But a conflict did his activity animate the Man- 1035-1054 ceaux, wedged in, as they were between Normandy and Anjou, and having to struggle hard for independence, crushed by these rival powers, but fully conjoined in their animosities against their foes. According to the Angevine pretensions, the Capets had granted to Grisgonnelle the County, the Country, and the People, or, in other words, all the elements of supremacy. the Normans counter-claimed this independence, asserting that it was their Dukes to whom the Suzerainty appertained. Anjou was formidable; Herbert bold, open, and sincere, gifted with a fine and liberal mind, his kindred were as conspicuous for these qualities as the Angevine Counts, or their representatives, the proud Plantagenets, were by their fraud and cunning. Honest Herbert was unequally matched against such foemen, and acting somewhat incautiously he placed himself within the grip of his enemy, whom he visited in the Castle of Xaintes. Both were accompanied by their congenial Consorts. Her- Herbert mengarda of Anjou, beguiling her companion,diamond cut diamond,-by a friendly greeting, Hermenand acting the part of innocent sportiveness, enabled her husband to seize and secure the generous Herbert. He might wake the dogs, but no less bold and incautious than his father, the watchman yielded to slumber. Brutal was the treatment which the captive sustained from Fulco; and he might have rotted made prisoner by the treacherous device of garda. 1035-1054 in the deep, damp dungeon-pit had he not been rescued by his spirited Consort. She raising the Manceaux against Fulco, the latter was constrained to release his prisoner, rejoicing, nevertheless, in the receipt of an exorbitant ransom. [Unmoved by the treachery practised upon Herbert, his son Hugh], no less bold and incautious than his father, equally allowed himself to be taken prisoner. A misfortune, increased by close captivity,-incarceration enduring, as it is said, seven years-a quasi mythical number, often employed vaguely to signify a considerable space of time. It is doubtful whether [Hugh] ever re-entered his Capital; he continued under Angevine protection, much after the fashion, which in more civilized and happier times, we kindly extend towards a Maha Rajah. Nothing he can call his own, and to keep himself at his own cost and charges. Hugh [1051] Geoffrey Upon Hugh's death, an event which, no doubt, had been anticipated not long before the battle of Mortemer, Martel had possessed himself of the domain; he entering Le Mans by the one gate, whilst the widow Bertha and her three children dolefully departed through the other. So long as Martel lived, he treated Maine entirely as an inheritance. The second Herbert, son of the deceased Count, lived so peaceably or so sluggishly, that we do not know any thing concerning him beyond his name, and his mark subscribed to certain charters. Such the conquered by position of affairs relating to Maine, when the 1035-1054 Mortemer treaty, sanctioned so far as Norman authority and Norman prepotence extended, the widening of Normandy's borders. Now in the blooming spring-tide, the bright days lengthening, the yellow iris gleaming on the margins of the waters, up and doing was William, as the Trouveurs sung; not a moment did he waste. His troops victorious,--his people ani- Maine mated with the flush of anticipated victory, the Normans. he issued his command that his forces should muster, for the purpose of occupying the contested territory, and he entrenched himself in the position, whence he had observed that the fortress could be most easily assailed. Geoffrey Martel repaired to Anjou, bitterly complaining of the insult and the danger. A fierce spirit of hostility, embittered by disgust, was now raised against the Normans; they stunk in the nostrils of their enemies worse than ever. A traditional, undefined apprehension of their crafty cunning excited great apprehensions, rendering them more formidable even than their military power. An alliance was formed against the common enemy, the jealousy being enhanced by the rumour that William had declared he should one day become a crowned King. bequeaths Maine to Martel died four years before the Conquest. Herbert [Herbert's] one daughter Margaret [was] espoused william. to Robert of Normandy; but she dying childless, Herbert, on his death-bed, bequeathed his do [See after, p. 269.] 1035-1054 minions to William, exhorting the Manceaux to acknowledge him as their Lord if they wished to live in peace; and the style he assumed, Dux Normannorum et Cenomannorum, proclaims the pretensions of England's victor. Anjou. 38. The two nations, Norman and French, were rapidly assimilating. Severed by political jealousies, they nevertheless constituted one nation. Manners, customs, and above all, language made them as one people. Nay, Normandy became the classical land of the Langue d'Oil. Yet the Roman speaking race nevertheless became black in the sight of the Frenchmen as the most benighted Pagan Dane. The Anti-Norman coalition assumed a formidable aspect. Poitou and Brittany impatient for the fight; nor could Henry settle upon the lees. They took down the spears from the racks, furbished the coats of mail, The French and sharpened their swords. Without chal and the French population lenge or defiance, no glove thrown down, no invade Normandy. stroke stricken; not word before invaded Nor William, on his. part, raised all the Norman forces. The mandy. Caen, as yet unfortified, the dykes dug 1035-1054 and stockades planted in haste, aided the in- Animated habitants, and they rose as one man in defend- by the ing the country against the invader. defence made Normans. But, as before, the Frenchmen damaged [1058] their own cause. William prepared an ambush. There was a bridge crossing the river [Dive], also a ford called the Gué Berenger. William and his Normans assailed the enemy, who were marching out for the defence. The bridge broke Defeat of the down, the enemy fled from the assault. William Berenger. won his spurs ten times over. King Henry escaped, and new terrors were roused by the Norman name. French at the Gué secures the son Philip. 39. King Henry had mistaken his voca- Henry tion in seeking military renown. Age and vexa-succession of tion subdued his vigour. He had been sinking under anxieties, and a peace eagerly sought, was concluded at Fécamp. King Henry had at this time a heavy burden upon his mind. Most earnest was he to secure the succession to his young son Philip, now seven years of age. Never before had that name, uncouth in the strict sense of the term, appeared in the genealogies of Latin Christendom. His mother was Anne, daughter of the Czar Jaroslaus. The Sclavonians were inspired by their antient recollections and traditions. It was their vaunt, that when the Macedonian Conqueror, whom history, poetry, and prophecy conjoined, had contributed to exalt into a mythic hero, espoused Roxolana, |