now in his mercy prepared the way for his reigning in. tranquillity. The third siege undertaken was that of Stamford. The town surrendered immediately, but the garrison of the castle resisted, and sent messengers to the king intreating his aid against the besiegers. At that time the king had laid siege to the castle of Ipswich, which Hugh Bigod held against him, and being unwilling to raise the siege and relieve the garrison of Stamford, that castle was surrendered to Prince Henry, while Ipswich was given up to the king. The Duke of Normandy, departing from Stamford, marched to Nottingham, which he took possession of; but the enemy, who held the castle, set the town on fire [and the duke was so afflicted at the burning of the town, that he drew off his army].1 Meanwhile, Archbishop Theobald had frequent consultations with the king, in which he urged him to come to terms with the duke, with whom also he communicated by messengers. He found a coadjutor in Henry, bishop of Winchester, who had taken the lead in disturbing the kingdom, by giving the crown to his brother Stephen. Of this he now repented, and finding the whole kingdom desolated by robbery, fire, and slaughter, he proposed to find a remedy in the concord of the chiefs. More especially, the providence of God, which makes peace, and is the giver of good, withdrew the scourge which tormented England, causing their undertaking to prosper, so that by its blessing on their efforts the peace was solemnly ratified. boundless joy, what a day of rejoicing, when the king himself led the illustrious young prince through the streets of Winchester, with a splendid procession of bishops and nobles, and amidst the acclamations of the thronging people; for the king received him as his son by adoption, and acknowledged him heir to the crown! From thence he accompanied the king to London, where he was received with no less joy by the people assembled in countless numbers, and by brilliant processions, as was fitting for so great a prince. Thus, through God's mercy, after a night of misery, peace dawned on the ruined realm of England. What 1 The words within the brackets are inserted from the Royal MS. These rejoicings ended, the king and his new son parted, soon to meet again; for the peace was ratified before Christmas, and on the octave of the Epiphany they met at Oxford. The duke had then just spent a year in the conquest, yea, rather, the recovery, of England. There all the great men of the realm, by the king's command, did homage, and promised the fealty due to their liege lord to the Duke of Normandy, saving only their allegiance to King Stephen during his life. New rejoicings took place at this magnificent assembly, after which all departed with joy and gladness to their homes. After a short interval there was another meeting at Dunstable, where a slight cloud overshadowed the day of gladness; for the duke was dissatisfied that the castles, which after the death of King Henry were built in every part of the country with the worst designs, had not been demolished, according to the provisions of the treaty so solemnly made and ratified. Some of them indeed had been razed, but others were spared, by the indulgence or the policy of the king, and this appeared to weaken the obligations of the treaty. Upon the duke's complaining of it to the king, he met with a repulse; but, wishing to preserve a good understanding with his new father, he reluctantly deferred the matter, lest it should disturb their concord, and they parted amicably. Not long afterwards, the duke, having obtained the king's licence, returned to Normandy, flushed with his success. These were the acts of Henry, the most illustrious of youths, during his second visit to England. Let me not be censured for having committed to writing so few particulars of his splendid career1. Having to tell of so many and great kings, and the series of events for many ages, if I had attempted to give fulness to my History I must have written volumes. I have, therefore, chosen rather to collect into one volume an abridgment of history, so that posterity may not be altogether ignorant of former events. I now The anonymous author of the "Acts of King Stephen " represents the campaign of Henry II. after his landing in England, and the character of the young prince, altogether in a different light. See the account towards the close of Stephen's reign in the latter part of this volume. return to my subject. Returning into France triumphant, the duke was joyfully received by his mother and brothers, and the people of Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Poitou, with the honours due to him. King Stephen, also, now for the first time reigning in peace, was, thanks to his adopted son, powerful enough to maintain the authority of his royal station. But O! the desperate fury of mortals! O their unaccountable perversity! Certain sons of men, 'whose teeth were spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword," made zealous attempts to sow the seeds of discord between the king who was present and the duke at a distance. The king could hardly resist their persuasions, and some thought he was already yielding to them, and that he listened to their evil counsels with a secret pleasure, and, though he affected to discountenance them, more than was right. But the counsels of these sons of men were one thing, the counsels of the Almighty another; and He, as was fitting, perfected his own, and made the counsels of the wicked and their perverse machinations of no effect. The king having besieged and taken the castle of Drake, near York, and triumphantly taken and razed many other castles, he went to Dover, to hold a conference with the Earl of Flanders. While talking with him, the king fell sick; of which sickness he died eight days before the feast of All Saints [24th of October], after a distracted and unfortunate reign of nineteen years. He was interred in the abbey of Feversham, near his wife and son. Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, with many of the English nobles, dispatched messengers in all haste to their now lord the Duke of Normandy, intreating him to come over without delay, and receive the crown of England. Hindered, however, by contrary winds and a stormy sea, as well as other circumstances, it was not till six days before Christmas that, accompanied by his wife and brothers, with a retinue of great nobles and a strong force, he landed in the New Forest. England, therefore, was left for six weeks without a king; but by God's providence it was in perfect tranquillity, the love or the fear of the expected king securing it. Upon his landing he proceeded to London, and, ascending the throne of England, was crowned and consecrated with becoming pomp and splendour, amidst universal rejoicings, which many mingled with tears of joy. The happiness of this period I have thus described in heroic verse :— Low lies the head that wore fair England's crown, 1 Henry delays to mount the vacant throne; Can pierce the clouds and chase the shades of night, The soul shall, out of death, new life create." [The accession of a new king demands a new Book.]2 1 "Henry's power was so well established in England, that he continued and concluded the siege of a castle which he was investing before he came over."-Hume. 2 Savile's printed text of THE HISTORY concludes with the verses; but the sentence within the brackets follows in the Royal MS., in the same handwriting as the rest of the History; whence it may be inferred that it was Henry of Huntingdon's intention to add another Book, in continuation, containing some account of the reign of Henry II. It is probable that he did not long survive that king's accession, and death thus frustrated his design. There is a short continuation added to the Royal MS. in a different hand, as follows:-"This Henry II., son of the Countess of Anjou, reigned xxxiv. years. Enacting unjust laws, he was opposed by St. Thomas of Canterbury, who received the crown of martyrdom. He crowned his son Henry, who was called Henry III., in his own lifetime; but he died before his father. Henry II. had four sons by Eleanor, viz. Henry III., Richard, John, and Geoffrey, whose son Arthur was murdered by John." |