Part 6

[Sidenote: He set all prisoners at libertie saith _Wil. Malm._ _Polydor._] Not long before his death, he released his brother Odo bishop of Bayeux out of prison, Marchar earle of Northumberland, and Wilnotus the sonne of king Harold, or (as some say) his brother. Moreouer he repented him (as some say) when he lay on his death bed, of his cruell dealing with the English, considering that by them he had atteined to such honour and dignitie, as to weare the crown and scepter of a kingdome: but whether he did so or not, or that some moonke deuised the excuse in fauour of the prince: surely he was a puissant prince, and though his time was troublesome, yet he was right fortunate in all his attempts. Againe, if a man shall consider that in a strange realme he could make such a conquest, and so exactlie and readilie assure the same to his heires, with new lawes, orders and constitutions (which are like for euer to endure) he would thinke it a thing altogither void of credit. Yet so it was, and so honourable were his dooings in the sight of the world, that those kings, which succeeded sithens his death, begin their account at him, as from one that had by his prudence renewed the state of the realme, and instituted an other forme of regiment, in atchiuing whereof he did not so much pretend a rightfull challenge by the grant of his coosine king Edward the Confessor, as by the law of armes and plaine conquest, than the which (as he supposed) there could be no better title.

Herevpon also those that haue sithens succeeded him, vse the same armes as peculiar to the crowne of England, which he vsed in his time; [Sidenote: He bare but two lions or rather leopards as some thinke.] namelie, three lions passant gold in a field gewels (as Polydor writeth) the three floure delices were since that time annexed thereto by Edward the third, by reason of his claime to the crowne of France, whereof hereafter ye shall heare. Among other greeuances which the English susteined by the hard deling of the Conquerour, this is to be remembered, that he brought Jewes into this land from Rouen, and appointed them a place to inhabit and occupie.

[Sidenote: _Polydor._] There be that write, how the inconstancie of the English people by their oft rebellions occasioned the king to be so rough and rigorous against them; wheras (of his naturall disposition and proper inclination) he was rather gentle and courteous than sharpe and cruell. But sith he continued his extremitie euen to his last daies, we may rather beléeue, that although from his childhood he shewed some tokens of clemencie, bountie, and liberalitie; yet by following the wars, and practising to reigne with sternenesse, he became so inured therewith, that those peaceable vertues were quite altered in him, and in maner clearelie quenched. He was indued with a certeine stoutnesse of courage and skill in feats of warre, which good hap euer followed: he was frée from lecherous lusts, without suspicion of bodilie vices, quicke of wit, desirous of honor, painefull, watchfull, and able to tolerate heat and cold, though he were tall of stature, and verie grosse of bodie.

Toward the end of his daies he waxed verie deuout, and became desirous to aduance the state of the church, insomuch that he builded thrée abbeies in three seuerall places, endowing them with faire lands and large possessions, one at the place where he vanquished king Harold, fiue miles from Hastings, which he named Battell, of the field there fought: the other at Celby in Yorkeshire: and the third in Normandie at Caen, where his wife Quéene Maud had builded a nunnerie, which Maud died in the yéere 1084, before the decease of the king hir husband.

[Sidenote: They gaue him an hundred pound, saith _Hen. Marle._] After his death, his bodie was buried in Caen, in S. Stephans church; but before it could be committed to the ground, the executors were constreined to agree with the lord of the soile where the church stood, which (as he said) the king in his life time had iniuriouslie taken from him, and gaue him a great summe of monie to release his title.

¶ By this we may consider the great miserie of mans estate, in that so mightie a prince could not haue so much ground after his death as to couer his dead corps, without dooing iniurie to another. This also may be a speciall lesson for all men, and namelie for princes, noblemen, and gentlemen, who oftentimes to enlarge their owne commodities, doo not regard what wrong they offer to the inferiour sort.

The said king William had by Maud his wife the daughter of Baldwine earle of Flanders, foure sonnes, Robert surnamed Curthose (vnto whome he bequeathed the duchie of Normandie) Richard who died in his youth, William surnamed Rufus, to whom he gaue by testament the realme of England, and Henrie surnamed Beauclerke for his cunning, knowledge and learning, vnto whom he bequethed all his treasure and mooueable goods, with the possessions that belonged to his mother. [Sidenote: _Hen. Marle._] Besides these foure sonnes, he had also by his said wife fiue daughters, Cecilie, who became a nunne; Constance, who was married to Alane duke of Britaine; Adela, who was giuen in mariage to Stephan earle of Blois (of whom that Stephan was borne which reigned after Henrie the first) Adeliza, who was promised in mariage to Harold king of England (as before you haue heard) but she died yer she was maried either to him, or to any other, and so likewise did the fift, whose name I cannot reherse.

[Sidenote: _Iohn Rous._] But to conclude, though king William held the English so vnder foot, that in his daies almost no Englishman bare any office of honor or rule in his time, yet he somewhat fauoured the citie of London, and at the earnest sute of William a Norman then bishop of that see, he granted vnto the citizens the first charter, which is written in the Saxon toong, sealed with greene wax, and expressed in viij. or ix. lines at the most, exemplified according to the copie, and so printed, as followeth.

"Williem King grets Williem Bisceop & Godfred Porterefan, & ealle ya Burghwarn binnen London Frencisce, & Englise frendlice, & Ickiden eoy, yeet ic wille yeet git ben ealra weera lagayweord, ye get weeran on Eadwerds daege kings. And ic will yeet aelc child by his fader yrfnume, aefter his faders daege. And ic nelle ge wolian, yeet aenig man eoy aenis wrang beode. God eoy heald."

"Wilhelmus rex salutat Wilhelmum Episcopum, & Goffridum Portegrefium, & omnem Burghware infra London Frans. & Angl. amicabiliter. Et vobis notum facio, quòd ego vole quòd vos sitis omni lege illa digni qua fuistis Edwardi diebus regis. Et volo quòd omnis puer sit patris sui hæres post diem patris sui. Et ego nolo pati quòd aliquis homo aliquam iniuriam vobis inferat. Deus vos saluet."

[Sidenote: _Matth. Paris._ _Hen. Hunt._] But howsoeuer he vsed the rest of the English, this is recorded of some writers, that by his rigorous proceedings against them, he brought to passe that the countrie was so rid of theeues and robbers, as that at length a maid might haue passed through the land with a bag full of gold, and not haue met with any misdooer to haue bereft hir of the same: a thing right strange to consider, sith in the beginning of his reigne there were such routs of outlawes and robbers, that the peaceabler people could not be safelie possessed of their owne houses, were the same neuer so well fortified and defended.

[Sidenote: _Iohn Rous._ _Hen. Marle._] Among manie lawes made by the said William, this one is to be remembred, that such as forced any woman, should lose their genitals.

[Sidenote: Salisburie vse.] In this kings daies also liued Osmond the second bishop of Salisburie, who compiled the church seruice, which in times past they commonlie called after Salisburie vse.

[Sidenote: Shooting.] The vse of the long bowe (as Iohn Rous testifieth) came first into England with this king William the Conquerour: for the English (before that time) vsed to fight with axes and such hand weapons: and therefore in the oration made by the Conquerour before he gaue battel to king Harold, the better to encourage his men, he told them they should encounter with enimies that wanted shot.

In the yeare of our Lord 1542. Monsieur de Castres bishop of Baieulx and abbat of Saint Estienne in Caen, caused the Sepulchre of this William to be opened, wherein his bodie was found whole, faire and perfect; of lims, large and big; of stature and personage, longer than the ordinarie sort of men: with a copper plate fairlie gilt, and this epitaph therevpon ingrauen:

"Qui rexit rigidos Normannos, atque Britannos Audacter vicit, fortiter obtinuit, Et Cœnomenses virtute contudit enses, Imperijq. sui legibus[4] applicuit, Rex magnus parua iacet hæc Guilhelmus in urna: Sufficit & magno parua domus domino, Ter septem gradibus se voluerat atq. duobus Virginis in gremio Phœbus, & hic obijt:" that is;

"Who ouer Normans rough did rule, and ouer Britons bold Did conquest stoutlie win, and conquest woone did stronglie hold: Who by his valure great the fatal vprores calmed, in maine, And to obeie his powers and lawes, the Manceaux did constraine: This mightie king within this little vault entoomed lies, So great a lord sometime, so small a roome dooth now suffice. When three times seuen and two by iust degrees the sunne had tooke His woonted course in Virgos lap, then he the world forsooke."

[Sidenote: _W. Patten_ collecteth this to be the 23. after the sun was in _Virgo_: which is the 6. of Septēber.]

Thus far William Conquerour.

Transcriber's notes

There are no footnotes in the original. The original spelling and punctuation have been retained, with the exception of obvious errors which have been corrected by reference to the 1587 edition of which the original is a transcription.

[1] Original reads 'l d'; corrected to 'led'.

[2] Original reads '(that bare their title'; opening parenthesis removed.

[3] Original reads 'the the parties'; corrected to 'the parties'.

[4] Original reads 'suilegibus'; corrected to 'sui legibus'.