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
having never lost but one which was Fitz-Auber He was a Prince deep in his Designs bold in his Enterprises firm in his Prosecution excelling in the Order and Discipline of his Armies and choice in his Officers both of his Army and his State But admirable in Expedition and Dispatch of Civil as well as Military Affairs never deferring till to Morrow what should be done to Day Above all he was careful and prudent in the Management of his Treasure and finding a Temper between the Bounty of his own Nature and the Necessity of his Affairs proportioning always the Expences of his Gifts his Buildings his Enterprizes to the Treasure he was master of for defraying them designing nothing out of his Compass and thereby compassing all he seemed to design He was religious in frequenting Divine Service giving much Alms building Abbies and endowing them sending Presents of Crosses of Gold rich Vestures and Plate to many other Churches and much Treasure to Rome He was a great Lover of Learning and though he despised the loose ignorant Saxon Clergy he found in England yet he took Care and Pleasure to fill Ecclesiastical Dignities here with Persons of great Worth and Learning from abroad as Lanfranc Durand Anselm with many more He was a Lover of Virtue in others and Hater of Vice for being naturally very kind to his half Brother Odon Bishop of Bayeux having made him Earl of Kent given him great Revenues entrusted him in his Absence with the Government of the Realm yet finding him a Man of incurable Ambition Avarice Cruelty Oppression and Prophaneness he at length wholly disgraced him and kept him in Prison during all the rest of his Reign which seems to have been a just Punishment of his Crimes and Sacrifice to the English he had cruelly oppressed in the King's Absence rather than a greediness of his Treasures as some envious Writers would make it appear Yet by the Consent of them all and the most partial or malicious to his Memory as well as others He is agreed to have been a Prince of great Strength Wisdom Courage Clemency Magnificence Wit Courtesie Charity Temperance and Piety This short Character and by all agreed is enough to vindicate the Memory of this noble Prince and famous Conqueror from the Aspersions or Detractions of several malicious or partial Authors who have more unfaithfully represented his Reign than any other Period of our English History Having taken a full View of this King in his Actions and his Person it remains only that we consider the Consequences that both of them had upon the Condition of this Kingdom which will be best discovered by the Survey of what it lost what it preserved and what it gained by this famous Conquest England thereby must be confessed to have lost first very great Numbers of brave English Men who fell in the Battle of Hastings and in two Wars afterwards by the Revolt of the Nobles and Invasion of the Scots in Favor of Edgar Atheling Likewise many Nobles and Gentlemen who disdaining all Subjection to a forreign and conquering Power retired into Scotland Ireland Denmark and after the Extinction of their Hopes by the Suppression of all Endeavours in Favour of Edgar's Right never returned but left their Families habituated in those Countries choosing if they must live under a forreign Dominion to do it rather abroad than at home In the next Place England lost the true Line of their ancient Saxon Kings who were a Race of just good and pious Princes governed by such known Laws and with such Moderation and were so beloved of their People as makes it observed by Writers that no popular Insurrection ever happened in any of the Saxon Reigns Lastly England by the Conquest lost in a great Measure the old Plainness and Simplicity of the Saxon Times and Customs of Life who were generally a People of good Meaning plain Dealing contended with their own little coveting or imitating their Neighbours and living frugally upon the Product of their own fruitful Soil For the Profusion of Meats at our English Tables came in with the Danes and the Luxury of them was introduced first by the Normans and after encreased by the more frequent Use of Wines upon the Accession of Guienne to this Crown What we preserved is remarkable in three Particulars not usual upon great Conquests for first we preserved our Name which was lost by the Saxon Invasions but that of England then succeeding the other of Britain has ever since continued Next we preserved our Language or the old English Tongue which has made the Body and Substance of what still remains though much enlarged and polished since those Times by the transplanting many Words out of forreign Languages especially Latin and French In the last Place we preserved our Forms of Government our Laws and Institutions which have been so much celebrated by ancient Writers and have been so obstinately defended by our Ancestors and are by Chancellor Fortescue who writ in the Time of Henry the Sixth averred to have been preserved through the five several Governments in this Island of Normans Danes Saxons Romans and Britains and so to have continued for a longer Course of Time than those of Rome or Venice or any other Nation known in Story But this I doubt is not so easily proved as affirmed though it may be with more Certainty of the three first which is sufficient to illustrate the Antiquity of our Constitutions without Recourse to strained or uncertain Allegations For what we gained by our Loss in this Conquest though it seems a Contradiction yet it may be observed in many more Particulars than the other two First England grew much greater both in Dominion and Power abroad and also in Dignity and State at home by the Accession of so much Territory upon the Continent For though the Normans by the Conquest gained much of the English Lands and Riches yet England gained Normandy which by it became a Province to this Crown Next it gained greater Strength by the great Numbers of Normans and French that came over with the Conqueror and after his Establishment here and incorporated with the English Nation joyning with them in the same Language Laws and Interests Then we gained much by the great Encrease of our Naval Power and Multitude of Ships wherein Normandy then abounded by the Advantage of more and better Havens than in later Ages This with the perpetual Intercourse between England and Normandy and other Parts of the Continent gave us a mighty Encrease of Trade and Commerce and thereby of Treasure to the Crown and Kingdom which appeared first in so great a Mass as was left by the Conqueror to Prince Henry his younger Son England by the Conquest gained likewise a natural Right to the Dominion of the narrow Seas which had been before acquired only by the great Naval Power of Edgar and other Saxon Kings But the Dominion of narrow Seas seems naturally to belong like that of
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
excepting the Possessions of such as had opposed his Claim to the Crown which he pretended to be a lawful Right as derived from the Testament of Edward the Confessor and thereby was made a Pretence of legal Forfeiture in all that resisted him But this Blow to so many Estates and Families was given at once and no more renewed On the contrary Justice was administred equally to the English Men upon the Injuries of the Normans who presume upon the King's Favour in Prejudice of Right and of those Laws he had confirmed or established Whereof one memorable Instance remains upon Record even in those Writers who were most severe upon the Actions and Memory of this Prince It was an Action between Warren a Norman and Sherburn an English Man The first by Virtue of a Grant from the King had entered upon the Lands of the other who came into Court and pleaded That he had never bore Arms against the King nor opposed his Title or Accession to the Crown but had lived always peaceably upon his own Lands and so was liable to no Forfeiture by the common Law but was further secured by the King's Declaration immediately after his coming to the Crown Upon which Plea a just Sentence was given in favour of Sherburn his Lands restored and Warren the Norman cast and condemned to the Costs of the Suit He appointed Justices to preserve the Peace and administer Justice in every County pursuant to that which was used in the Saxon Reigns For the Pleas of the Crown and those of greater Moment between the Subjects he created Judges of the most learned and able he could find and ordained four Terms each Year consisting of a certain Number of Days wherein Justice should be duly administred and all Suits heard in such Places as the King should appoint and find most convenient Besides these Orders he instituted the Courts of Chancery and Exchequer the first for tempering the Rigor of Laws according to the Dictates of Conscience and Equity and the other for determining all Actions concerning the Revenues of the Crown and punishing Exactions or irregular Proceedings in the Officers who levied or received them as well as Defaults or Delays in those from whom it was due For Taxes or Impositions unusual it does not appear that he levied any excepting one of Six Shillings upon each Plow-land throughout the Kingdom nor is it well agreed at what Time or upon what Occasion this was raised whether by consent of a general Assembly or by his own Regal Authority By this indeed he imposed Danegelt upon the Invasion of the Danes which happened once or twice in this Reign though with little Progress or Success This Tax was first raised by Ethelreld upon the first Enterprise of the Danes upon England and afterwards used by several of his Successors upon the like Danger sometimes to repulse them by Force and Arms sometimes to evade them by Bargains and Money wherewith they compounded for the present Dangers but invited others to come by such mean Defences This Tax grew odious to the People whenever it was raised upon any other Pretence than a Danish Invasion and though it was sometimes levied yet very seldom and cautiously by some few of the Saxon Kings and but once or twice by this Norman Prince and then most probably upon the true natural Occasions which had given it the first Original Thus I suppose it is confounded with the Tax before mentioned and without applying it to the Danish Invasions by some Writers who seem to take all Occasions of defaming the Actions and Memory of this King and to avoid all just Excuses of any that were ill resented And this proceeded from the ill Talent of the Monkish Writers who measured the Virtues and Vices of Princes by the Opinion of their Favour or Disaffection to the Clergy whom they accounted or stiled the Church though this general Appellation is known to comprehend not only such Persons as were anciently chosen to administer the Offices of divine Worship but also all believing Christians that composed such Assemblies to whom those Offices were administred Of this the King seemed to be sensible for though he was a Prince of known and great Piety and so approved by the several Popes during his Reign yet he appeared very little favourable if not something hard to the Ecclesiasticks of this Kingdom and perhaps something bold with their Privileges so long enjoy'd under the devout Saxon Kings For the rest he contented himself with the usual Revenues of the Crown and by his great Order and Management as well as Moderation in his constant Expence gained much Ease to the Crown and Satisfaction to his People The chief and ancient Branches of the Crown Revenue consisted of First the Lands of old reserved as a Provision for the King's Houshold and so reckoned as Crown-Lands These at first yielded only certain Quantities of Provisions as Beefs Sheep Wheat Hay Oates according to the Nature of the Lands the Tenures by which they held and the Quantity of Provisions found necessary for the King's Houshold What Overplus remained was compounded for and paid in Money according to Rates usual and agreed The next was a Duty reserved anciently out of every Knight's Fee which at first was constantly paid as a Quit-rent but being small came in time to be neglected by the Kings that contented themselves with the Military Attendance of the Knights in their Wars and with levying sometimes a greater Duty upon great or urgent Occasions under the Name of Escuage which was burthensom and odious till the Proportions and Occasions came to be ascertained Those Authors who will make the Conquerour to have broken or changed the Laws of England and introduced those of Normandy pretend this Duty of Escuage with the Tenures of Knights Service and Baronage to have come over in this Reign as well as the Trial by Juries But as enough has been said to clear the last so it needs no Proof that these with the other Feudal Laws were all brought into Europe by the ancient Goths and by them settled in all the Provinces which they conquered of the Roman Empire and among the rest by the Saxons in England as well as by the Franks in Gaul and the Normans in Normandy where the use of their States or general Assemblies were likewise of the same Original The last common Branch of the King's Revenue consisted of Forfeitures both of Lands and Goods in Cases of Treason and Fines or some known mulctuary Punishments upon other Crimes which were distinctly prescribed in the Saxon Laws even for Manslaughter and Murther it self the Rigour of those Times not extending to Blood except in those Cases where the common Safety of the Kingdom was concerned by the danger of the King By all these Orders and Institutions and the Clemency as well as Justice wherewith they were administred the King how new soever his Reign how disputed his Title and how disagreeable his Person by a
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
Rivers to those who possess the Banks or Coasts on both sides And so to have strengthened the former Title by so long a Coast as that of Normandy of one side and of England on the other side of the Channel Besides by this Conquest we gained more Learning more Civility more Refinement of Language Customs and Manners from the great Resort of other Strangers as well as Mixture of French and Normans And lastly we gained all our Consideration abroad by carrying our Arms so often and so gloriously as well as extending our Dominions into forreign Countries so that whereas our Saxon Kings were little known abroad further than by the Fame of their Devotion and Piety or their Journeys Gifts and Oblations made to Rome after the Conquest the Crown of England grew first to be feared by our Neighbours to have constant Intercourse with other forreign Princes to take Part and be considered in all the Affairs of Christendom and by the following Accessions of Anjou and Guien came in a short time to be esteemed without Controversie while they possessed those Dominions the greatest Power of any Kingdom then in Christendom as appears by so many glorious Adventures and Successes of their Arms in France Spain Brittany Flanders Sicily and the Holy Land From all these happy Circumstances of this Famous Conquest all the succeding Kings of England seem justly to have done this Conqueror the Honor of dating from him the first great Period of their Reigns by which those of the Saxons and other preceding Dominions or Governments here are left us in Story but like so many antique broken or defaced Pictures which may still represent something of the Customs and Fashions of those Ages though little of the true Lines Proportions or Resemblance But all that has succeeded since this King's Reign though not drawn by any one skilful Hand or by the Life yet is represented in so clear a Light as leaves very little either obscure or uncertain in the History of our Kingdom or the Succession of our Kings FINIS Books Printed for and sold by Richard Simpson at the Three Trouts and Ralph Simpson at the Harp in St. Paul's Church-Yard MIscellanea the second Part in Four Essays I. Upon Ancient and Modern Learning II. Upon the Gardens of Epicurus III. Upon Heroick Vertue IV. Upon Poetry By Sir William Temple Baronet In Octavo The Young Man's Duty A Discourse shewing the Necessity of seeking the Lord betimes as also the Danger and Unreasonableness in trusting to a late or Death-Bed Repentance Designed especially for Young Persons before they are debauched by evil Company and evil Habits The sixth Edition By Richard Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells The Life of Monsieur Des Cartes containing the History of his Philosophy and Works As also the most remarkable things that befel him during the whole Course of his Life Translated from the French by S. R. Naval Speculations and Maritime Politicks being a modest and brief Discourse of the Royal Navy of England Of its Oeconomy and Government and a Project for an everlasting Seminary of Seamen by a Royal Maritime Hospital with a Project for a Royal Fishery also necessary Measures in the present War with France c. By Henry Maydman An Account of several new Inventions and Improvements now necessary for England in a Discourse by way of Letter to the Earl of Marlborough relating to building of our English Shipping planting of Oaken Timber in the Forrests apportioning of publick Taxes The Conservacy of all our Royal Rivers in particular that of the Thames the Surveys of the Thames c. Herewith is also published at large the Proceedings relating to the Mill'd-Lead-sheathing and the Excellency and Cheapness of Mill'd-Lead in preference to cast Sheet-Lead for all other Purposes whatsoever Also a Treatise of Naval Philosophy written by Sir William Petty The whole is submitted to the Consideration of our English Patriots in Parliament assembled
between the Years 460 and 500. But this whole Story is left so uncertain or obscure by those poor Writers who have pretended to leave the Tales rather than the History of those times behind them that it remains in doubt whether to consider them as a part of the Story of that or the Fables of succeeding Ages Whatever there was of plain Stuff the Embroidery of it with the Knights of the Round Table their Orders and their Chivalry and the rest of that kind seems to have been introduced by that Vein of the Spanish Romances which many Ages after filled the World with so much of that idle Trash and chose for the Subject of them the Adventures and Successes of the first Christian pretended Heroes who renowned such fictitious Names by extravagant Actions or Adventures against the Pagans or the Saracens either in Spain or other parts of Europe and Asia And among these 't is probable those Writers found room for the many Legends of the British Arthur and his Romantick Adventures against the Heathen Saxons After the Year 500 for one Century or thereabouts the Saxon Forces were employed in subduing the midland Parts of Britain interjacent between their two first Establish'd Colonies or Kingdoms in the South or Kent and in the North or about Northumberland and to furnish Men for such Atchievments and the new Plantation of so great Tracts of Country after the Conquest and Devastation of the Old mighty numbers of the Saxon Race came over into Britain in several Expeditions and Landing at several Places That which is recorded to have made sudden and easie way for their final Conquests was a Treaty they entered into with the Britains where upon a Parley mediated between them Three Hundred of the Chief on each side agreed to meet and conclude the Treaty in a great Plain In the midst of Talk and Drink which had part in this Commerce the Saxons provoking maliciously and the Britains innocently resenting fell to quarrel first in Words and at last to Blows When the Saxons upon a Sign agreed between them drew out short Swords they had concealed under their upper Garments fell upon the unarmed Britains slew their whole number in the Field who being the best and bravest of their Nation left the rest exposed without Heart or Head to the Fury and Progress of the Saxon Arms. These heartned with Success and proud of so great Possessions and Territories invited and allured still greater Numbers of their own from abroad who being of several Branches and from several Coasts arrived here under several Names among whom the Angles from Schonen and Iutland swarmed over in such numbers that they gave a new Name at length to this Province which from them was called Angle-land and for easier sound England The Saxons pursued their Invasion with Courage and Fierceness equal to the Multitudes of their Nation that swarmed over into this Island and with such an uninterrupted Course of Fortune and Victories after the year 500. that by the end of the next Century they had subdued the whole Body of the Province and establish'd in it seven several Kingdoms which were by the Writers of those Times stiled the Heptarchy of the Saxons They had expelled the Britains out of the fairest and best of their ancient Possessions and driven their greatest numbers who escaped the Conqueror's Fury into Wales and Cornwal Countries mountainous and barren encompassed on three sides by the Sea and towards the Land of difficult Access Some great Colonies of them wholly abandoned their Native Country to their fierce Invaders sailed over into the North-west Parts of France where possessing new Seats they gave a new Appellation to that Peninsula which preserves still the Name and Memory of Britain there though about this time almost worn out at home This is the Account commonly given of the British Colonies first establishing themselves in that Canton of Gaul But there is another given by some learned Persons of their own and drawn as they say either from ancient Archives or Traditions among them and which to me seems the most probable When upon the Roman Wars in Gaul among several Pretenders to the Empire great numbers of the Britains as well as Roman Forces in that Island were drawn over to assist the contending Parties 'T is said that very great Multitudes of the British having followed the unfortunate side retired as fast as they could to that part of the Sea-coast nearest to their Isle and most likely to furnish them with Ships for their Transportation But that the miseries of their Native Country from the furious Inroads of the Picts and Scots so discouraged their Return that by Consent of the Gauls their Friends they established themselves in the furthest North-west Parts of that Province which has since that time retained their Language and their Name And this agrees with the Legend of King Arthur who is said to have been a young Prince or Leader sent from the Britains in France to assist their Country-men here against the Saxons Whatever the Beginnings of this Colony were or at what time 't is at least agreed to have been much augmented by the Resort of so many Britains as sought Refuge there from the Saxon Cruelty The weak and poor Remainders of the old Britains who were scattered among the Saxons in England were wholly spoiled of their Lands and Goods which were fallen under the Mercy of the Conquerors who sharing them all among themselves left the remaining Britains in a Condition of downright Servitude Used them for Tilling Ground Feeding Cattle and other Servile Works in House or Field sometimes Farming out certain parts of Land to them at certain Rents or Profits but held always at the Will and Pleasure of the Landlord The Children that were born of these miserable People belonged to the Lord of the Soil like the rest of the Stock or Cattle upon it and thus began Villenage in England which lasted till the time or end of Henry the Seventh's Reign Soon after the year 600. the Saxons in England having ended their old Quarrel with the Britains began new ones among themselves and according to the usual Circle of human Affairs War ended in Peace Peace in Plenty and Luxury these in Pride and Pride in Contention till the Circle ended in new Wars The Saxon Princes of the seven Kingdoms they had erected in Britain fell into Emulations of one anothers Greatness Disputes about the Bounds of their several Principalities or about Successions or Usurpations pretended or exercised in one or other of them These were followed by formal Wars among them the stronger swallowing up the weaker and these having recourse to their Neighbours for defence against encroaching Power Many fierce Encounters Sieges Battels Spoils and Devastations of Country succeeded in the progress and decision of these mutual Injuries and Invasions between the Saxon Kings for above Two Hundred Years but the account of them is very poorly given us with little order
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
peaceably inhabiting came to incorporate and make a part of the English Nation without any distinction Edward the Confessor Reigned long reduced the Laws of Edward Alfred and Edgar's Reigns into more Form and Order and governed by them His Wars were successful both in Scotland and Wales though managed by his Leaders and without his presence But being a Prince of a soft and easie Nature he gave way to the growing Power and Arrogance of Earl Godwin and his Sons who had been the chief Instruments of advancing him to the Throne upon the Condition of Marrying Earl Godwin's Daughter After he was settled in the Kingdom either upon gratitude and inclination to the People and Customs of a Country where he had lived long and been well received when he was banished from his own He invited many of his Norman Friends into England employ'd them in his greatest Offices either of Church or State and upon some quarrels between them and the English exprest too much partiality to the Normans This gave Godwin and his Son Harold occasion or pretence of raising and heading great Discontents of the English against the Norman Favorites and at last Insurrections against the King who soft in his Nature devout in his temper and now declined in his Age endeavoured rather to appease these troubles by Articles than by Arms and thereby left Harold too powerful for a Subject and aspiring to the Crown Edward had no Children and though he seemed desirous to leave the Crown to his Nephew yet distrusting his weakness to defend it against so powerful a Rival it does not appear or is not agreed among Authors whether he made any disposition of it at his Death or no or whether any such at least as was afterwards pretended Harald alledged that he was appointed by Edward the Confessor to succeed him was believed by some and allowed by more who followed his Power rather than his Right and was immediately after the King's Death elected or admitted to the Crown His first trouble was from his own Brother who being the Elder had obtained assistance from Norway to set up a Title or Pretence to the Kingdom though he could have no other but that his Brother had usurped it Harald having marched into the North overthrown his Brother and his Army of Strangers or Discontents with great slaughter at Stamford was suddenly recalled by a more dangerous and fatal Storm from the South For William Duke of Normandy surnamed the Conqueror was landed at Hastings with a mighty Army of stout Norman Soldiers to pursue a Right he pretended to the Succession of the Crown after the Death of Edward What this was is but obscurely proved or defended But the pretext was that Edward had by Testament left him Successor of the Crown and that Harald while he was last in Normandy had likewise assured him of his Assistance to advance him to the Kingdom upon the Death of the King and the Duke therefore sent to put him in mind of that Engagement But Harald was in possession and admitted neither of these Claims resolved to defend well what he had gotten ill since the apparent Right was in Edgar Atheling descended from the true Saxon Race and from a Brother of Edward the Confessor To decide these Disputes between the two powerful Pretenders while the just Right lay unregarded for want of Force to support it a fierce and bloody Battel was Fought near Hastings which continued for a whole day with great Bravery and Slaughter on both sides but ended with the Death of Harald most of the bravest Captains and above Sixty Thousand Soldiers of the English Nation who resolved to defend a Domestick Usurper against a Foreign Invader and by the loss of their Lives made easie way for the undisputed Succession of William the Conqueror to the Crown of England about the year 1066. or as some account 1068. This Norman Prince was Natural Son of Robert the Sixth Duke of Normandy by Arlette a very Beautiful Virgin of Falaize with whom he fell in Love as she stood gazing at her Door whilst he passed through that Town So that he was the Issue of a sudden and strong Inclination like a noble Plant raised in a hot Bed which gave it such Force and Vigour as made it prosper and grow to so great a Height Nor is it unlikely that the ancient Heroes derived themselves from some Gods to cover the Misfortunes or Follies the Rapes or Loves of some fair Maidens or else the Passions of some frail Wives who loved a Gallant better than a Husband And the force of such Encounters might have Part in the Constitution of a young Hero and give a Natural Vigour Spirit and Lustre to the Children from the Flames wherein they were conceived 'T is certain this young Conqueror owed his Greatness to his Birth and his Fortunes to his personal Merit from the strength of his Temper and vigour of his Mind For he had a Body of Iron as well as a Heart of Steel Yet his Intellectuals were at least equal to his other natural Advantages and he appears as Wise in his politick Institutions as he was Bold in his Enterprises or Brave and Fortunate in the Atchievment of his great Adventures His Father Robert growing Old fell into a Fit of Devotion frequent enough in that Age which made him resolve upon a Visit to the holy Sepulcher His Nobles used all Arguments they could to disswade him but chiefly from the want of lawful Issue and the Competition like to arise upon his Death between several great Pretenders which might prove dangerous to his Country and perhaps fatal to the Norman State But he persisted in the Design of his Journy and told them he had a young Son that he believed certainly to be his own and of whose Person and Disposition he had great Hopes and therefore resolved to leave him his Successor in the Dutchy recommended him to their Care and Loyalty and appointed the King of France to be his Guardian and the Duke of Britain his Governour who was one of the fairest Pretenders to the Succession of that Dutchy after the failing of Robert's Line An unusual Strain or Testimony of the good Faith and Meaning of that Age where Honour was so much more in Request than Interest that such a Prince could trust a Son of reproached Birth and disputed Right to a powerful Neighbour the likeliest to Invade him and to a Pretender that stood the fairest to contest his Title The Prince was not above Nine or Ten Years Old when Duke Robert caused his Nobles and Chief Norman Subjects to Swear Fealty to him and afterwards carried him to do Homage to Henry the First King of France for the Dutchy of Normandy according to the Custom of the former Dukes since their first Accords with that Crown after their Conquests and Establishments in that Part of France which was before called Neustry and took the Name of Normandy from those fierce Invaders These coming
is over That the King having passed some Months here in the Cares and for the Settlement of his new Dominions in England made a Journy to visit his old in Normandy about the beginning of the Summer having been crowned at Westminster on Christmas-Day Whether this was undertaken upon any Necessity of his Affairs on that side or to settle them so as not to interrupt him here where he intended to reside is not known or whether he took a Pleasure and a Pride to show both his Subjects and his Neighbours Princes how secure he esteemed himself in his new acquired Dominions but it looks like a Strain of his usual Boldness and fearless Temper and succeeded well like the rest of his Counsels and Resolutions yet was not this Journy undertaken without Prudence and Caution in the Choice of those Hands with whom he left the Government in his Absence and of those Persons he engaged to accompany him in the Voyage He committed the Rule of the Kingdom to his Brother Odon Bishop of Bayeux and to Fitz Aubar his near Kinsman whom he had lately made Earl of Hereford He took with him into Normandy Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury who though a great Instrument in his easie and peaceable Admission to the Crown yet had been discontented at his Coronation which had been perfomed by the Archbishop of York upon Pretence of some Fault or Question about the other's Investiture with him he took several other Bishops the Earls Edwin and Morchar two Persons of great Power and Dependances with many other English Noblemen of whose Faith or Affections he was the least confident and besides these he took with him a greater and much more considerable Hostage for the Quiet of England though under Color of honouring him or being honoured by his Company This was Edgar surnamed Atheling Nephew to Edward the Confessor and designed by him for Successor as was divulged among those of his Subjects that neither favoured the Right or Pretensions of Harold or the Norman Duke He had many Disadvantages to ballance and weigh down his Right which was undisputed as his foreign Birth and Breeding which was in Hungary during his Father's Exile under the Reign of Hardy-Cnute The Persecution and Hatred of his Grandmother Emma a Woman celebrated in her Time for the Suspicion and clearing of her Chastity by the Saxon Trial of Fire Ordeal but who having married Hardy-Cnute after the Death of her first Husband had ever after more Inclination to the Danish than the Saxon Race Bedsies Edgar though of so good and virtuous Dispositions as made him be stiled England's Darling yet they were such as seemed to become an excellent private Person rather than a Prince or at least to have adorned an easie and peaceful Possession of a Crown rather than to force his Way to a legal Right through the Difficulties and Opposition of two powerful Pretenders However an undisputed Right which they say never dies had left him so many Friends in the Kingdom that the King thought it not safe to leave him behind upon his going into Normandy nor wise to tempt either him or his new English Subjects with such an Opportunity of raising any Commotions upon so fair a Pretence Besides these Cautions he took with him most of his French Adventurers into Normandy finding they were not very agreeable here either to the English or to the Normans and pretending he was not able to clear his Accounts with all that assisted him out of the Revenues or Forfeitures here and that he would find out Ways of satisfying them either in Normandy or by his Credit and Recommendations to other Princes where his own Bounty or Abilities could not reach During his Stay in Normandy which was no less than the whole Summer his new Government in England continued quiet and peaceable though one Erick called the Forester endeavoured to disturb it by calling in some loose Forces of the Welsh his Neighbours into Herefordshire but he was soon suppressed and they easily forced back into their own Mountains by the Vigilance of the Governours and the Vigour of those Forces he had left here disposed with such Order into the several Countries as to give Way or Time to no growing Dangers that should arise in any one Corner or from any single Discontent while the general Humour of the People was calm and either satisfied with the Change or at a Gaze how this new World was like to end So that the King after having settled his Affairs in Normandy to his Mind returned before Winter to enjoy the Fruits of so many Dangers and Toils as his Life had been engaged in resolving to spend the remainder of it in England as the nobler Scene and greater Dominion and to cultivate with Care an Acquisition he had gained himself with much Hazard and Pains and with greater Glory The King at his Return into England finding his new Dominion had continued calm and peaceable under the Authority of his Brother and Council had Reason to believe it would be easily preserved so under his own For as the Absence of an ill Prince seldom fails of raising Disquiets and Commotions among the People in a Government which is obeyed only from Fear so nothing contributes more to the Satisfaction and Obedience of Subjects than the Presence of a good King and this is the Reason why all distant Provinces governed by Commissions or subordinate Authorities are so subject to frequent Seditions and Revolts how lawfully soever they are inherited or how well soever they are established after any new Conquest or Acquisition the Force and Influence of Authority growing still weaker by the Change of Hands and Distance of Place This disposed the new King to the Resolution he took at this time of making England the Seat of his Person as well as Empire and governing Normandy by his Lieutenants thereby forcing the common Affections of Birth or Education and Custom to yield and comply with Reasons of State and preferring a foreign to his natural Soil though perhaps seated in a better Climate and at that time more adorned and civilized by the Commerce of France and other Countries upon the Continent With this Resolution and in this Security he applied himself at his Return to the Arts of Peace and the Orders of his State wherein he as well excelled as in those of War and was framed not only for a great Prince but for a good to which he was inclined by the Bounty and Clemency of his natural Dispositions by the Strength and Soundness of his Judgment and by the Experience of his Age His first Care was to provide for the due Administration and Execution of Laws and Justice throughout his Realm and the next was to introduce Order into the common Course of his Revenue and manage it with so great Proportion of his Expence to his Receipts as might neither leave the Crown in Necessities nor the Subjects in Fears of new or lawless Exactions and Oppressions
Justice being the very Foundation of Government as Treasure is said to be the Sinew of War For the first As he had sworn at his Coronation to govern by the Laws of the Realm so he continued the ancient Customs and Liberties of the People that were called the common Law of the Kingdom which he caused to be in Substance observed both in what concerned the Crown and the Subject though he introduced several new Forms in the Administration or Execution of them Besides the ancient Laws or Customs that concerned the Descent of private Inheritances or the Penalties upon several Crimes There were two fundamental Laws of the Saxon or English Kingdom The Trial by Juries of twelve Men wherein consisted the chief Safety of Mens Properties and Lives And the Burrough Law which was the greatest Security that had been invented by the Wisdom of our Saxon Ancestors for the Peace and Order of the Realm The first I know is by some Authors mentioned as having been introduced by this Norman King out of the Laws of that Country But I think it evident to have been an Institution very ancient among the Saxons and to have been derived and observed during the whole Succession of the English Kings and even in the Danish Reigns without any Interruption Nor does there want some Traces or Appearance of it from the very Institutions of Odin the first great Leader of the Asiatick Goths or Getae into Europe and the Founder of that mighty Kingdom round the Baltick Sea from whence all the Gothick Governments in these Northwest Parts of the World were derived by the spreading Conquests of those Northern Races 'T is recorded that upon the beginning of his Expedition he ordained a Council of twelve Men who should judge and decide all Matters that came in Question and there being then no other Laws establisht among those vast Numbers of rough People going to seek out new Conquests and thereby Seats to inhabit It is probable these twelve Men judged all Cases upon Evidence or matter of fact and then gave their Sentence and appointed Penalties according to what they esteemed most agreeable to Justice and Equity so as the twelve Men were at first both Jurors and Judges Their Judgments in Causes both real and criminal being generally approved as just and equitable grew into President to succeeding Judges and being received by general Submission introduced the Custom of certain Sentences being pronounced in certain Causes and certain Punishments being usually inflicted upon certain Crimes In Process of Time and Multiplicity of Business the matter of Fact continued to be tried by twelve Men but the Adjudgment of the Punishment and the Sentence thereupon came to be given by one or two or more Persons chosen out of such as were best versed in the Knowledge of what had been usual in former Judgments upon like Cases and as the first Part was left to the Equals or Neighbours of the Persons accused as most likely to do Justice to one of their own Rank or Acquaintance so the other was committed to Persons of Learning or Knowledge in the ancient Customs Records or Traditions of what had long passed in the Course of Justice among that Nation Thus we find it evident that in the Saxon Reigns in England Causes were adjudged by the Aldermen and Bishop of the several Shires with the Assistance of twelve Men of the same County who are 〈◊〉 said to have been Judges or Assistants to the two first by such as affirm or pretend this manner of Trial to have been drawn by the Conqueror himself out of Normandy who is thereby said to have introduced in this as well as some other Forms the Norman Laws into the common Law of England 'T is true that the same Custom or Trial was used in Normandy before the Conquest and it is most probable that neither the English received it from the Normans nor these from the English but that both Nation deriving their Original from those ancient Goths agreed in several Customs or Institutions deduced from their common Ancestors which made this Trial by Juries continue uninterrupted in England not only by the Normans but by the Danes also who were but another Swarm of that great Northern Hive 'T is true the Terms of Jury and Verdict were introduced by the Normans with many others in the Stile and Practice of our Laws but the Trials by twelve Men with that essential Circumstance of their unanimous Agreement was not only used among the Saxons and Normans but is known to have been as ancient in Sweden as any Records or Traditions of that Kingdom which was the first Seat of the Gothick Dominions in the Northwest Parts of Europe and it still remains in some Provinces of that Country However King William caused this to be observed as the common Law of the Kingdom and thereby gave great and universal Satisfaction to the Body of the People both English and Normans The Burrough Law had been likewise anciently establish'd among the Saxons whereby every Shire was divided into so many Hundreds or Burroughs consisting at first of one hundred Families therein usually inhabiting every Hundred into so many Tithings consisting of ten Families If any Person committed or were accused of any Crime the Tithing to which he belonged was bound to produce him to Justice before the Court of the Hundred or County If he fled they were to swear they were not Complices of the Fact and that they would procure the Criminal whenever they could find him if this failed in a certain time they would discover all the Goods he was possess'd of within their Tithing to satisfie the Damage done to a Subject or a Fine to the King upon such an Offence If neither Person nor Estate appeared then the Tithing was answerable to a certain Proportion and if that were not sufficient then it was laid upon the Hundred By this means it became every Man's Interest as well as Duty to prevent all Crimes and Misdemeanors among their Neighbours and to discover the Criminals since they were otherwise to share in the Penalty and as the rest of the Tithing was bound for the Behavior of every Freeman among them so every Lord or Master was bound to answer in the same manner for their Servants I know not whether any Constitution of Government either ancient or modern ever invented and instituted any Law or Order of greater Wisdom or of greater Force to preserve the Peace and Safety of any State and of equal Utility to the Prince and People making Virtue and Innocence of Life so necessary by the easie Apprehension or Discovery and certain Punishment of Offenders This Law the King caused likewise to be severely observed during his Reign finding therein his own Interest as well as his Peoples and the great Security of his new settled Government He confirmed all Mens Properties Inheritances and Successions invading none either for his own Benefit or Reward of his Norman Forces or Friends
which left all safe and quiet in the Southern Parts and main Body of the Kingdom whilst he marched with his Army against his Enemies in the North Nor is the Safety of a Prince so firm and well established upon any other Bottom as the general Safety and thereby Satisfaction of the common People which make the Bulk and Strength of all great Kingdoms whenever they conspire and unite in any common Passion or Interest For the Nobles without them are but like an Army of Officers without Soldiers and make only a vain Show or weak Noise unless raised and encreased by the Voice of the People which for this Reason is in a common Latin Proverb called the Voice of God No Prince ever made greater or happier Experience of this Truth than William the Conqueror both in the Events of the last and formidable Dangers which he so easily surmounted and in the whole Course of his subsequent Reign which was infested by many new Troubles either in England or in Normandy that would have proved fatal to him if he had been distracted by the common Discontents or Insurections of his English Subjects for his present Calm was not of long Continuance the Clouds soon gathered again and threatned another Storm and from the same Winds by which the last had been raised Malcolm King of Scotland still persisted in the Envy and Fear of his neighbouring Power and Greatness still esteemed it his own Interest to joyn with those of Edgar and his Dependants in England and thereby weaken the Force or disturb the Quiet of the Norman Government in England before it should by the Favour of Time and calm Seasons take too deep Root to be afterwards shaken He raised a greater Army than before with which he threatned again to invade England and led them himself though still in Favour only of Edgar's Title and Advancement to the Crown He entered into new Practises with several of the English Nobles who had followed him though unfortunately in the last Expedition and were resolved to repair their former Losses by venturing greater rather than give over the Game Nor could the Hopes of the discontented English ever die while the Root was alive and they were fomented by the Malice and encouraged by the Forces of so powerful a Neighbour joyned with so just Pretensions as those of Edgar were generally esteemed When the Preparations in Scotland and Intelligences in England were ripe for Execution the Earl Edwin made his Escape and fled towards the North but was by the Way murdered by some of his own Retinue The Earls Morchar and Hereward who were already upon the Wing for the same Flight discouraged by this Misadventure durst not pursue it but yet already engaged too far to make a Retreat they made Way to possess themselves of the Isle of Ely fortified there the best they could and hoped the Scotch Invasion would divert the King's Forces from attempting them before Winter and that the Season and Scituation together would there cover them for some Time On the contrary the Scotch King was discouraged from beginning his March by the News of these Disasters among his Confederates in England and chose rather to send the Bishop of Durham and Earl Syward out of Scotland to relieve and animate those Lords retired to the Isle of Ely than to enter England without Hopes of their making some Diversion But the King who never feared or slighted any Dangers and knew they were like Diseases to be taken in time marched immediately with his Forces to the Isle of Ely beset it upon one side with a great Number of flat bottom Boats and on another made a Bridge of two Miles long with incredible Diligence and Labour and with such Speed as both surprised and terrified his Enemies within So as despairing of further Resistance they all submitted to the King's Mercy except Hereward who with some few Followers escaped through the Fens and through many Dangers arrived safe in Scotland The rest of the Lords were sent Prisoners to several Parts of the Kingdom where some remained during the King's Life and others dyed be-before him with whom they could not be content to live The King after this small Adventure so happily atchieved and the present Peace of his Kingdom restored yet considering the Root of all his Dangers was in Scotland and unwilling to take up present Quiet and Safety at too great an Interest of Dangers to come resolved to march into Scotland with a powerful Army and endeavour to secure himself on that Side either by a Peace or Victory He first sent Roger a Norman then Gospatrick Earl of Northumberland with Part of his Forces into the North to oppose the Scotch Army that was already entred those Provinces with great Spoils and Ravages of the Country and to keep them at a Bay till the King came up with the rest of his Army In the mean time he assembled his Forces at York with the best Choice of Men and Officers and such Numbers as he judged necessary for such an Expedition composed of English and Normans whose Emulation he encouraged with Promises of Reward and Hopes of establishing their common Safety by the Success of this Enterprise From York to Durham he met with many Hardships and Difficulties from the Wants of his Army in a Country which had been so lately wasted by the Scotch Forces and his own and with which he was then contented to prevent another Invasion But having surmounted all by his own Care and the Patience of his Men from the Example of their Leaders he marched near the Borders without any Opposition though common Fame had made him expect the Scotch would give him Battle in England and not the Trouble of so long a March. But Malcolm their King now destitute of Hopes or Assistances from any forreign Confederates or any Insurrections in England after the late Disasters of the discontented Lords began to cool the Heats of his Blood and instead of further invading England changed his Counsels and resolved only upon a defensive War At the News of King William's Entrance into the Northern Provinces he quitted Northumberland and with good Order retreated back to the Borders and there encamped his Army to the best Advantage without making any further Incursions into the English Territories either to secure his Provisions or not to provoke his Enemies and render all Terms of Reconcilement desperate or not to endanger his Retreat in Case of any Disaster The King of England approaching the Borders and thereby the Scotch Army thought fit likewise to encamp his own both to refresh his Soldiers harassed by so long and difficult a March as also to discover the Forces of the Enemy observe their Countenance their Order and their Motions and thereby judge of their Designs and direct his own to the best Advantage So that for some Days the two Armies stood at a Bay seeming both prepared for a fierce Encounter and yet both content to delay it
between the Accuser and Accused and were usual in Actions both real and criminal where no evident Proof of Fact appeared from Witnesses or other Circumstances The Victor was acquitted and the Vanquished if not killed upon the Field was condemned These were performed with great Solemnities and either in Presence of the King who granted the Combat or of certain Judges by him appointed for that particular Case Both these Sorts of Trials this King abolished as unchristian and unjust and reduced all Causes to the Judgment of Equals or of a Jury of twelve Neighbours and by legal Forms Yet the last was some few times used in succeeding Reigns In the Beginnings of his Reign the Kingdom had been much infested by Outlaws and by Robbers and many Normans were secretly murthered by the Hatred of the English as they passed alone upon the Ways or the Fields especially in the Night To remedy this last Mischief he imposed a heavy Fine upon the Hundred where the Body of any Norman should be found slain whether any Discovery were made or no of the Author or Complices of the Fact For all Rapes and Robberies he caused them to be punished so severely by cruel Mutilations of Members and Hardships of Labour as left them miserable Spectacles or Warnings of their Crimes during the rest of their Lives By the Rigour of these Courses and cutting off the chief Cause of such Offences which grow from Idleness and Expences he reduced the whole Realm to such Security that 't is recorded in his Time how a fair Maiden with a Purse of Gold in her Hand might have travelled through the Realm without any Danger offered to her Honour or her Money Besides to prevent any Crimes that might be committed by Favour or Encouragement of the Night He ordered a Bell to be rung in each Parish at eight a Clock in the Winter and nine in the Summer after which every Man was to cover his Fire and stir no more abroad that Night And this was for that Reason called the Corfew or Couvrefew Bell. For the Safety of his State he erected several Castles in many Places most convenient of the Kingdom among which was the Tower of London and New-Castle upon Tyne either built or by this King much enlarged and garrisoned them by Norman or English Soldiers but all such as he most trusted and who were ready in Arms upon all Occasions Yet these Forts were look'd upon by the English as unnecessary in the Times of Peace and as Bridles upon the Liberties of the People rather than Preventions of Dangers of the Crown After these Institutions he applied himself to the Increase Order and Establishment of his Revenue and having as he believed satisfied the People in general by the Confirmation of their ancient and beloved Laws he thought he might be bolder with the Clergy whom he knew to be generally his Enemies and whose Clamours he the less feared from his own known Piety in frequenting Divine Worship in building and endowing several Monasteries in Presents to many Churches both in England and Normandy but especially in great Treasures which he sent frequently to Rome Therefore upon Pretence of his Enemies in the two last Revolts and such as were designed to be their Complices having conveyed their Plate Money and Jewels into the several Monasteries throughout the Kingdom he caused all the rich Abbies to be searched their Money Plate and Jewels which were not necessary or of common Use in Divine Service to be seized and thereby brought at once a mighty Treasure into his Coffers but an inveterate Hatred of the Clergy upon his Person and Reign and this was the last of those Actions that by the envenomed Pens of the Monkish Writers of that Age left such a Charge upon the Memory of this Prince by the Imputation of Cruelty Oppression Violence Exaction and the Breach or Change of Laws of the Kingdom either Human or Divine though the same Authors little consider how ill this agrees with the high Characters they themselves give of his Personal Qualities and Virtues Nor is it probable that so vicious Actions should proceed from so virtuous Dispositions or that so noble and excellent Qualities of any Prince should be esteemed by the present Age or celebrated to Posterity which had been accompanied by cruel infamous or depraved Actions during his Life Having with these Spoils of the Clergy as well as by the many Forfeitures of the revolted Nobles replenished his Coffers for the present he extended the Care of his Revenue not only to what might arrive in his own Life but also in the Times of succeeding Kings To this End he sent Commissioners into all the several Counties of the whole Realm who took an exact Survey and described in a Censual Roll or Book all the Lands Titles and Tenures throughout the whole Kingdom In this were distinctly set down not only every Barony each Knight's Fee every Plow-land but also what Owners by what Tenures at what Rents or Duties they held and what Stock they were possessed of and how many Villans upon their respective Estates All Lands that held anciently of the Crown or were by this King disposed upon Forfeitures he subjected to the usual Tenures of Baronies or Knight's Fees reserving in all the Dominion in chief to himself some Quitrents or Fines upon Death and Alienation and likewise the Custody of all Heirs of such Lands as were left under Age and the Disposal of their Fortunes besides what was assigned for their Maintenance till they came to Years of disposing their Estates and themselves This Book was composed after two old Examples of the same kind in the Times of Ethelbert and Alfred and was laid up as sacred in the Church of Winchester and for that Reason as graver Authors say was called Liber Domus Dei and by Abbreviation Domesday Book The vulgar Account is that the Name was derived from the Nature and so called because every Man was to receive his Doom by that Book upon any Dispute about the Value Tenure Payments or Services of his Lands upon Collection of the King 's ordinary Revenue or the raising of any extraordinary Taxes or Impositions And to make a President for the future or to satisfie the great Expences the King had been at for the compiling this great Roll of the Kingdom six Shillings was raised upon every Plow-land which made the Design of it less agreeable to the People though every Man's Right thereby received a new Evidence and no Injustice was complained of in the Digestion of so difficult a Work and of so various a Nature By this means the King came to an easie and exact Knowledge of his whole constant Revenue and so proportioned it to his Expences and the necessary Cares of having always a Fond or Reserve of present Treasure in his Coffers that after this Time we never find him plunged in any Difficulties for want of Money to supply many great Occasions that ensued in his
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
in Normandy and in a Church he had there built How the Ground that was opened to receive him was claimed at that instant by a Knight of the Country who alledged it had belonged to his Ancestors and himself and was violently or unjusty seised from them by the King so that his Funeral was fain to be deferred till an Agreement was made and the Value of the Ground paid to the Claimer with other invidious Circumstances which may argue the Ingratitude Avarice or other Vices of his Servants or Subjects then living but not defame the Memory or obscure the Glory of the Dead Thus ended all that was Mortal of this noble King and this renowned Conqueror for his Fame will never die but remain for ever in the most lasting Records of Time and Monuments of Glory among the Princes most celebrated for their brave Atchievements in War their wise Institutions in Peace the Length and Prosperity of their Lives and their Reigns In all which he must with Justice be confessed not to have been equalled by many if indeed by any we read of in Story I have made no mention of any great Councils or Assemblies held in this King's Reign because I find no clear Evidence of the Nature or Constitution the Times or the Occasions of them whether like those used in the Saxon Reigns or like the Parliaments in Normandy or whether that Style was introduced here in this King's Time or that of his Sons who succeeded him It appears that he often assembled the Nobles and Barons of the Realm but whether upon the Solemnity of some great Festivals or some Occasions of more Importance either for the Honour of his Court or Consultation of his Affairs I find not so well recorded nor so easie to determine as some will have it It is agreed only that there were two general Assemblies of the Clergy one about the sixth Year of his Reign upon a Controversie between the Archbishops of Canterbury and York about the Primacy which was therein determined in favour of the first The other about erecting some new Bishopricks or translating their Sees from some decayed and smaller Towns to others grown in that Age more populous and opulent The Lichfield Chronicle also relates how in the fourth Year of his Reign he summoned out of every County the Nobles the Wise Men and such as were learned in their own Law that he might from them learn what were their ancient Laws and Customs After which the Laws of St. Edward were conserved and by him confirmed throughout the whole Kingdom I have not been so particular as other Writers in the Names of Places or of Persons or Distinction of Years because in such Antiquity of Times and Variety of Authors I find them very hard to be ascertained Besides the Disagreement among Writers is so great in assigning the Years to the several Actions of this Prince that so important an Affair as that of framing the Doomesday Book is by some referred to the eighth by others to the thirteenth and by some to the nineteenth Year of his Reign And many others are left in the same Uncertainty I have likewise omitted the Accounts and Remarks wherein some Writers have busied their Pens of strange Comets Inclemencies of Seasons raging Diseases or deplorable Fires that are said to have happened in this Age and Kingdom and are represented by some as Judgments of God upon this King's Reign Because I rather esteem them Accidents of Time or Chance such as happen in one Part or other of the World perhaps every Age at some Periods of time or from some Influence of Stars or by the conspiring of some natural or casual Circumstanstances and neither argue the Virtues or Vices of Princes nor serve for Example or Instruction to Posterity which are the great Ends of History and ought to be the chief Care of all Historians For this Reason as well as to comply with common Custom it may not be improper or unnecessary to end the wise politick and prosperous Reign with the just Character of this renowned Prince Since all great Actions in the World and Revolutions of States may be truly derived from the Genius of the Persons that conduct and govern them so as by comparing both together and observing the Causes as well as Events it may be easie to discern by what Personal Qualities and Dispositions of Princes the happy and glorious Successes of their own Fortunes with the Greatness and Felicity of their States are generally atchieved for to attribute such great Events to Time or to Chance were to destroy the Examples and confound the Consequences of all Virtues and Vices among Men. William surnamed the Conqueror was of the tallest Stature among those common in his Age and Country his Size large and his Body strong built but well proportioned His Strength such as few of his Court could draw his Bow His Health was great and constant which made him very active in his Business and his Pleasures till about the Decline of his Age he grew something corpulent from all which I suppose came the Story in some Norman Writers that he was eight Foot high or the Size of Hercules As he was of goodly Personage so his Face was lovely but of a Masculine Beauty the Loins being strong rather than delicate his Eyes were quick and lively but when moved something fierce his Complection Sanguine his Countenance very pleasant when he was gay and familiar when he was serious something severe His Pastimes were chiefly hunting and feasting in the first he spent much Time used great Exercise and yet much Moderation of Diet. In his Feasts which were designed for Magnificence or Conversation to know or to be known among his Nobles and not for Luxury he was courteous affable familiar and often pleasant and which made him the more so to his Company was easie at those Times in granting Suits and Pardons It is by all agreed that he was chaste and temperate which with a happy Constitution and much Exercise preserved not only his Health but Vigor to the last Decline of his Age. He was of sound natural Sense and shewed it not only in his own Conduct and Reasoning upon all great Occasions but also in the Choice of his Ministers and Friends wherein no Prince was happier or wiser than he He talked little never vaunted observed much was very secret and used only Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury with an universal Confidence both as a Counsellor and a Friend to whom he was ever meek and gentle though to others something austere as if this Conqueror had been himself subdued by the Wisdom and Virtue of that excellent Man In his Purposes he was steddy but not obstinate and though constant to his Ends yet appliable to Occasions as appeared by his favouring and trusting the Normans in his Troubles of England and the English in those of Normandy and was either very wise or very happy in the Arts of gaining Enemies and retaining Friends