Chap. 1. fom the Conquest, to the Death oj Mary !.

fit to retire, without making any At-tempt at all. (e) The Danes, after hav-r\ ing committed great Hostilities on the

anelm. (Coasts, landed in the Mouth of theDumber, and were immediately joynedby the Male-contents in Northumber-land. They were soon followed byEdgar Athcling, and his Associates,from Scotland. With these Re-inforce-ments the Danes became so formidable,t ^ at c ^ e 7 marched to Tori, and soon be-e . anes- came Masters both of the City and theCastle. They abandoned it, however,to the Northumbrians, whom they leftto the King’s Mercy, and retired, wellloaded with Plunder, to their Encamp-ment, between the OuJ'e and the Trent,where they wintered. William, wellknowing what he must hazard by aTheir Gene would not attack them, but chose

r ai bribed to rather to bribe the Danijh General, bydepart. Presents, to depart. He made the Offer,giving them Leave to plunder the Coun-try along the Sea-Coasts; and, the Ne-gociation succeeding, according to hisVV ifh, the Danes retired early in theSpring. (/)

^sent 1 of During William ’s Absence in the

the Irish. North, the Sons of the late King Ha-rold, having procured from Dermot,° 7 °' King of Ireland, a Fleet of Sixty Sail,landed again not far from Exeter, plun-dering and burning wherever they came:But Brien, Son to Eudo, Earl of Bre-tagne, fought them twice in one Day;and, killing Seven Hundred of theirMen, with divers of the Irish Nobility,the Rest, flying to their Ships, returnedinto Ireland, (g)

*071. In the Year 1071. when Morcar,and other Revolters were retired to theIJle of Ely, Swaine, King of Denmark,4 nof r Christian a Danijh Bishop, Earl Osbern,terv ptosfhe lln< ^ ^ cversl l other Danes joyned them ;banes. Bu tSwaine, having concluded a Peace

with William, the Danes went off witha large Booty, taken out of PeterburghMonastery, which they plundered andburnt. (Jj

?

Philip King of France attacking Nor- 1073.mandy, in the Year 1073. and having France Lo-calised several Places to revolt, 1 Williamwent over with so considerable a Force, a. Waverl:that he soon took Mans, and all the M. Paris.Province of Maine, (chiefly by dieValour of the Englijh) which made * Pf , ar/ ,Philip so weary of the War, that he f ues .was glad to end it by a Peace,

While William was in Normandy a 1074.fresh Conspiracy was brooding in Eng- 4 Confptra-land, of which the most considerable of slg *the Norman Lords were the Contrivers. Hoved.

Waltheoff, one of the Conspirators dis- M - Paris,covered it to the King, upon which itwas stifled in it’s Birth : But Ralph deGuader, (/) Earl of Suffolk, another ofthem, escaping into Denmark, prevail-ed upon that King to lend him SuccoursThey accordingly came some time af-ter, in two Hundred Ships, under theCommand of Knute, Ring Swame's Son>and Earl Haeune: But not finding theEnglisti disposed to take Arms, they Yfe Danesfailed to Flanders, after having staid two ^

Days in the 'Thames-M.o\xth. This Con- Thamesspiracy having brought the King to Mouths butEngland, the Year following he return- return -ed to Normandy, but came back again I0 7 s*the Beginning of Winter, and spent theRemainder of that, and the whole next 10760Year, in his Englisto Dominions.

William now enjoyed a Tranquil-lity, which seemed to promise a longContinuance ; But it was disturbed, in 1677.the most disagreable Manner, at aTime Brompton.when he least expected it. His eldestSon Robert, who was under-hand en- Hoimfhead.couraged and assisted by the King of B ode tt, theFrance, and by his Mother, Matilda, ^napunstpretended His Father ought long since his Father;to have resigned theDucliy of Normandyto him 5 in Pursuance of a positive Pro-mise to the King of France, and to’him, immediately before his Expedi-tion into England, (k) Upon this Pre :tension, and having, besides, been af-fronted by his Brothers, (J) Williamand Henry, he attempted to render himB self

■Burchett (e) ACCokdinO to Mr. Secretary Burchett ,(who, by Mistake, places both these Actions in theUne ’m. eleventh Year of King William’s Reign) but S.Du-nelm fays, they made a Descent in Sommersetjhire,and retired laden with Booty.

(/) This is the Account given by some of ourHistorians, but others fay the Danish Army wasrouted near Dork, tho' they allow the King reco-vered the Country from the Danes, as much byMony and Promises, as by Force.

(s) J T ' s hard to determine which of thesetwo Fristy Descents Mr- Secretary Burchett means,hut be it which it will, he is equally mistaken, as'Well in Ms Fact, as in his Chronology.

fti) This Action Mr. Secretary Burchett like- Sec.Burchettwife places in the eleventh Year of King WilltantsReign.

(?) Echard calls him, Ralph de Either, Earl Echard.of Norfolk and Suffolk.

(J) Robert had once before put his Father Dind. Notes’in Mind of the Promise, but he gave him no other on Rabin.Answer, than, that he never used to strip befcre he r

went to Bed.

(/ ) He received an Affront from his Brothers, Notes on theWilliam and Henry ; upon which he repaired to Acta Recta.-Roan, and attempted to seize the Castle: But Ro-ger d’lvry, the Governour, frustrated his Design.

In the mean Time, FVilliam, having been inform-ed