1823. 
nated Matilda the goud queen, and it 
was said she sought to direct the love 
of the nionarch to the hearths and the 
miserable abodes of the conquered 
Saxons ;* but there is no trace left of 
her counsels, nor of their beneficent 
influence. The Saxon Chronicle of 
the monastery of Peterborough thus 
preludes the recital of-the events 
which followed the marriage of Henry 
to the niece of Edgar. ‘It is not easy 
to tell of all the miseries which afilicted 
the country during this year by the 
unjust and ever re-exacted tributes.t 
Wherever the king travelled, his suite 
ruined the poor inhabitants; they 
burnt down many places,—they com- 
mitted massacres in others.”’{ Every 
page, indeed, of this history is marked 
with similar devastations. Misery 
seems to have exhausted its vocabu- 
lary of suffering, and all the epoch is 
covered with a shade of monotonous 
gloom. 
* * * * * * 
The son of Henry and of Matilda, 
— the great-grandson of English 
kings, — had imbibed his father’s 
Stranger spirit, and seems to: have 
possessed onlya stranger’s blood. He 
publicly proclaimed, that, if he had 
ever to reign over those miserable 
Englishmen, they should work at his 
ploughs as his oxen did.§ When this 
son (whose name was William,) was 
old enough to wear his arms, the Nor- 
man chiefs recognized him as the suc- 
cessor of Henry, and took the oath of 
fidelitytohim. Some time afterwards, 
he was married to the daughter of the 
Count d@Anjou. This union detached 
the count from the league formed by 
the French king, who soon made 
peace with the Norman king; so that 
Henry, his legitimate son William, 
many of his natural children, and Nor- 
man warriors, having nothing to do gn 
the Continent, prepared to return to 
England. Their fleet was assembled 
in the harbour of Barfleur. At the 
moment of starting, one Thomas Fitz- 
Etienne sought the king, and, present- 
ing him with a mare of gold, said, 
“Mold the gode quene gaf him in 
, conseile 
To lof hus sole, 
(Robert Brunne's Chronicle, p, 98.) 
+ Chron, Sax, 212, 
¢ Ib. 
. § Ib. 215, et seq. 
Jo. Brompton, 1015 ; Jn, Knighton, 
2582. 
Oppressions following the Conquest. 
299 
“‘Etienne Fitz-Erard, my father, served 
all his life upon the sea. He conduct- 
ed thy father’s vessel when he went to 
combat Harold: I come to ask per- 
mission to do the same office for thee. 
I have a vessel called La Blanche 
Nef, (the White Ship,) apparisoned 
as itis fit.* The king replied that he 
had chosen a vessel for himself; but, 
to show his regard for the request of 
Fitz-Etienne, he would confide to him 
his sons William and Richard, with 
their sisters and their attendants. 
Henry’s vessel set sail: it was sun-set, 
and, wafted by a southerly wind, the 
next day he reached the shores of 
England. La Blanche Nef immedi- 
ately followed. The sailors, at the 
moment of embarkation, had asked 
for wine, and the young passengers 
had distributed it profusely. The ves- 
sel was conducted by fifty able row- 
men; Thomas Fitz-Etienne was at the 
helm; and they passed rapidly along 
the coasts of Barfleur, under a bright 
moon-light, before committing them- 
selves to the opensea. The mariners, 
animated by the wine they had drank,’ 
made extraordinary efforts to reach 
the vessel of the king; and, wholly 
occupied with this intention, they got 
involved among the breakers at high 
water, in a place called Raz de Cotte- 
ville.t. The Blanche Nef dashed 
against a rock imall the swiftness of 
her course, and her leeward side was 
stavedin. ‘The crew uttered a cry of 
distress, which was heard on-board 
the king’s vessel, already at some dis- 
tance on the open sea; but the cause 
Was suspected.by none. The water 
rushed in,—the vessel was soon over- 
whelmed, with ali who were on-board, 
to the number of 300 persons; among 
whom, were eighteen women.§ Two 
men alone held by the main-mast, 
which floated on the waves: one was 
Berauld, a butcher of Rouen; the 
other a young man of higher birth, 
named Godefroy Fitz- Gilbert de 
VAigte.|| 
Thomas, the master of the vessel, 
afier having once plunged into the 
sea, rose to the surface, and, perceiving 
the heads of the two men who held by 
the 
* Ord. Vit. 867-9, 
+ Ib, 
$¢ Then Catte Raz. (Guil. ,Gemeti- 
censis, 297.) 
§ Ord, Vit, 869. “ 
|| Tb. 
