to
pass over to the continent, and to bring the Norman army to a speedy
engagement. They fought under the walls of Tinchebrai, where the bravery
and military genius of Robert, never more conspicuous than on that day,
were borne down by the superior fortune and numbers of his ambitious
brother. He was made prisoner; and notwithstanding all the tender pleas
of their common blood, in spite of his virtues, and even of his
misfortunes, which pleaded so strongly for mercy, the rigid conqueror
held him in various prisons until his death, which did not happen until
after a rigorous confinement of eighteen, some say twenty-seven, years.
This was the end of a prince born with a thousand excellent qualities,
which served no other purpose than to confirm, from the example of his
misfortunes, that a facility of disposition and a weak beneficence are
the greatest vices that can enter into the composition of a monarch,
equally ruinous to himself and to his subjects.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1107.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 1108.]

The success of this battle put Henry in possession of Normandy, which he
held ever after with very little disturbance. He fortified his new
acquisition by demolishing the castles of those turbulent barons who had
wasted and afterwards enslaved their country by their dissensions. Order
and justice took place, until everything was reduced to obedience; then
a severe and regular oppression succeeded the former disorderly tyranny.
In England things took the same course. The king no longer doubted his
fortune, and therefore no longer respected his promises or his charter.
The forests, the savage passion of the Norman princes, for which both
the prince and people paid so dearly, were maintained, increased, and
guarded with laws more rigorous than before. Taxes were largely and
arbitrarily assessed. But all this tyranny did not weaken, though it
vexed the nation, because the great men were kept in proper subjection,
and justice was steadily administered.

The politics of this remarkable reign consisted of three branches: to
redress the gross abuses which prevailed in the civil government and the
revenue, to humble the great barons, and keep the aspiring spirit of
the clergy within proper bounds. The introduction of a new law with a
new people at the Conquest had unsettled everything: for whilst some
adhered to the Conqueror's regulations, and others contended for those
of St. Edward, neither of them were well executed or proper