Principal Events. Is crowned in Westminster Abbey, (25th Dec.) 1067-1068. He returns to Normandy, whence he is recalled by disturbances at Exeter, followed by an unsuccessful rising of the Saxon Earls, Edwin and Morcar, the brothers-in-law of Harold. 1069. William reduces to submission Waltheof and other Saxon chiefs, who, aided by the Scots and Danes, had seized York. Hereward, who had taken refuge in the Isle of Ely, is the last who submits, (1073). 1070. William deposes Stigand, and appoints Lanfranc to the See of Canterbury. ACCESSION A.D. 1066 | WILLIAM was crowned, with the consent of the Witan, or Great Council, by The conduct of this prince was, at first, liberal. The frequent attempts at Besides the numerous estates which he gave to his Norman followers, William retained upwards of 1,400 royal manors. Only one of the Conqueror's retainers, named Guilbert, would accept no part of the spoil. He said that he had accompanied his lord as was his duty, and that he would take neither gold nor lands. Availing himself of a threatened invasion from Denmark, William summoned a great council, (A.D. 1085), and obtained its consent to a change in the ancient 1072. He defeats Malcolm III. of Scotland, from English tenure of land. The country was divided into 60,000 fiefs, to the poswhom he enforces homage. session of each of which was annexed the condition of rendering military service establishment of the feudal system in England. for forty days in the year. From this period must be dated the complete 1073. He visits Normandy, leaving the regency to his half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux. An insurrection by some of the Norman barons is suppressed by Odo. Ralph de Guader, Earl of Norfolk, takes refuge in Brittany. 1076. William invades Brittany, and is defeated at Dol by Philip I. of France. 1079. He opposes the claims to the Duchy of Normandy of his son, Robert, by whom he is wounded at Gerberoy, and with whom he is subsequently reconciled. 1085. A general survey of the kingdom is recorded in Domesday Book. England is divided into 60,000 knights' fees. Among the other events which attended the conquest we may mention the termination of the Danish invasions,-the introduction of Norman-French into the courts of law, and the establishment of the forest laws. It may be added, that, to form the New Forest, William ordered the country for thirty miles around Winchester to be cleared, destroying no fewer than twenty-six villages and numerous churches and convents. Contemporary Events. KING OF SCOTLAND. Malcolm II. KING OF FRANCE. Philip I. EMPEROR OF GERMANY. Henry IV. Success of Rodriguez, surnamed "the Cid," over the Saracens, under Ferdinand I. and Sancho II. of Castile, (1070). Sicily is taken from the Saracens by Roger Gniscard, who becomes its first Norman Count, (1071). Contest on the subject of ecclesiastical investitures between Gregory VII. and the Emperor Henry IV, (1073). Antwerp is given by Henry IV. to Godfrey de Bouillon, (1076) Donation to the see of Rome of the states of Matilda, Duchess of Tuscany, (1077). is defeated by the Normans at the battle of Alexis Comnenus, Emperor of the East, Durazzo, (1085). Alphonso VI. of Leon gains Toledo from the Saracens, and establishes the kingdom of New Castile, (1085). Yusef, chief of the Almoravides of Morocco, unites the Mahometan states in Spain, and obtains the sovereign power, (1086). William was buried at Caen, in a church built by himself, where, when his tomb was opened in 1542, his body was found, exceeding in stature that of the tallest man then living. It is said, that, while on horseback, he could draw a bow which no other could bend even on foot. Domesday Book, still preserved at Westminster, contains a record of the extent, population and ownership of most of the land in England. Edgar Etheling retired after a time to the court of Scotland, where the alliance between him and the Scots was cemented by the marriage of Malcolm III. with his eldest sister, Margaret,- -a princess of great piety, who did much to promote religion and industry in that country. 1087. William renews the war with Philip, who had seized the Vexin, a district on the borders of France and Normandy. Mantes is captured by William, who receives a fatal injury while on horse-service of the Greek emperor, where they measured their swords with the Several of the English, fleeing to the court of Constantinople, entered the back. Married, MATILDA. Normans of Italy, who had at this time invaded Romania. The Duchy of Suabia is conferred by died A.D. 1072 1076 " 1085 1086 Issue, Robert (Courthose). Richard, died young. WILLIAM (II.) HENRY (I.) Cecily. Constance, married Alan of Bretagne. Adela, married Stephen of Blois. Agatha. Gundred. Principal Events. THE second son of the Conqueror, hastens from Normandy to England, and is crowned by Archbishop Lanfranc, (26th Sept.) He suppresses an insurrection raised by some of the Norman barons in favour of his brother Robert, who is aided by Bishop Odo. 1089. On the death of Lanfranc, William seizes the revenues of the See of Canterbury, which he retains for several years. 1090. He invades Normandy, but makes peace with Robert, on condition of the survivor inheriting both crowns. In concert with Robert, he besieges Prince Henry, who, dissatisfied with the treaty between his brothers, had fortified himself in the castle of St. Michael. 1093. Invasion of England by Malcolm of Scotland, who is defeated and killed. William, in sickness, appoints Anselm to the Primacy. On recovery, he seizes a part of its revenues. 1095. An insurrection raised by Robert Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, on behalf of Stephen, is suppressed. 1096. Robert pledges the Duchy of Normandy to William, and embarks on the Crusades. 1099. He successfully resumes the war in Normandy against some of his vassals, who are supported by the King of France. 1100. He is shot in the New Forest. ACCESSION A.D. 1087 DEATH 13 YEARS THE possessions of the Conqueror were thus bequeathed;-to his eldest son, Rufus Robert, was left Normandy; to William, called from the colour of his hair, the crown of England; and to Henry, the youngest, the property of his mother, Matilda. The character of William Rufus is well described by an old writer:-" All things that pleased God, displeased him, and all that God loved, he hated deadly." On recovering from sickness he had sworn, that "God should never have any good in him, for all the evil He had brought upon him." From that time "he succeeded in everything he wished for or undertook. The very land and sea seemed to serve his will, as if God would leave him without excuse by granting all he wished for." All that we know for certain of his end is, that, on August 2nd, A.D. 1100, he rode out at mid-day to hunt in the New Forest, and that, in the evening, his body was found pierced by an arrow through the heart. There is reason to believe that William fell the victim to a well-planned conspiracy. The story that he was killed by a chance arrow of Sir Walter Tyrrel was, probably, invented to conceal the real character of his death. No one could have known this fact but Tyrrel himself, and he always denied it. The body of William was found by some charcoal-burners, and was carried in their cart to Winchester, "his blood dropping along the road as they went." As a king of England, he was buried in the cathedral, but without religious rites. "The church bells," says Ordericus, "which toll for the poorest beggars, tolled not for him.” So unscrupulously did he seize upon the incomes of vacant sees, that, "at the time of his death," we are told, "he held the revenues of one Archbishopric, four Bishoprics, and eleven Abbeys." Death of (St.) Margaret of Scotland, (1093). Henry of Burgundy, fourth in descent from Hugh Capet, becomes the first Count of Portugal, by the marriage with Theresa, daughter of Alphonso VI. of Leon, (1094). The Council of Clermont is summoned by Urban II., (1095). The first Crusade to the Holy Land is undertaken, (1096). Canmore, (1097). Newcastle-on-Tyne is built by Malcolm Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, reduces Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides, to complete subjection, (1098). The Crusaders take Antioch. The order of Knights Hospitallers of St. It has been observed, that the New Forest proved a fatal spot to the family John of Jerusalem is founded, (1099). of the Conqueror. Two sons and a grandson there met with their deaths. In the latter part of the eleventh century, all Europe was filled with the fame of Lanfranc, Abbot of Bec. His school was filled with students of all nations, lay as well as clerical. Such was the man whom William I. appointed primate of England. Nor was the subsequent conduct of the prelate unworthy of this choice. He was the only one of his subjects who dared to oppose the tyrannical measures of the Conqueror. Such was the charity of this prelate, that he is said to have expended in one year a sum equal to £7,500 of our present currency. He enlarged the library of St. Augustine's Monastery, adding to it many valuable volumes from Normandy. Ralph Flambard, or "the Fire Brand," Bishop of Durham, was one of the chief agents in carrying out the oppression of William. It is satisfactory to know that he died a penitent. "I have robbed the Church, and overborne her customs," said he, when at the point of death. "I did all this not from stress of poverty, but from lust of gain. My wish to do mischief was greater than my power." Capture of Jerusalem, and establishment of a Christian kingdom of that name by Godfrey de Bouillon, (1099), who had seven successors: Baldwin I. (brother). acces. A.D. 1000 1118 1180 1143 1162 1173 1185 |