this whole reign; and any foreigner, however
ignorant or worthless, was sure to have the preference in every
competition.[*****] As the English had given no disturbance to the
government during the course of fifty years, this inveterate antipathy
in a prince of so much temper as well as penetration, forms a
presumption that the English of that age were still a rude and barbarous
people even compared to the Normans, and impresses us with no very
favorable idea of the Anglo-Saxon manners.

Prince William left no children; and the king had not now any legitimate
issue, except one daughter, Matilda, whom, in 1110, he had betrothed,
though only eight years of age,[******] to the emperor Henry V., and
whom he had then sent over to be educated in Germany.[*******] [13]

[* Sim. Dunelm. p. 242. Alured. Beverl. p. 148.]

[** Order. Vitalis, p. 868.]

[*** Hoveden, p. 476. Order. Vitalis, p. 869.]

[**** Gul. Neubr. lib. i. cap, 3.]

[***** Eadmer, p 110.]

[****** Chron, Sax. p. 215. W. Malms, p. 166.
Order. Vitalis, p 83]

[******* See note M, at the end of the volume.]

But as her absence from the kingdom, and her marriage into a foreign
family, might endanger the succession, Henry, who was now a widower,
was induced to marry, in hopes of having male heirs; and he made his
addresses to Adelais, daughter of Godfrey, duke of Lovainc, and niece
of Pope Calixtus, a young princess of an amiable person.[*] {1121.} But
Adelais brought him no children; and the prince who was most likely to
dispute the succession, and even the immediate possession of the crown,
recovered hopes of subverting his rival, who had successively seized all
his patrimonial dominions. William, the son of Duke Robert, was still
protected in the French court; and as Henry's connections with the count
of Anjou were broken off by the death of his son, Fulk joined the party
of the unfortunate prince, gave him his daughter in marriage, and aided
him in raising disturbances in Normandy. But Henry found the means
of drawing off the count of Anjou, by forming anew with him a nearer
connection than the former, and one more material to the interests of
that count's family. {1127.} The emperor, his son-in-law, dying without
issue, he bestowed his daughter on Geoffrey, the eldest son of Fulk, and
endeavored to insure her succession, by having her recognized heir to
all his dominions, and obliging the barons both of Normandy