Soissons, and many more clamoured for the charter of their liberty. In
the absence of so many overlords at the Crusades the towns beneath the
shadow of their castles seized the opportunity of strengthening their
position. The same spirit of revolt began to work in Rouen as soon as
the strong hand of the Conqueror was taken from the helm of
government. But Rouen did not win her civic liberty until she had
changed her own Norman dukes for the kings of France. The descendants
of Duke William, feeble as they were, were still too near the feudal
overlord to admit of rapid change. Yet the leaven was working already,
and the disputes of the Conqueror's children fostered the unruly
elements in the town.

Scarcely three years after Robert had attained the Duchy he quarrelled
openly with his brother, the Red King of England; and Rouen was
instantly in an uproar under Conan, a rich bourgeois, who probably
sided with William Rufus, because he saw more chance of a commune
under a distant king than in the presence of a duke at Rouen. In the
days of the Conqueror there had been no tyrants or demagogues in the
city, no armies in civic pay, no dealings of the citizens with other
princes. But now the chance for an independent commonwealth seemed
really to have come. However, the youngest brother, Henri Beauclerc,
came from Cotentin to assist Robert in his difficulty, but not before
the debauched and treacherous duke had been obliged to fly by the
eastern gate of Robec into the faubourg of Malpalu, where he was
cordially welcomed, and passed on to safety in St. Sever. Then Henri
Beauclerc, "The Lion of Justice," took up the fighting for himself,
swiftly beat back the soldiers of the Red King, threw Conan, the
leader of the revolt, into the Tower of the Dukes by the Seine, and
finally cast him down headlong from the battlements to die upon the
stones beneath. The place preserved the name of "Saut de Conan" for
many years, in the south-east corner of the Halles. So this first
Artevelde of Rouen came to an untimely end. Henri Beauclerc, helped by
Robert of Bellesme, one of the de Warrens (whose tomb is in the church
of Wantage), and by the Count of Evreux, proved far too strong for him
and for his companion in revolt, William, the son of Ansgar, who had
to pay a vast ransom as the price of disobedience, while many of the
rebellious citizens were massacred, and this immature attempt to form
a commune ended.

The three brothers continued to