claims of the Dane, Grand, and Blaatand, without a knot, or at least without the possibility 942-954 of tying one. Louis was now bodily in Ber- 945-946 nard's holding; and, had any analogous case been conflicting discussed amongst the noisy Sportsmen at their Bernard meet, or argued by the Civilians before the Earl Hugh-leMarshal sitting in the court of Chivalry, or Harold mooted as an Exchequer plea to be decided by to the the Barons, the leading allegation-to wit-that Louis. the game, lost in the first instance through the culpable negligence of Harold's keepers, had been recovered by the means of Bernard's diligence and activity, - might have supplied a strong basis for his demand. custody of Grand en claim Louis tive. Lastly, Hugh-le-Grand could adduce very Hugh-leplausible grounds in supporting his pretensions. titled to He had waged the war for the restoration of the as his capyoung Richard; and, chief in rank as well as possessing the most efficient means of safely guarding the prisoner, it was Hugh-le-Grand to whom the Prize appertained, in order that he might best work for the Common Weal. The Norman Rulers assembled themselves in Council at Rouen, summoning Bernard de Senlis to co-operate as Richard's nearest friend. Under the first excitement of success, the idea of the profit to be derived by bargaining for the King's redemption, glanced athwart Harold Blaatand's mind. Du Guesclin would not have disdained the motive: Harold was justified in entertaining it. Moreover, his popularity, VOL. II. I I 945-946 Harold Blaatand's mity. He authority and returns mark. 942-954 superadded to his military resources, would have enabled him to retain, not merely the Cotentin peninsula, but the whole Terra Normannorum. Harold, trusty and true, withstood all such magnani- temptations; every selfish feeling had passed restores the away, and he simply devoted himself to the of Richard cause of Guillaume Longue-épée's son. Making to Den- the circuit of the country, Harold took legal possession on the young Richard's behalf. Had Blaatand been Richard's own father, he could not have conducted himself with more affection and energy. In the name of the Duke, he exacted the universal obedience of the Norman people.-Clergy and Laity, Knights, Citizens, and Peasantry, all were required to perform fealty to the absent Sovereign. The fortifications, dismantled or destroyed by the French for the purpose of ensuring the subjugation of the inhabitants, were repaired according to Harold's directions: the breaches built up and the palisades replanted, so as to be fully defensible in case the French should ever again insult the Norman land. He expelled the enemy in every shape; for, when we are informed that Harold re-established the laws of Rollo, we easily translate the phrase into the fact, that all the agents of the intrusive government were removed. But dangers were impending in the North; and therefore the wise and honourable Dane, having satisfied his conscience and thoroughly fulfilled his 945-946 Bernard and the determine the that Louis shall never until he dered all over Nor duty towards Normandy, returned home: ready 942-054 to give help again, should Richard ever require. § 35. Harold's abandonment of all the personal advantages which he might have Normans gained, left Bernard and the Normans in undisturbed possession of the royal Prisoner, and be released they luxuriated in their vengeance.-Louis, who has surrenhad assented to the spoliation of their property his rights and the defilement of their wives and daughters, mandy. -Louis, the perjured cheat, the tyrant who had betrayed them, baffled them, deceived them, was now in their grasp. Now was the full opportunity presented to them of recovering all that they had lost since the dark day of dishonour, when their Nobles smiled and bowed whilst the French King, triumphing in his paramount supremacy, was graciously granting the Terra Normannorum to the half-caste Mamzer. These recollections had assuredly acquired additional bitterness from the consciousness that the degradation was self-inflicted. Had they not in the very presence of their young and helpless Sovereign become the homagers of the intrusive Monarch? It was therefore their firm resolve, that, unless and until Louis consented to relinquish every injurious superiority which he might claim over Normandy, never again should he walk abroad beneath the sky. The views entertained by Hugh-le-Grand were substantially identical with theirs, or 945-946 942-954 rather comprehended therein. Whilst Hugh's ambition constantly acquired more ardency, he was nevertheless always able to restrain himself, always looking towards the summit, pace by pace, making each footstep sure; never desisting, never hastening, and the long desired goal appeared to be hard by. Few, very few in number were the surviving representatives of the Carlovingian race; and, deepening his designs, Hugh now planned to bring all the throne-capable members of that family into his actual power. Hugh-le- plans for bringing In the meanwhile, Gerberga, overwhelmed by sorrow though never unnerved, continued safe the whole with her children in the Tower of Laôn. Louis royal family into had habitually associated Gerberga to himself his power. in the exercise of government, so that, in fact, she was Regent. But Hugh-le-Grand assumed that the authority of the King, instead of being transferred to the Queen, was annulled by the restraint of the dungeon, which cut him off from all intercourse with the outward world. The King's imprisonment was construed as equivalent to civil death. The Duke of all the Gauls therefore comported himself as the Protector of the Realm during the interregnum. summoned various conventions of the Nobles, amongst whom the Vermandois Princes,-Eudes, and good Albert, and Herbert the handsome, and their connexions,-were pre-eminent. However, he dealt at the same time with the Normans He 945-946 as though they had been working with him and 942-954 for him, so that when he repaired to Rouen, where he found the King in confinement, he thanked them publicly for their exertions on his behalf. Gerberga was therefore compelled to sue for mercy, and she did so, not through the intervention of others, but by repairing to the Duke in person, acting therein with the approbation of the Prelates, always the chief Counsellors of the Realm. Grand of self as a between the French Pursuant to the Queen's earnest solicitation, Hugh-leHugh offered himself as a mediator between the fers himNormans and the French, and a conference was mediator held at Saint Clair-sur-Epte, when the negotia- and the tions were opened for the King's liberation. Normans. Bernard de Senlis came forward also as a peacemaker. But the Normans, prompted by the Duke, refused to entertain any proposition, unless all the King's surviving male children were surrendered as hostages for the performance of such conditions as should be imposed. Gerberga recoiled from this demand. What had been her mind towards the young Richard at Laôn?— Interpreting the sentiments of the Enemy by her own, she might well anticipate that the same lethal incarceration which had been devised by herself for the Norman boy, was preparing for the extinction of her own lineage. Therefore, however anxious to obtain her husband's freedom, Gerberga would in nowise part with their |