1080 to England: ment of the country were made, prevented his immediate return to England, and he took the opportunity of testifying his reconciliation with Robert, by appointing him commander of the forces intended to enforce the obedience of the Robert sent Scottish sovereign. Robert, for the first time in his life, repaired to Britain. The measure had been wisely considered by William. It was a testimony to the people of mutual confidence, and the station and power thus assigned to the son so lately in parricidal rebellion, might be considered as the most sincere token of the pardon he had obtained, and that the enemies of William could no longer found their expectations of success upon family disunion. But whether from the want of conduct on the part of the commander, or of efficiency in the troops, the expedition was shamefully unsuccessful. Robert advanced as far as a place called by the chroniclers Eaglesuret, in which strange orthography there is little difficulty in recognizing the Celtic name of Bridekirk in Annandale. Further, he dared not go, and he returned again to the south; but the expedition was not entirely useless, nor without a most memorable monument, as he directed the building of the new castle upon the Tyne. When Robert again met his father, or whether they ever met again, is uncertain. The reconciliation was hollow and insincere: the dissensions were renewed: Robert broke away again from his father; and resorting, first to Flanders Invades Returns to the continent. and then to France, resumed his course of disobedience, injuring and annoying his parent by all the means in his power, and encouraging and encouraged by that parent's most inveterate enemies. 1080 of William. Though repressed by Odo's vigour, the spirit Diculties of the Northumbrian rebellion still rankled in the heart of the people, and what was of greater importance and threatening far greater danger, was the distrust with which William now began to regard his brother. Furthermore, the aspect of affairs in Denmark was lowering, and William, quitting Normandy, repaired to England. He was accompanied by sorrowing and declining Matilda. Both might now well need the help of each other's society, and she continued his efficient friend and counsellor to the last. successor. 13. A new bishop and a good one, William de Walchere's St. Carileph, was nominated by the King as the successor of Walchere. Wise, well-instructed and prudent, he applied himself wholly to the restoration of the desolated see. He properly considered this important object as the common concern the nobles and laity of the country were consulted: the advice of the metropolitan of all England was sought; and all acted under the sanction of the sovereign and his consort. It appeared better for the future stability of the see that the communities dispersed at Wearmouth and at Jarrow should be united on the spot where the body of St. Cuthbert was deposited. Pope 1081 Gregory confirmed the union, which also received the sanction of the legislature: that stately Foundation cathedral arose which still subsists, as it were in solemn triumph, and Durham became the great ecclesiastical metropolis of the north. of Durham. St. Cuthbert, to use the familiar expression of the age, preserved all his territorial rights between Tyne and Tees; and in proportion as our jurisprudence became more matured, the progress and even the fictions of the law gave them greater stability, and the palatine rights of the bishop became as well defined as those of the crown. But William de St. Carileph was neither honoured nor troubled by being invested with the perilous administration of the Northumbrian earldom-the dignity which had brought his predecessor to destruction. It became needful to provide for this most important government : a border country, filled with an inimical population, but which nevertheless needed to be rendered a barrier against an enemy. 14. Difficulties were now coming fast upon William, such as he had never known before. In the earlier years of his reign, he had the comfort and aid of many a wise counsellor and many a trusty friend; but they were dropping away apace: a new generation was arising from whom he was estranged: those nearest to him had become cold or treacherous, and amongst strangers he had to choose between rash and untried youth and Northum Waning and declining age. As Earl of Northum Earldom of bria. 1081 bria, he selected an Alberic, whom heralds place in the genealogy of the noble family of De Vere ; Alberic. but he gave no honour to the lineage. Disturbances arose in Northumbria: Alberic's mind was unsettled some soothsayer had held out before him the vision that he should rule over Grecia. His incompetency became evident, and he was removed from his earldom. Robert Mowbray, Mowbray. the proud nephew of the proud Bishop of Coutances, was substituted in his stead; an ill-fated appointment, but of which the results did not become apparent till the subsequent reign. Though no opposition to William had been very successful, still there never had been any blow so entirely decisive as to lead the desperate to despair of casting off the Norman power. William had formed a well-concerted scheme for Wales. keeping the Britons of Wales in subjection by stationing around them the three great Earls of Hereford, Shrewsbury and Chester. But the heir of Fitz-Osbern was in the dungeon. Roger de Montgomery, following the opinions of his son, Robert de Belesme, was secretly inclined to Courthose, and the Earl of Chester, and a very large body of William's knighthood, had engaged themselves in the service of Odo of Bayeux, for the purpose of aiding him in the extraordinary enterprize which now engaged his ambitious mind. Princes of more than ordinary vigour were at this time ruling over the Britons; and William, whether for the purpose of inspiring a salutary 1081 Wales. terror or of punishing some act of resistance, William in invaded Dynevor with a mighty army. The Welsh fled before him, and neither their swiftness of foot nor their knowledge of the country enabled them to escape the Norman sword: yet when William reached the shrine of St. David's, he appeared in the guise of an humble pilgrim, making his offerings to the patron saint; and such encrease, if any, as was made to the Norman power, resulted from the enterprize of those adventurers who shortly afterwards became so eminent as the Lords Marchers, and not from the prowess of the sovereign. Odo. 15. William must have quitted England (for he did now quit it for a short period) for the purpose of allowing his brother Odo to commit himself further in those designs which, however notorious, had not, as yet, acquired a sufficient degree of consistency to enable him to visit them with vengeance. Odo's plans had excited great apprehensions in William, and the more so from the mystery in which they were involved. He had, as before mentioned, been gathering together large forces, or rather seducing them from William's service, and more especially those on whom William had relied for the defence of the country against the Danes, whether of Ireland or of Scandinavia. Some say that Odo had been consulting whether his Holy Orders as a bishop would be an obstacle to his obtaining the royal authority, intimating |