History of the World/History of the World (Bureau Development, Inc.)(1992).BIN/dp/0050/00503.txt

Text File | 1992-10-11 | 16KB | 258 lines

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$Title{A Child's History Of England
Chapter IX.  England Under William The Second, Called Rufus.}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Dickens, Charles}
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$Subject{king
red
forest
robert
upon
england
normandy
time
king's
money}
$Date{}
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Title:       A Child's History Of England
Author:      Dickens, Charles

Chapter IX.  England Under William The Second, Called Rufus.

     William the Red, in breathless haste, secured the three great forts of
Dover, Pevensey, and Hastings, and made with hot speed for Winchester, where
the royal treasure was kept.  The treasurer delivering him the keys, he found
that it amounted to sixty thousand pounds in silver, besides gold and jewels.
Possessed of this wealth, he soon persuaded the Archbishop of Canterbury to
crown him, and became William the Second, King of England.

     Rufus was no sooner on the throne than he ordered into prison again the
unhappy state captives whom his father had set free, and directed a goldsmith
to ornament his father's tomb profusely with gold and silver.  It would have
been more dutiful in him to have attended the sick Conqueror when he was
dying; but England itself, like this Red King who once governed it, has
sometimes made expensive tombs for dead men whom it treated shabbily when they
were alive.

     The king's brother, Robert of Normandy, seeming quite content to be only
duke of that country, and the king's other brother, Fine-Scholar, being quiet
enough with his five thousand pounds in a chest, the king flattered himself,
we may suppose, with the hope of an easy reign.  But easy reigns were
difficult to have in those days.  The turbulent Bishop Odo (who had blessed
the Norman army at the battle of Hastings, and who, I dare say, took all the
credit of the victory to himself) soon began, in concert with some powerful
Norman nobles, to trouble the Red King.

     The truth seems to be, that this bishop and his friends, who had lands in
England and lands in Normandy, wished to hold both under one sovereign; and
greatly preferred a thoughtless, good-natured person such as Robert was to
Rufus; who, though far from being an amiable man in any respect, was keen, and
not to be imposed upon.  They declared in Robert's favor, and retired to their
castles (those castles were very troublesome to kings) in a sullen humor.  The
Red King, seeing the Normans thus falling from him, revenged himself upon them
by appealing to the English, to whom he made a variety of promises, which he
never meant to perform, - in particular, promises to soften the cruelty of the
Forest Laws; and who, in return, so aided him with their valor, that Odo was
besieged in the Castle of Rochester, and forced to abandon it, and to depart
from England forever; whereupon the other rebellious Norman nobles were soon
reduced and scattered.

     Then the Red King went over to Normandy, where the people suffered
greatly under the loose rule of Duke Robert.  The king's object was to seize
upon the duke's dominions.  This the duke, of course, prepared to resist; and
miserable war between the two brothers seemed inevitable, when the powerful
nobles on both sides, who had seen so much of war, interfered to prevent it. A
treaty was made.  Each of the two brothers agreed to give up something of his
claims, and that the longer liver of the two should inherit all the dominions
of the other.  When they had come to this loving understanding, they embraced,
and joined their forces against Fine-Scholar, who had bought some territory of
Robert with a part of his five thousand pounds, and was considered a dangerous
individual in consequence.

     St. Michael's Mount, in Normandy (there is another St. Michael's Mount in
Cornwall wonderfully like it), was then, as it is now, a strong place, perched
upon the top of a high rock, around which when the tide is in, the sea flows,
leaving no road to the main land.  In this place Fine-Scholar shut himself up
with his soldiers, and here he was closely besieged by his two brothers.  A
one time, when he was reduced to great distress for want of water, the
generous Robert not only permitted his men to get water, but sent Fine-Scholar
wine from his own table; and, on being remonstrated with by the Red King,
said, "What!  shall we let our own brother die of thirst?  Where shall we get
another when he is gone?" At another time the Red King, riding alone on the
shore of the bay, looking up at the castle, was taken by two of Fine-Scholar's
men, one of whom was about to kill him, when he cried out, "Hold, knave!  I am
the King of England!" The story says that the soldier raised him from the
ground respectfully and humbly, and that the king took him into his service.
The story may or may not be true; but at any rate, it is true that
Fine-Scholar could not hold out against his united brothers, and that he
abandoned Mount St. Michael, and wandered about, - as poor and forlorn as
other scholars have been sometimes known to be.

     The Scotch became unquiet in the Red King's time, and were twice
defeated, - the second time with the loss of their king, Malcolm, and his son.
The Welsh became unquiet too.  Against them Rufus was less successful; for
they fought among their native mountains, and did great execution on the
king's troops.  Robert of Normandy became unquiet too; and complaining that
his brother, the king, did not faithfully perform his part of their agreement,
took up arms, and obtained assistance from the King of France, whom Rufus, in
the end, bought off with vast sums of money.  England became unquiet too.
Lord Mowbray, the powerful Earl of Northumberland, headed a great conspiracy
to depose the king, and to place upon the throne Stephen, the Conqueror's near
relative.  The plot was discovered; all the chief conspirators were seized;
some were fined, some were put in prison, some were put to death.  The Earl of
Northumberland himself was shut up in a dungeon beneath Windsor Castle, where
he died an old man thirty long years afterwards.  The priests in England were
more unquiet than any other class or power; for the Red King treated them with
such small ceremony, that he refused to appoint new bishops or archbishops
when the old ones died, but kept all the wealth belonging to those offices in
his own hands.  In return for this, the priests wrote his life when he was
dead, and abused him well. I am inclined to think myself that there was little
to choose between the priests and the Red King; that both sides were greedy
and designing, and that they were fairly matched.

     The Red King was false of heart, selfish, covetous, and mean.  He had a
worthy minister in his favorite, Ralph, nicknamed - for almost every famous
person had a nickname in those rough days - Flambard, or the Firebrand.  Once
the king, being ill, became penitent, and made Anselm, a foreign priest and a
good man, Archbishop of Canterbury.  But he no sooner got well again, than he
repented of his repentance, and persisted in wrongfully keeping to himself
some of the wealth belonging to the archbishopric.  This led to violent
disputes, which were aggravated by there being in Rome, at that time, two
rival popes; each of whom declared he was the only real, original, infallible
pope, who couldn't make a mistake.  At last Anselm, knowing the Red King's
character, and not feeling himself safe in England, asked leave to return
abroad.  The Red King gladly gave it; for he knew that as soon as Anselm was
gone he could begin to store up all the Canterbury money again for his own
use.

     By such means, and by taxing and oppressing the English people in every
possible way, the Red King became very rich.  When he wanted money for any
purpose, he raised it by some means or other, and cared nothing for the
injustice he did, or the misery he caused.  Having the opportunity of buying
from Robert the whole duchy of Normandy for five years, he taxed the English
people more than ever, and made the very convents sell their plate and
valuables to supply him with the means to make the purchase.  But he was as
quick and eager in putting down revolt, as he was in raising money; for a part
of the Norman people objecting - very naturally, I think - to being sold in
this way, he headed an army against them with all the speed and energy of his
father.  He was so impatient, that he embarked for Normandy in a great gale of
wind.  And when the sailors told him it was dangerous to go to sea in such
angry weather, he replied, "Hoist sail and away!  Did you ever hear of a king
who was drowned?"

     You will wonder how it was that even careless Robert came to sell his
dominions.  It happened thus.  It had long been the custom for many English
people to make journeys to Jerusalem, which were called pilgrimages, in order
that they might pray beside the tomb of our Saviour there.  Jerusalem
belonging to the Turks, and the Turks hating Christianity, these Christian
travellers were often insulted and ill-used.  The pilgrims bore it patiently
for some time; but at length a remarkable man of great earnestness and
eloquence, called Peter the Hermit, began to preach in various places against
the Turks, and to declare that it was the duty of good Christians to drive
away those unbelievers from the tomb of our Saviour, and to take possession of
it and protect it.  An excitement, such as the world had never known before,
was created.  Thousands and thousands of men, of all ranks and conditions,
departed for Jerusalem to make war against the Turks.  The war is called in
history the First Crusade; and every Crusader wore a cross marked on his right
shoulder.

     All the Crusaders were not zealous Christians.  Among them were vast
numbers of the restless, idle, profligate and adventurous spirits of the time.
Some became Crusaders for the love of change; some in hope of plunder; some
because they had nothing to do at home; some because they did what the priests
told them; some because they liked to see foreign countries; some because they
were fond of knocking men about, and would as soon knock a Turk about as a
Christian.  Robert of Normandy may have been influenced by all these motives;
and by a kind desire, besides, to save the Christian pilgrims from bad
treatment in future.  He wanted to raise a number of armed men, and go to the
Crusade.  He could not do so without money.  He had no money; and he sold his
dominions to his brother, the Red King, for five years.  With the large sum
thus obtained, he fitted out his Crusaders gallantly, and went away to
Jerusalem in martial state.  The Red King, who made money out of everything,
stayed at home, busily squeezing more money out of Normans and English.

     After three years of great hardship and suffering, from shipwreck at sea,
from travel in strange lands, from hunger, thirst, and fever, upon the burning
sands of the desert and from the fury of the Turks, - the valiant Crusaders
got possession of our Saviour's tomb.  The Turks were still resisting and
fighting bravely, but this success increased the general desire in Europe to
join the Crusade.  Another great French duke was proposing to sell his
dominions for a term to the rich Red King, when the Red King's reign came to a
sudden and violent end.

     You have not forgotten the New Forest which the Conqueror made, and which
the miserable people whose homes he had laid waste so hated.  The cruelty of
the forest-laws, and the torture and death they brought upon the peasantry,
increased this hatred.  The poor, persecuted country-people believed that the
New Forest was enchanted.  They said that in thunder- storms, and on dark
nights, demons appeared, moving beneath the branches of the gloomy trees.
They said that a terrible spectre had foretold to Norman hunters that the Red
King should be punished there.  And now, in the pleasant season of May, when
the Red King had reigned almost thirteen years, and a second prince of the
Conquerer's blood - another Richard, the son of Duke Robert - was killed by an
arrow in this dreaded forest, the people said that the second time was not the
last, and that there was another death to come.

     It was a lonely forest, accursed in the people's hearts for the wicked
deeds that had been done to make it; and no man, save the king and his
courtiers and huntsmen, liked to stray there.  But, in reality, it was like
any other forest.  In the spring, the green leaves broke out of the buds; in
the summer, flourished heartily, and made deep shades; in the winter,
shrivelled, and blew down and lay in brown heaps on the moss.  Some trees were
stately, and grew high and strong; some had fallen of themselves; some were
felled by the forester's axe; some were hollow, and the rabbits burrowed at
their roots; some few were struck by lightning, and stood white and bare.
There were hillsides covered with rich fern, on which the morning dew so
beautifully sparkled; there were brooks where the deer went down to drink, or
over which the whole herd bounded, flying from the arrows of the huntsmen;
there were sunny glades and solemn places where but little light came through
the rustling leaves.  The songs of the birds in the New Forest were pleasanter
to hear than the shouts of fighting men outside; and even when the Red King
and his court came hunting through its solitudes, cursing loud and riding
hard, with a jingling of stirrups and bridles and knives and daggers, they did
much less harm there than among the English or Normans; and the stags died (as
they lived) far easier than the people.

     Upon a day in August, the Red King, now reconciled to his brother, Fine-
Scholar, came with a great train to hunt in the New Forest.  Fine-Scholar was
of the party.  They were a merry party, and had lain all night at Malwood-
Keep, a hunting-lodge in the forest, where they had made good cheer, both at
supper and breakfast, and had drunk a deal of wine.  The party dispersed in
various directions, as the custom of hunters then was.  The king took with him
only Sir Walter Tyrrel, who was a famous sportsman, and to whom he had given,
before they mounted horse that morning, two fine arrows.

     The last time the king was ever seen alive, he was riding with Sir Walter
Tyrrell, and their dogs were hunting together.

     It was almost night when a poor charcoal-burner, passing through the
forest with his cart, came upon the solitary body of a dead man, shot with an
arrow in the breast, and still bleeding.  He got it into his cart.  It was the
body of the king.  Shaken and tumbled, with its red beard all whitened with
lime and clotted with blood, it was driven in the cart by the charcoal- burner
next day to Winchester Cathedral, where it was received and buried.

     Sir Walter Tyrrel, who escaped to Normandy, and claimed the protection of
the king of France, swore, in France, that the Red King was suddenly shot dead
by an arrow from an unseen hand, while they were hunting together; that he was
fearful of being suspected as the king's murderer; and that he instantly set
spurs to his horse, and fled to the sea-shore.  Others declared that the king
and Sir Walter Tyrrel were hunting in company, a little before sunset,
standing in bushes opposite one another, when a stag came between them; that
the king drew his bow and took aim, but the string broke; that the king then
cried, "Shoot, Walter, in the Devil's name!" that Sir Walter shot; that the
arrow glanced against a tree, was turned aside from the stag, and struck the
king from his horse, dead.

     By whose hand the Red King really fell, and whether that hand despatched
the arrow to his breast by accident or by design, is only known to God.  Some
think his brother may have caused him to be killed; but the Red King had made
so many enemies, both among priests and people, that suspicion may reasonably
rest upon a less unnatural murderer.  Men know no more than that he was found
dead in the New Forest, which the suffering people had regarded as a doomed
ground for his race.