REIGN OF WILLIAM II.

William's Surname—How he obtained the Throne—Rising in favour of his Brother, Robert—Bishop Odo's Ill-fortune—Surrender of Rochester Castle—Flight of Odo—Failure of the Conspiracy—Death of Lanfranc—William's Misrule—Randolf the Firebrand—Appointment of Anselm to Canterbury—Rufus invades Normandy—Treaty between the Brothers—Siege of Mount St. Michael—Malcolm Canmore's Inroad into England—Building of Castle at Carlisle—Death of Malcolm—Illness of William—His Treachery towards Robert—Welsh Marauders—Earl Mowbray's Hard Fortune—The King's Exactions—He obtains possession of Normandy—The Hunt in the New Forest—Death of the Red King.

William, whose surname of Rufus was derived from the ruddiness of his countenance, no sooner found himself in possession of his father's letter to the primate Lanfranc, than he fled from the monastery of St. Gervais, where William was dying, and hastened to England, in order to secure possession of the crown.

Sensible that an act so opposed to the laws of primogeniture and the feudal rights might meet with great opposition from the nobles, he trusted to his celerity for success, and reached the kingdom before the news of the king's death arrived. Pretending orders from the dead monarch, he secured the strong fortresses of Dover, Pevensey, and Hastings. On his arrival a council of prelates and barons was summoned to proceed to the election of a sovereign. Robert, who would naturally be chosen, and his partisans, were in Normandy, while William and his adherents were on the spot. Besides, Archbishop Lanfranc, who felt himself bound to obey the last injunction of his benefactor William, exerted the whole influence of the Church in his favour. Three weeks after his father's death William II. was proclaimed king, and crowned with the usual formalities.

As we before stated, the Conqueror on his death-bed commanded the liberation of his half-brother, Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux. That warlike prelate, who had recovered some portion of his possessions in Kent, had long been the enemy of Lanfranc. The prompt compliance of the archbishop with the letter of the deceased king led William at first to yield himself entirely to his directions. Odo therefore extended his hatred to his nephew, and he set himself accordingly to form a party in favour of the eldest brother, Robert, who was already in possession of the duchy of Normandy, as well as the county of Maine.

The great point he urged upon the nobles whom he enlisted in the cause of the last-named prince, was the fact that they held possessions in both countries, and that it would be much more prudent to hold their lands of one sovereign only. These representations were not without effect; and whilst the newly-crowned king held the festival of Easter, the barons, who had matured their plans, departed to raise the standard of revolt in various parts of the kingdom—Odo, in Kent; William, Bishop of Durham, in Northumberland; Geoffrey of Coutances, in Somerset; Roger Montgomery, in Shropshire; Hugh de Bigod, in Norfolk; and Hugh de Grantmesnil, in Leicester.

The rising which thus took place might have been formidable if the movements of the insurgents had been seconded by energetic action on the part of Robert. That pleasure-loving prince, who had promised to bring over an army from Normandy, once more sacrificed the prospect of a throne to his habitual indolence: and Odo waited in vain for the assistance which was to come across the channel. When at length single ships, with detachments of the invading forces, ventured from the Norman coast, they were intercepted and destroyed by English cruisers. The Norman attempt at invasion was abandoned, and the English insurgents were left to sustain the shock of the king's forces as best they might.

The first attacks of Rufus were directed against his uncle Odo of Bayeux. That fierce and turbulent bishop waited his coming at Pevensey, which he had fortified and garrisoned. This stronghold was taken after a siege of a few weeks, and Odo fell into the hands of Rufus, who set him at liberty, on condition of his taking a solemn oath to deliver up Rochester Castle into the king's possession, and to quit the country immediately afterwards.

Rochester Castle was held by Eustace, Count of Boulogne, one of the warmest partisans of Robert. When Odo arrived before the gates with the king's escort, and demanded in set form that the keys should be given up, the count took him prisoner with his guards. This was a stratagem by which Odo hoped to escape the accusation of perjury, while he continued his rebellious course of action against the king. As the real commander of the garrison, this truculent bishop sustained for many weeks the attacks of his royal nephew, who, with his united forces of English and Normans, laid siege to the castle. Defied by his own countrymen, the Red King turned for counsel and assistance to the English. He adopted a policy of conciliation towards those nobles of English blood who still retained any influence; he made liberal promises, which afterwards were only partially fulfilled, and he obtained their adherence to his cause. The king proclaimed the old English call to battle, "Let every man who is not a man of nothing,[5] whether he live in burgh or out of burgh, leave his house and come," and many Englishmen flocked to his standard.

At length the besieged were subdued by disease and famine, and compelled to capitulate. They sent to William, informing him of their desire, and demanding that they should be allowed to retain their lands and titles under his sovereignty. Rufus at first refused to grant such a permission; but the Norman troops in his army, who could not forget that the garrison of the castle were their countrymen, and many of whom may have had relatives or friends within the walls, made appeals to the mercy of the king. "We," they said, "who have been with thee in great dangers, entreat thee to spare our countrymen, who are thine also, and who have fought with thy father."[6]

After much entreaty, the king permitted the besieged to leave the town with their arms and horses. Not satisfied with this concession, Odo had the arrogance to demand that when the garrison quitted the castle the bugles of the king's troops should not sound in token of triumph, as was the custom in those days. Rufus replied angrily that he would not grant such a request for a thousand marks of gold.

The Norman adherents of Robert then passed out of the gates with ensigns lowered, and amidst the sounds of exultation from the king's troops. At the sight of Odo, a great clamour arose among the English soldiers. They remembered the thousand crimes of the soldier-bishop, and cried out that he was unfit to live. "Ropes! bring ropes!" they shouted; "hang the traitor bishop and his friends!" Such sounds as these from every side thundered in the ears of the prelate, and thus, pursued by curses, he left the country for ever.

Meanwhile the conspirators in another part of the kingdom had met with ill success. The Earl of Shrewsbury, and with him other Norman nobles, had collected an army, which was occupied in laying waste the surrounding country. The earl with his troops set out from Shrewsbury, plundering and burning towns and villages, and putting many of the inhabitants to the sword. The progress of this marauding force was stopped on its arrival before Worcester. The citizens, excited by a deep hatred of their Norman oppressors, closed the gates, and, conveying their wives and children into the castle, prepared for a desperate resistance. Headed by their bishop, who refused to go into the castle, but took the post of danger on the walls, they gave battle to the besiegers, and having watched their opportunity when part of the Norman forces were absent on one of their plundering expeditions, the citizens sallied forth upon the remainder, and cut many of them to pieces. These reverses proved fatal to the success of the conspiracy, and Rufus found little difficulty in dealing with the rest of the insurgent chiefs. Some he won to his side by promises; others, who still defied him, were quickly subdued, and were visited with various degrees of punishment, or made their escape into Normandy, with the loss of their estates. As soon as the insurrection was quelled, and all danger from that source was at an end, Rufus revoked the concessions he had made to his English subjects, and before long the English population were reduced to their previous condition of servitude and misery.

In the following year (1089) Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, died. If we compare the acts of his life with those of his contemporaries, and judge of his character with a due regard to the times in which he lived, we shall find his memory entitled to our respect. It is said of him that he was "a wise, politic, and learned prelate, who, whilst he lived, mollified the furious and cruel nature of King William Rufus, instructing to forbear such wild and outrageous behaviour as his youth was inclined unto."[7] The archbishop built various hospitals and almshouses, and recovered twenty-five manors which had been wrested from the see of Canterbury. One of these was a large estate which had been seized by Odo, and which that rapacious bishop was compelled to restore. Removed from the influence of Lanfranc, the king gave the rein to his debaucheries, and showed himself "very cruel and inconstant in all his doings, so that he became a heavy burden unto his people." He appointed no successor to the primacy, but kept the see of Canterbury vacant four years, seizing the revenues, and applying them to his own vicious purposes.

Rufus elevated to the offices of royal chaplain and chief minister of state a Norman priest, named Randolf, who had received the surname of Le Flambard, or the Firebrand. This man, who was of humble origin, was of bad character, ambitious, ready-witted, and a willing pander to the vices of the king. To raise money for his royal master's pleasures, he increased the burdens of the people; inflicted heavy fines in punishment of trifling offences; and caused a second survey of the kingdom to be made, raising the estimated value of estates, and increasing the royal revenues, at the expense of great suffering throughout the country. Contentions were continually occurring between the English and their oppressors. Everywhere the Normans showed themselves cruel and avaricious, trampling down the conquered race, and treating them as inferior beings. Flambard, who was Bishop of Lincoln, ruled his diocese with such tyranny that, as we read in an old chronicle, the inhabitants wished rather to die than live under his authority.

At length William, seized with remorse after an attack of illness, appointed Anselm, the Abbot of Bec, to the vacant archbishopric. Anselm was sorely unwilling. "You would yoke me," said he, "a poor feeble old sheep, with the savage bull." But he withstood the king with saintly patience, constantly inveighing against the corruption of the court, until, in 1097, he was forced to retire from the royal persecution to Rome.

Meanwhile the Norman fortresses of Albemarle, St. Valery, and others, were obtained possession of by various means, and were held in the name of King William; and Conan, a powerful burgess of Rouen, had entered into the conspiracy, and engaged to betray the capital into the hands of a lieutenant of Rufus. Robert at length was roused to the dangers which surrounded him, but finding himself without money to raise troops, he applied to Philip I., of France, for assistance. Philip responded to the call, and advanced with an army to the borders of Normandy: but Rufus sent him a sum of money as a bribe, and the French king returned at once to his own country.

Robert appealed to his brother Henry, whom he had placed some time before in possession of a portion of the Norman duchy, in return for a sum of £3,000 which Henry had advanced. Since that time frequent quarrels had occurred between them, and it is related that, on one occasion, Henry was arrested by the duke's orders, and kept for a short time in prison. However, on receiving Robert's request for succour, Henry came to Rouen, and rendered his brother important assistance. Reginald de Warrenne, the lieutenant of Rufus, was driven back and compelled to retreat: the burgess Conan was taken prisoner, and pushed by Prince Henry, with deliberate cruelty, through the window of a high tower in the cathedral.

Early in the year 1091, the Red King landed an English army in Normandy, and advanced into the country. Robert again applied to Philip of France who exerted himself to arrange a treaty of peace between the two brothers. By the provisions of this treaty, which was signed at Caen, the lands of Eu, Albemarle, FÉcamp, and others, were assigned to Rufus; and it was agreed that no further attempt should be made by Robert upon the English throne. Robert was to be aided to conquer the districts of Maine and portions of Henry's territory in place of those which he resigned in Normandy, and William engaged to pardon those barons who had defended his brother's cause, and to restore to them their titles and lands. The barons of the two factions agreed that if the king survived the duke, he was to have possession of Normandy; and if the duke outlived the king, he should receive the English crown. This treaty was signed by twelve barons on each side, who swore to maintain its provisions.

Peace had been concluded between the two elder sons of the Conqueror; but it only produced war between Robert and Rufus, on the one side, and Henry on the other. Finding that his brothers were combining to despoil him, Henry seized St. Michael's Mount, a solitary rock on the coast of Normandy, and in this strong position he sustained a long siege from the combined armies of his kinsmen. An incident of the siege is related by some of the old chroniclers to the following effect:—The supply of water in the castle fell short, and the garrison were reduced to great distress from thirst. Robert, having been informed of this circumstance, sent a supply of wine to his brother Henry, and also permitted some of the people of the castle to fetch water. This conduct incensed William, who expressed his indignation at such generosity; but Robert replied that he could not suffer his brother to die of thirst. "Where," said he, "shall we get another brother when he is gone?" There is another story told of the same siege, from which it appears that on one occasion Rufus had a narrow escape from death. The king had ridden out alone to take a survey of the fortress, when he was suddenly attacked by two of Henry's soldiers, who struck him from his horse. One of the men was about to dispatch him, when Rufus called out, "Hold, knave! I am the King of England!" The soldier threw down his dagger, and raised him from the ground with professions of respect. It is related that Rufus rewarded the man with presents, and took him into his service.

According to some accounts, the besieging forces retired without having obtained possession of the fortress; but the more probable story, and that which rests on the better authority, is that Prince Henry was at length obliged to capitulate, and that he was deprived of all his estates. For two years he wandered about the Continent with a scanty escort and in great poverty. At length he obtained the government of the city of Domfront, and in that position he displayed much ability, and obtained considerable power in the surrounding country.

Meanwhile (1091) Malcolm Canmore had invaded England, and had penetrated "even to Chester." William sent an army to oppose him, and, according to some authorities, also fitted out a naval force, which was overtaken by a storm on the Scottish coast and destroyed.[8] The two armies met somewhere on the borders of Scotland, but the impending conflict was prevented by the efforts of Robert of Normandy, who had returned with William to England, and Edgar Atheling. A treaty of peace was concluded, by which Malcolm rendered homage to Rufus, as he had done to William the Conqueror, and was permitted to retain certain lands in Northumberland, of which he had become possessed.

Soon after (1093) Rufus gave directions for the building of a fortress at Carlisle, and having sent a number of English to inhabit the town, he bestowed on them many valuable privileges. This act, if not an infringement of the recent treaty with Malcolm, was at least a violation of the rights of that monarch. The earldom of Cumberland had been for centuries attached to the Scottish crown, and Malcolm demanded its restitution. A conference took place between the two kings, and Rufus having refused redress for the injury, Malcolm returned in haste to Scotland, and carried an army into Northumberland, burning and laying waste the country. Before Rufus could advance to meet him, the Scottish monarch had fallen into an ambush, and was killed, together with his eldest son, at Alnwick. It is related that when the news of the death of her husband and son was brought to Margaret, the Queen of Scotland, she bowed her head beneath the stroke, and died within four days afterwards.

GREAT SEAL OF WILLIAM II.