nobles
from their lawful sovereign, and at length render the Duke himself the
mere vassal of his power.

In the midst of these scenes of turbulence and bloodshed was Constance
born, in the year 1164. The English king consummated his perfidious
scheme of policy, by seizing on the person of the infant princess,
before she was three years old, as a hostage for her father. Afterwards,
by contracting her in marriage to his third son, Geoffrey Plantagenet,
he ensured, as he thought, the possession of the duchy of Bretagne to
his own posterity.

From this time we hear no more of the weak, unhappy Conan, who, retiring
from a fruitless contest, hid himself in some obscure retreat: even the
date of his death is unknown. Meanwhile Henry openly claimed the duchy
in behalf of his son Geoffrey and the Lady Constance; and their claims
not being immediately acknowledged, he invaded Bretagne with a large
army, laid waste the country, bribed or forced some of the barons into
submission, murdered or imprisoned others, and, by the most treacherous
and barbarous policy, contrived to keep possession of the country he had
thus seized. However, in order to satisfy the Bretons, who were attached
to the race of their ancient sovereigns, and to give some color to his
usurpation, he caused Geoffrey and Constance to be solemnly crowned at
Rennes, as Duke and Duchess of Bretagne. This was in the year 1169 when
Constance was five, and Prince Geoffrey about eight, years old. His
father, Henry, continued to rule, or rather to ravage and oppress, the
country in their name for about fourteen years, during which period we
do not hear of Constance. She appears to have been kept in a species of
constraint as a hostage rather than a sovereign; while her husband
Geoffrey, as he grew up to manhood, was too much engaged in keeping the
Bretons in order, and disputing his rights with his father, to think
about the completion of his union with Constance, although his sole
title to the dukedom was properly and legally in right of his wife. At
length, in 1182, the nuptials were formally celebrated, Constance being
then in her nineteenth year. At the same time, she was recognized as
Duchess of Bretagne _de son chef_, (that is, in her own right,) by two
acts of legislation, which are still preserved among the records of
Bretagne, and bear her own seal and signature.

Those domestic feuds which embittered the whole life of Henry II., and
at length broke his heart, a