Conspiracy of Mowbray crushed.
William obtains Normandy from Robert. 1096.
Size of his dominions at his death, 1100.
Intrigues and irregular fighting had meanwhile been constant in Normandy. In 1094 King Philip of France had been called in by Robert, but nothing of importance arose from this. But it gave rise to a curious act of extortion on the part of William, who summoned 20,000 men from England, evidently the old English County Militia, and on their arrival at the coast dismissed them, taking from them the ten shillings a head, viaticum, or journey-money, they had received from their counties. In 1095 a great conspiracy of the nobles in England, headed by Mowbray of Northumberland, came to light. Mowbray threw himself into Bamborough castle, which could not itself be taken, but immediately opposite to it another castle, called Malvoisin, was raised, and the garrison of this “ill-neighbour” found means to decoy Mowbray out of his stronghold and to take him prisoner. The danger which threatened William was thus got over; while the following year the object of his wishes came into his hands, when Robert, eager to join a crusade which had just been preached, pledged Normandy to him for the sum of £6,666. His new situation as ruler of Normandy brought William into hostility with the neighbouring countries, and especially with Maine, where Hélie de la Fléche made head against him, and, with the assistance of Fulk IV. of Anjou, succeeded in beating him off from Le Mans. William’s power was now, in spite of this repulse, very great, and the King of France, with whom he became involved in war in 1097 on the old subject of the Vexin, looked with anxiety at the growth of his great vassal, especially when a close friendship arose between him and the Duke of Poitiers and Guienne. This conjunction, giving the English King a grasp of France all round the seaboard, made men believe that his ambition reached to the throne of France, especially as Philip had but one son, Louis. The strange death of William put an end to all such thoughts. He was hunting in the New Forest, whither he had been warned not to go, and there met his death; whether by an accidental arrow from the bow of Walter Tyrrel, or falling forward upon the point of an arrow as he stooped over his prey, or slain by the hands of some of those whom his cruelty and avarice had made his implacable enemies, is uncertain. The flight of his attendants, and the unceremonious treatment of his corpse, seemed to favour the last supposition.
Causes of William’s inferiority to his father.
In spite then of his unamiable character; of the difficulties which had beset him from his somewhat questionable title; of the natural impulse towards feudal isolation of his barons; of troublesome neighbours; and occasional want of success in his expeditions; Rufus had on the whole succeeded in his plans, as far as his external circumstances were concerned. It was in his domestic government, especially with regard to the Church, that his inferiority to his great father is most obvious. Unlike the Conqueror, he was unable to see, or if he saw, to care for the national advantages which sprung from a well-organized Church. With a similar determination to be a perfect king in his own dominions, he asserted that opinion by violent acts against the Church itself, by appointments of the worst description, and by a life from which all show of decency was banished. As long as Lanfranc lived, he kept some restraint upon himself, but upon his death he began to show his real temper.
Disputes with the Church.
Bishoprics left vacant.
Repenting after illness, he makes Anselm Archbishop.
Anselm unwillingly accepts. 1093.