re well known. Of all his sons, who were in
continual rebellion against him, Geoffrey was the most undutiful, and
the most formidable: he had all the pride of the Plantagenets,--all the
warlike accomplishments of his two elder brothers, Henry and Richard;
and was the only one who could compete with his father in talent,
eloquence, and dissimulation. No sooner was he the husband of Constance,
and in possession of the throne of Bretagne, than he openly opposed his
father; in other words, he maintained the honor and interests of his
wife and her unhappy country against the cruelties and oppression of the
English plunderers.[82] About three years after his marriage, he was
invited to Paris for the purpose of concluding a league, offensive and
defensive, with the French king: in this journey he was accompanied by
the Duchess Constance, and they were received and entertained with royal
magnificence. Geoffrey, who excelled in all chivalrous accomplishments,
distinguished himself in the tournaments which were celebrated on the
occasion; but unfortunately, after an encounter with a French knight,
celebrated for his prowess, he was accidentally flung from his horse,
and trampled to death in the lists before he could be extricated.

Constance, being now left a widow, returned to Bretagne, where her
barons rallied round her, and acknowledged her as their sovereign. The
Salique law did not prevail in Bretagne, and it appears that in those
times the power of a female to possess and transmit the rights of
sovereignty had been recognized in several instances; but Constance is
the first woman who exercised those rights in her own person. She had
one daughter, Elinor, born in the second year of her marriage, and a few
months after her husband's death she gave birth to a son. The States of
Bretagne were filled with exultation; they required that the infant
prince should not bear the name of his father,--a name which Constance,
in fond remembrance of her husband, would have bestowed on him--still
less that of his grandfather Henry; but that of Arthur, the redoubted
hero of their country, whose memory was worshipped by the populace.
Though the Arthur of romantic and fairy legends--the Arthur of the round
table, had been dead for six centuries, they still looked for his second
appearance among them, according to the prophecy of Merlin; and now,
with fond and short-sighted enthusiasm, fixed their hopes on the young
Arthur as one destined to re