prise.

One of the most important points which an hereditary potentate has to
attend to, in completing his political arrangements, is the question of
his marriage. Until he has a family and an heir, men's minds are
unsettled in respect to the succession, and the various rival candidates
and claimants to the throne are perpetually plotting and intriguing to
put themselves into a position to spring at once into his place if
sickness, or a battle, or any sudden accident should take him away. This
evil was more formidable than usual in the case of William, for the men
who were prepared to claim his place when he was dead were all secretly
or openly maintaining that their right to it was superior to his while
he was living. This gave a double intensity to the excitement with which
the public was perpetually agitated in respect to the crown, and kept
the minds of the ambitious and the aspiring, throughout William's
dominions, in a continual fever. It was obvious that a great part of
the cause of this restless looking for change and consequent planning to
promote it would be removed if William had a son.

It became, therefore, an important matter of state policy that the duke
should be married. In fact, the barons and military chieftains who were
friendly to him urged this measure upon him, on account of the great
effect which they perceived it would have in settling the minds of the
people of the country and consolidating his power. William accordingly
began to look around for a wife. It appeared, however, in the end, that,
though policy was the main consideration which first led him to
contemplate marriage, love very probably exercised an important
influence in determining his choice of the lady; at all events, the
object of his choice was an object worthy of love. She was one of the
most beautiful and accomplished princesses in Europe.

She was the daughter of a great potentate who ruled over the country of
Flanders. Flanders lies upon the coast, east of Normandy, beyond the
frontiers of France, and on the southern shore of the German Ocean. Her
father's title was the Earl of Flanders. He governed his dominions,
however, like a sovereign, and was at the head of a very effective
military power. His family, too, occupied a very high rank, and enjoyed
great consideration among the other princes and potentates of Europe. It
had intermarried with the royal family of England, so that Matilda, the
daughter of the earl, whom Wi