Little Arthur's history of EnglandCallcott, Maria, Lady
History
Little Arthur's history of England
Callcott, Maria, Lady
Great Britain -- History -- Juvenile literature
Well, Robert and William collected an army, and went to his castle,
to drive him out, and they contrived to keep him so closely confined,
that neither he nor his people could get out to fetch water. Robert
and William heard of this, and that the people in the castle were
dying of thirst. William was very glad, because he said they would
soon get the castle; but Robert, who was much more generous,
immediately gave his brother Henry leave to send and get as much
water as he wanted; and besides that, Robert sent him some of the
best of his own wine. Henry soon after gave up the castle.
This story shows you how cruel William was to his own brother; so you
may think he did not behave better to his subjects, and that they
were not very sorry when he was killed by accident. Some tell the
story of his death in this manner:—One day when he was hunting in
the New Forest, made by his father, which you read about in the last
chapter, he had a gentleman named Walter Tyrrel with him, who was
reckoned skilful in shooting with a bow and arrow. This gentleman,
seeing a fine deer run by, wished to show the king how well he could
shoot; but he was a little too eager, and his arrow, instead of going
straight to the deer, touched a tree, which turned it aside, and it
killed the king, who was standing near the tree. But the truth is
that it was never known who shot the arrow that killed the wicked
king.
Some poor men found William’s body lying in the forest, and carried
it to Winchester, where it was buried.
William Rufus does not deserve to be remembered for many things, yet
we must not forget that he built a good bridge over the river Thames,
just where the old London bridge stood, till it was taken down, when
the fine new bridge was finished; besides that, he built Westminster
Hall, very near the Abbey, and when you walk to Westminster you will
see part of the very wall raised by him. But its large and beautiful
roof was built three hundred years later by Richard II.
CHAPTER XVI.
HENRY I.—1100 to 1135.
How Henry the First married the English Princess Maude; how his son
William was drowned, and how he desired that his daughter Maude
should be Queen after his own death.
As soon as the nobles and bishops knew that William Rufus was dead,
they determined that his younger brother, Henry, should be king,
because Robert, the eldest, was too busy about the wars in the Holy
Land, which I mentioned before.
Now Henry was brave and clever, like his father, but he was not quite
so cruel.
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