Holy Trinity, in the same city. They were called the "Abbaye aux Hommes" and the "Abbaye aux Dames," and were situated about a mile from each other. A stately palace was also erected by William within the precincts of St. Stephen's, for a royal residence.

Fourteen years after his marriage, William undertook his great expedition against England. He had at first much difficulty in prevailing upon his nobles to embark with him in so perilous an enterprise; but having overcome their opposition, he sailed in September, 1066, in a beautiful vessel called the "Mora," which had been presented to him for this purpose by his wife. It was adorned in a style of royal magnificence, and on the prow was placed the effigy of their youngest child, in gold, as some writers have said, holding a trumpet to his lips with his left hand, and with his right pointing with a bow and arrow towards England. This device was intended by Matilda to inspire her husband with confidence in the success of his undertaking, and scarcely was this appropriate gift presented, than, as if the very elements aided in concert, a favourable breeze sprung up, "and a joyful clamour," says the old chronicler, "then arising summoned every one to the ships."

The result of this invasion is well known. It gained for William the appellation of "the Conqueror," and for Matilda, the title of Queen; a title which until then was unknown in England.

The news of Duke William's victory at Hastings, and of his complete success, was soon conveyed to his wife, who, during his absence, had been left regent in Normandy, an office which she filled greatly to the satisfaction of the people. She was engaged at her devotions in the church of the Benedictines at Notre Dame du Pré, near St. Sevre, a church which she herself had founded in 1060, when the news of her husband's good fortune reached her. In commemoration of this circumstance, she ordered that this church should henceforth be called the "Priory of Our Lady of Good Tidings," which name it bears to the present day. But Matilda left to posterity a still more permanent and valuable memorial of her conjugal affection and taste, as well as an astonishing proof of the skill of her times, in that elaborate piece of workmanship called the Bayeux Tapestry, of which we have before spoken. This important work of art, the earliest notice of which is.found in an inventory of the effects of the Abbey of Bayeux, in 1476, where it is called, "A very long piece of cloth, embroidered with figures and writing, representing the conquest of England," is in fact an historical chronicle, presenting in needlework

a picture of events, commencing with the visit of Harold to the Norman court, and ending with his death on the fatal field of Hastings-a pictorial history important not only as a narrative of great events, but as a faithful memorial of the costume and manners of the age. That this epic in embroidery, which celebrates the warlike achievements of William, was a work of love on the part of his wife, may be easily believed; and in this point of view it also acquires a deep additional interest.

After the battle of Hastings, and the subjugation of the English, the Conqueror caused his own coronation to take place, and received the homage and submission of the chief nobility. Matilda, though not yet crowned, had assumed the title of Queen, probably, on the occasion of William's return to Normandy, six months after the conquest of England. This return to Normandy created universal joy. Matilda and her children received him on shore a little below the Abbey of Fescamp, while all classes of his subjects vied with each other in doing him honour. Several months were spent in triumphal progresses through the towns and cities of Normandy, when a spirit of discontent and rebellion arising in his newly acquired territories, William again, in the stormy month of December, embarked for England, having left Matilda and their son Robert regents in Normandy during his absence.

Tranquillity being once more restored, William sent over for Matilda. Accordingly, the following Easter, she and her children arrived in England, being joyfully met by William at Winchester, where preparations were immediately made for their coronation. Matilda's new subjects, who now for the first time beheld her, seem to have been greatly pleased by her manners and appearance. The coronation took place on Whitsunday at Winchester. The day was auspicious, and the weather fine; the company numerous and noble, and as an important feature of the occasion, it is recorded that William was in so remarkably gracious a mood as to grant favours to all who asked him. Before the ceremony of coronation, Matilda was served by her Norman nobility; but afterwards by her new English subjects, who, as has been said, were won by her prepossessing exterior. Nevertheless, the title of Queen, which she had assumed and which conveyed to their minds only an idea of sovereignty-was displeasing to the English, the wives of whose kings had hitherto been styled merely lady; and Matilda was spoken of as "the strange woman," who had assumed a title of authority to which she had no right. Yet, although the office of champion was instituted on the occasion of this coronation, and the

champion challenged three times to single combat any one who should deny that William and Matilda were King and Queen of England, yet no one did it, and Matilda maintained by their consent, as it might appear, the title of Queen. Towards the end of the same year she gave birth to her fourth son, Henry, at Selby, in Yorkshire.

We are now, however, constrained to notice a dark shade on the hitherto fair character of Matilda. It will be remembered that one of the impediments to the smooth course of William's wooing was the love which Matilda bore to Brihtric, a young Saxon nobleman, who, singularly enough, treated her preference with disdain. This slighted love must have rankled deeply in the soul of Matilda, and perhaps even William owed him a grudge for the tedious courtship which he had caused him. Be that as it might, twenty years afterwards, and after fourteen years of singularly happy married life, when, on the conquest of England, William rewarded his Norman lords and followers with the lands of the Saxon nobles, he bestowed the possessions of Brihtric, which lay in Gloucestershire, on his queen by her own desire. Nor did this satisfy her passion for vengeance; she punished the town of Gloucester by the forfeiture of its charter and civic liberties, because it had belonged to the unfortunate Saxon lord, while she had him conveyed to the city of Winchester, where he died in prison and was privately buried. Another story is related of Matilda's vengeance, which is no way incredible, either as regards the character of the woman, or of the age. It appears that the news reached her in Normandy of certain attentions which her husband was paying in his new kingdom to the beautiful daughter of one of the canons of Canterbury; she therefore caused the young lady to be put to death in a most cruel manner. If this be characteristic of a jealous wife of those days, no less characteristic of an incensed husband, the descendant of the stout Vikings in the eleventh century, was the punishment which William inflicted on his wife on his return to Normandy-" He beat her," relates an old chronicler, "with his bridle so severely, that she died soon after." The dying soon after was a mistake, but the beating is not so improbable; and as in the case of the wooing, so no doubt in this matrimonial quarrel, the dissension was of short duration; for all historians agree that this period of their lives was one of great harmony.

During the invasion of the Danes in England, and the troubles with which King William had to contend, his queen resided in Normandy, where, in her administration as regent, she exhibited great talents, and

in positions of difficulty, great prudence and address. Robert, eldest son of the Conqueror, was, at the age of fourteen, associated with his mother in the regency of Normandy. He had received a promise from his father, when he undertook his expedition against England, that, should he be successful, and obtain the crown of that country, he would bestow on him the Dukedom of Normandy; but when Robert claimed from him the fulfilment of this engagement, the king plainly told him that he must not expect it during his lifetime.

The respect which Robert entertained for his father might have withheld him from rebellion; but the machinations of the king's enemies incited him to take up arms and to enforce his claim at once. In this revolt Robert was supported by the forces of the French, and by the people of Maine who were strongly attached to him, and whom, in right of the little Countess of Maine, now dead, to whom Robert had been espoused while yet a child, they regarded as their rightful lord. He also received secret supplies from his mother, who by her sympathy and affection very naturally sought to compensate for the rigour of his father, and she accordingly furnished him both with money and soldiers. But the Conqueror quickly suppressed this rebellion; and it is remarkable that the hero who had triumphed in England with an army of Normans and foreigners, brought, on this occasion, English forces to recover his dukedom. The meeting of William with his queen under these circumstances has a tragic grandeur in it. He reproached her with sorrowing severity, observing that his great affection had led him to repose unbounded confidence in her, but that she had abused both the one and the other in lavishing his money on his enemies. In defence, Matilda urged the strong affection of a mother for her first-born child, and added, "If Robert were in his grave, and could be recovered by my blood, I would pour it out to restore him. How can I enjoy my prosperity, and suffer my son to be pining in want? Far from my heart be such cruelty, nor should your power exact it." The king was touched by this effusion of maternal tenderness, and contented himself with punishing those who had had the hardihood to be the bearers of his wife's presents to his One of these he ordered to be treated with great rigour, and to have his eyes put out; but, fortunately for the culprit, he eluded the sentence by flight.

son.

William's affection for his wife suffered no diminution; and even Robert-who, in this unnatural combat, found himself on one occasion personally opposed to his father, whom, not recognising at the time, he

unhorsed, and even pierced with a lauce--obtained his forgiveness on the expression of sincere contrition. Spite of his contrition, however, his father had not sufficient confidence in him to leave him in Normandy; therefore, not only to prevent the recurrence of further rebellion, but to remove him from the influence of his mother, he took him with himself into England, on pretence of employing him against the King of Scotland.

Whilst William regarded his son with a jealous eye, Robert complained that his services were not repaid by affection; and at length, wounded by his father's coldness and suspicions, and envious of the estimation in which his younger brother was held, Robert fled from England, and, after travelling throughout Europe, fixed his residence at the French court. The tidings of these new dissensions between her beloved husband and favourite son, caused the most poignant grief to the queen, whose heart was just then wrung by the death of her daughter Constance, Duchess of Bretagne, to whom she was tenderly attached. Again she endeavoured to obtain a reconciliation, but this time without effect. Her distress of mind was also greatly increased by the answer which she received from a German hermit and soothsayer, to whom she had applied on the painful disunion of her husband and son. The answer, which was but a prediction of increasing sorrow and misery, so affected the queen, that she sank into a lingering illness, which ended in her death.

On the first tidings of her sickness, the king hastened to Normandy, and arrived in time to see her expire, on the 2nd of November, 1084, in the seventeenth year of the Conqueror's reign. The death of Matilda caused the sincerest grief to her husband; he wept bitterly, and even renounced his favourite amusement of hunting. He had, in fact, ever evinced towards her the sincerity of friendship as well as the most devoted affection. The old chronicles assure us that "the counsels of Matilda more than once tempered the harsh and cruel disposition of the Conqueror towards his English subjects, and inclined him to clemency; but that after her death William gave himself up wholly to his tyrannical temper." The four years which he survived her were to him years of trouble and anxiety.

Notwithstanding the occasional causes of displeasure which the queen gave her husband, she enjoyed a state of much conjugal felicity with him during thirty-three years, and brought him four sons and five daughters. Of the former, Richard died during his father's lifetime, Robert was Duke of Normandy, and William Rufus and