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
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
he had laid in an advantageous Pass he broke them killed some and put the rest to Flight then he advanced against the main Body where the King commanded and by an unnatural Chance he charged his old Father with such Fury that by the Stroak of his Launce he wounded him in the Arm and overthrew him to the Ground The King calling out upon his Fall his Son immediately knew his Voice and stung upon the sudden with the Conscience of his Crime and his Duty he leaped from his Horse raised his Father up from the Ground fell down upon his Knees begged Pardon of his Offence with Offers upon it to return to his Duty and Obedience The King moved by the same Force of Nature received his Submissions forgave him and embracing him ended an Adventure in Tears of Joy which had begun in Blood The Armies were as easily reconciled as their Leaders and all together marched to Rouen where the King was received with all Demonstrations of Joy and the Duke compliplimented upon his happy Reconcilement with his Father nor were those the last in this Croud of Rejoycers who had been the chief in promoting the Quarrel between them The King made no long Stay in Normandy dissembling the Knowledge or Resentment of what Part the French King had played in this Affair but after having re-established the Quiet and Order of the Province returned with his whole Forces into England left his Son in the Government of Normandy trusting to his Duty and the Loyalty of his Subject there as if nothing had passed to give him the least Suspicions of either A true Strain of the noble and fearless Nature of this Prince who was rather made to surmount all Dangers he encountred by brave Actions and judicious Councils than either to invite or anticipate his Misfortunes by Distrust and vain Apprehensions which are but the Distractions of weak and timorous Minds Yet this Sincereness and Confidence of the King had not the Return they deserved for Duke Robert having once tasted the Sovereign Power could not long digest any Dependance upon another Will and lying still open to the Practises of France upon his Levity and Ambition relapsed the next Year into his former Distemper and assumed again the Sovereignty of Normandy and as Duke thereof in his own Right which was again acknowledged and obeyed by the Normans The King upon the News of this second Defection in his Son and his Subjects fell into great Passion and in it is said to have cursed his Son and the Hour wherein he begat him but soon returning to himself with his usual Judgment and Composure of Mind gave present Orders for preparing a much greater Army and Navy than he had used in last Years Expedition and though both were shattered by great Storms he met with at Sea yet upon his Arrival in Normandy either the Fame of his Forces or the Lightness of his Son's Dispositions or Remorse of his Duty prevailed with Duke Robert to offer again his Submissions and Obedience to his Commands The King again received them pardoned both his Son and his revolted Subjects but forced now to more Caution than he had used before after having settled once more the Peace and Quiet of Normandy and placed the Government in safer Hands he took his Son with him into England and imployed him in the hard rough Wars of Scotland against Malcolm who upon the King's Absence and Confidence of being long detained by the Norman Revolt and Diversion of France had taken Occasion to pass the Borders with an Army and ravage the Northern Provinces of England Though Duke Robert gained no great Honour by this Expedition yet the King gained his End For the Scotch disheartned by his unexpected Return and more by his perfect Reconcilement with his Son returned home upon the Approach of the English Army and renewed the Peace which lasted the rest of the two Kings Lives About the same time incensed against the Welsh for many Inroads and Spoils upon the Frontier Counties he sent an Army against them subdued the plain and accessible Parts of their Country drove them to the fast Holds of their Mountains forced them to sue for Peace which he granted upon Homage done him by their Prince and upon Hostages given for Performance of the other Conditions This fortunate and victorious King seemed now to have passed all the tempestuous Seasons of his Life and secure of Repose for what remained which was necessary or most agreeable to the great Decline of his Age. He was at Peace with all his Neighbours obeyed and honoured by his Subjects feared by his Enemies and the Troubles of his Family were wholly appeased so that it was hard for any Man to conjecture from what Side any new Storm should arise But the Decrees of Heaven are wrapped up in the Clouds and the Events of future things hidden in the Dark from the Eyes of Mortal Men. The wisest Councils may be discomposed by the smallest Accidents and the securest Peace of States and Kingdoms may be disturbed by the lightest Passions as well as the deep Designs of those who govern them For though the wise Reflections of the best Historians as well as the common Reasonings of private Men are apt to ascribe the Actions and Councils of Princes to Interests or Reasons of State yet whoever can trace them to their true Spring will be often forced to derive them from the same Passions and personal Dispositions which govern the Affairs of private Lives as will be evident in the Sequel of this King's Reign The Normans were desirous to have a Prince of their Race reside among them the King was unwilling to venture again the ill Consequences of his Son Robert's Ambition or Inconstancy and therefore sent him over into Normandy but joyned in Commission with his youngest Son Henry whose Duty and Affection he most relied on both to observe the Actions and temper the Levity of his eldest Brother These two Princes agreed better than is usual to Associates in Power and governing the Province with Moderation and Prudence reduced Affairs there to such Order and Tranquility that having little Business at home they went to seek some Diversion abroad and made a Visit to the King of France then at Constance who received them with great Honour and Kindness and as was thought not without Design of renewing old Practises with Duke Robert to his Father's Prejudice Whatever Affairs might busie the Thoughts of that King and the Duke those of Lewis the young Dauphin and Prince Henry were taken up with the common Entertainments of Youth and of Leisure Love Hunting Play and other such Divertisements wherein the Similitude of Age and of Customs made them constant Companions It happened one Evening that the Dauphin playing at Chess at the Prince's Lodging lost a great many Games and much Money to Prince Henry and grew thereupon first into ill Humour and at length into ill Language which being returned by the
almost deserted by such numbers of Goths Vandals and Saxons as had issued out of them some Centuries before began under the Names of Danes and Normans to infest at first the Sea and at length the Lands of the Belgick Gallick and British Shores filling all where they came with Slaughters Spoils and Devastations The Normans first over-run the Belgick Provinces upon the Mouth of the Rhine and gave them new Names of Holland and Zealand to those parts adjacent to the Sea Afterwards they sailed with mighty Numbers into the Mouth of the Sean and with great fierceness subdued that Northern part of France which from them first received and ever since retained the Name of Normandy and became the State of a great Norman Duke and his Successors for several Generations In the mean time the Danes began their Inroads and furious Invasions upon the Coasts of England with mighty numbers of Ships full of fierce and barbarous People sometimes entring the Thames sometimes the Humber other times Coasting as far as Exeter Landing where-ever they found the Shores unguarded filling all with Ravage Slaughter Spoil and Devastations of the Country where they found any strong Opposition retiring to their Ships sailing home laden with Spoil and by such encouragements giving Life to new Expeditions the next Season of the Year The bravest Blood of the English had been exhausted in their own Civil Wars during the Contentions of the Heptarchy since those ended the rest were grown slothful with Peace and with Luxury softned with new Devotions of their Priests and their Monks with Pennances and Pilgrimages and great numbers running into Cloysters and grown as unequal a Match now for the Danes as the British had been for the Saxons before Yet this Century passed not without many various Successes between the two Nations many Victories and many Defeats on both sides so that twelve Battels are said to have been Fought between them in one Year The Danes divided their Force into several Camps removed them from one part of the Country to another as they were forced by necessity of Provisions or invited by hopes of new Spoils or the weakness and divisions of the English At length fortified Posts and Passages built Castles for defence of Borders one against the other which gave the beginning to those numerous Forts and Castles that were scattered over the whole Country and lasted so long as to remain many of them to this very Age. The English sometimes repulsed these Invasions sometimes purchased the Safety of their Provinces by great Sums of Money which occasioned great Exactions of their Kings upon the People and that great Discontents While the Danes encreasing still by new Supplies of Numbers and Force began to mingle among the Inhabitants of those parts they had subdued made Truces and Treaties and thereupon grew to live more peaceably under the Laws and Government of the English Kings Alfred to prevent the danger of New Invasions began to Build Ships for the Defence of his Coasts and Edgar a Prince of great Wisdom and Felicity in his Reign applying all his thoughts to the encrease and greatness of his Naval Forces as the true strength and safety of his Kingdom raised them to that height both of Numbers and Force and disposed them with that Order for the Guard of the Seas round the whole Island as proved not only sufficient to secure his own Coasts from any new Invasions but the Seas themselves from the Rovers and Spoilers of those Northern Nations who had so long infested them So that all Traders were glad to come under his Protection Which gave a rise to that Right so long claimed by the Crown of England to the Dominion of the Seas about the year 960. But these provisions for the safety of the Kingdom began to decline with the Life of Edgar and neglected in the succeeding Reigns made way for new Expeditions of the Danes who exacted new Tribute from the Kings and Spoils from the Subjects till Ethelred compounding with them for his own Safety and their peaceable living in England and fortifying himself by an Alliance with Richard Duke of Normandy laid a design for the general Massacre of the Danes spred abroad and living peaceably throughout the Realm which was carried on with that secrecy and concurrence of all the English that it was executed upon one day and the whole Nation of the Danes massacred in England about the year 1002. This cruel and perfidious Massacre of so many Thousands instead of ending the long miseries of this Kingdom from the Violences Invasions and Intrusions of the Danes made way for new and greater Calamities than before For Swane King of Denmark exasperated by the Slaughter of his Nation here and among them of his own Sister and animated by the Successes of so many private Expeditions soon after landed with great Forces formed several Camps of Danes in several parts of England filled all with Spoil and Slaughter forced Ethelred to fly for Relief into Normandy and though he returned again yet being a weak and cruel Prince and thereby ill beloved and ill obeyed by his Subjects he never recovered Strength enough to oppose the Forces and Numbers of the Danes to whom many of the English Nobles as well as Commoners had in his absence submitted Swane died before he could atchieve this Adventure but left his Son Canute in a Course of such prosperous Fortunes and the English so broken or divided that coming out of Denmark with new Forces in two hundred Ships he reduced Edmund Son of Ethelred first to a Division of the whole Kingdom between them and after his untimely Death was by the whole Nobility of the Realm acknowledged and received for King of England This fierce Prince cut off some of the Royal Line and forced others into Exile Reigned long and left the Crown for two Successions to his Danish Race who all swore to Govern the Realm by the Laws which had been established or rather digested by Edward the First and Edgar out of the Old Saxon Customs and Constitutions But Hardecaute last of the Danish Kings dying suddenly at a Feast in the year 1042. left the Race so hated by the Imposition and Exaction of several Tributes upon his People that Edward surnamed the Confessor and Grandson to Edgar coming out of Normandy where he had been long protected found an easie accession to the Crown by the general Concurrence both of Nobles and People and with great Applause restored the Saxon Race in the year 1043. Thus expired not only the Dominion but all Attempts or Invasions of the Danes in England which though continued and often renewed with mighty Numbers for above two hundred years yet left no change of Laws Customs Language or Religion nor other Traces of their Establishments here besides the many Castles they built and many Families they left behind them who after the Accession of Edward the Confessor to the Crown wholly submitting to his Government and
and so much Power to punish and revenge them which serves to make up that Character of Clemency of Nature that is allowed this Prince among his other Virtues even by those Writers who are severest upon his Memory Both the Danes and the Irish Fleets were upon the English Coasts when they first received the News of their Cenfederates Discovery and Disasters upon which they returned to Denmark and to Ireland and after this Time the Danes never again attempted any Invasion upon England nor was this Conqueror any more infested or disturbed by any of his English Subjects during the rest of his Reign finding the Conspiracy wholly suppressed and the Kingdom in perfect Tranquility upon his Return which he had yet hastened out of Normandy upon the Intelligence of his Danger in England and Ignorance how deep it was rooted or where it might end Nor was it easie to conjecture since it was believed by wise Men in that Age that the Weakness and ill Success of this Conspiracy proceeded chiefly from the Want of some popular Pretension that might have raised a Commotion of the People in Favour of the Lords and that if this had been designed in Defence of Edgar's known Rights to the Crown and spirited by that Prince at the Head of so many English and Norman Lords as were engaged in it the Throne had been endangered by this last Shake. But the unfortunate Prince Edgar had made his first Pretensions too late and his last Submissions too soon and the Danish Title was hated by the Commons of England though favoured by many of the Nobles and thereby wanted the Foundation proper and necessary to raise any firm Building Thus the Infelicity of some Princes may be occasioned only by ill timing their Councils when to attempt and when to desist in the justest Endeavours and the Greatness of others may be raised and preserved by unforeseen Accidents where the greatest Reach of Foresight and Conduct might have failed For had Edgar been at Liberty to pursue his Rights upon this Conjunction of the English and Norman Nobility he might probably have gained the Crown and had not some of the chief Complices discovered the Conspiracy the Conqueror might as probably have lost it However these Fortunes came to attend him thus far of his Reign yet here the Curtain may be drawn over the happy Scenes of this Prince's Life for the next that must open will represent him in the Decline of his Age imbroiled in Domestick Quarrels which could neither end in Glory nor in Gains assaulted by his own Children opposed by his Native Subjects forced to use Strangers to reduce them to Duty and Obedience after two dangerous Revolts and when these Troubles were appeased after much Anguish of Mind and many Dangers engaged by a trivial Accident and without any Design in a foreign War with a powerful Prince which though pursued with his usual Vigor and Fortune it first cost him his Health and at last his Life William the Conqueror had by his Wife Matild Daugter to Baldwin Count of Flanders four Sons Robert Richard William and Henry besides several Daughters Richard was a Prince of the greatest Hopes but unfortunately killed by a Stag while he was hunting in the new Forrest his untimely Fall was much lamented by the King but less by the People who interpreted it as a Judgment upon him for the mighty Wasts he had made to extend the Bounds of that Forrest and for the Rigor and Oppression of the Forrest Laws The other three survived their Father but with very different Fortunes as well as Merits and very unequally distributed The King before his Expedition into England had promised his eldest Son Robert the Dukedom of Normandy in case he conquered the Kingdom he then pretended this Promise was made before the King of France and challenged by Robert after the King 's first Establishment upon the English Throne But the King though he denied not the Promise he had made yet long delayed the Performance upon Pretence of his unsettled State in England from the Discontents of his Nobles and the Scotch Invasions which made it necessary for him to keep Normandy as a Retreat upon any great Misfortune or Revolution in England Duke Robert seemed content with these Reasons whilst they were justified by the Appearances of any Dangers in England but perceiving they were ceased and yet the Delays continued he grew at length impatient and about the fourteenth Year of the King's Reign assumed the Government of Normandy as sovereign and in his own Right caused the Barons to swear Fealty to him as to the Duke and not as his Father's Lieutenant and was received and obeyed by the Normans who grew weary of a subordinate Government and thought they deserved the Presence of their Prince among them which they had enjoyed since the first Establishment of their Possessions in France Besides Robert was generally beloved as a Prince courteous generous and brave though withal ambitious unquiet and uncertain yet these Dispositions both of Prince and People had not alone induced him to engage in so bold a Resolution with such a Breach of his Duty and his Trust without the Practises and Instigations of the King of France who grown jealous of King William's Greatness and envious of his Felicity found no better way of lessening both than to kindle this Fire in his own House and thereby the most sensibly to disquiet his Mind as well as to disjoynt his State and divide his Power He therefore not only encouraged Robert but combined with him in this Attempt and engaged to support him with his Forces if his Father disputed longer the Justice of his Claim The King though at first discomposed at the News of this Insolence in his Son yet believing it had no deeper Root but what would soon wither or be cut off by his Presence in Normandy gathered immediately what Forces he could raise and with an Army of his English Subjects sailed over now to invade Normandy as he had done before to invade England with his Normans A strange Revolution to befal one Prince in so short a Period of Time and which made as great a Change in his Dispositions as his Fortunes for the great Alacrity and Faithfulness which the English expressed towards him in this Expedition gained so far upon his Affections and Confidence that in the rest of his Reign and his succeeding Wars he seemed to place his chief Trust in the Courage and Loyalty of his English Subjects Duke Robert informed of his Father's Preparations neglected not his own and though surprised at the Suddenness of his Arrival to which the Winds had conspired he could not oppose his Landing yet soon after he was in the Field at the Head of a brave Norman Army and of two thousand Men at Arms which the King of France had sent to his Assistance With these Forces he marched against the King fell upon his Vanguard and by the Success of an Ambush