rebelled; and in 1075, when no fewer than two hundred sail, under Canute, son of Sweyn, and Earl Hakon, left Denmark to attack England, the Conqueror's prestige was so great that the enemy, upon reflection, saw fit to retire without risking a combat.[1]
A few years later, in 1083 or 1085, an invasion from Denmark was once more threatened by Canute, aided by Olaf of Norway, with sixty ships, and by Robert, Count of Flanders, with six hundred,[2] but either spontaneous dissensions among the confederates, or disagreements judiciously fomented by the money and influence of William, caused the project to miscarry.[3] Indeed, the Conqueror, although generally successful in his naval undertakings, had little respite during his reign from the machinations of his enemies abroad, and of his rebellious subjects on the continent, and at the very time of his death he was engaged in a war with France. But of the naval features of these campaigns few details have been preserved.
William Rufus, in 1087, seized the crown of England in defiance of the rights of his elder brother Robert, and in consequence, he had to keep his acquisition by means of the sword. Robert's chief supporter in England was the Conqueror's half-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent, the most notable of the many fighting prelates of the age. Odo occupied and fortified some of the Kentish ports, while Robert collected a naval and military force in Normandy; but the co-operation of the two leaders was ill managed, and after a first brief blush of success, Robert's straggling vessels and reinforcements destined for Odo were over and over again cut off by the squadrons of William, until, when the latter had turned the tables and assumed the offensive, the elder brother was glad to make peace.
Robert, thus reduced to inactivity, sought employment, and was entrusted in 1091 with the conduct of a considerable naval expedition against Scotland, Malcolm having re-espoused the cause of Edgar Atheling and invaded England. William, with the army, met the Scots at Leeds, and Canmore was induced to again swear fealty; but in the meantime the English fleet fared almost as badly as would have been the case had the Scots fought and fought successfully, for it was overtaken by a storm, and many of its vessels were lost.[4]
