Prince the Dauphin fell into Passion called him Son of a Bastard and threw some of the Chessmen at his Head Upon which Prince Henry enraged took up the Chess-board and struck the Dauphin with such Fury on the Head that he laid him bleeding on the Ground and had killed him if his Brother Robert had not retained him and made him sensible how much more it concerned him to make his Escape than pursue his Revenge and thereupon they went down immediately took Horse and by the Help of their Speed or their own good Fortune got safe to Pontoise before they could be reached by the French that pursued them The King of France exasperated by this Accident and Indignity to his Son which revived an inveterate Malice or Envy he had against King William first demanded Satisfaction but at the same time prepared for Revenge both by raising an Army to invade Normandy and taking private Measures with Duke Robert to divest his Brother Henry of his Share in the Government and leave the Dominion of that Dutchy to the Duke according to his former Pretensions grounded upon his Father's Promise wherein the King of France as a Witness still pretended to be concerned The King of England seeing the War inevitable enters upon it with his usual Vigor and with incredible Celerity transporting a brave English Army invades France and takes several Towns in Poictou whilst the French took the City of Vernon by which Hostilities on both sides the first War began between England and France which seemed afterwards to have been entailed upon the Posterity and Successors of these two Princes for so many Generations to have drawn more noble Blood and been attended with more memorable Atchievements than any other National Quarrel we read of in any ancient or modern Story King William after taking of several Towns and spoiling much Country in Poictou and Xantonge returned to Rouen where by the Benignity of his own Nature and Levity of his Son 's he was the third time reconciled to Duke Robert and thereby disappointed those Hopes the King of France had conceived from his Practises with that Prince and as some write with his Brother Henry too and defeated his Pretext of assisting his Right in the Dominion of Normandy But Philip bent upon this War by other Incentives than those which appeared from the Favour of Duke Robert's Pretensions or Revenge of the Dauphin's Injury and moved both with the Jealousie of the King's Greatness and the Envy of his Glory and Felicity resolved to prosecute obstinately the Quarrel he had rashly begun and not esteeming the sudden though violent Motions of a youthful Heat between the two Princes a Ground sufficient to bear the Weight of a formal and declared War upon the News and Spight of Duke Robert's Reconciliation with his Father he sent to the King to demand Homage of him both for Normandy and England King William answered that he was ready to do him the Homage accustomed for Normandy but would do him none for England which he held only of God and his Sword The French King hereupon declared open War against him which was begun and pursued with great Heats and Animosities on both sides with equal Forces but unequal Fortune which favoured either the Justice of the King's Cause the Valour of his Troops or the Conduct of their Leader upon all Encounters He marched into France took Nantes and burnt it with many Villages about it saying That to destroy the Wasps their Nests must be burnt In the Heat of this Action and by that of the Fires which he too near approached he fell into a Distemper which forced him to retire his Army and return to Rouen where he lay sick for some time with ill Symptoms that gave his Friends Apprehension and Hopes to his Enemies During the Expectation of this Event both sides were quiet by a sort of tacit and voluntary Truce between them The King of France talking of his Sickness and mocking at the Corpulency to which he was grown of late Years said King William was gone only to lay his great Belly at Rouen and that he doubted he must be at Charge to set up Lights at his uprising The King of England being told this Scoff sent King Philip Word That he was ready to sit up after his lying in and that when he was churched he would save him the Charge of setting up Lights and come himself and light a thousand Fires in France No Injuries are so sensible to Mankind in general as those of Scorn and no Quarrels pursued between Princes with so much Sharpness and Violence as those which arise from personal Animosities or private Passions to which they are subject like other Mortal Men. The King recovered gathers the greatest Forces he could raise both of English and Normans marches into the Isle of France with Fire and Spoil where-ever he came approaches within Sight of Paris where that King was retired There King William sent him word that he was up and abroad and would be glad to see him abroad too But the French King resolved to let this Fury pass and appeared not in the Field which was left to the Mercy and Ravage of his Enemies The King riding about to observe his Advantages and give his Orders and straining his Horse to leap a Ditch in his Way bruised the Bottom of his Belly against the Pommel of his Saddle with such a Weight and so much Pain as gave him a Relapse of his Illness so lately recovered forced him to march his Army back into Normandy and to go himself to Rouen Here his Bruise turned to a Rupture and his Sickness encreasing with the Anguish of his Wound gave too soon and true Apprehensions of his Danger Yet he languished for some time which he made use of to do many Acts of great Charity and give other Testimonies of Piety and Resignation to the Will of God as well as to dispose the Succession and Affairs of his State leaving by his Testament the Dutchy of Normandy to his eldest Son Robert the Kingdom of England to William his second Son and all his Treasures which were very great to Henry his third After this he ended his Life in the full Career of Fortune and Victory which attended him to his Grave through the long Course of more than threescore Years Reign For he began that in Normandy about ten Years old and continued it above fourty Years before his English Expedition after which he reigned above twenty Years in England and died in or about the seventy second Year of his Age and the Year of our Lord 1087. Several Writers show their ill Talent to this Prince in making particular Remarks how his Corps was immediately forsaken by all his Friends and Followers as soon as he expired how the Monks of an Abbey he had founded were thereby induced to come of Charity and take the care of his Body and his Burial which he had ordered to be at Caen
King of France lost the Flower of his Army the greatest part of his Nobles and hardly escaped himself in Person But that little availed this unfortunate Prince who was so sensible of the Loss and as he thought dishonour received by so unequal a Match that he had not the Heart to survive it long but died of Grief and thereby gave an end to this War and left Duke William a calm and peaceable Reign till he disturbed his own and his Neighbours Quiet by new and greater Adventures But to discover their Causes and judge better of the Events we must have recourse to the Accidents of the former Reigns both in England and Normandy and the great Commerce and Intelligences that were thereby grown for many years past between these two Courts and Nations Edward for his Piety surnamed the Confessor the last King of the Saxon Race in England had by the Persecution of his Enemies under the Reign of Harde-Cnute the Dane been forced to leave England and seek shelter in Normandy where he was kindly received nobly entertained by the Duke lived long there with many English who adhered to his Right followed his Fortunes and shared in the Causes and Reliefs of his Banishment some found Imployments others Alliances All favour and kind reception in Normandy These mutual good Offices produced so much kindness between the Givers and Receivers that 't is by some Writers reported King Edward during his Residence in the Norman Court promised Duke Robert that in case he recovered the Kingdom of England and died without Issue He would leave him the Crown The first happening and Edward restored by the Power of Earl Godwin or rather the general Discontents of the English against the Danish Race and Government 'T is certain King Edward after his Restoration or rather first Accession to the Crown ever appeared more favourable and partial to the Normans than was well resented by his English Subjects in general but Earl Godwin and his Son Harold were so offended that they made it the Cause or Pretence of a dangerous Insurrection and were forced upon the ill Success thereof to leave the Kingdom and fly into Flanders though after restored and received by the King rather by Force than any free and willing Consent Duke William after the end of his Wars with France had turned his Thoughts to the common Arts and Entertainments of Peace regulating the Abuses of his State and the Disorders introduced by a long Course of Wars and Violence adorning his Palaces and Houses of Pleasure building Churches and Abbies and endowing them with great Bounty and Piety After which he made a Journy into England where he was received and entertained by King Edward with the same Kindness himself had found in the Norman Court for which like a good Prince he was much pleased to make this Return of Gratitude as well as Justice In this Visit 't is said by some Authors that the Duke gained so far upon the Esteem and Kindness of the King that he then renewed to the Son in England the promise he had formerly made the Father in Normandy of leaving him the Crown by Testament in case he died without Issue Some time after the Duke's return Harold Son to Earl Godwin and Heir of his great Possessions and Dependances in England was forced by a Storm as he at least pretended upon the Coasts of Normandy and to refresh himself after the Toils and Dangers of his Sea Voyage went first to the Norman Court and after some stay there to that of France and was in both entertained like a Person known to be of so great Consideration and Power in England But his last Visit at Paris was thought designed only to cover the true Intention of his first in Normandy Where he engaged to assist that Duke with all his Friends and Force in his Claim to the Crown of England upon King Edward's Death which happening not long after William claimed the Crown by virtue of a Testament from that King and of an Engagement from Harold But he on the contrary denied any such Testament from the deceased Prince alledged an Appointment made by him at his Death for Harold to succeed him disowned any Promise made in Favour of the Duke and making the best use of the Credit and Authority gained by his Father and himself in a crasie and diseased State during the soft Reign of a weak though pious King Harold set up bodly for himself without any respect of Right beyond the Peoples submission interpreted for their Consent and was Elected King by those Nobles and Commons of his Friends or indifferent Persons who assembled at his Coronation leaving to Edgar Atheling an undoubted but yet unregarded Right of Succession and to William a disputed Plea from the alledged Testament of the deceased King The Duke fond of those ambitious Hopes he had framed early and nourished long and spighted at the perfidious dealing of Harold towards him and his Insolence towards the English Nation in seising the Crown and Government against all Justice or so much as Pretence of Right which is commonly made use of to cover the most lawless Actions assembles his Estates of Normandy exposes to them his Claim to England the Wrong done him by Harold his Resolutions of prosecuting both with his utmost Power The Glory as well as Justice of the Enterprise The hopes of Success from his own Right and the hatred in England of the Usurper as well as the Friends and Intelligences he had in that Kingdom The greatness of Spoils and Possessions by the Conquest of his Enemies and the Share he intended his Friends and Followers according to each Man's Merit and Contribution towards the Advancement of his Designs Though the generality of the Normans in this Assembly were not at first very much moved by these Discourses as either doubting the Right or Success of so hazardous an Adventure yet they could not discourage what they were unwilling to promote since they found the Prince had it so much at Heart who prevailed with several of the greatest Bishops and Nobles of Normandy to make him a voluntary Offer of what Moneys Men and Ships they would each of them furnish towards this Enterprise as well as of their own Personal Attendance upon him in so noble and just a Design This free and magnanimous Offer of the greatest among them in some Degree spirited not only the rest of the Assembly but had much Influence upon the People in general who grew Confident of the Success from the Greatness and Boldness of the Undertakers so as they fell into Emulation who should Engage soonest and Contribute furthest upon this Occasion The Duke assisted to his Expectation by his Subjects began to practice upon the Hopes and Ambition of his Neighbours who weary of the long Quiet they had lived in at home since the Part they had taken in the French and Norman Wars begun to grow fond of some new Action and to look
foreign Birth yet so far gained the general Affections and Satisfaction of the Commoners of the Realm who ask nothing but Security in their Estates and Properties that no Commotions afterwards raised by the Nobles and Clergy against his Government though in Favour of a better Right and Title were ever supported by the Commons who compose the Mass and Bulk of a Nation and whose general good or ill Humour Satisfaction or Discontent will ever have the most forcible Influence for the Preservation or Ruin of any State Besides the good and profitable Institutions and Orders of this King already mentioned so generally approved and so grateful to the Commonalty of the Realm there were others of a different Nature and which had a contrary Effect by distasting and disobliging many of the chief Nobility and most or all of the Clergy though some were so cautious as not to lose their Dignities or Revenues by expressing their Resentments The Offences taken by these last were first the abrogating or surceasing the Judiciary Power exercised by the Bishops during the Saxon Times in each County where Justice was administred and the Bishop with the Alderman or Earl of each Shire sate as Judges in those Courts which encreased not only their Authority but their Revenues too by a Share they had with the King in all Fines rais'd from the Issue of Causes there determined But all this was abolished by the King's Institution of Justiciaries to administer Justice upon all Pleas of the Crown and others among Subjects at four Terms of the Year This gave particular Offence to the Bishops but another to the whole Clergy for whereas before they held all their Land by Franc Almonage and subject to no Duties or Impositions but such as they laid upon themselves in their Ecclesiastical Assemblies This Prince finding above a third Part of the Lands of the Kingdom in Possession of the Clergy and the Forces of the Crown which consisted in Knights Service lessened in Proportion by their Immunity He reduced all their Lands to the common Tenure of Knights Fees and Baronage and thereby subjected them to the Attendance upon the King in his Wars and to other Services anciently due and sometimes raised upon all Lands that held in fee from the Crown This Innovation touched not only the Bishops but all the Abbots throughout the Kingdom many of whom were endowed with so great Lands and Revenues that in Right thereof they were upon the regular Constitutions of Parliaments allowed Session with the Bishops as Barons in the House of Lords The whole Clergy exclaimed against this new Institution not only as an Indignity and Injustice but as an Impiety too and Violation of the sacred Rights of the holy Church but their Complaints were without Redress though not without ill Consequence The Discontents among many of the great Nobles arose chiefly from two Occasion The first was the Rigor of the Forrest Laws and of their Execution And the other was the King 's too apparent Partiality to his Normans To know the Ground or Pretence of these Forrest Laws it will be necessary to run up to their Original In the first Seisures and Distributions made of the British Lands by the conquering Saxons besides those reserved to the Kings or divided among the People and held by the Tenures either of Knights Service or of Book-land as it was termed among the Saxons and thereby distinguish'd from that of Villenage There were many great Tracts of barren wild or woody Lands left undisposed and in a manner waste so great Numbers of British Inhabitants having been extinguish'd by the Wars or retired into Wales Cornwal Britanny and Scotland and the new Saxons not content to share among them any Lands but such as were fruitful and fit to be cultivated These were enclosed or improved as well as inhabited by the new Proprietors and the others left wast as well as undisposed to any certain Owners The whole Country was as has been observed very full of all Sorts of wild Game in the Time of the Britains who lived at large without any Inclosures little Property and subsisted much upon Hunting Fishing and Fowling which they had all in common Upon the enclosing or cultivating of the fruitful Lands by the Saxons the wild Beasts naturally afraid of Neighbours whom they found to be all Enemies fled into the wild woody and desolate Tracts of Land where they found Shelter and fed though hardly yet out of common Sight and Noise And hereby all those Parts became replenish'd with all Sorts of Game especially with Red and Fallow-Deer and made all those several Extents of Ground which were afterwards called Forrests The Saxon Kings esteemed these to belong to the Crown by their Right to all Possessions that have no certain Owner and by their never having been disposed upon the first Divisions of Land in the Saxon Kingdoms nor afterwards by any Grants of the Crown This Right was not disputed nor any Use of it made further than for the King's Pleasure which yet was not by them restrained from the Nobles or Knights that were Borderers upon the Forrests who were so moderate in those more simple Ages as to commit no Excesses or destroy the Game which it was their Interest to preserve both for their Sport and the Quarry and for some use made of it for common Pasturage among all the bordering Neighbours William the Conqueror not only seised upon all these Forrests as Part of his own Demesns but made a very large one in Hampshire besides those he found by laying wast and leaving uninhabited great Extents of Land which he pretended to be fallen to the Crown by ancient Succession or by new Forfeitures and this he called the new Forrest which Name after so long a Course of Ages it still retains In all these Forrests he pretended an absolute Right and Dominion and in Pursuance thereof instituted new and arbitrary Laws of his own unused and unknown before in this Kingdom and very different from the Moderation of the Saxon Government He confined all hunting or fowling in these Forrests to himself or such as should have Right to it by his Concessions or Permissions He imposed Fines upon all Trespasses committed in them according to his own Pleasure and which seemed much to exceed the Fault or Value of the thing These he caused to be levied with great Rigor and Exaction and thereby debarred not only his Commoners but his Nobles too from a Liberty they had before always enjoy'd Though he took care not to provoke the Commoners by leaving Pasturage free for such of the Neighbours who lived most upon their Stock and thereby took no greeat Offence at the Restraint from their Sport which they had not Time from their Labour much to follow yet the Nobles and Knights who valued their Sports more than common Gains and made use of their Riches but for Encrease of their Pleasures resented this Restraint as a sensible Injury as an Invasion
of their Liberties and even as an Affectation of an Arbitrary Power in this Particular and from the Exercise whereof he was only restrained by the Regards of his Safety and Interest in others of more Moment and Consequence The great Nobles resented it yet further as an Indignity by levelling their Privileges with the Liberties of the Commoners from whom they esteemed themselves distinguished by the usual Regards and Respects paid them from the Princes in their Degree as well as from the People Nor does it appear whether this violent Institution of the Forrest Laws proceeded from his passionate Love of hunting the only Pleasure to which this Prince was addicted or from his Avarice by so many Fines to encrease his Treasure or from a Desire of being absolute and arbitrary in one Part of his Government which he found he could not be with any Safety in the rest For his Partiality to the Normans though it was disguised or at least not evident in the common Forms of his Justice which run a free and even Course yet it was easily discovered in that of his Graces and Favour the Civil Offices Ecclesiastical Benefices Places of most Trust about his Person and in his Realm were conferred generally upon his Normans and besides these Advantages and those of the Forfeitures that fell upon his Entrance they appeared to have his Countenance his Conversation his Confidence so that whatsoever the English possessed of the Kingdom the Normans alone seemed to possess the King This might have been more excusable if the English had considered the King as much as themselves and many of his Circumstances as well as their own They were Strangers to him or but new Acquaintance they differed in Language in Manners in Customs they had very lately differed in Interest and from Enemies in War were indeed now become Subjects but rather as to a Conqueror than a lawful Prince The Normans spoke his Native Tongue were trained up in the same Customs acquainted with his Person from his Youth had attended him in his Court followed him in his Wars at Home and Abroad and thought it but just they should share in his Fortunes as they had in his Dangers However many of the great aspiring Spirits among the English Nobles could not bear this Partiality of the Kings They thought the Normans ought to be provided of Rewards or Honours in Normandy but those of England should be conferred upon English Besides they resented the common Testimonies of his Inclination to the Normans as much as they could have done Injuries to themselves like generous Lovers who are more jealous and spited to see their Rivals gain the Inclination of their Mistress than the Possession and had rather they should have her Body than her Heart Upon all these Causes the Discontents of many chief English Nobles and Prelates were grown to such a Height swelling more within the more they were suppressed that they wanted only a fair Occasion to draw them to a Head and make them break out with Violence and much Pain and Danger to the State This furnish'd them either by Fortune or Design in the third fourth or fifth Year of the Conqueror's Reign for the Authors are neither distinct nor agreed in assigning the Causes or the Times of this King's Actions in War or Institutions in Peace by which their true Nature and that of the Prince would have been best discovered whereas they content themselves to display their Eloquence or vent their Passions by relating general or particular Events what was done and what was suffered in his Reign by which some of the Norman Writers endeavonr to represent him as a God and some of the English like a Devil and both unjustly Edgar Atheling was Nephew to Edward the Confessor and the undisputed as well as undoubted Heir of the Kingdom from the Saxon Race It was generally thought that he had likewise been designed by King Edward a just and pious Prince to succeed him in the Throne and that his Declaration pretended by Harold or Testament by the Duke of Normandy were fictitious or at least neither of them evident from any clear and undoubted Writings or Testimonies Edgar was besides from the Bounty of his Nature the Excellence of his Temper the Prerogative of his Birth and the Compassion of his unjust Fortunes much and generally beloved and esteemed among all the English both Nobles and Commons yet he neither opposed Harold's Usurpation nor the Normans Conquest whether for want of Spirit to attempt so great an Adventure or upon Prudence not to oppose such Powers as he found unresistable and in which so many Circumstances had conspired choosing rather to content himself with the Shades of a private Condition out of Danger and Envy or at least to attend some future Occasions that might open a more probable Way to his Hopes and his Fortunes He was at London among many other Nobles when the famous and decisive Battle was fought at Hastings and the News brought of the Duke's Victory and of Harold's Death Those of the Nobles who were for opposing the Conqueror were for declaring Edgar Atheling King the Citizens of London were at first disposed to the same Resolution but the Bishops and Clergy who had the greatest Sway among both those Orders prevailed in this general Council for a general Submission to the Fate of the Kingdom In Pursuance of this Resolution Edgar Atheling with Stigand and Alred Archbishops of Canterbury and York Edwin and Morchar two of the greatest English Lords the rest of the Nobles and Bishops who had attended the Victorious Duke upon his Way to London was well received by him and treated with Bounty as well as Humanity so that the young Prince attended frequently at Court accompanied the King into Normandy returned with him into England and lived there for some time like one who had forgot his Birth and his Title though they were by the English well remembred But at length either weary of Rest or roused by other Spirits more unquiet than his own he resolved or at least pretended to make a Journey into Hungary where he was born during his Father's Exile had lived long and was much beloved He embarqued for Flanders with his two Sisters Margaret and Christine but forced by a Storm and contrary Winds or allured by fairer Hopes he was driven upon the Coasts of Scotland the first was given out but the last suspected from the Event of this Voyage He was received by Malcolm the King with great Kindness and Compassion of his Disasters both at Sea and Land was resorted to by all the Nobles and Gentlemen who had sheltered themselves in that Kingdom upon Hate or Fear of the Conquest in England and was by them acknowledged and honoured as the true lawful Heir of that Crown Soon after his Arrival the King of Scotland enflamed either with the Beauty of the young Lady or with the Hopes of her Brother's Fortunes or upon former Concert with the
from a mutual Respect they had for one anothers Forces and Dispositions They were indeed not much unequal in Numbers nor in the Bravery and Order of their Troops both Kings were valiant and wise having been trained up in Arms inured to Dangers and much embroiled at home in the Beginning of their Reigns They were now animated to a Battle by their own Courage as well as their Soldiers but yet both considered the Event in the Uncertainty and the Consequence the Loss of a Battle might prove the Loss of a Crown and the Fortune of one Day determine the Fate of a Kigdom and they knew very well that whoever fights a Battle with what Number and Forces what Provisions and Orders or Appearances soever of Success yet at the best runs a Venture and leaves much at the Mercy of Fortune from Accidents not to be foreseen by any Prudence or governed by any Conduct or Skill These Reflections began to dispose both Kings to the Thoughts of ending their Quarrel by a Peace rather than a Battle and though both had the same Inclination yt each of them was unwilling first to discover it least it might be interpreted to proceed from Apprehensions of Weakness or Fears and thereby dishearten their own Soldiers or encourage their Enemies The Scotch at length began the Overture which was received by King William with a Show of Indifference but with a concealed Joy and the more reasonable as having the greater Stake the less to win and the more to lose by the Issue of a Battle The first Parley was followed by a Treaty and this after some Debate by a Peace concluded as between equal Forces so upon equal Conditions each King to content himself with the ancient Bounds of their several Kingdoms whereof the Borders were agreed Neither to invade one anothers Dominions nor to assist the Enemies or receive and protect the Rebels of each other Prisoners in the last or this War to be on both sides released and Subjects who desired to return to be on both sides restored to their Country and Possessions Edgar the Principal or most appearing Cause of the War was included and provided for in this Treaty to return into England make his Submission to the King renounce any further Claim to the Crown and thereupon not only to be restored to his own Possessions with his Friends and Followers but to be provided of a large and honourable Maintenance from the King during his Life And thus this Storm which threatned both Kingdoms with such fatal Dangers and long Consequences was of a sudden blown over a general Calm restored in the whole Island of Britain and the two Kings returned to enjoy the Fruits of a Peace to which they had both contributed by their equal Temper and Prudence as well as by their equal Preparations for a War Soon after the King's Return Edgar repaired into England where he was very favourably received and all Conditions of the Treaty performed and ever after observed with great Faith and Sincereness on both Parts He had his Provisions and Revenues agreed by the Treaty fairly established but being desirous to go to the Wars of the Holy Land which was the common Humour of idle or devout Princes in that Age He was furnished by the King with great Sums of Money to prepare and maintain a noble Equipage for that Journey He there gained much Honour and Esteem after which returning into England he passed the rest of his whole Life in the Ease and Security of a large but private Fortune and perhaps happier than he might have done in the Contests and Dangers of Ambition however they might have succeeded A rare Example of Moderation in Prince Edgar and of Magnanimity as well as Justice and Clemency in this King and very different from several of his Successors who defamed their Reigns by the Death of innocent Princes for having only been born to just Rights of the Crown without any appearing Means or Attempts to pursue them or endanger the Possessors thereby staining their Memories with the Blots both of Cruelty and Fear For as Clemency is produced by Magnanimity and Fearlessness of Dangers so is Cruelty by Cowardise and Fear and argues not only a Depravedness of Nature but also a Meanness of Courage and Imbecillity of Mind for which reason it is both hated by all that are within its Reach and Danger and despised by all that are without The King upon his Return began again to apply himself to the Arts of Peace which consist chiefly in the preventing of future as those of War in the surmounting of present Dangers And as nothing raises the Power of a Crown so much as weak and private Conspiracies against it rashly undertaken by some few Discontents unsupported by any general Defections of the People faintly pursued and ending without Success so this Prince found his Throne and Authority more firmly established in all Appearance by the happy Issue of the two late Wars and the unfortunate Events of his revolted Nobles And now esteemed himself more at Liberty from those Regards of his English Subjects and their Laws which his unsettled State had made necessary upon his first Accession to the Crown He was provoked by the Rebellions of so many of the greatest English Nobles after their Fealty sworn to him He was perswaded of the general Disaffection of the rest and that the late Insurrections would have been found much deeper rooted and farther spread if they had been attended with any Success He thought the English Lords and Bishops had too great Dependance of their Tenants and Vassals upon them and had themselves too little upon the Prince Since they esteemed themselves neither bound to attend him in the Wars unless they pleased nor to furnish the Expences unless by their own Consent in their general Assemblies nor was he satisfied to have them judge of his Necessities whom he thought likeliest to encrease them or at least to desire them He believed the English in general would as long as they retained the Saxon Laws and Forms of Government ever be affected to the Race of their Saxon Kings And for this Reason he was thought to have encouraged the Voyage of Edgar for the Holy Land by so large Supplies of Treasure under Pretence of that Prince's Honour but from true Intentions of his own Safety Besides he found his Treasures exhausted by the great Charges of his two last Expeditions and the just Rewards he had promised both his Normans and those of the English who had well and faithfully served in them Though he had once or twice for 't is left in doubt levied the Tax of Dane-gelt upon the Threats of a Danish Invasion and by an ancient Prerogative of the Saxon Kings pretended or exercised upon that Occasion yet he found it was not raised without great Murmur and Reluctancy of the People as well as the Nobles who pretended to ancient Liberties of paying no Taxes imposed without the Consent