ly difconcerted all their fchemes. And from that time forward he began to lofe all confidence in his Englifh fubjects, and to regard them as inveterate and irreconcilable enemies. He had already raifed fuch a number of fortreffes in the kingdom, that he no longer dreaded the tumultuous or tranfient efforts of a discontented multitude; he therefore determined to treat them as a conquered nation, to indulge his own avarice, end that of his followers, by numerous confifcations, and to fecure his power by humbling all who were able to make any refiftance. He proceeded to confifcate all the eftates of the English gentry, and to grant them liberally to his Norman followers. Thus all the ancient and honourable families were reduced to beggary, and the English found theinfelves entirely excluded from every road that led either to honour or preferment. To keep the clergy as much as poffible in his inte-. refts, he appointed none but his own countrymen to the most confiderable church-dignities, and even difplaced Stigand archbishop of Canterbury, upon fome frivolous pretences. William, having crufhed feveral confpiracies, and by punihing the malecontents, thus fecured the peace of his dominions, now expected reft from his. labours; and finding none either willing or powerful enough to oppofe him, he hoped that the end of his reign would be marked with profperity and peace. But fuch is the blindness of human hope, that he found enemies where he leaft expected them, and fuch too as ferved to embitter all the latter part of his life. His laft troubles were excited by his own children, from the oppofing of whom he could expect to reap neither glory nor gain. He had three fons, Robert, William, and Henry, befides feveral daughters. Robert, his eldeft fon, furnamed Curthofe, from the fhortness of his legs, was a prince who inherited all the bravery of his family and nation, but was rather bold bold than prudent; and was often heard to exprefs his jealoufy of his two brothers, William and Henry. Thefe, by greater affiduity, had wrought upon the credulity and affections of the king, and confequently were the more obnoxious to Robert. A mind, therefore, fo well prepared for refentment, foon found or made a cause for an open rupture. The princes were one day in sport together, and in the idle petu-lance of play, took it into their head to throw water upon their elder brother as he paffed through the court, on leaving their apartment. Robert, all alive to fufpicion, quickly turned this frolic into a ftudied. indignity; and having these jealoufies ftill farther enflamed by one of his favourites, he drew his fword, and ran up stairs with intent to take revenge. The whole caftle was quickly filled with tumult, and it was not without fome difficulty, that the king himfelf was able to appease it. But he could not allay the animofity, which from that moment, ever after prevailed in his family. Robert, attended by feveral of his confederates, withdrew to Rouen that very. night, hoping to furprize the caftle, but his defign. was defeated by the governor.. The flame being thus kindled, the popular charac ter of the prince, and a fympathy of manners, engag ed all the young nobility of Normandy and Maine, as well as of Anjou and Brittany, to efpoufe his quarrel; even his mother, it is faid, fupported him by fecret remittances, and aided him in this obftinate refistance by private encouragement. This unnatural conteft continued for feveral years to enflame the Norman ftate; and William was at laft obliged to have recourfe to England for fupporting his authority against his fon. Accordingly drawing an army of Englishmen together, he led them over to Normandy, where he foon compelled Robert and his adherents to quit: the field, and he was quickly reinftated in all his do-minions. William William had fcarcely put an end to this tranfaction, when he felt a very severe blow in the death of Matilda, his queen; and, as misfortunes generally come together, he received information of a general infurrection in Maine, the nobility of which had been always averfe to the Norman government. Upon his arrival on the continent, he found, that the infurgents had been fecretly affifted and excited by the king of France, whofe policy confifted in thus leffining the Norman power, by creating diffentions among the nobles of its different provinces. William's difpleasure was not a little increafed by the account he received of fome railleries which that mon2rch had thrown out against him. It feems that William, who was become corpulent, had been detained in bed fome time by ticknefs; and Philip was heard to Say, that heonly lay in of a big belly. This foprovoked the English monarch, that he fent him word, he would foon be up, and would at his churching prefent fuch a number of tapers, as would fet the kingdom of France in a flame. In order to perform this promife, he levied a ftrong army, and entering the ifle of France, deftroyed and burned all the villages and houfes without oppofition, and took the town of Mante, which he reduced to afhes. But the progrefs of thefe hoftilities was stopped by an accident which shortly after put an end to William's life His horfe chancing to place his fore-feet on fome hot afhes, plunged fo violently, that the rider was thrown forward, and bruifed upon the pummel of the saddle to fuch a degree that he fuffered a relapfe, of which he died fhortly after at a little village near Rouen. СНАР. CHA P. V. RUFU S. WILL 1A M W 7 ILLIAM, furnamed RUFUS, from the colour of his hair, was appointed, by the king's will, his fucceffor, while the elder fon, Robert, was left in poffeffion of Normandy. Nevertheless, the Norman barons were, from the beginning, difpleafed at the divifion of the empire by the late king; they eagerly defired an union as before, and looked upon Robert as the proper owner of the whole. A powerful confpiracy was therefore carried on against William; and Odo, the late king's brother, undertook to conduct it to maturity. William, fenfible of the danger that threatened him, endeavoured to gain the affections of the native Englifh, whom he prevailed upon by promifes of future good treatment, and preference in the diftribution of his favours, to efpoufe his interefts. He was foon. therefore in the field; and at the head of a numerous army, fhewed himself in readinefs to oppofe all who fhould difpute his pretenfions. In the mean time, Robet inftead of employing his money in levies, to fupport his friends in England, fquandered it away in idle expences, and unmerited benefits, fo that he procraftinated his departure till the opportunity was loft; while William exerted himfelf with incredible: activity to diffipate the confederacy before his brother could arrive. Nor was this difficult to effect: the confpirators had, in confequence of Robert's affurances, taken poffeffion of fome fortreffes; but the appearance of the king, foon reduced them to implore for mercy. He granted them their lives, but confifcated all their eftates, and banished them. the kingdom. A new breach was made fome time after between the brothers, in which Rufus found means to encroach ftill farther upon Robert's poffeffions. Every confpiracy thus detected, ferved to enrich the king, who took care to apply to his own use those treasures which had been amaffed for the purpose of dethroning him. But the memory of thefe tranfient broils and unfuccefsful treafons, were now totally eclipfed by one of the moft noted enterprizes that ever adorned the annals of nations, or excited the attention of mankind. I mean the Crufades, which were now firft projected. Peter the Hermit, a native of Amiens in Picardy, was a man of great zeal, courage, and piety. He had made a pilgrimage to the holy fepulchre at Jqufalem, and beheld, with indignation, the cruel manner in which the Chriftians were treated by the Infidels, who were in poffeffion of that place. He preached the crufade over Europe by the Pope's permiflion, and men of all ranks flew to arms with the utaoft alacrity, to refcue the Holy Land from the Infidels, and each bore the fign of the cross upon their right fhoulder, as a mark of their devotion to the caufe. In the midft of this univerfal ardour that was diffufed over Europe, men were not entirely forgetful of their temporal interests; for fome, hoping a more magnificent fettlement in the foft regions of Afia, fold their European property for whatever they could obtain, contented with receiving any thing for what they were predetermined to relinquifh. Among the princes who felt and acknowledged this general fpirit of enterprize, was Robert duke of Normandy. The Crufade was entirely adapted to his inclinations, and his circumftances; he was brave, zealous, covetous of glory, poor, harraffed by infurrections, and, what was more than all, naturally fond of change. In order, therefore, to fupply money to defray; the neceffary charges of fo expenfive an undertaking, he offered |