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MELANCHOLY CONDITION OF HENRY.--1106.

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9. "King Henry, on a festival day, putting on a new scarlet cloak, the hood, being too small, was torn in putting it over his head. On which the king said, 'My brother Robert has a smaller head than I have; let him have this garment.' The cloak was accordingly sent to the duke.

10. "The torn place not having been sewed up, he discovered it, and asked, 'If any one had worn it before?' And being told the circumstance, he considered it as a deep affront, and exclaimed, 'Now I perceive that I have lived too long, since my brother clothes me like an almsman in his cast rent garments.' He then refused to take food, and died in consequence.'

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Melancholy Condition of the King.-Attempts to seize the person of his Nephew.-How the young Prince is saved.-King Henry has many Enemies.

1. AFTER the capture of Duke Robert, the whole of Normandy submitted to Henry. Hitherto everything seemed to have prospered with him; but we should be much mistaken if we supposed him to be happy. From this time he never knew what happiness was. Remorse for his conduct towards his brother preyed unceasingly on his mind.

2. He in vain endeavored to stifle it by founding monasteries and building churches. Though groaning under the burden of one crime, he was yet meditating the commission of another, that of destroying his brother's son, William, a child of ten years old; whose rightful claims kept him in continual dread, and prevented all enjoyment of what he had so unjustly acquired.

3. He therefore sent one of his servants into France to seize on the young prince; but by the vigilance and fidelity of the people who were left in charge of him, the child was carried to a place of safety. Henry, enraged at this disappointment, deprived the guardian of the prince of all his estates, and his personal safety was secured only by flight.

4. The faithful Helie de St. Leon, for this was his name, having no longer a home of his own, wandered about from court to court, claiming protection for his royal charge, who was everywhere pitied for his misfortunes, and admired for his many virtues, as well as for the beauty of his person.

5. The Earl of Angiers engaged to assist him, and promised him his daughter Sibylla in marriage; but Henry no sooner heard that Lis nephew had gained so powerful a friend, than he resolved to prevent the intended match, and offered his own son William in marriage to Matilda, another daughter of the earl.

XXXVI.-1. What were the feelings of Henry? 2. What new crime did he meditate? 3. Did he effect his intention? 4. Who was the guardian of Robert's son? What is said of the son of Robert? 5. How did Henry prevent his marriage? 6. Whither did the

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BATTLE OF BRENNEVILLE.

1118-1120.

6. The earl found the temptation so strong that he broke off the contract with William, the son of Robert, and concluded one with William, the son of Henry. The unfortunate prince, still attended by Helie, then retired to the court of Flanders, where the earl received them with great kindness.

7. Henry probably showed some disinclination to fulfil his agreement for the marriage of his son; for in 1118 we find the Duke of Anjou united with Louis, King of France, and the Earl of Flanders, against him. They were joined by many Norman barons.

8. Henry, surrounded by enemies, both secret and declared, knew not whom to trust, nor whom to fear. He slept in armor, and with a guard watching in his apartment. Nevertheless, his prudence and vigilance did not forsake him. He contrived to regain the favor of the Norman barons, and detached the Duke of Anjou from the alliance by solemnizing the proposed marriage.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Battle of Brenneville.-Ancient Armor.

1. THE King of France, and those associated with him, met the army of Henry in the plains of Brenneville, not far from Rouen. A fierce battle ensued, in which the English were victorious. It is remarkable for having cost the lives of only three knights, although an unusually large number were engaged in it. This was owing to their being clad in complete armor, and to the desire which each party felt to take prisoners, rather than to take life.

2. The ransom, that is, the sum of money received from prisoners for their restoration to liberty, formed an important part of the revenues of the fighting men at this period.

3. The use of armor by the English was comparatively a new thing. The Saxons and Danes had no other defence than a shield and a helmet, till a little before the time of the Conquest, when the nobles adopted armor, something like that of the Normans.

4. This consisted of a whole dress of little rings of iron, linked together so ingeniously, like net-work, that it fitted close to the limbs and body, and was, at the same time, as flexible as a stocking. Under this they wore a dress called a gambeson, which we suppose to have been like a shirt without sleeves or collar, and quilted or stuffed with wool.

5. Sometimes the gambeson was worn over the hauberk, or coat of mail, as the chain armor was called. But it seems that this kind of armor was not found to be sufficient defence against the point of a

prince go from Anjou? 7. What league was formed against Henry? 8. What did Henry do?

XXXVII.-1. Where did the hostile armies meet? What was the result of the battle? Why were so few lives lost? 3. What is said of the use of armor by the English? 4, 5. What was the hauberk? What the gambeson? What new kind of armor was intro

ANCIENT ARMOR.-1120.

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spear or arrow; for in the fourteenth century, plate armor was introduced, so called from being made of plates of iron.

6. These were often so heavy, that when a knight in his armor was overthrown, he lay on the ground immovable till he was helped up; and there were many instances, in hot weather, and in the press of battle, of persons being suffocated with the heat and weight of their armor.

7. In an engagement between the French and Italians, in 1405, some Italian knights, who were overthrown, lay like huge lobsters, and could not be killed till their armor was broken by the French soldiers with wood-cutters' axes. There was also an intermediate kind of armor, called scale armor, formed of little pieces of iron laid one over another, like the scales of a fish; but this does not appear to have been long in use.

8. At first the hauberk, though it covered the head like a hood, left the face quite exposed, except that it was sometimes guarded by a nasal, a part of the cap which projected over the nose.

But

by degrees they covered the face more and more, till at length close visors were adopted. This armor was a pretty sure defence against the weapons then in use, for gunpowder was not invented till long after the time of Henry I.

9. The knights fought with lances, spears, and swords; and the common soldiers with slings and bows, in the use of which the English excelled all other nations. The French were more active, but the English had more bodily strength. Besides these arms, various kinds of machines were used for throwing darts and stones to a great distance.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Melancholy Death of Prince William, and a large number of the young Nobles.

1. HENRY had adopted every means which his prudence and wisdom could suggest to secure to his son the succession to the crown. He required all his earls and barons to swear fealty to him, that is, to acknowledge him as their lord, and to maintain his right to the throne with fidelity. He also spent much time in Normandy, seeking to gain the good will of the nobles.

2. But how useless was all this anxiety! This beloved son, for whose aggrandizement he had done and sacrificed so much, was suddenly snatched from him. When the king arrived at Harfleur, on his way back to England from a visit to Normandy, in 1120, he was accosted by a man, who claimed the right of carrying the

duced in the fourteenth century? 6, 7. What is said of the plate armor? What of scale armor? 8. How was the face protected? 9. What were the offensive weapons at this period? XXXVIII.—1. For what was Henry very anxious? How did he try to secure his ob

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MELANCHOLY DEATH OF PRINCE WILLIAM.-1120.

kings of England across the seas, by virtue of a promise of Willian the Conqueror to his father.

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3 This promise had been made as a reward for the father's services in carrying William over to England when he went to the Conquest. Henry was in haste to reach England, and could not alter the arrangements already made. Not to disappoint the man who had caused a vessel to be gallantly equipped in a style worthy of the occasion, he told him that his son should embark in it.

4. Accordingly the young prince, with a large number of the young nobles, and many ladies of rank, went on board the white ship. The prince had ordered some wine to be given to the crew, of which they drank so freely that many were intoxicated. The rest of the fleet had sailed before them, and the captain crowding all sail, and plying all his oars to overtake them, the vessel suddenly struck upon a rock. 5. A boat was immediately let down, into which the young prince and some of his attendants were hurried; and they might have reached the shore in safety, had not the prince insisted on going back to rescue his sister. On board the vessel all was terror and confusion; as soon as the boat approached, so many persons jumped into it, that it instantly sank, and every creature in it perished.

6. Of three hundred persons on board the vessel, only one escaped.

ect? 2. What led to Prince William's embarking in the white ship? 4, 5. Relate the

DEATH OF WILLIAM OF NORMANDY.-1126.

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This was a butcher of Rouen, who, by clinging to a mast, contrived to keep his head above water till the next morning, when he was picked up by some fishermen. The captain had also clung to the same mast, but when the butcher told him that the prince had perished, he let go his hold and was drowned.

7. The news of this misfortune reached England the next day; but it was three days before any one had courage to tell the king of it. At last a boy was instructed to fall at his feet, and tell him that the white ship was lost, with all on board. Henry immediately fainted away. It was a long time before the violence of his grief abated, and he never was seen to smile again.

8. England would probably have found a tyrant in Prince William, had he lived to come to the throne; for he hated the English, and had been heard to threaten that, when he should be king, he would make them draw the plough, and turn them into beasts of burden.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Matilda, daughter of Henry, marries Geoffrey Plantagenet.—Death of Henry I.-Stephen usurps the Crown.

1. HENRY had now only one child left, and that one a daughter, Matilda, who was married to Henry V., Emperor of Germany, and she had no children. This state of things encouraged the friends of William of Normandy to make fresh attempts in his favor; but they were not attended with any success.

2. William, having married a sister of the Queen of France, received a small territory as her dowry, and thus at last became possessed of a spot of ground that he might call his own. A few years afterwards the King of France put him in possession of a part of Flanders, to which he had a claim in right of his grandmother Matilda, wife of the Conqueror.

3. But no sooner did fortune seem to smile on this young prince, than he died of wounds received in battle. Before his death he wrote a letter to Henry, entreating his favor for his faithful friend Helie, and the other barons who had followed his fortunes. It is pleasing to be able to say that this last request of the gallant and ill-fated son of Robert was generously complied with.

4. In the year 1126, Matilda became a widow. She then returned to live with her father, who made all the nobles swear fealty to her, as they had formerly done to her brother. The following year he married her to Geoffrey, eldest son of the Earl of Anjou, who was surnamed Plantagenet. This name is derived from the Latin words planta, plant, and genista, broom.

particulars of his death. 6. How many were saved? 7. How was the king affected by the news? 8. What is said of Prince William?

XXXIX.-1. How many children had Henry? 2, 3. What is said of William, son of Robert? 4. What did Henry do to secure the crown to his daughter? Who was her

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