena-Wald, the Giant's Weald, where curses hovered under every shade. The New Time usually diminishes the impression of Forest— f r therebium norror; here, Time encreased the feeling. Each foScon- revolving year made the New Forest more memory, fearful. "Every fall of the leaf imparted deeper sadness, every red bursting bud renewed the tokens of mourning. Of all the sins committed by the Conqueror, none in popular opinion ought to have hung heavier on his soul than the mer ciless selfishness which had driven away the close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 645 inhabitants, sparing neither the Home of Man nor 1096-1101 the House of God, to give range for the hound * ' and room for the deer. It is quaintly observed by St. Jerome, that in every vocation, sinners have obeyed the call of holiness, the Lawyer, the Physician, the States man, the Soldier, the Fisherman, the Herdman, the Mime, the Slave, the Publican — no state or condition so mean or so godless as always to repel the Holy Spirit, save one — No Hunter, St. Jerome says, was ever canonized. Unless justified by necessity, the blood of any of God's creatures is never shed unaccompanied by responsibility. The beasts of the field and the fowls of the air are included in the primordial Covenant of Love — and whenever slaughter becomes sport, the sport verges upon injustice, and rushes from injustice to the worst hardening of the heart. The vestiges ofthe former populations which whilome cheered the Jetten-Wald, rendered the Royal solitude more unnatural and desolate : they testified against the waste of tyranny. The years circling on, since the Conqueror's. death, had rendered the scene more pensive and more lovely. The tofts where the cottages once stood, no longer betrayed the fresh tokens of desolation. The door had been broken away from the hinges, the ground-plot overgrown with gorse and fern, the hearth-stone concealed by heath and harebell : — the unroofed and dilapi- 646 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 dated Chancel was tapestried with ivy, and the " bright fox-glove, and sweet twining honey-suckle adorned and perfumed the Altar, springing amidst the rifted slabs, watered by the dews of heaven. Amongst the sixty churches which had been ruined, the sanctuary below the mystic Malwood was peculiarly remarkable ; all around had been stamped by Rufus as peculiarly his own. You reach the Malwood easily from the Leafy Lodge in the favourite deer-walk, the Lind-hurst, the Dragon's Avood, where Rufus was wont to bouse and carouse, preparing for the sport ending with the " breaking of the deer," the joyous butchery. A scanty and gloomy inhabitancy dwelt dispersed amidst the vast silence of this magnificent deso lation : the forest Swains, grudging against the King's delights: fierce and burly Prickers and Keepers, their coarse natures aggravated by the cruelty of their calling and their privileged im punity in all acts of oppression and wrong : here and there the grim Charcoal-burner, whose em ployment, like that of his cousin-miners, was often hereditary: and some few families of English Churls, the relics of the Peasantry evicted and ejected by their Sovereign. Md s"8 er ^ any vestiges of the primeval belief of the theForests. Teutons, any practices derived from their mystic rites, subsisted amongst the English people; — the Augury disclosing futurity ; the Song bestowing fertility upon the field; the dire Imprecation CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 647 against the enemy, they would surely be fostered 1096-1101 amongst such solitudes, now becoming more >~~v appalling. Nocturnal Demons haunted the Fo rests : grim Riders on the Coal-black steeds, whose horns resounded, driving before them the loathly hounds with fiery eyes. More terrific, the visions of meridian day. In the full brightness of noon, when the Sportsman gallopped along the clear green paths — those forest-roads in which some latent cause checks the sapling's growth — uprose the gaunt Spectre. Fiends grinned at the Way farer through bush and brier. Rufus braved and scorned these fantastic continued mystery as portents: no Goblin could scare him from the tothecause x of the Jetten-Wald : nevertheless, it was strange that ^ha°df he could conceal from himself the sad realities q^r-"" marking the ground as accursed to the Norman •soDmgest dynasty. Here had his brother Richard died; none could precisely declare the cause of Ri chard's death. Imagination dared not clothe the fact with any additional circumstances — neither wonderment, nor curiosity, nor malignity, had raised any accusing suspicions which might de signate the author of the deed, shrouded by indelible melancholy. Were the sins of the fa thers to be here visited on the children, the ancestors' weird to fall on their progeny ? — The locality suggested ideas of blood, and afforded the opportunity for deeds of blood. With most men, such scenes inspire instinctive dread; but 648 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1101 Rufus felt no foreboding, and took no heed. He was fascinated by an irresistible influence, con stantly called to the New Forest by a voice he could not disobey. The Forest was his home, all was his own within the fatal boundary: the vert and the venison, the turf and the tree, the soil and the air, every living creature which flew on the wing or coursed along the ground, bird and beast, man, and man's destiny, all were within his power. No law, no will, except the King's, absolute, unchecked, unlimited, unwatched, un controlled; the Brach or the Hound dragged through the King's great stirrup, and the live flesh scooped from the foot of the writhing animal ; the Poacher brought forth before the King, and his poor eyes torn out, or scorched by the glare of the glowing brass; the Deer- slayer swinging high on the bough. — Noble sport, Royal sport ! Could Rufus here dread any mis chance, any enmity? 1099. fi 14. Whilst the Norman garrison domi- June, July. ¦> ° LeMans neering in Le Mans, afforded apparent support recovered x x de uelia8 *° tne authority of Rufus, their irksome presence pieche. diminished his moral strength; the citizens learned to hate the Normans more bitterly, and longed more intensely for the restoration of the ancient dynasty. Helias patiently waited his opportunity for about a twelvemonth, until com municating with his party, and having disturbed CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 649 the country by a sudden resumption of hos- 1096-1101 tilities, they opened the gates to him. He was ' ' ' received with the greatest joy. The Castles held for the King and defied the revolt. Fitz-Auger fired the town by showers of red-hot slag and coals shot forth from his machines ; but the City continued in rebellion. Belesme despatched a messenger, one Amalgis, The News to England, inviting the King's immediate pre-^^™ sence and assistance. Amalgis, on landing, learns Forest- that the King hunts at Clarendon. He posts thither: no Rufus there — he is hunting in the New Forest — on to Hampshire. Hither Amalgis hastens, and finds the King, coursing with his companions : Henry Beauclerk, Ralph de Aquis, Walter Tyrrell may be amongst the number. Rufus eagerly enquired what news? — Amalgis informed him of the surprize which had deprived him of Mans, the loss being however counterba lanced by the resolute Castle garrisons and Be iesme's firm position in Balaon ; yet the insurrec tion is very formidable, and unless succour be immediately rendered, the loss may become irre mediable. Without consultation, without con sideration, Rufus turned his horse's head towards the coast, — so impetuously, that, according to a colloquial expression almost adopted as a fact, he was said to have demolished the stone-wall standing in his way. Without guards, without attendants, without advisers, Rufus rushed to the 650 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1101 port of embarkation,— Southampton. The only ^^ bark ready was old and crazy, tossing in the Normandy, turbid river ; the sky overcast, the wind blus tering ; the scanty crew urged him to delay his passage, at least till the foul weather should sub side. He had entered the vessel alone, bare as the meanest wanderer, but he commanded them instantly to put off. Did ye ever hear of a shipwrecked King? was his reply. Evening was darkly clouding : the crew pulled out. — the vessel drove with her swelling sails before the gale : the sky cleared, the breeze became favourable, and when the following morning shone fresh and bright, they were safe in sight of Tolques, and making up cheerily to the Norman shore. Lands As the custom is in summer, the people safely at Toiques. gathered on the beach to look at the English vessel, and to meet her as she ran in, dividing the dashing surges, and grounding her keel upon the grinding shingle. " What news, what news of the King ?" The King himself answered the question. Rufus was received with tumultuous joy. His bold carriage and military frankness were most winning to the multitude. Hurrah! LeMans onwards. — Mounting the Parish Priest's sorry abandoned by iieiias. horse, a motley and encreasing crowd of pea santry assembled, under Avhose escort he reached Bonneville. Rufus began this short and last campaign with superabounding vigour. The prestige of CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 651 his authority depended much upon the subju- 1096-1101 gation of Maine. Pride conjoined with interest, * state policy and personal feeling, all urged him to exertion, the real political importance of the objects at stake being encreased by their moral value. Rufus issued his summons throughout the Duchy ; very large forces speedily mustered. He advanced rapidly against Mans. Helias im mediately abandoned the city, retreating to Chateau du Loir. Sorely and sadly had Le Rufus " _ advances Mans been punished by the Castle artillery. M™ush Sparing the sullen crest-fallen burghers, Rufus, Ma?et- indignantly traversing the smoking ruins, made no stay whatever, and escaping any fatal accident like that which befel his father in smouldering Mantes, chased across the country, plundering, burning and devastating as he advanced. Helias trusting to his good cause, continued quietly in Chateau du Loir. Rufus, on his march, came before Mayet, a place, which, in the ordinary French phrase ology, would be designated as a miserable bi- cocque ; but having been fortified by Helias, opposed a resolute resistance. Rampires and palisadoes strengthened the walls, whilst Helias watched proceedings with his picked men at Chateau du Loir. Rufus came before Mayet on Truce of "^ Godob- Friday. " To-morrow let the assault be made," served by J . Rufus. was the command he gave. Actively and boldly did Knights and Soldiers prepare on Saturday 652 the conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 morning to storm the town ; when certain of the " ' Clergy, pious and earnest, came forward, be seeching Rufus to observe the Truce of God, the respite which the precepts of the Church attempted to obtain for mankind during the Lord's holy day, beginning at noon on the Seventh- day, and enduring until the Monday morn. Rufus observed no precepts of the Church : no place, no time, no day to him was holy : it might have been thought desperate to make such a propo sition to the King, yet, strange to say, he seemed subdued ; manifested none of his usual perverse ness or impiety — he neither scoffed nor scolded, but assented to the monition, and availed him self of the day of rest. Early on the Monday, the onslaught began. Incautiously, if not unwisely, Rufus had caused the fosses of Mayet to be filled with fascines or similar stuff. These were kindled by the besieged. The blaze and flame arising from the materials provided by the Normans, as the means of ap proaching the walls, drove the assailers away. The Mayet garrison were desperately brave. The difficulties which this poor fortress presented, Rufus troubled and disturbed Rufus exceedingly, and flies from _ ° •" unX/the ^e continued to direct the operations in person, j.^"^ vexation exasperating his angry mood. The garrison exulted, defending themselves merrily and spiritedly. Rufus exposed himself despe rately. Whizzing from a catapult, placed aloft on close of rufus — beauclerc's ACCESSION. 653 a tower, a stone shattered the skull of a Knight 1096— noi standing by the King's side: Rufus was besprent "~~" with brain and gore. Fresh meat for the King's kitchen, ready to be cooked for the King's supper, the brutal • besieged cried out, as they saw the corpse fall from the saddle. Rufus was entirely overcome : the danger thus incurred, the shock, the contempt and hatred evinced, broke his spirit : he could not withstand it. Yielding to the un controllable influence of panic fear, that fear in which the heathen recognized the work of the Divinity, he raised the siege. — At the dawn of the following morning, he departed, hurrying to Mans — there he disbanded his forces, and returned to England. § 15. The depression was most transient. October. No sooner had Rufus turned his back upon Rufns ± r returns to Mayet,. than he cast off all thoughts of gloom Enslan<*- with childish levity, or, perhaps, concealed his anxieties from himself, by working his mind up to intense excitement. During his retreat, — a disgraceful retreat in truth, — he burned and ravaged the country ; and the defeated of Mayet entered ruined Mans, glorying like a Con queror. When in England, Rufus again displayed his pristine cleverness and violent energy. He was still in the vigour of manhood, gifted with exube rant bodily health and strength. The journey, the 664 the conqueror's SONS. 1096—1101 change of scene, renewed his powers to an un- ~"/ natural pitch : he heightened himself again into a state of mental intoxication, yet, in the main, always consistent. Far from relaxing in his pre vious course, no symptom of faltering could be discerned ; he steadily and inflexibly resumed all his schemes of aggrandizement and glory. His fine talent was faintly contending against the influence of foul and debasing lust, and his good sense and wisdom struggling against the disorgan ization produced by indulged passion, caprice, and anger, and the uncontrolled exercise of power. Rufus Rufus encircled himself with magnificence : completes ° towct-"11*6 ms plans and aspirations were great in every westmin- way : he intuitively felt the political importance repaSf11' possessed by public monuments, and gave a Bridge" powerful impulse to the rising school of archi tecture which so peculiarly distinguishes the Anglo-Norman age and people. No Church was raised by the piety of Rufus, but his mind de veloped itself in military and civil splendour. He completed his Father's work, the Fortress whose walls are saturated with pride and sorrow; the circuit was closed around from gate to gate; the White Tower of London Avas finished ; and the huge Council Chamber on the upper story, with the adjoining Chapel, needed to complete Gun- dulph's plan, obtained the form which they still retain, sufficiently unimpaired to enable us to CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 655 realize the aspect which the structure presented, 1090—1101 when employed for the triple purpose of a Palace, a Castle, and a Prison. The roaring tides and tumid streams swept away many a pier of the London bridge. These were renewed at great cost. But the Confessor's Palace of Westminster afforded most display for the King's stately genius. The structure became the chief mansion of the Anglo-Norman Kings. The Great White-Hall existing in the Confessor's days had possibly been raised by the Norman architects, who resorted here before the Con quest. But the extensive structure which at this moment receives the popular branch of the Legis lature did not satisfy Rufus : — under his direc tions, another Hall was built upon the meadows and gardens between the Whitehall and the Painted Chamber, — supposed to have been the Confessor's bed-room, — and the mouth of the stream, which, completing Thorney island, fell into the Thames. Other buildings being added, the Quadrangle obtained the denomination of New Palace Yard. The New Hall was very stately, planned according to the Angevine fashion, like a Church, a noble nave, with aisles on either side : the ancient walls constitute the entire core of the present structure, and recent repairs have disclosed and destroyed the arches and columns and capitals, the work of the Nor man King. 656 THE CONQUERORS SONS. 1096-1101 Accidents often determine the character of c^T nations. Such an accident was the erection of influe^e of Westminster Hall. The magnificence of the BterSHaiL building, — still pre-eminent, — rendered it pecu liarly appropriate for the most important function of an old English King, the administration of justice. The edifice and the Tribunals gave and reflected importance to and upon each other; notwithstanding the continued migrations of the Court, the Palace of Westminster became Roy alty's peculiar home. Upon the High Dais stood the table of marble stone : here, at the foot of the Monarch, sat the Chancellor and his Clerks, when the Seal was opened, and the public functions, annexed to the highest emblem of judicial autho rity, the Sovereign's symbolical representation, were performed. Here also, in the earliest pe riod, did the King in person, or those Judges who held their Pleas before the King himself, exercise the supreme criminal judicature. Even after all the changes in our jurisprudence, there are still purposes for which the Chancery and the King's Bench are one. At the entrance of the Hall, on the left side, you passed to the Exchequer. You may yet see, over the doorway, the grotesque effigies of the Teller, with the quaint verses in which his duty is described. On the right are the Judges of the Common CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 657 Pleas. They were not fixed in the Hall until the lose— noi promulgation of Magna Charta ; but Rufus first " ' provided the habitation for them, to which they then had become accustomed, — the written Consti tution confirmed the previous usages, and by so doing raised the most steady pillar of the King dom's franchises. For the Judges, to whom ap pertained the decision between man and man, no longer followed the King's person, and though acting in the King's name, were released from their apparent subservience to*his arbitrary will. — Honoured be the Bench. Despite of individual vacillations and errors, they have been ruled by obedience to principle, precedent guiding prece dent, each successive generation submitting to its predecessors; and the Judges of Westmin ster Hall have been invested with their peculiar sanctity, obtaining for them a confidence more precious than has been bestowed upon any other Authority in this realm. 5 16. The last year of the Red King's reign, uoo. The last the last year of the Eleventh century, the Year year of the reifirn of Eleven hundred, marked a period of accumulating Rufus. terrors and misery. — On the Eve of the Nativity, the Mother night — Yule night — that Night when the Ecliptic sphere turns and rolls upwards into the cycle of lengthening days, began the Year Eleven hundred, not joyfully, but accompanied by gloomy forebodings. Celestial signs continued to be associated vol. in. u u 658 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—noi with earthly calamities : the sky reddening and *~ alive with quivering blaze ; deluges of rain ; the wains sunk up to the axles in the mire ; the fields swamped ; elms and oaks standing out amidst the waters; the hay floating in the glazed meads; crops washed away and destroyed ; raging floods ; preternatural tides, recurring and crossing, con trary to the order of the ocean's laws, but most fearfully so when the Full Moon shone on the night of Saint Martin; the sea-waves breaking over and devouring the land; the undermined cliffs crumbling away ; the rivers running upwards and spreading over the shores ; the springs again welling forth blood, staining the streams which received the defiled element. — Crowds repaired to witness this marvel, Rufus amongst the rest : his loud laughter scoffing the superstitions of the multitude. Rufus scorned the people, they were dulled by misery: He, the more triumphant; his newly developed assumption of outward splendour, a propensity not unuseful in a monarch, if pro perly directed, encreased his harshness: it was his own pride he sought to gratify, and not to enhance the Commonwealth's dignity. His archi tectural undertakings were peculiarly unfortunate. Laudable in themselves, the objects warranted the expenditure. — The Tower of London was needed for the defence of the Realm : every Palace might be considered as a fortress, Westminster being a CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 659 Burgh like the ancient Louvre ; and the traffic 1096-1101 and convenience of London demanded the repara- " tion of the Bridge of London. Therefore, con sidered singly, the proceedings adopted by Rufus received a full justification : and the lands of the Shires around the Metropolis were bound to con tribute to the works, either by the Law of the Land or by reason of tenure. But the war-taxes which Rufus and Flambard imposed, exhausted the country, not a penny the less for all that had been taken from the Church ; whilst at the same time the money thus wrung from the Church was abstracted from the poor. The boon labours and services of the London Citizens and the inhabitants of Surrey, Kent, Essex, and the like, were exacted with the utmost rigour ; the extreme inclemency of the seasons, and the rising ofthe waters, encreased the discom fort, the fatigue and the vexation. — But nothing Rufus encrettses did Rufus care : his mind expanded in an ideal »' p^de and osten- and gigantic elevation. Never did he exhibit the tation- pomp of royalty so ostentatiously as in the Year Eleven hundred : that Year, so gloomy to others, had by him been commenced with exceeding joy and rampant festivity. For the first time since his accession, was Rufus Rufus"wears his enabled to wear his Crown thrice in one and crown . thrice in the same year. The Christmas feast he held at the Iast . * year of his Gloucester, the Mercian Capital. Many remem- reisn- brances were attached to that residence : there UU2 660 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 had he been oppressed by the warning malady "" which brought on the nomination of Anselm ; and there in King Oswald's Abbey still presided the faithful Serlo, one of the few remaining links between Rufus and his father and his mother — the old friend of the Conqueror. There was also Fitz-Hamo, strenuous and strong : the great March Lord, whose encreasing prosperity had in no wise seduced him from his allegiance to the throne. Easter he solemnized at Winchester, the ancient capital of Wessex : Whitsuntide in his new Palace at Westminster, in the magnificent Hall. Rufus might have been proud of his mo nument, and yet the building satisfied him not ; for, as he paced the structure's length and breadth, he declared contemptuously that the space was scantly half large enough for his state and festivities. Rufus R 17. Since his return from Mayet, Rufus had encreases 3 in morbid continued incessantly active, stirring, allowing no affairs res* *° others, or to himself, superadding to need ful duties and judicious employments, a teazing burthen of needless occupations, bodily and mental, doing much, projecting infinitely more. His great political scheme, of ruling with undi vided supremacy by the suppression of the Church, had succeeded in a manner Avhich seemed fully to reward his consistency. The first steps were completely gained, and the machinery he had em- CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 661 ployed was working steadily to the definite end. 1096-1101 The moral authority of the Hierarchy was neu^ " tralized, their civil position weakened, their property in his power: the escheats continued to accumulate, and, in this last period, he ceased to fill up the vacant prelacies. — Good Osmund of Salisbury departed. — Walkeline of Winchester ended his weary life. He enjoyed at last the satisfaction of completing the sacred edifice, Saint Swithin's Cathedral with the lofty ponderous tower, the pious investment of his wealth, and was rejoicing in its magnificence. Here had the masons worked with encreasing speed and dili gence, and now the Bishop's task was done. Just 10" as Walkeline had chanted the Introit, on Christ- death"ofBishop mas-day, a messenger came up to him from the WalkeIfae. Treasury, " My Lord Bishop, you must send two hundred pounds to the King without any delay." — The demand so startled Walkeline that he took to his bed, and died within ten days. — Anselm is far away, a dead man if he comes again within the reach of the Royal Sword.— Archbishop f^^f Thomas, who, in consequence of the exile ofbyR^us the Primate of Canterbury, enjoyed a species of Edi* 6 uncomfortable and anxious supremacy, did not survive to the close of the year — and men reck oned that on the Feast-day of Saint Peter ad Vincula, in the Year Eleven hundred, Rufus had in his hands all the domains and goods of the Archbishoprick of Canterbury, the bishopricks 662 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096-1101 0f Winchester and Salisbury, together with Twelve or more of the richest abbeys in England. wiiiiam fi 18. His continental policy assumed a new of Poitou -. . „ . , T 1 1 • 1 • proposes to direction. Notwithstanding the truce, his designs cede his , dominions against France inspired both expectation and apprehension : and an opportunity offered for effecting an important dismemberment of the French Monarchy. In their relations to the Crown, the provinces South of the Loire still retained more indepen dence than Northern Gaul ; and William Count of Poitou, the Troubadour, who had delayed his expedition to Palestine, now resolved upon the enterprize with enthusiastic ardour. Poetic fer vour exalted the Count's imagination; but the realities of life interposed — money was wanting ; and where should he apply for help in need, but to the most opulent monarch, the King of England ? Count William despatched his Ambas sadors to Rufus, proposing to surrender his domi nions for a competent price. The mere offer created in Rufus the most intense desire to seize the bargain. — Count of Poitou! — the very notion excited in his mind a joyous fever. The cession would have extended his dominions from the Garonne to the Channel, from the Channel to the Tweed : more land, more coast, more resources, more influence, more varied and energetic races would have been ruled by Rufus than by any other Sovereign in Western Christendom. CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 663 Rufus never lost the gift of inspiring confl- 1096—1101 dence. He continued to exercise the faculty of " rendering his enthusiasm contagious. His actual achievements in no wise warranted the position he assumed : he had rather hung back from personal adventure; but he obtained and preserved the prestige of good fortune, not so much by any great success, as by the vanishing of his enemies. It seemed as if no weapon raised against him could prosper — no genius which did not succumb before his own. The World accepted him at the value which he fixed upon himself, and the rate was rapidly rising in the year Eleven Hundred. Ascending the loftiest rock which heads the furthest promontory of bleak Menevia, and be holding the distant hills of Ireland dimming the Western horizon,— " That country shall be mine," JSaif0" — he exclaimed, — "my ships shall bridge across ireSnd! ° that sea." The union of the British Islands under one sceptre, planned by the Conqueror, might have been accomplished by Rufus. In reverting to his Father's scheme, there was no departure from the recognized rules of ambitious wisdom ; and that very incursion of Rufus prepared the way for the future fortunes of Strongbow, and the misery of the Milesian race. But inebriated by success, the unrestrained indulgence of bodily appetites failing to satisfy the cravings of a powerful intellect and vivid imagination, he en- 664 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 wrapped himself in hallucinations, reality and unreality confounded. He dreamt of making war fntesa against Rome, challenging as his right the an- Jchemfof cient conquests of Brennus and Belinus. Strange Se.6"118 that Rollo's descendants should thus assert the heirship of the Gaulish Kings! No traditions can be traced, no romances or fables are extant, which explain the pretension or render the pro ject intelligible. Was he seeking to establish a universal Empire, or the dethronement of the Supreme Pontiff? — the union in his own person of the civil and supreme Hierarchical power ? Flattered, encouraged, supported by the many who shared his depravities and profited by his sins : witty, amusing ; pleasant to the guest ; pro fuse to the soldier; courteous to the minstrel; he sought to make his life a succession of wild delights. Poor and rich were equally excoriated by his rapacity, and new severities added to the merciless chapters ofthe Law. He luxuriated in giving offence ; scoffing and gibing at all things holy, seeking to outrage the feelings most re spected and honoured. He revelled in profligacy. Lust was not satisfactory to him, unless height ened in flavour by profaneness and impiety. When he laid him down to sleep at night, he was more wicked than he had been in the morning, and when he rose the following morning he was more wicked than when on the preceding night he had retired to rest. Contradiction was intolerable to close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 665 him. He could not bear to be reminded that 1096— noi anything he wished or planned was subject to ~ a higher decree. He scorned the law of the -Supreme, and prided himself on affronting and defying the Most High. 5 19. Whatever chances Rufus or Beauclerc The ™a*- J mg up of might have had of profiting by Robert's perils, c^iSie. opportunities, or seductions in the Crusade, came completely to an end in the Year Eleven hun dred. Robert was alive, sound, healthy, hearty, unbetrayed by the friend, unhurt by the foe, no arrow had reached him, no sabre had grazed his skin.— Robert, alive, sound, healthy, hearty, his vows accomplished, life renewed before him with unwonted and encreased chance of prosperity : he had signalized himself by bravery ; he had resisted temptation, and gained honour. The Chieftains having assembled in the Holy f^f"^ Sepulchre to elect the King of Jerusalem, Nation opinions were in Robert's favour. Valour, or throne of • . !• • i j. i -i i • Jerusalem. piety, or lineage, might be considered as im parting contradictory or concurrent claims to the several competitors; but many maintained that Robert Courthose, whose Father had worn a crown, was upon that qualification best entitled to the Sovereignty. — Stories were in circulation, as if he had been almost miraculously designated to the dignity: a star had been seen gleaming OR the point of Robert's lance ; and this omen, as it was reported, had been more significantly re- 666 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 peated. When each Chieftain knelt, holding the ~v consecrated taper, a stream of fire (as they said), descending from Heaven, struck the one in Ro bert's hand. The choice fell on Godfrey ; never theless, Robert's influence was undiminished, so that Arnolph Malacorona, his Chaplain, was nomi nated to the Patriarchate of the Holy City. 1099. The election of the Sovereign was the signal Robert's for further warlike conflicts, wherein Robert achievements in greatly encreased his renown. — Jerusalem is not the Battle ° J ofAscaion. m peace ; the Soldan of Egypt advanced; he who had been too slow to prevent, now became impatient to avenge, the loss of the Holy City. Hosts innumerable followed his Standard, the silver lance crowned with gold. Pre-eminent amongst the Miscreants appeared the fierce red- turbaned Ethiopians, swinging their iron flails, gigantic fiend-like forms, scaring by their very aspect, horrible, terrible. This great conflict took place at Ascalon. Robert, foremost in the fight, as the Normans reported, galloped up to the barbaric prints ensign, that tall spear pitched before the Soldan ardtotafte" xlx the field. The Norman Duke, we are told, tie'Hoiy0f cut the infidel Sovereign down. In the press, the Standard became the spoil of a common soldier; but the glory belonged to Robert. His munifi cence redeemed the prize, and he deposited the trophy upon the Altar of the Holy Sepulchre. This victory dispersed the Moslem forces, and completed the Conquest. Jerusalem was deli- Sepulchre. CLOSE OF RUFUS— BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 667 vered ; the task performed ; and the Crusaders, i096— noi quitting the field covered with the spoils of the camp and the corpses of the dead, declare their Jehr^ c™sa- final triumph consummated. They bathed in the c^Ldlfat Jordan, gathered their palms at Jericho, the an end' memorials of their pilgrimage ; and each pilgrim prepared to return to his own home. And thus has the first chapter in a new book of human sorrow opened: thus has the first Crusade closed. — Urban may have just lived to hear how his enterprize had been accomplished. The turmoil was partially silenced, myriads of bodies and souls destroyed. The Antipope was j"91™ still acknowledged, Schism still distracted the urban's ° death and Western Church, but Urban enioved Rome, the Pa**1'8 J " ' election, Clementines expelled, for about four years, and Aug- 13- then died, on the fifteenth day after the capture of Jerusalem. The acclamations of the Roman Church, the Roman Senate, and the Roman People, gave him as a successor the Pontiff Pascal IL, Rainier of Viterbo. We marshalled the Crusaders before us when crusaders settled in the Host was first arrayed : we must now bestow P^tine. a glance upon them in their dispersion. Many were domiciled in Palestine. Of smaller folk, it concerns us not to speak ; we will only note the main Chieftains of the enterprize. Godfrey, Jerusalem's uncrowned King, established himself in his Palace, the Tower of David, a disturbed unhappy abode. Virulent discord between the 668 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 spiritual and temporal authorities ensued imme diately after the Conquest, the Latin Patriarch claiming that the Sovereign should rule only as his feudatory ; whilst the Conquerors, wretched and starving, quarrelled amongst themselves for the division of the spoil, each contending for domination and superiority. Godfrey reigned but a short time amidst the desolation, the vice and the misery which the Crusaders brought upon Jerusalem and them selves. The Malaria fever of Rome never en tirely departed from Godfrey, nor did the vow's fulfilment eradicate the seeds of the malady. noo._ Incaution or excess, anxiety and the general alte- Godfrey's ration in his habits of life, exasperated the fever after a mto the disease of which he died, at the end of short and reuSled the year and the day reckoned from the blood bath of the Holy City, to wit, on the seventeenth day of July, the Festival of Saint Marcellina, in the year Eleven hundred. Baldwin of Boulogne also continued in the Colony: his exertions fully rewarded his risks ; he succeeded excellently well as a speculator : he had gained Edessa, and ruled the splendid Prin- lonio'inef cipality. The ghost of murdered Theodore never Ed™si,°f disturbed Baldwin's slumbers; but he did not upon6God- possess Edessa long ; for upon the death of his to6the & brother Godfrey he was elected as his successor. Kingdom n ., , in of jerusa- .Baldwin Avas a clever and unscrupulous States- man, but often allowed his passions to counter- CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 669 act the dictates of prudence. His wife, Gode- 1096—1101 childa de Toeny (the divorced of Mellent), died ' " at Antioch. When King of Jerusalem, Baldwin supplied Godechilda's place, by espousing a second Baldwin's wife, the richly-portioned daughter of Taphnuz, X™en°an an Armenian Prince. Her fortune was astound- fT^cess' ing, besides fortresses and castles, sixty thousand ^pa^tes. golden bezants constituted her dowry, which rejoiced the heart of the Crusader. Money had been his object, and the money he kept, getting rid, as speedily as possible, of the Oriental damsel, with her kohal-blackened eyes, and henna-stained fingers. Baldwin drove her into a monastery, where she was confined. Hence she escaped ; the Latins say she disgraced her self afterwards by her dissolute conduct ; not improbably so, but the temptation resulted from King Baldwin's base and unmanly cruelty. His third marriage, like the foregoing, was ^wi?f'3 prompted by avarice and ambition. Without ^^ of even pretending to sue for a divorce from his Armenian wife, the marriage continuing in full force and validity, the King of Jerusalem courted and won the Matron Adela, the daughter of Boniface, the proud and powerful Marquis of Montferrat, who had been repudiated by Roger of Sicily. She was the mother of Roger the Second. Adela's riches added to her attrac tions, but she shared the same fate as her prede cessor. After treating her with much harshness, 670 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 Baldwin availed himself of his own wrong ; the bigamy of which he was guilty gave him a pretence for casting off the wife whom he had entrapped: he caused himself to be divorced from her, and Adela returned to Sicily, where she died. Rethli "ist Baldwin of Rethel took firm root in Palestine. jeTfsaiem. When Baldwin of Boulogne obtained the king dom, the other minor Baldwin was promoted to the county of Edessa, and became King of Jeru salem in his turn. Bohemond Bohemond exulted in Antioch, — Antioch won in Antioch. by double treachery: not a contemptible prize, yet poor and small, if compared with his vast aspirations. He retained, however, all his vigour and activity, making conquests of no great sig nificance, and sustaining various romantic vicis situdes. He tried again for the Greek Empire, but entirely failed in his project, bearing himself, nevertheless, as proudly as Alexander the Great. His noble figure, talent, pretence, and confidence, made him keep his rank as a hero even to the last. Tancred Tancred settled in the city of Caiaphas, some- and Raim- . . baid of what obscurely. — Raimbald of Orange continued Orange. * ° in the Holy Land, but we cannot discern his dotation. Raimond Raimond de St. Gilles, the meekest, and most de St. Gil- rfTn^oh*. consistent of the Crusaders, had better fortune : he conquered Tripoli. CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 671 Amongst the Palmers who returned to Eu- 1096—1101 rope, some looked downwards : others, more c^^T cleverly, brazened themselves against their shame. Jheu-'credit Fine names were included in the category ofardicT" skulkers and Funambulists, — Hugh of Verman dois ; — William de Grantmesnil, Bohemond's brother-in-law, Alberic, and the Leicestershire Ivo;— Guy Trossel ; — William, Viscount of Melun, the doughty Hammer-man; — the wretched Peter the Hermit ; but, worst of all, Stephen, Count Stephen of of Blois and Chartres. To Adela, the disgrace back by his 0 wife Adela, of his cowrardice was intolerable. No longer and kuied ° at Paulo. a Douce-amie, she thundered her vituperations against her husband ; and, ultimately yielding to her clamour and the universal feeling of dis repute, he returned again to Palestine with the fruitless expectation of regaining his character. Being captured by the Turks, after the great defeat at Ramla, they set him up as a mark, and shot him to death. Robert of Flanders afforded an honourable con- Honoursgained by trast to the faint-hearted Stephen. He came back Robert „f 1 Flanders. splendidly ; and henceforward appears in the an nals of the Flemish dynasty, distinguished as the Hierosolymitan, an epithet he deservedly earned. The very Turks rendered their tribute of admira tion, by entitling him the Son of Saint George. Now for our Robert — still the fresh-coloured, merry, jolly Courthose, though his form is becom ing more portly, and his locks grizzling grey — 672 THE CONQUEROR'S sons. 1096—1101 He accompanied his namesake of Flanders as Robert far as Constantinople, and then crossed over to returning6 Apulia, to Conversano, to Sibylla. — Kind old Apuilf, Ordericus, who, always sympathising with affec- marries .... . -. . . sibyna of tions, likes to relate a love story, hints at a pre- Conver- . . sano. vious attachment. Be that as it may, Robert now obtained her hand. Count Geoffrey rejoiced to bestow his daughter upon the descendant of Rollo, whom the Italian Normans honoured almost as their Sovereign : and, with Sibylla he gave a very large dowry, for the express purpose of enabling his Son-in-law to redeem the Duchy from his Brother. Robert comported himself prudently and soberly ; his character appeared settled and cor rected. He considered further the means of re-establishing himself: his friends contributed largely, and in the spring of the year Eleven Hundred, Robert had commenced his pleasant journey, escorting his Bride from the bright shores of the Mediterranean, the orange-groves and the olive-forests, to the orchards and mea dows, of fertile Normandy, Sibylla's ancestral home. Sarmed § ^0. News from Apulia succeeded to the counts of" news from Palestine. Vague Reports became condensed into certainties. The intelligence of Robert's steady and prosperous progress excited great alarm in Rufus : he fancied the Duchy slipping aAvay. Robert's progress, CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 673 Robert had earned an entirely new reputation. 1096—1101 The thoughtless spendthrift was transiently dis ciplined into prudence : the dissolute idler re formed into a happy and affectionate husband. No calculator, political, financial, or com- Rufus the , 1 more anx- mercial, could possibly understand the value ofiousin x * conse- money better than Rufus — how far a pound Srt'f of silver would go — what a pound of silver p°S^ would do. — Robert, hitherto bare and penniless, raeans- was now abounding with wealth. Sibylla's for tune completely altered Robert's position; and still more annoying to Rufus, was the ample pecu niary aid afforded by Robert's friends. Those who voluntarily became Robert's creditors, pledged themselves by that very act to stand by him : un less they helped him, their advances would be lost. But Rufus, forewarned and fore-armed, antici pated the visitation : he had begun making pre parations for resistance ; and these he now pur sued with encreasing vigilance. It was for the purpose of better defending Normandy, that Rufus had so gladly accepted William of Poitou's proposition concerning the cession of a terri tory, which, could he obtain it, would cover Normandy and Maine, and so perhaps prevent Robert's return. Winter wanes away — days lengthen — Lent noo. has worn through — Halleluia is sung again. — seasomnng , , iii-, , Kobert aP- The Pascal altar has been decked with vernal proachesNormandy. flowers, — the Easter week is quite over — the snow- vol. in. x x vances. 674 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1096-1101 drifts melt in the mountain-passes —more news, more unwelcome news for Rufus and for Henry : their Brother and his Bride have fairly crossed the Alps, and will be seen in Normandy ere Summer begins — Rufus exerted all his energies, calling forth the means of opulent England : troops equipped, hammer and axe resounding in the Dock-yards, fleets preparing to transport the armies which are to occupy the Duchy, opposing the invasion ofthe legitimate Sovereign. Rufufen°f Taking into consideration the relative situa- theaspring tion of the parties, it should have seemed that ' Rufus was over anxious — that he might have relied calmly and resolutely on his own strength. Had not all the Norman Baronage accepted him ? — Belesme was obedient, Mellent and Meiient's family supporting him by all their influence, Henry Beauclerc prosperous, and equally inter ested with himself in resisting their Brother. Very few in Normandy were likely to entertain any real or sympathetic affection towards Court hose, except Helias de St. Sidoine, the excellent husband of Robert's daughter, and Richard, Robert's son, courageous, but unassisted, and unconnected with any party. Above all, Rufus possessed a moral power in Normandy, denied to him in England. The country had gained by passing under his authority : he rescued Nor mandy from misrule and disorder: the Duchy was tranquil and contented. Nevertheless, with CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 675 these good reasons for confidence, Rufus could 1090-1101 not rest. — v — § 21. Matters were in this state of anxiety M^107°io. and excitement, when the month of May was£!ohard', «/ the son or saddened by a most unexpected event, creating ^unlhi universal grief and astonishment. The young rS^r! Richard, son of Courthose, had crossed over into Ration England: — he must have been invited by the ajs' King, and well received, — for, during the Roga tion-tide, the season of humiliation and contrition, he took to hunting in that most special haunt of Rufus, the Royal Forest, the Jetten-Wald. The love of the chase was so inherent in the Anglo-Norman line as to overrule in them all other feelings; yet it might have been thought that Richard, the son of Robert Courthose, would have avoided the spot where his name sake and near relation, Richard the son of Wil liam the Conqueror, encountered his mysterious destiny. Richard joined a tumultuous party of Hunters, the retainers, the men of his Uncle Rufus, gal- lopping to and fro, and coursing here and there, the deer dropping beneath their shafts ; but one heavy bolt from the Norman Arbalest turned away from the deer, and hit the bosom of Richard. So murderously point-blank did the fatal arrow wing its flight, that he fell instantly dead : the Knight who perpetrated the deed, whether by mischance or otherwise, fled to the Priory of XX2 676 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 St. Pancras at Lewes, where immediately array ing himself in the dress of a Monk, he withdrew from the world, from enquiry, from justice, or from vengeance. j^y. § 22. Silence the wailing for young Richard ; SbyUa ond — many will remember him : innocent of his kin- entering* °f dred's crimes, he also bears their punishment. — 1,11 3' Robert is drawing nigh to assert his own rights, the helmet entwined with the bridal garland. Robert and Sibylla are travelling leisurely on wards, joyfully, merrily, to the Norman boun daries. Hot July is come: the Sun rules in Leo; and they are now wending their way to the North, along the Rhone, as we guess, or through Central France. But if Robert was joyful, the Normans abided meanwhile in anxious expectation, whilst the greatest activity prevailed in England : — Rufus superintending the outfits of his fleet and army ; the mariners busy in the ports ; the " Landfyrd," the Militia, mustering from the several Shires : the collectors levying the Geld, and the money circulating freely : the treasure paid out of the Hoard as soon as it came in. omens and Undaunted, Rufus enjoyed the approaching prognosti- J * rr B the'death conflict — but the Land teemed with anticipations of Rufus. 0£ evji menacjng the King. Omens doomed him. Whenever people assembled, whether they gathered in the Church-porch, or lingered in the Church-yard, or met in the Market-place, the CLOSE OF RUFUS BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 677 Tyrant's speedy death was the matter about which 1096-1101 every one talked. ' " ' The rumours encreased the contagious excite ment. The feeling worked upon men's minds incessantly: they could not drive away the haunt ing presentiments of impending judgment. To a Dream of Monk at Gloucester, there appeared a dread and at Glou cester. solemn phantasm, pictured from the prevailing symbolism, such as might be seen figured in a deep and gloomy crypt, the stern mosaics gleam ing in the concave apse, and rising above the heaps of skulls and bones filling the charnel caverns : the vision indicated that the King would meet with immediate death — a shaft directed by uner ring vengeance, such as had befallen Julian the Apostate, the punishment of his iniquities. The impression was so marked and singular, that old Serlo, the Abbot, immediately determined to com municate all the circumstances to Rufus : whether believing the portent, or deeming that he was bound to seize a good and favourable opportunity of addressing a word of advice to the King, re monstrating against his intolerable and disgusting licentiousness and debauchery. Whatever dread Rufus inspired, it now became impossible to silence the voices of grief, remon- /bbgustf1" strance, and supplication. On the First day of^ews- August, St. Peter ad Vincula, the Gule of August, {£*£££; Fulchard Abbot of Shrewsbury, being at Glou-f^ST" . . . t , i j i n , • i n deliverance cester, was invited to preach on the iestival ot of England, 678 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 the Convent's Patron-Saint. Bitterly did the ~~" Preacher deplore the miseries, temporal and spiritual, of England, and yet with hope that in some way there would be a deliverance from the pressing calamities. Aug?'i. § 23. While such were the popular sen- ing6party" timents, Rufus, — to whom they were thoroughly inStneF6o- known, — acted as if he were intoxicated with Lammas- joy and prosperity, most busily making ready for war against his brother, overflowing with life and vigour, he pursued his pleasures with equal per tinacity ; and whilst the Vessels were fitting out on the coast, he enjoyed himself in the cool shades of the Jetten-Wald. The blood of his gallant nephew Richard was still fresh on the ground. The earth had not covered that blood, — what did Rufus care? On the First day of August, the feast of St. Peter ad Vincula, the Gule of August, Lammas- Day, when Fulchard was preaching at Gloucester, and England pervaded with expectant terror, Rufus assembled a large and jovial party in the leafy lodge of the Lindwood, the Dragon's- Wood, the most pleasant of his bowers. — His brother Henry, William de Breteuil, Gilbert de Aquila, Gilbert Fitz-Richard, Robert Fitz-Hamo, Ralph de Aix, or de Aquis, and Walter Tyrrell : together with a vast meisney of the Court-followers, Prickers, Verdurers, Ribalds. — Rufus never mov ed unless encircled by the vilest ruffianage. CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 679 Rufus was exuberant in his conversation, 1096-1101 boisterous: he addressed his conversation to ^^X Tyrrell in particular, roughly, and merrily— JvleenV insult mingled with whim and familiarity. The waft"? Chastellain of Poix was excited up to the same F" tone, and flouted Rufus in return. He joked to teaze the King, mocked him, telling him that whilst all was open and the way clear, Breton and Angevine at his commands, he did nothing, in spite of all his great words and talk. Rufus beame more coarse and rude, and, un mindful of any national pride which Tyrrell might feel, boasted how he would lead his army beyond the Alps, and hold his Court at Poitiers next Christmas. Tyrrell laughed at such a vaunt. " To the Alps, and back again within so short a time ? — but if ever they submit to the English," con tinued Tyrrell, "an evil death may Frenchman and Burgundian die!" The dialogue began in jest, but ended in anger. The ranting words thus passing were marked, repeated, perhaps ex aggerated. — It should seem that few, if any of the party, could be said to have been in a state of sobriety. Night closed in, the darkness brought a sud- Rufus awakened den sadness upon the King's heart : when alone, by a homd x ° dream. how troubled, how unhappy was Rufus. In the still of the night, the last night-season in which he laid himself down to sleep, but not in peace, the attendants were startled by the King's voice ; 680 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 — a bitter cry — a cry for help — a cry for de liverance — he had been suddenly awakened by a dreadful dream, as of exquisite anguish befalling him in that ruined Church, at the foot of the Malwood rampart. — No mOre would he be left alone : the extinguished lamps were lighted in the chamber, where Rufus impatiently awaited the early morn. August 2 § 24. Dawn broke on Thursday the second The last of August, the morrow of St. Peter ad Vincula : day of ° Anther Robert Fitz-Hamo entered, hastily, anxious, bear- dreaTre- mg tidings of another warning given through the Rufufby dream of a holy Monk beyond the sea, speaking amo. cieariy 0f great and threatening danger : he therefore earnestly supplicated the King not to hunt for that one day. Rufus burst out into a horse-laugh — "He is a Monk; monks dream for money: money let him have — an hundred shil lings, his fitting guerdon." Rufus shewed no signs of fear, yet a secret misgiving, unconfessed even to himself, weighed upon his soul. Many of the party agreed with Fitz-Hamo, and thought caution might be advisable. Rufus lingered and paused. It was their custom to hunt in the morning-tide^ but Rufus postponed the sport till the afternoon, and the mid-day banquet was served before him. detach of He indulged even more than usual in food and Rufus. wine . tne debauch was prolonged till the decline of day, when Rufus rose, reeking from the table, and, surrounded by his joyous companions, pre* CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 681 pared to start. An Armourer presented the King 1096—1101 with six newly-headed shafts for the deadly arba- " lest. Rufus took them, tried them, and selecting the two keenest, gave them (as the confused re port afterwards prevailed) to Tyrrell, telling the Chastellain of Poix, (according to one of the versions which became current) that it was he who deserved the arrow — let that bowman bear the prize who can best deal the mortal wound: and others also recounted that he afterwards cried out to Tyrrell, Shoot, Devil; or, Shoot in the Devils name. Still more delay. Rufus continued in vehe ment and idle talk : the evening was coming on, when Serlo's messenger appeared. More cause of laughter for Rufus, mixed with a nettled feeling of impatient anger : — " It is strange," said Rufus re- ceives th.6 he, — " that my Lord Serlo, the wise and discreet, warning of Serlo, and " should teaze me, tired and harassed as I am distrusts it. " with business, by transmitting to me such stories " and silly dreams. Does he think I am an " Englishman, who will put off a journey for an " old wife's fancy, a token or a sign ? " — He rose hastily: the saddled steed was brought. Rufus, placing his foot in the great stirrup, vaulted on his courser: the Hunters now dispersed, Henry in one direction, William de Breteuil in another, Rufus in a third, dashing on towards the depths of the Forest, through the chequered gleams of transparent green, the lengthened lines of cheer- 682 THE conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 ful shade, the huge stems shining in the golden light of the setting sun. Rufus R 25. No man ever owned that he had spoken found dying J r iiamoZand ^erwards to Rufus — no man owned to having Aqu6ia!de again heard the voice of Rufus, except in the inarticulate agonies of death. Separated unac countably from his suite and companions, Robert Fitz-Hamo and Gilbert de Aquila found him ex piring — stretched on the ground, within the walls of the ruined Church, just below the Malwood Castle, transpierced by the shaft of a Norman arbalest, the blood gurgling in his throat. It is said they tried to pray with him, but in vain. Forthwith ensued a general dispersion — Hunters and Huntsmen, Earl and Churl, scat tering in every direction. It seemed as if the intelligence sounded out of the ground through out the Forest. At the same time a consenta neous outcry arose : no one can tell how it began, that Walter Tyrrell had slain the King. Tyrreii &[\ the ruffian soldiery, the ribalds, the villainous pursued as « dererUr" an& polluted Court-retainers, who surrounded Rufus, vowing vengeance against the Traitor, began a hot pursuit ; but while they were chafing and scurrying after Tyrrell, many would have protected him ; either believing in his innocence, or rejoicing in the deed. Tyrrell fled as for his life, and crossing the river, at the ford which bears his name, he baffled his pursuers. A yearly rent, payable into the Exchequer by the Lord CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 683 of the Manor through which the water flows, is 1096—1101 traditionally supposed to have been the fine imposed for the negligence in permitting the escape of the accused Murderer. Be this as it may, Tyrrell received no further impediment, and passing over to France, he settled in his Seigneury of Poix, where he lived long, honoured and respected ; but though holding (as it is sup posed) lands in Essex, and connected by marriage with the Giffords, he never returned again to England. Suger, the Abbot of St. Denis, the Historian of France, the Prime Minister of Louis le Gros, was intimately acquainted with him : often and often did Tyrrell declare in Suger's J^1^ presence, when there was no more room either the deeai for hope or fear, and, as he looked for salvation, that on the day of the King's death, he never approached the part of the Forest in which Rufus hunted, or had seen him after he entered therein. § 26. Henry Beauclerc, distant far away from Henry , . Beauclerc where Rufus was dying, reached Winchester with claims the Jm ° . Crown, but astonishing expedition, either on the Thursday £ opp^d night or the Friday morning. William de Bre teuil, however^ had anticipated him ; and from them the inhabitants of the ancient Capital of Wessex first learned that they were delivered from the dominion of the tyrant King. Beau clerc and Breteuil, adverse to each other, had each the same immediate object : each sought to win the Kingdom's heart, the Treasury. Even 684 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096-1101 as Rufus had determined the succession in his own favour, by appropriating the source of poli tical vitality, so did the two contending parties — Robert Courthose Duke of Normandy, represented by Breteuil; and the Porphyrogenitus, Beauclerc, — equally feel that their chances mainly turned upon the possession of the Hoard at Winchester : for the contest began from the moment when Rufus died. Many of the Baronage had already assembled; even Clerks of the Chancery were there, William Gifford the Chancellor — how con vened so speedily, is untold. And in this most perplexing passage of English history, we dare not supply the absence of direct information by conjecture. ^00g Henry instantly demanded the Treasury Keys Henry as the lawful heir of the Kingdom, to whom fains the # Reasuryat the Crown appertained by right. William de aeiuw-18 Breteuil- as resolutely contradicted these preten- !negBaron. sions, and denied Henry's right and title.— The pf6paied treaty of Rouen was conclusive; — We are all bound, said he, addressing the multitude, by the promise which we have given to Robert King William's first-born. We are aH-his homagers : you, my Lord Henry, are his hom&ger. You, my Lord Henry, owe him allegiance. We all owe him allegiance : and his absence renders the duty of fidelity but more stringent. He is away, a pilgrim of the Cross ; and thus absent, the Crown has devolved on him by the act of Providence. CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 685 Very near was Courthose, though absent : close 1096-1101 on the borders of Normandy ; but he was absent, r^ and that circumstance made the whole difference. ™6odPpor- Had the death of Rufus happened a month, mTntfor" perhaps a week, later, Henry would have had accession. to measure his strength against Robert, re-estab lished in the Duchy, powerful, wealthy, respected, full of glory. The one week or the one month sooner, which enabled the Porphyrogenitus to prevent his brother, decided the succession. Who ever had snapped the fatal Arbalest, the shot was the best possible shot for Henry Beauclerc, the right thing at the right time. Henry was immediately supported by the people — Englishmen, the men of Winchester. Henry, drawing his sword, spake not as an aspi rant to the Throne, but as a Sovereign, and appealed to the multitude. A great strife ap peared imminent, but the influence of the proud and energetic claimant whom they saw before them, prevailed. The Baronage acknowledged Heni7 rf- ' r B B cognized Henry, not so much from affection, as out of *ne^j°f by dread of the consequences of national disunion, ronagetnd Castle and Treasure, — so honoured by the Cymric ^opieft* prophecies as the deposit of Arthur's round Table ter?° and Walwain's Sword, surrendered to Henry ; and before Rufus had been cast into his unhonoured grave, the English people at Winchester had recognized King Henry, Henry the Porphyro genitus, the Son of William the anointed King 686 the conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 and Matilda the anointed Queen, born in England, bred in England, speaking the English language as his native tongue. corpse of ja tne course 0f that same day, Friday, the winched0 third of August, the Feast of the Invention of Saint Stephen, towards evening, a country cart, followed by a few churls, and dragged by one sorry horse, drove into the Close of Saint Swithin's Minster at Winchester: the vehicle contained the defiled corpse of ghastly Rufus, bloody, the sanies exuding, covered with filth and mire; hideous, as the carcase of a wild boar. Gilbert de Aquila, Robert Fitz-Hamo, all had abandoned the dead man: — and there the corpse was left lying, exposed like worthless car rion ; saved from crow and dog and vermin only by the piety of a neighbouring Charcoal-burner, Purkis, who took compassion on the body, and conveyed the remains from the solitude where the mortal wound was received. Rufus in- Great was the doubt whether Rufus could be terred, but christian t>Taried in consecrated ground. No formal sen- winchister tence of excommunication had been pronounced cathedral. agamst bim, but his wickedness was so notorious, his vices so detestable, that by universal consent Rufus was felt and acknowledged to be unworthy of Christian sepulture. Respect for royal autho rity so far prevailed, that a grave Avas dug for him in the Cathedral Choir, and his bones are depo sited in the same sacred structure with those of CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 687 Ina and the old West-Saxon Kings ; but no obse- 1096-1101 quies were celebrated, no bells tolled, no alms given, no prayers offered for the repose of his Soul: — all men thought that prayers were hope less. No emblem of Faith, no Symbol of holiness, no Cross, no Monogram, no Scripture-text, no Verse, no Versicle, no Ejaculation ; not even a name, or the initial of a name, is engraved upon that silent tomb, beneath which he lies. We are not told that Purkis received any reward or thanks for his care. His family still subsists in the neighbourhood, nor have they risen above their original station, poor craftsmen or cottagers. They followed the calling of coal-burners until a recent period ; and they tell us that the wheel of the Cart which conveyed the neglected corpse was shewn by them until the last century. fi 27. The tumultuous proclamation at Win- Thesettie- i i • i TT • t i mentof Chester being made, Henry immediately com- Henrys accession. ported himself as the King. He shewed himself such in right earnest, by forthwith exercising one very important prerogative claimed by Royalty, the prerogative, according to the views of the times, most inherent in the Sovereign's person, the disposition of ecclesiastical patronage. — William Bishopries Gifford, the Chancellor, was called up, and re- <*ester x given to ceived from Henry the See of Winchester, just W^S" vacant by the death of Walkeline. Henry neither waited for Papal Bull nor consulted Prior and Chapter. This indeed was acting like the Con- 688 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 queror's Son, and taking seizin of the Kingdom. " Good encouragement also to the learned Clerks, who would argue in favour of the Porphyro genitus. — Archbishop Thomas was very poorly, and could not live much longer. However bold and politic the conduct of Henry may have been, still he had not advanced beyond the first step of the Revolution. The foregoing events ensued on the Friday, the day of his Brother's interment : and either in the course of the Friday night, or early on the Saturday morning, Henry, accompanied by Robert de Mel lent, the latter urging him, no doubt, to instant exertion, rode to London. Augusts. On the Sunday, the Fifth of August, the havmgpro- eleventh Sunday after Trinity, the Feast of St. ceeded to London, Oswald, we find Henry in Westminster Abbey, is presented " » t0eoh\e in wnere Clergy, Baronage, many Sheriffs, and other Westmin- Functionaries of the Realm had assembled; he ster Abbey. appeared before the Altar, and, by Maurice, Bishop of London, was presented to the people, who had called him to the Throne. This great transaction was grounded upon the assumption that Henry should reform the abuses which had prevailed during the two preceding reigns. The Conqueror's engagements had been imperfectly fulfilled. Rufus, passing all bounds, oppressed titte"7'8 Church and State by the most grievous tyranny. u^Tthe1 Henry declared that he owed his Crown to the choice" choice of the people. We employ his own CLOSE OF RUFUS— BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 689 words.— "Ego nutu Dei a Clero et a Populo 1096-1101 Anglia? electus."— And he, Norman by blood and hIs"^ English by birthplace, was to be the deliverer of ££iet?the the Community. A period of eleven days elapsed before Henry Promises was finally confirmed in the royal authority, in Henry £ 1 1 in-, the people such manner as the novelty of the case and the at West- * minster. exigency of the times required. The outline, so to speak, of the national compact was. but sketched, and then the details had to be filled in. He began by giving four promises and one refusal. — He would restore the Church to her liberty, that is to say liberty in his sense : ab staining from simoniacal bargains, and the sale or farming of Churchlands. — All bad customs and unjust exactions should cease and be abo lished. — Peace be established, and firmly kept in the kingdom, — The Confessor's Law with the Conqueror's amendments, restored ; — but all the Conqueror's Forests must continue in King Henry's hands. — These declarations could not be received as satisfactory, neither the proffers nor the reser vation. None entirely trusted the King; and the disputes which had taken place at Winchester were in danger of being renewed. Henry was fully conscious of the disadvantages attending his position, and therefore the better enabled to fence against them. Could a poll have been taken, the majority of the Norman interest would have supported Robert Courthose. The VOL. III. Y Y 690 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 inconveniences of divided allegiance operated forcibly against Beauclerc at this juncture. If oaths possessed any validity, treaties any strin gency, Robert unquestionably was the lawful King ; and far more in his favour than oaths and treaties, recommended by the expectation that he would probably be the more easy and governable Master. But the influence of Beauclerc, in possession ofthe Royal authority, the King de facto, silenced his gainsayers. The Clergy obeyed with entire willingness and submission. Thomas of York was rapidly sinking; and so many Sees and Abbeys vacant, that the Prelates and Abbots present were reduced to two thirds of their pro per number. Moreover, Henry had shewn, by Gifford's nomination, that he was determined to be the great dispenser of patronage; and we may here observe, by anticipation, that the Chan cery department continued to furnish the most successful candidates for the best preferments influence the Crown could bestow. When Archbishop of Henry x upon the Thomas died, within a few months after Henry's Clergy by • motions, by accession, to wit, in December, Master Gerard, wer?gSn- so useful to Rufus when dealing with Anselm, his "party.0 ascended by the new Monarch's nomination to the Primatial Throne of York. Master William Warlewast, who searched Anselm's baggage on the sea-shore of Dover, following in the wake of his fellow official, obtained as a due guerdon, CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 691 the See of Exeter. Whether any promises were 1096—1101 made by or on the part of Henry to Master " Gerard or Master Warlewast during the discus sions, cannot be affirmed, but there might be an instinctive anticipation, that the wise and learned Clerks who aided the Porphyrogenitus in acquiring or defending the rights due to him by the ancient usages of the Realm, would not be the worse for their zeal and strenuousness. The members of the Norman Baronage, Principal ° adherents distinguishable as Beauclerc's partizans, during °f Beau- the accession crisis, when his fortunes still seemed amongst ' the Ba- ambiguous, — whether all truly stanch or not, ronase- time will disclose, — were not numerous, though influential. Old Simon de Saint Liz, Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon, Waltheof's son- in-law, lame, decrepit, yet still active; — Roger Bigod, Lord of Norwich Castle on the East ; — Hugh d' Avranches, Earl of Chester on the West ; — Richard de Redvers on the South, in posses sion of Exeter and of the great Earldom of Devon, though perhaps not yet formally in vested with the dignity — Redvers, whose Castle of Rougemont rivalled Bigod's Blanchefleur ; — Robert de Montfort, the son of Hugh with the Beard, Robert Mallet the High Chamberlain and Eudo Dapifer; Mellent, the Prud'homme, and his brothers; above all, the stately Fitz-Hamo, the Conqueror of Glamorgan, his grudges against Beauclerc forgotten, the most powerful noble in Y Y 2 692 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 the land, the highest next the King. But on " the other hand there were many reluctant or tardy, such as the mighty Belesme ; and others More defi- made excuses or kept aloof altogether. It should nite con- x ° cessions seem that the first impression upon the Great expected. tr r Council — (we use this expression, though some what inaccurate, for the sake of brevity) — was, that the promises were vague in consequence of their amplitude. Henry had undertaken that all " bad customs " and " unjust exactions" should cease and be abolished. But, unless specified, the question whether any given custom was " bad" or "unjust," would remain within the judgment ofthe King ; and he was required, as we infer from the speech he made not long afterwards, to give more specific answers to their complaints and demands. A custom prevailed somewhile in the Germanic Empire, that upon the inauguration of a new Emperor, he should redress and amend abuses, or make concessions to the States composing the Empire, a proceeding termed the Wahl-Capitula- tion. The Electors were willing to admit, yet they kept their hands upon the hasp, and held the door partly to, until the full price of admis sion was paid. The accession of Henry was, con- charter. fessedly, an election. All felt that the opportunity was not to be lost ; and the complaints and desires of the Clergy, Baronage, and Lieges, the French and the English, are read in the Statutory Charter which resulted from their demands.— The Charter close of rufus — beauclerc's ACCESSION. 693 evidently must be construed as containing the 1096-1101 King's answers to the demands of his Lieges, " ' whether propounded in the Abbey of Westmin ster, or exacted by the overwhelming voice of the Realm. As written out in the King's Chapel by the acute and confidential Clerks of the Chan cery, the Chapter relating to the Church appears in the following form — Sanctam Dei' Ecclesiam liberam facio; — ita quod nee' vendam, nee ad firmam ponam, nee mortuo Archiepiscopo, sive Episcopo, sive Abbate, aliquid accipiam de do minio Ecclesios vel hominibus ejus donee successor in earn ingrediatur. — The first member of the grant — Sanctam Dei Ecclesiam liberam facio — is significantly restrained by its subsequent expla nation ; and the whole bespeaks the submissive moderation of the Clergy, the politic prescience of the Cabinet, and the firm determination of Beauclerc not to recede from any of the Consue tudines, according to which his Father had ruled. The Laity were bolder than the Clergy, and therefore far more successful. The Barons, the immediate Tenants of the Crown, reclaimed a fuller recognition of the right of inheritance than had been allowed to them in the preceding reign. We have noticed, in the case of Belesme, the species of haggling which took place, before Rufus would admit an heir to the tenancy of his kins man or ancestor. The Courtiers who secretly reserved their consciences for Robert, and the 694 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1101 sincere who really befriended Henry, had, in this question, a common interest — it concerned them conces- all. If the practice of requiring a special contract sions made x totheBa- or bargain upon the ancestor's demise had not ronage and ° tr aimed b°n" Deen resisted, the right of renewal would have charter, been wholly lost. It was therefore needful that the King should renounce the extortions prac tised by Rufus, who compelled the Baronage to redeem their lands at his pleasure ; and to stipu late that they should render no more than the just relief. — Four Horses, two saddled and two bridled, two hawberks and two helms, and so Arbitrary on : — the Heriot, in fact, of later times ; and all reliefs not . . to be bonds or covenants which had been given by any exacted. °- / J tenant for the redemption of his inheritance, were released and annulled. Rufus had interfered, beyond what the prero gative of the Sovereign allowed, in the disposal of the daughters and other female kindred of his Baronage, exercising an abusive wardship whilst the natural parent yet lived, exacting fines before he would grant his marriage license; also pro hibiting such licences arbitrarily, and without Abuses of reason. Henry consented to restrict his right of wardship * ° and mar. refusal to those cases in which the proposed nage recti- c x fied. Bridegroom was an open and declared enemy, and utterly renounced all fines for the permission: other regulations were added, particularly that widows should not be compelled to marry entirely against their inclinations. close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 695 The rights which Rufus had usurped upon the io96_noi Baronage, had been, in like manner, usurped by ^~ the Barons upon their inferior Tenants. If the S„ proposed limitations of Royal despotism had not Tenantry- extended beyond the Baronage, the liberties granted to the Aristocracy would have become the slavery of the immediate occupants of the soil ; but the latter were very influential at this junc ture, and the consequence was, that the conces sions made to the Barons were extended to the inferior tenancy, who received the same boon. With respect to Taxes, not much was said, possibly because the Baronage considered that they would have the power of refusal. No geld was to be exacted from the demesne-lands of Tenants holding by military service : they were exempted in order that they might the better be ready for the defence of the realm. — The imposi tion of moneyage, unknown in the days of the Confessor, and which the King could levy through his own officers, was to be entirely prohibited. — Amongst some provisions relating to the admi nistration of justice, the arbitrary and ruinous amerciaments inflicted by the Crown, amounting to a complete forfeiture of goods and chattels, were to be wholly abandoned. The contentment of the delinquent was to be saved. — A general release was granted for all debts to the Crown and all murder fines; and the whole Law of^se0°?n- the Confessor, the whole Constitution, as it sub- Stored. 696 the conqueror's sons. io96^iioi sisted under the last of the Anglo-Saxon Sove- ~~ ' reigns, was restored (with the Conqueror's emen dations) to the people of England. Au^t'ifi These terms were accepted ; the concessions, Henry though clogged by one grievous reservation, were at west- most beneficial ; and, upon the feast of the As- minster. x sumption, Henry, elected by the Clergy and people, was, by the advice and assent of the Baronage, solemnly consecrated and crowned, according to the ancient ceremonial of the Anglo- Saxon Kings: Maurice Bishop of London offici ated : the ritual was observed in all its points, and the oath which Saint Dunstan had penned as the security of the nation's rights, sworn upon Hom'a Tot tne Gospel-book by the accepted Sovereign. All the Baron- the Baronage of the land who were present age — Seal- B tr Great the took the oath of Fealty, and became the King's charter: men ^nfi j^iy, the Great Charter was en grossed and sealed ; and, for ultimate deposit in the Treasuries of the Abbeys and Cathedrals, scores of copies, or rather originals, were made — a busy time for the Chancery Clerks — of this title-deed of the people's liberties. Assent of But now the question will be asked ; In what the people x accession8 manner were the people consulted, or did they how given v really assent, to the accession of the Sovereign? The mystery of popular suffrage always haunts us: no Lawyer, no Antiquary can be contented unless he proves or disproves the existence of the principle, — now the organic principle, and distin- close of rufus — beauclerc's ACCESSION. 697 guishing characteristic of our Legislature. — Per- 1090-1101 haps we all lay too much stress upon this point. That the English people concurred in raising Henry to the Throne is certain ; and their virtual representation, whether by the crowds assembled on the Castle Hill at Winchester, or in the pre cincts of the Abbey, was the fact upon which the whole of his reign afforded a perpetual com mentary. Yet, as we have observed before, in relation to this same subject, the difficulties are substantially answered by what may be termed a political or constitutional synecdoche, the part taken for the whole. The chances which bring a multitude together may, under certain circum stances, afford as good a medium of expressing a true and sound national opinion as the most formal delegation. It used to be the custom in some of the ancient Suabian cities to decide dis putes by a Gassen-Gericht. Plaintiff and De fendant came out, stood at the corner of the street, and, stopping the first seven passers-by, submitted to this fortuitous tribunal. But if the English people had not been present The char- by their representatives when Henry was accepted, claimed to they certainly enjoyed that privilege when the in the p 6 compact was confirmed. Each and every Sheriff courts. rode to his Shire, bearing with him the Charter, sealed with the King's Great Seal, addressed to all his Lieges, as one community — Henricus Dei gratia Rex Anglorum omnibus Baronibus' et 698 the conqueror's sons. 1096 -1101 Fidelibus suis, Francis et Anglis salutem; and Represen- the Shire-moot was summoned as of yore — the the people Bishop, and the Hundredors, and the Aldermen, in the County and the Vavassours, and the Franklins, and the Court. Barons, and the Baron's Stewards, and the Priest of each Parish, and the Reeve of each Township, and Four of the better men of each Township, on behalf of all who could not attend ; and before them was the Charter expounded and proclaimed. Thus was the grant accepted by the people, entrusted to their testimony and incorporated in their traditions, so that though many of the pro visions were violated, and some neglected, the essential import of the Charter was never for gotten, never obscured. In the Epistle by which Henry Beauclerc notifies his accession to Anselm, he appeals to the popular choice as the source of his Royal authority — Ego nutu Dei, a Clero et a Populo Anglia? electus. — From that Epistle did Arch bishop Hubert learn the lesson, that, in order to restraining the anticipated misrule of John, the same doctrine was to be promulgated when he ascended the English throne; and Archbishop Henr/s Langton perfected the lesson. When the Clergy to°theC6d an<* Baronage assembled in St. Paul's, that mis- byTSai rtue having become intolerable, then did the Langton. Cardinal Archbishop bring forth from the Trea sury of his Cathedral the Charter which Beauclerc had sealed, giving them the means of asserting CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 699 the franchises their forefathers had enjoyed. He 1090-1101 told them how that Henry Beauclerc, elected by " ' Clergy and people, received his Crown by the advice and consent of the Baronage — Sciatis me, Dei misericordia et communi consilio et assensu Baronum Regni Anglice, ejusdem Regni Regem coronatum esse. The Archbishop read and ex pounded the muniment to them word by word, from the greeting to the testing clause ; and when he had read the Charter, and it was heard and understood by the Baronage, they rejoiced greatly, and swore that for those liberties, if needed, they would fight until the death. Substantially, all the remedial provisions of Beauclerc's J r . Charter Beauclerc's Charter were transferred into Magna the Pre- 0 cedent for Charta : and, expanded and expounded by prac- ^J^ tice, by legislation, and more than all, by the acuteness and dexterity of the Lawyers, settled the ground-plan of our legal Constitution. But these Provisions sink into comparative insignifi cance beside the single paragraph which restores the Law of the Confessor : — Lagam Edwardi Regis vobis reddo cum illis emendationibus, quibus earn emendavit Pater meus, consilio Baronum suorum. — Not, as we are wont to think; merely the details of the ancient Anglo-Saxon jurispru dence in each particular, the Teutonisms which wore themselves out in England as elsewhere by the general progress of society, but the solemn and comprehensive declaration that henceforward, 700 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 as before, England was to continue England ; the ""' English nation to retain their integrity, and the nationality of the Kingdom to be preserved. se tember $ 28* ^Pon tne death of Rums> Normandy Robert fell at once into a state of great confusion. Wil- enters Nor- _ ° mandy, and iiam 0f Evreux and Ralph de Conches invaded after a con- x test with the territories of Mellent; and all the private Henry s x restated8 fends and dissensions which had been repressed Duchy. bj the late King were renewed. Boldly, but not unwisely, Henry determined to be the successor of his Father the Conqueror in all his dominions. He knew that the two States could not be held in rivalry, even a legislative union might be desirable. The Baronage, who had just acknow ledged him in England, would renounce him at their pleasure : it was quite certain that all who might hold for Robert, Duke of Normandy, would try, sooner or later, to place that Duke of Normandy upon the throne of England. In the meanwhile Robert Courthose was advancing steadily and confidently, Sibylla by his side. Whilst Harvest was reaping, he entered his own confines, about a fortnight after Henry had been crowned. Henry's partizans, who held Domfront and other strong positions, especially in the Cotentin, offered a strenuous resistance, but they were not supported, and Robert was recognized throughout the Duchy without further opposition. He was desired by the Norman Ba ronage, because they expected that his govern- CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 701 ment would allow them to have their own way ; 1096-1101 and the beautiful and wise Sibylla obtained for ' " her thoughtless and indolent Husband a degree of affection which would have been denied to him on his own account. Robert and Sibylla went in pilgrimage to the Mont St. Michel, with the intent of testifying their thankfulness for the prosperity which had attended their return. Not long afterwards a SibJ.]la , 0 enceinte of pleasant report spread amongst the smiling gos- Xpc™0 sips ; — Grave men spoke of the future prospects ofthe country; — Astrologers began to make rough calculations of the aspects of the Planets next summer ; — all rejoiced that Robert might expect an heir ; and a new sentiment of attachment to the Sovereign pervaded a people amongst whom such feelings had appeared lost. 5 29. More apprehensions therefore for uoo. J . September. Beauclerc, more reasons to fear the pretensions Flambard . deprived of of Robert, more efforts required to secure the ws offices, and im- Crown by engrafting the Royal authority uP°nP™^d™ the affections of the people. Tower- There are two modes of conciliating a nation. Confer upon them some real or supposed benefit, or concede to their passions and prejudices. We have seen how Beauclerc had solemnly engaged to amend the evil customs prevailing in the land. Popular opinion ascribed the griefs and grievances equally to Rufus and to Flambard. The talent of the latter had excited great envy. There were 702 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096-1101 many, even yet, who, as at the commencement of ^ his career, would have been glad literally to pitch him overboard into the water. This operation was performed metaphorically. He was a wise man who said that much ofthe art of government consisted in knowing how to throw out the tub to the whale. Therefore, by the advice of his ready Counsellors, Henry resorted to the expedient, as convenient to the Monarch as it is agreeable to the Subjects, the sacrifice of an obnoxious Minister. Flambard No impeachment could possibly be brought against accused of . . peculation. Flambard's capacity and diligence as a man of business ; but it was alleged that he had mis applied or embezzled the royal revenues; — one of those accusations made so easily and refuted so hardly. Flambard, the Justiciar, the Bishop of Durham, was deprived of all his offices : and, though in the background, Roger the convenient Clerk of Caen, became Henry's chief confidant and adviser. Flambard's temporalities were se questrated, and he was placed in confinement in the upper story of Gundulph's Tower, safe under the key of William de Magnaville. Here, how ever, he was treated honourably, his fetters were struck off, and they allowed him two shillings a day for his entertainment, money which he husbanded and afterwards well employed. That lofty, massy, sturdy White Tower was a woeful monument of Norman tyranny; yet it gave great delight to the Citizens Avhen they looked CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 703 up at the double arched columned window 1096-1101 immediately below the battlements, and knew " that the Financier who squeezed out the mo ney which built the Tower was kept in durance there. § 30. Concurrently with odious Flambard's ge ^^ deprivation and disgrace, did Henry determine to Archbishop x ° * Anselm re- reinstate Anselm. This measure was one of the called by Beauclerc. greatest national importance. Henry had not been inaugurated by the proper functionary. Bishop Maurice usurped upon the rights of his Metropolitan. None but an Archbishop of Can terbury could accept and confirm a King. The office of the Archbishop was judicial as well as ministerial. Unless Anselm ratified the transac tion, the title of Henry was incomplete : by re instating Anselm he submitted to traditionary principles, and paid a most grateful tribute to national feelings. All loved the Pastor who had been so troubled for righteousness' sake. All honoured the Metropolitan of the British Islands, the Premier member of the Great Council. The presence of Anselm would be a stronger pledge than oath or charter, that Henry would govern justly, with equity and with mercy. Anselm's exile had become a continued tri- 109s. umph, the usual consequence when a Sovereign Honours pits himself against an inferior, and fails in put- Anseim by ting him down. Upon quitting England, Anselm ™the had joined Urban. He attended the memorable ofBari- 704 THE conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 Council of Bari, the scene of the intemperate conferences between the representatives of the Eastern and Western Churches. During the dis cussions, Urban, distrusting his own powers, or believing himself unable to pursue his arguments effectually, called out to Anselm, who was sitting silent below, " Come forth, where art thou ? — thou, my Father, thou, my Teacher, thou Anselm, Primate of Britain ;" — and then the Pope, open ing to the Council how much Anselm had suffered in the good cause, and placing him nearest to his own Throne, addressed him as the brother Pope, the alterius orbis Papa, bearing that singular testimony to the peculiar character of the English Church, and the great pre-eminence of her Metro politan dignity. 1099. The details of Anselm's journeys and pro- Lyons, ceedings, interesting as they are, whether in the general Ecclesiastical history of Europe or the particular biography of the man, can find no place here. We must therefore meet him again in the noble city of Lyons, where his residence, adjoining the Cathedral, distinguished by Mosaic ornaments and Romanesque arches, still calls for the attention of the Architectural antiquary. Two quiet years ensued. Active, though in se clusion, placing himself under canonical obedi ence, Anselm became coadjutor to the Arch bishop of Lyons, employing himself also in composing those treatises which have rendered CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 705 him so eminent as a Theologian in Western 1096-1101 Christendom. " Labour increased, Anselm yearned for soli- "00. tude, and a neighbouring province afforded an the ibbey ... of La inviting sanctuary. About fifty years before, chaise Saint Robert of Poitiers had founded the Abbey of La Chaise Dieu, in Auvergne: for its site he chose a forest, till then uncleared, and the set tlement proceeded so slowly that the Church had only been recently consecrated by Urban. Thither Anselm migrated, the better to pursue his studies; but, on the third day, just located in his cell, he was strangely surprized by the appearance of two Monks, his brethren, well- known faces, old companions from England and from Normandy, one from Canterbury, the other P^p"^" from Bec-Hellouin.— Eadmer, and the Clerks ^^ composing the Archbishop's little suite, retired j^™1"^ respectfully, and stood at a small distance. They i^fus^ beheld or heard him weeping bitterly. — What was the intelligence the Monks had brought? They had told him how Rufus had fallen. Anselm returned to Lyons. More messengers Another . . deputation were despatched to him : another Deputation, from Can- x x terbury m- sent by his Church of Canterbury, relafing all^su™ the particulars of the late events, how miserably landi Rufus had died, and earnestly exhorting him to return. Anselm demurred ; but after consultation with the Archbishop of Lyons, he determined to venture back to England, taking the road vol. 111. z z 706 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1096-1101 through Clugny. Whilst on his way, but before Letter des- his arrival, he was encountered by King Henry's natchedto Heraldj bearing the Letter, sealed with the hoerting6X" King's broad Seal, addressed to Anselm in the return. name of the Sovereign and all the people of England, imploring his return to his flock with the utmost expedition, for the comfort of the desolated Church and Realm. Henry proceeds to give instructions which shew how earnest he was in the request, directing the details of the route, and the means provided for facilitating the journey. Conforming to the King's suggestions, Anselm avoided Normandy, thus indicating an appre- sept?28i hension that Robert might intercept him. He undfat entered the friendly County of Boulogne, and, Dover. embarking at Whitsand, now so entirely super seded by Calais, he landed on the Feast of St. £rcdv°ed9by Tekla at Dover, where he was greeted by King and larf n- and people. Henry, his Nobles, Courtiers, Barons, Clerks, all the Royal Suite and train, were at a loss to find words which would adequately express their joy and humility : the King most of all. What could be done without the Archbishop of Canterbury ? The affairs of the Kingdom were completely at a stand still, awaiting his counsel and care. — Anselm, as he was told, had also much to rejoice at. He beheld the commence ment of a new and auspicious era. England had broken her bondage, emerged from her misery. CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 707 The King had restored liberty to the Church, re- 1096-1101 formed abuses, and renewed the good laws and " usages ofthe Confessor's reign. All this was very true in the letter, and toler- Henry in- . . . sists upon ably accurate in the spirit : nevertheless Henry his auth°- " x •/ rity over Beauclerc was the own brother of William Rufus, the church. the Grandson of William the Conqueror, embued with all the traditions of Royalty, determined to rule in the plenitude of power. There was no equivocation in his conduct. Henry Beauclerc, still unanointed and uncrowned, his Royalty merely in the budding stage of developement, had commenced his administration by presenting Chancellor Gifford. — Cherishing the Consuetu dines paternal, and pledging himself in his own heart and mind not to abate a jot of his supre macy over the Clergy, he would exercise his authority in Church-affairs somewhat more de cently than his Father, and a great deal more than his Brother ; but that was all. Henry's concessions in favour of the Church, Henry » requires with which his Charter opens, therefore amounted A^™ to to nothing — he would not sell or seize thathomage- which he had no right to seize or sell. And he soon took occasion to remove all uncertainty concerning the extent of the prerogatives, which, to use his own expression, he valued as much as half his Kingdom : — the Governor of the State not governing the Church, was only half a Governor. Shortly after Anselm's arrival, a con- zz 2 708 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096-1101 ference took place between him and Henry at ~" Salisbury. Henry, by accepting consecration from Bishop Maurice, had infringed the privi leges of Canterbury. He repeated his apologies, — first made by letter, — and excused himself on account of the urgency of the case, which did not allow him to wait till Anselm's return. Anselm readily accepted the King's gracious apo logies; but Henry followed up his courtesy by requiring Anselm to perform homage, and receive anew the Archbishoprick from his hands. construe- Lofty as the pretensions of the Crown had Henry's been, this demand was entirely unprecedented, demand. . . at least so far as we can collect irom any existing historical evidence. It imported that, upon the death of the Sovereign, the Archbishop's com mission, so to speak, expired — that his office was subordinate and derivative, and the dignity there fore reverted to the Crown. With respect to civil Dignities, or Lands, or Privileges granted by the King, new Charters were usually sued out, and confirmations sought and obtained from the new Sovereign. It is a very obscure point in our ancient Constitution how far a lapse took place upon what is technically called the muta tion of the Lord. Some opinions incline to the affirmative, yet hesitatingly. At all events, we have no trace that this principle was ever ex tended to the Church; and if the restitution of the Temporalities was to be made afresh upon each CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 709 accession, a similar liability with respect to the 1096-1101 Spiritual office would have followed. Possibly Henry held that Anselm's exile was equivalent to a forfeiture ; and that, being absolutely di vested of his Archbishoprick, a new Patent was needed. However, Henry clearly assumed, or believed, pnr.y'8de- •/ ¦/ > ' termination that the ordinary and general prerogative of in- P<0imTy hls vestiture upon promotions, was involved in this extraordinary and particular case ; and he urged his claim with consistent firmness and deter mination. — Such was his character in all things. He was cunning or frank, as occasion required. His very astuteness taught him the necessity of a plain and straightforward course in the execu tion of his power ; and the advantage which a Monarch derives from the clear enunciation of his will. When he effected his reform of weights and measures, it was said he made the length of his own arm the standard of the mete-wand : a myth unquestionably, yet a type of the impres sion which he produced upon the public mind. Henry was conscientious in his demand : that is, he believed himself to be in the right. Anselm, in full, entire and hearty accordance with the decrees lately promulgated in the Council of Rome, by which the Canons against Lay-inves titure were sternly renewed, equally so : he therefore peremptorily refused. — If the King would receive the Canons of the Church, and, 710 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 109G— 1101 having received, would observe them, there should be firm peace between him and Anselm, and Anselm would continue in England. If not, there would be neither decency nor utility in remaining. Unless King Henry would obey Pope Pascal, he, Archbishop Anselm, would go. This explanation put Henry in great trouble. If he surrendered the Investiture, he gave up, as it seemed to him, a most important ele ment of his royal power — if he refused that surrender, then Anselm would probably employ his great influence in favour of Robert, and he might lose the Kingdom. Both parties were tAh|f te™ent firm, but both kept their temper. It was shlabe011 agreed, upon the King's request, that an em- tniSer, bassy should be sent to Rome, for the purpose Embassy to of inducing Pope Pascal to render the Canons the mean- of the Church conformable with the usages of Rome. the Realm ; and that until Easter, matters should remain as they were. phms^f § 31. Anselm, though not anticipating any m°eTnt.n" favourable result, agreed to this compromise, in order to shew his goodwill to the King, — Henry, for the purpose of retaining Anselm's support and assistance, and of gaining time. So much is said about State- craft : so many speculations are started and ventilated concerning the deep-laid plans and prospective imaginations of Kings and Ministers, that one is often apt, out of mere per versity, to imagine there is no such thing at all. CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 711 But when we review Beauclerc's actions through- 1096—1101 out his public life, from its spirited and adven- ' " ' turous commencement to the saddening close, we shall be thoroughly convinced that he pursued a well-considered system of policy and goA'ernment, most influential upon the future fate and fortunes of the Realm, for Henry is the first of our Con stitutional Kings. Imaginative, yet thoughtful, DfH^?| books and study had matured his mind; the situation- world's lessons disciplined him, and at this present moment, he fully appreciated the difficulties of his situation and the instability of his Throne. He had in fact come in upon a new title, and effected a total change in the principles of the Monarchy. The assent of the people had always been expressed when the Sovereign was recog nized, good government enforced as the duty of the legitimate Monarch ; but Henry referred his accession to the choice of the people, and ren dered the reform of government a condition pre cedent to his obtaining the Crown. He treated with the people, and treating implies equality. Our modern political phraseology has deve loped in proportion to the expansion of the modern ideas of which our language is the ex ponent. Both ideas and language have become luxuriant by cultivation. The mediaeval nomen clature of political phraseology was very scanty ; but the plain terms employed were the more deeply significant. Henry could scarcely deny 712 THE CONQUEROR'S SONS. 1096—1101 but that a King elected by Clergy and people might be deposed by Clergy and people. Con stitutional principles are grounded upon the cal culations of self-interest, not always directed to material wealth, yet scarcely less selfish, though the object may be more noble. Fact may be opposed to fact : argument rebutted by argument. constitu- Lecture the Chartist upon the advantages of tional pnn- x ° cipies anta- Monarchy, and he will point to the President at gomstical J * r to loyalty. \yashington, and content himself with this prac tical refutation of the Conservative's mild homily. The antagonistic principle to constitutional utilitarianism is found in the happy inconsistency of loyalty. By loyalty we mean, not that higher principle commanding submission to Kings and Princes as the appointed Vicegerents of God, the principle which renders obedience a religious duty and rebellion a sin, but love and attach ment to the Sovereign's person — analogous to the instinctive and natural affection which we bear or ought to bear to our kinsmen as such : dear to us because they are near to us, overlook ing their faults, magnifying their good qualities, and holding to them not only without reason but even against reason. And in the same manner as the gift of storge, or natural affection, constitutes the strongest bond and chief solace of private life, so do those nations amongst whom the corresponding senti ments of loyalty are paramount, enjoy the most CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 713 ample compensation not only for the deficiency of 1096—1101 cultivation or knowledge, art or science, wealth " or opulence, but even for liberty. Whatever i°j?% x « rarely ren- raises man out of selfishness, raises man above ee6Ittohere- the ordinary baseness of human nature. Youditaryright• love your Chieftain for his sake, not your own ; that simple sentiment of disinterestedness im parts an enduring happiness and a moral dignity, which none of the abstractions of political philo sophy, or the corporeal or intellectual appetites of self-interest, or the sophisms promulgated for the defence of the interests of self-interest, can supply. And inasmuch as this feeling of loyalty is a moral instinct, it may be doubted whether it really ever exists, except when inspired by hereditary right, so long continued as to appear indefeasible. Thinking over history, we shall find it next to impossible to deny this propo sition. — In the one example which approaches nearest to prove that national pride or national gratitude, may create loyalty, the proof will fail. Those who gloried most in Napoleon, those who most truly appreciated his virtues and merits, were the most dastardly in shirking and shrinking from any risk or sacrifice which might have averted his fall. § 32. The general opinion entertained amongst Henry the English, that the Porphyrogenitus could be Editba in called an Englishman, afforded a sentiment sus ceptible of being nursed into an imperfect loyalty. 714 THE conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 It was somewhat of a delusion, but they comforted themselves with the notion that the Norman born in England was their countryman. Still more cor dially did they cherish the idea that in Margaret's descendants they found the true Royal line. And upon this substratum of predilection did Henry, not without great shrewdness, nor without a tinge of better feeling than mere shrewdness, ground his scheme of conciliating the conquered race, thus healing the wounds which his father had inflicted, governing by kindness as well as by authority, and legitimating the Crown, not alone for himself, but for his progeny. The ordinary desire of transmitting his dominion to his own child, was in Henry the ruling passion, not sub dued or diminished by his licentiousness. The English doctrine that Margaret represented their ancient Sovereigns, was scarcely more than a fancy. The Crown, adopting the language of the Anglo-Saxon traditionary jurisprudence, as employed by Alfred in his Will, never could be transmitted through the Spindle-side. — Those who could deduce their royal blood through the Sword-side were in strictness the only legal in heritors ; but affection cures the defects of title ; and in the same manner as Maria Theresa, com manding the ardent and enthusiastic love of her subjects, conveyed the rights, the claims, the pretensions and the sentiments of the House of Austria to the family of Lorraine, so did the close of rufus — beauclerc's accession. 715 same sympathy, unbought, unprompted and un-1096— 1101 controlled, not seeking for close precedent, nor reduceable to accurate political reasoning, cause the English to contemplate Margaret as their lawful Queen. Henry had loved, or imagined he loved, Edith : this also had become a matter of popular belief. We like to grace the State of Royalty with the affections of the heart; and to ornament the heart's affections by the pomp of Royalty; a mar riage with Margaret's daughter would not only strengthen Henry's title, but give him a confi dent expectation of securing the Crown for his posterity. Henry propounded the matter to his Barons and Counsellors. The Bishops advised him. By Anselm, Edith was loved and honoured for her mother's sake and her own. All the High men of the land concurred, or appeared to do so : the Scottish Edgar, (who like his name sake the Atheling had renounced his English rights) cordially accepted the King of England, his liege Lord, as a brother-in-law, and a glad consent was given by the maiden. 8, 33. There were, however, difficulties in the Henry dis- 3 t cards way. It was needful to dissolve the connexion Nesta> a?d " marries her between Henry and the lovely Nesta : we cannot ^wind^or call their union concubinage, we dare not call it marriage. Conjecture may apply the epithet wife to all or any one of the three Beauties who presided in Arthur's Court, and Nesta might 716 the conqueror's sons. 1096—noi be contented to abide under the like ambiguity • but this perplexity received a satisfactory settle ment. Amongst the adventurers who followed the standard of Arnolph de Montgomery into the devoted Dyfed, Pembroke, the Englandbeyond Wales, was one Gerald de Windesore, supposed to be of English race, and conspicuous for his valour. Henry knew Pembroke well, and all the concerns and interests of the settlers and the natives ; and to this worthy Gerald, Henry offered the Nesta, his first Love, she who had followed him to Caen, and with whom he had lived happily for many a year. According to the lax principles prevailing during this era, Nesta was not disgraced by her dubious Consortship — we are really puzzled as to terminology — while Gerald was honoured by re ceiving her hand. Nesta still shone in the full bloom of beauty. Her father, Rhys-ap-Tudor carew Mawr, had bestowed upon her as a species of ta's dowry, dowry, the Lordship of Caeraw, supposed to have been an ancient residence of the Cymric Princes. The noble Castle here erected became the Head of Gerald's Barony: from Gerald and Nesta sprung the haughty Geraldines of Ireland; whilst the name of the Barony, softened or Anglicized into Carew, was adopted as the surname of the junior branch of the family. We shall hear more of Gerald and Nesta hereafter — but not comfort ably. We must leave them now. CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 717 Henry felt small sorrow at the parting. He 1096-1101 was becoming thoroughly accustomed to such Kobert of ' things ; but his strong parental affection for his £e0nUryesSt6r' bright boy, Robert of Caen, was not to be dimin- Sceiknce ished by separation from his child's mother. Ro- character. bert, loving and loved, endued with excellent natural gifts, was treasured by his Father, care fully and tenderly educated, and acknowledged as his first-born son. A tempting condition this for a Bastard; yet Robert of Caen, afterwards Robert Earl of Gloucester, never swerved from his allegiance to the legitimate Heir, never was he seduced from the obligations of duty, the mirror of fealty and honour. § 34. Far more formidable was another Opposition to the mar- obstacle presented against the marriage. Very ™se uP°n many considered it as a great scandal, — some ^saro- objectors may have been conscientious, some over scrupulous, but, as we also suspect, some were Norman ill-wishers, who bore a grudge against Henry or Edith, or against both, — alleging as an impediment that the veiled Edith, Sister Edith, was incompetent to take the marriage- vow — she a professed Nun ! They cried out shame against Anselm, for his connivance in this uncanonical proceeding. The opposition was grounded upon common fame and report. Edith had been generally known in England as an inmate of Romsey Abbey, arrayed in the monastic garb, sighing under the strict disci- was a pro fessed Nun. 718 the conqueror's sons. 1096-1101 pline of her Aunt, the vigilant Christina ; and it was believed that her parents had consecrated her to the Altar from her earliest infancy. Such an allegation could not be disposed of sum marily: it was needful to remove any doubt that might affect the legality of the marriage, and the legitimacy of the royal progeny : the concern, not merely of the parties, but of the Anselm's whole Kingdom. Anselm's character was at cautiousconduct, stake, and he determined to settle the question judicially. Wise and wary, he proceeded with great strictness. If he, individually, took upon himself to give a decision agreeable to the King, he would inevitably be accused of par tiality : if adverse, he would incur great odium from the King, who would attribute his judg ment to hostility. Edith was in the first place examined, and she gave the testimony which we have already set forth, how she was accustomed to tear the veil off her head and tread upon it, and how King Malcolm her father used to swear that he would rather see her Earl Alan's wife than locked up in a monastery. — Her deposition al most sufficed to discharge her. Anselm, the alterius orbis Papa, perpetual Legate of the Holy See, might of his own authority have declared Edith free; but, for the before-men tioned reasons, he declined incurring the personal canterbury responsibility, and a great Council was assembled, CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 719 Bishops, Abbots, Nobles and Clergy. — They met 1096—1101 at Lambeth, then belonging to the Church offorth'eex.' Rochester: that Manor— (mistakenly called aX'* Palace), — now connected in idea so inseparably EdlthTe- with Canterbury, not having become a Metro politan residence till the twelfth century. Two venerable commissioners, William, Archdeacon of Canterbury, and Humbald, Archdeacon of Sa lisbury, produced the evidence which they had collected, corroborating the statement made by Edith. — Edith again appeared, and repeated her former declaration ; and it was decided that the damsel was free from vow or censure. Wife and Queen did Edith become on one noi. ^ # Nov. 11. and the same Martinmas-day. The doors of Marriageand Coro- the Abbey were thrown open when the marriage nation of J r 6 Edith, who was celebrated : Clergy and Nobility filled the assumesthe sacred building : the populace surrounded the Matnda. walls : Anselm proclaimed the Banns, summon ing all who could allege any just cause or impedi ment to state the same. A universal acclamation arose, — there was none : Anselm proceeded with the Benediction, and the nuptial rites were im mediately followed by the Queen's Coronation. Not however, as Edith, was the Lady of England anointed and crowned. To gratify Norman nationality she assumed the honoured name of Matilda: the English grudged it not. Margaret had trained up her daughter to become an English Queen in the Palace of Dunfermline ; 720 THE conqueror's SONS. io96_noi formerly an alien in her native land, Matilda ~^ was now amongst her own people : Scotland was foreign to her, she had reached her real home. Good Queen Maude, .Goodwife Maude, Goody Maude, became the object of the most earnest affection. — She deserved it well from the English, she deserved it from all — holy in a Palace as she would have been in a Monas tery; nay holier, for the trials she sustained as a wife were more grating and galling than any which a Convent's discipline imposed. Matilda's r 35 jjer character united piety and activity. character, J r j j virtues and ^er l°ve f°r the poor was unbounded. Dis covered by her Husband washing the feet of the Lepers, that act, one of the hardest sacrifices of natural feeling, was not an exception from her course of life, or a formal ceremony, but merely ranking amongst the deeds in which she was habitually employed. Her accomplishments, the fruits of her training and education, were knowded3e brilliant. The Latin language was familiar to "angua^e!"1 her, — le^' let ** be observed, that we do not reckon this acquirement as any thing very ex traordinary. What French afterwards became the Latin continued to be in the eleventh century, the token of the education constituting the dis- Marg^ft' tinction between the higher and the lower classes byXgtt of Society.— A more forcible proof of Matilda's reajes"da s intellectual cultivation is found in the fact, that ted toner"!" to her we owe Turgot's most valuable biography CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 721 of her Mother, furnishing the lively and authentic 1096-1101 materials for Malcolm's times and reign. To her " ' it is addressed — " Venerandoe memories Matris vestrai placitam Deo conversationem, quam, con- sona multorum laude scepius prcedicari audi- eratis, ut Uteris traditam, vobis offerrem, et postulando jussistis, et jubendo postulastis." — Matilda ordered Turgot to compose the Work by requesting, and, requesting, she commanded that perennial memorial of her Mother's sanctity, talent, and love. Matilda delighted in sacred music : no other Latin . poetry recreation did she allow herself, unless we reckon patronized by Matilda. as recreation the pleasure she derived from sacred verse. This was the period when the harmony of rhyme, superseding the measured numbers of Classical antiquity, imparted to Rome's language a new magnificence and full-toned melody. Matilda greatly patronized the Clerks who ex celled in this branch of Latin poesy. The only recorded fault in Matilda's character, pointed out by the Monk of Malmesbury, was her liberality to the Clerks by whom these Hymns and Proses were composed. fi 36. Never, since the Battle of Hastings, Matilda's J wedding had there been such a joyous day as when Queen feast- Maude was crowned in the Abbey of Westmin ster, and the Marriage Banquet held in the Great New Hall. Amongst the guests there was an old grey-headed Thane, now they called him a Knight, VOL. III. 3 a 722 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096-1101 who had lived in the Confessor's days, one of The Con_ ' the few survivors who remembered the Con- 6ion°pro"" fessor, and who had known him well; oft had Presto- he served at the Board of the honoured King. thVsaxon And the Knight stood up, and related to the silent and admiring multitude the vision of the night which had floated before the Confessor when banished in Normandy — that dream wliich he himself had heard the Confessor relate with prophetic mystery. It was the dream of a green tree, uprooted and cast down, a mighty verdant tree, so lofty that the trunk and branchage extended three-acre lengths when lying on the ground ; but the tree was upreared and planted again, and the sap flowed with renewed vitality. "And now," said the Knight, "I know the vision's meaning. That Tree betokened the old abundant realm, the Kynryk of England, cast down three-acre lengths — Harold, — the Bastard, — and the Red King; — but now is the Tree raised again in Maude, our Lady Queen : whose Saxon and whose Scottish blood will bear both Matilda's fruit and flower." The whole Enghsh Nation genealogy , , deduced accepted the augury, now again was the right and woden. 0ld royal line restored to the Throne; — Matilda, the daughter of Margaret, the daughter of Edward, the son of Edmund, the son of Ethelred, the son of Edgar, the son of Edmund, the son of Edward, the son of Alfred, the son of Ethel wolf, the son of Egbert, the son of Alcmund, the son of Offa, the CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 723 son of Eoppa, the son of Ingils, the son of Ina, the 1096-1101 son of Cenred, the son of Ceolwald, the son of " Cutha, the son of Cuthwyn, the son of Celin, the son of Cynric, the son of Creoda, the son of Cerdic, and so on to Woden — the rightful heir ofthe Imperial Crown. fi 37. Matilda was heartily loved by theMatilda'f J « « supposed people, and their love was transmitted and ™fl0Hnence adorned through the traditions of after-times. — SmSstra- Maude obtained for us our Liberties, said thetl0n' Englishman: they told how she had won the Charter from the King, who had sportively chal lenged her, riding unclad through London streets, veiled only by her long and flowing hair. To The char- . . . ter ascribed Matilda's intercession also were ascribed the*oherkind mterven- "good Laws" which Henry made in Engelonde, — tion- laws resulting from her kindly influence and his wisdom. Both King and Queen deserved the praise ; and the Code existing under his name is the testimony of the affection earned by Matilda and the doctrines of government adopted by her husband. We thus must receive Leges Henrici, TheZe^ Henrici the Digest or collection of the Usages and Prvmi, an Laws which had prevailed under the Confessor, saxoncode, x ? dedicated and which prepared the way for the system of ^dHm°rj Common Lam, once so fondly venerated as the Queei1, perfection of human wisdom. Henry's merits as a Legislator obtained for him an European reputation. His wisdom con sisted in seeking the advice and assistance of the 3A2 724 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096— 1101 wise. The Jurists whom he employed availed "" themselves of the ancient Latin translations of the Anglo-Saxon Dooms; and the dedication of the Code to Henry and Matilda, composed at an early period of their married life, declares the parity of their Royal State, implying that Henry ruled as much by marital right as by any in herent authority, whether the latter resulted from the people's choice, or devolved upon him by descent from the Conqueror of England. PoUtical Besides the influence which Henry gained importance " ° of Henry's 0ver the English by his union with Matilda, marriage. o •/ it conduced greatly to his political stability. Mary, Ma- On the Continent, he was much advantaged tilda's . ° s-std6t' En* Dy *ne marriage of Mary, the pious and wise Boulogne sister of Matilda, to Eustace of Boulogne, who, returning from the Crusades, resumed the go vernment of his County; and through this mar riage also arose another English Queen, ano ther Matilda, the energetic and virtuous wife of Scotland Stephen of Blois, future King of England. But more close- ° ly united to far more important were the international bene- England by x the mar- flts obtained thereby in the North of the island. nage. * No fear any longer of a Scottish raid, no dread of Kern or Catheran. Edgar, the Anglo-Saxon King of Scotland, rejoiced that his sister should have found a Consort in the Anglo-Norman Mo narch, whose cultivation was so congenial to his own. All the interests of Edgar were identi fied with Henry's interests: all the affinities of CLOSE OF RUFUS BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 725 Edgar were English, — the ordinances of the 1096-1101 Church, the language, the laws, the policy of " ' England, constituted a bond of union, gratified his tastes, — above all, afforded the means of defence against his Gaelic subjects, his hated enemies : so long as Henry lived, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Scoto-Saxon Britain, con stituted a family Kingdom. & 38. Martinmas drew on to Christmas. Subsisting 0 enmity be- The Holy tide was celebrated with unusual geene° and splendour. Years and years had passed since aRobert' Queen had graced the festal board, and now Matilda gave joy and elegance to the Festival. Robert and his Sibylla were equally flourishing in apparent prosperity at Rouen. Each Brother might have enjoyed his own with comfort and happiness ; but they envied one another worse than ever, and their bad passions were fomented by their partizans. Robert's position was un changed from that which it had been on the accession of Rufus : Brother hating Brother, each preparing for the blow. During all these proceedings, Flambard con- noi. tinued caged in the White Tower. We do not Flambard's . escape from invent this figure of speech, but borrow it from the Tower. Anselm, who, with more exultation than we could have wished, tells us how the people rejoiced at the capture of the raging Lion. Henry continued to treat Flambard honourably, but the deposed Prime Minister could not be at ease. When first arrest- 726 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 ed, he applied to his Metropolitan, Thomas Arch- Archbishop bishop of York, for assistance : the Archbishop re- refuses'to pelled the disgraced Favourite as a scurvy knave, Flambard. and disowned him as a Bishop or a Brother. Anselm having arrived, Flambard tried bis chance again, and sought aid from the Metro politan of all Britain, claiming the immunity Anseim, due to his Station and Order. Anselm behaved the like. austerely, and sent a deputation of four Bishops to the incarcerated and reviled ex-justiciar, re quiring him to shew how and in what manner, and under what circumstances, he had obtained his preferment ; and thus to clear himself from the charge of simony. Considering how very awkward such interrogatories would have been to the majority of the Episcopal Bench, it was somewhat hard to push the enquiry against a man in trouble. Flambard either refused to answer or answered unsatisfactorily, so he was left as be fore. His situation became very anxious : he was now in the Palace-story of the White Tower, but Henry could, at any hour of day or night, order him to be let down into the pit, deep below the level of the Thames ; and however mitigated, con finement was most irksome to his active, stirring character. Instead of allowing these circum stances to depress his spirits, he improved his bywhSh"1 advantages. With his ample allowance, the two e?s1caped!d shillings a-day regularly paid out of the Royal treasury, he was enabled to keep a splendid table. CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 727 Merry sounds and voices of jollity proceeding 1096—1101 from the Bishop's Chamber, often announced to """' ' the garrison that Flambard was entertaining the friends permitted to visit him in his captivity. He also continually invited his keepers to share in the good cheer. They ate with him, they drank with him, — they were amused by him. Flambard's wit, readiness, and talent, no less than his liberality, rendered him a general fa vourite. Hence, the Bishop's acquaintances for got his delinquencies in his conversation, and all distrust and suspicion were lulled. Flambard's ^"^s friends without, having arranged their schemes, ens.ward" the Bishop entertained his prison party with more than usual spirit and festivity. — The carouse is over: all are conquered by the good liquor except the Bishop : overcome by the potent drink with which he had supplied and plied them, Warders and Gaolers, every one, were snoring on the benches or stretched on the floor. Sober Flambard, uncovering an empty flagon, Escapes by took out a carefully coiled rope, concealed in^™sne^.om the vessel, and, fastening it to the column which f0eJ_in' divided the window of his chamber, slid himself down. He took with him his Pastoral" staff, but he forgot his Episcopal gloves; the rough rope rubbed the skin off his hands, almost the flesh ; and the rope's length being insufficient, the Cor- pulentus Flamen, as Ordericus latinizes Flam bard, dropped heavily to the ground. He was 728 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1101 grievously hurt, but his friends were ready at the foot ofthe wall : swift horses were prepared, and he and his trusty companions galloped away, and reaching the coast, he embarked for Normandy. Flambard's abundant means had facilitated every requisite for the journey. — Two Vessels were ready: in the one he embarked, upon the other he placed his treasures and his ugly decrepit Mother. Pirates, as they are called, attacked the treasure- ship, plundered its contents, stripped and ill- treated the poor old defamed woman, and put her ashore in Normandy. Flambard landed safely; and, joyfully received by Robert, he soon ob tained more influence over him than he had even exercised upon Rufus. Robert placed Flambard at the head of his affairs, and he now began a new and successful career. jamjar'— $ ^" Notwithstanding the support which Antid°a' Henry received from the Anglo-Norman Ba- troubhfs r°nage in England, he knew them too well to turbfnces. trust them as a body. If any continued faithful, they would be exceptions from the general rule. The majority had accepted him simply as the lesser evil: not out of affection, but from fear. There was no escaping the inconveniences of divided allegiance; if it suited them better that England and Normandy should be united in the person of Robert than in the person of Henry, no principle could restrain them. With the Church, the great question between the Pon- close of rufus— beauclerc's ACCESSION. 729 tificate and the Crown was left entirely unsettled. 1096-1101 How would the contest be determined? Was — " — Beauclerc to retain the prerogatives which he claimed as inherent in the Imperial Crown, or would those concessions be made which would restore the Church to her canonical position in the Monarchy? — There was a truce till next Easter. When Easter eomes, what will be the position of the contending parties ? — Moreover, it was very difficult to trim the Vessel of the State. Henry had given a very distinct recognition ofTheN.or- rutins J6JI— English nationality, and this conduct had, at the H"nof,s very moment, begun to estrange that dominant Anghdsm- race, hitherto identified with the conquering dynasty. With the English, Henry might have retained an undiminished and undivided popularity. Gaffer Goodrich, as he was called from his English speech and English manners, was in a fair way of being loved like Goody Maude. He strenuously punished the offences most grievous to the common people, mutilated the false moneyers, hanged the thieves, did much that was beneficial, and pro mised more. But there was one thing which Henry re- ° fuses to the Henry would not promise, one point upon which m°f||^aany he would not pretend to dissemble. — When he F°°e°tf_the stood before the Altar at Westminster, a candi- Law3' date suing for the people's voice, there was one pledge he would not give. Gracious were his promises; but one reservation destroyed the 730 THE conqueror's SONS. 1096—1101 grace of them all, " Forestas in manu mea retinui, sicut Pater meus eas habuit." — Henry would not allow his Roc's Egg to be touched — He was his father's son : he would not be de livered from his ruling passion, he would not be cured of his monomania; and thereby he secured an enduring cause of dissension be tween his Successors and their subjects, reign after reign; a perennial and springing source of vexations, hardships, and grievances, still un- extirpated, in the Realm. — All would he have and hold that the Conqueror had and held, all the Forests, all the Chases, all the Parks, all the Purlieus, all the Jetten-Wald, all the clinging curses ; nothing would he surrender — not a fur long of turf, not a bough of the tree, not an antler of the Hart, not a tusk of the Boar — no, not even for the Crown. — The first dirge sung for Henry Beauclerc, when the news of his death was spread, was the universal hue and cry — Hurrah ! the King is dead — Break down the fences — Kill the deer I Fail of the fi40. Not long after the interment of Rufus, Tower at 3 ° winches- a terrible crash spread dismay throughout Win chester; the great, ponderous Cathedral Tower lately raised by Walkeline, fell down; and the common people immediately and universally ac cepted this event as a sign that the holy ground was indignant, at becoming the depository of the late King's defiled corpse. That a mere accident, CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 731 so ordinary and familiar, the collapse of an arch 1096-1101 hastily built on an insufficient foundation, should be thus construed, is a remarkable proof of the detestation which Rufus had inspired. Very many reports continued to be spread Popular * x x opinions concerning the cause of his death, all bespeaking {£"ed^g the general sentiment — disgust, loathing, horror. of Eufus- No one affected pity, or feigned a hope that Rufus had been moved to contrition, or had obtained mercy. Some said that, at the moment when Rufus contradic tory reports expired, he had been seen carried away upon an an° sur\ x J tr mises as to enormous black Goat, who declared that he was *n® death** the Fiend, bearing the Tyrant to eternal punish- ofRufus- ment. — Though no one could state his evidence, every body seemed at first to have his own story. Some said that Walter Tyrrell found him stone- dead, and had run away from apprehension of accu sation ; others, that Ralph de Aquis was the man- slayer ; whilst not a few maintained that Rufus certainly perished through his own impetuosity — in straining the stiff Arbalest his foot had slipped, and he was killed by his own starting weapon. Be this as it may, the charge brought against Ralph de Aquis was abandoned. That Tyrrell was the innocent, or perhaps meritorious, author of the King's death, became the version accepted by a species of compromise. However, in the manner commonly related, the narrative is evi- 732 the conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 dently as much a fiction as the vision of the Demon. No one ever acknowledged being pre sent when the King was struck ; — Tyrrell always denied the fact : therefore the details of the glancing of the arrow, and the like, which ap pear in popular history, must have been pure and gratuitous inventions. There was another story in general circulation, that about the very hour when Rufus breathed out his soul, Henry Beauclerc, having recently parted from him, was hunting in another and distant part of the Jetten-Wald. His Arbalest sprung. The accident happened in a spot where some few inhabitants still were left — the relics of a thorp; and here Henry, arriving at a hovel inhabited by the family of an English lands-man, alighted, and employed himself in knotting his broken bow-string. Death of Whilst thus at work, a Crone hobbled forth, Rufus said to have and enquired of the lad who attended on him the been an- A nounced to granger's name: — "It is Henry, brother of our a sorceress. L0rd the King." — "Nay, nay," murmured she, " say Henry the King : unless my spells be false, before the hour passes, Henry gains the royal Crown." — Henry mounts and spurs his steed — as he approaches the Lind-wood, riders come forth, first singly, then in encreasing parties, and he learns his Brother's death and his own good fortune, — and thus was he enabled to hasten to CLOSE OF RUFUS — BEAUCLERC'S ACCESSION. 733 Winchester, and, by preventing that opposition iwe-noi which would certainly have arisen had he delayed, to secure the throne. Yet what was the truth ? Were any of these Contempo- » raries of the stories true ? Was the King slain by the misad- fJses"dlco"\ venture of Ralph de Aix, or by the bow of the "^ ™aiof Chatellain of Poix, or by his own impetuous factSl negligence, or by some undiscovered and mur derous hand? All these questions were asked when the masons were clamping and sealing the cover of the dumb Stone Coffin in Winchester Cathedral, which still contains his bones — that prayerless Coffin without a name. No one could answer the questions : no one could tell, or dared to tell. Need we wonder that it is impossible for us even to guess at the truth, when we recollect that the faithful Eadmer, the eye and ear-witness of the transactions, which at the distance of eight centuries we narrate from his words, declares his utter inability to dispel the doubts he raised ? It is evident that Rufus was deprived of all human prudence during the last days of his life. His own accusing conscience, conjoined to the widely-spread omens and expectations of his death, might well have suggested the possibility of some conspiracy formed for his destruction. But he acted as if he sought to invite the murderer. Even as the local recollections of holiness sometimes dispose the heart to good, 734 THE conqueror's sons. 1096—1101 so is there a more certain contagion in the recol- ~" lections of crime. Did we seek nothing more than mere comfort of mind, we should strive to keep away from the Chamber, the Valley, the Tree or the Rock, suggestive of iniquity or sin. Had the necessity of caution been impressed upon Rufus in this particular instance, as a mere worldly duty, by a Mellent or a Fitz-Hamo, -it is probable that his shrewdness would have induced him to shun the spot where his Father's tyranny and his own, and the greedy expec tancies to be gratified by his death, and the strange deaths also of two Kinsmen, might tempt the slaughter of a third member of the Norman dynasty. — But the warnings were given through those who believed that the tokens came from above, and not from man. — Therefore Rufus would not believe them. He derided and despised the faintest, feeblest echo of the Voice of Heaven. YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 04067 1514