an hour, for they are resolved to seize | and terrible, but heaven is with us; and This terrible intelligence induced Harold to instantly dispatch a message to William, offering to purchase his amicable departure with gold, silver, and costly apparel. Indeed!" replied the duke, when he heard the purport of the messenger; "tell your good master, I did not visit England to change my crowns for his shillings, but to claim this realm, which is mine by the gift of Edward the Confessor, and the solemn oath of Harold himself." "And what if I refuse this cowardly bribe?" demanded William. "Harold will then deem you an invading foe, and, with God's permission, scourge you from the land, on Saturday next, should you be in the field on that day," answered the envoy. This vow greatly re-encouraged his followers, who, in that dark age, believed that by such an arrangement they provided a passport and a comfortable passage for their souls to heaven. The warriors now busily prepared for the important battle, which at one blow was to decide the fate of the rival claimants to King Edward's crown, and lay the foundation of England's future greatness. On the night preceding the en The "Pardon me, your grace," replied the envoy, "but my lord has not yet found the crown of England so troublesome that he desires to part with it. However, as his late victory over Tostig and the King of Norway was so signal and pro-gagement, the opposing camps presented fitable, he will, as a peace-offering, will- a singular and striking contrast. ingly share the spoil with you as the Normans were brave, enduring, strong price of your departure." in will, and patient in adversity. With hearts deeply imbued with religious chivalry, they made war their trade, and victory their joy. Ignorant and superstitious they were, but their martyr-like spirit gave them courage cheerfully to die for their religion and rights. Backed by a holy bull, and over their heads floating a consecrated banner, a gift from the pope himself, with swords girded on for the morrow's struggle, they passed the night in prayers and confessions, and with one accord vowed, if God granted them the victory, to evermore fast on that day of the week; a vow so religiously kept, that from that time till within the last few years, the Catholics of England always observed Saturday the day on which the battle was fought-as a fast day. "Be it so," exclaimed William scornfully. "Tell the Saxon usurper that I accept his challenge, and defy his power, for God and the saints are with me, and will permit no such devil's son as he to do me wrong." The envoy departed, much dispirited at having failed to bring about a friendly arrangement between his royal master and the invader; and he had scarcely left the camp, when William, who was nothing daunted by the disagreeable intelligence of the death of his allies, turned to his nobles and said,— "See, my brave lieges, what a pathway of honour lies before us. Our northern friends, from whom we expected such great help have already been routed and put to the sword; therefore, we must fight the brave Saxons, who defy us to battle, without their aid. And oh, should we succeed, how great will be our glory -how lasting the fame of that battle day! Doubtless the struggle will be fierce The Anglo-Saxons, according to the evidence of their own Chroniclers, had, at this period, miserably degenerated in character. They tattooed their bodies, dressed in short garments, and bedecked themselves with gaudy rings and bracelets. They ate and drank to excess, neglected commerce and the arts, and, to the exclusion of every ennobling sentiment, indulged in all kinds of vices and luxuries. Fully did the conduct of Harold's men accord with this doleful picture of the English at that period. anxious night uttered no prayers to heaven for their safety in the morrow's bloody contest. No priests were busy in their camps, speaking comfort and peace to the contrite and afflicted. Only in boosing and licentiousness did they pass the hours, Drink heal and Wassail echoing from mouth to mouth, till the welkin rung with their mad revels. Unlike their Norman ioes, they on that | fantry without breaking their ranks. But perceiving that the Saxons had possession of a hill which would cover their retreat, by favour of the night, William made a desperate effort to drive them hence. The onslaught was furious, and Harold, whilst courageously leading on his men to an attack in the thickest of the fray, was slain by a stray arrow, which entered his eye and pierced his brain. Dispirited and panic-stricken at the loss of their leader, his troops fell into disorder, took to flight, and, until darkness set in, were pursued with merciless slaughter by the victorious Normans. At the peep of day, on October the fourteenth, 1066, both armies met in full array, at a place called Heathfield, about seven miles from Hastings; and it being Harold's birthday, his army, flushed with the recent victory over Tostig and the king of Norway, made sure of beating the Normans from the field. Not so, however, with Harold himself, who, well knowing the powerful foe he was about to encounter, and too late perceiving the rashness of risking all in a single battle, would gladly have retreated, had the measure been possible. The Anglo-Saxons were arrayed on well-chosen ground, with their flanks secured against cavalry by deep trenches. Harold, and his brothers, Gurth and Leofwin, commanded the infantry, in whose front ranks stood the Kentish men of invincible renown. And the cavalry was headed by the Earls Morcar and Edwin. The Normans were drawn up in three bodies. The first was commanded by Montgomery and Fitz-Osborn; the second by Geoffrey Martel; and the third, the flower of the troops, was headed by William himself, and kept back as a reserve to act at the decisive moment. On retiring to their camp, the Normans, in fervent prayer, thanked God for so signal a victory, and for that night retired to rest upon the battle field, which ever since has been called Sanguelae, or the lagoon of blood, in commemoration of this long and fiercely contested battle. William's victory was most complete and decisive. He lost but six thousand men, whilst the power of the Saxons was com pletely crushed, sixty thousand of their best and bravest veterans having fallen on that fatal day. The Normans devoted the following day to the burial of their dead, and they permitted the Saxons to perform the like sad office to their own slaughtered friends. On hearing of the overthrow and death of Harold, Girtha, his mother, overcome with sorrow at the direful calamity, hastened to the Conqueror, and offered him rich presents for permission to bury the body of her beloved son. William, with a worthy generosity, freely accorded The action continued till nightfall, and the boon, but peremptorily refused the was well sustained on both sides. The proffered ransom. After thanking the Saxons fought with their accustomed Conqueror with tears of gratitude, Girtha bravery. More than once they were on hastened to the field of the slain; but so the point of driving their better-disci- mangled and hacked had been the dead plined foemen from the field, and although by the vengeful victors, that their features again and again repulsed, as often did could not be identified, and all search for they vigorously return to the charge. The the remains of Harold was at first in God of battle, however, was against them. vain. There, however, was one who had Eventide was fast approaching-the strife loved too well not to identify, even yet raged hot and furious. The Norman amongst thousands of stripped and frightDuke, although not himself wounded, fully gashed bodies, the adored object of had already had three horses slain under her affections. Edith, or the " swan him, and his intrepid bowmen had re-necked,” a beautiful Saxon lady of high peatedly showered clouds of arrows thick rank, who had been his jilted mistress, as hail on the heads of the Saxon in-scoured the battle field, and discovered his remains, which were interred in the Harold Enfelix. In compliance with his vow, William lost no time in having the stately abbey of St. Martin, now called Battle Abbey, erected upon the field of victory, where prayers were daily said for the sins of all who fell in the battle of Hastings, the name by which that sanguine engagement is now known. The high altar in the chapel of this stately structure is said to have stood on the very spot where Harold first planted his standard. In that remarkable specimen of needlework, the Bayeaux tapestry, now pre served in the museum of Baycaux, the battle of Hastings is graphically delineated, as also is the great comet which was visible in England just before the arrival of the Conqueror and his armament, and which frightened the inhabitants into a belief that a national calamity was about to occur. The Bayeaux tapestry is said to be the most beautiful embroidery extant, and the work of Matilda's own hands. It consists of a roll of linen cloth about seventy yards long, and eighteen or nineteen inches wide, forming a pictorial chronicle of the Norman conquest.-First is presented the visit of Harold to Normandy; then succeeds his oath on the relics of the saints, which is followed by the preparations for the conquest and the embarkation: after which, comes the landing in England, the battle of Hastings, and Harold's death. CHAPTER III. William of Normandy crowned king of England-Matilda rules Normandy with success-Her revenge on her scorner Brithric-William's court in Essex-Triumphant return to Normandy-Rebellion in England-Matilda re-appointed regent of Normandy-William hastens to England-Restores tranquillity-Arrival of Matilda in England-Her coronation-Champion instituted-Birth of Prince HenryTower and other fortresses built-Abortive plot of the Earls Edwin and MorcarMatilda and her family return to Normandy--Starvation and civil war in England -Curfew-Bitter sufferings of the Saxons--The churches pillaged-Saxon prelates deposed-The king's intrigue with a Kentish maiden-Matilda's vengeance on her rival-Normandy invaded-Matilda's daughter Constance marries Alan Fergeant. ON the Christmas day | Early on Christmas morning, William, that succeeded the who had passed the previous night at the battle of Hastings, palace of Blackfriars, proceeded by water the thoroughfares of to London Bridge, where he landed, London and West-mounted his charger, and, accompanied minster were crowd- by a grand cavalcade of English and ed with gaily ap- Norman nobles, proceeded, amidst the parelled persons, all deafening shouts of the excited multianxious to behold the expected pageant, tude, to Westminster Abbey, the English for on that festival day was William to all the time riding nearest to his person. be inaugurated monarch of England. The stately edifice where the coronation was to take place, was strewed with rushes, and decorated with fantastic hangings of rich embroidery, especially worked for the occasion by the Saxon ladies, whose stitchery was at that period unmatched. In consequence of a dispute between Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Holy See, William, to prevent his coronation being questioned at any future period, chose to be consecrated by Aldred, Archbishop of York; and he received the royal círclet, not as a right obtained by conquest, but as a gift from the English | was neither disturbed by rebellion, nor people. Before placing the crown upon the head of the royal duke, the officiating prelate paused. and addressing the English nobles, demanded,— "Are you willing to accept William, Duke of Normandy, as your king?" The English answered with deafening shouts of assent, "which," says a learned chronicler, "so shook the abbey, that a scaffold, and twenty knights that sat thereon, were bestrewed on the ground in a woful plight." When silence returned, the prelate addressed the same question to the Norman nobles, whose acclamations of approbation were loud and long as those of the English. "Now," exclaimed the patriotic prelate, addressing William in a loud clear voice, "Will you swear to maintain the rights and interest of the church; to respect the ancient laws and customs of the nation; to render justice equally to ull, and to govern the English and the Normans by the same laws?" The Duke, surprised at the prelate's boldness, in making such an unexpected demand, hesitated, but, seeing no alternative, he, after a short pause, loudly answered, "I swear!" The oath was then administered, and the royal Duke crowned amidst acclamations so continuous and vehement, that the Norman troops with which William had surrounded the abbey, to guard against treachery, became alarmed for the safety of their royal master, and commenced an onslaught upon the populace, who vigorously returned the charge, when a fearful riot ensued, and in the melée the houses near the abbey caught fire, and the flames spread with such rapidity, that only with great difficulty was the sacred edifice, with all the noble company therein, saved from destruction in the conflagration. war from without. Peace reigned; the arts and learning flourished; and civilization and refinement advanced. When Matilda received the glad tidings of the victory at Hastings, she was at prayers in the chapel of the Benedictine priory of Notre Dame, which, in commemoration of the event, she caused to be afterwards called "The Church of our Lady of Good News." On returning from the chapel, Matilda wrote a congratulatory letter to the Conqueror, and, with a spirit of deadly revenge that will ever tarnish her otherwise fair fame, requested, we believe, in the same dispatch, the imprisonment, or, as some writers assert, the death of Brithric, the unfortunate lord of Gloucester. History is not decided as to whether Matilda actually commanded Brithric's death. but certain it is, that shortly after William had received her congratulatory dispatch, the ill-fated lord was seized, deprived of his lands, and imprisoned in Winchester Castle, where he shortly afterwards died, or, as there is too much reason to believe, was murdered, as his body was privately buried. Thus, it appears, that she who was always an affectionate wife, a fond mother, a sincere friend, and, for the times in which she lived-revenge in those days being considered meritorious-a deeply religious, a virtuous, and a liberal-minded lady, persecuted, even unto the grave, the man whose only crime was that of having, years back, rejected her proffered maiden affections. Nor was her vengeance stayed by the death of her scorner. She even deprived the city of Gloucester of its charter, and brought ruin to the homes of its inhabitants, for no other reason, apparently, except that they had wept at the fate of their lord. William bestowed all Brithric's lands and possessions upon his royal consort, which, when she died, reverted to the crown, and were conferred by the Conqueror upon his second son, William Rufus. Matilda appears to have ruled Normandy with great ability and success during the absence of her royal lord. Shortly after his coronation, William, Weakened as the government was by the distrusting the loyalty of the Londoners, wealthy and the powerful having gone retired to Barking, in Essex, where, surto support her husband's cause in Eng-rounded by his trusty followers, he held land, the duchy, during Matilda's regency, his court, and received the homage of most of the influential Saxon nobles. He next conciliated the clergy, placed strong Norman garrisons in most of the commanding fortresses, and, by the exercise of energy and sound discretion, speedily established order and tranquillity throughout the land. where the conspirators, who had made sure of his absence till the following spring, were completely overawed, and reduced to subjection, by the bitter severity of his decisive measures. Scarcely was the country reduced to tranquillity, when William sent to Normandy for his queen. Matilda, no less desirous than her royal husband to share his exalted dignity, joyfully obeyed the summons, and, accompanied by Gui, Bishop of Amiens, and numerous distinguished nobles, reached England in the Being desirous to again embrace his beloved Matilda, and to exhibit to his faithful Normans the treasures his newlyacquired kingdom afforded, William resolved to spend the Easter festival in his native land. As regents of England during his absence, he appointed his half-spring of 1068. The king received her brothers, Odo, Bishop of Fayeaux, and with great joy, and conducted her to Willian Fitz-Osborn. He embarked for Winchester, where the court was then Normandy in the Mora, and, both to held, and where extensive preparations swell his pageantry, and as hostages for were being made for her coronation, which the fidelity of their countrymen during took place in that city, on Whit-Sunday his absence, he carried with him the flower of the English nobility. These lords were by no means pleased at the honour thus done them; but the dread of being suspected of disloyalty, forced them into ready compliance. The voyage was speedy and prosperous, and William disembarked in March, 1067, at the little port of Fescamp, where Matilda and her children, who awaited his arrival, received him with great joy. Highly pleased were the Normans with the novel but manly beauty of the English nobles, and their wondering eyes were filled with astonishment on beholding the rich Saxon embroidery, the curiously wrought gold and silver plate, and the strangely-carved English weapons of war. But whilst the Conqueror, accompanied by his queen, was joyfully progressing through his native dominions, and delighting his subjects by a gorgeous display of the fruits of his triumph, the English, driven to desperation by the tyranny and cruelties of their foreign rulers, were agitating a secret plot for the general massacre of the invaders. Informed by his spies of the intended rising. William, with a promptitude suited to the occasion, relinquished the idea he had formed of spending Christmus in Normandy, hastily re-appointed Matilda and his son Robert regents in his absence, and embarked for England. He landed at Winchester, on the seventh of September, and hastened to London, festival days and Sundays being, in the middle ages, always chosen by the English for the celebration of coronations and marriages. Great was the joy on that day of royal inauguration. The sun looked down on the brilliant assembly of earls and barons who witnessed the pompous ceremony, in the full glory of its splendour. One universal holiday reigned, and the air was rent by the joyous huzzas of the excited multitude. The appointments in the church and the halls were the richest that gold could procure, and the pageant, in magnificence, far outvied the one that had preceded it at Westminster. William deemed it wise to be re-crowned along with Matilda; and before the prelate, Aldred, anointed him king, he voluntarily repeated the oath he had before taken, to preserve the rights and liberties of the nation inviolate, and, above all, to uphold trial by jury. The queen, with a grace and modest dignity that won the hearts of all present, received the insignia of royalty from the hands of Aldred. But the exalted honour made her not a few enemics, as, from the day of her coronation, she was always addressed as Queen Regina, and so signed her name, whilst, before the Conquest, the queens were addressed by the Saxons only as the kings' ladies or companions, and not one of them had been crowned. At this coronation it was, that the office of champion was instituted. Mar |