The History of England Part 17

139. W. Heming. p. 467. Flor. Wig. p. 648. Sim. Dunelm. p. 222.

Knyghton, p. 2564. [x] Eadmer, p. 35. W. Malm. p. 123. W. Heming.

p. 467.]

The smallness of this sum, with the difficulties which William found in raising it, suffices alone to refute the account which is heedlessly adopted by historians, of the enormous revenue of the Conqueror. Is it credible that Robert would consign to the rapacious hands of his brother such considerable dominion, for a sum, which, according to that account, made not a week's income of his father's English revenue alone? Or that the King of England could not on demand, without oppressing his subjects, have been able to pay him the money? The Conqueror, it is agreed, was frugal as well as rapacious; yet his treasure, at his death, exceeded not sixty thousand pounds, which hardly amounted to his income for two months: another certain refutation of that exaggerated account.

The fury of the crusades, during this age, less infected England than the neighbouring kingdoms; probably because the Norman conquerors, finding their settlement in that kingdom still somewhat precarious, durst not abandon their homes in quest of distant adventures. The selfish interested spirit also of the king, which kept him from kindling in the general flame, checked its progress among his subjects: and as he is accused of open profaneness [y], and was endued with a sharp wit [z], it is likely that he made the romantic chivalry of the crusaders the object of his perpetual raillery. As an instance of his irreligion, we are told, that he once accepted of sixty marks from a Jew, whose son had been converted to Christianity, and who engaged him by that present to a.s.sist him in bringing back the youth to Judaism. William employed both menaces and persuasion for that purpose; but finding the convert obstinate in his new faith, he sent for the father and told him, that as he had not succeeded, it was not just that he should keep the present; but as he had done his utmost, it was but equitable that he should be paid for his pains; and he would therefore retain only thirty marks of the money [a]. At another time, it is said, he sent for some learned Christian theologians and some rabbies, and bade them fairly dispute the question of their religion in his presence: he was perfectly indifferent between them; had his ears open to reason and conviction; and would embrace that doctrine which upon comparison should be found supported by the most solid arguments [b]. If this story be true, it is probable that he meant only to amuse himself by turning both into ridicule: but we must be cautious of admitting every thing related by the monkish historians to the disadvantage of this prince: he had the misfortune to be engaged in quarrels with the ecclesiastics, particularly with Anselm, commonly called St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury; and it is no wonder his memory should be blackened by the historians of that order.

[FN [y] G. Newbr. p. 358. W. Gemet. p. 292. [z] W. Malm. p. 122.

[a] Eadmer, p. 47. [b] W. Malm. p. 123.]

[MN Quarrel the Anselm, the primate.]

After the death of Lanfranc, the king, for several years, retained in his own hands the revenues of Canterbury, as he did those of many other vacant bishoprics; but falling into a dangerous sickness, he was seized with remorse, and the clergy represented to him, that he was in danger of eternal perdition, if before his death he did not make atonement for those multiplied impieties and sacrileges of which he had been guilty [c]. He resolved therefore to supply instantly the vacancy of Canterbury; and for that purpose he sent for Anselm, a Piedmontese by birth, Abbot of Bec in Normandy, who was much celebrated for his learning and piety. The abbot earnestly refused the dignity, fell on his knees, wept, and entreated the king to change his purpose [d]; and when he found the prince obstinate in forcing the pastoral staff upon him, he kept his fist so fast clenched, that it required the utmost violence of the bystanders to open it, and force him to receive that ensign of spiritual dignity [e]. William soon after recovered; and his pa.s.sions regaining their wonted vigour, he returned to his former violence and rapine. He detained in prison several persons whom he had ordered to be freed during the time of his penitence; he still preyed upon the ecclesiastical benefices; the sale of spiritual dignities continued as open as ever; and he kept possession of a considerable part of the revenues belonging to the see of Canterbury [f]. But he found in Anselm that persevering opposition which he had reason to expect from the ostentatious humility which that prelate had displayed in refusing his promotion.

[FN [c] Eadmer, p. 16. Chron. Sax. p. 198. [d] Eadmer, p. 17.

Diceto, p. 494. [e] Eadmer, p. 18. [f] Eadmer, p. 19, 43. Chron.

Sax. p. 119.]

The opposition made by Anselm was the more dangerous on account of the character of piety which he soon acquired in England by his great zeal against all abuses, particularly those in dress and ornament. There was a mode, which, in that age, prevailed throughout Europe, both among men and women, to give an enormous length to their shoes, to draw the toe to a sharp point, and to affix to it the figure of a bird's bill, or some such ornament, which was turned upwards, and which was often sustained by gold or silver chains tied to the knee [g]. The ecclesiastics took exception at this ornament, which they said was an attempt to belie the scripture, where it is affirmed, that no man can add a cubit to his stature; and they declaimed against it with great vehemence, nay, a.s.sembled some synods, who absolutely condemned it. But, such are the strange contradictions in human nature! though the clergy, at that time, could overturn thrones, and had authority sufficient to send above a million of men on THEIR errand to the deserts of Asia, they could never prevail against these long pointed shoes: on the contrary, that caprice, contrary to all other modes, maintained its ground during several centuries; and if the clergy had not at last desisted from their persecution of it, it might still have been the prevailing fas.h.i.+on in Europe.

[FN [g] Order. Vital. p. 682. W. Malmes. p. 123. Knyghton, p. 2369.]

But Anselm was more fortunate in decrying the particular mode which was the object of his aversion, and which probably had not taken such fast hold of the affections of the people. He preached zealously against the long hair and curled locks which were then fas.h.i.+onable among the courtiers; he refused the ashes on Ash-Wednesday to those who were so accoutred; and his authority and eloquence had such influence, that the young men universally abandoned that ornament, and appeared in the cropped hair, which was recommended to them by the sermons of the primate. The noted historian of Anselm, who was also his companion and secretary, celebrates highly this effort of his zeal and piety [h].

[FN [h] Eadmer, p. 23.]

When William's profaneness therefore returned to him with his health, he was soon engaged in controversies with this austere prelate. There was at that time a schism in the church between Urban and Clement, who both pretended to the papacy [i]; and Anselm, who, as Abbot of Bec, had already acknowledged the former, was determined, without the king's consent, to introduce his authority into England [k]. William, who, imitating his father's example, had prohibited his subjects from recognizing any pope whom he had not previously received, was enraged at this attempt; and summoned a synod at Rockingham, with an intention of deposing Anselm: but the prelate's suffragans declared, that without the papal authority, they knew of no expedient for inflicting that punishment on their primate [l]. The king was at last engaged by other motives to give the preference to Urban's t.i.tle: Anselm received the pall from that pontiff; and matters seemed to be accommodated between the king and the primate [m], when the quarrel broke out afresh from a new cause. William had undertaken an expedition against Wales, and required the archbishop to furnish his quota of soldiers for that service; but Anselm, who regarded the demand as an oppression on the church, and yet durst not refuse compliance, sent them so miserably accoutred, that the king was extremely displeased, and threatened him with a prosecution [n]. Anselm, on the other hand, demanded positively that all the revenues of his see should be restored to him; appealed to Rome against the king's injustice [o]; and affairs came to such extremities, that the primate, finding it dangerous to remain in the kingdom, desired and obtained the king's permission to retire beyond sea. All his temporalities were seized [p]; but he was received with great respect by Urban, who considered him as a martyr in the cause of religion, and even menaced the king on account of his proceedings against the primate and the church, with the sentence of excommunication. Anselm a.s.sisted at the council of Bari, where, besides fixing the controversy between the Greek and Latin churches, concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost [q], the right of election to church preferments was declared to belong to the clergy alone, and spiritual censures were denounced against all ecclesiastics, who did homage to laymen for their sees or benefices, and against all laymen who exacted it [r]. The right of homage, by the feudal customs, was, that the va.s.sal should throw himself on his knees, should put his joined hands between those of his superior, and should in that posture swear fealty to him [s]. But the council declared it execrable, that pure hands, which could create G.o.d, and could offer him up as a sacrifice for the salvation of mankind, should be put, after this humiliating manner, between profane hands, which, besides being inured to rapine and bloodshed, were employed day and night in impure purposes, and obscene contacts [t]. Such were the reasonings prevalent in that age; reasonings which, though they cannot be pa.s.sed over in silence, without omitting the most curious, and perhaps not the least instructive part of history, can scarcely be delivered with the requisite decency and gravity.

[FN [i] Hoveden, p. 463. [k] Eadmer, p. 25. M. Paris, p. 13.

Diceto, p. 494. Spellm. Conc. vol ii. p. 16. [l] Eadmer, p. 30. [m]

Diceto, p. 495. [n] Eadmer, p. 37, 43. [o] Ibid. p. 40. [p] M.

Paris, p. 13. Parker, p. 178. [q] Eadmer, p. 49. M. Paris, p. 13.

Sim. Dun. p. 224. [r] M. Paris, p. 14. [s] Spellman, Du Cange, in verb. HOMINIUM. [t] W. Heming. p. 467. Flor. Wigorn. p. 649. Sim.

Dunelm. p. 224. Brompton, p. 994.]

[MN 1097.] The cession of Normandy and Maine by Duke Robert increased the king's territories; but brought him no great increase of power, because of the unsettled state of those countries, the mutinous disposition of the barons, and the vicinity of the French king, who supported them in all their insurrections. Even Helie, Lord of La Fleche, a small town in Anjou, was able to give him inquietude; and this great monarch was obliged to make several expeditions abroad, without being able to prevail over so petty a baron, who had acquired the confidence and affections of the inhabitants of Maine. He was, however, so fortunate as at last to take him prisoner in a rencounter; but having released him at the intercession of the French king and the Count of Anjou, he found the province of Maine still exposed to his intrigues and incursions. Helie, being introduced by the citizens into the town of Mans, besieged the garrison in the citadel: [MN 1099.] William, who was hunting in the new forest when he received intelligence of this hostile attempt, was so provoked, that he immediately turned his horse, and galloped to the sea-sh.o.r.e at Dartmouth; declaring, that he would not stop a moment till he had taken vengeance for the offence. He found the weather so cloudy and tempestuous, that the mariners thought it dangerous to put to sea: but the king hurried on board, and ordered them to set sail instantly; telling them, that they never yet heard of a king that was drowned [u]. By this vigour and celerity, he delivered the citadel of Mans from its present danger: and pursuing Helie into his own territories, he laid siege to Majol, a small castle in those parts: [MN 1100.] but a wound, which he received before this place, obliged him to raise the siege; and he returned to England.

[FN [u] W. Malm. p. 124. H. Hunt. p. 378. M. Paris, p. 36. Ypod.

Neust p. 442.]

The weakness of the greatest monarchs, during this age, in their military expeditions against their nearest neighbours, appears the more surprising, when we consider the prodigious numbers which even petty princes, seconding the enthusiastic rage of the people, were able to a.s.semble, and to conduct in dangerous enterprises to the remote provinces of Asia. William, Earl of Poitiers and Duke of Guienne, inflamed with the glory, and not discouraged by the misfortunes, which had attended the former adventurers in the crusades, had put himself at the head of an immense mult.i.tude, computed by some historians to amount to sixty thousand horse, and a much greater number of foot [w], and he purposed to lead them into the Holy Land against the infidels. He wanted money to forward the preparations requisite for this expedition, and he offered to mortgage all his dominions to William, without entertaining any scruple on account of that rapacious and iniquitous hand to which he resolved to consign them [x]. The king accepted the offer, and had prepared a fleet and an army, in order to escort the money, and take possession of the rich provinces of Guienne and Poictou; [MN 2d August.] when an accident put an end to his life, and to all his ambitious projects.

He was engaged in hunting, the sole amus.e.m.e.nt, and indeed the chief occupation of princes in those rude times, when society was little cultivated, and the arts afforded few objects worthy of attention.

Walter Tyrrel, a French gentleman, remarkable for his address in archery, attended him in this recreation, of which the new forest was the scene; and as William had dismounted after a chase, Tyrrel, impatient to show his dexterity, let fly an arrow at a stag, which suddenly started before him. The arrow, glancing from a tree, struck the king in the breast, and instantly slew him [y]; while Tyrrel, without informing any one of the accident, put spurs to his horse, hastened to the sea-sh.o.r.e, embarked for France, and joined the crusade in an expedition to Jerusalem; a penance which he imposed on himself for this involuntary crime. The body of William was found in the forest by the country people, and was buried without any pomp or ceremony at Winchester. His courtiers were negligent in performing the last duties to a master who was so little beloved; and every one was too much occupied in the interesting object of fixing his successor, to attend the funeral of a dead sovereign.

[FN [w] W. Malm. p. 149. The whole is said by Order. Vital., p. 789, to amount to three hundred thousand men. [x] W. Malmes. p. 127. [y]

Ibid. p. 126. H. Hunt. p. 378. M. Paris, p. 37. Petr. Blois, p.

110.]

[MN Death and character of William Rufus.]

The memory of this monarch is transmitted to us with little advantage by the churchmen, whom he had offended; and though we may suspect, in general, that their account of his vices is somewhat exaggerated, his conduct affords little reason for contradicting the character which they have a.s.signed him, or for attributing to him any very estimable qualities. He seems to have been a violent and tyrannical prince; a perfidious, encroaching, and dangerous neighbour; an unkind and ungenerous relation. He was equally prodigal and rapacious in the management of his treasury; and if he possessed abilities, he lay so much under the government of impetuous pa.s.sions, that he made little use of them in his administration; and he indulged, without reserve, that domineering policy, which suited his temper, and which, if supported, as it was in him, with courage and vigour, proves often more successful in disorderly times, than the deepest foresight and most refined artifice.

The monuments which remain of this prince in England, are the Tower, Westminster-hall, and London-bridge, which he built. The most laudable foreign enterprise which he undertook, was the sending of Edgar Atheling, three years before his death, into Scotland with a small army, to restore Prince Edgar, the true heir of that kingdom, son of Malcolm, and of Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling; and the enterprise proved successful. It was remarked in that age, that Richard, an elder brother of William's, perished by an accident in the new forest; Richard, his nephew, natural son of Duke Robert, lost his life in the same place, after the same manner; and all men, upon the king's fate, exclaimed, that, as the Conqueror had been guilty of extreme violence, in expelling all the inhabitants of that large district to make room for his game, the just vengeance of Heaven was signalized, in the same place, by the slaughter of his posterity.

William was killed in the thirteenth year of his reign, and about the fortieth of his age. As he was never married, he left no legitimate issue.

In the eleventh year of this reign, Magnus, King of Norway, made a descent on the Isle of Anglesea, but was repulsed by Hugh, Earl of Shrewsbury. This is the last attempt made by the northern nations upon England. That restless people seem about this time to have learnt the practice of tillage, which thenceforth kept them at home, and freed the other nations of Europe from the devastations spread over them by those piratical invaders. This proved one great cause of the subsequent settlement and improvement of the southern nations.

CHAPTER VI.

HENRY I.

THE CRUSADES.--ACCESSION OF HENRY.--MARRIAGE OF THE KING.--INVASION BY DUKE ROBERT.--ACCOMMODATION WITH ROBERT.?ATTACK OF NORMANDY.--CONQUEST OF NORMANDY.--CONTINUATION OF THE QUARREL WITH ANSELM, THE PRIMATE.-- COMPROMISE WITH HIM.?WARS ABROAD.--DEATH OF PRINCE WILLIAM.--KING'S SECOND MARRIAGE.--DEATH AND CHARACTER OF HENRY

[MN 1100. The Crusades.]

After the adventurers in the holy war were a.s.sembled on the banks of the Bosphorus, opposite to Constantinople, they proceeded on their enterprise; but immediately experienced those difficulties which their zeal had hitherto concealed from them, and for which, even if they had foreseen them, it would have been almost impossible to provide a remedy. The Greek emperor, Alexius Comnenus, who had applied to the western Christians for succour against the Turks, entertained hopes, and those but feeble ones, of obtaining such a moderate supply, as, acting under his command, might enable him to repulse the enemy: but he was extremely astonished to see his dominions overwhelmed, on a sudden, by such an inundation of licentious barbarians, who, though they pretended friends.h.i.+p, despised his subjects as unwarlike, and detested them as heretical. By all the arts of policy, in which he excelled, he endeavoured to divert the torrent; but while he employed professions, caresses, civilities, and seeming services towards the leaders of the crusade, he secretly regarded those imperious allies as more dangerous than the open enemies by whom his empire had been formerly invaded. Having effected that difficult point of disembarking them safely in Asia, he entered into a private correspondence with Soliman, Emperor of the Turks; and practised every insidious art, which his genius, his power, or his situation enabled him to employ, for disappointing the enterprise, and discouraging the Latins from making thenceforward any such prodigious migrations. His dangerous policy was seconded by the disorders inseparable from so vast a mult.i.tude, who were not united under one head, and were conducted by leaders of the most independent, intractable spirit, unacquainted with military discipline, and determined enemies to civil authority and submission. The scarcity of provisions, the excess of fatigue, the influence of unknown climates, joined to the want of concert in their operations, and to the sword of a warlike enemy, destroyed the adventurers by thousands, and would have abated the ardour of men impelled to war by less powerful motives. Their zeal, however, their bravery, and their irresistible force, still carried them forward, and continually advanced them to the great end of their enterprise. After an obstinate siege they took Nice, the seat of the Turkish empire; they defeated Soliman in two great battles; they made themselves masters of Antioch; and entirely broke the force of the Turks, who had so long retained those countries in subjection: the Soldan of Egypt, whose alliance they had hitherto courted, recovered, on the fall of the Turkish power, his former authority in Jerusalem; and he informed them by his amba.s.sadors, that if they came disarmed to that city, they might now perform their religious vows, and that all Christian pilgrims, who should thenceforth visit the holy sepulchre, might expect the same good treatment which they had ever received from his predecessors. The offer was rejected; the soldan was required to yield up the city to the Christians; and on his refusal, the champions of the Cross advanced to the siege of Jerusalem, which they regarded as the consummation of their labours. By the detachments which they had made, and the disasters which they had undergone, they were diminished to the number of twenty thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse; but these were still formidable, from their valour, their experience, and the obedience which, from past calamities, they had learned to pay to their leaders. After a siege of five weeks, they took Jerusalem by a.s.sault; and, impelled by a mixture of military and religious rage, they put the numerous garrison and inhabitants to the sword without distinction. Neither arms defended the valiant, nor submission the timorous: no age or s.e.x was spared: infants on the breast were pierced by the same blow with their mothers, who implored for mercy: even a mult.i.tude, to the number of ten thousand persons, who had surrendered themselves prisoners, and were promised quarter, were butchered in cool blood by those ferocious conquerors [a]. The streets of Jerusalem were covered with dead bodies [b]; and the triumphant warriors, after every enemy was subdued and slaughtered, immediately turned themselves, with the sentiments of humiliation and contrition, towards the holy sepulchre. They threw aside their arms, still streaming with blood: they advanced with reclined bodies, and naked feet and heads, to the sacred monument: they sung anthems to their Saviour who had there purchased their salvation by his death and agony: and their devotion, enlivened by the presence of the place where he had suffered, so overcame their fury, that they dissolved in tears, and bore the appearance of every soft and tender sentiment. So inconsistent is human nature with itself! and so easily does the most effeminate superst.i.tion ally, both with the most heroic courage and with the fiercest barbarity!

[FN [a] Vertot, vol. i. p. 57. [b] M. Paris, p. 34. Order. Vital. p.

756. Diceto, p. 498.]

This great event happened on the 5th of July, in the last year of the eleventh century. The Christian princes and n.o.bles, after choosing G.o.dfrey of Bouillon King of Jerusalem, began to settle themselves in their new conquests; while some of them returned to Europe, in order to enjoy at home that glory which their valour had acquired them in this popular and meritorious enterprise. Among these was Robert, Duke of Normandy, who, as he had relinquished the greatest dominions of any prince that attended the crusade, had all along distinguished himself by the most intrepid courage, as well as by that affable disposition and unbounded generosity which gain the hearts of soldiers, and qualify a prince to s.h.i.+ne in a military life. In pa.s.sing through Italy, he became acquainted with Sibylla, daughter of the Count of Conversana, a young lady of great beauty and merit, whom he espoused: indulging himself in this new pa.s.sion, as well as fond of enjoying ease and pleasure after the fatigues of so many rough campaigns, he lingered a twelvemonth in that delicious climate; and though his friends in the north looked every moment for his arrival, none of them knew when they could with certainty expect it. By this delay he lost the kingdom of England, which the great fame he had acquired during the crusades, as well as his undoubted t.i.tle, both by birth, and by the preceding agreement with his deceased brother, would, had he been present, have infallibly secured to him.

[MN Accession of Henry.]

Prince Henry was hunting with Rufus in the new forest, when intelligence of that monarch's death was brought him; and being sensible of the advantage attending the conjuncture, he hurried to Winchester, in order to secure the royal treasure, which he knew to be a necessary implement for facilitating his designs on the crown. He had scarcely reached the place when William of Breteuil, keeper of the treasure, arrived, and opposed himself to Henry's pretensions. This n.o.bleman, who had been engaged in the same party of hunting, had no sooner heard of his master's death, than he hastened to take care of his charge; and he told the prince that this treasure, as well as the crown, belonged to his elder brother, who was now his sovereign; and that he himself, for his part, was determined, in spite of all other pretensions, to maintain his allegiance to him. But Henry, drawing his sword, threatened him with instant death if he dared to disobey him; and as others of the late king's retinue, who came every moment to Winchester, joined the prince's party, Breteuil was obliged to withdraw his opposition, and to acquiesce in this insolence [c].

[FN [c] Order. Vital. p. 782.]

Henry, without losing a moment, hastened with the money to London; and having a.s.sembled some n.o.blemen and prelates, whom his address, or abilities, or presents, gained to his side, he was suddenly elected, or rather saluted, king, and immediately proceeded to the exercise of royal authority. In less than three days after his brother's death, the ceremony of his coronation was performed by Maurice, Bishop of London, who was persuaded to officiate on that occasion [d]; and thus by his courage and celerity, he intruded himself into the vacant throne. No one had sufficient spirit or sense of duty to appear in defence of the absent prince: all men were seduced or intimidated: present possession supplied the apparent defects in Henry's t.i.tle, which was indeed founded on plain usurpation: and the barons, as well as the people, acquiesced in a claim which, though it could neither be justified nor comprehended, could now, they found, be opposed through the perils alone of civil war and rebellion.

[FN [d] Chron. Sax. p. 208. Order. Vital. p. 783.]

But as Henry foresaw that a crown, usurped against all rules of justice, would sit unsteady on his head, he resolved, by fair professions at least, to gain the affections of all his subjects.

Besides taking the usual coronation oath to maintain the laws and execute justice, he pa.s.sed a charter, which was calculated to remedy many of the grievous oppressions which had been complained of during the reigns of his father and brother [e]. He there promised, that, at the death of any bishop or abbot, he never would seize the revenues of the see or abbey during the vacancy, but would leave the whole to be reaped by the successor; and that he would never let to farm any ecclesiastical benefice, nor dispose of it for money. After this concession to the church, whose favour was of so great importance, he proceeded to enumerate the civil grievances which he purposed to redress. He promised, that, upon the death of any earl, baron, or military tenant, his heir should be admitted to the possession of his estate, on paying a just and lawful relief; without being exposed to such violent exactions as had been usual during the late reigns: he remitted the wards.h.i.+p of minors, and allowed guardians to be appointed, who should be answerable for the trust: he promised not to dispose of any heiress in marriage but by the advice of all the barons; and if any baron intended to give his daughter, sister, niece, or kinswoman in marriage, it should only be necessary for him to consult the king, who promised to take no money for his consent, nor ever to refuse permission, unless the person to whom it was purposed to many her should happen to be his enemy: he granted his barons and military tenants the power of bequeathing, by will, their money or personal estates; and if they neglected to make a will, he promised that their heirs should succeed to them: he renounced the right of imposing money-age, and of levying taxes at pleasure on the farms which the barons retained in their own hands [f]: he made some general professions of moderating fines: he offered a pardon for all offences; and he remitted all debts due to the crown: he required that the va.s.sals of the barons should enjoy the same privileges which he granted to his own barons: and he promised a general confirmation and observance of the laws of King Edward. This is the substance of the chief articles contained in that famous charter [g].

[FN [e] Chron. Sax. p. 208. Sim. Dunelm. p. 225. [f] See Appendix II. [g] M. Paris, p. 38. Hoveden, p. 468. Brompton, p. 1021.

Hagulstadt, p. 310.]

To give greater authenticity to these concessions, Henry lodged a copy of his charter in some abbey of each county, as if desirous that it should be exposed to the view of all his subjects, and remain a perpetual rule for the limitation and direction of his government: yet it is certain, that, after the present purpose was served, he never once thought, during his reign, of observing one single article of it; and the whole fell so much into neglect and oblivion, that in the following century, when the barons, who had heard an obscure tradition of it, desired to make it the model of the great charter which they exacted from King John, they could with difficulty find a copy of it in the kingdom. But as to the grievances here meant to be redressed, they were still continued in their full extent; and the royal authority, in all those particulars, lay under no manner of restriction. Reliefs of heirs, so capital an article, were never effectually fixed till the time of Magna Charta [h]; and it is evident that the general promise here given, of accepting a just and lawful relief, ought to have been reduced to more precision, in order to give security to the subject. The oppression of wards.h.i.+p and marriage was perpetuated even till the reign of Charles II. And it appears from Glanville [i], the famous justiciary of Henry II., that in his time, where any man died intestate, an accident which must have been very frequent when the art of writing was so little known, the king, or the lord of the fief, pretended to seize all the movables, and to exclude every heir, even the children of the deceased: a sure mark of a tyrannical and arbitrary government.

[FN [h] Glanv. lib. 2. cap. 36. What is called a relief in the Conqueror's laws, preserved by Ingulph, seems to have been the heriot; since reliefs, as well as the other burdens of the feudal law, were unknown in the age of the Confessor, whose laws these originally were.

[i] Lib. 7. cap. 16. This practice was contrary to the laws of King Edward ratified by the Conqueror, as we learn from Ingulph, p. 91.

But laws had at this time very little influence: power and violence governed every thing.]

The Normans, indeed, who domineered in England, were, during this age, so licentious a people, that they may be p.r.o.nounced incapable of any true or regular liberty; which requires such improvement in knowledge and morals as can only be the result of reflection and experience, and must grow to perfection during several ages of settled and established government. A people so insensible to the rights of their sovereign as to disjoint, without necessity, the hereditary succession, and permit a younger brother to intrude himself into the place of the elder, whom they esteemed, and who was guilty of no crime, but being absent, could not expect that that prince would pay any greater regard to their privileges, or allow his engagements to fetter his power and debar him from any considerable interest or convenience. They had, indeed, arms in their hands, which prevented the establishment of a total despotism, and left their posterity sufficient power, whenever they should attain a sufficient degree of reason, to a.s.sure true liberty: but their turbulent disposition frequently prompted them to make such use of their arms, that they were more fitted to obstruct the execution of justice, than to stop the career of violence and oppresion. The prince, finding that greater opposition was often made to him when he enforced the laws than when he violated them, was apt to render his own will and pleasure the sole rule of government; and, at every emergence, to consider more the power of the persons whom he might offend, than the rights of those whom he might injure. The very form of this charter of Henry proves that the Norman barons (for they, rather than the people of England, were chiefly concerned in it) were totally ignorant of the nature of united monarchy, and were ill qualified to conduct, in conjunction with their sovereign, the machine of government. It is an act of his sole power, is the result of his free grace, contains some articles which bind others as well as himself, and is therefore unfit to be the deed of any one who possesses not the whole legislative power, and who may not at pleasure revoke all his concessions.

Henry, farther to increase his popularity, degraded and committed to prison Ralph Flambard, Bishop of Durham, who had been the chief instrument of oppresion under his brother [k]: but this act was followed by another, which was a direct violation of his own charter, and was a bad prognostic of his sincere intentions to observe it: he kept the see of Durham vacant for five years, and during that time retained possession of all its revenues. Sensible of the great authority which Anselm had acquired by his character of piety, and by the persecutions which he had undergone from William, he sent repeated messages to him at Lyons, where he resided, and invited him to return and take possession of his dignities [l]. On the arrival of the prelate, he proposed to him the renewal of that homage which he had done his brother, and which he had never been refused by any English bishop: but Anslem had acquired other sentiments by his journey to Rome, and gave the king an absolute refusal. He objected to the decrees of the council of Bari, at which he himself had a.s.sisted; and he declared, that so far from doing homage for his spiritual dignity, he would not so much as communicate with any ecclesiastic who paid that submission, or who accepted of invest.i.tures from laymen. Henry; who expected, in his present delicate situation, to reap great advantages from the authority and popularity of Anselm, durst not insist on his demand [m]: he only desired that the controversy might be suspended: and that messengers might be sent to Rome, in order to accommodate matters with the pope, and obtain his confirmation of the laws and customs of England.

[FN [k] Chron. Sax. p. 208. W. Malm. p. 156. Matth. Paris, p. 39.

Alur. Beverl. p. 144. [l] Chron. Sax. p. 208. Order. Vital. p. 783.

Matth. Paris, p. 39. T. Rudborne, p. 273. [m] W. Malm. p. 225.]

[MN 1100. Marriage of the king.]

There immediately occurred an important affair, in which the king was obliged to have recourse to the authority of Anselm. Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III., King of Scotland, and niece to Edgar Atheling, had, on her father's death, and the subsequent revolutions in the Scottish government, been brought to England, and educated under her aunt Christina, in the nunnery of Rumsey. This princess Henry purposed to marry; but as she had worn the veil, though never taken the vows, doubts might arise concerning the lawfulness of the act; and it behoved him to be very careful not to shock, in any particular, the religious prejudices of his subjects. The affair was examined by Anselm in a council of the prelates and n.o.bles, which was summoned at Lambeth; Matilda there proved that she had put on the veil, not with the view of entering into a religious life, but merely in consequence of a custom familiar to the English ladies, who protected their chast.i.ty from the brutal violence of the Normans by taking shelter under that habit [n], which, amidst the horrible licentiousness of the times, was yet generally revered. The council, sensible that even a princess had otherwise no security for her honour, admitted this reason as valid; they p.r.o.nounced that Matilda was still free to marry [o] and her espousals with Henry were celebrated by Anselm with great pomp and solemnity [p]. No act of the king's reign rendered him equally popular with his English subjects, and tended more to establish him on the throne. Though Matilda, during the life of her uncle and brothers, was not heir of the Saxon line, she was become very dear to the English on account of her connexions with it: and that people, who, before the Conquest, had fallen into a kind of indifference towards their ancient royal family, had felt so severely the tyranny of the Normans, that they reflected with extreme regret on their former liberty, and hoped for more equal and mild administration, when the blood of their native princes should be mingled with that of their new sovereigns [q].

[FN [n] Eadmer, p. 57. [o] Ibid. [p] Hoveden, p. 468. [q] M. Paris, p. 40.]

[MN 1100. Invasion by Duke Robert.]

But the policy and prudence of Henry, which, if time had been allowed for these virtues to produce their full effect, would have secured him possession of the crown, ran great hazard of being frustrated by the sudden appearance of Robert, who returned to Normandy about a month after the death of his brother William. [MN 1101.] He took possession, without opposition, of that duchy; and immediately made preparations for recovering England, of which, during his absence, he had, by Henry's intrigues, been so unjustly defrauded. The great fame which he had acquired in the East forwarded his pretensions; and the Norman barons, sensible of the consequences, expressed the same discontent at the separation of the duchy and kingdom, which had appeared on the accession of William. Robert de Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury and Arundel, William de la Warenne, Earl of Surrey, Arnulf de Montgomery, Walter Giffard, Robert de Pontefract, Robert de Mallet, Yvo de Grentmesnil, and many others of the princ.i.p.al n.o.bility [r], invited Robert to make an attempt upon England, and promised, on his landing, to join him with all their forces. Even the seamen were affected with the general popularity of his name, and they carried over to him the greater part of a fleet which had been equipped to oppose his pa.s.sage. Henry, in this extremity, began to be apprehensive for his life, as well as for his crown, and had recourse to the superst.i.tion of the people, in order to oppose their sentiment of justice. He paid diligent court to Anselm, whose sanct.i.ty and wisdom he pretended to revere. He consulted him in all difficult emergencies; seemed to be governed by him in every measure; promised a strict regard to ecclesiastical privileges; professed a great attachment to Rome, and a resolution of persevering in an implicit obedience to the decrees of councils, and to the will of the sovereign pontiff. By these caresses and declarations, he entirely gained the confidence of the primate, whose influence over the people, and authority with the barons, were of the utmost service to him in his present situation. Anselm scrupled not to a.s.sure the n.o.bles of the king's sincerity in those professions which he made of avoiding the tyrannical and oppressive government of his father and brother: he even rode through the ranks of the army, recommended to the soldiers the defence of their prince, represented the duty of keeping their oaths of allegiance, and prognosticated to them the greatest happiness from the government of so wise and just a sovereign. By this expedient, joined to the influence of the Earls of Warwick and Mellent, of Roger BiG.o.d, Richard de Redvers, and Robert Fitz-Hamon, powerful barons, who still adhered to the present government, the army was retained in the king's interest, and marched, with seeming union and firmness, to oppose Robert, who had landed with his forces at Portsmouth.

[FN [r] Order. Vital. p. 785.]

[MN Accommodation with Robert.]