Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/613

Rh ENGLAND.] WILLIAM II 577 bed he sent William to England with a letter to Lanfranc, requesting the archbishop to secure his election to the throne. Accordingly on 26th September 1087 William Avas elected and crowned at Westminster. His brother Robert, to whom the Conqueror had bequeathed the duchy, was not likely to give up his claim to the larger part of his father s dominions without a struggle. A general revolt in his favour broke out in the summer of 1088. Roger Bigod rose in Norfolk, Roger, earl of Shrewsbury, and Robert of Mowbray on the western border, while Odo of Bayeux, the king s uncle, whom he had reinstated against his father s advice in the earldom of Kent, occu pied Rochester. But there was little combination among the rebels. After being foiled in attacks on Ilchester and Worcester, the rebellion in the west seems to have died away. William won over the earl of Shrewsbury, and summoned his English subjects to his aid. He promised good government, the repeal of the forest laws, and the reduction of taxes. Thus conciliated, the fyrcl, or national levy, flocked to his standard. It was the beginning of that alliance between the monarchy and the people which, fostered by Henry I. and Henry II. and confirmed by the great Edward, secured victory for the crown in its struggle with the feudal aristocracy. With the aid of his English troops William took castle after castle, repelled an at tempted landing of the Norman fleet, and forced Odo to surrender his stronghold of Rochester. The rebellion being thus suppressed, he held a great council, at which, although the rebels in general were leniently treated, many confisca tions and sentences of banishment were pronounced. A later meeting at Salisbury (November 1088) was notable for the trial of William of Saint-Calais, bishop of Durham, who had been one of the chief promoters of the rebellion. The bishop denied the jurisdiction of the king s court and appealed to Rome. It was the first instance of such an ap peal. The court, however, acting under the advice of Lan franc, refused to allow the plea, and the bishop, condemned to lose the temporalities of his see, retired to Normandy. Two years later William sent an army to Normandy (Easter 1090), which under the misgovernment of Robert had lapsed into a state of anarchy. The re-conquest of the duchy by England was begun by the capture of St Valery ; but there was not much fighting, place after place yielding to William s lieutenants or to English gold. Robert called King Philip to his aid, but William bribed him to retire. In Rouen itself a popular movement took place for the surrender of the town ; but Henry, the duke s youngest brother, put a stop to it by killing its leader, Conan, with his own hands. In February 1091 William himself crossed the Channel, and at once received homage from many of his brother s subjects. Unable to resist, Robert consented to a disgraceful peace. By the treaty of Caen William engaged to pay Robert a sum of money, in return for which he received some of the most important districts of eastern Normandy, as well as Cherbourg and other places in the wesk It was agreed, among other -stipulations, that whichever brother died first the other should succeed to his dominions. Later in the same year William marched against Malcolm III., who had invaded Northumberland, and, penetrating as far as the Firth of Forth, obliged the Scottish king to do him homage. Whether it was for the whole of Scotland or for Lothian only, history does not say ; but the latter is most probable. For an account of the subsequent relations between Malcolm and William, see SCOTLAND, vol. xxi. p. 481. Meanwhile war had broken out again with Normandy. At Christmas 1093 Robert sent a challenge to his brother, reproaching him with violations of the treaty. Accord ingly in March 1094 William invaded Normandy a second time. On this occasion fortune turned against him. Philip assisted the duke, and William, who had exhausted his supplies, was unable to buy him off as before. In this predicament his justiciar, Ralph Flambard, assembled an English army on the pretext of an expedition to Normandy, took from each man the money which had been provided for his expenses, and then dismissed the soldiers to their homes. With the money so obtained William bribed the French king, and then returned to England. Next year the first crusade was being preached, and Robert took the cross. A peace was made between the brothers through papal mediation, William supplying Robert with funds, for the repayment of which the latter pledged his duchy. When, in September 1096, Robert set oft for the crusade, William took possession of Normandy, where he soon put an end to the anarchy which had resulted from Robert s misrule ; and he held the country till his death. Shortly before the acquisition of Normandy William had subdued a second rebellion in England. Robert of Mowbray was again one of the chief conspirators, and he was joined by William of Saint-Calais, whom the king, in accordance with the treaty of Caen, had restored to his bishopric, and by others. Mowbray refused to obey a summons to the king s court, whereupon William marched against him, captured his castles of Bamborough and Tynemouth, and took him prisoner (1095). As on the suppression of the earlier rebellion, William called a great assembly, this time con sisting of all his tenants-in-chief, and by their judgment the rebels were condemned. During the next two years he made a serious attempt at the conquest of Wales. The southern portion of the principality had been to a great extent reduced, first by Harold, afterwards by the Norman border lords. William s efforts were mainly directed against the northern districts. He made three invasions, and pene trated to Snowdon, but seeming victories were immediately followed by revolts, and in the end little ground was actually won. The last three years of the llth century were much occupied by tedious wars with France and efforts to recover Maine. In 1097 he quarrelled with Philip about Vexin, and crossed the Channel to make good his claim to that district ; but the French king was able to hold his own. Next year William set about the recovery of Maine. That territory had been allowed by Robert to slip out of his hands, and had been governed since 1091 by Helias de la Fleche. William s vassal, Robert of Belleme, attacked Helias, and, having succeeded in taking him prisoner, handed over his prize to the king. William thereupon marched into Maine, and a desultory war of forays, sieges, and skirmishes followed. Fulk of Anjou opposed the Norman claim ; but in August 1098 a treaty was made, by which William s rights over the country were recognized, and Helias was at the same time set free. William now turned again to France. Strengthened by an alliance with the duke of Aquitaine, he invaded the French territory and advanced as far as Pontoise. But, tiring of the fruit less war, he made a truce with Philip and returned to England early in 1099. He had only been there a few months when he heard that Helias de la Fleche was attacking his castles in Maine and had won back Le Mans. He crossed the Channel with great speed, and a last cam paign replaced him in possession of the coveted border land. But he took no pains to secure his hold, and the Norman power in Maine fell to pieces immediately on his death. William II. s relations with Anselm form perhaps the most important episode of his reign. Lanfranc died in 1089. The worst features of William s character began at once to show themselves. At the instigation or with the assistance of Ralph Flambard, he applied to the posses sions of the church all the principles of feudal law developed XXIV. 73