mass of our countrymen is, in respect to some
of the chief amusements which please them,
steadily on the decline. This is a serious
national matter; and as such we call attention to
it in these pages.

THE BATTLE OF THE VAL-DES-DUNES

             I. THE FELONIE.

NEARLY eight hundred and twenty-one years
ago, in the course of a struggle two centuries
long, there occurred an event whose immense
importance has scarcely been appreciated by
the generality of students. Its consequences,
however, were as decisive as its circumstances
were interesting and dramatic. Normandy was
near losing her Duke and England her
Conqueror. It is one of the greatest "Ifs" of
history. If the Barons had stamped out the
lad of twenty, what would have been Britannia's
history from that time to this? The facts of
the case are given by M. l'Abbé Le Cointe,
Curé of Cintheaux, in a complete and conscientious
"Notice,"* the leading points of which
we reproduce for the benefit of our fellow
countrymen.
* E. Le Gost—Clérisse, Editeur, Caen.

Twelve years after the death of Robert the
First, Duke of Normandy, surnamed the Liberal,
his son and successor, William the Bastard, had
just entered his twentieth year, when a
conspiracy got up by the Barons of Lower
Normandy, at the instigation of Guy, of Burgundy,
nearly cost him his duchy and his life. This
Guy, the second son of his father's sister, and
consequently his own cousin-germain, had been
brought as a child to the boy duke's court, and
treated with brotherly affection. As Guy grew
up, William made him a knight, and gave him
in fief the Châteaux of Vernon and Brionne,
besides broad lands surrounding them. He was
only nursing a serpent to sting him afterwards.
Puffed up with his recent elevation, Guy's only
thought was to acquire still higher rank without
troubling his conscience as to the means.

William, although so young, was devoted to
the duties of his station. A child of eight
when he succeeded to his father, he nevertheless,
Guillaume de Poitiers tells us, grew fast
in intelligence and personal prowess. "Gaul
had not another cavalier so renowned as he. As
he excelled in beauty when clad in princely
habiliments, so also in his warlike equipment he
appeared to singular advantage. He zealously
set to work to protect God's churches, to
defend the cause of the weak, to establish equitable
laws, to pronounce judgments in accordance
with justice and moderation, and, above
all, to stop murders, fires, and pillage; for
unlawful things then enjoyed the extreme of
licence. Finally he withdrew his countenance
from those whom he found incapable or
perverse; he followed sage counsel, resisted foreign
foes, and enacted from his own people all due
obedience."

The feudal lords did not want so strict a
master; they preferred making endless warfare
amongst themselves. Guy, therefore, had no
difficulty in hatching a revolt—with four leaders
especially already disposed to it; namely,
Grimoult du Plessis, Hamon-aux-Dents or Hamon
with the Teeth, Néel of Saint Sauveur, and
Renouf, Viscount of the Bassin. He easily
convinced them that their only chance was to
get rid of the intrusive and troublesome young
duke.

"What legitimate pretensions had William
to the Duchy of Normandy? Was he not a
bastard, and consequently without right?
Robert's real heir was himself, Guy, the son of
Adelise, good Duke Richard's daughter. His
mother (Guy's) was a lawful wife; William's, a
concubine, a Falaise furrier's daughter. Yet
this was the fellow they accepted for their
master! Would they not shake off so degrading
a yoke? The Duchy of Normandy was
legally his property. If they would support
him and do him justice, he would repay their
services with rich domains." Arguments of
this kind told so well that they swore to depose
their tyrant, by force or treachery.

William, meanwhile, ignorant of the plot,
had gone to his Château of Valognes, to settle
business and enjoy the pleasures of the chase.
He thus went into the heart of his enemies'
country with no other protection than his usual
attendants. It was a betrayal of himself into
the hands of his foes. The opportunity being
too good to be lost, the conspirators resolved
to profit by it. Néel, Renouf, Grimoult, and
Hamon the Toothy, proceeded at once to the
environs of Valognes, to carry out their project
concocted at Bayeux.

One evening, when his visitors had departed,
and the duke was left alone with his household,
the traitor barons and their accomplices put on
their coats of mail and girded their swords
beneath their outer garment. That done, they
sprung into their saddles and galloped off to the
ducal residence. It would be easy to surprise
William, without warning or challenge, and to
put him to death.

By good luck, there slept that night in the
stables of the hotel, where the barons prepared
for their attack, a fool of Bayeux, Gallet by
name, between whom and William there was a
strong attachment. He amused the duke with
his sallies; the duke gave him his cast-off
clothes. The fool, who had already fallen asleep,
was awakened by the noise of men and horses.
Cautiously peeping out, he beheld every one in
arms. Sure of discovering "some great piece
of news," he listened. There was talk of
surprising and killing William. Trembling for his
dear duke's life and shouldering a stake as his
only weapon, he ran off to the château, which
he reached about midnight. All was silent. The
frequenters of the court were gone, the people
on service fast asleep. William also was in bed,
"but I don't know," says an old romancer,
"if he slept."

Gallet rattled on the doors with repeated