 In selecting the subjects for the successor volumes of this series, it has been the object of the author to look for the names of those great personages whose histories constitute useful and not merely entertaining knowledge. There are certain names, which are familiar as names, to all mankind, and every person who seeks for any degree of mental cultivation feels desirous of informing himself of the leading outlines of their history, that he may know in brief what it was in their characters or their doings, which has given them so widely extended a fame. This knowledge, which it seems incumbent on every one to obtain in respect of such personages as Hannibal, Alexander, Caesar, Cleopatra, Darius, Xerxes, Alfred, William the Conqueror, Queen Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots, it is the design and object of these volumes to communicate in a faithful and at the same time, if possible, in an attractive manner. Consequently, great historical names alone are selected, and it has been the writer's aim to present the prominent and leading traits in their characters, and all the important events in their lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the plain and simple language which is so obviously required in works which aim at permanent and practical usefulness. Chapter 1 Normandy One of those great events in English history which occur at distant intervals, and form, respectively, a sort of bound or landmark to which all other events, proceeding or following them for centuries are referred, is what is called the Norman Conquest. The Norman Conquest was, in fact, the accession of William Duke of Normandy to the English throne. This accession was not altogether a matter of military force, for William claimed a right to the throne, which, if not altogether perfect, was, as he maintained, at any rate superior to that of the prince against whom he contended. The rightfulness of his claim was, however, a matter of little consequence, except so far as the moral influence of it aided him in gaining possession. The right to rule was, in those days, rather more openly and nakedly, though not much more really, than it is now the right of the strongest. Normandy, William's native land, is a very rich and beautiful province in the north of France. It lies, as will be seen upon the map, on the coast of France adjoining the English channel. The channel is here irregular in form, but may be, perhaps on the average, one hundred miles wide. The line of coast on the southern side of the channel, which forms, of course, the northern border of Normandy, is a range of cliffs, which are almost perpendicular towards the sea, and which frown forbiddingly upon every ship that sails along the shore. Here and there, it's true, a river opens a passage for itself, among these cliffs from the interior, and these river mouths would form harbours into which ships might enter from the offing, were it not that the north-western winds prevail so generally, and drive such a continuous well of rolling surges in upon the shore, that they choke up all these estuary openings, as well as every natural indentation of the land, with shoals and bars of sand and shingle. The reverse is the case with the northern, or English shore, of this famous channel. There, the harbours formed by the mouths of the rivers, or by the sinosities of the shore, are open and accessible, and at the same time sheltered from the winds and the sea. Thus, while the northern or English shore has been, for many centuries, all the time enticing the seaman in and out, over the calm, deep and sheltered waters, which there penetrate the land, the southern side has been an almost impassable barrier, consisting of a long line of frowning cliffs, with every opening through it choked with shoals and sandbanks, and guarded by the rolling and tumbling of surges, which scarcely ever rest. It's a great measure, owing to these great physical differences between the two shores, that the people who live upon the one side, though of the same stock and origin, with those who live upon the other, have become so vastly superior to them in respect to naval exploits and power. They are really of the same stock and origin, since both England and the northern part of France were overrun and settled by what is called the Scandinavian race, that is, people from Norway, Denmark and other countries on the Baltic. These people were called the Norsemen in the histories of those times. Those who landed in England are generally termed Danes, so but a small portion of them came really from Denmark. They were all, however, of the same parent stock and possessed the same qualities of courage, energy and fearless love of adventure and of danger, which distinguished their descendants at the present day. They came down in those early times in great military hordes and in fleets of piratical ships, through the German ocean and the various British seas, braving every hardship and every imaginable danger to find new regions to dwell in, more genial and fertile and rich than their own native northern climes. In these days they evinced the same energy and endure equal privations and hardships in hunting whales in the Pacific Ocean, in overrunning India and seizing its sources of wealth and power, or in selling forth whole fleets of adventurers at a time, to go more than half round the globe to dig for gold in California. The times and circumstances have changed, but the race and spirit are the same. Normandy takes its name from the Norsemen. It was the province of France, which the Norsemen made peculiarly their own. They gained access to it from the sea by the river Seine, which, as will be seen from the map, flows as it were through the heart of the country. The lower part of this river and the sea around its mouth are much choked up with sand and gravel, which the waves have been for ages washing in. Their incessant industry would result in closing up the passage entirely, were it not, that the waters of the river must have an outlet, and thus the current, setting outward, wages perpetual war with the surf and surges, which are continually breaking in. The expeditions of the Norsemen, however, found their way through all these obstructions. They ascended the river with their ships, and finally gained a permanent settlement in the country. They had occupied the country for some centuries at the time when our story begins. The province being governed by a line of princes, almost, if not quite, independent sovereigns, called the Dukes of Normandy. The first Duke of Normandy, and the founder of the line, the chieftain who originally invaded and conquered the country, was a wild and half savage hero from the Norse, named Rolo. He is often in history, called Rolo the Dane. Norway was his native land. He was a chieftain by birth, there, and being of a wild and adventurous disposition, he collected a band of followers, and committed with them so many parruses and robberies, that at length the king of the country expelled him. Rolo seems not to have considered this banishment as any very great calamity, since, far from interrupting his career of piracy and plunder, it only widened the field on which he was to pursue it. He accordingly increased the equipment and the force of his fleet, enlisted more followers, and set sail across the northern part of the German Ocean towards the British shores. Off the northwestern coast of Scotland, there are some groups of mountains and gloomy islands, which have been, in many different periods of the world, the refuge of fugitives and outlaws. Rolo made these islands his rendezvous now, and he found collected there many other similar spirits, who had fled to these lonely retreats, some on account of political disturbances in which they had been involved, and some on account of their crimes. Rolo's impetuous ardent and self-confident character inspired them with new energy and zeal. They gathered around him as their leader. Finding his strength thus increasing, he formed a scheme of concentrating all the force that he could command, so as to organize a grand expedition to proceed to the southward, and endeavour to find some pleasant country, which they could seize and settle upon and make their own. The desperate adventurers around him were ready enough to enter into this scheme. The fleet was refitted, provisioned and equipped. The expedition was organized, arms and munitions of war provided, and when all was ready, they set sail. They had no definite plan in respect to the place of their destination, their intention being to make themselves a home on the first favorable spot that they could find. They moved southward, cruising at first along the coast of Scotland and then of England. They made several fruitless attempts to land on the English shores, but were repulsed. The time when these events took place was during the reign of Alfred the Great. Through Alfred's wise and efficient measures, the whole of his frontier had been put into a perfect state of defense, and Rollo found that there was no hope for him there. He accordingly moved on toward the Straits of Dumber, but, before passing them, he made a descent upon the coast of Londoners. Here there was a country named Hynald. It was governed by a potentate called the Count of Hynald. Rollo made war upon him, defeated him in battle, took him prisoner, and then compound the Countess, his wife, to raise and pay him an immense sum for his ransom. Thus he replenished his treasury by an exploit which was considered in those days very great and glorious. To perpetrate such a deed now, unless it were on a very great scale, would be to incur the universal reprobation of mankind, but Rollo, by doing it then, not only enriched his coffers, but acquired a very extended and honorable fame. For some reason or other, Rollo did not attempt to make permanent possession of Hynald, but after receiving his ransom money and replenishing his ammunition and stores, he sailed away with his fleet, and, turning westward, he passed through the Straits of Dumber and cruised along the coast of France. He found the country on the French side of the channel, though equally rich and beautiful with the opposite shore, was in a very different state of defence. He entered the mouth of the Sain. He was embarrassed at first by the difficulties of the navigation in entering the river, but as there was no efficient enemy to oppose him, he soon triumphed over these difficulties, and, once fairly in the river, he found no difficulty in ascending to Rowan. In the meantime, the King of France, whose name was Charles and who is generally designated in history as Charles the Simple, began to collect an army to meet the invader. Rollo, however, had made himself master of Rowan before Charles was able to offer him any effectual opposition. Rowan was already a strong place, but Rollo made it stronger. He enlarged and repaired the fortifications, built storehouses, established a garrison, and, in award, made all the arrangements requisite for securing an impregnable position for himself and his army. A long and obstinate war followed between Rollo and Charles, Rollo being almost uniformly victorious in the combats that took place. Rollo became more and more proud and imperious in proportion to his success. He drove the French Kring from port to port and from field to field, until he made himself master of a large part of the north of France, or which he gradually established a regular government of his own. Charles struggled in vain to resist these encroachments. Rollo continually defeated him, and finally he shut him up and besieged him in Paris itself. At length Charles was compelled to enter into negotiations for peace. Rollo demanded that the large and rich tract on both sides of the same, next to sea, the same, in fact, that now constitutes Normandy, should be ceded to him and his followers for their permanent possession. Charles was extremely unwilling, thus to alienate a part of his kingdom. He would not consent to cede it absolutely and entirely, so as to make it an independent realm. It should be a duke-dom and not a separate kingdom, so that it might continue still a part of his royal domains. Rollo to reign over it as a duke and to acknowledge and general allegiance to the French King. Rollo agreed to this. The war had been now protracted so long that he began himself to the desired repose. It has more than thirty years since the time of his landing. Charles had a daughter named Giselle, and it was a part of the Treaty of Peace that she should become Rollo's wife. He also agreed to become a Christian, thus there were, in the execution of the treaty, three ceremonies to be performed. First, Rollo was to do homage, as it was called, for his Duchy, for it was the custom in those days for subordinate princes, who held their possessions of some higher and more strictly sovereign power, to perform certain ceremonies in the presence of their superior Lord, which was called doing homage. These ceremonies were of various kinds in different countries, though they were all intended to express the submission of the dependent prince to the superior authority and power of the higher potented, of whom he held his lands. This act of homage was therefore to be performed, and next to the homage was to come the baptism, and after the baptism, the marriage. When however the time came for the performance of the first of these ceremonies, and all the great chieftains and potentates of the respective armies were assembled to witness it, Rollo, it was found, would not submit to what the customs of the French monarch he required. He ought to kneel before the king, and put his hands clasped together between the king's hands in talking of submission, and then to kiss his foot, which is covered with an elegantly fashioned slipper on such occasions. Rollo would do all except the last, but that no remonstrances, urgencies, or persuasions would induce him to consent to. And yet it was not a very unusual sign or talking of political subordination to sovereign power in those days. The pope had exacted it even of an emperor a hundred years before, and it is continued by that dignitary to the present day on certain state occasions, though in the case of the pope there is embroidered on the slipper which the kneeling supply and kisses across, so that he who humbles himself to this ceremony may consider, if he pleases, that it is that sacred symbol of the divine redeemer's sufferings and death, that he so reverently kisses, and not the human foot by which it is covered. Rollo could not be made to consent himself to kiss King Charles' foot, and finally the difficulty was compromised by his agreeing to do it by proxy. He ordered one of his courtiers to perform that part of the ceremony. The courtier obeyed, but when he came to lift the foot, he did it so rudely, and lifted it so high, so as to turn the monarch over of his seat. This made a laugh, but Rollo was too powerful for Charles to think of resenting it. A few days after this Rollo was baptized in the Cathedral Church of Traun, with great pomp and parade, and then on the following week he was married to Giselle. The day of war in which he had lived for more than 30 years was now changed into festivities and rejoicings. He took full and peaceable possession of his dukedom, and governed it for remainder of his days with great wisdom and lived in great prosperity. He made it, in fact, one of the richest and most prosperous realms in Europe, and laid the foundations of still higher degrees of greatness and power, which were gradually developed after his death. And this was the origin of Normandy. It appears thus that this part of France was seized by Rollo and his Norsemen, partly because it was nearest at hand to them, being accessible from the English Channel through this river Seine, and partly on account of its exceeding richness and fertility. It has been famous in every age as the Garden of France, and travelers at the present day gaze upon its pictures and beautiful scenery with the highest admiration and pleasure. And yet the scenes which are there represented to the view are wholly unlike those which constitute picturesque and beautiful Rollo scenery in England and America. In Normandy's land is not enclosed. No hedges, fences, or walls breaks a continuity of the surface, but vast tracks spread in every direction, divided into plots and squares of various sizes and forms by the varieties of cultivation, like a vast carpet of an irregular, desolated pattern, and varied in the color by a thousand hues of brown and green. Here and there, vast forests extend, where countless thousands of trees, though ancient and venerable in form, stand in rows, mathematically arranged, as they were planted centuries ago. These are royals of the messness and hunting grounds, and parks connected with the country palaces of the kings or the chateau of the ancient nobility. The cultivators of the soil live, not as in America, in little farmhouses built along the road-sides and dotting the slopes of the hills. But in compact villages, consisting of ancient dwellings of brick and stone, densely packed together along a single street, from which laborers issue, in picturesque dresses, men and women together every morning, to go miles, perhaps, to the scene of their daily toil. Except these villages, and the occasional appearance of an ancient chateau, no habitations are seen. The country seems a vast solitude, teeming everywhere, however, with fertility and beauty. The roads which traverse these scenes are magnificent avenues, broad, straight, continuing for many miles, and undevating course over the undulations of the land, with nothing to separate them from the expense of cultivation and fruitfulness on either hand, but rows of ancient and venerable trees. Between these rows of trees, the traveller sees an interminable vista extending both before him and behind him. In England, the public road winds beautifully between veils or hung with shrubbery or hedgerows, with styles of gateways here and there, revealing humlets or cottages, which appear and disappear in a rapid and endlessly worried succession, as the road meanders like a rivulet between its beautiful banks. In a word, the public highway in England is beautiful. In France, it's grand. The greatest city in Normandy in modern times is Rowan, which is situated, as will be seen by referring to the map at the commencement of this chapter, on the Seine, halfway between Paris and the sea. At the mouth of the Seine, or rather, on the northern shore of the estuary, which forms the mouth of the river, is a small inlet, which has been found to afford, on the whole, the best facilities for a harbor that can be found on the whole line of the coast. Even this little port, however, is so filled up with sand that when the water recedes at low tide, it leaves the shipping all around. The inlet would, in fact, probably become filled up entirely where it not for artificial means taken to prevent it. There are locks and gateways built in such a manner as to retain a large body of water until the tide is down. And then these gates are opened, and the water is allowed to rush out altogether, carrying with it the mud and sand, which had begun to accumulate. This haven, being on the whole, the best and most commodious on the coast, was called the harbor, or, as the French expressed it in their language, le harbour, the word harbour, meaning harbour. In fact, the name was in full le harbour de grays, as if the Normans considered it a matter of special good luck to have even such a chance of a harbour as this, at the mouth of the river. The English world have, however, dropped all except the principal word from this long phrase of designation, and called the port simply harbour. From Rollo the line of dukes of Normandy continued in uninterrupted succession down to the time of William, a period about 150 years. The country increased all the time in wealth, in population, and in prosperity. The original inhabitants were not, however, expelled. They remained as peasants, herdsmen, and agriculturists, while the Norman chieftains settled over them, holding several large estates of land, which William granted them. The races gradually became intermingled, though they continued for many centuries to evince the superior spirit and energy, which was infused into the population by the Norman stock. In fact, it's sought by many observers that that superiority continues to the present day. End of CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 of William the Conqueror This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. William the Conqueror by Jacob Abbott. CHAPTER 2 THE BIRTH OF WILLIAM Although Rouen is now very far below all the other cities of Normandy in point of magnitude and importance, and although Rolo, in his conquest of the country, made it his principal headquarters and his main stronghold, it did not continue exclusively the residence of the dukes of Normandy in after years. The father of William the Conqueror was Robert, who became subsequently the duke, the sixth in the line. He resided at the time when William was born in a great castle of Phalaise. Phalaise, as will be seen upon the map, is west of Rouen, and it stands, like Rouen, at some distance from the sea. The castle was built upon a hill, at a little distance from the town. It has long since ceased to be habitable, but the ruins still remain, giving a picturesque but mournful beauty to the eminence which they crown. They are often visited by travellers who go to see the place where the great hero and Conqueror was born. The hill on which the old castle stands terminates on one side at the foot of the castle walls in a precipice of rocks, and on two other sides also the ascent is too steep to be practicable for an enemy. On the fourth side there is a more gradual declivity, up which the fortress could be approached by means of a winding roadway. At the foot of this roadway was the town. The access to the castle from the town was defended by ditch and drawbridge, with strong towers on each side of the gateway to defend the approach. There was a beautiful stream of water which meandered along through the valley near the town, and after passing it it disappeared, winding around the foot of the precipice which the castle crowned. The castle enclosures were shut in with walls of stone of enormous thickness, so thick in fact they were that some of the apartments were built in the body of the wall. There were various buildings within the enclosure. There was in particular one large square tower, several stories in height, built of white stone. This tower, it is said, still stands in good preservation. There was a chapel also, and various other buildings and apartments within the walls, for the use of the Ducal family and their numerous retinue of servants and attendants, for the storage of munitions of war and for the garrison. There were watchtowers on the corners of the walls and on various lofty projecting pinnacles, where solitary sentinels watched, the live long day and night, for any approaching danger. These sentinels looked down on a broad expanse of richly cultivated country, fields beautified with groves of trees, and with the various colors presented by the changing vegetation, while meandering streams gleamed with their silvery radiance among them and hamlets of laborers and peasantry were scattered here and there, giving life and animation to the scene. We have said that William's father was Robert, the Sixth Duke of Normandy, so that William himself, being his immediate successor, was the Seventh in the line. And as it is the design of these narratives not merely to amuse the reader with what is entertaining as a tale, but to impart substantial historical knowledge, we must prepare the way for the account of William's birth, by presenting a brief chronological view of the whole ducal line, extending from Rallo to William. We recommend to the reader to examine with special attention this brief account of William's ancestry, for the true causes which led to William's invasion of England cannot be fully appreciated without thoroughly understanding certain important transactions in which some members of the family of his ancestors were concerned before he was born. This is particularly the case with the Lady Emma, who, as will be seen by the following summary, was the sister of the Third Duke in the line. The extraordinary and eventful history of her life is so intimately connected with the subsequent exploits of William that it is necessary to relate it in full, and it becomes, accordingly, the subject of one of the subsequent chapters of this volume. Chronological History of the Norman Line Rallo, First Duke of Normandy, from AD 912 to AD 917. It was about 870 that Rallo was banished from Norway, and a few years after that, at most, that he landed at France. It was not, however, until 912 that he concluded his Treaty of Peace with Charles, so as to be fully invested with the title of Duke of Normandy. He was advanced in age at this time, and after spending five years in settling the affairs of his realm, he resigned his duknev into the hands of his son, so that he might spend the remainder of his days in rest and peace. He died in 922 five years after his resignation. William I, Second Duke of Normandy, from 917 to 942. William was Rallo's son. He began to reign, of course, five years before his father's death. He had a quiet and prosperous reign of about 25 years, but he was assassinated at last by a political enemy in 942. Richard, Third Duke of Normandy, from 942 to 996. He was only ten years old when his father was assassinated. He became involved in long and arduous wars with the King of France, which compelled him to call in aid of more Northmen from the Baltic. His new allies in the end gave him as much trouble as the old enemy, with whom they came to help William contend, and he found it very hard to get them away. He wanted at length to make peace with the French King, and to have them leave his dominions, but they said that was not what they came for. Richard had a beautiful daughter named Emma, who afterward became a very important political personage, as will be seen more fully in a subsequent chapter. Richard died in 996 after reigning fifty-four years. Richard II, Fourth Duke of Normandy, from 996 to 1026. Richard II was a son of Richard I, and as his father had been engaged during his reign in contentions with his sovereign Lord, the King of France, he in his turn was harassed by long-continued struggles with his vassals, the barons and nobles of his own realm. He too sent for Northmen to come and assist him. During his reign there was a great contest in England between the Saxons and the Danes, and Ethelred, who was the Saxon claimant to the throne, came to Normandy, and soon afterward married the Lady Emma, Richard's sister. The particulars of this event, from which the most momentous consequences were afterward seen to flow, will be given in a full and a future chapter. Richard died in 1026. He left two sons, Richard and Robert. William the Conqueror was the son of the youngest, and was born two years before this Richard II died. Richard III, Fifth Duke of Normandy, from 1026 to 1028. He was the oldest brother and, of course, succeeded to the dukedom. His brother Robert was then only a baron, his son William, afterward the Conqueror, being then about two years old. Robert was very ambitious and aspiring and eager to get possession of the dukedom himself. He adopted every possible means to circumvent and supplant his brother, and, as is supposed, shortened his days by the anxiety and vexation which he caused him, for Richard died suddenly and mysteriously only two years after his accession. It was supposed by some, in fact, that he was poisoned, though there was never any satisfactory proof of this. Robert VI, Duke of Normandy, from 1028 to 1035. Robert, of course, succeeded his brother, and then, with the characteristic inconsistency of selfishness and ambition, he employed all the power of his realm in helping the King of France to subdue his younger brother, who was evincing the same spirit of seditiousness and its omission that he had himself displayed. His assistance was of great importance to King Henry. It, in fact, decided the contest in his favour, and thus one younger brother was put down in the commencement of his career of turbulence and rebellion by another who had successfully accomplished a precisely similar course of crime. King Henry was very grateful for the service thus rendered and was ready to do all in his power, at all times, to cooperate with Robert in the plans which the latter might form. Robert died in 1035 when William was about eleven years old. And here we close this brief summary of the history of the Dukele line, as we have already passed the period of William's birth, and we return accordingly to give, in detail, some of the particulars of that event. Although the Dukes of Normandy were very powerful potentates, reigning, as they did, almost in the character of independent sovereigns, over one of the richest and most populous territories of the globe, and though William the Conqueror was the son of one of them, his birth was nevertheless very ignoble. His mother was not the wife of Robert, his father, but a poor peasant girl, the daughter of an humble tanner of Falaise, and indeed William's father, Robert, was not himself the Duke at this time but a simple baron, as his father was still living. It was not even certain that he would ever be the Duke, as his older brother, who of course would come before him, was then also alive. Still as the son and prospective heir of the reigning Duke, his rank was very high. The circumstances of Robert's first acquaintance with the tanner's daughter were these. He was one day returning home to the castle from some expedition on which he had been sent by his father, when he saw a group of peasant girls standing on the margin of the brook washing clothes. They were barefooted, and their dress was in other respects disarranged. There was one named Arlotte, the daughter of a tanner of the town, whose countness and figure seemed to have captivated the young baron. He gazed at her with admiration and pleasure as he wrote along. Her complexion was fair, her eyes full and blue, and the expression of her countness was frank and open and happy. She was talking joyously and merrily with her companions as Robert passed, little dreaming of the conspicuous place on the page of English history which she was to occupy, in all future time, in connection with the gay horseman who was riding by. The etiquette of royal and ducal palaces and castles in those days, as now, forbade that a noble of such lofty rank should marry a peasant girl. Robert could not, therefore, have Arlotte for his wife, but there was nothing to prevent his proposing her coming to the castle and living with him. That is, nothing but the law of God, and this was an authority to which dukes and barons in the middle ages were accustomed to pay very little regard. There was not even a public sentiment to forbid this, for a nobility like that of England and France in the middle ages stands so far above all the mass of society as to be scarcely amenable at all to the ordinary restrictions and obligations of social life. And even to the present day, in those countries where dukes exist, public sentiment seems to tolerate pretty generally whatever dukes see fit to do. Accordingly, as soon as Robert had arrived at the castle, he sent a messenger from his retinue of attendance down to the village, to the father of Arlotte, proposing that she should come to the castle. The father seems to have had some hesitation in respect to his duty. It is said that he had a brother who was a monk, or rather hermit, who lived a life of reading, meditation, and prayer in a solitary place not far from Phalaise. Arlotte's father sent immediately to this religious recluse for his spiritual counsel. The monk replied that it was right to comply with the wishes of so great a man, whatever they might be. The tanner, thus relieved of all conscientious scruples on the subject by this high religious authority, and rejoicing in the opening tide of prosperity and distinction which he foresaw for his family through the barren's love, robed and decorated his daughter like a lamb for the sacrifice, and sent her to the castle. Arlotte had one of the rooms assigned to her, which was built in the thickness of the wall. It communicated by door with the other apartments and enclosures within the area, and there were narrow windows in the masonry without, through which she could look out over the broad expanse of beautiful fields and meadows which were smiling below. Robert seems to have loved her with sincere and strong affection, and have done all in his power to have made her happy. Her room, however, could not have been very sumptuously furnished, although she was the favorite in a ducal castle, at least so far as we can judge from the few glimpses we get of the interior through the ancient chronicler's stories. One story is that when William was born his first exploit was to grasp a handful of straw and to hold it so tenaciously in his little fist that the nurse could scarcely take it away. The nurse was greatly delighted with this infantile prowess. She considered it an omen, and predicted that the babe would someday signalize himself by seizing and holding great possessions. The prediction would have been forgotten if William had not become the conqueror of England at a future day. As it was, it was remembered and recorded, and it suggests to our imagination a very different picture of the conveniences and comforts of our lot's chamber from those presented to the eye in ducal palaces now, where carpets of velvet silenced the tread on marble floors, and favorites were posed under silken canopies on beds of down. The babe was named William, and he was a great favorite with his father. He was brought up at Felais. Two years after his birth, Robert's father died, and his oldest brother, Richard the Third, succeeded to the ducal throne. In two years more, which years were spent in contention between the brothers, Richard also died, and then Robert himself came into possession of the castle in his own name, reigning there over all the cities and domains of Normandy. William was, of course, now about four years old. He was a bright and beautiful boy, and he grew more and more engaging every year. His father, instead of neglecting and disowning him, as it might have been supposed he would do, took a great deal of pride and pleasure in witnessing the gradual development of his powers and his increasing attractiveness, and he openly acknowledged him as his son. In fact, William was a universal favorite about the castle. When he was five and six years old, he was very fond of playing the soldier. He would marshal the other boys of the castle, his playmates, into a little troupe, and train them around the castle enclosures, just as ardent and aspiring boys do with their comrades now. He possessed a certain vivacity and spirit, too, which gave him even then a great ascendancy over his playfellows. He invented their plays, he led them in their mischief, he settled their disputes. In a word he possessed a temperament and character which enabled him very easily and strongly to hold a position which his rank as son of the Lord of the Castle so naturally assigned to him. A few years thus passed away, when at length Robert conceived the design of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This was a plan not of humble-minded piety, but of ambition for fame. To make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land was a romantic achievement that covered whoever accomplished it with a sort of psalm or glory, which in the case of a prince or potentate, mingled with and hallowed and exalted his military renown. Robert determined on making the pilgrimage. It was a distant and dangerous journey. In fact, the difficulties and dangers of the way were perhaps what chiefly imparted to the Enterprise its romance and gave it its charms. It was customary for kings and rulers before setting out to arrange all the affairs of their kingdom, to provide a regency to govern during their absence and to determine upon their successors, so as to provide for the very probable contingency of their not living to return. As soon therefore as Robert announced his plan of a pilgrimage, men's minds were turned immediately to the question of the secession. Robert had never been married, and he had, consequently, no son who was entitled to succeed him. He had two brothers, and also a cousin, and some other relatives, who had claims to the secession. These all began to maneuver among the chieftains and nobles, each endeavoring to prepare the way for having his own claims advanced, while Robert himself was secretly determining that the little William should be his heir. He said nothing about this, however, but he took care to magnify the importance of his little son in every way and to bring him as much as possible into public notice. William, on his part, possessed so much personal beauty and so many juvenile accomplishments that he became a great favorite with all the nobles and chieftains and knights who saw him, sometimes at his father's castle and sometimes away from home, in their own fortresses or towns, where his father took him from time to time in his train. At length, when affairs were ripe for their consummation, Duke Robert called together a great council of all the subordinate dukes and earls and barons of his realm to make known to them the plan of his pilgrimage. They came together from all parts of Normandy, each in a splendid cavalcade and attended by an armed retinue of retainers. When the assembly had been convened and the preliminary forms and ceremonies had been disposed of, Robert announced his grand design. As soon as he had concluded one of the nobles, whose name and title was Key, Count of Burgundy, rose and addressed the Duke in reply. He was sorry, he said, to hear that the Duke, his cousin, entertained such a plan. He feared for the safety of the realm when the chief ruler should be gone. All the estates of the realm, he said, the barons, the knights, the chieftains, and soldiers of every degree would all be without a head. Not so, said Robert, I will leave you a master in my place. Then, pointing to the beautiful boy by his side, he added, I have a little fellow here, who, though he is little now, I acknowledge will grow bigger by and by, with God's grace, and I have great hopes that he will become a brave and gallant man. I present him to you, and from this time forth I give him season of the Duchy of Normandy as my known and acknowledged heir. And I appoint Allah, Duke of Brittany, Governor of Normandy, in my name until I shall return, and in case I shall not return, in the name of William my son, until he shall become of manly age. The assembly was taken wholly by surprise at this announcement. Allah, Duke of Brittany, who was one of the chief claimants to the secession, was pleased with the honour conferred upon him in making him at once the Governor of the realm, and was inclined to prefer the present certainty of governing at once, in the name of others, to the remote contingency of reigning in his own. The other claimants to the inheritance were confounded by the suddenness of the emergency, and knew not what to say or do. The rest of the assembly were pleased with the romance of having the beautiful boy for their futile sovereign. The Duke saw at once that everything was favourable to the accomplishment of his design. He took the lad in his arms, kissed him, and held him out in view of the assembly. William gazed around upon the panoplyd warriors before him with a bright and beaming eye. They knelt down, as by a common accord to do him homage, and then took the oath of perpetual allegiance and fidelity to his cause. Robert thought, however, that it would not be quite prudent to leave his son himself in the custody of these rivals. So he took him with him to Paris when he set out upon his pilgrimage, with a view of establishing him there in the court of Henry, the French king, while he should himself be gone. Young William was presented to the French king on a day set apart for the ceremony with great pomp and parade. The king held a special court to receive him. He seated himself on his throne in a grand department of his palace, and was surrounded by his nobles and officers of state, all magnificently dressed for the occasion. At the proper time, Duke Robert came in, dressed in his pilgrim's garb, and leading young William by the hand. His attendant pilgrim knights accompanied him. Robert led the boy to the feet of their common sovereign, and kneeling there ordered William to kneel, too, to do homage to the king. King Henry received him very graciously. He embraced him, and promised to receive him into his court, and to take the best possible care of him while his father was away. The courtiers were very much struck with the beauty and noble bearing of the boy. His countenance beamed with an animated, but yet very serious expression, as he was somewhat awed by the splendor of the scene around him. He was himself then nine years old. Chapter 3 of William the Conqueror After spending a little time at Paris, Robert took leave of the king and of William his son, and went forth with the train of attendant knights on his pilgrimage. He had a great variety of adventures which cannot be related here, as it is the history of the son and not of the father, which is the subject of this narrative. Though he traveled strictly as a pilgrim, it was still with great pomp and parade. After visiting Rome, and accomplishing various services and duties connected with his pilgrimage there, he laid aside his pilgrim's garb, and assuming his proper rank as a great Norman chieftain, he went to Constantinople, where he made a great display of his wealth and his magnificence. At the time of the grand procession, for example, by which he entered the city of Constantinople, he rode a mule, which, besides being gorgeously capparisoned, had shows of gold instead of iron, and these shows were purposely attached so slightly to the fooves, that they were shaken off as the animal walked along to be picked up by the populace. This was to impress them with grand ideas of the rider's wealth and splendor. After leaving Constantinople, Robert resumed his pilgrim's garb, and went on toward the holy land. The journey, however, did not pass without the usual vicissitudes of so long an absence and so distant a pilgrimage. At one time Robert was sick, and after lingering for some time in a fever, he so far recovered his strength as to be born on a litter by the strength of other men, though he could not advance himself either on horseback or on foot. And as for traveling carriages, there had been no such invention in those days. They made arrangements, therefore, for carrying the duke on a litter. There were sixteen Moorish slaves employed to serve as his bearers. This company was divided into sets, four in each, the several sets taking the burden in rotation. Robert and his attendant knights looked down with great contempt on these black-pagian slaves. One day the cavalcade was met by a Norman who was returning home to Normandy after having accomplished his pilgrimage. He asked Duke Robert if he had any message to send to his friends at home. Yes, Sadi, tell them you saw me here on my way to paradise, carried by sixteen demons. Robert reached Jerusalem and set out on his return, and soon after rumors came back to Paris that he had died on his way home. The accounts of the manner of his death were contradictory and uncertain, but the fact was soon made sure, and the news produced everywhere a great sensation. It soon appeared that the brothers and cousins of Robert, who had claimed the right to succeed him in preference to his son William, had only suspended their claims. They had not abandoned them. They began to gather their forces each in his own separate domain and to prepare to take the field if necessary in vindication of what they considered their rights to the inheritance. In a word, their oath of fealty to William were all forgotten, and each claimant was intent only on getting possession himself of the ducal crown. In the meantime William himself was at Paris, and only eleven years of age. He had been receiving a careful education there, and was a very prepossessing and accomplished young prince. Still, he was yet but a mere boy. He had been under the care of a military tutor whose name was Theruld. Theruld was a veteran soldier who had long been in the employ of the King of France. He took great interest in his young pupil's progress. He taught him to ride and to practice all the evolutions of horsemanship, which were required by the tactics of those days. He trained him, too, in the use of arms, the bow and arrow, the javelin, the sword, the spear, and accustomed him to wear and to exercise in the armor of steel, with which warriors were used in those days to load themselves in, going into battle. Young princes like William had suits of this armor made for them of small size, which they were accustomed to wear in private in their military exercises and trainings, and to appear in publicly on great occasions of state. These dresses of iron were, of course, very heavy and uncomfortable, but the young princes and dukes were nevertheless very proud and happy to wear them. While William was thus engaged in pursuing his military education in Paris, several competitors for his dukedom immediately appeared in Normandy and took the feed. The strongest and most prominent among them was the Earl of Arche. His name was William, too, but to distinguish him from the young duke we shall call him Arche. He was a brother of Robert and maintained that as Robert left no lawful air, he was indisputably entitled to succeed him. Arche assembled his forces and prepared to take possession of the country. It will be recollected that Robert, when he left Normandy in setting out on his pilgrimage, had appointed a nobleman named Alarm to act as regent or governor of the country until he should return or in case he should never return until William should become of age. Alarm had a council of officers called the Council of Regency with whose aid he managed the administration of the government. This council with Alarm at their head proclaimed young William duke and immediately began to act in his name. When they found that the Earl of Arche was preparing to cease the government, they began to assemble their forces also, and thus both sides prepared for war. Before they actually commenced hostilities, however, the pilgrim knights who had accompanied Robert on his pilgrimage and who had been journeying home slowly by themselves ever since their leader's death arrived in Normandy. These were chief tains and nobles of high rank and influence, and each of the contending parties were eager to have them join their side. Beside the actual addition of force which these men could bring to the course they should dispose, the moral support they would give to it was a very important consideration. There having been on this long and dangerous pilgrimage, invested them with a sort of romantic and religious interest in the minds of all people who looked up to them in consequence of it with a sort of veneration and aive, and then as they had been selected by Robert to accompany him on his pilgrimage, and had gone on the long and dangerous journey with him, continuing to attend upon him until he died, they were naturally regarded as his most faithful and confidential friends. For these and similar reasons, it was obvious that the course which they should espouse in the approaching contest would gain a large accession of moral power by their adhersion. As soon as they arrived in Normandy, rejecting all proposals from other quarters, they joined Young William's course with the outmost promptitude and decision. Helann received them at once into his councils, an assembly was convened, and the question was discussed whether William should be sent for to come to Normandy. Some argued that he was yet a mere boy incapable of rendering them any real service in the impending contest, while he would be exposed, more perhaps than they themselves, to be taken captive or slain. They thought it best therefore that he should remain for the present in Paris under the protection of the French king. Others on the other hand contended that the influence of William's presence boy as he was would animate and inspire all his followers, and awaken everywhere throughout the country a warm interest in his course, that his very tenderness and helplessness would appeal strongly to every generous heart, and that his youthful accomplishments and personal charms would enlist thousands in his favor, who would forget and perhaps abandon him if he kept away. Besides, it was by no means certain that he was so safe as some might suppose in King Henry's custody and power. King Henry might himself lay claims to the vacant duchy, with the view of bestowing it upon some favorite of his own, in which case he might confine Young William in one of his castles in an honorable but still rigid and hopeless captivity, or treacherously destroy his life by the secret administration of poison. These latter councils prevailed. Alan and the nobles who were with him sent an embassage to the court of King Henry to bring William home. Henry made objections and difficulties. This alarmed the nobles. They feared that it would prove true that Henry himself had his signs on Normandy. They sent a new embassage with demands more urgent than before. Finally, after some time spent in negotiations and delays, King Henry concluded to yield, and William set out on his return. He was now about twelve or thirteen years old. His military tutor, Theruld, accompanied him, and he was attended likewise by the ambassadors whom Alan had sent for him, and by a strong escort for his protection, by the way. He arrived in safety at Alan's headquarters. William's presence in Normandy had the effect which had been anticipated from it. It awakened everywhere a great deal of enthusiasm in his favor. The soldiers were pleased to see how handsome their young commander was in form and how finely he could ride. He was in fact a very superior equestrian for one so young. He was more fond even than other boys of horses, and as of course the most graceful and the fleetest horses which could be found were provided for him, and as Theruld had given him the best and most complete instruction, he made a fine display as he rode swiftly through the camp, followed by veteran nobles splendidly dressed and mounted, and happy to be in his train, while his own countenance beamed with a radiance in which native intelligence and beauty were heightened by the animation and excitement of pride and pleasure. In respect to the command of the army, of course the real power remained in Alan's hands, but everything was done in William's name, and in respect to all external marks and symbols of sovereignty, the beautiful boys seemed to possess the supreme command, and as the sentiment of loyalty is always the strongest when the object which calls for the exercise of it is most helpless or frail, Alan found his power very much increased when he had this beautiful boy to exhibit as the true and rightful heir, in whose name and for whose benefit all his power was held. Till, however, the country was very far from becoming settled. The Earl of Ark kept the field and other claimants too strengthened themselves in their various castles and towns as if preparing to resist. In those days every separate district of the country was almost a separate realm governed by its own baron who lived with his retainers, within his own castle walls, and ruled the land around him with a rod of iron. These barons were engaged in perpetual quarrels among themselves, each plundering the dominions of the rest, or making hostile incursions into the territories of a neighbor to revenge some real or imaginary wrong. This turbulence and disorder prevailed everywhere throughout Normandy at the time of William's return. In the general confusion, William's government scarcely knew who were his friends or his enemies. At one time when a deputation was sent to some of the barons in William's name, summoning them to come with their forces and join his standard, as they were in duty bound to do, they felt independent enough to send back word to him that they had too much to do in settling their own quarrels to be able to pay any attention to his. In the course of a year or two, moreover, and while his own realm continued in this unsettled and distracted state, William became involved in what was almost a quarrel with King Henry himself. When he was fifteen years old, which was two or three years after his return from Paris to Normandy, Henry sent directions to William to come to a certain town called Evreux, situated about half way between Falaise and Paris, and just within the confines of Normandy, to do homage to him there for his duchy. There was some doubt among William's counselors whether it would be most prudent to obey or disobey this command. They finally concluded that it was best to obey. Grant preparations were accordingly made for the expedition, and when all was ready, the young duke was conducted in great state and with much pomp and parade to meet his sovereign. The interview between William and his sovereign and the ceremonies connected with it lost some days. In the course of this time, William remained at Evreux and was in some sense, of course, in Henry's power. William having been so long in Henry's court as a mere boy, accustomed all the time to look up and to obey Henry as a father, regarded him somewhat in that light now, and approached him with great deference and respect. Henry received him in a somewhat haughty and imperious manner, as if he considered him still under the same subjection as here to fall. William had a fortress or castle on the frontiers of his stuptome toward Henry's dominions. The name of the castle was Thélière, and the governor of it was a faithful old soldier named Décrespin. William's father, Robert, had entrusted Décrespin with the command of the castle and given him a garrison to defend it. Henry now began to make complaint to William in respect to this castle. The garrison, he said, were continually making incursions into his dominions. William replied that he was very sorry that there was cause for such a complaint. He would inquire into it, and if the fact were really so, he would have the evil immediately corrected. Henry replied that that was not sufficient. You must deliver the castle up to me, he said, to be destroyed. William was indignant at such a demand, but he was so accustomed to obey implicitly whatever King Henry might require of him, that he sent the order to have the castle surrendered. Then however the order came to Décrespin, the governor of the castle. He refused to obey it. The fortress, he said, had been committed to his charge by Robert Duke of Normandy, and he should not give it up to the possession of any foreign power. When this answer was reported to William and his counselors, it made them still more indignant than before at the domineering tyranny of the command, and more disposed than ever to refuse obedience to it. Still William was in a great measure in the monarch's power. On cool reflection they perceived that resistance would then be vain. New and more authoritative orders were accordingly issued for the surrender of the castle. Décrespin now obeyed. He gave up the keys and withdrew with his garrison. William was then allowed to leave Evreux and return home, and soon afterwards the castle was razed to the ground. This affair produced of course a great deal of animosity and irritation between the governments of France and Normandy, and where such a state of feeling exists between two powers separated only by an imaginary line running through a populous and fertile country, aggressions from one side and from the other are sure to follow. These are soon succeeded by acts of retaliation and revenge leading in the end to an open and general war. It was so now. Henry marched his armies into Normandy, seized towns, destroyed castles, and where he was resisted by the people, he laid waste the country with fire and sword. He finally laid siege to the very castle of Phalaise. William and his government were for a time nearly overwhelmed with the tide of disaster and calamity. The tide turned, however, at length, and the fortune of war inclined in their favor. William rescued the town and castle of Phalaise. It was in a very remarkable manner, too, that this exploit was accomplished. The fortress was closely invested with Henry's forces and was on the very eve of being surrendered. The story is that Henry had offered bribes to the governor of the castle to give it up to him, and that the governor had agreed to receive them and to betray his trust. While he was preparing to do so, William arrived at the head of a resolute and determined band of Normans. They came with so sudden an onset upon the army of the sewers as to break up their camp and force them to abandon their siege. The people of the town and the garrison of the castle were extremely rejoiced to be thus rescued, and when they came to learn through whose instrumentality they had been saved and saw the beautiful horsemen whom they remembered as a gay and happy child playing about the precincts of the castle, they were perfectly intoxicated with delight. They filled the air with the wildest acclamations and welcomed William back to the home of his childhood with manifestations of the most extravagant joy. As to the traitorous governor he was dealt with very leniently, perhaps the general feeling of joy awakened emotions of leniency and forgiveness in William's mind, or perhaps the proof against the betrayer was incomplete. They did not therefore take his life, which would have been justly fortified according to the military ideas of the times if he had been really guilty. They depred him of his command, confiscated his property, and let him go free. After this, William's forces continued for some time to make head successfully against those of the King of France, but then, on the other hand, the danger from his uncle, the Earl of Arc, increased. The Earl took advantage of the difficulty and danger in which William was involved in his contest with King Henry, and began to organize his forces again. He fortified himself in his castle at Arc, and was collecting a large force there. Arc was in the northeastern part of Normandy, near by the sea, where the ruins of the ancient castle still remain. The Earl built an almost impregnable tower for himself on the summit of the rock, on which the castle stood in a situation so inaccessible that he thought he could retreat to it in any emergency, with a few chosen followers and bid defiance to any assault. Then and around his castle, the Earl had got quite a large army together. William advanced with his forces, and, encamping around them, shut them in. King Henry, who was then in a distant part of Normandy, began to put his army in motion to come to the rescue of Arc. Things being in this state, William left a strong body of men to continue the investment and siege of Arc, and went off himself at the head of the remainder of his force to intercept Henry on his advance. The result was a battle and victory, gained under circumstances so extraordinary that William Jung as he was acquired by his exploits a brilliant and universal renown. It seems that Henry in this progress to Arc had to pass through a long and gloomy valley, which was bounded on either side by precipitous and forest-covered hills. Through this dangerous defile, the long train of Henry's army was to advancing, arranged and marshaled in such an order as seemed to afford the greatest hope of security in case of an attack. First came the vanguard, a strong escort formed of heavy bodies of soldiery armed with battle axes and pikes, and other similar weapons, the most efficient then known. Immediately after this vanguard came a long train of baggage, the tents, the provisions, the stores, and all the munitions of war. The baggage was followed by great company of servants, the cooks, the carters, the laborers, the camp followers of every description, a throng of non-combatants, useless of course in a battle, and a burden on a march, and yet the inseparable and indispensable attendant of an army, whether addressed or in motion. After this throng came the main body of the army, where the king escorted by his guard of honor at the head of it. An active and efficient corpse of lancers and men at arms brought up the rear. Then conceived the design of drawing this cumbersome and unmanageable body into an ambuscade. He selected accordingly the narrowest and most dangerous part of the defile for the purpose, and stationed vast numbers of Norman soldiers armed with javelins and arrows on the slopes of the hill on either side, concealing them all carefully among the thickets and rocks. He then marshaled the remainder of his forces in the valley, and sent them up the valley to meet Henry as he was descending. This body of troops which was to advance openly to meet the king, as if they constituted the whole of William's force were to fight a pretended battle with the vanguard, and then to retreat in hopes to draw the whole train after them in pursuit so eager as to throw them into confusion. And then when the column thus disarranged should reach the place of ambuscade, the Norman's were to come down upon them suddenly from their hiding places and complete their disconfiture. The plan was well laid and wisely and bravely executed, and it was most triumphantly successful in its result. The vanguard of Henry's army were deceived by the pretended flight of the Norman detachment. They supposed too that it constituted the whole body of their enemies. They pressed forward, therefore, with great exultation and eagerness to pursue them. News of the attack and of the apparent repulse with which the French soldiers had met it passed rapidly along the valley, producing everywhere the wildest excitement, and an eager decide to press forward to the scene of conflict. The whole valley was filled with shouts and outcries, baggage was abandoned that those who were charged of it might hurry on. Then ran to and fro for tidings or ascended eminences to try to see. Horsemen drew at full speed from front to rear, and from rear on to the front again. Orders and counter-orders were given, which nobody would understand or attend to in the general confusion and din. In fact, the universal attention seemed absorbed in one general and eager desire to press forward with headlong impetuosity to the scene of victory and pursuit, which they supposed was enacting in the van. The army pressed on in this confused and excited manner until they reached the place of ambush gate. They went on too through this narrow passage, as heedlessly as ever. And when the densest and most powerful portion of the column was crowding through, they were suddenly thunderstruck by the issuing of a thousand weapons from the heights and thickets above them on either hand. A dreadful shower of arrows, javelins and spears which struck down hundreds in a moment and overwhelmed the rest with astonishment and terror. As soon as this first discharge had been effected, the concealed enemy came pouring down the sides of the mountain, springing out from a thousand hiding places as if suddenly brought into being by some magic power. The disconfiture of Henry's forces was complete and irremediable. The men fled everywhere in utter dismay, trampling upon and destroying one another as they crowded back in terrified throngs to find some place of safety up the valley. There after a day or two, Henry got together the scattered remains of his army and established something like a camp. It is a curious illustration of the fatal feelings of those times in respect to the gradation of ranks or else of the extraordinary modesty and good sense of William's character that he assumed no heirs of superiority over his sovereign and showed no signs of extravagant elation after this battle. He sent a respectful embossage to Henry, recognizing his own acknowledged subjection to Henry as his sovereign and imploring his protection. He looked confidentially to him, he said, for aid and support against his rebellious subjects. Though he thus professed, however, to rely on Henry, he really trusted most, it seems, to his own right arm, for as soon as this battle was fairly over and while the whole country was excited with the astonishing brilliancy of the exploit performed by so a young man, William mounted his horse, and calling upon those to follow him who wished to do so, he rode at full speed at the head of a small cavalcade to the castle of Arps. His sudden appearance here, with the news of the victory, inspired the big-seagr so such a degree that the castle was soon taken. He allowed the rebel earl to escape and thus perhaps all the more effectually put an end to the rebellion. He was now in a peaceable possession of Israel. He went in triumph to Fales, where he was solemnly crowned with great ceremony and parade, and all Normandy was filled with congratulations and rejoicings. End of chapter 3 of William the Conqueror by Jacob Abbott. Read by Lars Rolander. Chapter 4 of William the Conqueror This is a LibriVox recording, all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Reading by Lars Rolander. William the Conqueror by Jacob Abbott. Chapter 4 William's Rain in Normandy From the time of William's obtaining quiet possession of Israel to his invasion of England, a long period intervened. There was a lapse of more than twenty years. During this long interval, William governed his starchy, suppressed insurrections, built castles and towns, carried on wars, regulated civil institutions, and in fact exercised in a very energetic and successful manner all the functions of government. His life being diversified all the time by the usual incidents which marked the career of a great military ruler of an independent realm in the Middle Ages. We will give in this chapter a description of some of these incidents. On one occasion, a conspiracy was formed to take his life by secret assassination. A great chieftain named Guy of Burgundy, William's uncle, was the leader of it. And a half-witted man named Gallet, who occupied the place of jester or fool in William's court, was the means of discovering and exposing it. These gestures of whom there was always one or more in the retinue of every great prince in those days were either very eccentric or very foolish or half insane men who were dressed fantastically in gaudy colors and with cap and bells and were kept to make amusement for the court. The name of William's jester was Gallet. Guy of Burgundy and his fellow conspirators occupied certain gloomy castles built in remote and lonely situations on the confines of Normandy. Here they were accustomed to assembled for the purpose of concocting their plans and gathering their men and their resources, doing everything in their most cunning and secret manner. Before their scheme was fully ripe for execution, it happened that William made a hunting excursion into the neighborhood of their territory with a small band of followers, such as would be naturally got together on such a party of pleasure. Gallet, the fool, was among them. As soon as Guy and his fellow conspirators learned that William was so near, they determined to precipitate the execution of their plan and waylay and assassinate him on his return. They accordingly left their secret and lonely rendezvous among the mountains one by one in order to avoid attracting observation and went to a town called Bayeux through which they supposed that William would have to pass on his return. Here they held secret consultations and formed their final plans. They sent out a part of their number in small bands into the new region of country which William would have to cross to occupy the various roads and passes and thus to cut off all possibility of his escape. They made all these arrangements in the most secret and cautious manner and began to think that they were sure of their prey. It happened, however, that some of William's attendance with Gallet the fool among them had preceded William on his return and had reached Bayeux at the time when the conspirators arrived there. The townspeople did not observe the coming of the conspirators particularly as many horsemen and soldiers were coming and going at that time and they had no means of distinguishing the Duke's friends from his enemies. But Gallet, as he sauntered about the town, noticed that there were many soldiers and knights to be seen who were not of his master's party. This attracted his attention. He began to watch the motions of these strangers and to listen without seeming to listen in order to catch the words they spoke to each other as they talked in groups or passed one another in the streets. He was soon satisfied that some mischief was intended. He immediately threw aside his cap and bells and his fantastic dress and taking a staff in his hand he set off on foot to go back as fast as possible in search of the Duke and give him the alarm. He found the Duke at a village called Valonge. He arrived there at night. He pressed forward hastily to his master's chamber, half forcing his way through the attendance who accustomed to the liberties with such a personage as he was accustomed to take on all occasions, made only a feeble resistance to his wishes. He found the Duke asleep and he called upon him with a very earnest voice to awake and rise immediately for his life was in danger. William was at first inclined to disbelieve the story which Gallet told him and to think that there was no cause to fear. He was however soon convinced that Gallet was right and that there was reason for alarm. He rose and dressed himself hastily and inasmuch as a monarch in the first moments of the discovery of a reasonable plot knows not what tune to trust, William wisely concluded not to trust anybody. He went himself to the stables, saddled his horse with his own hand, mounted him and rode away. He had a very narrow escape for at the same time while Gallet was hastening to Valonge to give his master warning of his danger, the conspirators had been advancing to the same place and had completely surrounded it and they were on the eve of making an attack upon William's quarters at the very hour when he set out upon his flight. William had accordingly proceeded only a little way on his route before he heard the footsteps of galloping horses and the clanking of arms on the road behind him. It was a troop of the conspirators coming who finding that William had fled had set off immediately in pursuit. William rode hastily into a wood and let them go by. He remained for some time in his hiding place and then cautiously emerged from it to continue his way. He did not dare to keep the public road, although it was night but took a wild and circuitous route in lanes and bypass which conducted him at length to the vicinity of the sea. Here, about daybreak, he was passing a mansion supposing that no one would observe him at so early an hour when suddenly he perceived a man sitting at the gate armed and equipped and in an attitude of waiting. He was waiting for his horse. He was a noble man named Hubert. He recognized William immediately as the Duke and accosted him in a tone of astonishment saying, Why, my Lord Duke, is it possible that it is you? He was amazed to see the ruler on the realm out on such an hour in such a condition. Alone, exhausted, he stressed all in disorder from the haste with which he had put it on and his steed breathless and covered with dust and ready apparently to drop down with fatigu and extortion. William finding that he was recognized related his story. It appeared in the end that Hubert held his own castle and village as a tenant of one of the principal conspirators and was bound according to the fatal ideas of the time to espouse his landlord's course. He told William, however, that he had nothing to fear. I will defend your life, said he, as if it were my own. So, saying he called his three sons, who were all athletic and courageous young men, and commanded them to mount their horses and get ready for a march. He took William into his castle and gave him the food and refreshment that he needed. Then he brought him again into the courtyard of the house where William found the three young horsemen mounted and ready and a strong and fleet steed prepared for himself. He mounted. Hubert commanded his sons to conduct the prince with all dispatch to Falaise without traveling at all upon the highway or entering a town. They took accordingly a straight course across the country which was probably then as now nearly destitute of enclosures and conducted William safely to his castle at Falaise. In the course of the morning, William's pursuers came to Hubert's castle and asked if the duke had been seen going by. Hubert replied in the affirmative and he mounted his steed with great readiness to go and show them the road which the fugitive had taken. He urged them to ride hard in hopes of soon overtaking the object of their pursuit. They drew on accordingly with great impetuosity and ardour under Hubert's guidance but as he had purposely taken a wrong road he was only leading them further and further astray. Finally they gave up the chase and Hubert returned with the disappointed pursuers to his fortress. William having in the meantime arrived safely at Falaise. The conspirators now found that it was useless any longer to attempt to conceal their plans. In fact they were already all exposed and they knew that William would immediately summon his troops and come out to cease them. They must therefore either fly from the country or attempt an open rebellion. They decided on the latter. The result was a civil war. In the end William was victorious. He took a large number of the rebels' prisoners and he adopted the following very singular plan for inflicting a suitable punishment upon them and at the same time erecting a permanent monument of his victory. He laid out a public road across the country on the line over which he had been conducted by the sons of Hubert and compelled the rebels to make it. A great part of this country was low and marshy in for this reason avoided by the public road which took a circuitous course around it. The rebel prisoners were now however set at work to raise a terrace or embankment on a line surveyed by William's engineers which followed almost exactly the course of his retreat. The high road was then laid out upon this terrace and it became immediately a public thoroughfare of great importance. It continued for several centuries one of the most frequented highways in the realm and was known by the name of the raised road, Terre-le-Vee, throughout the kingdom. In fact the remains of it appearing like the ruins of an ancient railroad embankment exist to the present day. In the course of the war with these rebels a curious incident occurred at one of the battles or rather is said to have occurred by the historians who tell the story which if true illustrates very strikingly the romantic and chivalrous ideas of the times. Just as the battle was commencing William perceived a strong and finely quit body of horsemen preparing to charge upon the very spot where he himself surrounded by his officers was standing. Now the armor worn by knights in battle in those times covered and concealed the figure and the face so fully that it would have been impossible even for acquaintances and friends to recognize each other. Were it not that the knights were all accustomed to wear certain devices upon some part of their armor painted for instance upon their shields or embroidered on little banners which they bore by means of which they might be known. These devices became at length hereditary in the great families sons being proud to wear themselves the emblems to which the deeds of their fathers had imparted a trace of glory and renown. The devices of different chieftains were combined sometimes in cases of intermarriage or were modified in various ways and with these minor changes they would descend from generation to generation as the family coat of arms and this was the origin of heraldry. Now the body of horsemen that were advancing to the charge as above described had each of them his device upon a little flag or banner attached to their lances. As they were advancing, William scrutinized them closely and presently recognized in their leader a man who had formally been upon his side. His name was Rolo de Tessone. He was one of those who had sworn felt to him at the time when his father Robert presented him to the council when setting out upon his pilgrimage. William accordingly exclaimed with a loud voice, Why, these are my friends! The officers and the soldiers of the bodyguard who were with him taking up the cry shouted, Friends, friends! Rolo de Tessone and the other knights who were slowly coming up preparing to charge upon William's party surprised at being thus accosted, paused in their advance and finally halted. Rolo said to the other knights who gathered around him, I was his friend. I gave my oath to his father that I would stand by him and defend him with my life and now I have this morning sworn to the Count of Cottontown. The Count of Cottontown was the leader of the rebellion that I would seek out William on the battlefield and be the first to give him a blow. I know not what to do. Keep both oaths, replied one of his companions. Go and strike him a gentle blow and then defend him with your life. The whole troop seconded this proposal by acclamation. Rolo advanced followed by the other knights with gestures and shouts denoting that they were friends. He rode up to William, told him that he had that morning sworn to strike him and then dealt him a pretended blow upon his shoulder, but as both the shoulder and the hand which struck it were armed with steel, the clanking sound was all the effect that was produced. Rolo and his troop, sworn obligation to the Count of Cottontown being thus fulfilled, turned now into the ranks of William's soldiery and fought valiantly all day upon his side. All the William was generally victorious in the battles that he fought and succeeded in putting down one rebellion after another with promptness and decision. Still new rebellions and new wars were constantly breaking out which kept his dominions in a continual state of commotion. In fact the chief tains, the nobles and the knights constituting the only classes of society that exercised any influence or were regarded with any respect in those days were never contended except when actively employed in military campaigns. The excitement and the glory of war were the only excitements and glory that they understood or had the means of enjoying. Their dwellings were great fortresses built on the summits of the rocks which however picturesque and beautiful they appear as ruins now were very gloomy and desolate as residences then. They were attractive enough when their inmates were flying to them for refuge from an enemy or were employed within the walls in concentrating their forces and brightening up their arms for some new expedition for vengeance or plunder but they were lonely and lifeless scenes of restlessness and discontent in times of quietness and peace. It is difficult for us at this day to conceive how destitute of all the ordinary means of comfort and enjoyment in comparison with the modern dwelling the ancient fatal castles must have been. They were placed in situations as nearly inaccessible as possible and the natural impediments of approach were increased by walls and gates and ditches and drawbridges. The door of excess was often a window in the wall 10 or 15 feet from the ground to which the inmates of their friends mounted by a ladder. The floors were of stone, the walls were naked, the ceiling was a rudely constructed series of arches. The apartments too were ordinarily small and were arranged one above another in the successive stories of a tower. Nor could these cell-like chambers be enliven by the wide and cheerful windows of modern times which not only admit the light to animate the scene within but also afford to the spectator there widespread and sometimes enchanting views of the surrounding country. The castle windows of ancient days were, on the contrary, narrow loopholes each at the bottom of a deep recess in the thick wall. If they had been made wide they would have admitted too easily the arrows and javelins of the seagulls as well as the wind and rain of wintery storms. There were no books in those desolate dwellings, no furniture but armor, no pleasures but drinking and carousels. Nor could these noble and valiant knights and barons occupy themselves in any useful employment. There was nothing which it was respectable for them to do but to fight. They looked down with contempt upon all the industrial pursuits of life. The cultivation of farms, the rearing of flocks and herds, arts, manufactures and commerce, everything of this sort by which man can benefit his fellow man was entirely beneath them. In fact their descendants to the present day even in England entertain the same ideas. Their younger sons can enter the army or the navy and spend their lives in killing and destroying or in a waiting in idleness dissipation and vice for orders to kill and destroy without dishonor. But to engage in any way in those vast and magnificent operations of peaceful industry on which the truly greatness and glory of England depends would be perpetual and irretrievable disgrace. A young nobleman can serve in the most subordinate official capacity on board a man of war and take pay for it without degradation. But to build a man of war itself and take pay for it would be to compel his whole class to disown him. It was in consequence of this state of feeling among the knights and barons of William's day that peace was always tedious and irksome to them and they were never contended except when engaged in battles and campaigns. It was this feeling probably quite as much as any subtle hostility to William's right to reign that made his barons so eager to engage in insurrections and rebellions. There was, however, after all, a real and deep seated opposition to William's right of succession founded in the ideas of the day. They could not well endure that one of so humble and even ignomious birth on the mother's side should be the heir of so illustrious a line as the great dukes of Normandy. William's enemies were accustomed to designate him in proprio epithets derived from the circumstances of his birth. Though he was patient and enduring and often very generous in forgiving other injuries, these insults to the memory of his mother always stung him very deeply and awakened the strongest emotions of resentment. One instance of this was so conspicuous that it is recorded in almost all the histories of William that have been written. It was in the midst of one of the wars in which he was involved that he was advancing across the country to the attack of a strong castle which, in addition to the natural strength of its walls and fortifications, was defended by a numerous and powerful garrison. So confident, in fact, were the garrison in their number and power that when they heard that William was advancing to attack them, they sent out a detachment to meet him. This detachment, however, were not intending to give him open battle. Their plan was to lay in ambush gate and attack William's troops when they came to the spot and while they were unaware of the vicinity of an enemy and off their guard. William, however, they found was not off his guard. He attacked the ambush gate with so much bigger support the whole force immediately to flight. Of course, the fugitives directed their steps toward the castle. William and his soldiers followed them in headlong pursuit. The end was that the detachment from the garrison had scarcely time after making good their own entrance to raise the drawbridges and secure the gates so as to keep their pursuers from entering too. They did, however, succeed in doing this and William, establishing his troops about the castle, opened his lines and commenced a regular siege. The garrison were very naturally vexed and irritated at the bad success of their intended strategy. To have the ambush gate not only fail of its object but to have also the men that formed it driven thus ignomiously in and so narrowly escaping also the danger of letting in the whole troop of their enemies after them was a great disgrace. To retaliate upon William and to throw back upon him the feelings of modification and chagrin, which they felt themselves, they mounted the walls and towers and shouted out all sorts of reproaches and insults. Finally, when they found that they could not make mere words sufficiently stinging, they went and procured skins and hides and aprons of leather and everything else that they could find that was connected with the trade of a tanner and shook them at the troops of their assailants from the towers and walls with shouts of merriment and dirition. William was desperately enraged at these insults. He organized an assaulting party and by means of the great exertions which the ex-suspiration of his men stimulated them to make, he carried some of the artworks and took a number of prisoners. These prisoners he cut to pieces and then caused their bloody and mangled limbs and members to be thrown by great slings over the castle walls. At one time during the period which is included within the limits of this chapter and in the course of one of those intervals of peace and quietness within his own dominions which William sometimes enjoyed, the King of France became involved in a war with one of his own rebellious subjects and William went with an army of Normans to render him aid. King Henry was at first highly gratified at this prompt and effectual sucker but he soon afterwards began to feel jealous of the universal popularity and renown which the young Duke began soon to acquire. William was at that time only about 24 years old but he took the direction of everything moved to and fro with the utmost celerity planned the campaigns, directed the sieges and by his personal accomplishments and his bravery he won all hearts and was the subject of everybody's praises. King Henry found himself supplanted in some measure in the regard and honorable consideration of his subjects and he began to feel very envious and jealous of his arrival. Sometimes particular incidents would occur in which William's feats of provost or dexterity would so excite the admiration of the army that he would be overwhelmed with the acclamations and applause. These were generally exploits of combat on the field or of escape from pursuers when outnumbered in which good fortune had often perhaps quite as much to do in securing the result as strength or courage. But in those days a soldier's good luck was perhaps as much the subject of applause as his muscular force or his bravery and in fact it was as deservedly so for the strength of arm and the coolness or rather the ferocity of courage which make a good combatant in personal contests on a battlefield are qualities of brutes rather than of men. We feel a species of respect for them in the lion or tiger but they deserve only execration when exercised in the vantorness of hatreds or revenge by man against his brother man. One of the instances of William's extraordinary success was the following. He was reconnoitering the enemy on one occasion accompanied only by four or five knights who acted as his attendants and bodyguard. The party were at a distance from the camp of the enemy and suppose they were not observed. They were observed however and immediately a party of twelve chosen horsemen was formed in order to ride out and surprise them. This detachment concealed themselves in an ambush gate at a place where the reconnoitering party must pass and when the proper a moment arrived they burst out suddenly upon them and summoned them to surrender. Twelve against six seemed to render both flight and resistance equally vain. William however advanced immediately to the attack of the ambush gators. He poised his long lance and riding on with it at full speed he unhorsed and killed the foremost of them at a blow. Then just drawing back his weapon to gather strength for another blow he killed the second of his enemies in the same manner. His followers were so much animated at this successful onset that they advanced very resolutely to the combat. In the meantime the shouts carried the alarm to William's camp and a strong party set off to rescue William and his companions. The others then turned to fly while William followed them so eagerly and closely that he and they who were with him overtook and disabled seven of them and made them prisoners. The rest escaped. William and his party then turned and began to proceed toward their own camp conveying their prisoners in their train. They were met by King Henry himself at the head of a detachment of three hundred men who, not knowing how much necessity there might be for efficient aid, were hastening to the scene of action. The sight of William coming home victorious and the tales told by his companions of the invincible strength and daring which he had displayed in the sudden danger awakened a universal enthusiast and the plaudits and ecomiums with which the whole camp resounded were doubtless as delicious and intoxicating to him as they were bitter to the king. It was by such deeds and by such personal and mental characteristics as these that William notwithstanding the untoward influences of his birth fought his way during the twenty years of which we have been speaking into general favor and established a universal renown. He completely organized and arranged the internal affairs of his own kingdom and established himself firmly upon the ducal throne. His mind had become mature, his resources were well developed and his soul always ambitious and aspiring began to reach forward to the grasping of some grander objects of pursuit and to the entering upon some wider field of action than his starchy of Normandy could afford. During this interval, however, he was married and as the circumstances of his marriage were somewhat extraordinary, we must make that event the subject of a separate chapter. End of chapter 4 William's reign in Normandy Read by Lars Rolander