Lanfranc in the see of Canterbury, an amicable arrangement was entered into between the two brothers. It was agreed that Henry should pay to Robert an annual pension, and that on the demise of either of them, the dominions each had possessed should belong to the survivor. But this treaty was soon broken; and the disputes between these rivals for power terminated at length in the battle of Tinchebray, which for ever deprived Robert of his liberty.

By the marriage which has just been referred to, Robert had a son, named in history William Clito, who, when he grew up, courageously endeavoured to vindicate his father's rights, but with small success. He died at the early age of sixteen years, in consequence of a slight wound in the thumb which he received in disarming a mutinous soldier of his lance (A.D. 1128).

66. From this period (A.D. 1100), Henry, therefore, became the undisturbed possessor of that sovereignty in England and Normandy, which his father on his death-bed predicted would be his lot. This prince, who gained the title of Beauclerk, or the fine scholar, by his scholastic learning and his patronage of learned men, turned some of his superior knowledge to good account by becoming in some respects a better statesman than either of his predecessors. Of this he gave the best proof by marrying the daughter of Malcolm, king of Scotland. Her mother Matilda was the sister of Edgar Atheling, and a queen of the blood of Alfred. The allegiance which the Norman Conqueror, and his still more despotic successor, had only been able to obtain from the Saxons by terror and compulsion, and which they had often thrown off in spite of all the severe penalties attending rebellion, was now faithfully and willingly bestowed upon a sovereign, who thus identified himself in heart and interest with the English people. It should not be forgotten, however, that the Norman sovereigns were far from being aliens in blood with that race whom they had conquered; for Henry, as well as his Saxon queen, was descended in the eighth generation from the same lineage, through the marriage of Elstrith, the daughter of Alfred, with an earl of Flanders, who was thus his maternal ancestor.

67. From this union, which rendered the blending of the two races more complete and apparent, he derived an heir, William the Atheling, upon whom his best hopes were fixed,

but who was not destined to continue his line. This young prince unfortunately perished in returning from Normandy to England; the vessel in which he sailed, called the White Ship, having struck upon a rock-a catastrophe which was the more to be regretted, as it seemed the result of the intoxicated condition of the ship's crew, whom the prince had incautiously regaled with too much wine.

Henry had married his only other surviving child Matilda to Henry the Fifth, emperor of Germany, who left her a widow in her twenty-fourth year. Upon her rested all the father's prospects of securing the succession in his family. With this object in view he united her to Geoffrey Plantagenet, the eldest son of the Earl of Anjou. From this union descended Henry the Second, first monarch of this illustrious house of the Plantaganets. On the death of Stephen, who usurped the crown of his uncle, and continued, notwithstanding a fierce civil war raised against him by Matilda and her party, to wear it for nineteen years, or from A.D. 1135 to 1189, this inheritance of greatness was again restored to the direct successors of William the Conqueror. The line of this mighty Norman prince has thus been nobly sustained through some of its branches to the present day; and its honours have been at length transmitted to Queen VICTORIA, who now, seated on the throne of Great Britain, unites, with the glory of an uninterrupted line of illustrious ancestors, an extent of power and dominion that has no parallel in any former age of history.

SUMMARY OF ERA THE TWELFTH.

1. Sketch of the Saxon kings succeeding Alfred to Ed-
ward the Martyr.-2. Ethelred; success of the Danes.-3.
Canute and the Danish sovereigns.-4. Edward the Confes-
sor; the last of the Saxon line.-5. William the Norman,
and his race; their settlement in a part of the empire of
the Franks.-6. William's ancestry; his father and mother.
-7. His boyish habits; his education.-8. Is invested by
his father with the Duchy; Robert goes to the Holy Land;
his death there.-9. William arrives at an age to take the
government of Normandy, and defeats the plots against him.
-10. Strengthens his interest by marrying Matilda of
Flanders.-11. Obliged to obtain a dispensation; two
abbeys are founded at Caen.-12. William improves the
condition of Normandy as a maritime power.-13. He visits
the English court; his favourable reception there.-14.
Harold's visit to the court of Normandy; his return and
assumption of the English crown.-15. Conduct of William
on hearing this news.-16. His preparations to invade
England.-17. He appoints his Queen Regent of Nor-
mandy; his fleet.-18. Detention at St. Valleri; his
voyage.-19. His landing on the English shores.-20.
Tostig's encounter with the forces of Harold; and defeat.-
21. William's vow.—22. Harold hears the news of William's
landing without dismay.-23. His courage and determina-
tion; sends a defiance and challenge to William.-24. He
accepts the challenge; the eve of the battle.-25. The morn-
ing preparations of William to meet the Saxons; singular per-
sonages in his army; Odo; Taillefer.-26. Position and forces
of the Saxon and Norman armies.-27. The battle described;
the fall of Harold.-28. William's conquest; a dearly-pur-
chased one; the muster-roll on the following morning.-
29. Harold's body; its discovery and burial.-30. William's
progress to the possession of the kingdom; his coronation.—
31. His jealousy of his English subjects; the great rewards
afterwards bestowed upon his barons.-32. His politic mea-

sures; he fulfils his vow, and founds Battle Abbey.-33.
He goes to Normandy with a splended suite to display his
new conquest.-34. A revolt and conspiracy in England;
William's return and great severities.-35. His subsequent
campaigns against his rebellious subjects; his ferocity to-
wards the northern counties.-36. His difficulty in subduing
Hereward; submission and reward of the latter.-37. Wil-
liam's harsh treatment of the Saxon nobility and clergy; he
imposes the feudal law. -38. The curfew and its history.-
39. Matilda and her coronation; the King's family at this
time.-40. The Queen's departure; the story of Waltheof.
-41. The Conqueror endeavours to suppress the English
language.-42. His conduct to the Anglo-Saxon church, and
its injurious effects.-43. The new Primate Lanfranc; his
superstitious zeal; his defence of the property of the church;
his rebuke of blasphemy; his liberality; and exertions to
abolish the traffic in slaves.-44. William's resistance to the
Pope.-45. He converts the New Forest into a royal chase.
-46. The domesday book and its design.-47. William
pursues some of his rebellious barons to Normandy; mar-
riage of his daughter Constance; her dowry; Earl Edwin's
tragical story.-48. Bishop Odo's disgrace and imprisonment.
-49. William's quarrel with his son Robert.-50. A battle
ensues; William defeated by his son, and wounded; his
anger and subsequent reconciliation.-51. Robert's future
history. 52. The death of Queen Matilda; her character.
-53. The Bayeux tapestry.-54. The Conqueror's con-
duct after the death of Matilda; Edgar Atheling; his
history and character.-55. William, again visits Nor-
mandy; engages in a war with the king of France; is
provoked by a jest of the latter; takes vengeance on the
French territory; burns the city of Mantes; meets there
with a fatal accident.--56. William's remorse and penitence
in the prospect of death; settles his affairs, and attempts to
make reparation to all whom he had injured.-57. His
death.-58. Outrage and neglect of his attendants subse-
quently; his burial; degrading circumstances attending it.—
59. William's personal qualities.-60. His ambition a per-
nicious example; Massillon's portrait of an ambitious prince
applicable to him.-61. Vanity of human greatness; history
of the remains and tomb of the Conqueror.-62. The pro-
geny of William.-63. His six daughters.-64. His four

sons; brief history of Rufus; his untimely end.-65. Accession of Henry the First.-66. He obtains the complete sovereignty of England and Normandy; he marries Matildą of Scotland, and unites the Norman and Saxon races.—67. Loses his son and heir to the crown by a shipwreck; marries his daughter to the Earl of Anjou; the house of the Plantaganets and the race of the Conqueror thus preserved to the present day in their descendant-the BRITISH QUEEN.

G. Woodfall and Son, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.