1050.] Married to William of Normandy. 19 much celebrated in our own times as the family residence of Louis Philippe of Orleans, late king of the French, and his queen,-was the place appointed for the solemnization of the marriage of Matilda of Flanders and William of Normandy. This castle was conveniently situated for the purpose, being at the extreme frontier of William's territories. He had recently taken it, after a fierce siege, from a party of his rebellious nobles, headed by Busac, the half-brother of Robert, count of Eu; which Busac, being the grandson in the female line of Richard I., duke of Normandy, had set up a rival claim to the duchy in the year 1047. His claims were supported by Henry king of France, and the disaffected portion of William's baronage. Robert, count of Eu, had not taken an active part in the rebellion, but had allowed his castle to be made the stronghold of Busac and his confederates.1 After the reduction of this fortress by the victorious duke in the year 1049, the count of Eu remained as a sort of state prisoner in his own castle, which was garrisoned by duke William's soldiers. Such was the position of affairs at Château d'Eu when the two courts of Normandy and Flanders met there, in the year 1050, for the celebration of the marriage between William and Matilda. The duke arrived first, attended by his valiant quens, to await the advent of the haughty bride, whom he had wooed after so strange a fashion. Matilda came, accompanied by both her parents and a splendid train of nobles and ladies; and there, in the cathedral church of Nôtre Dame d'Eu, the spousal rites were solemnized, in the presence of both courts. In the midst of the rejoicings at the nuptial feast, the earl of Flanders, waxing merry, asked his daughter, laughingly, how it happened that she had so easily been brought to consent at last to a marriage, which she had so scornfully refused in the first instance. Because," replied Matilda, pleasantly, "I did not know the duke so well then as I do now; for," continued she, "he must be a man of great courage and high daring who could venture to come and beat me in my own father's palace." How the valiant duke ever ventured into her presence again, after such a manifestation of his bold spirit, we are at a loss to imagine; and that she should like him the better for his ruffianly behaviour appears more unaccountable still, affording a curious instance of the rude manners of the period and of the inconsistencies of the human heart. The lively answer of the young duchess was of course much applauded by her new lord and his vassal peers. The disgraced count of Eu, seeing his victorious suzerain in such high good humour, took the opportunity of the general rejoicings to sue for pardon; and that so successfully, that William restored his lands and castle, and, becoming thoroughly 1 Benoit's Normandy. Vatout's History of Eu. 2 Baudoin d'Avesnes. reconciled to him, from that day took him into favour, of which he never had the slightest cause to repent; for, bound to him by gratitude, Robert of Eu became thenceforth one of his most attached adherents, and greatly assisted by his valour and good counsel in the conquest of England. The presence of so many illustrious personages, the splendour of the nuptial fêtes, and the quantity of money which the influx of the numerous strangers who flocked to Eu to witness this remarkable marriage caused to be circulated in that town, made the inhabitants forget their late sufferings during the siege. The royal mantle, garnished with jewels, in which Matilda was arrayed on the day of her espousals, and also that worn by her mighty lcrd on the same occasion, together with his helmet, were long preserved in the treasury of the cathedral of Bayeux. Lancelot mentions an inventory of precious effects belonging to the church, dated 1476, in which these costly bridal garments are enumerated. From Eu, William conducted his newly-wedded duchess to Rouen, where she made her public entry as his bride, still accompanied by her parents, who were invited by William to participate in the rejoicings and festivities with which his marriage was commemorated in the capital of his dominions. The earl and countess of Flanders remained with the duke and duchess several days, to witness the pageantry and all the popular indications of satisfaction with which Matilda was received.❜ When all the fêtes were ended, the earl and countess of Flanders took leave of their daughter, and returned to their own country. William consoled Matilda for the loss of their society by taking her on a royal progress through Normandy, to show her the principal towns, and to make her acquainted with the manners and customs of the mighty people over whose court she was to preside. He was, of course, proud of displaying a consort of such surpassing beauty and majestic grace to his subjects. Everywhere she came she was received with demonstrations of delight and admiration. It was more than half a century since there had been a duchess of Normandy; and as bachelor sovereigns seldom conduce to the domestic happiness or prosperity of a nation, all ranks of people were prepared to welcome Matilda with joy. Nothing could be more perilous than the position of William's affairs at the period of his marriage with Matilda of Flanders. He was menaced on every side by powerful neighbours, who were eager to appropriate and parcel out the fertile fields of Normandy to the enlargement of their respective borders; and at the same time a formidable party was arraying itself against him within his own dominions in favour of Guy of Burgundy, the eldest son of his aunt Alice. This prince was the nearest legitimate male descendant of duke Richard the Second of 1 Vatout's History of Eu. 2 William of Jumièges. Benoit's Normandy. 1027.] Early Life of William. 21 Normandy; and as the direct line had failed with duke Robert, the late sovereign, he was, notwithstanding the operation of the Salic law, considered by many to possess a better right to the dukedom than the son of duke Richard by Arlotta, the skinner's daughter of Falaise. The particulars of William's birth are too well known to require recapitulation; but it is proper to notice that there are historians who maintain that Arlotta was the wife of duke Robert, though not of rank or breeding fit to be acknowledged as his duchess.' This we are disposed to regard as a mere paradox, since William, who would have been only too happy to avail himself of the plea of even a contract or promise of marriage between his parents, in order to strengthen his defective title by a pretence of legitimacy, never made any such assertion. On the contrary, not only before his victorious sword had purchased for him a more honourable surname, but even afterwards, he submitted to the use of that derived from his mother's shame; and in the charter of the lands which he bestowed on his son-in-law, Alan, duke of Bretagne, in Yorkshire, he subscribed himself "William, surnamed Bastardus." It is a general opinion that Arlotta was married to Herlewin of Conteville during the lifetime of duke Robert, and that this circumstance prevented any possibility of William attempting to assert that he was the legitimate offspring of his royal sire.3 William was, from the very moment of his birth, regarded as a child of the most singular promise. The manful grasp with which his baby hand detained the rushes of which he had "taken seizin "4 the moment after his entrance into life, when, in consequence of the danger of his mother, he was permitted to lie unheeded on the floor of his chamber where he first saw the light, gave occasion to the oracular gossips in attendance on Arlotta to predict "that the child would become a mighty man, ready to acquire everything within his reach; and that which he acquired, he would with a strong hand steadfastly maintain against all challengers.” -"When William was a year old, he was introduced into the presence of his father, duke Robert, who seeing what a goodly and fair child he was, and how closely he resembled the royal line of Normandy, embraced him, acknowledged him to be his son, and caused him to receive princely nurture in his own palace. 1 Wm. of Malmesbury. Ing. 2 Leland. 3 After the accession of Henry II. to the throne, a Saxon pedigree was ingeniously invented for Arlotta, which is too great a curiosity to be omitted. "Edmund Ironside," says the Saxon genealogist, "had two sons, Edwin and Edward, and an only daughter, whose name does not appear in history because of her bad conduct, seeing that she formed a most imprudent alliance with the king's skinner. The king, in his anger, banished the skinner from England, together with his daughter. They both went to Normandy, where they lived on When William was five years old, public charity, and had successively three daughters. Having one day come to Falaise to beg at duke Richard's door, the duke, struck with the beauty of the woman and her children, asked who she was? I am an Englishwoman,' she said, 'and of the royal blood.' The duke, on this answer, treated her with honour, took the skinner into his service, and had one of his daughters brought up in the palace. She was Arlotta or Charlotte, the mother of the Conqueror."Thierry. 4 The feudal term for taking possession. 5 Wm. of Malms. a battalion of boys, of his own age, was placed under his command, with whom he practised the military exercise according to the custom of those days. Over these infant followers William assumed the authority of a sovereign in miniature: and if dissensions arose among them, they always referred to his decision, and his judgments are said to have been remarkable for their acuteness and equity."1 Thus early in life did the mighty Norman learn to enact the character of a leader and legislator. Nature had, indeed, eminently fitted him for the lofty station which he was afterwards destined to fill; and his powerful talents were strengthened and improved by an education such as few princes in that rude, unlettered age were so fortunate as to receive. At the age of eight years he was able to read and explain Cæsar's Commentaries.2 The beauty and early promise of this boy caused him to be regarded with peculiar interest by the Normans; but as a child of illegitimate birth, William possessed no legal claim to the succession. His title was simply founded on the appointment of the duke, his father. That prince, having no other issue, before he set out on his mysterious pilgrimage for the Holy Land, called the peers of Normandy together, in the Hôtel de Ville, and required them to swear fealty to the young William as his successor. When the princely boy, then a child of seven years old, was brought in to receive the homage of the assembled nobles, duke Robert took him in his arms, and, after kissing and passionately embracing him, he presented him to his valiant "quens," as their future sovereign, with this remark, "He is little, but he will grow.' 3 The peers of Normandy having consented to recognise William, the duke appointed his vassal kinsman and friend, Alan duke of Bretagne, seneschal of his dominions in his absence. Then he carried his son to Paris, and delivered him into the hands of the king of France, his suzerain, or paramount lord; and having received his promise of protecting and cherishing the boy with a loving care, he made William perform the same homage to that monarch as if he were already the reigning duke of Normandy, by which he secured his sovereign's recognition of his son's title to the ducal crown. After these arrangements, duke Robert departed on that expedition, from which he never again returned to his own dominions. 1 Henderson's Life of the Conqueror. 2 According to William of Malmesbury, the importance which the Conqueror placed on mental culture was great. Throughout life he was used to say, that an illiterate king was a crowned ass." 3 "Il est petit, mais il croitera."-Wace. 4 Benoit's Normandy. 5 It was whispered by some, that duke Robert undertook his pilgrimage to Jerusalem as an expiatory penance for the death of his elder brother and sovereign duke Richard III., which he was suspected of having hastened; while others believed he was inpelled from motives of piety alone to pay his vows at the holy grave, according to a new but prevailing spirit of misdirected devotion, which manifested itself among the princes and nobles of that age of superstition and romance. Whether duke Robert ever reached the place of his destination is uncertain. The last authentic tidings respecting him that reached his capital were brought by Pirou, a returned pilgrim from the Holy Land, who reported that he met his lord, the Duke of Normandy, on his way to the holy city, borne in a litter on the shoulders of four stout Sara cens, being then too ill to proceed on his journey on foot. When the royal pilgrim recognized his vassal, he exclaimed, with 1040.] Early Life of William. 23 At the court of his sovereign, Henry I. of France, the uncle of his future spouse, Matilda of Flanders, William completed his education, and learned the science of diplomacy, secure from all the factions and intrigues with which Normandy was convulsed. The states, true to the fealty they had sworn to the son of their deceased lord, sent ambassadors to Paris to claim their young duke.1 The king of France resigned him to the deputies, but soon after invaded his dominions. Raoul de Grace and Roger de Beaumont stoutly maintained the cause of their young duke, both in the court and in the camp. They were his tutors in the art of war, and through their assistance and advice he was enabled to maintain the dignity of a sovereign and military chief, at a period of life when princes are generally occupied in childish amusements or the pleasures of the chase.2 One by one, almost every Norman noble who could boast any portion of the blood of Rollo, the founder of the ducal line of Normandy, was incited by king Henry of France to stir up an insurrection as a rival claimant of the crown. On one occasion, William would in all probability have fallen a victim to the plot which his cousin Guy of Burgundy had laid to surprise him, when he was on a hunting excursion, and was to pass the night without any of his military retinue at the castle of Valognes; but from this peril he was preserved by the fidelity of his fool, who, happening to overhear the conspirators arranging their plan, travelled all night at full speed to give the duke notice of his danger; and finding means to make an entrance into the castle at four o'clock in the morning, he struck violently with the handle of his whip at the chamber-door of his sleeping sovereign, and shouted, "Levez, levez, seigneur!" till he succeeded in rousing him. So close at hand, however, were Guy of Burgundy and his confederates, that it was only by mounting his swiftest steed, half-dressed, and riding with fiery speed for many hours, that William could effect his escape from his pursuers; and even then he must have fallen into their hands, if he had not encountered a gentleman on the road with whom he changed horses, his own being thoroughly spent. Guy of Burgundy was afterwards taken prisoner by the young duke; but having been on affectionate terms with him in his childhood, he generously forgave him all the trouble he had occasioned him, and his many attempts against his life.3 The king of France was preparing to invade Normandy again, but great animation, "Tell my vallant peers that you have seen your sovereign carried towards heaven on the backs of fiends." William of Malmesbury. Whether this uncourteous allusion to the spiritual darkness of his pagan bearers was sufficiently intelligible to them to have the effect of provoking them into shortening his journey thither, we know not. Some chroniclers, indeed, assert that he died at Nicea, in Bithynia, on his return; but there is a strange uncertainty connected with his fate, 3 Ibid. Mezerai. Wace. |