Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1839 edition. Excerpt: ... WILLIAM THE CONQUEKOK, SEVENTH DUKE OF NORMANDY. From his Accession in 1035 to the Death of Edward the Confessor. SECTION I. The old chroniclers were fond of mixing up fable with fact, and as they lived in superstitious times, their fictions were usually of a supernatural character. The conqueror of England was too illustrious a personage to be overlooked by the compilers of historical romance, and we accordingly find several prodigies accompanying his birth, which deserve to be recorded, as showing the spirit of the age. Of these we shall select a few of the most ingenious and striking. During her pregnancy, his mother had two remarkable dreams, both predicting the future greatness of her son. She imagined that a lofty tree issued from her loins, the branches of which overshadowed the whole of Normandy; and on another occasion, she fancied that her intestines were stretched over the whole of Normandy and England, both of which dreams received their solution when William was firmly seated on the ducal throne and had reaped the fruits of the victory at Hastings. Immediately after birth, the child was placed on a small heap of straw, which he clutched with his hands, on which the nurse observed, " This infant begins so early to collect and amass, that I know not what large possessions he will acquire, when arrived at manhood." When yet a child in the castle of Falaise, he was visited by William Talvas, Countof Bellesme, Alencon, and Sees, who, judgingfrom his features that he would quell the ambition of his house, exclaimed, " May the curse of Heaven light on you, since through you and your race my power will be laid low, and the fame of my posterity be obscured."1 William was eight years of age when his father died, having succeeded to the...
