[312] Mon. Ang. u. s. “Reginaldus Paganellus ait, ‘Certe comites vestri promiserunt hoc quod dicit episcopus et convenienter inde eos custodite.’” “Reginaldus” must surely be a slip for “Radulfus.”
[313] Ib. “‘Tace,’ inquit rex, ‘quia pro nullius fiducia naves meas perdere patiar, sed, si episcopus inde se fiduciam fecisse cognoverit, super illam aliam non requiram.’”
[314] Ib. “Tunc rex iratus ait, ‘Per vultum de Luca, in hoc anno mare non transibis, nisi fiduciam quam de navibus requiro prius modo feceris.’”
[315] Ib. “Faciam hanc et multo majorem, si necesse fuerit, fiduciam antequam hic in captione detinear; sed bene omnes audiant quod ea invitus faciam et captionis timore coactus.”
[316] Ib. “Rex ait, ‘Nullum conductum habebis, sed Wiltone moraberis donec ego vere sciam quod castellum habeam in mea potestate, et tunc demum naves recipies et conductum.’” Wilton seems an odd place for the purpose; should it be “Wintonie?”
[317] Mon. Ang. u. s. “Cum quod vellem et deberem facere non valeam, hoc ipsum quod dicitis injuste patiar et coactus.”
[318] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 215. “Walterus de Haiencora,” or “Haiencorn,” must be a corruption of his name.
[319] Mon. Angl. i. 249. “Precamur vos ut faciatis domino meo reddi pecuniam.” The name of the speaker is given as “Willelmus de Merlao.”
[320] Ib. “Rex ait, ‘Videant barones isti si ego juste possum implacitare episcopum.’”
[321] Ib. “Injustum esset si amplius implacitaretis eum, cum de vobis mihi teneat et securum conductum habere debeat.”
[322] Mon. Ang. u. s. “Bene scias, episcope, quod nunquam transfretabis donec castellum tuum habeam; episcopus enim Baiocensis inde me castigavit.”
[323] Gilbert of Bretevile appears as a considerable landowner in Hampshire (Domesday, 48) and Wiltshire (71). He may have been Sheriff of either shire.
[324] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 215, 800. Besides Erneis himself, we have heard of a Ralph Fitz-Erneis at Senlac, vol. iii. p. 494.
[325] Mon. Ang. u. s. “Dissaisiverunt episcopum de ecclesia et de castello et de omni terra sua xviii. Kal. Dec., et liberaverunt hominibus episcopi Helponem balistarium regis.” The King’s writ follows. Helpo must be Heppo. See N. C. vol. iv. p. 216. See Appendix C.
[326] Mon. Ang. u. s. “Accepit Ivo Taillesbosci duos milites episcopi, et coegit eos placitare de animalibus Constantiensis episcopi de quibus judicatum fuerat ante regem Dunelmensi episcopo non debere respondere.” It is of course possible that there might be some ground for impleading the knights, though not for impleading the Bishop.
[327] He had before asked; “dum in Anglia fuero, habetote mecum unum bonum hominem, qui et hospitia mihi inveniat et ab impedimento me defendat.” The “good man” assigned is “Robertus de Comitisvilla.” One would think that he was a kinsman of the husband of Herleva, the King’s step-grandfather.
[328] Roger in the text; but Robert must surely be meant.
[329] Mon. Ang. u. s. “Illi responderunt se nullam sibi navem liberaturos, et dixerunt regem sibi præcepisse ut bene servarent episcopum, ne de potestate regis exiret usque quo quid de eo fieri præciperet, illis per suas sigillatas literas remandaret.”
[330] Mon. Ang. u. s. “Venerunt ad eum Salesberiensis episcopus et Robertus de Insula et Ricardus de Cultura, et summonuerunt eum de parte regis, Kal. Decembr., ut in nativitate Domini esset Londoniæ ad curiam regis, et faceret ei rectitudinem de Gaufrido monacho suo, qui, postquam episcopus ad curiam venerat, de dominicatu episcopi quingenta et triginta novem animalia acceperat, et munitionem castelli abstulerat de quibusdam suis aliis hominibus, qui unum hominem regis occiderant.” The Gemót was therefore to be at Westminster, not in its regular place at Gloucester.
[331] Ib. “Quamvis juste facere potuissem, potui enim de meis facere quidquid volui, usquequo de mea sede me dissaisivit.”
[332] Ib. “Ad curiam ejus amplius ire non possum, ipse enim omnia mea mihi abstulit, et equos meos jam venditos manducavi.”
[333] He offers, “Solus, si liceat, transfretabo.”
[334] Mon. Angl. u. s. “Rex misit ei Wintoniensem episcopum et Hugonem de Portu et Gaufridum de Traileio, et per illos sibi mandavit ut Gaufridum monachum ad placitandum de prædictis forisfactis Dunelmum mitteret, et ipse Londoniam iret, ut in nativitate Domini de hominibus suis ibi rectitudinem regi faceret.”
[335] Ib. “Episcopus tristis misit ad comites Alanum et Rogerum et Odonem, mandans eis impedimenta sua, et conjuravit eos per eam fidem quam in baptismo susceperant et quam sibi promiserant.”
[336] Ib. “A Roberto fratre regis comite Normannorum honorifice susceptus, totius Normanniæ curam suscepit.”
[337] See above, p. 91, where he is afraid of the “indocta multitudo.”
[338] See N. C. vol. iv. pp. 502, 675.
[339] Ann. Camb. 1087. “Resus filius Teudur a regno suo expulsus est a filiis Bledint, scilicet Madauc, Cadugan, et Ririt. Resus vero ex Hibernia classem duxit et revertitur in Britanniam.” The Brut is to the same effect.
[340] Ib. “Ingentem censum captivorum gentilibus et Scotis filius Teudur tradidit.” The Brut for “gentiles et Scoti” has “Yscotteit ar Gúydyl,” marking the Gwyddyl as heathen Ostmen. This is the most common use of the word in the British writers; but we can hardly think that the Scots here spoken of are Scots in the elder sense.
[341] In Ann. Camb. 1082, Trahaern (see N. C. iv. 675), with others, “a Reso filio Teudur et a Grifino filio Conani occidisus est.” This Gruffydd must be distinguished from Gruffydd son of Meredydd. He may be the “Grifin puer” of Domesday, 180 b. “Griffin rex” in p. 269 is surely Gruffydd son of Llywelyn.
[342] Ord. Vit. 669 B. “Grithfridus rex Guallorum cum exercitu suo fines Angliæ invasit, et circa Rodelentum magnam stragem hominum et incendia fecit, ingentem quoque prædam cepit, hominesque in captivitatem duxit.”
[343] Orderic (u. s.) specially marks Gruffydd’s invasion as happening “cum supradicta tempestate vehementer Anglia undique concuteretur et mutuis vulneribus incolæ regni quotidie mactarentur.”
[344] See above, pp. 34, 47. Now is the time for the exploits of the grandsons of Jestyn ap Gwrgan. See N. C. vol. v. p. 822, and Appendix DD.
[345] We have seen him among the rebels. See above, p. 34.
[346] Ord. Vit. u. s. “Robertus Rodelenti princeps de obsidione Rofensi rediens, et tam atroces damnososque sibi rumores comperiens, vehementer dolens ingemuit, et terribilibus minis iram suam evidenter aperuit.”
[347] Ib. 670 B. “Tertio die Julii Grithfridus rex Guallorum cum tribus navibus sub montem qui dicitur Hormaheva littori appulsus est.” It needs a moment’s thought to see that Hormaheva is Ormesheafod, the Orm’s Head. Here the name bears the Scandinavian form given to it doubtless by Northern rovers. The Worm’s Head in Gower, in its English form, marks the presence of Low-Dutch settlers, whether Flemish or Saxon.
[348] Ord. Vit. 670 B. “Incolis Britonibus sævo Marte repulsis, fines suos dilatavit, et in monte Dagaunoth, qui mari contiguus est, fortissimum castellum condidit.” Orderic has clearly got hold of the right names and the right incidents; but he has misconceived the topography.
Dwyganwy passes as the stronghold of that Maglocunus or Maelgwyn, whom Gildas (Ep. 33) addresses as “insularis draco, multorum tyrannorum depulsor, tam regno quam etiam vita” (cf. Nennius, c. 62, and Ann. Camb. 547, the year of his death). See Giraldus, It. Kamb. ii. 10; Descrip. Kamb. i. 5 (where he calls it “nobile castellum”), vol. vi. pp. 136, 176.
[349] Ord. Vit. 670 C. “Interim mare fluctus suos retraxit, et in sicco litore classis piratarum stetit. Grithfridus autem cum suis per maritima discurrit, homines et armenta rapuit, et ad naves exsiccatas festine remeavit.”
[350] See N. C. vol. iii. p. 176.
[351] Ord. Vit. u. s. “Clamor vulgi Robertum meridie dormitantem excitavit, eique hostilem discursum per terram suam nuntiavit. Ille vero, ut jacebat, impiger surrexit, et mox præcones ad congregandum agmen armatorum per totam regionem direxit. Porro ipse cum paucis bellatoribus imparatus Guallos prosecutus est, et de vertice montis Hormohevæ, qui nimis arduus est, captivos a piratis ligari, et in naves cum pecoribus præcipitari speculatus est.”
Orderic must surely have confounded the Orm’s Head itself with the lower hill of Dwyganwy. It is there, in or near his own castle, that we must conceive Robert sleeping, not on the Orm’s Head itself, or on any casual point of the flat ground between the two. To climb the higher of the two peaks of Dwyganwy would be perfectly natural, and would give him a wide enough view over the whole country. But to conceive him first crossing the flat, and then climbing a huge mountain for no particular object, seems quite out of the question.
[352] Ib. “Marchisus audax, ut leo nobilis, vehementer infremuit, hominesque paucos qui secum inermes erant, ut, antequam æstus maris rediret, super Guallos in sicco litore irruerent, admonuit.”
[353] Ord. Vit. 670 C. “Prætendunt suorum paucitatem, et per ardui montis præcipitium descendendi difficultatem.”
[354] Ib. “Nimis doluit, impatiensque moræ per difficilem descensum sine lorica cum uno milite nomine Osberno de Orgeriis, ad hostes descendit.” I cannot identify this Osbern, unless he be “Osbernus filius Tezonis,” who in Domesday (267 b, 268 b) holds a good deal of land in Cheshire under Earl Hugh, but none seemingly under Robert himself. For Orgères see Stapleton, ii. lxxxv.
[355] Ib. 670 D. “Quem cum viderent solo clypeo protectum et uno tantum milite stipatum, omnes pariter in illum missilia destinant, et scutum ejus jaculis intolerabiliter onerant, et egregium militem letaliter vulnerant. Nullus tamen, quamdiu stetit et parmam tenuit, ad eum comminus accedere, vel eum ense impetere ausus fuit.” Cf. the account of the death of Siccius in Dion. Hal. xi. 26. He has an ὑπασπιστής to play the part of Osbern of Orgères.
[356] Ib. “Bellicosus heros spiculis confossus genua flexit, et scutum missilibus nimis onustum viribus effœtus dimisit.”
[357] Ib. “In conspectu suorum caput ejus abscindunt ac super malum navis pro signo victoriæ suspendunt.”
[358] Ord. Vit. 670 D. “Classe parata piratas per mare fugientes persequebantur nimis tristes, dum caput principis sui super malum puppis intuebantur.”
[359] Ib. 671 A. “Cum nimio luctu Anglorum et Normannorum.” This may be well believed. Normans and English soon forgot their own differences in warfare with the Welsh.
[360] But Orderic has forgotten his dates when he says, “Nuper illud cœnobium Hugo Cestrensis consul construxerat, eique Ricardus Beccensis monachus abbas præerat.” We shall see as we go on that the monks were not planted at Saint Werburh’s till 1092 (see N. C. vol. iv. pp. 312, 491). It is now that Orderic speaks of the “belluini cœtus”—we are not told whether they were Norman, English, or Welsh—among whom Abbot Richard had to labour.
[361] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 489.
[362] His gifts in lands, tithes, and villains, in Normandy and in England, are reckoned up by Orderic, 669 C, D. Among them was “in civitate Cestra ecclesiam sancti Petri de mercato et tres hospites.”
[363] Ord. Vit. 671 B. “Rainaldus pictor, cognomento Bartolomæus, variis coloribus arcum tumulumque depinxit.”
[364] Ib. “Vitalis Angligena satis ab Ernaldo rogatus epitaphium elegiacis versibus hoc modo edidit.”
[365] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 490.
[366] Ord. Vit. 672 A;
with four more lines to the same effect.
[367] Ord. Vit. 671 C, D.
The exploits of Robert fully entitled him to Orderic’s pet Greek word. “Colvenus” must be some corrupt form of Conwy.
[368] We have seen that, in describing the rebellion of 1088, the words of the Chronicler are, “þa riceste Frencisce men þe weron innan þisan lande wolden swican heora hlaforde þam cynge.” In 1101 we read simply, “þa sona þæeræfter wurdon þa heafod men her on lande wiðerræden togeanes þam cynge.”
[369] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 308.
[370] I refer to the passage which I have already quoted in N. C. vol. v. p. 830, where William Rufus, just before his death (Ord. Vit. 782 B), mocks at the English regard for omens; “Num prosequi me ritum autumat Anglorum, qui pro sternutatione et somnio vetularum dimittunt iter suum seu negotium?”
[371] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 393.
[372] Stigand appears in the list of deaths which accompanied that of William in the Chronicle, where one would think that the persons spoken of died after him; but in the less rhetorical account of the same year in Florence they seem to have died before him. The Life of Lanfranc at the end of the Chronicles records the consecrations and benediction of all the three prelates with whom we are concerned, Geoffrey, Guy, and John, in 1088; “Cantuariæ, in sede metropoli, examinavit atque sacravit.” Cf. Gervase, X Scriptt. 1654.
[373] See Stephens’ Memorials of Chichester, p. 47.
[374] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 459.
[375] Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 195 draws a curious picture of him; “Erat medicus probatissimus, non scientia sed usu, ut fama, nescio an vera, dispersit. Litteratorum contubernio gaudens, ut eorum societate aliquid sibi laudis ascisceret; salsioris tamen in obloquentes dicacitatis quam gradus ejus interesse deberet.” He had just before described him as “natione Turonicus, professione medicus, qui non minimum quæstum illo conflaverat artificio.” The local writer in the Historiola (21) calls him “vir prudens et providus.”
[376] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 417.
[377] See N. C. vol. ii. p. 411.
[378] See Appendix F.
[380] Will. Malms. Gest. Pont. 196. “Cessit Andreas Simoni, frater fratri, minor majori.” Yet before the west front of the church of Wells there can be no doubt who was there looked on as the very chiefest apostle.
[381] See Appendix F.
[382] See Appendix F.
[383] Will. Malms. 195. “Sepultus est in ecclesia sancti Petri, quam a fundamentis erexerat, magno et elaborato parietum ambitu.”
[384] The like usage is still more remarkable at Durham and Carlisle, churches which never had an abbot distinct from the bishop. At Carlisle the “abbey” seems to mean the monastic precinct rather than the church itself.
[385] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 409. The story is told in the Winchester Appendix to the Chronicles.
[386] Chron. Wint. App. 1089. “Post ejus [Lanfranci] obitum, monachi sancti Augustini, præfato abbati suo Widoni palam resistentes, cives Cantuariæ contra eum concitaverunt, qui illum armata manu in sua domo interimere temptaverunt. Cujus familia cum resisteret, pluribus utrimque vulneratis et quibusdam interfectis, vix abbas inter manus illorum illæsus evasit, et ad matrem ecclesiam, quærendo auxilium, Cantuariam, fugit.” This last odd expression must be owing to the fact that Saint Augustine’s stood outside the walls.
[387] Chron. Wint. App. “Coram populo subire disciplinam, quia palam peccaverant, ii qui advenerant, decreverunt; sed prior et monachi ecclesiæ Christi, pietate moti, restiterunt; ne, si palam punirentur, infames deinceps fierent, sicque eorum vita ac servitus contemneretur. Igitur concessum est ut in ecclesia fieret, ubi non populus, sed soli ad hoc electi admitterentur.”
Thierry, who of course colours the whole story after his fashion, becomes (ii. 140) not a little amusing at this point. The flogging was done by two monks of Christ Church, “Wido et Normannus.” If one stopped to think of matters of nationality at such a moment, we might admire the impartiality of the Norman bishops in entrusting the painful duty to a monk of each nation, somewhat on the principle of a mixed jury. For no one can doubt that Normannus, Northman, was as good an Englishman as Northman the son of Earl Leofwine and other English bearers of that name. Thierry, on the other hand, tells us that the whipping was done by “deux religieux étrangers, appelés Guy et Le Normand.” He seemingly mistook the Christian name “Normannus” for the modern surname “Lenormand,” and he forgot that this last could be borne only by one whose forefathers had moved from Normandy to some other French-speaking land.
[388] Chron. Wint. App.
[389] Ib. See N. C. vol. iv. p. 410.
[390] See Lanfranc, Ep. 67 (i. 80, ed. Giles); N. C. vol. iv. p. 439.
[391] Chron. Petrib. 1089. “On þisum geare se arwurða muneca feder and frouer Landfranc arcebisceop gewat of þissum life, ac we hopiað þæt he ferde to þæt heofanlice rice.”
[392] The exact date comes from his Life, 52 (i. 312, ed. Giles); “anno archiepiscopatus xix, v. calendas Junii diem clausit extremum.” The Latin Chronicler gives us the exact measure of his primacy; “In sede pontificali sedit annis decem et octo, mensibus ix. duobus diebus.” The Life gives us his epitaph, which begins;
See N. C. vol. ii. p. 636.
[393] Vita Lanfranci, 52 (i. 312, ed. Giles). “Cum immineret dies ipsius dedicationis, sicut mos est, omnia corpora de ecclesia elata fuerunt. Tunc quidam frater, sive curiositate, seu quod magis credibile est, pro reliquiis habendam de casula gloriosi Lanfranci abscidit particulam; de qua miri odoris suavitas efflagrabat. Ostendit aliis, qui et ipsi senserunt odoris fragrantiam. Qua de re intellegi datur, quod anima illius in magna suavitate requiescit; cujus corporis indumenta tanto odore redolent.”
[394] Vita Lanf. ib. “Dolor omnibus incomparabilis, et luctus inconsolabilis suis.”
[395] See the passages from William of Malmesbury quoted in Appendix G.
[396] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 14. “Cum posthac in regno fuisset confirmatus, postposita pollicitatione sua, in contraria dilapsus est. Super quo cum a Lanfranco modeste redargueretur, et ei sponsio fidei non servatæ opponeretur, furore succensus, ‘Quis,’ ait, ‘est qui cuncta quæ promittit implere possit?’ Ex hoc igitur non rectis oculis super pontificem intendere valebat, licet a nonnullis ad quæ illum voluntas sua trahebat, ipsius respectu, eo superstite, temperaverit.”
[398] Will. Malms. iv. 321. “Si quis desiderat scire corporis ejus qualitatem, noverit eum fuisse corpore quadrato, colore rufo, crine subflavo, fronte fenestrata, oculo vario, quibusdam intermicantibus guttis distincto; præcipuo robore, quamquam non magnæ staturæ, et ventre paullo projectiore. Eloquentiæ nullæ, sed titubantia linguæ notabilis, maxime cum ira succresceret.” Cf. the description of Robert, N. C. vol. iv. p. 633.
[399] So for instance Orderic (667 B); “Rex ergo Rufus indigenarum hortatu promptior surrexit,” and William of Malmesbury (iv. 306), “Quomodo adversarios rex Rufus vicerit.” So again Wace (14496);
Presently (14513) he is “li reis Ros.” The use of the nickname in this way was the more easy, because Rufus was a real name which had been borne by other men, while nobody had ever been called Curthose. See on the name Martel, N. C. vol. ii. p. 280; vol. v. p. 569.
I do not know that any one except Matthew Paris has turned the Red King into a Red Dragon. He does so twice. Hist. Angl. i. 97, “Rex Willelmus, qui a multis rubeus draco cognominabatur;” and again, i. 167, “Rex Willelmus, draco rubeus—sic enim eum appellabant propter tyrannidem.”
[400] M. Gaston le Hardy, the apologist of Duke Robert (Le Dernier des Ducs Normands, Caen, 1880, p. 41), refers to the Monasticon and Orderic for the statement that William Rufus was called “comes” in his father’s life-time. But I cannot find the places. Has he got hold of any signature of Earl William Fitz-Osbern?
[401] Will. Malms. iv. 305. “Emensa pueritia, in militari exercitio adolescentiam egit; equitari, jaculari, certare cum primævis obsequio, cum æquævis officio. Jacturam virtutis putare si forte in militari tumultu alter eo prior arma corriperet, et nisi primus ex adverso provocaret, vel provocantem dejiceret.”
[402] Ib. “Genitori in omnibus obsequelam gerens, ejus se oculis in bello ostentans, ejus lateri in pace obambulans. Spe sensim scaturiente, jam successioni inhians, maximum post abdicationem fratris majoris, cum et tirocinium minoris nonnihil suspiceret.”
[403] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 644.
[404] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 629.
[405] A great part of the description of Tiberius given by Tacitus (Ann. vi. 51) applies to William Rufus; only we cannot make out quite so many stages in the moral downfall of the Red King. “Egregium vita famaque quoad privatus vel in imperiis sub Augusto fuit; occultum et subdolum fingendis virtutibus donec Germanicus ac Drusus superfuere: idem inter bona malaque mixtus, incolumi matre.” These are words of almost the same meaning as some of the expressions of Eadmer and William of Malmesbury. See specially Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 14; “Confestim [after Lanfranc’s death] rex foras expressit quod in suo pectore, illo vivente, confotum habuit.” In any case we may say, “postremo in scelera simul ac dedecora prorupit, postquam, remoto pudore et metu, suo tantum ingenio utebatur.” The change in William after Lanfranc’s death is most strongly brought out by Matthew Paris, Hist. Angl. i. 38.
[406] This is well drawn out by Dean Church, Anselm, 156, 157.
[407] Ord. Vit. 680 A. “Tenacis memoriæ, et ardentis ad bonum seu malum voluntatis erat.” Nearly to the same effect are the words of the Hyde writer (299); “Erat quidem operibus levis, sed verbis, ut aiunt, in tantum stabilis ut, si cui bonum vel malum promisisset, certus inde satis exsistere posset.”
[408] See Appendix G.
[409] See Historical Essays, Second Series, p. 343.
[410] Will. Malms. iv. 312. “Erat in foris et in conventu hominum tumido vultu erectus, minaci oculo adstantem defigens, et affectato rigore feroci voce colloquentem reverberans.”
[411] Ib. “Intus et in triclinio cum privatis, omni lenitate accommodus, multa joco transigebat; facetissimus quoque de aliquo suo perperam facto cavillator, ut invidiam facti dilueret et ad sales transferret.”
[412] This tale is told by William of Malmesbury (iv. 313) in illustration of the general character of Rufus, as “homo qui nesciret cujuscumque rei effringere pretium vel æstimare commercium.” He adds, “vestium suarum pretium in immensum extolli volebat, dedignans si quis alleviasset.” In the story which follows, the King’s speech to the chamberlain is characteristically vigorous; “Indignabundus et fremens, ‘Fili,’ ait, ‘meretricis, ex quo habet rex caligas tam exilis pretii?’” We are not surprised to hear that the officer got rich in the service of such a master; “Ita cubicularius ex eo pretium vestimentorum ejus pro voluntate numerabat, multa perinde suis utilitatibus nundinatus.” So there is a story told of a rich patient who despised the cheapness of Galen’s prescriptions, and asked him to order something dearer. See Friedländer, Sittengeschichte Roms, i. 339.
[413] Take for instance Suger (Duchèsne, iv. 283); “Ille opulentus et Anglorum thesaurorum profusor, mirabilisque militum mercator et solidator.”
[414] See Appendix G.
[415] Will. Malms. iv. 313. “Cui pro libito venditor distraheret mercimonium et miles pacisceretur stipendium.” This comes in the passage quoted in the last page.
[416] Ib. “Cum primis initiis regni metu turbarum milites congregasset, nihil illis denegandum putabat, majora in futurum pollicitus. Itaque quia paternos thesauros evacuaret impigre, et modicæ ei pensiones numerabantur, jam substantia defecerat.”
[417] Ib. “Sed animus largiendi non deerat, quod usu donandi pene in naturam verterat.”
[418] See the extract from the Chronicle, below, p. 155.
[419] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 621.
[420] Will. Malms. iv. 314. “Cujuscumque conditionis homunculus, cujuscumque criminis reus, statim ut de lucro regis appellasset, audiebatur; ab ipsis latronis faucibus resolvebatur laqueus si promisisset regale commodum.”
[421] See Appendix G.
[422] We shall see some instances as we go on, specially the story told by William of Malmesbury, iv. 309.
[423] William of Malmesbury, iv. 314. “A buccis miserorum cibos abstrahentes.”
[424] See Appendix G.
[425] See N. C. vol. v. p. 159. The evil went on under Henry until the passing of this statute, as we see by the terrible complaint of the Chronicler in the year 1104; “æfre ealswa se cyng for, full hergung þurh his hired uppon his wreccea folc wæs, and þær onmang for oft bærneta and manslihtas.”
[426] Chron. Petrib. 1100. “He wæs swiðe strang and reðe ofer his land and his mænn and wið ealle his neahheburas, and swiðe ondrædendlic, and þurh yfelra manna rædas þe him æfre gecweme wæran and þurh his agene gitsunga, he æfre þas leode mid here and mid ungylde tyrwigende wæs, forþan þe on his dagan ælc riht afeoll and ælc unriht for Gode and for worulde úp aras.”
[427] See N. C. vol. i. pp. 436, 754.
[428] Will. Malms. iv. 319. “Venationes, quas rex primo indulserat, adeo prohibuit ut capitale esset supplicium prendisse cervum.” Contrast this with his father’s law in N. C. vol. iv. p. 621.
[429] The story is told by Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 48. It is brought in as an illustration of the impiety of Rufus rather than of his cruelty.
[430] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 48. “Quinquaginta circiter viri quibus adhuc illis diebus ex antiqua Anglorum ingenuitate divitiarum quædam vestigia arridere videbantur.”
[431] Ib. “Negant illi; unde statim ad judicium rapti, judicantur injectam calumniam examine igniti ferri a se propulsare debere. Statuto itaque die præfixi pœnæ judicii pariter subacti sunt, remota pietate et misericordia.” Yet, unless there was some special circumstance of hardship which is not recorded, this was only the old law of England kept on by the Conqueror. (See N. C. vol. iv. p. 624; v. pp. 400, 874.) That is, if the accuser was English, and the King’s reeves and huntsmen were largely English. If the accuser was French, the accused were entitled to a choice between the ordeal and the wager of battle. Can Eadmer mean that this choice was not allowed them?
[432] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 48. “Cum principi esset relatum condemnatos illos tertio judicii die simul omnes inustis manibus apparuisse, stomachatus taliter fertur respondisse, ‘Quid est hoc? Deus est justus judex? Pereat qui deinceps hoc crediderit. Quare per hoc et hoc meo judicio amodo respondebitur. Non Dei quod pro voto cujusque hinc inde plicatur.’”
[433] “Judicium” is the usual Domesday name. See N. C. vol. v. p. 875.
[434] Ord. Vit. 682 C. “Illi modestis vestiebantur indumentis optimeque coaptatis ad sui mensuram corporis. Et erant habiles ad equitandum et currendum et ad omne opus quod ratio suggerebat agendum.”
[435] Ib. “Olim pœnitentes et capti et peregrini usualiter intonsi erant, longasque barbas gestabant, judicioque tali pœnitentiam, seu captionem, vel peregrinationem spectantibus prætendebant.”
[436] Ib. “Post obitum Gregorii papæ et Guillelmi Nothi aliorumque principum religiosorum, in occiduis partibus pene totus abolitus est honestus patrum mos antiquorum.” Yet, unless we go as far north as the sainted Cnut of Denmark, it is not easy to find any specially devout princes who died about the same time as Gregory and William.
[437] See Appendix G.
[438] See Appendix G.
[439] Take, above all, the story of Bishop Serlo’s most practical sermon in Orderic, 815, 816. See N. C. vol. v. p. 844, and Appendix G.
[440] Ord. Vit. 682 B. “Nocte comessationibus et potationibus vanisque confabulationibus, aleis et tesseris aliisque ludicris vacabant; die vero dormiebant.”
[441] See Appendix G.
[442] See N. C. vol. v. p. 818. In some manuscripts of William of Malmesbury (iv. 317) he says distinctly, “Judæi qui Lundoniæ habitabant, quos pater a Rothomago illuc traduxerat.”
[443] The Jews meet us at every turn in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. At Lincoln and Saint Eadmundsbury they have left their works. Those of Winchester—their Jerusalem—shared in the perfection which marked all classes of men in that city (see Ric. Div. c. 82). In the genuine “Annals of an English Abbey” (Gest. Abb. i. 193) we may see something of the “superbia magna et jactantia” which the Jew Aaron (of Lincoln) displayed at Saint Alban’s.
[444] As in the great massacre at York in 1189. Or the King himself might, like John, do as he would with his own chattels.
[445] See Eadmer, Vit. Ans. iii. 5. We shall come across them again.
[446] Will. Malms. iv. 317. “Apud Londoniam contra episcopos nostros in certamen animati [Judæi], quia ille ludibundus, credo, dixisset quod, si vicissent Christianos apertis argumentationibus confutatos, in eorum sectam transiret. Magno igitur timore episcoporum et clericorum res acta est, pia sollicitudine fidei Christianæ timentium.”
[447] Ib. “De hoc quidem certamine nihil Judæi præter confusionem retulerunt, quamvis multotiens jactarint se non oratione sed factione superatos.”
[448] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. p. 47. “Ferebant … ad eum convenire, conquerentes nonnullos ex suis, spreto Judaismo, Christianos tune noviter factos fuisse, atque rogantes ut, sumpto pretio, illos, rejecto Christianismo, ad Judaismum redire compelleret. Adquiescit ille, et, suscepto pretio apostasiæ, jubet ex Judæis ipsis adduci ad se. Quid plura? Plures ex illis minis et terroribus fractos, abnegato Christo, pristinum errorem suscipere fecit.” Eadmer brings in this story, without pledging himself to its truth, as one which he, when in Italy, heard from those who came from Rouen. “Sicut illa accepimus, simpliciter ponam, non adstruens vera an secus exstiterint, an non. Ferebant igitur hi qui veniebant,” &c. It is the same story as that which William of Malmesbury tells, iv. 317; “Insolentiæ in Deum Judæi suo tempore dedere indicium; semel apud Rothomagum, ut quosdam ab errore suo refugas ad Judaismum revocarent, muneribus inflectere conati.”
[449] Eadmer, Hist. Nov. p. 47. The protomartyr pleads his own example; “Uno dierum per viam forte eunti apparuit alter juvenis, vultu et veste decorus, qui interrogatus unde vel quis esset, dixit se jam olim ex Judæo Christianum effectum, Stephanum protomartyrem esse.”
[450] Ib. “Æstuans quonam modo suis sacris filium posset restituere, didicit quemadmodum Willielmus rex Anglorum nonnullos hujusmodi, pecuniæ gratis, nuper Judaismo reddiderit.” This way of speaking might almost make us think that the Jew was not living in William’s dominions; yet the whole tenor of the story, which seems to be laid at Rouen, looks otherwise. One phrase is odd; “paternis rogat legibus imperiali sanctione restitui.” William Rufus, as we shall see, did not forget his imperial as well as his royal dignity, but Rouen was an odd place in which to show himself in the imperial character.
[451] Ib. “Tacet ille ad rogata, nondum audiens quamobrem tali negotio sese deberet medium facere.”
[452] Ib. “Advertit Judæus mysterium cur suis precibus non responderet, et e vestigio sexaginta marcas argenti se illi daturum, si Judaismo restitueret filium suum, pollicetur.” This almost looks as if the Jew thought at first that the King, out of zeal for the Hebrew cause, would do the job for him for nothing.
[453] Eadmer, u. s. “Tecum jocarer, stercoris fili? Recede potius et præceptum meum velocius imple, alioquin per vultum de Luca faciam tibi oculos erui.” On the oath, see Appendix G.
[454] Ib. “Confusus princeps in istis, contumeliis affectum juvenem cum dedecore jussit suis conspectibus eliminari.”
[455] Ib. “Fili mortis et pabulum externæ perditionis, non sufficit tibi damnatio tua, nisi et me tecum præcipites in eam? Ego vero cui jam Christus patefactus est absit ut te unquam pro patre agnoscam, quia pater tuus diabolus est.” The reference must be to St. John viii. 44; but the pedigree was a dangerous one for a presumptive grandson to meddle with.
[456] Ib. “Ecce feci quod rogasti, redde quod promisisti.”
[457] Eadmer, u. s. “Filius meus jam nunc et in Christi confessione constantior et mihi est solito factus infestior; et dicis”—mark the scriptural turn—“‘Feci quod petisti, redde quod promisisti?’ Immo quod cœpisti primo perfice, et tunc demum de pollicitis age. Sic enim convenit inter nos.”
[458] Ib. “Feci quantum potui; verum, quamvis non proficerim, minime tamen feram me sine fructu laborasse.”
[459] Ib. 54. “Quod Deus nunquam eum bonum habiturus esset pro malo quod sibi inferret.” The words are spoken to Bishop Gundulf. Eadmer comments; “In cunctis erat fortunatus, ac si verbis ejus hoc modo respondit Deus, ‘Si te pro malo, ut dicis, numquam bonum habebo, probabo an saltem pro bono possim te bonum habere, et ideo in omni quod tu bonum æstimas velle tuum adimplebo.’”
[460] Eadmer, 48. “Ad hoc quoque lapsus est ut Dei judicio incredulus fieret, injustitiæque illud arguens, Deum aut facta hominum ignorare, aut æquitatis ea lance nolle pensare adstrueret.” Then follows the story of the deer-stealers which I have told in p. 155. Mark Eadmer’s firm belief in the ordeal, which had not yet been condemned by the Church.
[461] Ib. 47. “Ferebatur eum in tantam mentis elationem corruisse ut nequaquam patienter audire valeret, si quivis ullum negotium quod vel a se vel ex suo præcepto foret agendum, poneret sub conditione voluntatis Dei fieri. Sed quæque acta simul et agenda suæ soli industriæ ac fortitudini volebat adscribi.” We have his like in Kapaneus, Æsch. Sept. c. Theb. 409;