A Museum for Young Gentlemen and Ladies | Page 6

periods; 1. The Kings
of the Norman Line; 2. Those of the House of Anjou; 3. Of the House
of Lancaster; 4. Of the House of York.
The NORMAN KINGS.
WILLIAM I. sirnamed [sic] the Conqueror, gained a signal victory
over King Harold, by which means he procured the crown of England.

This Prince was the son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, by one of his
mistresses called Harlotte, from whom some think the word harlot is
derived; however, as this amour seems odd, we shall entertain the
reader with an account of it. The Duke riding one day to take the air
passed by a company of country girls, who were dancing, and was so
taken with the graceful carriage of one of them, named Harlotte, a
skinner's daughter, that he prevailed on her to cohabit with him, and she
was ten months after delivered of William, who, having reigned 21
years, died at Rouen, in September, 1087.
WILLIAM II. sirnamed Rufus, succeeded his father; he built
Westminster-hall, rebuilt London-bridge, and made a new wall round
the Tower of London. In his time the sea overflowed a great part of the
estate belonging to Earl Goodwin, in Kent, which is at this day called
the Goodwin Sands. The King was killed accidentally by an arrow in
the New Forest, and left no issue. He reigned fourteen years, and was
buried in Winchester Cathedral.
HENRY I. youngest son of William the Conqueror, succeeded his
brother William II. in 1100. He reduced Normandy, and made his son
Duke thereof. This Prince died in Normandy of a surfeit, by eating
lampreys after hunting, having reigned 35 years.
STEPHEN, sirnamed of Blois, succeeded his uncle Henry I. in 1135;
but being continually harassed by the Scotch and Welsh, and having
reigned 19 years in an uninterrupted series of troubles, he died at Dover
in 1154, and was buried in the Abbey at Feversham, which he had
erected for the burial place of himself and family.
HENRY II. son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou, succeeded
Stephen in 1154. In him the Norman and Saxon blood was united, and
with him began the race of the Plantagenets, which ended with Richard
III. In this King's reign Thomas à Becket, son to a tradesman in London,
being made Lord High Chancellor, and afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury, affected on all occasions to oppose and to be independent
of the court. The King hearing of his misbehaviour, complained that he
had not one to revenge him on a wretched priest for the many insults he
had put upon him. Hereupon four of his domestics, in hopes to gain

favour, set out immediately for Canterbury, and beat out Thomas's
brains with clubs, as he was saying vespers in his own cathedral, in so
cruel a manner, that the altar was covered with blood. King Henry
subdued Ireland, and died there in 1189, in the 34th year of his reign.
RICHARD I. succeeded his father Henry II. and was no sooner
crowned than he took upon him the cross, and went with Philip, King
of France, to the Holy Land in 1192. On his return he was detained by
the Emperor Henry VI. and was obliged to pay 100,000 marks for his
ransom. In a war which succeeded between England and France,
Richard fought personally in the field, and gained a complete victory
over the enemy, but was afterwards shot by an arrow at the siege of the
Castle of Chalus, and died of the wound April 6, 1199.
JOHN, the fourth son of Henry II. took possession of the crown on
Richard's decease, though his nephew Arthur of Bretagne, son of his
elder brother Geoffrey Plantagenet, had an undoubted title to it.
His encroachments on the privileges of his people called forth the
opposition of the spirited and potent Barons of that day: John was
reduced to great straits; and Pope Innocent III. with the usual policy of
the Holy Fathers, sided with John's disaffected subjects, and fulminated
the thunders of the church against him, till he had brought him to his
own terms: the King surrendered his crown at the feet of the Pope's
Legate, who returned it to him on his acknowledging that he held it as
the vassal of the Holy See, and binding himself and successors to pay
an annual tribute thereto. The Barons and their cause were to be
sacrificed to the Pope's interest, and the Legate commanded them to lay
down their arms; they were however bold enough to make head against
this powerful league, and by their steady opposition to the King, and
their moderate demands when their efforts were crowned with success,
immortalized their names: John was obliged to sign out two famous
charters--the first called Magna Charta, or the Charter of