Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/654

This page needs to be proofread.

630 WILLIAM II. (ENGLAND) WILLIAM III. (ENGLAND) collected in England, but refused to take the oath of homage to the pope. In 1079 he formed the New forest, driving a vast number of people from their homes. Between 1U80 and 1086 was made a complete survey of Eng- land. (See DOOMSDAY BOOK.) Toward the close of his reign William had trouble with the nobility of Maine, and made peace with them on their own terms. His last dispute was with the king of France, some of whose vas- sals had plundered Norman territory. In re- taliation he burned Mantes. While he was riding over the still smoking ruins, the plung- ing of his horse, throwing him upon the pom- mel of the saddle, caused a dangerous rupture. Before his death, which occurred several weeks after at a monastery in Rouen, William gave large sums of money for rebuilding the church- es of Mantes, and in his will distributed trea- sures to cloisters, churches, and the poor. He was buried at Caen in the church of St. Ste- phen, which he had built in 1064. Blackstone explains the origin of the surname Conqueror by reference to feudal and Norman law, as denoting one who acquired an estate by any means aside from the common course of inher- itance. In his lifetime the king was generally known as William the Bastard, an appellation of which he was not ashamed. A .monument to him was erected at Falaise in 1876. WILLIAM II., commonly known as William Rufua from his red hair, third son and suc- cessor of the preceding, born in Normandy about 1056, slain in the New forest, Aug. 2, 1100. While his father was dying he hast- ened to England, and easily became king, ow- ing to the slackness of his elder brother Rob- ert, and was crowned in Westminster abbey, Sept. 26, 1087. At first ho was popular with his English subjects, who aided him against Robert in 1088, William promising to restore the laws of Edward the Confessor; but after the death of Lanfranc, who had been his early instructor, he began to oppress both the people and the church. The expenses of his court were very great, and large sums were lavished upon public works. He completed the tower of London and Westminster hall, and built London bridge. In 1090 he invaded Norman- dy, but the king of France mediated a peace between the brothers, who then turned their united arras against their brother Henry. (See HEXRY I.) Returning to England, William re- pelled invasions of the Welsh and Scotch, and made an unsuccessful incursion into the coun- try of the latter. In 1093 King Malcolm of Scotland, having invaded England, was defeat- ed and slain, together with his eldest son ; but William Rufus protected the family of Mal- colm and aided in restoring his younger son to the Scottish throne. A new war with Robert broke out in 1094, and William invaded Nor- mandy, but without success, being recalled to England by a Welsh insurrection, and detained there by a rebellion in the north, headed by Mowbray, earl of Northumberland. In 1096 the king obtained Normandy as a pledge for 10,000 marks lent to Robert to enable him to join the first crusade ; but this involved him in continual war with France and with Maine, which he claimed as part of his new territory. Returning to England in 1097, he had a violent quarrel with Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, whom he had previously sought to displace, and robbed him of the income of his see. He still further disgusted his subjects by selling bishoprics to the vilest of men. In 1100 the count of Poitiers offered to pledge all his dominions to William for money to convey his army to Palestine, and the king eagerly embraced the offer. While he was fitting out a great fleet with which to take possession of the new countries that invited his rule, he went hunting in the New forest. Here he was shot by Walter Tyrrel, lord of Poix and senes- chal of Pontoise, and died instantly. The re- ceived account calls it on accident, but it is more probable that he was assassinated. The character of William Rufus is not easy to draw, for he had plundered the church and oppressed the clergy, and they furnished the only writers of that age. Ho left no legitimate issue, being unmarried, and was succeeded by his younger brother as Henry I. WILLIAM III., king of England and stadt- holder of Holland (William Henry of Nassau, prince of Orange), born at the Hague, Nov. 4, 1650, died in Kensington, March 8, 1702. He was the son of William II., prince of Orange, and the princess Mary of England, eldest daughter of Charles I. The house of Orange had long sought to obtain supreme power in Holland, a country which its greatest member had freed from the Spanish yoke. The death of William II. eight days before the birth of his son had put a stop to his projects for the establishment of a despotism over the repub- lic, and threw the power into the hands of the opposite party. There was no member of the Orange family of sufficient influence to be elect- ed stadtholder or to maintain its policy, and for years that party was depressed, the repub- lic being governed by Jan de Witt, grand pen- sionary. The attack upon Holland by France and England in 1672 changed everything. The prince of Orange was immediately and unani- mously appointed captain and admiral general of the United Provinces. In the long and se- vere conflict which ensued, the allies were at first successful ; but the ability of William as a general, and still more ns a diplomatist, de- tached England from the alliance and brought her over to the side of the Dutch, and led to the honorable peace of Nimeguen (1678). In November, 1677, William married his cousin Mary, eldest daughter of James, duke of York, heir presumptive to the British crown. This union was very popular in both countries, the prince being regarded as the natural head of the Protestant party, and his wife being ex- pected to succeed to the English throne. The lifelong policy of William was already indica-