Wilhelmus Conquestor Rex Anglia Dux Norman etc. THE Life Death OF WILLIAM Surnamed The Conqueror King of ENGLAND and Duke of NORMANDY Who dyed Anno Christi 1087. By Samuel Clarke late Minister of Bennet-Finck London LONDON Printed for Simon Miller at the signe of the Star at the West end of St Pauls 1671. THE Life and Death of WILLIAM Sirnamed the CONQUEROUR KING of ENGLAND and Duke of NORMANDY Who dyed Anno Christi 1087. THE Normans issued out of Denmark and Norway the Inhabitants of which Countries in those times were so fruitful in the Procreation of Children that they were forced oft-times to send multitudes abroad to seek new habitations Amongst whom there was one Roul a great Commander attended with many lusty lads who in the dayes of King Alfrid first landed in England where finding no room empty nor any imployment was content upon some relief received to seek imployment else-where which he did against Rambalt Duke of Frize and Reiver Duke of Chaumont and Henalt with whom he often encountred and made great spoiles in their Countries Then passing along the Coast of France he entred the mouth of the River Seine and sackt all the Country up to Roan where the People having been a little before miserably spoiled by an other Invader were so terrified by the coming of these new Forces that the Archbishop of Roan by the peoples consent offered him the obedience of that City and Country upon condition that he would protect them and govern them according to the Laws of Christ and the customes of their Countrey For Charles the Simple the present King of France being otherwise embroiled about the right of his Crown neglected to defend them So that Roul shortly after attempted the Conquest of Paris itself and therein gave some notable overthrowes to some of the French Commanders So that King Charles was forced to buy his Peace by entering into alliance with and giving over to Roul his right to Normandy formerly called Nuestria And hereupon Roul turned Christian and was baptized by the name of Robert Thus he came to his Estate which he governed with such Judgment and equity that he left his Name honourable and his successours a firme foundation to build upon From him in a direct line descended six Dukes of Normandy that inherited that Dukedome the last of which was also called Robert who out of blind devotion resolving to visit Christ's Sepulchre acquainted his Nobles therewith They disswaded him all they could because he had no issue and Allaire Earl of Britaine and the Earle of Burgundy were already contending which of them should succeed him whereby their Country was like to become a Prey to the Souldiers from which he in conscience was bound to secure it The Duke told them that he had a little Bastard of whom he had great hopes whom he would invest with that Dutchy as his Heir and therefore he prayed them thenceforth to take him for their Lord. And said he To shew my trust in him I will make the Earl of Britaine his Governour and Seneschal of Normandy and the King of France shall be his Guardian and so I will leave him to God and your Loyalty Shortly after the Bishops and Barons did their homage to this base Son named William whom his Father begat on one Arlet a mean woman of Falaise And Duke Robert delivered the Child with his own hand to Henry first King of France whom he had greatly assisted in keeping his Crown against an other Competitor and therefore he might the more presume if good-turns done to Princes could weigh down self-respects to have found a faithful discharge of his trust He caused also young William to doe his homage for the Dutchy of Normandy to the King and so committed him to his Royal Faith and going his joruney he dyed in Asia William being then but nine years old Soon after the news of his Father's death the Nobles of Normandy by much intreaty gat him out of the French King's hand knowing that they having him amongst them would countenance his Counsellers and such as were in Office But they soon found that his Person without power did but increase their discord and factions For presently after his right was questioned by Competitors And first Robert de Tresny an experienced Souldier bringing a fair line from Roul intertained and feasted the chiefest men amongst them urging to them what a wrong it was to him that a Bastard and a Child should be preferred before him in the Dutchy which his Ancestors had gotten by their Valour and what a shame it was for the Normans to be governed by such an one And when words prevailed not he brought it to the tryal of the Sword in a great Battel in which by the valour of Roger de Beaumont he was defeated and himself and his two Brethren slain Not long after the King of France violating the trust that was reposed in him assisted in Person William Earl of Arques another pretender to the Dutchy descended also from Roul and brought to his aid a mighty Army yet Count Guifford Duke William's General by a stratagem training the French into an Ambush overthrew them and caused the King to return to Paris with great loss and dishonour and forced Arques to seek relief from the Earl of Bologne where yet he found little favour few regarding men that are overthrown and low This storm past a worse succeeds There lived with Duke William a young Lord of the like years called Guy descended also from Roul who coming to be sensible of his Interest was advised by some stirring spirits to put in for the Dutchy which they said was his right and but usurped by the Bastard And to promote his affairs there fell out a deadly feud between two of the greatest Lords Vicount Neel and the Earl of Bessin whose quarrel Duke William either did not or could not pacifie whereupon this Guy who was lately made Earl of Briorn and Vernon interposed to end this discord and by the advice of Grimolt de Plessis brought it to pass that both these great men turned the point of their malice against Duke William for not ending the difference and therefore conspired with Guy to murther him at unawares which also they had effected had not a Fool whom they suspected not noting their preparations got away in the night to Valogne knocking and crying at the Gates till he was admitted to the Dukes presence who was now about seventeen years old whom he willed presently to flee or he would be murthered The Duke seeing the Fool so affrighted contemns not the information but presently takes Horse and all alone posts towards Falaise his strongest place By the way his Horse was tired and at break a day coming to a Village called Rie it fell out that a Gentlemen was standing at his door ready to ride abroad of him the Duke enquired the next
incensed King William that speedily raising an Army he entered Northumberland pittifully wasted by the Danes and made spoil of all and with a good summe of money purchased the departure of the Danes These devastations in sundry Counties made such a Dearth that the People were forced to eat Horses Dogs Cats Rats c. and between York and Durham for the space of sixty miles for nine years together there was such an utter desolation that neither House was left standing nor field tilled After this great defeat most of the Lords came in upon the publick Faith and were conducted to Barkhansted by the Abbot Frederick where upon their submission and Oath of Allegiance retaken they were restored to his favour and to give them satisfaction King William before the Archbishop Lankfranc and the Lords again sware to observe the antient Laws of the Realm established by his Noble Predecessors especialy those of Saint Edward Yet not long after these Lords upon new discontents brake out again But Earl Edwin making towards Scotland was murthered by the way by his own men The Lords Morchar and Hereward betook themselves to the Isle of Ely intending to secure themselves there for that Winter to whom also repaired Earl Syward and the Bishop of Durham out of Scotland But the King who was no time giver presently besieged them with flat Boats on the East and made a Bridge two miles long on the West and so brought his men upon them who seeing themselves surprised yielded to the Kings mercy Only Hereward desperatly marched with his People through the Fens and fled into Scotland the rest were sent to diverse Prisons where they dyed or remained during the Kings life Those Lords that continued Loyal upon the late submission were imployed and preferred by the King As Edric the Forrester And Gospatrice was made Earl of Northumberland and sent against King Malcolme who wasted the Countries of Tisdale Cleaveland and Cumberland Waltheoff the Son of Earl Syward he married to his Neece Judith a very valiant man shewing a Noble nature to love vertue even in his enemies And now King William finding Scotland to be a place of retreat for all his discontented Subjects and where his Competitor Edgar lived he entered the Kingdom with a great Army which encountring more with wants than Forces and both Kings considering the uncertain events of War upon fair overtures concluded a Peace agreeing upon the bounds of each Kingdom and Delinquents with their partakers were generally pardoned And shortly after Edgar Etheling came in volutarily and was restored to the Kings favour who allowed him a liberal maintenance which held him ever after quiet King William being now gone into Normandy there was amost dangerous Conspiracy begun against him by Ralph de Waher Earl of Suffolk and Norfolk Roger Fitz Aubre or Osburne Earl of Hereford Waltheoff Earl of Northumberland with Eustace Earl of Bulloine suborned as it was thought by the King of France there unto These Lords conspired to keep William in Normandy and to dispossess him of his Kingdom for which end they agreed to joyn theirs with the Danish Forces whom they intended to call in This was a dangerous Combination the King being in Normandy besieging the Castle of Dole in Britaine belonging unto Ralph Waher and defended against him by the King of France and at such a time when all his Neighbor Princes were jealous of him and ill affected to him The King of Scotland and the Princes of Wales ready to joyn with them at home Swaine King of Denmark with a Navy of two hundred sail ready to invade England to which Drone King of Ireland joyned sixty five ships And this did more distract and incense him because most of these great Lords were either his kinsmen or nearly allied to him This grand Conspiracy was discovered by Waltheoff to Archbishop Lankfranc who perswaded the Earl to go to the King and to inform him of the greatness of his danger Yet notwithstanding this discoverie Roger and Ralph proceed in their intentions and raise Forces But by the diligence of Odo Bishop of Baiaux the Kings Brother the Bishop of Worcester and the Abbot of Evesham they were so prevented that they could never unite their Forces Whereupon Ralph fled into France Roger was taken and imprisoned Waltheoff was beheaded and so this flame was extinct The greatest and last insurrection was in Normandy by King William's own Son Robert who by the instigation and assistance of Philip King of France envying Williams greatness entered Normandy and claimed it as his own right His Father indeed had promised him it long before but Robert impatient of delaies endeavored by a strong hand to wrest it from his Father King William hearing hereof passed with a strong Army over into Normandy where in a Battel meeting with his Son hand to hand he was by him unhorsed and hurt in the arm But his Son perceiving by his voice that it was his Father suddenly leaped off his Horse took him up in his armes fell down at his feet and humbly intreated his pardon which his Father easily granted embraced his Son and ever after they lived in mutual love After this King William sent this his Son Robert with an Army against Malcolm King of Scots who had invaded Northumberland who at the coming of Duke Robert retired At which time Duke Robert began to found a Castle upon the River of Tine whereof the Town of Newcastle did take its beginning and Name which formerly was called Moncaster These frequent Wars put the State to an infinite charge the King entertaining all this while besides Normans very many French Finding the English in respect of many great Families that were allied to the Danes rather to incline to that Nation than to the Normans In the fifteenth year of his Reign he subdued Wales and brought the King thereof to do him Homage And presently after quarrels arose between King William and the King of France The King of France invades Normandy and takes the City of Vernon The King of England invades France and subdued the Country of Xantoigne and Poicton and so returned to Roan Then did the King of France summon our King to do him Homage for England which he refused saying he held it of none but God and his sword But for the Dutchy of Normandy he offered him Homage which yet would not satisfie the King of France Whereupon he made a new invasion but with more loss than profit In the end they concluded a crazy Peace which held only till King William had recovered a sickness whereinto through his travel age and corpulency he was faln which occasioned the young and lusty King of France jeeringly to say that he lay in of his great belly in Roan This so irritated King William that so soon as he was recovered he gathered a very strong Army with which he entered France in
way to Falaise the Gentleman knowing him humbly craved the cause of his so strange and untimely riding alone The Duke told it him and this Gentleman called Robert de Rie lent him a fresh Horse and sent his two sons with him to conduct him the next way to Falaise No sooner were they got out of sight but the Conspirators came posting after and enqured of the same Gentleman whether he saw the Duke He answered that he was gone a little before such away shewing them another path and offering his service to Count Bessin rode on with them but led them so about that the Duke had gotten into Falaise whereupon being disappointed they returned to their homes so strengthening themselves that the Duke thought fit to retreat into Roan and from thence to the King of France to crave his aid putting him in mind what faithfull service his Father had done for him That he was his Homager under his Protection and that he had no other sanctuary to flee unto for succour against his mutinous and unruly Nobility And he was so importunate that the King aided him in Person with a Royal Army against his Competitors whom they met in the Vale of Dunes as ready to resist them with as great a power and resolution as the other were to assault them The Battel was very fierce and bloody wherein the King of France and Duke William bestirred themselves lustily yet had not Ralfe de Tesson been false to his fellows to recover the favour of the Duke they had hardly carried the victory After this diverse of the Conspirators who had too great hearts to submit passed over the Alps into Italy where they grew very famous for their Valour But here ended not the Dukes troubles For Guy de Burgagne escaping by flight fortified the Castles of Briorne and Verneil yet in the end was forced to submit both them and himself to the Dukes mercy and now became his Pensioner who before was his Competitor This gentle act of the Dukes brought in many others to yield up themselves and had their Signiories redelivered to them but their Castles were demolished Shortly after our Duke was called into action again by Geffry Martel Earl of Anjou who usurped Alanson Damfront and Passais members of the Dutchy of Normandy to recover which the Duke raised an Army and first got Alanson where because he was opprobriously scorned by them and called the son of an Harlot he used extream cruelty Then laid he siege to Damfront to relieve which Count Martel came with a great Army and our Duke to discover his strength sent Roger de Montgomery and two other Knights to deliver this message to the Earl That if he came to victual Damfront he should there find him the Porter to keep him out Whereunto the Earl answered Tell your Duke that to morrow at break a day he shall have me there on a white Horse ready to give him the Combate and I will enter Damfront if I can And that he may know me I will wear a shield d'Or without any devise Roger replyed Sir You shall not need to take that paines for to morrow morning you shall have the Duke in this place mounted on a bay Horse and that you may know him he shall wear upon the point of his Launce a Streamer of Taffaty to wipe your face So returning each side prepared for the morning But the Earl busied in ordering his Battels was informed by two Horsmen that came crossing the field that Damfront was for certain surrendred to the Duke whereupon in a great rage he presently departed with his Army part whereof as they passed a streight were cut off by Vicount Neel who by that service redeemed his former offence and was restored to the Dukes favour whom ever after he served faithfully From Damfront the Duke with his Engines removed to Hambrieres a Frontier Town of Count Martels But by the way had he not discovered it himself he had been entrapped in an Ambush and overthrown yet before he could clear himself he lost many brave men wherewith he was so enraged that pressing into the midst of his Enemies he made at Count Martel strake him down with his Sword clave his helmet and cut off an eare yet he escaped out of the press though diverse of his men were taken and the rest routed But whilst he was thus contending with outward Enemies two of his own conspired against him William Guelan Earl of Mortagne and William Earl of Eu both pretenders to the Dutchy of Normandy But the first upon suspicion the second upon proof of intention were both banished And the Earldomes of Mortagne he gave to Robert and that of Eu to Odo both his Brethren by the Mothers side And all these difficulties he encountred withall before he was full twenty two years old Now the more to confirm and strengthen his Estate against future practices he assembled a Parlament of his Bishops Barons and Gentlemen causing them to take their Oath of Allegiance and to raze their Castles After which he married Matilda the Daughter of Baldwin the fifth Earl of Flanders but not without some opposition For his Uncle Mauger Archbishop of Roan excommunicated him for marrying her who was his Cosen German To expiate which offence though the Pope dispensed with it he was enjoyned to build some Hospitals for blind People and two Abbyes one for men and the other for women which were built at Caâ—n These his successes made him the object of envy to the French Court who incensed the King against him to abate his power and to find a quarrel which borderers easily may do to set upon him The King who was forward enough of himself to make his cause the fairer pretends to correct the insolencies of the Normans committed in his Territories and to relieve Count Martel oppressed by the Duke He alleadged also that it concerned him in honour and justice to have that Province which held of his Crown to be Governed by a Prince of lawfull blood wherefore he resolved utterly to extirpate Duke William and to settle a legitimate Prince in that Dutchy For which end he raised two Armies through all his Dominions whereof one he sent along the River Seine the other into the Countrey of Bessin meaning to encompass him The Duke hereupon divided his Forces also into two parts and sent the one under his Brother Odo Earl of Eu Walter Guiffard Earl of Longevil and others into the Countrey of Caux Himself with the other advanced toward Eureux to oppose the King who was at Mentz He also withdrew all the Cattel and Provisions out of the Countrey into Cities and Fortresses The Kings Army marching to Mortimer and finding the Countrey to abound with all plenty fell to makeing good cheer thinking that Duke William with his men was yet at Eureux which the Army of Odo understanding marched all night and at break