valuable addition to the library of English history.

and, weighed down as were his last days with family troubles, Charlemagne The very pleasant little volume of never witnessed their actual invasion. Anglo-Saxon history, published in 1830, He died "right royally," surrounded by first introduced Sir Francis Palgrave as all his great officers of state; and then, an historical writer, while his subsequent clad in imperial robes, with jewelled admirable work, The Rise and Progress diadem on his brow, his ivory horn slung of the English Commonwealth during in his baldric, his good sword Joyeuse the Anglo-Saxon Period, placed him at by his side, he was borne to his chair of once in the foremost rank. It is to this state in the vault beneath his throne in that we owe his largest and most im- the Basilica of Aix, and there, with gosportant work, unfortunately left unfin- pel book open on his knees, his golden ished by his death, The History of Nor- shield and sceptre pendant before him, mandy and of England, for, as he re- sat in ghastly state-emperor even in marks in his preface to the first volume, the grave; while Louis le Debonnaire "English history is the joint graft of succeeded to an inheritance of sorrow. Anglo-Saxon and Norman history," and Charlemagne breathed his last beneath therefore it is necessary to trace the an- the gilded roof of the palace of Aixnals of Normandy from the beginning, la-Chapelle, Louis, heart- broken, in a in order to understand more clearly the leafy hut close beside the Rhine, soothed relative position of the two peoples. by the pleasant ripple of its cooling The first volume, published in 1851, streams, leaving to Charles le Chauve comprises a history of the Carlovingian an empire more weakened and a future dynasty from the death of Charlemagne to the reign of Charles le Simple, together with the incursions of the Northmen and the settlement of Rollo in Neustria. The second volume, published in 1857, carries on the history of the three first dukes of Normandy, while the third volume now before us, relates the history of the three last dukes, and more at length, of the greatest of them all, William the Conqueror. As he occupies the larger portion of the third volume, and the beginning of the fourth, while the remainder of that is devoted to the reign of the Red King, and a very long dissertation on the first crusade, we shall confine our review to the more important subject-the life of William, first slightly glancing at the previous history of Normandy.

Glorious and prosperous as was the reign of Charlemagne, yet, "thick and lowering were the tempests gathering on the horizon, while the sun shone bright and cheerful on the vaulted roofs of Aix-la-Chapelle." Not only were the Sclavonian tribes pressing onward, and the Saracen power slowly and steadily advancing, but the dark sails of the Northmen already loomed on the Belgic coasts, and already had these fierce pirates sought a landing on the fertile plains of France. This sad beginning of future woe to his race was, however, spared to the great ruler of the tenth century;

still darker; for the Northmen, already victorious along the eastern coast of England, now hovered on the shores of Neustria; and ere long, invited by the withdrawal of the Frankish squadron, entered the mouth of the Seine, rowed up the tempting river, and plundered and burned "Gallo-Roman Rothomagus."

It was not often that pirates obtained spoil so abundant and so precious. They hurried back to summon their brethren, and stout Regner Lodbrok, with his hundred and twenty "dragons of the sea," ploughed cheerily through the crashing ice, on the following bleak Eastertide, right onward to Paris. The inhabitants fled in dismay, having buried their treasures; but to the Northmen the huge beams of the church roofs, and the iron-work of the gates, were tempting spoils, and with these they loaded their barks. Seven thousand pounds of silver were offered by Charles as a subsidy, and the Northmen sailed back well satisfied. Arrived in Denmark, Regner repaired to Eric the Red, and related his good fortune; the king refused to believe him. Again Regner sought the presence of his sovereign, not with the silver, but followed by gangs of his crew, some carrying the long beams pulled from the church roofs, and others laden with the huge iron bar of the Paris gate. These trophies were irre

sistible; Eric the Red headed the next | succeeded to an inheritance of strife and expedition, and invasion followed invasion, until the fairest provinces were subjected to their sway.

bloodshed. Many were the perils of his minority, but he surmounted them all, and from the day he reëntered Rouen, after his proud triumph over Louis d'Outremer, to when-a full half century later-he was placed in the stone chest in the pathway expressly hollowed out for him, Richard Sans-peur was a name of fear to his enemies, of fond re

ly the ruler" by whose deeds and doings the duchy was fashioned and framed." Richard Sans peur was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard, on whom was bestowed the title of "Le Bon," apparently not so unsuitable a title as those usually bestowed upon rulers. In his reign the first relations of England with Normandy were formed; for his sister Emma was married to Ethelred, and her subsequent return with her two sons, Edward and Alfred, and their education in Normandy, were important links in the chain of events which led to the conquest.

Of Rollo, the founder of the dukedom of Normandy, little can be known. He seems to have been a warlike youth, compelled by a quarrel with their "over king" to flee away with his brother to England. Here he became a viking chief, and, after many successful voy-membrance to his subjects-emphaticalages, he sailed up the Seine to Jumieges. The inhabitants, worn out with incessant attacks, now sought to capitulate, and invited Rollo "to a peaceful occupation of Rouen, terra firma, and islands." To this he consented, and a danegeld of five thousand pounds having ratified the contract, the bold viking and his hardy followers took possession of their lands. But ere long Rollo enlarged his boundaries. The empire under Charles le Chauve's successors was too feeble to offer resistance, and, at length, not Rouen and its appendages alone, but "Haute Normandie," became the fief of the Danish rover. A noble barbarian does Rollo seem to have been. Although a pirate from his youth, he had the wisdom to recognize the benefits of civilization, and in his new territory he encouraged both arts and learning. He became a Christian, too, in his grim old age, and holy church rejoiced when he wrapt the white chrismal vestment around him, for right royal were the gifts he bestowed on her ministers; the unlettered warrior doubtless looking up with wondering admiration to the booklearned priests, to whom he committed the education of his only son, Guillaume Longue- épée. Singular was it, too, "that the reputation of Rollo the legis. lator vied with the reputation of Rollo the conqueror." More than fourscore years of active life were allotted to this illustrious viking, and when infirmity at length warned him to retire from the world, his chieftains took the oath of fealty to his son, and soon after the great founder of the duchy of Normandy was laid "in the Metropolitan Basilica of Notre Dame of Rouen."

Ethelred subsequently followed Emma. to Normandy. He seems to have been kindly received; and from thence he returned to England, where, shortly after, he died, and was succeeded by Edmund Ironsides. During this time, Emma appears to have continued in Normandy, and here her children were educated, "their hearts thoroughly alienated from England, and the Normans and Normandy became as their kindred and their home."

Duke Richard le Bon died in middle age, leaving two sons, Richard, to whom he bequeathed the duchy, and Robert, to whom he left the county of Hiesmes. But Robert felt himself aggrieved that Falaise, which had formed a portion of that county, was withheld. He went to war with his brother soon after his father's death, and seized and held Falaise. The brothers were now at deadly strife, when friends interposed, and effected a reconciliation. Merrily they returned to Rouen; a splendid banquet was prepared, but "the young and flourishing Richard was suddenly stricken, Guillaume Longue épée fell a victim and he passed from the hall to his deathto foul assassination ere his middle age, bed." Many of the party shared the and Richard Sans-peur, the bright-eyed, same fate, and no one doubted that golden-haired boy-so lovingly celebrat-poison had done its work. "Never was ed both by chronicler and trouvère- Robert exonerated from the imputation

was postponed. This incident is important, for it shows the strong interest Robert felt in his cousins, and how naturally Edward, after he had become by right of succession king of England, would still look to Normandy rather than elsewhere for council and aid.

But Robert, although wealthy and prosperous, and holding a station of higher political importance than any preceding duke, was ill at ease. He had one child, upon whom he seems to have doated with a more than mother's fondness, and whom, notwithstanding the illegitimacy of his birth, he determined to make his heir. Of little consequence was mere illegitimacy. Some of the dukes had not been clear of that stain; nor, although Arletta's general character was disreputable, was that insuperable. But of all the working classes, the skinners were viewed-both by the French and Germans-as the most degraded of men, and her father was one. "Those who pursued the useful, albeit disgusting trade of skinning beasts, were stigmatized as a distinct and depraved caste

of fratricide; never was the dark stain effaced; never was the obscure suspicion dispelled." Robert succeeded to the duchy of course; there was no claimant to contest his right, and, whatever might be the general opinion, he soon won golden opinions from his subjects by his extravagant munificence. This well supplies the reason for his more favorable title, Robert le Magnifique; for that less complimentary one, by which he is more generally known, Robert le Diable, it is more difficult to ascertain its origin, since, "whatever may have been his secret crimes, he never manifested any open tendency to outrage or cruelty." A wild, rollicking life did Robert lead at Falaise, his favorite residence; and here he met Arletta, and here was born his only son-the dreaded William the Conqueror. But Robert, although pleasure-loving to the utmost excess, had talents for government, and he interfered successfully in the affairs of Flanders, and, on King Robert's decease, in those of France. During this time, the English Athelings, Edward and Alfred, had remained at their cous-ranked among the races maudites of in's court their mother, Emma, now wearing, a second time, the crown of Eugland as the wife of Canute. Robert was their sole protector, and, with chivalrous feeling, he availed himself of a short interval of tranquillity to open negotiations with Canute for “an equitable division between the representatives of the two dynasties;" and a precedent was already familiar in the case of the partition between Canute and Ironside. But Canute's reply was a defiance"Let them hold what they can win." Robert generously accepted the challenge. He fitted out a noble fleet for the conquest of England, even while that son was in his cradle who was so direfully to achieve it. But the time was not yet. Although the cloudless sky and the prospering gale greeted the departing armament, the storm soon arose, the north wind blew furiously, the fleet was dispersed, and long afterwards were the decaying hulks to be seen rotting at Rouen. But the main portion escaped, and the Athelings continued on board, lingering for the opportunity of presenting themselves; but no opening ensued. The scheme became abortive, and the conquest of England

France, holding a place somewhat between a mesel and a gypsy, cohabiting or marrying only among themselves; and here, the sole offspring of Robert the Magnificent was grandchild to old Hulbert the tanner, whom the meanest burgess of Rouen would cross the way to avoid! No wonder that the very thought of a child of such base parentage inheriting the proud duchy of Rollo was gall and wormwood to the nobles; no wonder that the lowest of the people heaped epithets of obloquy on the boy, until "William the Conqueror could never rid himself of the contumelious appellation, which bore indelible record of his father's sin." Keenly did Robert feel this hostility towards his darling child-an hostility which, naturally enough, increased when the old tanner was elevated to the incongruous office of court chamberlain, and his daughter flaunted in almost royal state as the duke's publicly-recognized mistress. "The boy, William, was the object of universal contempt; no wonder that the magnificent Robert was sad at heart."

Suddenly Robert convened his prel ates and nobles, and then made the

startling announcement of his determination to set forth as a pilgrim to the Holy Land. It was not as yet the era of the crusades; no military leader, no monarch or ruler, had come forth with well appointed followers "to avenge the wrongs of our Lord in his own land." Was Robert le Magnifique, then, to go forth with scrip and pilgrim-staff, a toiling wayfarer, on the long and perilous journey, undertaken by few save obscure Direful was the consternation when the duke communicated this project to his lieges. Not only the strangeness of the plan, but the consequences. Should Robert die away from home, who would succeed him? While be was absent, who would administer the affairs of the duchy? It was then that Robert brought forward his boy, now almost seven years old.

men?

by his prayers or tears, seems strange. Might it not be that the sanctity which invested pilgrimage produced a commanding effect on rude but devout minds? and the supplication which might have been refused to the duke, in merely departing on an errand of warfare or pleasure, was felt to be irresistible when urged by the pilgrim, who had stripped himself of every possession that he might go a penitent to the Holy Land?

In the appointment of guardians of the young duke, Robert exercised a sound judgment. The worthless mother was wholly excluded; and Alain, Duke of Brittany, the boy's cousin, became regent, and the Archbishop of Rouen was associated with him. And now Robert set forth on his pilgrimage; but more in the array of Robert le Magnifique than the humble palmer. Harbingers went forward to prepare the lodg.

sumpter mules laden with luxuries, and long trains of attendants, followed in his train; while to beguile the way with pleasant companionship, Drogo, Count of the Vexin, and Toustain le Blanc, took their journey with him.

A

"Pitiful was Robert's earnestness when extolling the child's promising disposition, so fitting to render him a competent sovereign.ings; and palfreys, and war-steeds, and All the virtues which the courtiers' glozing flattery attributes to an heir-apparent, were truths in the conception of the uneasy adulterer, wrestling against the consequences of his vice. All the remorse, all the prickings of conscience, all the stings of worldly shame spread over the life of a putative father, were concentrated in that miserable hour. Ear-pleasant portion of Maistre Wace's nestly did prelates and barons repeat their Roman du Rou" is that which narremonstrances, expatiating upon the impend- rates this royal pilgrimage, and its vaing dangers. Robert, on his part, persevered rious incidents, how Robert surmounted obstinately, vehemently, until the assembly, the Alps, and visited Rome and Conyielding to his urgency, and moved by his stantinople, and how abundant was his misery, assented to the demand. If legal largesse to the poor pilgrims at Jerusaforms possess any stringency, no act of state lem. But home he was fated never to could be more binding than the confirmation return. which the child's title now received. In the

first place, the proud and vexed baronage performed homage and fealty. Whatever duties or services a vassal owes his suzerain, would the lieges render to the heir, rising seven years of age. This very important engagement imparted to William a valid and constitutional title, as between him and his vassals. But the duke himself would grow up a vassal, and the assent of his superior was needed. Robert, therefore, brought the child his child of dishonor-before King Henry of France, surrendering the duchy in the boy's favor, and the lad, duly performing homage, became the liegeman of the mon

arch."

That the King of France so willingly accepted Robert's transference of his allegiance, may be readily accounted for by duplicity; but that his haughty barons should have been moved either

After long sickness, he and Count Drogo died at Nice, from the effects of poison, it was said; they were interred in the cathedral, and Toustain le Blanc returned to Normandy with the news, and with the relics which Robert had carefully collected.

Robert's pilgrimage had occupied between two and three years, and thus, ere be had completed his tenth year, William's reign commenced. During this time tranquillity had been preserved in the duchy, but with the rumors of the father's failing health that reached Europe, disturbances began. William was now placed under the tutelage of Gilbert Crespon, Count of Brienne and Thorkettil, and he was conveyed for safety to the strong castle of Vaudreuil. But ere long this stronghold was assailed by

manhood.

castle of Tilliers. William, alive to the danger of provoking his suzerain, gave up the stronghold; but probably encouraged by hopes of aid from the French king, his barons now formed a confederacy against him, and bound themselves by a great oath to work his destruction. Unconscious of danger, William was sojourning meanwhile

William de Montgomery; the cousin who slept with the young duke was killed by his side; Thorkettil, his guardian, and apparently his preceptor, was butchered; and, rescued by his uncle on the mother's side, he found refuge in a peasant's cottage. A period of fierce confusion followed, during which we have few notices of the young duke; but nearly six years of warfare among "At pleasant Valognes, where temple and the nobles was at length, in 1042, terminated by the Council of Caen proclaim-how, in the luxurious Roman days, the locality hypocaust, theatre and amphitheatre, testified ing the Truce of God;" that benevo- had been prized. There William established lent provision, which not only secured himself, holding his court. Among his guests the peace of all men during the three none more important than Galet the fool. Half great church festivals, but prohibited demented, though acute withal, this merrysword to be unsheathed, or battle-axe man becomes conspicuous in the history of wielded, from the sunset of each Thurscourt jesters, for he had gained cognizance of the conspiracy. In the midst of the night day evening to Monday's dawn. A he presented himself at William's door, in long interval of quiet followed, and full official costume, his bauble slung round William grew up to stern and vigorous his neck; and knocking violently, he shrieked out, Up, up, my lord duke! open, open! "As for William, his character received marshalled; and if they capture thee, never flee, flee! Delay is death; all are armed, all full development at an early age. He conwilt thou again see the light of day!' Wilducted himself wisely and discreetly, and the liam obeyed the warning without even a sagacity distinguishing the man had previ- thought of hesitation. No questions asked. eusly been conspicuous in the boy. To varied No companions to support him. No groom talents of a high order, William conjoined aiding. Half-clad, starting from his couch he athletic vigor and a noble form. It was rushed into the stable, saddled his horse, and talked of as a truth, or accepted as a truth, made for the ford of Vire. that none but Duke William could bend Duke river's mouth stood, and still stands, the Hard by the William's bow. His natural gifts, whether church of St. Clement, close upon Isigny. bodily or mental, marked him for a conqueror; There he tarried; maybe prayed. Bayeux and the hard discipline he sustained in his he dared not enter; therefore he edged his youth trained him to become a chastiser of track between the Saxon city and the sea, nations, a minister of punishment and of skirting a neighborhood whose name is echoed vengeance. But his greatest victory was on our shore of the channel - the bourgade over his own natural passions: in an age of of 'Rye.' Doubting the loyalty of the inhabgross and unbridled licentiousness, the con- itants, he sought for the 'Manoir,' the dwelqueror of Carthage was not more distinguished ling - place par excellence. Day was dawnfor continence and chastity than William. ing; but ere the sun had cleared the horiHe soon acquired importance beyond his zon, William had arrived at Hubert's door. years. A powerful and brilliant court asHis horse, white with foam, bespoke the ursembled around him. So splendid, so influ-gency of the danger which had driven his ential was the youth, as to excite King Henrider thither. The road through which Wilry's jealousy; and the monarch, secretly alarmed at his vassal's rising reputation, was obliged, even then, to treat him with a degree of deference beyond what his years could

claim."

But the king was resolved to "bide his time," although that time was long, At length, and while the young duke was enjoying those forest sports, which from his earliest days to his latest he followed with such keen enjoyment, Henry suddenly, ere hostile message was delivered, or gauntlet flung down, poured his forces into the Evreçin, demanding the instant demolition of the

liam escaped still retains the name of la voie

du Duc. The local traditions and the trouvère's lay agree with singular accuracy; and the whole of this narrative abounds with particulars so minutely descriptive, that none but the illustrious fugitive could have told the tale."

Hubert's sons conducted the duke to Falaise; but his flight was the signal for the barons seizing the government; and then William, with an astuteness scarcely to be expected in a fierce, impetuous young ruler, not long past his twentieth year, determined-and it was a hard trial, as Sir Francis Palgrave