William the son of William was born in Normandy many years before his father came to England. He was brought up by his parents with great care, and, since he was endowed by nature with a mind fertile in great schemes, he climbed to the utmost summit of honour. He would have been without doubt a prince incomparable in our time, had not his father’s greatness eclipsed him, and had not destiny cut him off ere his prime, before riper years might correct faults which sprang from the licence of power and the rashness of youth. After his childhood, his early years were spent in military pursuits, in riding, in throwing the spear, in contending with his elders in service, and with those of his own age in duty. He counted it a reproach to his courage if another took arms before him in warfare, or if he were not the first to challenge the enemy, or, if challenged, to overthrow him. Loyal to his father in all things, he fought before his eyes in battle and stayed at his side in time of peace. With a gradually widening ambition, he was now eager to succeed to the throne, especially after the renunciation of his elder brother, though he was not without suspicion of his untried younger brother. So when his father, lying in his last illness, adopted him as his successor, he went in haste to take possession of the realm, before the king had breathed his last; and soon after was gladly received by the people and secured the keys of the treasury, by means whereof he subjected the whole of England to his will. Archbishop Lanfranc, the greatest power of the state, declared in favour of him, because he had educated him and made him a knight.... He was endowed with a high generosity of soul, which in the course of time was obscured by an excessive harshness, and vices crept into his heart in place of virtues so insensibly as to escape observation. For a long time men were in doubt whither his nature would carry and incline him. At first, during the life of archbishop Lanfranc, he shrank from any kind of crime, so that men hoped he would prove an unexampled mirror of royalty; and after Lanfranc’s death, he wavered for a time, poised between good and evil courses; but at length, in his last years, desire for good froze in him, and a crop of ills grew and ripened; his generosity became prodigality, his large-heartedness became pride, his severity became brutality.... Abroad and at gatherings of men he stood high and proud of aspect, fixing a threatening eye on bystanders, and repelling those who spoke with him with an assumed severity and fierce tones; as may be guessed, a fear of inadequate supplies and of others’ treachery made him unduly rapacious and stern. In private and at table with friends he was altogether easy and genial and full of jest. He was the wittiest of commentators on his own misdeeds, and strove to rid himself of the odium by an epigram....