court, besides all the officers and servants of their households. So the king and his household sailed in one ship, and Prince William was to follow in another, called the White Ship, with one of his sisters and his friends. But night came on before the prince's ship was ready; for the prince, and the young lords and ladies who were with him, were giving a great banquet. 5. At last the captain remembered his duty, and told the prince that they must not delay longer. So as night fell they set sail, and went out into the dark sea. Then almost immediately the ship struck against a rock, and the water rushed in, and she began to sink. 6. At once the captain ordered the sailors to let down the long-boat that hung at the ship's side; and the sailors quickly obeyed, and the boat was made ready and manned. Then the captain put the prince and his friends into it, and pushed it off, and bade the men row first to land and come back to save the rest. But Prince William heard his sister's voice calling him in accents of despair. He could not bear to save himself and let her die, so he made the boatman turn round and row back to the sinking ship. 7. But as soon as the boat came under the side of the ship, a crowd of men and women forced their way into her. The boat was filled beyond what it could bear, and it sank under the water with all the company in it. The prince went down under the sea, and his sister went down too; and so did all the boatmen, and all the gay lords and ladies who had rushed in to save their lives. Only one person escaped to tell the awful tale. 8. When the news came to England, no man durst tell it to the king for many days. Then when the king wondered that his son did not come, they told the story to a little child; and the child went in and told it to the king. 9. When he heard it he fell down senseless, and lay like a dead man. By-and-by his senses came back. But he grieved always for his son; and those who knew him well used to say that from that time they never saw him smile again. For not only was Henry grieved that his son was dead, but he knew there was now no one who would carry on the government as he had done, and that as soon as he was dead different princes would begin to fight for the kingdom, as they had done at the death of Canute and of Edward. 14. KING STEPHEN AND THE EMPRESS MAUD 1. King Henry died in Normandy fifteen years after his son's death, and before he died he made all the barons swear that they would make his daughter Maud Queen of England after his death, though no woman had reigned over the Normans before. She was called the Empress because she had been married to the Emperor of Germany, who was dead. Afterwards she married the Count of Anjou, a powerful French prince, whose territories stretched far and wide from the borders of Normandy; and King Henry meant her son to be hereafter king of all England, Normandy, and Anjou, and to be a great prince in the place of the dead prince William. 2. Now among those who swore to make Maud queen was Stephen, a grandson of William the Conqueror and Maud's own cousin. But Stephen was a Norman, and all the Normans were old enemies of the men of Anjou, or the Angevins, as they were called; and now they were determined not to be ruled by the Angevins if they could help it. So as soon as King Henry was dead, Stephen hurried across the sea to England, travelled up to London, and offered himself to the citizens as their king. Maud was away in France, and the citizens were in great anxiety, for it had happened as King Henry feared; and all over the country, directly the news came that King Henry was no longer alive to punish them, law less men had begun to rob the people, and the citizens did not think that a woman would be strong enough to keep order in the land. So they chose Stephen to be king, and crowned him. Stephen was a tall, handsome man, with very gracious manners, and he laughed and talked with the people as friends. This pleased them, for William the Conqueror and his sons had all been silent and haughty and terrible. 3. But after two or three years the English found that bravery and pleasant manners were not enough to make a good king in those times. The Norman barons built castles all over the land, so strong that nobody could reach them there, and thence they sallied forth continually and attacked peaceful people and robbed and murdered them. 4. The only men who were good and merciful in those days were a few of the best of the bishops and ministers of the Christian Church. They were in favour of peace and mercy and quiet government, and they gave shelter to the oppressed and starving, and always strove to restore order to the land. 5. After a time the Empress Maud came to England to claim the kingdom. She could have done little for herself, but she had a brave half-brother Robert, who fought for her and led her army. And then began a terrible war between them and their cousin Stephen, and the sufferings of the country were greater than ever. No one dared till the land any more; corn and cheese, and butter and meat, grew scarce; wretched people were dying of hunger in the fields; and all the while King Stephen and the |