A.D. 1100-1105.] DUKE ROBERT INVADES ENGLAND. 143

Norman barons, whose estates in England probably were more valuable than their continental possessions, commanding his armed array, Henry waited without apprehension the Second Invasion, which started from the harbours of Normandy. But Robert was a very different man from William. Getting safe to land at Portsmouth, by the unaccountable desertion of the English fleet, he entered into parleys with the opposing host. The English adhered to the husband of their native queen, and Anselm, advancing between the armies, threatened the invaders with the curses of the Church. Terms were

entered into; the brothers were apparently reconciled, and Robert's preparations, which had excited the attention of Europe so long, ended in a bargain, by which he peaceably went back to his wife and tournaments, in consideration of an annual payment of three thousand marks, and the surrender of the castles which Henry held within the Duchy. There was a talk also of the mutual pardon of the adherents on both sides, and of the succession by the survivor of the two brothers to the crown and dignity of the other, and Robert set sail for Harfleur with the first year's pension in hand, considering that his expedition had on the whole been as successful as could be expected.

But the English lords who had welcomed the Norman duke were marked men. Before Robert had spent a third of his yearly stipend, there were emissaries on behalf of Henry established in the halls of Shrewsbury, Surrey, and Montgomery, to take notice of words and actions, and report them to the king. Robert de Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury and Arundel, is a good example of a Norman baron, and of the relation which could exist between a feudatory and the crown. Henry summoned him to stand a trial on forty-five accusations brought against him by his spies. Belesme prepared for his defence by summoning his subordinate tenants together for his protection; and with all the men he could collect he

took his stand against the royal warrant in the strong castle of Bridgenorth. Never were English archers so happy as when, under the legitimate authority of a Norman king, they could have the opportunity of carrying destruction to a Norman lord. The Anglo-Saxon blood was heated by remembrance of the wrongs the nation had endured, and when a body of Norman nobles called a council to bring about a reconciliation between the king and the earl, the English bowmen, who were on a hill in the neighbourhood of the meeting, cried, "Don't trust them, King Henry; they wish to betray you: but we are here. Make no peace with the traitor Shrewsbury, but get him into your hands alive or dead."

This advice was too congenial to Henry's disposition to be rejected. The siege of the castle was pressed. Belesme, the haughty earl, was forced to save his life on condition of perpetual banishment from England. His brothers, the Earls of Montgomery and Lancaster, were stript of all their honours; and the grand result of Robert's attempt to assert his rights was, that every one of his supporters was slowly but surely punished with utter ruin and confiscation, and their lands bestowed on a lower and more grateful class of men, who had had no personal share in the conquest of England. It is a curious illustration of the different tempers of the royal brothers, that Robert's first impulse, on hearing that Henry had accused Belesme of high crimes and misdemeanours against the English crown, was to punish so undutiful a subject by ravaging his estates in Normandy. He was engaged in this operation when the truth was told him; but the moment he learned that the sole crime of all those lofty-crested nobles was attachment to himself, and the aid they had given him in England, he stepped into a vessel, and, hurrying to London, besought his brother to have pity on the unfortunate barons, whom he had promised to pardon for his sake. He believed, from the smiles and tenderness with

A.D. 1105.]

HENRY INVADES NORMANDY.

145

which he was received, that his suit was gained. But smiles and tenderness cost the amiable Henry nothing; and he expended these commodities on his Norman visitor so long, that even Robert perceived what a very slender chance he had of ever getting away from the kindness and hospitality of his too affectionate host. He managed at last, by a magnanimous surrender of his annuity of three thousand marks, to get Henry's consent to his departure; but as he summoned the banished earls to his court the moment he got back to Rouen, Henry held him guilty of a breach of their articles of peace, and declared war on Normandy, to the great delectation of his English troops.

§ 4. Robert had lost the beautiful Sibylla, who died two years after her marriage, and his house was a scene of perpetual riot. His lords shared in his festivities, and availed themselves of his idleness to oppress their tenants and make war upon each other. There were ballad-singers, and conjurors, and musicians, and all the wit and wickedness of the land to be seen in high places at the banquets in Caen and Rouen. But in the country districts there was nothing but misery and wrong. The functions of Government were so completely abdicated, that nobody was surprised when Henry, before proceeding to actual hostilities, proposed to his brother to resign a realm he could not rule, and accept a pension in payment of his ducal crown. When this was rejected by the gallant-spirited voluptuary, Henry proclaimed himself Protector of Normandy, and laid siege to the castle of Tinchebray. Robert, with all his remaining adherents, came to the rescue, and fought with the personal prowess which had distinguished him in the Crusade. But Belesme, for a reason soon to be told, deserted him in the middle of the battle. Henry pressed. on; and Robert, shouting his war-cry and pushing forward his horse, was surrounded and taken prisoner. Four hundred of his barons shared his fate; and the question which had

L

disturbed the two countries for so many years was solved. England and Normandy were again under the same

crown.

In the distribution of rewards and punishments we see a fearful picture of the time. Robert was imprisoned, and when he tried to escape he was blinded, as some authorities state, by his brother's orders, and groped his way round his prison walls for eight-and-twenty years. Banishment, impoverishment, and degradation were the sentences on others. But to Belesme, the double traitor, and Ralph the Firebrand, the treasonable bishop, were assigned the disgraceful honours of re-instatement in wealth and grandeur. Belesme was again the powerful Earl of Shrewsbury and Arundel; and Ralph oppressed his priests, and neglected his people, as the restored Lord Bishop of Durham.

§ 5. At the time of Henry's virtual conquest of Normandy, the only son of Robert and Sibylla was five years old. In a fit of temporary generosity the triumphant uncle committed. the child to the guardianship of the noble-minded Sir Helie de St. Saen, a knight so brave, and guardian so honourable, that when the king repented of his compassion, and demanded the surrender of the young prince into his hands, he refused the application, and fled from court to court, exciting the commiseration of princes and peoples by the helplessness and beauty of his youthful charge. Louis VI. of France, and Fulk, Earl of Anjou, professed themselves the protectors of the Conqueror's eldest grandson; the first, as a means of keeping his dangerous vassal in order by threats of supporting the pretensions of a rival; the other, to use the rights of William Clito (or illustrious, the usual title of the Norman heir) as a defence against the claims of the ambitious Henry. Alas! for the romance and truthfulness of the feudal mind! Henry silenced the reclamations of France by promises of submission, and bought over the friendship of Fulk of Anjou, by confiscating in his favour the estates of the

PRINCE WILLIAM ACKNOWLEDGED.

147

A.D. 1118.] gallant Sir Helie of St. Saen. But this was not enough. A marriage had been agreed upon between the unlucky FitzRobert, as William Clito was called, and the earl's fair daughter, Sibylla of Anjou; and Henry, as he had torn from his nephew every acre of land, did not hesitate to wrest his bride from him also. The generous Fulk, on the other hand, was overwhelmed with gratitude and pride, when Henry offered his son William, the heir of England and Normandy, to take the place of the poorest and now most deserted prince in Christendom.

§ 6. Preparations were apparently made for the honourable fulfilment of all these agreements. Prince William was acknowledged as future king by a formal homage rendered to him by the nobles of Normandy and England. Everything promised a long course of prosperity. The arts of peace were encouraged, and colonies of industrious workmen from foreign countries were granted lands on the borders of Wales. It seemed even an additional reason for maintaining tranquillity, when, in 1118, the good Queen Maud died, to the great sorrow of the English people, though with little sorrow on the part of the king; but at this very time it became known that the ever-active Henry had been engaged in secret plots and preparations against his paramount lord the King of France, and his unsuspecting nephew, Duke Robert's son. War was declared on both sides, and Normandy was again laid waste by contending armies. Henry was unfortunate at first. His barons deserted him, his finances ran short, other potentates, such as the Earl of Flanders, rose up against him, and William Clito was always at hand to maintain the cause of legitimate descent against usurpation. But Henry was one

of those natures

"Strong in will

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

With dogged perseverance he waited the turning of the tide. First the Earl of Flanders was slain; next he discovered that a good sum of money would be a wonderful peacemaker