Makers of History
William the Conqueror
BY
JACOB ABBOTT
WITH ENGRAVINGS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
1902
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand
eight hundred and forty-nine, by
Harper & Brothers,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District
of New York.
Copyright, 1877, by Jacob Abbott.
PREFACE.
In selecting the subjects for the successive volumes of this series, ithas been the object of the author to look for the names of those greatpersonages whose histories constitute useful, and not merelyentertaining, knowledge. There are certain names which are familiar, asnames, to all mankind; and every person who seeks for any degree ofmental cultivation, feels desirous of informing himself of the leadingoutlines of their history, that he may know, in brief, what it was intheir characters or their doings which has given them so widely-extendeda fame. This knowledge, which it seems incumbent on every one to obtainin respect to such personages as Hannibal, Alexander, Cæsar, Cleopatra,Darius, Xerxes, Alfred, William the Conqueror, Queen Elizabeth, and MaryQueen of Scots, it is the design and object of these volumes tocommunicate, in a faithful, and, at the same time, if possible, in anattractive manner. Consequently, great historical names alone areselected; and it has been the writer's aim to present the prominent andleading traits in their characters, and all the important events intheir lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the plain and simplelanguage which is so obviously required in works which aim at permanentand practical usefulness.