y
the probability of success.

The knowledge of this general disposition in the minds of men will
naturally remove a great deal of our wonder at seeing an attempt founded
on such slender appearances of right, and supported by a power so little
proportioned to the undertaking as that of William, so warmly embraced
and so generally followed, not only by his own subjects, but by all the
neighboring potentates. The Counts of Anjou, Bretagne, Ponthieu,
Boulogne, and Poictou, sovereign princes,--adventurers from every
quarter of France, the Netherlands, and the remotest parts of Germany,
laying aside their jealousies and enmities to one another, as well as to
William, ran with an inconceivable ardor into this enterprise,
captivated with the splendor of the object, which obliterated all
thoughts of the uncertainty of the event. William kept up this fervor
by promises of large territories to all his allies and associates in the
country to be reduced by their united efforts. But after all it became
equally necessary to reconcile to his enterprise the three great powers
of whom we have just spoken, whose disposition must have had the most
influence on his affairs.

His feudal lord, the King of France, was bound by his most obvious
interests to oppose the further aggrandizement of one already too potent
for a vassal. But the King of France was then a minor; and Baldwin, Earl
of Flanders, whose daughter William had married, was regent of the
kingdom. This circumstance rendered the remonstrance of the French
Council against his design of no effect: indeed, the opposition of the
Council itself was faint; the idea of having a king under vassalage to
their crown might have dazzled the more superficial courtiers; whilst
those who thought more deeply were unwilling to discourage an enterprise
which they believed would probably end in the ruin of the undertaker.
The Emperor was in his minority, as well as the King of France; but by
what arts the Duke prevailed upon the Imperial Council to declare in his
favor, whether or no by an idea of creating a balance to the power of
France, if we can imagine that any such idea then subsisted, is
altogether uncertain; but it is certain that he obtained leave for the
vassals of the Empire to engage in his service, and that he made use of
this permission. The Popes consent was obtained with still less
difficulty. William had shown himself in many instances a friend to the
Church and a favorer of the