THE ROMAN DE ROU.-No. 4.

(Continued from page 364 of our second volume.)

THE murder of William Longsword by Arnoul, count of Flanders, created the liveliest indignation and the most profound regret among the Normans and Bretons. His youthful son, by his mistress Sprote, then only ten years of age, exhibited an astonishing feeling at this unfortunate catastrophe, and Wace describes him as being unusually sensible of the irreparable loss he had sustained by the death of his father. The barons and bishops, however, swore fealty and homage to him, and all classes readily admitting his claim to the succession, he was raised to the dukedom by the title of Richard the First. Bernard, surnamed the Dane, and Osmond, his preceptor, seem to have acted as his ministers, and they administered affairs with impartiality and firmness, repressing the exactions of the barons, and punishing every violation of the law.

Shortly after the accession of the young prince to the ducal dignity, Louis d'Outre Mer, who, our readers will recollect, was reinstated in the throne of France by the assistance of William Longsword, came to Rouen, under the pretence of offering his protection to the young duke, and consulting with the Norman barons, as to the measures necessary to be taken for the punishment of Arnoul. Masking his real designs under these specious promises, he persuaded the guardians of Richard to allow him to reside in the palace occupied by himself during his sojourn in the capital. Having so far succeeded in his plot, his next object was to carry him off into France. Bernard and Osmond, having penetrated through his treachery, communicated their suspicions to the people, who instantly rose in arms, and demanded the restoration of their prince. Louis, intimidated, released him, and guaranteed him the quiet possession of his dominions. By these acts he dissipated all suspicions, and he still further increased the confidence of the Normans by acknowledging his great obligations to William Longsword, and swearing on the oath of a king that he would never injure his son. He moreover promised to punish Arnoul, and then proposed to superintend the education of Richard during his minority, for which purpose he requested to have him brought up under his own eye. In this duplicity he was successful, and took his departure from Rouen, accompanied by the young duke and his preceptor, Osmond.

The crafty Count of Flanders soon received intelligence of these events, and being uncertain in his mind whether Louis would really attack him or not, he determined to be on the safe side if possible, and avert the threatened storm by bribes. He dispatched an embassy to the French king, with ten pounds weight of gold, with the promise of further remittances, and he distributed considerable largesses among the royal favourites and the most influential of the nobility. His emissaries declared that Arnoul would ever be faithful to Louis: that he would have paid his obeisance in person, had he not been confined at home by the gout; and that he would justify himself from the charge of having sanctioned the murder of William Longsword. In answer to these declarations, Louis demanded the advice of his barons and chevaliers, pretending that his conscience must be fully satisfied, and that no one should be able to accuse him of having participated in the alleged crime of Arnoul, by leaving it unpunished. The French nobles, being all bribed, pleaded stoutly in favour of the murderer. They insisted that mere sus

picion ought not to condemn him; that the king would act partially and unjustly, unless he heard evidence; that Arnoul gave a presumptive proof of his innocence by offering to stand his trial before Louis; and, finally, they insisted that no measures of violence against him were justifiable. These arguments accorded with the views and wishes of the faithless and ungrateful Louis, and he, of course, received them with every possible complacency.

The deputies of Arnoul, thus satisfied that their master incurred no danger from the vengeance of Louis, became more emboldened, and plainly told him the policy that the Count of Flanders recommended him to pursue. They advised him to imprison Richard, and seize upon Normandy. They urged him to hamstring the young duke, a cruelty often practised under the first and second races of the French kings. They reminded him that Normandy once belonged to his predecessors, and observed that William Longsword, as the illegitimate son of Rollo, had no valid title to the dukedom. They stimulated his ambition and avarice by every argument, saying that his ancestors used to receive great assistance both in men and money from the province over which he, their descendant, now exercised no power or jurisdiction.

The deputies of Arnoul completely gained their point. Louis, then at Laon, orders the young prince into his presence, and commands him never to stir out of the town. He lays the same injunction on Osmond, his faithful guardian. It may here be observed, en passant, that the noble family of Osmond, at the present hour dukes and peers of France, claim their descent from this preceptor of William; and to commemorate the part he took in the deliverance of the duke, they bear on their coat of arms the representation of a flight of hawks in a field, gules.

Richard waited on the king and queen at table; but this was not deemed a degradation in those times. It was the customary duty of all young princes; and in much later times we find Edward, the Black Prince of England, attending his prisoner, John, king of France, at the first meal served to him after the battle. As old Froissart says: Ce faisaient pour être duits à cortoisie et galantise." Wace tells us that Richard was handsome and amiable, and much beloved by all the attendants in the palace, for the gracefulness of his appearance, and the mildness of his address. His popularity disgusted the queen, who was not only jealous that he should show to more advantage than her own son, but also because he stood between her child and the Norman succession. Upon his ruin she resolved, and denounced him to Louis, as having been outside the town with his dogs and birds. The king was highly incensed at this information, and threatened to put out the eyes of Osmond, and cauterize the feet of Richard. This is, no doubt, the real sense of the passage, (verses 3029 and the following,) and it appears that some omission exists in the printed copy; for, in the actual state of the text, we must go back twenty lines to find the name of Osmond. Wace, however, has almost literally translated the speech that Dudon of St. Quentin puts into the mouth of the king, when he menaces Osmond: Senioris tui poplitibus coctis, privabo te oculis, si forsan eum quoquam amplius duxeris. In William of Jumieges, the reproaches and threats of Louis are addressed to Richard alone; and they are accompanied by the most unmanly and ungenerous sarcasms. He calls the young prince Meretricis filium, ultro virum alienum rapientis. This injurious designation was very common in the middle ages, of which many other examples appear in Wace; the

allusion of the king was to the union of William Longsword and Sprote, a species of marriage, emphatically termed by the old French historians "un mariage à la manière Danoise," or simple concubinage.

Osmond, now fully convinced of the vindictiveness, hatred, and treachery of Louis, contrives to send a messenger to Rouen, with intelligence of Richard being treated as a prisoner, and as being exposed daily to mutilation, or even death. This news created universal consternation and lamentation. The bishops and clergy offered up prayers in the churches for his deliverance, and the military vassals vowed vengeance against the French. William of Jumieges relates that a fast of three days was ordered but Dudon, always more emphatic in his chronicle, says that this fast of three days was to be renewed every month till Richard had been liberated from captivity: Tridunum jejunium in uno quoque mense populo indicentes.

In the mean time, the faithful Osmond encourages his young charge to hope for better days, and put his trust in God; and foretels the time of retribution and revenge. He then assures him that he has hit on a scheme for his deliverance. He proposes that Richard should feign sickness, and confine himself to his bed, and refuse either to eat or drink. He advises him to call for the spiritual aid of a priest, (li provoine,) and after a few days to pretend to be dead. This advice the young prince promised to obey, and he plays his part to admiration. One night, when the king was at supper, the guards, who watched the young duke, having heard that he was dead, quitted their post to amuse them. Osmond, being on the watch, profited by their absence; roused the prince; concealed him in a bundle of straw; carried him into the courtyard; then placed him before him on horseback, and escaped out of the town. He had stationed another horse at an appointed place; on his arrival there, the young duke mounted, and they both arrived safe at Couci, a castle belonging to his uncle, where they returned thanks to God and St. Leonard.

St. Leonard still retains some share of his old veneration in the district of Bessin. In former times, many churches and chapels were dedicated to him, one of the most famous of which existed at Vernay in the forest of Cerisy, anciently called Du Bur. The assistance of this saint was more particularly prayed for by prisoners, who found it difficult by their own efforts to regain their liberty. Many instances of this kind are recorded in the famous "Golden Legend," in which several miracles are attributed to St. Leonard.

Almost all the Norman historians have represented the castle of Couci, in which the fugitives found a retreat, as belonging to Bernard, of Senlis. We shall presently enter upon some particulars relating to that individual. In the mean time, we may observe that Couci-le-Châtel did not belong, at this epoch, to any secular lord, but to the Archbishop of Rheims. Codicia cum episcopi remensis castrum. Flod: anno: 927. Count Thibaud seized on it several times, but he was always compelled to restore it to the legitimate owner. It is unfortunate for the accuracy of the old chroniclers, that this castle is of one of those whose history is the best authenticated, and gives them the most unqualified contradiction, as we shall show in the proper place.

When Louis found that the birds had flown, his rage was ungovernable, and he vowed to hang or burn the two captains of the guard, Roscelin and Girart. In the mean time, Osmond, leaving Richard safe in the castle of Couci, rode on immediately to Senlis, where the uncle of the

young duke, as Wace considers him to have been, was then residing. He found him in bed, but instantly awoke him, and communicating the cause of his arrival, Bernard was overjoyed. He immediately dressed himself, and hurried forward to Paris, to demand the protection of the powerful Duke Hugh, of whom we have formerly made mention, on behalf of his nephew. The duke was a vassal of Louis, and refused to do any act contrary to his fealty; but, at the same time, he promised to remain neuter, and abstain from injuring the pretensions of Richard to the dukedom. With this answer Bernard returned, and conducted his nephew from Couci to Senlis.

In reference to the relationship which Wace supposes to have existed between this Bernard and Richard, there is manifestly an error; though all the Norman historians adopt his view. For, even were it clearly proved that the Duchess Leutegarde had a brother named Bernard, still there could have been no consanguinity between him and Richard, who was the son of Sprote, and she certainly was not his sister. It is moreover certain, that this Bernard, Count of Senlis and Valois, who undoubtedly lived at this epoch, was only the cousin-german, and not the brother, of the Duchess Leutegarde. Therefore, supposing that this count did really assist in restoring Richard to his dukedom, the reader must not attribute his interference to the claims of relationship. It is difficult to imagine how Dudon, who lived nearly about the time of these transactions, and in the close vicinity of the scene where they took place, should have put forward so manifest an error, by which his copyists have been deceived, when it might so easily have been avoided.

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When the first rage of Louis had subsided, he determined again to secure his prize by policy and negotiation, and summoned Arnoul, Count of Flanders, to his assistance. That wily and unprincipled chieftain advises him to win over Duke Hugh to his interests, by offering him one half of Normandy, as a reward. This was done, and the duke accedes to the terms. This is the account of Wace but the French cotemporary historian, Frodoard, gives a very different version, and if we accept his statement as authentic, and it appears much the more probable, then we must conclude that all the Norman chroniclers have strangely disfigured the facts which followed the death of William Longsword. Frodoard declares that it was not before this interview, relative to the partition of Normandy, that Duke Hugh succeeded in reconciling Louis with Arnoul. Up to that period, the king refused all intercourse with him, and gave the government of Rouen to Herlouin, who made war on the Count of Flanders, killed the assassin of William in battle, and cut off his hands, which he sent to Rouen, as an expiation of his crime. According to Frodoard, Louis only came to Rouen to release the young Richard from the tyranny of a Norman, named Turmode, who had relapsed into idolatry, and was carrying on secret negotiations with the pagan king Setric; both of them were killed in a battle against the French. All these events belong to the year 943. At the commencement of the following year, it seems that the Normans were still independent, since they formed a treaty of alliance with Duke Hugh, and waged a bloody war with the Bretons. It was, then, only at the close of the year 944, that Louis, having reconciled Arnoul and Herlouin, executed with Duke Hugh the treaty for the invasion of Normandy.

As soon as the news of this compact was made known, Bernard, of Senlis, went to Paris, where he reproached Duke Hugh with his breach of

faith, and prophesied that Louis would only make a tool of him as long as it suited his purpose, and he further told him that he would not retain his share of the spoil for more than a twelvemonth. However, Hugh replied that he would fulfil his engagements with the French king, so long as the terms of their contract were respected; but that if Louis made any attempt to overreach him, in that case he would withdraw his forces. Bernard, of Senlis, then went to Bernard the Dane, to consult about the prosecution of the war; but the Dane declared that all defence was use-less, and he recommended submission, lest their towns should be sacked and their fields ravaged.

The invaders, having completed their preparations, enter Normandy on an appointed day, and the Normans, following the advice of Bernard the Dane, lay down their arms, and Louis enters Rouen, where he was received with every honour, and the loudest demonstrations of joy. The people, however, were astonished at this tame surrender on the part of Bernard, and more particularly at the marked respect he paid to the king. The Dane soon wormed himself into the royal confidence, and as soon as he felt his power, he began to exert it. He assured Louis that he took no part in the escape of Richard; that the blame solely attached to Osmond; and he protested that he did not know where the young duke was concealed. He then said that he owed many obligations to William Longsword, and that he would certainly have protected Richard if he had given any promise of imitating his father's virtues; but, for the sake of his countrymen, he was happy to do homage to a wise king and reject a wrongheaded boy. Louis is well pleased with this discourse, and swears by the oath of a Christian that he never intended to have hurt a hair of Richard's head.

Bernard then tells the king that the terms of his bargain with Duke Hugh have got wind, and beseeches him to say, if he had really conceded to him the whole of Lower Normandy. On being answered in the affirmative, he expresses the greatest astonishment and indignation; he reminds Louis, that Duke Hugh had resisted his accession to the throne of France, and that he only gave his consent at the instigation of William Longsword; and he then nettled his pride by repeating many of the contumelious and insulting expressions, which the duke was wont to apply to him before his elevation. He then told him that Hugh's share of the partition contained all the most fertile land; that the inhabitants were the bravest of the Normans; that the district could raise ten thousand horsemen; and that the agricultural villains were the most skilful and most industrious of the whole population. "Will you then," said Bernard, "deprive a little boy of his inheritance, and give it to such a felon, traitor, and tyrant, as Hugh?"

This speech had the desired effect, for Louis declared that he was quite ignorant of the advantages he had thrown away. He further promised that he would cancel his bargain, and he kept his word, for he immediately dispatched a messenger to Hugh, ordering him to evacuate Lower Normandy. The rage of the duke was excessive, but he was compelled to submit. The messenger reached him at Bayeux, to which he was laying siege, and as the year 945 had not yet commenced, his possession of the spoil was but short. On his departure, Louis took possession of the whole province.

Bernard, of Senlis, then goes again to Paris, and sees Duke Hugh, whom he ridicules for his folly in trusting to Louis, and predicts the restoration of Richard, sooner or later, to the dukedom,