The English people appear to have regarded the shipwreck as a judgment of Heaven upon the vices of the prince and the cruelties of his father. This view was strengthened by the circumstance that the disaster took place, not in a storm, but on a calm sea and under a tranquil sky. The character of Prince William is represented by the chroniclers as that of a tyrannical and licentious youth. He is said to have detested the people from whom his own mother was descended, and to have declared that when he became king he would bend the necks of the English to the plough, and treat them like beasts of burden. "The proud youth!" says Henry of Huntingdon, a contemporary writer; "he was anticipating his future reign; but God said, 'Not so, thou impious one; it shall not be.' And thus it happened that his brow, instead of being encircled with a crown of gold, was dashed against the rocks of the ocean." It is possible, however, that the historians gave too much importance to the light words of a heedless youth, and we may well be cautious in covering with infamy the name of one of whose life the last and best authenticated act at least was noble and generous. On the death of Prince William, the Count of Anjou sent messengers to Henry, demanding back his daughter Matilda, together with the dowry which had been given to the king on her marriage. Henry willingly consented to the return of the princess to her father, but refused to give up any part of the money. Fulk was thus furnished with a pretext for renewing his former connection with William of Normandy, on whose future prospects the death of his cousin might exercise considerable influence. The son of Duke Robert was placed by Fulk in possession of the earldom of Le Mans, and was again betrothed to Sibylla, the younger daughter of the Count Henry, who was apprised of these proceedings, passed over into Normandy, and after a year of desultory warfare, made prisoners of several of the Norman barons, and detached Fulk of Anjou once more from the cause of William. [Illustration: HENRY I.]