The same year, Matilda brought into the world her fourth son, Henry, surnamed Beauclerc. This event took place at Selby in Yorkshire, and was productive of some degree of satisfaction to the people, who considered the English-born prince with far more complacency than his three Norman brethren, Robert, Richard, and William-Rufus. Matilda settled upon her new-born son all the lands she possessed in England and Normandy; in reversion after her death. Tranquillity now appeared to be completely restored; and Matilda, enjoying every happiness as a wife, a mother, and a queen, was placed at the very summit of earthly prosperity. Whether it be by accident, or owing to a close attention to the reality he saw before him, it is certain that the antique limner who drew Matilda's portrait has represented the organ of constructiveness in her head as very decidedly developed. She afforded remarkable instances of this propensity in the noble ecclesiastical buildings of which she was the foundress, also in her ingenious and curious example of industry in the Bayeux tapestry, wherein she has wrought the epic of her husband's exploits, from Harold's first landing in Normandy to his fall at Hastings. It is, in fact, a most important historical document, in which the events and costume of that momentous period are faithfully presented to us, by the indefatigable fingers of the first of our Norman queens and her ladies, and certainly deserves a particular description. This curious monument of antiquity is still preserved in the cathedral of Bayeux, where it is distinguished by the name of "la Tapissière de la reine Matilde :" it is also called “the duke of Normandy's toilette,” which simply means the duke's great cloth. It is a piece of canvas, about nineteen inches in breadth, but upwards of sixty-seven yards in length, on which, as we have said, is embroidered the history of the conquest of England by William of Normandy, commencing with the visit of Harold to the Norman court, and ending with his death at the battle of Hastings, 1066. The leading transactions of those eventful years, the death of Edward the Confessor, and the coronation of Harold in the chamber of the royal dead, are represented in the clearest and most regular order in this piece of needlework, which contains many hundred figures of men, horses, birds, beasts, trees, houses, castles, churches, and ships, all executed in their proper colours, with names and inscriptions in Latin, explanatory of the subject of every section. This pictorial chronicle of her mighty 1 The Bayeux tapestry has lately been much the subject of controversy among some learned individuals, who are determined to deprive Matilda of her traditionary fame as the person from whom this specimen of female skill and industry emanated. Montfauçon, Thierry, Planche, Ducarel, Taylor, and many other important authorities, may be quoted in support of the historical tra dition that it was the work of Matilda and her ladies. The brief limits to which we are confined in these biographies, will not admit of our entering into the arguments of those who dispute the fact, though we have carefully examined them; and, with due deference to the judgment of the lords of the creation on all subjects connected with policy and science, we venture to think that our 1068.] Bayeux Tapestry. 45 consort's achievements appears to have been, in part at least, designed for Matilda by Turold, a dwarf artist, who, moved by a natural desire of claiming his share in the celebrity which he foresaw would attach to the work, has cunningly introduced his own effigies and name,—thus authenticating the Norman tradition, that he was the person who illuminated the canvas with the proper outlines and colours.1 It is probable that the wife of the Conqueror and her Norman ladies were materially assisted in this stupendous work of feminine skill and patience by some of the hapless daughters of the land, who, like the Grecian captives described by Homer, were employed in recording the story of their own reverses, and the triumphs of their haughty foes.2 About this period, William laid the foundation of that mighty fortress and royal residence, the Tower of London. He also built the castle of Hurstmonceaux, on the spot which had, in the first instance, been occupied by the wooden fort he brought over from Normandy; and, for the better security of his government, built and strongly garrisoned many other strong fortresses, forming a regular chain of military stations from one end of England to the other. These proceedings excited the jealous displeasure of such of the Anglo-Saxon nobles as had hitherto maintained a sort of passive amity with their Norman sovereign, and they began gradually to desert his court. Among the first to withdraw from the royal circle were the darlings of the people, Edwin and Morcar. William had, in the first instance, by the most insidious caresses, and the promise of giving him one of his daughters in marriage, endeavoured to conciliate Edwin, who was the youngest of the two chieftains, and remarkable for the beauty of his person. The promised bride of Edwin was, however, withheld from him, which exasperated him so much, that he retired with his brother into the north, where they organized a plan with the kings of Scotland and Denmark, and the Welsh princes, for separate but simultaneous attacks upon William, in which the disaffected Saxons were to join. learned friends, the archæologists and anti- for tapestry work by some skilful artist, who quaries, would do well to direct their intellectual powers to more masculine objects of inquiry, and leave the question of the Bayeux tapestry (with all other matters allied to needle-craft) to the decision of the ladies, to whose province it peculiarly belongs. It is matter of doubt to us whether one out of the many gentlemen who have disputed Matilda's claims to that work, if called upon to execute a copy of either of the figures on canvas, would know how to put in the first stitch. The whole of the Bayeux tapestry has been engraved, and coloured like the original, by the Society of Antiquaries, who, If they had done nothing else to merit the approbation of the historical world, would have deserved it for this alone. designed and traced them out in the same colours that were to be used in silk or woollen by the embroideress; and we are told in the life of St. Dunstan, that "a certain religious lady, being moved with a desire of embroidering a sacerdotal vestment, earnestly entreated the future chancellor of England, who was then a young man in an obscure station of life, but creeping into notice through his excellent taste in such delineations, to draw the flowers and figures, Thierry's History of the Anglo-Normans. The figures were, in fact, always prepared which she afterwards formed with threads of gold." 2 When Napoleon was preparing to invade England, he brought the Bayeux tapestry forward in a very pompous manner, to revive the recollection of the conquest of this island by William of Normandy. 3 At Norwich, Warwick, Lincoln, York, Nottingham, &c. &c. The repeated and formidable revolts of the English, in 1069, compelled William to provide for the safety of Matilda and her children in Normandy. The presence of the queen-duchess was, indeed, no less required there, than that of her warlike lord in England. She was greatly beloved in the duchy, where her government was considered exceedingly able, and the people were beginning to murmur at the absence of the court and the nobility, which after the estates of Normandy had been so severely taxed to support the expense of the English wars, was regarded as a national calamity. It was, therefore, a measure of great political expediency on the part of William to re-appoint Matilda, for the third time, to the regency of Normandy. The name of his eldest son, Robert, was, as before, associated with that of Matilda in the regency; and at parting, the Conqueror entreated his spouse "to pray for the speedy termination of the English troubles, to encourage the arts of peace Normandy, and to take care of the interests of their youthful heir." The latter injunction was somewhat superfluous; Matilda's fondness for her first-born betrayed her into the most injudicious acts of partiality in his favour, and in all probability was the primary cause of the subsequent rupture between that wrong-headed prince and his royal father. The death of the earl of Flanders, Matilda's father, and the unsettled state of her native country, owing to the strife between her brothers and nephews, greatly troubled her, and added in no slight degree to the anxious cares with which her return to Normandy was clouded, after the brief splendour of her residence in England as queen.3 The breaking up of the court at Winchester, and the departure of queen Matilda with her children for Normandy, cast a deep gloom on the aspect of William's affairs. This was felt as a serious evil by the industrious classes, whose prosperity depended on the encouragement extended to their handiworks by the demands of the rich and powerful for those articles of adornment and luxury, in the fabrication of which many hands are profitably employed,-employment being equivalent to wealth with those whose time, ingenuity, or strength can be brought into the market in any tangible form. But where there is no custom, it is useless to tax the powers of the craftsman or artisan to produce articles which are not required. Such was the case in England from the year 1069, when, the queen and ladies of the court having quitted the country, trade languished, employment ceased, and the horrors of civil war were aggravated by the distress of a starving popu lation. William, to prevent the people of the land from confederating to gether in nocturnal assemblies, for the purpose of discussing their griev ances and stimulating each other to revolt, compelled them to couvre feu, that is, to extinguish the lights and fires in their dwellings at eight 1 Ord. Vit. H. of Hunt 2 Ord. Vit. Wm. of Malms. 3 Ord. Vit. 1070.] The Curfew. 47 o'clock every evening, at the tolling of a bell, called from that circumstance the curfew, or couvre feu.1 Such, at any rate, has been the popular tradition of ages, and traces of the custom in many places still remain. William had adopted the same measure, in his early career as duke of Normandy, to secure the better observance of his famous edict for the suppression of brawls and murders in his dominions, called emphatically "God's peace. When William took the field after Matilda's departure, and commenced one of his rapid marches towards York, where Waltheof had encouraged the Danish army to winter, he swore "by the splendour of God," his usual oath, that he would not leave one living soul in Northumberland. As soon as he entered Yorkshire, he began to execute his terrible threats of vengeance, laying the whole country waste with fire and sword. After the long-defended city of York was surrendered at discretion by Waltheof, he won that powerful Saxon leader to his cause by bestowing upon him in marriage his beautiful niece, Judith. These fatal nuptials were solemnized among the ruins of the vanquished city of York, where the Conqueror kept his Christmas amidst the desolation he had wrought.3 The melancholy details of William's work of devastation in the north of England are pathetically recorded by the Saxon chronicle, and we will close the brief annals of the direful years 1070 and 1071 with the death of earl Edwin, the affianced husband of one of the daughters of the Conqueror and Matilda. The stern nature of the Conqueror was melted into compassion; and he is said to have shed tears when the bleeding head of the young Saxon, with its long flowing hair, was presented to him by the traitors who had beguiled him into the Norman ambush, and instead of conferring the expected reward on the murderers, he condemned them to perpetual exile.* The Saxon bishops had stood forth as champions for the rights and ancient laws of the people, and William, finding it impossible to awe or silence these true patriots, proceeded to deprive them of their benefices. It was in vain for the English clergy to appeal to the Roman pontiff for protection, for William was supported by the authority of the new system of church government adopted by the Norman bishops, which was to deprive the people of the use of the Scriptures in the Saxon tongue; thereby rendering one of the best and noblest legacies bequeathed to them by that royal reformer, king Alfred-the translation commenced by him of the Word of God-a deal better. It was the amest desire of our Norman sovereigns to silence the Saxon tongue for ver, by substituting in its place the Norman dialect, which was a mixure of French and Danish. It was, however, found to be a more easy 1 Speed. It was first established at Winester.-Cassan's Bishops of Winchester. Ord. Vit. The curfew is still tolled in some districts of Normandy, where it is called thing to subjugate the land, than to suppress the natural language the people. A change was all that could be effected, by the amalgam tion of the two languages, the Normans gradually acquiring as ma of the Saxon words and idioms as the Anglo-Saxons were compelled use of theirs. Latin was used by the learned, as a general medium communication, and thus became, in a slight degree, mingled with t parlance of the more refined portion of society. From these mingl elements our own copious and expressive language was in process time formed. Matilda returned to England in the year 1072: she kept her East festival that spring at Winchester with her lord, and her Whitsuntid at Windsor. A fierce controversy between the primates of Canterbur and York, on the nice point of ecclesiastical precedency, which firs commenced in the chapel-royal within Winchester-castle, was then ter minated in the presence of the king and queen; and, an amicable in strument, acknowledging the supremacy of the archbishop of Canterbury was drawn up and witnessed by the signature of William the king, the signature of Matilda the queen,1 that of the pope's legate, and all the hierarchy and mitred abbots present, who had assembled in convocation on this important matter. The unsettled state of England had the effect of again dividing William from his beloved queen, and forced them for a considerable time to reign separately, he in England, and she in Normandy Matilda conducted the regency of Normandy during all the troubles in which her lord was involved, with great prudence and address. She was placed in a position of peculiar difficulty, in consequence of the revolt of the province of Maine, and the combined simultaneous invasion of the king of France and the duke of Bretagne. Matilda was compelled to apply to her absent lord for succour. William immediately despatched the son of Fitz-Osborn to assist his fair regent in her military arrangements for the defence of Normandy, and expedited a peace with the king of Scotland, that he might the sooner come to her aid in person with his veteran troops. The Norman ladies were at that period extremely malcontent at the long-protracted absence of their husbands." The wife of Hugh Grantmesnil, the governor of Winchester, had caused them great uneasiness by the reports she had circulated of the infidelities of their husbands. These representations had induced the indignant dames send peremptory messages for the immediate return of their lords. In some instances the warlike Normans had yielded obedience to these conjugal mandates, and returned home, greatly to the prejudice William's affairs in England. This was the aim of the lady of Grant mesnil, who had for some reason conceived a particular ill-will against 1 Wm. of Malms. See also Lanfranc's Letters, ed. Giles. 2 Ord. Vit. Wm. of Malms. of |