ters of the heir, but
in the end William showed himself sufficiently strong to establish his
power. He won a great battle at Val-es-Dunes where he had been met by
the barons led by Guy of Burgundy, and, having taken some of the most
formidable fortresses in the Duchy, he turned his attention to his foes
outside with equal success. Soon after this William married Mathilda a
daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders, but although by this act he made
peace with her country, William soon found himself in trouble with the
church. Bishop Mauger, whom he had appointed to the See of Rouen, found
fault with the marriage owing to its being within the forbidden degrees
of relationship, and the papal sanction having been refused, William
only obtained his wishes through the agency of Lanfranc. All his life
William appears to have set a stern example of purity in family life,
and his relations with the church, from this time to his death, seem to
have been most friendly. It was largely due to his religious life as
well as the support he gave to the monasteries that William was able to
give the colour of a religious crusade to his project for invading
England. Harold had slighted the sacredness of the holy relics of the
saints of Normandy, and William was to show England that their king's
action was not to pass unpunished. In this way the Norman host that
assembled at Dives, while the great fleet was being prepared, included
many who came from outside William's dominions. After the whole of
England had been completely subjugated William had his time and
attention largely taken up with affairs in Normandy. His son Robert was
soon in open rebellion, and assisted by the French King, Philip I.,
Robert brought about the death of his father, for it was while
devastating a portion of French territory that William received the
injury which resulted in his death. Robert then became Duke of Normandy,
and there followed those sanguinary quarrels between the three brothers
William Rufus, King of England, Henry Beauclerc and Robert. Finally,
after his return from Palestine, Robert came to England to endeavour to
make peace with his younger brother Henry, who was now king, but the
quarrel was not to be settled in this way. Henry, determined to add
Normandy to the English crown, crossed the channel with a large army and
defeated his brother at Tinchebrai in 1106. With the accession of
Stephen to the English throne in 1135, came the long struggle between