56 



WILLS WILLIAM I. 



chair of natural history at the royal college of me- 

 dicine and surgery. In 1801, he was appointed 

 professor of botany to the academy of Berlin, and, 

 at length, director of the botanic garden at Berlin, 

 which received great additions and improvements 

 under his management. He formed a zoological 

 cabinet, which he presented to the museum of Ber- 

 lin. In 1804, he travelled through Austria and 

 Upper Italy, and, seven years after, was invited to 

 Paris by Humboldt, to classify and describe the 

 multitude of new plants brought by that traveller 

 from America. Willdenow died not long after his 

 return to Berlin, July 10, 1812. He was an asso- 

 ciate of twenty-four learned societies; and the king 

 br>to\ved on him the order of the black eagle. 

 Among his principal works are, Prodromus Flora 

 Berolinensis (1787) ; Historia Amaranthorum (Zu- 

 rich, 1790, folio); Elf mem de Botanique (1792), 

 which has been translated into several languages; 

 Arboriculture Berlinoise spontance (179C) ; Species 

 Plantarum exhibentes Plantas ritd coynitas ad Gen- 

 era relatas cum Differentiis specificis, Nominibus 

 trivialibus, synonymis, selectis Locis nalalibus, secun- 

 dwn Systema sexuale digestas (Berlin, 1797 1810, 

 5 vols., in nine parts) ; Guide pour etudier soi- 

 mt'ine la Botanique (1804) ; and Hortus Berolinensis, 

 of which only the first volume has been published. 

 Willdenow's great work, the Species Plantarum, 

 was left incomplete, as he did not live to finish the 

 history of the cryptogamic plants. A continuation 

 has been promised by professor Link, of Berlin. 



WILLE, JOHN GEORGE, a distinguished engra- 

 ver, was born in 1715, near Giessen, in Hesse- 

 Darmstadt. He learned the trade of a gunsmith, 

 and afterwards became a watch-maker. He subse- 

 quently went to Paris, and there became an en- 

 graver. His portrait of marshal Belleisle became 

 the foundation of his fortune. In the revolution, 

 he lost his property, amounting to 800,000 francs, 

 and would have lost his life had not his son hap- 

 pened to be general of the national guard of Paris. 

 Napoleon made him a member of the legion of hon- 

 our, and the institute elected him into their body. 

 His portraits of the minister Florentin and of Bos- 

 sutt are particularly valued. He subsequently en- 

 graved historical and similar pictures ; also many 

 sketches of his son Peter Alexander Wille, born in 

 Paris, in 1748. He died in 1808. 



WILLIAM I., surnamed the Conqueror ; king of 

 England and duke of Normandy. He was born in 

 1024, and was the natural son of Robert, duke of 

 Normandy, by Arlotta, the daughter of a tanner of 

 Falaise. His father, having no legitimate son, on 

 his departure on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, caused 

 the states of the duchy to swear allegiance to him 

 as his heir. Robert died in 1035, on his return 

 from Palestine; and the guardian of the young 

 duke could not prevent the king of France from 

 reducing the duchy to a very low condition. When 

 William assumed the reins himself, his vigour and 

 ability soon repelled these aggressions, and reduced 

 both the French king and his own rebellious barons 

 to the necessity of peace and submission. Edward 

 the Confessor, at this time king of England, being 

 closely connected with the Norman family, was in- 

 stigated by the archbishop of Canterbury, a Norman, 

 to allow William to be given to understand that 

 the king designed him for his successor. The ir- 

 resolute character of Edward, however, induced 

 him to keep the secret in his own breast, which en- 

 abled Harold to ascend the throne on his death, in 

 1066, wifhout opposition. Harold had previously 



been carried a captive into Normandy, where he 

 was treated with great distinction by William, who 

 informed him of the intentions of the Confessor, 

 and took from him an oath to do his utmost to carry 

 them into effect. His occupation of the throne led 

 to immediate war, and the Norman invasion fol- 

 lowed, which was rendered successful by the battle 

 of Hastings, fought on the fourth of October, !()(!(), 

 terminating in the defeat and death of Harold and 

 two of his brothers. On the Christmas-day of the 

 same year, William was crowned, after a sort of 

 tumultuary election on the part of the English 

 nobles, and took the r.ustomary coronation oath. 

 His first measures were mild : he sought to ingrati- 

 ate himself with his new subjects, preserved his 

 army in strict discipline, confirmed the liberties of 

 London and other cities, and administered justice 

 impartially. On his return to Normandy, however, 

 the English, being treated by the Norman leaders 

 like a conquered people, broke out into revolt, and 

 a conspiracy was planned for the massacre of all 

 the Normans in the country. On this intelligence, 

 William returned, and began with a show of justice, 

 by repressing the encroachment of his followers ; 

 but, reviving the tax of Danegelt, which had been 

 abolished by Edward the Confessor, the discon- 

 tents were renewed. These he repressed with 

 his usual vigour, and a temporary calm succeed- 

 ed. The resistance of two powerful Saxon no- 

 bles, Edwin and Morcar, who had formed an alli- 

 ance with the kings of Scotland and Denmark, and 

 with the prince of North Wales, soon after drew 

 William to the north, where he obliged Malcolm, 

 king of Scotland, to do homage for Cumberland. 

 From this time he treated the English like a con- 

 quered people, multiplied confiscations in every 

 quarter, and forced the native nobility to desert the 

 country in great numbers. In 1069, another for- 

 midable insurrection broke out in the north, and, at 

 the same time, the English resumed arms in the 

 eastern and southern counties. William first op- 

 posed the storm in the north, and executed surh 

 merciless vengeance in his progress, that the whole 

 country between York and Durham was turned 

 into a desert ; and above 100,000 of both sexes, 

 and all ages, are said to have perished. There be- 

 ing now scarcely a landed proprietor who had not 

 incurred the forfeiture of rebellion, he put into exe- 

 cution his plan of introducing a total alteration of 

 the state of English law and property, by dividing 

 all the lands into baronies, and adopting the feudal 

 constitution of Normandy in regard to tenure and 

 services. He also reduced the ecclesiastical pro- 

 perty to a similar system, and, in order to prevent 

 resistance from the clergy, expelled all the English 

 church dignitaries, and placed Normans or other 

 foreigners in their stead. Still further to subjugate 

 the minds of the English, he sought to abolish even 

 their language, causing the French to be spoken at 

 court, and used in courts of justice and in law pro- 

 ceedings, and ordering it to form a leading part of 

 instruction in all the schools throughout the realm. 

 In 1071, the earls Edwin and Morcar produced 

 a new insurrection in the north, which terminated 

 in the death of the former and capture of the lat- 

 ter ; and the Scottish king having again aided them, 

 William marched an army into Scotland, which 

 soon led to a peace ; on which occasion, he allowed 

 the return of the weak but rightful Saxon heir, 

 Edgar Etheling, who had taken refuge in Scotland, 

 and promised him an honourable establishment. In 

 1073, he returned to Normandy, whence he was 



