WILLIAM II. WILLIAM III. 



recalled by a revolt among his Norman barons, 

 which was, however, quelled by the regent Odo, 

 his half brother. In 1076, he received a letter from 

 pope Gregory VII., requiring him to do homage for 

 his kingdom, and to pay the accustomed tribute 

 from England to the holy see. William denied the 

 homage : nor would he allow the English prelates 

 to attend a general council summoned by Gregory, 

 but consented to the levy of Peter's pence. About 

 the year 1081, he instituted that general survey of 

 the landed property of the kingdom, the record of 

 which still exists under the title of Domesday Book, 

 being a minute return of the estates in the different 

 counties, their extent, proprietors, tenure, condi- 

 tion, and value. The manner in which he laid 

 waste the New Forest in Hampshire, where he de- 

 molished villages, churches, and convents, and ex- 

 pelled the inhabitants for thirty miles round, merely 

 to form a forest for hunting, exhibits his cruelty 

 and love of sporting, which he further protected by 

 a most severe code of game laws. In 1087, he 

 went to war with France, whose king had encour- 

 aged a rebellion of Norman nobles. He entered 

 the French territory, and committed great ravages, 

 but, by the starting of his horse, received an in- 

 jury which hastened his death, at the abbey of St 

 Gervais, near Rouen (1087), in the sixty-third year 

 of his age. He left three sons Robert, to whom 

 he bequeathed Normandy ; William, who inherited 

 England ; and Henry, who received but his mother's 

 property. He also left five daughters. William 

 the Conqueror was the most powerful sovereign of 

 his time. He possessed superior talents, both poli- 

 tical and martial, and employed them with remark- 

 able vigour and industry. His passions were, how- 

 ever, strong ; his ambition severe and merciless ; 

 and his love of sway often led him to disregard all 

 restraints of justice and humanity. See Thierry's 

 Histoire de la Conqucte de'l'Angleterre par les Nor- 

 maitds (Paris, 1825, 3 vols.) 



WILLIAM II., surnamed Rufus, from his red 

 hair, second son of the preceding, was born in 1060. 

 Being nominated king of England by his father, on 

 the death of the latter, he hastened over from Nor- 

 mandy, took possession of the royal treasury at 

 Winchester, and was crowned at Westminster in 

 September, 1087. The division of England and 

 Normandy did not, however, please the great barons, 

 who possessed territories in both ; and a conspiracy 

 was formed for effecting the deposition of William 

 in favour of his brother Robert. As the conspira- 

 tors were chiefly Normans, the king, who possessed 

 a considerable share of his father's vigour and acti- 

 vity, immediately turned his attention to the Eng- 

 lish, and, by promising a restoration of their ancient 

 laws, and liberty to hunt in the royal forest, he was 

 enabled to levy a force, by means of which he suc- 

 cessively reduced the castles of the confederates, 

 whom he sent to Normandy, after confiscating all 

 their English possessions. Being now firmly seated 

 on his throne, he forgot his promises to the Eng- 

 lish ; and the death of Lanfranc, archbishop of Can- 

 terbury, freeing him from an authority which he 

 respected, he extended his rapacity to the church, 

 and seized the temporalities of vacant bishoprics 

 and abbeys, to which he delayed appointing succes- 

 sors. In 1090, he made an incursion into Nor- 

 mandy, to retaliate on his brother Robert ; but a 

 reconciliation was effected between them, and Ro- 

 bert accompanied him back to England, and led an 

 army for him against the king of Scotland, whom 

 he compelled to do homage to William. The t\vo 



brothers did not, however, long continue friend?, 

 and, in 1095, William was in France plotting 

 against Robert, when he was recalled to England 

 by a conspiracy of his barons in the north, which 

 he quickly repressed. The following year, Robert 

 mortgaged his dukedom to William, for the sum 

 of ten thousand marks, to enable him to fit out 

 an expedition and join the crusaders in the Holy 

 Land. William accordingly took possession of 

 Normandy and Maine, and soon after, being seized 

 with a dangerous illness, appointed Anselm, a Nor- 

 man abbot, distinguished for learning and piety, to 

 the archbishopric of Canterbury, which had remained 

 vacant since the death of Lanfranc. Contrary to 

 his expectation, he found in Anselm a strenuous 

 defender of the claims of the church, and strove to 

 depose him by means of a synod, but could not suc- 

 ceed. At length Anselm obtained permission to 

 visit Rome ; and in his absence the king imme- 

 diately seized on all the temporalities of his see. 

 He soon after was obliged to visit France, to resist 

 the progress of the lord of La Fleche. In 1 100, 

 the duke of Guienne, following the example of the 

 duke of Normandy, applied to William to advance 

 him money on his province, to which the latter 

 readily agreed, and was about to pay the money 

 and acquire possession of the territories, when an 

 accident terminated his life. He was hunting in 

 the New Forest, and had alighted from his horse 

 after a chase, when, a stag suddenly starting up near 

 him, a French gentleman, named Walter Tyrrel, 

 let fly an arrow at the animal, which, glancing from 

 a tree, entered the king's breast, and pierced him 

 to the heart. Tyrrel immediately galloped to the 

 coast, and embarked for France, where he joined 

 the crusaders. The king's body was found by the 

 country people, and interred, without ceremony, at 

 Winchester. This event took place August 2, 

 1100, when William was in the fortieth year of his 

 age, and thirteenth of his reign. This prince pos- 

 sessed vigour, decision, and policy, but was vio- 

 lent, perfidious, and rapacious. 



WILLIAM III., hereditary stadtholder of Hol- 

 land and king of England, the greatest enemy of 

 Louis XIV., and the founder of the system of the 

 balance of power in Europe, became prince of 

 Orange by the death of his father, William II. of 

 Nassau. He was born in 1650. His mother was 

 Henrietta Mary Stuarl, daughter of the unfortunate 

 Charles I. Possessing superior talents, and edu- 

 cated in an excellent manner by the celebrated De 

 Witt, he gained the love of the people, who ap- 

 pointed him captain-general of the union in 1672, 

 when Louis XIV. invaded the republic, and con- 

 ferred on him the office of stadtholder, which had 

 been discontinued four years before. He caused 

 the dikes to be broken down, deceived the French 

 generals by a skilful manoeuvre, formed a junction 

 with the imperial army, and forced the French to 

 retreat. The party of the house of Orange now 

 prevailed ; and the states of Holland, together with 

 four provinces, declared, Feb. 2, 1674, the stadt- 

 holdership hereditary in the house of Orange. 

 William lost, indeed, the battle of Senef, in 1674, 

 and that of St Omer, in 1677; but he was, never- 

 theless, able to keep the enemy in check, and, by 

 his policy, engaged the empire, Spain and Branden- 

 burg to take part with Holland, so that a peace 

 was brought about at Nimeguen, in 1678. He 

 could not, however, prevent the conclusion of 

 i separate treaties. William's whole policy was 

 ] directed against Louis XIV. for whom he enter- 



