William Rufus. REIGNED FROM A.D. 1087 TO A.D. 1100. ILLIAM, by name of RUFUS1 known, WIL The second son, ascends the throne; He urg'd the stag in fatal chase. 1 So called from his red hair. 2 Great military expeditions undertaken by the Princes of Europe to drive the infidels from Palestine. He was killed by an accident while hunting. The new forest is in Hampshire. REIGNED FROM A.D. 1100 TO A.D. 1135, H' ENRY THE FIRST of warlike deeds, His brother Rufus now succeeds. With great success the crown he wore; Call'd BEAUCLERC from his learned lore; While Robert, from Crusades return'd, To mount the throne, his birth-right, burn'd; But conquer'd with the loss of eyes, A captive Prince at Cardiff dies.1 For five-and-thirty years, we 're told, HENRY did England's sceptre hold. For his drown'd son,2 in sorrow griev'd, Till sudden death 3 his soul reliev'd. Cardiff Castle, in Wales, where Robert was confined twenty-eight years by his brother Henry. 2 His only son, Prince William, was shipwrecked, returning from Normandy to England. The King died suddenly at St. Denis, in Normandy, of a surfeit of lampreys, aged sixty-seven years. REIGNED FROM A.D. 1135 TO A.D. 1154. TEPHEN of Blois 1 next seiz'd the throne, STE Which, with address, he made his own; Though Henry order'd by his will, 2 His daughter Maud the throne should fill. Till 'twas decreed, to end the strife, 1 Stephen was a nephew of Henry, the late King, being the son of Adela (daughter of William the Conqueror), and the Count de Blois. 2 Maud, or Matilda, was Henry's daughter, married to the Emperor Henry V. of Germany. |