am behaved
with great bravery, and the king himself was in the most imminent
danger. He was wounded in the head by Crispin, a gallant Norman
officer, who had followed the fortunes of William [a]; but, being
rather animated than terrified by the blow, he immediately beat his
antagonist to the ground, and so encouraged his troops by the example,
that they put the French to total rout, and had very nearly taken
their king prisoner. The dignity of the persons engaged in this
skirmish rendered it the most memorable action of the war; for, in
other respects, it was not of great importance. There were nine
hundred horsemen, who fought on both sides; yet were there only two
persons slain. The rest were defended by that heavy armour worn by
the cavalry in those times [b]. An accommodation soon after ensued
between the Kings of France and England; and the interests of young
William were entirely neglected in it.
[FN [a] H. Hunt. p. 381. M. Paris, p. 47. Diceto, p. 503. [b]
Order. Vital. p. 854.]

[MN 1120. Death of Prince William.]
But this public prosperity of Henry was much overbalanced by a
domestic calamity which befel him. His only son, William, had now
reached his eighteenth year, and the king, from the facility with
which he himself had usurped the crown, dreading that a like
revolution might subvert his family, had taken care to have him
recognized successor by the states of the kingdom, and had carried him
over to Normandy, that he might receive the homage of the barons of
that duchy. The king, on his return, set sail from Barfleur, and was
soon carried by a fair wind out of sight of land. The prince was
detained by some accident; and his sailors, as well as their captain,
Thomas Fitz-Stephens, having spent the interval in drinking, were so
flustered, that being in a hurry to follow the king, they heedlessly
carried the ship on a rock, where she immediately foundered. William
was put into the long boat, and had got clear of the ship, when,
hearing the cries of his natural sister, the Countess of Perche, he
ordered the seamen to row back in hopes of saving her; but the numbers
who then crowded in soon sunk the boat; and the prince, with all his
retinue, perished. Above a hundred and forty young noblemen, of the
principal families of England and Normandy, were lost on this
occasion. A butcher of Rouen was the only person on board who escaped
[c]. He clung to the mast, and was taken up next morning by
fi