This famous prince was natural son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, by Harlotta, daughter of a tanner in Falaise [s], and was very early established in that grandeur from which his birth seemed to have set him at so great a distance. While he was but nine years of age, his father had resolved to undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; a fashionable act of devotion, which had taken the place of pilgrimages to Rome, and which, as it was attended with more difficulty and danger, and carried those religious adventurers to the first sources of Christianity, appeared to them more meritorious. Before his departure, he assembled the states of the duchy; and informing them of his design, he engaged them to swear allegiance to his natural son, William, whom, as he had no legitimate issue, he intended, in case he should die in the pilgrimage, to leave successor to his dominions [t]. As he was a prudent prince, he could not but foresee the great inconveniences which must attend this journey, and this settlement of his succession, arising from the turbulency of the great, the claims of other branches of the ducal family, and the power of the French monarch; but all these considerations were surmounted by the prevailing zeal for pilgrimages [u]; and probably the more important they were, the more would Robert exult in sacrificing them to what he imagined to be his religious duty. [FN [s] Brompton, p. 910. [t] W. Malm. p. 95. [u] Ypod. Neust. p. 452.]
This prince, as he had apprehended, died in his pilgrimage; and the minority of his son was attended with all those disorders which were almost unavoidable in that situation. The licentious nobles, freed from the awe of sovereign authority, broke out into personal animosities against each other, and made the whole country a scene of war and devastation [w]. Roger, Count of Toni, and Alain, Count of Britany, advanced claims to the dominion of the state; and Henry I., King of France, thought the opportunity favourable for reducing the power of a vassal, who had originally acquired his settlement in so violent and invidious a manner, and who had long appeared formidable to his sovereign [x]. The regency established by Robert encountered great difficulties in supporting the government under this complication of dangers; and the young prince, when he came to maturity, found himself reduced to a very low condition. But the great qualities which he soon displayed in the field and in the cabinet gave encouragement to his friends, and struck a terror into his enemies. He opposed himself on all sides against his rebellious subjects, and against foreign invaders; and by his valour and conduct prevailed in every action. He obliged the French king to grant him peace on reasonable terms; he expelled all pretenders to the sovereignty; and he reduced his turbulent barons to pay submission to his authority, and to suspend their mutual animosities. The natural severity of his temper appeared in a rigorous administration of justice; and having found the happy effects of this plan of government, without which the laws in those ages became totally impotent, he regarded it as a fixed maxim, that an inflexible conduct was the first duty of a sovereign. [FN [w] W. Malm. p. 95. Gul. Gemet. lib. 7. cap. 1. [x] W. Malm. p. 97.]