Читать книгу The Conquerors: The Pageant of England - Thomas B. Costain - Страница 23

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Prince Henry had been hunting in a different part of the forest. The story is told that he snapped the string of his bow and stopped at the hut of a forester in hopes of getting it repaired. The hut, however, was occupied by an old woman who went into a trance as soon as she realized who her visitor was and delivered him a message which began as follows:

Hasty news to thee I bring,

Henry, thou art now a king.

Henry seems to have believed the message. At any rate, he made off at once, going direct to Winchester where the royal treasure was kept. Here he found William de Breteuil, the royal treasurer, who refused to hand over the keys.

Breteuil scowled at the anxious Henry. “Would you rob your brother Robert who is fighting for the cross?” he demanded.

Henry drew his sword. The treasurer, who seems to have been a stout fellow, drew his. They stormed at one another, and soon there was a crowd about them. Henry, it was clear, was going to have plenty of support in his pretensions to the throne. He had been born in England after the Conquest, and the people, who were ready to grasp blindly for any kind of consolation, had begun to think of him as one of themselves. A great deal of sympathy was felt for him also as a result of his ill luck. He had been willed five thousand pounds and no land by his father, and the lands he had purchased in Normandy had been taken away from him by his two older brothers. He was now a handsome man of thirty-two, unmarried, a scholar, and to the people he seemed infinitely more desirable as King than the distant Robert, who had already displayed his lack of capacity to rule in his duchy of Normandy.

The available members of the nobility gathered in the council chamber of the royal castle to debate what was to be done. Most of them favored Robert, knowing that he would make a weak ruler, and at first a few only were ready to speak up for the landless prince. While they debated, however, a crowd was collecting in the streets who threatened to tear the castle down stone by stone if they were given any other King but Henry. Prudent counsel finally prevailed and the nobles voted for the younger brother. The church bells rang and the criers went through the streets shouting, “Long live King Henry!”

With the keys to the treasury safely in his pocket, the new incumbent of the throne rode to London and on Sunday, August 5, he was crowned in Westminster Abbey by Maurice, Bishop of London. He swore solemnly “to annul the unrighteous acts which took place in my brother’s reign.”

The death of William II left much to be annulled.