1073 1070 his brother. viduality, it was easy to detach any of them as an apanage for a cadet. The county of Boulogne had been created in this manner. Latterly, however, it became evident that this process would morsel up the country, and Baldwin of Lisle had determined to avoid it, by appointing Baldwin of Mons his sole heir. But his power of making this appointment was not sufficiently confirmed to prevent the possibility of dissension, and Robert the Frizon was not of a temper Robert and to promise acquiescence in any disposition of the inheritance which he might consider as a wrong. Baldwin of Lisle, therefore, not long before his death, which he felt approaching, convened the prelates and the peers of Flanders -for Flanders had her twelve peers, like France -at Oudenarde, and giving Robert a large sum of money as a compensation, he induced him to swear that he would not disturb his brother Baldwin in the succession. And he kept the oath to the letter; for during the three years that Baldwin of Mons reigned in Flanders he was undisturbed. Baldwin, Upon the death of Baldwin, Richilda assumed Death of the government, ruling in the name of her son Arnolf, now titular Count of Flanders and of Hainault, the first by his father's, the other by his mother's side. Richilda had encreased the possessions of her husband and her children by fair means and foul. She had acquired great portion of the allodial property in Hainault, 1073 1070 Richilda's misrule in Flanders. and, ruling in Flanders, she despised all rights and privileges. Besides the connection of blood, there was a strong inclination on her part towards France. Philip had received the order of knighthood from Baldwin of Lisle: Richilda belonged to the Gallican portion of Belgium. She called in French counsellors, and imposed heavy, illegal, and degrading taxes upon the free people of the free country-degrading, because one appears to have been a house-tax, which was charged upon every door, every window, and, if we read the chronicle rightly, every bed or counterpane, which of course involved those domiciliary inspections by the tax-gatherer, odious at all times, but more particularly in those where the officers of the Sovereign were so often protected in injustice. Richilda's misrule fell most heavily upon Flanders Flamingante. Ghent and Bruges, Furnes, Oudenburgh from Robert, and Ardenburgh, and Ypres, all invited Robert. Even Lisle joined the party; and Robert entered the country, which submitted to him, though not without resistance on the part of the sturdy Richilda. Yet she knew she could not make a stand without aid, and she implored the assistance of her two liege lords, the Emperor and the King of France. The Flemings seck aid 24. These troubles were extending themselves into Normandy. The Normans were dividing into parties; some siding, as it seems, with Robert-some with Richilda. Gerbod, the late THE NORMANS INTERVENE. 493 1073 1071 William aids Richilda: Earl of Chester, gave his powerful help to Robert. William appears to have much distrusted the Frizon, for his Frizian territories put him in close connection with the Danes; and Robert was not to be trusted. He therefore sent over Fitz-Osbern to assist Matilda in her emergency. In itself, the cause of Richilda, considered as the guardian of her son Arnolf, was the right one, and Philip entered heartily into her cause, assembling a large army, and requiring, as it seems, William to give that aid which, as Duke of Normandy, he was bound, or supposed to be bound, to give in the host of his superior. This consisted only of ten knights; but at the head of them Fitz-Osbern marched to Flanders as merrily as to a May game. Well who marries he might, for a courtship had begun between him and Richilda, and she joyfully accepted him as her third husband, to the great indignation of the Flemings. Fitz-Osbern. 20 Feb. 1071. The armies encountered each other at Cassel, Battle of and the greatest battle ensued, on the feast of St. Peter in Cathedra, which ever yet had taken place in Flanders. Robert's troops were much discouraged, for the forces which had joined Richilda, and more particularly those brought by the King of the French, were overwhelming -nor, perhaps, were they without apprehension of Richilda's spells. The fortunes of the battle were as varied as if it had been a tale of romance. Robert the Frizon was taken prisoner, 1073 1071 Robert captured: but Richilda defeated. Her end. Robert succeeds. Died 1093. Makes a Danish alliance. and carried off to St. Omer. But men said that Richilda's spells literally recoiled upon her, and brought on herself that evil fortune which she sought to cast upon the enemy. She and her troops were entirely defeated. Young Arnolf fought bravely: two horses were killed under him, but he fell by the hand of Gerbod, his own liege-man. Fitz-Osbern, the bridegroom, was killed, to the great joy of all the Flemings, who might anticipate in him a grievous Sovereign; and even more to that of the English and the Welsh, who triumphed in being released from his atrocious tyranny. Richilda herself was also taken prisoner; but she was exchanged for Robert, and being received in Hainault, transmitted the dominion to her son Baldwin; and, afterwards entering a convent, she subjected herself to fearful penance. Robert the Frizon, on his part, entered into the full government, which he ruled strenuously during thirty years. Great ill-will always subsisted between him and his brother-in-law. William withdrew the Feudum de Camera, the pension which he had paid to Baldwin; and Robert retaliated by troubling Normandy as much as he could. He formed an alliance, of all others the most distasteful to William, by giving his daughter in marriage to Canute, King of Denmark-a marriage the result of which will introduce us to another important chapter of Norman history. 1073 1069 William in Maine. 5. This trouble was scarcely at an end when another arose, touching William even more nearly. The Manceaux hated the Normans, their oppressors, and despised them as barbarians. The grant, such as it was, which had been made to him by Herbert, the son of Her- Hatred of bert Eveille-Chiens, was invalid; and whether truly formed or not, the opinion that William had acquired possession by crime,-by the poison administered to Gauthier and Biota,-continued to excite great detestation. The Manceaux watched their opportunity; and the first token which they gave of their determination to regain their independence was by proceeding to the election of a Bishop. Clergy and people both united in choosing Arnauld of Avranches to the vacant see. revolts. A great attack was thus made upon the prerogatives claimed by William, and it was followed up by the most determined assertion of independence. The citizens of Le Mans rose Le Mans with one accord and as of one mind. The adjoining towns and chatellaineries joined them : so also many of the common soldiery. William's fortresses, so skilfully raised, could not sustain the attack; neither Orbitel nor Mont Barbette could hold out. William's Norman commanders, Turgis de Tracy, and William de la Ferté, were killed; and those of the Conqueror's soldiery who did not come over to the insurgents, shared the same fate, or were slain or expelled. The VOL. III. KK |