against the Welsh, and had a long-continued wrangle with Archbishop Anselm, virtually in defence of the royal prerogative against the claims of the Church, for a humorous account of the meaning of which see Carlyle’s “Past and Present,” Book iv. chap. i.; he was accidentally shot while hunting in the New Forest by Walter Tirel, and buried in Winchester Cathedral, but without any religious service; in his reign the Crusades began, and Westminster Hall was built (1066-1100).

WILLIAM III., king of England, born at The Hague, son of William II., Prince of Orange, by Mary, the daughter of Charles I.; during a contest on the part of the United Provinces with Louis XIV. was, in 1672, elected Stadtholder, and by his valour and wisdom brought the war to an end in 1678; married his cousin Mary, daughter of James II.; being invited to England, landed with a large army at Torbay, and on the flight of James to France, he and Mary were proclaimed king and queen of Great Britain and Ireland in 1689; the Scotch and the Irish offered resistance in the interest of the exiled monarch, but the former were defeated at Killiecrankie in 1689, and the latter at the battle of the Boyne in 1690; he was an able man and ruler, but his reign was troubled by an interminable feud with France, and by intrigues on behalf of James both at home and abroad; he died by a fall from his horse at Kensington just as a great war with France was impending; he was through life the adversary of the covetous schemes of Louis, and before his death he had prepared the materials of that coalition which, under Marlborough and Prince Eugene, brought Louis to the brink of ruin; his reign forms one of the great epochs in the history of England, and is known as the Revolution (1650-1702).

WILLIAM IV., king of England, known as the “sailor king,” born in Buckingham Palace, the third son of George III.; entered the navy in 1779; saw service under Rodney and Nelson, but practically retired in 1789, as from insubordination he had to do, though he was afterwards promoted to be Admiral of the Fleet, and even Lord High Admiral, and continued to take great interest in naval affairs; after living, as Duke of Clarence, from 1792 to 1816 with Mrs. Jordan, the actress, by whom he had 10 children, he married in 1810 Adelaide, eldest daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen; on the death of the Duke of York in 1827 became heir-presumptive, and on the death of George IV. in 1830 succeeded to the throne; his reign was distinguished by the passing of the first Reform Bill in 1832, the abolition of slavery in the colonies in 1833, the reform of the poor-laws in 1834, and the Municipal Reform Act in 1835; died at Windsor, and was succeeded by his niece.  Queen Victoria (1765-1837).