WILLIAM. 



jii Jo66. Harold, however, liad previoufly taken a folemn 

 oath to afiill William in accompliihing the purpofe of Ed- 

 ward refpedling the fucceflion ; and his perfidy excited the 

 indignation of William, and induccd-him to prepare for dif- 

 poffefTing Harold of the Englilh throne by force of arms. 

 His intentions were no fooner announced than he was joined 

 by a great number of military adventurers ; and upon an ap- 

 peal to Rome, the pope fanflioned the conteft, and fcnt him 

 a confecrated banner. Thus encouraged, he affembled a 

 fleet of 3000 veflels, and an army of 60,000 men ; and de- 

 termining on invading England, landed on September 28, 

 1066, at Pevenfey, in Suffex. Harold, as foon as he re- 

 ceived this intelligence, marched from York, and having re- 

 cruited his forces at London, haftened to encounter the 

 Normans, who were encamped near Haftings. On the 14th 

 of Odlober the two armies engaged, and after a fevere 

 battle, which lafted during a whole day, the Englifh were 

 defeated, with the lofs of Harold and his two brothers. 

 William loft no time in availing himfelf of this viftory ; but 

 having reduced the town and caftle of Dover, and received 

 the fubmiffion of the Kentilli men, proceeded towards Lon- 

 don. In his way he was met by Edgar Atheling, who had 

 been proclaimed legal heir to the monarchy, Stigand, arch- 

 bifhop of Canterbury, and fome of the principal nobility, 

 who made an offer to him of the crown ; and on Chriftmas- 

 day, 1066, after a kind of tumultuous eleftion, he was 

 crowned at Weftminller-abbey by the archbilhop of York, 

 and took the coronation-oath. Having adopted meafures 

 for conciliating his fubjefts, and overawing thofe who were 

 adverfe to him, he re-croffed the fea to Normandy, taking 

 with him as hoftages Edgar, the primate, and feveral of the 

 principal nobihty. Soon after his departure, the Englilh 

 were treated contumehoufly and oppreffively by the Nor- 

 mans, whofe condudl excited infurrettions, and led to a con- 

 fpiracy for the maifacre of all who remained in the country. 

 This intelligence occafioned William's return in December 

 1067 ; and among other meafures of a more conciliatory na- 

 ture, he imprudently renewed the tax called " danegelt," 

 which excited infurreftions through various parts of the 

 kingdom. As foon as thefe infurreftions were fupprefled, 

 his queen, Matilda, was crowned at Weftminfter : but new 

 troubles arofe from the union of the two principal nobles, 

 Edwin and Morcar, with the kings of Scotland and Den- 

 mark, and the prince of North Wales, which threatened an 

 extenifive revolt. The confpiracy for this purpofe was dif- 

 covered and cruflied, and meafures were taken for prevent- 

 ing the evils that were likely to refult from it. From this 

 time WiUiam's government became daily more and more 

 defpotic ; and the nobility of the country, perceiving that 

 their ruin was the objeft of his contemplation, prepared to 

 leave the kingdom. Infurreftions broke out in various parts 

 of the country, and the means which he adopted for fup- 

 prefling them were in the higheft degree rigorous and de- 

 ftruftive. As a meafure of future prevention, he brought 

 from Normandy the feudal conftitution into England, and 

 divided moft of the lands into baronies, which he granted to 

 the mod confiderable of his followers, under the condi- 

 tion of certain fervices and payments ; and thefe fubdivided 

 their (hares on fimilar tenures, among others, chiefly fo- 

 reigners, of inferior rank. The ecclefiaftical property of 

 the kingdom was regulated upon a fimilar fyftem ; and un- 

 der various pretences, the Normans fuperfeded the Englifh 

 in the poffefTion of all church dignities. In order to favour 

 this expulfion of the Englifh dignitaries, a legate from the 

 pope was, for the firfl time, admitted into this country, and 

 a reverence for the fee of Rome, fimilar to that which fub- 

 lifted on the coatinent, was inculcated on all Britilh fub- 



2 



jefts ; whilft the king took care, by referving certain powers 

 to himfelf, to guard the civil fovereignty againfl: papal 

 ufurpations. In order further to fubjugate the minds of 

 the Englifh, and reduce them to the ilate of a conquered 

 people, the king projeded the abolition of their language ; 

 and by admitting at court no other language befides the 

 French, he caufed all the youth in the fchools of the king- 

 dom to be inflrufted in it, and the laws to be drawn up in 

 that language, which was alfo ufed in all judicial pleadings 

 and writings. 



Having fuppreffed an infurreftion which broke out in 

 107 1 by the inftigation of the earls Edwin and Morcar, and 

 in the following year negotiated a peace with Malcolm, king 

 of Scotland, he was called to Normandy in 1073, on occa- 

 fion of a revolt in that country. In 1075 his prefence was 

 neceffary in England to check a confpiracy among the Nor- 

 man barons, whom he had diftinguifhed by his favour, and 

 who were joined by Waltheof, an Englifh nobleman, on 

 whom he had bellowed his niece Judith. Waltheof, in thi» 

 confpiracy, fell a facrifice to the treachery of his wife. In 

 the following year, iiiz. 1076, the haughty and ambitious 

 Hildebrandjwho was now pope Gregory VII., required Wil- 

 liam to do homage for his kingdom to the holy fee, alleging a 

 promife to this purpofe, and alfo to pay the accuftomed Eng- 

 lifh tribute. William denied his promife of homage, which 

 he refufed to render, but remitted to Rome the Peter-pence ; 

 and whilft he would not allow the Englifh prelates to attend 

 a general council fummoned by Gregory, he permitted the 

 pope's legate to convene a fynod at Winchefter for eftablifti- 

 ing the ceHbacy of the clergy. On his return to Normandy 

 in this year, he found the country engaged in a civil war, in 

 confequence of a rebelhon excited by his fon Robert. On 

 this occafion the father and fon had a perfonal encounter ; 

 but when the fon difcovered that he was thus engaged, he 

 was ftruck with horror, fell at his father's feet, and implored 

 forgivenefs. The father was at firft unrelenting ; but they 

 were afterwards reconciled. About the year 1081, William 

 ordered that furvey of the landed property of the kingdom 

 to be made which is recorded in Domefday-book. ( See 

 Domesday. For an account of the impolitic as well as cruel 

 manner in which he indulged his paffion for the chace, we 

 refer to the article Forest. ) The latter years of his life fur- 

 nifhed various occafions of afBiftion and difquietude. The 

 death of his queen Matilda, to whom he was affectionately at- 

 tached, was an event that took place in 1083, and was thecaufe 

 of undifTembled forrow and lamentation. The preparations 

 made by the king of Denmark and the earl of Flanders for 

 an invafion of England occafioned to him no fmall degree of 

 anxiety : and when he was refcued from this danger by the 

 death of the Danifh king, he was called into Normandy in 

 1086, to repel the incurfions of fome French barons ; and 

 fufpeftingthat the king of Francehad inftigated them tothefe 

 afts of hoftility, he commenced a war againll him in 1087, 

 in the profecution of which he even laid wafte the country 

 at the approach of harveft by the moft cruel dcvaftation. 

 But an accidental injury which he received in mounting his 

 horfe flopped his career, and terminated in his death. 

 Alarmed by the near proipeft of diffolution, his mind was 

 haraffed with remorfe in the review of the atrocious con- 

 duft with which he was chargeable, and he fought relief 

 by donations to the church, to which perfons of his charac- 

 ter have commonly reforted, and by the pardon and releafe 

 of fome of his enemies. By his laft teftament he bequeathed 

 to his eldeft fon Robert the counties of Normandy and 

 Maine, and to his fecond fon William, the crown of Eng- 

 land, and to his third fon, Henry, the property of his mo- 

 ther. He expired at the abbey of St. Gervais, near 



Rouenj 



