iage. 1121.] and he made his addresses to Adelais, daughter of
Godfrey, Duke of Lovaine, and niece of Pope Calixtus, a young princess
of an amiable person [k]. But Adelais brought him no children; and
the prince who was most likely to dispute the succession, and even the
immediate possession of the crown, recovered hopes of subverting his
rival, who had successively seized all his patrimonial dominions.
William, the son of Duke Robert, was still protected in the French
court; and as Henry's connexions with the Count of Anjou were broken
off by the death of his son, Fulk joined the party of the unfortunate
prince, gave him his daughter in marriage, and aided him in raising
disturbances in Normandy. But Henry found the means of drawing off
the Count of Anjou, by forming anew with him a nearer connexion than
the former, and one more material to the interests of that count's
family. [MN 1127.] The emperor, his son-in-law, dying without issue,
he bestowed his daughter on Geoffrey, the eldest son of Fulk, and
endeavoured to ensure her succession by having her recognized heir to
all his dominions, and obliging the barons, both of Normandy and
England to swear fealty to her. [MN 1128.] He hoped that the choice
of this husband would be more agreeable to all his subjects than that
of the emperor; as securing them from the danger of falling under the
dominion of a great and distant potentate, who might bring them into
subjection, and reduce their country to the rank of a province: but
the barons were displeased that a step so material to national
interests had been taken without consulting them [l]; and Henry had
too sensibly experienced the turbulence of their disposition, not to
dread the effects of their resentment. It seemed probable, that his
nephew's party might gain force from the increase of the malecontents:
an accession of power which that prince acquired a little after,
tended to render his pretensions still more dangerous. Charles, Earl
of Flanders, being assassinated during the celebration of divine
service, King Lewis immediately put the young prince in possession of
that country, to which he had pretensions in the right of his
grandmother Matilda, wife to the Conqueror. But William survived a
very little time this piece of good fortune, which seemed to open the
way to still farther prosperity. He was killed in a skirmish with the
Landgrave of Alsace, his competitor for Flanders; and his death put an
end, f