Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/617

* WILLIAM I. 525 WILLIAM II. Gregory VII., he obtained the sanction of the Pope for the conquest of Knf-land, on the ground that Harold was guilty of perjury. He collected an army made up in part uf volunteers from France and Flanders, and landed in England on September 28, 1006. The size of his army is not known, the most reliable estimates varying from 25,000 to 00,000. At the same time the English had to face an onslaught by the Nor- wegians. On October 14th William won the bat- tle of Hastings (q.v. ), or 8enlac, in which Har- old was slain. After wasting the whole country about London, he finally secured his admission into the city, and on Decciiil)er 25111 was crowned King at Westminster, after having been duly elected by the Witan. Five more years of ravag- ing and fighting completed the conquest of Eng- land, the revolt under Hereward (q.v.) being put down only in 1071. In 1070, in order to make all further resistance impossible, he laid waste the whole Vale of York. Many thousand people were killed or perished from starvation. In 1072 he invaded Scotland and received the homage of Malcolm Canmore. See Malcolm. During the next ten years William divided his time between Normandy and England. He was compelled to carry on war against the Count of Anjou, the French King, and his own son Robert. In 1075 a serious revolt occurred in England, where the two most powerful earls had plotted treason. After subduing them, William put to death Waltheof, the last earl of purely English stock. About 1076 William created the New Forest in the southwest of Hampshire. In 1082 he imprisoned his brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, whom he had made Earl of Kent and had left as his regent in England during his absences. He retained him in captivity almost until the time of his own death. In 1085 he pre- vented an invasion by Canute the Saint (q.v.), and in the same year ordered a survey of Eng- land. (See DoMESD.w Book.) In 1086 he re- quired all vassals of mesne lords, as well as di- rect vassals, to do fealty to him, thus introduc- ing into England the Norman custom by which the Duke had direct authority over all his sub- jects. This was the most important feudal in- novation that William made in England. In 1087, while waging war against Philip I. of France, he received an internal injury, and died September 9th. William was a man of remarkable ability, and owed his success almost entirely to his own ex- ertions. He ruled strictly and kept excellent or- der, but he was unscrupulous and merciless in punishing any opposition to his own will. He con- fiscated all "of the land held by his opponents under the pretext of law. as he considered them traitors, and he extorted very hea' fines on all possible occasions. The taxation also bore very heavily upon his subjects. He was religious and blameless in his private life. Although very liberal to the Church, he ruled absolutely over its oflicials, and refused to give up to the Papacy anything which he regarded as a royal prerogative. In 1076, when Gregory VII, demanded of him fealty and the payment of Peter's pence, he sent the latter, hut refused to hold his kingdom as a fief from the Papacy. In his later years he 'became tyrannical and avaricious. His tyranny was all the more op- pressive because it was cloaked with a pretense of law, and he accornplislieil his purposes by le^ial subtleties, maintaining as far as possible the old English customs, which he shaped to suit his own wishes. In his later years he was often called William the Great. His wife was Matilda, heiress of the Count of Flanders. Their marriage was long delayed because forbidden by Leo IX. (q.v.) on account of consanguinity; but it took place in 1053 in spite of the opposition of the Pope. Finall}', in lOot) William secured a Pajial disi)ensation sanctioning his marriage. He; had four sons and five daugliters. The eldest of the sons died before liis father: of the others, Robert inherited the Duchy of Normandy, William the Kingdom of England, and Henry, who was later King of England, a considerable sum of money. Consult: Freeman, flistory of the Xorman Con- quest, vols, ii., iii., iv. (Oxford, 1870-71); id., Viliani the Conqueror (London, 1894) ; Stubbs, Constitutional History of England, vol. i. (0th ed., Oxford, 1897) ; Palgrave, Normandy and Enyland, vol. iii. (London, 1804) ; Green, Con- quest of Enyland (London, 1884) ; Round, Feudal England (L(mdon, 1895) ; and Lappenberg, Eng- land Under Xorman Kings, translated bv Thorpe (Oxford, 18.57). WILLIAM II. RrFr.s (c.1056-1100). King of England from 1087 to 1100. He was the third son of William the Conqueror, and- was educated by Lanfranc (q.v.). Archbishop of Canterbury. William was the favorite son of his father, who, after having recommended him to the barons and prelates as successor to the crowTi, sent him to England the day before he himself died. Land- ing at Dover, William presented himself to Lan- franc, who brought him before the nobles and pre- lates as their King. No opposition was offered, and William was crowned on September 26, 1087. But in less than three months his uncle, Odo, headed a rebellion in favor of the King's brother, Robert (q.v.), Duke of Normandy, who was con- sidered less stern, William put down the rebel- lion by the aid of his English subjects, and in revenge he invaded Normandy in 1090, Peace was made in 1091 and Robert and Wil- liam then turned their united arms against their brother Henry, later Henry I, (q.v.), who had purchased from Robert the district of Cotentin. The fortune of war went against Henry, who was driven into exile. Returning to England, William's next enterprise was an invasion of Scotland, whose King did homage to him. In 1094 he again invaded Nor- mandy, but accomplished little. William was re- called to England by disturliances in Wales and in the North. In the year 1096 Roliert.who had re- solved to go to Palestine, pledged his Duchy of Normandy to William for 10,000 marks. In 1098 William attempted to conquer Maine, but was only partially successful. He was shot while hunting in the New Forest. August 2. 1100. It is not known by whom the arrow was shot, or whether it was done accidentally. William was a stern ruler and was feared by his subjects. His justiciar was the notorious Ranulf Flam- bard (q.v.). His private life was extremely im- moral. After Lanfranc's death in 1089 he op- pressed the Church. In February, 1093. he was ill. and, fearing death, became repentant. Then he consented to the appointment of Anselm (q.v.) to the see of Canterbury, left vacant by Lan-