the death of Malcolm III; after which new broils ensued with Normandy. William's rapacity prompted him to encroach upon his brother's territories, and to use a very extraordinary expedient to accomplish his designs. Having gone to Normandy to support his partisans, he ordered an army of 20,000 men to be raised in England, and conducted to the sea coast as if they were to be immediately embarked but when they came there, instead of embarking, they were forced to pay the king 10s. a man; after which they were dismissed. With this money William engaged the king of France to depart from the protection of Robert; and bribed many of the Norman barons to revolt. He was called from Normandy, however, by an irruption of the Welsh; and, having repulsed them, was prevented from attempting other enterprises by a conspiracy of his barons. In 1096, however, the superstition of Robert put the king of England in possession of those dominions which he had not been able to conquer by force of arms. The crusades were now commenced, and Robert was desirous of undertaking an expedition into the Holy Land. As money for this purpose was wanting, he mortgaged his dominions to his brother for 10,000 merks. The king raised the money by violent extortions on his subjects; forcing even the convents to melt their plate, in order to furnish the quota demanded of them. He was then put in possession of Normandy and Maine; and Robert with a magnificent train set out for the east. After the death of Lanfranc, the king had retained in his own hands the revenues of Canterbury, as he had done those of many other bishoprics; but falling into a dangerous illness, he was seized with remorse; and the clergy represented to him that he was in danger of eternal perdition if he did not make atonement for the sacrilege of which he had been guilty. He therefore instantly resolved to supply the vacancy of Canterbury; and sent for Anselm abbot of Bec, who was much celebrated for his piety, to fill that see. This the abbot refused with great earnestness; fell on his knees, it is said, wept, and intreated the king to change his purpose; and when he found him obstinate in forcing the pastoral staff upon him, kept his fist so hard clenched that it required the utmost violence of the bystanders to open it, and force him to receive that ensign of spiritual dignity. William soon after recovered his health, and with it his violence and rapacity. As he now spared the church no more than before, a quarrel with Anselm soon ensued, which became more dangerous to the king, on account of the great character for piety which the primate had acquired. William was engaged in almost perpectual contests with this prelate. When these were pretty well settled, the king, who had undertaken an expedition into Wales, required Anselm to furnish him with a certain number of soldiers. The primate regarded this as an invasion of the rights of the church; and therefore, though he durst not refuse compliance, sent the men so miserably accoutred, that the king threatened him with a prosecution. Anselm on this demanded restitution of the church revenues which the king had seized, and

appealed to Pope Urban II. The quarrel, at last, became so violent that the primate found it dangerous to remain in England. He desired and obtained the king's permission to retire beyond sea. On his departure his temporalities were immediately confiscated; but Urban received him as a martyr, and even threatened the king with excommunication. William, however, proceeded without regarding the threats of the Pope; who he knew was at that time much engaged with the crusades. Though his acquisition of Maine and Normandy had brought him into perpetual contests with the haughty and turbulent barons who inhabited those countries, and raised endless tumults and insurrections; yet William seemed intent on extending his dominions either by purchase or conquest. The earl of Poictiers and Guienne had resolved upon an expedition to the Holy Land; and, for this purpose, had put himself at the head of a vast multitude, consisting, according to some historians, of 60,000 horse, and a much greater number of foot. Like Robert of Normandy, he offered to mortgage his dominions for money sufficient to conduct this multitude into Asia. The king accepted this offer: and had prepared a fleet and army to take possession of these dominions, when an unfortunate accident put an end to his projects and his life. He was engaged in hunting, the sole amusement, and the principal occupation of princes in those rude times. Walter Tyrrel, a French gentleman remarkable for his skill in archery, attended him in this recreation, of which the New Forest was the scene. William had dismounted after a chase; and Tyrrel, impatient to show his dexterity, let fly an arrow at a stag which had suddenly started. The arrow glanced from a tree, and struck the king to the heart. He instantly fell down dead; and Tyrrel, terrified at the accident, clapt spurs to his horse, hastened to the sea shore, and embarked for France, where he joined the crusade that was setting out from that country. This happened on the 2nd of August, 1100, after he had reigned thirteen years, and lived about forty. His body was found in the wood by the country people, and buried without ceremony at Winchester. Dr. Lingard says, by whose hand the king fell, and whether the arrow was directed against him by accident or design, are questions which cannot be satisfactorily answered. The report, which obtained credit at the time, was, that William, following a wounded deer with his eyes, held his hand near his face to intercept the rays of the sun, and that at the same moment an arrow from the bow of Walter Tyrrel, a French knight, glancing from a tree, struck him in the breast. It was added that the unintentional homicide, spurring his horse to the shore, immediately crossed to the continent and a pilgrimage, which he afterwards made to the Holy Land, was attributed to remorse, and construed into a proof of his guilt. But Tyrrel always denied the charge and after his return, when he had nothing to hope or fear, deposed upon oath in the presence of Suger, abbot of St. Dennis, that he never saw the king on the day of his death, nor entered that part of the forest in which he fell. If William perished by treason (a supposition not very improbable)

it was politic in the assassin to fix the guilt on one, who was no longer in the kingdom. This at least is certain, that no enquiry was made into the cause or the manner of his death: whence we may infer that his successor, if he were not convinced that it would not bear investigation, was too well pleased with an event which raised him to the throne, to trouble himself about the means by which it was effected.' Vol. I. p. 486. By the death of William, the crown of right devolved to Robert his eldest brother. But what Robert had formerly lost by indolence, he was now deprived of by superstition, being absent in the crusade. Henry being in the forest with William, when the latter was killed, immediately hurried to Winchester, and secured the royal treasure. William de Breteuil keeper of the treasure, arrived almost at the same instant, and opposed his pretensions; telling him that the money belonged to his elder brother, who was now his sovereign, and for whom he was determined to keep it. But Henry, drawing his sword, threatened him with instant death if he dared to disobey him; and others of the late king's retinue, who came every moment to Winchester, joining the prince's party, he was obliged to desist. Henry lost no time in accomplishing his purpose. In less than three days he was crowned king of England by Maurice bishop of London. Present possession supplied every deficiency of title; and no one dared to appear in defence of the absent prince. The beginning of Henry's reign promised to be favorable to English liberty; owing chiefly to the fear of his brother. To conciliate the affections of his subjects, he passed a charter to remove many of the grievous oppressions which had been complained of during the reigns of his father and brother. He promised, that at the death of any abbot or bishop, 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, or dispose of it for money. To the laity he pledged himself 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 those enormous exactions which had been formerly required. He remitted the wardship of minors; and allowed guardians to be appointed, who should be answerable for the trust. He engaged not to dispose of any heiress in marriage but by 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 proposed to marry 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 also renounced the right of imposing moneyage, and levying taxes, at pleasure, on the farms which the barons kept in their own hands; and he made general professions of moderating fines, &c. He

offered a pardon for all offences; and remitted all debts due to the crown. On the behalf of the vassals of the barons, he stipulated that they should enjoy the same privileges which he granted to his own barons; and promised a general conformation to, and observance of, the laws of king Edward. To give greater authenticity to these concessions, a copy of the charter was lodged in one of the abbeys of each county. Henry, farther to increase his popularity, degraded and imprisoned Ralph Flambard bishop of Durham, who had been the chief instrument of oppression under his brother. He sent for Anselm, who was then at Lyons, inviting him to return and take possession of his dignities. Anselm returned: but when Henry proposed to him to do the same homage to him which he had done to his brother, the king met with an absolute refusal. During his exile, Anselm had assisted at the council of Bari: where, besides fixing the controversy between the Greek and Latin churches concerning the procession of the Holy Ghost. the right of election to church preferments was declared to belong to the clergy alone, and spiritual censures were denounced against all ecclesiastics who did homage to laymen for their sees and benefices, and on all laymen who exacted it. The rite of homage, by the feudal customs, was, that the vassal should throw himself on his knees, put his joined hand between those of his superior; and should, in that posture, swear fealty to him. See FEUDAL TENURE. But the council declared it execrable, that pure hands, which could create God, and offer him up 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. To this decree, therefore, Anselm appealed; and declared, that so far from doing homage for this spiritual dignity, he would not even communicate with any ecclesiastic who paid that submission, or who accepted of investitures from laymen. Henry durst not persist; and therefore desired that the controversy might be suspended, and messengers be sent to Rome to accommodate matters with the pope, and obtain his confirmation of the laws and customs of England. The king now took another step, which seemed capable of confirming his claims to the crown without any danger of a rival. The English remembered with regret their Saxon monarchs, and compared the liberty they enjoyed under them with the tyranny of the Normans. Some descendants of that favorite line still remained; and among the rest Matilda, the niece of Edgar Atheling Upon her the king fixed his eyes as a proper consort, by whose means the breach between the Saxons and Normans might be cemented. A difficulty, however, occurred, because she had been educated in a nunnery. Te affair was examined by Anselmin a council of prelates and nobles summoned at Lambeth. Matilda there proved, that she had put on the veil, not with a design of entering inte a religious life, but merely in imitation of a custom familiar to the English ladies; who could only protect their chastity from the brutal violence of the Normans by taking shelter under that habit, which, amid the horrid licentiousness of the times,

was yet generally revered. The council, sensible that even a princess had otherwise no security for her honor, admitted this reason as valid. They pronounced that Matilda was still free to marry; and her nuptials with Henry were celebrated by Anselm with great solemnity and pomp. While Henry was thus rendering himself popular at home, his brother Robert, who had loitered away a twelvemonth in Italy, where he married Sibylla daughter of the count of Conversana, arrived in England in 1101, to put in his claim to the crown. His fame on account of the exploits he had performed in Palestine was so great, that even yet he was joined by many noblemen of the first rank, and the whole nation seemed prepossessed in his favor. But Henry having paid his court to Anselm, retained by his means the army in his interest, and marched with them to Portsmouth, where Robert had landed his forces a few days before. The armies lay for some time in sight of each other; when an accommodation was effected through the mediation of Anselm and the nobles. It was agreed by this treaty, that Robert should resign his pretensions to England, and receive in lieu of them an annual pension of 3000 marks; that if either of the princes died without issue, the other should succeed to his dominions; that the adherents of each should be pardoned; and restored to all their possessions either in Normandy or England; and that neither Robert nor Henry should henceforth encourage, receive, or protect, the enemies of each other. The two princes separated with mutual marks of friendship; but next year, Henry, under various pretences confiscated the estates of almost all the noblemen who had favored his brother. Robert, enraged at the fate of his friends, ventured to come to England to remonstrate against it. But he met with such a cool reception, that, apprehending his liberty to be in danger, he was glad to make his escape by resigning his pension. This infringement of the treaty was followed the next year by an invasion of Norinandy by Henry, at the desire as it was alleged of Robert's own subjects. See NORMANDY. The event of this war was the defeat and captivity of Robert; who was henceforth deprived not only of all his dominions, but of his personal liberty. He lived twentyeight years a prisoner, and died in the castle of Cardiff, in Glamorganshire. It is said by some writers that he was deprived of his sight by a red-hot copper basin applied to his eyes, and that king Henry appeased his conscience by founding the monastery of Reading. The conquest of Normandy was completed in 1106; and next year the controversy between the king and primate, concerning the investitures of clergymen and their doing homage to princes was resumed. The king was very sensible that it was not his interest to quarrel with such a powerful body as the clergy were at that time; on the other hand, he fully understood the necessity of guarding the prerogatives of the crown from their encroachments. While, therefore, he avoided an open upture with Anselm he obstinately refused to give up the privileges which had been enjoyed by his predecessors. On the first arrival of the primate, the king had avoided the dispute in the manner already mentioned. A messenger was

despatched to Rome, to compromise matters with the pope. The messenger returned with an absolute refusal of the king's demands. One of the reasons given by the pope on this occasion, was thus expressed: 'It is monstrous that a son should pretend to beget his father, or a man to create his God: priests are called gods in scripture, as being the vicars of God: and will you, by your abominable pretensions to grant them their investitures, assume the right of creating them?' Henry was not yet convinced; but as he was determined to avoid, or at least to delay the coming to any dangerous extremity with the church, he persuaded Anselm, that by farther negociations he should be able to compound matters with the pope. Messengers were therefore a second time despatched to Rome from the king, and from Anselm, who wanted to be fully assured of the pope's intentions. They returned with letters expressed in the most arrogant and positive manner both to the king and to the primate. The king suppressed the letter written to himself; and persuaded the three bishops, by whom it was sent, to assert, upon their episcopal faith, that the pope had assured them of his private good intentions towards king Henry, and of his resolution not to resent any future exertion of his prerogative in granting investitures; though he himself scrupled to give his assurance under his hand, lest other princes should copy the example and assume a like privilege. Anselm's two messengers, who were monks, affirmed that it was impossible this story could have any foundation; but their word was not deemed equivalent to that of three bishops; and the king, as if he had finally gained his cause, proceeded to fill the sees of Hereford and Salisbury, and to invest the new bishops in the usual manner. Anselm, however, gave no credit to the assertions of the king's messengers; and therefore refused not only to consecrate, but even to communicate with them; and the bishops themselves, finding they were become universally odious, returned the ensigns of their spiritual dignity. The quarrel continued between the king and the primate, till the latter, sensible of his dangerous situation, desired leave to make a journey to Rome, in order to lay the case before the pope. This permission was easily obtained; but no sooner was the primate gone, than Henry confiscated all his revenues, and sent another messenger to negociate with the pope. The new messenger told his holiness, that his master would sooner part with his crown than the right of granting investitures. And I,' replied the pope, would rather lose my head than allow him to retain it.' At last, however, the following compromise was made. Before bishops took possession of their dignities, they had formerly been accustomed to pass through two ceremonials: from the hands of the sovereign they received a ring and a crosier as the symbols of their office, and this was called their investiture; they also made those submissions to the prince, which were required of vassals by the rites of the feudal law, and which received the name of homage. The pope, therefore, was for the present contented with Henry's resigning his right of granting investitures, by which the spiritual dignity was supposed to be conferred;

great nonor and ability, and very much attached to the interests of Matilda. When Stephen ascended the throne, he offered to do him homage, and take the oath of fealty; but with a condition, that the king should maintain all his stipulations, and never invade any of the earl's rights or dignities. With this condition Stephen was obliged to comply, on account of the great power of this nobleman, though he knew that it was meant only to afford him a favorable opportunity of revolt. The clergy imitated Robert's example; and annexed to their oath of allegiance the condition, that they were only bound as long as the king defended the ecclesiastical liberties, and supported the discipline of the church. The barons, in return for their submission, were still more pertinacious. Many of them required to have the right of fortifying their castles, and putting themselves in a posture of defence; and with this exorbitant demand the king was forced to comply. All England was immediately filled with fortresses; which the nobles garrisoned either with their vassals, or with licentious soldiers, who flocked to them from all quarters. The whole kingdom became, therefore, a scene of rapine and devastation. Internal wars were carried on by the nobles in every quarter; the barons even assumed the right of coining money, and of exercising, without appeal, every act of jurisdiction; and the inferior gentry, as well as the people, finding no defence from the laws, during this total suspension of sovereign power, were obliged, for their immediate safety, to pay court to some neighbouring chieftain, and to purchase his protection by submitting to his exactions. In 1137 the earl of Gloucester, having projected an insurrection, retired beyond sea, sent the king a defiance, and solemnly renounced his allegiance. The next year David, king of Scotland, appeared with an army in defence of his niece's title; and penetrating into Yorkshire, committed the greatest devastations. He was defeated, however, with great slaughter at Northallerton, by the northern barons, who had raised a powerful army; and this success so much overawed the malcontents in England, that Stephen's power might yet have become stable, had he not engaged in a contest with the clergy. He had seen the mischief arising from the liberty he had granted of fortifying so many castles: he, therefore, determined to abridge this as much as possible; and, for that purpose, began with those erected by the clergy. Taking advantage of an affray, which had arisen at court, between the retinues of the bishop of Salisbury and the earl of Brittany, he seized the bishops both of Salisbury and Lincoln, threw them into prison, and obliged them to deliver up the castles which they had erected. This produced such a violent commotion, that the opportunity seemed favorable to the pretensions of Matilda. On the 22d of September, 1139, she landed in England, with Robert, earl of Gloucester, attended only by 140 knights; but her partisans daily increased, and she was soon in a condition to meet Stephen with an equal foice. Numberless minor encounters happened in the interior. War was spread through every quarter; and the turbulent barons having, in a great mea

sure, shaken off the restraint of government, under the pretended sanction of fighting in the cause of their country, redoubled their oppressions and devastations. Their castles became receptacles of licensed robbers; who, sallying forth day and night, spoiled the open country, and plundered the villages and towns. They tortured captives to make them reveal their treasures, or sold their persons into slavery; and set fire to the most respectable houses, after pillaging them of every thing. The land, in consequence, was now left extensively untilled; the instruments of husbandry were abandoned, and a famine reduced the nation to a most deplorable state. A decisive battle between the competitors for the crown seemed, at last, to be the best hope of the nation. Stephen had marched his forces to relieve the city of Lincoln, and the earl of Gloncester led a body of troops to assist those of Matilda's party, who were besieging that place. The two armies engaged on the 2d of February, within sight of the city, and a desperate conflict ensued. At last, Stephen's army was defeated. He himself, at one period, was left without attendants, and fought on foot in the midst of his enemies; assaulted by multitudes, and resisting their attacks with great bravery. For some time he forced a passage with his battle-axe, but that breaking, he drew his sword, and furiously assailed his antagonists; until at length, this weapon also failing him, he was obliged to surrender himself prisoner. He was conducted to Gloucester, and though at first treated with respect, was in a short time thrown into irons, and in the month of March Matilda was crowned at Winchester with great solemnity. She now determined to repress the power of the nobles, but was destitute of policy or prudence sufficient to accomplish so difficult an undertaking, and a conspiracy was formed against her. The bishop of Winchester detached a party of his friends and vassals to block up the city of London, where the queen resided; measures were at the same time taken to instigate the Londoners to a revolt, and to seize her person. Matilda, having timely notice of this, fled to Winchester. Here she was soon after besieged by the bishop; but the town being distressed by famine, she made her escape: while the earl of Gloucester, endeavouring to follow her, was taken prisoner, and exchanged for Stephen. Matilda being at length obliged to take shelter in Oxford, Stephen reascended the throne: again, however, the civil war broke out with redoubled fury. Many battles were fought, and both parties were at times involved in great difficulties. Matilda, it is said, escaped from Oxford at a time when the fields were covered with snow, by being dressed in white, with four knights, her attendants, dressed in the same color. Another time Stephen was surprised by the earl of Gloucester at Wilton, and made his escape with the utmost difficulty. At last Matilda was obliged to quit the kingdom; and the death of the duke of Gloucester soon after, seemed to give a fatal blow to her interests. In 1155, however, prince Henry, her son by her husband Geoffrey, came over to England, to dispute, once more, Stephen's pretensions to the crown. After some success on his first landing, he was opposed by Stephen