Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/127

A.D. 1091.] the government of the city of Damfront, and in that position he displayed great ability, and obtained considerable power in the surrounding country.

Robert returned with Rufus to England, with the view of taking possession of the estates to which he had become entitled by the treaty of Caen. The king, however, had no intention of observing the terms of the treaty, and answered his brother's demands with excuses and delays.

Meanwhile (1091) Malcolm Caenmore had invaded England, and had penetrated "even to Chester." William sent an army to oppose him, and, according to some authorities, also fitted out a naval force, which was overtaken by a storm on the Scottish coast and destroyed. The two armies met somewhere on the borders of Scotland, but the impending conflict was prevented by the efforts of Robert of Normandy and Edgar Atheling. A treaty of peace was concluded, by which Malcolm rendered homage to Rufus, as he had done to William the Conqueror, and was permitted to retain certain lands in Northumberland, of which he had become possessed. Edgar Atheling was allowed to return to England, where he became a hanger-on of the court, and a passive witness of the cruelties of the usurper who sat upon the throne of Alfred.



Soon after (1093) Rufus gave directions for the building of a fortress at Carlisle, and having sent a number of English to inhabit the town, he bestowed on them many valuable privileges. This act, if not an infringement of the recent treaty with Malcolm, was at least a violation of the rights of that monarch. The county of Cumberland had been for centuries attached to the Scottish crown, and Malcolm demanded its restitution. A conference took place between the two kings, and Rufus having refused redress for the injury, Malcolm returned in haste to Scotland, and carried an army into Northumberland, burning and laying waste the country. Before Rufus could advance to meet him, the Scotch monarch had fallen into an ambush and was killed, together with his eldest son.

It is related that when the news of the death of her husband and son was brought to Margaret, the Queen of Scotland, she bowed her head beneath the stroke, and died within four days afterwards.

"Thus," says Holinshed, "by the just providence of God came King Malcolm to his end, in that province which he had wasted and spoiled five different times."

William, after his return from Carlisle, fell sick at Gloucester; and being oppressed with the recollection of his many crimes, and probably deriving little comfort from the ghostly ministrations of Ralph Flambard, he gave signs of repentance, and promised on his recovery to amend his life. The repentance, however, passed away with the danger, and he is represented as having become from this time more cruel and debauched than before.

The king still withholding from his brother Robert the possessions which were his right, the duke returned to Normandy, and sent heralds to William, according to the usage of chivalry, denouncing him as a false and perjured knight, who held possession of lands which he had resigned by treaty.

William went to Normandy to answer the charge, and agreed to submit to the decision of a court composed of the high Norman nobility. The award, however, being in favour of Robert, the Red King refused to abide by the decision, and leading an army into Normandy, he defeated the adherents of the duke in several engagements.

Events followed each other closely resembling those which took place on William's previous expedition against his brother (1094). Robert, as before, made an appeal to Philip. The disputes between the sons of the Conqueror would seem to have been a source of considerable profit to the King of France, and his ready response to the call of Robert was probably less from a regard for his neighbour's welfare than from a view to his own interest. Rufus determined to buy him off as he had done before, and to obtain money for this purpose he devised a scheme in which he had the assistance of Ralph Flambard. He ordered a levy of 20,000 men in England, and when the troops arrived at Hastings to embark, it was announced to them that the king was willing to excuse them from the dangers of the campaign, and that each man would be permitted to return to his home on payment of ten shillings towards the expenses of the war. The money raised by this means was paid to Philip, who marched his forces back to France. The small and ill-appointed army of Robert would probably now have been overcome, had not affairs in England compelled Rufus to relinquish the contest.

The Welsh had taken advantage of the king's absence to invade the neighbouring counties, and "after their accustomed manner" carried away the cattle, and plundered and murdered the inhabitants, many of whom they also made prisoners. They laid siege to the castle of Montgomery, and carried it by assault, slaying the whole of the garrison. William marched hastily into Wales, but found it impossible to reach the marauders, who kept to the cover