CHAPTER IX.

Henry I., Beau-clerc.  A.D. 1100—­1135.

Henry, the brother of William Rufus, was one of the hunting party; and as soon as the cry spread through the forest that the king was dead, he rode off at full speed to Winchester, and took possession of all his brother’s treasure.  William Rufus had never been married, and left no children, and Henry was much the least violent and most sensible of the brothers; and, as he promised to govern according to the old laws of England, he did not find it difficult to persuade the people to let him be crowned king.

He was not really a good man, and he could be very cruel sometimes, as well as false and cunning; but he kept good order, and would not allow such horrible things to be done as in his brother’s time.  So the English were better off than they had been, and used to say the king would let no one break the laws but himself.  They were pleased, too, that Henry married a lady who was half English—­Maude, the daughter of Malcolm Greathead, King of Scotland, and of a lady of the old English royal line.  They loved her greatly, and called her good Queen Maude.

Robert came back to Normandy, and tried to make himself King of England; but Henry soon drove him back.  The brothers went on quarreling for some years, and Robert managed Normandy miserably, and wasted his money, so that he sometimes had no clothes to wear, and lay in bed for want of them.

Some of the Normans could not bear this any longer, and invited Henry to come and take the dukedom.  He came with an army, many of whom were English, and fought a battle with Robert and his faithful Normans at Trenchebray, in Normandy.  They gained a great victory, and the English thought it made up for Hastings.  Poor Robert was made prisoner by his brother, who sent him off to Cardiff Castle, in Wales, where he lived for twenty-eight years, and then died, and was buried in Gloucester Cathedral, with his figure made in bog oak over his monument.

Henry had two children—­William and Maude.  The girl was married to the Emperor of Germany and the boy was to be the husband of Alice, daughter to the Count of Anjou, a great French Prince, whose lands were near Normandy.  It was the custom to marry children very young then, before they were old enough to leave their parents and make a home for themselves.  So William was taken by his father to Anjou, and there married to the little girl, and then she was left behind, while he was to return to England with his father.  Just as he was going to embark, a man came to the king, and begged to have the honor of taking him across in his new vessel, called the White Ship.  Henry could not change his own plans; but, as the man begged so hard, he said his son, the young bridegroom, and his friends might go in the White Ship.  They sailed in the evening, and there was a great merry-making on board, till the sailors grew