Cameos from English History, from Rollo to Edward II | Page 8

station to which he had been
called by Heaven, nor quit the government till his son was old enough
to take the charge upon himself, and at the same time encouraged him
by the example of many a saint, whose heavenward road had lain
through the toils and cares of a secular life.
William yielded to the arguments of the good father, but his heart was
still in the peaceful abbey, and he practised in secret the devotions and
austerities of the cloister to the utmost of his power, longing earnestly
for the time when he might lay aside the weary load of cares of war and
of government, and retire to that holy brotherhood.
In Normandy, his strict, keen justice made him greatly honored and
loved, but the French greatly hated and abhorred him, and his
transactions with them were sometimes cunning, sometimes violent. He
had much of the old Northman about him, and had not entered into the
Church's teachings of the sanctity of marriage. Like his father, he had
had a half-acknowledged wife, Espriota, who was the mother of his
only child, Richard, but he put her away in order to ally himself with
one of the great French families, and he had his child brought up at

Bayeux, among Norse-speaking nobles, as if he would rather see him a
Norseman than a, French prince.
The bold and devout but inconsistent William was the dread of all his
neighbors, and especially of Arnulf, Count of Flanders. William was in
alliance with Herluin, Count of Montreuil, against Arnulf; when, in 942,
he was invited to a conference on a small island in the Somme, and
there, having contrived to separate him from his followers, at a given
signal one of the Flemings struck him down with an oar, and a number
of daggers were instantly plunged into his breast.
The Flemings made their escape in safety, leaving the bleeding corpse
upon the island, where the Normans, who had seen the murder, without
being able to prevent or revenge it, reverently took it up, and brought it
back to Rouen. Beneath the robes of state they found it dressed in a
hair-cloth shirt, and round the neck was a chain sustaining a golden key,
which was rightly judged to belong to the chest where he kept his
choicest treasure; but few would have guessed what was the treasure so
valued by the knightly duke of the martial name, and doubtless there
were many looks of wonder among the Norman barons, when the chest
was opened, and disclosed, instead of gold and jewels, the gown and
hood, the sandals and rosary, of a brother of the Benedictine order.
He was buried beside his father, in the cathedral of Rouen, amid the
universal lamentations of his vassals; and his greatest friend and
counsellor, Bernard the Dane, Count of Harcourt, fetched from Bayeux
his only child, Richard, only eight years old, to be solemnly invested
with the ducal sword and mantle, and to receive the homage of the
Normans. [Footnote: This is the Norman legend. The French
Chronicles point to Norman treachery.] The bitter hatred of the French
to the Normans could not but break out in the minority.
To the surprise of the Normans, Louis IV., king of France, suddenly
arrived at Rouen, to claim, as he said, the homage of his young vassal.
On the following day, Richard did not, as usual, appear beyond the
walls of the castle, and there were rumors that he was detained there by
order of the king. Assembling in great numbers, the Rouennais came
before the castle, shouting loudly for "Richard! Richard! our little

Duke!" nor could they be pacified till Louis appeared at the window,
lifting young Richard in his arms, and made them a speech upon the
gratitude and admiration which he pretended to feel for Duke William,
to whom he said he owed his restoration to the throne of his fathers,
and whose son he promised to regard as his own child.
On leaving Rouen, Louis claimed the right of taking Richard with him,
as the guardian of all crown vassals in their minority; and Bernard de
Harcourt, finding it impossible to resist, only stipulated that the young
Duke should never be separated from his Norman esquire, Osmond de
Centeville, who on his side promised to keep a careful watch over him.
Richard was accordingly conducted to Montleon, and made the
companion of the two young princes, Lothaire and Carloman, and for
some time no more was heard respecting him in Normandy. At last
arrived a message from Osmond de Centeville, sent in secret with
considerable difficulty, telling the Normans to pray that their young
duke might be delivered out of the hands of his enemies, for that he
was convinced that evil