[1] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 692.
[2] Will. Malms. iv. 306.
[3] Tac. Hist. iv. 59.
[4] There is not much to say about the authorities for this chapter. The main sources are those with which we have long been familiar, the Peterborough Chronicle, Orderic, Florence, William of Malmesbury. The last three of these increase in value at every step, as they become more and more strictly contemporary. So Henry of Huntingdon, beginning his seventh book in the second year of Rufus, formally puts on the character of a contemporary writer. Hitherto he had written from his reading or from common fame; “nunc autem de his quæ vel ipsi vidimus, vel ab his qui viderant audivimus, pertractandum est.” But he still wisely kept the Chronicle before him. He is himself largely followed by Robert of Torigny (or De Monte—that is Abbot of Saint Michael’s Mount) in his chronicle. From Robert we have also the so-called eighth book of William of Jumièges, which may pass as a History of Henry the First. He is not strictly contemporary for any part of our immediate story. Eadmer, so precious a few years later, gives us as yet only a few touches and general pictures. The French riming chroniclers are of some value later in the reign of Rufus; but we have hardly anything to do with them as yet. A crowd of accessory, occasional, and local writings have to be turned to as usual.
[5] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 583.
[6] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 228, 795. So Will. Neub. i. 3; “Filiorum quidem Willelmi Magni ordine nativitatis novissimus, sed prærogativa primus. Quippe, aliis in ducatu patris natis, solus ipse ex eodem jam rege est ortus.” This is noteworthy in a writer in whom (see Appendix A) we see the first sign of a notion of Robert’s hereditary right. The author of the Brevis Relatio (9) goes yet further, and seems to assert that a party at least was for Henry’s immediate succession; “Sicut postea multi dixerunt, justum fuit ut ipse rex Angliæ post patrem suum esset qui de patre rege et matre regina genitus extitisset.”
[7] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 706, note 3.
[8] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 706, note 3.
[9] See Appendix A.
[10] See Appendix A.
[11] Will. Malms. iv. 305. “Eum nutrierat et militem fecerat.” So Matthew Paris, Hist. Ang. i. 35.
[12] Orderic has two statements as to the port from which William set sail. In his account of the Conqueror’s death (659 D), he makes him sail from Witsand. But afterwards (763 D), when speaking of Robert Bloet, he says, “Senioris Guillelmi capellanus fuerat, eoque defuncto de portu Tolochæ cum juniore Guillelmo mare transfretaverat, et epistolam regis de coronanda prole Lanfranco archiepiscopo detulerat.” This latter is to be preferred, as the more circumstantial account. Touques moreover is at once the more likely haven to be chosen by one setting out from Rouen, and the one less likely to come into the head of a careless narrator. Robert of Torigny also (Cont. Will. Gem. viii. 2) makes the place Touques.
[13] Ord. Vit. 659 D. “Ibi jam patrem audivit obiisse.”
[14] Fl. Wig. 1087. “Willelmus … Angliam festinato adiit, ducens secum Wlnothum et Morkarum.”
[15] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 517.
[16] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 315.
[17] Fl. Wig. 1087. “Robertus … Ulfum, Haroldi quondam regis Anglorum filium, Dunechaldumque regis Scottorum Malcolmi filium a custodia laxatos et armis militaribus honoratos, abire permisit.”
[18] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 76.
[19] Flor. Wig. 1087. “Mox ut Wintoniam venit, illos, ut prius fuerant, custodiæ mancipavit.”
[20] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 855. The Winchester Annals (1087; Ann. Mon. ii. 35) give him, like Prior Godfrey, the title of Earl, and say that he was not released at all. The Conqueror releases all his prisoners in England and Normandy “exceptis duobus comitibus Rogero et Wlnodo.” These three captives are joined together in the signatures to an alleged charter of Bishop William of Saint-Calais in the Monasticon, i. 237, and in the Surtees volume, Hist. Dun. Scriptt. Tres, v, of which I may have to speak again; “Morkaro et Rogerio [clearly meant for Roger of Hereford] et Siwardo cognomento Bran et Wlnoto Haraldi regis germano.” They are made to sign, along with Abbot Æthelwig, who died in 1077, in a Council in London in 1082. The whole thing is clearly spurious; but what put the signatures of the captives into anybody’s head?
[21] See Appendix A.
[22] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 13 Selden. “Quantus autem mœror Lanfrancum ex morte ejus perculerit quis dicere possit, quando nos qui circa illum nuncia morte illius eramus, statim eum præ cordis angustia mori timeremus?” This seems to imply that the news reached Lanfranc when he had his monks about him, that is at Canterbury.
[23] William of Malmesbury (iv. 305) marks the coronation as being done “die sanctorum Cosmæ et Damiani.” In the Chronicle it is “þreom dagum ǽr Michaeles mæssedæg;” while Florence simply gives the day of the month. Wace (14482) says inaccurately “Li jor de feste saint Michiel;” and the Chronicon de Bello (40) still more inaccurately, “in nativitate Christi, intrante anno incarnationis ejusdem Verbi Dei mlxxxviii.”
[24] See Appendix A.
[25] Chron. Petrib. 1087. “Ealle þa men on Englalande him to abugon, and him aðas sworon.”
[26] Chron. Petrib. 1087. “Ðisum þus gedone, se cyng ferde to Winceastre, and sceawode þæt madmehus, and þa gersuman þe his fæder ǽr gegaderode, þa wæron unasecgendlice ænie man hu mycel þær wæs gegaderod, on golde and on seolfre and on faton and on pællan and on gimman and on manige oðre deorwurðe þingon þe earfoðe sindon to ateallene.” Yet Henry of Huntingdon (p. 211) knew the exact amount of the silver, sixty thousand pounds, one doubtless for each knight’s fee.
[27] Florence brings in the books in a list of gifts which is longer than that of the Chronicler; “Cruces, altaria, scrinia, textos, candelabra, situlas, fistulas, ac ornamenta varia gemmis, auro, argento, lapidibusque pretiosis, redimita, per ecclesias digniores ac monasteria jussit dividi.”
[28] Chron. de Bello, 40. “Regni diadema suscepit. Quod adeptus, paterni mandati non immemor, patris pallium regale et feretrum unde supra meminimus, cum ccctis philacteriis, sanctorum pignorum excellentia gloriosis, ecclesiæ beati Martini quantocius delegavit, quæ simul apud Bellum viii Kalendas Novembris suscepta sunt.”
[29] The Chronicler says, “to ælcen cyrcean uppe land lx. pæǹ.” But Florence limits it; “ecclesiis in civitatibus vel villis suis per singulas denarios lx. dari.”
[30] Chron. Petrib. 1087. “Into ælcere scire man seonde hundred punda feos, to dælanne earme mannan for his saule.”
[31] Flor. Wig. 1087. “Ejus quoque germanus Rotbertus in Normanniam reversus, thesauros quos invenerat monasteriis, ecclesiis, pauperibus, pro anima patris sui largiter divisit.”
[32] Chron Petrib. 1087. “Se cyng wæs on þam midewintre on Lundene.” So Henry of Huntingdon (211); “Rex novus curiam suam ad Natale tenuit apud Lundoniam.” He adds a list of bishops who were present. There were the two Archbishops, Maurice of London, Walkelin of Winchester, Geoffrey [it should be Osbern] of Exeter, William of Thetford, Robert of Chester, William of Durham, as also “Wlnod [sic] episcopus sanctus Wirecestriæ.” On the presence of Odo, see Appendix B. Robert of Torigny (1087) writes “Vulnof.” I cannot see much in his editor’s suggestion that the Geoffrey spoken of is the Bishop of Coutances, because the so-called Bromton, of all people, has made a blunder about him; X Scriptt. 984.
[33] N. C. vol. iv. p. 708.
[34] Ord. Vit. 664 D. “Totum in Normannia pristinum honorem adeptus est, et consiliarius ducis, videlicet nepotis sui, factus est.”
[35] Will. Malms, iv. 305. “Claves thesaurorum nactus est; quibus fretus totam Angliam animo subjecit suo.”
[36] Ib. “Reliquo hiemis quiete et favorabiliter vixit.”
[37] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “On þisum geare wæs þis land swiðe astirad, and mid mycele swicdome afylled; swa þæt þa riceste Frencisce men þe weron innan þrisan lande wolden swican heore hlaforde þam cynge, and woldon habban his broðer to cynge, Rodbeard, þe wæs eorl on Normandige.” The duty of faithfulness to the lord, whoever he may be, is always strongly felt; still William Rufus is only “heora hlaford se cyng,” not “heora cynehlaford.” But the notion that Robert had any special right as the eldest son seems not to have come into any purely English mind of that age.
[38] He appears in the list given by Henry of Huntingdon (see above, p. 19) as “justiciarius et princeps totius Angliæ.” Simeon of Durham (1088) calls him “secundus rex.”
[39] See Florence, 1081; Sim. Dun. His. Eccl. Dun. iv. 1.
[40] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 674.
[41] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “Swa wæll dyde se cyng be þam bisceop þæt eall Englaland færde æfter his ræde and swa swa he wolde.” So Florence; “Ea tempestate rex prædictus illius, ut veri consiliarii, fruebatur prudentia; bene enim sapiebat, ejusque consiliis totius Angliæ tractabatur respublica.” Cf. Ann. Wint. 1088. “Episcopus Willelmus Dunelmensis, qui paulo ante quasi cor regis erat.”
[42] Will. Malms, iv. 306. “Immortale in eum [Lanfrancum] odium anhelans, quod ejus consilio a fratre se in vincula conjectum asserebat.”
[43] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 680.
[44] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “And þæs unræd wearð gewesen innan þam Lengtene.” So Florence; “Pars nobiliorum Normannorum favebat regi Willelmo, sed minima; pars vero altera favebat Roberto comiti Normannorum, et maxima; cupiens hunc sibi adsciscere in regnum, fratrem vero aut fratri tradere vivum aut regno privare peremptum.” Here is the end of a hexameter.
[45] See Appendix B.
[46] Ord. Vit. 665 D. “Optimates utriusque regni conveniunt, et de duobus regnis nunc divisis, quæ manus una pridem tenuerat, tractare satagunt.” Cf. the language used at an earlier time about Normandy, N. C. vol. i. p. 221.
[47] Ib. 666 A. “Labor nobis ingens subito crevit, et maxima diminutio potentiæ nostræ opumque nobis incumbuit…. Violenta nobis orta est mutatio et nostræ sublimitatis repentina dejectio.” It is now that he makes the flourish about “Saxones Angli” (see N. C. vol. i. p. 542); there is also a good deal about Jeroboam and Polyneikês.
[48] Ib. “Quomodo duobus dominis tam diversis, et tam longe ab invicem remotis competenter servire poterimus?”
[49] Ib. B, C. “Inviolabile fœdus firmiter ineamus, et Guillelmo rege dejecto vel interfecto, qui junior est et protervus, et cui nihil debemus, Robertum ducem, qui major natu est et tractabilior moribus, et cui jamdudum vivente patre amborum fidelitatem juravimus, principem Angliæ ac Neustriæ ad servandam unitatem utriusque regni constituamus.”
[50] Ib. C. “Decretum suum Roberto duci detexuit. Ille vero, utpote levis et inconsideratus, valde gavisus est promissis inutilibus, seseque spopondit eis, si inchoarent, affaturum in omnibus, et collaturum mox efficax auxilium ad perpetrandum tam clarum fecimus.”
[51] See Appendix B.
[52] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 710.
[53] Will. Malms. iv. 306. “Multos eodem susurro infecit [Odo]; Roberto regnum competere, qui sit et remissioris animi, et juveniles stultitias multis jam laboribus decoxerit; hunc delicate nutritum, animi ferocia (quam vultus ipse demonstret), prætumidum, omnia contra fas et jus ausurum; brevi futurum ut honores jamdudum plurimis sudoribus partos amittant; nihil actum morte patris, si quos ille vinxerit iste trucidet.” (Again the ending of a hexameter.) A good deal of this seems to come from later experience of Rufus.
[54] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “þæs unræd wærð geræd.”
[55] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 276, 580, 673.
[56] See Appendix C.
[57] “He þohte to donne be him eall swa Iudas Scarioð dide be ure Drihtene.”
[58] “Se bisceop of Dunholme dyde to hearme þæt he mihte ofer eall be norðan.”
[59] See Appendix C.
[60] Mon. Angl. i. 248. “Monstrabo quod Dorobernium et Hastingas, quæ jam pene perdiderat, in sua fidelitate detinui, Londoniam quoque quæ jam rebellaverat, in ejus fidelitate sedavi, meliores etiam duodecim ejusdem urbis cives ad eum mecum duxi, ut per illos melius ceteros animaret.”
[61] Mon. Angl. i. 247. “Ipse [rex] te summonuit ut cum eo equitares; tu vero respondisti ei, te cum septem militibus quos ibi habebas libenter iturum, et pro pluribus ad castellum tuum sub festinatione missurum, et postea fugisti de curia sua sine ejus licentia, et quosdam de familia sua tecum adduxisti, et ita in necessitate sua sibi defecisti.”
[62] See Appendix C.
[63] Mon. Angl. i. 245. “Præsto sum in curia vestra vobis justitiam facere convenienti termino, securitate veniendi accepta.” Cf.N. C. vol. ii. pp. 149, 150.
[64] Mon. Angl. i. 245. “Non est enim omnium hominum episcopos judicare, et ego vobis secundum ordinem meum omnem justitiam offero; et si ad præsens vultis habere servitium meum vel hominum meorum, illud idem secundum placere vestrum vobis offero.”
[65] Ib. “Rex acceptis et auditis istis litteris episcopi, dedit baronibus suis terras episcopi, vidente legato quem sibi miserat episcopus.” I suppose that these barons are no other than the Counts Alan and Odo, of whose share in the matter we shall hear much more as we go on.
[66] See Ellis, i. 464. It is there remarked that Ralph’s lands in Devonshire had largely been Merleswegen’s. This is equally true in Yorkshire. He must have succeeded Hugh the son of Baldric as sheriff. See N. C. vol. iv. p. 801.
[67] See the foundation charter in the Monasticon, iv. 682; though it is hard to understand how Pope Alexander could have confirmed anything in 1089. According to the charter, the church had once been held by a body of canons, which had come to nothing. Ralph now restored it as a Benedictine monastery, a cell to Marmoutiers.
[68] “Præcepit omnibus regis fidelibus de parte regis ut malum facerent episcopo ubicumque et quomodo cumque possent. Cumque episcopus per se vel per legatos suos regem non posset requirere, et terras suas destrui et vastari absque ulla ultione per vii. septimanas et amplius sustineret,” etc.
[69] Their absence from the assembly comes from Florence; “Execrabile hoc factum clam tractaverunt in quadragesima, quod cito in palam prorumpi posset post pascha; nam a regali se subtrahentes curia, munierunt castella, ferrum, flammam, prædas, necem, excitaverunt in patriam.” Cf. Orderic, 666 C; “Munitiones suas fossis et hominibus, atque alimentis hominum et equorum, abundanter instruebant.”
[70] On Count Robert, see N. C. vol. ii. p. 296; iv. pp. 78, 168, 170. His name does not now occur in the Chronicles, nor in Orderic, who does not mention the siege of his castle of Pevensey. But his action comes out strongly in Florence, who classes him with Odo as a leader, though in his narrative he appears merely as his tool. The Hyde writer (297) also dwells fully on his share in the work, but he has no special facts or legends.
[71] See N. C. vol. iii. pp. 117, 672; iv. pp. 39, 562, 825.
[72] In Orderic, 667 B, he appears as “Rogerius Merciorum comes.”
[73] Flor. Wig. 1088. “Rogerius de Laceio, qui jam super regem invaserat Herefordam.” He appears in Domesday in Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, but most largely in Herefordshire. See Ellis, i. 442.
[74] See N. C. vol. ii. pp. 138, 352.
[75] Ib. vol. iii. p. 132; iv. p. 448.
[76] Ib. vol. iii. p. 737.
[77] Ib. vol. iii. p. 233.
[78] Ord. Vit. 666 D. See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 74, 489.
[80] See his picture in Orderic, 703 B. “Præfatus præsul nobilitate cluebat, magisque peritia militari quam clericali vigebat. Ideoque loricatos milites ad bellandum quam revestitos clericos ad psallendum magis erudire noverat.”
[81] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 672. Orderic gives his portrait along with that of his uncle; “Robertus Rogerii de Molbraio filius potentia divitiisque admodum pollebat, audacia et militari feritate superbus pares despiciebat, et superbioribus obtemperare, vana ventositate turgidus, indignum autumabat. Erat erim corpore magnus, fortis, niger et hispidus, audax et dolosus, vultu tristis et severus. Plus meditari quam loqui studebat, et vix in confabulatione ridebat.”
[82] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “Swiðe mycel folc mid heom, ealle Frencisce men.” He must mean that all the leaders were French. We shall see (see below, p. 47) that there were both Englishmen and Britons in the rebel army.
[83] Flor. Wig. 1088.
[84] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “Roger hét an of heom se hleop into þam castele æt Norðwic, and dyde git eallra wærst ofer eall þæt land.” He is “Rogerius Bigot” in William of Malmesbury. We shall find him behaving better later in our story.
[85] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 68, 590.
[86] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “Hugo eac an þe hit ne gebette nan þing, ne innan Lægreceastrescire ne innan Norðamtune.” He is “Hugo de Grentemesnil” in William of Malmesbury. See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 74, 232.
[87] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 226.
[88] Ib. p. 382.
[89] Gesta Stephani, 41. “Totius Angliæ noverca Bristoa.”
[90] Simeon of Durham (1088) speaks of the “castellum fortissimum” at this time.
[91] Gesta Steph. 36. “Est Bristoa civitas … ipso situ loci omnium civitatum Angliæ munitissima. Sicut enim de Brundusio legimus, quædam provinciæ Glaornensis pars ad formam linguæ restricta, et in longum protensa, duobus fluviis gemina ejus latera proluentibus, inque inferiori parte, ubi ipsa terra defectum patitur, in unam aquarum abundantiam coeuntibus, efficit civitatem.”
[92] One might quote nearer instances in the streams which flow out of Mendip; only they have their katabothra at the beginning.
[93] Gesta Steph. u. s. “Viva quoque et fortis maris exæstuatio, noctibus et diebus abundanter exundans, ex ambabus civitatis partibus fluvios ipsos in latum et profundum pelagus regurgitare in seipsos cogit, portumque mille carinis habillimum et tutissimum efficiens, ambitum illius adeo prope et conjuncte constringit ut tota civitas aquis innatare, tota super ripas considere videatur.”
[94] In what was the castle green is a very pretty undercroft of early thirteenth century work, most likely the support of a chapel.
[95] The course of the stream and the line of the walls have been altered more than once; but the description in the Gesta Stephani of the peninsula, as long and tongue-shaped, shows that the Frome cannot, when that was written, have taken the line of the present Baldwin Street. The town was on the peninsula, but it covered only the north-east part of it.
[96] Gesta Steph. “Ex una tamen ejus regione ubi ad obsidendum opportunior magisque pervia habetur, castellum plurimo aggere exaltatum, muro et propugnaculis, turribus, et diversis machinis firmatum, impugnantium coercet accessus.” This is doubtless equally true in its measure of the state of things in 1088; but there is not now much sign of the “plurimus agger.” The old prints of Bristol show Earl Robert’s keep, a square tower of the best class.
[97] The description of the later occupation of Bristol (Gesta Steph. p. 37) will serve equally for this earlier one. “E diversis siquidem provinciis et regionibus emersi, tanto illic abundantius et gratulantius affuerunt, quanto sub divite domino ex munitissimo castello, quicquid libentium animo occurreret, in uberrima committere Anglia fuit eis permissum.”
[98] His estates in Somerset are very large. See Domesday, 87 a et seqq. In Gloucestershire (165) he appears as “Episcopus de Sancto Laudo”—the older seat of the bishopric of Coutances.
[99] Domesday, 163. Under “Bertune apud Bristou,” now Barton Regis, we read, “Hoc manerium et Bristou reddit regi c. et x. markas argenti. Burgenses dicunt quod episcopus G. habet xxxiii. markas argenti et unam markam auri propter firmam regis.” This looks like the Earl’s third penny; but Geoffrey certainly had no formal earldom in Gloucestershire.
[100] This is Camden’s conjecture; it does not greatly matter for my purpose.
[102] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “Gosfrid bisceop and Rodbeard a Mundbræg ferdon to Bricgstowe and hergodon, and brohton to þam castele þa hergunge.” So Florence; “Gosfridus episcopus Constantiensis, in castello Brycstowa, socium conjurationis et perfidiæ habebat secum nepotem suum Rotbertum de Mulbraio, virum gnarum militiæ.”
[103] In the song in the Chronicles, 973, Eadgar is crowned
In the prose entries in Worcester and Peterborough this is done “at Hatabaðum.”
[104] See Richard of the Devizes, 62. “Bathonia, in imis vallium, in crasso nimis aere et vapore sulphureo posita, imo deposita, est ad portas inferi.”
[105] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 385.
[106] Mr. Earle has, I think, made it morally certain that the Old-English poem on a ruined city in the Codex Exoniensis refers to Bath. It is a pity that his account is hidden in the Proceedings of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, vol. ii. no. 3, 1872.
[107] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 310.
[108] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “And syððon foron út of þam castele and hergodon Baðon, and eall þæt land þær abutan.” Florence adds the burning; “Rotbertus … congregato exercitu invasit Bathoniam, civitatem regiam, eamque igne succendit.”
[109] Flor. Wig. 1088. “Illa [Bathonia] deprædata, transivit in Wiltusciram, villasque depopulans, multorumque hominum strage facta, tandem adiit Givelceastram, obsedit, et expugnare disposuit.”
[110] Geveltone, now Yeovilton, was held by one Ralph under William of Eu (Domesday, 96 b). Givele, now Yeovil, was held by Count Robert (Domesday, 93). All these names come in various corruptions from the river Givel or Ivel, also called Yeo. Only in Yeovil we may trace a bit of false etymology, which has also set the pattern to Yeovilton.
[111] I took with me to Ilchester a book by the Rev. W. Buckler, “Ilchester Almshouse Deeds” (Yeovil, 1866), which contains the accounts of Ilchester from Leland, Camden, and Stukeley, together with Stukeley’s map. The last-named writer may have drawn somewhat on his imagination; but I could trace the line of the walls, represented in a great part of their course by modern buildings. Under the circumstances of the site, the usual carfax is not to be found at Ilchester, any more than at Godmanchester.
[112] Domesday, 86 a. “In Givelcestre sunt 107 burgenses, reddentes xx. solidos. Mercatum cum suis appendiciis reddit xi. libras.”
[113] Flor. Wig. 1088. “Pugnant exterius spe capti prædæ et amore victoriæ, repugnant intrinsecus acriter pro se suorumque salute. Tandem inter utrumque necessitatis vicit causa; repulsus et tristis recedit Rotbertus privatus victoria.” The Chronicle and William of Malmesbury do not speak of Ilchester. William thus sums up the campaign; “Gaufridus episcopus, cum nepote, Bathoniam et Bercheleiam partemque pagi Wiltensis depopulans, manubias apud Bristou collocabat.”
[114] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 144.
[115] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “And eall Beorclea hyrnesse hi awæston.” Florence more fully; “Willelmus de Owe Glawornensem invadit comitatum, regiam villam deprædatur Beorchelaum, per totam ferro et flamma grande perpetrat malum.”
[116] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 557.
[117] See Domesday, 164. But it had already given a name to Roger and Ralph of Berkeley; Domesday, 168. From Roger’s descendants it passed by marriage to Robert the son of Harding. See N. C. vol. iv. p. 758.
[118] Domesday, 163. “In Nesse [Sharpness] sunt v. hidæ pertinentes ad Berchelai quos W. comes misit extra ad faciendum unum castellulum.”
[119] Since I wrote the fourth volume of the Norman Conquest, there has been much controversy about the origin of Robert Fitz-Harding. (See Notes and Queries, Jan. 3rd, 1880.) I am confirmed on the whole in my old belief that he was the son of Harding the son of Eadnoth.
[120] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 590, 855.
[122] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “Þa men þe yldest wæron of Hereforde, and eall þeo scír forþmid, and þa men of Scrobscyre mid mycele folce of Brytlande.”
[124] Flor. Wig. 1088. “Cum hominibus comitis Rogerii de Scrobbesbyria.” Yet the Chronicler says distinctly, “And Rogere eorl wæs eac æt þam unræde.” That is, he joined in the conspiracy, but did not take a personal share in the war.
[125] See above, p. 35, note 3.
[126] Flor. Wig. 1088. “Congregato magno Anglorum, Normannorum, et Walensium exercitu.”
[127] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 395.
[128] Ib. vol. i. p. 520.
[129] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “Þa men … comon and hergodon and þærndon on Wiðreceastrescire forð, and hi comon to þam porte sylfan, and woldon þa þæne port bærnen, and þæt mynster reafian, and þæs cynges castel gewinnan heom to handa.” Florence adds, “grandem de regis incolis fidelibus sumpturos vindictam.” On the deliverance of Worcester, see Appendix D.
[130] Florence brings in his own Bishop with a panegyric; “Vir magnæ pietatis et columbinæ simplicitatis, Deo populoque quern regebat in omnibus amabilis, regi, ut terreno domino, per omnia fidelis, pater reverendus Wlstanus.” In the Chronicle he is simply “se arwurða bisceop Wlfstan.” He goes on to make his exhortation after the manner of Moses.
[131] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 61.
[132] Ib. vol. iv. p. 579.
[133] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 174.
[134] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 379.
[135] Ib.
[136] Flor. Wig. 1088. “Normanni interim, ineuntes consilium, rogant ipsum episcopum ut ab ecclesia transiret in castellam, tutiores se affirmantes de ejus præsentia, si majus incumberet periculum; diligebant enim eum valde. Ipse enim, ut erat miræ mansuetudinis, et pro regis fidelitate, et pro eorum dilectione, petitioni eorum adquievit.”
[137] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 174.
[138] Flor. Wig. u. s. “Interea audenter in arma se parat episcopalis familia.” On the nature of this “familia,” see N. C. vol. v. p. 496.
[139] Ib. “Inter quos [hostes] magna belli jam fervebat insania; contumaciter enim episcopi contemnentes mandata, in terram ipsius posuerunt incendia.” On the order of events, see Appendix D.
[140] Ib. “Conveniunt castellani et omnis civium turma, occurrere se affirmant hostibus ex altera parte Sabrinæ fluminis, si hoc eis pontificis annueret licentia. Parati igitur et armis instructi, ipsum ad castellum euntem habent obviam, quam optabant requirunt licentiam; quibus libentur annuens, ‘Ite,’ inquit, ‘filii, ite in pace, ite securi, cum Dei et nostra benedictione.’ Confidens ego in Domino, spondeo vobis, non hodie nocebit vobis gladius, non quicquam infortunii, non quisquam adversarius. State in regis fidelitate, viriliter agentes pro populi urbisque salute.”
[141] Ib. “Episcopus ingenti concutitur dolore, videns debilitari res ecclesiæ, acceptoque inde consilio, gravi eos, ab omnibus qui circumaderant coactus, percussit anathemate.” See Appendix D.
[142] Ib. “Alacres pontem reparatum transeunt, hostes de longinquo accelerantes conspiciunt.”
[143] See Appendix D.
[144] Flor. Wig. u. s. “Cæduntur pedites, capiuntur milites, cum Normannis tam Angli quam Walenses, cæteris vero vix debili elapsis fuga [were the ‘milites’ spared for the sake of ransom?] regis fideles cum pontificis familia, exultantes in gaudio, sine ulla diminutione suorum, redeunt ad propria; gratias Deo referunt de rerum ecclesiæ incolumitate, gratias episcopo referunt de consilii ejus salubritate.”
[145] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 386.
[146] Chron. Petrib, 1088. “Þe wæs ærur heafod to þam unræde.”
[148] Chron. Petrib. 1088. “Ðe bisceop Odo, þe þas cyng of awocan, ferde into Cent to his earldome and fordyde hit swyðe, and þæs cynges land and þæs arcebisceopes mid ealle aweston, and brohte eall þæt gód into his castele on Hrofeceastre.” This follows at once on the accounts of Roger the Bigod and Hugh of Grantmesnil. So William of Malmesbury, who here brings in the story of Lanfranc’s share in Odo’s imprisonment in 1082, in order to account for Odo’s special hatred towards the Archbishop.
[149] See N. C. vol. i. pp. 267, 296. On the early history of Rochester generally, see Mr. Hartshorne’s paper in the Archæological Journal, September, 1863.
[150] This is brought out by Orderic, 667 B; “Oppidum igitur Rovecestræ sollicita elegerunt provisione, quoniam, si rex eos non obsedisset in urbe, in medio positi laxis habenis Lundoniam et Cantuariam devastarent, et per mare, quod proximum est, insulasque vicinas, pro auxiliis conducendis nuntios cito dirigerent.” The islands must be Sheppey and Thanet.
[151] See the siege of Rochester in 1215 and his defence by William of Albini in Roger of Wendover, iii. 333.
[152] For the siege of 1264 see W. Rishanger, Chron. p. 25 (Camd. Soc.). On Simon’s military engines he remarks that the Earl “exemplum relinquens Anglicis qualiter circa castrorum assultationes agendum sit, qui penitus hujusmodi diebus illis fuerant ignari.” A forerunner of Kanarês, he had a fire-ship in the river; he also used mines, as the Conqueror had done at Exeter.
[153] Mr. Hartshorne showed distinctly that the present tower of Rochester was not built by Gundulf, but by William of Corbeuil. See the passages which he quotes from Gervase, X Scriptt. 1664, and the continuator of Florence, 1126. But we have seen (see N. C. vol. iv. p. 366) that Gundulf did build a stone castle at Rochester for William Rufus (“castrum Hrofense lapidum”), and we should most naturally look for it on the site of the later one. On the other hand, there is a tower, seemingly of Gundulf’s building and of a military rather than an ecclesiastical look, which is now almost swallowed up between the transepts of the cathedral. But it would be strange if a tower built for the King stood in the middle of the monastic precinct.
[154] The odd position of the cloister at Rochester suggests the notion that Gundulf’s church occupied only the site of the present eastern limb, and that the later Norman nave was an enlargement rather than a rebuilding.
[155] Domesday, 2 b. “Episcopus de Rouecestre pro excambio terræ in qua castellum sedet, tantum de hac terra tenet quod xvii.s. et iv.d. valet.” This is said of land at Aylesford; but the castle spoken of must surely be that of Rochester. The Domesday phrase “sedet” seems beautifully to describe either the massive square donjon or the shell-keep on the mound; yet it may be doubted whether Rochester had either in the Conqueror’s day.
[156] This ditch is said to have been traced right across the middle of the cathedral, with the twelfth-century nave to the west of it. I can say nothing either way from my own observation; but such an extension of the church to the west would exactly answer to the extension of the churches of Le Mans and Lincoln to the east. In both those cases the Roman wall had to give way.
[157] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 367.
[158] Ord. Vit. 667 A. “Tunc Odo Bajocensis cum quingentis militibus intra Rofensem urbem se conclusit, ibique Robertum ducem cum suis auxiliaribus secundum statuta quæ pepigerant præstolari proposuit.” The last clause of course implies the supposed earlier agreement with Duke Robert, on which see above, p. 25, and Appendix B.
[159] Flor. Wig. 1088. “Rumore autem percussus insolito, comes exultat, amicis nunciat, quasi jam de victoria securus triumphat, plures ad prædam incitat; Odoni episcopo, patruo suo, auxiliarios in Angliam legat, se quantocius, congregato majori exercitu, secuturum affirmat.”
[160] Ib. “Prædictus episcopus Baiocensis, munita Roveceastra, misit Normanniam, exhortans comitem Rotbertum cito venire in Angliam, nuntians ei rem gestam, affirmans paratum sibi regnum, et si sibi non desisteret, paratam et coronam.”
[161] Ib. “Missi a comite Rotberto venerunt in Angliam, ab Odone episcopo ad custodiendum receperunt Roveceastram; et horum ut primates Eustatius junior, comes Bononiæ, et Rotbertus de Beleasmo gerebant curam.” Here we have (see Appendix B) the true moment of their coming. From this point we may accept the account in Orderic (667 B); “Prædictum oppidum Odo præsul et Eustachius comes atque Robertus Bellesmensis, cum multis nobilibus viris et mediocribus, tenebant, auxiliumque Roberti ducis, qui desidia mollitieque detinebatur, frustra exspectabant.” We meet them again in 765 B.
[162] “Eustatius junior,” “Eustatius þe iunga.” See N. C. vol. iv. p. 745.
[163] They are mentioned in the Chronicle along with the incidental mention of Eustace; “Innan þam castele wæron swiðe gode cnihtas, Eustatius þe iunga, and Rogeres eorles þreo sunan, and ealle þa betstboren men þe wæron innan þisan lande oððe on Normandige.” This is followed by William of Malmesbury (iv. 306); “Erat tunc apud Roveceastram omnis pene juventutis ex Anglia et Normannia nobilitas; tres filii Rogerii comitis, et Eustachius Bononiæ junior, multique alii quos infra curam nostram existimo.”
[164] The three sons of Earl Roger can hardly fail to be his three eldest sons (see Will. Gem. vii. 16; Ord. Vit. 708 D), Robert, Hugh, and Roger, all of whom figure in our story. Arnulf does not appear in English history till later, and Philip the clerk does not appear at all. Geoffrey Gaimar (Chron. Ang. Norm. i. 35), after setting forth the possessions of Robert of Bellême, mentions the other three; but one does not exactly see why he says,
“Le conte Ernulf ert le quarte frère, Par cors valeit un emperère.”