deem the glory and independence of their
oppressed and miserable country. But in the very midst of the rejoicings
which succeeded the birth of the prince, his grandfather, Henry II.,
demanded to have the possession and guardianship of his person; and on
the spirited refusal of Constance to yield her son into his power, he
invaded Bretagne with a large army, plundering, burning, devastating the
country as he advanced. He seized Rennes, the capital, and having by the
basest treachery obtained possession of the persons both of the young
duchess and her children, he married Constance forcibly to one of his
own favorite adherents, Randal de Blondeville, Earl of Chester, and
conferred on him the duchy of Bretagne, to be held as a fief of the
English crown.

The Earl of Chester, though a brave knight and one of the greatest
barons of England, had no pretensions to so high an alliance; nor did he
possess any qualities or personal accomplishments which might have
reconciled Constance to him as a husband. He was a man of diminutive
stature and mean appearance, but of haughty and ferocious manners, and
unbounded ambition.[83] In a conference between this Earl of Chester and
the Earl of Perche, in Lincoln cathedral, the latter taunted Randal with
his insignificant person, and called him contemptuously "_Dwarf_."
"Sayst thou so!" replied Randal; "I vow to God and our Lady, whose
church this is, that ere long I will seem to thee high as that steeple!"
He was as good as his word, when, on ascending the throne of Brittany,
the Earl of Perche became his vassal.

We cannot know what measures were used to force this degradation on the
reluctant and high-spirited Constance; it is only certain that she never
considered her marriage in the light of a sacred obligation, and that
she took the first opportunity of legally breaking from a chain which
could scarcely be considered as legally binding. For about a year she
was obliged to allow this detested husband the title of Duke of
Bretagne, and he administered the government without the slightest
reference to her will, even in form, till 1189, when Henry II. died,
execrating himself and his undutiful children. Whatever great and good
qualities this monarch may have possessed, his conduct in Bretagne was
uniformly detestable. Even the unfilial behavior of his sons may be
extenuated; for while he spent his life, and sacrificed his peace, and
violated every principle of honor and humanity to comp