34 



Devizes. 



part of his property, as Bishop of Sarum, and he merely built on 

 ground belonging to the See. 



It had not been long built before these unusually strong walls 

 and gates were found to be useful as a State Prison. King Henry 

 had secured the person of his eldest brother, Robert, Duke of Nor- 

 mandy, and kept him in custody in various places for 26 years, 

 the rest of Robert's life. Part of the time he was prisoner here, 

 though he was allowed to go hunting and amuse himself much as 

 he pleased. 



But (not to dwell too long upon this part of the subject) the 

 fickle Goddess Fortune stands upon a wheel. The wheel revolves, 

 and that which one moment is at the top, suddenly finds itself at 

 the bottom. So it was with Bishop Roger. The beginning of 

 his down-fall was a common event enough, the overturning of a 

 boat, but in this case there happened to be in the boat, King 

 Henry's only son ; and when Prince William was drowned in 

 crossing from France, there was no longer any male heir apparent 

 to the Throne of England. Henry had one daughter, Matilda, 

 widow of the Emperor of Germany : and being anxious to secure 

 the succession to her, he called all his Nobility and Bishops together 

 and made them take an oath of allegiance to the Empress. Having 

 taken it they all departed to their homes, and the King immediately 

 sent his daughter abroad, causing her to be betrothed to the son of 

 the Count of Anjou. Henry died in 1135. His nephew Stephen 

 came forward to claim the throne, and we find the Bishop with many 

 others, notwithstanding their oath, joining Stephen. Great has been 

 the outcry against the Bishop by various writers, loading him with 

 abuse in the usual way, as an artful treacherous man who sacrificed 

 to the altar of ambition the interests of his patron's family, and 

 so forth. But hear what he had to say for himself: for his 

 answer was taken from his mouth by one who knew him well. 

 Not only, for certain reasons of state, was the marriage between 

 the King's daughter and that particular foreign Prince of Anjou 

 against the wishes of the country, but the King had promised 

 that he would never make a match of the kind without consulting 

 his nobility. He sent her off without their consent, and they one 



